i'm irish and i know it

I ran the 100% Irish for a Day TC 10 mile yesterday.  After an absolutely miserable run on Thursday,  I wasn't too excited for yesterday's race.  Plus, the husband had his own miles to run (because he's training for Grandma's!!!!!) so I knew that I'd be all by my lonesome and that's just not as much fun. <cue the sad music> 

Due to the wind and lack of headband, I dealt with this
mess in my face the entire race.  Good times!

Other than the crazy-ass wind, it turned out to be a pretty good day.  Did I mention that I at my last haircut, my hair dude gave me bangs?  I haven't had bangs in probably 15 years. I have no idea how to manage them and am typically at their mercy. Yesterday was no exception.  Those damn bangs were in my eyes the whole run.  But I digress......

I got out the door really late and drove over to Lake Harriet....by the time I got there the streets were blocked off for the race and I had to park pretty far away. (I mapped it out after I got home - it was just over a mile.)  Voila!  Instant warm-up mile!  I jogged to the start line, mostly because I was afraid I was going to be late, and ate my honey stinger jot-like things on the way. They are so yummy.

TenacityChris told me that I wasn't allowed to race this one - she wants me to race next weekend's half marathon to see if I'm dreamin' when it comes to my goal marathon pace.  I must say, the woman knows me well.  Here's the excerpt from my training plan:

Saturday
Long Run as Follows:
DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO RACING MENTALITY!!!
Warm up first mile at 11:30 min
Miles 2-6: 10:13 pace (GMP) – see I’m letting you have a ‘little’ speed during this race!
Miles 7-10: 11:30 min pace (If you would feel better about doing a fast finish and have your tempo miles at the end of the race, that’s ok too – BUT NO FASTER!!! Remember, you are racing next weekend!!)

So that's like 11:11 miles on average, right? No problem! I figured I'd start nice and slow, pick it up a bit in the second half and just try to enjoy the run.

I ran the first few miles along side a 56 year old guy named Rich (I think!).  He had an interesting story: he's making a comeback after dealing with an injury for a year and a half.  He ran seven marathons before his injury but now feels like a newbie.  He was a master at discreet snot rockets - you hardly even noticed he was doing it.  Impressive!  And God bless him, when I told him I was pushing 50, he said he thought I was in my 30's.  Liar.  (But I'm going with "He meant it." You know I'm shallow like that.)  He'll be running Grandma's too and is shooting for 4:30 so maybe I'll see him there.  

After I lost Rich in the crowd, I chatted up some other folks, most notably another couple who were running their longest race to date and questioned their wisdom in running attire (they were too warm) and another woman who digs hills as much as I do. Although I love to talk to other runners, this time I was doing it more out of selfishness to keep me slow.  I figured if I could talk easily, then I wasn't running too fast. That way I wouldn't have to try to read GarminElectra with my annoyingly aging eyes.  

So there was a time clock around mile 8, and when I looked at it I thought, "Holy crap, am I on pace to finish close to my PR?  How the hell did THAT happen??"  I got a little excited about that, and then remembered TenacityChris' comment (in caps!) and like a good runner student put the finish time out of my mind.  I want to kick ASS next weekend so didn't want to waste any effort on this one.  

The last mile was the toughest because we were running into a headwind.  The hill-loving chick and I bitched back and forth about the wind and how it was slowing us down and didn't that suck, and then we crossed the finish line.  I saw the time clock and realized I was close to, if not faster than my PR.  My first thought?  "Uh oh, what am I gonna tell TenacityChris?" 

Turns out I did PR.  By about a minute and half!  When I saw that I was all, "Shut UP!! No, YOU shut up!!" to myself.  (I talk to myself. A lot. Have I mentioned that before?  Well, I do.)

I'll have to come clean with TenacityChris.  

Here are my splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:38:32.7	10.03	9:49
1	10:22.3	1.00	10:22
2	9:54.3	1.00	9:54
3	10:09.2	1.00	10:09
4	10:01.9	1.00	10:02
5	9:39.8	1.00	9:40
6	9:54.0	1.00	9:54
7	9:56.6	1.00	9:57
8	9:38.8	1.00	9:39
9	9:32.5	1.00	9:33
10	9:09.1	1.00	9:09
11	:14.1	0.03	7:48

I didn't race this one, honest.  Frankly, I don't know that I've ever actually RACED a race. I've had goals but haven't ever really pushed myself super hard.  I don't like to feel all out of breath and like I'm going to puke - I prefer to enjoy the run.  My inexperience with racing a race makes me nervous about next weekend.  I hope I don't do anything stupid. 

Oh, and get this - GarminElectra and my official results are EXACTLY the same, right down to the second!! How crazy is that???  That has never happened before.  Kinda cool.

GarminElectra was not a beyoch.
That was a nice change.

I'm liking my numbers.

And get this too! After the race, I went to get my packet for next weekend's half marathon.  Check out my bib numbers from yesterday's race and for next weekend's half marathon. Also cool, no? A friend on dailymile.com said I should get some lottery tickets.  I think she's right.  I'm feeling lucky!