Anthem 5k

Anyone who lives in or around Louisville knows that there has been downtown construction as part of the "bridges project" for a while now. This means that the Anthem 5k, which is normally run downtown, was moved to Eastpoint - a business park, suburban area on the outskirts of the city limits. The problem with the new location is that there are only a few roads leading in and out of this park (unlike downtown where you can make your way to a decent parking spot through numerous roads and locations), and parking spots themselves are pretty limited. Especially for a race of 6-thousand people. Beyond this, there are many novice runners and walkers who may not realize that getting to a race early (especially at a new location) is ideal. For yours truly, who has the reputation of being just a little bit anal, this was not a problem since I arrived at the area more than an hour ahead of time, and parked less than a mile from the expressway, and .8 miles from the start. Easy in, easy out. No problem. Luckily, it was a gorgeous day full of sunshine with just a little bit of a nip in the air, as the race didn't even start until 30 minutes after the original posted time (traffic was apparently backed up on the expressway for people trying to get into the park and make it to the race on time). After the announcement to start went off, these logistical snafus no longer registered with me as I took off at a faster-than-my-average pace. I have a tendency to go out too fast, so I had to make sure to slow it up a bit to leave some for the end. My goal was to have a sub-thirty minute finish, and not knowing my PR at the time, I thought this was a do-able goal. At mile 1 I checked my Garmin to see that I was holding steady at a 9:40ish pace. Much faster than the 10:18 I had ran with a friend just a week or so before, but hey - this is a race so might as well go with it if I'm feeling it, right? Making my way to mile 2, I see a water-stop up ahead and remember that my bestie is one of the volunteers passing out H2O that day. A quick hug and a short walk while chugging some fluids and I'm off again. The course was mostly flat, with just a few slight inclines and fairly spread out, so I felt good about the goal I had set for myself. As I came up to mile 2 I was still feeling fairly well, but had pushed up the sleeves of my jacket as the sun and sweat were getting to me a bit. I could tell my pace was slowing a bit, but still confident that this was going to be a good run for me. Checking the Garmin once again, I saw that I had just about 10 minutes to finish the last 1.1 miles of the race. Sweet! Coming upon the finish, there was another incline up ahead which I knew could hamper my pace and time, but I just rolled with it and took a very short walk-break about 3/4 of the way up. Rounding the last corner I saw the finish line up ahead, and look down to see that I have just 30 seconds to make my goal pace. I kick it into high gear and semi-sprint towards the finish. Others are getting the same idea - although for some reason their sprint looks effortless compared to mine. After 10 seconds of this higher pace I feel the urge to vomit coming on and feel that maybe I should slow it down a bit, but still keep it at a push-myself pace. Crossing the finish-line I hit the STOP button on the Garmin and look down to see a 30:11 finish. Not my sub-thirty goal, but I'll take it. As I stated before, I had no idea at that time what my PR for the 5k was, so when I got home, checked this blog, and saw that I just PR'd by a full 2 minutes I was completely stoked! I have NEVER run a 9:36 average pace before in my life, and I was so excited to share this with the world. An option on the Garmin that I've never taken advantage of before was the split times. Since I had negative splits each mile during the Frostbite 5k (10:21, 10:10 and 10:01 respectively), I checked this same option again and was happy to see that my last mile was even faster than my first (9:35, 9:56 and 9:31 respectively). Again, I hardly EVER (if ever) have negative splits, so this is quite exciting for me! Next week, I am signed up for the Snowman Shuffle 4-miler, with the Rodes City Run 10k the weekend after that. Whatever it is I've been doing thus far to get me this awesome time on the 5k, I guess I'm gonna keep going and see where it takes me.

A New Year With New Goals

Although I haven't posted in quite a while, I have continued to keep the running up and have especially stepped it up for 2014. I felt I was getting a little burnt out there for the past year or so, and opening my practice two years ago has made it difficult to keep up the training that I would normally try to put into my races. At the end of 2013, after doing some soul searching, I decided to join the Fleet Feet running group. I did this for a few reasons: My bff and former training partner decided sometime in the last year that she no longer wanted to do any long distance running. I've said many times before that getting the motivation to get out and train is hard enough; getting the motivation to get out and train ALONE just wasn't happening. Not only that, but being a fairly slow runner it's very difficult to find other people who run at my pace, and even more difficult to find those who are willing to do interval runs if the need for a walk strikes. So, I figured if I join a group with a good number of participants, surely I'd find a partner or two to hold me accountable and run at my pace. Another reason for joining is, being one of the last remaining single and childless people in my group of friends, it's hard to find people to socialize with and I was hoping to maybe open up that door as well. So... in 2014 I've decided to step it up - once more - and continue to train and enter races. I never thought after that first half-marathon 9 years ago that I would STILL be running after all of these years. And that I would actually enjoy it!