Dome Dash (Augustana College’s Homecoming 5k)
October 14, 2017
8:00am
22:07/1st Overall Female
(My 16th race of the 2017 season)
In early September, my good friend Brooke reached out to me to see if I was interested in going back to our undergrad alma mater, Augustana College, for some Homecoming festivities. While I definitely think highly of the college (and have a not-so-secret maybe-desire to one day work there, depending, of course, on many different life factors for our family) - I am definitely not the “school spirit” type and Homecoming festivities are far from on my radar. We joke about “sportsing” in the Wells household - while we definitely don’t hate on sports (I see a true value in team sports)…we are just clueless about them over here. I didn’t grow up in a “sportsing” family and have never understood football, not even a little bit. I think I am a at least fairly intelligent person, but when I stare at a football field with people running all over, I go totally blank. No clue what’s going on. Anyway, all that to say - going back to homecoming has never been high on my “desire” list because typically homecoming revolves around a football game and that just isn’t my personal idea of fun - I know that I am in the strange minority here :)….maybe i just need lessons.
In addition to the “big game,” though, Augustana’s Communication Sciences and Disorders department (where I completed my degree work) holds a homecoming brunch for past graduates and current students to come back and reminisce about the “good old days” and learn about new things that are happening in the department. Brooke suggested that it would be fun to go together - and I decided to take her up on the offer to hang out and make it happen. I knew there was also a Homecoming 5k, but had never done it. I looked up the info - race start was at 8am and the brunch was at 11am. Perfect! I reached out to my sister to see if she wanted to run it with me (she did!) and to my mom to see if we could stay at their house (of course!).
So, Gabe and I made plans to head up to the Quad Cities Friday night before the race. We met my mom, Brooke, and my sister and her family at a Mexican restaurant right on the edge of Geneseo (where my parents live) - nothing like some dirty Mexican food the night before a race! YUMMMMM. Gabe and I ate our weight in chips and salsa, and I also had some “special” that involved rice, chicken, cheese and soft corn tortillas to wrap it all up in. Gabe wouldn’t touch his plain chicken taco that I ordered for him - whatever. After dinner (which was loud and crowded and a little dirty, but still enjoyable), Brooke, Gabe, and I headed over to my parents’. We chatted for a while - ok, a long while. Brooke and I don’t see each other very often - and when we do we could literally talk for hours without stopping. In addition to attending the same undergraduate institution (we actually weren’t friends there - she was a sorority girl and I was a band nerd - but we still have the commonality of having a similar foundation for our speech pathology training at the undergrad level which makes us have lots of nerdy conversations), we were actually roommates for 2 years during grad school when we went to Purdue in Indiana. We literally did everything together for two years - so much so that professors (and classmates!) would interchange our names quite often. I am pretty convinced that there were people who never actually knew who was who. We lived together, grocery shopped together, had the same research assistantship in the same research lab, had virtually every class together, had almost every clinical placement together, prepped meals and ate together, and worked out together after class. Neither of us were (are?!) morning people, so sometimes we would get up in the morning, get ready in the same bathroom, go downstairs to eat breakfast, pack up a car, and drive down to campus….all without saying a word to each other. But it was ok. We had an “understanding” that never needed to be discussed (though we laugh about it now).
After getting to bed WAY too late, my alarm went off at like 5. I think I got 5 hours of sleep. Maybe. I got ready as quietly as I could and packed up to head out. Brooke was planning to head out to join me later. I had originally planned to bring Gabe with me, but his Gram (my mom) convinced me that perhaps I should leave him with her. The weather was a little icky (rainy) and, plus, didn’t I want him to have a good nights’ sleep?! Gram is always right…
I arrived on campus around 7:00am and wandered around to find the packet pickup (located in the middle of the track/football stadium). It became apparent that this was going to be a VERY small race….there were basically no other runners anywhere around. Whatev! My sister arrived around 7:15 or so and we gathered up her things and then headed out on a mile warmup together. As we started running, I was reminded of an unfortunate fact - Augie’s campus is NOT flat. Ugh!! I didn’t have “big” goals for the race, but I did hope to keep somewhere around a 7-flat pace (21:44ish).
We rounded out our run and made our way to the starting line. I assessed the “situation” quietly and saw one woman in some colorful capri pants who “looked fast.” Other than that, I didn’t see much in the way of female competition. My sister, reading my mind, said, “You’re going to win this!” I said, “nahhhh”…and we took our places on the starting line on the track. The race director had gone the course in the packet pickup area beforehand and said we would be running approximately 500m on the track before exiting out a certain exit and then would follow orange cones to make our way through campus before returning back to the track to run approximately 300m from our entrance to the finish.
The signal was just the race director shouting over a megaphone…and then we were off. I settled in on the inside lane of the track behind 3 men. As we rounded the track, some volunteers pointed us out an exit…but I was thinking in my head, “This is wrong…this is wrong! This is just about 300 meters, I thought it was 500 meters on the track…what the heck? Oh well, follow the leader!” So…I followed the first 3 guys out into a parking lot and, sure enough, WRONG MOVE! Another volunteer yelled at us to go back, so we turned and sprinted back onto the track…right into the thick of the pack at this point. We fought our way up, laughing (at least I was laughing - one of the lead guys actually did seem mad. Whatever!!). It wasn’t hard to get back up to the lead of the pack shortly after exiting the track at the CORRECT point.
We went up the first small ascent and then turned to the left to go up MORE. We crossed a street and then ran past the science building and a computer lab building. As we approached the library on our right, I saw a long table set up with a big water jug on it and a sleeve of disposable cups. Curious. I assume this was supposed to be a water stop that didn’t end up getting manned? I didn’t end up seeing water anywhere else on the course, but water was advertised - so who knows. I didn’t “need” it so it was all good. The temps were cool and I never felt desperate for water - though I do feel bad for people who would’ve wanted/needed it! I entered the “Slough path” and soon my mile 1 sounded at 6:57. A bit after this, I crossed the 1-mile marker on the course - I seemed to be just under a tenth of a mile over thanks to our little “detour”
I was definitely starting to feel my lack of speed work and I knew my body was slowing significantly. I came to one small out and back portion of the course which allowed me to see my sister Megan. She was second female! WOOOT! I gave her a cheer which she returned as we passed one another and soldiered on, somewhat renewed. Mile two was over in 7:24. Oops - I had let my pace drop considerably!
I started in on the third mile with somewhat improved focus and did my best to pick up the pace. A second small out and back portion was around the mid point of the third mile which meant I saw Megan again - still in second! I powered UP the last darn hill and made my way back into the Centennial Hall parking lot (the building where I played many a band concert during my time at Augie!) and onto the track. Mile three somehow was my fastest (by 1 whole second!) at 6:56. I put my head down and ran as hard as I could to finish out the race. I made my way around the track and crossed the finish line in 22:07 - just over a 7-minute pace. First overall female (I was right - no real competition at this one) and 7th overall…out of a whopping 65 finishers. Megan ended up getting second overall female - so fun to be 1 and 2! Brooke met us at the finish and we shared some water, granola bars, and bananas before heading out on a reminiscent walk around campus and to the bookstore to buy Gabey a t-shirt and ball.
I ended up wearing my pretty chroma Rides for this race (I hadn’t done a 5k in a while and literally wasn’t even thinking and didn’t pack racing flats!) and they were a delight as always. Maybe lighter shoes would’ve been better but - oh well!
Thanks Mitch - being on this team is just so much darn fun. Thanks Saucony - the gear really is the best. Thanks teammates - love the camaraderie both in person, via e-mail and through social media! And, thanks, Coach Clint (can I still call you that even though I haven’t really been using any real coaching suggestions lately?!).
Next up - Town and Gown 5k and then….the Indianapolis Marathon (Yes. I do mean the full).
Have a great day all :).
`Rachel
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