Shouldering the Responsibility

I may have bitten off more than I can chew but I've never been so excited to test my mettle as I am right now! 

I met the president of the Mon-Yough Trail Council at the Dead Man's Hollow clean up a few months ago.  While I had her ear I suggested a race on the Yough River Trail to benefit trail maintenance and expansion.  We parted ways with promises to stay in touch and work towards making it happen.  I was doubtful that it would happen but hopeful still.

I decided that if a race was going to happen I had better present a strong case to the Council.  I approached Kevin Smith, owner of Elite Runners and Walkers, and he suggested I plan a 5k and Half Marathon to maximize the attraction.  He gave me a list of criteria to consider and then graciously offered to be the presenting sponsor before there was even a race to be sponsored.  I feel so blessed to have Kevin helping the Trail Council and myself untangle the mysteries of race directing!

To make our ideas reality I approached the Mon-Yough Trail Council president, Judy Marshall, at the beginning of their monthly meeting.  She was very pleased that I was still pursuing the race and offered to give me the floor to present my ideas.  I have never been very good at public speaking but I guess I did well enough because they voted to approve the race, unanimously!  Wow! 

 Judy took it upon herself to approach the Regional Trail Corporation for approval.  Thankfully there was no problems and all we have to do is fill out an event form!  Judy, Kevin, and myself will be meeting this week to work out the details, design an application form, begin marketing, and PICK A NAME!  Yes, we still need a name for this race!  Please kindly give me all your ideas!

Now I am frantically searching for a timing company, photographers, food, water, volunteers, race schwag, radios, and the like.  I really hope I can make this a race memorable for all the participants and make it an annual event.  Having a race in my own backyard is going to be amazing, even if I'm directing and not running! 

Running Cold

My wonderful husband convinced me to do another 5k this past weekend.  I guess I'm as crazy as I think I am because I went along with it!  We registered, bought toys to donate, and found a sitter.  Next thing I know I'm in one of the craziest races I've ever run!

I really hoped I could PR in this race but that wasn't to be.  The weather and the cumulative fatigue from my marathon training combined to beat me down.  However, it was a wonderful experience in a lot of other ways!  So on to the race!

We arrived really early thanks to my husband's worry that it would take twice as long as Mapquest predicted.  I had picked up our race packets the day before so there wasn't  much to do.  We got our numbers pinned on, picked up our chips (I had to show my husband how to attach his!), and dropped off our toys for the Amici Mentoring Program.  Then we waited...

 My husband in the car

I look thrilled don't I?

Finally, people started heading to the starting line.  We convinced another runner to take a picture of us before we lined up.  You can tell how thrilled my husband was with the weather, 22* and snowing!

Kevin, the owner of Elite Runners and Walkers announced that the turn around was a simple orange cone so we should be careful not to miss it.  Then we were off!  

I figured I would go out a little conservatively since the trail was fairly trampled and icy already.  I started out feeling great at about a 9:45 pace.  Sped up a little at the half mile point.  First mile in 9:20.  As I'm heading toward the turnaround I see my husband coming back towards me.  We high-fived and continued running.  I figured I must be close to the turn around since we ran similar paces at our last 5k.  Turns out my husband must have been drinking some magic juice or something because I was still 1/10th of a mile or so from the turn around.  I thought I'd somehow managed to miss it.  Then it was there!  I have never been so happy to see that turn around before!

Things were starting to feel really hard and my right hamstring was tightening up with every step.  The ice meant I was pushing harder but getting slower.  I felt like I was running on a treadmill.  Forward motion was hard to come by in this race!  My pace kept dropping and I hit mile 2 with a 10:28 average pace.  I tried to keep it up and I'd get under a 10 minute mile and then slip back again.  It was extremely frustrating watching a PR slip out of my hands but I just held on for dear life and reminded myself that a post-baby PR wasn't out of the question.  I took a quick walk break to get some water and let my hamstring loosen up and then picked it back up but it wasn't enough to save my race.  Mile 3 came in at a 10:29 average pace.  The course was a little long according to my Garmin and I finished the last .2 miles in 1:54, getting as fast as a 5:48 pace over the finish line.

My husband was there shivering and waiting for me.  I turned in my chip and we climbed in the car.  My first comment was, "How did you do?" to which he responded, "You don't want to know".  Of course, I HAD to know.  Turns out 3 weeks of running turned my husband from penguin to speed demon.  He finished in a respectable 26:25!  I was very proud of him.... until he wouldn't let me live down him beating me by 5 minutes.  Yes, I finished in a slow 31:43.  Still a post-baby PR but disappointing nonetheless. 

My husband finishing (in the middle)

Today was a scheduled 3 mile run for me so I decided to do it on the treadmill and see just how fast I could do a 5k in close-to-perfect conditions.  I started at a 9:31 pace for the first 2.5 miles.  I edged up to 7MPH at 2.75 miles and finished the last 1/10th of a mile at a 7:30 pace.  I finished my 3.1 miles in 29:09 and felt like I probably could have done it faster.  I promise a true PR is mine at the next race that's not on ice!  

P.S. Can you tell how much I love my running skirt?  If this blog ever gets a good following I promise to give one away!  You have to try them!  I have two, one red plaid and this grey preppy skirt, and I almost always wear them for races and get so many compliments them!  If you are a woman and you don't run in a skirt you should definitely try it!

Pushing Boundaries

I had my second training session with Ed over at Strength, Fitness, and Speed, Inc. this morning.  Last week's workout left us both surprised.  I expected to be a blubbering mess on the floor by the end and Ed must have too.  Instead we were both pleasantly surpised at how much of my fitness has returned post-baby.  I did my 3 mile run before I went and was scared it was going to make the training even harder but I surprised myself and excelled beyond both of our expectations!

Today, I knew Ed would be ramping things up a little but I was less nervous.  We did some plyo drills, some strength training, and some circuit training.  I was a little sore afterwards but not as much as I expected.  I put off doing my scheduled 4 mile run for a few hours for fear I would feel it then.  However, I finally sucked it up and jumped on the treadmill.  (I still haven't braved the snow/rain yet!) 

Once again I was pleasantly surprised.  I figured I would just go all out and see if I blew up or not.  I started out at a 10 minute mile pace (yes, I'm slow, I know...) and stayed there for mile 1.  Mile 2 I pushed to a 9:30 minute mile pace.  That actually didn't feel too bad!  I had an outside chance at breaking my official 5K PR of 29:59 (I pulled a 27:xx in training but never in a race).  I kept pushing the speed through mile 3 until I got to 7MPH.  I managed to hold myself together to the 5K mark and shaved 6 seconds off that race PR!  I was elated (and wheezing, choking, red-faced....)!  I wasn't sure how well I would finish off that last mile to get my scheduled 4 but I didn't want to chicken out now.

I kept pushing, dropping back only to a 10 minute mile pace instead of 11 or 12.  I got myself to the 3.8 mile mark and notched the speed up to 6.5 MPH and then edged up to 7MPH for the final tenth of a mile.  I finished that 4 mile run in 39:45, an average pace of 9:41!  A truly amazing accomplishment for a penguin like me!  I'm going to rest up and really hope that I can break my pre-baby PR less than 4 months postpartum.  And, if the weather is only 20-ish degrees like they're forecasting, then there's an outside chance I could snag myself another age group award! 

I have to say I'm pretty fond of my newfound pain tolerance and 'speed'!  I'm starting to think I do have an outside chance of having a good first marathon and setting a new PR at the Rachel Carson Challenge this summer and still being able to walk in the days following.  So here's to pushing ourselves beyond our wildest dreams and finding that perserverence and determination are the keys to opportunities doors!