JustIn Control

Today marks the last day of JustIn Control and what better way than to recap the 10k I ran on Sunday. (you may see some of the same pictures from Sarah's blog and some pictures have "proof" on them because the race photos are craaaaazzzy expensive, so I just took a screen shot of the proofs. Sorry)

The day started in a rush. I planned on waking up early, doing my devos, having a bowl of Wheaties and get mentally prepared before the big day. But the morning went completely different. I woke up just minutes before the Tatos showed up to pick us up. So it was wake up, get dressed, and out the door.

We had time to grab some coffee and oatmeal from Starbs to get a little fuel in our bellies and then it was over 152 to head to Santa Cruz.

Our ladies dropped us off and immediately I felt overwhelmed and crazy excited all at once. They had some people from a local gym or something doing warm up exercises which meant a lot of techno music and dancing around. They had huge inflatable beach balls that people were bouncing back and forth and you could just feel the excitement and energy on that foggy Santa Cruz morning.

Kissing the baby for good luck.

Even though I anticipated about a 10 minute mile, we moved up to around the 7 minute mile marker because there were 15,000 people and to get stuck behind a bunch of walkers would have really slowed us down even more. They had some local girl sing the national anthem and then a guy with a horn came up and played that famous trumpet line that everyone knows for horse racing (ba ba ba bababada bababada ba ba ba bum) the crowd of 15,000 surged and we all got really close to each other, eagerly anticipating the gun...tension built, excitement rose, the guy held the gun up in the air as we watched eagerly for our freedom to start running...then the gun fired...and we.......walked. I mean really really slowly walked. It took us over 2 minutes just to hit the start line. It was like being in line for a ride at Disneyland.




After we crossed the start line, we walked some more. Then the road closed in and we were funneled into a tighter group. Very slowly but surely it started to open up. Now we could pick up the pace a little bit but we were still forced to go at the pace of the people in front of us. We were jogging, but pretty slowly. After a half mile or so we could really start picking up the pace, but it wasn't until mile 2 that we found our stride.

All along the way there were bands. Every type you can think of. Drum circles, punk, country, one band was so terrible it was almost good, metal bands, A huge group of old people playing ukuleles (kind of like the salvation army meets the polyphonic spree), there was a marching band, bagpipe bands, 80's glam rock cover bands, one guy just playing his drumset by himself, Japanese drums, etc. When you take Santa Cruz and say "hey we need bands to play" you are going to get quite the turnout. It made the run amazing.


One little gem I did not expect to deal with was this thing called running uphill. I guess I expected maybe one or two (due to Tato's analysis) but there were a lot of hills, steep hills, steep long hills. Actually the whole race is one big gradual uphill. So around mile 3-4 I was really feeling it in my legs. I knew I wouldn't stop, but it made for a much more difficult run than I anticipated.


Every couple of miles they had water stations. At mile 4, Tato and I decided to grab a cup of water just like the pros. I also had developed a pretty strong cramp in my right side and thought the water might help. Well let me tell you, running with water is not easy my friends. I grabbed the dixie cup while running, took a sip, and kept running and the water was splashing everywhere. I tried to take another sip and more water got on my face than in my mouth. I eventually just crushed it like the pros do on tv and threw it on the ground (though I thought of myself as a bit of a litter bug).




The cramp eventually went away and soon enough we hit mile 5. From here on out was uncharted territory for me. Due to a really busy schedule lately, I was never able to get to 6 miles in my training. So this day would mark not only a major accomplishment, but a new record for me. Tato and I picked up the pace and I anticipated seeing my wife's beautiful face and her beautiful pregnant belly at the finish line and I could not get to her fast enough. Tato was incredibly encouraging and we even high-fived to get ourselves pumped for this last mile. Luckily Jesus was on our side too because the last 1/4 mile or so is downhill. This made for awesome speed at the end and huge, gazelle-like strides.




Then there at the finish line I saw my wife, with a smile on her face and a camera in her hand and everything slowed down. I crossed the finish line in 1:04:15 and could not be happier. I didn't care about time, I just cared about finishing what I started and finishing strong. I set out to run 6 miles without stopping and did it. I set out to make my wife proud of me and did it. I set out to prove to myself that I could do it and did it. I was victorious.





They told us we couldn't stop and had to keep moving and sadly I didn't get to give my wife a kiss (plus my brain was still trying to catch up with all that just happened). We kind of just went with the flow down to the beach where we picked up our gift packs that included apple juice (which really never tasted so good), a t-shirt, some snacks and a bunch of ads to buy stuff. I called my wife and hearing her voice and thinking about how proud she was made me emotional. I'd love to blame my crying on the pregnancy, but the reality was just that I was so happy and knowing how proud she was of me was a lot for me to handle...and it was the pregnancy.



This marks the end of my little JustIn Control experiment (it had to end sometime). I am not at the exact weight that I plan on being but I think it has served it's purpose. Exactly a year ago today I began this journey and you came with me. I set out to lose weight and get healthy without using a gym, a fix-it-all diet, or any gimmic. Just good old fashioned eating right, exercising, and accountability. I dropped over 35 pounds and ran a 10k. I've had my ups and downs, my major successes and major failures, but you have stuck with me. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Well even though this is the end of JustIn Control, it is not the end of me being healthy and losing weight. I am going to continue on this journey and continue with the momentum I've gained with this major accomplishment. Tato and I are already talking about future races. We know we are going to do a 10 mile race in January and probably a half marathon next summer. Running races is really a lot of fun. I may never get onto American Gladiators (because it is canceled) but I would mark this journey as a success. I have developed good discipline, the awareness of what I eat, and the joy in exercise.




I'm going back over the journey from the beginning for nostalgic sake. If you have nothing to do and want to follow along from the beginning go to http://justincontrol.wordpress.com/page/9/ and see how far we've come. I'll leave the blogs up forever so I always can come back and see what this journey was like when I need encouragement.

Thank you so much for all of your support. Without you I don't know where I'd be. Thank you for your honesty, thank you for commitment, thank you for your encouragement, thank you for believing in me.

Love you guys
Justin

Posted in: on Thursday, July 30, 2009 at at 10:06 AM