Race results

Prior to Saturday's race I posted a picture of the finish line on Instagram with the caption "My one and only goal"

Since I had not run 3.1 miles consecutively, either on the treadmill or outside, I really was not sure how I was going to do or if I could run that distance without stopping.  My training consisted of mainly interval work on the treadmill; 90 seconds walking at a 16:40 pace, followed by 30 seconds at a 8:32 pace, usually for an hour or 90 minutes.  If I wasn't doing the intervals, I would walk for an hour or more at the 16:40 pace.  Sometimes I would go longer, 5-10 minutes at the faster pace, but never for a full workout.  Honestly, during training, I was a bit scared to go out a run...I wasn't sure how I would do...I did run outside twice, but I had to walk off and on, although not to the extent on the treadmill.

My initial goal in January did not have a race in it at all.  My goal was to lose weight, while continuing to drink craft beer.  This race thing was a "nice" outcome of my training. I was pretty nervous before the race.  I was glad only 150 had registered.  It was a nice size group running through the neighborhoods of Westlake.  I had picked up a Garmin Forerunner to track my training, but it was really helpful during the race, knowing what my pace was, how far I had gone. I had, of course gone out a bit fast, you know, all that adrenaline, but I felt good, and kept it up.  Mile 1 and 2 went by rather easily, but then I got tired.  I thought about walking a number of times, but I kept looking for people in front of me to target to catch up to.  I remember Coach Roth (HS cross country coach) telling us to pull them in, like on a rope.  40 years later that's what I did, one by one until I could see the finish line.

When I was done, I looked at my watch - 24:05 - holy crap!  I called Rose, I ate my banana, I drank my free beer (The best friggin' beer ever!) and I talked to some people I knew.  I was exhausted, I had nothing left in me.  I had a 45 minute drive home I had no idea how I was going to do :-) There were some issues with the official timing of the race, so they did not have the results after the race. Today they posted the official results and I finished 2nd in my age group and finished 23rd overall.  The chip results from the race had me at 24:09, I'll take it!

I plan to run in a couple of more races this summer.  I'm not sure I can replicate this accomplishment, but I know that it's all about the PR, bettering yourself each time you go out, so here's to a 24:00 in my next race!