Brew 2 Shoe 10K Race
I just came back from a trip to the refirgerator. I was expecting to find several large containers of chopped fruit. I found nothing. Julie hasn't done the food craving thing so much, but she's a fruit eating machine now. Especially watermelon.
She'll grab one of these one pound tubs of chopped-up watermelon and just eat it. Done. No more watermelon.
I'm going to go to the grocery store real quick and get more fruit. I'll need to have it on hand when she gets back from the hospital's New Parents School and reads my blog.
15 minutes later...
Careful readers may have noticed that I sent Julie off to new parents school (breast feeding class), and I didn't go. She gave me permission to skip because I ran a local 10K this morning. They called it the Brew 2 Shoe and it came with a snazzy shirt.
Training
My training for this race was non-existent. Up until about two weeks ago, I was doing a pretty consistent routine of 3/week weights, 1.5/week yoga, 10 miles/week running, and brutal stair workouts on Thursdays. I think the only time I ran in the last week was an eight miler on Tuesday, but that went well so I had loads of confidence. I wanted to run this race in less than an hour pretty much on confidence alone.
Weather
Upper 70s, lower 80s, very humid. Nice cloud cover though and away from the sun. People in the middle of the US have been undergoing forced acclimatization for the last month or so and any start temperature under 90 falls under the "not so bad" category. It felt like a relatively nice morning. Still, I saw one ambulance drive past me on the course and later (separate incident) a girl ahead of me had gone down and was non-responsive when I went by, so it wasn't what you'd call "trivial".
Mile 1: Flat, 9:01
Following a bus ride the start with Julie's sister Amy and a nice attempt at a nap behind a van, I made it to one of the three portable toilets that 450 of us were sharing. I entered the can right as they started giving out surprisingly heartfelt and important-sounding instructions. I emerged for the second half of instructions. By then, it sounded like he was describing a map of the course. I didn't pay attention. This morning didn't feel like a morning to remember stuff.
Mile 1 was flat. We ran on the shoulder of a highway. There was a deceased black snake on the shoulder. I don't know if he was there before or if he got trampled by the herd. Poor little fellow.
Mile 2: Flat, 8:57
More of the same. We turned of the highway and ran on a smaller highway-like road, eventually shifting over to a sidewalk.
Mile 3: Flat, 9:13
An unfamiliar novelty here, a group of us had to stop and wait for traffic for a minute or so. I stopped the timer on my watch because I didn't think it should count. Though, to be fair, I did breath and rest and stuff.
Mile 4: Flat, 9:12
After we got through traffic we cut across the grass to the next road. The next mile was on a residential road and past K-State campus. At the start of this mile a dude asked, "Anybody know what the time is?" and this lady called out, "Less than 20 minutes!" More quietly, I had said "27:30" or something like that but I don't think he heard me. This let to some cute conversation a few minutes later.
Mile 5: Hellishly Steep, 9:45
A lot of people walked this mile. This one went up and over a hill that I sometimes add 20 minutes to my morning bicycle-to-work commute just to avoid. It sucked. On the far side, a girl had gone down. Some people were pouring water over her and saying, "Can you open your eyes for me?" That sucked.
Mile 6 + 0.2: Down then Flat, 9:04 + 2:00ish
After the hill, it was just a trot to the finish. I didn't get my watch stopped right at the end. Julie was waiting for me at the end because she had a couple minutes before she needed to go to new parents school. I grabbed a slice of pizza and waited for Amy.
Once Amy rolled in, the day was pretty much over. She was my ride and needed to get going to her next engagement. I just initiated my re-hydration process and hung out with the dog.
It was a good race. It would have been nicer if the temperature was in the 50s, but I'll take it. It was also a successful break-in run for a new pair of shoes (Brooks Ghost 4) I bought yesterday. They're my first Brooks shoes, so that's exciting. They gave my right arch a little trouble at mile 1-2, but I think they're going to work out well.
She'll grab one of these one pound tubs of chopped-up watermelon and just eat it. Done. No more watermelon.
I'm going to go to the grocery store real quick and get more fruit. I'll need to have it on hand when she gets back from the hospital's New Parents School and reads my blog.
15 minutes later...
I'm thinking of that three pound tub as a magic shield. The pineapple is just because I think it looks pretty with the red.
Careful readers may have noticed that I sent Julie off to new parents school (breast feeding class), and I didn't go. She gave me permission to skip because I ran a local 10K this morning. They called it the Brew 2 Shoe and it came with a snazzy shirt.
I like it because it is snazzy and a shirt.
Training
My training for this race was non-existent. Up until about two weeks ago, I was doing a pretty consistent routine of 3/week weights, 1.5/week yoga, 10 miles/week running, and brutal stair workouts on Thursdays. I think the only time I ran in the last week was an eight miler on Tuesday, but that went well so I had loads of confidence. I wanted to run this race in less than an hour pretty much on confidence alone.
Weather
Upper 70s, lower 80s, very humid. Nice cloud cover though and away from the sun. People in the middle of the US have been undergoing forced acclimatization for the last month or so and any start temperature under 90 falls under the "not so bad" category. It felt like a relatively nice morning. Still, I saw one ambulance drive past me on the course and later (separate incident) a girl ahead of me had gone down and was non-responsive when I went by, so it wasn't what you'd call "trivial".
Mile 1: Flat, 9:01
Following a bus ride the start with Julie's sister Amy and a nice attempt at a nap behind a van, I made it to one of the three portable toilets that 450 of us were sharing. I entered the can right as they started giving out surprisingly heartfelt and important-sounding instructions. I emerged for the second half of instructions. By then, it sounded like he was describing a map of the course. I didn't pay attention. This morning didn't feel like a morning to remember stuff.
Mile 1 was flat. We ran on the shoulder of a highway. There was a deceased black snake on the shoulder. I don't know if he was there before or if he got trampled by the herd. Poor little fellow.
Mile 2: Flat, 8:57
More of the same. We turned of the highway and ran on a smaller highway-like road, eventually shifting over to a sidewalk.
Mile 3: Flat, 9:13
An unfamiliar novelty here, a group of us had to stop and wait for traffic for a minute or so. I stopped the timer on my watch because I didn't think it should count. Though, to be fair, I did breath and rest and stuff.
Mile 4: Flat, 9:12
After we got through traffic we cut across the grass to the next road. The next mile was on a residential road and past K-State campus. At the start of this mile a dude asked, "Anybody know what the time is?" and this lady called out, "Less than 20 minutes!" More quietly, I had said "27:30" or something like that but I don't think he heard me. This let to some cute conversation a few minutes later.
Mile 5: Hellishly Steep, 9:45
A lot of people walked this mile. This one went up and over a hill that I sometimes add 20 minutes to my morning bicycle-to-work commute just to avoid. It sucked. On the far side, a girl had gone down. Some people were pouring water over her and saying, "Can you open your eyes for me?" That sucked.
Mile 6 + 0.2: Down then Flat, 9:04 + 2:00ish
After the hill, it was just a trot to the finish. I didn't get my watch stopped right at the end. Julie was waiting for me at the end because she had a couple minutes before she needed to go to new parents school. I grabbed a slice of pizza and waited for Amy.
Once Amy rolled in, the day was pretty much over. She was my ride and needed to get going to her next engagement. I just initiated my re-hydration process and hung out with the dog.
It was a good race. It would have been nicer if the temperature was in the 50s, but I'll take it. It was also a successful break-in run for a new pair of shoes (Brooks Ghost 4) I bought yesterday. They're my first Brooks shoes, so that's exciting. They gave my right arch a little trouble at mile 1-2, but I think they're going to work out well.
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