38 seconds and a PR

Today was my second race of the year, Too Cold to Hold 15K.  It has been 3 weeks since my first half marathon and I was feeling pretty good, despite having missed several runs over the last three weeks.  

The day started off as usual for me.  I was up at 5:00 to check email, facebook and blogs.  I then started breakfast for the family, who is usually up around 6am.  I wanted to make sure that I helped my wonderful husband out as much as possible since he was going to have to take all three boys to church all by himself.  

I left the house at 7am and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on my 45 minute drive to White Rock Lake.  This was only the second race that my family did not attend.  It was really strange to be in a quiet car, not listening to some movie and the boys in the backseat talking about the sun rising and how "it is wake up time."

I arrived at the race about 45 minutes early, which was good considering how long the bathroom line was, however, it did move really quickly.  I was ready to go with 15 minutes to spare.  I was at a loss with what to do with all that extra time, since usually I am nursing my 5 month old up until the last minute.

The 5K and 15K race started  promptly at 8:30am.  My plan when I arrived at the race was to run under 10:30 minute miles.  I started at a comfortable pace, what I figured was about 10:30 minute miles, especially since there were lots of people at the very start.  However, mile 1 was 9:55.  Oops.

I felt really good, so at that point I decided just to run and see what happened.  If I started to bonk I would just slow down.  I continued to feel good.  Mile 2 was 9:49, apparently I was feeling better than I thought. 

During mile 3, I was hot so I took off my long sleeve shirt, leaving me with my short sleeved shirt, camo running skirt, and black compression sleeves.  This was the first time I had worn the compression sleeves, and I loved them.  Mile 3 was 9:52.  

Mile 4 was uneventful.  We were running into the wind just a little bit, and I just kept thinking to myself, it will be in my back on the way back.  Mile 4 was 10:03.  

Mile 5 I started feeling my pace.  Up until this point, this was the faster I had ever run, except for my 5K PR back in November.  I took a Gu and was excited to make the turn to head back.  

During mile 6, I had to start talking to myself to keep this pace up.  I kept saying to myself, "the faster I run, the sooner I finish. the sooner I can get home to feed Thing 3."  If you have ever nursed, you might understand this thought.  Mile 6 was 9:47.  This must have been the best motivation for me.

Mile 7, another lady and I started leapfrogging each other.  I soon became very annoyed and speed up so I could leave her.  Mile 7 was 9:50.  

Right before mile 8 was the last water stop.  I usually jog slowly through the stops, because I have a hard time getting started again.  This is a lot of weight to get moving.  However, during this stop the guy in front of me completely stopped, so I had to stop in order to avoid running over him.  So mile 8 was slower, because it took me a little bit to get moving.  Mile 8 was 10:03.

All of mile 9 my only thought was, I am doing so well.  I am so far in front of the pace that I had originally set for my self that it would be silly to slow down now.  So I did my best to push myself and slowly start passing as many people as I could.  Mile 9 was 9:52.  

The last .41 was at a 9:20 pace.  I guess this is my sprint.  Ha!

Total time was 1:33:13 by my Garmin.  Officially 1:33:11.  Average pace was 9:54 minute miles.  My average at my half marathon 3 weeks ago was 11:05 minute miles. I destroyed my PR by 12 minutes (it was set a 1.5 years ago and one fewer child.) 

I stayed around for the award, just in case.  I missed 1st place by 38 seconds, 2nd by 37 seconds and 3rd by 32 seconds.  Arrg!  Despite missing the chance to get some bling I am super happy with my race today.  Two races this year, and in both I finished in 4th in the Athena category.  Maybe soon I will actually place!