Monday, March 19, 2012

Runnin' of the Green race report.

Time and again I have heard people say that marathon training made them lose their speed. I've heard it, read it, and started to worry about it. I have an aggressive time goal in mind for the New Jersey marathon and if I lose my speed, there's no way I'll be able to reach it.

So, for the Runnin' of the Green 4-mile race this weekend, I really wanted to finish in 30 minutes, which would be 7:30 miles. I felt confident I could do it and, if I did, I could believe that I still had enough speed in my legs to go after that 3:45 marathon.

I wanted the confidence boost. I wanted to shake out the worry that these longer, slower runs were making me slower.

The day was perfect -- warm but not too hot. I met up with a bunch of my friends, chatted a bit and then ran a quick 1.5-mile warm-up. Just before the start of the race, Amanda was able to get a quick picture of a few of a few Strong Running Mamas:

That's me, Suzy, Tami, Melissa and Amanda.
Then we were off! I told myself to run steady and shoot for even miles, if possible. It's almost inevitable that I run a wee bit fast in the beginning but I more-or-less held back on Saturday. I went through the first mile in 7:13. I slowed it down but, honestly, I was feeling so good it was tough to do. I went through the second mile in 7:19. I figured I could try to hold on to that pace as best I could, figuring I'd probably start to slow since I was ahead of my pace. Instead, I went through the third mile in 7:12. As expected, I slowed a bit in the last mile, covering it in 7:21

My official time was 29:05. And, although I did slow a bit in that last mile, it really wasn't a dramatic drop-off, like I sometimes experience in races.

I finished feeling extremely pleased. My time was 55 seconds faster than my goal! And a BIG 2+ minute PR! Best of all, I felt terrific the whole race (well, with the exception of the last little bit where I was really pushing the pace to finish strong). In fact, as I was running, I kept wondering when I was going to fall apart. Was it possible to be running as fast as I was and have it feel so good?

I guess it was. And, believe me, this race did wonders to boost my marathon confidence. With two months to go I feel like I'm in a very good place. Marathon training has not run the speed out of my legs. It's still there! And I'm going to need every bit of it on May 6th. I know that.

My Runnin' of the Green 4-mile race stats:


Overall time: 29:05 (7:16 pace!) (that's my chip time -- gun time was 29:09, 7:17 pace)
Overall place: 157 out of 663
Overall female place: 36 out of 348

Age group place (40-49): 8 out of 107

After the race, I booked it home to make it to a birthday party. Then, later in the afternoon I went out for 4+ miles -- just an easy recovery run to shake out my legs.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

~ Felice

PS: My Larabar giveaway ends tonight!

11 comments:

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

Congrats! It's great to see how well you're racing!

Scott & Phoebe said...

Wow and wow and wow again! As a 3:44 marathoner (though not lately!) I'd say your goal is well within your grasp. Way to go!

Bill Fine said...

you are one fast momma! What a great run.....I'm jealous......I would kill to be that fast! Well done!

Darlene said...

Congrats, speedy!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! Great time. I have to say, you are running with speedy people! In my area you would have place much higher than 157!

Teamarcia said...

Congrats Felice! You are running strong and speedy. Damn those 10-year age brackets. :)

Marlene said...

Congratulations! You smoked it! That should be great for confidence.

Unknown said...

amazing job smashing your goal!!!
Strong run :)

Unknown said...

nicely done!

macnic said...

Well done! That's a great goal for the marathon, I think.

Suzy said...

You ran an awesome race! Congrats.

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