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October 10, 2004
Tecnically a PR
I set the one and only PR I'll probably set this fall. Of course, it is a very soft one and when taken in comparison with some of my other PRs, I feel a little bit guilty even referring to this as one. I've never run a 15K before, I've done 10Ks and 10 milers, but there are not many 15Ks around here.
I got up early this morning to get myself moving before the race. I got there relatively early and registered. A group of us headed out to warm up. I warmed up for 19 minutes with J and M (M hasn't run a race in about 5 years and wanted to do something she'd never done before). While we were warming up I had on long pants and long sleeves and was getting very hot. We got back to our cars and I stripped and changed my shoes and socks. I wore my old racing flats that I like. Of course the flats I liked were discontinued and the replacements are not nearly as good. I did a quick nerves pee and put on my number.
J and I ran the first mile together. We went through in around 6:15. The plan was a little bit faster. I knew that I was in trouble at this point because I felt like I was laboring. This course is flat, but ugly. It goes through some not so nice neighborhoods, including right by where I work. It kind of has lots of little loops and an out and back. I had the misfortune of falling in no-man's land. After 5K, I was running in third. At the turn around I got a wake up call because the 4th woman wasn't that far back, and call me shallow, but I didn't want to finish out of the money. During the last 2 miles everyone coming towards us on the out and back kept telling me that second was tired. Like I wasn't tired too!? She wasn't getting any further ahead, but she wasn't exactly coming back to me either. Since I was alone it was hard to try to pick up any more pace. Just past the 8 mile mark, I knew that I wasn't going to catch her and I wasn't going to overextend myself to just make it a few seconds faster, so I essentially shut it down and just tried to finish strong. I managed to finish in 59:43, which is not all that bad, but my 10 mile PR is 61:49, so it is not stellar either.
J, L, and I warmed down for 20 minutes and hung around waiting for the awards. After the warm down I started to get that shaky, I need some sugar feeling. J gave me a little bit of watered down Gatorade. The full strength stuff upsets my stomach. I also ate a few bites of a bagel to try to stave off the shakes.
Looking back, it was not that bad of a race. I never felt good. I couldn't really find a pace. I was running by myself. All things considered, I didn't start to recover from the PDR until this past week. My left ankle *still* is bothering me. The ankle is probably the most worrisome issue. My pace really didn't slow down from the first mile, so it was not a stupid race. My parents came and watched after having a busy weekend themselves. Sometimes I don't want them to come, but this was one where I kind of wanted them to see me run. They were out late at a high school reunion last night and still got there before the race started at 8:30 (neither of them are morning people). Of course they thought I did great and looked good, but that is their duty as parents. I did finish strong and put some distance on 4th in the last 5K and finished in the $ (fifty bucks).
I want to go buy some candy corn (I finished my bag) and need to put Neosporin on my chub rub and chafing. My feet need some TLC too, a couple of blister-ee things from wearing flats.
Posted by Blondie at October 10, 2004 11:57 AM
Comments
Congrats on your PR and another great race! By the way, a PR is a PR even if it's the first time you've run that distance. I still maintain that the best part of my first marathon was the fact that I was guaranteed a PR as long as I finished! :)
Posted by: Beth at October 10, 2004 04:28 PM
congrats on a kick ass PR! like beth said, a PR is a PR and sometimes it is fun to run new distances just so that we are guaranteed a PR. you are sooooooooooooo fast too!!!! enjoy the candy corn (i just ate some) and take care of your feet :)
Posted by: bridget at October 10, 2004 06:13 PM
Congratulations on the PR and on winning some money, too! That'll buy a lot of candy corn...
Posted by: Alison at October 10, 2004 06:22 PM
yay on the new pr!
(Can I have a 61:49 10mi pr, too, please? Where does one get one of those?)
Posted by: jenandmats at October 10, 2004 10:55 PM
Congratulations on your PR!
Posted by: Leilani at October 11, 2004 07:36 PM
Great job Blondie!!! Awesome PR.
Hope you enjoy the candy corn :)
Posted by: barb at October 12, 2004 11:32 AM
Very nice race...In light of how your training has been going and recovery since your last big race...really nice job
Posted by: Liz at October 12, 2004 10:41 PM