« Personalized Risk Assessment | Main | The Promised Story »
September 17, 2005
22 something
I rocked my run this morning. 22:09 or 22:11 (I can’t remember the official time). My splits were not too too bad (meaning simply that I didn’t start off ridiculous fast): 6:59 (1), 7:13 (2), and 7:58 (last 1.1). I didn’t feel like I was going to die at all. As I was in the home stretch-in typical runner fashion-I saw I wasn’t going to be under 22 minutes and was annoyed (even though I originally only wanted to go under 23). I think I could have run 9-11 seconds faster!!! I am extremely encouraged from the effort. I tell ya, my body seriously likes undertraining. It just does.
I left my house pretty early b/c I was up and ready and I wasn’t sure how to get where I was going. I did get lost but it was nothing too major. I called my friend who was “maybe” coming to the race and she confirmed (from bed) that she most certainly was not :) I got to the 10 AM race around 8:45. I checked in and then returned to my car to psych myself up (do some health reading for school).
At 9:30 I left my car to use the bathroom and then do a 6 minute warm-up (I’m not that into warm-ups). [This is the start of a really good human interest story (more later).] At 9:50 everyone started walking over to the start line. It was a pretty small field which I really like just b/c there is parking, it’s not crowded, and it’s just more low key. We started and I felt really good. I had no idea what my 5K pace should feel like so I tried to push it, but not sprint. I was really curious what my split would be. I never run fast when I train so pace is a complete mystery to me. When I hit the mile mark I was relieved I was in the realm of reasonable and tried to maintain the pace.
The second mile was fine. I passed one woman and a couple of guys. The third mile was fine. Nothing eventful. No women passed me during the race. I really didn’t feel too badly. I have no idea what my overall place among women was (I was 7th in my age group, but a bunch of women older than me beat me) but I guess I can put that in later when it’s up on the official site. I cooled down for another 6 minutes, stretched, and then got my icepack out of my car and preventatively iced my quad (no pain so far).
Of note is that this is one of the most amazing races I have had a chance to be a part of. The race was intended to raise money for the visually impaired and there were a lot of visually impaired walkers and runners there. It was so interesting learning about blindness (they handed out lots of information) and watching how these runners competed. From what I can tell visually impaired runners either wear special kinds of glasses that help them see or they use guides. The guide runner and the person being guiding both hold onto some sort of tether/rope. I think the overall winner was visually impaired.
The human interest story will have to wait until tomorrow. There was some guy at the race who was part of the story who is also a journalist. I was talking to him after the race and he plans to write about it for work. I don’t want to steal his scoop! I will try and find the story and link it, or at the very least I will tell it tomorrow after he’s published. It’s pure craziness!
Lesson learned (again) from the race:
Do not get psyched out by people who look like they can beat me. (ie. women wearing little clothing, racing flats, and/or with stick-like bodies, and guys overheard talking about their 5 min/mile times from when they were in their 20s). While these can all be good indicators of speed, I beat a couple of them. I am often convinced certain people can beat me based on an educated guess about their running abilities. However, I am continually proven wrong. You just can’t tell how fast people are based on what they look like. At least I can’t.
Posted by Audrey at September 17, 2005 12:55 PM
Comments
wow thats awesome; so fast! awesome that you felt good too.
can you give us a hint about the nature of the scoop?
Posted by: brent hopkins at September 17, 2005 04:41 PM
Congratulations!! Great race. I too get intimidated by what other people look like at the start of the race. I remember going to a race with my college boyfriend when I first started racing and he was pointing out this really thin woman who was all decked out in a fancy running outfit and him telling me that she looked really fast. Know what? She ran something like 27 minutes. Appearances can definitely be deceiving.
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at September 17, 2005 05:56 PM
GREAT race! Way to run one whole minute faster than you thought/wanted!! (by the way - I like the undertraining too :)
As you (and Blondie) suggested - I think it's easy to look at people on a starting line and think "wow - they are so going to beat me or NOT beat me" and 9 times out of 10 you are so wrong! It's an interesting and odd thing...
Posted by: Beth at September 17, 2005 07:40 PM
Not to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO!!!! (About running fast.) And there's a lot more where that 22-low time came from!
Thanks for the good luck e-mail :-) And you're totally right about not judging a runner's speed by their looks. I like to use this to my advantage in races, because I don't think I look as fast as I am. And I've been intimidated (pre-race) by many a 27-minute 5K runner in the past!
Congratulations on your great race, and looking into my crystal ball, I see even bigger and better things to come!
Posted by: Alison at September 17, 2005 09:50 PM
Great race, Audrey!! You are lightning fast! Totally beat my 5K PR. Its only gets faster from here. You must be so happy about this race! Great job!
Posted by: Jon in Michigan at September 18, 2005 09:50 AM
Awesome, Audrey! I'm so happy for you!
Posted by: MandM at September 19, 2005 01:44 AM
Great race Audrey!
Posted by: Rob at September 19, 2005 10:24 AM
WOO HOO!!!!!!
Great race Audrey! That is so awesome. I am very, very happy for you! Way to run even splits.
Posted by: Barb at September 19, 2005 11:14 AM
Holy cow...look at you go. Now I am really kicking myself for bagging out. So glad you had a great race without me!
Posted by: Betsy at September 19, 2005 04:14 PM
Yay, Audrey! I knew you had it in you. Way to run a strong race.
Posted by: Leilani at September 19, 2005 05:12 PM