Good news is that I think I'm getting out of my running funk. Before I get into my race report yesterday, I should say that even though I put on a happy face, I was not feeling my best about my running since my marathon. It disappointed me moreso than I care to let on. My friends and you fellow bloggers & commenters were quite nice & helpful with your comments but this was just something that I had to work out myself. While I didn't go so far to fall out of love with it, I was just not that into running anymore. Which is probably why it's a good thing I did sign up for these races; to keep me going. The pace race at Pumpkinfest helped me feel better. I crossed the line with no problems breathing, I felt great. Granted I was going slow but it gave me a boost of confidence helping someone. And then this race yesterday, I raced it and gave it my all and came away very much happy with my time and how I felt at the end. I may not be all the way back in the game but I'm getting there. I think the true test will be January when I start marathon training again.
Yesterday I had my very first 15k race and my very first race in Chicago.
It was a good race in that the weather was lovely and I did great in my time. But the crowds... not so much. The final times only say that 4100 ran the 5k and 4400 ran the 15k but it just seemed like a lot more than that.
Met up with my NITRO running group and a friend so we could carpool together. We left Sycamore at 5:20a. I ate breakfast around 4:30a. Way too early and I should have brought something with me to the race. By the time we got to the start, I was STARVING. I was so afraid I was going to bonk. I didn't bring anything to eat on the run either.
The 5kers left at 8am and they just kept on going and going and going and going it seemed. Some were crossing 15 minutes after the start. They finally allowed us 15kers to line up and it only took me 3:35 or so to cross the starting line.
I had worn my jacket, pullover and pants over my running outfit. I took off my jacket & pullover and just had my mittens & longsleeved shirt on and I was fine with that. I was utterly confused with the pants though. I know my core warms up pretty well. But last minute as I was standing in the line for gear check, I decided to take off my warmup pants and run in shorts. I also had originally planned on running with my iPod but before the start, I found out that died after we checked the gear so I ran with it the entire time but wasn't listening to anything.
First mile ran with a guy who recognised my St. Jude Marathon shirt and we talked about that. 2-4 miles I ran behind 3 girls who I was using as my pace group. Then one of the girls started to fade and I had to run past them. There were people all over the race course. I was constantly have to divide and conquer them. Not too happy.
I wanted to run the first half slower than the second half. First half was average of 9:13 min/mi.
Just after 4 miles, my friend was on mile 7 and we were able to pass each other. He was near the front of the race. I never did see anyone else in the race but I found out that another couple was behind me by 3 minutes.
I lost all sort of direction half way through the race, I didn't even know the course so I didn't know where we were going or anything. I also lost track of mile 5 and maybe 6. I don't remember much of them.
Oh and if you wanna know why I don't have any pictures up is because I forgot my camera. Yep, first race in Chicago, along the lakeshore and I forgot my camera. Lucky me.
Mile 7, I was happy with my pace and decided to try to start pushing myself at mile 8 and then on to mile 9 and finish strong and with nothing left. I was feeling like I had way too much energy left in me at this time. My goal is to always leave everything out on the course. If I don't feel like dying at the end, I didn't give it my all. by this time I was averaging 9:08 and was hoping that I could knock off 8 seconds in the last 2 miles but didn't know if I could.
Around mile 8.5, a guy wearing a Pumpkinfest 10k shirt from this year passed me. I tried keeping up with him and did for the most part but his calves were way too big and strong for me to do that. Lost him around mile 9. I saw my friend standing along the course just before mile 9, I think. I made him start running with me with our gear check. I was asking him about his time and how he was feeling. I don't know why I was talking. But he eventually got off the course and I got passed by 3 people blazing by and I tried kicking it strong and I think I did. My Garmin said I ran 9.42 miles (all the dodging and snakes I was doing added up the milage) for an average pace of 9:02 min/mi overall.
The whole point of this race was the Hot Chocolate & free chocolate everything post-race. Weeeeeell, the Hot Chocolate sucked. Yes I did ask for it without marshmallows. I threw half of it away. The chocolate fondue looked pretty good (which was just melted Hersey Kisses -- I feel sorry for the guys peeling the tin foil from the kisses). Banana, apple slice, marshmallow, graham cracker and a pretzel rod. I gave my marshmallow & apple slice away. Took one bite from my pretzel rod (too salty) but totally loved the banana with the melted chocolate.
My only picture from the day
They also had lovely people walking around with bags and bags of free mini chocolate bars. I grabbed quite a few of those. We all met up at our designated tree and left around noon. We stopped for a bite to eat at Red Robin (my suggestion :-)
Got back home and the results were posted online! My friend came in 21st overall and smoked his goal time. I came in at 1:25:09 and was quite happy about that (anything under 1:29 I would have been happy with). And the others in our NITRO group did exactly what they were hoping for. Like I said, it was just an awesome day for a race & a run! Everything turned out to be just like I hoped it would.
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