10K Race Report: Santa Fund Run 10/31/10

10K Race #2: Completed.

The Santa Fund is a charity run by our local newspaper that works "to give area needy children a happy holiday."  Who can argue with that?  The Santa Fund Run is the kickoff to the fundraising season and for the first time I was a participant.

Almost immediately after the first 10K, C suggested we do another.  So just a few weeks later, we arrived at a local high school and lined up on the track for our second race.

I felt incredibly unprepared for this race.  After the first one, back on the 10th, I didn't run for a week.  And then I only half heartedlt trained for the next two weeks, the last few days of which were on the treadmill at the gym I joined (story for another day).  I was nervous and had low expectations of myself.

I had a serious issue deciding what to wear, changing my shirt at the car when we arrived, but it turned out to the be perfect day for some running capris and a long sleeve tech shirt.  This was a much, much bigger race than the Pumpkin Festival.  There were over 500 people running between the 5K and the 10K.  And lining up on the track with all of them was a little overwhelming.  Just getting across the finish line was a challenge, so many people funneling through.

The first mile flew by.  I was running with C, and my college roommate aka Spaz.  We were dodging in and out of people, trying to find a comfortable pace.  For the next few miles the race was on wooded trails along the river, which is really pretty this time of year.  I evened out my pace pretty early and felt strong through a majority of the race.  It helped that it was mostly flat too.

At mile four we ran through a back parking lot in the "millyard" and continued on a paved trail back through the park.  My knees weren't quite ready for that pavement.  There was a slight... and I mean slight and short, decline, and I wasn't totally confident both my knees wouldn't buckle completely.  But they didn't.

Mile five was spent telling myself I did not need to walk and to just keep going.  I followed behind a woman going about the same pace and tried to space out to my music.  At mile 6 my knees wanted to be done. Totally and completely done.  But I was soooo close.

And then Spaz and her boyfriend popped out and started cheering for me. (They had run the 5k). Fine.

I hit the track and gave it everything I had left.

1:02:54.

To refresh your memory, the last one was 1:07:17. That's what... 4 minutes and 22 seconds faster?  Something like that.

Amazing.

C also had a PR (personal record) cutting her time by around 30 seconds.
Spaz had a PR in her 5K, which is also awesome.
Oh, and Spaz's boyfriend won his age group in the 5K.

Yea, he's good.

I had a good time, and surprising felt really good through most of it.  Just have to figure out what to do with these knees... they seem to be acting twice their age, and it's getting old...

Next scheduled challenge? PR the 5K on Thanksgiving.  "Training" to begin as soon as my knees stop aching.

10-10-10: 10K Race Report

I'm only a few days behind on my posts, no biggie.

Anyway, 10-10-10 was the big day. The one we spent 2 months training for - 10K Day!!!  The race was held in conjunction with our town's annual Pumpkin Festival and included both a 5K and 10K.

I made sure to get everything ready the night before, and get to bed at a decent hour - since the race started at 9. C and I drove to the high school to pick up our numbers together, and then had some serious time to kill.  We walked around the track a few times, stretched, and tried not to psych ourselves out with the fairly fit people walking around.

There was a significantly smaller number of runners for the 10K, but as my friend K says, that's because 10Ks are the worst distance and no one likes them. Figures.  We started near the back and let a majority of the pack go out ahead of us.  No use tiring ourselves out in the first half mile.

Frankly, we both felt like crap.  We kept a steady pace and were keeping up with a couple in front of us for a while, but lost them around a turn at one point.  And then there was this young girl, maybe 12, who was running the 5K and would go really slow right up until we were about to pass her, and then she'd take off.  She did this for about 10 minutes until I decided I couldn't take it anymore and sprinted by her. On a hill.  Poor decision.

By the time we split off from the 5K group, which was around 3 miles for us, I was seriously wishing we had run the 5K.  As we ran by the track, and woman started flailing her arms and whipped out her camera.

(All photo credit to my awesome mom)

I was not nearly as happy as this picture portrays me to be.  But seeing my parents did put a smile on my face and gave me a decent push to keep going.  The next mile was pretty awful.  About half of it was downhill and then flat, but then it was up, up, and then straight up.  My strategy in these cases is to put my head down, and turn my legs over as fast as I can, because otherwise, I won't make it.

The woman holding the sign at the top of the hill to turn was bubbly and encouraging, even though we knew we were the very back of the pack.  There was only one woman behind us.  Once my knees survived the steep downhill, I hit my stride.  Apparently my ipod knew just what I needed:

For whatever reason, this is my current favorite running song.  No idea, don't ask.  And it gave me the push I needed. For exactly the next mile and a half.  With about 3/4s of a mile left, there's a some short, but steep, uphill on the sidewalk.  I was able to run up it, but then was pretty sure I was going to throw up.  So there was some walking involved.

But then, I saw a person in front of me. Crap. My competitiveness got the best of me and I decided she needed to be passed.  The last half mile or so wraps around the middle school, and the takes you down this hill of drainage rocks - which I thought was just plain mean - and then across the field and back onto the track. About halfway across the field the woman who was in front of me and I were right next to each other. We exchanged a few encouraging words and I continued past.

So at this point, I just want to stop. Lay down. And take a nap. But you've gotta go around the stupid track.  And all the little high schoolers that had finished their 5K probably like, a half hour ago, were loitering around in the center field, and migrating ONTO THE TRACK.  Hi, please move, I'm freakin' tired get out of my way kthanks.

The announcer comes on and says "Here comes S - coming in strong! This is her very first 10K, great job!"  So my mom used to work for the middle school in town, and my stepdad for the school district - so they knew the announcer and had him throw in the part about it being my first 10K.  Sweet.

Much more accurate representation of how I was feeling.

Coming in, I could see the time.  I wasn't thrilled, but it was better than I thought.  See, even though I had "gotten everything ready the night before" I still forgot my watch.  So I wasn't sure were I was at.  About Mile 5 my playlist ended, and I have an approximate idea of how long it is, so I had estimated how I was doing.  At this point, I was just glad to be done, and not last.  (39 out of 42 isn't that bad right!? haha)

Official Time: 1:07:17 (Mom was a little early on the picture)

Good enough to be proud of, with enough room to improve.  Which is hopefully exactly what I'll do this weekend.

Oh, did I not mention we're crazy and are running another 10K on Halloween? Yup. With not nearly enough training having been done in between the two.

And I've also signed up for a 5K on Thanksgiving.  And have half committed to a 5K next weekend too.  Who am I?!!?

Running... a 10K?!

So, I still won't call myself a runner.

But I'm in training for another race.  My neighbor, good friend, and morning running buddy, C, and I decided that we wanted to set a goal, rather than just run for the heck of it.  So here we are, in week 2 of 10K training.

That sounds so far, doesn't it? 10K. It's twice as far as a 5K! A total of 6.2 miles.  Now, if anyone reading this is like, a real runner, yea I know, you probably knock out 6 miles on a random Tuesday in bare feet. With your eyes closed. Whatever. I think it's far, and more importantly, an achievable, yet challenging goal.

We're following the 10K Training: Novice program from Hal Higdon.  My friends who are training for a marathon (yes, they are crazy) are using one of his programs, and it looked simple enough, so here we are.  So far, so good. It's not JUST running, so its nice to mix it up and little and be *forced* into some strength training, since I otherwise always say I'm going  to, but then never do.

My awesome shoes are still... awesome.  And I've added some sweet bling to my work out attire.  Since it's still pretty dark these days at 5:45am (omg so early), and it's been raining this week making it even darker, I'm trying stay safe and have been wearing two of these bad boys:

(No, that's not me. Image taken from the NathanSports.com website. I purchased mine at Sports Authority)

I've been putting one on a wrist and one on an ankle.  It was annoying to have one on my wrist with my watch... but this morning the one of my ankle was acting up and being all pinchy, so back to the wrist it was.  As it cools down I plan to get myself a running jacket that is even more reflective, but, these work for now.

Anyway, the 10K is October 10th - the weekend of our town's annual Pumpkin Festival.  Of course its Sunday morning, when they have a beer tasting on Saturday night... figures.

This Friday or Saturday is our first real "long" run - 3.5 miles - which should be interesting.  For the most part I'm enjoying myself so far... even tho the four letter words in my vocabulary have been getting a workout.

I've got a delicious (and healthy!) recipe coming up on Friday, and hopefully will be able to get caught up on all the stuff I've been wanting to share since I turned in my last paper of the term for grad school tonight!! Ooooh I'm going to enjoy this month off before the next term starts...