I knew that I would be racing on tired legs today, even though they did feel better than a couple of days ago. I could feel it in my warm-up, but I tried to put it out of my mind and concentrate on my race plan. I thought I could run at least 6 minute pace, with an outside goal of breaking 37 minutes. I knew that Andrea North would be in the field, and I had heard good things about how fast she was, so I knew I had my work cut out for me.
My race plan was to run steady for the first two slightly uphill miles, and then push hard on the downhill through miles 2-5, and then hopefully have a strong lead going into the last mile. I erased my splits off of my watch, but they weren't helpful anyway since the race doesn't know how to accurately measure a mile. I ran anything from a 6:30 mile to a 4:52 (yay, me!) throughout the race. It was frustrating not knowing where I really was in the race.
For the first five miles I stuck to my plan. I lead the first mile, and Andrea took over in the second mile. At mile 2, I started to push to pull back even with Andrea. I pulled ahead at 3 miles, and led until five miles. When we turned back onto 400 East, I started to run out of gas. Andrea passed me, and instead of sticking close I let her go. I am very disappointed with my last mile. Andrea ran awesome, and may have beat me anyway, but I mentally threw in the towel, instead of sticking it out and pushing the last mile. I've been beating myself up ever since! I was completely unfocused the entire mile.
On a more positive note, I ran the pace I thought I could, and I think the race indicates an increase in fitness. I have only been training consistently for four weeks, so it is just a start. I am happy with the week's training. I may have overdone the intensity a little, but my miles are increasing, and I'm sure the paces will come down. When I am tired for a race, I need to remember the bigger picture, my half marathon in 4 weeks, and more importantly, a successful fall marathon.
I warmed up three miles, and cooled down three with Kristen and MaryAnne. I thought of adding an additional mile to finish out the week at 60, but since I had only planned to hit 55 this week anyway, I thought it was a little unnecessary.
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