Sunday, June 13, 2010

Capital City Stampede 10K





Shortly after the start we were running immediately in front of the State House.


I didn't want to get out of bed. It was raining and I was mega tired!  But I dragged myself out of bed and started going through my prerace  routine. I had packed my bag the night before so I took a shower, drank some coffee and made my toast for the ride.  I double checked that I had my shoes and a hat.  I arrived in Montpelier about an hour later and got right to the race. When I got out of my car it was freezing and raining. I registered and came back to my car to finish getting ready.

Put on bib - check.
Put car key in shirt pocket - check.
Put on socks- check.
Take shoes out of bag and put on - wait.  

Where are the insoles?  Sh**!  I grabbed my newer shoes but I have most recently been running in my older shoes which have the super feet in them.  These shoes have no insoles what so ever!  I always have an extra pair of shoes in the back.  Not today. I wore them on my golf field trip on Thursday.  What do I do?   I put the shoes on - they fit very strangely and I walked to the running store sponsoring the race.  They are not open.  The door is unlocked and I go in anyways.  A few minutes later an employee arrives to work - probably wondering why I am in the store and how I got in.  I tell her my sad story and she turns on the computer, gets me some super feet, cuts them for my shoes and I am good to go.  She so easily could have said -"Look lady, the store isn't open,  why are you in here - get out and never enter this store again!" Whew!  She did not say that and could not have been nicer.  So I go back to the car and finish getting ready.

It was a fairly small race, more than 100 but not a lot I don't think.  Once we got going there were all the fast fast people out front.  Then there was a whole clump of people ahead of me.  Then there was me.   I didn't know if anyone was behind me. I thought  I was last.  The racers in small races put on by running clubs tend to be faster in my experience.  Soon after we got going I wasn't cold anymore.  There was just a light drizzle.  But there was a lot of mud and my newish shoes no longer look new.  First we went up  a hill, then along the front of the State House  (preview of running in DC). That was neat. Then a few more hills and off the the flat part along a bike path.  There is a river through Montpelier and some of the  race was alongside it.  It has flooded there more than once and I am including a few pictures from the floods. 







 Back to the race.  Then we were running on a dirt road full of pot holes. Just before the turn around I passed a runner plus once we turned I could see that a ways back there was another whole clump of runners.  So yeah, I wasn't last.

I was trying to run my miles in under 9 minutes a mile.  I worked particularly hard to do this in the last two miles when I was tired.  My splits were:

8:51   8:42    8:57      8:57       8:48      8:53      8:04(last .2)

 So my splits were fairly even and all under 9!  This was better than my only other 10K this year so overall I was pleased. I did NOT win a prize for my age group. Results aren't posted yet but there were some awesomely fast women there that were more than 50!  I did have one youngish woman telling me after the race that she kept me in her sights the whole race and I helped her along!  The post race food was excellent - huge bakery cookies, bananas etc.  The prizes 3 deep in age groups were gift certificates to the running store that sponsored the race.  Plus there were two randomly drawn 100 dollar gift certificates!  My name wasn't called!  But all in all a good race and I enjoyed the post race feeling all day.

The river yesterday



Today I ran 10 miles to finish out the first week of marathon training for that marathon I haven't picked out yet! But I am close. Weekly total - 35 miles - yeah marathon training is beginning!


Non running
We had our staff party Friday night - very enjoyable and went out to eat with friends last night. Usually when I go out I have wine but I guess I have been reading about it so much on MCM Mamas and Jamoosh's blogs that I needed to have beer.  I have to say I enjoyed it a lot and may need to keep the new trend up for awhile.  Today I have been packing to go to DC, finishing report cards and catching up with odds and ends.  Hope everyone had a good weekend!

25 comments:

I Run for Fun said...

Congratulations!!! You did so well. That is a rock solid performance.

Pahla said...

What a fantastic race, congratulations! I love all the pics.

misszippy said...

Great job!! So glad you got to run and not go to jail! ; )

HappyTrails said...

Very nice job on the pacing - way to keep it under 9's!! Have a great trip to DC with your daughter.

Suzy said...

Congrats on the race! Your splits are great, nice and even. Have a great trip to see your daughter.

EricaH said...

Good thing the race was sponsored by a running store, right? glad it all worked and sounds like you got a really good run in. :)

Julie said...

Woo hoo! You did fantastic:) Your splits are great and you kept up a speedy pace!

Nice work on the 1st week of marathon training! I am so glad that we are doing this together...I will need the moral support:) I promise that I will be a great cheerleader for you too!

Molly said...

Great job, and happy the insert thing worked out for you! Nice job starting your training, I can't believe I'm starting my sixth week of training already!

Monica said...

Girl!!! I GASPED when I first read about the missing shoes!! It's absolutely unbelievable that you found the store door open and waited.

I never for a minute belived you were the last one. You run WAY TO FAST to be the last. Remember there are a lot of runners like me...slowpokers. :)

Congrats! Great job!

MCM Mama said...

Oh man, glad the shoe thing worked out! I would have totally freaked out.

Nice job on the even pacing too! And, woohoo, for having a yummy beer. I love another convert. ;o)

Teamarcia said...

Nice job out there! Glad you were able to get some replacement Superfeet!

Anne said...

What a stressful way to start your race...so glad you were able to get insoles...phew! You did a great job, that's an awesome pace! Congrats!

Alicia said...

I think it's hilarious that even though no one was at the store you went in to browse anyhow. You could have been arrested for breaking and entering! haha! Glad you got some insoles for your super feet. And nice race pace!

Char said...

What a great shop-assistant! I'm wondering if she too was a runner and naturally more empathetic to your dilemma. Great race - well done.

Michelle said...

Great job and great pictures. Whoa on the flood pictures.

Kudos to the running store for helping you out.

Have a great time on vacation.

Johann said...

Congratulations! That's a great time for 10k's. Wow, those pics of the floods are great. Have a good trip!

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

I would have freaked out about the shoes! Great job on the race. Congrats on an awesome pace!

Darlene said...

Those are GREAT split times!! What's your secret? I do hate those over 50 speedy runners HA! Have a great vacation!

Marlene said...

Congrats on the race and great job on all the sub-9 splits!

Wow, that is some crazy flooding...

Tara said...

Congrats on your race; you had some awesome mile paces!

I'm so glad that you were able to get your Superfeet, I can't run without mine either!

Katie A. said...

Awesome splits!! You did great! And you lucked out with that running store :) Runners are just so nice sometimes!

Black Knight said...

Congrats, a very good performance with a regular split. Great job. Interesting pictures.

HappyTrails said...

Forgot to mention - when you come out in July, we will certainly try to hook up. We are tentatively planning on doing Summer Roundup. Do you have some steep downhills to practice on??? The downhills will leave your quads screaming so try to work'em beforehand! :-) Maybe you might be interested in getting in a short trail run while you are here? There are some nice "real" trails not far from the Baptist trailhead you had mentioned. You will have a blast!!!

Lindsay said...

congrats on a great 10k and 10-miler! weird about the running store being open, but not? at least they were helpful when they did officially open!

Jill said...

Holy Moly, that's a lotta water! We in Colorado are green with envy!! Sorry for my late congrats on your race (I need to go back to work so I can catch on blog work...haha) but CONGRATULATIONS!! That's great you were able to substain the sub 9's, as you wanted!

Too funny about the inserts. I got to the gym the other day with one running shoe. Don't ask!!

I registered for the Stampede 12K when you're out here so we'll have to hook up when you're here. With Kathleen, too. She's going to drag my butt up that thing in a couple weeks for some training. I pray I live!