Saturday, May 8, 2010

5/3rd Riverbank Run 10K

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...

2 comments:

Juli D said...

That's a huge improvement - congrats! Let's hope the weather is better for your next race. :-)

Melissa said...

Yup, I'm super impressed. I wished we lived closer so I could be your running buddy as I attempt to get back into shape this summer.
-Melissa