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October 17, 2004
Go Figure
Yesterday I needed to do laundry so that my racing outfit would be clean for today's race. I like to hang my laundry outside on the line since the dryer has not been too nice to some of my running clothes. As I'm sitting folding my socks, I hear raindrops hitting the porch roof with all of my clothes out on the line!! I had to run outside and rescue my clothes from getting soaked again. There was not too much damage, the rain had just started and most of the clothes were almost dry. I felt like a housewife from the 1950s.
When I woke up this morning to go to the race, I turned on the TV to see the weather. I was not a happy camper when the weatherman said that it was about 40 degrees out with strong, gusty winds. I do not run well with wind. I'd packed most of my bag last night, but I added a few more pieces of dry clothing this morning. My racing flats are in the garage and I almost forgot them on my way out the door. Not that I would have cared because I absolutely hate my new racing shoes. The drive up was pretty uneventful since the race was about 25 minutes away from my house.
I got there and registered. This is a small race and is geared more towards walkers, but it gives a good amount of money to the top three overall men and women. It is never a good sign at a race when they are having the bagels, donuts, and coffee before the start of the race, instead of after. I ran this race last year and remembered that the course is somewhat confusing. It runs through local neighborhoods and has lots of turns. In fact, you make turns that do not go the way you think you should be going. I ran the course as a warm-up. I timed it and could not believe that it took so long, but then I realized that I had not cleared out my watch from yesterdays run! I met up with K who lives nearby and has been running track workouts with us for a few weeks and we hung out at my car to stretch, change shoes, etc. We stashed all of our stuff in my car since I was parked right next to the finish line. A few minutes before the start, I stripped down to my long bra top and shorts. I kept my gloves on since my hands were freezing. Actually, I was freezing. Some guy at the starting line kept offering me a jacket since I was shivering so much.
They were going to play the national anthem, but the race directors felt so bad for all of us shivering on the starting line that they just started us. The start goes downhill out of a driveway and then makes two kind of sharp turns, left out of the driveway and then an immediate sharp right into a development. As with almost every road race, kids went out flying and I was getting pushed around. I spent about the first half mile as the fifth woman. Around the mile mark (I couldn't find a 1 on the ground, but I saw it last year so I have a vague idea of where it should be) I tried to pass the woman who was in third. She put up a big fight, so I waited a little bit. About 300 meters later when we made another turn, I surged a little bit and she couldn't go with me. I picked off a few guys from this point in, but I was pretty much running by myself into the wind.
In the last mile, I was closing in on two guys who were in front of me. I could still see the woman who was in second, but she was not in striking distance. She qualified for the marathon trials and won this race last year. The two guys were getting closer, they were pretty much moving backwards, but they had been so far in front of me that I could not catch them. The finish went down a gradual downhill, then made a sharp left turn into a steep uphill driveway. I finished in 19:07. I really was not too happy with the time and the worst part was that I felt really strong and good the entire race.
K and I went over to my car, changed back into our training shoes and went on a warm-down. Since he lives nearby, he led me around. We were both complaining about how slow our times were. He finished 4th overall, but he was all by himself too. It seemed like the entire warm-down was uphill. Our pace was pretty quick for the warm-down. We went for just over 20 minutes, I was feeling pretty tired by the time we got back to the start/finish area. I need to attribute that to the fact that we ran so many uphills
I need to take the time in context today. The girl who won last year and finished second today ran 17:35 last year and 18:20 today. Last year I ran 18:20 and 19:07 today. It was not nearly as windy last year as it was today. I think that the men's times were slower accross the board as well today.
We hung out at the awards. I was looking for some coffee, but it was all gone. I wanted something warm to drink because even though I had changed into dry clothes, I was still shivering in the wind. I had to get my check ($150) and picture taken with the other women. I really should not complain that I did not run well since I still got some money. I made the drive home with the heat cranked all the way up and then got right into the shower and used all of the water in the hot water heater.
I think that I might run a very easy 2-3 miles later on this afternoon. I feel like I have not done anything this week. I never run doubles, but I want to get my track workout in tomorrow night. I think that if I can run really easy this afternoon and stretch well it might shake some of the lactic acid out of my legs.
I've been thinking now about what I want to do for the rest of this year. I'm planning on running the Rothman 8K which is part of the Philadelphia Marathon the weekend before Thanksgiving. Our club has an XC race the Saturday after Thanksgiving that I have to run (I don't enjoy this one, I hate running XC). Other than that, we were thinking about doing a club race on Halloween that is a very odd distance. I don't know if I'm going to do this race seriously or just run it for fun with the group. The first weekend in November there are two races I'm considering. One is 5 miles and the other is 10K. Both races have prize money. The 10K has deeper and more money, but chances are that I won't finish in the money based on previous results. The 5 miler has less money, but I won it two years ago when it was a 5K. I'm going to think this over for the next few days and then make a decision. J wants me to run the alumni XC race at the county meet that weekend, but I have no desire to run it. It is free, but it does not start until noon and running XC is not very nice to my tender ankle.
The ankle was feeling pretty sore by the end of the day yesterday. I wore new shoes on my run in the morning and I don't think they were tied tight enough, so my ankle was wobbling around then whole time I was running. It didn't hurt too much today, but I still iced it when I got home from the race.
Posted by Blondie at October 17, 2004 12:52 PM
Comments
Sounds like good results taking into account the bad weather! Nice job! Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at October 17, 2004 05:13 PM
Congratulations! It's always a great day when you can win some cash. :)
Posted by: Leilani at October 18, 2004 12:07 AM