My first 10k!

It's hard to believe that a year and a half ago, I felt like dying after running minute-long intervals. Today, I ran 6.2 miles along with 2577 other people !!

It was a beautiful morning. My hubby went with me, which was soooo nice. I'm glad I didn't have to go alone. It was still dark out when we got there and the sun was getting close to coming up when they started the race. The temperature was 53F with only a light breeze. Perfect, really! Since hubby was there, he waited with me until shortly before the start and took my jacket. They did have a bag check there, but it was nicer to have it up until the last. Of course, it didn't take long before I was warmed up enough that it was the perfect temperature.

I, of course, placed myself rather far back, so it took over two minutes to cross the starting line. It was very interesting. Take a few steps, wait a bit, take a few steps, wait, over and over, then finally a clearing and we were off! It took a good mile or two before the crowd got into it's pace. Until then, I had to dodge walkers and, I assume, people who started off too quickly. Also, it was important to look out for potholes and cones (!?!) in the middle of the road. I'm not sure why they put them in the middle of the road at the start. Later on, I think they were there to keep the runners on one side and the cars on the other. But, they could have placed them after everyone started, really. I saw a couple people almost fall.

During the first mile, I did notice I was running a little faster than normal. It wasn't crazy fast, and it felt comfortable, so I let it go at that. In fact, I kept a rather constant pace. After about a mile and a half, my heart rate was up and it stayed between 175bpm and 180bpm for the rest of the race. I see that as a sign that I was pacing myself correctly. That is a range I can hold for a long time without big problems. When I picked up the pace at the end, I did get up to 188bpm briefly.

At around a mile and a half in, we started up a rather steep hill. It was cool, though, because at the top is perched Central High School, and the sight was really pretty. During the whole race, hubby was running around taking pictures of me. It was funny and nice. He got stuck and couldn't make it to the finish, but that is ok. I think he got about as much of a workout as I did!

There were three or four bands spread around the course. (Probably more placed elsewhere for the longer races.) It was fun and made the time pass more quickly. Although, I couldn't hear them play for very long, since I was passing by. The mood was fun and people would talk some to others.

I ate a Gu gel about ten minutes before the race then another around 4.5 miles. It seems to have worked ok, since I didn't get the extreme exhaustion I've gotten before after running these distances. At the end, I got a 1/4 bagel, 1/2 banana, water, a bar of some sort, and a bowl of tortilla soup.

All in all, I felt really good the whole race. At the end, I felt I could go longer. AND I crossed before the 1/2 marathon first place runner, which was cool. There was a policeman on a motorcycle leading the way for him.

My chip time was 1:06:13. I was hoping for better than 1:10, and I got it! There were 2577 people total who finished one of the three distances. 636 people ran the 10k. It was quite a sight to look in front and in back and not see the end of the masses. I ended up 404th over all, 58/91 in my division and 226/405 for females. So, I still had around 1/3 of the runners behind me. That's the glass-half-full way of seeing it! If I did this for winning against others, I wouldn't be doing it long! I did beat the gal with "slow" printed on her shirt. That was taunting me for a while!

So when is the next race??

4k on the Fourth

I just got back from my second 4k race. The first one was when I was about 4 weeks into the C25K program. This time I cut around 4.5 minutes off that first time. It was rainy and (of course) overcast. The rain was light, however, and it was rather cool for a July day. It was a cool 64F (18C) with about a 10mph (16kph) breeze.

This year, the course was an out and back. During the first mile, we spread out and I was again pretty much running by myself. Although, there were people within a few yards ahead of me to keep me going. Afterward, I'm always thinking I could have run faster, but looking back at my heart rate record, it's rather clear that I couldn't have pushed it much harder without burning out. After the first mile, my heart rate got above 180 and stayed there for the rest of the race. During my final 0.1 mile when I kicked it up a notch to almost a 7min/mile pace, my heart rate got up to 193. My overall average pace was 10min/mile.

It took me 10-15 seconds to cross the starting line (it's a medium sized race with a wide starting line, so I was relatively close to the start), so my official time will be a bit slower. My Garmin shows 24:32 and 2.45 miles. That's pretty accurate, since 4k is 2.49 miles. I'd say 0.04miles is within the margin of error, considering it depends on which side of the path you run on! I set my Virtual Partner to my last 4k time. That didn't help, since I was so much faster this time. At about 0.5 miles, I checked and was 345ft ahead of my VP. So, I forgot about VP and switched to a different screen, one with time, speed, and distance.

I ran with an old favorite Podrunner podcast, Definitive at 154bpm.

Overall, I'm glad I got up and out of the door today, despite the rain. Now, on to the July 4th festivities!

The Envi-run 5k!

This morning was a dreary morning. It was lightly raining with some distant thunder. About 44degF (7Cdeg). Not a beautiful day. However, it turned out to be wonderful weather to run a 5k in! They had a short little run for the kids, but my husband and kids decided not to go to that. So, I went alone. I was running late and my husband had thrown away the entry form I had filled out and had not made it to sending it. I was just going to hand it to them. Not a big deal, but it seemed so at the time, since I was running late anyway. As it turns out, I made it there with enough time, filled out a registration, and got my number, number 42. (Isn't that the meaning of life?) I jumped and jogged in place a lot to keep warm. It was a pretty informal race with around 50 participants. Unfortunately, a lot of them were young, fit grad students at the local university. That's ok. I enter for me, not to win!

At the start there were a few sprinkles, but they stopped and it was dry the rest of the run. The first km was a bit faster than normal for me. But, I evened out and settled into a comfortable pace. I picked it up a bit in the last km, but mostly towards the last half km, since the first half was into the wind. I kicked it towards the end and finished with something around 32:40. I don't know the official time yet. It took me a few seconds to cross the start line, so the official time wouldn't be that accurate, either. I did forget to look at my watch right as I crossed, though. I looked at it a bit later and it said 32:53.

All in all, it was a good race. Afterward, as usual, I felt like I could have tried harder, but the truth is I was over 180bpm for a decent portion of the run. I tried to keep the flats under 180bpm.

I'm ok with the time. I haven't been able to run longish distances in the past several months due to my knee. I think those two 3 mile runs in the past week or two were the only runs over 1 mile, but I'll have to go back and check.

I brought my music equipment with me, not knowing whether I would actually use it. After seeing the small size of the run and the althetic appearance of most of them, I decided the tunes would be fine. After the first 1km or so, I was mostly on my own, so it was good that I had my beats. I used a 157bpm Podrunner podcast called Native Suns.

Woo hoo! Back on the wagon.

I got up early again today, although a snooze-button-hit later than Wednesday. I got to the gym, ran a mile, then did NRoLfW 1A6 (I think). I feel so great today!

I was really worried about getting up to work out today. In fact, I lost some sleep over it. The strange thing is that I was alone at the gym on Wednesday. Someone was pulling into the parking lot as I was driving away, otherwise not a single soul. Today, however, there was already someone on a treadmill, and as I kicked out my mile, people kept coming. Soon, there were eight (!) people in the gym. Strange. The weather wasn't different, so I don't know why the difference. Maybe people don't want to work out Friday evening so they go in the morning??

Regardless, it was a good workout. I definitely need to run more when the weather gets nicer. My heartrate got way too high during that measly mile. There is no question that running is much harder for me than the elliptical.

I've been looking over the lists of 5k runs in the area and have added some to my calendar. I've got to decide specifically which ones I want to enter. That should help me kick my running into gear.

I wasn't as sore today from Wednesday's workout as I had anticipated. I had a mild amount of soreness yesterday, but I had expected to be waddling today. I guess that's a good thing!

First 5k Race

Today I completed my first 5k race. I've run 5k a few times at the end of the Couch to 5k program and afterwards. I ran in a 4k race previously. All that put together made this 5k less stressful. I knew what to expect. I knew where to pin my number and how to handle the chute at the finish line. The C25k shirt from Zazzle worked well. It's some special material, like microfiber or something. The day was nice. Not too warm yet in the morning. Clear skies. Slight breeze. Couldn't ask for anything better.

I started off the first mile too fast. I was feeling good and even passing people. At one point, I got stuck behind a group that was running just a bit too slow for me. So, I had to figure out how to maneuver out of that. Interesting. The type of thing I don't have to worry about normally! I finished the first mile in under ten minutes, which is good for me. Then, during the second mile, I started doubting myself. I had to slow it down some because I wasn't sure I'd have enough juice left to get through the third. But, as I made my way into the third mile, I started telling myself: "Just one more mile!" and it worked. Earlier this summer it would have been hard to believe "just one more mile" would be a phrase that would actually motivate me rather than make me want to slow to a walk right then and there. I had run the course a few times before in practice, so I knew where the finish line would be. I made a bargain with myself that I could keep the slower pace until after the hill if I sped up after it. So, I did and then at about 0.2 miles left, I kicked it into a full fledged run.

Official time: 31 minutes and 32 seconds

I had hoped that somehow I would get superhuman strength and finish in under 30 minutes, knocking around 3 or 4 minutes off of my practice times. That didn't happen, but I did improve my time.

Overall, I was 68th out of some where around 90 runners. Not great, but ok. They didn't time all the walkers and I was WAY ahead of them, at least. The winner ran something a little over 17 minutes. As I passed the first mile marker at a little before 10 minutes, I figured we'd be seeing the first fast runners coming by. The course was an out-and-back with the exception that the turn around is a loop. A couple minutes past that first mile marker, I did see that 17 minute guy on his way back. Some of those fastest people didn't look like they were having much fun!