get lucky 7k

Had my Get Lucky 7k race yesterday and for the most part, it was a pretty fun day, although also a tad disappointing. 

Maybe I'd be faster if I ran with my eyes open

Ever see the movie "Office Space" where the guy is in rush hour traffic and no matter what lane he's in, that's the one that isn't moving? That's how my first 1.5 miles felt! Once again, I started too far in the back of the pack.  Argh! Lots of traffic. Funny thing is, I had moved my starting position up to the 10 minute mile pace flag (I usually start by the 11 minute pace) so I thought I was being aggressive.  Not so much.  Spent a lot of time weaving through folks again.  Traffic was pretty heavy all through the race though, so maybe it wouldn't have been any better farther up, I'm not sure.

Frickin' Dipsy Chick

Anywhoo.... not too long after starting the race I noticed one particular runner ahead of me.  Some chick was wearing a green Teletubby costume (that particular Teletubby's name is Dipsy) - I could see her antenna bobbing ahead of me in the crowd, taunting me.  As I was weaving through the crowd and trying to pick up my pace, I just got annoyed with her for being faster than me while wearing a full-body costume and told myself there was NO WAY that little green beyoch was going to beat me to the finish!  Finally passed her at the end of mile 4 and left her in my dust. Yes, I'm sure she's a very nice person and it's not her fault I fixated on her so I probably shouldn't call her names.  She did after all, provide me with some motivation!

My "official" time listed on the race website says I ran a 10:00 min/mile pace (43:30 overall) but my Garmin says 9:54 min/mile (43:05) so that's the result I'm going with. Is that bad? 

Here are my splits (notice they are NEGATIVE!!): Mile 1=10:14; Mile 2=10:06; Mile 3=09:57; Mile 4=09:31; and the last 0.35 mile = 09:13. Did I mention those splits are negative? That means I went FASTER with each mile I ran. Su-WEET!!

I do love the swag! 
OMG I just noticed the pose similarity between Dipsy and me!
And....is the guy behind me picking his nose???

I know I should be happy with my race and my time (both Garmin AND "official") because either way, it's a personal best for me. And negative splits are nothing to sneeze at! But I finished the race and felt GREAT; I didn't feel like I had just finished running a race, I felt like I had just finished any old run and could have run for several more miles. So I think that's a good thing, means I'm getting stronger and and all my hard work is paying off. But it also means I don't know what the hell I'm doing in a race and I'm not trusting myself - my body kept telling me "Go faster, you can GO FASTER!" but my mind said, "Don't go too fast, you'll fade before you finish!" Unfortunately, mind won.

So I have some work to do before my next race - I'll have to get better at pacing myself and really reading my body to have a better idea of how much I can push it. Is it weird that I'm so interested in running faster all of a sudden? I've been slow for so long and really pretty content with just finishing races feeling good....but for some reason that's not enough anymore. Anyone have any thoughts on this??

Onward and upward......I need to just quit whining about my performance and learn from it.  And I should be proud.  I AM proud!!!  My next test will be the Get in Gear Half Marathon on April 30.  Can't wait!

BIG shoutout to the husband for supporting me yesterday (and every day!) He went with me to the race, dropped me off at the start and went to park the car, carried all my crap, stood around in the cold waiting for me to finish and then fed me a fantastic dinner last night. He's the bomb!

90 days to Grandma's!!!!