The Last Minute Road Race

Racing smart is a big priority for me post injury/surgery. That means being smart about frequency of racing, the distance I am racing, and the intensity of my training. I have only run 1 open running race in the past 14 months. I tried some track workouts a few months ago to get in shape for triathlon season, but the quick pace brought on a lot of knee swelling so I decided to wait until August to try again. I had initially thought to do our local Road Race Series, but with such slow progress, I decided to just continue to work on running consistently.

When Gina called me on Saturday and said she was going to register for the Road Race Series, I inwardly groaned. How could I turn her down? I met Gina doing the Road Race Series in 2006 and she is now one of my best friends. She convinced me it would be fun to get in shape together again- especially since the Road Race Series has always been special for us.

-Think two girls, best of friends, giggling at everything, loving to run together. It is precious. I think finding a well-matched running partner is a rarity, and Gina is a jewel!

I succumbed to her pressure. The first 5k was less than 24 hours away- and I knew it would would be much tougher than I was ready to tackle as I was so ill-prepared. I love 5ks when I have been working hard on the track- not so much when I no longer own any sort of defense against lactic acid. But still, the lure of seeing my friend was too much to turn down. And I was so excited to see her pull in my driveway this morning to pick me up!

Gina and Damie heading to the race. :)

We set a few goals for ourselves- no time goals, just process goals with the intention of using the series to help our bodies get stronger. Gina is post-baby, so she is re-discovering her running self. I made a goal to show up to the series ready to work hard with no excuses. So regardless of how many miles I ride the day before (the series is on Sunday morning, making it almost impossible to be fresh for the race if you want to train through the weekend), I will do my best at every race and try to help my body get strong. So, no wussing out with the "tempo run" excuse. I just have to come with it and let my time be my time.

Me around mile 1 trying to smile at Justin taking my picture. Yes, the camera hog is back. Hopefully in a few months I will embrace the suffering so much I will not be smiling for the camera.

Gina and I felt like the biggest beginners out there! It was actually a lot of fun. We remember the days where we felt pressured to run certain times and beat certain people. Today, we didn't even know where to line up because we just don't even really know what pace to run, how to hold a pace, who runs the same pace we do, etc... We lined up with my friend Sean who is also trying to get back in shape, and off we went :)

The race was fine- I felt, well, heavy and sluggish. To be expected with no interval work, a little extra weight, and no focus on run racing. I also had a massive amount of heart burn and hiatal hernia irritation thanks to India Palace last night- (shame on me as I know better than to eat spice before races OR drink wine the night before a race which I normally NEVER do. I deserved every little bit of discomfort in my chest!) The group of girls I would like to run with have been putting their time in on the track and on the road, and thus were ahead of me. So, it was really just me, myself, and I out there focusing on keeping up the pace and making my legs move. I ended up with perfect positive splits- :) Ha ha!!!

While the clock time does not reflect a good race, I can still say there was some good stuff out there. I was close to 50 seconds faster than my only other 5k in the past year which was back in March, so that is promising that my legs are starting to get some strength back. I also had my second official road race of the year, helping me remember how to pace and hurt. And mostly I had fun :)

One of the drawbacks about the Road Race Series can be that it is easy to start worrying about the times other runners post. And because you get 2 shots at each distance, you start to believe you can "make up time" and have drastic improvements every 2 weeks. Which you can...kind of...for a while.

My resolve for taking it slowly is still strong, though. I am still not going to track practice yet. I am not going to start chasing 5k times or Road Race Series times. I am going to continue to focus on my goal of getting the the start and finish lines of AG Nats healthy and able to complete the distance feeling strong. (Thank goodness I will have to miss half of the Road Race Series anyways so I won't have to worry about getting caught up in last minute goals and self-created over-racing destruction.)

Sean, Damie, Gina post race. One step closer...