Weekend Pick-up Race

I decided late Thursday night that if I was going to go out and support my boyfriend for his 10K (one which I had already declined to participate in when he asked) and if I was going to be running 6 miles anyway that weekend, I might as well get a t-shirt out of the deal so I hastily signed up for the race. The t-shirt is the ugliest one I have ever gotten.

The weather was the worst I have ran in. I think. Unless I have blocked worse from my memory. It was gusty and snowing!! And of course cold because gusty and snow never come alone. Cold race days are tough because how do you dress warm enough for the pre-race period, what do you do with your stuff you aren't wearing during the race, and most importantly, how do you get warm after the race?

Even with bad conditions, I ended up with at 6.2 mile record. I was pleased with my 10:45min/mile average pace. Yet, I can't ditch this nagging feeling I had that I had in fact run a faster 10K at some point. I could have sworn it was in 1:04 and change, but how could that be? That would mean about 10:20min/miles. Impossible right? Nope. I checked my garmin and it said that in fact I had run 6.21 miles September 9, 2007 in 1:04:09. Bummer dude! But that was not really a race, nor on a certified course, but I bet I was hauling that day because I don't think the time and distance are that far off. You know what.....now that I think about it, I think even blogged about it! Let's check the records.

Yup. Sure enough: http://livinglists.blogspot.com/2007/09/mental-illness-part-ii.html

I'm all confuzzled. In this post on 9/21 I claim it as my fastest at 1:04:41, yet my garmin has a faster time the week prior. Whatever. I felt great about the race. Feel like it was a fast time for me. Still froze to death (nearly) on the way home.

Back to the race real quick, there was this girl that I seemed to be pacing with well so I thought maybe I would just follow her the whole way. I took a liking to her especially because she was wearing dang near the exact outfit I wore in the 1/2 last weekend. I called her Mini-E. She was thinner, taller and had a cleaner stride than me. So I thought if I can keep up life, will be good. Just before the half way point I thought "I wonder if Mini-E is holding me back?" So I passed her and never looked back. As far as I know I finished before her, but it was a busy race. Along the wayI thought this was somehow symbolic. Maybe on some deep (deep) level there is a mini-e inside of me holding me back because she is safe and I need to pass her and keep running.

Let's not think to deeply on this one, huh?

Tri Report:
Week 1 and I'm already backed up! Today I need to swim and bike and do some strength training. Completely doable except I didn't get in my minimum 15 miles running this week and that's going to bum me out, but I don't think I want to run today with the other stuff on the menu. We'll see, but don't expect much.