And the circle is almost complete =) Just one more race to reckon with (Surf City), and I’ll be done!
I did two training runs this past week, with the same half mile hill to help me deal with the hills on this race. I’m not sure if they really helped or if it was just the adrenaline from being at the race or if it was the music I was listening to, but I TOTALLY PRed! By 12:37 12:42 mins =)
Total Time: 32:35
Split 1: 10:52
Split 2: 9:48 (I’m kind of amazed by this time)
Split 3: 11:14
Split 4: 0:51
Average Pace: 10:31
Calories Burned: 369
Shoes: Asics Nimbus
Shane, Sarah, and Marvin, pre-race
Marvin, me, Greg L, and Greg D, sweaty post-race! Hot!
Marvin, Shane, Sarah, and me, sweaty post-race!
Shane and Sarah at Asahi Ramen
me and Marvin at Asahi Ramen
It was super cold and foggy when Marvin and I arrived at the VA Grounds. Perfect running weather, I think =) We ended up parking on the street since it seemed nearly impossible to get into the parking lot with the 10kers already running the race. We made the long trek from our parking spot to the expo center where we ran into Mr. Speedy himself, Gregory Lontok! =) It’s seriously so awesome running races with friends, even if we’re not running the whole thing together.
Marvin and I made our way over to the registration tables to pick up our bib numbers and our timing chips, and as we were putting them on, we ran into Sarah and Shane! We stuck together, chatting it up until the race began.
The course starts with a very steady uphill climb for the first mile. I ran my intervals (2:45min:50secs) for this first mile. Once we got into the steady downhill for the second mile, I ditched my intervals and ran it through, for the most part. I took a couple of very brief walking breaks, but for the most part, I felt really good during mile 2. I started doing my intervals again once I hit the uphill portion in mile 3. It was a very steady uphill incline/hill through about 3/4 of mile 3.
With about 3/4 mile to go, I repeated my power song, Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend, which got me through this last portion, running as fast as I could. I knew at this point that I’d make it in under 35 minutes, which was my overall goal. But my real goal was to get it in the 32 min range, which I did =)
I started sprinting about 400m away from the finish line. I thought my lungs were about to collapse! But it was awesome crossing the finish line strong.
After the race, we made our way over to Asahi Ramen where we feasted over deliciously steamy bowls of shoyu. mmmmm!
It was a great race experience, and it felt amazing to realize a goal, unexpectedly.
A HUGE congratulations goes out to Sarah and Shane! Sarah! I’m so glad you’ve got the running bug, too!
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