Logan's Run 10k Race Report

So today was race day! I keep typing "race" out as "rage" or "rest". Anyway, it went much better than I expected. Although I had no goal in mind because I had no way to determine what I could do, playing some tennis on Thursday actually helped to calm myself down and made me realize that no matter what I think of myself, I can do more than I know.

Well, that was sappy, but sometimes sappy moments happen.

TL;DR version: 49:34!

Friday:
I went to the Logan's Center to pick up my race bib and ended up eating their pre-race pasta meal. The meat sauce was pretty good and tasted like fennel.

Then I went home and sort of gathered my race gear together -

I say "sort of" because after taking this picture, I dumped everything on the floor.

Pre-Race Meal:
Yeah, I already ate pasta. Who cares, so what? My mom cooked up some liver and onions and I ate some anyway. You're probably gagging, but I'm blaming my good race on the surplus of iron.

I went to bed around midnight and woke up at 7:20 AM. I left the house at 7:50. The race starts at 8:30 and it takes around 25 minutes to get from where I live to Notre Dame. I overslept, though I didn't really care. I quickly put on my clothes, fixed my d-tag to my shoe, ate some oatmeal and a banana and drank half an energy shot.

We (my mom and I) rolled into the parking lot at 8:15. I started eating the G-Chews I brought, then stopped because the gummy chews was putting me off. Early morning weirdness. I did eat three, so that was alright.

I didn't warm up. A man sang a great National Anthem, and then I lined up close to the front. Right then, I decided on my strategy: Bank time, then hold on until the finish.

Mile 1: 7:24.17
So this was faster than I expected. I wasn't dying, so I slowed myself down a little and then focused on my breathing and stride.

Mile 2: 7:52.29
I had no plan for this mile other than to keep it under eight. Success!

Mile 3: 7:40.86
I was beginning to feel taxed, but I wasn't dead. I figured the great slowdown would occur after this mile.

Mile 4: 8:04.31
This mile went around one of the ponds. I don't know if I appreciated the change in terrain, or if I felt that the dirt path wasn't doing it for me. In any case, I just wanted to keep breathing fully. A few people were passing me and I contemplated whether or not to slow down and recover, or try to hold on. I told myself that I would finish the fourth mile before deciding.

Mile 5: 8:41.61
I'd say I struggled with this mile the most, but mentally I was keeping focused, which is rather rare for me these days. At this point, the course looped around the second pond and back onto the campus. I saw my mom at this point, who said something about being the eleventh female. One of the volunteer girls whistled at me, and even though it was a joke I really appreciated it. Thanks, girl! I was passed by two chicks who I later found out were in my age group, but I would have had to run a little bit faster to catch up, which was impossible at that point.

Mile 6: 8:28.40
This was the only point in the race with a slight incline. I was tired, for sure, but I didn't slow down as much as I expected, and I even sped up. Those walking lunges and squats I've been doing sure paid off, is all I have to say about that.


Point 2: 1:22.50 @ 7:04
The last .2 is a real pain. I told myself I could die once I finished.

Finish: 49:34.14, average pace of 8:00

And it was over. I finished fourth in my age group and ran my second-fastest 10k. The splits weren't as consistent as my PR earlier this year (which was set at another Notre Dame race), but this race made me proud of myself. I don't think I've ever felt that way after a race before so it was a good feeling.

Then I got a massage for my calf that made me feel wonderful. (I apologize, lady who massaged my calf, for having to touch my sweaty leg.)

I still won't be training for anything anytime soon as I prefer to just enjoy running for the time being, but I can't say I won't enter a race here and there. Just short races. Preferably with complimentary massages.

.

Those are not random scraps of fabric from a sewing project, they're the bra inserts from my running shirt that I cut out. Why? They're useless. Even though I'm not a very big person, running solely in these shirts felt like once bounce away from needing surgery when I hit 30. When I wore a sports bra underneath, I felt like I couldn't breathe because the double layer was very tight. I meant to do this a long time ago...

So, I think running two days in a row might have been too much. I had some shin pain after Sunday's run that has since almost disappeared, though I'm going to be a little more cautious for the time being. I was expecting a bad run yesterday because of the shin pain but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't very bothersome. What bothered me more is my breathing -- I just can't seem to breathe at all when it's hot. I'm working on pushing through it and seeing how far I get.

Remember the race I'm running on Saturday? Yeah... Earlier weather forecasts showed highs of 87 and lows of 67, clear skies, not too bad. I shouldn't have a problem running around 70-80°, though. The humidity might make it rough. We'll see.

What I'm looking forward to the most is the post race massage! No matter how well I self-massage my calf, it never feels as good as when someone else does it. I cannot wait.

Also, I'm going to attempt to run in the morning tomorrow. I've been saying this for a while now and it never happens.

Family Night with Kroger

I received this BzzKit from BzzAgent filled with goodies from Kroger. The instructions were to use the food for a family night or other such group thing, so I took my coupons to the store and picked up some fun food, along with a few extras not included in the kit, like an additional pizza and avocados for a layered dip.

The pizza is one of those self-rising kind. I used to be obsessed with these before I began making my own, though I still enjoy eating thick crust pizzas every now and again. We chopped some olives as an additional topping and put sliced zucchini on the plain cheese pizza (making us officially white people, according to my brother). I'd suggest cooking these for a few minutes longer than the directions state as these came out a little undercooked and gummy.

Here is the spread. My BzzKit included Kroger brand tortilla cups, frozen fruit bars, and a pizza (along with coupons that I gave to my mom to pass out). I made the layered dip to add more variety. I also had a zero-calorie vitamin-enhanced water that wasn't pictured.

Although the pizza was a tad undercooked, we still thought it tasted pretty good as far as frozen pizzas go. The chips were a bit crushed because the box they came in wasn't padded, but weren't anything special. My favorite was the fruit bars. Ice cream gets sticky and heavy, so my preference for a cold summer treat is fruit bars. Name brands can be expensive if I can't find them on sale so now I have an alternative. Six bars are in each box and they're not too high in calories either (I mean, it's a treat, and if I eat them often I don't want them to be any higher). The vitamin-enhanced water was good, too. The flavor I got was mango-melon and it had a nice, refreshing taste. It was sweetened with stevia instead of an artificial sweetener, but it had a little bit of an after taste. I drank it in sips so it wasn't too bad.

We ate all this while watching Master Chef, because you cannot help but be hungry while watching the Flavor Elevator attempt to win his way back into the Master Chef kitchen.

Thank you, Kroger and BzzAgent!