Settin' Records
The good news is, if I were a 55-year-old woman, I would have qualified for the Boston Marathon. The even better news is, I'm not a 55-year-old woman.
Seriously, I ran a kick ass (or kick tushie, as we say in my house) race today. I did go out a little too fast. I did have to make a pit stop in the bushes. But even so, I trashed my old PR of 4:25:07 with a 4:13:46 finish at the Baystate Marathon. True, my finish wasn't so good in comparison with others (Baystate is considered by some to be the fastest course in the country, because it's so flat and so many folks do qualify for Boston). Of course, this race had 2500 runners total, including the half, so I wasn't competing against quite as many people (Miami had about 2500 in just the marathon and NYC had about 35,000, I believe).
The route is nice, but it's a loop course, which isn't my favorite. What a loop course means is... I got lapped by the winner when I was at mile 12. I saw the USATF truck and a couple of cops on motorcycles and at first couldn't figure out why there were there... until this guy came blowing past me. The wind was pretty fierce out there--it never seemed to be at my back--and I'm petrified of bridges, and had to cross three of them, including a rather rickety one that shook with the cars.
But the leaves were gorgeously hued and the run was along the Merrimack River, which mad for some stunning views. I started at about a 9:45 pace and eased into a nice 9:35 pace for most of the run, but at mile 23, I started to hurt and at 24, my quads basically froze on me. I still kept running, but my place slowed so I eventually finished with a 9:41 pace. I had one of those finishes where I kept eying the medics, wondering if I needed them or not. But instead, I just walked and focused on not throwing up, which I succeeded at, so all was good.
And now? Now I'm done. Now I get sushi and a beer. Now I get a full week off of running and three weeks of easy running. And then? And then I start training for Miami. "Welcome to Miami. Buenvenidos a Miami."
Oh yeah. Bring it on.
Seriously, I ran a kick ass (or kick tushie, as we say in my house) race today. I did go out a little too fast. I did have to make a pit stop in the bushes. But even so, I trashed my old PR of 4:25:07 with a 4:13:46 finish at the Baystate Marathon. True, my finish wasn't so good in comparison with others (Baystate is considered by some to be the fastest course in the country, because it's so flat and so many folks do qualify for Boston). Of course, this race had 2500 runners total, including the half, so I wasn't competing against quite as many people (Miami had about 2500 in just the marathon and NYC had about 35,000, I believe).
The route is nice, but it's a loop course, which isn't my favorite. What a loop course means is... I got lapped by the winner when I was at mile 12. I saw the USATF truck and a couple of cops on motorcycles and at first couldn't figure out why there were there... until this guy came blowing past me. The wind was pretty fierce out there--it never seemed to be at my back--and I'm petrified of bridges, and had to cross three of them, including a rather rickety one that shook with the cars.
But the leaves were gorgeously hued and the run was along the Merrimack River, which mad for some stunning views. I started at about a 9:45 pace and eased into a nice 9:35 pace for most of the run, but at mile 23, I started to hurt and at 24, my quads basically froze on me. I still kept running, but my place slowed so I eventually finished with a 9:41 pace. I had one of those finishes where I kept eying the medics, wondering if I needed them or not. But instead, I just walked and focused on not throwing up, which I succeeded at, so all was good.
And now? Now I'm done. Now I get sushi and a beer. Now I get a full week off of running and three weeks of easy running. And then? And then I start training for Miami. "Welcome to Miami. Buenvenidos a Miami."
Oh yeah. Bring it on.
Labels: sporty mom
3 Comments:
Wow! Congratulations!
Very nice, Jenny! And you will qualify for Boston at some point, of that I am sure:) Ana-Maria
Yay, Jenny! Congratulations. And we have, like a zillion Nate the Great books if you want to borrow any. :)
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