Women Run The Cities: Part II

As I mentioned in this post, I had a wonderful time last weekend with Lisa in the beautiful city of Minneapolis. But we didn't just eat and see the sights. One of the things that I went to visit for was the Women Run the Cities 10 Mile Race, located in Minnehaha Park.

The night before I set out all my gear. Those striped things are either leg warmers or arm warmers, and were one of the free things we got when we signed up. The race was (shoe) chip timed. The race I had the weekend before was chip timed, but the chip was on my bib, which was super convenient.

This time there was no funnel cake carb loading, just a nice dinner of chicken and pasta, cooked by Lisa and served with a beautiful salad and lots and lots of water. Before the race, as always, I had to pee and not-surprisingly, I also had to go again around mile one. I have a pea sized bladder. It's ridiculous.

Aside from Lisa and I, we also met up with Raquelita, who lives a couple of hours away. She and her husband were really nice! And then we were off! This race was great, it went along the sides of the Mississippi river and was along a tree lined road. There were a few hills, one really big one around mile 4 and one around mile 7. The weather was about 44 degrees when we started but warmed up into the 50s during the race.

I finished first and then ran to the car to get the camera so I could take photos of the girls coming in.

Here is Lisa.

Here we are afterwards. 

Here is Raquelita. 

Afterwards, we went to Victors 1959 Cafe for brunch and some great Cuban food! We also bored Raquelits's husband to death had some great conversations about running, traveling, books and life! These girls were great and it was nice to finally meet up with them! I felt like we had known each other for years.

For those non-runners, you can look away now. Runners, here are my stats:

Total Miles: 10
Total time: 1:23:36 (according to Garmin)
Average of: 8:22/mile
Place overall: 140/1050
I was 14 minutes behind the 1st place girl in my age group and 20 minutes behind the first place overall. That means I need to run at least a 6:22 mile to win next time. YEAH RIGHT!

I felt good the entire time. I always try to keep up with someone who is a little faster than I want to really go. In this case, I was trying to keep it under an 8:30 pace. The first mile was packed with people and so most of it was spent dodging and weaving. Finally around mile 2, the course freed up and I was able to get into a steady pace. It went well until I was running mile 7 and I thought that I only had one mile left and when I got to the 8 mile marker, I was a little disappointed. My right hip and butt cheek were really starting to seize up by then. However, I just pretended I was doing a Yasso and my last mile was actually my fastest (7:55).

All in all, this was a good race. I would recommend it to anyone. OH, I almost forgot to tell you guys. I have never run a 10 mile race before, so this was also my 10 Miler PR! It sure is nice when it's your first time; you ALWAYS PR on your first time!

You may also want to read:
Raquelita's Race Report
Lisa's Race Report 
My Races and Places Page: Other runs I have done. 

One other thing. I JUST signed up for THIS Marathon. It's 10 weeks away. Do you guys think I can be ready by then? I can already run 13 miles. I figured I may as well just keep adding on, rather than trying to start from the beginning next year. However, it is going to be dark a lot (and cold) during my training times. What do you think? Is it do-able? 

What races did you run this weekend? How did you do? Have you ever run a marathon? Was the training intense?

Don't forget to go over to Jills and check out the other Fitness Friday posts!

Best Time Ever

You all know I was a little excited/nervous for my half marathon, which was on Sunday the 18th. However, as you all predicted, the day of the race went just fine. But let me back up a little.

My Dad came for the weekend to cheer me on and to run the 5k that was also happening on Sunday. On Saturday night, like any good, healthy runner, we had to carb load. At the fair. Yum (Okay, honestly, I had pasta for lunch too. But I did eat almost that entire funnel cake).

Then I got everything ready for the next day (the race was at 7:30 am). 

The next morning, we got up bright and early and went to the starting line. This guy was checking out my butt during the National Anthem. Don't you think? I think he was.

The race was good! I was trying to get under a 2 hour half, which comes out to about 9 minutes per mile. To do this, I set my Garmin so that the PACE was showing and I just made sure to keep it under 9. I didn't look at how many miles I had gone or what my total time was; I just kept making sure it was under 9 minutes/mile. So I did not try using the Yasso method, just the old tried and true.

Afterwards, I had a beer with Dad. Because beer is a really good post workout fuel.

And then we went and did the most important thing, rewarded ourselves with a huge meal, complete with cheeses and a huge desert! 

It was a great race! I am so glad my Dad could come. It sure is nice to have some company, moral support, a cheerleader and a photographer! He even jumped in at the very end and ran the last tenth of a mile with me!

In case you are interested, below is the pace (blue) and elevation (green) graph. It was really hilly and I had to stop and pee around mile 3, but otherwise I kept under a 9 minute pace the whole time.

And the numbers: 

Miles: 13.1

Race Time: 1:52:36

Average Pace: 8:37

Which is 7 minutes faster than my goal had been overall!!

 And 10 minutes faster than I have ever run a half, which makes this:

A NEW PR!

How was your weekend? Did you run any races? What races do you have coming up? How do you reward yourself after doing something tiring?

Make sure to link up with Jill for Fitness Friday!