Monday, April 24, 2006

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!!

9 comments:

E-Speed said...

great races girl!!!

Trifrog said...

Nice Job! I saw you up ahead of me near the 7-mile turnaround. You finished very near my cross-the-street-neighbor with whom I had been running but couldn't keep up.

Get some rest and recovery and allow your body to make some tremendous gains as racing is treat training, too.

Trifrog said...

Nice Job! I saw you up ahead of me near the 7-mile turnaround. You finished very near my cross-the-street-neighbor with whom I had been running but couldn't keep up.

Get some rest and recovery and allow your body to make some tremendous gains as racing is treat training, too.

Papa Louie said...

Wow you raced back to back. Congratulations on your 10 mile results. You did great!! Even if you ran 1:01.10 you would still think could I have run faster. I thought the same. But I am happy to finish feeling great.

Anonymous said...

wow--you did great! congrats!

Papa Louie said...

Congratulations on your 10 mile results! Even if you finished in 1:01:10 you would still wonder if you could have gone faster. That's what I thought but I realize I am happy to finish feeling good. Wow you raced back to back! You are one tough cookie.

Papa Louie said...

Congratulations on your 10 mile results! Even if you finished in 1:01:10 you would still wonder if you could have gone faster. That's what I thought but I realize I am happy to finish feeling good. Wow you raced back to back! You are one tough cookie.

Trisaratops said...

Woo hoo! You ROCK!!! Do I smell a Boston Qualify time in your future? Hmmmmmm....:)

Kim said...

Daisy...you're an animal!