Sunday, March 9, 2014

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k

I'm going to be honest: this may be the first time I ran a race that I wasn't excited to run, in order to meet my goal of running a race monthly. (If I didn't have to cancel the other March race I usually run because of our friends' wedding at the end of the month, I may have backed out.) I think the lack of excitement stemmed from my last training run on Thursday.

I had four miles planned, but only finished 2.35 due to an ownerless dog and an unbelievably crampy stomach. I have never had to make an emergency pit-stop mid-run, but Thursday was a milestone. I made it to the park bathrooms just in time; I planned to continue the run afterward, but my stomach refused to be mollified.

So, after that disaster, I think I was just mentally not feeling this race. Of course, I'm glad I ended up going. Matt ran it with me this year, in memory of his grandma.
I did a really good job centering that bib...
The race began a little late, but the weather stayed nice and cool, in the high 50s. I knew that it would be ridiculously crowded, so I wasn't going to attempt a PR.
Waiting for the starting gun.
I spent the first half mile dodging around people and trying to find an even pace; of course, that meant I was really surprised when the Nike+ lady told me my pace a quarter-mile in. (I had forgotten to adjust how often she speaks, and I had her set to every .25, which is my setting for speedwork. I did find that it was motivating and comforting to hear how steadily I was holding my pace, though.)

I'm either really bad at math, or some magical seconds appeared out of thin air, because I thought my splits had me finishing in the 27s, possibly even with a PR. While I didn't quite make it, I did finish a minute faster than last year.
Two sub-9 miles + 9 = < 27, right?! Math is hard.
It's funny how different "effort" feels these days. Toward the end I definitely felt tired, but my first two miles felt way too easy to be as fast as they were. I was sure the GPS was wrong. I was just running at a pace that felt good!
Pretty happy with my performance!
Matt finished just ahead of me, too close to turn around and take any finishing pictures. My final stats were: 28:07, 160/518 OA, 69/316 female, 12/52 AG. If you compare that to last year's, I've come a long way...and last year was a PR!

The start line was pushed back a quarter mile this year, meaning the finish line was visible earlier. I think that really helped mentally, and allowed me to kick it into a gear a little early for my final sprint.
Some of the luminaries at the expo.
We wandered the expo a little bit and then headed home.
Post-race breakfast! Yum!
I'm glad I went and that I had a much better race than I had anticipated. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; once the adrenaline's going and the run is over, it's pretty impossible to regret it.

ABK

13 comments:

  1. Great job on your run Ali! I love the t-shirt you're wearing. That's sweet of Matt to run in memory of his Grandma :)

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    1. I love that Ragnar shirt, too, but I do prefer to run in a tank...I have to give my tattoo another week out of the sun, though!

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  2. Like any run we don't want to do...once we are out there....we never seem to regret it. Good for you for tackling it and getting out there!

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    1. It's so true...I've never met a run I've regretted!

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  3. You rock girlfriend!!!!!!
    You have come such a long way! I think all the training you have been doing is paying off! You are such an inspiration!!!! Great job!!

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    1. We've both come a long way...and have a long way to go yet!

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  4. Hey that is awesome your pace was easy for you the first couple miles and didn't feel like you were pushing. Your pace must be getting faster from all these races you're doing!

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    1. I guess "easy" is relative. I do wonder, though, how much faster I could've pushed the first mile!

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  5. Congratulations! You did an awesome job. And that is so great that you were running at an easy pace and didn't feel like you were pushing. Imagine the PR you are going to get when you run a less crowded race! You're going to blow it out of the water.

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    1. I think by "easy" I just meant "not as hard as I thought the 8:50s would feel." But yes, I think at a less crowded race I could've given it more!

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  6. Awesome, so happy that you rocked this race despite thinking about dropping out! Those numbers add up to sub 27 to me :)

    It's been so cool to watch you get faster this past year. It gives me tons of inspiration!

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    1. I never thought I'd start to get faster and then suddenly, boom! I know that will happen for you, too.

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