Oh gheesh - I missed my goal of 60 minutes by 4.3 seconds! On the positive side I was ~ 30 seconds faster than last year (I was in much better shape last year, but sorely lacked motivation to push last year and just kind of leisurely ran along.) I injured my shoulder badly a few months ago and only started running in earnest again about 5 weeks ago. Since I didn't have much time to prepare, I figured I would consider this 10K a success if I put my heart into it. And for the most part I did. :)
So how did it unfold?
Well, I planned to have a nice dinner last night, get my stuff ready, and get a good night's rest. But my daughter's friend called at the last minute and offered us free VIP tickets to the Steve Miller Band concert at Red Butte Garden. Really!!! I couldn't resist, so with about 10 minutes notice we were out the door to go to the concert. The concert was a blast!! The guitar playing was absolutely awesome, and the keyboardist was really rocking, and so we got up and danced, danced, danced for a couple hours! Lotza fun! By the time it was over, I was really pumped and wishing I could run the 10K at 11:00 at night!
That was a no go, of course, so I just had to hope that the music magic (madness?) would carry over into the next day. Got home late, got my clothes ready, went to bed around 12:30, and fell asleep around 1 am. I did not appreciate my alarm going off at 4:30 am!!! Finally managed to struggle out of bed to get dressed, suck down some coffee and pnb & honey toast, and head out the door. Parked at the university and did a slow 1/8 mile jog to the start (it would've been smart to do a longer warm up and throw in some strides, but ...)
Que'd up about a minute and a half back from the start, and then we were off. The first 1-2 minutes were pretty slow as my body was protesting quite a lot (really should have done some warm up strides!), but I finally kicked into a good pace going down hill on Wakara Way. And, it felt REALLY GOOD to run fast!!! For about two miles anyway . . . then I'm not sure how fast I was running any more, but I was certainly breathing hard, so I felt good about my effort. My mouth was pretty parched so I walked a few seconds and drank water at the 1st water stop, then took off at a hard effort again. I probably slowed a bit because it seemed forever to get to where South Temple turns onto 200 East).
I was feeling the pain on 200 East and it took forever to get to the second water stop. The second water stop was pretty funny; I took a quick sip then dumped the rest of the cup and a second cup of water on my head. The runner ahead did the same thing, or at least tried to; but when he went to throw the cup of water on his head, he missed and splashed it all over the very shocked volunteer's face! (I shouldn't laugh, but it was funny!)
Then it was around the corner onto the home stretch along 900 South, and mercifully the sun wasn't beating down on me. This has always been a hard section for me, but I actually pushed pretty darn hard on this stretch, remembering to run with short quick strides, and then it was through the finish line. I felt pretty crummy afterwards & didn't even want any water; good indication that I pushed hard. But, dang, missed my goal by 4.3 seconds! Wish I'd looked at my watch, but dumb me, I forgot! (That's what happens when you only run with a watch 3 times a year!)
Afterwards Evy and I watched the first 4 marathoners finish, then walked back to South Temple and cheered on a whole bunch of mid-pack marathoners. We were really clapping and whooping and hollering at them, and that was fun! Then we walked up to my house on 12th Avenue so Evy could shuttle me back to get my car at the University.
Okay, I feel good about my effort today, but I KNOW I can run a faster time. All it takes is lots of consistent running - all year long, not for just a few short weeks!
Manana - o&o
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