Today’s event stats:
Division Place 460/2331(19.7%)
Gender Place 159/2733 (5.8%)
Age Place 31/322 (9.6%)
Start Time 08:02:23
5.5 Mile 00:46:34
Elapsed 01:51:19
Pace: 8:29
So, I thought I developed either shin splints or a stress fracture about 5 weeks before this race. I took 3 weeks off to recover — cross-training, including some aqua jogging — which left only 2 weeks of real running before race day.
She.is.Beautiful was my first run back. And, after experiencing little pain from that event, I slowly eased myself back to running training. Not wanting to re-injure myself, I took it slow. I did more aqua jogging to replace one of my weekly runs, and opted to run on the treadmill instead of the street when I wasn’t running with Jenny. I also kept my pace fairly slow and my mileage down.
Then, I realized I miscalculated how many training weekends I had left! So, my longest run turned out to be just under 6 miles (whereas I had planned my last run to be 8-10), just one week before event day. On that day, I actually did 2 runs; I ran about 4.5 miles with Jenny (hills in our ‘hood) and then later in the evening, I went out with Thing 3 in the stroller for another 5+ mile run.
During the rest of the week, I focused on 45-60 min. cross-train sessions on the bike and the elliptical and did a 5-miler with Jenny on Thursday. I hoped that this training would be sufficient to pull me through.
Quite surprisingly, Jenny decided she was going to run with me–not the entire course, but from Woodrow, through Wilder, and back to Woodrow. Our estimate of that loop being 10 miles was dead-on! I was worried she would not be happy about the hills (her longest training run was also just under 6 miles), so I emailed her to warn her about them. Turns out, they were nothing to her. She never ceases to amaze me and I feel so fortunate to have her as a running partner!!
Jenny is an incredibly strong athlete, and I worked hard to keep her pace! She was especially impressive on the hills; where I would have happily slowed down, she pushed me to keep up. We made it up the hill at mile 8-9 panting but, miraculously, I felt relatively strong.
We managed to maintain about an 8:30 for the entire race. I wasn’t sure how I’d fare when she peeled off at Woodrow. By then, I was beat, having worked so hard to maintain pace with her, but by then, I also knew that getting a new PR was within reach. There were 2 factors that I felt would affect it–my initial pace from start to Woodrow (I had no idea how fast I was going when I met up with her) and how much I would slow down after she left.
As we parted, she coached me to try to keep up with this gal with a braid and a pink shirt … and I did just that. I never caught the girl, but I did try to close the gap. It was definitely good advice that helped keep me going! I wasn’t even sure I’d have anything left in me to sprint at the end, but being so close to a new PR, I urged my legs to keep on going.
As it turns out, I got my fastest recorded pace, but I missed last year’s rock ‘n’ roll half PR by a mere 4 seconds (my pace for this run was actually 8:29.85 so truly, rounded, it was an 8:30 pace)!
It kills me that missing my old PR by 4 seconds is among the strongest of my lingering thoughts on the event. After all, I nearly got a new PR on what I considered to be “sub-par” training and I had started out thinking I would be happy finishing in 2:10 or just getting anywhere below a sub-2:00. In fact, I started the run with the 2:00 pacer. And, I had the company of a very dear friend. But, the 4 seconds irks me. What if I didn’t get that last cup of water? What if I pushed myself harder just a few yards earlier?? What if I had tried passing just 1 more person??
Overall, though, it was such an amazing run for Jenny’s company and inspiration. We’ll get the PR next time. I’m certainly feeling like I should be able to beat last year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.
A., by the way, killed it with a 7:11 pace in the 10K. He just pulled on his shoes and went!