love 2 run 4 miler - recap

Sunday morning, Valentine's Day, I ran the Love 2 Run 4 Miler with The Running Worm. I was planning on leaving my house at 6:45 AM in order to be at the Worm's house by 7:30ish and then at the race location by 8 AM so that we could get checked in. My alarm was set for 6 AM....or so I thought. I woke up at 4:30 AM, looked at my clock and fell back asleep. Awhile later I woke up again and laid there for a few minutes thinking that surely it must be close to 6. When I looked at my clock it said 6:18! So, I had to opt out of taking a shower before the race which was ok, but I really need a shower to wake myself up and get my blood flowing. Luckily, I made it to the Worm's house in plenty of time to get to the race start.

When we got there, we checked in and went back to the car in attempts to stay warm. The temperature outside, including wind chill, was -3 degrees. I made a promise to myself to not run outside if the temps are below zero with the wind chill, basically b/c I didn't want to freeze to death or lose any fingers/toes. But, in the name of "Love", I had to break my promise. I had on two layers of running tights, three shirts (one of them fleece-lined), smartwool socks, a neck gator (I think that's what it's called) and a stocking cap.




















I know...I look pretty effing sweet, don't I?! Oh, did I mention that black is my favorite clothing color?




















Here's the Worm sporting her favorite color, Pink!

I seriously think we laughed for about 10 minutes straight at our outfits and how bundled up we were. It was fun since we had about an hour of time to kill. Note to self: do not get to a race that early again when it's sub-zero. The race took place at the downtown airport in KC. It's mainly just used for private planes now and there is a 3.6 mile track around the perimeter of the airport. It was such a boring route and I had absolutely no concept of where I was the entire time or how far I had run (other than I had my Garmin on) b/c it was just one huge circle. I didn't even try to PR or anything b/c based on my current 4 mile PR, I really didn't think it was possible....especially b/c of the winds that day. So, I'm a wimp and didn't even attempt it.

Overall, the race was OK. They didn't have much for entertainment....just a little music at the end and b/c it was so cold, we pretty much just finished the race and then went out to brunch:)

Here's a pic of us after race. You can actually see our faces...LOL.

























On another note, this past Saturday, I met up with a couple of friends to get a run in. Normally, I wouldn't run the day before a race, but since I wasn't wanting to PR on Sunday I really didn't care. Actually, let me back up even more. I met my friend Katy for a short run last Friday after work. I basically wanted to get some sort of running in since I had been sick with the flu last week and hadn't run in over a week. We ran 2.5 miles of mostly hills and I was completely winded at the end. Also, my pace was only 9:33 which is slow for me on that route. So, I was feeling very defeated after that run. I didn't know whether my body was still fatigued from having the flu Tuesday and Wednesday or if I was just slow and out of shape already from not running for a week.

When I met up with Katy and Kerry on Saturday morning to run, I told them I might not run as far as they were going to run or I might run slower as I didn't know how my body would feel. I started off ok and after about three miles was feeling really good. I was a little bit slower than Kerry (we normally run about the same pace), but I tried not to let it bother me....I can get a little competitive :) At the round-about in the trail where we normally turn and do our last mile of the 6 mile route, Kerry decided she wanted to keep going straight to add on about 1.3 miles to our usual route. At that time, I still felt pretty good so I continued with her while Katy headed back. She had an injury a couple months ago and really didn't want to overdo it. Once I hit about 6 miles, however, I completely ran out of gas. I know that had I known I would be running 7.3 miles I would definitely have eaten breakfast and probably carried a GU with me just in case. I ended up running a 9:21 pace which isn't bad and actually was quite surprised I was that fast because of the last mile, but I was still frustrated with how I felt after the run.

So, as you can see, this is why I was really not in the mood to even try for a PR on Sunday. And, my confidence with running and getting ready to start my half marathon training program in a week as definitely been put in check a little bit. I guess we all need that from time to time, but enough already!

Hope you all have a great weekend!