April 5th, as you know, was the 7 Mile Bridge Run, and it was awesome! My bridge work & speedwork definitely paid off with a much better time than last year...as in 35 seconds per mile faster than last year! Ended up 2nd in my age group (out of 143 people) and 53rd overall (out of 1500 people who signed up). Woo hoo!!!! Enjoy a few pics!
Ok, so that was obviously awesome! But, the following week was pretty good too!
Friday, April 11th, was the Coast Guard Runway 5k that was actually held on the airfield in Opa-Locka. How cool is that?! I've got to back up a bit, though, to set the stage for what's about to happen.
When I had my Monday visit with my chiropractor/sports medicine doctor, we discussed my 7 Mile Bridge Run, the pace, the splits, etc. One of the things he said was that I can’t be afraid to fail, and by that he meant that I can’t find out what I’m capable of until I do something and realize I can’t keep a certain pace or finish a certain distance. Interesting, right? I told Dave this on Wednesday night, and we both sort of agreed that this Coast Guard race would be a good one to go “all out” (in a way).
At the start of the race, I had my music going and had my RunKeeper app up so I could start it as soon as the gun went off. Maybe my screen was schmutzy or my taps weren’t strong enough, etc., but I couldn’t get the app to start. Don’t worry, I didn’t stand there screwing around with it! I took off like a bat out of hell and just kept tapping my phone. Finally, RunKeeper started, but I was probably a good minute and a half to two minutes into the run (which meant my distance “updates” would actually be less than the true distance I had run by about 0.18 to 0.26 miles). My first minute update had my pace at under 6 minutes per mile. (As a point of reference, I’ve been doing my treadmill speedwork at a pace of 6:22 min per mile, so I was cookin!!!) Needless to say, I couldn’t (and didn’t want to) hang on to that pace. By the end of the first mile, I was at a 6:52 average pace. That was really good because I’ve only had a handful of 5k races where my first mile was under a 7 minute pace (and those were usually by only 1-2 seconds). At this juncture, I was in front of the majority of the other racers, and the real leaders were too far in front of me to really be “catchable.” (I’m still trying to figure out if it’s a good thing or bad thing to be sort of running “alone” like that.) Up to mile 2 was still good, but I had slowed down. My average pace, while still being under 7 minutes per mile, was creeping up to about 6:56-6:57. Mile 2 is where I can finally start saying “1 mile left” and reminding myself to just hang on for another 7 minutes! Near the end of any race, I always start sprinting. Where that happens, though, is sort of determined by how far away I am from the finish line, who else is around me, and how tired I am. Normally I pick out something (a tree, a bush, a car, a person) to mark mentally where I want to start my sprint, and I did that on Friday. But before I got to that point (still thinking that I was all alone), I had some guy come up and start to pass me. Not only "no," but "hell no!" So I start my sprint….he starts his sprint! It must’ve been a sight to see! We both finished strong and fast! Like the beginning of the race, RunKeeper didn’t recognize my first tap to stop the tracking, so I had to fool around with that a bit more, but it calculated my pace as being 6:55. Ridiculous…in a good way! Then the results get posted, and I don’t know what kind of “new math” they were using, but they had my pace at 6:34. Definitely not! There’s no way I could do that and hold that for the whole race. The accurate results that I’m going by are online (http://www.accuchiptiming.com/images/race_results/2014/Coast_Guard_Runway_5K_Run_-_Race_Results.htm), and it has me at 6:49. Still ridiculous!
The awards were given out, and they sectioned the winners into over/under 30 for both male & female. Overall (for women), I would’ve been 3rd. Because of the age, though, I was 1st for the over 30 group! Now, get a load of this: the prize for first was a $100 Visa gift card! So for my $14 race entry fee, I got a cool t-shirt, breakfast after the race, and the gift card! As Grandma said, I “made out like a bandit.”
Alright, so that was my Friday! But, I had another race on Saturday, and it was a 10k. My plan wasn't to go as balls-to-the-wall as I did on Friday, but I certainly wasn't going to lollygag this one. I did my usual front-of-the-pack starting spot and started reasonably well. The one thing I wasn't really crazy about was the "loop" aspect of this course. It was really a 5k course; that means the 10k-ers had to do the loop twice. This was, I think, my first time doing a route like this, and it sort of blows. I'm not sure if it's the "I've already seen this" or "I wish I didn't have to run around some of the 5k walkers who I'm passing," but it just wasn't my bag. That doesn't mean I didn't kick some ass! Ended up 1st overall for women and 3rd overall out of men & women. (Ed Burrows, I'm comin' for you next time! I know your end strategy. Watch out, buddy!)
Check out these winnings! Yes, that's another year of Chick-Fil-A!
Dave's quite thrilled with the Chick-Fil-A cards.
So 2 races and 2 PRs! Good weekend, huh?!
Now, if I may change gears, let me move to my rant. [Rant on] Sugar! Yes, seriously, sugar! Next time you're at the grocery store, start looking at yogurt, especially the low-fat and even non-fat ones that are "healthy." Yup, some of them have 18, 19, 20, or more grams of sugar per serving! (As a point of reference, a can of regular Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar.) Listen, I get it: sugar tastes good. But does it have to be in everything and in such high quantities?! Sweet Mary! [Rant over]
And finally, I'm getting ready for the Keys100! I'm going to start doing my Friday and Saturday runs out in the midday sun, heat, and humidity. Sounds fun, right? Yeah, I know, it's going to suck the life out of me and probably take some (not all) of the fun away from the training. There's just no way around it, and if you're going to be running in the midday sun, heat, and humidity during the Keys100 (which is a 99.9% possibility), you've got to practice in it and acclimate yourself to it. Looks like I'm going to be getting some funky, hard-to-get-rid-of tan lines in the near future!!!! Oh yeah...
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| Not me, and not my tan lines. |
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