Races Like a Girl

Yesterday we ran in the Rockland Road Runners Turkey Trot 5 Miler in Congers, NY. The weather was so bad that it was comical. And the best part? Over 900 people showed up to slog through driving rain, high winds and a wind chill below freezing.

Yesterday’s race really made me appreciate whoever invented Gore-Tex. And I learned the difference between water “resistant” and water “proof.”

I wore my Gore-Tex rain pants, a Gore-Tex baseball cap and my Gore-Tex shoes. Since I don’t like my Gore-Tex rain jacket (it’s way too big and has no vents), I opted instead to wear a new jacket I bought recently. I didn’t know when I bought it if it was “resistant” or “proof.” Within about 4 minues of the race, I had my answer. 🙂 I was soaked to the bone, through three layers of jacket, midlayer and tech tee…down to the bra.

Fortunately, I brought a change of clothes, and since the windows of the car were completely steamed up, I could change in complete privacy.

Runners really are nuts. Why else would we elect to get up at 6:00AM on Thanksgiving to run in the rain, wind and cold? And pay to do so?

No age awards, but I did run a 41:09 race, which sort of amazed me given the conditions. 11th in my group, out of 49, so I’m still holding onto my usual goal of being in the top 20% (give or take) in larger races. And I again ran evenish splits, with faster ones toward the finish. Hoozah.

Oh, and I spotted a sodden Elvis impersonator standing along the side of the course in the last mile, cheering (and I use the term loosely) us on, and trying to drum up business.

I came home and ate a heaping plate of turkey and the usual Thanksgiving fare, guilt free (no pumpkin pie, though), along with copious amounts of Chardonnay. Then collapsed early. Today is a 10 mile recovery run. Naturally, the weather is perfect today! Then tomorrow off (for errands, a movie and some rest for my legs) — and then hiking (probably over to Rockland again) on Sunday.

I’ve also been tweaking my marathon training plan. I realized that I had too many very long runs scheduled too close to the event, so I cut those down. I also added in some longish “marathon pace” runs. But the training is going well. I’m out of my mileage building phase (up from 30 to 45+ MPW) and now in the speed phase, with some progressively longer runs also happening. No problems so far, knock wood.

The other big news is that we’ll be doing the Sedona Half Marathon in February. We’ll be visiting family there, with the trip capped by the race. I’m excited not only to visit family (in a beatiful place to boot), but to also get the hell out of the NY winter weather for a bit and to get a gauge of how the training is going. The half is about six weeks before the marathon. Of course, if it turns out the training hasn’t gone as well as I’d thought, it will be too late to do much about it. But at least I can adjust my expectations for March accordingly.

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I ran in the first of two turkey trots this week: the Mamaroneck Turkey Trot 5 Miler. And, I’m happy to report, it was (relatively speaking) my best race ever. I’m told the clock said 39:57. Since my goal was “under 40,” I’m quite happy with that.

Which just goes to show you that race times are unpredictable. I had three “problems” going into this race:
1. My left shin was hurting a bit during warmup. It bothered me quite a bit during yesterday’s easy 4 mile run, although I ran a fast 9 miles on Friday morning with no pain whatsoever. Go figure.
2. My watch was malfunctioning. The distance calculations were way, way off, so I had no idea what my real pace was.
3. The wind it was a blowin’. Right in my face for two of the five miles. Sometimes I had a small hills to go along with the brisk headwind. Whee!

And yet, I had my best race time — in a race I’d decided while standing at the start line that I shouldn’t get my hopes up for.

The best part of the race is that I’m getting a sense of how much speed endurance the last five weeks of easy running has helped to build. I’ve built my mileage up from 30 to 45 miles per week in that time, and my pace has increased on easy runs, helped by the fact that I’ve been finishing some of them a marathon pace for the last couple of miles. I was running a fast pace (for me) in today’s race — 7:59 — and my last two miles were much quicker than my first three.

Jonathan won 2nd in his age group (he always seems shocked by this) — a lovely silver-plated memo-pad holder — and the awards ceremony was fun to watch. It was a well-organized race and I’ll probably do it again next year.

Next turkey: the Rockland Road Runners 15th Annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5 Miler.

And after that, the 14 pounder thawing in the fridge downstairs.

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