Sugarland 30K Recap

I woke up bright and early at 4:30 am to get ready for the Sugarland 30K race, even Jabba was not ready to get up so early.  He barely got out of bed when I put food in his bowl, and if you know Jabba that is rare never happens.  The night before I layed out what I was going to wear and filled up my fuel belt with water and fuel (Sport Beans and Gummies) so I wouldn’t have to do it when I was sleepy.   I still do not have a microwave since I moved (hopefully I will get to the store this weekend) so I just ate cold pizza leftover from Friday.

Aly was coming over to ride with me to cheer me and our other group members on during the race.  Alain, our coach from Gotta Run had a tent set up when we got there and we took group pics before the race.

The race started promptly at 6:30 after they sang the National Anthem (side note, I love it that the majority of the races I have been to sing the song beforehand).  The first few miles took us through the street of Sugarland by some nice houses, then we did a 4 mile loop three times around some VERY nice houses.  Aly and Alain did not race so they were at the turnaround of the loop to cheer us on each time and also Alain was taking pictures. 

The first loop wasn’t so bad I just kept trucking along seeing the super fast people go by me.  By the time I was on my first loop, the (future) winner was on his second lap (and like going 5 minute mile pace).  Sigh.  I will get faster!  The second loop wasn’t so bad either, but towards the end I was getting tired.  The third lap was tough!  Most of the crowd support was gone by that time to watch the finishers and it was just us slower people.  I did the majority of the race at a 11 minute (ish) mile, but towards 16+ I started to slow way down.  At mile 17 (right past the last waterstop) I was running with a girl that I talked to on the first lap and she was still following her friend.  We started running together and were passing people and I said “Let’s pass your friend”  she got a smile on her face and we passed her, then we passed about 6 or 7 other people.  Then she started to fade and I kept going (don’t judge me, I didn’t know her!) . 

I was at about 17.75 when I ran past a woman who was crying, I asked if she was ok and she said no and cried even harder.  I asked if she needed water because I thought I had another water with me and she said yes, well it turns out that I only had about two ounces left but I offered it to her and she took it.  She was still crying so I kept walking with her.  I asked her if she had stretched because her legs were hurting and I suggested she do the yoga pose Downward Dog to stretch her legs.  I had to pee really, really, really bad at this point so I couldn’t show her how to do the pose, luckily she knew how to do it.  It really helped her a lot and we kept walking together.  I suggested that we run for three traffic cones and then we could reevaluate if she wanted to run again.  The cones were about 100 feet apart so it wasn’t much but it was better than walking.  After three she wanted to keep running so we did.  After about 4 or 5 we would stop and do a downward dog then run at least three more.  We got to the final street intersection and ran the rest of the way. She told me I could keep going without her, but I didn’t want to leave her since she was still pretty upset.  I told her that my time wouldn’t be that different if I would leave her, so I stayed and helped her finish.  We introduced ourselves (her name was Marny) and pushed through the end.  At the finish line shoot I asked her if she wanted to sprint to the end and she did, and we ended up behind one other person and I told Marny to pass her, so we did. :) 

Me and my new friend Marny finished together at 3:38.10 .  She hugged me when we got done and said thank you for helping her finish.  I told her it was no problem, I was glad to do it. I know what it’s like to have a hard time at the end of a race and I honestly wouldn't have finished more than 5 minutes before her.  I wasn't trying to PR or anything so helping a person in need was better than a PR! :)  We got our water, goodie bag of food, pizza, and t-shirt and after I went to the restroom we went to the Gotta Run tent. 

(I only ate the banana, but I REALLY wanted to eat the chocolate bar.. The rest is in my pantry.)

The long sleep tech t-shirt that we got!  Nice!

I met back up with Aly and I went to change clothes because I was super sweaty!

I got home and promptly took a three hour nap, woke up for about an hour, ate something, and went back to sleep.  Jabba was obviously so tired that when he was lying on the couch he covered his eyes.  He is so cute.  I have no idea what he does all day to be so tired.  Seriously, it’s a hard life being a cat.