Sunday, August 17, 2014

No Sunday Runday!

I have no idea how long it has been since I didn't run long on a Sunday.  Probably since the beginning of my increased milage, which was about two years ago!  The reason I didn't run today is because yesterday, I accidentally raced a half marathon.  Yes.  Accidentally.


If you remember, I have joined the local running club.  They have several of their own small, local races each month.  In fact, all of them are currently in my planner.  Yesterday, they had a half marathon or 3.2 (by accident) mile run.  Of course, I was asked if I wanted to run the half.  Of course I did.  I told my running friend that I was only going to run it as a training run, since I have a half in October where I am hoping to PR.  This half marathon was the most laid back race I've ever experienced.  We got there at 8:45 for a 9am start, signed our names on the list, got a leftover race bib from the Avenue Marathon, and we were good to go.  For free.  

This picture came from the running club's website.  You can't see me.  I'm hidden behind the large bald man in blue.

As you can see, it was super small.  Only 47 people ran the half and 56 people ran the 3.2 mile race.  It was an out and back along a local running/walking/biking trail.  It's mostly flat, but at mile 3 and 10, there is a really lovely HUGE mountain to climb up.  Okay, it isn't a mountain, but it surely felt that way at mile 10, where my slowest time occurred at a whopping 8:43.  Compared to my pretty consistent 7:23 mile splits at the beginning, that mile seemed to drag on.

Now you can see me.  Where's Rachel?

I started out running with my friend who had me sign up for this thing.  But of course, that person is much faster than me.  I said that I needed to back off and let my friend zoom off ahead of me.  My first mile clocked in at 7:17.  Way too fast for a half marathon start that I was only going to run as a training run.  I had specifically said I wanted to keep my miles around 8-8:10.  Yeah.  Right.  I went along, running what felt comfortable since this was a "training run."  When I looked down at my watch, it kept telling me I was running 7:20s!  I'm going to go ahead and thank the unpacked sand runs that I've done the last few weeks and my 40 mile per week that I've been logging.  Once I realized that I could PR in this race, I figured I might as well go for it and started pushing to a more uncomfortable feeling "race pace."  Until mile 10 when I knew I was already going to PR and gave up and walked up that ginormous hill.

Let's talk about this terrible race photo.  Where's my neck?  Blended with my chin, I do believe.

I blew my last PR out of the water with a 1:38:44 finish time.  I was third woman (the first woman was a 16-year-old with a finish time of 1:28...) and 16th overall.  Of course, my friend was second with a 1:21.  After no training for a few months because of a knee injury.  Kind of a badass.  No big deal.  My hip is feeling it today.  So what was supposed to just be a long run turned into me breaking a course record for my age group and getting a bright shiny PR!  I wish all running days were like that!  My day ended with a birthday party.


I feel so lost today not running!  I don't even know what to do with myself.  But, I needed to listen to my body (something I am trying to do more often) and not run.  I did do two workout videos that focused on upper body stuff.  I mean, I can't just sit around in PJs ALL day!






6 comments:

  1. Fantastic job on your new PR!!!! Way to go Rachel :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. YOU ROCK!!!!! You are so speedy and awesome!!!! Congrats Rachel! Can't wait to hear about your half in October! You will definitely kill it!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are so speedy! I can't wait to get back to running and be that fast one day! awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. THAT IS AWESOME!!! Congrats on your PR!!!!!!!! I would be yelling at your right now if you had decided to run on Sunday. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. DUDE you are amazing!!!!! I love that your easy/comfortable pace was so fast in the beginning before you even TRIED to PR!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, congrats!! You're a stud.

    ReplyDelete