First, thanks to the race organizers and volunteers (including my mom) who put on a fun event. This was my third time running it, although the course was changed this year. My first time (2006): 2:14 (I had an injury). 2nd time (2008): 1:47. I hoped to PB on the course, though didn't expect (nor get) a PB overall.

I'm starting to gear up for the spring and trying to keep my mileage steady for the time being, so I didn't taper much--just cut back on speedwork and took the day off before the race....still ran 20 miles the Sunday before. LOL

Since this wasn't my A race or anything like that, I decided to try running by feel, no Garmin, no watch, nothing except for the timer on the course at the end of the 5K loops. I rarely track time or pace for easy runs (which are admittedly pretty slow, especially with the snow we've had on the ground here), but I've always hung on to a timer for races, and thought it helped me in the latter parts to try to beat the clock.

But I was curious to see how it would feel to go low-tech.

I seeded myself a bit far back so passed a bunch of people at the start. There was a big clot of runners from the same club--they had matching grey jackets--and I decided that they would be an excellent windbreak, but they were going just a little too fast. It didn't feel hard, but I didn't want my breathing to pick up quite that much so soon. So, after about a k or so, I was pretty much alone.

I don't honestly remember the first loop much. My split: 25:36 for 5K. This was slower than it felt, and I felt momentarily disappointed then figured, 'whatever, keep going'. LOL

The 2nd loop was similar at the beginning, though gradually I was coasting closer to people ahead--the grey squad had thinned out. I also thought out a way to count down the different parts of the loop as days/dates...I'm looking forward to something roughly 5 weeks from now, so each segment run was a day gone. I've used a similar mind game before with miles and it worked quite well. This time it worked even better because I had better visual cues and they weren't as far apart--whenever I started to flag, I could look up and see myself getting closer.

10K: 50:53, so a little faster than the first. Still seemed too slow, but I couldn't quite do the math so I didn't bother fussing about it.

And then it started. I'm not exactly sure when, maybe even before 10K.

I don't really like people passing me but have been rather broken down and thus more permissive about this in past races. This time, though, I was much more fixated on other runners. And I'm not sure if it was me speeding up or someone else slowing down, but at some point I passed someone and then though, gee, I can't let them catch up. So I sped up a little. This eventually brought me to the heels of another runner, and of course, I couldn't let them pass me either, so I picked it up a little more, and so on and so forth. A few times, I felt like I was maybe going a little too fast, and then I decided to stay behind the next people I came to, but after a minute or two I felt constricted and had to go at my own speed--thus, ahead. It was like I was stuck in gear. More than a few times, I felt like I was almost going too fast, and then I felt like I was getting tired and slowing down, so I kept reminding myself to keep things like and keep my legs moving at a certain cadence. I remember thinking that, darn, my strides had shortened, I was getting tired, so I had to keep pumping out the strides. I didn't want anyone catching up.

I don't think anyone passed me during the 2nd half of the race. Eventually, I caught up with several grey squad members too. I talked with a few people whom I passed--they said I looked good, and I said that they looked good and would probably pass me...I wasn't sure how much gas I had left.

But it was enough.

On the last stretch, I was counting down trees, but couldn't quite count down--I couldn't think properly. Fortunately, the finish line came sooner than expected and then I saw the clock: 1:44:2X....like, wow.

This isn't a PB, not by a few minutes, but it was definitely a PB for the course, and, gosh, I wasn't honestly expecting to break 8 min/mile today so that was sweet. It's great to see an improvement from last year.

And it really felt like a race...it wasn't me in my little Garmin bubble anymore. The best part was not fighting the urge to constantly check my watch, and succumbing to this and desparing at how slowly the numbers are moving. That's not very exciting or invigorating---fixating on the course ahead and other runners, on the other hand, was a lot more fun.

My next race is, I think, a full marathon in Feb. I'm crappy at marathon pacing, but I think I'm going to throw caution to the wind (and my Garmin more securely on a shelf at home) and run that one by feel too. It was such a richer experience not having the veil of numbers.

Thanks again to everyone who worked on this race!!!
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