Hoooo boy, it's been a long time since I had one of these.
6K is a new distance for me, so I knew going in that I'd set a PR. I really had no goals for the race, other than to actually make it to the start, and hopefully also make it to the finish, preferably not last. Getting to the start, as always, is the hardest part of any race. Sami's streak of wonderful sleep came to a screeching halt last night, and The Supportive Husband and I were trading baby-soothing duties until goodness knows when. I think I got about 4 hours sleep, total. To add insult to injury, I had to pump pre-race. Oh, THAT'S why I've been holding off training till she weans. What a freakin' PITA.
I arrived pretty early, and sat in my car rockin' out to my iPod. It was quite peaceful, actually. I so rarely just sit and listen to music these days. When I finally got going, I spent some time stretching, especially my hips, which are still a little tight-feeling, even if I'm pain-free. I saw a few familiar faces, rolled my eyes at the "rah-rah" group photo (but participated anyway), and I was off.
The first good bit was all downhill to the river. Even though there weren't very many racers, maybe 150-200, the course was narrow, which penned me in a bit. This was actually a good thing, as it kept a lid on my speed for the first half-mile or so. The air by the river was cool and damp, but after the turnaround about 1.5 miles in, I headed back up the hill, with a balmy breeze in my face. My car thermometer read 74 when I arrived, which was a lot warmer than you'd expect around here for this time of year. Rain had been predicted, but it held off till after the race. I was secretly disappointed. I like running in the rain. It takes me out of my head a little bit.
At the water stop, I took a few sips of gatorade and a few sips of water to get the gatorade taste out of my mouth. This started a long portion of running on grass. Bumpy, uneven grass. The uphills actually felt really good. All that pushing 2 kids around in the buggy is really paying off. The downhills were just scary. I slowed to a walk on some of them to keep my footing.
And then, the chute! I didn't push to a full-on sprint, but I did pick it up a bit in the chute, and ended up crossing the finish at (I think) almost exactly 43 minutes. I had forgotten my watch, so until official results are posted, that's as close as I can get. At a pace of 11:32, that sounds about right. I was at a pretty comfortable pace the whole time, with a few walk breaks.
I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile or two without pushing the buggy, so it was a nice change of pace. I felt great afterward, and it reminded me why I put up with the 5:30am wakeups to do this thing. I'm really committed to training for the 10 miler, and then for the half a couple of weeks later. It's really daunting to think about right now, but I'm giving myself permission not to think about it until Sami is weaned.
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