I hurt my foot back around September and took about a two month break from running to let it get better. I figured the 3 mile race on December 11, 2010 in the 34th Annual Holiday Run & Walk For Health would be an easy race to get back into the swing of things. Plus, it had a Santa Dash for the kids, and my 6 year old has been wanting to do a race.
I woke up around 7 am and had my usual breakfast of peanut butter toast and a protein shake. I woke the kids up around 8 and got them dressed since I wanted to leave the house at 8:30. The husband was a tad bit miffed when he realized he had to stay with us the whole time. He was thinking he'd go for the kids race and then head back home. He had no idea the kids race was after mine. Ah, well. We stopped by McDonald's on the way over there, and I got a couple of hash browns and a sausage McMuffin for the kids. Husband said he didn't want anything. The kids ate their hash browns, but not the sausage McMuffin, which the husband gladly consumed.
When it was time for the 3 mile race to start, I somehow got there last and was in the back of the crowd. Boo. I had to do a ton of weaving and sprinting just to get around a lot of people. The first part of the race had us running on muddy paths. Not fun. Most of the race went pretty smoothly. I was wearing a tight long-sleeved shirt as it was super cold that morning (maybe around 50°), but after a mile, I wished I had on something less constricting. I now understood why people wore tanks and arm warmers. There was a girl in black in front of me that I was pacing. But around a mile and half I passed her and never saw her again. Then there came a hill. I normally kick ass on hills, but just couldn't do this one and walked the top portion of it. Boo.
Towards the end of the race I was pacing an older lady. When I knew the end was near, I started my kick and I would have passed her, but I think she felt me there and used a car to block me. Hehe. Tricky old lady. Anyway, I finished feeling strong and even saw the husband and kids at the finish line waiting for me.
My official time was 29:29:48 (Average pace of 9:50/mile). I was 10th in my age group (out of 22) and 122nd overall (out of 296). My goal for this race was to run it in under 30 minutes. Hooray! Goal met.
My Garmin times (which said an average pace of 10:14/mile) was a tad bit off from the official chip time.
Mile 1 - 9:57
Mile 2 - 10:34
Mile 3 (.91 miles according to garmin) - 9:16
The kids did their Santa dash later on, and my daughter complained that it didn't feel like a race because it was too short. I guess I'll have to put her in the 1 mile race next year. Hehe.
No comments:
Post a Comment