NERR 25k Marathon Tuneup - The Forgotten Finisher
They left me off of the finisher list at the Northeast Roadrunner 25k Marathon Tuneup held yesterday, and I'll explain why shortly.
A gut check weekend in terms of training. I went w/ T and his Cub Scout troop to go camping at a Scout camp way up in the northernmost reaches of Bucks County. If any of you are not local, it was raining in buckets for most of Saturday. This made for trying times when you have 16 city kids to look after, but that is another story.
Anyway, I remembered a quote from meteorologist, triathlete and all-around goddess Cecily Tynan, who says that if you are ready and alert, you can often find time to squeeze in a workout. My time came on Saturday while the kids were doing arts and crafts activities supervised by camp staff. I snuck off, put on my shorts and took off for a soggy ten down country roads with very narrow shoulders. I guess I am a city kid as well, as I have no problems mixing things up in traffic in Philly, but get me on a narrow shoulder on a windy road and I definitely feel out of my element. The run otherwise went okay and I changed and got back in time for the "Haunted Trail," for which I got soaked all over again. 10 miles went by in 80:18.
Yesterday we got home from Camp Hart around 2, and T had a birthday party to go to at 3 which must have been arranged by the running gods. I dropped off T and put on my running stuff and headed down to Lloyd Hall. That morning, while I was still curled up in my sleeping bag, the Northeast Roadrunners had their annual 25k Marathon Tuneup on the drives. Its a course that is almost a loop around, but then reverses direction and goes back the way it came. I got there about 7 hours late and planned to run the course as if I were in the race, and see how my "chip time" would place.
Well, the best I can say about it is at least I didn't have to pay the race fee. I started off just fine doing around a 6:00 pace that eventually went down to a steady 6:10 pace, about where I wanted things, but after about mile 8 it started dipping to 6:15 pace and then by mile 11.5, when I hit a 6:25 pace, I just slowed down and did 8's for the rest of the way back. Didn't have the mojo working. Dunno if the competition would have kept me going any faster or longer, but my time (which I don't have handy) would still have put me in the top 10 in the race results (it wasn't a very competitive race, and most people run it for the tuneup, not as a target race). Total of 17 miles with a pre-race warmup.
So I was the last place finisher, and it was better that my time was omitted from the results. Looking back, I wouldn't have started as fast and should have appreciated more all that the weekend took out of me. It has also humbled me a bit, as I felt I could pull out 15.5 miles at a 6:10 pace as a matter of course. In this it was probably a valuable run.
The run also gave me a maddening craving for food which I satisfied with a Fiesta Pizza sausage stromboli and a pint and a half of Ben & Jerry's. Much as I hate to say this, it really hit the spot and got me thinking if the diet of camp food I had this weekend didn't contribute to my running difficulties. It has also reminded me of women I've known who have had this same exercise/binge pattern, but I should be okay.
I'm taking it easy today, but might get a few miles in on the treadmill if the schedule permits.
A gut check weekend in terms of training. I went w/ T and his Cub Scout troop to go camping at a Scout camp way up in the northernmost reaches of Bucks County. If any of you are not local, it was raining in buckets for most of Saturday. This made for trying times when you have 16 city kids to look after, but that is another story.
Anyway, I remembered a quote from meteorologist, triathlete and all-around goddess Cecily Tynan, who says that if you are ready and alert, you can often find time to squeeze in a workout. My time came on Saturday while the kids were doing arts and crafts activities supervised by camp staff. I snuck off, put on my shorts and took off for a soggy ten down country roads with very narrow shoulders. I guess I am a city kid as well, as I have no problems mixing things up in traffic in Philly, but get me on a narrow shoulder on a windy road and I definitely feel out of my element. The run otherwise went okay and I changed and got back in time for the "Haunted Trail," for which I got soaked all over again. 10 miles went by in 80:18.
Yesterday we got home from Camp Hart around 2, and T had a birthday party to go to at 3 which must have been arranged by the running gods. I dropped off T and put on my running stuff and headed down to Lloyd Hall. That morning, while I was still curled up in my sleeping bag, the Northeast Roadrunners had their annual 25k Marathon Tuneup on the drives. Its a course that is almost a loop around, but then reverses direction and goes back the way it came. I got there about 7 hours late and planned to run the course as if I were in the race, and see how my "chip time" would place.
Well, the best I can say about it is at least I didn't have to pay the race fee. I started off just fine doing around a 6:00 pace that eventually went down to a steady 6:10 pace, about where I wanted things, but after about mile 8 it started dipping to 6:15 pace and then by mile 11.5, when I hit a 6:25 pace, I just slowed down and did 8's for the rest of the way back. Didn't have the mojo working. Dunno if the competition would have kept me going any faster or longer, but my time (which I don't have handy) would still have put me in the top 10 in the race results (it wasn't a very competitive race, and most people run it for the tuneup, not as a target race). Total of 17 miles with a pre-race warmup.
So I was the last place finisher, and it was better that my time was omitted from the results. Looking back, I wouldn't have started as fast and should have appreciated more all that the weekend took out of me. It has also humbled me a bit, as I felt I could pull out 15.5 miles at a 6:10 pace as a matter of course. In this it was probably a valuable run.
The run also gave me a maddening craving for food which I satisfied with a Fiesta Pizza sausage stromboli and a pint and a half of Ben & Jerry's. Much as I hate to say this, it really hit the spot and got me thinking if the diet of camp food I had this weekend didn't contribute to my running difficulties. It has also reminded me of women I've known who have had this same exercise/binge pattern, but I should be okay.
I'm taking it easy today, but might get a few miles in on the treadmill if the schedule permits.
posted by seebo | 9:38 AM
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