Monday, July 21, 2008

The Race

I finished the race on Saturday night in 54:24 with a 10:57 pace. I couldn't find my running watch so I couldn't time it myself, but their time should be pretty close. It was very weird running at night but it was a great race. There were a ton of hills though! Just when I would get to the top of 1 hill to finally get some relief, another hill would come up! Despite the hills and the humidity, I finished with a great time and I felt great afterwards. Unfortunately a 61 year old man died during the race with 1 mile to go. I didn't find out until the next day on the news. They suspect it was the heat, but they couldn't say for sure. It didn't feel hot to me and the sun was down by the time we started, but I carried Gatorade and at every water stop took 1 or 2 sips of water and poured the rest on my head. I probably would've felt a lot worse had I not done that. You don't realize how hot it is until it's too late.

I'm signed up for the 10K/10-miler program which starts Tuesday August 5. I'm going to take it easy until then, doing the elliptical and running easy. It's going to be weird not going to the track tomorrow, but it'll also be good to take a break. I'm happy with the outcome of this program and I'm even more happy that I completed it! I hope the next one goes well and gets me prepared for the army 10-miler!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

3 days until race day


Last night we met at the track but instead of doing our usual workout, we did a dry run of the race course. We actually cut out a portion and did about 3.5 miles instead of the full 5. We met back at the track for a cool down and I felt really good and jogged a lap around the track. Tomorrow I'm going to do a very easy run and then the race is on Saturday. This is the first time I've completed a training program through the MCRRC. I'm proud of myself and very happy to have come this far, but I'm going to miss the routine and the people I've met. Luckily there's still the 10K program to look forward to which starts August 5. It'll be basically the same with a Tuesday night track workout and a Saturday long run. The target race is the Rockville 10K in the beginning of November. And of course I have the Army 10-miler October 5! YIKES!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Updates

Last Tuesday we did a hill workout instead of our usual track workout and it was awesome. I was really proud of how well I did and how good I felt. Last night we went back to the track and did 3x1600- 3 fast miles!! Here are my times in order:
9:49, 10:32, 10:26
Not bad if I do say so myself. I actually didn't run all week and missed the Saturday run. I have to miss it again this Saturday because I'm working, but I am definitely going to run on my own either after work or on Sunday. The 8K race is Saturday the 19th and I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be. I'll let you know how it goes!