An Unremarkable Day At The Races, and The Great Colorado Couch Surfing Tour

So, Saturday was that headless chicken deal. When I arrived around 8 a.m., it was about seventy degrees and sunny with no clouds in the sky. I haven't had a speed workout since my marathon other than Monday's crummy session-just two weeks of recovery runs with a gradual introduction of regular Pfitz GA runs over the past two weeks. I wanted to at least beat last year's time and run as evenly and hard as I could today.

Mile 1- 6:48
Mile 2- 7:21
Mile 3- 7:30
Last .1 (.11 Garmin-measured)- :43.47 or a 6:47 pace

Total time 22:22 Garmin, 22:21 official race time.

This was good for fourth overall out of roughly 180 women (I mistakenly thought I was third-the lead woman was so far ahead that I just didn't see what was going on up there, and there was another woman on her heels, apparently), and third out of what looks like about 48 women in my AG by my count on the race website. Because they only do first and second overall awards, and first place age group awards only beyond the two overall awards, this was a non-age group award day for me since third overall came from my age group as well (three of the top four were 30-39, with the winner being the same 50-year-old I am always looking at the back of at short races).

I'm happy to have beaten last year's time at this race by 1:04, but I felt really crappy the entire time. No excuses-I just couldn't stay on the pace I'd started at, and dropped off pretty hard for those last two miles. And, too be honest, part of me did feel like pouting a little bit. It's juvenile, I know. Nobody forced me to go race the race-I knew they had screwy age groups to begin with, and this wasn't a big goal race for me. It just makes it tough when 20% of all entrants in the race were women in my age group! Oh well, build a bridge and get over it, right?

That said, it was my second fastest 5K ever. Now that I am pretty much recovered from the marathon, I need to get back into doing some speed work-it really showed that I hadn't done any in over a month.

They also gave some most excellent socks from Sock Guy that I love, with F-Town written across the foot, "Mike" on one side of the ankle and a rendering of Mike on the other side. These guys did socks for the Moab races this year and they have a bunch of other really fun running socks.




My friends Jen, Carl, and Carl's wife Jo Ann were there too. Carl had a really good day and held his own in an age group that clearly was not set up by a runner-it was a broad 60 and over age group when you would normally have 5 or ten year age groups all the way up (and, yes, the "geezers" around here, as he calls the older runners around here, are really freaking fit and competitive, all joking aside! These guys all race as HARD as they can, each and every time). He would have won 70 and over if it had existed, and as it was he still finished third despite things being stacked against him, competing against guys fifteen years younger.

Jen, who missed her marathon just two weeks ago due to coming down with influenza B the night before, also had a great race. Yeah, how's that for terrible timing after an absolutely amazing training cycle? She finished ninth among all women, and was in amazing shape for someone who should be barely walking around after getting that sick. She wasn't pleased with her result but she attacked from the beginning (like you should in a 5K) and fought through in the heat.

So, where does this leave everyone? None of us seem very happy with this race, but maybe this is a good thing. I move on to the beginning of a summer and fall of crashing with friends and sharing hotel rooms for out of town races. Next up is the Bolder Boulder in just one week. After mucking it up at the 5K, I'm not feeling great about this race. On the other hand, I truly feel most confident and comfortable with the 10K distance, and the crowd support is amazing. So, I'll just go in hoping for great things, avoiding a defeatist mindset, and just run hard from the start.

I'll be staying with my friend Liz, who has a condo in Boulder, and if nothing else, it'll be a nice day to myself. My husband got a nice twenty four hours in Gunnison this weekend at a cabin with friends for a bachelor party that was basically a bunch of married guys hanging out, doing some hiking and drinking some beer, so it's my turn to do a little running and hanging out. If I can just get over Vail pass with no troubles, it'll all be smooth sailing from there on out.