Last Thursday I went out to do my tempo run workout in preparation for my very first one mile race. Mile 1 warm up I worked out the kinks, a stiff knee, a funky quad. I have finally begun to realize how important a warm-up is for getting the body ready to run. Mile 2 I picked up the pace to somewhere above my 5k PR pace and at the end of the mile my piriformis grabbed my sciatica. Ack!! I slowed down to a very slow pace and ran the next two miles home disappointed that this was a lost opportunity to workout before my race on Saturday. I should have walked the rest of the way but hindsight is usually 20/20. That afternoon found me in the chiropractor's getting an adjustment and a treatment. Rest, ice, rest not what a runner wants to do most of the time!
Race day arrived finally and I was feeling better but tentative about my sciatica. My husband was volunteering to work the shirt table so we arrived much earlier than I usually get to a race: 2 hours before race time. I spent a half hour sitting in the car listening to some tunes waking up. Then I went out for a relaxed mile run to get those "kinks" out. Felt good no issues at all. The race start was about a 3/4 mile away, all uphill! Then more waiting it was time to take that run uphill to the start. Got there with plenty of time to dump some water over my head and cool down for the start.
I don't know why but I was really nervous about this race. I did not even see any of my usual competition around. Maybe it was because I never ran a 1 mile race before. Gun start...and we were off! Then almost immediately I had a "race lesson." I had forgotten that I had my nanno still and it came loose and was now dangling while I was racing! I grabbed it and attached it to my shorts as I was running. Lesson learned don't run with a nanno during a race. The most amazing part of this race was that it seemed so short. The first 1/4 mile was a short uphill and then in what seemed only a blink I was at the half mile time mark: 3:43. I was furtively trying to do the math as I was also breathing hard and racing! Math is not my forte. But that seemed fast!! And the hard breathing was starting and I could now see the final stretch on Main Street. And then the finish line was clearly in sight!! I saw an amazing sight: the finish line timer!! I saw 7:15 minutes from the distance. I really was trying to increase the pace but I was breathing really hard. Really cool...I finished at 7:46!! I can still hardly believe I could run that fast for a mile!! I came in 2nd place in my AG. I lost 1st place by 6 seconds and beat 3rd place by 10 seconds. Funny, I never even saw my competition; I was so in the zone! That was a lot of fun! I think I'll try a mile race again in the future!
I have found that like competing and collecting more "hardware!" YAY! I have 99% accomplished what I set out to do this summer: Win, place or show in every race. I ran 7 races and placed in 6 of them. 1 in 1st place, 4 in 2nd place, and 1 in 3rd place. Not too shabby if I must say so! I know I did all the work but I could not have accomplished it without my coach! Thanks Adam!!!
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