Run, Robyn, Run - The official recap!

Ha! Much to my dismay, the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler did take a turn for the good, the bad, and the ugly. The morning started off great and I was super excited that race day finally arrived. It was a beautiful morning and the temperature was in the 50's. It felt great. The first 4 miles went swimmingly and my time by the 5 mile mark was impressive for me. At 5 miles, it all started to go downhill. I hit "a wall" and couldn't recover for the rest of the race. It took all my mental power to keep running and not start walking.

At mile 7, I had the good fortune of my best friends Wendy and Ivy joining me for the last 3 miles of the race. It was like a breath of fresh air seeing them waiting for me. Unfortunately I was even in worse shape at this point and kept having to walk some, run some until the end. The heat was getting to me and I don't do so well when I get overheated. I finished the race in 1 hr, 57 minutes and managed to shave 2 1/2 minutes from my time 3 years ago. However, if I kept on track with how well I did the first 5 miles, I would've easily been crossing the finish line at 1 hr, 45 minutes.

Once I got back in my friend's car to head home, I started feeling very nauseous. We stopped for bagels at a place in Arlington, and at this point, I was really down for the count. The others in my group looked at me and commented how pale I was. I felt like I was going to throw-up and headed straight for the bathroom. Instead, as I was kneeling by the toilet, I passed out. I must've hit my head and that helped wake me up. I went back in the restaurant and decided to get some Gatorade to drink. I hadn't had anything all morning other than 3 packs of GU and very, very little water. I figured my nauseousness was occurring because of heat and dehydration. I got to sit in the front seat of the minivan for the remainder of the trip back to my friend's house, where my car was parked. I live only 1/2 mile away from her and was feeling much better by the time we pulled into her driveway. However, once I got in my car and started driving down the road, I pulled over and threw-up 4 times. Not fun. Not fun at all. The only good thing is, I felt much better afterwards.

When I reviewed my times for each of the miles, I saw that mile 4 was done in 8:39 seconds. This is crazy fast for me. I usually average 10/10:20 minute miles and not sure why I pushed myself so hard in this one particular mile. I think this is what contributed to me hitting the wall at mile 5. Plus, throw in heat and dehydration and you don't have a happy runner on your hands.

I am very happy I was able to finish the race and find this to be a big accomplishment in my life. I was going to turn my upcoming 1/4 marathon (6.55 miles) into a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) on the Mother's day race I am running, but I think I am better off leaving the registration where it is. I've pushed my body beyond its comfort zone and it is rebelling big time!

The shirt I wore said, "If found on ground, drag body across the finish line." Who knew this would be so ironic?
Here is a picture of my best friends, Wendy and Ivy. Got to love girlfriends who support you like they do!