Hooray, spring racing season is now in full swing! Granted, the weekend's races were meant to be approached as training runs, but I still love the environment and energy of a race. I'd really taken it easy during the week since I'd managed to tweak my back on Monday's easy run. My lower back had been nagging at me ever since, the only time it didn't hurt was when I was standing or lying on my side. Perfect. I still was optimistic that I might be able to do better than I'd planned with the extra rest, as long as I didn't push the issue with my back.
On Saturday, I was up bright and early to help out with packet pick-up for the first Mag7 race of the year: the Magnificent 7k. My job was easy enough: give out t-shirts (which were awesome!) and bibs to the folks who were pre-registered. Easy-peasy. Aaron had decided to sleep in since he had me to get his materials picked up, but we didn't realize that parking was going to get sparse by the time he arrived. Luckily for him, I just took his bib to the starting line and he got it with just a minute to spare.
My plan for race day was to take it pretty easy. Since I'd be doing a half marathon the next day, I knew better than to push the pace and race it but I really didn't have an actual goal pace. I was just going to "run easy". I'd forgotten how hard that is to do in a race situation! Aaron had forgotten his Garmin in his rush to get the car parked, so he had no idea of our pace. I looked down midway into the first mile and thought "oops...no way we should be running a sub-9 pace, let's see how long Aaron can keep it up though if I don't tell him". We actually held onto it for a good bit and did the first mile in 9:10. Unfortunately, that's a lot faster than I meant to be running the day before my half!
As we finished that pleasantly flat first mile, we could see hills. HILLS? Hmm, I could swear that I'd heard this was a flat course. Ah, well, nothing you can do, just run the course given to you. I did tell Aaron that I was going to walk the steepest parts of the hills. No way was I going to risk tweaking my back at this stage. I didn't wait for my back to hurt or my legs to fatigue, I just walked once we entered the steep parts. There were two pretty good sized hills in the middle of the course where I walked a minute or so on each, but otherwise, I tried to keep a consistent effort. We ran mile 2 in 10:15, a much smarter pace for us.
As I remember it, from mile 2 to the turnaround and back was a pretty level stretch. Rachel was guarding the turnaround for us and I made sure to get a high five out of her. Hooray for cheerleaders! I'm very sad though that her cowbell was a casualty: it got run over not once, but twice. By the same driver! Jerk.
After the turnaround, Aaron told me to go on ahead. He wanted to take a walk break and when I slowed to walk with him, he waved me on. Ok, no need to tell me twice, I was feeling pretty good at that point. I ran most of the uphills on the way back, once I was warmed up it didn't worry me quite so badly that my back would protest (it didn't). Finished mile 3 in 10:21 and I was back to the flat portion of the course. I was still trying to run easy, but also keeping my ears open for someone coming up behind me: I didn't want to race but I also didn't want to lose ground to a possible AG competitor!
The crowd where I was had thinned out a good bit at this point. I may have passed a person or two, but also was passed (not a woman in my AG though!) by a couple folks. No biggie but as I got to the last 3/4 mile, I refused to let anyone else around me. I'd hear footsteps and take it up a tiny notch until I heard them back off again. Right before we got to the school, I noticed that the speed limit sign was reading off our speeds as we went by: it kept flashing between 5 to 6 to 7 as various runners went by. I thought that was pretty funny and had to chuckle. I finished mile 4 in 9:51.
No exciting sprint to the finish, just tried to hold the pace (maybe did try to increase my stride turnover a little) and run through the finish. I forgot to turn off my Garmin, but by my calculations I did the last 0.35 mile in 3:21 (9:34 pace). My total time: 43:06 for an average 9:54 pace. Not bad for a "training run", now I'm anxious to race a 5k though! I did manage to get an AG award: 3rd of 4. If I'd been in any other AG, I wouldn't have stood a chance! I better get my butt in gear if I want to hold my own this year.
After the race, I had Dr. Mandy Smith tape up my back. I've heard good things about the rock tape and figured it wouldn't hurt, hopefully it would help me to get through the half marathon on Sunday. Aaron and I got some pizza, I collected my participation award for the 2010 season (Mace--so don't sneak up on me!) and my surprise AG medal and then it was time for us to hit the road so I could get to packet pick-up in Cincinnati. Fun!
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