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March 31, 2008

Luck of the Irish

It must have been the luck of my Irish ancestors that propelled me forward in this race! I am still surprised by the time and the top 5 finish . . . H. thought I would run + or - 15 seconds of 30 minutes; I thought H. was nuts to even consider 29:45. I thought I would be lucky to run 29:59. So when I crossed the line and saw 29:29 staring back at me, I didn't know what to think or how to react. Of course, H. was screaming for me around the final turn to kick it in - he knew where the clock stood at that moment.

I desperately tried to transform my stride into something close to a "sprint" but it wasn't enough to catch the 4th place woman . . . the top five women finished within 26 seconds of each other. It wasn't until mile 3 that I realized the pack of women about 15-20 seconds ahead of me was the lead pack.

The morning started like usual: the weather was slightly windy and completely cloudy, but the temperature anchored itself around 38 degrees; 38 degrees - sadly - felt comfortable and even balmy! It was warm enough to justify wearing a tank top and shorts. The upbeat mood at the start was contagious, but some negative chatter always invades the positive army of energy. I tend to be fairly chill and relaxed at the start of races - there are only so many elements that we can control on race day. The most important one is our mental energy.

The gun snapped at 9:30 and we were off. I was immediately surprised to feel good - really good. I didn't sound like an asthmatic - my breathing was in prefect rhythm with my stride and that rarely seems to happen. I never saw the first mile marker, but I heard it was somewhere between 5:35-5:40. To be honest, it certainly didn't feel that fast, and I never felt like I bonked as a result of the speedy start. In fact, up until 4.25, the entire race felt about as comfortable and effortless as racing can feel; I had been bracing myself to be in tremendous pain the entire time!

I hit the two mile around 11:25 - 11:30 . . . so I was definitely moving faster than I could possibly sustain. I pulled back the pace and came through 3 in 17:21. I hit the 5K in a new PR: 18:09. I strolled through 4 in 23:23 so I knew I was slowing down, but I was still feeling great.

As soon as we turned onto Michigan Avenue, a cordial wind slapped me in the face and I felt a sudden rush of fatigue crawl down my quads. Now I knew I just had to hang on for dear life. With a quarter mile to go, a woman passed me. I sped up and I almost caught her over the final hill, but as soon as she hit the downhill and the final straightaway to the finish, she was spinning her wheels just a tad faster than I could spin mine.

I tried so hard to roll up the pack in front of me throughout the race, but I .just couldn't do it. Part of me needs to get used to finding myself in a good position in these races; I always catch myself feeling so surprised. And part of me needs to be more aggressive. B. pointed out that almost every single race I enter, I end up running completely solo and usually in between two packs of runners. I definitely could have used pack tactics to keep me from single-handedly boxing with the wind for 5 miles. The woman who passed me ran between 2 guys until the 4th mile, when she made her move to dust me :(

Overall, I am excited. I have continued to take my rest day every week and log between 50-60 miles. H. is upping the mileage this month so things should get interesting!

Posted by bridget at 8:35 AM | Comments (4)

March 30, 2008

Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle - Race Report Coming

I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 8K this morning - a cloudy, slightly windy, but blissfully cool day. I finished 5th overall among the women in 29:29 - a new PR (I ran 31:12 here last year!). I averaged 5:55/mile. Race report to come . . .

Posted by bridget at 6:46 PM | Comments (3)

March 2, 2008

It's the Little Things in Life . . .

. . . that make me smile. Some highlights from the week:

1. I have a thing for keeping my car filled with window washer fluid. I am an overly-cautious driver and the grime from winter wandering does unhealthy things to my levels of anxiety while driving. The problem is that B. and I traded in the Lemon (read: used VW Golf) for a brand new Mazda 3. The Mazda 3 HATES the snow and ice (hence, the shovel in my trunk . . . it has to look funny to watch a young woman beat the hell out of the ice just so that she can get her car down the alley!).

Anyway, since the car is relatively new, I have never had the pleasure of lifting the hood and pouring window washer fluid into it. That all changed on Saturday. I pulled off to the side of the road, cranked the hood, and fed the car! It's the little victories in life, right?

2. B. is skiing in Crested Butte, Colorado. In almost 6 years, we have never spent an entire week apart. We both enjoy our solitude and our "alone time," but we have missed each other :) I was pleasantly surprised to open the mailbox and see two cards with my name on them . . . B. exercised his writing muscles and sent me the most adorable cards (they were technically Christmas cards . . . which made the effort all the more special and B-like).

3. I logged my first 20 miler of 2008 today!

I had to find some magical moments in what ended up being a tough week last week - work buried me and I do not handle stress well. I quit sleeping, I quit thinking logically, I quit running hard . . . I become a shadow of my real self and I absolutely hate it. So I was grateful for all of the shining moments that fueled me to keep on truckin' when all I wanted to do was crawl under a rock and hibernate . . . and then wake up in May when final grades are in and the semester is officially over.

Work woes aside, I laced up the Glycerins this morning and joined my old running store, Universal Store, and hit the roads and lakefront for a nice, relaxed, balmy 20 miler. After weeks of sub zero temps and unforgiving snowfalls, the running goddesses smiled on us and greeted us with lights winds and mid 40 temperatures - heavenly! I actually ran in short sleeves - this taste of Spring (even though it was just a cruel tease) made me hungry for the racing season.

I ran the 20 in 2:24. The pace felt totally fine, but I started to wimp out around mile 16 - I've run two "long" runs (a 15 and a 17) since October 7. I knew I was going to feel the aches creep into my hips, glutes, and calves shortly after the 2 hour mark. The aches certainly did . . . and you know what? I forgot how much I thrive off of that feeling of pain and hurt - of pushing my body to the brink, but not pushing it so much that it goes overboard. I truly love feeling tired for the rest of the day :)

I'm also excited. I felt stronger on this 20 than I had on any of the 20s before Chicago. Granted, it definitely has something to do with the reduced mileage and the increased rest, but I will bank it as a nice confidence boosting run as we head into another marathon season.

I won't be doing more 20s for a while - today was run for tradition alone. I rarely miss the Boston Bound 20 mile run - in shape or out. However, I am definitely going to aim for at least a 15 mile long run going forward.

I hit 60 miles for the week - that's high for me. But H. says it's time to to aim for a few 80 mile weeks as we will build toward June. That scares the sh*t out of me, but I trust H.

Posted by bridget at 8:44 PM | Comments (2)