The only down side to the awesome 'highs' that running and cycling give me is the inevitable mood crash. I'll take it though, as the highs are so worth it. Totally legal, too. Just saying.
Today was my first organized road race since 2008, and I had a complete blast! I assumed I would be running alone, with no one at the finish. Been there, done that many times. But I was surprised to run into three guys I work with at Oracle...Jared, Faisal and Steve. Steve is on my new team, so we got a chance to actually meet (we work different shifts) and that was cool. Nice guys, all of them. Faisal and Steve were both running their first organized race, and they were understandably excited. Always cool to feel that enthusiasm, even though I had plenty of my own!
Jared, me, Steve
Jared, me, FaisalI love the carnival atmosphere of pre-race. You can feel the excitement, the energy, the nervousness of the runners. It's very tangible. Add music and Austin's best announcer, Evil, and it is something else. Even though the larger races are not the place to 'PR' (get a Personal Record), they make up for it in the atmosphere.
This was the first time I've ran this course - rumoured to be on it's last year - and I was glad my legs did not know what was coming! "relatively flat" my ass!!! I started well back from the front of the pack, and I stayed within myself. My hope was to run less than 11 minute miles - I run even slower than that on the treadmill - and I was really surprised to see the time at the first mile was right at 10 minutes. I was feeling great at that point, heart rate about 145 (my max is about 170-175) and the legs felt Ok. So I found a cute young thing to pace me and the next two miles were also right on 10 minute pace.
One thing that made this race a challenge was the fact that the 5K race (3.1 miles) also shared the same course as the 10K (6.2 miles). So we had to run past the 5K finish line! I mentally just told myself not to slow down and to think of it as the second 5K race was just beginning. And man, it was! At about 3.5 miles, we went down a dip in the road, and I heard a woman behind me talking about a hill on the course that she hated. We went up a decent little hill, and THEN we could see the steepest part of what turned out to be a looooong mile of running. Here is where my cycling training of all things really helped me - I love the challenge of hills and I know they are very much a mental game. So I shortened my stride...and SPED UP! I kept my 10 minute mile pace until about the 4.5 mile point, where the road finally leveled off and we headed down hill a bit. I decided to really start pushing the pace at the 5 mile marker, and I ran that last mile in under 9 minutes. A short rise at about 5.5 miles, and we were running downhill to the well attended finish and a lot of applause. I had a great sprint at the finish and felt that old thrill - exhaustion, happiness and contentment. And Endorphins - Nature's Prozac!
Final totals:
Position | Time | Time | Place | Place | Pace | Div | Gend | AG | Rank | Pace | Rank | Pace | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 1084 Perry Huntley Cedar Park, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jared finished first and cheered me in, and we cheered for Faisal and Steve as they finished. Had some water, took some pics and it was over all too soon. I did not stick around for the post race activities, and I'm not really sure why....not feeling all that social lately I guess. But I was happy to hit the hot tub at LifeTime and come home to nap. It was a super experience and I can't wait to do it again!!
Faisal and Jared at the finish line!
Faisal and me at the 10K finish line