What's next?!

As is typical devoting so much time to a big race, I start thinking what's next?!  It felt super weird today to not rush straight to the gym for a long run.  I do have a post race taper schedule so as not to over do it on my legs.  There is no chance I want to give up on running though.   Here's what I'm thinking:

Last year I tried to make a goal of running a race every month, and then that did not happen.  Let's try again this year!

Since we're headed back to Athens for Thanksgiving, I couldn't find a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day.  I have wanted to do one since last year, but no go.  Vitamin F's Virtual Thanksgiving 5k is a perfect stand-in this year. 

This is an easy (easy, say what?!) 5k.  It's the Jingle Bell Run/Walk in Raleigh.  I got my friend KayD to sign up for it too.  I'm super excited to be able to actually run a race with KayD!  I'm hoping it won't be too chilly. 


I honestly can't find a good January run to join in...so maybe another virtual race??

Now, I have another friend who mentioned running this.  I'm a little scared as I heard it involved eating a dozen donuts, but she assured me you only have to do that if you want to win (um, doubt I'm ever actually running to win against anyone but myself).  It's a 5 miler, which I think I can do awesome at.  I'm starting to think 10k's are really going to be my distance.

I have a couple March/April potentials...

KayD may run the Publix Half Marathon in Atlanta.  If she does, I am all about doing it with her.  That's March 18.

OR

April 15 2012:  The Flying Pirate Half in OBX.  I just had such a great experience at my first OBX half, I'd love to run my second there.  It'd be another flat running ground, but a different route than my first.  I'm considering it even if I do decide to do the ING Georgia Half!

Now I haven't maxed out my credit card registering for any of these races yet because I don't want to work my body too hard.  I also know it can/will be a challenge training through the winter.  I'm going to feel it all out, and I'll keep you posted!

607

I've been so uninterested in writing my own blog posts on my blog lately, and I've been wanting so much to just write about running. I totally forgot that I can write about running all the time here. 

I ran my first 5k yesterday. My bib number was 607. It was the Lowry Park Zoo Run Run, and it was so much fun! The only thing I regret about it was that I wore earphones and zoned out from my surroundings. We literally ran through a zoo. I heard people talking about the animals and noises when it was over, and I thought to myself...hmm...didn't hear any of that. But other than that, it was pretty awesome.

I've never been a runner. I literally started this past March with Couch to 5k. I never thought I would get into it, as I hated it when I swam in high school, so to have so much fun running a race blew my mind.

Here's a bit of a recap:

I got up at 5:30 to leave by 5:50 to get there by 6:30 for bib pickup and check in. The race started at 7:30, but I wanted to make sure and get a t-shirt (they were first come first serve), as I knew I would want to remember my first race. 

I checked in, got my swag bag, checked out my bib, got my tshirt, and picked up my chip. I was happy that such a local run was chip timed, but I think it also made me focus more on time than experience. I'm such a competitive person.

I was (unrealistically) thinking that I could hold somewhere between an 8 and an 8:20 mile, so I really wanted to see my time in the 24 minute area. And I legitimately thought I was going to do it...

It was HOT (90*) and humid (90%+), but I didn't care. I was ready. I ran into a girl that I knew, so I lined up near the start with her and some of her friends I didn't know. I asked them advice, they told me to put one foot in front of the other, and then the gun went off.

I started right at it. I was READY! There was a man standing at the mile one marker reading out a timer and he said 8:29 as I passed. Since I crossed the start line 13 seconds after the gun, I was pleased that I ran the first mile at 8:16. I wasn't pleased, however, with how beat I felt already. Holy cow! I decided I needed to slow down a little bit to be able to keep going. So I did...

I don't know what my splits were the rest of the time, as I have forgotten now and my iPod was on crack apparently (it told me as I crossed the finish line that I had run 2.6 miles...umm...), but clearly I slowed down quite a lot. I ended up averaging just over a 9:00 page, so can you say died?

I am going to get a Garmin, because I definitely think knowing where I was in the race would have been super helpful. I knew I was nearing the end, but I didn't want to pick up the pace too soon. I ended up picking up the pace with less than a tenth of a mile left, so I'll definitely do it a little earlier next time. We turned a corner to run to the end and through the chute. 

My final clock time was 28:09, but my chip time was 27:56. I'm thrilled with it, even though I was being unrealistic before. I got 4th in my age group out of 51 people, and I got 94th overall out of 511 runners. And it was my first race!! Now I know what to expect!

I didn't take ANY pictures during the race...sorry...

But here's my loot from the tons of stuff available after the race. Not bad for the $30 fee...