They are really fun, and generally the same people show up every week, so it leads to a healthy competition (See 2011 Frosty Fun Run Series, Me vs. Chris). The first and last races are on the same course, so if you improve, you're able to see tangible results from the beginning of the series to the end.
For this series, I get to represent Team MARATHON Bar, and it's my second race doing so. Heidi T. also participated tonight, so it was cool having another teammate to represent the goodness of MARATHON Bars.
Today, I made sure to stay cool and stay hydrated. The hourly temperature forecast looked to be between 93 and 95 depending when you looked at it. I knew it would be HOT, I've done these summer evening races before. I drank 9 24oz bottles of water today in preparation for tonight's activities. About an hour before race time, as Hillary W. and I drove to take our son to his baseball game, I ate a MARATHON Crunchy Honey & Toasted Almond bar.
We dropped off Bradley and made our way over to the park where the start was (the ballpark and race are basically in the same area). Hill and I walked over to the registration table, signed in and collected our race bibs. We walked back to the car and used the facilities. I met up with Heidi and we got a couple pictures in our attire (posted later). I went for a quick warm up, ended up being about .4 mi, which was plenty on a warm night.
At the start, I moved forward to the front figuring I'd be better than most of the field, and not wanting to have to expend and bunch of energy maneuvering around people. The starter said 'Go!' and we were off. I didn't want to get out too fast, but didn't want to fall back either, so I got into a pace that felt relaxed enough, but still pushing. I checked the Garmy around half mile in and saw 6:18/mi, but I didn't feel that fast. I know at this point in my training, I couldn't maintain that pace, so I kept it in the back of mind to bring it back to reality a bit. The first mile is nice and easy, relatively flat, so I clocked a 6:35.
I have a hard time with this course. It has some annoying hills on the back side of mile 2 through 3. The hills aren't anything super challenging or anything, but they're there, and they roll, and every time I get there, I'm just...annoyed. This time, I just kept telling myself, to pick it up on the small downhills and tough it out on the ups. I clocked a 6:57 for mile 2, and 6:55 for mile 3.
Mile 4 is mostly flat, but I could tell I was tiring. I knew I was under 7:00 through 3, so I just tried to maintain. I got through mile 4 with a 7:01, so still under 7 pace overall.
The last .27 to .3 I knew I needed to kick, so I put in all I had left. I closed out the last quarter mile-plus at 6:28 pace. I was "done" at the end. Pouring sweat, out of breath, light-headed. Totally worth it.
Some things I liked about this race:
1. A PR! (Previous fastest time 2/26/11 was 30:25 7:)
2. I didn't get passed by anyone after .5-.75 miles in and a couple of those that did pass were young kids (i.e. teenagers) running the 2 mile race.
3. I PASSED a lot of people during the race, including people who have previously beaten me.
4. I gutted out this annoying course on a hot day.
5. I got to have some one-on-one time with Hillary W.
6. I got to run a race with teammate Heidi T.
I'm looking forward to having Chris and Pauline join some of these runs in the next few weeks.
Now I'm enjoying some Thrifty Chocolate Malted Crunch ice cream and a Kona Brewing Co. Longboard Island Lager (Tim C.) for a post-race treat.
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| Pre-Race with Heidi T. |
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