Since my devasting marathon. I had a hard time getting motivated to train hard for another race. I kept up my speed and tempo workouts begrudingly throughout January without any real goal or race in sight. Truth be told the beginning of January we knew we wanted to add another babus to our family, so the idea of training hard for a race that might not happen since I could get pregnant just didn't sound appealing to me. So I did keep running through the winter but my once die hard weekly speed and tempo sessions were coming hit and miss and not a high priority towards the beginning of January.
March came along and the opportunity to go to St. George and run the Spectrum 10k (one of my favorites) came up so I decided why not run it? My mom was going to run it and it would be fun to race together since my days of running with my mom would be dwindling in the next few months due to the big move across the country. I put no pressure or time goals on myself. I thought if I can get under 50 minutes great, if not just have fun and enjoy the scenery. I swear to you, the relaxed and familiar atmosphere of short races speak to me. My plan was to run hard the first three downhill miles and from there keep the pace as much as I can for the last 3.2 miles but not stress over it and NO looking at my garmin until I hit mile 3. My plan worked. I ended up running my second fastest 10k. What? I didn't know I had that kind of pace in me, since my training hadn't really been training but just running regulary with friends at a casual pace. It was so fun to run hard again and have a good race.
I didn't get any great pictures from the race so I searched the professional photo website from the race. While scrolling through the race photos I found something kinda funny. The first picture below on the left, is of me crossing the finish line. I wore my Hobble Creek half marathon race t-shirt, black running skirt and had started the race in a long white tee that ended up around my waist about half way through. Two other girls had the same thought as me. How random is that? Funny right?
After such a sucessful, fun 10k I convinced my cousin Annie to run The Running with the Leopards 5k with me the following weekend. I've always wanted to do this 5k but haven't had the chance to run it before. I'm so glad we decided to run it last minute. This was such a great, well organized 5k. It wasn't just a fun run but an actual race that supports a local high school. If you are a runner is the SL area you must do this race! It's a great, mostly downhill course. It has a nice mix of competitive runners and people there to just have fun. So if you are looking for a competitive race, it has that effect but if you want something where there is no pressure and you want to just run for fun there are plenty of runners who share that same desire.
Annie and I before the race. Love this girl so much!
My legs were still a little heavy from the 10k the weekend before and one of my running partners had wanted to do a tempo workout Thursday morning so I wasn't sure what my body could handle even if it was just three miles. The race started and Annie and I were off. I told Annie from the get go to just run without me. That girl is fast. She's just a natural and I did not want to hold her back. Annie and I played a little bit of cat and mouse. She took off and I caught up to her during one of the uphills. Then we ran together until the last two tenths of the race and Annie had an extra spring in her step that I just didn't have in me. I was so proud of her. Annie did awesome and finished third in her age group!!!!! I was just ten seconds behind her with a new 5k PR under my belt. Again I had no idea that kind of pace was in me after a few months of hit and miss speed work. I could feel how tired my legs felt a few times during the race but knowing it was just 3.1 miles I knew I could just stick out the pain a little longer. 5ks are fantastic because they are over before you know it. But I find them a challenge too because you want to run as hard as you can and sustain the pace for 3.1 miles which can be exhausting!
After those fun, successful short races my drive to race and start training hard again returned. I thought about signing up for a 10 mile race, a couple weeks away and the Salt Lake half marathon the following month BUT....the following Tuesday after the race I took a pregnancy test, just had a feeling I should take one, and lo and behold I was pregnant. There would be no serious training for me, which was fine with me. We were thrilled to be pregnant!! But I will say it was nice to end of racing career for awhile on such a race high!
3 comments:
I'm so glad you could "leave" the running scene behind with some feel-good successes. That really is the best.
You don't have to run marathons to be a "runner". Just because a swimmer may prefer butterfly over breaststroke or vice versa makes them no less of an acquatic athlete! And same with you. You are fast with short distances, so why not milk it more?? Short distances are far harder for me personally, so I ignore them usually. But you rocked it in those two races earlier this year, so keep it up!
And speaking of el running, are we going this Saturday? It's on my schedule. LMK! Hope preggi belly is treating you well! xo
way to go lar, i think you get a PR every time you race girl! you are amazing and i learned so much from you when we were running and training together last summer. love you girl!
You are awesome!!! So happy your news is officially public...I have been thinking about you a ton! Good luck on your move! Glad to have you closer!! Yea for another cute babus!!
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