First race of the season! Although triathlon, not running, is my primary focus right now, I was looking forward to this race as a gauge of my fitness. I started training with VisionQuest Coaching in February and was looking forward to seeing the progress I've made so far. This year's racing season means so much to me because it's my time to see what I'm made of. I've always enjoyed the mental, physical and social aspects of racing, but, until now, haven't been in a position where I can really put everything into it. Now that I am settled in my career, I have more control over my schedule and, therefore, the ability to train at a higher level than in years past.
I went into this race not quite knowing what to expect, but looking forward to seeing where I stand. My training for the past 2 months has gone quite well other than one minor setback in my running. I had a sharp pain on the top of my right foot at the end of a short run a few weeks ago. The next day it felt worse. My coach, Dan, told me I was done running for the rest of the week. This was fine with me since I've always been one to listen to my body and catch something before it turns into a big deal. I stopped running completely for about 1.5 weeks and slowly built back up over the last 2 weeks. The past 2 runs, I finally felt confident that the issue had completely healed and racing would not be an issue.
The weather was unseasonably warm (70+ degrees and humid at 9am) and breezy. I started in the Elite Corral, which was a little intimidating, but a nice treat. I was seeded there based on my expected finish time of 31:30. Never having run an 8k, this guesstimate would line up with previous 5k and 10k times when I was in my best shape. The plan was to not start out too fast, a conservative 6:30 pace to start and speed up if I felt good. Well, I felt good on race morning and the first mile was slightly down sloping, so I didn't worry when I saw 6:03 as my first split. The next mile felt just as good at 6:07. The course was mostly flat with some slight inclines and declines over the bridges. Being from Massachusetts, I like the hills and welcomed the slightest of inclines that they were. As I came up 'Mount' Roosevelt, as it's known to the Chicagoans, and rounded the last straightaway, I looked at my watch and saw a 29 as the first number. It then hit me that I would far exceed my expectations. I ended up finishing in 30:29 (30:34 officially... had I known the elite racers went by gun time and not chip time, I may have placed myself a little closer to the start line ;) Either way, I was very happy with the result and held my glow for the rest of the day.
Since this race was technically just part of a training day, I moved onto my second workout of the day at the pool. When I returned home and saw the online results, I realized I had finished 3rd in my Age Group (29th Overall)! Never would I have imagined placing in a race of 40,000 entrants!!
Needless to say, I was thrilled with the result and so happy to share the day with my amazingly supportive boyfriend, Michael, who also ran a stellar race.
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