But before the weekend's running commenced, there was Friday. Actually, there was Thursday too, but I don't remember anything too spectacular about Thursday. I ran about 9.5 miles Thursday morning, leaving Friday as a running rest day. I did my Thursday run as a gentle fartlek run...after I warmed up for a couple of miles I alternated blocks of running harder (though not hard) with running easy, which made for an average pace of 9:29 by the end.
Friday morning I went to the Y and spent some time on the elliptical, then indulged in a massage. I had originally considered biking to work on Friday (which is only a mile each way, so it would be just a token, really), but the weather was so dodgy that I bagged those plans and booked a massage instead.
Then it was time for Ann's birthday lunch at Alligator Soul! Alligator Soul is a wonderful New Orleans-style restaurant in Everett. Unfortunately it's not the most diet-friendly place (as you can imagine), but I steeled myself to endure it. :) I ordered a barbecued pulled pork sandwich (ate half and took half home, which I ended up sending to my dad because I had too much food in my fridge), with a salad trio of potato salad, coleslaw, and corn salad (about 1/4 cup of each). I also ordered sweet potato fries to share (I love sweet potato fries, and these were rolled in cinnamon sugar!), and had a few hush puppies off another plate. Ummmm...carb loading, I guess.
After work on Friday my mom and I drove to Gasworks Park to pick up my race packet. I wanted to save time (for my extra running) on Saturday morning, and also make sure we had a good route to get to there without getting lost on Saturday! Traffic was pretty bad on the freeway and under those conditions the drive took exactly one hour. So I was pretty sure it would be quicker on Saturday.
When we arrived at the park it was raining lightly...then moderately...then pretty hard. I was glad that I had brought an umbrella to use while I picked up my stuff, and I dreaded the thought of rain like that during the race. Or during my pre-race run. I kept hoping that my weather.com forecast which showed clearing and only sporadic rain on Saturday was correct! I was pleased that my bib number was 333, because that seemed like a lucky number. And all I wanted from my luck was a decent run, not too much too ask, I think!
After I returned to the car we headed to University Village to eat pasta at Piatti's Italian restaurant. Unfortunately there was a half hour wait, but going anywhere else (or home) would take even longer, so we passed the time at Barnes & Noble. Not a huge sacrifice, really.
Piatti's has really good bread, which I enjoyed in the cause of carb-loading, and I ordered penne with chicken and broccoli, plus an arugula salad. All very yummy! I took about 1/3 of the pasta home but I sent that with my mom for my dad as well.
By the time I got home, took care of the cats, and laid out my running clothes and packed all my gear (including a change of clothes for after the run), it was close to 10:00. I set my alarm for 3:45 (planning to leave at 4:15) and hoped for a few quality hours of sleep.
Then (all too soon) it was morning. I didn't actually get up until almost 4:00, but I dressed quickly and fortunately everything else was ready. I quickly made two almond butter and jam sandwiches, one for me to eat on the way down and one for my mom's breakfast while she waited many hours for me to finish. Eating at 4:30 was not exactly ideal for me—it seemed like yesterday's meals had barely digested—but I wanted to have at least an hour's wait before I started my first run. I also had some coffee that I had refrigerated overnight. Need coffee!
The drive to Seattle was much quicker early Saturday morning than it had been late Friday afternoon (not surprisingly). We left my house at 4:30 and arrived at Gasworks Park just a few minutes past 5:00.
My plan for today's 20-miler was to run seven miles pre-race at a 10-minute pace, then shoot for marathon pace in the first ten miles of the half-marathon. Finally, I would try to kick it up a little for the final 5K. It remained to be seen how that would work out....
I thought it was a little too early to start running—I didn't want too long a gap between my pre-run and the half marathon—so I sat in the car for a while then made a trip to the porta potty. After that I loaded on my gear to start out. It was pretty light out by then, more so than it appears in this picture.
I hit 25th street at just under three miles, so I turned up 25th and ran another block or so to McDonalds, where I used the bathroom. My return trip to Gasworks Park, plus a short stretch past the parking lot, took me to 6.23 miles. At that point I stopped and got in the porta-potty line! If there was time, I would finish up after.
I actually got through the line pretty quickly, so I trotted around the parking lot and along the trail a bit more until my watch read exactly 69 minutes and exactly 6.9 miles. Goal 1, successful.
I coaxed my mom out of the car and we headed to the starting area. It was very crowded. I directed my mom away to where she'd have a good viewing and photography spot on the sidelines, and made my way up through the crowds to the informal designated 9-minute mile area. Because of the narrowness of the running area, they also decided to start us in waves to allow some extra space. (We had chips, so delay at the start didn't matter.) I ended up in wave 2.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjS7kchX_4CHxCSIh9dLbCMthvJPV3CChcd-Y5iwQq_uhL3px6kIXvJLJ9QLTO2wtmWrAF4muSsBp1Bm0pmtnxkyl_3y2q3_zcNumRH2clpoa4HZneZowBfdNJXX7DDqEdqaJPkHM5GIQ/s200/heroes+half.jpg)
There were several runners in Half Fanatics garb during the race. There was one guy, probably older than me, who stayed stubbornly just ahead of me for most of the run. I think, however, I did pass him in the final miles.
I passed a few people in the final miles. :)
I qualified for Half Fanatics by doing two half marathons within 16 days back in 2008 (Whidbey and Robie Creek within a week). That puts me at their lowest level. With this I just did two halfs in a week again, but I don't really see myself doing anything that would raise me to a higher level! (I don't really know that I'm a "Fanatic," anyway. I'm more of an enthusiast. And I like doing races of other lengths, which does interfere with the volume of any one type of race.)
After our photo op, my mother and I went to the Sunflour Cafe for breakfast. We shared a gooey and delicious cinnamon roll. (I definitely had more than half.)
I had warned Rod that I wanted pizza for dinner, so later that evening we tore into a BIG Taco Grande pizza from Papa Murphy's. A fitting finish to the day!
But the weekend was not done yet.
Sunday morning I headed out to Snohomish for the Monkey Run 5K. I was entirely uncertain how this would go after the long run on Saturday! I had been a little bit proactive Saturday night by icing my ankle for half an hour and taking Advil (which I don't like to take too often, I reserve it for really achy or potentially achy situations). I had signed up for the 5K long before I decided to do a "real" half marathon on Saturday, although I knew I had a long run on the schedule.
I felt good, though. At least I wasn't hurting! I was disturbed by the cold weather, though. Saturday had been perfect for running, cloudy and cool at the beginning (not too cold), and breaking into sun in the last few miles (not long enough to get hot). Sunday was much colder. And to top things off, I had gone off without gloves, thinking I couldn't possibly need them at the end of May! Hmmph.
I originally planned to do three miles of warm-up, but by the time I got into Snohomish, parked, picked up my number and chip, and got everything together, I didn't really have time for that. So I jogged a little over a mile out on the Centennial Trail (where the race would be), and back (in time for a last-minute porta-potty visit, of course). I thought I might make up the extra mile after the race....
I still felt good during my warm-up. In fact, I ran the warm-up at a 9:28 pace, which is unheard of for me in warm-up! It did occur to me, though, to wonder if perhaps 9:28 (while good for warm-up) might be the fastest I could go... which would not be good for a 5K pace!
Just before 10 a.m. we lined up at the start line. I intentionally put myself very near the front. I knew I would not be among the fastest, but if I wanted any chance at a good time, I needed to avoid being caught behind slower people.
Then we were off. I knew from my warm-up run that the trail, although generally speaking very flat, went just slightly downhill in the first half. That meant we'd be returning on the incline. I needed to take advantage of the decline, so I gave it my all. Mile 1 - 7:32.
About halfway along we turned around and headed back. Now we were on the incline, so giving it my all was a little more work! It was also a little slower, despite my efforts. Mile 2 - 7:55. Mile 3 - 7:59. In the last bit, my final push to the finish line, I was able to bring my pace down to 7:41. The time on the clock when I crossed the finish line was 24:02.
My Garmin time, however, was 23:59. The question was, would my chip time be a second or two slower or faster? Would I be under or over 24 minutes? And regardless, would this be good enough for an age group award?
I had intended to do one more mile after I finished, but as usual after a race, I had no desire at all to run any more. I also didn't know where I would do that mile, as the trail was still crowded with slower finishers. I decided, instead, to be kind to myself and give myself permission to not run that final mile, leaving me with 5.26 miles for the day (my lowest running mileage day in a long time). Instead I walked around and filled a bag with Luna bars and Pop Chips samples.
When the chip times were finally posted, my time was 23:56.5 (rounded to 23:57 by me). Hurrah! I was happy.
As far as awards? I got third in my age group. Technically I was fourth to finish, but the first-place finisher was also the women's overall winner, so she was dropped out of the age group prizes. My gain! The prize was a really nice mug that says Monkey Run on it. Here I am with my prize bag! (By the way, there were more than 90 women in my age group! Out of 455 participants, 20% were Female 40-49. About half of those were under 12-minute mile pace, the other half were over, essentially walkers.)This morning I went out for my third consecutive day of running and, miraculously, my legs still felt good! I don't know what's going on here, but I like it! 7.78 miles at an average pace of 9:40/mile.
1 comment:
What a great running weekend you had! Congrats on the age group award! That is one fast 5K finish after that long running day!
Post a Comment