Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Races Thanksgiving Weekend

As most runners do, I turkey trotted. This year on thanksgiving day and the Saturday following. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to do 2 races in 3 days- especially after having hip surgery 7 or so months ago. Eh the doctor just said take it easy, he didn't say I couldn't race anymore!

Part of me wanted to do a 10k to prove to myself I really am still a runner. I knew I could do 5ks but a 10k is another thing all together. Getting up at 5am on Thanksgiving was not my idea of a day off but- we did it anyway (D was not very happy about it). It was the first cold morning in Mass that week. We have had unseasonably warm weather. Silly me I only wore my compression run skirt and a t shirt. I put that long sleeve race shirt to good use and put it under my t shirt! The start line was jammed luckily we found our friends that we were meeting up with for a quick hello. Before we knew (or heard) the race started. I just wanted to pace myself to be around an hour and feel okay. I didn't want to over do it with my first 10k back- just set a mark on the wall.

Having run this same race last year I knew the course. It is pretty flat and just 2 loops of the 5k I did last year and just happens to be the tri course I did this summer. Always nice when you know what you are getting into. Well the course was nice but it was a windy day- when I turned the corner down by the Merrimack River, the wind cut me down. I had a hard time keeping my pace. But got back around to the back road and cut some time off the pace. Felt pretty good. My legs were really cold from the temps and the wind. But when I turned by the river again my legs just didn't want to move. Each step HURT because they were so cold. But I didn't want to stop. I wanted to prove to myself I could stay about the same pace as I did my first 10k over a year ago- 1:03. And coming into the finish I was a couple minutes slower than last time- 1:05. I wasn't disappointed though. I did a 10k! After the year I have had with my hip I was happy.

Of course, my poor frozen legs took a good 15 minutes to stop shaking before I could even climb in the truck to go home. I don't know if it was muscles from the run or just COLD. Either way I finally warmed up somewhere on the way home. We had to get home we had turkey to deep fry (SO YUMMY!) and family to visit- but that is for the next post. Thursday was pretty crazy with Thanksgiving and the only plan Friday was for D and I to hit the whirlpool at the gym. We thought that would be best for our tired sore legs and to get them ready for Saturday.

Well the whirlpool at the gym is broken- and we sweated a bit in the sauna which seemed to help. Got up on Saturday morning to run again- I know NUTS! It was a high school rivalry run. SO MANY high school track and cross country kids- SOOOOO FAST! The course was awful. It was hilly from about 1/2 mi in through about mile 2.5 not rolling either. Just up! and UP and UP! I started to use the D theory of "the faster you run the faster this is over". When I finally hit the down hills my legs were finally feeling human again and I got a decent turn over. I finished in 30:20 which is my PR for this season. D didn't have a great race and wasn't feeling too hot. But I was happy that on a tough course I pushed through after racing 2 days earlier to come out with a PR. It wasn't enough to win but it was enough for me. Hopefully the next 5k will be even closer to my times of last season! Thanks everyone for the support!

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