On June 2nd 2013 the 14th annual
Platinum Performance State Street Mile took place in downtown Santa Barbara. It
is a popular local event that raises money for the Crime Victim Emergency Fund.
I had a lot of reservations about signing myself up, but the cause and the
excitement won out. I registered to run in my age group race and my favorite
event of the day, the dog mile.
At this race there are several events to choose from. They
have the family fun mile, the dog mile, 7 age group categories and the open and
master’s elite mile. Once you register for one, you can enter a second for
free. I don’t currently have a dog, so I did a shout out to facebook to see if
anyone’s pooch would like to run with me. My cousin Stephen and his wife Barbie
offered their dog Chase, who I adore.
Race morning arrived bright and early with a nice marine
layer hanging over the city. I was extremely nervous! I haven’t done any speed
work since last year due to my IT-Band problems and I was worried I was just going
to embarrass myself. No one ever wants to finish last, but I was excited about
finally participating in this event. I’ve wanted to do it the last few years,
but due to injuries haven’t been able too.
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| Family fun mile |
Stephen, Barbie and Chase arrived just in time to see me
line up for my age group race. Talk about dog delivery service! Daddio was
further ahead ready to take pictures. He’d told me to just try to stay with
someone near the lead unless they were going way too fast. As soon as the
whistle was blown, we shot off like a bat out of hell. Two guys and one girl
quickly took the lead (at the time I thought it was only one girl and one guy,
somehow I missed the second guy). I tried to latch onto them, but knew pretty quickly
that I wouldn’t be able to maintain the pace unless I wanted to be walking it
in or end up collapsed on the curb.
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| Quarter of a mile |
The start gave me a great lead on the rest of the group. The
other three were ahead and fading, but the rest of the pack was behind by more
than a block. Each quarter of a mile, they would call out the time and I would
try to listen for the person behind me, but never could hear their time. I kept
glancing back, but no one was gaining on me, in fact they were falling further
behind. I did get a tiny bit lazy here, with them further and further behind
and the lead further and further ahead, I did slow my pace a little. When the
finish started to loom in front of me, I didn’t think I had anything left in
the tank for a sprint. Heck, I felt like I was sprinting! But the announcer
called out that I could pick up speed, so I did!
I finished in 6:40, which has to be a mile record for me. I
was hoping for low sevens, so I was stoked with my time. As I made my way
through the finisher's shoot, I was handed a second place plaque for being the second
woman in my age group to finish! I felt so blessed! I managed to make it through
the crowd in time to cheer in the next finisher and the rest of the group.
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| Second place!!! |
I loitered for a few minutes chatting and then made my way
back up the street. I enthusiastically told Daddio the news when I met up with
him and together we met up with Stephen, Barbie and Chase. The dog mile was
more than an hour away, so we hung out, cheering on runners and talking. When
it came time for me and Chase to run, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to do it. He
stood stiff next to me watching his owners. I tried to give him a pep talk, but
all he wanted was Barbie.
When the whistle blew, dogs of all shapes and sizes shot
off, while I tried to drag Chase. He fought me for the first quarter of a mile
worried about his owners and then suddenly he jumped on my leg, licked my hand
and started running. We did a decent pace for his little legs for the next half
mile. He wanted to run over and greet all the volunteers and supporters who
were calling out and cheering for him, but I kept him focused. I was trying to
encourage him to try and pass a couple dogs ahead of us, but he wasn’t
interested. He started running out of gas around the last quarter of a mile,
but found some more energy when hearing the excitement coming from the finish line.
He picked up speed, so I did too and we finished strong! I was proud of the
little guy.
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| I think he had fun |
On the way back to his owners, he seemed to have more energy
than I did. He was going up and greeting other dogs and energetically jumping
up on my leg and licking my hand. I think he had a good time!
Overall, it was a great event and a fun morning with friends
and family!
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| I wore him out |
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