So much has happened in the 2+ years since I've blogged here.
Most importantly (but definitely not most recently), my hubby and I are now the mommy and daddy of the most adorable 15 week old little boy. I always knew that I wanted to have a baby someday, but kind of put it off because I never really thought we were ready financially or, really, in any way otherwise. Babies had always scared the crap out of me. I never babysat when I was younger and none of my close friends had kids yet. Example -- One of my hubby's friends and his wife had a baby around five years ago. We stopped by the wife's parents' house to visit and they were there. Since I'm a female, I automatically wanted to hold the baby, right? Not really, but I ended up with a 3 day old newborn in my arms anyway. I was extremely uncomfortable to start off and then the baby started shaking violently. I thought it was something serious like a seizure....OH MY GOD, I BROKE THIS BABY! Nope...just hiccups. But it was definitely frightening. Fast forward a few years and my younger sister and her husband have a baby boy. He's a super sweet kid and pretty much the reason why I decided to stop waiting. I had never pictured myself as an "old mom," and if I was going to avoid that, it was time to get on it. So to speak. ;)
Anyway...our Little Guy was born on June 10th after an interesting pregnancy and delivery that deserve their own stories in due time. I ran exactly twice while pregnant. I was constantly exhausted due to the strange things happening within my body and a brutal winter at the ski resort. Once winter was over and track season started, I was just too uncomfortable to run at all. Making a long story short, I ended up being induced about a week before my due date because I had severely high blood pressure found at my last OB appointment. I was put on blood pressure medication and given strict instructions to take it easy while on maternity leave. I was quite literally told that the heaviest things I was permitted to carry were my baby and a gallon of milk. Running was out of the question. Now that my BP is better and I'm allowed to be a person again, I've only been out running twice. I want to go out more, but finding the time between working and taking care of Little Guy is more difficult that I'd imagine. Add to that the fact that I hate not feeling like I used to when I run. I'm so slow and don't feel that awesome "I love this" feeling that I used to get while running. I know that it will take some time to get back there and I need to make an effort to run more. I just need more time. Unfortunately, time seems to pass by much more quickly these days. If anyone has any that they'd like to donate to me, hook a sista up!
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Thursday, August 1, 2013
It's been such a long time...
It's sure been a while since I last posted. Life has kept me quite busy. Busy enough to keep me from much running, unfortunately, but I'm headed back out for a few miles just as soon as I wrap up this post.
My next race is this Saturday. As in two days from now. And I've put in exactly two miles since LAST Monday. GULP. I originally started a six week training plan for that race so I could put in a good run a PR, but that fell by the wayside as God laughed at my plans. The race is actually taking place at a state park right across the road from my husband's grandparents' house, so I know I'll at least have a cheering section...and hopefully an awesome meal when I'm done. My plan to NOT race and just run given my lack of running lately is probably going to backfire, but that's at least going to be my goal going in.
Next up is another 5K at the end of the month -- the Pittsburgh Steelers 5k. The race goes along the riverwalk and past PNC Park before turning around and finishing inside Heinz Field. The course is really flat, so it ought to give me a fighting chance at a good time if I can get through the crowd of people at the start. My brother-in-law even said he might run with me which is fun!
I'm considering a 5K or 10K in late October that's being held during a running festival where I work, but that's still up in the air. If I do decide to run in October, that'll likely be it for my racing season. Ski season is quickly approaching so I'm sure I'll be way busier than I am even now.
For now, though, it's time to tie on my shoes and head out for a loop around town. There's a free concert in the town square tonight, so I might stop and check that out too....if I survive that far.
My next race is this Saturday. As in two days from now. And I've put in exactly two miles since LAST Monday. GULP. I originally started a six week training plan for that race so I could put in a good run a PR, but that fell by the wayside as God laughed at my plans. The race is actually taking place at a state park right across the road from my husband's grandparents' house, so I know I'll at least have a cheering section...and hopefully an awesome meal when I'm done. My plan to NOT race and just run given my lack of running lately is probably going to backfire, but that's at least going to be my goal going in.
Next up is another 5K at the end of the month -- the Pittsburgh Steelers 5k. The race goes along the riverwalk and past PNC Park before turning around and finishing inside Heinz Field. The course is really flat, so it ought to give me a fighting chance at a good time if I can get through the crowd of people at the start. My brother-in-law even said he might run with me which is fun!
I'm considering a 5K or 10K in late October that's being held during a running festival where I work, but that's still up in the air. If I do decide to run in October, that'll likely be it for my racing season. Ski season is quickly approaching so I'm sure I'll be way busier than I am even now.
For now, though, it's time to tie on my shoes and head out for a loop around town. There's a free concert in the town square tonight, so I might stop and check that out too....if I survive that far.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Are You A Friendly Runner?
I found this article on Runner's World's website last week - Ask Dr. Daily: Why Some Runners Don't Wave. The tongue-in-cheek article claims that there's a little area in the brain called "Steve." Steve's in normal runners (Normal? I'm not sure that ANY runner is normal, but I digress...) allow them to be friendly and cordial while running while those with smaller than average Steves have "C.S.R.S." or "Chronic Sullen Runner Syndrome." People with normal Steves tend to wave or at least nod an acknowledgement to fellow runners and those poor souls afflicted with C.S.R.S. are stone-cold sober on their runs
I really had to laugh through this article. I'm always excited to see another runner (or walker, biker, unicyclist, underwater basket weaver, gymnast, whatever) when I'm out on my route and will at least give a smile and a nod, if not as friendly of a "Hi" as I can muster at the time. I've certainly encountered my fair share of C.S.R.S runners, though, who can't seem to be bothered enough to wave to a fellow runner. I mean, we share a common thread...just be friendly!
I'm not crazy friendly at races, like my half marathon in Pittburgh this past May, purposely running up to get high-fives from people. I'm there to race and, frankly, moving to the side of the street to high-five people adds up. I don't want to run any further and any longer than I need to!
Runners, to me at least, seem to be a really friendly sort of people. My half marathon in May was my first big race and everyone I encountered was so nice. I met up with some other runners at my hotel's continental breakfast at 5 a.m. and they were already chipper and cheerful, asking me if this was my first big race and if I was nervous and telling everyone good luck. The start line area was a total CF on race morning and all I wanted to do was pee, but the lines to the port-a-potties were so long that I wasn't sure I'd have enough time to get in there and back to my corral before the start. Luckily, there were some really friendly girls that were on their way past who told me about a totally deserted pod of potties just down from the nightmare lines. They didn't have to tell me, but I'm sure they could see the utter panic on my face. Overall, they were just such nice people and one of the reasons why I really want to run that half marathon again.
I really had to laugh through this article. I'm always excited to see another runner (or walker, biker, unicyclist, underwater basket weaver, gymnast, whatever) when I'm out on my route and will at least give a smile and a nod, if not as friendly of a "Hi" as I can muster at the time. I've certainly encountered my fair share of C.S.R.S runners, though, who can't seem to be bothered enough to wave to a fellow runner. I mean, we share a common thread...just be friendly!
I'm not crazy friendly at races, like my half marathon in Pittburgh this past May, purposely running up to get high-fives from people. I'm there to race and, frankly, moving to the side of the street to high-five people adds up. I don't want to run any further and any longer than I need to!
Runners, to me at least, seem to be a really friendly sort of people. My half marathon in May was my first big race and everyone I encountered was so nice. I met up with some other runners at my hotel's continental breakfast at 5 a.m. and they were already chipper and cheerful, asking me if this was my first big race and if I was nervous and telling everyone good luck. The start line area was a total CF on race morning and all I wanted to do was pee, but the lines to the port-a-potties were so long that I wasn't sure I'd have enough time to get in there and back to my corral before the start. Luckily, there were some really friendly girls that were on their way past who told me about a totally deserted pod of potties just down from the nightmare lines. They didn't have to tell me, but I'm sure they could see the utter panic on my face. Overall, they were just such nice people and one of the reasons why I really want to run that half marathon again.
Friday, June 21, 2013
RR - Baltimore 10-Miler
I traveled to Baltimore this weekend to visit my sister-in-law and her family and to run with her in the Baltimore 10-Miler. I was excited to run it since I've never run a 10 mile race before -- when that happens, you ALWAYS PR! I was more excited to run it, though, because I was running it with my sister-in-law, Andrea. Andrea is a teacher who isn't the most athletic type...the closest she came to playing sports in high school was playing in the marching band. However, she decided randomly decided to run a 5k and then signed up for this 10 mile race. I give her a lot of credit to stick through a training program as a total beginner and run that far. She set a goal of finishing in under two hours, which is pretty good for a beginner.
So, on Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Druid Hill Lake Park for the race. Based on my race times from this spring, I was hoping for a finish around 85 minutes. I'd looked over the race course and while there were some hills, it didn't seem like that would be an out of the question goal time. We got to the park about 15 minutes before the race began, took a pre-race pee break, and headed to our start waves. I was hoping to be able to squeeze into the end of the first wave (1:00 - 1:20 expected finish time) so I wouldn't have to run over slower runners at the start, but there was no way I could maneuver my way through the throngs of people and ended up starting in the third wave (1:30 - 1:50 times) behind the 1:35 pace group. Not a huge deal, but I knew my start was going to be a bit slow.
The race started and we were off. Having looked at the course map, I knew there was a fairly long downhill right after the start that we'd have to run back up at the end. I'm not sure if I was concentrating on not running people over or what, but the downhill didn't seem all that downhill. My first mile was right around 9 minutes, which I was OK with because of the starting situation. I knew I'd need to pick it up a bit to make it back to my 1:25 pace. And then we started winding our way through Baltimore. And it started getting hot...it was already in the low 70s at just after 7:30 that morning. The hills leading the way through the city weren't too bad, but it was the heat that was the killer. There wasn't a ton of shade along the course, but there was one street that had a tree-lined median in the middle and EVERYONE was sticking to the left side of the road to stay out of the sun. I ticked off a few more miles and started adjusting my goal...maybe 1:27 was a little more reasonable given the conditions. I made it to the turn around point of the race, a loop around Lake Montebello. I was excited because this was the flattest part of the race so I should be able to just settle in for about a mile and coast, but the road going around the lake sloped from left to right then entire way around. It was like running with two different length legs and it started to make my knees hurt a little. At the halfway point, 1:27 was looking pretty promising.
And then the second half of the race showed up. I certainly wasn't struggling, but my mile times were starting to slow -- mile 6 was my slowest by far, though I can't really come up with a reason why. 1:27 was slipping away, so 1:30 became my next goal as I started to reel in the pace group. The guys leading the group were pretty cool, telling stories and basically acting as tour guides as we passed Johns Hopkins University and where Memorial Stadium stood. Finally we were a little less than a mile and a half from the finish. Remember that downhill portion from the beginning? Well, it sure seems a lot more uphill than it seemed to be downhill. My hometown has some pretty serious hills that I attack during my runs at home and this one isn't nearly as daunting as some of those, but it just felt insanely difficult. The course leveled out at the top of the hill and then looped around....a cemetery! What an unusual yet appropriate place to finish a race. I kept an eye on my watch as I finished the last loop and headed for the finish. Somehow I managed to cross the finish line squeezed between two guys wearing fluorescent green shirts.
1:29:15 - YES. It wasn't quite the time I started out hoping for, but given the conditions and that hellish uphill at the end, I was certainly pleased. One thing I was not enthused about, however were my mile splits which were all over the place. Seven of the ten miles were in the area of 9:00 which was good, but I had two in the low 7:00s and that 10:25 for mile 6. I have no clue where those came from.
I collected some water, recovery goodies and a icy, wet towel (probably the best thing in the finishers' chute!) and headed to pick up my "race premium," which is pretty unique to this race. Instead of finishers' medals and tech shirts, all finishers get a special apparel item that varies from year to year. This year featured an Alanic jacket! Pretty sweet, right? I also stopped by the merchandise tent and picked up a tech tee that has a shoe on the front made out of the street names of the race route. (Honestly, I bought the shirt to get a bag to carry my stuff. I had a dream the night before the race where I had somehow forgotten to take my gear bag to the bag check and had to run with it slung around my front like a koala bear, so I decided against taking my bag!)
I figured that Andrea ought to be finishing soon, so I went back to the finish line area to cheer her on. My in-laws actually made the trip down to watch us on the course, so I thought I might find them there. I hadn't seen them during the race, though, and wasn't sure if they'd made it or had gotten caught in traffic or something. I actually found myself standing across the finish area and up just a little. My phone finally buzzed with the runner tracker texts I had signed up for and based on her start time and her pace through the halfway point, Andrea would likely come in under 2 hours! She finally made her way through the finish line and came in just under 2 hours -- 1:59:51.
We all met up at the end of the finishers' chute and then headed into the Celebration Village for our beers (at 9:45 in the morning, mind you.) Andrea seemed to really enjoy herself, which I was really most happy about - there's nothing worse than having a miserable time.
Overall, it was a good day to run. A little hot, yes, but I made the best out of what I had in front of me and adjusted. Andrea enjoyed herself and my in-laws even seemed to have a good time spectating too...my father-in-law even mentioned that it seemed like it would be a fun time to do something like this and was seriously considering running the next time we did a race. Cool!
So, on Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Druid Hill Lake Park for the race. Based on my race times from this spring, I was hoping for a finish around 85 minutes. I'd looked over the race course and while there were some hills, it didn't seem like that would be an out of the question goal time. We got to the park about 15 minutes before the race began, took a pre-race pee break, and headed to our start waves. I was hoping to be able to squeeze into the end of the first wave (1:00 - 1:20 expected finish time) so I wouldn't have to run over slower runners at the start, but there was no way I could maneuver my way through the throngs of people and ended up starting in the third wave (1:30 - 1:50 times) behind the 1:35 pace group. Not a huge deal, but I knew my start was going to be a bit slow.
The race started and we were off. Having looked at the course map, I knew there was a fairly long downhill right after the start that we'd have to run back up at the end. I'm not sure if I was concentrating on not running people over or what, but the downhill didn't seem all that downhill. My first mile was right around 9 minutes, which I was OK with because of the starting situation. I knew I'd need to pick it up a bit to make it back to my 1:25 pace. And then we started winding our way through Baltimore. And it started getting hot...it was already in the low 70s at just after 7:30 that morning. The hills leading the way through the city weren't too bad, but it was the heat that was the killer. There wasn't a ton of shade along the course, but there was one street that had a tree-lined median in the middle and EVERYONE was sticking to the left side of the road to stay out of the sun. I ticked off a few more miles and started adjusting my goal...maybe 1:27 was a little more reasonable given the conditions. I made it to the turn around point of the race, a loop around Lake Montebello. I was excited because this was the flattest part of the race so I should be able to just settle in for about a mile and coast, but the road going around the lake sloped from left to right then entire way around. It was like running with two different length legs and it started to make my knees hurt a little. At the halfway point, 1:27 was looking pretty promising.
And then the second half of the race showed up. I certainly wasn't struggling, but my mile times were starting to slow -- mile 6 was my slowest by far, though I can't really come up with a reason why. 1:27 was slipping away, so 1:30 became my next goal as I started to reel in the pace group. The guys leading the group were pretty cool, telling stories and basically acting as tour guides as we passed Johns Hopkins University and where Memorial Stadium stood. Finally we were a little less than a mile and a half from the finish. Remember that downhill portion from the beginning? Well, it sure seems a lot more uphill than it seemed to be downhill. My hometown has some pretty serious hills that I attack during my runs at home and this one isn't nearly as daunting as some of those, but it just felt insanely difficult. The course leveled out at the top of the hill and then looped around....a cemetery! What an unusual yet appropriate place to finish a race. I kept an eye on my watch as I finished the last loop and headed for the finish. Somehow I managed to cross the finish line squeezed between two guys wearing fluorescent green shirts.
1:29:15 - YES. It wasn't quite the time I started out hoping for, but given the conditions and that hellish uphill at the end, I was certainly pleased. One thing I was not enthused about, however were my mile splits which were all over the place. Seven of the ten miles were in the area of 9:00 which was good, but I had two in the low 7:00s and that 10:25 for mile 6. I have no clue where those came from.
I collected some water, recovery goodies and a icy, wet towel (probably the best thing in the finishers' chute!) and headed to pick up my "race premium," which is pretty unique to this race. Instead of finishers' medals and tech shirts, all finishers get a special apparel item that varies from year to year. This year featured an Alanic jacket! Pretty sweet, right? I also stopped by the merchandise tent and picked up a tech tee that has a shoe on the front made out of the street names of the race route. (Honestly, I bought the shirt to get a bag to carry my stuff. I had a dream the night before the race where I had somehow forgotten to take my gear bag to the bag check and had to run with it slung around my front like a koala bear, so I decided against taking my bag!)
I figured that Andrea ought to be finishing soon, so I went back to the finish line area to cheer her on. My in-laws actually made the trip down to watch us on the course, so I thought I might find them there. I hadn't seen them during the race, though, and wasn't sure if they'd made it or had gotten caught in traffic or something. I actually found myself standing across the finish area and up just a little. My phone finally buzzed with the runner tracker texts I had signed up for and based on her start time and her pace through the halfway point, Andrea would likely come in under 2 hours! She finally made her way through the finish line and came in just under 2 hours -- 1:59:51.
We all met up at the end of the finishers' chute and then headed into the Celebration Village for our beers (at 9:45 in the morning, mind you.) Andrea seemed to really enjoy herself, which I was really most happy about - there's nothing worse than having a miserable time.
Overall, it was a good day to run. A little hot, yes, but I made the best out of what I had in front of me and adjusted. Andrea enjoyed herself and my in-laws even seemed to have a good time spectating too...my father-in-law even mentioned that it seemed like it would be a fun time to do something like this and was seriously considering running the next time we did a race. Cool!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Love With Food Subscription Box
Are you one of those folks that has gotten into the subscription box craze? I AM! I started out with the Graze box back a few months ago and while I really liked a lot of their snacks, I put my subscription on hold to try out the Love With Food boxes.
The Love With Food boxes include gourmet samples of different foods each month and you can choose to go with four different types of subscriptions - monthly, three month, six month, and yearly. I went with the three month option to get a decent judge of it before I decide whether or not to continue the subscription. For just $12 per box, it was just about the same that I was paying for the Graze box per month ($5/box, including shipping, and I would get it bi-weekly). Check out their Facebook page before your order, because you can get a code to get your first box free!
The May box featured items picked by Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel fame, so I was excited to see what was included in my first box this month. Well, it is abundantly clear that the foodies at Love With Food were aiming for a tropical theme for the June box as the majority of the samples included coconut. While I'm not crazy about coconut, I'll certainly give everything a try.
This month's box included olive oil roasted seaweed, coconut and mango fruit ice, a gluten-free pineapple coconut cereal bar, organic fruit gummy bears, plantain chips, a mango coconut Soy Joy bar, pomegranate mint gum, citrus hibiscus drink mix, and organic apple and blood orange hard candies. There were also Soy Joy coupons, a card to get a year subscription to Food & Wine for $12, and a $50 "gift card" for nakedwines.com.
Overall, not a bad haul for just $12. The bad thing about the gift card for the online wine store is that they don't ship to Pennsylvania (boo, antiquated liquor laws!), so if I decide to use it, I'll need to ship it to some family in Maryland.
It's still too early to decide if I'll keep the subscription going after my initial three months, but so far I'm pretty pleased with the selection.
I also signed up to get a Stride Box and my first box will arrive in early July. I'm really excited about that one, too, because it's all runners' gear!
* A note: Neither Love With Food nor any of the manufacturers of the products enclosed in the Love With Food box provided me with any compensation for this review. The box subscription was paid for by me and the opinions of this product are exclusively my own.
The Love With Food boxes include gourmet samples of different foods each month and you can choose to go with four different types of subscriptions - monthly, three month, six month, and yearly. I went with the three month option to get a decent judge of it before I decide whether or not to continue the subscription. For just $12 per box, it was just about the same that I was paying for the Graze box per month ($5/box, including shipping, and I would get it bi-weekly). Check out their Facebook page before your order, because you can get a code to get your first box free!
The May box featured items picked by Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel fame, so I was excited to see what was included in my first box this month. Well, it is abundantly clear that the foodies at Love With Food were aiming for a tropical theme for the June box as the majority of the samples included coconut. While I'm not crazy about coconut, I'll certainly give everything a try.
This month's box included olive oil roasted seaweed, coconut and mango fruit ice, a gluten-free pineapple coconut cereal bar, organic fruit gummy bears, plantain chips, a mango coconut Soy Joy bar, pomegranate mint gum, citrus hibiscus drink mix, and organic apple and blood orange hard candies. There were also Soy Joy coupons, a card to get a year subscription to Food & Wine for $12, and a $50 "gift card" for nakedwines.com.
Overall, not a bad haul for just $12. The bad thing about the gift card for the online wine store is that they don't ship to Pennsylvania (boo, antiquated liquor laws!), so if I decide to use it, I'll need to ship it to some family in Maryland.
It's still too early to decide if I'll keep the subscription going after my initial three months, but so far I'm pretty pleased with the selection.
I also signed up to get a Stride Box and my first box will arrive in early July. I'm really excited about that one, too, because it's all runners' gear!
* A note: Neither Love With Food nor any of the manufacturers of the products enclosed in the Love With Food box provided me with any compensation for this review. The box subscription was paid for by me and the opinions of this product are exclusively my own.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
RR - Daily American 10k ---- The Race That Might Not Have Been
I almost didn't run this race today. I had been throwing around the idea of entering for about a month or two, but had put it off. I mean, I was already entered for the Baltimore 10 Miler on June 15th, so running a race the weekend before could be overkill.
Enter the text message from my friend Leah on Tuesday evening: "Mags.. you doing the 10k on Saturday??" Ugh...why the hell not? I entered online and told her that I was running.
I wasn't too pleased with my decision to enter. I had run the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May and done way better than I'd anticipated on way less training than I should have had -- my goal was to run under two hours and crossed the finish line in 1:51:59. I took two weeks off and slacked at getting back into my training until this past week in preparation for the 10 miler. I didn't think I was ready to run the 10k and really didn't want to do anything but run a PR. I ran the same race seven years ago when I was in college in 54:04. It was an OK time, but nothing to write home about. My 10k split from the half marathon was just faster than that, so I had the ability to run a PR, but I doubted that my lack of training would provide that outcome.
Back to today.
My breakfast was nearly nonexistent...half of a half of a bagel. My warmup was nearly the same -- a run from the parking lot to the track to pick up my packet and back to the car to drop off my freebie shirt. I wasn't expecting anything and just hoping to finish in a reasonable time. Don't run to be competitive, I told myself. Use this as a training run. Telling me to not be competitive is like telling the sun not to shine.
The gun sounded and we were off. I passed my friend Mike from work about three quarters of a mile in and he gave me some friendly ribbing that I shouldn't be passing him already. I caught and passed Leah about a half mile later. My legs felt good, so I just kept going after the people in front of me. Most of the second mile is uphill at a fairly good grade and I passed some more people, a lot pf them women. I had started pretty close to the beginning of the pack at the start, so I knew that there couldn't be too many more of them out there in front of me.
I just kept plugging along and made it through the halfway mark at right around 24 minutes. My 5k PR is 24:16, so I knew I was running well and kept pushing. There's another tough uphill part right at the beginning of the second half of the race that killed me the first time I ran the course seven years ago, so that made me a little nervous. I made it to the top of that hill and then the course wound downhill through a residential neighborhood where the 10k course and 5k course run side by side. The closest female competitor in front of me started fading just before the course started back up the hill as we started to leave that neighborhood, so I made my move and passed her.
There's one last uphill stretch for about 200 meters before the rest of the course is downhill for a mile. My friend Joy was working the last water station right there and said, "There's only three women in front of you!" That's all?! If no one passes me, I'll place in the top five and get a plaque! Before I even ran the race, I looked at last year's results and saw that if I ran under 50 minutes I had a great shot at breaking the top five, so that got me really excited. I made it to the top of the last hill and the fifth mile marker (a quick glance at my watch told me that I was right around 41 minutes) and then it hit -- that panicky feeling that I wasn't sure if I could hold my pace. Calm down. You've come this far and you can place. You can get a PR if you just use the downhill and GO. I don't know where it came from, but I did calm down, finished the downhill strong, turned the corner and headed back toward the track and the last half mile of the race.
I entered the football stadium knowing that I had just under one full lap to go. You have less than a quarter of a mile to go. PUSH. I started trying to kick as soon as I hit the track. I strided out the back stretch as much as I could and then hugged the curve as I came around to the last 60 meters. I hit the 100 meter dash start line and saw the 10k clock running just in front of me -- 49:33. GO. NOW. I could get in under 50 minutes! I was going to place in the top five! I kicked like my ass was on fire and came in at 49:47.
I made my way to the water and food tent and then back to the fence around the track to cheer on Leah and Mike as they finished. Then I had to hang around to wait for the awards announcements. When they got to the 10k women, they got through the top five and my name wasn't called. HUH? I collected my first place age group medal and then took a look at the full finishers' results board. Sixth overall...by just 31 seconds. Well shit. I can't say that wasn't a letdown, but the whole race was great. Earning a PR by 4:17 was awesome...I can't believe I ran that fast after not having run consistently for a few weeks. Now all I can hope for is that this race will be a good indicator as to how next Saturday's race will go.
Another bonus from today: One of my tracklings ran the 5k and was second in her age group and the 11th female overall. It made me so proud!
I just kept plugging along and made it through the halfway mark at right around 24 minutes. My 5k PR is 24:16, so I knew I was running well and kept pushing. There's another tough uphill part right at the beginning of the second half of the race that killed me the first time I ran the course seven years ago, so that made me a little nervous. I made it to the top of that hill and then the course wound downhill through a residential neighborhood where the 10k course and 5k course run side by side. The closest female competitor in front of me started fading just before the course started back up the hill as we started to leave that neighborhood, so I made my move and passed her.
There's one last uphill stretch for about 200 meters before the rest of the course is downhill for a mile. My friend Joy was working the last water station right there and said, "There's only three women in front of you!" That's all?! If no one passes me, I'll place in the top five and get a plaque! Before I even ran the race, I looked at last year's results and saw that if I ran under 50 minutes I had a great shot at breaking the top five, so that got me really excited. I made it to the top of the last hill and the fifth mile marker (a quick glance at my watch told me that I was right around 41 minutes) and then it hit -- that panicky feeling that I wasn't sure if I could hold my pace. Calm down. You've come this far and you can place. You can get a PR if you just use the downhill and GO. I don't know where it came from, but I did calm down, finished the downhill strong, turned the corner and headed back toward the track and the last half mile of the race.
I entered the football stadium knowing that I had just under one full lap to go. You have less than a quarter of a mile to go. PUSH. I started trying to kick as soon as I hit the track. I strided out the back stretch as much as I could and then hugged the curve as I came around to the last 60 meters. I hit the 100 meter dash start line and saw the 10k clock running just in front of me -- 49:33. GO. NOW. I could get in under 50 minutes! I was going to place in the top five! I kicked like my ass was on fire and came in at 49:47.
I made my way to the water and food tent and then back to the fence around the track to cheer on Leah and Mike as they finished. Then I had to hang around to wait for the awards announcements. When they got to the 10k women, they got through the top five and my name wasn't called. HUH? I collected my first place age group medal and then took a look at the full finishers' results board. Sixth overall...by just 31 seconds. Well shit. I can't say that wasn't a letdown, but the whole race was great. Earning a PR by 4:17 was awesome...I can't believe I ran that fast after not having run consistently for a few weeks. Now all I can hope for is that this race will be a good indicator as to how next Saturday's race will go.
Another bonus from today: One of my tracklings ran the 5k and was second in her age group and the 11th female overall. It made me so proud!
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