Amazing.
What an incredible feat. Cross training is one thing I seriously slack on. I run and run and run, but I haven’t been keeping up with strength or speed work out of fear that I will lose my sync with running. I’m no Lauren Fleshman, but it goes to show that, sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself as a runner is something different.
Fleshman qualified for 5k finals off of 10 mile weeks. NBD.
Damn, it feels good to be a winner.
Pooped.
So I’ve been awake since 5:30 this morning, I raced pretty hard, then I worked (while dizzy, lightheaded and nauseous) a lunch shift. Fun fun.
Pros: Won first place female overall, perfect weather, great course - not too flat, not too hilly.
Cons: Breathing, as usual. I’ve got a horrible chest cough that makes my asthma even worse, so I’ve just been wheezing like crazy these past few weeks. Also, I definitely felt really tired by the second mile and once I knew the 2nd female was a longgg way behind me, I eased my pace. Also: ran solo a good chunk.
I was by far the most nervous for this race than any of the other ones I’ve recently done. I’ve established myself in the area with my times/places in two previous 5Ks; I didn’t want the third one to be a let down. It was run as a fundraiser for a neighboring school district’s XC program, and I know a ton of people there and thought I would face tougher competition with XC runners doing it. I was legitimately nervously shaking before the start, and my legs felt like jello warming up - which I thought was an omen of a bad race to come.
To make matters better/worse, my mentor/friend/former math teacher who I run with was volunteering at the event. She’s a freaking beast - she ran in college, went to like states or something in high school, ran a marathon a few years ago… - of course I wanted to kind of prove myself as almost as awesome as she is. So with her, and my mom and sister, I had people there cheering me on who I super care about and I wanted to make proud.
And myself, of course.
Which I did, I guess. I won, which I was really concerned about. But I always find faults soon after success. I didn’t sub-20, which, now that I’ve had a taste of, I want more than anything. If I pushed myself harder and not have fallen back on “well, I’m comfortably in first, so since I’m not feeling so hot, I’ll ease up a little”, I might have had a better time. I also went out realllly hard (my first mile split was 6:11), which is new for me. I’m trying to get it right - until this year, I’ve spent my whole life going out very conservatively and then having a huge kick at the end. Now that I’m trying to go out hard, I need to figure out how to start where I’ll still feel like I have strength left at the end.
The course was great - rolling hills through an area I’m fairly familiar with. The weather was PERFECT - sunny, ≈70° with a nice breeze. I was able to hang on with the boys for a fair amount of time, but by the last three-quarters or half mile or so, the one I was pacing with pulled out far enough ahead of me that I ran kind of solo. Maybe if I had more competition and people to pace with, I might push harder.
What’s done is done. I won and that’s a huge ego boost. Got myself a sick trophy - my first ever! Now I’m just trying to take it easy and not pass out. I don’t have anymore races on my radar right now, other than a mile dash (which I really want to try and break 6 in). I was going to take a little bit of a racing break after this one, but, of course, I’m already thinking “Okay, what’s next?”
winner winner chicken dinner
First place female overall, 20:31, in Cedar Cliff Cross Country’s Father’s Day 5K.
race recap this afternoon.
Pretty much dying.
Ran another 5K race this morning and I’m pleased/not pleased with the results.
Pros: 2nd place female, 1st place female in age group 20-29. Went hard the whole way.
Cons: ASTHMA, 85% HUMIDITY IN 85º WEATHER, DIDN’T PR.
So I knew this course backwards and forwards. Not only have I raced it several times before in years past, but I run modified versions of it during several training runs. It’s mostly flat, just two small hills and not many turns - very fast, very straightforward. I felt that after last week’s PR and first sub-20, on a course I was unfamiliar with and had crazy hills, there would be no excuse for not doing even better this week.
Well, I was wrong. It was crazy humid and hot, and I have allergic and exercise induced asthma. Not fun. Not fun at all. I was wheezing up a storm, and by the end I both literally could not catch my breath AND felt like I was going to vomit. This weather can leave, thanks.
I still finished with a good time - 20:39 - and placed. But despite the much different circumstances this time around, I still am annoyed that I ran 50 seconds slower than last week and was beat by an older woman by nearly two minutes. Ugh. I am never satisfied.
Oh hey derr.
Realized I never uploaded a picture post-race day last week. I’m busy busy right now with work and running (another 5K on Monday, realllllly want to place, so I’m super anxious) and all the end of the school year things with my sisters. In the meantime, enjoy.
Coming in for the win and PR - 19:49! - at the Capital Area Girls on the Run 5K on Saturday, May 19th. Happy Birthday to me!
So my plans to run the Radnor ABC 5K tomorrow for my birthday had to be scrapped. My cousin, who I was going to stay with and spend the day with, is really sick and we had to call off the weekend.
Instead, I ran the Capital Area Girls on the Run 5K today. If I can’t race on my birthday birthday, I might as well do it the day before. And, I figured, sure, I’m out $18 for the other race, but it’s going to a good cause, and the race fee for this one is towards something good, too.
Girls on the Run is such a great program I would love to volunteer with if I ever find time during the school year, when they run it. They’re all about empowering young girls and teaching them self-respect and healthy lifestyle through running. After I finished, I hung around the end and cheered for everyone else, including almost all the girls in the program who started five minutes behind the first wave of runners. Cheering for them and talking to some of them later was such a great experience; I would love to inspire them and help them find a love for running comparable to mine.
Anyway, I PR-ed by about 2:35. INSANE. It was a super hilly course - unexpectedly so. Plus this week I was trying to rest my hip, and only ran 4 miles on a treadmill on Tuesday, then 5 yesterday. I was hoping to PR (my previous best was 22:25 - on a flat course!), but didn’t know if I could. On the way out, my dad mentioned that with the training, I could easily sub-20 and I laughed. Until today, I thought “NO WAY.”
I was dying on some of the hills, but I went out strong for once and ended up about a minute ahead of the #2 female and #5 overall behind me. It was such an unexpected treat to turn the corner and see the finish line just yards ahead and the clock reading 19:XX. “I HAVE TO SUB-20!” I thought, and sprinted with the most I could. Official time is 19:49 and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Yay yay yay yay!!!!! Best birthday present ever! Now off to buy new shoes - how I did it in my TOTALLY SHOT pair, I have no clue.
