I hitched a ride with Sloane and his girlfriend Beth down to VA Beach. We got down to Virginia beach around 5 or so. Once we checked in to our respected hotels, Sloane and I got in a nice shake out run of around 4.5 miles (chris went a bit further). We went out to dinner at PI zzeria... Sloane and I opted for the Chicken Parm and pasta while Beth ate the spaghetti and meatballs... At dinner, i started getting nervous for my first race... I usually get nervous but at the end of dinner I started feeling anxious for the race to start in the morning...
I went to bed at 10:15 feeling a bit stuffy from allergies (due to the nice weather) but nothing out of the ordinary for me this time of the year... I woke up at 1am and coughed and my chest burned and had that sick taste in my mouth... I went to the bathroom and coughed again... only to spit some awful congestion... I had the chills... could it be... the night before another race... i was getting sick??? I went back to bed... only to wake up at 3am for the same thing to happen... I said screw this and I layed/rolled around in bed until my alarm finally went off at 5am... I was angry at this point... so I strapped the shoes on and ran out the door at 5:15 for a 10 minute shake out run... It felt terrible... but i still didn't care... nothing was going to take this race from me... If I was throwing up something violent, i still would have been out there ready to put down my first race in over 4 months. I got back from the shake out... put the coffee maker on and turned the shower to its hottest setting... I stood in the steam (outside of the shower of course) and breathed in the hot moisture... It was soothing for my chest and cleared my head up quite well... I went into the shower, got out and started putting the armour on!(singlet and short with warm ups over top)... I had only 1 slice of tart of pop... as I didn't have much of an appetite compared to usual. at 7:15 I went out for my warm up... I came back took my warm ups off... 7:40 I was out the hotel and to the corral!!! I started really taking in the race scene... the people, the st. pattys day green and orange everywhere!!! the banners, the crazy bells they give to the wrong people... I soaked it all in... The GUN went off at 8:00am... I tucked in well into a third pack through mile 1... the first mile was 4:53 for me. I felt good... but not great. I dropped the pack i was working with and made the bridge to pack two... i came through two miles in 9:56 (5:03)... I was running faster than I predicted! I ran 5:13 for mile 3 (15:10)... i kind of zoned out but at the same time I am glad I did as when i saw this split... i left pack two and went after the line of stragglers that were coming off the front end (there was at least 25 people in front of me at this point). I hit 4 miles at 20:23 (5:13)... I caught David Cheromei and Joseph Ekuom, two kenyans. As I caught them I told myself that I would just go right by... I had 1 mile to go... if the wheels fall off... i have a slight tail wind for the last 800 home stretch... and its flat!!! I went by... Cheromei responded and put a surge back on me... I was then confined to sitting on his shoulder. We then heading towards the final turn that would leave us to the finall 800 meter straight... I have leg speed for being someone that considers himself now a pure distance runner. I went all in for the straight... I had some juice still in the tank... a little bit too much... I ran hard through the line and came in at an official 25:20 (4:56), good enough for 16th... I smiled as I went across the line... saying thank you to my body for letting me have this break through....
Some may think... why is wiggy excited... he is 30 seconds off his PR.... (that is just slightly faster than the average pace he ran for half marathon in 2008...)
My teammates, family and close friends know how important this race was to me... I lost running due to an achilles injury... at a time when I lost most of my life due to the start of a divorce with my ex.... Running became the fuel behind my recovery from this life changing event... When I got hurt... i felt that even more of me died... I had no method that could channel my anger, frustration, sadness, and confusion... like running for me did. I want to literally "run with it"... meaning... take this race as the start of what could be my best spring season ever in my career. I want this to be the best time of my life as well! Its a new life for me after all! I have been getting out more... I feel rejuvenated to do so and meet new people (which i have been and loving it!)...
Next on tap: University of MD Terrapin Invitational 5,000m (Sat 3/27/10)
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