The fact that I'm just now getting around to posting a report on Sunday's 10-mile race should give you some indication of how exhausted running that distance made me. I think I am just starting to feel relatively normal today. Now if I could only kick this blasted cold.
But anyway, the official race report:
**************************************
I felt absolutely horrible the Saturday before the race. My cold was still dragging on and on, and I had ZERO energy. I actually thought about bagging the race. But I just couldn't bring myself to throw all that training down the drain. I'd had a really bad week of running--even having to stop my Friday run after only half a mile because I felt so lousy. So you can imagine how nervous I was Sunday morning. I didn't know what to expect. And I definitely didn't want to start the race and find myself unable to finish it.
I drove to the race with H and K, and we all decided beforehand to kind of run our own race, which was fine with me since my mile times are a minute or two slower than theirs are. I wish I'd brought my ipod though. I thought they weren't allowed, but everyone was running with one. Oh well. Next time.
We arrived way too early (it was a smaller race than I'd anticipated) and just sort of hung out in the car until it was time for the start. The starting line was quieter than I'm used to. Previous races I've done have had music and a real energy at the start. Not so much with this one. In typical fashion, we'd gone from about 80 degrees on Friday to about 45 degrees at 8:00 Sunday morning. Luckily, the rain that had been forecast did not appear, so the conditions were favorable. I've run through ice and snow, so Sunday's weather was just about the best I've raced in so far!
I started out slow (or what I imagined was slow) because I was (am!) still dogged by a bad cough and was just very low-energy. I had started my watch when I crossed the start line and was surprised to see that I was only at 4 minutes when we reached the first 1/2 mile marker. It wasn't until we reached the first mile that I realized I hadn't actually started my watch at all! That actually made much more sense, because my best mile time thus far is about 10.30, so to be on track for an 8-minute mile just didn't make ANY sense at all.
Of course, because of my watch snafu, I couldn't check my splits like I normally would. I started my stopwatch at mile 1 and was able to see that I was on track with about an 11-minute mile for miles 2 and 3, which felt okay to me since I'd trained my long runs at a slower pace (more like 12- or 13-minute miles). I reached the 5-mile marker at under an hour, but I had to pee. Blast it!! This added probably three minutes to my overall time.
I hit the 7-mile marker and still felt decent. I only had a 5K left and figured it was doable. The race course was along the same path I've followed for many of my long runs, and it was sort of nice to know exactly how far I had ahead of me. I could visualize exactly where the path went over the next three miles. To this point, the longest run I'd done was nine miles, so I have to admit that mile 9 to mile 10 kicked my butt. I've got 8 miles down--that distance is starting to feel easy to me. But I definitely run out of steam beyond 8. There were some hills in the last two miles (hills in Chicago??!) that I just did not have the energy for. I'd hoped to finish in under two hours, so when the volunteer beyond the 8-mile marker said we were at 9:50 (the race started at 8:00), I sort of lost heart and slowed up a bit. I was really feeling it at this point and figured that finishing in under two hours was impossible. But I kept on keeping on (I ran the entire 10 miles, aside from a few water breaks and my bathroom break). Finally, I saw the finish line. Dean had planned to bring Ella and Sadie to the finish line. Since I've raced only in the winter, this is the first race they've ever been to. Ella has been so interested in my races, and I spent the entire 10 miles anticipating them at the finish line. When I saw her coat and heard her screaming for me, I just about burst into tears! It was such a moment. I finished at around 2.01 (clock time) and was a bit disappointed I hadn't kicked it in to finish in under two hours. The volunteer who told me the time past the 8-mile marker must have had an incorrect time, which really sort of irks me. I know I would have finished in under two if she hadn't given me the wrong time and made me feel like finishing in under two was impossible....
The whole freaking race, I was right in front of or behind this old lady that was speed walking. That was discouraging b/c I kept thinking that she wasn't even running and was about as fast as I was. I managed to completely lose her around the three-mile marker and thought I'd left her in the dust. But at nine miles, she was in front of me again. Maybe b/c of my bathroom break?? Even though I was beyond tired, I kicked in it near the finish line because I HAD to finish before her. And I did....
I finished the race telling Dean I'd never run again. Right. I'm so done with running that I just signed up for a half marathon in September. I must be losing my mind!!
In the meantime, I'm planning on a few shorter races (5Ks, 8Ks, 10Ks) in the hopes of improving my mile times quite a bit. Everyone told me to work on distance first. Now that I've got some miles under my belt, I'll be working to shave some minutes off my 5K times. Ultimately, I hope this will equal a faster half marathon pace by September.
But anyway, the official race report:
**************************************
I felt absolutely horrible the Saturday before the race. My cold was still dragging on and on, and I had ZERO energy. I actually thought about bagging the race. But I just couldn't bring myself to throw all that training down the drain. I'd had a really bad week of running--even having to stop my Friday run after only half a mile because I felt so lousy. So you can imagine how nervous I was Sunday morning. I didn't know what to expect. And I definitely didn't want to start the race and find myself unable to finish it.
I drove to the race with H and K, and we all decided beforehand to kind of run our own race, which was fine with me since my mile times are a minute or two slower than theirs are. I wish I'd brought my ipod though. I thought they weren't allowed, but everyone was running with one. Oh well. Next time.
We arrived way too early (it was a smaller race than I'd anticipated) and just sort of hung out in the car until it was time for the start. The starting line was quieter than I'm used to. Previous races I've done have had music and a real energy at the start. Not so much with this one. In typical fashion, we'd gone from about 80 degrees on Friday to about 45 degrees at 8:00 Sunday morning. Luckily, the rain that had been forecast did not appear, so the conditions were favorable. I've run through ice and snow, so Sunday's weather was just about the best I've raced in so far!
I started out slow (or what I imagined was slow) because I was (am!) still dogged by a bad cough and was just very low-energy. I had started my watch when I crossed the start line and was surprised to see that I was only at 4 minutes when we reached the first 1/2 mile marker. It wasn't until we reached the first mile that I realized I hadn't actually started my watch at all! That actually made much more sense, because my best mile time thus far is about 10.30, so to be on track for an 8-minute mile just didn't make ANY sense at all.
Of course, because of my watch snafu, I couldn't check my splits like I normally would. I started my stopwatch at mile 1 and was able to see that I was on track with about an 11-minute mile for miles 2 and 3, which felt okay to me since I'd trained my long runs at a slower pace (more like 12- or 13-minute miles). I reached the 5-mile marker at under an hour, but I had to pee. Blast it!! This added probably three minutes to my overall time.
I hit the 7-mile marker and still felt decent. I only had a 5K left and figured it was doable. The race course was along the same path I've followed for many of my long runs, and it was sort of nice to know exactly how far I had ahead of me. I could visualize exactly where the path went over the next three miles. To this point, the longest run I'd done was nine miles, so I have to admit that mile 9 to mile 10 kicked my butt. I've got 8 miles down--that distance is starting to feel easy to me. But I definitely run out of steam beyond 8. There were some hills in the last two miles (hills in Chicago??!) that I just did not have the energy for. I'd hoped to finish in under two hours, so when the volunteer beyond the 8-mile marker said we were at 9:50 (the race started at 8:00), I sort of lost heart and slowed up a bit. I was really feeling it at this point and figured that finishing in under two hours was impossible. But I kept on keeping on (I ran the entire 10 miles, aside from a few water breaks and my bathroom break). Finally, I saw the finish line. Dean had planned to bring Ella and Sadie to the finish line. Since I've raced only in the winter, this is the first race they've ever been to. Ella has been so interested in my races, and I spent the entire 10 miles anticipating them at the finish line. When I saw her coat and heard her screaming for me, I just about burst into tears! It was such a moment. I finished at around 2.01 (clock time) and was a bit disappointed I hadn't kicked it in to finish in under two hours. The volunteer who told me the time past the 8-mile marker must have had an incorrect time, which really sort of irks me. I know I would have finished in under two if she hadn't given me the wrong time and made me feel like finishing in under two was impossible....
The whole freaking race, I was right in front of or behind this old lady that was speed walking. That was discouraging b/c I kept thinking that she wasn't even running and was about as fast as I was. I managed to completely lose her around the three-mile marker and thought I'd left her in the dust. But at nine miles, she was in front of me again. Maybe b/c of my bathroom break?? Even though I was beyond tired, I kicked in it near the finish line because I HAD to finish before her. And I did....
I finished the race telling Dean I'd never run again. Right. I'm so done with running that I just signed up for a half marathon in September. I must be losing my mind!!
In the meantime, I'm planning on a few shorter races (5Ks, 8Ks, 10Ks) in the hopes of improving my mile times quite a bit. Everyone told me to work on distance first. Now that I've got some miles under my belt, I'll be working to shave some minutes off my 5K times. Ultimately, I hope this will equal a faster half marathon pace by September.
1 comment:
What an awesome story! I was nearly in tears reading along. You look great too! I
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