This was a new race for me. I usually work on Veteran’s Day. But now I have the day off and Holly & Jackie from my running group recommended it.
They said that the course though boring, was pretty flat. Perfect, I needed to do one more run before Sunday’s 15k race, anyway.
The race started at 10 am. I actually could sleep in. The temps were in the 50s too and it seemed like a perfect running day.
But I was wrong. It was very windy – 20 mph winds and the temps were dropping. It felt like it was in the 30’s.
The race was held at a high school and it started on the track.
There was lots of parking and even real bathrooms. I picked up my bib and shirt and returned to my car to stay warm.
long sleeved and cotton – now I have another throw-away shirt LOL
Eventually I had to venture out to start the race. There were almost 400 racers (many high school boys wearing speedos!!) I decided not to wear my jacket and left it near the start.
I found several friends including Gary, fellow blogger Christine and Holly. We started together and toward the front (since it wasn’t chip timed). They were all faster than me so I decided to use them as pacers.
The race started by running around the track and then onto the roads of the campus. This is a huge campus so though the scenery was not very exciting, you didn’t have to worry about traffic.
As much as I could, I tried to run the tangents and keep my speedy friends in my view. It felt somewhat like a horse race but I was always bringing up the rear. Holly was way ahead for the first 2 miles. Then came Christine followed by Gary. As Holly’s pace slowed, Christine took the lead. As we headed toward the home stretch (the track again), Gary passed Holly and then he passed Christine. I was still in last place but gaining on Holly.
As soon as I saw the finish line, I put it in high gear and passed Holly. 🙂
I should mention a few other things about my race. My shoe was untied most of it. But I didn’t want to stop and lose time. So I just ran making sure the whole time that I didn’t trip. I was glad that I didn’t wear my jacket, I wasn’t cold (until I finished.) I felt nauseous and out of breath the second half of the race. In fact, I felt like throwing up approaching the finish line. (As soon as I finished, I felt fine).
I’d be lying if PR thoughts didn’t enter my head. This was my last real chance this year. But it wasn’t meant to be.
I grabbed the jacket that I had left on the table and went to find food – there were cookies, bagels, fruit and chocolate milk and I enjoyed all of it (but craved something WARM.)
Then I found Christine and Holly and we hung out waiting for the raffle prizes and the awards. I wished that I had pants, a warmer coat and gloves. I was freezing!!!
I didn’t win any raffle prizes but I did win first place in my age group. I told Holly that if I had tried to keep up with in the early miles, I would have crashed and burned. Someday I will PR…. (under 27:11)
The top three won beer glasses but only the first place winner also got a $10 gift card to Fleet Feet. I hope Holly is still my friend. LOL.
she looks happy, right?
So I ran my second 5k in one week. (Yes, I am supposedly training for a 15k this Sunday and a half marathon on Dec. 3 …)
Splits:
mile 1: 9:01
mile 2: 9:12
mile 3: 9:05
.1: 6:50
Garmin time: 27:43
Gun time: 27:51 (Holly & I both thought we crossed at 27:4x)
I plan to rest up until Sunday when I run the Stockade-athon 15K.
Happy Running! Anyone run or race on Veteran’s Day?
Nice job! It was a chilly one today.
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The wind was nasty.
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No racing today and I haven’t run yet this week. I hope to run tomorrow or Sunday.
Good luck on your race this weekend and congrats on placing today !
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Thanks. Hope you are not too sore.
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Yes! Congrats on that PR! Where do you find these races?
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Thanks. We have so many races in my area.
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Not a pr. But I did barely win my age group. That was rewarding.
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So is Holly still talking to you? LOL – way to put on the afterburners for that finish!
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I hope so.
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Congrats on 1st place! Well done! And good luck with the 15K! I hope it’s a great time!
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Thanks.
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The more you run, the fewer PRs there will be. Unless you’re on drugs, of course. 🙂
Sounds like you ran a good race. I’ll be heading out soon to run some errands and pick up my packet. Now if I can only remember where the heck I parked my car last year, it was a good spot . . .
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So you did sign up? Unless it’s really cold, I’ll wait for you at the finish line.
I do think the more race the greater the chance of a PR. I hope I have more in my future even though I am old!!! Then again my advanced years could be making me delusional.
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Everything I’ve read says the opposite-the more you race, the less chance of a PR. Because you don’t build in enough recovery. I’m pretty sure you have more PRs in front of you; you just can’t expect it to happen frequently is all.
My plan today is to not PR, LOL! I’m going to try to treat it as a training run. We’ll see what happens.
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You probably read more than me. I go by logic. The more often you race, the more opportunities and your body gets used to running fast. I’m probably talking about shorter races. You don’t really need much recovery time.
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While it might seem logical that the more you race the greater your chances for a PR, there’s also the fact that racing is hard on your body.
So racing a lot and not recovering properly can hurt your chances. Which is why elites generally don’t race anywhere near as often as even me, although they do run a lot more miles. A LOT.
I very much doubt your PR days are over, but most likely they will be fewer and farther between (just like mine).
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Let’s hope so. Right now, I am still basting in the glory of my half marathon PR at age 63.
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As you well you should be. Very doubtful I’m going to see a half PR this year — this race is probably my only one for the entire year — but I had a good running year even so. So far!
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You had a great year. No major injuries is a win.
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Training race? Ha Ha!
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Surprisingly I think it was the hills that foiled my plan. Or maybe just the fact that it’s a speedy race field.
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It is a speedy field and a very crowded race. So when you are always surrounded by runners, you go with the flow.
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You’re not surrounded by a lot of runners in BOTP. Which was actually kind of nice.
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Yes you seemed to be all alone in the pic I sent you. I need runners around me to drag me alone.
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There were more in the beginning. 😊
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