My Weekend in Review

I'm operating in reverse this week - I am currently spending my week at work recovering from my weekend.  I ran an 8k on Sunday morning.  It was great!  I really enjoy racing.  I was nervous beforehand because I have never run that far in a race and the weather was supposed to be miserable.  Happily, the weather cooperated and it was about 50 degrees and overcast, but not raining.  It started to drizzle at about mile 4, but the pouring rain held off until I was walking back to the car.  It was perfect! 

I had three goals for this race: 1) finish the race; 2) run more than I walked; and 3) finish in under an hour and fifteen minutes. 

I achieved all three!

I am very excited, as this is only the second race that I have ever actually run.  I have registered for a number of local 5ks for charity, but I walked all but one of them.  I don't have a Garmin, so I have no idea what my splits were, but I do know that my pace was 10:36.  In training, I generally seem to be in the neighborhood of a 12 minute mile, so I was happy with my pace.  It didn't feel super fast, but when I hit the two hills on the course at around miles 2 and 4, I had enough energy to shorten my steps and speed up my turnover. 

When I felt like I couldn't keep going, I kept giving myself permission to stop and walk at a point within sight ahead.  Each time I got to the point I had chosen, I realized that I didn't need to stop.  I ran the whole way!

Before I knew it, I was looking at the home stretch.  Around mile 2, I chose three women running nearby (okay, slightly ahead) of me to pace myself.  I told myself that I would try to stick close to them and pass them at the end if I could.  At mile 4, one of them took off and left me in the dust.  As I approached the finish line, I really didn't have much left in the tank, but I was able to power myself past my two remaining pacers.  Being a competitive person, I was happy I was able to do that. 

I finished the race in 52:44.83.  I won't be winning any medals with that time, but I really enjoyed the race and can't wait to do it again.  I have a PR to beat now!  An added bonus: I test drove running with a new handheld Camelbak water bottle, which I really liked, and I ran with an Amphipod Airflow Microstretch belt to carry my phone and car key.  In the future, if I do decide to train for a half marathon, I will need somewhere to stash fuel.  I'm not crazy about carrying water, but I also hate trying to drink fast from a paper cup.  With the water bottle, I had my nuun and could cruise right past the water stations.  I am convinced that it made a difference in my time.   I am going to call this a successful race and test run!