As the 4th of July weekend approached us I was getting the itch to race so I found a 5k to run on Saturday in Williamsburg and a 10k to run on Monday in Sigourney. Since I have not been able to run a couple of my ultra-marathons that I wanted to, I decided to begin working on speed in hopes of setting some PR's and build up to a what will (hopefully) be a phenomenal 50 miler this fall in Chicago.
I was able to wake up in the muggy early morning Iowa summer and set one foot in front of the other faster than I have done before. Each race had its own twist, one with so many turns I had to go fast to keep up for fear of getting lost and the other with several little hills and one long gradual incline. I approached the 5k with the mindset of keeping good form and pushing it all the way to the end, especially because it is much shorter than my usually race. Long behold- I surprised the hell out of myself and finish 10th overall and 5th in my age group.
After a great 5k and a PR I was a little hesitant on how well I would do at my 10k. I knew that I had consumed a few too many adult beverages the night before while in good company and that the weather was going to be a bit humid at the start of this race. I drove to Sigourney in the a.m. and though that I was just gonna log 6+ miles, but yet again I surprised the hell out of myself. It was a looped course & it started with the 5k and 10k runners at the same time, no big deal you think, until you are about to run another 5k PR because your following the leaders & you still have another 5k to go! Needless to say, when the 5k runners stopped and the rest continued I found myself among one other runner! As I cut tight to curbs and around cars; we were rapidly approaching another racer. Not knowing who the leader was I continued to push hard. The weekend festivities began to hit me with 1.5 miles to go and I knew that the rest of the race was up to my head because the tank was empty and I was on fumes. I was able to pull off 4th place overall and 2nd in my age group. Although my competition throughout the weekend was not as tough as it could have been I was able to hang on to the lead groups in both races and let them help pull me to the finish line. I am loving running faster and will carry this speed-work to the next level. I am shooting for a sub-7hr 50 miler in October! (An intense goal I know, but why not go for it!)
"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right."
-Henry Ford
-Henry Ford
