Jumping up and down, jumping up and down, An Ras Mor 5K Race Report

An Ras Mor logo of Somerville Road Runners (go black and yellow!!)

Right now, I know that regular readers of my blog (I know of a few out there, thank you!) are probably falling over from the shock that this is my 3rd post in a week. That hasn’t happened in, oh, I can’t tell you when.  Just like my first mile being done in 6:58 today.  That has been done, oh NEVER BEFORE!! And I kept on going, I didn’t keel over and die!!  (Even more strangely, my mind started playing tricks on me, thinking I could break into the 22 range?? Must have been lack of oxygen to the brain.)

JUMPING UP AND DOWN!! JUMPING UP AND DOWN!! (Yeah, I can be kind of spastic sometimes…) 

My stats: 

• 17/123 in my division, I am so psyched!!  (Top 13%)
• 65/408 women (Top 15%)
• 296/861 overall (Top 34%)
• Garmin time: 24:30 (started it, stupidly, before I crossed start line, and we only had a timing mat at the end)
• Official time: 24:34, with official distance of 3.1
• Garmin distance: 3:19 miles
• Average paces: officially 7:55 per mile.  Garmin pace: 7:41/mile.
• Garmin mile splits: 6:58, 8:00, 8:10, and 7:10 (last .19 miles.)

I calculated my actual time for 3.1, and based on that last .19 miles, figured it to actually be more like 23:50, which was totally my goal!!

 I think I am totally cool with only having 231 guys beat me because that means I beat 222 of them!! Woohoo, love the running skirt!! (Yes, I do wear it on purpose, it kind of motivates me to keep passing guys.)  I have to figure out a way to put the words “you’ve been chicked!” on my back at some point, LOL.  (Just kidding, I’m not like that. But it does feel good to pass guys and feel a bit girly while doing it.)  I’ve kind of decided I don’t care anymore if people think it’s silly to wear a running skirt, or wear pink, both make me happy so I’m going to do both!

Things I’ve got to do better:

• Spend little bit more time warming up, although today I probably did more than usua, just not as much as I do on the treadmill.
• Keep my asthmatic lungs more in check, I felt like I was coughing at points during the race, and afterward, I definitely had some of the asthmatic cough kicking in. (Yes, I carried and used my inhaler during the race. It’s worth carrying it.)
• You see the discrepancies in distances and times above?   RUN THE TANGENTS BETTER!!
•  Um, pacing?? Where have my magical pacing powers gone??

So, as you can see, I went out too fast. I looked down at my watch at one point and saw something in the low 7′s, but I was like, “I feel ok, don’t look at the watch again.” Mile 2 considerably slower. Mile 3 included the water stop, and a tiny walk break later to eat some sports beans, and catch my breath. It was in the 43-44 range, temp wise, so I did feel an impact on my breathing, even afterward.

I can honestly say, I’ve never done a below 7 minute mile. EVER. To give you an idea of the last time I did a time trial (at indoor track about 15 months ago while with MVS), it was 7:29, and yep, I stopped immediately afterward that night.  Today, I kept going!!! I realized that I’m also I’m running about the same pace I did in high school. That’s so awesome!! (Of course, in high school, we had no idea I had asthma, go figure.)

Our race was an out and back course, down Mass Ave into Harvard Square and then back  up to Central Square.  Although I did a bit of weaving in the beginning (ugh), I finally did find my rhythm and stopped doing the giant slalom/super G (as my brother calls it) after about .25-.5 miles, I think.

Because everyone I was hanging out with was faster than me (hello, 7th and 8th girls overall), and my friend Dan did somewhere in the 22:30 range, we were able to bolt out of the race pretty early.  Believe it or not, but there are two races held on the same day, both names starting with An Ras, and being 5Ks, run by clubs with the word “Somerville” in the name. (And no, it’s not a coincidence.  I don’t know all the details but way back when, the other group splintered themselves off from the Somerville Road Runners.)  So, one of the girls’ boyfriends had signed up for the other race. So did a few of my friends, thinking it was the race that my running club organizes.

So, we rushed over there as fast as we could, and I was able to see one of my friends finish in literally the top 2% of his division, and something like the top 1% overall.   How do you round up a percentage that starts with two zeros??  [Yeah...he's fast, you could say. ]  So happy for him that he can do that and keep a level head on his shoulders. 

Although I’m disappointed in myself for having walked a bit through the water stop, and then walking about 10 feet later on to take some sports beans, I am not going to let it eat me up. My Garmin still says I ran an average of 7:41 and that was truly my goal when I got up this morning.  As long as I know that my actual 3.10 mile time was under 24, I am happy.  

I texted my trainer and immediately got back a response of  “That is AWESOME!!”  Everything he’s taught me so far has really paid off. He’s worth every penny.

This was my first race of the year, so I know I can improve. Whereas at first I was kind of disappointed to see that 24 as the first part of my time on the clock, I realized, a few years ago that would have been unthinkable to me.  Now I’m disappointed to see it?  Nope, I have come a long way in just a few years, and especially with all the changes in my life over the past several months, I realy have nothing to complain about. Only something to smile about. (And thanks to the two of you on Twitter who thought I should change my Twitter name of middlepackgirl to “frontpackgirl.”  So flattered…would you believe it’s not been taken yet?? LOL)

I now know what my top percentage goal is going to be for the year for my division. If I make it, I’ll let you know.

YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tufts 10K Race Report: Oh My God, I Am Flying!

By “Flying,”  I mean I’m on a total high after today’s race. 

All I can say is, I pushed. I really, really pushed myself on this one. And, what I’m most happiest about now is that I didn’t let myself down. I had a goal in mind – I was afraid to tell too many people in case I couldn’t achieve it, but I did it. I DID IT!

Loved the way the sun's rays scattered on top of Ruthie at old house

My brother, the running coach at Urban Athletics NYC’s World Trade Center location (ask for Jim Saint-Amour if you call), gave me a suggested goal of 51:25 for today, based on my fastest 5K time of 24:45.  Now, my brother’s always been an optimist and one of my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to running, so I thought he was being overly optimistic.  But something he said to me last week on the phone really stuck with me during this race: “sis, it’s gonna be hard, and you’re not gonna have anything at the end if you do it right. You’re gonna feel totally wiped, but you can do it, sis. You can do it, go for the time, go for the time.”

Favorite memories from today: 

• Seeing Joan Benoit-Samuelson at around mile 2.75 for me (over 3 for her!) and seeing the huge smile on her face as she looked at all of us running in the opposite direction.  This woman ran Chicago yesterday in 2:47:50, and she was kicking ass again today, and there she was, cheering for us, can you believe it?!  I yelled out “Go Joanie!” when I was pretty close to her and she looked right at me and smiled. Definitely gave me a boost there!
• Seeing the women age-group winners, and noting how amazing these women look. The woman who won the 60-69 age group was 69, and set a record for 69 year olds by 2 minutes! If I look anything close to how awesome those women look when I get to those ages, I will be SO happy.  I often get mistaken for being in my late 20s/early 30s (and hee hee, sometimes even a law student!)  It’s sooo gotta be the running!
• Seeing the elite runners, including Katie McGregor, one of my personal faves, and much earlier in the race than I’m used to. (I’m telling you, I started much further forward in the pack this year.)

Ruthie, pooped, after a 3 mile walk on Saturday

Unlike last year when I found myself near the porta-potties as they sang the national anthem, I was waiting on the street by 11:45.  I didn’t do a lot of warm-up, just some stretching, so my legs felt a bit heavy for the first mile or so. As you can tell from my stats, I did a bit of weaving. (My friend, Dan, who is new to racing, now understands my aggravation with people lining up at the 7 minute mile pace, only to begin walking about 200 yards after the start line. In case you’re wondering, yes, he got some weird looks from the women around him, since this is a race “for women.” Doesn’t mean they dont’ allow guys to run it, however.)

I have to admit, I saw how close I was to the start line this time around, and part of me felt like “I can’t be here, I’m not supposed to be this far up in the pack.” But part of me also felt like “you know what? I’ve been working my butt off all year, I do belong here!”  Still, it made me nervous to pass Dan after a few minutes, and then I didn’t see him again until he had just passed Mile 4, and I was about a half mile back from him. Seeing that difference between us made me feel better and like I was on track.

This was one of the first races I’ve run where I’ve looked down at my watch and felt happy with my splits. I passed the 3 mile mark at about 25 flat (net-time), which I knew put me on target to finish with a ”51″ in the first part of my time. That definitely helped to quicken my legs when I looked down and saw 8:39 as my current pace at one point. I told myself to kick it up a notch and get moving, and the next time I looked at my watch it said 8:04 as my current pace. Definitely an improvement!  

Watching a very captivating episode of "Dog in the City" TV

Up until very recently, my goal for this race had been 54-55 minutes, and I thought even that would be really hard. However, running with my friend Dan once a week for the past month or so has really, really helped. He’s younger and a naturally gifted runner, that much is obvious, and I’ve grown much stronger mentally by running with him. I didn’t use to do tempo runs (they scare the bejesus out of me) but running with him, we talk, and I don’t stop when I otherwise would.

I took a look at my times for this race since I started running it, and I can’t believe how far I’ve come. This year, I’ve had much, much more personal stress in my life but one good thing that’s come out of it is that I’ve never run this well in my life before. My recent races have given me that one small time frame where I can forget everything else going on in my life, mentally, and just focus on what’s happening physically for that brief distance of 5K, 5 miles, or 10K.  It’s also been the one constant in my life these past few months, other than the support I’ve had from family and friends. I think without it, I might have felt like “losing it” a lot more often than I have.

Past 3 years:

• 2007: 1:02:13
• 2008: 1:00:09
• 2009: 59 minutes (this race involved a face plant, and sprained ankle around mile 1)

 Stats from today – wow, what a difference!

• Garmin time: 51:52
• Garmin distance: 6.29
• Garmin average pace: 8:15 min/mile
• Official time: 51:51
• Official distance: 6.2 miles
• Official average pace: 8:21
• Division place: Women 30-39 = 234/2079 (Top 11%)
• Overall place: 715/6719 (Top 11%)

I definitely felt like I left everything I had in me, on the road, today.  As we neared the Boston Public Gardens, I had a feeling I could beat 52 minutes, but it would involve a very fast last quarter mile. I couldn’t do an all-out sprint like I normally do at the end, but I was able to pick it up, and my last .29 on my watch was at a 7:04 pace. This, after my 6th mile in 8:06!!  I have never been soooo glad to see a finish line in my life.  It was such an awesome feeling to look up at the finish line clock and know that after subtracting 45 or so seconds, my net time was under 52! I DID IT!

Anway…

Sorry, no pics from the race.  My car broke down last night, so I had to do “bag check” which included my cell phone. I wanted to race with as little extra weight on me as possible. I know many of you are “Ruthie Lovers” so I hope you like those instead! (She came for an overnight visit this past Saturday.)

Allow me to float through tomorrow, now….yay!!!