This was our third race in as many weeks, each at different distances, so it has been interesting managing our trainings during the week. Granted the weather has not been helping either, Thursday we went out to the Legends course intending to run the 10K route and just as we arrived at Deephaven Elementary school it started to rain. Normally I might have stuck it out but it was also 43 degrees, I'd rather avoid getting sick again, so going into this week's race we had not run since Monday and made it only to swim on Tuesday due to a little too much celebrating for my birthday. Kris: Oops...ok two glasses of wine and two apple-tini's did me in but the birthday outing was totally worth it :) Dinner at The Butcher Block and then we went to see Flanagan's Wake put on by the Actor's Theatre of Minnesota. I HIGHLY recommend it! Just don't forget your camera at dinner....like I did....sigh...
Race morning we woke up to the sound of rain on the windows and from the beginning we had our doubts about what we be able to manage at the race but we got up, got dressed, grabbed a quick english muffin and got out the door, stopping only briefly fill our mugs with our favorite morning beverage, Caribou Coffee. We we arrived at Purgatory Creek reserve picked up our race packet and then retired to the car just to stay warm for the next 30+ minutes.
With a few minutes before the start of the race, Kris and I ran down the course about a half a mile to warm up a bit. To my surprise a lot more people had showed up and there was close to about 200 participants lined up for the start. As I looked around there were a few runner runners and a hand full of high schoolers so I thought I could potentially have a good race. After we got started I quickly found myself in second place, the guy out in front took off and I knew I could never touch him, and I was guessing that he was running sub-6:00, out of my league. But as I took quick glances behind me I was in good shape, or so I thought. Through almost 2 miles I was holding onto 2nd place and then I faded just a bit, not much but enough to get passed 5 times. Sigh..... Yes I did start out a bit fast but not to bad and I was able to hold onto my pace through out most of the race. As we turned to cross the lake, running into the wind took a bit more out of me and I had almost nothing for the final tenth of the race. It is a little bit frustrating to be able to read the clock as you are running to the finish line and you can tell there is nothing you can do as the clock approaches 21:00.
Final time 21:07 (6:48 pace). Unfortunately my Garmin and everyone else with a GPS was indicating that the coarse was long, I had 3.17 and I heard 3.2 several times. If I recalculate for an actual 3.11 5K my time should have been about 20:43 (6:40 pace) which would have been a new PR. Oh well!! But that brings up a pet peeve of mine, if you are a race director, there are a VERY FEW things that you CAN NOT screw up, TIMING and DISTANCE are two of the most important!!! Which is why Kris and I were taking extraordinary efforts to make sure that the Legends is correct.
Here is my Garmin Connect data from the race. Remember that that the race course was long (3.17 according to my GPS) and that I actually finished in 21:07, you can actually see that in the race map (I wander over to the snack line) and my HR suddenly slows down.
Aside for the distance being wrong and forgetting to stop my Garmin at the finish, oh and as Kris will tell you, I missed her finish 1st female overall, it was a good small race. I ended up finishing 7th overall, 2nd in my AG, remember the guy who took off at a sub-6:00 pace? He was first overall and of course he was in my age group as well.
Kris: I was going into the race feeling very under prepared. That's also been a common theme lately for me. Our warm up run felt hard on my heart rate so I wasn't sure what was going to happen once the race got started. I began at the front of the pack with Mark since it's a gun start. I took off and because of the down slope and the pack of men I was surrounded by, I looked down at my first 1/4 mile and was running about 6:30 pace.....ok SLOW DOWN! I knew I had to pull up a bit or I was never going to make it. I slowed up to around a 7:30 and then realized something....everyone ahead of me was male. I was the first female out of the gate. I got a small peak behind me around the half way point and realized the next two women were about 50 yards behind me. Trying not to care if they caught up, I just did my best to hold a fast pace and go for my own PR. I think I held up fairly well and even 'chicked' two guys within the last half mile. I knew I still had a decent lead and was going to come in as first place female. It doesn't feel like a massive accomplishment since it was such a small race but still something to be proud of. So as I was running to the finish line and people I didn't know were cheering, I was looking around......NO MARK. Crossed the finish line....still NO MARK. Where is he? So I walked towards the food area and sure enough he was over there with a cookie and bottle of water. I know he knows about how fast I run so he will never live down that he has now missed me coming in as first place female TWICE because he was parched and needed a sip of water. Couldn't wait 3 minutes to see me finish first. :-P Sorry Honey, I love you but will be giving you grief about that for a long time ----<{@
Final time: 24:08 (7:46 pace). As Mark mentioned, the course was long so it may have been a new 5k PR for me as well if it was measured correctly. Average Heart Rate - 187. Leg/IT Band is definitely more sore today (Monday) after that hard 5k run and a long easy recovery 12 miler yesterday. Going for a soak at the club over lunch today since I'm working from home. Realized I am almost back to the distance where my injury occurred last year so I'm a bit nervous about the next few weeks.
Mark: It was probably the most profitable race we have ever ran, 2 free entries and between the two of us we brought home $75 in Scheels Gift Cards. Not a bad morning at all.
Next up - Walk on Waconia 10 Mile. Kris and I sat down last night and look at our remaining races as we approach Grandma's and decided that we are going to concentrate on the the equivalent paces the McMillan predicts that we can run, 10 mile, 1/2 marathon and 20 mile.
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