Monday, September 3, 2012

Oh, and about that race . . .

So, I was on vacation for the past week, enjoying myself in lovely Stone Harbor, NJ with my family and some wonderful friends.

We go away every year -- four families rent a house together and it is always a great time.

Here we are on the last night at the beach:

Janis, Bridget, Monique and me

All the kids!

Yes, I enjoyed myself a lot.

I didn't, however, run a lot.

Oh, sure. I had grand plans to run everyday and I thought for sure I'd sneak in a mid-week long run. But that didn't happen. I think I ran 3 times total. It was one thing after another but mostly it was that I was too busy being on vacation to run much. And that's OK. Sometimes a happy runner just needs a bit of a break.

What I did do, though, is run a quick little 5K on our second day. And I happened to set a new PR.

It was the Sandy Paws 5K and it took place just 6 blocks from our house. Bridget and I decided we had to run it, even though we had raced the Clove Run 10 miler just a week earlier. Who cares? we thought. We're just running for fun -- it is a vacation race after all!

After a horrible night's sleep (we experienced possibly the worst thunder storm ever), Bridget and I got up early and walked over to the race, which started at 8. It was hot. It was humid. I was dripping with sweat after about a minute of running.

As hot and sweaty as I was, I tried to run a steady pace. My A goal for the race was to finish around 23 minutes and run negative splits. Well, that didn't exactly happen:

Mile 1: 7:16
Mile 2: 7:20
Mile 3: 7:24
last .10: 6:54 pace

Finish time: 22:42

A new PR by ONE second! That's about as close as you can get. I never in a million years thought I'd PR at this race but I guess I just had it in me!

Here I am in the last mile -- Owen and the kids (along with Bridget's husband and their kids) came out to cheer us on!


Although I didn't run negative splits, I'm not too disappointed because my splits were fairly steady and I certainly didn't drop off too much in that last mile.

Bridget and I walked home right after the race because the awards ceremony was scheduled for a half hour after the ace ended. It's too bad, because I ended up finishing second in my age group. Oh, well. We had a vacation to get on with -- we couldn't stand around and wait!

And get on with the vacation we did. What a wonderful week.

Now, back to reality. And back to my training plan!

Have a great week, everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice





5 comments:

Lys said...

Sweet! Congrats on your PR and placing! But even more, congrats on the spur of the moment race!

absolute healthy eating said...

Still I would like to say Congrats to you. That is still a good race. :)

Unknown said...

Sweet finish! And after a 10 miler! Awesome! You are my hero today!

Happy Running Mama said...

Congrats on your PR! It is so fun to have low expectations and then surprise yourself like that. Hope the vacation was fun, too!

absolute health and fitness said...

Congrats to you! Cheers for the great finish!

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