5K #4: It’s funny how goals change

I ran my fourth 5K this morning.  As you might recall, I set some pre-race goals.   My ultimate goal was to finish in under 34 minutes (there, I said it!), but if that didn’t happen, I wanted to beat my previous time, run the whole thing without walking, try to maintain an even pace and to finish strong, with a smile on my face.

When I passed the halfway point, I felt great. I wasn’t tired at all and I was firmly in the middle of the pack.  The clock said just over 16 mins, so I thought “hell, I might even beat my time goal.”

When I got to the two-mile point, I was hurting.  I realized I probably started off too fast and decided to let go of my time goal.  I told myself that as long as I finished strong and didn’t walk, the race would be a success.

At 2.5 miles, I was really starting to doubt the “finishing with a smile” goal.   But I trucked on.

As I rounded the corner at Mile 3, I looked up and saw the race clock.  I’m not exactly sure what the number was, but it was 33:50-something.  HOLY CRAP!  I knew I probably couldn’t get there before it turned 34, but I was determined to get as close as possible.

I kicked into an all-out sprint and finished in 34:23 (11:05 pace).   Not quite my goal time, but a LOT better than I expected, and a full minute faster than last time.

Goals:

• Finish in under 34 minutes– FAIL
• Finish faster than last time–  CHECK
• NO WALKING- CHECK
• Finish strong– CHECK
• Finish with a smile– DOUBTFUL. My “sprint face’ doesn’t leave room for a smile.
• Maintain a somewhat even pace–  FAIL. I don’t know what my splits were, but there’s no way it was even.

Overall, I’m happy with my performance.  It counts as a personal best and it’s almost TWO minutes faster than my first 5K back in April.

Even though I didn’t make my time goal, I’m still toying with the idea of getting a watch or something to help me with my pace.  I’m not sure when I’ll do another 5K (I’m gonna try my hand–legs?– at a longer distance), but it would’ve helped tremendously to know before the *end* where I was on the clock.

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Some other random observations about the race:

• This was a Women’s Fitness race, which meant–obviously– that only women participated.  The atmosphere wasn’t much different from other races, but it was kinda nice to see all the ladies out there supporting one another.  There were a group of girls who had “This is my first 5K” shirts on.  Everyone was cheering them on, it was great!
• They had a group warm-up session before the race. I’ve never seen this before and I assume it was part of the Women’s Fitness aspect.  An instructor from one of the local fitness centers led the racers in a series of aerobic warm-ups and stretches.  Kinda weird, but kinda fun.  I hope they post pictures on the web site, cuz I’m sure it was quite a sight!
• The race was fairly well-run, but the volunteers at the mile markers didn’t have stopwatches and weren’t giving times. I guess they assume that everyone has fancy timekeeping equipment,  but since I’m still living in the running dark ages, I had no clue until the end.   Also, the start was a little confusing because the bullhorn ran out of batteries (?) and so the race director had to yell out instructions.  Not a huge deal, just some confusion.
• The weather was fine.  It was kinda foggy/misty, but luckily it didn’t rain.   I made the mistake of walking through the grass on my way to pick up my packet so my feet were wet for the whole race, but I didn’t notice once we got going.
• I’m sure this happens to everyone, but I wish they’d figure out a better way to mark the miles.   As I was about to hit the half-way point (it’s a two-loop course),  I ran past the 3 mile marker.  Now of course I know that it’s a 2-loop course.  And of course I know that there’s no way I’ve run 3 miles in a mere 4 songs on my iPod (again with the high-tech timing methods), but for a half a second I thought “Wow–that was fast.”   It kinda killed my mojo for a second.   I can’t imagine what it must be like to run a marathon and see all the half-marathoners finishing and knowing you still have another 13.1 miles to go!
• And, finally– I’m disappointed in the t-shirts. Obviously, I didn’t run for the shirt, but I was hoping to get a cute tee from a women’s race.  They’ve been doing it for years, so I’m sure they’re sick of getting pink shirts made, but this is a weird burnt orange color. My favorite race tee is from the Twin Cities Twosome.  It’s kelly green and I love it.

Trust in Your Training

I’m running a 5K on Saturday.  It will be my fourth.   The first one I just wanted to finish.  The second two I ran with very little preparation and on the heels of trips/vacations, so i didn’t expect much.   This one I’ve actually trained for.

I have a time goal in mind, but I’m too modest, shy, scared, f-ing petrified to put it in writing just yet.  I do have some other goals though:

• Finish faster than last time
• NO WALKING (you’ll remember that last time I started to quickly and had to take a short walk break)
• Finish strong
• Finish with a smile
• Maintain a somewhat even pace

WHEN I meet my time goal I’m buying myself a fancy running watch.  My current system of adding up the song times on my iPod just isn’t cutting it.  But I’m not sure I’m ready to invest in a Garmin– not yet anyway!!   IF I meet my other goals, I’ll buy a new pair of running pants.

I *know* I can do this.   I’ve run this course before.  I’ve trained*.   I’m ready.    My motto for this race is “trust in your training.”     In the 4 weeks leading up to this race I’ve averaged about 10 miles a week and I’ve increased my long run to a little over 4 miles.

Now  I just have to get out there and DO IT!!   (And pray for good weather and “race adrenaline”).

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* My “training” thus far has been pretty much self-directed.  Starting Monday, I’m going to follow an actual 10K training plan. I’m excited about it because there are dedicated days for Cross-Training, which I think will help with my overall fitness and with fighting boredom.  Stay tuned for more.

#3

Yesterday was the Second Annual Run4Raley, an event put on by a local family who lost their daughter to mitochondrial disease last year.  (Read more and donate at run4raley.com).

As you may recal, I participated last year as a walker (and a biker… see this post), but this year I signed up to run!

I knew I was going to run the race for a while, but I haven’t been training AT ALL.  In fact, I haven’t been doing much of anything for the last 4 or 5 weeks, so I was VERY concerned about my fitness level.  I managed to get 3 runs in last week, so I knew I wouldn’t DIE… but that’s about it.

The race was good… not too hot ( a blessing for August) and there were lots of people there I knew.   I was a little intimidated by the small number of runners, though. The other races I’ve done have been MUCH larger, and I was afraid I might come in last.

By the time the race started, I felt GREAT.  I told myself to stay slow, run my own race and just to finish.   I started off pretty strong.  I reasoned with myself that if I could keep the “pack” in my eyesight, I would guarantee that I wouldn’t come in last.  About a mile in, the pack had thinned, but there were a few runners who were at or near my pace.

There was one woman who was doing a run/walk method. It quickly became clear that she and I were running at about the same pace.   After the half-way turn, this started to psyche me out a bit.  I was getting winded and hot and my legs actually started to hurt (this never happens), so I decided at about the 2 mile mark that I could probably replicate her walk/run and maintain my current pace.   I walked with her for ONE of her walking segments and then started running again.

After a couple of intervals of this,  I realized that a) her pace was actually a lot FASTER than mine and b) the start-stop wasn’t working for me.   Plus, there was NO WAY I was going to have my friends see me WALK at the end… so I finished strong.   And you know what?  My overall time was almost a MINUTE better than my last 2.  Yeah!

I’ve been bitten by the running bug again… Some things I learned:

• I really need to learn to start off slowly.  My first mile was WAAYYY too fast to maintain for the entire run. MUST.LEARN.PACING.
• As much as I loved supporting this cause, I need to look for courses that are more interesting.  Out-and-back on a country road was pretty BO-ring.
• It really does help having people at the finish line cheering you on.  This was the first time I actually KNEW the people cheering and it was a big help.
• I need cuter running clothes (see below)

Foto Friday: Running with Ryann

Okay, by now you all know I finished my first 5K last weekend.  I’m still pretty proud of myself, and I have my sights set on the next race. 

But I realized that even though I’ve blogged (ad nauseum) about running, I failed to mention what I was running for.   Yes, I wanted to meet a personal goal and whip myself in shape.  But, more importantly,  I was running in memory of Ryann Hope Smith, my friend’s  little girl who was born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) and got her angel wings shortly after birth.

Jaime had shirts made up for runners/walkers to wear on race day.   On the front it says:   “Silent Strength  In Memory of Ryann Hope Smith 12/27/08- 1/5/09.”  The back says  “Just Breathe… for CDH.”    All proceeds from the sale of these shirts went to support CDH research.

I bought two– one to work out in and one to wear that day.   The first time I EVER ran the full 3.1 miles I was wearing my “training” shirt.  And I truly believe that Ryann was with me on race day, helping me to cross that finish line.

crossing the finish line in my Ryann Hope shirt

Clennon, me, Lindsey, Jaime & Erin pre-race

Just SOME of the people suppporting CDH research that day

I’m super proud to be able to support my friend while also accomplishing a goal.  To learn more about CDH, please visit http://www.breathofhopeinc.org/.

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(Photos borrowed from Jaime’s facebook and the Illinois Marathon site–shhhh)

I did it!

Yes, folks… I finished my first 5K and now I’m addicted.  It was like riding a roller coaster.  As soon as the race was over, I wanted to go again.

I was slow, finishing in just over 36 minutes.  I got really caught up in the “race day” atmosphere and I never really got into a good groove.  Although I think the adrenaline pushed me on, I definitely missed the solitude of my training runs.

And not to toot my own horn or anything, but there’s something really satisfying about setting a goal and accomplishing it.  Just a week ago, I wasn’t certain I’d finish.  But once I built up my confidence, I knew I would.

All in all, awesome day!  It was so great to see so many people out there. It’s funny because running is such a solitary sport, yet it becomes so very social on race day.  I was thrilled to finish and thrilled I got to run with one of my very best friends.

Clennon and I post-race

Until next time…

“There’s No Walking in Running”

That has been my motto as of late.  Any time I feel like stopping, I think of Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own telling the ‘girls’ that there’s no crying in baseball.  It keeps me going.  For a bit.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I might not make it the full 3.2 miles on April 11.  But I really want to.  So I’m stepping up my training.  This morning I had one of my best runs to date.   So I decided to go again tonight.

Bad idea.

About 8 minutes in, my sides started hurting.  At 10 minutes the blister on my foot was about to burst.  At 11 minutes I walked.   I tried running a couple times after that, but just couldn’t do it.   I guess the experts are right.   Rest periods are necessary.

Sorry for yet another lame post about running, but it is pretty much taking over my life these days.  If I don’t make it all the way through this 5K I will sign up for another one.

Oh, and I’m in love with Lady GaGa’s  “Just Dance” right now.  I somehow forgot to include it in my last list of running tunes.