Race Reports

Saturday was the big 10 miler. That morning, I skipped my regular pre-race breakfast as we ate so late on Friday night (more beer can chicken!) that I was still full. I did however wake up plenty early though so I grabbed a nice shower and sat down to make my 10 miler playlist for my Ipod. Then I headed downtown and parked at the first parking garage I came to.

I searched around for my pal Carol with no luck, but I did see Lou (who had such an impressive race at 6th place overall with a time of 1:01:10). I also ran into Earl, who is a friend of my folks and I went to school with his kids. He is an inspiration who is 57 and only been running a few years now. I thought he deserved major props as he was running the 10 miler on some sore legs after his 3:31 Boston Marathon finish on Monday!

So my goal I did not want to mention on Friday was that I hoped to finish within 80 minutes or an 8-mile pace. An 8 mile pace is one I can keep without too much discomfort for runs 6 miles or so long and I was hoping that perhaps I could maintain it for the entire 10.

It was a perfect morning for running, mid 50's with a light breeze, & extremely foggy. So here are the splits.

Mile 1 7:04 (A little fast for this race, better slow down I think)
Mile 2 7:18
Mile 3 7:54 ??? (not sure why I slowed here)
Mile 4 7:48
Mile 5 7.26 (a little downhill)
Mile 6 7.58 (water)
Mile 7 7.24
Mile 8 & 9 16.20 (I missed mile marker 8 on thought it was the longest mile ever...& then there was a hill that seemed never ending at this stage...my spirits picked up tremendously when I heard the race director saying mile 9 marker was just around the corner as I still was waiting for 8)
Mile 10 7:56 Not sure this is accurate as I just backed out my other splits from my finishing time.

The ending...I was so happy to come into the home stretch and see the board reading 1:17. I had picked up the pace when from out of no where 3 people passed me with 5 feet left. Even though I was happy about my time, I was upset about being passed at the end. If I had been paying more attention I would have pushed a little extra harder at the finish. Oh well, a 1:17:18 finish at a 7:44 / mile pace was way better than I even thought I could do.

There is no way last year (or any other years in the recent past) I would have ran that time. I finished 29th of 402 women and 8th of 90 women in my age group. So no actual award to speak of, but I did feel rewarded in knowing that I had beaten my goal and ran a good race. I felt tired at the end, but still wondered if I could have still pushed harder.

And that was to be it for the weekend..........until...thunderstorms Sunday morning woke me up and I could not fall back asleep. I kept trying and then the sun started shining in my window so I got up. My legs hurt a little as I walked around the house.

Heck I am up and I know there is another race right up the road, why not just go and leisurely do that one too??? So I changed and got in the car to drive to the 5 mile Maple Sap run in Chardon.

It was in the low 50's and probably about 200 people lined up at the start of the 5 miler. I chatted with a lady who I had seen several times on the 10 mile course the day before who was also running. Her legs were tired too! I figured this would definitely not be a 5 mile PR given my tired legs and the hilly nature of this course. But with the horn I was off again.

Mile 1 6:50 (lot of downhill)
Mile 2 7:29
Mile 3 7:49
Mile 4 8:10
Mile 5 8:15 (strong finish given the amount of uphill here)

Total time was 38:30...

This time one lady passed me with a half mile left. After Saturday, I was going to make sure no one passed me in the last part of the race. So with a quarter mile left I started my push towards the finish line and passed the two people who had recently passed me as I just had to do it! I crossed the finish line and took a bit to catch my breath.

Not bad for what I had planned to do as a leisurely run. It was good enough to get me 1st in my age group with a nice plaque! Official results have not been posted but I think I was the 7th overall female. So a full weekend of running...today I will take it easy and recover!!