Sunday October 19, 2008
The night before races, I usually get a little nervous. The feeling is the same type you might get the night before an early flight out the next morning, like you might sleep too late and almost miss your flight but make it at the last second only to discover you left Kevin Home Alone. So, I had a little bit of that feeling, but also for once a feeling that I wasn't so sure I could perform well and run my distance. I had a tough training - and I don't typically make excuses, but I really felt like I
did have a tough training, and its strange b/c this is the shortest distance I've ever trained for. It was only six miles, and normally when I run a race, its for the half marathon distance. I chose to run this relay to just get back into running, its been over a year since I've been in the scene. I didn't really miss running, and I've been really into climbing all summer, but I'm so glad I did the relay. It got me back into it and more motivated to stay consistent and eventually get faster. Despite my low amount of confidence in myself for this relay, I ended up running in just over 10 minute miles. The chip time vs. my watch time will probably differ a minute or so since I stopped to pee 4 minutes after I started. But 10 minute miles is great for me, considering one - I only trained for about a month and two - I was sick during half of my training.
The race was great and the course was fun! It started and ended at Civic Center Park. I was the first six miles of the relay. At the start of the race, I thought to myself - this will be the first and probably only time I am standing still in the middle of the Colfax & Broadway intersection. I ran from the Capitol, north on 14th Street, through Larimer Square, back to Speer and Auraria Parkway, then around past the Pepsi Center to Mile 2. The course wound us through streets in LoDo, then past Coors Field on Blake and returned us to 17th Street. I spotted Jenn and Pete just before Mile 4 on 17th Street and just after that I saw the hill...WHAT? There are hills in Downtown Denver? Hmmm, never noticed that before! After the short hill (thank goodness it was short), the rest of 17th Street was a gradual slope up to City Park. I saw East High and started to book it. I passed the pink skirt with the stripes lady (the one I had been trying to stay with the whole leg) and never looked back! I knew she was running the full marathon and I thought that if she's running 26.2 miles at this pace, I can kick it into gear for half a mile to pass her :) I wasn't sure how I was going to know where the relay transition was. It ended up being really easy to figure out - a big blue and orange ING inflated arch thingy - I started sprinting (well, it felt like sprinting to me). YAY! I did it! And Eric was there to greet me and then run the next leg.
The rest of the relay was fun - I've never been in some of those parts of Denver. The neighborhoods around the parks we went through had some fancy houses around there, they were just beautiful! The course went through Cheesmen Park and also Wash Park. The rest of my team ran fast - they did such an awesome job! Eric was a rock star passing everyone in my 10 minute mile wave. Marion ran her longest distance ever at a very impressive pace. Andrew put more miles on his old school sneakers and exceeded his expectations. Thanks to the Whit for driving us around - Go Team! A bunch of other friends ran the race too. Congratulations to Kim on her first half marathon and totally kicking ass! Happy Birthday to Terry who finished his first full marathon in amazing fashion! And congratulations to Andie who completed her fifth marathon and set a PR!
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The night before races, I usually get a little nervous. The feeling is the same type you might get the night before an early flight out the next morning, like you might sleep too late and almost miss your flight but make it at the last second only to discover you left Kevin Home Alone. So, I had a little bit of that feeling, but also for once a feeling that I wasn't so sure I could perform well and run my distance. I had a tough training - and I don't typically make excuses, but I really felt like I did have a tough training, and its strange b/c this is the shortest distance I've ever trained for. It was only six miles, and normally when I run a race, its for the half marathon distance. I chose to run this relay to just get back into running, its been over a year since I've been in the scene. I didn't really miss running, and I've been really into climbing all summer, but I'm so glad I did the relay. It got me back into it and more motivated to stay consistent and eventually get faster. Despite my low amount of confidence in myself for this relay, I ended up running in just over 10 minute miles. The chip time vs. my watch time will probably differ a minute or so since I stopped to pee 4 minutes after I started. But 10 minute miles is great for me, considering one - I only trained for about a month and two - I was sick during half of my training.
The race was great and the course was fun! It started and ended at Civic Center Park. I was the first six miles of the relay. At the start of the race, I thought to myself - this will be the first and probably only time I am standing still in the middle of the Colfax & Broadway intersection. I ran from the Capitol, north on 14th Street, through Larimer Square, back to Speer and Auraria Parkway, then around past the Pepsi Center to Mile 2. The course wound us through streets in LoDo, then past Coors Field on Blake and returned us to 17th Street. I spotted Jenn and Pete just before Mile 4 on 17th Street and just after that I saw the hill...WHAT? There are hills in Downtown Denver? Hmmm, never noticed that before! After the short hill (thank goodness it was short), the rest of 17th Street was a gradual slope up to City Park. I saw East High and started to book it. I passed the pink skirt with the stripes lady (the one I had been trying to stay with the whole leg) and never looked back! I knew she was running the full marathon and I thought that if she's running 26.2 miles at this pace, I can kick it into gear for half a mile to pass her :) I wasn't sure how I was going to know where the relay transition was. It ended up being really easy to figure out - a big blue and orange ING inflated arch thingy - I started sprinting (well, it felt like sprinting to me). YAY! I did it! And Eric was there to greet me and then run the next leg.
The rest of the relay was fun - I've never been in some of those parts of Denver. The neighborhoods around the parks we went through had some fancy houses around there, they were just beautiful! The course went through Cheesmen Park and also Wash Park. The rest of my team ran fast - they did such an awesome job! Eric was a rock star passing everyone in my 10 minute mile wave. Marion ran her longest distance ever at a very impressive pace. Andrew put more miles on his old school sneakers and exceeded his expectations. Thanks to the Whit for driving us around - Go Team! A bunch of other friends ran the race too. Congratulations to Kim on her first half marathon and totally kicking ass! Happy Birthday to Terry who finished his first full marathon in amazing fashion! And congratulations to Andie who completed her fifth marathon and set a PR!
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