Sunday, February 16, 2014

GLM Race #5 - The Big Chill Race (10K)

GLM Race #5 - The Big Chill Race (10K) - February 16, 2014

time = 50:48:95
pace = 8:11 average
placed 4th in my age group (40-44) out of 23
placed 28th in women out of 130
placed 102nd overall out of 250

i signed up for this race on a whim one week before because kellie twisted my arm.  it went something exactly like this:
kellie:  “you'll run 27 1/3 miles through snow sand in the woods when it's -4, but not 6 paved miles. crazy. Lol” 
nikki:  “it will probably be slushy paved miles and i will probably not be able to breathe and i will probably die. fine... twist my arm. i'll do the race next Saturday. i'm supposed to run 8 miles anyway so that will work.” 
kellie: “woot woot! not that we'll be any closer to running *together* we'll just be starting at the same time.” 
nikki: “close enough”
and then i was doing another race in winter.  (thanks a lot kel!)  here's a picture of the beautiful kellie so that you can put a face with the evilness.  see… she even has evil red eyes!  man, i love this girl!

me and kellie

*sigh*  ~ don't get me wrong… i enjoy RUNNING in winter but RACING in winter is a different animal.  it requires immediate running at breakneck speeds of light and i'm rarely warmed up enough to be running at light speed.

in cold weather it takes me, at the very least, a mile or two to get warmed up enough to get my caboose moving fast enough that you can't see it.  unfortunately, today i felt like i was running through molasses.   i went into the race with the intention of it being a training run.  i was going to run it at a comfortable pace and not push myself too hard but just hard enough to finish strong.  yeah… we can see how that worked out for me.  i'm way too competitive for that.  although, i didn't really feel like i was pushing myself too hard and my leg was hurting which is why i didn't feel as though i was going as hard as i could have been going.  honestly, i felt like i could have pushed harder after all was said and done but winter is really a challenge for me.  i don't enjoy racing in winter because i simply don't feel that i run my best, and if i'm being completely honest, i don't like to race if i can't perform at my absolute best.  i don't like my stats to be recorded if i'm not giving it everything i've got.  it is so important to me to crush myself in a race… otherwise why race?  why train so hard, eat so well, and prepare so intensely if you're not going to squeeze every last ounce of soul into it and drain yourself dry and then give it a little more?

does that make sense?  i just don't see the point in doing something if you're not going to do it all and do it as well as you're capable of doing and then pushing yourself past that to find out just how much further you are capable of going.  i'm very interested in seeing what my body can do.  what my mind can do.

ok… so the weather was perfect.  17 degrees, beautiful, and sunny.  there was a short stretch of slushy snowsand and a different stretch that had an awful headwind otherwise the course was ok.  it was paved as we were running mostly on a frontage road out of olympia that lead out onto a dead end and then back.  the course was a double out and back… we went out and back and then did it again (as if i didn't just explain that).  i thought that was going to be awful but it really wasn't except for knowing i was going to have to run on that short stretch of shitty slushy snowsand 4 times… and knowing that the headwind was coming the second time around.  it was cool seeing the leaders as they passed by the first time… man, they were fast!  impressive.  there were a couple of kids too who were really fast.  i am always impressed and inspired to be faster and try harder when i run races because of other runners.  i want to be better than i am and when i go to races the energy and the strength of the group is intoxicating!  it fills me with so much joy to just be in their company.  i love everything about running… even when i feel like i can't take another step i find it deep inside me to go harder somehow… the other runners give that to me.  today was a beautiful day.  my husband took a lot of pictures and kellie experienced a PR and this was my first 10K race so i suppose this is a PR for me too.


still smiling... heading out for the 2nd time


jeff, kellie, and me



1 comment:

mkerungirl said...

Great job at the race and congrats on your first 10k!

I completely relate to not wanting to race unless a strong effort can be put forth. I, too, hate getting a time that I don't feel reflects what I'm capable of running. Hopefully these slower winter times will equal faster spring times!