12K's of Christmas, Kirkland

enkephalin · Dec 18, 2007

12K’s of Christmas, December 16, 2007 I was going to do this race last year, but it was too cold and icy on the roads. I thought it might even be cancelled (it wasn’t). This year I signed up 3 days ahead, knowing the weather would be above freezing on race morning. I had been running a lot of miles and thought I should be able to do well in this race. Just as I was dozing off Friday night, my son woke up, projectile vomiting all over his bed. I mean everywhere, pillows, sheet, floor, clothes, the main action being a huge puddle in the middle of his bed. He said he thought he was dreaming and had to pinch himself. It was no dream. He came in and slept with me, if that is what you call waking up every hour to puke or better yet, just have racking dry heaves for a while. I felt pretty bad for him. It ended around 7am the next morning. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep that night and felt incredibly grumpy the next day. Around dinner time he started running a high fever, a new symptom, so I was a bit worried about him and thought I wouldn’t run this race Sunday morning if he still had a fever then. But Sunday morning came and his fever was gone, and he even wanted to eat. <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> So off I went to the Kirkland 12K’s of Christmas, which has a luxurious start time of 9:30am. No need to set alarms. On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: 5 Chocolate Gu’s 4 Calling Cards 3 French Men 2 Turtle Bars And new Asics in a Shoe Tree. Ok, so there was record attendance at the race this year (almost 1000 for the 12K), many people doing day-of-race registration, which resulted in a 5 minute delay. This was ok, since Iapetus999 had spotted me in the starting corral and we chatted for a bit. It was a pleasant 4 or 5C (40F), with a light breeze. It never rained, not a drop. Not the wind and 80% POP that was predicted the day before. It couldn’t have been better for this time of year, really. Fashion Report: Black Champion winter tights, with blue stripe on calves, white short-sleeve tech T, caution tape-yellow Seattle half-marathon long sleeve tech-T, black winter running top, long-sleeve. Blue and white Asics gel-kayanos 13. I’ll admit that the blue stripe on the tights clashed with the yellow T sticking out under my black top layer. Black gloves, white Nike dri-fit headband. The gloves and headband came off at mile 2 and the black top layer at mile 3. It was 8C (46F) at the end of the race. My goals for this race were: 1. run 9:00 pace overall – stretch goal based on a flat 10K time 2. run 9:20 pace overall – realistic goal based on, well, reality 3. run 9:30 pace overall – sweeper goal. I was glad I got to talk to Iapetus before the race, because he told me, or warned me rather about some hills and valleys within the hill climb in the middle of the race. It still wasn’t enough warning though. The elevation profile I printed from USATF map your run site was not very accurate, nope, not at all. There were two big dives and accents within the major climb that were missing from my printout. This event was very well organized. They had pace signs lining the corral which really made it easy to place myself appropriately. I lined up at the 9:00 pace sign, or just behind it, and it worked out perfect. Off we went, first up a 70ft hill then along a flat stretch. The pack spread out nicely and I was running my target pace within 0.2 miles I figure. Not bad for 1,000 runners. No jostling or weaving at all. Just past a mile there is a turnaround, so it was really cool to see the leaders running back already. I thought I should emulate them and run with a stronger stride. My first mile came in exactly where I wanted it to, at 9:21. The second mile runs back along this flat stretch, then back down the first climb near the start again, so a drop of 80 feet, followed later by a short climb of 10 ft. Somewhere before the drop my Garmin said 8:45. I thought WOW, I feel great, I don’t feel like I’m going fast at all, guess I’ll just run by feel. Big mistake! Mile 1 9:21 Mile 2 8:34 Whoops! Then we hit the first big climb. Up 160 feet. I started to feel bad, like really bad, like maybe I was going to lose my cookies bad. I suddenly realized mile 2 was a big mistake. I don’t run that fast, I just don’t. Then started the litany. Why am I doing this, I feel terrible, I hate running, why do I enter races when I hate this feeling, why why why? Already feeling like crap at mile 3. It just wasn’t the way I’d planned it. Mile 3 10:14 Mile 4 10:12 Mile 4 had more climbing, first down 40 feet, then up another 80 feet. We went down towards some railroad tracks, which Iapetus had warned me about, that there would be a climb after that, but it was a near vertical 80ft, and I had to stop to walk. As he mentioned, it is almost a Galer Hill (from the Seattle marathon course). It flattened out a bit at the top, then began the real rollercoaster: down 150ft, up 70ft, down 100 ft, all within mile 5. I was passing people readily on the downhills, but I had nothing in my legs for the uphills. I usually feel good on uphills, but not today. I started swearing that I’ll do hill repeats or strength training in the new year. Mile 5 8:51 Mile 6 8:58 Mile 6 had a net downhill, about 40 ft. I was getting confused about how many miles were left. At some point I saw a sign for 8K, and I thought, great, only 2 K left! It took me about a full minute to realize I was running a 12K, not a 10K! Crap! I went into this race with a “flat”10K mentality, and it was not a good idea. We finally got back towards the lakefront, and there was another small hill here. I knew about this last incline, so it didn’t mentally beat me up like the hidden rollercoaster ride. But even though we were now running along the lakefront, in familiar territory, and I knew it was all flat here to the end, with only about a mile and a half to go, I was really struggling. I felt like I was only going about a 10:00 pace when in reality it wasn’t that bad, about 9:20. In theory I should have been able to go faster here, on the flat road, but I had nothing left. I felt like I might collapse at any moment. I didn’t feel like walking, but I was in a pretty hateful mood regardless. I did not feel strong. I couldn’t pick up any speed for the last half mile even. Mile 7 9:21 Last 0.53 mile 4:55 (9:14 pace) So the last 50 metres goes down a brief hill and around to the finish line. I started looking for someone to pick off and race to the finish, but couldn’t find any interesting opponents until this guy and his DOG start whizzing past me on my left. No way am I going to let “dog-jogger” beat me, so off I took, like a track star and I just barely beat him to the line. My Garmin said I peaked at 11.2 mph here. I must say, I hated all but the first two miles of this race, and that was entirely my fault. It was hard, it was hilly. I laid it all out there, at least I know that. I loved everything else about the race, the shirt was great – a white cotton long-sleeve T-shirt with a slightly evil grimacing snowman on it. Next year I’ll pace better and I’ll be mentally prepared for the hills. Final stats: Finishing time: 1:10:11 (actually 17 seconds less than my Garmin, go figure!) Female O/A 251/587 Age group (F40-49) 59/154 This puts me in the top 40% in my age group, which is a first for me I think. My Garmin read a 9:21 pace overall, which is pretty much what I expected to run.

mcsolar99 · Dec 29, 2007

nice job enke... even with that oopsie mile 2 you managed to hit your realistic pace goal. 
when i get those nagging thoughts i try to smile. then i try my best to stay in the moment. nothing i can do about the last mile. nothing i can do about the second mile up the road. the only thing i can do is run well right now, run my best at this moment. i just acknowledge that tired feeling, acknowledge the litany of questions, and get back to the task of running in the moment. sometimes it even works <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> 
what the heck is day 3 all about?<img alt="huh.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/huh.gif">

ksrunr · Dec 30, 2007

I enjoyed your pain Enke! You just proved how mentally tough you really are. You met your goal by some very tough work and you're already determined to make up for it next year. Makes a good goal and motivator to train.

12K's of Christmas, Kirkland

enkephalin

mcsolar99

ksrunr

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