I’ll admit it. I’m totally not in the mood to update my blog. But I
made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I would do a
write-up after each race. Sort of like a New Year’s Resolution. In some ways
it’s been great. Blogging has been a way to document my evolution as an athlete
over the past couple years. I can now go back and read how I felt, what my
thought process was at the time, and how I performed. So here it goes…blog write-up #15 of the
year. Have I really raced 15 times
this year?!
On Saturday I did the Governor’s Land 5K (in Williamsburg, VA). I’ve
done this race every year since 2013. And now I’ve won this race every year
since 2013 J
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| 2016 Governor's Land 5K (Colonial Road Runner's Grand Prix) |
I remember back in 2013 crossing the finish line in 19 minutes and 14
seconds and being in total shock. At the time it was a HUGE PR. Before that
race I struggled to break the 20-minute barrier. In fact, my times were
generally around 20:30 (6:35/mile pace). So what changed? The summer of 2013 I
decided I wanted to try my first triathlon. I bought a bathing suit, got
membership to my local swim club and hopped in the pool twice a week. I also bought
a bike and began riding around my neighborhood regularly. I did my first
triathlon that July. I was a disaster. But it was so much fun! And for some
reason it was the perfect recipe for improvement. I stopped getting injured
(because I was using different muscle groups), plus I was able to increase my
training volume (because, again, I was using different muscle groups). Instead
of running all the time and dealing with the frustrations of IT band syndrome,
runner’s knee, plantar fasciitis and even a stress fracture, I found that the
mixture of swimming, biking, and running made me stronger and helped develop
muscles in areas I didn’t even know I had muscles!
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| Back in 2013. I know...real attractive |
Fast forward to Saturday, October 29th. Expectations = Zero.
Honestly! I had no time goals. My coach and I didn’t even have a game plan. We
decided to train through this race and ramp up my run mileage in order to have
a shot at breaking my Half Marathon PR (in 2 weeks). My coach even said to me
before this race: “You’re going to be tired. It’s going to hurt. Don’t expect
much.” Sooooo… I didn’t. I ran an 18:58 5K at
the Crawlin Crab a few weeks prior so I figure I was in shape to run around
the same time. I also knew this race would be competitive and the win wasn’t
guaranteed – it was a “Grand Prix” Race (a competition between the local
running clubs where you could score points for your team).
The morning of the race my alarm went off and I was exhausted. I did
not want to get up. Even hit snooze a few times and briefly thought about
blowing the race off entirely *yikes*. But once I got up and got going the
“race day routine” took over and I was a little more fired up about it. I got
to the race site with not a lot of time to spare…I hit snooze to many times :-/
Quickly got my race packet, ran into a few friends and did a two mile warm up.
And then of course the nerves started kicking in as it got closer to race time.
Ugh 5Ks are soooo very painful. It’s my
favorite distance to race because it’s over fast, but the last mile and a
half is ALWAYS miserable.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…..
And we were off. The first half mile was crazy crowded and I found
myself trying not to trip over people (I have long legs = long stride). I
glanced at my Garmin and decided to settle into ~5:55 pace. I felt great. I
went through the first mile in 5:57 (perfect). I was in third place for the
women at this point. I’m not going to lie, I was a little surprised by how many
females were in the mix. But I know the first mile in a 5K doesn’t mean that
much. A lot of people go out too fast and fall back quickly so I just focused
on myself and stared at some of the men down the road.
I couldn’t believe how
great I felt. I honestly thought I could run around an 18:30. Ha! That plan quickly
went to hell. My body was not having it. About halfway through the second mile the pain started setting in. And
as I approached the second mile marker I was feeling “it” – the lactic acid
building, sting in your legs, “I hate this pain” – kind of feeling that you
only get from 5Ks. To my non-runner friends or those that don’t flat out race a
5K – think about grade school gym class, when the phys-ed teacher makes you
run, you go out too hard, you’re out of breath and your body starts to slow
down and it’s just miserable! That’s sort of how this feels (in my opinion).
Exhibit A
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| This was after my first Half Ironman in June. But my expression says it all....don't you think? In this pic I was actually explaining to my Dad that I would never do another Half Ironman. Of course I went on to do another one 3 months later (and 11 minutes faster ;-) |
Back to mile marker 2
I had slowed significantly and went through the second mile in 6:10. Still not quite used to the speed after
dedicating so many months to Half Ironman training. With one mile to go I
decided there was no way I was letting myself run over 19 minutes. I got up on
my toes, pumped my arms and started driving my knees…as painful as it was. The
last mile of every race I try to focus on not succumbing to the pain. I just try to
tell myself, “no matter what, you can’t slow down. Every second counts.”
I crossed the finish line in 18 minutes and 45 seconds; my last mile was a 6:03. I didn’t PR,
but I DID run my fastest time on that course.
2013: 19:14
2014: 18:50
2015: 19:11
2016: 18:45
...and walked away with another win.
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| Thank you for the gift card to Goodman & Sons Jewelers <3 <3 |
With my friend Jess Burcham
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| Good luck at the Richmond Marathon in two weeks! |
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