I AM THE TORTOISE!
Slow and steady.
That’s what I said to myself for over an hour of running this past Saturday morning. Slow and steady. I am the tortoise.
Saturday morning started out as a very nice, albeit cold and windy morning here in Columbus for the 2nd annual Run Like a Girl 5k/10k/Half marathon. OK fine. It was cold and windy. BRR!
Columbus Commons Saturday morning just as the sun rose
This race was to help raise money for women’s health around central Ohio – probably why we all received a boob-shaped (OK, more of a boob-enhancer-shaped) cold pack along with our swag bags!
Columbus Commons – where the Columbus Symphony Orchestra performs! (LOVE the CSO!)
Before the race started, I walked around and checked out some of the booths. I was still drinking water and well – trying to stay warm. There were several tables set up by sponsors of the race that I made a mental note to visit afterwards. I did get in for a sneak peek of the wine we’d be getting and was surprised to see it wasn’t going to be just a little airplane-sized bottle, but a full sized one. Check these out – from a winery out in California. (Seriously – couldn’t get an Ohio Winery to jump in and help out?!)
Our wine – for AFTER the race, of course.
The 5K and 10K runners all lined up together for the start. We were running the same track with the 10K just obviously going farther along. It’s fun to talk to other runners at the start up – well, before and after, too. Which race are you running? Have you run this distance before? Everybody’s so friendly. With this race, it was all women – no men were racing, though I noticed the Emcee guy announcing the start and such was a guy. Oh well! LOL!
The race started and we were off!
Personal best
I had my Nike + app going the whole way and it kept announcing my times. My first 4 miles were really good – about 48 minutes which is a 12-minute mile. WOW! Then my body started fighting back and said yo, Heather – I’m slowing down. Yeah. Oh well – that’s OK. I still did really well and topped my first 10K by 90 seconds. Awesome!
I sprinted across the finish line like I always do – even if it’s just the last 20-30 feet. HA! I know, sounds silly, but I think it’s a psychological thing and I’m OK with that!
Here are my times:
6.2 miles
1:18:56
12:43 average pace per mile
Jogged the first 4 miles, walked/jogged the last 2, hence the slowdown!
Here are my splits.
After the run, when I felt pretty dead – “Water! I want water – and a banana, too!” Seriously – I’ve discovered with running that the banana is probably the single, absolute best food in the world, so I, of course, thoroughly enjoyed one afterwards! Then, I walked around a bit. It had started spitting – not REALLY raining – the last mile or so of the race, but had stopped now, thus allowing me to visit the various booths and pick up some of the goodies they provided – such as a blinker for night running (sweet!), some hair bands, more energy and protein bars (I think I ended up with 6-7 of those) and – my bottle of wine! I was already wearing my medal as we all do afterwards!
I’m beginning to really like race medals!
Here’s the bottle of Chardonnay – from some winery in California – and one of the firefighters in a tuxedo. See? I wasn’t kidding!
And with my medal.
After I finished my 10K and right as I picked up my bottle of wine…it started raining, so I walked over to the parking garage where we all parked for the race and hung out with others who’s finished their running for the day. We chatted for a little while and then it started hailing. YIKES! BUT – while there, and while it was hailing, we had the pleasure of watching the lead runners of the half marathon finish their race.
What an awesome sight. I didn’t have my camera up when the half marathon was won, but here’s the start / finish line for the race.
The start / finish line.
I don’t know the name of the lady who won, but she looked absolutely amazing, running down the homestretch at a super-human (looking)pace. She looked fantastic! The 2nd place runner wasn’t far behind her. They finished in the hail.
You can kind of see the hail.
What a great day! OK – so it would have been greater had Will Forte accepted my invitation to the race to cheer me on, but I never heard back from him. Sigh. Will – next races are going to be Thanksgiving Day for the Turkey Trot and December 6 for the Jingle Bell Run. Think you can perhaps make one of those? We’ll talk, ok?! 🙂
Someday, right?
Tour de Bruyère 