I'm With Lynsey

Today was Lynsey's first ever 5k.  Syl organized a bunch of bloggers to run with her.  Of course, we're geographically spread out, so our run "together" took place thousands of miles apart.

For me this was the IronGirl 10K. Check out my race bib, 'cause I'm with Lynsey!

By the way Lynsey, if you want the duck and some race swag to commemorate our group run, email me your address.  I'll send it to you..

I Ran The World's Fastest 5K

More accurately, I ran in the Carlsbad 5000, the race they call the World's Fastest 5K. They call it that for good reason, the world record has been broken there 16 times.

We ran this as prep-race for Team In Training. There's so much to learn about Running In A Race, e.g., where you want to wear your race number so it doesn't annoy you, how to line up at the start, how to protect your pace in the mob of runners. You don't want to learn those lessons during your first marathon. Running the prep event is essential for people who've never raced.

As of Tuesday, I wasn't going to do it. I called Steve from a business trip and said no way. I'm not a sprinter; my pace is more like waiting for the earth to rotate beneath me. Really, I'm that slow these days. The fastest 250 finishers get a medal, but the rest of us get to walk around medal-deficient announcing to all our lack of speed. I didn't want to run dead last in a sprint and feel bad about myself. I had decided to go to the race to cheer on my teammates and mentees, but skip the race myself.

A big driver of this pouty response is my overall stress level - I've been traveling a bit for work, Steve's been sick, our jobs are extra-intense lately, and the house is a mess. I regularly find myself at the very end of my tether. And that is no place to be.

On Saturday, I smartened up about the Carlsbad 5000. Who cares if I'm slow? I've always been slow and it never stopped me. I was being a big, whiny baby. Run - not because you're fast, but because you love to run. The race was actually pretty fun. I ran with a nice group and I wasn't nearly last.

Bonus surprise - all TNT finishers did get a medal. It absolutely rocked to see my teammates get their medals.
Not a surprise, but a bonus - my friend Raul and a bunch of TNT teammates picked up a top 250 medal.

Run on my speed demon buddies; I'll be right behind you.

I'm In It

This just in - I'm doing the Trail of Torment 10K this Sunday.

I'm planning a triple medal January!

IronGirl

My favorite race of the year was last weekend, the IronGirl 10K. I did they inaugural event last year and it was fantastic. I liked it so much that I drafted a whole slew of women to do the event with me this year: TNT alumni, friends, and even some Striders.

This year the course started on the Del Mar Race track. The horse track surface is strangely cushioned. It's really soft on your joints, but a bit like running in sand. Either way, it was neat to get to run along the famed horse track. Also, we got to watch ourselves cross the start line on the Jumbo-tron which was cool.

Unfortunately, it was a hot day. I just don't do well in the heat at all. Also, they changed the water station layout from the course map. They moved the water stations to the turn around points which was a bummer, because it effectively meant that there was one less water station on course. I had plenty of hydration mix in my water belt, but some water to pour on me to cool off would have been great. Instead, I got sick just before the water station. Damn heat.

Everyone hates the heat, but other people don't seem to suffer the way I do. I'm going to research how to increase my tolerance of hot weather. Maybe I should be training in warmer conditions.

Other than my bout of heat sickness, it was a fun event. I was happy to collect my medal and see my friends all along the course.

Easy Rider

The century ride continues to become more likely. We went to look at bikes yesterday.

I had no idea how complex and precise performance bikes have become. Let me explain - if you asked me to describe a bike, I'd be telling you about a basket on the front, tassels on the handle bars and a banana seat with flowers on it. That's the bike I owned as a child. I've certainly ridden and owned bikes since then, but nothing fancy. My last bike was bought at Target. And trust me, it didn't have carbon anything or Shimano gears or whatever else.

So I showed up at Cal Coast Bicycles like the village idiot and asked a ton of questions. Luckily, we had George, the world's most patient salesperson, help us. He put me on the right size bike and gave me some advice on how to balance myself better on the saddle. Viola! It wasn't uncomfortable like the bike in Ireland. In fact, I road tested the bike for so long that I got lost and George had to come out and fetch me.

During the ride back to the bike shop he gave me a few more tips. And then I almost took out a guy who stopped dead in front of me while crossing the street. How typical for me. I don't have a single problem riding on my own. As soon as someone is available to see me be uncoordinated my doofus gene makes a spectacular appearance.

In other news: On Thanksgiving Day I did the Run for the Hungry 10K and averaged 13:30 minutes per mile. That's a vast improvement from the 13:52 minutes per mile I did in the Iron Girl 10K in late July.

Iron Girl 10K

If you ever need an example of how to run an event, then you should attend one of the Iron Girl races. I've been to Junior League Balls that weren't as polished and organized. At the start the event organizers spoke and said that since this was the inaugural event they hoped for 500-600 participants. Instead they had 1300. When your event more than doubles in size lots of things can become problems, but there wasn't any part of the event that was poorly done.

Race number pick up was quick; the start was organized; the course was well managed - those are the basics of any race. There were other things that made it exceptional. All the water was fresh bottled Arrowhead water - not the skunky water that sometimes shows up on courses. There were volunteers walking the course handing out Luna bars, band-aids and (thank you!) tissues. Every participant had her name printed in big letters on her race number - so as you looped past another racer you could call out support to them. I love cheering for people and I had a great time doing that.

The other thing that I really, really appreciated is that the entire course stayed open for all the participants. In a 5K/10K, most walkers pick the 5K option. That means, that when I'm finishing the 10K I'm near the end of the pack even if I'm walking a quick pace. Everything was still available - water stations, course munchies - everything. Lots of events start breaking down the aid stations well before the course time limit which leaves slower competitors/walkers without much support. There's nothing as disheartening as walking by an aid station that's already closed.

As I passed by someone on toward the end, I cheered her on a bit. She mumbled that this was her first ever finish. She looked tired - not as tired as I looked at the end of Rock and Roll Marathon mind you. As I walked by the last water station and the finish line, I told the volunteers that this was her first 10K finish. Those volunteers completely cheered her on. After the finish, I stopped to stretch and all of the finish line volunteers had made a tunnel for her to run through and get high fives. At the end of the race, there was a full catered breakfast from Elijah's. It was good stuff too: breakfast burritos, blintzes, pasteries, fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee and all types of juice. Plus, they had tables and chairs set up so you could enjoy the meal.

Before the race, I ran into some TNT Teammates from Rock-N-Roll marathon. They are taking this TNT session off, and it was nice to see them. They did the 5k, but waited to cheer for me on the 10K course. That was very, very sweet and I was so happy that they did that.

My knee wasn't entirely cooperative and it was an incredibly humid day, but I still felt that I had a good pace - 13:52/mile average and a faster pace for each mile. I'd like to be able to maintain about a 14 minute mile for the entire Nike Marathon event.

Decisions

My pal Zeke came by my office and suggested the I run the Iron Girl 10K with him. He's a marathon/medal junkie - and the Iron Girl has a very cool finishers medal.

It turns out that men aren't allowed to participate in the Iron Girl. I don't agree with that. It's good to a have athletic events that empower women, but I don't see excluding the penis-bearers as empowering to women. It just seems dumb to me, but apparently it works for lots of women.

So Zeke isn't going to do Iron Girl, but he put the idea in my head. Now I'm torn on whether to my standard Team In Training session that Saturday or the Iron Girl.

Pro-TNT:
Training with my friends and training parters
Longer distance - 12 miles (TNT) versus 10K (Iron Girl)
Hill training which I'll need for the Nike marathon in October
TNT location is very close to my house; Iron Girl is 30 minutes away in Solano Beach
Can sleep later on that Saturday morning
Pancake breakfast after training - possibly at the Big Kitchen Cafe

Pro-Iron Girl
Cool event name
Niffy finishers medal
Great event jersey