PRR Recap

Well, my day started out early.

1:40am - little man woke up crying - fed him
3:00am - little girl woke up crying - I went in and rubbed her back until she started to fall asleep
4:30am- little girl up again - told hubby to deal with it, he slept with her
4:44am - little man woke up again crying - fed him
5:30am - alarm went off

Awesome night sleep!

Race started at 7:30am.  My corral (B), started at 7:35am.  I was off and feeling good.  I put my Garmin VP at 8:13 minute miles, and really tried to stay close to that the first couple miles (I tend to go out too fast).  Mile 1 - 8:07 minutes, not bad.  After the first mile, I was already sweating, which is never a good sign considering I am not a big sweater (although I had been chugging water all week to make sure I was properly hydrated).  I knew the conditions were not ideal at this point.  I don't feel like the heat has ever been a huge factor for me, so I don't know if my body has changed since having babies (it can), or if it's because I am getting older, or if it was just too hot and I finally noticed it.  Either way, I knew I was in trouble.  For the past 2 years, it was 66 degrees at the start of the race.  This year - 7 degrees warmer (73 for those of you who are bad at math). 

The first 3 miles are very flat.  I didn't have much of a problem holding my pace.  At the end of mile 3 is where the first big hill starts. 

Mile 4 includes cardiac hill.  I felt very prepared for Cardiac Hill since I had been running in the heat on a hilly course with the jogging stroller, but I wasn't happy with them. 

Mile 5 my back started hurting.  2 possible explanations.

1. Poor posture due to the fact that I am constantly bending over to pick up the little guy.
2. Lack of ab muscles causing me to have bad posture. (I have started trying to do more abs since).

I also wasn't feeling the push towards the end of races like I used to.  I don't know if it's because I haven't raced much since being pregnant or what, but my drive was not totally in it. 

Once I hit 19th street, I was feeling ok.  I knew the hills were out of the way, and I was near the finish (course map).  I turned onto 10th street and tried to give it my all.  It wasn't my legs that couldn't do it though, it was my lungs (did I mention a smog alert and very heavy humidity).  As I was approaching the finish, no one around me was really pushing it.  I had to bob and weave around people at the end.  I was so surprised more people weren't sprinting to the finish. 

I clocked in at 52:23 and my Garmin said it was 6.31 miles so my pace was 8:18, not quite as fast as I was hoping, but I was pretty happy with it. 

Everyone else with me started later, so I went around and collected tons of freebies.  When you finish that early, people are just throwing things at you.  I had my water and then tried a 16oz. sample of Muscle Milk Light.  Pretty good, but I am trying to limit my dairy, so I probably won't be buying any of those in the near future (and it's pretty expensive too). 

Finally got to my friends and hubby and we went back home and I hosted the race brunch afterwards. 

All in all, not a bad way to spend the 4th.

Did you race?  Any tips for me?