Sunday, March 14, 2010

Week 11 / Runnin' of the Green

Week 10 2010:
Week’s Running totals: 44.75
Running Total for 2010: 428.20
Weight training: 3 (yep, 3!!)
Swim: zero. Again. I'm just going to accept the fact this isn't going to happen right now


Yep, another race for me; that’s two in one week, folks, with Razz’s 6.66virtual race and all. And here I am being all sneaky and such, not telling anyone about this little Irish gem. I think only a handful of bloggers knew ….

One of my all-time favorite races in Denver land is The St. Patrick’s “Runnin’ of the Green 7K” always held the Sunday before St. Patty’s Day. The Irish in me loves, loves, LOVES, all the green-ness of this fun holiday and why not do what I love best on my favy holiday: running! Don’t ya just love how it’s a 7k!??!! How many races in your life do you get to run a 7K (Lucky #7, Luck of the Irish….see the connection??? So clever!)!

I haven’t actually “raced” a race since I ran the Tucson Marathon back in early December, which is pretty rare for this girl. Last year at this time, I was already 3 races into the calendar year. I’m not sure if y’all are like me but if I get out of race mode for a while, I kinda get race-lazy and really don’t relish jumping back into it. So as I stood there at the start line today, I was kinda dreading this race. The fact it was a balmy 34 degrees and windy didn’t help matters any.
I got stuck in the inevitable large-race cluster start. As I was standing there at the start line with my boys, about 20’ from the actual start like banner, I had a feeling this was going to happen. As I looked at those around me, I sensed most were not serious runners. You know who they are. I have absolutely nothing against these people at all, I was just placed too far behind them (and they too far up in the front. But I won’t get into that issue right now). The gun went off and it took a bit to get to the actual start line, and THEN …. Man, what a mess….people just lollygagging everywhere. I thought about my friend, Dennis, and how he’d be having heart-failure right now. Ha. It was a little frustrating but I really had no intentions to kill myself in this race; my job was to get a race under my belt and get a feel for my racing fitness. I had no expectation and no goals other than to see what I can do.


This race is hilly. HILL-E! The first mile is relatively flat with a small downhill; I tried to stay off to the left hand side were there were less people but I still was stuck behind people moving too slow. And that was okay, it keep me from killing myself at a neck-breaking 1st mile pace like I tend to do. I hit mile 1 at a 8:00 min/mile. Slow but consider all at the start, it’s good. 2nd mile is probably close to 80% hills, and they come in a series of about 3 big ones. Kinda nice as it gives you a little reprieve at each but man, them are tough. I was stoked to see how well I was killing the hills. Not perfect or easy by any means, but I wasn’t sucking up a lung like I am hill-notorious for. Mile 2 I hit at exactly 8 again. I’m pleased, this is not an easy mile. Mile 3 is on the turn around and thus all them uphills are now down – woohooo! I hit mile 3 at 7:22. YES! But moreso, I’m stoked I’m feeling fine. More than fine! I’m breathing and my lungs don’t hurt and I’m not slowing. There was no mile 4 marker so I have no idea what I did…and btw, I do NOT wear my Garmin in a race because I refuse to become a slave to the clock; I wanted to run a hard effort on my own ability and just enjoy my surroundings. This is a LARGE race, I think about 6000 runners, and most are dressed in some sort of very fun Irish attire. I wore my GREEN shorts (not orange) and my Portland marathon shirt, which has some green in it, and a green bow in my hair, which I lost somewhere along the course :(. I didn’t see a finish line race clock so it wasn’t until I stopped my watch and checked it a few second later that I realized I came within a few seconds slower than my PR time last year (unofficial Jill watch time: 33:43).
HUH??? I was absolutely stunned! I wasn’t even doing the math along the way to realize that two 8 min/miles and one 7:22 could land me close to my last-year-in-prime-condition’s PR time if I continued to feel well for the last 1.45 miles….so when I saw what my time was, I was thrilled! THRILLED! And the best part, I felt great and didn't even push it to an all-out max effort! That feels so good! (I also heard on someone's blog that the course was changed, and lengthened slightly from last year, to make it a "certified" course. Even more bonus on my behalf - yea!!).


Yeah, I’ll take it!!!!
race results just in:
age group: 17/428 in age group
Female placement: 79/2180
Overall: 239/3730
Official time: 33:43 (Gun time 34:27 - yeah, I got a bad start)

I found the boys after and we grabbed our free garb and headed home; snow was starting to come down and I was flipping freezing!!! I wish I could have gone to the beer garden to see if any of the prostate teammates were there, last year we had a great time downing a few Killian’s, but no way this year, I was frozen to the core!

Ryan, twin #1, managed to knock off 9 minutes off from last year (he attributes this to the last semester in P.E. where they played floor hockey and had to run a lot); he wants to run cross country this summer as he enters high school so I hope this little race helped motivate him some. Twin #2, Brendan, didn’t run as well but I admire him for getting out there; it’s not easy to just go run 4.35 miles with zero cardio training whatsoever (well, he does box, remember "the eye"???). I’m so proud of both of them!!

Next weekend I have a little ½ marathon down in Atlanta (Atlanta ING). I’ve run this race the past two years and absolutely love it. The course, the weather, the support, the city – I love it all! I used to live in the South for a period of time and have the most dear-to-my-heart friends there so I try to venture down each spring (thanks frequent flyer miles) and spend some girlie time with them and run. This year, my ex-neighbor, and fun running friend, Shari, is going too – I’m so excited!! I’m not sure how I’ll run down there, I thought after I was done today that I really couldn’t maintain that pace for much longer so how I’ll perform in Atlanta will certainly be a mystery…but for the first time since before I contracted that nasty lung crud, I’m actually looking forward to it. We shall see!! I ran a 15-miler on Friday night after work and my back was killing me. Again. This is really starting to concern me because if there is one thing that can destroy your marathon pace quickly, back issues would be one.

Anyway….

I was inspired by Anne-Marie’s blog how she lists her goals for the week. I always feel that each day I’m just frantically cramming everything in and feel so disorganized and frustrated (stressed!) each day so I decided that instead of my weekly gratitude list, today I’m going to make a “goals for the week” list, so here ya go:
- Eat perfectly
- Be in bed each night by 10:15
- Do my weight training at max effort and do not whine about going for 3 hours prior
- Stretch my back at least 2 times a day, morning and night
- Do Katie’s 50 sit-ups a day challenge

- Do 50 glute pull backs everyday
- Make sure meals are planned before I go to work so I’m not scraping together dinner at the last second, like I tend to do

- Bite my tongue when college daughter tests my nerves (this will be a tough one - haha - she's home for spring break this week...but on her way out of town in the opposite direction of me on Thursday)
- Get all arrangements for my boys to stay with friends next weekend all in place by Monday evening. Get all food for them and laundry done before Wednesday so I’m not a scattered mess when I leave them on Thursday (I’ll miss them :( )
- Clean my bathrooms
- Iron all clothes the night before work for the next day (this will be tough…but I can DO IT!)
- Get a resume out for a writing job that sounds awesome (even if it’s probably too ambitious for me)


Congrats to all those that raced this past weekend. I heard/read from a couple, they did awesome!!

Run well this week, Friends!!

My boys, R and B, before the start

Us three, all in our Irish beads

Thes Irish Step Dancer girls had to be FREEZING! I love LOVE Irish Step Dance...can't wait to get my "Lord of the Dance" dvd out on St. Patty's day, my dorky tradition!

Freezing....and boys eating corned beef bagles :)

43 comments:

Unknown said...

Chica!
It sounds like your race was SO fun. Of course, my ADD reading comprehension delays were in effect today when I mistakingly thought TODAY was your half but little did I realize you had a St. Patty's race and NOT the half. Well, at least I knew you were racing and not just going out for breakfast or getting your nails done or something. It sounds like this race was just what "goachy" would have in mind. Nice job NOT being dependent on goachy for running advice. She is severely lacking in short distance racing and might have given you some bogus pointers like :eat some Bacon Gu and washing it down with Dr. Pepper. I am happy you took the day off and rested. Me too and it saved my life. Hey, at this rate, I wonder what goachy would say about starting our TAPER RIGHT NOW. If one day is so transforming to our running imagine what six weeks would do! So why is goachy now being referred to in the third person?
Have a great week and we'll talk soon...

AM! said...

Hi!
first...go half marathon next weekend! woo-hoo! sounds great!
for your goals for the week...yeah! my one caveat would be, you gave yourself a lot of goals! For myself I'd choose ~4 and create a specific, measureable, realistic plan for each to happen for the week. Hope that makes sense.
Again, as I think you know... you rock.

akjenniekt said...

Jill-
I'm glad that you had a good run! I really like Atlanta, now seems like a great time of year to run a 1/2 there :-)- I'm sure you'll do great!

I do like the weekly goals list. It feels good to get that all down on Sunday (although following it can be hard :-)). Hope you get it all accomplished before your race:-).

Char said...

I love the green writing - it totally put me in the spirit and there's no Irish in me. Great run!

Jenn said...

Great Job Jill! That's got to be a bit of a confidence builder expecially with the hills!! Must have been the green shorts. They'll have to stay in your closet!! My feeble math mind cannot compute miles out of 7K as I was looking to possibly run a St. Patricks Day 7K next weekend! Cute boys and how fun they ran too! Proud of you! Now, go kill your half next weekend and you will be completely rejuvenated and ready to give it your all in Boston! That's an order!!

Julie said...

Hi Jill,
Awesome job on your 7k St. Patty's Day Run:) Next weekend will be my first and I am looking forward to it:) I am so happy that you got a PR!! Woo hoo!! I want a PR darn it!! It seems like everyone is getting PRs but me:( It is so early in the season to be getting those!! It just proves that you have been working hard and that you are strong and conditioned:) I love the fun pictures...thanks for sharing Jill!!

Marlene said...

Congrats Jill! Nothing like unexpectedly getting sooo close to peak-fitness PR! You're in better shape then you think! Sounds like a fun race.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

aweeeesome!!!! i love st. patty's races. i have never done but, but they look like so much fun! congrats!!
fun pix!
have a great monday. :)

Jen Feeny said...

Great job on the race there girly!!! I wish they had a St. Patty's race around here! So fun! I love themed races!

My little sister used to be an Irish Step Dancer in Denver, I bet you've seen her before!

ShutUpandRun said...

What a blast and sorry I didn't make it down for it!! Nice job on your time, you should be feeling very confident for Boston by this point. Your boys are so cute, btw.

Jocelyn said...

Great job!! It looks like you had a lot of fun! :D

misszippy said...

Way to go! See, you're gonna surprise yourself at Boston. Love the pics of you and your boys. Finally, I am so impressed with your goals--hope you get them all.

AZ said...

I agree about the slow people up front. Great race though. Nice work.

Mark said...

wait...you're going to try and do ALL of those goals?? wow. i'm already prepared to throw in the towel on this week :)
congrats on the race! that's definitely a good sign.

Running Through Life said...

Awesome job on the 7K! How cool that you ran with your kids. Good luck in Atlanta. With he times you pulled on the 7K, you will rock it. I hope the back feels better, keep stretching.

Psyche said...

I love that your post was green. So cute:)Great pictures, too. It really sounds like you are coming back strong!

Katie A. said...

I didn't know you were racing! Congrats girly, you ran great! Very, very proud of you! Use this momentum for next week - you will kill it out there!
Thanks for the kind comments on my post - I soooo love when it says "Jill" in my in-box :)
And the pics of you and the boys are great! Looks like you enjoyed your time with them! Corned beef bagels - I ddin't get one of those at my race!
Have a good Monday - great race lady!!!
Huggs to you!!!!

Pining for Pinterest said...

Congratulations on the race!!! I love all the pictures :-)

Whitney said...

Nice job on the time! Love that you get your boys involved with the race.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a great race! And I love all the green :)


Thanks for all the miles this week!

Anonymous said...

sounds like you had a great time..good effort too on that run. BUt DAQAAMn it looks cold. Brrrr

Running and living said...

Congrats on the race. And good luck on the 1/2, I have one, too, on Sunday! I see everyone is taking extra rest days. We need them!!! And Meg is right, I, too, am ready for taper! Good luck with the weekly goals!

Heather said...

That race looks like so much fun - awesome job!

Teamarcia said...

Nice race and fun too! Sounds like somebody's going to be in super prime shape in Boston!

Anonymous said...

congrats! must be a great confidence booster!

and i keep telling myself that i'm going to hop into the pool too. never happens ha

Tara said...

Wow girl! That's a super hot pace, congratulations! What a nice little confidence booster eh? I think that you need to wear GREEN shorts from now on. He he.

I'm swimming tomorrow and Thursday if you would like to join me either time. I can take off early from work just for YOU too! :)

When are you leaving for your half?

kilax said...

Great job on the race! I totally know what you are talking about with the "non-serious" runners. Somehow they always make their way to the front ;)

Have a great time in Atlanta!

Anonymous said...

Isn't mold green?

ajh said...

Wow! Your stats totally rock! You are fast fast fast! Look at your age group placement. Mega impressive! So glad you are feeling better and how fun that your boys ran it too!

Run Jess Run said...

That sounds like such a fun race!! Great job on the time and I can't wait to hear the Atlanta recap!!

Adam Culp (Crazy Floridian) said...

Nice race Jill ! ! ! You are super fast!!!

Looks like you are recovering nicely. Maybe Boston won't be as terrible as you were thinking. Atlanta will be a lot of fun.

Jennifer said...

Great race! And with your boys along too (for some reason I thought you had "little" kids). Ha! I was way off.

Melissa said...

You did great!! Your boys are sooo cute! Your yearly mileage is absolutely amazing by the way. :)

Glenn Jones said...

Snow? Wait a minute. My calendar says March 15....

Thanks for all the nice comments about my obsessive planning for this marathon. I do it not because I stick to the plan like velcro, but I do it so if I *do* leave something out, it was a concious decision to do so. All I need to do now is wait for the Big Day!

By the way - ever been to Chicago on St. Patrick's day? *That* is cool. They actually dye the Chicago River green!

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

Congrats on a fast race! Do you know how great it is that your boys run races with you? You know, right?! : )

Anonymous said...

Corned Beef Bagels sound AWFUL but you did an amazing job on the race-- especially given the last few weeks.

Hopefully this gives you some great confidence going into Boston. You are going to ROCK IT.

Lindsay said...

congrats on an awesome race!! i love getting close to my pr's when i'm not at "pr-status" in my training :) awesome, awesome job!

love the idea of a st.pat's 7k!

Katie said...

Great job! Sounds like a lot of fun! Liked your weekly goals too, except maybe the ironing one. We generally buy cloths that just don't need to be ironed. It can be challenging, but I absolutely have something against spending time ironing...I'd rather be running. Loved the pics too!

Marathon Maritza said...

Excellent job on the race, you speedster!

Megan said...

Yeah, now that race season is almost over in NOLA I need to set new goals. I think I'm going to do something along those lines.

RunToTheFinish said...

fun stuff!! I started making a list of 6 key items for each day, no more and no less. Those six must get accomplished and my list includes running, eating healthy, along with daily things..that helped me to focus!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Those are some great pics! Awesome job on the race! :)