Veteran's Day 10K

It's becoming the same story with races now: Too little sleep and too little running during the work week. The week leading up to this 10k was hectic. Crazy hectic. It was the end of the quarter, which meant comments for 110 students needed to be written, I played my saxophone in the jazz band during the Fall Concert on Wednesday, and then we had our Fall Sports Banquet on Thursday. I love it all while I'm doing it, but then I get home at 9:00 and there's no chance for a run.

A co-worker posted this race in our faculty room in October and after hearing that it was a fast course I decided to sign up. For the last month this race was my focus on all of my runs. I wanted to break 40:00. I had good speed leading up to it and had just raced a new 5k PR two weeks before. However, after the crazy work week, I had to reevaluate what my goal for the race would be. On race morning I decided that finishing would be enough. A PR would be great, but I couldn't expect it, nor did I want to put my body in the pain that would be required to get it.

I'm not a professional so I don't have the time to dedicate to running. Sometimes I have to be OK with 12 or 17 mile weeks. When those weeks happen to fall in the week leading up to a race then I have to try my hardest to talk myself into racing by convincing my mind that I'm in better shape than I am.

The basin at 7:00 on race morning

Race morning started off in the low 40's, but it was sunny and not windy. This was a relief, especially since we were racing on Hains Point. Tom and I volunteered at a 10K there the weekend before and the wind was horrible. I would have cried if I had to race with the wind, and the weather for this 10k was just about perfect.

We met up with a few co-workers of mine before the start. It was awesome to see and be with familiar faces at the start!

The Race:
I did an extra long run for warm up by accident and didn't get in the drills in that I normally do. I was OK with this, considering everything else had worked out better than could be asked that morning. The gun went off and we were out. I knew I was cruising and was not surprised to see 6:15 on my watch for the mile 1 marker. A little too fast, but nothing to freak out about.

I stayed right behind two girls starting at the second mile, which I went through at 6:28. When mile 3 came (6:26) I was bummed that it wasn't a 5k. 5Ks feel so nice now and I would have been very excited to be done racing. This was my third 10K ever and I still didn't know how to race it.

I passed the two girls in front of me at this point. My fourth mile was strong. I felt strong and it flew by in 6:23. I started to feel the race a little more during the 5th mile, but held on, finishing that mile in 6:29. Tom was at the 5th mile marker and that is when two girls came out of no where from behind me. Good strategy, chicas. They knew just how to throw me off my focus. They looked strong and I wasn't feeling strong. I kept counting down the tenths of a mile, which is not a great way to stay calm.

I got to mile 6 with 0.2 to go (6:31) and felt the 10k-urge to vomit. So did one of the girls in front of me who suddenly stopped and pulled off to the side. I shut my eyes knowing that if I saw anything come up I'd lose my cookies too. She saw me at that moment and decided that finishing was more important than vomiting and hopped back into the race.

Once again, like the last race, I saw the clock tick its way closer and closer to 40:00 and could not make my legs get to the finish any sooner.

Tom's phone deleted all of the photos he took of us while running. The only photo that somehow survived is me  after getting my award

Final Time:

40:04

New PR

9th Female

3rd in Age 

(not including the overall winners)

I'm a little frustrated, but I know that a 39 will come with better training, more speed work on the track, and a better work week. 

We hung out at the finish for some time and it was fun to be with friends. After the awards, Tom and I paid a visit to Thomas Jefferson.We had fun enjoying the peacefulness of DC at that hour in the morning. 

It looks like the next race is a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Hopefully I'll get in some quality runs between now and then. It's nice not having to worry about a training program yet. That will come at the end of December as Tom and I both begin to prepare for Boston. 

2014 Walk (RUN) to end HIV 5K Race Recap

During my first year of teaching I made a bet with a student that if we ran a race I would beat him. He was an 8th grader back then, and at the time I figured we wouldn't actually race each other. Little did I know that he would come out to join the cross country team the following year. Nor did I know that I would get a chance to race him this year, as we both ran the Walk (I say RUN) to End HIV 5K two weekends ago.

Pre Race Summary:

• Sleep the week leading up to the race was not the best. Too many weird dreams and waking up at 2:30 am. 
• I was eating too much Halloween candy. I bought it for the trick-or-treaters and made the terrible mistake of opening the bag to "test it" for safety concerns. Kids can't get bad candy can they? 
• My right eyelid was twitching constantly leading up to the race. Was it stress? Caffeine? Something else? No matter what, something wasn't totally right with my body. 
• I barely got any miles in the week leading up to the race. I probably got a total of 12 in. 

Race Morning:

• Woke up at the same I normally wake up for school, just so my body was used to doing its morning routine. It was nice to do my normal breakfast and know that I'd be OK for the 9:15 start time.
• It was gorgeous: sunny and 50 degrees when we arrived at the start
• I got in enough warm up but I felt sluggish during the slow-running warm-up portion. The drills at the line helped to wake me up. 
• I felt confident for a good race all week and all morning. The mental prep is key when hoping to run a good race or to win a bet. 

It was really fun to be able to run in a race with all of my cross country kids for the first time. They were excited to be running a flat road race instead of the hilly and grassy courses they are used to. They were also really cute at the start when they did their traditional pre-race cheer, and made sure to change up the cheer to shout "Coach Svetlana", their nickname they gave me last year.

They all knew about the bet, of course, and it was awesome when the athlete I had the bet with walked up to the front of the line saying "If we're going to race then I need to start up here with you."

Race

Right before the gun went off I kept telling myself "6:10. 6:10. 6:10". I didn't want to go out in a 5:55 like the last two races. A 6:10 would be nice. 

A few of the boys on our team went out ahead of me. I let them. I knew how to run my own race. I also thought that the boys would slow a little later in the race which would allow me to catch up. A few women also sprinted ahead of me at the start. I felt off and couldn't stay up with the, nor did I want to ruin the 6:10 that I knew I needed to hit. I didn't feel energized like my last few races, so I had no clue what was in store for me.

We got to the first mile marker: 6:14. Good. I was OK with being slower than 6:10. It gave me the confidence that I wouldn't die, but I knew that I also needed to push over the next two miles. Two of our kids were ahead of me still at this point. 

After mile 1, the course took us in a new direction and the wind was blowing against us. Luckily I was able to get behind a few guys to draft for that portion of the race. Sometimes it comes in handy to be a female and the shortest one around. 

The course was an out and back which allowed us to see everyone behind us as we made our way through the second half of the race. A lot of our athletes cheered for us, but I was way too focused to cheer back. I felt so bad for doing that. I could barely breath at that point, let alone shout out to them, and I was way too focused on the boys ahead of me.

I caught up to one of our athletes, the boy I made the bet with, at this time and together we made our way to mile two. We hit it at 12:25 - a 6:10 mile. GOOD! It was a good time for me, but an even better time for the kid I was running with, who hadn't run that fast of a this season. I was super excited to see our kids racing their way to a PR, but couldn't form a coherent sentence to tell them.

I eventually pulled away and set my sites ahead of me to another boy on our team that was running with the two women ahead of me. I was afraid of pushing too hard at this point in the race to make myself throw up, but now know that I should have pushed harder. I kept getting closer to the lead ladies, but not fast enough. At some point I realized that I was totally letting myself trail behind them and that I wasn't actually in Race Mode. I needed to work, and this was my last chance. 

With about 40 seconds left of the race I passed the two women ahead of me at the same time. Not having seen the any other females for some time, I starting to think I was in the lead - but definitely not positive. I saw the clock hit 19:01 just before I made it to the end and my first thought was that our lead boy was going to get over a minute PR for the day! I also realized that he was going to beat me and become the first boy on our team to beat me in a few years!

I also realized that I had made some mistakes in the race that cost me breaking 19:00, which has been my goal time this summer. The whole time I was racing I felt like crap and thought that I was going to get a 20:00. Everyone in front of me looked slow. I felt slow. I just thought 20:00 would be it for the day, NOT a low 19. I believe I could have pushed harder but didn't do it until it was too late. You live and you learn.

Final Time

19:09

2nd female
New PR!

I ended up winning the bet, but I am confident that if (or when) we race again, I will lose. This kid can beat me in every distance shorter than a 5K and by next fall, he'll take that honor as well! While I hate losing, this will be a bet I will be happy to see him win. 

Thoughts:

This race was a PR, but am I happy with it? Not 100%. I was stupid:

• I didn't fuel at all properly during the week.
• I didn't pay attention to the watch and just went by feel - which was 'crappy'
• I didn't push myself at all out there and never actually felt like I was dying.

The good news, however, is that every one of our athletes got a PR and some kids got HUGE PRs! It was so much fun to end my race and to turn around and watch our athletes finish their races with huge smiles on their faces. All of their hard work from the year paid off and it was fun to reward them with a fast PR on a fast course.

Also, I secretly really like running 5ks and 10ks in the city. It's fun to run the streets, in between the large buildings, and to see the sites like the Capitol. 

Hitched!

We had an absolutely gorgeous wedding day in Vermont on July 12th. What made it even better was that we were able to have so many of our friends and family spend the day (and for some, weekend) with us. When people ask what the best part was, I say it was seeing everyone we love with us on that day, some of whom we haven't seen in years.

Doesn't Tom  look like a fancy stud muffin? 

 It was so hard to leave these awesome people. We were so happy to have them with us the entire weekend. 

 

Our photographer, Margaret, was PHENOMENAL! As soon as we were engaged I knew that we had to get her. She paid attention to every single detail, gave us advice throughout the whole day, and managed to capture every moment in her beautiful shots! We could not and still cannot thank her and her sister enough!

And just like that the day was done. All of the planning and celebrating was over. We returned to DC and don't have any honeymoon plans yet, but after being together for 10 years, it's nice to step into this next phase of our lives. 

=PR= Race Series: Run with Dad (minus the dad) 5K Recap

I've known for a few weeks that I had a 5K PR waiting inside of my, but needed to get a race to find it. This weekend Tom and I each ran in the =PR= Run with Dad 5K at South Lakes high school. I woke up that day not as excited to run it as I was to run the 10K a few weeks ago. The 5K isn't my most favorite race. But fortunately, I didn't let that hinder me and was able to finish with a new PR for the day.

We arrived around 7 to get our bib and then went on our own ways to warm up. It's funny - people often ask if we run together. The answer is rarely. Tom's so much faster than I am, and I am so stuck in my ways. I warm up the same way each time and begin to freak out when it starts to go differently. I am so independent and need freedom to go on my own.

I felt great on the warm up: I got in 14 minutes of running before drills, and knew my body felt awake and ready. We met up again on the starting line, 5 minutes before the race, and found ourselves starting a little bit back. Everyone was ready to go and lined up before we had gotten there and it seemed impossible to get up front.

The start was a little chaotic. We ran 300m on the track at the high school before veering off and into the woods. It was slow, and there were a ton of people in front of us that didn't need to be right on the starting line. I jumped up with other PR running ladies, recognizing a few and knowing I wanted to be with them for the start.

I ran my first 10K last year at this school and was expecting to run a course very similar and was surprised to find us going onto the bike path in the woods. Rather than the open roads with little turning, we found hairpin turn after hairpin turn, as well as a constant variation in elevation. Instead of focusing on my body and on my pace I was constantly worrying about the people around me, making sure I didn't take a face plant as I turned a corner, and mentally battling how the course reminded me of some high school and college courses I had run.

There was a lot of passing during the first mile. Being a Father's day run, there were a lot of younger kids and teenagers that were running. These runners also went out with a very nice mile split, only to drop off in the second mile. I kept my sites on another PR team member right in front of me, not knowing who she was, but recognizing that she was a strong runner. My goal was to stay with her as long as possible. Little did I realize that she was definitely the first place woman of the race.

Mile 1: 5:56

Good. I met my goal mark for the first mile. Last year this split would have freaked me out completely. However, after hitting sub 5:50's on runs in the spring, I knew this was OK. My only problem came with keeping this momentum in mile 2, my weakest mile. This was the mile I struggled the most in trying to stay in the present, rather than having flash backs to races in college when we ran a similar course at St. Mike's. 

Mile 2: 6:22

As I passed the marker and saw 12:18, I knew I had slowed, but couldn't do the math in my head. At this point, I was strictly running on feeling. I had only looked down at my watch twice. I knew if I wanted to break 19:00 that it would be close. So I tried to push harder. 

5Ks, while much shorter than a marathon, take much more focus and a higher pain tolerance. They also require that the runner do some actual SPEED workouts before racing. I haven't done speed in weeks. 

Everything was going great until I came out of the woods for the last time. I had just over a quarter of a mile left to run and made the mistake of looking down at my watch as I went up a hill. In that instance I began to dry heave. Ugh, not this again. I held it in, and kept up the pace. But it happened again. I had no choice but to slow down for a few seconds to stop it. Slowing worked, but my momentum was gone. While I love that there was a camera crew at this race to take free race photos, I hated that they would have been able to catch my lowest moment on film. I was also not ready to loose my breakfast while on the track, now knowing that I was the second place female after a man yelled it in the woods.

As I turned the corner I heard my name being called by the MC, then heard Tom's voice as he cheered me on. He knew my goal was low 19's, and based on his voice, I knew that I had to work hard to get there. 

Final Time: 19:18

New PR

Second place female

I'll take that PR, but I'm not done. As soon as I finished I was ready to sign up for another, faster race! I need to break 19. I never thought I would have that as my goal, but I know it's in me. I just need to get on a track for a few weeks.

-----

I have been enjoying the opportunities that the PR Race team has given me this spring. I love being more involved in races and feeling like there is a purpose to my training. It's also been great to meet other runners on the team. A few of us went for a cool down run afterward and we discovered that two of us had lived in Vermont and had competed against the same runners in high school!

This race was also put on by PR Running. For the runners, there is a ton to offer: awesome tech t-shirts with registration, a lunchbox (for Father's day), a master of ceremony that was made for the job and makes it fun, food at the finish line, and terrific prizes that include gift certificates to be used at their store. I got $75 for second place, which means I can pick up some nice sneaks in a few weeks!

2014 Capitol Hill Classic 10K

Back in the middle of May, a bunch of teachers from my school, parents, and students partook in the Capitol Hill Classic which consisted of a 10k and a 3k race. I had a major goal for this race and was confident that I could do it: Break 40:00 in the 10k. Better yet - break 39:00. I knew I could do this, but had not had good training after Boston (hello 14 hour work days!). I was also very stupid in the middle of the race and never actually looked at my overall time on my watch to see how I was doing. Lesson learned.

Final Time: 40:05

3rd Female

The race morning was PERFECT.  It was in the 50's, sunny, and had no humidity. There was a breeze that felt great on the course, but was enough to force me to draft behind guys a few times. The 8:30 start let us sleep in and enjoy the morning a little before racing, and nutritionally I was set for the race because of the later start.

Tom and I were both running and we knew we had a good chance of placing based off of last year's results. The gun went off and 3 women immediately flew past me. One, a red-head, was a girl I remember seeing at the Cherry Blossom in April. I had some sort of feeling/memory of passing her during that race, so I was not worried about her speeding off at the start. My thinking: let her get tired, then I can reel her in.

The start took us by the Capitol and Supreme Court. I just love the races in DC because of the monuments we run by!

The first three miles flew by but my Garmin beeped about 0.1 to 0.2 miles before I actually got to the mile markers. I don't know why it wasn't lined up with the markers, but I should have really taken that into account for the rest of the race and checked my watch a few more times.

Miles 1-3

6:06, 6:09, 6:12

I felt confident and satisfied with those mileage times. I was also surprised to see 19:07 when I went through the 5K. My current, official PR in the 5K was a 19:41, which means I knocked off a significant chunk and need to get into an actual 5K in the coming weeks. 

By mile 3 we were in the middle of nowhere, or so it felt. The beautiful homes, green streets, and shade that we had in the first half of the race was replaced with concrete, sun, and the parking lot surrounding the old stadium in DC. It felt like a desert, because we were the only ones out there.

As I was thinking how horrible of a place it was, a girl in purple FLEW by me. Where did she come from?! Her speed told me that she knew what she was doing and I was not going to catch her. I fell from 4th to 5th.

The fourth mile marker came: 6:29. Uh oh!  

I knew I had slowed. But by that much?! Fortunately, I spotted the red-head in red. My mission became to catch her, and I was getting close. I got her before the 5th mile, and felt confident that my race to get her meant I picked up the pace.

Mile 5: 6:36

Oh no! This was not going the way I wanted it to, but I didn't dwell too hard on it. I actually felt fine and I was working at a hard effort. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only my 2nd 10k and I hadn't run one this fast before.

Now that I was in 4th I began getting closer to the 3rd place woman. At the same time, I kept playing cat and mouse with a man near me. It was good, as we kept pushing each other to get closer to this girl. 

At around 5.5 I had a decision to make. I had never taken on someone like this in a race. I could keep going this speed and pass this 3rd place woman, and then hold on for the rest of the race. Or, I could play it safe, draft off of her, and then hopefully take her at the end. She knew I was coming, and I couldn't tell if she'd let me pass, only to pass me again and squash my mental game. Also, passing her would mean that I'd have to be on my game for the rest of the race, pushing myself to ensure she couldn't come back. Did I really want to do that?

Yes. I did. I wanted a PR. I knew that to get the PR I needed to get around her. If it had been a man I would have had no problem in my mind making this decision. He wouldn't have stood out. But to take the 3rd place female spot, scared me. I knew it. So I took her. And I kept running. I didn't want to look back. I also felt like I was going to vomit - a reaction that I need to control if I want to get faster.

My spring motto that I have to remind myself in each race: Running fast isn't easy. You have to work for fast times.  

Mile 6: 6:22

Tom was around mile 6 cheering on runners, having already finished 10th overall. I knew I was close to the end, but hadn't look at my watch time and didn't realize HOW CLOSE I WAS to breaking 40. When I turned the very last corner and saw 39:57 on the official clock I screamed in my mind. OMG.... how could I be that oblivious to the time? How could I have been that close to a 39:xx and not realize it?!

I passed the line at 40:05. It was a minute and a half PR, but didn't feel great because I knew I can do better. 

 We stayed to watch the 3K, which had a ton of our students running in it. I didn't realize how big of an event this was. It raised over $80,000 for a school in DC! Talk about a successful fundraiser!

It was a good race (minus the desert) and was a fun morning to spend with co-workers and students. This race also showed me that I need to get signed up for a 5K soon so I can really see what I have in me for that distance!