Let's take a look at the races I have ran in the last week.
Last Wednesday - Ambler YMCA Spring into Summer 5K - My friend Jenny P decided to run her first 5K. Very impressive considering she is a Mom of 4 kids between the ages of infant and going into 1st grade. Time is a premium for her, so training runs are the exception, not the rule. Anyway...she asked me to run it with her so that I could motivate her to run the whole thing and not walk. It was an entirely flat course, and advertised as "fast". Hey thanks Ambler YMCA for putting the pressure on to be fast...just because you SAY it, doesn't make it so. WOW, did I have a bad day. First mile we ran at 9:30...that isn't bad at all (for a slow runner anyway). Mile 2 was about the same, but the wheels started to come off for me at this point. I don't know if it just wasn't my day, if it was the fast-ish 4 mile training run Nikki and I had done the night before, but right after the 2 mile mark, I smacked right into a shameful brick wall. The friend I was supposed to motivate through this race, I now had to tell her "go on without me" as if I had been shot and she should just leave me to die in the woods alone. I walked a little. Caught my breathe and talked a bunch of smack on myself in my head to shame me into running again. In the end Jenny beat my by 2 whole minutes. SO freaking excited for Jenny about her first 5K finish, and that she finished it so strongly. TOTALLY ashamed of myself for my crappy run. Finish time 31 minutes.
Last Saturday - Easter Seals Walk with Me 5K - Crazy husband decides we should run a 5K on Saturday morning since we have nothing better to do. GOD FORBID we have a weekend with no races. That's how we roll. So the Easter Seals are having a 5K at the Philadelphia Zoo...what the heck. We'll go. Not worth getting a sitter for, so since I suck and am slow as sh*t anyway...I decide to run it with Hsin in the stroller. If on a good day you run a 29 minute 5K...who gives a crap if you run a 38 minute 5K pushing a baby who is packing 2 donuts in her mouth the whole way. That is how Hsin-Hua rolls. So we start...Paul up front, me and the crazy, donut eating Asian kid in the back. I'm feeling pretty good...running slow, but feeling good. We lap through the whole zoo, which is pretty freaking cool, and Hsin is telling me all about the animals. I yell at a couple of kids who keep running in front of me on the downhills that I WILL take them out if I have to so they better get the heck out of my way. We then do a lap outside the zoo. One big major hill and I am feeling good that I ran the whole thing pushing about 65 pounds in front of me. As I enter the zoo again, a volunteer yells "POINT ONE MILE LEFT...PUSH IT" and I think "Seriously...I feel great...HOLY CR*P...I have enough energy to sprint with a stroller...I AM AWESOME". Then I look at my stop watch. It says 25 minutes have elapsed. WTF! There is no way that I am about to run a freaking PR with a baby and a damn stroller. My best time just lugging my own a** is 29 minutes, and I am to believe that I am running 4 minutes faster than that with all this extra weight? But I start sprinting anyway. Who knows what the explanation is for how I am flying like a freaking cheetah...I am taking whatever PR I can get. Maybe I really AM getting faster. As I fly down a small hill toward the final left turn and the finish chute I see Paul. Normally he would be watching the clock and screaming "SPRINT HEATH"...but he isn't. Instead he yells "HEATH...IT WASN'T A 5K...THEY SCREWED UP!". I'm confused, but seconds from the finish chute. I fly through not sure how to feel about my finish. Paul and the race director expalin that NO Heath...you are not suddenly light of foot and fast as hell. You did NOT just run not only a SMOKING PR, but pushing a stroller and baby no less. No...sorry to get your hopes up and boost your slow as sh*t runner's confidence. THEY MEASURED THE COURSE WRONG AND IT WAS ONLY A 2 MILE RACE. On the up side...Paul straight up won it, and Hsin packed away 2 donuts, a soft pretzel, an orange and a hotdog. What did I get...another slow race under my belt! Finish time 25 minutes.
This Tuesday - Jenkintown Summer Sunset 5K - Nikki, my new running buddy and fast becoming my new BFF, and I signed up for the Jenkintown sunset run. I did it last year when it was hot and humid and miserable and felt like absolute crap about my time. It was one of my first 5K's, but the hills kicked my butt and made this slow as sh*t runner feel even slower. Not to mention, last year a friend who shall remain nameless decided to run it too after not running for like years and KICKED my butt by like 7 minutes. Love you friend...but OUCH! Back to this year...First came the kids race. They split the kids up by age, so Hsin and Nikki's daughter, Hsin's friend from school, ran in the 3 year old's race. Hsin ran with her stuffed mouse, Shiu, and Keira ran with Hsin's stuffed bunny, Hoppy. Shiu is usually a pacer for Hsin in her races, but Hoppy was an addition to the race crew on this one. They "runnied fast" and each got a finishers medal! So proud and happy my girl loves running! Then the adult race started. It started out like any 3 mile run. Good pace, chatting with Nikki, and it was either flat or downhill. No biggy. Then the first hill hit. All the way up one block and when you turned the corner at what you thought was the top...it kept going. Again, by mile 2 I started to lose steam. I don't know what it is about shorter races but I mentally fall out of the game so much easier than in long runs. So Nikki started to pull ahead. I could see her ahead, but my heavy a** legs just couldn't move any quicker to close the gap between us. Hot, sweaty and miserable, I crossed the finish line about 30 seconds and about 9-10 people behind Nikki. Great finish for her! Nikki's only been running for about 2 months!! So overall this race wasn't a disaster like the YMCA race was. In fact I finished in about the same time as the YMCA 5k and this one had about 5 big hills. So it was better...still slow. Finish time 31:30 minutes.
I did have a good 5 mile training run tonight with Nikki, and "big ups" to Mother Nature for holding off on the rain for us. This weekend its rest and cross training, manicure and pedicure with Nikki tomorrow night and then the 1/2 Sauer 1/2 Kraut half marathon on Sunday. My best 1/2 marathon time is 2:29...my worst is 2:41. All I am really hoping for is a finish somewhere faster than my worst, and I am OK if it is slower than my best. My best was Philly last year and that is a mostly flat course. The course on Sunday is pretty hilly. Stay tuned.
Runny Fast!!!
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