August 25, 2010

Woodland Wallahatchie 10K

Life? It is going well, actually. Sometimes I sit back and think about how different my life is now than a year ago. While the strong urge is here to completely dog out my ex and say how much more peaceful my life is now, I will refrain. Sigh... taking the high road, although sometimes lame.

As for running? I am feeling okay. I wouldn't say great, but not bad, either. One new aspect to my training is that I found a training partner to run with a few days a week. I met him a race this past spring, but recently started talking to him about his Boston goals at the Blueberry Chase 5K. So, with him wanting to qualify this year and training for a late fall marathon, that makes our paces compatable. Having someone along for the hot and humid long runs REALLY helps.

This weekend, I drove up to Montgomery for the Woodland Wallahatchie 10K. It is a cute little race that benefits the Leaukemia Society. They also have the most awesome spread of baked goods to enjoy after the race. You know- the important things.

So, since it has really been as hot as blue blazes here and the humidity has been through the roof, I planned my paces accordingly, as to make this more of a workout than race-race. The goal was to just break 40. That would be 6:26s the whole way. I am now borrowing Alecia's Garmin, which is not set to auto-mile lap. So...I just put it on average and let it ride. Lucky for me, I started off running next to a pair of guys where one was calling splits to the other. Nice.

First 2 miles were exactly 6:25 each.
Then another female passed me, but not just any female. This local celeb that ran in the Trials in '04 and '08. I've met her at a few races and she's really nice, plus blazing fast, so I didn't mind being passed. The next mile I tried to stay with her, but that only lasted the 6:22 it took me to run Mile 3.

After the turn around, I saw that I was making ground on Training Partner. We have a little friendly rivalry, so that is a fun add-on to a race. Trials Girl was gone, but Training Partner was fading. My last few miles were right on pace and I was able to pass him at the start of Mile 5.

One complaint I have is that they did the turn-sharp-right-to-finish deal. That always throws me for a loop in a race.

Final Time 39:50, 2nd Overall Female, 3rd Overall Person

Afterwards, I was able to run the 5K course with Trials Girl and she had some really good words of encouragement for me. She also gave me some ideas about marathon pace runs that I plan to address in another blog post. And... she gave me her email address so I can pick her brain anytime I want!

Following my friendly run, I enjoyed a brownie and small piece of cake before getting my rabbit award. (Pictures on phone, hoping to get them off soon.)

And... October 3 is Wineglass. I feel okay, but not great. The heat and humidity are taking their toll on my training. I am 3 pounds up from goal weight, so I'm working on that, too. Also, I really, really need to get some sleep! I've been busy with school, going out, and working on Habitat for Humanity tasks. Habitat for Humanity recently came out with a bazillion page document/manual for Family Selection Committee (which I am over for our county). This has required me to boodles of reading and then trying to sort through what information to pass on to the committee.

Hoping to post soon about running and training related ideas. Until then, run strong, friends!

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous8/25/2010

    yay for training partners! i need to find one. too bad you live in LA haha.

    and poo-poo to you feeling okay about your running. based on this race i think youre pretty fan-freaking-tastic :) i do understand though what you mean when you say running is going okay.

    can't wait to see the pictures from it!

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  2. Very cool that you found a training partner (and possibly a guru?). Hope the weather chills out for you soon- at least a little bit.

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  3. Anonymous8/25/2010

    Sharp turns in races really throw me for a loop too. What an awesome time and well-executed to get the sub-40 goal for the day. Friendly rivalries are nice :)

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  4. Another awesome job-well choreographed, I might add too!

    My typical policy for letting those passing me (at least on shorter stuff) is this: guys or females with credentials-like trials girl.

    Run and read hard,

    A

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  5. Running for edible or drinkable items is high up on my priorities list, so sounds like a great race! Nice job on the sub-40. Great news on the new running partner, and I always think it's cool when I hear stories of cool running women who are happy to share what they know with other runners.

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  6. Nice work R! Sounds like you and your Training Partner had a great race!

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  7. Great race! I'm looking forward to the pics :-)

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  8. Yay on the race! Wonderful outcome. Sounds like you're busy as ever, good luck with the Habitat stuff. Looking forward to hearing what Trials Girl had to suggest...

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  9. When you take the high road, the finish is all downhill.
    I hope the school year is starting out well.

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  10. Anonymous9/02/2010

    Awesome job!! I hope to be as fast as you someday :)

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  11. Anonymous9/08/2010

    Good for you for taking the high road. Congrats on a great race and a new mentor! It's always good to have people to bounce ideas and strategies off of.

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  12. I'm likin' your blog very much! Will read other posts later! Keep it up! :)

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