I've run three races in the last two and a half months and it's true... the third time's a charm. The three races I've run have all been of different distances in different racing conditions, but I've learned a lot from each race that has helped me in each subsequent race.
When I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in April, I got really anxious beforehand. During the race, I trusted my GPS app too much (it was a 1/4 mile off) and didn't trust myself enough. I ran 2/3 of the race way too slow, and then crashed and burned in the final 1.5 miles trying to make up time.
In the Soldier Field 10 Mile, I ran pretty well but it was hot the day I ran. This made running harder, but I also messed up and hydrated too much the day before the race. I felt fine for the first half of the race, but during the second half of the race, I couldn't bring myself to drink any more water without making my stomach hurt even though I knew my body needed it.
For this race, let's take it play by play...
When I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in April, I got really anxious beforehand. During the race, I trusted my GPS app too much (it was a 1/4 mile off) and didn't trust myself enough. I ran 2/3 of the race way too slow, and then crashed and burned in the final 1.5 miles trying to make up time.
In the Soldier Field 10 Mile, I ran pretty well but it was hot the day I ran. This made running harder, but I also messed up and hydrated too much the day before the race. I felt fine for the first half of the race, but during the second half of the race, I couldn't bring myself to drink any more water without making my stomach hurt even though I knew my body needed it.
For this race, let's take it play by play...
BEFORE THE RACE.
The morning of the race I jolted awake at 5:55 am when my alarm went off. I'm not usually startled by my alarm, but on this morning I was. I put on the outfit I had laid out the night before and had a third of a Clif Bar and 2 cups of black tea. For someone who has always been super sensitive to what and when I eat before a run, this has seemed to be a winning combo lately. (For longer runs I eat more of the Clif bar.)
Around 6:30 I headed out. While it sounds like getting to these early races is hard, I've been on a really good sleep schedule lately, and now that it's light out early in the day, leaving the house at 6:30 hasn't been so bad.
I ran my warmup on the way to the zoo, except I was dumb and when I plugged the zoo into my GPS, I plugged in the wrong zoo entrance. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I was supposed to meet Maggie at 7:00 am for a 7:45 am race start, but I didn't get there until closer to 7:15 am.
THE START OF THE RACE.
Maggie and I lined up right at the front of the 8:00 - 9:00 min/mile group. I cursed under my breath the whole time we were waiting for the race to start. I'm rarely an anxious person and I loveeee running, but races, especially shorter races make me so nervous. I was also hoping to PR this race, which was freaking me out even more. They thankfully didn't hold us there for too long before we started. They let the elites take off, then the under 8:00 min/mile group followed, and then it was us.
MILE 1
This mile wasn't so bad. As soon as the race started, Maggie took right off, but she remained in sight. We ran through the zoo and it was nice to have lots of things to look at. Diversions, if you will. I looked down at my watch a few times which scared me. I looked down at 4:00 minutes, then at 4:30 thinking more time had passed, then at 4:50, shocked to realize only 20 seconds had passed since the last time I'd checked. I saw flamingos, passed a water stop, and exited the zoo. The course was decorated with fun animal facts every 100 feet or so which I didn't fully read, but diversions... I appreciate them.
Suddenly the first mile marker was in sight. My watch said 8:00 minutes had elapsed as I passed it, which is exactly what I had wanted. A controlled first mile at the pace I wanted to run the race at. Right after passing the mile marker, I noticed Maggie had stopped. I checked to see if she was okay, but she had headphones in still and was walking, so I kept going.
The morning of the race I jolted awake at 5:55 am when my alarm went off. I'm not usually startled by my alarm, but on this morning I was. I put on the outfit I had laid out the night before and had a third of a Clif Bar and 2 cups of black tea. For someone who has always been super sensitive to what and when I eat before a run, this has seemed to be a winning combo lately. (For longer runs I eat more of the Clif bar.)
Around 6:30 I headed out. While it sounds like getting to these early races is hard, I've been on a really good sleep schedule lately, and now that it's light out early in the day, leaving the house at 6:30 hasn't been so bad.
I ran my warmup on the way to the zoo, except I was dumb and when I plugged the zoo into my GPS, I plugged in the wrong zoo entrance. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I was supposed to meet Maggie at 7:00 am for a 7:45 am race start, but I didn't get there until closer to 7:15 am.
THE START OF THE RACE.
Maggie and I lined up right at the front of the 8:00 - 9:00 min/mile group. I cursed under my breath the whole time we were waiting for the race to start. I'm rarely an anxious person and I loveeee running, but races, especially shorter races make me so nervous. I was also hoping to PR this race, which was freaking me out even more. They thankfully didn't hold us there for too long before we started. They let the elites take off, then the under 8:00 min/mile group followed, and then it was us.
MILE 1
This mile wasn't so bad. As soon as the race started, Maggie took right off, but she remained in sight. We ran through the zoo and it was nice to have lots of things to look at. Diversions, if you will. I looked down at my watch a few times which scared me. I looked down at 4:00 minutes, then at 4:30 thinking more time had passed, then at 4:50, shocked to realize only 20 seconds had passed since the last time I'd checked. I saw flamingos, passed a water stop, and exited the zoo. The course was decorated with fun animal facts every 100 feet or so which I didn't fully read, but diversions... I appreciate them.
Suddenly the first mile marker was in sight. My watch said 8:00 minutes had elapsed as I passed it, which is exactly what I had wanted. A controlled first mile at the pace I wanted to run the race at. Right after passing the mile marker, I noticed Maggie had stopped. I checked to see if she was okay, but she had headphones in still and was walking, so I kept going.
MILE 2
The second mile was an out and back, but on two different paths for each direction that were 25 feet apart. I felt pretty settled into my pace with no signs of slowing down or speeding up and looked out for Joe, whom I ended up seeing about halfway through the second mile. I hit the second mile at 16:03 and it occurred to me at that moment that unless I started feeling really bad during the next 1.1 miles, I'd PR. The question shifted from an "If" to a "By how much". My previous fastest 5K was on a really hilly course in high school where I ran 26:07, which isn't slow, but I always felt like I should've had a faster PR.
MILE 3 + 0.1
Always the hardest 1.1 miles of the race... I saw Joe again shortly after mile 2 which lifted my spirits, and for once I didn't feel absolutely horrible in the final mile of a race. It was hard and exhausting, but I didn't feel like I was just trying to finish. I was just trying my best to hang onto the pace I'd run for the first two miles.
We ran back up into the zoo, which meant a few little hills - I don't even know if you can call them that, but at that point of the race, they definitely felt like hills. The course meandered through the zoo, and finally, I could see the finish line in sight. My watch said 24:20, and I knew it was time to kick it. So I did. And it felt so so good.
My final time? 24:55!! Not only a PR, but I passed both the 26 and 25 minute barriers in a single day.
The second mile was an out and back, but on two different paths for each direction that were 25 feet apart. I felt pretty settled into my pace with no signs of slowing down or speeding up and looked out for Joe, whom I ended up seeing about halfway through the second mile. I hit the second mile at 16:03 and it occurred to me at that moment that unless I started feeling really bad during the next 1.1 miles, I'd PR. The question shifted from an "If" to a "By how much". My previous fastest 5K was on a really hilly course in high school where I ran 26:07, which isn't slow, but I always felt like I should've had a faster PR.
MILE 3 + 0.1
Always the hardest 1.1 miles of the race... I saw Joe again shortly after mile 2 which lifted my spirits, and for once I didn't feel absolutely horrible in the final mile of a race. It was hard and exhausting, but I didn't feel like I was just trying to finish. I was just trying my best to hang onto the pace I'd run for the first two miles.
We ran back up into the zoo, which meant a few little hills - I don't even know if you can call them that, but at that point of the race, they definitely felt like hills. The course meandered through the zoo, and finally, I could see the finish line in sight. My watch said 24:20, and I knew it was time to kick it. So I did. And it felt so so good.
My final time? 24:55!! Not only a PR, but I passed both the 26 and 25 minute barriers in a single day.
AFTER THE RACE
I don't know what it is, but I always feel super nauseous after finishing every race. It doesn't happen in workouts, but I can't remember a race where I'm not bent over holding onto one of the course barricades at the end trying to catch my breath.
I was handed a water, grabbed a gatorade and hung around waiting for Maggie to finish. She finished about 4 minutes behind me and apparently had a shin splint pain after the first mile of the race, which was still bothering her after finishing. :( Even so, we were both ready to celebrate the race being over.
We grabbed popsicles!
And found our one-man cheer squad! <3
We tried getting beers, but because I didn't have my ID on me, Joe had to take my ticket in. The funny thing is, anytime this has happened to me, I always say something along the lines of, "I swear I'm 21!" (Meaning I'm at least 21, but it always comes off to the person taking my card that I'm 19 pretending to be 21 with a fake ID haha.)
I got my beer soon enough though. A Goose Island IPA. It was 8:30 in the morning and I don't think a beer has ever tasted so good!
Maggie, Joe, and I hung around for awhile. We got post-race pizza and more ice pops and hung out with the seals for a bit. After having our little impromptu pizza/beer/ice pop zoo brunch, we walked around the zoo a bit more and headed home for the rest of the day.
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