Last week, I shared that I was going to participate in the 5K event of THE HOSPITAL HILL RUN in Kansas City, MO.
This photo was taken on Saturday morning, June 1st, at 4;43 a.m. as I was gearing up to head to the run site. It's times like these that I smack myself in the face and say "what am I doing???"
I'm not an early morning person!!! That's the one part about doing these runs that I don't like. . .the earliness of them!!
That morning, I was especially worried about this run. The night before, after my husband and I had gone to packet pickup, he drove the route of the run. That's when I saw THE hill.
The event is called THE "HOSPITAL HILL" RUN because of the enormous hill that starts before the 1 1/2 mile point and goes to about the 2 mile mark. . . two hospitals are located on it!!
The first stretch of the run is actually a loooong incline (about a 1/2 of a mile in distance), so by the time we hit THE HILL.....I feared I would be real low on running steam. However, I had to be strong, because I told my blogging friend Nancy of MY CRAFTY LITTLE PAGE that I was dedicating this run to her. She's having knee replacement surgery on June 7th. . .and since I was going to be running up HOSPITAL HILL and since she was going to be in the hospital . . .well you get the picture!
Back to the "nuts" part. . .even little Twiggy told me she thought I was nuts. . .
and so did my son when he texted me at 5:30 a.m. to see if I was up....and I responded that I was in the parking lot at the run!! :) He was running the half-marathon portion of the Hospital Hill and was riding in with two of his friends. Usually, he beats me to these events..but I beat him on that morning!!
This is not a great photo, but, because I was there so early, I snagged front row parking and entertained myself for the next 45 minutes by watching the police block streets and direct drivers to parking lots.
It was also fun watching other runners arrive! Most looked pretty excited about what they were going to do!
Here is a shot of what would be the finish area for the runners in all three events.....5K, 10K and Half-marathon. In this place, lots of kind volunteers set up the food and drinks the runners/walkers would receive at the end of their runs! Actually, this is what most of us look forward to. . .the end of the run. . .and the treats!! :)
I had driven to the event alone.....that's one of the reasons I left so early. I wanted to make sure I had time to allow for finding a parking spot.
I wandered down to the spot where the run would start. . .and luckily found an indoor bathroom facility, so I didn't have to stand in line at one of the many porta potties. Then I met up with, Linda, one of the friends I've made through running!! She was also going to do the 5K....she'd done it last year, so she was "seasoned"!! :)
The approximately 9,000 runners/walkers all started together at this event, no matter what run they were participating in, but we were placed in areas of what our expected mile paces would be.
I was in wave /corral G because I'd guessed my pace to be around the 12 min. per mile mark...I was sure those hills would slow me down big time! :) So, the folks who were really fast started in wave A, the next fastest were wave B, etc.. That kept the really fast people from having to weave in and out of the slower folks....like me!
As you can tell, we were packed in there like sardines!
We had to make it to just past the porta potties and turn right. . .then head north on Grand to the "Start".
The start of the run was 7:00 a.m., but our wave was much later actually getting to GO!!
As you can see, it wasn't raining that morning!! We were thrilled cuz we'd had rain for a few days before. Actually, it was the PERFECT morning for a run. I was so happy I'd picked up the shirt I wore on race day at packet pick up cuz I needed a sleeveless one that morning!
I am really glad I took the time to snap a few photos while I was doing the run. . .cuz typically, I'm not REALLY looking at much around me while I'm running a race except: watching out for fellow runners, watching out for street issues that could cause me to crash, or searching for mile markers. :)
After reviewing the photos I did get, I can really appreciate my personal accomplishment of completing this particular 5K. . .and I am really in awe of the runners who completed the 10K and the half-marathon because they had LOTS more hills to conquer in their runs than I did in mine.
This is a photo of us just completing a long incline (nearly 1/2 mile in length) that took us north from the Start line on Grand, right on Truman Rd., then UP another little hill to Oak. . .and now we were going South on Oak street. . .a very welcome, longish down hill section.
I recall a young couple coming up beside me as I took a few shots of what was ahead and commenting about me taking photos. They thought it was pretty cool that I was doing that. I just prayed I didn't trip and crash while trying to capture the moment!
Here we are on 19th and Oak. . . and the really rough stretch is about to start. You can see the road is already starting to slowly go UUUUUPPPPPP!
I don't the exact street number here, but I recall, that while my husband and I were driving the route the evening before, that my eyes were popping out of my head in the stretch that started at 22nd st...before the hill leveled out at about 29th street! No wonder every one wanted to wear a shirt that says "I CONQUERED THE HILL" because it's a major accomplishment to reach the top.....running or walking!!
Upon reviewing the photos, I saw lots of PINK in this group of runners!!! A PINK running skirt, a PINK shirt, a PINK hat and PINK shoes!!
OH....and the buildings you see there are Children's Mercy Hospital and Truman Medical Center. . .the hospitals on HOSPITAL HILL!!
Nancy. . . here's your hill!!
Looking at this photo makes me tired!!! It's really, really a long ways UP that thing!!
We reached a sorta "plateau" . . .then saw the remainder of the HILL. I'm thinking this was 22nd street....and we needed to get to about 29th street to reach FLATNESS!!! That church in the distance was where that FLATNESS would begin!
One of my Facebook friends said, when I posted how worried I was about running that hill/hills, that I should just think of The Little Engine . . . "I think I can, I think I can". She's right. Actually, that's pretty much how I've always practiced hills. . . or even just as I've increased my distances. I just look at shorter distances as goals ("Let me reach that crack, Ok, now let me reach that driveway, Now let's reach that mailbox")....and pretty soon, I'm at the top of the hill or even the longer distance goal I've set for myself.
HOWEVER. . . at this moment.. .my mind was looking at how very,very far away and up high on the hill that church looked !! :)
It was at this point my camera went into my pocket and I spent my time thinking about reaching the top of the hill. . .without stopping to walk. "Make it to the crack, Make it to the sign, Make it to the end of the block." blah, blah, blah!
I slowed way down and chugged up the hill . . .without needing to stop and walk!!!
I pulled out my camera and took a picture of that fabulous church as I reached the top of the hill and ran passed her!! YAY!!
You can see that a lot of folks stopped to walk a bit at this point. . .and no wonder. . .they had just conquered THE HILL!!
Surprisingly. . .I was still running!! Not fast. . .but I was still running!
We reached mile 2. . .and I knew the hardest part of this 5K was behind us!!
We made a right and headed back to the event sight. . .with levelness and flatness to look forward to! However, there was still a little over a mile to go and I was getting tired!
All I could think of at this point was my run was nearly over. . .but the folks doing the 10K still had 4.2 miles to run and the ones doing the half-marathon (which included my boy) had 11 more miles (and several hills) to go!! I couldn't imagine having to continue any longer than what I was about to do. Then, I made my turn and headed to the finish line!
At this point, I didn't have a clue that we had yet another hill to go. . .but as I was heading down this stretch. . .I could see runners ahead of me and they appeared to be going UP!
Now, as you can tell, this little hill was nothing like the one/ones we had just come up, but my weary legs were speaking to my shocked brain with words like "you didn't tell us that we had another hill", "we really would like to stop and walk", "man, it's still a long way from the finish line", etc..
I had a real battle blocking those negative thoughts. . .but I kept up the fight. I knew at this point there was NO WAY I was gonna stop and walk. . .I was nearly there!!
My picture taking slowed down considerably at this point. I was having enough trouble keeping my mind focused on finishing the run. . .I didn't have what it took to keep snapping pictures UNTIL. . . we reached this point!!
We were heading on a slight and beautiful DOWN HILL portion. . .and I realized this led us right to the FINISH LINE!!
What a fun, fun moment!! I was grinning like a fool! It was just a blast to know I'd done something that I really did not think I could do.
This was taken quite awhile after I crossed the finish line. . .and I was standing on the other side of it. I'd already "recovered" . . . was back to normal breathing, had my water and food rewards, found Linda, checked out a few of the vendors tents, and prepared to wait for my son to finish his Half.
During that post run time, I saw a couple of friends. First was someone I've known since she was a little girl! She had just finished running the 10K event!!
I think that's why I enjoy the sport of running so much. Age doesn't matter!! I would have never in a million years thought that when she was 5 years old, I would one day be running with her!!
Nope, running is all about whatever you want it to be! You can work on improving your time or setting new distance goals or you can just go out and have fun! It's just awesome to be able to get outside on such a gorgeous day with so many other like minded folks and take off running!!
Ugh. . .now you see the real me. Sweaty, no make up, lots of wrinkles. . . but pretty happy!
The second friend I saw is a newer friend. . .a lady I met because of running!!!
Isn't she cute in her PINK jacket and glasses?
She started running when she was in her forties and has been a big influence on tons of runners over the years. She works at a local running store. . .and that's where I first found her in the summer of 2011.
At that time, I was suffering from plantar fasciitis and had gone into the store to find something that could give me more relief than what I was getting from what I was doing! There she was. . .so helpful and kind and sharing her own stories of dealing with that dreaded stuff. She introduced me to a special kind of tape to wrap my foot . . .which really helped ease to the pain.
She is an avid runner herself, but sadly , she had a little accident (not related to running) and has to cut back on that for awhile. I'm sure it won't be too long til she's able to get back to her sport very soon!!
I devoted a big section of a blog post to meeting her HERE. I hope you'll click on the link and read a bit more about this amazing lady!
I hope this post hasn't bored you too much!! This was such a great experience for me . . a goal I had set for myself when I first started running nearly 3 years ago. I wanted a shirt that said "I CONQUERED THE HILL"! Well, this year, because it was the 40th year anniversary for the event, they gave out these warm up jackets instead of shirts. That's just fine with me because it still says what I did on the back of it. . . and I will wear it proudly!
One other thing I am proud of was my time. I finished the run in 33:59 minutes. I felt this was a great time for me considering the hill challenge. . . AND I actually came in 2nd place in my division for that! In the picture above, you can see the little glass trophy I received !!
I hope you have a great PINK SATURDAY and that you will take the time to visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND! There you will find lots more bloggers ready to share their pinks with YOU!!
DANA
