Greekfest was so much fun last night! I am very pleased with myself because I ran the 5K in 27:32. I don't actually time myself when I run and am pretty sure that I'm not covering exact distances (I just plan out a route on walkjogrun and assume that I'm close to that), so I wasn't sure what my time was going to be last night. I told my friends I'd be done in around half an hour and that I'd meet them inside the festival. When I was lining up, I ended up chatting with a couple of older men who were running. They asked me what I thought my time was going to be and I said "I dunno, around 27 minutes." They were like "Oh, so you're a real runner!" This actually made me feel like I totally lowballed my guess and then I thought to myself "Well won't I feel silly when I finish at 30." Once the race started I felt great and was running at a pretty comfortable pace. I passed the first mile clock and saw that I did my mile in exactly 9 minutes. This really pysched me up. I got to the second marker right at 18 minutes. I was so excited and that really pushed me through the third mile. When I finished I was so proud of myself! I don't train for speed because I think the reason I had shin problems while running cross country in high school is that I'm just not meant to go fast, so I was definitely pleasantly surprised by my pace.
I was also pleased by my new running belt. My friends held my bag for me so I only had to carry my cellphone in the belt, but it really came in handy when it came time to find my friends. I didn't have something like this after the Crescent City Classic, and the logistics of finding people after the race ended up being pretty tricky. This solves that problem, even if the idea of wearing a glorified fanny pack takes a little getting used to. When my friends saw my running belt I just said "Isn't this the hottest fanny pack ever?"
After the race I went on to have a great time at the festival with my girlfriends. I ate probably 2/3 of a pound of lamb and a good part of a Greek pastry box. And drank free beer from the runner's only beer booth. :) So good!
That walkjogrun website is so cool! I passed it along to a friend of mine who is training for a marathon.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your time! That's awesome!
I loved your pictures from Kristi's wedding; I can't believe I had to miss it. It looked amazing.
So you saw the ones on facebook? It was such a good time, it stinks that you couldn't make it!
ReplyDeleteAs for your friend, you should show her this if she hasn't already seen it.
The NYT Well blog is doing a series on training for your first marathon.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/time-to-train-for-your-first-marathon/
I am in awe of people who can train for marathons and half marathons. Training for my 10K was freaking hard! I can't imagine running 2 to 4 times that far!!