Last week the boys had Thursday and Friday off of school, so we headed down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a little family vacation (more on the vacation part tomorrow.) I was able to find a race on Saturday, so I decided to knock off another state.
Short story: 44:45 8K (30 seconds slower than my PR), approximately 18 out of 59, 5th woman, and 2nd in my age group.
Long story:
After two days of awesome weather, I woke in the wee hours of Saturday morning to pouring rain and strong winds. Crap! I don’t mind running in a little rain, but steady downpour is not my thing. Luckily, the race wasn’t until noon. As the morning wound towards noon, there appeared to be a break in the rain coming. It was still windy, so I chose to wear my windbreaker with shorts and a short sleeve shirt.
The race I was running was the inaugural Hot Pursuit 8k, which was in honor of fallen officers of Dare County, NC.
The race was touted as hilly and challenging. I compared it to my neighborhood and thought “no big deal”. Turns out I was wrong. It was a small race and started right on time with a yell of “ready, set, go!” Within the first few steps, my hat got blown off. I grabbed it and stuck it in my pocket. I also knew within the first quarter mile that my legs were not in the game. Not really sure why, but they felt like they had a build up of lactic acid, yet I was just starting and I wasn’t going that fast. Maybe it had to do with the walking we’d done the previous two days. Maybe I was still recovering from my longest run in ages that I did on Tuesday. Who knows? All I know is that the race became all about my mental strength. Could I keep my legs turning over even though they were tired?
Yes, yes, I could. Despite the tired legs, a challenging course (the hills were the worst kind – long and just steep enough to be hard), and a foot that went numb at mile 3 (shoe tied too tight?), I managed to get under 45 minutes (my goal) AND only get passed by three people.
Look, I’m exhausted, but I’m not heel striking! You can tell I’m exhausted because my head always leans that way when I’m tired. LOL
I finished the race feeling like I’d run a half marathon. Thankfully, this race knew how to put on a finish line party. Dunkin donuts? Yes, thank you, I’ll take two. All in all, while I didn’t have a great race, the race itself was awesome and very well organized. I highly recommend running it if you are ever in that area.
And another state bites the dust. Only 32 more to go!
Ok. It’s trite but I need to remind you that YOU may say you didn’t run a great race but you lapped those of us NOT running a billion times!
Come to Austin!
Sorry it was a tough race but how cool to check another state off! I say you come run the ZOOMA half with me in GA in April. 😉
you should run the Cap City Marathon or half in Ohio!
Nice job! State number 18 is pretty impressive, too.
I have to say that since changing my form, faster recovery and less fatigue are such huge benefits to me. Worth all the pain to transition to forefoot striking!
Dude. I have never run more than 6.2 miles consecutively in my LIFE.. so color me impressed with your ambition and ability to run this race, even though it was tough for you. You should be really proud.
Also I realize that 6.2 miles is more than 8k, but I meant that I have done that distance on ONE occasion, and you are racin’ all over the place. That probably came off sounding weird in my initial comment, ha.
Woo hoo, love that you knocked another state off! Sorry about the hills. I hate them too.
Kapow! Another state knocked out. Nice!!
Congrats on getting 2nd in your age group!
Great job! I think the races we should be the most proud of are the ones that are NOT easy and in which we don’t quit. Congrats and hugs!
Congrats! Awesome goal you’re reaching for. Keep at it!
Congrats- that sounds tough. And of course you aren’t heel striking after all of those Vibram runs!
You made that sound fun, even though I know running in that kind of rain and hilly courses are tough. There were Dunkin Doughnuts at my last race as well…it was like heaven…every race should follow suit. Congratulations on a very speedy race!
Age group podium AND donuts = Winning!
Congrats on pushing through on tired legs, and knocking out North Carolina! Sounds like a tough run.. glad you were rewarded at the end with 2nd place and donuts!
Post-race donuts… yes please! Congrats on pushing through!