Before bed last night I remembered that I was thinking of running a 5k today. But I forgot that I was going to join the North Park Runners group for a 10 mile run. I couldn't do both. I thought about it. I still didn't know which one I was going to do. The worst part of it all is that after Body Pump at 6 PM after not going for 3 weeks, I knew I'd be sure no matter what when I woke up.
When my alarm went off, I was so tired and knew that I would not make it to North Park by 8am. That left the race at 9am or nothing. After hitting snooze a few times, I really did think about doing nothing. Dave encouraged me to do it, so I did. I had to look up directions how to get there. Google said it'd take 13 minutes to get there. I was pulling these directions at 8:15. This is much later than normal for a race for me.
I wasn't even stressed. I knew I was sore so I had a good excuse to suck. I knew I'd be slow since it was hilly. I knew there was no chance of me placing. Plus since I didn't know I was for sure running it, I didn't have the stress the night before.
Before the race, I ran into a lady and we got to talking about races. Her family was there to support her. We talked so long that I didn't warm up at all or stretch at all. I could have but figured I'd be fine. It was in the low 40s so I had gloves and my headband on along with tank, long sleeve shirt, and pants.
The race started and I wanted to quit before completing the first .25. The hill at the beginning sucked. The garmin doesn't even make it seem like a hill. But it might have also been bad because you could only go 2 or 3 wide and for almost 200 runners, it makes quite the awful bottleneck. There was some downhill the 2nd half of mile 1 so that my split wasn't totally awful. At mile 1, my new friend, Janet, passed me up. The volunteer standing at mile 1 was actually standing at 1.1 or later. Some people were getting all upset about that. The end doesn't change, so who cares exactly where the mile markers are.
At some point between mile 1 and 2, I looked behind me and saw 1 person close and nobody back behind that at all. I thought who knew I'd be bringing up the rear of the race. (I actually wasn't and there was a big gap.)
Then the volunteer was there at 2 miles but really it was 1.96. They need to work on their markers.
Once we hit mile 2, it was downhill and a lot of it. I didn't remember all the downhill from the last time I ran it. I guess I was too dead last time. I caught up to Janet around this point and we ran together (without talking) for a little bit but then I pulled ahead. I tried to cheer her on to keep up with me.
Around 2.5, I passed a lady just when she started to walk up a hill. I told her to keep it up and she was doing good so far. She said she was older than me so she couldn't keep up. I hated that reasoning. (I'm younger but I was sore from Body Pump and still supposed to be recovering from a marathon. Age has nothing to do with it. If that was the case the younger you are the faster you'd finish.)
During the last 3/4 of a mile of the race, I was catching up to people and passing them. I guess all the hills were worse for them than they were for me. I barely even felt like I was pushing. I didn't have to to pass them all so then I still had some energy left.
I kept waiting for the hill back up. The last .25 or so was uphill and it was bad. I knew it'd be bad so I didn't super push myself. I couldn't believe how slow I ran the entire thing. I felt like I was running in slow motion and actually thought I'd get a slower time than last time. (I didn't.)
The 5k was harder than the marathon. I'm much better at going and going and going than at speed because of the marathon training but also tend to be that way all the time. I'm bad at super pushing myself. I just ran. Mainly I just moved my legs. I didn't think about what I normally think about during a race. Normally I think of Callie telling me to ask myself if I'm running as fast as I can. If I'm not I'm supposed to run faster. By the way, I have never once asked myself that and been going as fast as I could. It always makes me go faster. Then you forget thinking about it and slow up. So you have to think about it again. I can't believe I didn't think of this once. This past Summer I ran with Kelly and she'd push me along. I would run faster with her than in races and we'd be talking. I need better motivation I guess.
While I was running, there was this girl ahead of me with a Pittsburgh marathon shirt on. I tried to catch her, but didn't realize she was so slow. I caught her around mile 2 but she finished way after me. I was asked by 3 different people if I ran the Pittsburgh marathon. I had to tell them I didn't. Sad times. Why did I wear my half-marathon shirt yesterday. I saw someone in a Philadelphia Marathon shirt. I forget when they finished because I saw the shirt before we even started the race. I didn't want to be dressed all in black so I didn't wear it. I should have just warn all black. I could have looked hardcore with a marathon shirt from only a week before. More races need to give out nice shirts instead of the cotton T-shirts. I decline the T-shirts at races. I just have too many.
I'm a little surprised I was only 34 seconds faster than last year. Last year I not running at all. This year I ran a marathon and did a ton of running the months before. I pushed it more last year and felt like I was going to die. I basically did a leisurely run this year. Someone needs to run a race with me and pace me and see how I can do.
At some point between mile 1 and 2, I looked behind me and saw 1 person close and nobody back behind that at all. I thought who knew I'd be bringing up the rear of the race. (I actually wasn't and there was a big gap.)
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| The Race for Grace was 279 elevation change (today we started at the same elevation as we ended so not how it is 274 and 316 |
Once we hit mile 2, it was downhill and a lot of it. I didn't remember all the downhill from the last time I ran it. I guess I was too dead last time. I caught up to Janet around this point and we ran together (without talking) for a little bit but then I pulled ahead. I tried to cheer her on to keep up with me.
Around 2.5, I passed a lady just when she started to walk up a hill. I told her to keep it up and she was doing good so far. She said she was older than me so she couldn't keep up. I hated that reasoning. (I'm younger but I was sore from Body Pump and still supposed to be recovering from a marathon. Age has nothing to do with it. If that was the case the younger you are the faster you'd finish.)
During the last 3/4 of a mile of the race, I was catching up to people and passing them. I guess all the hills were worse for them than they were for me. I barely even felt like I was pushing. I didn't have to to pass them all so then I still had some energy left.
I kept waiting for the hill back up. The last .25 or so was uphill and it was bad. I knew it'd be bad so I didn't super push myself. I couldn't believe how slow I ran the entire thing. I felt like I was running in slow motion and actually thought I'd get a slower time than last time. (I didn't.)
While I was running, there was this girl ahead of me with a Pittsburgh marathon shirt on. I tried to catch her, but didn't realize she was so slow. I caught her around mile 2 but she finished way after me. I was asked by 3 different people if I ran the Pittsburgh marathon. I had to tell them I didn't. Sad times. Why did I wear my half-marathon shirt yesterday. I saw someone in a Philadelphia Marathon shirt. I forget when they finished because I saw the shirt before we even started the race. I didn't want to be dressed all in black so I didn't wear it. I should have just warn all black. I could have looked hardcore with a marathon shirt from only a week before. More races need to give out nice shirts instead of the cotton T-shirts. I decline the T-shirts at races. I just have too many.
I'm a little surprised I was only 34 seconds faster than last year. Last year I not running at all. This year I ran a marathon and did a ton of running the months before. I pushed it more last year and felt like I was going to die. I basically did a leisurely run this year. Someone needs to run a race with me and pace me and see how I can do.
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