May 24th, 2008 -- Posted in race |
Today was the Soldier Field 10 mile. And MAN, was I nervous. Despite the fact that it is May, it’s still be pretty cold a lot of the time (surprise surprise Chicago weather…). Needless to say I woke up and put on many layers. Ivan picked me up and we headed down town.
I met up with Jamie, Trisha, Ryan and Kevin. I also ended up running into someone I’ve worked with on many student films a few years ago (small world). It ended up getting warmer as it grew closer to race time, so while running with Ryan and Jamie I had to strip down a few layers.
To put it mildly, this race KICKED MY ASS. My only real goal was to beat last years time. I didn’t want to run slower than that…but I was very nervous that I might not even be able to do that.
Ryan and I got separated from Jamie and tried to keep each going as well as we could. Kevin was a few miles ahead of sprinting along like a little gazelle. Finally we got closer to the end and I was just feeling wiped out.
Normally I’ve got just enough conserved energy to really sprint it in at the end, but this time, I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t make myself really go for even though we were entering into the stadium and I could hear spectators cheering…it just wasn’t enough to make me kick it into gear.
I finished a few second behind Ryan and was able to sprint past a few people in the end, but ultimately I had major fear I didn’t make my goal.
Good news: I did. The Bad news: Not by much.
I think I beat last years time by a minute, definitely less than 2 minutes. WHAT A PISSER!
Still, the race was run, food was had, a great brunch was enjoyed by all us runners and our supporters are M Henry were Andrew came and put our name on the waiting list so we didn’t have to wait an hour once we got there.
All in all it was a fun day, a little disappointing but further proving to myself that I have to KEEP WORKING on running if I want to continue to see improvements and that I cannot let myself fall back to where I was 2 years ago when I started this whole running thing.
I believe…now let’s see how the rest of this summers races go.
…side note, I REALLY need to find my runners watch; it’s MIA.
May 21st, 2008 -- Posted in training |
Today was my first day back at work after a nice long weekend in NYC. It was also my first day back at work where I didn’t have SCHOOL during the week. PHEW! Thank god. It’s DONE! I’m so happy.
Anyway, I’ve got the Soldier Field 10 miler coming up on Saturday, which I am FAR from ready for. I had originally had a time goal for that puppy, I think it was to run it in 8:45/9 minute miles. I do not think that is possible now. I mean, my legs feel like lead.
I ran with Kevin Valentine today (he’s another first year in the MFA Media program with me and an INCREDIBLE runner…Boston qualifier and everything). I was feeling pretty tired and thinking I’d need to take it slow.
We didn’t go quite as slow as I had imagined we would, and I really felt like I was dragging ass. I couldn’t make my body work the way it needed or I wanted it to. I know part of it had to do with being tired, part also with not having had anything to eat really. I had two bananas, two bags of chips and a chai tea latte today to eat – that was all. Running six miles on empty like that is STUPID. I’m sure that had an affect.
Finally we got to the halfway point which felt a million miles away. I asked Kev how fast we were running and he said 8:45/9ers. So that made me a little bit happier knowing that I could still do it, but I felt so heavy on my feet. My arms and legs felt like dead weights, lifting them was not fun or easy.
I couldn’t really talk much either. Since I’ve always trained with walk breaks I can see that after 3 miles I still really need them, even short ones. I think for the Soldier Field that’s what I’ll need to do. Kev says he’ll run with me and keep me “on pace”…but I’m afraid I’ll be too slow for him.
I guess we’ll see.
As far as this training run though – I’m glad I did it, but was glade still that it was over. I hope tomorrow’s short 3 mile run will be better…then Saturday’s 10 mile should be REALLLLLLY interesting!!!
Wish me luck!
May 17th, 2008 -- Posted in race |
Yeah…I missed it. I picked up my packet…but I missed the run anyway. Why? Because I was EXHAUSTED FROM THE SEMESTER and NO SLEEP FOR THREE WEEKS and because it was so much better sleeping in late and enjoying being in BED without any OBLIGATIONS to get out of it until later on that night.
Sooo…sorry Kidney’s, I didn’t run your race. Of course you still got my entrance fee, so you got my money. Maybe next year I’ll run you. I’m sure it was great fun…a little sad I missed it, but not really. I am sure you understand…
