Spring Thaw

Today was my last long run before taper. It's hard to believe it's almost over! Of course, then the real fun will begin. ;)

I signed Shane and I up for the Spring Thaw 20 mile race. This race has 10, 15, or 20 mile options and attracts around 1,000 people. It's pretty large for a local race! It consists of 5 mile loops around North Park lake. This would be Shane's one and only 20 mile run and my final run of 20+ miles.

I haven't felt well the last couple days. A sore throat and some heavy fatigue left my workouts lacking. I somewhat gave in to the feelings of impending illness and cut back my scheduled mileage a bit. I figured it was better to have a good last long run than run every mile to plan and end up actually sick right in my taper.

I picked out an outfit to fit with the 40 degree temps and a breeze. My INKnBURN denim print pants and Sakura pullover with my Altra Superiors. For the exterior I had a light jacket, a hat, and gloves. I also put my Altra logo tattoos on the back of my neck since that was the only skin I planned to have exposed. And I was ready to go!

 

We picked up our friend, Chris, at 7:30 and headed to North Park for packet pick up. There was no parking at the boathouse where the race started and ended so we parked about a half mile away at the spillway and walked in. We got our bags, bibs, and shirts and I felt a little luckier when I got bib 111.

 

 

It was still pretty early so we chatted with a lot of our friends. One of our friends, Jason, agreed to run with Shane and help him get through his first 20 miler. I also ran into a few of our other friends, Allison, Louis, Mike and Michelle. Soon enough everyone started to wander out to line up. I lingered in the warmth until we were asked to line up. I lined up between the 9:30 and 10:00 pace signs.

Funny shirt

A few minutes later we took off. I started out conservatively and watched as people flew by on all sides. I had to keep reminding myself that I had to run my own race. Around 3 miles in I began to pick up the pace. Mike and his friend, John, also happened to catch me at this point. They were running around 9:20-9:30 per mile so I decided to stay with them for awhile. John was wearing a kilt and pretty soon the Scottish jokes and drinking songs were pouring out. It made the first loop very enjoyable. I crossed the 5 mile mark at 48:45.

I continued to run with Mike and John for the second loop. I don't remember much except that the pace kept falling and I was surprised I was keeping up. We crossed the 10 mile mark at 1:34:28 and Mike was done. John and I continued on our own to the third loop.

Elevation profile

The third loop things were starting to get harder. I knew that I was very close to a 2 hour half marathon and I asked John to not slow the pace until we passed the 13.1 mark. We pushed through and my watch beeped the half marathon at 2:01:2x. That's over an 8 minute PR! That accomplishment brought back some energy and I managed to keep the pace steady for the rest of the loop. We hit the mats for 15 miles at 2:21:41.

The last loop was the hardest 5 miles of my life. My brain said it was okay to slow down, my legs told me to take a walk break, but my pride said it wasn't worth it if I threw away my great first 15 for a crappy finish. I kept pushing and I could hear John struggling beside me. The cheery banter of the early miles was long gone by this point. It was all we could do to move forward.

At mile 19 we came upon Louis walking slowly. I had expected him to finish long before me. I told him to help John and I get to the finish and that seemed to perk him up. He began to jog and then to run. Soon he was well ahead of me and I was pulling away from John. All I wanted was to finish so I could stop running. Louis finished 48 seconds ahead of me and John 23 seconds behind me.

Splits

My official time was 3:10:50 although that is apparently gun time and not chip time. I am absolutely thrilled with that anyway! I was 110/152 overall and 6/8 in my age group though so I guess I still have a lot of improvement to make ahead!

Zombies, Ghosts and Dirt Monsters

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy our Trick or Treat was delayed until yesterday. We're procrastinators so we spent Friday painting, carving, and decorating for Saturday. We had planned to eat at the spaghetti dinner hosted by the local church but they cancelled at the last minute so we were left to our own devices. Shane made a run to the grocery store and saved the day with some fixings for our own spaghetti! Then we bathed the girls and got ready to head out for some candy collecting!

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!