Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Tale of Two PRs

I had the opportunity last week to run two races in within three days, and it was fun stuff.

The first was Day One of my ill-fated run streak:  The Turkey Trot in Appleton, WI. 

I lined up for the five miler on Thanksgiving morning with my friends Matt, Brian, and Lori, and had no plans for the race. 

I had been rushing around trying to get registered until just moments before the gun went off, and my buddies were teasing me about my lack of preparation.  I sort of forgot to eat or drink anything in the morning, I didn't bring water to the race, my running clothes were a random cotton assortment of lounge-wear from the depths of my dresser, and I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. 

I ran for a bit with Matt at an easy 10ish pace, and felt like I was holding myself back too much to have fun.  I sped up a bit and my first mile was just over 9 minutes. 

The course weaved through pretty neighborhoods with big old houses, and the crisp air and sunshine put me in such a good mood that I was consistently laying down miles in the 7:30-7:50s.

I crossed the finish line feeling great and actually sort of refreshed in 40:19, which was more than two and a half minutes faster than my PR

Three days later, I drove to De Pere to run the Noodleini 15k thanks to the kind heart (and checkbook) of my sweet sister-in-law Kathy. 

This race was pretty hard.  The roads were covered with icy slush, the course is not very scenic, and it was a gray and dismal day.  I'd never run that far on a slippery surface before, and that shit was difficult.  Every time I pushed off to take a step, my back foot slipped back an inch or two, which made for pretty slow going. 

I took my time, talked to a ton of other runners, and finished up in 1:20:44, a 26 minute PR.  (The last 15k I ran was in 2007 dressed as a hobo with this girl)

 
Noodleini 15k
1:20:44
8:39 pace

So there you have it.  Lesson of the day - PRs are equal parts lack of preparation and mild dehydration.  I should write a running book filled with this gold.

Have you ever raced more than one race in a week?

Are you still streaking? 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The death of a run streak...

...looks something like this:

 


And feels something like this:

 

Sigh.  Run Streak 2012 is officially done for me.

I made it nine days, and it felt good.  Until it didn't.

I thought I'd make it longer, but I sort of hit a wall this weekend.  I just started a new bartending job, and I had four shifts in a row from Thursday-Sunday.  On Saturday, I was exhausted, my feet were swollen and painful, and my legs felt worse than after my marathon - seriously. 

I haven't run at all since Saturday, and I have no desire to.  The balancing act of being a mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, personal trainer and chipper bartender while trying to find time to run, exercise, and not collapse in a mountain of dirty laundry is a work in progress.

To all of my fellow streakers, streak on.  I'm proud of you guys. Especially you, Momma.  :)
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