Miles for Missions (5K)

I resolved in November 2012, after doing my first 5K in over 5 years, to do a 5k every 3 months. This decision landed me at the 2nd Annual Miles for Missions 5k, hosted by Grace Church in North Raleigh. Pretty nice location, good cause, reasonable race fee. Main goal: beat November’s 5k PR of 24:21, ideally with a 24:00.

I registered early, so I didn’t really wonder about the small number of folks signed up at the time, but when I checked the “competitive” roster again a few days before the race and saw that the number was still pretty low (about 35), I started to worry a little. I’ve heard that small races can be a great opportunity to get an age-group award, but in the back of my mind I was thinking the math could also very easily add up to heightened embarrassment/disappointment in a fast field. Also, this being my very first race in the official BCTC singlet, I was feeling some pressure.

And did I mention that it was pouring rain. . . and 37 degrees?

I arrived at the race site about 30 minutes before start, got my packet, and brought it back to the car, creating a circumlocutious route so that I could get about a one-mile warm-up out of the trips. At start time, I first lined up near the front because there was space there (most folks were being modest and heading toward the back). Everyone there seemed to know each other (most of them went to the church, I gather), but one nice fella started telling me the general break-down of last year’s results so I would know approximately where to situate myself (about 20-25 people back). According to the official results, there were 70 competitive runners overall; I’d guess another 35-40 recreational.

I started the race at my “holy cow, it’s really cold, and I would do anything to not be running right now” pace, which—according to my Garmin—is about 6:40/mile. I didn’t even know I had that in me. After about a quarter of a mile of this, I stared to feel the hurt and get a little warmer, so I slowed down to closer to 7:45. Then, around 1.5 miles, there was an awkward turn around in an apartment complex and a long-ish hill, and while in the middle of this hill, I was shocked to see my Garmin say I backed down to 8:40/mile. I don’t know how long I was at that pace because I refused to look at my watch again until I knew I was going faster. My toes and hands were numb, I was soaking wet, and a 12-year-old passed me. Nevertheless, I somehow channeled enough motivation and strength (the downhill helped) to kick it back up in the 7:35-7:45 range and finish out the race.

As I approached the finish, I saw how close I was to 24 minutes on the nose and pushed as hard as I could as I watched those last 10 seconds count down. Alas, I was just a little short; my time was 24:04. This was good enough, though, for my first-ever age group win in a running race: first place in the Women 30-39 category (11th among the women, and 22nd overall).

The takeaways: First, speed work really helps me, so I’m guessing that more hill work would too. Almost every time I got to even a little hill, folks would pass me but then I’d catch back up (usually plus some) on the next straightaway. I was thinking that I was getting solid hill practice by running in RTP so much, but, clearly, that’s not cutting it. Second, I think that I’m starting to understand what it means—and what it feels like—to really push myself physically (that is, beyond a perceived even not-so-comfortable comfort zone) for a sustained effort (i.e., not just little sprints). It kind of feels like crap at the time, but it’s super revealing both performance-wise and emotionally. More on that as I figure it out how to explain and apply it.

Finally, I’ve decided that the BCTC singlet is not only stylish, but also a good luck charm; maybe I’ll win an age-group award every time I wear it?! A girl can dream.

Massacre, aka Run 4, Relay (4 x 1.6 miles)

I signed up for the race with some awesome moms from my son’s school; the goal was just do something spontaneous and empowering. We really weren’t even totally clear on what we were signing up for. So, once I realized that it was going to be about 3.5 hours of 1.6 mile loops with about 30 minutes between each loop, I decided to just treat the running part of the race as my speed work for the week; the downtime was my social splurge.

Since the running part was still over 6 miles, though, I knew that I shouldn’t try to hit each lap at say, mile-repeat pace, but I wanted to push myself a little. So, I aimed for the 7:45/mile pace I had in my last 5k race. I wore my GPS so as to check this pace, and I’m really glad I did because one, it was really easy to almost break down on the two rather giant hills at the beginning of each lap, and two, my teammates and I were all about the love when it came to passing the baton—not about efficiency. We hugged on each lap and exchanged encouraging words, and a couple of times we didn’t notice our runner coming in so there was a little delay on the transitions.

According to my watch, I was right at 7:45/mile for laps one and two. Lap three felt a little slower, but I forgot to stop my watch until even after our long transition, so best guess, it was closer to 8/mile. And I also forgot to stop my watch on the last loop, but the official results say I did 7:58/mile, which I think is pretty accurate. My team, the Fast Friends, ended up 11th out the women’s teams (just 20 seconds shy of 10th!).

So, the takeaway for me is that I need to do more mile repeats, and that I need to do more miles when I do. I have a 5k in 2 weeks, and I was really hoping to beat my recent PR of 24:21, but I’m a little worried about that based on this performance. I also kept forgetting to warm up between laps since I was too focused on making sure I was properly hydrated and fed (it's an obsession of mine). I do think, though, that I need pacing on a 5k, and there was hardly anyone ever with me during this relay. On the bright side, I do feel pretty good that I was able to keep a sub-8/mile average pace for the majority of my loops, especially given the aforementioned two giant hills, and—most importantly—I had a really, really good time; I got to hang out with some fun and inspiring women and cheer on the BCTC Mad Women as they kicked some butt. Bonus: I learned that I will not, in fact, die if I run after having a latte (a double even)!