Valentine's Run (2/11/12)

Looking for an event to do for February, I found the Valentine's Run. It was a 4 mile race. I generally do not like the shorter races. I am an endurance athlete so prefer longer events. But, this one seemed like a fun race. My friend (and fellow Java Jogger) Lora was going to be doing it and figured it'd be fun to to run the race with her. Also, they had a fastest attorney competition. It'd be interesting to see how I compared to other attorneys.

Since it's a Valentine's Run, I opted to wear some Valentine's stuff. I almost always proudly wear my Java Joggers shirt in my races. So, no pink/red/valentine's shirts for me. Instead, I found some fun Snoopy Valentine's knee high socks. However, I discovered that my calves are far too fat (some may say they are muscular). The socks and poor Snoopy's head got stretched out far too much around my calves. Disappointing. So, I cut the toe off the socks and converted them into super awesome arm warmers. (I have been converting socks to arm warmers since my first marathon last November; it's extra fun when you have fun sock designs). I think the socks turned out to be way better arm warmers!



Before the race, I could already tell that this was going to be one fast race. I saw numerous race teams out with large showing of runners. Oh boy! I spotted a couple attorney gals near the start line and they were wearing their Fleet Feet racing jerseys. The attorney competition was looking rather tough now. Anyhow, my real goal for the race was to break 8:00 min/miles.

The gun goes off and I try to stay behind the two attorney gals. But, they were running fast! After the first mile, I knew I could not hang with them so eased up my pace as my legs. I heard my friend's voice in my head "Follow your watch, not the other runners."

For these shorter races, because you're running a harder, faster pace, I feel like the miles seem WAY longer than in the longer racers. Each mile seemed to go on forever. I remember most of the miles in the marathon seemed to just pass by so quickly. Here I am in this 4 mile race (my shortest race to date) and I am just yearning for mile 2 and mile 3 to come along.

After I pass the mile 3 mark, I hear someone behind me say "one more mile to go!" A little bit longer. My legs are aching and I had already felt myself slow a little bit in the last mile. But, I am still running sub-8 miles. As I get near the finish line though, about 1/3 mile out, my body always seems to know when the finish is near. My legs always find some new gear (out of nowhere) and start surging for the finish. I start passing a few folks on the last stretch.

Around the last corner, I think I am running sub-7 and I am just pounding pavement as I cross the finish line. Lora & Desiree (fellow Java Joggers) are there cheering me at the finish! I love that I always have Java Joggers cheering me on! Though, it takes me a good few minutes to be able to breath normally again to talk to them. Oh man, that race hurt!

Chip time 30:30.2 (8th in my age group out of 55 so not to shabby)

In the attorney competition, I finished 11 out of 28 overall, 4th female attorney out of 14.

Not the fastest but pretty decent results overall. I am happy that I finally broke 8 min/miles for a race. I averaged a 7:38 pace.

But, for me, I do better with endurance than with speed. So, I prefer the longer stuff which is why I will be running my first 50k before my first 5k. I am not sure I will ever run a 5k. This 4 mile race was already too short for my liking. ;-)