2010 IBM 10k and Donkey Dash 5k race reports
This is a long overdue race report for two recent running races. I started writing this, actually, right after the IBM 10k, but then I started writing something else timely and then I didn't finish that other entry because I was writing something else, etc. Things just kept coming up. Anyway...
IBM 10k
This year was the third time I've run the IBM 10k. The first time I ran it was in October 2007, not long after I was (unknowingly) pregnant. Granted, I wasn't very pregnant, but I was already feeling tired and nauseated and had a crappy race. I thought I was still recovering from the Longhorn Half Ironman and maybe that was part of it. I never wrote a race report because I was so ashamed of my 1:03:42 time. Ha! Perspective!
So then the following year (2008) Emmaline was born and I didn't run it because it was too soon, but I did run it last year. And 2009 me laughed at 2007 me for thinking 1:03:42 was a bad time. I ran it in 1:06:47 and again, didn't write a race report because while I had a good race for where I was at the time, it still wasn't where I had been before and I was feeling bummed.
So where had I been before my 1:06:47 and my 1:03:42? Well, for the record my 10k PR is 0:58:06 and I set that in 2007 at the Austin Triathlon. It's a weird place to set a PR (actually, I found out recently that I'm not the only one with a PR on that course) but it was fairly flat and I had a great race that day. Then there's my standalone 10K PR which is really almost identical at 0:58:44 (Texas Roundup 10k 2007).
Okay, where am I going with all this? Well, finally I'm getting back to where I was in 2007. Whew! I never thought I'd get there! I ran the IBM 10k this year in 1:00:58 ((9:48/mi). Yay!
My initial goal was simply to beat last year and hopefully come in under 1:05 and I certainly beat that. When I hit the halfway point in the race and I saw that I was at around 30 minutes, I thought I could make it in an hour. But, I also knew that the second half of the course is hillier than the first half so I picked it up. I just knew I could push it as hard as possible for three miles and maybe get under an hour.
Well, I didn't quite make it in under an hour, but I did negative split the course (take that hills!) and really, couldn't have asked for a better race.
Donkey Dash 5k
I'm combining this sort of race report with another recent event - the Donkey Dash 5k. Roger and I both headed out to run this. He ran it alone and I pushed Emmaline in the jog stroller. While I train a lot with Emmaline in the jogger (hello jog stroller hill repeats!) I hadn't run an event with it before so I was excited to see how I would fare. In general, I'm about one minute per mile slower with the jogger than I can run alone.
Emmaline had a great time at the race. There's a category for dogs as well as people so she had a lot of fun with all the dogs out there. She also liked seeing the two donkeys they had for the event. It was a nice flat course which I appreciated with the stroller and it was a small event so even though I started near the back at bit, I didn't have to do too much weaving, which is pretty much impossible with the jogger.
I ran pretty hard and I was rewarded with an awesome time of 29:45 which is a pace of 9:34/mi Yay! That's actually slightly faster than my 10k pace without a stroller. I remember when running a 5k under 30 minutes was a big deal without a stroller! In fact, I didn't break 30 minutes until I had been running for over a year and a half. Not only that, but I haven't broken 30 minutes in a 5k since Emmaline was born and again, I did it with the jogger.
So I'm pretty excited with where my running is right now and I'm looking forward to a 5k by myself tomorrow (Race for the Cure). I'm worried about the sheer number of people affecting my ability to navigate the course so I'm going to try to seed myself up a bit (which I also did at IBM and it worked really well). My 5k PR is 27:56 so we'll see what happens!
IBM 10k
This year was the third time I've run the IBM 10k. The first time I ran it was in October 2007, not long after I was (unknowingly) pregnant. Granted, I wasn't very pregnant, but I was already feeling tired and nauseated and had a crappy race. I thought I was still recovering from the Longhorn Half Ironman and maybe that was part of it. I never wrote a race report because I was so ashamed of my 1:03:42 time. Ha! Perspective!
So then the following year (2008) Emmaline was born and I didn't run it because it was too soon, but I did run it last year. And 2009 me laughed at 2007 me for thinking 1:03:42 was a bad time. I ran it in 1:06:47 and again, didn't write a race report because while I had a good race for where I was at the time, it still wasn't where I had been before and I was feeling bummed.
So where had I been before my 1:06:47 and my 1:03:42? Well, for the record my 10k PR is 0:58:06 and I set that in 2007 at the Austin Triathlon. It's a weird place to set a PR (actually, I found out recently that I'm not the only one with a PR on that course) but it was fairly flat and I had a great race that day. Then there's my standalone 10K PR which is really almost identical at 0:58:44 (Texas Roundup 10k 2007).
Okay, where am I going with all this? Well, finally I'm getting back to where I was in 2007. Whew! I never thought I'd get there! I ran the IBM 10k this year in 1:00:58 ((9:48/mi). Yay!
My initial goal was simply to beat last year and hopefully come in under 1:05 and I certainly beat that. When I hit the halfway point in the race and I saw that I was at around 30 minutes, I thought I could make it in an hour. But, I also knew that the second half of the course is hillier than the first half so I picked it up. I just knew I could push it as hard as possible for three miles and maybe get under an hour.
Well, I didn't quite make it in under an hour, but I did negative split the course (take that hills!) and really, couldn't have asked for a better race.
Donkey Dash 5k
I'm combining this sort of race report with another recent event - the Donkey Dash 5k. Roger and I both headed out to run this. He ran it alone and I pushed Emmaline in the jog stroller. While I train a lot with Emmaline in the jogger (hello jog stroller hill repeats!) I hadn't run an event with it before so I was excited to see how I would fare. In general, I'm about one minute per mile slower with the jogger than I can run alone.
Emmaline had a great time at the race. There's a category for dogs as well as people so she had a lot of fun with all the dogs out there. She also liked seeing the two donkeys they had for the event. It was a nice flat course which I appreciated with the stroller and it was a small event so even though I started near the back at bit, I didn't have to do too much weaving, which is pretty much impossible with the jogger.
I ran pretty hard and I was rewarded with an awesome time of 29:45 which is a pace of 9:34/mi Yay! That's actually slightly faster than my 10k pace without a stroller. I remember when running a 5k under 30 minutes was a big deal without a stroller! In fact, I didn't break 30 minutes until I had been running for over a year and a half. Not only that, but I haven't broken 30 minutes in a 5k since Emmaline was born and again, I did it with the jogger.
So I'm pretty excited with where my running is right now and I'm looking forward to a 5k by myself tomorrow (Race for the Cure). I'm worried about the sheer number of people affecting my ability to navigate the course so I'm going to try to seed myself up a bit (which I also did at IBM and it worked really well). My 5k PR is 27:56 so we'll see what happens!
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