Superbowl 10K went great today! It was pretty cold at the start, but once we got going I quickly started sweating profusely...as usual! My niece made a sign for me and the GF that said, "Go Auntie Chicken and Auntie Candy!" She drew a picture of the two of us, her brother with really curly hair, and herself holding a sign that said the same thing with the same drawing of herself holding a sign and so on...she's pretty smart! Everytime I passed her, she'd hold it up and point to it in case I wasn't looking at it!
The race started on a high school track, so I felt like a track star taking off out of my blocks...needless to say, when I looked at my watch after half a lap I was running an 8 minutes per mile pace...WHOA BUDDY! Slow it down! By the time I left the track, I had settled into a 9:50 pace...much better. I added about 5 seconds onto each mile as I progressed through the course. I felt really great the whole time until about 3.5...the 5Kers were taking a left hand turn to the finish, but the 10Kers were continuing on to do another loop before we could finish. I could hear people cheering and music playing and I really wanted to stop! By I pushed on...
The second loop seemed a lot shorter, although once I finished mile 5, I started pooping out. I had run harder than I normally do during any kind of race, but I was getting tired. I felt like I was dragging ass, but my pace was still on target for a PR. The whole 10K pack started thinning out, so I was pretty much by myself with about 2 houses in front of me and 2 houses behind me...I could snot rocket all I wanted to and it wouldn't hit anyone! After the last water station, I knew there was only about half a mile left, so I kicked it in high gear...unfortunately I was already there, so there was not a speed increase. I could hear the crowd, but I knew I didn't have any juice left to "finish it strong"! So, I smiled at my family and friends and jogged it in! Finishing in 1:02:15...a PR for me! So, all in all, a great race. Next weekend I have another 10K, so we'll see how that goes!
The GF was amazing, as I had suspected she'd be! She convinced a friend from her running class to run the 5K with her today. We kinda of gave her a goal of 45 minutes, since yesterday she ran a 5K on the treadmill in about 44 minutes. But secretly, I knew she'd blow that out of the water. She's a competitor and I knew she'd do well! And she didn't let me down. She ran the whole thing, barely even stopping at the water stations, and finished in 40:44, crushing the 45 minute goal! That's amazing! She's never actually run a 5K race, even though she's done a 10K and a half, so we're gonna add this to her PR list and hope that she can beat that time in a month or so! I'm so proud of her! She was also able to finish just in time to see me cross the finish line...so I call that a win-win!
Appreciation Time!
I really appreciate all the runners in the 60+ categories at these races! Seeing the smile on a 70 year olds' face when he wins his age division is pretty inspiring. The fact that these folks come out here and race at their age, gives me something to look forward to in life. I hope my body is healthy enough and able enough to run in 30+ years! the joy they probably get out of running is on a totally different scale than why I run. They're out there doing it because they still can and I'm complaining that it's too cold, or my legs hurt, or I'm not motivated. Makes me feel like kind of a jerk now! And it really puts me in my place when old man river goes gliding past me out on the course! So congratulations to you all and may you be running for years and years to come!
Go Commercials!
~Chix
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