Monday, June 6, 2011

4 Mile Race Recap


Yep, 12 weeks pp and I finished in the top 3 of my age group. Yes it was a small race but I was happy with my time. My goal was 34 minutes and I finished in 32:55 (8:13 minute pace).

Full race recap
I got out of bed 2 minutes before my alarm went off.  We been out to dinner the night before and both kids went to bed late, so little A even slept through the night.  While I was brushing my teeth, little A woke up so I had to go in there and feed him a little.  I had not planned on that, so I felt like I was behind.  I went downstairs to get ready and pump.  I got a bottle ready for the hubs, grabbed my pre-race breakfast (almond butter on one slice of whole wheat bread and some water) and I was off.  I was already on edge because I was about 10 minutes later leaving than I wanted.  I picked up my dad and we were off to the race.  It was not far from his house, so that was nice.  We got there, picked up our numbers and stretched a little.  We did a lot of small talk.  We were debating about our times.  My dad was making it very easy for him to make his time.  :)

We went up to the starting line and I was up front.  It was a small race, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but I have a tendency of going out too fast.  The race started and I was off.  I had my Garmin with me in case they didn't have the mile markers marked.  My biggest problem right now is that I don't know how fast I am going and I don't want to consistently look at my watch to see my pace.  I run a lot with the jogging stroller and I am much slower with that and there are so many hills in my neighborhood so I don't know my pace.  On the mill, I typically do sprints and walking (plan to incorporate some tempo runs on a regular basis now).  My first mile was 7:45.  Yikes a little fast since I was planning on a 8:30 minute mile.  I knew I was in trouble.  There were a lot of rolling hills so that made it difficult by the end.  My next mile was better on time with an 8:16.  Unfortunately, mile 3 had a lot of hills and it was getting very hot.  I am a warm weather person who does not sweat a lot and I was feeling the heat so people must have been dying.  I had a bad mile at 8:48.  :(  I knew I had to pick it up on the last mile and finish strong for myself.  I told myself at 3.5 miles I would start passing people.  Well it wasn't until 3.66 that I looked at my watch and saw how close I was to the finish.  I went the hill with perseverance.  From there, I really started to take off.  I finished strong with a final mile at 8:06 and finished just under 33 minutes.  I was pretty impressed.  I had originially thought I would strive for an 8:15 minute mile (33 minutes total) because 8:13 is my average the my PR at the half marathon.  I thought that might be too much to ask for being only 12 weeks pp.  I am pleased with my time and because it was first time at the 4 mile race, it's an instant PR for me!  Yeah!!!

My dad finished strong as well and then I made him wait around for the awards since I thought I might have gotten one.  I placed 3rd in my age group.  I am feeling pretty good with my running so far and can't wait for the fall.

Stats:Time: 32:55
Pace: 8:13/mi
Overall: 52/272
Div: 3/10

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