FYTO 5K!

Well, it's another January FYTO virtual race, hosted by The Boring Runner!

This would be my second year doing it, and you'd find last year's attempt here.

And while I actually did this race late this year (on a Monday instead of Saturday), I think I rocked it!

I did plan to do it Sunday evening, after a volunteer shift. However, the weather was not cooperative, and as soon as I walked out after my 4-hour shift, the world was covered in snow. And you know I had a great shift, since I didn't even notice there was a blizzard happening outside! Ha.

Well, since it was Sunday, the buses don't run after 7:45, and I ended up walking home. During the half-hour it took to get to my cozy warm home, my face froze, my legs turned to stone and my nose started dripping. I told myself I'd warm up for a few minutes, change and then head out for the 5k. After all, we're SUPPOSED to freeze for this race, right?
But I'm lazy, and maybe a little smart (there was ice everywhere) because I ended up staying in, making a gym date with my friend for the following morning (TODAY!).

And this is where the 5k report begins.

I woke up at 8am this morning, to the funniest radio show ever. They were talking about the weirdest thing to be put in a child's mouth, and they mentioned that some parents found their toddler chewing a snake's head. He'd bit it right off. And as that's hillarious because they allow it on Detroit radio, it's not something I want to hear in the morning. So I hopped out of bed and ate a Snickers bar.

At 8:30 I get a message from my friend saying that she hasn't slept well last night, and that she's ditching me and the gym today to get some extra zzz's. I replied that I'm still going. She ended up feeling bad, and came anyway! The power of positive peer pressure, yay!

So we walked through snow and ice and wind (not really) and I got to the gym at around 9:15. I changed, psyched myself up, and then we noticed that the women's only gym had opened up! This is 1.5 hours every Mon/Wed/Sun dedicated to the ladies. There's weights, some balance balls, a lot of mats and mirrors, and a couple of elliptical machines and bikes that we are able to use. There's also a very nice trainer there to supervise and help out if need be. So I'm going back on Wednesday!

When we got upstairs, where all the cardio machines are, we were lucky enough to snag the last 2 treadmills. :) However, I got the broken one that didn't seem very stable. I'm thankful that I brought my music, because if I could hear the machine, I'm sure I'd have gotten nauseous because it felt a bit like being in/on a washer.

Oh well. I warmed up for .25mi in about 5 mins. I then cranked the speed up to 6.1mi/hour and went from there. I kept it at that for 1 mile.... 2 miles.... and then I took a tiny, tiny break to grab some tissues, as sweat was pouring into my eyes. I stretched a little because my knee was feeling weird. Then I put it back to 6.1mi.. and did another 1.1 miles! So I ran at 9:49min/mi the entire way, with a 1min break at mile 2! I'm very proud!

(I wont tell you that it was at 0.0 incline.)

I finished with a time of 31:22 (which includes the little stretch/wipe sweat break), which is faster than my official 5K PR! I wont count it, however, since it's on a treadmill, and treadmill runs usually feel different than outside runs.

Off to shower, school, read, relax, go to night class and sleep!
Have a wonderful week everyone!

Twitter Road Race

A virtual Twitter race has been set up at I Run Because... and I couldn't help but realise it would be a great opportunity to stay motivated to run when there's inches of snow on the ground and the temps are in the negatives.
Last week I ran 5 miles (in 55 mins) and I knew I'd be set to run my first 'official' race of 2012.
This morning, my knees were good, my stomach was sound, I'd hydrated well (no hang over for me!) and I already knew what I needed to wear for the -4 temps outside (running tights, basketball shorts over them, gloves, warm pink hat, sports bra, long-sleeve shirt, Nike running jacket, and a bright orange hoodie.)

I had mapped a sort of |_| shape for my 5k. I was to run towards down Campbell, along Tecumseh and then back on Huron Church. I was expecting at least 2/3 of that route to have clean side-walks, but I think half of it was sludgy. I stepped in A LOT of puddles, but managed to jump over more. We had about 2-3 inches of snowfall last night, so I'm thankful we didn't get the full 6 inches that was predicted.

I felt really good for the first mile. The weather wasn't too cold - no wind, sun and blue skies.I was determined to start slow and speed up later if I could. I wanted to run the entire way, not start off too fast, as I often do.

The second mile was a bit sludgy, and I stepped in a few deep puddles that soaked my shoes and fluffy socks. It was a bit sucky from there, because I hate having wet socks. I kept telling myself that I was half-way done, and that I could speed up now and shouldn't burn out. But I was determined not to fall, so I didn't go crazy.

Mile 3 was just me telling myself that I'm almost home, and I can put on new warm socks :) I kept checking my watch, and once I got to 3miles I started sprinting. This was SO difficult - there was snow everywhere and I could feel all my energy soaking into the snow and not pushing me forwards. I ended up finishing in 31:28, which is the fastest road 5k I have ever run! :)

I wish I'd had a picture, or a partner to run this with. However, my running partner was too hung over when I set out, and he was still on the couch when I returned. Perhaps I'll drag him with me next time!

Every time I run a race, I have two goals.

I want to NOT be last.

I want to NOT fall down.

And in regards to those two goals, I deem this race a complete success :)