Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

Got a great crowd together for an awesome weekend in Lincoln City culminating with the 3rd Annual Lincoln City Half Marathon (for Lisa, Jordanne, and Anya, they dominate!) and 10k (for Kasey, Jeff, Brittany, Kevin, Justin, and I).  The weekend was just gorgeous and today was no different, perfect blue skies and perfect temperatures (started around 40 but warmed up, with SUN the whole time!).  Out along a lovely river with beautiful fields, cows, horses, donkeys, forests, and just general loveliness.

This race was weird because the night before we pretty much all decided to do the Half Marathon instead of the 10k, but I couldn't decide so literally in the first 3 miles I wasn't sure what to do.  But I started too fast for a half, trying to keep up with Kasey, and at mile 3 I had to decide if I was either going to slow down and do the half or speed up and do the 10k.  Speeding up sounded like more fun. :-) 

Hit the gas in Mile 4, caught up to Kevin and passed him, then in mile 5 with about a mile to go or so I saw this older lady (45?) in blue waaay up ahead.  I really really wanted to catch her, but it felt impossible because we seemed to be going the same pace, and I was already really suffering and going about as fast as I thought possible.  But slowly I closed some of the gap, and at one point she looked behind to check out the competition and locked eyes with me and she sped up and I thought it was over.  But finally with about .1-.2 to go I caught her!  She gave me this defeated look and fell back, I felt kinda bad.  But not really. :-)

This race felt GREAT.  No it wasn't a PR (about a minute off), but coming off of a winter of ITB problems and resting, in the first race of the year, this feels AWESOME.  I'm excited to keep training.  Two-thirds of the runners did the Half, not the 10k, which boded well for me because I got THIRD.  THIRD PLACE.  That's right, third female overall, SHOCKING!  (Now I'm sooo glad I killed myself passing that lady!)  No award though, but I did get a ribbon for 2nd in my age group.  We cleaned up in the 10k since there wasn't anyone, Brittany, Kasey, and Jeff all got ribbons too!

Cooled down by doing 4.2 more (very easy) miles to round it out at 10.4 while waiting for the half marathon people to finish.  They had a delicious spread of fruit, awesome bread, Mo's clam chowder, girl scout cookies, and the most delicious thing EVER, which turned out to be Dave's Killer Bread Sin Roll or something like that.  I will definitely be purchasing some of those.  So proud of everyone, such a fun weekend.  And especially proud of Justin, who did his first ever 10k in under an hour!  I only wish I wasn't so tired and it wasn't the start of another work week (including the last crazy week of the quarter).

TT: 49:50  AP: 8:01

Splits: 8:39, 8:18, 8:25, 7:49, 7:49 (had the big hill), 7:19, 7:04 (.22)

Ouch.  A lucky daytime sunny-after-pouring-rain run shoved in between work and class at Burke-Gilman trail.  I didn't feel very sore after the 10k (just some right hamstring soreness) but about a mile into this run my shins were screaming.  After that miles 2 and 3 were pretty much a death march - I would run until it was intolerable, then walk until it felt better, repeat 100 times.  4th mile felt better, but ITB was also kind of angry at me.  Overall, lesson learned: it is incredibly stupid of me to barely do speedwork (i.e., I ran ONE 7:37 mile last week on a flat cushiony indoor track) and then go out and run as fast as I possibly can on hilly terrain (i.e., two 7:49 miles, one with a huge hill and one 7:19 mile).  When have I done even ONE 7:19 mile since August?  I haven't.  So that's stupid of me.  I think my biggest problem is that I hate suffering during everyday training (so I avoid suffering at all costs) but I somehow LOVE to suffer during races.  So races pretty much always kill me.  I am an idiot. 

Later did 10 super sluggish minutes on the elliptical and some weights, including 100 lunges (50 each leg) which I will certainly pay for tomorrow.

7.14 miles around the neighborhood - Time #1 of trying to make myself suffer.  4 x 400's with 2 minutes rest (meant to do 6 but the car place was going to close), so then I hurried and ran (literally ran!) up to get the car from the collison place (they fixed the broken bumper after that guy hit it), then after I got home I grabbed Cooper and headed out for 2.5 more or so, and added in one more 400. 

400's: 2:01, 1:57, 1:58, 1:57, 1:56

These really aren't 'suffering', my goal should probably be closer to 1:45-1:50.  Oh well, you've gotta start somewhere.  HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!  Off to try and bribe my husband into helping me transcribe hours and hours worth of interviews.  Anyone want to volunteer to help? Its a fun Friday night activity!  :-)

3 sluggish miles outside around the neighborhood with Cooper.  It rained and was altogether unenjoyable.  SICK OF THIS WEATHER!