Gary Smith Worthington Classic Race Report

July 4, 2016 / Nicole Huston
Updated Mar 2, 2020

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race race report 5 mile

Within the first mile of this race I realized it wasn’t going to be my day. I was running at a pace that should have felt comfortable and instead was feeling like I was going to throw up. I should preface this by saying I had started feeling sick 2 nights prior, but ignored all the signs and ran a long run on Saturday morning which left me feeling pretty miserable later that night. I figured I’d sleep it off and it would work itself out. Not so much… I was pushing but only managing to make 7:30 miles. I was originally wanting to aim for sub 7s (6:50-655s). I quickly reevaluated and realized that wasn’t going to happen. Passing water stops, I felt as if I wouldn’t even be able to keep anything down. It was hot, but also only 5 miles so I could manage without it.

At about mile 3, I started to creep up on other runners who flew by me during the start. Although I wasn’t feeling great, I was running a fairly even pace which was nice. I caught up to another man and women who both looked like pretty decent runners. I passed the guy and kept with the girl for a while. She started pushing the pace and I just let her go knowing I wouldn’t be able to hold that pace for another 1.5 miles. I kept her in my sight and within the last mile I was getting closer. I knew if she kicked up the pace at the end she’d beat me but I still wanted to finish with a hard effort. Another guy and girl flew past me with 3/4 of a mile to go but there was no way I’d catch them. I passed the girl I had been chasing for the past 2 miles right before we hit the track. I didn’t know how far behind me she was, but I figured at this point I could make it to the finish and if I had to throw up I’d make it to a trash can. Miraculously, she didn’t catch me but when I finished I didn’t care. I found a shaded spot to lay down as my body was screaming at me for racing while I was sick.

Final Time: 35:54

The whole time I was running I imagined me finishing and needing medical but after laying down for a while I felt OK enough to just deal with it when I got home. I felt miserable for another day and a half. Racing might have increased the time it toke me to get over being sick but… oh well… looking back I’m not sure I would have done anything differently.

Photos from Gary Smith Worthington Classic Facebook page