I didn't sign up for this ahead of time, but had said when I first saw it was coming out that if I couldn't do this there is no way a few weeks later I would be able to run 6.7 miles for the Hershey Half Relay. So I thought it would be a good race to run. I kept putting off actually registering though and it closed unless you registered the day of the race before I actually registered.
Dave is really the reason I ran this race. He knows I really need to get out there to run and I've been having a hard time getting motivated and finding the time to do it. I said I was going to run every other day even if it was just a mile and I haven't been doing that either. We set the alarm for 5:00am that morning, and when it went off I just wanted to roll over. This is my day to "slightly" sleep in if you can call it that. ;) But Dave said we can do this and he got up and got ready as I kinda laid in bed still and glared. (And of course finally got up.)
My friend Jenny was also running this and it was her first official race- she did do a 1 mile race earlier but it was with her daughter and stuff. This was her first one by herself. She's part of the motivation to go as well. At least I would know someone there.
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| Before the race |
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| Finisher's medal - Dave got one too for the walk |
There were corrals and the walkers were at the very end, so about 15 minutes before the race started, Dave and I walked to the start and split up, telling each other good luck. (Dave took Neil in the jogging stroller.)
My goal was to run/walk intervals because I know I just don't have the endurance right now to run the whole way. I haven't run further than a 5K since May of 2012 before I got pregnant with Neil!
I ran the first half mile and felt like I could keep going. The key to run/walk intervals is to start the walk before you're tired or else it's too late and you'll just be slow overall. So I did that right. However, looking at my Garmin, I was running way too fast. At one point I was at an 8:00 pace and I was figuring I was going to be more along the lines of 11:00-12:00 pace overall. I kept trying to slow it down during my run intervals but just couldn't do it.
There were enough people that almost the entire race I was weaving, but it was definitely worse the 1st mile. And surprisingly there were others walking fairly early too. I don't think they were doing intervals though because the ones who walked really early, I never saw them again. I think everyone just got caught up in the energy and went out waaay too fast.
Once I hit .5 miles, I started intervals. My watch is set to beep/lap every .25 miles. So when I got to .5 miles, I walked for .1 miles, ran the rest of that lap (.15 miles) and all of the next lap (.25 miles). So the intervals I started with were based on miles and not time- walk .1 miles and run .4 miles.
I also was extremely thirsty. Ever since having Neil I have had some bladder type issues so I tried not to drink anything before the race. It's actually what I would normally do to avoid having to pee (I pee a LOT normally, even before Neil). But with nursing it's not really a good idea because it can affect my supply.
The first water stop was at 1.5 miles. That coincided with my walk interval and I was so so thirsty that I actually got water. I almost never stop at the first 1-2 water stops, not even when I ran the Pittsburgh half marathon. Shortly after that we ran over the 16th street bridge. The view was just amazing- some low lying clouds, fog and the sky was just beautiful.
When I hit 2 miles I knew I was around 20:00 and I was getting worried that I had started out too quickly. I was doing run/walk but my run intervals were just too fast. I was aiming for an 11:00/12:00 overall pace, which would make my run pace around 10:00. I was trying to slow my run pace down, but every time I looked down at my watch I was under 10:00 pace which was not good.
Maybe this is what started it but I felt myself struggling mentally. I really need to work on the mental aspect of a race. I started playing games and making my run intervals shorter to try to pep myself. And I tried to slow down my run even more. It felt seriously like I was moving through water because I was trying to slow down and when I looked at my Garmin, I was STILL running at under a 10:00 pace. Not good at all.
The 2nd water stop was at 2.75 miles and I walked there too. I had a really hard time even getting the cup up to my lips and I felt really parched. This is when it all really went bad for me.
Most of the last mile was uphill. The first mile was downhill (nice) but what goes downhill must come uphill when the start and finish are at the same place. It wasn't a huge slope but it was enough. I kept running when I could but that wasn't much. I just kept looking at it sloping up ahead and groaning in my head. I had hit the 5K mark around 33 something, so I improved that time, which was probably another bad sign right there.
When I was by the Consol Energy Center I stared running again and determined in my head that I was going to run the rest of the way. It was right about there that I saw Dave and Neil on the side. I raised both hands in my air- not in triumph but flailing to wave hi, haha.
After the race we met up with Jenny and her family. She did great! I never did see her during the race; she lined up at the 10:00 pace mark and I was behind at the 12:00 pace mark. (The marks were just in the corrals, they didn't have pacers.)
I'm kicking myself for that last mile but I tend to do that. Somehow I need to boost up my mental game. I think part of that is probably forcing myself to just go out and run every other day. There's also a huge hill in our neighborhood that I hate to tackle so just forcing that should help as well.
My official time was 46:42 and my watch measured short of 4.1 miles (4.06)
I forgot to turn my watch off at the end but these are the mile splits. So I did not do well at having negative splits and at the Hershey Half (relay) I really need to try to slow it down early on.
| Distance | Mile | Total |
| 1 | 09:34 | 09:34 |
| 2 | 10:32 | 20:06 |
| 3 | 12:02 | 32:07 |
| 4 | 14:10 | 46:17 |
| 4.06 | 00:49 | 47:06 |
After the race they invited race participants and volunteers to watch the Penguins practice in the Consol Energy Center. Neil actually paid attention some, although he was hungry and tired. I nursed him in one of the loges and that seemed to perk him back to his normal smiley self. It was also really fun to watch the Penguins even if we didn't stay the whole time. I definitely want to run this again next year (this was the inaugural year for this race.)
Here are some pictures from the practice in Consol Energy Center after the game.
I hope I have your "problem" of running too fast on race day!! ;) I'm worried I'm going to have the opposite issue lol. Neil looks so cute in those last couple pictures!!
ReplyDeleteI bet you will have that problem on race day. :) It's such a fun experience and makes it worth it. I know you'll do great! I'll be thinking of you!
DeleteAnd thanks, you reminded me that I didn't put in my mile times. It's been too long since I've posted a real race recap. My big issue is with what's called positive slips- you really want the 2nd half of the race to be faster than the first. Don't worry about that at first but it does make the race itself feel much better. I need to get back to that- that's where I'm complaining about not pacing myself early on.