Saturday, May 8, 2010

5/3rd Riverbank Run 10K

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The weather forecast going into Saturday's race looked suspiciously like the weather for last weekend's run, but about 15 degrees chillier. I wasn't looking forward to it and was praying for a weatherperson mis-forecast with no luck. Friday was packet pick up, and the sunny skies that had been hanging around Thursday had changed into gloomy grey ones with smatterings of sprinkles. I picked up a trio of Bondi Bands at the expo, my favorite one read, "I love running, I hate running, I love running, I hate running" and decided that would be the one to wear Saturday morning. It pretty much sums up my affair with 'running,' it's definitely a love/hate relationship. :)

So we tried for the traditional "pasta" dinner, but our favorite Italian place was booked solid, so we ended up going Mexican and it worked out fine. Saturday morning dawned windy and chilly, but, it wasn't raining and for that I was thankful. Sure there was the occasional misting going on, but nothing to soak you to the core, it was actually pretty refreshing. The first mile as usual was the most difficult, something about getting moving and getting started and not seeing that first mile marker for what seems like forever is tough. The course was fairly flat (thank god!) but did have some hills near the end, which really weren't too horrible. I hit the half way point and kept thinking how the heck am I going to keep up this pace and go 3.1 more miles?!

Luckily, I had a running buddy. My friend Jenna conned me into signing up for the 10K instead of the 5K to run it with her. She definitely kept me moving and it was nice to have someone to chat with and pass the time. Eventually we turned that last corner and saw the best sight ever, "Finish Line!" Picked up the pace a teensy bit and crossed the line in 01:04:10! I was SO incredibly excited! The last "10K" that I have a time on was from the half which I kinda sorta actually trained for and that was a time of 01:16:13. Somehow I shaved 12 minutes off my time! I know there are so many people who are much faster than me, but for me, someone who generally does 11/12 minute miles for longer distances, it was a major accomplishment!

For now I don't have any more "races" on the schedule for the season, but I'm sure I'll pick up one here or there, maybe I can get back out and actually start running on a semi-regular basis again too...

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A Typical MSU Sunday

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Last night we celebrated in a big way one of Rex's sister's milestone birthdays...drinks, more drinks, and a LOT of good times. It was great...waking up this morning bright and early to run a 5K? Not super awesome. Add to the equation, the constant downpour of rain, it could have been a disaster of epic proportions, but it wasn't. As any true Spartan knows, rallying after a night of drinking is in our green blood, today was no exception. Alright, alright so it could probably be argued of ANY college grad, but today's run was at MSU, so gotta represent. :)

So bright and early the alarm went off, and I only hit snooze once. The rain looked like it might let up...I was wrong. The whole drive in was wet. We parked. Still raining. Picked up my packet. Still raining. Waiting with friends for the race to start...you guessed it, still raining. I gave in and put on the oh so fashionable rain poncho as we lined up. Best move ever. The rain was pretty steady through the first two miles, as I came up on the water station after mile two, I decided to ditch it since the sky decided to stop leaking as badly and I was getting toasty. It was a good move.

The course was pretty fun, it didn't wind through campus as much as I would've liked it to, but it was still nice to be back in East Lansing. And we did get to run by Sparty, although the mascot Sparty was sadly missing, due to weather I'm assuming. Plus the finish line was on the football field, we got to run through the tunnel and finish on the 50 yard line, and really, how fun is that? That last mile I was reallllly dragging. And at the end I was much more tired than last week, I was lagging. Turns out I picked up the pace a bit since the last 5k, which would probably account for that. Final chip time, 30:42! Not my fastest ever, but getting closer to it! Next up, next weekend's 10K. :)