Race Recap - Redlegs Race for Home

I think I need to play the lottery - I'm now 4 for 4 in rain on raceday.

This past Saturday was the Redlegs Race for Home. "But Jene!" I can hear you thinking, "You're a YANKEE fan! What are you doing running the REDS race??" Well, I'll tell you what I was doing. I was going to run in the 5K with BFF, and then we were going to sit back and watch our kids run the "Gapper Kids' Fun Run" together. It was going to be my first 5K, so an automatic personal best. But Life got in the way, as it so often does, and BFF couldn't run the race with me, so I switched to the (much earlier) 10K. It lined up better with my marathon training, anyway.


My first Reds shirt. I've been here for 15 years and I've managed to go without. If it wasn't a nice dri-fit technical tee, I'd probably make it into a dishrag. Just kidding, BFF! They're my national league team ;)

I've only run one other 10K, back in February, and I finished with a time of 54:28. That was fast for me. Really fast. Not so fast in the world of running, but faster than I'm used to, especially since I'd been "seriously running" only a whopping 3 months by that point. I didn't think I'd be able to beat it, let alone beat it on a steamy summer morning, so I didn't really set much of a time goal for myself on this one. I was just going to run it and see what happened.

So we all lined up, some guy sang the national anthem, some lady counted down from 10, and we were off! The first mile flew by, and somewhere around the second mile marker I realized that I had a pretty damn good shot at a new PR. I was averaging 8:20/mile, much faster than the 8:38/mile of my previous race. Then at 2.5ish, my shoe came untied, and I lost 10 critical seconds stopping to tie it. My laces were soaked, and it took me three tries to get it right. But still, only ten seconds.

I saw the 6 Mile marker right after the trip back across the Ohio from Kentucky, and kicked it into high gear. I LOVE that adrenaline surge when you know the finish line is close! When I rounded the corner for the last .1 mile, I looked up and saw that I had a shot at making it in under 52 minutes, so I found an even higher gear and sprinted across the finish line, where I promptly started looking for a trash can to puke in. There were none to be found - I was looking frantically around for a place to leave my breakfast that wouldn't ruin anyone's shoes. In the time it took me to rush over to the wall by the river, the nausea had passed, and I was ok.

My official time was 51:49, good enough for 15th of 146 in my division. I guess Insanity and speed training have really paid off.

No good race pics, just these thumbnails that I stole from the web. Yes, I wore my Yankee hat in the Reds race. It's my rainy day good luck charm.

TinyPic?! More like TeenyPic!!



I'm in trouble, though. I'm definitely addicted to the medals that you get in marathons. Ice cream cups pale in comparison.

Race Results - Food on the Run 10K

I went into Saturday's 10K with three progressive goals:

1. To finish in under an hour
2. To run as fast as I ran in my awesome practice run last Monday (57:28)
3. To beat my practice run (I considered this a long shot since the practice run was my best run ever and I wasn't really feeling 100% thanks to sinus issues and rain)

The race started out with the giant Gilbert Hill. I hate that hill, but I've run it a few times already, thanks to the training group. I knew that if I could just pace myself and keep it slow and steady up that hill, then the rest of the race would be simple. I tucked in with the 9:15/mile pace group, the gun sounded, and we were off. The hill was every bit as crappy as I expected it to be, and we ran that first mile in 9:21. Made it up to the top, completed the turnaround, and then proceeded to have the best 5.3 mile run ever, finishing with an average pace of 8:38/mile.

I finished the race in 54:28. I smashed all three of my goals, and beat my practice run by a whole three minutes. My time was good enough to place me 17th in my age group. Granted, it was a very small race, so it was 17 out of 116, but still kind of neat to exceed my own expectations. (I was 59th out of 387 women, overall)

The really cool thing is that I feel like I could have gone even faster. I can't wait for the next one.

My running buddy is suffering with shin splints, but she still showed and ran a great race. Now that's some dedication! It was really nice to cheer each other on when we passed on the hill. We're already planning out our next 10K, but first I have to make it through the Half Marathon in 14 days!

My First Race - A Preview

My first race EVER - a 10K - is tomorrow. Of course it's going to rain. Of course I got an odd number on my running bib. Of course it isn't just any odd number, it's a PRIME number. Ew.



I had horrible dreams about it all night last night. Dreamed that I missed my start time, dreamed that it was some awful obstacle course and I got stuck in the tires we had to crawl through, dreamed that I pinned my tag on backwards and then my time didn't count. Think I overthink things too much?