Sub 30 - Second Attempt

Friday June 15th Flag Day 5k in Amherst NH.

I told NO one that this race was another attempt at a sub 30. A part of me was nervous about another defeat, and a part of me wanted the out of "nope, didn't try".

This is the first race in a while that I headed off to solo without a clue where I was going and no idea if I would know anyone once I got there. Due to that, my introvert anxiety was on high alert before I left and I swear I delayed leaving the house 3 times for 1 more bathroom trip.

Setting my GPS I headed off to parts unknown. Well, not entirely unknown I'd been to that very location for a fourth of July parade a few years back, but I was a passenger, my husband did the driving and we ended up parking over a mile from the green and walking. Speaking of parking, that was the one thing I was nervous about, where and since it was a small town, would it be obvious. I was right to be nervous, but since I got there early I pulled up behind another car and hoped for the best.

Checking in went smoothly and I got to walk around a bit. I bought a bunch of raffle tickets, less to win awesome items(more on that later) and more to support the Moving Wall.

I may have found the introverts trick to meeting people at races, dress silly. I felt extremely awkward but I wore a patriotic tutu and thus people stopped to say hi and compliment my outfit. I ended up having a nice conversation with another runner.

As more runners showed up, I bumped into another She Runs This Town member and a few Gate City Striders. I chatted with a woman around my mothers age in a Naval uniform. Her stories were different than my mothers stories from the Navy. My mother was an officer, she was enlisted. She talked about how the men treated them like ladies and were careful about their language around the women. She was a photographer but just printed other people photographs. In contrast, my mother's stories involve improving staffing numbers at her station, and arranging honor guards for funerals as it was Vietnam Era. The only policy she's ever mentioned that applied to women was that at the time you could not be pregnant and in the military. Pregnancy was an automatic discharge.

As we started to line up under the fire truck ladder and flag for the anthem, my stomach screamed at me to EAT. I'd left my clif blocks in my car, which was now too far away to claim with moments before the race starting. The volunteers gave out little flags for us to wag for a picture and run with if we wanted to. I did.

Can you find me? Photo credit: Race 

The race was a nice course and oddly well shaded.  My less than perfect hydration for the day and hunger led to me fighting side stitches the first mile. Some focused pressure and breathing seemed to help ease it. I pushed onward. Just like with the marathon I felt like I was playing interval tag with a couple of other runners. Interval tag is where myself and other runners take alternating walk breaks and end up repeatedly passing each other.

I can not tell you how happy I was for the water stop, or that the water stop was at the top of a short steep hill.  Woohoo an excuse to walk. The problem was, this was the half way point and I knew a sub 30 was still possible if I didn't give up. I also contemplated the days of being in the back of the pack and not really caring about time. But here I was pushing for a sub 30 and it was still within reach. Somewhere after the mile 2 marker I saw unicorns. Yes seriously, two women in unicorn costumes with a decorated car cheering on runners. That gave me a boost of speed and I pushed it another quarter mile, before I started to struggle again.

Pushing my way to the finish Photo Credit: Race

As I closed in on the end of the race, I realized while I wasn't going to get my sub 30, I was going to get a new personal record. With that in mind I dug deep and ran the last 0.1 miles to finish in 30:32!

It took me a bit of walking to be able to grab water and drink after that. I cheered on a bunch of finishers and high fived a little girl who rode in a stroller the whole race while I'm guessing her grandfather ran. Eventually I chatted with the PTs at the event and signed up for roller kneading of my legs.  Later, my name was called on the loud speaker, which was just to check in with the organizer as I always request a 2nd medal to mail to Kelsie.

Since I bought a lot of raffle tickets I hung out to see if I won. I was well rewarded for my donation. I won a Her Tribe Athletics tank top and the only hard part was deciding which one to get. I also won TWO entries into the Santa Shuffle, so now I need to figure out who to bring.

The face you make when you miss your
goal but still get a PR. photo credit: race

Sub 30 - First Attempt

To celebrate my birthday, I attempted a sub 30 5k, or in non-runner language, I attempted to run 5 kilometers in under 30 minutes.

My first attempt I talked about a bit in my last post. I signed up for Hunger is the Pitts with my local chapter of She Runs This Town. I asked on the group if anyone would be willing to pace me for the race, and Nancy offered. I'd never met Nancy before but runners are awesome like that. We chatted a bit, I shared with her some of my previous run times.

The Monday before the race, the Gate City Striders Mine Falls series started. The weather was on the chilly side, so I opted to delay my plan of bringing my children to run that race. Instead I decided to challenge myself, without a pacer or a friend to chat with and distract me, could I run a fast 5k. Could I push myself to have my pace around 10 min miles?

With that race time of 31:41, I felt good. Evening races are not my thing, I know I run worse in the evening than in the morning. I was hungry during that race.

Now onto Sunday's Hunger is the Pitts race. This race benefited the NH Food Bank. Our chapter of SRTT had decided to coordinate our outfits. I was one of 30 or 40(maybe more I didn't count) women running in tutus. I got to the race early as I like to do because parking is the most stressful part of running for me. I was likely one of the first 10 people at the race that wasn't volunteering.

Once there, I did the next thing I always do at races, stand around awkwardly because my inner introvert doesn't know how to meet people. The area for pre/post race hanging out was fantastic, we were in the backyard of the Auburn Pitts restaurant. Had I known what this layout would be, I would have insisted the rest of the family come. The area would have been easy to let the boys run around while I'm out running. Plenty of picnic tables to sit at, shade to avoid the sun(and it was going to be a hot day), corn hole set up for playing, and all in a fenced in grassy area with no cars.

Nancy and I before race started. You can see how bright it already was out.

I met up with Nancy who had gone full on princess mode. Pink tutu, and tiara. Two of her friends were dressed the same. It was awesome! She had used glitter letters to add "PACER" to her tank top. We talked strategy, correction she shared her suggestions and strategy with me. It was getting close to the start so we headed over to do the big SRTT picture. I bumped into my good friend Robbie who was also celebrating her birthday. We chatted a bit, took a picture and finally lined up to run. At this point I was starting to get hungry, and the sun was starting to get hot.

Start. Nancy and I ran off, trying to navigate all the people at the start. One of the biggest things I'm getting used to with this pace is having to deal with other runners. The number of 12-14 min mile runners is sparse, sure they are there but they spread out, they take walk breaks. When I was running my 37 min 5ks, I rarely had to worry about runners around me, I could see them, but I wasn't running close to them.

The race started with a downhill and we did our best to keep with the planned pace, while letting other runners settle into their places in the pack. It didn't occur to me what starting the out and back race on a downhill would mean for the finish. We chatted and I was doing pretty good at this point. The race turned onto the rail trail and we got some shade for the next mile or so. The crushed rock path wasn't an issue for me, I'm used to Mine Falls. I was beginning to struggle at this point though. Soon the path narrowed and we had to go single file to make room for the runners coming toward us. It was great to see Nancy's friend run by us looking like she was barely trying, but it also made running difficult as I needed to pay more attention to footing and speed. Nancy told me to focus on her and I tried my best. As we got close to the turn around, I needed a quick walk break and we needed to walk the turn around that was a tiny side path that went up and down, uneven footing, and then back to single file running. I was struggling more and more at this point. Nancy and I talked and that helped distract me but I was starting to have trouble talking and running. I could still breathe.

Breathing, we had a great discussion, or more her speaking encouraging informative words while I listened. I was able to breathe, but according to my heart rate monitor I was up around 190-195 beat per minute. She talked about lactic acid threshold and that 5ks should hurt, they are a different race than a marathon. All of this lead to much research the day or two after the race.

Remember how I said the race started on a downhill, when we hit the pavement again we had some breathing room to run, I'd slowed down too much, or taken too many walk breaks my 2nd mile was too slow to succeed at the sub 30 without really digging deep and pushing out an amazingly fast 3rd mile.  Just as I wondered if it was possible, we hit the hill, now going up it. I walked more and more, I was hot, I was thirsty, and my legs hurt.  This was all new to me. I walked more than I should, I remember the moment I knew it wasn't going to happen. I looked at my watch and saw it click over to 30 minutes. I looked up and saw what I thought was the turn for the finish line. I was wrong, it was people directing traffic and cheering, I had more to go. Nancy was encouraging me as I walked more and more. My heart rate was not coming down. As we got to the end, I started running, faster now and we crossed at 31:14. Better than Monday. We talked a few moments and even though I missed the goal I still felt good. I was able to get some finishing photos of Robbie, and the three of us posed for pictures.

Nancy and I finishing the race.

After Robbie and I hit the food line and I was able to get a burger. Normally I avoid all post race food and while burgers are safe, if the grill is also cooking cheeseburgers, then I assume cross contamination happens. The cheese was available in the condiment area, it was not added on the grill, the burgers were safe!  Yay! I was hungry and not hungry as I was still calming down from running. I did get to surprise Robbie by sticking a birthday candle in her burger and singing Happy Birthday to her. My birthday was the day before and it was her birthday on race day.  We chatted for a while, relaxed and eventually we headed off our separate ways to go home.

Nancy, Robbie and I post race.

I may have missed my goal time, and Nancy pointed out in perfect running conditions I would have succeeded, faster runners that day were missing their usual finish times by 1-2 minutes. I missed mine by 75 seconds. In all honestly, the course was not a good on for a PR, between the single file running, ankle risking turn around and ending on an uphill. Even with that in mind, I'd run it again, but not for time and I'd bring the family to run/walk or just hang out. I had a fantastic time, made a new friend and spent time with a friend I've known for decades.

The Thursday after this race was the Hollis Fast 5k. I suspected if I ran that I'd get my sub 30, but I want my sub 30 on a standard 5k course, not a course designed for it. I opted out of the Thursday night race early in the week and it was a good thing, as Thursday was a LONG day in the office and I was exhausted by the end.

My next attempt was on Friday June 15th for a small town Flag Day 5k to raise money for the Moving Wall.