Did the Resolutions Series 15k this morning. Woke up in the middle of the night with the worst calf cramp EVER, this is the 3rd time recently I've gotten this, it feels like the muscle is snapping in half or something and I want to pass out from the pain. Granted, I don't have too high of a tolerance for pain, but still. Why does this happen? It was terrible and my calf is SO sore today because of it and I never want that to happen again. Back to the race, very small, well-run, I was surprised that they had 3 water stations, which made me happy. Point and back, it was a 15k or a 15 mile, and I guess most of the people were doing the 15 miler. Ran a 1.5 mile warm-up or so, mostly just because I wanted to get 11 in today and I knew I wouldn't do any more after the race, so I was able to start pretty fast. But after mile 2 or so I found 3 other people that I ran with for a couple miles, the pace felt pushed but good, so I was SHOCKED when I looked at the Garmin and saw we were running about 7:45 miles. Who knew? I was expecting about 9 min mile averages for the race, so I was very happily surprised/impressed that I managed 8:04s. Actually, I think because I started a little ways back, my Garmin said 9.42 at the end, and this ended up actually being averages of 7:59 miles, which I love just because its under 8, even if just by 1 second! Anyway, unfortunatley, at the KM turnaround all of my group I had been sticking with kept going, and I was pretty much alone for the rest of the race, which was the worst part. I passed one girl going up this steep hill (which I felt like I never recovered from, this was right at mile 6 when I started really wishing it was a 10k and felt like I would never make it to the end), and I really wanted to stay with her just to be with someone but I also wanted to keep trying to push it. There was another group of 3 (2 girls and a guy) waaaay ahead of me, probably 1/3 of a mile or something and going the same speed as me, so I knew it was practically hopeless of catching them, but I made the effort. So no one else passed me the rest of the time, and coming on to the track for the last quarter mile I passed the guy, but knew I could never get to the girls, but then I was SO dead from pushing that whole last mile to try and catch the guy that he then passed me in the last sprint to the end, so that was a waste of effort! :-) Splits: 8:24, 8:05, 8:09, 7:42, 7:47, 8:13, 8:04, 7:42, 7:52, last .42, 7:32 pace. Total Ascent: 776 feet. Overall, I'm glad I did it, it was a great tune-up and gives me lots to think about before the Half Marathon (in which I would LOVE to break 2 hours) on April 3. First of all, I cannot run that fast. I was dead at Mile 6 and there's no way I could have run 4 more miles at the end of this race. With the warm-up I guess I only would have had 2.5 more to go, but still. I need to take the beginning slower or not get sucked in to running under 8 min/miles so early. Though I am very very proud, because I didn't even think I could run miles under 8 in any sort of long run like this! Second, of course I felt nauteous again after this race, why is that? The lactic acid or something? I don't know how to avoid this. They did have some good baked potatos to take advantage of! Anyway, I think I'm on the right track! Just need to keep working hard and getting faster! Golfed 9 holes later which probably adds another 2 walking miles on, though didn't add those in.
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