A New Year

Bye-bye 2014. Not sad to see you go!

We had fun celebrating on New Year's Eve, but I didn't stay up until midnight. I was tired and I had 6.22 miles to race the next morning.

 

I have done this race before, last year and 3 years ago. But I hadn't done the 10K before. A year ago I decided that I should do the 10K. I knew it would be mentally tough because it is 2 loops of the 5K. And half of the race is a long a river. On January 1st = cold and windy!

I got there very early because last year there was a ton of traffic and parking isn't right close to the venue. I had drunk a ton of water before I left because I had a lot of salty food on NYE, so the chilly port-a-potties were needed. 

After getting my bib, I walked back to my car to get my FlipBelt and my headphones, and to grab a Gu. I had forgotten my waffle and PB sandwich when I first got there and now it was too late to eat it (I had had one when I woke up 3 hours before), so I was glad I had the Gu.

Even before the race, I was wondering if I would not do the 10K and stop at the 5K. But I knew I had to decide before the race started so I knew what pace to run. The 10K it would be.

I passed the 5K finish around 32 minutes, so I would have had a course PR but not a 5K PR (which I wouldn't have been expecting), and I kept on going. Yes it was mentally tough, but I kept thinking it would just be another 32+ minutes.

I wasn't 100% sure what my PR was - I am pretty sure it was 1:13 for the Heartbreak Hill 10K and 1:09 for a flat 6.22 miles on the bike path during training. I ran yesterday in 1:07:29 so a PR definitely!

I felt great after the race!

Last night I spent time thinking about potential running goals even though I said I wouldn't have any. I thought about doing a 1/2 over Memorial Day weekend so back tracked to see when I would have to start training - I figured I could start at the end of March as long as I was consistently running 6-7 miles over the weekends - which would mean I would have to run additional for my 3-part race (Feb 22, March 1, March 8).

But I wasn't overly excited about the thought of training. Right now the race is $85 so I didn't sign up. I may sign up before it goes up, but may not be 100% committed to doing it.

And then waking up this morning and hobbling to the bathroom reminded me even more about why I may not/ should not train for another half. My foot usually hurts for a couple of days, which is part of which prevented me from running more times a week.

So right now I am not going to think about a 1/2 or even running more. I am going to do my own thing. I can't run with my running partner because she is training for a full in May, and I can't run a lot with the running group because they run Saturday mornings and Monday mornings and I need to go to WW on Saturdays and do my long runs on Sundays (and thus want to rest on Mondays).

So back to my true immediate goal: Get rid for the 5-7 lbs I have gained since the end of September.