To start things off, we have to go back just a bit to the weekend before. Kimi and I went out to the 'Havin' a Crappie Day 5k' to officially bust off any rust in our legs from lack of racing. We hadn't run a single race since November. We had definitely been crushing some workouts, but there's just something a little different about running hard in a workout vs. racing. Racing something smaller gives you the chance to practice getting up early, eating a pre-race meal, and handling some of the nerves of standing at a starting line. You just can't completely simulate these things in practice. So we got to the race and did our warm-up, toed the line, and completed the 5k nearly stride for stride together (who knew that this would be a prelude to how we would run in a week). We finished up the 5k in 17:25 and then followed it up with a set of 400's to make the effort of the day truly beneficial.
On Tuesday, we headed out to the Frisco trail to do our final Tune-up workout. We weren't sure how this was going to go since it was warmer than we had been accustomed to running in. We warmed up 2 miles, toed the line, and off we went. In the past, when we've done this workout prior to a big race, we would run about 11:20 for the 2 mile tempo. Something special took place today. We opened up with a 5:30 first mile, and then just kept cruising. We ended up completing the 2 mile tempo in 11:01. We were both pleasantly surprised. Then we jogged a half a mile and got ready to run our half mile press. I didn't see this coming either. We crushed a 2:35 (on the trail!).
It was this point that I just had a great feeling about the coming weekend.
*Rock the Parkway*
We woke up at 5:20 and gathered ourselves off the bed to start getting ready for the race. The race was set to start at 7:30 so we wanted to arrive close to 6:30 so we wouldn't be rushed at all. First thing we did was get up and split a bagel with peanut butter. Then we finished getting ready and headed out to the race.
Prior to the start, we did our usual warm up. Neither of us felt great on the warm up. In fact, I was kind of wondering if the race would go well at all. We did a couple strides and then I started to feel a bit better. I knew the weather was set up perfectly for a good race. Finally, the gun sounded and we were off! About half a mile into the race, the front runners were already starting to separate into groups. Kimi was in my group. I looked at my watch and we were running nearly 5:40 pace. Kimi looked over at me and said something to this effect, "are we going out too hard?" I turned and said directly back to her, "nah, we're good." By mile 1, our time had crept back up to a 5:56. It's uphill for the second half mile. We just kept trucking along side by side until about mile 3. Next thing I knew, Kimi started seriously attacking. She had pressed the pace down to 5:42, 5:46, and 5:47 for the next three miles. I have learned from our practices to just stay out of the way when Kimi starts rolling. I didn't want to tell her to ease it up or anything that might break her rhythm. I just went with it and kept right beside her helping keep the rhythm. By mile 8 we had started to gain a little separation from the second place female (but not much). I knew we needed to keep pressing. That's exactly what we did.
Prior to the race, Kimi and I had looked at the elevation chart and knew that if we made it to the 10-10.5 mile area, the rest of the way was pretty much downhill. We were determined to make sure we had as much separation as possible prior to the downhill stretch because some people can run down hill extremely good and we didn't want there to be any doubt coming into the final stretch. At one point around mile 11, I turned to Kimi and told her that I thought we were on pace to break 1:17. I knew we were rolling but hadn't been keeping track quite close enough to know exactly. I had intentions of staying with her all the way to the finish line and then I was going to step aside to allow her to break the tape without me being in the way. This isn't exactly what ended up happening because with about a half mile to go, we were passed by a guy that we had passed about 1.5 miles back and I didn't want him to beat me. I asked for permission to race him from Kimi and she said go for it. I immediately turned on the after-burners and passed the guy back. I closed out the last mile in 5:29 and crossed the finish line in 1:16:20. This was 9 seconds faster than my best performance for this particular course. Kimi was only a short 6 seconds behind me.
I was so proud of her for the way she ran. She set the pace and I just went along for the ride. Races like this are great springboard races to set you up for a great couple months of training prior to the Grandma's Marathon in June.
Weekend results -
Me- 8th overall - 1:16:20 - new course personal best
Kimi- 10th overall (1st place female) - 1:16:26
