Beaver Stadium Run

This morning I ran the Beaver Stadium Run. It’s a race that supports the Special Olympics and the race runs through downtown State College and ends on the 50 yard line of Beaver Stadium – where PSU football is played. I ran this race last year and PRed. This year I went in just wanting to push myself to go as fast as I could but I didn’t expect to PR since the course changed and added a ton more hills.

I woke up this morning and was feeling pretty unsettled if-you-kn0w-what-I-mean, something I ate yesterday just was not sitting in my stomach well. I had a bagel for breakfast because I wanted something semi-bland. My mom ran the race too so she stopped by here and we drove to the race together. It was COLD when we got there. Low 40s, lots of wind. So we just stayed in the car as long as possible. About 30 minutes before the start we got out and walked to the start line. Before I knew it we were off!! Right when we started I noticed a woman not too far ahead that had nittany lion ears on. She immediately became the person I didn’t want to loose sight of and wanted to ultimately pass. First mile had a few hills which were tiring but I knew it would flatten out so I just kept chugging. Felt good. The second mile had the largest hill, and everyone around my started walking. I knew that I couldn’t slow down so I just plowed on through, saying excuse me every 30 seconds or so to get around a walker. The course flattened out then and I noticed the nittany lion eared woman had fallen behind so I picked a new person. There was a blonde woman a little bit ahead so I thought okay, I want to at least stay on pace with her if not pull ahead. Around mile 2.5 I noticed the nittany lion eared woman came up next to me. I refused to slow down and let her get ahead. and little by little I pulled away.

For the last 1/3rd of a mile or so I gunned it. I ran so fast, I was shocked I had so much steam left! We turned into the tunnel leading into the stadium and I kicked it into high gear, the blond woman just a little bit ahead. We ran onto the field and I ran as hard as I could and zoomed right passed her!! Franco Harris, former Steeler and PSU football player was right at the finish giving high fives. I felt awesome and smiled for the cameras. I glanced at my watch and it was 35:15ish but I thought I had stopped it and when I looked as I waited for my mom to cross, I realized I hadn’t stopped my watch. bummer. I’ll just have to wait for the official results. Regardless, not a PR by far but I am so proud of myself for keeping a quick pace and picking off my “targets” I can’t wait to see how the photos came out.

Overall I’m really happy with how I did, I felt like I performed really well considering I’m training for longer distances right now. I’m glad I gave it all I could at the end but I wish I had realized I had that much steam left so I could have gone faster though the whole thing. I’ll definitely be back to do this race again next year though!