Tiblow Trot 2012

*Here is the breakdown:

Distance: 5 Miles
Difficulty: "This is a challenging, accurately measured 5-mile course that includes major hills. "
Weather Conditions: 70's, 70% humidity, light rain
Finishing Time: 50:33 (goal was less than 60 minutes)
Number of Untied Shoes: 3

Last night, I thought to myself how I was not looking forward to this run.  Last week didn't go how I wanted and my last week of training had been kinda, meh.  The entire week I had a bit of a bad attitude, and wasn't expecting much.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I woke up tired as ever.  I ended up stopping at the gas station for a "5 Hour Energy".  I had never had one before, and figured I would give it a shot to help me survive.  I don't know if it was that or the event that woke me up, but by the time I was hitting the starting line--I felt awake and ready to go (but no nasty side effects).

My cousin and I stuck together throughout the entire race.  That was helpful because it pushed me to stay the course when I would have otherwise wimped out to a slower speed.

The first 1.5 miles is basically flat.  It was easy to start out at a nice cruising speed.  We clipped along at a 10 minute mile pace that felt good.  Easy.  The first hill was probably one of the worst, I think we lost the most amount of time on that hill, but evidently made up time later in the course.

What is totally messing with my head is the fact that last week, the 5K was a little tough for me.  I finished at about the same pace I ran a hilly 5 miles in.  Maybe I put too much pressure on myself last week, but I was dying by the time I reached the finish line.  Today, felt good.  Solid.  I was pleased with the effort.  I didn't over do it where it would loose the enjoyment, but worked hard enough that I accomplished something.

Once we got in the middle of the hills, there was no going back.  We were maintaining an awesome speed and there was no way either of us were going to let that slip away.  It was solid.

My next race isn't suppose to be until September but I am already wanting to sneak in another something something before that.

Pictures and official time coming soon.

Rivalry Run 2012--30:02

First off, just a heads up that I updated both the "Races" page and the "Pictures" page.  Check it out.

I never realized how beautiful Kansas City, Mo is until today.  It was an absolutely beautiful morning for a 5K.  It was a beautiful drive, watching the sunrise and shine on all the architecture works around the city.  I don't frequent the area much, and I am glad this experience is expanding my horizons.

I got there early, because I wan't sure about parking.  I ended up finding a parking lot just a few hundred yards from the starting line and figured it was worth the 5 bucks to park there.  In future races, I have decided it is not necessary to get there so early.  I don't care for the standing around and awkward conversations with strangers.  

The race started at 8 a.m. on the dot.  I appreciate punctuality.  I decided to hang to the back of the crowd and hope that mob would stretch out a bit by the time I hit the start line so I could then weave between people easier.  Seemed like this strategy worked well for me.  

After about 4:00 minute I had already gone .5 miles (so on pace for an 8 minute mile).  And of course, I notice my shoe came untied.  I decided that I was already ahead of schedule and 2.6 miles was a long time to run with an untied shoe.  So I slipped over to the side and tried to tie it quickly and catch up.  No harm-no foul.  I settled back into my pace (around 9 minute miles), and a half mile down the road, my OTHER shoe came untied.  At this point, I was super annoyed with myself because I do this every time I run and I should know better by now.  Overall, I ended up stopping to tie my shoe 3 times.  I didn't realize just how frustrated I would be with this fact until I got my time card.

And so the race continued.  The first stretch was mostly down hill.  Subtly--it was nice and very easy.  Then at about the 1 mile mark was a steady uphill climb.  My pace dropped at that point.  It is mentally hard to see people stop and walk, yet maintain my same pace.  I was able to push through.  I knew I had lost a bit of time from the shoe ordeal and then lost time going up the hill.  By the time I was down to the last .75 to .8 mile, I knew I was going to be sub 32 but I was really really pushing my sub 30 goal.

When I hit the 3 mile marker (.1 left), my brain started to shut down.  For some reason, I wanted to stop and walk so bad.  I slowed my pace down to the slowest it had been all race.  Then when I realized I still had a shot at my goal, I tried to sprint out the last little bit (never a good idea, I know..injury..blah blah blah).  I honestly thought I had made it.  According to my GPS and stop watch it was 3.17 miles at a 9:37 pace, which would have been 29:57--but my official chip time was 30:02.  TWO seconds.  TWO stupid seconds.  

Next time, I am going to double check my shoes.