Road Warrior Blog

12 May 2008

Looking back….

Posted by Julie Hurley under: Julie Hurley .

I decided that this post was going to double as my personal journal entry, so it’s going to be long with a ton of detail. So, thanks for reading if you get to the end.

But, first, I want to thank Brooke and Kristen and anyone else who was involved in choosing me for this program. It’s been a wonderful experience, and I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to participate. There were days during training when I didn’t feel worthy, but on race day I found some of the familiar inner strength that compelled me to apply for the program last year, and was proud to be a Road Warrior. Thank you to RunGazelle … you have an awesome running group and I’m looking forward to being a member for the rest of 2008 and beyond.

Thank you to ALL my Road Warriors and to our amazing coaches, Mike and Terry. You all have been wonderful and I’m so glad to have met all of you. I’m so proud that our entire group was healthy enough to run, and happy that everyone finished. Go Road Warriors!!!!

Thanks to ChiRunning Coach Gil. Around mile eight or so, I really applied as many of the focuses that I could, and I believe this really helped me finish strong. I’m looking forward to really developing my ChiRunning form over the course of my running career.

And, of course, thank you to my husband Justin. Thank you for allowing me the time to explore this newfound sport of mine. I’m sure you’re pleasantly surprised that I’ve still stuck with it — especially considering my track record. Thank you for putting up with my complaints of being cold, sore, tired, and for not freaking out too badly when I came home with a $150 double jogging stroller, two pair of $100-plus running shoes, and various other not-so-cheap miscellaneous running items. Thank you for your support and for your belief in my passion for running. You proved you truly believed in me by getting me the Garmin just one day before the Big Event. That shows that you know how much I truly love running and that means the world to me. I love you!

I woke up on race day at 5:45 a.m. got myself ready, then helped Justin get Bodin and Reese ready; he was meeting the rest of my family downtown and was going to leave the house shortly after me. Bag packed, I managed to leave the house on time at 6:30 and arrived in our room (The Governor’s Suite) in the Amway just a little before 7 a.m. After a quick Garmin tutorial from Shelly and Bob, I got it up and running. After turning it on, I looked at the heart rate reading at it said 105 bpm! Holy moly! I must have been nervous; my usual resting heart rate is around 60-70.

Finally, all the Road Warriors arrived. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was starting to get really nervous. Nick, Shelly and I headed down to the starting line around 7:40. I hate being late anywhere (it really stresses me out!), so I was glad to finally leave the room. With Shelly walking around in circles for her pre-race warm-up, I decided I wanted to try and find my family before I started, so I told Nick that I would be getting in line around the 10:00-minute mile pace sign. After unsuccessfully searching the crowd for my family, it was time to get in line.

I ran the 5k here last year, and knew that it was going to be packed, but I was not able to get into the starting line! The crowd of spectators and runners were at least three people deep outside the fence. I finally climbed over it at the 6:30-minute mile pace sign and made my way “upstream”. I realized my mistake right away. Runners (fast runners) were packed shoulder-to-shoulder and facing the opposite direction I was headed, staring at me. I have no idea how many times I said “excuse me, pardon me.” I’m sure I was very annoying to some people, but I needed to get to my pace sign! The 10:00-minute mile pace group was very small. but I still didn’t see Nick, Shelly, the other Road Warriors who were running at that pace, or my family. I started feeling very alone. The gun went off and the crowd started surging forward. I tried stalling even further by allowing runners to pass me while I slowly walked forward. Finally, I saw Nick’s bright yellow shirt and Shelly’s pretty pink bandana. Yay! Shirl and Kristin were there as well. We were ready to begin!

As we moved forward, I was still searching for my family. Just before we started actually running, I heard shouts of “Go Julie!” and turned and saw my family, all smiling hugely and yelling loudly. Now I was ready.

I had never ran a race talking to someone before. Even though I had trained talking with people, I still anticipated running alone at some point with my iPod. As we made our way through mile one, Shelly and I quickly fell back into our usual training run chatter, and I relaxed a little bit. It was just another run on a gorgeous day; only this time we were surrounded by thousands of other people. Mile one flew by, I think because I was totally preoccupied with conversation and people-watching.

As advised by other runners, I took at least two waters at each aid station during the first half of the race. I drank plenty of water the two days prior to the race, but didn’t drink a ton the morning of. I did not want to have to stop and pee during the race. I was a little worried about dehydration, but I ended up being fine. I took a GU at miles six and 10, and took water and Gatorade at every station for the second half of the race.

Rounding the corner onto Wilson Ave. was one of the best parts of the race for me. The crowds there were awesome and I ran through them with a big stupid grin on my face. It was very motivating.

Somewhere in Johnson Park before the halfway point, I lost Shelly. I wantd to wait up for her, but I knew that on race day I was running for myself and needed to try and do the best I could. I put my iPod in and cranked it up a little faster. I ran the second half of the race about five minutes faster than the first. I had been dreading the hills most when I started training, but was almost looking forward to them. I ran these hills during training and knew what to expect, and I felt really strong. I smiled when I first saw the Grand Rapids skyline. I knew I was getting closer.

One of my race day goals was to not walk during the race. I’ve never walked during any race I’ve participated in. I don’t know why this is so important to me. During training, I walked plenty and had no issues with it. Shelly even told me about a guy who trains for marathons (quite successfully, I might add) by alternating walking and running. There were people on the course who were doing that as well, and when they started walking I thought I left them in my dust, but they would catch right back up with me. It was interesting to see. I’m still going to stick with my “no walking during races” for as long as I can, though.

Miles 12 through 15 sorta sucked. We were so close to the finish and the territory was very familiar to me. My legs were burning and I was starting to get winded. I took off my iPod at this point, because I wanted to hear the crowd and conversation. We passed my sister Kristin and brother-in-law Andy’s house on Lake Michigan Drive and I really started getting excited — I was so close! The crowd was yelling out encouragement, but I let them get into my head a little too much. Hearing “not much further to go!!” was a relief to hear, but my legs were starting to refuse commands from my brain. It was an effort to literally put one foot in front of the other. Finally, someone said to me “three more left turns and you’re done” and I knew I was going to make it. I rounded the corner and started scanning the left side of the crowd for my family. There was one more subtle hill at the very end, and I’m glad I was preoccupied with finding my family, because it was very hard, both mentally and physically to encounter another hill, however slight it was.

A big cheer erupted on the left side of my street and I saw my family: Justin, Bodin and Reese; my mom and stepdad; my dad; my sister and her husband; and my cousin. I don’t know if I blocked out all other sounds but them, but they were LOUD!! I felt famous.

I spotted the Road Warriors who had already finished standing near the finish line. As I crossed the finish line, I smiled huge and wondered if I was going to cry. Nope, no tears in me. I couldn’t stop smiling.

I had so much energy after the race. I probably really could have ran another mile. It was a weird feeling. I felt powerful, strong, proud. Last night, I was thinking back on the race, and for a moment it all seemed like a dream, like it never really happened. I’m from the Grand Rapids area (Go Jenison Wildcats, class of ‘96!) and have heard about this race my entire life. Never, ever, would I have believe that I would participate in it. My final time was 2:37:31, which I’m really proud of. However, I WILL beat that time next year.

Even though I’m still very sore today and have three stupid blisters on my toes, I’m glad to have made it through fairly unscathed. A lot of people were a lot worse off, and I hope everyone has recovered or recovers swiftly.

I’m signing off for now. I’m sad that this will probably be my last blog. Thanks to all who have followed the Road Warriors through the course of our training.

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