Emilie's Run.2

The other book end of my year, of this blog.

(however, I might continue the latter...)

I ran Emilie's Run last year too, on the day my husband left Kansas for Iraq. It's really hard how to describe how that feels, a sick and numb feeling, kind of like the tail end of food poisoning where your electrolyte balance is out of whack, you're cramping from dry heaving and you still feel nauseated and sick, but it's all in a dull way because you're tired. It's almost like it's so horrible and tiring that you've distanced yourself physically and mentally and are watching it as though it were a movie and it was happening to someone else.

Emilie's Run last year was a welcome distraction. It was hot and humid and sunny--my fave Trifecta, lol--and I didn't do so well:

4:25
4:31
4:39
4:55
4:51

total 23:18. I really faded. It was a hard run.

Blech

This morning, it was hot and humid and sunny, but emotionally I was a lot better, especially since I know my husband is safely in Kuwait, if not Kansas by now.

4:24
4:27
4:24
4:43
4:30

total 22:28.

So, I was a bit slow (it's not a pr) and I still faded, but less drastically than last year, and far less drastically within the pack than last year. Last year, all sorts of people passed me in the 2nd half--this year, I don't think anyone did. I don't remember anyone passing me; rather, I was the one who passed people in the 2nd half. Not that many, though, but it was still a nice feeling. For the most part, I was with the same few runners. That struck me as a bit odd, as though I was standing still, or we all were standing still, or walking, but of course it was strangely exhausting too. LOL

But, yeah, that 4th K...I'm not sure if there's a slight incline at that point, or if that's just how the 4th K of a 5K is supposed to feel. I broke down the 5K into days--roughly five days until I see my husband, for real! (he'll be sent to Texas for a few days after debriefing, and I'll see him there and then), and it was amazing how positive that felt even coming around the turnaround, but when it came to that 4th K, I had to count down posts on the side of the road and keep reminding myself about form and keeping things light. It felt pretty hard.

I think I would like to take another stab at this race. My goals would be to stay tight through the 4th K and maybe get my time into the 21 minute range. Plus, above all else, get a heck of a load of living with my husband in between. It's funny how a year can boil down to a 50 second course PR. There was so much more going on, I could write volumes, but I could also sum up what I did this year so briefly: I took 50 seconds off my time from last year.

My form looks marginally better in this year's photos, too, but I still have work to do.

At any rate, I did almost no speedwork after March this year, save for three 'tempo' runs (longer and slower than my usual tempo workouts)...though I've been feeling pretty flat, my stamina has improved. I think. I hope! I would have liked to break 22 minutes, but my hopes weren't high with the condition I'm in (ok, just flat) and the weather. I hope to keep my mileage up this summer, do some faster workouts and keep up with the tempo runs, and then PR at the Army Run in Sept. Beyond that, I don't know.

After the race, I went down to the dragonboat festival. I was a spare on a team. Turned out that they had a full boat, so I hung around, ate, took photos, played frisbee...and enjoyed my nemesis from that morning: heat, humidity, sun. It was a wonderful day.