Surprise

Today was the New Haven MADD Dash 5-Miler. I had 13 on the schedule for today so I began with an 8 mile warm-up run at 5:45. I didn't even want to get out of bed. I was cursing running and dreading today's race. I didn't want to run the 8; I didn't want to run the race AT ALL. I knew this was going to be a bad day for running. In fact during my 8 miles, I started thinking of how I would report this race to you. (since having a blog makes us all accountable; I have to think out these things before they happen) I decided I'd call it an almost DNR as in (Did not Report or Did not Relive). As I was making these mental preparations, my 8 miles were flying by and suddenly I was home. 8 miles 9:11 pace

Quick toast with peanut butter and an apple and we were out the door. We did get lost because the directions were awful so I was stressed. I had drank too much after my 8 miler and only had time to use the bathroom once, so I had to go. My calf still was acting up. All in all the scene was set for disaster and I was prepared for it. Well, at least I had the excuses. I don't think we are ever mentally prepared for a racing disaster.

At the starting line, I saw my friend Dan from Team in Training. Normally before a race, I don't feel like chatting much, but since today was already a bust in my mind, we had a great chat. Dan's training for the Goofy right now which I'm envious of and we talked a little about how he was doing that. He just ran NY so props to him for racing today. Then we were pretty much off. I totally forgot to start my watch and there were no timing chips. Just chalk it up to another FAIL for the day.

I actually was feeling pretty good out there. Had some good company speed wise and it was beautiful out. Perfect for a fall run. When I got to the first mile marker, I had no idea how long it had taken me so I didn't have a clue what my pace was. I did start my watch there so I would have a clue when we got to mile two. That of course made it take forever to get to mile two...but I was still feeling pretty great. Mile 2 was 7:35. Huh!? Not too shabby. I guess I'll count myself in!! The rest of the race went by quickly. For the size of it, there was some great spectator support and I saw the nice police officers that helped us get unlost. Mile 3 was 7:59 but I started feeling even more warmed up (I guess 8 was not a long enough warm up?) Mile 4 was 7:20 and then of course I forgot to stop the watch at the finish but I believe the last mile was something like 7:11.

Final official time: 38.21 (7:40 pace)

My guess at my "chip" time: 38:11 (7:38 pace)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So that means I cut 3:30 off my PR (officially, I've had some faster training runs than my PR but still).

I guess you can never decide before a race how it's going to go. Running can be quite humbling.

I ended up placing 4th in my age group. 1 shy of a trophy and gift certificate! And 61st overall.

On a sad note, we got some bad news at the start. One of CT's ubiquitous runners was killed when he was hit by a car this week. http://blogs.courant.com/running/2009/11/runners-remember-ed-gorecki.html This is the kind of news that really hits the running community hard. Here is a guy that I have seen at pretty much every race I've done in CT. The people around me all had a story about Ed Gorecki. We've all seen him, raced with him. I've even complained about him on here. (Ed was the man I've raced with who always wears his gloves and flaps his arms wildly. I hated running near him, but mostly I hated that he always beat me). Think about Ed and his unique running style (if you can picture it) when you go out for those darkish fall and winter runs. Be careful out there! And when you're driving, drive like a runner. Think cautiously about blind spots and restricted sight areas!

I don't want to end tonight's post on a sad note. I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite running song. This song gave me fireflies (yes my butterflies are electric) in my stomach just on my warm up run. Eminem with Nate Dogg "Til I Collapse." They don't have a video for the song but someone made a tribute to ironman that I thought some of you might enjoy. Don't watch it if you don't like painful scenes!!

Week in Review:

Monday: Spin

Tuesday: Run 10.25 @ 9:20

Wednesday: Spin

Thursday: Run 5.66 @ maybe 8:44 (I think I messed with my watch at some point)

Friday: Run 8.8 @ 8:57

Saturday Spin and Body Pump

Sunday: 8 mile warm up @ 9:11 5 mile race @ 7:38-7:40

Total Running: 37.7 Week 2 of pfitz training done but it's really my first week back to marathon training.