I started running last fall in preparation for the White Rock Half and found I enjoyed it so much that even before I finished that race I was already looking forward to my next one. I decided to take advantage of the training base I had already built up and the fact that Texas winter weather is actually nice for running (or at least, until today...more on that in a minute) to pack several races into this winter and spring.
Here's my schedule to date:
11/12/11 Salute American Heroes 10k--writeup here
12/04/11 White Rock Half--writeup here
12/21/11--Jingle Bell Run 5k
1/07/12 Bold in the Cold 15k
1/14/12 Snowman Shuffle 10k
1/28/12 Texas Half
2/11/12 Cupid's Chase 5k
And here are the ones I'm already registered for in the future.
2/19/12 Austin Half
3/25/12 Dallas Rock'n'Roll Half
I'll probably add a few more 15k and shorter distance races in the next few months but no major races planned after R'n'R. We'll see what I want to do once we get to that point. I may be ready for a break or to mix in some triathlons, or I may be adding to that calendar.
Cupid's Chase 5k
Today I did the Cupid's Chase 5k at Bachman Lake in Dallas. I had been wanting to do more 5ks to see if I can improve on my Jingle Bell Run time and I thought it would be a good training run ahead of Austin next week. With only 3 weeks between the Texas Half and Austin, I decided to treat the interim period as primarily recovery/taper with a little speed work and a few long runs thrown in.
This run looked good on paper-a week out from Austin, close to home, mid-morning start so I didn't have to get up early, and our weather had really been pretty mild all winter. Well today, it seems winter finally arrived in north Texas-high 20s/low 30s with a 15-20mph wind=felt super-cold outside. This called for a change from my normal race strategy.
I'd rather be cool than hot so for every previous race I've worn shorts and a tank top, reasoning that I'd rather start cold and spend most of the race comfortable than start warm and overheat. In fact, the one time I wore a long sleeve layer, at Bold in the Cold, I had to shuck the top layer after just a few miles. Today however I wore tights, a tank, long sleeve top, and earmuffs. Not only was I not hot, my legs felt numb for the first mile and I spent most of the race wishing I had worn gloves too.
First my hands were really numb, so I started clenching them into tight fists to warm them up. Eventually they got reasonably warm, but in between numb and warm was the painful regaining-feeling step that feels like having bamboo shoots stabbed under the nails. Note to self: next time it's cold and windy, wear gloves!
There was also one other mitigating factor that I think affected my speed today. I donated blood at my office's blood drive this past Tuesday, and red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles. So, less red blood cells in my body=less oxygen to the muscles=heavy legs feeling. For having not run since Saturday my legs sure felt heavy today.
All that being said...going into today my main goal was to improve on my prior 5k time of 25:19, and my reach goal was to finish at or under 24:00. The bad news is I did neither of those things.
The good news is...I was still fast enough to place. I was the 2nd female finisher and 5th overall finisher. The whole race I was thinking, there aren't too many people in front of me (granted, with only 100 or so runners in the whole race, I guess there weren't too many people behind me either), so I stuck around for the awards ceremony feeling confident I had at least placed in my age group. As the announcer started talking and said he'd start with the overall winners I thought, hurry up and get to the age group, I'm cold! So I was quite surprised to hear my name when he announced the 2nd overall female finisher.
And I won my first trophy! Sure it was a small field, but only 4 people walked away with a trophy, and I was one of them.
It was great to get the hardware, and I'm satisfied with my finish given the circumstances, but I still
