Thee Race 5K

I thought I wouldn’t be able to run a race this month because our weekends were so packed with commitments, but in talking to a running friend at work (who also ran the A1A Half), G found out about this 5K  just north of us being run this weekend. It wasn’t very thoroughly advertised, but I found it when I Googled it.

I arrived about 45 minutes before gun time. Registration was quick and easy. They were out of small shirts, and the woman in front of me got the last medium. I was given a large but exchanged it for an extra large; I figured if I couldn’t wear it, then G might as well. It was a cute shirt!

After completing registration, I went out for a quick warm-up mile. I didn’t do this for my last 5K and I ended up being sorry, as it takes me a while to feel good when I run. When I got back I stretched and then it was time to line up and get instructions at the starting line. This race was much less high-tech than my last race: no chips, no starting gun. When we were told to go, we went, and I clicked my Garmin.

There were no street closures. We ran north on the sidewalk along A1A. It contained some slight inclines. It was crowded enough at the beginning; if you wanted to pass, you had to get off the sidewalk and onto the sand to do it. I felt like my pace was less than consistent. Plenty of people passed me in that early going, but I knew that I could not push more than a 9 or 8:30 mile. Sure enough, by mile 1, 1 1/2, I was passing a lot of those that were fast out of the gate. I was running easy, too. I ran past someone that sounded like she’d better sit down before she passed out.

Slowed down to encourage a young boy who was giving up. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Probably cost me a PR (personal record). With a half-mile to go I told him I had to go and went for it–probably kept a 7 minute pace, but it was too late–still missed my earlier best time and came in at 27:04. Still, with a small crowd, I got third best in my age group, but I was disappointed. Even competing sick, I should have had this race in the bag. With as much running as I’ve been doing since my first 5K, I could have set a PR.

Oh, well, lots more races ahead.

Better Today!

Ran my new standard 6.2 miles on the treadmill today–that’s 10 kilometers. I realized a little while ago that I can push myself a little harder than I had been, so I went faster than I usually do and kept an average 9:50 pace. Not bad for a person who was shivering with a fever yesterday and went to bed at 6:30. I still do feel yucky–head-coldy and throat-scratchy–but am glad that I was able to get my run in. Felt good, especially after Sunday’s lousy attempt.

Miserable Run

I didn’t get my long slow run in Saturday b/c B was sick. I figured I would get up on Sunday, which is usually my rest day, and run 6 or 7, then go with B in the stroller and get in another 4 miles. But, with G out of the house that day, I stayed up way too late grading papers for the university. End result? Did not get up early. Also did not feel like pushing B to go for a run after he said, “I don’t want to run, Mommy.”So . . . no running during the day. B and I went out to lunch with our sweet neighbors. Dad and S were home from their trip when we got back, and after everyone greeted everyone, we all went to take naps. Still no running for me.

At about 5:30, G encouraged me to go out. We figured it would be cooler, and thanks to the time change, I’d still have plenty of light. So I got changed, put on my Garmin, and headed out the door. I thought of doing the 7-mile loop and decided against it; I chose to do the 5 1/2 loop and see how I felt–the plan was to add a 3 1/2 loop at the end of that to get 9 miles in.

Well, first of all, it wasn’t cool. It was still about 80 degrees. And I hadn’t really hydrated all day. What a painful run! I was glad I hadn’t opted for the long loop, and even the short loop that I had mapped out would end up feeling too tough–I cut it short. Not that I didn’t want to HTHU, but my muscles were absolutely screaming in pain. I felt better at the end of the run and might have tacked on another 2 miles or so had the first 4 not taken so long that the sun was starting to get low.

My splits for this horrid run: 9:47.81; 12:12.12, 12:50.53, 10:08.41. Ouch. I don’t know if I’ve ever run a 13-minute mile, much less on such a short run. Lots of walking in there, though.

Oh, well. Today is a new day! RunningAHEAD, the site where I log all my runs, allows you to join user groups according to your yearly goal mileage. They have a remote “pace bunny” that tells you how you’re doing keeping up with your goal. I’m ahead of the bunny for now, but can’t afford too many missed runs. I have a 2000km (1,243 mile) goal, which works out to about 24 miles per week.