Bloomsday 2015 Race
Jordan and Gretchen traveled to Spokane to participate in the Bloomsday 12k. Toeing the line with the best of the west (and several Olympians from around the world), these two ran well and represented the Betties in a national class race. Nice work! Getting ready to race Look at all of those runners! Working together in the first mile Jordan to the finish Gretchen finishing All out...
Read MoreRace to Robie Creek: I Fought the Hill (Or The Heat?)…
Still mulling over Robie Creek? Maybe it was a great day, maybe you walked more than intended. What I am hearing is more of the latter; the warm day forced many to their Plan B. After training for months, it is disappointing for a strong influence on your race to be so outside of your control. One Bettie’s report captures the emotion I heard from so many. My Robie Race Report AKA “I fought the hill and the hill won! ” Or maybe it should be called “I fought the heat and the heat won!” And what is the point of being half Egyptian if I can’t run in the heat, anyway?!?! I started the day with high expectations. I was hoping to beat my time from last year (which was 2:09 something) or maybe even do as well as 2:05. I felt like I had trained well. I had trained harder and more for this Robie than any other Robie: more mileage, more speedwork, more hill repeats, more time on the course, more weights, more core work, more cross training. I think my fitness level is in a better place than last year, so I didn’t think I’d have an issue beating my time. Plus, on my long runs, I actually *ran* to the summit. It was a slow run, but I was “running.” And that’s something I had never done before. So I hoped to be able to do that in the race too. I covered my watch hoping I’d be able to go off of effort and not be distracted or discouraged by pace as it slowed towards the summit, as I had in previous years. I felt okay the first couple of miles. On the first hill I told myself I would not pass anybody. That would my way of keeping my pace in check. However there were some people that stopped to walk and others that were just running at a slower pace than I felt I wanted to be running so I did pass some people. When I got to the 3 mile marker I saw it and thought something along these lines: “Oh s@#$!. Only 3 miles and I feel like I am running out of gas already. I must have run the first 5k too fast. I effed up. I am totally screwed. I want to quit. I am never going to make it to the top. I am not even at the dirt yet and I am hot. And I feel sick. This sucks.” Totally self defeating thoughts. Not exactly what you want at mile three of a half marathon. Or any race really. I thought when I looked at my splits for the first 3 miles I was going to see that I had run them ridiculously fast or something. When I saw the splits I don’t think I had run them too fast. I think it was just the heat that got me. The heat got me last year too. I got too hot too fast. After that point I started walking through each water station. I’d grab two cups of water and drink one and pour the other one over my head. Once I got to the dirt I felt a little better. I like the dirt better than the pavement. And by a little, I mean just a little. I was still pretty miserable and feeling sick. I saw Ashley pretty early on in the dirt passed her and told her good job. It made me so happy to see another Bettie! I was pretty sure she’d be passing me...
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