Gem was a goth prom queen
Princess Ash wouldn't sit still or wear her tiara
Scoops was a .... good question
Lily the weiner, of course!
There's one house in our neighborhood that the girls call the scary house. They have a great love of Halloween apparently and go all out. Ash and Gem both insisted that we had to Trick or Treat there. I was prepared for tears and going home early and traumatized children but they both handled it well and Ash even wanted to go up twice!
Scary House
Mercifully it was too cold for staying out long and the girls were happy with their hauls after only an hour. Shane and I were able to get them cleaned up and in bed by their normal time and then we turned our clocks back and jumped into bed ourselves to rest up for the Dirt Monster 5 Mile trail race. After running this two years ago I felt confident I would get a course PR and I was looking forward to the last race with huge hills for the month! This race is funny in that it beneifts the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Foundation of Pittsburgh, hence the name Dirt Monster. It also lends itself to the logo on the shirt.
Elevation profile
We left the girls with my mom and headed down to the park around 8:30. We were pre-registered so arrival was easy. We parked at the pavilion and got our shirts and bibs. Then we huddled in the car, avoiding the 40-ish degree temps, and debated wearing our jackets or not until the race started at 9:30. I decided to run with my jacket, hat and gloves. For my base layer I had INK n BURN denim print capris and a long sleeved shirt.
Race shirt - scary dirty shoes!
The race started right on time and we headed uphill, made a left turn followed by some rolling hills and then continued making our way up, Up, UP! I knew how long this hill was and how much it would cost me later if I pushed so I jogged until the effort felt too hard and then I hiked as fast as I could. A lot of people blew by me and I think they figured it would be up and then back down and they could recover. As you can see by the elevation profile there's only one good down in the first 4 miles. The rest is all in the last mile and that's what I was saving for.
Looking towards the hill we run up
I tried to keep my pace even and sustainable for the first three miles. Walking the steep hills meant my splits don't reflect it but the effort felt even. 12:40, 10:06, 12:38 for miles 1, 2, and 3. After mile three I started to pick it up. I was sick of being passed and I could see people starting to blow up in front of me. I passed a lot of people, notably a couple guys in kilts and a girl wearing road shoes. I was impressed that the girl in Kinvaras had managed to stay ahead of me for 3 miles on a thick blanket of wet leaves, through mud, and over a ton of rocks and fallen branches. When I passed her I noticed her breathing was way too labored for only a little over halfway though and realized she was putting out way too much effort trying to move forward and stay upright. My husband said he saw three people wipe out but my Altra Zero Drop Superiors served me well and I remained upright the entire time.
My new Altra's got their first taste of mud
I continued to gain momentum with each person I passed and felt that I could really improve on my time from 2010 (1:09:34). I thought I might even break an hour if I got moving. I was projecting 57 or 58 minutes and really excited about it. Mile 4 done in 10:37. There was one moment of annoyance when I came up behind a kid that was walking. He had blown by me on the first steep uphill and now it looked like he had blown up. I said excuse me and nothing. I realized he had headphones in so I yelled excuse me. Apparently his music was up too loud because again there was no reaction. I finally just ran up on the birm of the narrow singletrack trail and pushed by him. Lesson: Turn down the volume when you run!
I passed a few more people as I navigated the first part of the downhill to the finish chute. Then I caught a glimpse of orange cones through the trees and floored it. I was thrilled to see the finish clock was still under 55 minutes. Last mile in 8:28. My official time was posted as 54:36! That's 2 seconds shy of a 15 minute course PR!
Pavilion
Back at the pavilion Shane handed me my sweatshirt and we were treated to chicken noodle soup, soda, beer and Halloween candy while we waited for results. There were far more people this year than the last time I ran so I doubted I had a shot but enjoyed seeing my old running partner and some other running friends for a bit. When awards were announced SURPRISE! I got 3rd in my age group which happened to be 18-29 for this race so I was even more shocked. Shane was apparently in the most competitive age group because he placed 7th despite finishing in 46:11.
Trying not to freeze while posing
All in all it was a good day and really helped me see how far my fitness has come since Ash was born. Now to keep the momentum going through the winter and see what I can do next spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment