Closing the Gap

This fall I've gave myself the goal of trying to close the gap back to where I was last year.  I started with a 21:something 5K run in September and have slowly been whittling it down.  This past Thursday I ran in the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, CT.  It's close to where I grew up and has great tradition behind it.  This year the race was capped at 15,000 and it filled up a few days before the race, making it the largest in race history.  It's a great race--there's a ton of talent, it's well organized, people line the streets along the odd-distance course (4.748 miles) shouting encouragement, playing instruments, and starting their celebrations early.  And, being from the area, it's a great opportunity to see people I don't regularly see throughout the year. 

I closed the gap from last year to within 6 seconds, so just over 1 second/mile, which is the closest I've been this fall to my race times from last year.  I ran with a similar effort to last year (hard, but not so hard I didn't enjoy the scenery, spectacle, and fans along the course), so I feel comfortable making the comparison.  In fact, I closed the race better than I did last year despite running only about 60-50% of the mileage I hit last year.  Sweet.  I'm going to spend a little more time trying to further whittle down my 5K time and hopefully get a bit closer to my PR and then around the new calendar year start up with some new training, which I'm starting to hammer out now.

After the race, I had a great T-day with my fam.

A few pictures from the race are below. (courtesy Courant.com)



I agree.  I heart Safetyman, too.



Speaking of...



One of the many bands along the way.





Runners heading up the hill.





It's thick heading toward the finish.

What a difference...

...a day makes.

Friday was a rough day.  I felt pretty horrible from the second I woke up to the minute I went to bed.  I didn't feel sick per say--no wretched stomachache or head cold--but just felt really "off" all day.  I think that's one of those blessing/curse things of being an athlete...you get so in tune with your body that you can really sense all the little things and notice when the body is slightly off kilter.  Luckily it goes hand-in-hand with knowing how to deal with it and just proceed throughout the day.  Anyway, I felt lousy all day Friday and I had to fight all day to not let my mood totally match it and dash the day against the rocks.  I struggled through a six mile run (can't wait until I'm doing higher volume and those become 12 mile struggles...) and called it a day.

Then Saturday rolls around and I feel great.  I woke up a different person--feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally alert and just plain good.  I was planning on a 14 mile hilly run with Lance and Todd and was happy it was scheduled for Saturday and not Friday, which would have been fairly torturous.  Instead, it was a beautiful day (aka shorts and t-shirt day) and the run was productive.  I followed the run up with a trip to Fitchburg to meet my family, watch Lance's play (very good, by the way), and eat Chinese food from a shin-dig that had a drive through window--could there possibly be any better way to get Chinese food?

Hope this message catches you on a "good" day, but if not--and even though it's cliche--I think the hard days make the good days all the sweeter, helps us be a little more thankful, and allows us to be mindful of others thereby connecting us to that which is humanity.

East Windsor Memorial 5K

Last weekend I made the relatively short trek to CT for a visit with my mom and a road race, the East Windsor Veterans Day 5K.  I ran in this race last year, placing first for women and third overall, in a time of 17:48.  Going into this year, based off the workouts I was doing, I figured that if I ran 6:00 pace it would be a good race and another step in the right direction.  The weather was great and I had good company for the warm-up and cool-down, which always makes the race experience all that much better.

After the gun went off, I quickly found myself in second place (for women), with the first place woman about 10m ahead of me.  By the first mile mark she was probably 4-5 seconds ahead of me and I was bouyed by the fact that my split was 5:48-5:49 and I felt comfortable...especially since the only time I have moved at that pace or faster since May was some 200's earlier in the week.  I love how aerobic fitness trickles down...

Back to the race, I figured that if I was going to catch the leader, I needed to do it in the 2nd mile where there are a few small hills.  I set out to do so, but the gap did NOT diminish.  The last mile has a few small rolls the first half, but then a gradual downhill towards the finish.  At the 2 mile mark, the leader seemed to throw in a surge and I figured I wasn't going to be able to close it up, but in the same thought decided that I would at least try.  In the middle of the rollers, I caught up and decided I had to pass then, knowing full well it may be a bit early for me to try and hold on for the rest of the race.  But, I went for it and being in front, trying not to get caught, and having no idea of what was going on behind me helped me push to a 18:13, beating my "hoping for 6:00 pace" out of the water.  I thought I was being very realistic with my 6:00 pace attempt, so this was a pleasant suprise and a great boost.  Yeah, it was 25 seconds slower than last year, but I'm at a different point with my training now so making that comparison is fairly useless.  I will, however, make the comparison that at a road race about a month earlier I ran 20 seconds/mile (almost to a T) slower than the previous year and at this race I ran about 8 seconds/mile slower than last year.  Getting there...

Oh, and in the injury update, I wore flats for the first time since the spring too...they felt great and my achilles was totally cool. 

Shout out to my sister-in-law who set yet another PR this fall...taking about 30 seconds off her old 5K time.  She has PR'ed...and not just PR'ed, but HUGE PR's...in everything from 5K-1/2 marathon this fall.  She's in the Brooks ID program, so if you see a nightlife singlet coming at you, watch out!  And, a side perk to her running was I was able to play with my niece for a while before having lunch with my mom...a great day.

I have to start remembering to take a camera to races, so I can throw a few pictures up...