Sunday was a new race location for me, and one that was only 15 minutes from my house! Always nice not to have to get up way early and then drive for over an hour to get to a race.
Once again, I picked a race with bad weather. I woke up with a cold only to find that it was raining outside and would likely continue to rain during the race. Oh well.. So I got my Zoot Compression pants, running shorts, two tech shirts, and my run club jacket and headed out. I wasn't thinking about running hard because of my stuffy nose/head; I just figured I would finish and wear the cool shirt afterwards!
I ran into two friends at the race from my church. A very nice surprise! Claire started running to lose weight and to 'follow my example' as she puts it. Her husband Bob is a runner and has been trying to get her to run for many years. So here they were, getting ready to tackle this trail run in Lippold Park, a nice limestone path through trees, prairie land, soccer fields, and corn.
I started out feeling really good. My legs and feet felt great (no hamstring twinges or anything) and after about 1/2 mile, my nose and head cleared up and I could breathe! I was running faster than I usually did but it did not feel labored so I kinda went with the 'feel of the run' rather than the pacing on my watch. I kept up that pace (which turned out to be around 10:00) and was just enjoying the landscape and the rhythm of my legs and lungs.
I was running alongside another woman for most of the race. I am not sure if she was pacing me or if I was pacing her, but it was working for us. We stayed together until the last 1/4 mile when she fell back. I finished the race still feeling good and no pain in the legs at all.
I did not catch the clock time because I was distracted by the cheering volunteers and one woman who wanted the bottom part of my bib to tear off. And then when I was walking my cooldown, I forgot to shut off the watch. So I had no idea what my finish time was!
After meeting up with Claire and Bob and getting some post-race fueling, I went home to shower, dress, and go to church. The rest of the day was relaxing and spent with the family. I kept checking the race web site but no results were posted until this morning (after my strength training workout).
My official chip time was 30:44! Now I know most of you guys and gals are way faster than that (I am still a newbie 'running padawan learner') but for me, this was pretty exciting. It is almost 3 minutes faster than my 5K time of 33:08 back on October 1st. I hadn't planned on shooting for a PR but things just felt right and it happened!
My full race report is on my
blog but this pretty much covers it.
I cannot wait until November 5th when I run the Hot Chocolate 15K in Chicago with MotoMiker!! Hopefully we can pace each other (but he is faster than I am and I don't want to hold him back). We'll see! Either way, having my running partner there is a real bonus!
And I just found out that my trainer Meghan is also going to be running the race, as well as someone from my office. And, I have a bunch of other friends who are running the Hot Chocolate 5K (guess they will get their chocolate fondue before the rest of us).
So all in all, there should be a nice group of friends at the post-race festivities! That makes for the best race experience!
GO! WISH Team GO! 
