Race for Pace

I completed the Race for Pace in 28:55.

If I would have run the race about three weeks ago, when I was working out like crazy, that time time might have been a little disappointing. But I have to keep telling myself over and over that I am 40. Unfortunately, saying it does not help me accept it all that much. Not that I am 40; I am cool with that. But that I am past my running prime. But proof of that was right before me: I ran into a former student whom I beat by about two and a half minutes when I ran the race two years. This year, he bested me by seven and a half minutes.

I know I should be focused on my finishing the race in under 30 minutes, which is great, considering I have been running about once a week. And I am absolutely proud of myself, particularly considering that I struggled a bit during my runs lately. I was not convinced I could do it in under 30 minutes. But I did it.

A few other notes:

It was cold, probably about 35-degrees at race time, but sunny. My running gear consisted of a long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, yoga pants, socks as gloves, and a flexible knee brace I used to wear at the beginning of this century when I ran several times a week. I unzipped the windbreaker during the last 2/3 of the mile, and maybe even took it off. The socks on my hands also came off about that time (I did not have gloves, but those babies worked great, even for nose-wiping purposes, as gross as that sounds, but it was cold).

I am happy to report that I was almost pain-free the entire time (the knee brace was a good call); even my feet hurt very little, though during the first mile, two of my toes were numb from the cold! I have this odd breathing pattern, which I tried to replicate when I was lying in bed, but couldn't. Regardless, it seems to work for me, and, almost as important, I am not wheezing and gasping as I seem to always notice some people do during these races.

I started off strong, kept a pretty steady pace, struggled a bit near the end up the last hill, but "kicked it in" as best as I could the last tenth of a mile. Having my friend Diane there cheering me on really helped. As I was struggling up the last hill, she made me laugh (or at least smile as I was out of breath) when she yelled, "Go, Faith! Don't embarrass me." 

During the last mile, a woman who I determined was somewhere near my age (which impressed me, because I am lousy at figuring out ages) passed me. I thought about pushing myself even more, in case she was going to be the difference between my getting third place and fourth place. But in the end, the last hill was too much for me, and I could not go any faster. I convinced myself to just keep going as I was so I could finish in under 30 minutes

When the time came for my age group awards, the person they announced for third place was that woman who passed me. I could not believe it! Oddly enough, when I checked my results online that evening, I was listed as being in third place in my age group. I emailed the race director about it, who just emailed me a bit ago saying she would look into it. I admit the competitor in me is disappointed to think they made a mistake that cost me getting my name mentioned and a medal, but the mature gal in me is going to keep telling myself this:

I am 40, I finished the race in under 29 minutes, and I am proud of this body!

That first mile keeps getting longer!

Wanting to take advantage of the decent (mid 40s) temps again, I decided another run was in order. Today's jaunt was a bit chillier than Friday's; I was only slightly warm as I ran up the hill, but never enough that it warranted removing the same hoodie I wore on Friday. In fact, I almost wished I had gloves on as I was running up the hill, but after about a half mile, I got over that.

My left foot hurt less than it did on Friday; really, it was hardly noticeable, so that was good. But I did not push myself, mostly because I had eaten a pretty big lunch about an hour prior to the run. But a bigger reason for my running without worrying about time was that I don't want to get my heart rate up too high. When I ran up the steps after my two miles on Friday, I checked my pulse, and it was over 180, which is too high for my age, unfortunately. So I just can't see myself giving it my all as I run up the final hill at the end of my first mile.

Mile one: 10:42
Mile two: 8:52

So even slower first mile than on Friday, but what can you do? Over the next few months, I will have to decide if I can accept that mile one may never get below 10 minutes again. For now, in January, at the age of 40, I am okay with it. After all, I am still running!

This is getter harder and harder!

On Tuesday, because the sky looked a little cloudy, I decided to run up the 64ish steps near the kid's school. As usual, I decided ahead of time to complete 20 trips up and back. Not surprisingly, after I had made my third or fourth trip up, I considered stopping at 10.

It was just so hard, and I don't know why. Can the difference between almost 39 and almost 40 be that great? I again want to blame it on the shoes, which felt fair at best. I just cannot get over that the next iteration of the same brand and style of shoe would be that much different and worse to boot.

That notwithstanding, because I put a decent amount of pressure on myself when I exercise, I ended up completing all 20 trips. It was not easy and it was not pretty, but at least I did it.

The good news is that I finished my set in 17:19. I looked back at previous posts, and that seemed to be about my best (or at least my best since I started keeping track last year), so perhaps I am being a little hard on myself. But I think what has really been bothering me lately is how difficult it has become for me to get through a run (or steps). I just feel it so much more than I did last year. And I don't like it one bit!