Runnin' of the Green 4-miler Race Report.

You would think that I would know how to pace myself at this stage of my running life. Clearly, I do not. But I'll get to that later.

So. My big race back after a winter of not racing at all was yesterday at 10 am. I'd been looking forward to this 4-miler for a few weeks and my anticipation increased with every weather forecast. Sunny! Highs in the mid-5os! Sunny!

I wasn't sure what to wear but settled on capris and a long-sleeved top. Oops! That was a little too much clothing for a race but, well, let's just put that in the "lesson learned" column.

I got up in the morning and had my usual pre-race toast with peanut butter, water and coffee. Then I proceeded to become more and more nervous as the morning wore on. By the time we arrived in (not so) Green Island, I was all kinds of antsy. With only 20 minutes before the start of the race, I left Owen and Conal and hurried to the registration to pick up my race t-shirt and bib. Unfortunately, they only had XL t-shirts left so I was out of luck.

After a quick warm-up and stretch, I made my way to the starting line. Here I am with Conal before the race:


The race started right on time and I settled in to what I thought was a good pace. My goal for the race was to finish somewhere between 30 and 32 minutes. This was my first race since October so I wanted to run it just to get back into the swing of things. But I also wanted to get a sense of how I'm running to help with setting some new goals for this spring and summer.

I thought I would run the first mile in about 7:45 and then see if I could speed up to about 7:30 for the rest of the race. Well, that didn't happen. I ran the first mile in 7:05. Big mistake. I went out way too fast and that hurt me for the rest of the race.

Here I am in the second mile, looking particularly dorky, but still happy:


I went through the second mile in 14:54 and was starting to drag. I really fell off in the second half of the race as my breathing became labored and I started to feel really hot. I was cursing myself for being over-dressed and for starting out too fast. Then I told myself that all that negative self-talk wasn't going to do me any good and I had to just suck it up and run as well as I could for the rest of the race. At some point, there was a water stop and I grabbed a cup and walked while I drank. Then I trudged on, finishing with a very slight kick in 31:05.

Here are my stats:

Mile 1: 7:05
Mile 2: 7:49
Mile 3: 8:01
Mile 4: 8:10
Overall pace: 7:46/mi
Age group: 7/30 (F 35-39)

Look at the difference between miles 1 and 4! Ack! Well, now I know that I really have to work on my pacing. And to think that I just posted about how starting out too fast is a big mistake . . .

Overall, I had a great time. It felt wonderful to run a race again, especially on such a nice day. I'm already planning the next one!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

~ Felice