Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was jam-packed, which wasn’t exactly the greatest for this nasty bug I’ve been trying to fight off. Even though I probably shouldn’t have, I ended up racing in the alumni swim meet this past Saturday (which totally killed me by the way–I have SO much more respect for the sport again after a year and a half out of the water), went out with friends Saturday night, and woke up bright and early to run a 10K in the Seattle rain Sunday morning. I’m making up for it today and decided to skip my morning yoga class for some much needed sleep. Probably the best choice I’ve made in the past 72 hours!
Today I’m bringing you my very first race recap on this blog! Back before taking a break from working out, I had run quite a few races and had gotten to a point where I could run a half marathon at 7:44 pace. Although my paces were strong, my body was not, and I can honestly say setting my running shoes aside for 3 months to get healthy was one of the greatest decisions I’ve made. As I’m fully recovered now, it’s fun to start getting into the competitive spirit again and this weekend was the first time I’d raced since getting healthy. I’ve definitely got a ways to go still to get back to where I was, but I’m confident that with my new attitude towards food and respect for my body, I can crush my old times eventually! Now onto the race…
The 10K wasn’t set to start until 9:20AM, so I ended up sleeping in until about 7 before hopping out of bed to start getting ready. For any races under a half marathon, I typically don’t taper or train in any particular way to prepare aside from doing a 1 mile shake out run the day before the race. This weekend was no different, so I was curious to see how things would turn out. My goal was to finish in under 50 minutes considering I wasn’t feeling well and had only been running for about a month since my knee issues. I grabbed a banana and a giant water bottle and headed out the door to UW where I met up with my friend Katelyn, who was running with me for the second year in a row.
It wasn’t exactly the prettiest day in Seattle. I hadn’t ran a race in the rain before (weird for a Seattlite–right?), so I wasn’t sure how I’d like it. Red Square was packed with people, so we grabbed a few pins for our racing bibs and huddled under one of the tents near the starting line while we waited for time to pass.
One of my favorite parts of this race is how many dogs end up coming out to run too. This little guy was probably one of the cutest we saw, so obviously I took a picture and made sure to show Bart so I can continue to convince him how much I/we need a dog.
After doing a quick shake-out run and stretching for a bit, Katelyn and I headed to the starting line. This is probably one of my favorite 10K runs because of how gorgeous the UW campus is. Even in the rain! 🙂
Finally, at 9:20AM it was go time! Unfortunately, I’m not one of those bloggers who can focus on running and take pictures as I go, so I’ll just have to walk you through how my run went.
The race started out just outside of Red Square and heads down Greek row, around the outside of campus, and then weaves in and out of different areas of campus. Through the first 2 miles, I was feeling incredibly strong and we ended up passing quite a few people who had taken off at the starting line. Around the 5K mark, my legs started to throb. The course was fairly hilly and the only running I’ve done recently is on a treadmill at a 1.0 incline. Clearly I need to focus on hill work going forward.
I found a little more power as we circled the fountain in the middle of campus and passed the 5 mile mark. I knew I could run another mile and a half and was dead set against stopping to walk, so I pushed through the pain and made it to the finish line in 49:30. Not a best time, but definitely something to be proud of considering how icky I felt and how unprepared I was to tackle the UW campus hills.
So now for my takeaways from the race:
- If you’re a Husky fan at all, this race should be added to your bucket list! You can’t beat running in a swarm of purple with dogs through one of the prettiest campuses in the country.
- Be a little more prepared for hills than I was. I definitely have some work to do before my next race (whenever that may be).
- Bring your purple and don’t be afraid of the rain! It was actually pretty calming to run through campus while it was drizzling.
Have a wonderful day! 🙂
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