Jingle Bell Run marks my first 10K, and very nearly my first DNS. I really didn’t think I would make it to the start line. Thursday evening, a few days before the race, my husband had to go to the emergency room with abdominal pain. Twelve hours later, after a mostly sleepness overnight in the ER, they figured out what was going on and rushed him into surgery.
Thankfully he is now stable and on the mend, but it was a whirlwind, sleep deprived couple of days. Because he was still in the hospital, I planned to skip the race, but he encouraged me to go ahead and run. I felt selfish taking him up on the suggestion, but I also knew in a way that I needed it.
Leading up to the race, my plan had been to go for a personal best. I had previously run 10K on my own in about 47:15. With the energy boost from a race, I thought I might be able to shave a minute or two off from that time. That wasn’t in the cards, as I just did not have the kind of drive and energy I might have had on better rest and without all of the stress from the situation. While I didn’t get that bigger PR, I did manage a tiny improvement to get just under 47 minutes.
I was absolutely at peace with that. After a lot of sitting and waiting and worrying in a stuffy hospital room, just being able to run outside in the fresh air felt really damn good. Looking back on this and the days that followed, I realize how carving out the time for movement helped me juggle work and everything else with driving back and forth from the hospital and caretaker duties. Running kept me sane, stronger, more focused.
I can’t really write much of a recap of the race itself. To be honest, I was a little too groggy to take it all in, and too stressed to get in the spirit myself. It seemed festive. They passed out jingle bells, there was Christmas music, and people were pretty decked out. Ugly sweaters, Santa hats, twinkle lights galore. I didn’t take a single photo. I bolted right after I finished to get back to the hospital. I didn’t know my finish time until hours later when I looked it up online.
My official time was 46:58.3, which was good enough for 1st place in my age group. I had never even placed in my age group before, much less come in first. To think of all of the times I said this would never happen. Never used to hold me back, but now I’ve turned it into a proving ground. I’ll add this one to my collection of conquests, along with “I’ll never qualify for Boston.”
I should mention, that while I won my age group, among the handful of women who finished ahead of me, two of them were in their fifties. Women are really killing it, and masters women in particular are blowing up what is expected, forging into whole new realms of possibility. Just thinking about it gets me fired up. I want to be one of those ladies in my 50s, 60s and beyond.
Now, to pick a 10K where I can be whole-hearted and all-in!