Run Wild 5K Results - red is a winner again!

Last post I ended with Will I break 20:00? The answer... I blew 20:00 away!!!! Not only did I achieve my goal of sub 20:00 (I ran 19:37), but I was the overall female winner! That was certainly not expected, but a big bonus! What made this win even more fun - I got to break the tape! What a thrill it was to see them bring out a Run Wild finish line tape for me to run through. I threw up my arms and had the world's biggest smile when I ran through it! Then, before I even had a chance to catch my breath, two different people grabbed me for interviews. AHHHH!! Happiness overload!! Now, these weren't Channel 4 News interviews or anything like that, but it was still fun. In fact, I was so distracted I didn't even catch the name of the media people. Oops! Hopefully someone I know will see it and let me know!

Overall, I had a good day.

Even though the Lions lost.

Plus, I'm quite sure my vet tech team (Team Macomb) won the trophy back from Wayne State's team. I hope I did them proud!

Wish I knew what my splits were. I took splits for each mile, but I do not believe them at all. I'm quite convinced their mile markers were way off. If they were correct, I ran a 6:12, 6:38, 6:04. That's just not possible. I can't run a 6:04 after 2 hard miles. Ever. That mile was WAY off. The first mile may have been accurate, but mile 2 had to be long. Very long. Very very. Goofballs. :-) And this is supposed to be a certified course. Guess just the total distance has to be accurate!

Laundry is a workout!

Active rest day!

I used the indoor rowing machine for the first time in months. As I was sitting there pretending to be on the Charles in Boston, I started wondering about the wisdom of doing a relatively new activity the day before a race. Then I realized - too late now! You'll find out tomorrow morning! D'oh!!

I wisely decided not to do strength training for my legs today, seeing as I have a race tomorrow. But now I'm wondering if I should start counting laundry as a strength training session. We live on the third and fourth stories of a townhouse-style condo with the laundry room down in the garage-level entrance hall. That means hauling laundry down 2 1/2 stories to wash and up 2 1/2 stories back to our living space to fold and put away. I have 3 loads to do today! That's a workout! ;-)

So, Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo 5K tomorrow (might do the 10K too just for the hell of it) - charity run for the veterinary hospital at the zoo. I can't miss this run seeing as I'm a veterinary technician. It wouldn't be right. Bad karma and such. Plus, I'm running as part of a team with my old vet tech alma mater - Macomb Community College. The four tech schools in the area compete for a trophy. I'm not exactly sure how they determine who wins. I think it is a combination of participation and times seeing as they were quite thrilled that I'd be joining them this year! :-)

Will I break 20:00? Stay tuned...

Another rival crossed off the list!

I have two runs, my thoughts on which, I wanted to get on paper. So I thought I better get typing before another notable run happens and my mind gets too jumbled! Not hard to do.

Last Saturday (yes, a week ago) I ran the Mackinac Island Eight Mile race. For those not familiar with Mackinac Island, it is an island in Lake Huron within view of the Mackinac Bridge that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. This island is reachable only by ferry and the only type of transportation on the island is by foot, bicycle, horseback or horse-drawn carriage! You often have to watch where you step if you're brave enough to walk in the streets. There are employees whose only job is to clean horse waste, but they can only work so fast and the "other" type of horse waste can't be removed with a scoop!

Matt and I visit Mackinac Island a few times each year. We just love it. Yes, it is a tourist trap, but for good reason. There is a lot of history on the island, GREAT fudge shops (almost every other shop is a fudge shop - seriously), lots of interesting geological formations and it is wonderful for road running, trail running and biking.

The Eight Mile race is a race around the perimeter of the island, which means we were within sight of gorgeous Lake Huron almost the entire run. From the west side of the island, the Mackinac Bridge was visible. From the south, the Round Island Lighthouse. Plus, several of the rock formations can be seen from the perimeter highway as well.

I had high hopes of breaking 54:00 - and I did!!! My time was 53:07. Fourth female and first in Age Group. YES!! I was pleasantly surprised that such a short race handed out medals to all finishers. That was a nice touch! But I also took home a trophy for my AG win. It is one of the cheesiest looking trophies I've ever seen. I'll try to get a photo up soon, but I can't locate our camera at the moment.

Another bonus from this run is I finally beat a woman who has placed ahead of me in every other race we've both run previously. We just seem to register for the same races and she always beats me! But not anymore! hahahahahahahahaha!!!! BOOOOYAAAAA!!!!

Also, now I know what she looks like - from behind, that is. haha! During the race, she was ahead of me up until mile 6 1/2ish. She was always just within sight and sometimes I lost her going around bends. She must have run out of steam because I wasn't running any faster when I crept up on her and passed her. I ended up finishing 30 secs ahead of her. I didn't find out until after the race that it was her - one of my arch rivals. hehe!! Another one crossed off the list. Who should I aim for next? ;-)

On to today's run. I am still, seven hours later, feeling the effects of the run deep in my chest - that sensation you get after a good, hard effort that lingers for a while and reminds you what you accomplished. It isn't a bad feeling. It's actually kind of pleasant. It makes me feel like a deserve to sit here and rest and type up my run reports.

The run was supposed to be a 15-miler with about 12 miles at MP. That didn't happen. What did happen was a 14-miler with 9 miles at a pace somewhere between half marathon pace and marathon pace. Not sure what to call that exactly! It was a great workout and I'm sure I reaped some good benefit from it. But... But I really need to figure out what MP feels like. I tried to slow myself down consciously but after each mile I ended up with the same pace. I was very consistent! Consistently too fast. I have several more MP runs coming up. I will try harder. I swear.

Here are the splits:

1. 7:17
2. 7:19
3. 7:15
4. 7:20
5. 7:20
6. 7:20
7. 7:22
8. 7:22
9. 7:26 - this one was actually very close to the pace I had planned (7:25-7:30ish)! I only managed it here cuz I was so tired!

2010 Boston Marathon

"Your Boston Marathon entry has been received"

That was the headline in my inbox a few minutes ago after I hit the "submit" button on the Boston Marathon online registration page! It's official! Well, it will be after "verification of qualifying time."

Details... ;-)

I'm so excited!!

Good Run, Bad Run. A Balancing Act.

Icky, tough run today. Very humid, but not too warm at all. Can I really blame the humidity? I'm not sure. I did 10 miles with 4 mile repeats yesterday. Could that be why today was hard? No, the day after hard runs is usually not THIS difficult. I dunno why it was so crappy, but it was. Crappy, that is. For the first 2-3 miles, I was very light headed. Almost thought I was gonna pass out. (But did I stop? Of course not. Stupid, obsessed redhead.) This has happened a few times while running on Tuesdays after work. Only worked 6 hours though. Had plenty to eat. I always eat small amounts every few hours. Today I got up and had a bowl of Raisin Bran, then had coffee with yummy flavored creamer (White Chocolate Mocha), later a banana, then a Clif Bar, and lastly before the run (about 2pm), a bit of yogurt with granola. Made sure to keep hydrated today too. So no answers there either.

Shin only ached a small amount near the end of the run. Icing in a few minutes.

Since I mentioned the mile repeats... that run was the opposite of today. It was fantastic. Felt super - like I could fly. Did a 3 mile warm-up (I need lots of warm-up), then went into my repeats. I did 4 repeats with 1/2 mile jog in between. Here are my splits:

1. 6:46
2. 6:49 - Turn around! Having to stop, turn around and start up again always kills my time! Gah! :-)
3. 6:43
4. 6:36

So, bad run, good run. It all evens out in the end. Actually, no it doesn't. I do tend to have more good runs than bad runs!!

This weekend is the Mackinac Island Eight Mile. It will be another mini-vacation with a run included (extra mini this time - only staying 2 nights). Goal is 54:00! Wish me luck!