We have 2 summer 5k series here locally...one on Tue nights, and one on Wed nights. The proceeds go to good causes, one a charity, the other the HS cross country team.<br><br>
I've done at least one week in the Wed night series for the last 5 years, and have done several weeks before I got into tri-training.<br><br>
All this to say.....<br>
I've been beaten by pregnant moms,<br>
dads with strollers,<br>
kids,<br>
dogs, and assorted other runner types.<br><br>
My previous best time was 36:27.<br><br>
Sheldon has been telling me that I can go faster, and he kept quoting what I felt were ridiculously fast times. Hah! So, I had to eat a little crow tonight. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"><br><br>
My friend (a.k.a. "Thumper" now) agreed to help me run tonight and assist me with pacing. Now I know why you're not allowed to have pacing help in big races. He runs this race every week, so he was a registered runner so that wasn't an issue.<br><br>
My issue with this course has always been the hills, it's known for being a hilly course. There is actually one house that is at the top of a hill, and no matter which way you drive, you drive uphill both directions to get to it. The street curves and that makes it happen. Also, the races start at 6:15pm.....just before the sun starts to set, and before the humidity and temps can even think of breaking during the summer months.<br><br>
"Thumper" had run 15 miles already today, so he was using this as a cooldown run for himself....so, no guilt there. Yay!<br><br>
I got there about 45 minutes early got registered (all of $5!) and took a quick short little warmup jog. Nothing fancy...just down to the corner and around it and back. Stopped in the bathroom, and chatted w/ folks. Then, a friend from swimming showed up and she did a quick little turn around the parking lot, and I went with her. Maybe a total a quarter mile or third of a mile. I broke a sweat both times. My car thermometer said it was 88 degrees at the start. Fun.<br><br>
So....off we set.<br>
The goal was to run it as a build.... 12, 11, 10 min miles. Seemed like a good idea. I know I can pop off an hour or so of 12 min miles, so that seemed reasonable. I had in my mind that I would shoot for a "34-something" in terms of time, but figured that would be a stretch. The course exits the HS parking lot, turns a corner, and heads into the neighborhoods. As we're turning the corner Thumper wants to know whether I feel good....if I can hold that pace. Things seemed good, so..."sure...yeah, I'm good." He told me I was good and to keep going.<br><br>
As we'd hit a downhill, he'd encourage me to push and stretch out my stride..... as we'd hit an uphill, he'd call it a recovery. I spent the uphills trying to wrap my head around how anyone would consider an uphill a recovery. Still.... I let myself shorten my stride... thought "spin spin spin" and actually managed to feel a few surges as I crested the hills. We walked through the water stops.<br><br>
I started breathing hard about mile 1.5 or so....wheezing soon after. Not bad wheezing, but wheezing nonetheless. Sure enough, my HR was at 180. Still, I was managing to keep up. Granted, Thumper didn't get so far ahead of me that it was impossible to chase him down, but he was in front most of the time. He'd check in every once in awhile.... I was a bit at the "Talk to the hand" end of things..... but could manage "uh huh" or "sure" or "ok" every once in awhile.<br><br>
The best part.... when I would stretch out... he was able to confirm that I was where I needed to be... and was quite encouraging. He was the "mental treadmill" that kept trucking along, and all I had to do was to keep up.<br><br>
There is only 1 water stop, but you hit it twice. At mile 1, and then at 1 mile to go. So, after the last water stop, there was lots of "pick it up" and "keep pushing" coming from Thumper. The course comes out of the neighborhood, turns right, and immediately you have to go up a short, but sorta steep hill. Ugh!<br><br>
The mom and kid in front of me were going to have to go down, I'm sorry. I just couldn't work that hard for 3 miles and have a kid shorter than my waist cross the line ahead of me.<br><br>
As we turned the last corner into the parking lot.....he was telling me to sprint. I did. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> Oh yeah...passed the mom and kid, and passed the chick that had been leapfrogging me the whole race. Oooo...contemplated hurling. Decided against it.<br><br>
THen.....I saw the clock, and nearly tripped myself. What??????????<br><br><b>I crossed the line in 32:06 (unofficial)!</b><br>
If I do the math right, that's a 4:21 PR. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"><br>
Really...in my wildest of wild dreams for what I thought I could do for today..... THAT never crossed my mind.<br><br>
This was also on zero rest, zero taper, and a long base period for IM training. Just ... wow. Also... several people say that this is really longer than a 3.1 mile course, that it's more like 3.19 some even say their garmins measure 3.25.<br><br>
In the grand scheme of running, this is still a slow time, I get that. But,...what a fast time for ME!<br><br>
My splits are a little off, but I think they were:<br><br>
1) 9:28 (Thumper didn't tell me what that was, because he didn't want to freak me out. Good decision!)<br>
2) 10:06<br>
3.1) 12:32 (11:23 pace)<br><br>
I wanted to run it as a build....and that doesn't appear to have happened. But, Crap...who cares! Does that make me a bad runner person? lol
I've done at least one week in the Wed night series for the last 5 years, and have done several weeks before I got into tri-training.<br><br>
All this to say.....<br>
I've been beaten by pregnant moms,<br>
dads with strollers,<br>
kids,<br>
dogs, and assorted other runner types.<br><br>
My previous best time was 36:27.<br><br>
Sheldon has been telling me that I can go faster, and he kept quoting what I felt were ridiculously fast times. Hah! So, I had to eat a little crow tonight. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"><br><br>
My friend (a.k.a. "Thumper" now) agreed to help me run tonight and assist me with pacing. Now I know why you're not allowed to have pacing help in big races. He runs this race every week, so he was a registered runner so that wasn't an issue.<br><br>
My issue with this course has always been the hills, it's known for being a hilly course. There is actually one house that is at the top of a hill, and no matter which way you drive, you drive uphill both directions to get to it. The street curves and that makes it happen. Also, the races start at 6:15pm.....just before the sun starts to set, and before the humidity and temps can even think of breaking during the summer months.<br><br>
"Thumper" had run 15 miles already today, so he was using this as a cooldown run for himself....so, no guilt there. Yay!<br><br>
I got there about 45 minutes early got registered (all of $5!) and took a quick short little warmup jog. Nothing fancy...just down to the corner and around it and back. Stopped in the bathroom, and chatted w/ folks. Then, a friend from swimming showed up and she did a quick little turn around the parking lot, and I went with her. Maybe a total a quarter mile or third of a mile. I broke a sweat both times. My car thermometer said it was 88 degrees at the start. Fun.<br><br>
So....off we set.<br>
The goal was to run it as a build.... 12, 11, 10 min miles. Seemed like a good idea. I know I can pop off an hour or so of 12 min miles, so that seemed reasonable. I had in my mind that I would shoot for a "34-something" in terms of time, but figured that would be a stretch. The course exits the HS parking lot, turns a corner, and heads into the neighborhoods. As we're turning the corner Thumper wants to know whether I feel good....if I can hold that pace. Things seemed good, so..."sure...yeah, I'm good." He told me I was good and to keep going.<br><br>
As we'd hit a downhill, he'd encourage me to push and stretch out my stride..... as we'd hit an uphill, he'd call it a recovery. I spent the uphills trying to wrap my head around how anyone would consider an uphill a recovery. Still.... I let myself shorten my stride... thought "spin spin spin" and actually managed to feel a few surges as I crested the hills. We walked through the water stops.<br><br>
I started breathing hard about mile 1.5 or so....wheezing soon after. Not bad wheezing, but wheezing nonetheless. Sure enough, my HR was at 180. Still, I was managing to keep up. Granted, Thumper didn't get so far ahead of me that it was impossible to chase him down, but he was in front most of the time. He'd check in every once in awhile.... I was a bit at the "Talk to the hand" end of things..... but could manage "uh huh" or "sure" or "ok" every once in awhile.<br><br>
The best part.... when I would stretch out... he was able to confirm that I was where I needed to be... and was quite encouraging. He was the "mental treadmill" that kept trucking along, and all I had to do was to keep up.<br><br>
There is only 1 water stop, but you hit it twice. At mile 1, and then at 1 mile to go. So, after the last water stop, there was lots of "pick it up" and "keep pushing" coming from Thumper. The course comes out of the neighborhood, turns right, and immediately you have to go up a short, but sorta steep hill. Ugh!<br><br>
The mom and kid in front of me were going to have to go down, I'm sorry. I just couldn't work that hard for 3 miles and have a kid shorter than my waist cross the line ahead of me.<br><br>
As we turned the last corner into the parking lot.....he was telling me to sprint. I did. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> Oh yeah...passed the mom and kid, and passed the chick that had been leapfrogging me the whole race. Oooo...contemplated hurling. Decided against it.<br><br>
THen.....I saw the clock, and nearly tripped myself. What??????????<br><br><b>I crossed the line in 32:06 (unofficial)!</b><br>
If I do the math right, that's a 4:21 PR. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"><br>
Really...in my wildest of wild dreams for what I thought I could do for today..... THAT never crossed my mind.<br><br>
This was also on zero rest, zero taper, and a long base period for IM training. Just ... wow. Also... several people say that this is really longer than a 3.1 mile course, that it's more like 3.19 some even say their garmins measure 3.25.<br><br>
In the grand scheme of running, this is still a slow time, I get that. But,...what a fast time for ME!<br><br>
My splits are a little off, but I think they were:<br><br>
1) 9:28 (Thumper didn't tell me what that was, because he didn't want to freak me out. Good decision!)<br>
2) 10:06<br>
3.1) 12:32 (11:23 pace)<br><br>
I wanted to run it as a build....and that doesn't appear to have happened. But, Crap...who cares! Does that make me a bad runner person? lol
