Bloomsday 2011

This morning marked the closest I will ever come to professional runners from Ethiopia as I stood in the corral for second seeding runners waiting for Bloomsday to start. I would guess there were maybe 300 people in our start gate and then 50,000+ runners behind us waiting for the start gun. Nothing like thousands of people preparing to chase you down for motivation to get moving.

I was excited but injured so I adjusted my expectations from race to run for fun and even though it hurt, it was worth it! We had sunny skies but it was chilly before the start, maybe 35 degrees in the shade. I was chatting with a woman who was in shorts and a tee so I grabbed her in a bear hug and shared my body warmth. Hopefully she was okay with that, she looked cold! I wore tights and a long sleeve shirt, hoping it would be one more step in keeping myself together for the race.



My shins flared up about a week ago and I spent the past week on the couch (i.e. not exercising) massaging and icing. It was bad enough that I couldn't walk without pain and running Bloomsday was only going to make it worse. But I didn't run in every type of crappy weather for the past 4 months to sit at home while everyone else enjoyed running in the sun.


Real Runners


Erika looking less... mobile?

So I got my sorry but off the couch and lined up with everyone else, and you know, it was fun to run with no pressure for time. I smiled many times, the PR can come another year and I'll smile then too.

Garmin reports:
Mile 1:  7:38 (adrenalin)
Mile 2:  7:25 (down hill)
Mile 3:  8:00 (some up hill and adrenalin wearing off)
Mile 4:  7:39 (shins are barking)
Mile 5:  8:12 (I used Doomsday hill to take off my long sleeve top, finally warm!)
Mile 6:  8:21 (right hip says "WHAT THE ?!? was that hill about?)
Mile 7:  7:58 (struggling not to fall down from weird hip tightness and trying to keep it under 8 minute miles)
+.6: 4:38 (I must have taken the long way)
total time: 59:45

Just a minute + slower than my 2001 time which was when I first started running. So I am literally back where I started, 10 years ago. That's the problem with running for fun and not for time, you may not like the results 100%.

The post race spread was nice, we had every kind of bad food: pizza, doughnuts, ice cream, soda, coffee... mmmmhhhmm! I was right next to the beer tent and if it wasn't 10:30 in the morning and I didn't have a baby at home... Actually it was my mopey hubby that got me out of there, he's worse off physically then I am and he's been watching all these races and feeling sorry for himself so I didn't hang out long. He'll be back soon enough, maybe then I'll get a beer.



Anyway, what an amazing event, I am so proud that Spokane puts on this impressive race and that I was able to finish. I loved all the bands along the route and spent a lot of time running with a group of fire fighters so it wasn't a bad day to say the least. Up next: lots of icing, massage, and who knows?

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