Horsey Hundred 2007

I survived my first century! I have to admit that after a tough 65 miles last weekend I wasn't looking forward to attempting 100 on Saturday. I was lucky to have a great group of friends to ride with. It was a long day, but surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Our group started out with Molly, Paula, Saori, Paul, Jill and Fe. The ride was beautiful and took us through cool shaded forests and past numerous horse parks of course. It was kind of like being a 10 year old again on my brand new 10 speed. Riding bikes is so much fun! Especially when there is great company and good food.

Jill, Fe, and Paul decided to do the 78 mile course so it was just the four girls left to finish the rest of the ride. We had a blast. Those girls are awesome, and are making me such a better cyclist already. I figure that if I can try to keep up with Paula on the descents, hang on with Saori on the climbs, and stay as consistently strong as Molly, I will be in great shape!

Sunday was the 70 mile ride. Unfortunately since I am the #1 dog sitter (unofficially) for all of Lexington I only had time to ride the 52 mile course to be back in town to take some dogs out. I would have liked to do the 70 miler, but I had a good ride anyway. The bad part was that we split at mile 15, but luckily Paul also did the 52 mile route so I had some good company. Sunday was a good ride also, but it wasn't as pretty, and a little bumpier. OK a lot bumpier. My poor behind.

I am really glad to have a century under my belt before the triathlon season starts. Special thanks to my cycling buds! It was fun!

Derby Half Marathon Race Report

It was a good day for a race. Gary, Jeff, Susan and I drove up race morning. I think it's safe to say we were all feeling pretty relaxed. Maybe it was the lack of training for this race, or the preoccupation of all things not related to running, or just the fact that it was 13.1 miles and not 26.2 this time. I hadn't thought much about this race, and Friday I found myself thinking that I might like to buy some Gatorade. Normally I would be stocked with Gatorade, Boost, GU, and my meals for the entire week prior would have been meticulously planned out. It's a nice feeling to be relaxed.

We picked up our race packets at the last minute, rode the last shuttle to the race start and stood last in line at the port-o-potties. Besides finding Tara, Cathy, Lynn and Su at the port-o-potty party that wasn't the best thing because we had only about 7 minutes to get to the start before the gun went off. Chip timing is the best invention ever. Susan, Lynn, Su and I tried to wiggle our way to the front half of the start, but didn't make it very far. I kept telling myself that starting farther back would keep me from starting out too fast on the first mile.

The gun went off and we were off to a slow and crowded start. The first few miles were spent dodging slower runners and walkers while still trying to run the tangents (thanks Lynn!). I think at mile 3 we were still passing some walkers. Our first mile was about a 9 min/mile which was pretty slow, but I felt confident that I would end at a faster pace. Miles 3-6 were in the park just like last year and Susan smoked by people walking and taking the long curves around. Well maybe not smoked, but since we started so far back it seemed like we passed 95% of the people running. It was a great feeling. I was so grateful for Susan's company through the hills.

Running through Churchill was pretty awesome again, but I realized I had lost Susan and feared that I had picked up the pace a little too soon since I still had 4 miles to go. I felt great until around mile 11. This is where things started to hurt. It was not a dreadful amount of pain like Columbus, but the kind of pain that comes from being almost done with a long race. I knew I would finish strong, I just hoped I was keeping some kind of consistent pace.

I crossed the finish line at 1:50:10. I was thrilled with my time and felt like I had run a smart race. The best part was how much fun it was! It's fun to run without too many expectations, and enjoy the crowd, and music, and runners. It also felt really good to have such a good race at the beginning of my training. I finally feel like there is something to look forward to again!

My splits:

10k 53:55 8:42 min/mile
15k 1:19:26 8:32 min/mile
finish 1:50:10 8:24 min/mile

Negative split, woo hoo!