Don't count me out yet!

I am cautiously saying, "I'm back!"

When my surgeon came to see me before the operation, he told me I'd be able to get back to running within a week. I told him I planned on doing the New Haven 20K on Labor Day and he said he thought I could do it, it probably wouldn't be my best time, but I could do it. I have been looking forward to this race all summer. It's a huge deal, there's great crowd support, the course is nice, and there's a great party on the Green afterwards. I've only done it once before, in 2003. Every year after that I thought I'd get myself back in shape so I could do it again but I could never pull it together so this year I was really looking forward to being a part of it. I didn't make up my mind if I was going to go until pretty much the night before. Finally I decided that even if I had to walk I had to get out there and do it. The weather was magnificent so I really had no excuse.

An embarrassing running truth: I almost always get the dry heaves before a race. Sometimes I even get them before a long run if I haven't done that distance before. I try not to let my nerves get the best of me but I am constantly battling self doubt, no matter how physically prepared I am. I've never actually thrown up (yet) but I do get myself pretty worked up. After I registered I had about an hour to kill before the race so I snuck into the Omni to use their bathroom. There were a bunch of other runners there stretching so I joined suit to start preparing myself mentally. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I thought, "Jesus! No wonder I feel sick. I'm so tense!!" I love this picture because you can see how nervous and focused I am before a race.

I planned to go out slow when the race started and I stuck to my plan even though I felt like an ass when the whole world passed me. I kept telling myself "Just finish. Just finish. Don't worry about pace, just get through this."

Around mile 3, I felt nice and warmed up and started to relax. Around mile 5 a lot of those people who flew by me at the start were walking and I started passing people. Miles 7 through 9 flew by and I was still feeling great.

Just before mile 10 there is a big hill, West Rock. When I did the race in 2003 I had to walk up it. This time I went right up and was picking off people left and right (which I will never tire of, being a back-of-the-packer, it's such a unique feeling for me). Just as I crested the hill my phone rang and it was my aunt, who knew I was doing the race. She was calling me to pick a meet-up spot because she heard my name announced at the finish line (turns out there's 2 of us, only one of us is much faster, haha!). I didn't know she planned on coming so knowing her and my uncle were there at the finish was a HUGE boost. That and a nice downhill finish pulled me through the last 2.4 miles.

My finish time was 2:13:52, my overall pace for the 12.4 miles was 10:47/mile. I was PSYCHED. Of course, I had to compare it to my 2003 time and I was a minute slower and I thought for quick second that if I just pushed a little harder I could have beaten it. But I got over that really fast when I reminded myself that I pushed SO hard in 2003 to get that time and I was 7 years younger and didn't have gallbladder surgery 10 days prior. I didn't kill myself for this race and I still came in around the same time. That is so encouraging to me.

After the race I fully enjoyed the post-race swag. I got my free hot dog, some free ice cream, and a free beer. I don't even like beer but having a sip was as good as the finest champagne. It was truly a magnificent day. I am so ready for the next 59 days!