Sunday, April 22, 2007

Holy Hills!!! - My 5-mile Race Report

***Warning: Long post! You may want to make a trip to the bathroom first. LOL.***

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've been busy! I'm still recovering from the wedding...more about that later!

First, I just ran my longest race to date - 5 miles! It was held at the Valley Forge Park, which is a historic Civil War military base (something to do with George Washington - don't ask!!!).

Disclaimer: What you are about to read is NOT recommended for anybody!

Days before the race: This week I did my LSD run on Monday (10 miles!!!), then did an easy 5 miler on Thursday. I felt great after the 10 miler, but after the 5-miler last Thursday the outside side of my left foot was hurting! Before this, I've been having problems with the same foot, but on the inside, right below the big foot. This stems from being fitted for the wrong type of shoes (long story - a tale to be told another time if anybody's interested). I bought another pair of shoes that is better suited and my big toe was getting better, but still a little bit tender. On Thursday, I must have been too conscious of the big toe so I was landing on the other side of my foot. Hence, my foot issue. It doesn't seem like anything is broken, more like strained muscles, so I've been icing, elevating, & taking ibuprofen for the past couple of days. It was still hurting yesterday, and I was seriously thinking of bagging the race. It must have looked funny to see me sort of limping yesterday when I picked up my race packet.

This morning before the race: Foot feels better. It was still hurting, but I can at least walk/run on it. I was still contemplating about bagging the race at this point. But I went ahead with my normal pre-race routine. I got dressed, ate a light breakfast, pinned my bib #, put on my Garmin, etc. Despite the pain, I knew that if I didn't do the race, I was going to regret it. So off I went! I got to the race in good time, but there were already a lot of people there. It was still kind of chilly, so I wore a jacket and a windbreaker pants over my shorts. As soon as I got at the designated parking lot, I took off my outer layer, sprayed some sunscreen, took my car keys, and hid my bag in the trunk of my car. The runners then had to take the shuttle to the park where the race was being held. While at the shuttle, I watched someone put on the chip timer. This is my first race with a chip timer, so I didn't know how to put it on before today, LOL.

I must have arrived at the park 45 minutes before the start time so I had plenty of time to relax, stretch, and take a bathroom break. Before the start, we were led through some yoga warm-up routine which was interesting. I have already warmed-up at this point so I was partly following them.

The race: I lined up somewhere in the middle, but not way back. This is the largest race I have ever run in with 1200 runners, so I didn't want to be all the way back which could take longer to cross the starting line. I kind of felt wierd standing there waiting for the start of the race. Everybody seemed to know someone, while I didn't know anybody! The woman I normally race with only trained for 5Ks and she absolutely refuse to run on hills. But as soon as the gun shot, I was off and I completely forgot about it.

I was conscious of my foot the whole time. However, I was already resolved to have fun and not think about the finish time and to run as pain-free as possible. Honestly, I would have been happy if I finished in an hour. I started off at an easy & relaxed pace. I was expecting to be running at a pace of 11-12 min/miles, but when I glanced at my Garmin I was running at a 10 min/mile and the pace still felt easy. The beginning of the first mile was fairly flat and very scenic. There was a hill towards the second part of the first mile, which I thought was very challenging. But, I kept my pace controlled and was able to overcome the hill with no problems. I was actually passing a lot of people at this time, and a lot of people was slowing down to walk. However, I got passed by someone wearing a shark costume, LOL.

Although the first hill was harder than expected, it was the big hill at mile 2 that was worrying me. On the elevation chart, the mile-1 hill looked nothing compared to the mile-2 hill. Oh man, the hill at mile-2 was CRAZY HIGH! You could see it from afar, and I started getting butterflies in my stomach. But I trudged along and just prayed for the best. When I got to the bottom of the hill, the path narrows down and then you have to make a sharp right to climb up the hill. From the bottom, this hill looked almost vertical! I kept on running, again keeping my pace controlled. I read signs like "Almost There!", "Water stops ahead!", and "Fast course ahead!". Surprisingly, once the uphill was done it didn't feel too bad and I was actually passing a lot of people. As a matter of fact, I thought the downhill was a lot harder since it was putting a lot more pressure on my foot.

There were water stops after the big hill, which was the half-way mark of the course. Normally, I don't take drinks during runs less than 6 miles. However, since I wanted to take it easy on my foot, I decided to walk through the water stops to take a drink. I realized then that I have to work on my drinking technique since most of the water ended up all over my shirt than in my mouth, LOL.

The course was pretty uneventful after that. It was fairly flat until the last half mile, where it just dived down. Boy, was my foot feeling it! The last .2 miles was flat though and you could see the finish straight ahead so I just gunned it.

As I approached the finish line, I was excited to see that the clock time was 49:something. I ended up finishing in 50:08 (chip time 49:31). Don't know what my Garmin time was since I forgot to stop it after I crossed the finish line, LOL. Nevertheless, that's a pace of just under 10 min/mile!!!! In my practice runs, the earliest I have finished is a little bit over 51 minutes. And, my practice runs were never this hilly! Can you imagine how I would have done if my foot was okay?!?

There was an expo around the finish area, with tons of food & freebies. There were water, Gatorade, bananas, Carrboom gels, packets of Biofreeze, energy bars, free water bottle, and tons of food from Panera bread!

I also met some nice people from the Runner's World forum. They call these types of meeting "FEs", which means forum encounter. There appears to be a number of forumites/runners in the greater Philly area.

I also saw someone from work. This girl just started running - it appears I have inspired her, LOL. However, the most she have run is 3 miles, and just barely, on the treadmill. She wanted to do the 5-miles run, but I kind of discouraged her since she really hasn't been consistently running and I didn't want her to get injured. So she ended up just doing the 3 mile walk. It didn't look like she had too much fun, but I recommended that she do a couple of 5Ks first before she tackle the Valley Forge 5-miler. The walkers took a different route, and she is therefore not aware of the hills we had to go through.

Overall, the race was fun. I finished strong and I wasn't even hurting at the end of the race. Inspite of the hills, there's something about this race that made it bearable. Don't know what it is. So I'm looking forward to doing this race again next year. Hopefully, injury-free. And I do admit that what I did - running through (some) pain - is probably not the smartest thing to do! I've gone crazy I guess!

Next up: The Broad Street Run in 2 weeks - 10 miles! (Lord help me!)

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As if this post couldn't get any longer... (LOL)

The wedding went really well! Everything went really smoothly, from the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, & reception. The rehearsal dinner was awesome - everybody was commenting on how good the food was! The wedding went on without a glitch. The weather was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of rain, but turned out nice and sunny all day. You all have to remember this was the day before the big Noreaster, so we lucked out big time! The reception was awesome as well! The food was awesome and it looked like everybody had a great time, judging by how many were actually on the dance floor most of the night. It was so fun that the photographer, videographer, and DJ stayed an extra half an hour since they were having a great time themselves! The only glitch was that our table (groom's family) ended up at the back of the room. It turned out that the reception hall made a mistake (switched the table label), but my new SIL apologized that night about that. No harm done! We were hardly in our table anyways. :-)

Here's a picture of the bridal party in the limo. The wedding just got done and we were on our way to the reception hall. I don't have any other pictures since I left my camera in the suite at the reception hall. Sorry! I'll try to get more pictures when I go back to my parents house in a couple of weeks.

By the way, I'm the 2nd one on the left. :P

7 comments:

Donna said...

Phew! I made it thru the entire post w/o even one bathroom break. Ha ha, just kidding. Great job on the race. You ARE an inspiration! I remember when you just started running and now look at you! So glad the wedding went well, you looked gorgeous!

Pamela said...

Yep I made it thru too! sounds like quite the time all around! well done on doing the race.. hope the foot is ok! & I am SOOOO glad the Wedding went so well ...Toldja! You silly Gorgeous thing of course it was just fine!

KatieFeldmom said...

However, I got passed by someone wearing a shark costume, LOL.
That's a funny image!!!!!!!!

Big Congrats on your 5-miler race and the time. WAY TO GO!!!!!!

Glad to hear that the wedding went off without a hitch!! And you and all of the ladies look loverly!!!!!!!

Irene said...

It was a great weekend for races! WTG on your PR, even with hills! As runners, I think we're always going to be plagued with some sort of injury or soreness, so I think you did an awesome job, regardless of the injury! Hurray for you!

YOu look beautiful in the limo picture! I was wondering about the wedding! Glad to hear it went well.

Anonymous said...

Way to go on the race!!!! Great job!

You look beautiful. So does everyone else. I'm so glad the wedding was nice.

Unknown said...

Whew..awesome job on your run!! GREAT TIME....and way to stick to it. Good to hear the wedding was awesome. Gorgeous wedding party...and you look great!

Jen said...

GREAT job on the race!! I cannot believe how fast you ran it and with the big hills. That is truly impressive.

And I'm with Katie - when I read the bit about being passed by someone in a shark costume - I LOL at my desk. Too funny!

Glad the wedding went without a hitch. whew...