Ho Ho, hee hee.

This was my first Ho Ho Ho Holiday 5k. It was held in Bethpage. I believe the loudspeaker guy said it was the 23rd? 24th? After a moment of semi-silence (not everyone of the 1200 participating was paying attention) in honor of the children and teachers we lost yesterday, the gun went off.

Broadway was narrowed considerably by cars lining BOTH sides of the street, even though the brochure stated NOT to park there. People were running on the sidewalk, and at one point a wave of people swept over to the right, I was lead over, and my right shoulder found itself slammed into some SUV's side view mirror.  "Ouch! F*&% n' A" -was all I said out loud to that! Sorry to any children that were running within earshot.

I can't believe I did not check out the route before the run. Where was my head? I don't think I like not knowing where I'm going. I probably could have calculated my energy expenditure better. As it was, I remember walking 2 times.. I think it could have been 3. That's what it looks like with MiCoach. They were all under 30 seconds, just enough to get my heart rate down. I was up in the 180's at the time, and not comfortable. At my age, that's WAY above where I should be, according to some of the info I've read.

The route took us into a residential loop. At one point, a woman was trying to back out of her driveway! Most runners passing and coming up to to the car were screaming at her. She and someone at the front door of the house were screaming something back.. I missed most of the drama because I was not going to slow down.

Otherwise, it felt like it went pretty fast. I did not PR, but I also did better than I thought I would since I was laid up with that neck issue for a good part of the previous week. I thought for sure I would come in just under 30 minutes. I tell ya.. I feel very competitive in a race! Did I mention that yet? I hope I don't kill myself during a race one day.  I guess since I don't feel too badly about slowing down or walking when I need to, there is less of a risk of that happening. :) I am happy too that I no longer get jitters before a race. I think the last time that happened was at Cow Harbor. Who knows?  I may get nervous again for my next 10k. 

This is my last race for the year. I started running in March. I've done 7 races in 10 months. I don't think that's too shabby. Although I've put on some weight after dropping a lot over the summer, I'm happy with my performance overall. 

Next year, a 5k here or there, 10k's will be my staple - I hope to complete a half by the end of fall '13.

Here are some poorly taken pictures for your perusal.

I love shepherds.

Really neat equipment.

I started out too fast again, and didn't slow down enough before the sprint home.

That's probably why I had to take walk breaks.

Magellan Data

Have a great weekend!

TPP


Updated stats from Athlinks 12/22/12
26:53 8:39 avg pace
9/54 Age group 
124/620 overall women
363/1155 overall combined