We are more than a month into the New Year, and I have gotten a great start to my Goals for 2015. Although a bout of the stomach flu derailed some of my momentum at the beginning of January, I did follow through on my goal of running a race, even though I did not do a lot of training. My miles for January 2015 summed up to 17.48… last year I banked 15.40 miles. So amazingly… I BEAT LAST YEAR’S MILEAGE. WOOT!! :)
So back to the reason I wrote this post… to recap my first race of the year. The Winter Warrior’s race series is a 3 race series during the winter months that truly tests runners. If you don’t like the cold, you definitely don’t want to run these races. I’m a glutton for punishment, and sort of enjoy running in the cold, so this is the second year I have run these races. Last year I ran the Iceman 5k and did my first 10k at the MudDogs race. The Iceman race was frigid… maybe 5 degrees? We had a heat wave for the MudDogs, getting up to about 15 degrees. The Snowman’s race this year was like spring break… it was almost 20! ;)
A friend of mine normally runs these races with me, but unfortunately she is dealing with an injury and wasn’t able to run. She did come and support me, though, which was so awesome. My husband and parents were there too, cheering me on in the frigid weather. I got into the pack of people at the starting line and finally picked them out of the crowd, waving to them as I made my way towards the starting line as the race started. I made an awesome playlist for the race, and once I crossed the starting line, I pushed play on my iPod and start on my Endomondo. Yep, I run with both my phone and an iPod. The course was pretty easy, just slight changes in elevation, but nothing crazy. It wasn’t too snowy or icy, either, which I was glad for since I didn’t wear my yaktrax. I felt pretty good during the entire race. I wore just the right amount of layers… so although I started off a little cold, by the time I got going I was just a little bit warm. As I turned the last corner towards the finish, I realized that my playlist hadn’t even reached the last song yet, which to me meant that I was making good time. As I got closer to the finish, I saw the time on the clock: under 36 minutes. Holy… what!? So I honed it it and ran as hard as I could to finish the race, finishing at just over 36 minutes. When I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at my endomondo, my heart sunk. The race course was short – I had only run 2.90 miles in 36:27, putting my pace at 12:33 min/mile. My official time was 37:45.2, Pace 12:08 min/mile, which seems faster BUT remember that the race was actually short… boo. But… I ran the whole race, and I felt amazing afterwards, and that is what matters.
February is a new month. And it is a “Month of Movement”. <– you can click the link there for more information, but in a nutshell my goal is to get my body movin’ in some way or another every single day during the month of February. I am starting off strong! Yesterday I did a 7 Minute workout (I downloaded an app to my phone) and today I went to Zumba Toning and brought along my nephew’s girlfriend. I think she really liked it… cuz she said she plans on coming back next week. We will see if she feels the same way a couple days from now when the soreness sets in. ;)
This weekend I will be running an 8k, which will be my first race of this length. This week isn’t looking great for time to train, but it’s okay… I will be okay. I don’t know if I will be able to run the whole thing, but I am sure gonna try.
RD on the Run 