On Saturday, I ran a the Magnolia Run 4 miler. This was a special race for me for two reasons: 1) This was the first race I ever ran back in 2007 and 2) I haven’t run more than 5K (3.1 miles) since early pregnancy…probably the 2009 10K Resolution Run on New Years Day where I found out I was pregnant 3 days later.
I couldn’t have picked a better (ha!) day for a challenge. The race had a 7:30AM start but the hot, humid Atlanta weather decided to join in the party. Temps during the race ranged from 75-79 degrees by the time I left the race even though the skies were overcast.
I ran this race in 38 minutes and some change back in 2007. I’m not running at that level right now, so I gave myself a “base” goal of 44:00, a “reach” goal of 42:00 and a “stretch” goal of 40:00.
The first mile of the run was good. I took off a bit too fast and was surprised to hear the mile marker lady call out 9:45 when I passed her. Whoa…slow down girl! I wore my Polar RS800 during the run but the tricky thing with that watch is it tells you your current pace. I wish it had a setting that displayed your average pace for the distance covered as well as your current pace (maybe it does and I haven’t discovered the option).
I tried to keep my pace around 10:00 min/mile during the second mile. The heat and humidity really started to kick in at this point and I took a few brief walk breaks. I was so happy to see the water station at Mile 2 and I don’t usually drink water during short races. I actually poured half of the water on my head so I guess I mostly upheld tradition. It was really, really hot!
I hit the 5K mark at about 30:30 and was still feeling great. I wasn’t worried about the extra .9 miles to go at all and I had just shaved about 4 minutes off my last 5K time. The heat was brutal but I felt strong. Kat de Luna’s “Whine Up” came and I started hauling tail to the finish. I ended up walking for a few more short stints but I ran the last .25 miles strong and crossed the finish line at 41:07 half-way between my reach and stretch goals.
After the race, a black woman (I am seeing more and more of “us” at the races…yes!) came up to me to thank me for being her pacer and congratulated me. She had followed me for the whole race. That made me feel a little bad about my walking breaks LOL, but good about serving as an inspiration of sorts for another runner. I headed back to my car ultra-sweaty and overheated but so happy to know that I am improving. I *will* get back to my old happy pace and it will happen faster than I imagined it could.
Well done! You inspire me to get back into running. I haven’t run since February and every time I *think* I am ready to go out there I chicken out. I am afraid of how slow and out of shape I am going to feel. I should just get over it and work on getting better.
Thanks! You really do just have to get out there and get moving again. I think I was nearly 215lb post-preggo when I started running again using Couch To 5K. Talk about a regression from running a marathon! I was slow *and* my knees hurt. Things are much better now.
Congratulations on a good run. Since you linked to rundurance, I’m curious if you used our program for your training?
It’s always awesome to reach your goals, keep up the great work!
Thanks! No, I used Couch To 5K to get started with running again. I liked the explanation of the race day goal setting on your site. I’ll check out your plans though!