A birthday race seemed like a good way to start my 37th year, and since this race was in Carrboro (not Chapel Hill, where I refuse to race; see Tar Heel 4-miler post below), I figured I’d go for it. Race morning, though, was incredibility hot and humid. So, I just decided to not push myself too hard (because it was my birthday after all): I would go out at a strong but reasonable pace and try to maintain a moderate effort. My goal time when I signed up was 32 minutes. I also, though, decided to run this race without the Garmin and rely thus just on perceived effort. I did end up using a stopwatch, which I was glad for in the end because I was able to at least get mile splits without worrying about “instant” pace.
After Jen Dixon and I did a ½ mile or so warm-up, we wandered toward the start. No one seemed to know exactly where were lining up or when we were starting, so the gun took more than a few of us off guard. The first mile was fast (a lot down hill). I hit the mile marker at 7:30, so I knew I’d best back down. The second mile was more even, but I was still feeling good, so I managed to tackle it in 7:50ish.
From there, though, it was pretty much downhill (not literally, alas). Mile 3 was just plain hard. I was getting really hot and tired, and it was everything I had to finish it in about 8:30. At the mile 3 marker, the watch said 28 minutes exactly, so I knew that I’d have to really motor to get an 8-minute mile at the end. When I realized that the last mile was essentially rolling hills, I decided to just stick with the moderate effort plan and not destroy myself on my birthday. I forgot this plan a bit when I hit the track leading to the finish, so I was feeling really craptastic when I finally arrived at the finish.
Official Time: 33:01.85. I think that I could safely subtract 15-30 seconds for the time it took me to cross the start line after the gun since it wasn’t a chip start, but I’m not going to sweat it. It was my birthday (have I already mentioned that?); I was ultimately just there to have a good time with my friends and get a good start to the day. Still, that time was good enough for 7th in my age group, and it was 18 seconds better than my Tar Heeler 4-miler time, so that’s a pretty nice birthday treat.
I’m also pretty psyched to be so close to my goal given the weather. Everyone was miserable, and almost everyone I talked to said that they lost between 1.5 and 2 minute per mile between miles 1 and 4. In my pre-race photos, I look all happy and smiley; the post-race photos I look like I was just seconds from passing out. I had so much sweat running into my eyes that I had to take my contacts out and walk around the post-race festivities half blind.
Takeways: I think that going into a summer race with realistic and flexible expectations was a smart move. I’m hoping that if I stick with the moderate speed work and consistent low-key, Garmin-less training throughout the summer, my fall race times will be all the better. That said, no more summer races (unless there is swimming involved too).
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