16 March 2008
Lessons learned
Posted by Deborah Pieri under: Deborah Pieri .
Yesterday, like many others I ran the Irish Jig. I arrived early to warm up. I was not feeling all that great, and I was tired from a very long and busy week. Still, there’s something about a race that can perk you up and make you run hard even when you don’t feel like it. I started the race feeling pretty good, but by a mile and a half in, I had an awful side stitch. My husband kept appearing magically at different points on the course encouraging me to keep the pace. With a little less than a mile to go, I was struggling. Why did I go to the fish fry the night before? I know better than to eat fried foods before a race. Heck the only time I ever eat fried anything is two or three times during lent at the fish fries!
As I was chastizing myself for my stupidity, my husband once again magically appeared, this time with two guys from our son’s cross country team. One of them, Tony, had just taken 8th place over-all in the men’s race. They said they were going to run me in the rest of the way. I kicked it in, digging deeper, trying to run faster, but my side was killing me, and I felt sick. Still, they stuck by me, “Come on Mrs. Pieri, you’re almost there. You’re doing great! There’s the finish line. . . kick now!” I did. I ran as fast as I could that last 40 meters. I finished at 28:09. It wasn’t the 27 I had hoped for, but I had finished strong. It meant a lot to me to have those guys running with me. I cheered and yelled for them throughout the cross country season and here they were helping me now! I know how hard they train, and I have the deepest respect and admiration for them. Thanks guys. . . . you made my day!
When I finally got around to going online to check times. I was surprised to see that I had finished 17th out of the 70 women who had run in my age group. Suddenly I felt fast! Ha ha! It’s all a matter of perspective I guess. We do the best we can do. We accept ourselves where we are at, but we never give up. We keep striving for the next goal, knowing it is within our reach. Next time I’ll finish in 27 minutes and I won’t eat fried fish the night before!
Happy running!
Deb
2 Comments so far...
Shelly Says:
17 March 2008 at 7:36 am.
Deb–28 min is still an awesome time!!! That is the number *I* have been striving for — maybe after the Riverbank I can focus on that! It was great to see you yesterday w/ RunGazelle–even if it was only for a moment before you dashed ahead of me! 
Terry Says:
17 March 2008 at 7:09 pm.
Way to go Deb. It was remarkable to watch your husband, son and his friend run with you to the finish line. Don’t tell anyone I too had fish fry the night before. If the distance would of been longer than a 5k I wouldn’t of had fish the night before. Great job.
Terry