10K Zoo Angel

Sept. 16, 2007

Just finished the Detroit Zoo race. Mark's nephews, Evan and Nathaniel above, came to watch me race and explore the zoo after. This is a rare moment of them being sweet to each other-- might actually have been a shameless ploy to get me to take a picture of them.

Right now, I'm taking Lou's advice, Lou's hugely painful advice, and giving my swollen, re-injured ankle a post race ice bath in a white bucket. It feels like a thousand Lilliputians with fire arrows sending a million salvos into my heel, toes, and top foot.

I ran my best 10K to date! this morning! Thanks to the running angel to my left in the other photo. He seemed to know many people along the way, kept saying "hi" to people watching from their lawns.

It's so odd how hard the first mile or so of a race is before you get into your stride. I saw a fellow runner from TNT just before the race started--He called out to me and I ran over to give him a hug; it was so nice to see a familiar face. Then I looked around and realized he was near the mid front of the group-oh no, not falling into that trap again. But I did-- I started out w/ him even though he runs twice as fast as me. So I did what coach Ken preaches never to do: I ran out too fast, much faster than my fastest pace (by the Garmin that was 6.34 minute mile--ouch) I slowed and slowed to 9, then 10, then 11 and kept a pretty comfortable pace at 11. I was still suffering from my first mistake around mile 3, when I ripped off the gel safety pined to my shorts and held it, ready to squeeze it down w/ the next water. At that moment, this Latino looking guy said something to me-- my I-Pod was blaring so I didn't hear him, but I clearly made out "BEAUTIFUL" and thought-- "oh jeez, you've got to be kidding me-- it's all I can do to keep one leg before the other and now some yahoo is hitting on me during a 10k race" Well, what an ego I have! I found out after he kept getting my attention and I was running past Joanna's house on one side and the golf course on the other that he was talking about how BEAUTIFUL the golf course was!! Then he kept looking back to check me and my pace. He motioned me up and said "You are my pace so don't slow me down, get up here." So I laughed and turned off my music, picked up my pace, and mused with him about the beautiful houses and trees. He noticed my breathing get really labored at this pace (10 minute) and he said "Imagine something beautiful, something full of energy and take yourself there." I thought about it, and I imagined the creeks that Mark and I go to up north, the ones with such a strong pulling current that you have to struggle up stream and then fly on the current downstream. "Water!" I said "Rapids". "Good" he said. "Now your breathing. Listen to it. Make it very quiet and listen to it. Stay on the rapids and listen to your breath."

My lord! It worked. I imagined myself floating fast down those rapids and made my breath quiet.
"You can run forever this way" he said.

He was right! When the pain got a bit too much and breath got all out of control again, I imagined myself cantering on a chestnut horse through a beautiful forest--real controlled speed, and I leaned forward and pumped my arms straighter and my strides longer and I started to get ahead of Zoo Angel (or he let me get ahead). I saw my split at mile 4 and couldn't believe it was only 43 minutes! I was going to make it in just over hour! The last 10K up north I did in an hour and 17 minutes and the one before that in Dearborn 1 hour and 35 minutes! (sad I know). After the five mile mark, when we had only half a mile by my Garmin, I told him and he said you take the lead--made me get in front of him and at only a quarter mile left I felt the surge, the effortless surge, put my I-Pod back to blaring and finished in an hour and six minutes!!! My best yet-- I wanted to thank Zoo Angel, but I had double and tripled tied my timing chip onto my shoelaces and it took me nearly two minutes to get it off and drop it in the chute bucket. By that time, Zoo Angel was gone.

Some truly funny stuff that happened during this race:
Every time we passed a race volunteer they clapped and cheered for us--really, even though you don't know them, I swear it gives your legs energy. Well, I didn't time my spit to well during one of these bends where the volunteers directed, and just as I spit she clapped. I turned to Zoo Angel and said "She just cheered on my spit!" After that, every time I spit, ZA clapped for me.

Also, when I announced by my Garmin that we had less than a mile left. ZA said we had to sing something--He asked if I knew any Jewish songs-- "No sorry" so we ran in silence-- all I could think was "I once was lost but now am found . . ." but didn't think that would be a cool song for him to sing (a Spanish looking Jewish man-- very odd) so I suddenly bust out "She'll be comin round the mountain when she comes" and he responded "She'll be comin round the mountain when she comes" She'll be coming round the mountain, she'll be comin round the mountain, she'll be comin round the mountain when she comes. "She'll be riding six white horses when she comes" Zoo Angel "Oh, she'll be riding six white horses when she comes"-- People were looking at us like we were crazy. When we got closer, we stopped singing and he said "Okay. let's just run-- you lead the way" and so we did and I did and I pumped out the last few yards with Radar Love blasting and I saw Mark, Caroline, and my two nephews cheering me on just before the finish. I see now in the photo that, at that point, my ZA was just next to me--grinning.

This video below shows my "blue butterfly" in take off. A host of butterflies of all colors swoop around the Detroit Zoo Butterfly Exhibit, and they land on various flowers, plants, stone water fountains, but this blue one zoomed erratically: was the most beautiful and the most hard to photograph. I literally chased it around, dodging in and out of families, trying to get its picture. Finally realized I was going to have to stalk it w/ strategy rather than dumb speed. I waited until it landed, closed those brown mottled wings (which hid the azure inside) and then I turned on my camera to video and waited, and waited, on until it fluttered off the rock.