Pensacola Double Bridge Run 15k, A Weekend I'll Never Forget
"A Weekend I'll Never Forget" probably sounds cheesy, but there are just so many things that hit my heart and were working together before, during, and after this trip that I just couldn't help but share.
I have a friend who is staying in Pensacola for a few months for some football training before the NFL Combine, so I got to stay at his place while he was helping his team to a Senior Bowl victory. I needed some sort of recent race time to enter the 15k National Championships that Jacksonville hosts, so how could I pass up a chance to race and stay in a beachfront resort for free?
With our NFL season recently ending, we have a little down time and some Fridays off after working many late nights and weekends, so I got to take Friday off and make the drive. Checking the weather Thursday night I knew that I needed my light gloves for the morning, especially with wind. About 20 minutes down the interstate on Friday, I realized that those gloves were the one thing I forgot. I had five hours ahead of me and was not about to turn around. Snacks and scrolling through radio stations kept me going for the drive. Why I stopped on a country station for a while, I do not know, but there were a few songs I jammed to then cried to "Thought You Should Know" by Morgan Wallen...again. (The story behind this will come another day).
Once I got to Pensacola and picked up my race packet at the
expo, I scrambled around for an hour searching for some cheap gloves to finally end up with a hand warmer (yes, one; I didn't realize they were packs of the jumbo warmers) and a $1 pair of gardening gloves from the Dollar General. This turned out to be a blessing because they were just enough to keep my hands warm before the start and a few miles in, then I just dropped them on the side of the road. No way I would have trashed my Nike gloves.
Finally settled, I set out everything I needed for the early morning, warmed up dinner, had some dessert (yes, eat dessert, still perform well) and a little time with Jesus before bed. I sent mom this picture of my outfit, and she told me it was 1717, like I was born on October 17 and their anniversary is February 17! I ended my Bible study that night with Psalm 119:32, “I run in the path of Your commands, for you have set my heart free.” No pressure--a distance I've never raced, haven't raced at all in over a year and a half, nobody even had to know how I timed or placed. Just try to be faster than my recent long runs and enjoy the experience.
Enjoy it turned out to be an understatement.
It was a point-to-point race, so they bussed us from the finish to the start. The sun started coming up as we got to the Blue Wahoos Stadium on the waterfront. There were real bathrooms, and the lines were short and moved fast! If you have ever been involved in competitive running, you understand this is a luxury. I stood in there to keep out of the wind for a few before stripping and taking my things to the bag check bins and doing a random, short warm up. After I made my way up to near the front of the start with just a couple minutes to go, I heard someone call my name then saw a person run to me and gave me a hug! What are the odds that one of my freshman year college teammates--and the one who I've actually still talked to through all this time--is at this race!? That probably gave me more energy and excitement for the race than anything. God sends the best unexpected gifts.
The wind was pretty crazy, but the sun and temperature ended up feeling great for racing. I also think I had on the least amount of clothes out of the 3,500+ other people running. When I looked at my watch and saw the pace for the first mile, I thought, "Oh no." It was way faster than I have done any of my long runs, and I still had 8.3 miles to go. But I kept going. I felt good. I realized I was in third (female), and my competitiveness took over. I was not about to slow down if I didn't have to. The first bridge wasn't too bad, only a few miles in. It was such a long bridge, there were only three-ish miles left once we got into Gulf Breeze.
The second bridge was a different story. After running 6:14-6:17 mile splits for seven miles, I was starting to hurt. The second bridge was much shorter but also much steeper. Mile eight was not quite at the top, and it's a good thing it was down and flat to the finish! It was such a great feeling to be out there and feel good, go fast, have people cheering along the way and get my name announced on the speakers! I couldn't believe it when I crossed the finish line and the clock said 59:37 (no way did I think I would go under an hour).
I was too excited. I sent my mom a text with a couple "OMG"s and extra "!!!" and that I would call her in a few, then went to do a little cool down (warm up?) jog and stopped by the athletic training tent because I had already started getting sore as soon as I finished. (That trainer has worked on some of the Jags players who have come to a surgeon in Pensacola-- wow) I started the call out with the story about Avery and almost forgot I needed to follow that up with how the race went.
At the finish and awards I got to talk to and get pictures with the two women who finished ahead of me, and that was so fun! It was great to be encouraged with how young I still am when all I heard over the past year or so was about how old I am. Avery and I also got some cute pictures, then she and Mitch invited me over to hang out at her aunt who lives down the road's house. I had thought the day before that all the post-race stuff would be so much more fun if I knew somebody. Well, God sent me a friend, and I made friends!
Life is draining for our physical and mental energy and our wallets, but I keep reminding myself of Philippians 4:19, "God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches," and remember that He will provide what I need at the right time. This weekend was full of that! From the hotel, to Avery, to coming home with prize money, even down to having gloves I could leave on the side of the road!
One of the greatest things, though, came to me after I got home late that night and unpacked. Just the time of year made me think back to last year, so I looked through some things, and this was the exact day last year I medically retired from college running.
I love how God works.
The NFL season was a blast, but it also wore me out. I joked, also seriously, that I don't know how I was not only able to function but also be stronger than I ever have been and got faster as the season went along. I didn't sleep much at all, and my eating and hydration were not always great either, but being around the team kept me motivated for myself, too. I did what I could when I felt like I could. Sometimes I biked more than I ran, woke up at 4 a.m. or went to bed a 4 a.m., then some days woke up at 11:30 a.m. My mileage was pretty low, I kept my long runs under 10 miles, and I only did four random track workouts since July (two of them in the last two weeks before the race).
That, on top of ending my college career with a major hip injury that led to a knee injury because I couldn't even walk right, while also being terribly b12 and iron-deficiency anemic, then injuring my hip again the day before I moved to Florida and just a lot of emotional things that came along with my college years...this race and whole weekend meant a lot.
So don't give up.
Enjoy the journey God has you on even if you don't see where it's going. Some days you'll look back and see the story coming together but still with much farther to go.
"Glory to God who can do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we ask or imagine." Ephesians 3:20-21