The time for one of funnest races of the year had arrived. My HS running friend NA and I had been drumming up some fellow GHS alums to come out and run and hit the party after! We managed to draw out about 20 or so GHS alumni and friends, including my HS BF as well as my sister that both did the 2 mi race! Each of them ran the whole way and I was so proud of them! It definitely is fun to get other people motivated about something you love and to watch them achieve their goals!
Now of course race day, I had to make sure I dressed as spirited as possible so I donned my tall shamrock socks, green shamrock hairbands with my pigtails, BAFF team jersey, Trakkers visor and CTC arm warmers! I think I managed to support a little bit of everything!
I was not sure what to target for myself. I have been running again for 6 or 7 weeks post tibia stress fracture. I have kept speed to a minimum and building mileage pretty slowly only running 3 days a week.
My plan was to try just go the first mile and not worry about the split knowing that there was so much downhill. Then I planned to settle in until I got past the hill during mile 3 and then to try to pick it up the last couple miles. I would give myself a A- on execution. I think this was easily one of my best efforts at pacing at a shorter race. Perhaps it is all the heart rate based training I have been doing but for the first time in awhile I did not just die the last half of the race and felt pretty even the whole way. If anything I may have not pushed myself hard enough as I never fell into my super suffer-fest state.
Going into the race, I was really hoping to stay under 35. I thought it was a good goal with the limited speed work and time back running. I knew my training was coming along as I had ran outside Tuesday (7:51 for 6 miles) and Thursday (7:41 for 5.3 Miles) and felt like everything was on the up and up as far as my leg. Residual tibia pain seems to be disappearing over time!
I lined up to for the start next to some of the silly fast girls. With the start we were off and I was trying to maintain decent footing with all the other runners, run tangents as good as possible while avoiding the big puddles, as well as as trying be careful on the bridges and potholes. I knew my HS friend NA was gunning for me and also trying to break 35. I was just trying to keep myself in a zone where I would not blow up taking inventory of the pace and trying to hold steady. As I approached the hill at Mile 3 I shortened my stride and tried not to blow my HR up too high. The best thing is as soon as you reach the top, you get it all back on the downside! I knew at this point that if I could just maintain I would get that sub-35! I tried to pick it up a bit but knowing there was an uphill finish to come and I made sure to save some energy! As I climbed the last hill I just looked at the ground right in front of me and before I knew it, I was at the top! Unfortunately my friend TR got me at the bottom of the hill and beat me by like 10 seconds...oh I should have pushed a little harder ;-) Guess he did not want to lose to this girl!
At the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome and gave myself a good baseline as to where I am starting from here! I am happy to maintained this much running fitness over the winter thanks to all the hard biking (&Coach Gorris making me work so hard) I think! After the race, the party WAS SO ON! We had gotten a hotel and pretty much did a pub crawl from post race until mid-night with a 1.5 hour break to shower. As my one shirt says, "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!" And if you were not sure, yes indeed I am Irish!
St. Malachi results over the years:
2004 50.08, Hungover, late and just getting into running again
2005 41:20, If only I could get 9 minute improvements every year!
2006 37:35
2007 33:32, Best race
2008 37:46, Dealt with asthma
2009 37:39, Dealt with leg cramping and stoppped to stretch
2010 34:18, 6:51 min / mile pace. Not bad considering limited running!
Splits-
Mile 1 6:14 downhill
Mile 2 6:51h
Mile 3 7:00 (incl decent incline and descent)
Mile 4 6:55
Mile 5 7:04 uphill finish
Average HR 176
Max HR 184
8 comments:
Great Job!
Thanks for stopping by Rocco's too. It was good to see you. I hope to see you while running soon.
Hey good job!!! I found your blog when I looked at the swim clinic picture. Sorry to hear about the tibia issues and hope that all is going well for you getting back into warmer race weather here! Great splits! Good luck with all of your training!!!
Congrats on the race.
I just noticed it says your from Ohio, I get excited to follow other Ohioans, to see what races they chose to do in the different parts of this state.
nice job! sounds like you are getting right back into the swing of things!
Great run! St. Malachi's is a hard race to nail... hilly, early in the season, etc. Even more admirable is your all-day party!
Nicely done! Congrats! Sounds fun. :)
WOOOHOOOO!!! Hard Core. Nicely done speedy.
Congrats, lady!
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