Week in Review

70 Miles
4 mile tempo in 5:55 + 4x400m
5 Miler Race in 28:44, 2nd place, $400
13.5 mile long run for Boston
7 runs

This week marked my third week out of four in which I headed out of town for a race with prize money.  I did not taper for this race and hit my highest mileage for 2013 with 70 miles.  For that reason, I had a fairly easy workout on tap for Wednesday, which I ended up doing alone.  By race day, the effects of the workout still hadn't cleared my system or my legs were tired from 3 consecutive weeks around 70 miles.

I got out of my car in Columbia, SC for the Women's Heart and Sole 5 Miler with high expectations to win.  It was my fourth year in a row running here and each year seemed to get better.  In 2010, I got third behind stiff competition (Janet Bawcom), in 2011 I held hands across the finish line with Meagan, and in 2012, I ran my fastest time on that course by over 45 seconds.  Hoping to best my time from last year, I came expecting to win and to push myself alone on the course.  I was so wrong!

On my warmup, I scoped out my competition and found basically no one.  However, on the start line, literally like 3 minutes before the race, the same chick that raced with me for half a mile at the Burrito Dash popped out of nowhere.  Off to the side stood her trusty coach and I knew it was going to be a good competition.  At this point, I hadn't discounted myself out yet.  After the gun went off, Joan (Burrito girl) and I took off for the $500 win.  By 1 mile, after we went through in 5:40, I knew that I was going to be out of the game.  On the downhill in mile 2, Joan took off and literally left me in the dust even though I ran a 5:20.  The hilly third mile began as I watched her gap even more distance between us.  While she probably split a 5:40, I split a 5:56.  At this point in the race, I basically just gave up. I knew that she was going to win handily and I also knew that there was no competition anywhere near me, so I settled.  I hate that I did it, but I did.  I gave in to a mental weakness and let her go and didn't try nearly as hard to catch her.  My splits are a little slower than last year, when I ran basically the same time but completely solo.  The key takeaway with this comparison is that I was able to motivate myself to go faster in those final 2 miles alone last year better than I could this year because I was "losing."  In the end, I crossed the finish line in 28:44, just 1 second off last year's time.  Fortunately I still came away with $400, which was great.  In the end, I know that I can beat Joan, but I just didn't have the heart to go for it this time around.

Sunday was highlighted with the Run for Boston at McMullen.  It was great to see 200+ runners come out in the rain to support Nicole and Michael Gross as they recover from this tragedy.  We enjoyed some soggy miles, great company and delicious homemade food for a couple hours in the early morning hours and I wouldn't have changed it for anything else.

Now on to next week, where I'll focus on my prep for the USA Half Marathon Champs