Short story: 12K in 1:08:20ish (I’m not exactly sure of my time as I forgot to hit stop on the Garmin, the official results are not up, and it was not chip-timed).
Anyways, I got up this morning and had my usual pre-long run breakfast of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some coffee. It was about 33 degrees out, so I bundled in a long sleeve technical tee and a fleece half zip with gloves and a fleece cap. At the last minute, I threw a lighter weight half zip into my bag and grabbed a baseball cap. Beer Geek and the boys decided to go with me, so we bundled them up for playtime on the ice while I ran.
It was a small race, but well organized. The weather was sunny and the temps started to rise. I quickly decided a clothing change was in order and changed into the lighter weight jacket and the baseball cap. Beer Geek snapped a quick picture and then I headed for the start line. Moments before the start, I tossed him my gloves.
The race started with a short out and back and then another longer out and back. The second was pretty darn hilly! The beauty of running in my own ‘hood was that I’ve run most of the hills, but I still found the hills in mile 6 to be exhausting. I kept reminding myself “been there, run that” and for longer periods of time. I’d never tried to maintain this particular pace for this long before though. I went out with a goal of finishing under 1:10:00, which is a 9:23 pace. My mile splits ended up being 9:01,8:59, 9:06, 9:00, 9:02, 9:09, 8:58. I’m not sure of the half mile because I had a bit of an issue at the finish line and forgot to hit stop on my Garmin.
The issue? Mud…
At the end, we had to negotiate down a slippery, muddy hill. I had the added obstacle of a family walking down with a stroller. Then you had to make a tight right turn and run to the finish. I stopped running at the bottom of the hill because I didn’t know where the finish was. I did get directed there, but I was just a little confused at the end LOL.
The best part of the race? I got to meet tfh (apologies for not spending much time talking at the end. I was just wiped out and starving.)
I really enjoyed this race and think it was a fun length. I left everything I had on the trail, though. I’ve never run that long before with nothing but water nor have I tried to maintain a 9 minute pace for that long. I think I’ll run it again next year, but take my fuel belt with gatorade in it. I also found out the difference between running 12K and racing 12K – I was exhausted and starving all day, way out of proportion to the actual distance of the run. All in all, I was pleased with my performance, but I do have a ways to go before I can keep that speed up for a half marathon.
Jones and Shoo had a blast playing on the ice while I was out running. I love that they are getting old enough to come watch mommy race!
Awsome job. That’s annoying about the stroller. Out of the way folks!! Cool that you and tfh got to meet! Fast time!
Good job on the run!It’s nice you got to meet with a blogger.Mud, huh? And a stroller? That would be frustrating
Nice job on the run and your splits looked great. How exciting to meet another blogger!
Very cool that you had a blogger meet-up! Awesome job on the race, and you stayed pretty constant throughout! !
Great job on the race! Look at that hill at the end. I was wondering what the lady in the stroller was doing. LOL. I was like, “is that woman racing on that hill with the stroller?”
Wow, you blew your goal pace away on a tough, hilly, muddy course! That’s awesome!
GREAT JOB CHICA!! Dang that looked tough! OMGosh I didn’t realize you and the lovely tfh were running the same race LOL How awesome is that? 😉
Great job! It’s great that your kids can come watch and know that you are an athlete. I love it when my kids see me in my running clothes and know that “mommy’s running.”
Nice splits! It was downright brutal when we had to turn around and run against the wind– on that portion I couldn’t even bear to look at my watch. It was great meeting you and your guys. I did the same confused-muddy thing at the end and forgot to even look at the time clock OR shut off my watch… hopefully they’ll post the results soon.
Great race! That muddy downhill looks crazy – but at least it was mud, and not snow and ice!
Yuck on the muddiness! I trust you got your kicks respectably dingy?Great job on the race 🙂
Great race! Bummer about the mud and strollers though.
Man, sister, every time I post something to my blog, YOUR blog, at the bottom of your post, says I linked to YOU even though I didn’t! (I’m far more subtle when I stalk people and when I stalk you, you’ll never suspect it and that’s how you’ll know I’m stalking you … or will you?)So tell your blog to stop telling lies about me before all the other blogs start to think I’m some kinda psycho and they shun me and get all “Shh! Shhhh! SHUT UP! Here comes Glaven! Just pretend we were about to leave and don’t SAY anything and for GOD’s sake DON’T make eye contact!”Because I get enough of THAT vibe in the meat-world.O … and congrats on a good race. Next time, trip tfh up just to see if she uses Victorian-era swears like “What in Blazes …?!” because I bet she does and I actually have money riding on it.
Nice job! I can’t figure out why that lady thougth a stroller down a muddy hill was a good idea though.
Glad you enjoyed the race!
Too funny! I saw this race and passed a bnch of people running it while I was on my run. I wonder if I passed you???