6:30 AM: Upper Body Weights – COMPLETED
Here’s my race report for yesterday’s St. Paddy’s 10-Miler. First and foremost, it was my third time running this race. My first time was back in 2008. In 2009, I had a year full of injuries, so my running resume was not impressive. I did this race again in 2010 and realized that it was a pretty hilly course. I even thought to myself last year, “Hmm.. I’m not sure if I’d run this race again!” How did I forget about this important piece of information? In any event, I knew I wasn’t planning to run this fast and hard, nor was I looking to PR on my 1:29 time. I was just going out there to run for fun and enjoy myself.
Pedro and I left the house around 8:05. I had a bowl of cheerios and half a banana. I packed my bag with snacks and a GU vanilla bean in my water bottle holder. It took us a good 45-minutes to get to the race site and 15-minutes to park and walk over to the site. I used a port-a-potty before we picked up my race packet. The lines weren’t too long, yet… We headed over to registration right after and picked up my race shirt. By the way, Rule 3.5: Save the Race Shirt for Post Race. “Wearing the official race shirt during the race is like wearing a U2 T-Shirt to a U2 Concert. Not cool. Don’t Do It.”
We find a sunny spot to stand in while P puts on my bib. It was too cold to stay in any shade. We discussed what time he should meet me at the finish line and came up with 11:15-11:30. The race started at 9:30, and we figured, even if I ran a 12-minute pace I’d finish in 2-hours. At that point, I remembered that I didn’t have the time set on my garmin, so I needed to make some changes.
It took me a few minutes as you can see the intense concentration I had on my face. Pedro and I were scoping out the crowd. Pedro told me to go stand in front of him so he can take a picture of me.
Apparently, he used me as a “decoy” because he thought these pants were hilarious.
Okay, I’m not a decoy here… Every year I run this race, I take a picture by this tree. At this point, I decided I needed to use the bathroom one more time. The line looked a bit long and Pedro told me if I was going to debate on using the bathroom, to just wait on line. The time read 9:26 and the race started in 4-minutes. Grrrr…. I finally was out of the bathroom by 9:29 and had to RUN to the start line, which was on the other side. Fortunately, I made it on time. I kissed P goodbye and told him I’d see him in a few hours.
We ended up starting close to 9:45. It’s usually delayed.
The first time I ran this race, I was in good running shape. The second time I ran this, I was just getting back into the racing scene. And this time, while running it, I was pregnant. Hmmm… it was hard in the beginning, that’s for sure. I had to mentally talk to myself and I wasn’t even at mile 1. The course started on an uphill. I was running anywhere between a 10-11 min/mi pace, so I had to slow down if I wanted to make it through the entire race. By mile 2, I got so hot, I needed to ditch my zip-up. Unfortunately, I lost a good two minutes of run time and a lot of people passing me (which they would have in general) because I had to take off my garmin, my ipod band, put down my water, take off my gloves… It was poor planning on my part. Anyway, after that was all done, I got back into running. I saw a girl power walking her butt off and I was determined to at least pass her again.
I kept a steady pace throughout, anywhere from 10:15-11:30 min/mi. I walked a bit at mile 7 to take out my GU and I lost a glove at that point. Actually, I turned around and saw where i dropped it, but I was at a momentum and didn’t want to stop, so I said “so long” to my glove and kept it moving.
At mile 8, I ran with a girl. She lives in NJ but runs a lot of Philly races. Real nice girl. We chit chatted a bit. She said she’s been following me the entire time. So I decided to turn off my ipod and we kept a nice conversation. She said she wanted to finish under 2 hours and I told her that we were already at 1:43 about to hit mile 9. Towards the end, I kicked it and got to the finish by 1:51:15.
Unfortunately, all my post race pics were blurry and not that good. ;o/ I’ll tell you one thing though, I had a huge smile on my face. I know the time isn’t great, but in the end it was around a 11:14 min/mi pace. (I forgot to turn off my Garmin). I know it’s not the greatest time, but I’m just happy to be OUT there running at nearly 27-weeks pregnant. I was obviously closer to the last people finishing, but I wasn’t going into this with a competitive mind. I was also very happy to see Pedro and Pedro gave me a huge hug telling me how proud he was of me. He is such a good husband and is always so supportive of my running and racing. I love him.
We ended up grabbing a half a bagel, I got him a hotdog and a banana. I chugged some water and then we headed out. We decided on our way home to hit up a diner for some brunch. I knew I’d be hungry soon after running 10-miles with child.
My legs were a bit heavy, but that’s normal during any race. Overall I felt amazing. I asked P if he took a nice long walk like he usually he does during this race and I saw the pics he took.
The race site happens to be in a Turkey Swamp. It’s a very woodsy area. Pretty nice trails.
Of course, we’re NJ, the Garden State. A lot of trees and whatnot.
Post-race I showered and spent the majority of my time on the couch. It was heaven. We even ordered dinner. I was not going to slave in the kitchen. But you know what this means… cooking all week.
Baby was active the rest of the night. Full of kicks and jabs. I’m sure after nearly two hours of being swayed, he was UP and ready to play.
I’m off to get our lunches together. It’s Monday and I’m dreading this work week.
Wife Mom Runs 