The 3rd running of the Spirit of Columbus 1/2 Marathon and Relay was this past weekend. I wasn't originally going to do this one because I had signed up for Emerald City 1/2, which is next weekend. Then my good friend Dayspring contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing the relay. I am so glad she did because I had a blast! I have never done a relay of this distance so it was a new experience for me!
We decided I would do the first 1/2 and Dayspring would do the second half. Dayspring wanted to be able to run into downtown. I actually preferred to do the first portion because it was easier for me to plan when to take my asthma inhaler and I thought it might be cooler!
So, the morning started out nice and cool, sunny skies. My friend Rick picked me up bright and early and we headed over to the race start. Found a bunch of MIT friends, hung out a bit, and waited in long lines for the bathroom - nothing out of the ordinary for a race morning! Very low key and about 2 minutes before start time we all ambled over to find a good spot. Darla, Rick, and I weren't overly concerned about our times so we found spot towards the back. 7:30am sharp, the gun sounded and we were off!
I wasn't too sure of myself going into this race because I haven't really done much speed work this summer. I was hopeful I would be able to do a 9:55 pace or so. Between HHH (hot, humid, hazy) days, traveling, and being sick - my plan to work on speed kind of fell apart and really I have been doing just enough training to get by. So, I was pleasantly surprised when Darla and I did the first to miles at an avg. of 10:05 and then 9:24 and I felt pretty good. After a third mile around 9:30, I decided to see what I could do. Darla slowed as she was needing to reserve some energy for the (full) 1/2. So for the next few miles I tried to work at a hard speed but not killer. I didn't look at my watch and just went by feel. I felt like I passed alot of people, including a few that normally run in faster pace groups than me. Once I got to mile 5 I tried to pick up the pace a little more and then nausea set in . . .so, I just tried to maintain. 6.55 miles finally arrived and I found Dayspring right away. I was too breathless to say much of anything but I grabbed her hand and wished her a good run! My time was right around 1:01! I forgot to stop my watch after I crossed, so I am unsure of the actual time, but close enough. Much better than I thought and a PR for this distance!
After this I had to jump on a shuttle bus to get downtown. There was alot of traffic so I was a little concerned we wouldn't make it in time. The nice thing was that we went on the road right next to the race, so I got to see most of my friends at one point in the race or another! Fortunately we were moving quicker on the bus and I made it in plenty of time to see Dayspring and many of my other friends cross the finish line!
Dayspring is in the front, white hat!
Here we are: Team 2 Runner Girls (race time of 2:06:43)!
It turned out to be a great race day and many of my friends had PR's!
Congrats to my friend Michele, who got a nice PR and is now a memeber of the sub 2 hour club!
Rick also got a PR by almost 5 minutes!
And I think 75% of this group also got PR's! Way to go Rich, Julie, Becca, Mark, Julie, and Jim!
So what else have I been up to?
Here are my stats for the past few weeks:
8/11/10: still sick - rest day
8/12/10: Attempted 30 min run (ran 20 slow then ran/walked for 2:1 ratio), 30 minutes light strength - after all this I had to take a nap, still feeling sick . . .
8/13/10: biked 15 miles at a nice easy pace (15-16mph)
8/14/10: 8 mile run with MIT
8/15/10: 40 mile bike, ridiculously hot and humid, still feeling affects of bronchitis earlier in the week
8/16/10: 30 minute recovery run
8/17/10: 45minute strength training
8/18/10: bike 19 miles, brick run 15 minutes
8/19/10: 2500 swim, 40 minute run
8/20/10: rest
8/21/10: Pelotonia 105 miles on the bike
8/22/10: 10 mile run
8/23/10: 35 minute run
8/24/10: 2300 swim, 40 minutes strength train
8/25/10: 19 mile bike
8/26/10: 2500 swim, 42 minute run
8/27/10: 38 mile bike (2.5 hours)
8/28/10: 6 mile run with MIT
8/29/10: Spirit of Columbus Relay, 6.55 mile run (1:01ish)
8/30/10: 2800 swim (outdoor pool, 94 degree weather, dodging kids)
No comments:
Post a Comment