10k

I arrived at Trexlertown somewhere near 10am,
after taking my son to work 55 minutes east,
putting in an hour and a half myself, driving
55 minutes west, back home, to get my skate
gear, and then 25 minutes further west to
T'town.
No one knows how the race director, Bob Albanese,
does it, but once again we had beautiful weather!
Sunny, it started off in the 70's and stayed in
the low 80's
The man really must have an in with Mother Nature.
The 50k was still in progress when I got to my
favorite spot under a little tree track side.
As I spread out my blanket and put my gear down
Russ C., the announcer for all our League meets
and for the ESS series, was telling the crowd
that the leaders had two laps to go.
Getting my skates out, I heard that a contemporary
of mine, Rosemary R., had 13 to go.
The 50k.
Earlier in the week, I learned that it was 30 laps
of the T'town track.
For a very brief moment in time, I'd thought about
about signing up for it..
Alas, thinking had gotten me into deep water earlier
in the week on another subject, and wisely, after I
mentioned the thought to my coach, he nixed it.
My race, the Advanced 10k, was scheduled to go off
at 10:30 so without much time to play around with,
I went to check in and get my number.
Soon my uniform was zipped up and my boots were tied.
Deciding earlier to wear my MP3 player,(the first
time I'd be doing so in a race), my ear buds were at
the ready.
Not having an arm band to carry it on, I'd resorted
to putting it in a small plastic bag and placing it
in my sport bra, between the "girls".
On the start line we where informed that instead of
the scheduled one minute gap between starting the
men and the women, we would all be sent off at once
and cross drafting would be permitted.
Woo! Hoo!
I might finally have someone to skate a 10k with!
Well...things didn't turn out exactly the way I'd
hoped, but I had a good start, and was the leader
of our small pack for the first lap and a half.
Unfortunately for me, once I sent Ray, who was behind
me in line, up to lead, he pulled away and I was
dropped little by little and then by a lot.
Bummer..
But that's just the way it goes.
So, there I was, by my self once again, with a voice
in my head telling me to quit on lap 3 and 4.
Yes, it was tempting me to commit a skating sin.
Quiting.
My right quad was tight, sore and burning and the
hill was going slower and slower each time I went
up it.
Thankfully, the part of me that is not a quitter
stepped in and conversed with the temptress.
"Look, sure, it hurts, it always hurts after the
first few laps, but look down at your legs, they
are still moving, still working, despite feeling
like crap, and don't concern yourself about how
you look going up the hill, just keep skating".
"Skate in pain. You can do it"
So I did.
And there weren't as many rest rolls as I usually
take, and there were many areas where I rolled
in a past 10k, but didn't in this one.
When the lead pack passed me with two laps for
them to go, it was OK.
There's no way I could ever hang in with them.
Yet when the skaters I'd started out with passed
me and I had one more to go, it stung, but heck,
you can only do what you can do and I was doing it.
Each time I'd come down the hill, I crossed into
the left hand turn before entering the straightaway.
This is where all the spectators were and the
finish line.
We would cross the line six times.
On the plus side:
During the race I passed a few people, one skater
twice, and I didn't let the voice in my head get
to me.
As I've been taught to do, I swung my arms more,
and I thought about cadence, even going up the
hill.
Still, I came in close to last, and that is getting
older than I am...
On the other hand, I am improving bit by bit.
So I have to take what I can and go with it.
After handing my tear tag in, I was heading back to
get my skates off and Jeff F., my 2 mix relay partner
passed me on his way down to watch the Rec. 5k, and
he called over, "good race!".
That was nice.
I have no time to report because the time clock
was broken. So I don't know if I was faster or
slower than last month.
Bob came over while I was sitting down, recovering,
and asked if I had another 24 laps in me, and feeling
chagrined, I knew the answer to that question, and so
did he...
He did say, "You finished strong".
I'd done that on purpose.
No more spaghetti arms for this girl.
Oh, well.
Like I said, you've got to work with what you have..