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| (My Club Northwest Teammates) |
This past weekend was
the Pacific Northwest Track and Field Association Cross Country Championships
held in Seattle, WA at Woodland Park. I wasn’t originally planning on racing.
My last race was the Railroad Days 10k in August and to be honest, I have not
been training much since then. I have been going for easy runs, taking many
days off a week, and could count the number of workouts on one hand, or a
couple of fingers. So as you might gather I have been in a bit of a training funk.
After Railroad Days I needed a little break from workouts and the break was
nice, the problem was I really struggled getting back into doing workouts.
Without doing
workouts, I wasn’t signing up for races. Usually the two go hand in hand, you
are doing workouts, feeling fit, so looking for upcoming races. But when you
are just running to run because you enjoy it, checking the calendar for upcoming
races is not on your radar, especially with a toddler who keeps your mind on
everything else but races. So that’s the position I have been in. I don’t know
if it was all the changes, new house, new work schedule for Levi, Doctor
appointments to figure out some issues with my Achalasia, lack of sleep, the
changing seasons, I could go on and on.
The weekend before
PNTF, my brother and sister in law came down to our place to watch Lilyana so
Levi and I could go out. They stayed the night and the next morning, my sister
in law Jane, got up to do a workout. I got home very late and Lilyana woke
after a couple hours of my sleeping so when it was time to get up I was not at
all ready to do a workout. Both my brothers were going to run the workout with
her. She asked if I wanted to come. It was going to be 3x2mile at LT/Tempo
pace. I hadn’t eaten and felt like garbage. But not wanting to pass up the
opportunity to actually run with people I wolfed down a PowerBar and told them
I would attempt to do at least one repeat with them.
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| (The inspirational Jane) |
I made the first
repeat fine, same with the second, and actually felt good on the third! The
total mileage was 10, the longest I had run in quite some time but I felt good.
Running next to Jane helped. It was fun to feel like we were a team. Having my
brothers in front breaking the wind was great. I loved seeing the looks on
people’s faces as our group, decked out in Brooks apparel, blew by them. We got
many words of encouragement and awe.
After this workout
I felt that I wasn’t too far gone and I actually decided to look into upcoming
races for my Cross Country season. Being able to run with Jane helped me regain
some confidence and remember that I like racing oftentimes for the sheer camaraderie
of being with people. Pretty much the only race I would be able to do with
traveling to MT was the next weekend. On a whim I signed up. The course is a
tough one, lots of hills and unstable footing, probably not the best one to do
for your first out of shape race but what was there to lose? I had never raced
at Woodland Park but had heard plenty of stories to make me a little nervous.
Race day came up
fast. The night before the race I was wondering what had gotten into me to make
me want to sign up? I ate way too much Halloween candy while at a late night
movie with Levi and was not feeling all that great but I wasn’t about to back
down.
Race morning I did
my typical post-baby warm up routine of jog some, talk a lot, jog some more,
play with Lily, pee a lot, do a few leg swings, then realize I have 5 minutes
to get my shoes on and get to the start!
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| (Over half done) |
The gun went off
and I tried to be conservative but the first kilometer is pretty much all
downhill. I felt out of control and was going too fast. Downhill’s can be
deceiving. They feel easy but if you aren’t careful about your form they really
can zap your energy with the eccentric muscle loading. I was definitely heel
striking to try and slow down and was using a lot of energy to keep myself from
rolling an ankle. Having extra bones in my feet and unbelievable pronation does
not help on a course like this. I was in good position and feeling great. I was
a little worried about how fast I went out and tried to ease up a little but
falsely reassured myself I would be fine. There’s no going back so you have to
go with the flow. Lap two I still felt pretty good but by the end of it I was
wishing it was only a 4k. I tried to stay strong on the 3rd and
final lap but my legs were screaming and mentally I didn’t have the willpower
to make it really hurt. I hate to admit this but it is the truth. There were 4
places within striking distance on the final lap but I think I became somewhat
o.k. with my position and battled to make sure no one passed me. My goal coming
in was to get top 5 on my team. With 400m to go I did try to pass a girl but
did so on a 180 degree turn which was the dumbest place to try and go around. I
shot way to the outside and it took a lot of energy to get back on course and
she easily gapped me by a few feet with that bonehead move. I finished 8th
overall, 4th on my team, in 22:21.
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| (Crossing the finish line) |
My body was spent
when I crossed the finish line but my mind was reenergized. I was surrounded by
my fun teammates, friends, and family. After the race we took Lilyana to John
and Jane’s, set up her Pack n Play so she could nap, then headed out for a
lunch date. It was the perfect way to end our day. I can’t remember the last
time Levi and I have been able to go out to eat together so this was definitely
a great weekend.
I am now off to
Montana for a vacation and some hunting. I know this will not be ideal for my
training but I am going to try my best to get in some runs and maybe a workout
so I don’t lose this new found excitement for racing that I have been missing.
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