Race Report: 2011 ATC Resolution Run

There were so many reasons why this should have been a crappy race for me.

The good?

• 55 degrees outside.
• Noon race start so I’m fully well-rested.
• Short port-a-potty lines.

The bad?

• Pouring rain. I mean pouring rain and hearing rumors of lightening. I mean no signs of letting up because the weather report says 100% chance of precipitation for the day.
• Forgetting my water proof jacket.  I was soaking wet and cold and the race had not yet started.
• A crazy long race number pickup line that meant no time to warmup. With the pouring rain, I don’t know that I would have been running all around anyway but still.

I wanted to go home. I seriously contemplated going home. I’ve done rainy races before but not like this. It rained for the first 6 miles or so of my first half marathon back in 2007 and I dealt with it. That was a light refreshing rain on a warmer day though. I’ve never started a run feeling so miserable and wondering why on Earth I was there instead of at home – not even the race I ran in the snow. Had it not been for my $25 entry fee and the fact that they weren’t giving out shirts until the end of the race, I would have just hit the gym and run a 10K.

I didn’t leave though. I stuck it out and ran the best 10K I’ve run in years. In the minutes before the race start, I turned on my Ipod and was dancing around to this song which always makes me happy.  Once I started running, I began to warm up and realized this might not be as miserable as I thought.  I found a groove very early on and stuck with it.  I was feeling a little too good though.  Maybe I was starting out too fast?  I didn’t want to burnout so I glanced down at my Polar for a pace check and it was no longer tracking pace after only .15 miles.  I think with all the water splashing the sensor got soaked and stopped recording.  That kind of sucked because it is supposed to work in wet conditions.  I somehow turned the watch completely off at some point so I didn’t even have basic time info for the run.

With no idea of how fast I was running, I just ran according to how my body felt.  I tried to keep my pace at a challenging level, but not so challenging that I was gasping for air.  I was hoping for some timekeepers on the path to help me out with rough pacing, but they were nowhere to be found with the bad weather.   I crossed Mile marker 2 and was feeling strong even though my pace was fast.  I decided to go full tilt for the first 5K and then slow down if needed in the second half.  When I started the second loop of the race, the time clock said 26 something.  I’m not sure if that was the exact 5K mark but I felt good about that time and kept pressing on.

I started to tire some in Mile 4 but refused to slow down until I made it to the water stop which was close to the 5 mile mark.  Good intentions on that one but my body had other plans so I took a brief 20 second walk break.  I’m not one of those people who feels they have to run every second of a race or they are a failure – mainly because I have problems running very slow.  I’d rather just walk for 30 seconds than slow down to a jog.   That short little walk break rejuvenated me and I proceeded to run further than I had planned, catching the second water stop rather than the first.  Again, I walked for a bit and sipped my water (too clumsy too run and drink!) and then picked up the pace.  The Mile 5 sign came into view and I was ready to pull out all the stops for the last full mile.

Since I’ve run this race several times before and had just run the same loop, I had a good idea of the path ahead.  I adjusted my speed to push it more with each quarter mile and prepare for a .2 mile sprint at the end.  The last .25 miles before the end of the course was a rolling hill (of course!).  I had a pep talk with myself  that went something like “You’ve come this far in the pouring rain and you are running a good race so just tackle this hill – it’s the hardest part left and then you are finished girl!”

Christina Aguilera’s “Makes Me Wanna Pray” came on and lit a little fire in me.  I sped up the entire hill (my hill training during speedwork is paying off in spades!) and sprinted to the finish.  As the time clock came into view, I read 58 something.  I was immediately disappointed because my last 10K in October was a 58 something.  I felt like I ran faster than I did at that time so I was upset.  I glanced again and my disappointment turned to shock and elation when I realized that the 58 was really a 53.   I crossed the line at 53:10-ish with a huge grin on my face, a spring in my step and some energy still on the table.  I *never* expected to do that well on this race.  My best 10K ever was about 51:10 and that was after a grueling 12 week training plan.  For me to improve by 5 minutes since October with no specific 10K training was just amazing to me.  My official chip time was 52:59 which is a 8:31 min/mile.  I finished 6th out of 34 in my age group.

I needed this race, I really did.  I’ve been more than a little sad that I haven’t been able to achieve my half marathon time goals.  I was wondering if I was just going to have to accept that it was going to take a very long time to get back to my pre-pregnancy running level.  Maybe I was just going to be much slower from now on.  Now, I know that my former levels of achievement are within my grasp and most importantly that I can set some new PRs in 2011!  I am so excited about my upcoming racing season.

I learned today that I should really not let any one race performance define me.  Even if the results of my hard work are not always evident on a given race day, I *am* getting better and faster with each pound lost, with each speedwork session, with each long run.  Happy New Year indeed!