Great Race (9.25.11) - 3rd Time

I ran the Great Race in 2009 and 2010. I feel like I was in the best shape this year and the 2nd best shape last year.  My numbers and feel after the race don't support that though.

Facts:

• Official Chip time - 56:01
• Clock time - 56:38
• Official Distance - 10k
• Garmin watch time - 55:55 moving and 55:57 elapsed time
• Garmin distance - 6.29 mi
• Course - mainly downhill
• Arrived downtown @ 8:11 but was supposed to get there @ 8:40 so I waited outside the parking lot for RL to show up.
• RL showed up at 8:35 and we went into the lot then went inside and went to the rest room. 
• Immediately left to drive to the start. 
• Walked a little bit and ended up in a long line just waiting to get up over to the course start
• Race was supposed to start at 9:30 but it started at 9:37. 
• Kelly and Jason passed me around mile 2
• Liza passed me near the 5k
• Around mile 5, I saw Nate after he finished when he was on his way to find Emily. 
• I ran the first mile with Adrienne. (She finished in under 50 minutes)

Feelings:

• I thought I was in better shape this year than last year. And last year I thought I was in better shape than the year before. 
• I am always really nervous before races. I was more nervous this year than the first year. This is mainly correlated to goal times. 
• I was less nervous today than the last 5k I ran. 
• Carpooling helped me be less nervous today. 
• At races, I have false hopes of doing minutes better than practice/training runs because people often tell me this will happen. 
• I feel a lot more pressure running races when lots of people know I'm running them.  When races were just a first time for me and people just thought the goal was to complete it, I was able to run it a lot better.
• Adrenaline helped me run my first 10k. 
• I still want to find a 10k to run that isn't the Great Race to see how I compare. There is one for the Pittsburgh Runners club coming up. That course is hilly. Oh that race is October 2.  I have an American Heart Association Walk on October 1.  If I do that 10k, then I won't have the time to get my long run in on the weekend.  I thought I could do it Friday on my normal day off.
• Sometimes at training runs, I run with someone else and the other person pushes me or I push me so I don't fall behind. I even talk during these runs. Then my times from those runs are often better than my race times.  I need to find someone to run with at races. Today it was awesome running 1 mile with someone. It really pushed me. I should have tried to keep up for mile 2 just to see. 

Comparisons:

• In 2009, I mainly trained on the track. In 2010 and 2011, I did a lot of training around my house and at North Park.
• I did a lot more workouts in 2009. I actually worked out 6 days a week for the 2+ months prior to the race.  This year and last year my September workouts were lacking.  
• In 2009, I was consistently doing Body Pump 2x a week.  In 2010, I was doing it 1-2x a week.  This year I am going 1 time a month.
• In 2011, I did a lot more total miles, but I ran more times a week in 2009. 
• In 2009, it rained. In 2010, it was cool and no rain. In 2011, it was hot for the end of September (75 degrees and sunny)
• In the rain in 2009, there were lots of bands along the course. They were motivating. I liked the accordion guy.  In 2010 and 2011 there was a little bit of stuff on the sides but not much. 
• In 2009, I just had a watch and I memorized what the splits said when I passed the mile markers. In 2011, I used my cell phone to hit split for each mile marker.  In 2011, I had my Garmin watch and got splits to the .25 automatically.
• I got my BodyMedia Fit right before the race in 2009 but it was broken so I had to ship it back to get a new one, so I missed wearing it for the race.  I wore it for both 2010 and 2011. At the start in 2010, someone asked me about it and was all excited to know what it was called. 
• This year I started up further than any other year and the congestion or lack of it was amazing.  
• My goal in 2009 was to beat 60 minutes and I did it. In 2010, my goal was to beat 2009 and I failed. In 2011, my goal was to beat 2009 but was also to get around 55 minutes and I only half did that.
• After the Great Race in 2009 and 2010 I basically didn't run for at least a month. I will not let that happen this time. I will be posting my workout goals like I did in December so I can be accountable. 
• I notice each year I have the most thoughts racing through my head after the Great Race than any other race. The first year I did so much better than I thought I would do and the previous two years I did so much worse. 

Race + Mowing

Everyone talks about the course being mostly downhill, well it is but even the elevation gain is more than most of my runs.

Around the 5k mark, I stopped for water and walked for a bit (like 10 seconds) so that is why there is that drop in speed at that point.

My husband made fun of me for making a bulleted list in a blog post. He said people don't do that. Well I guess I do. He also glanced quickly at the one part and said he could tell I was an engineer.

Well there you have my race summary with a little more details than normal.