mid winter classic

way back in the fall (ya know, when it was still 60 degrees and sunny out) i signed up for the mid winter classic. a 10 mile race around cape elizabeth, which is a few towns over from me. as soon as i registered i sent a text to the one i blame for getting me into this mess to begin with about how stupid of an idea that was. i mean really, 10 miles in february, in maine? gross! fun fact: im not a fan of winter running.

i ran 10 miles with danielle just before christmas and it was quite possibly one of my worst runs ever. i was all "hey im making so much progress with my speed, come join me for 10 miles i promise i wont hold you back too much" to her. um, yeah, fail. i chalked it up to a bad run and moved on. christmas came and went and i logged minimal miles. plus i was dealing with a freakish sore hip...a little yoga took care of that but its set me back a bit. by the middle of january i had pretty much decided i wasn't going to run the mid winter classic. i hadn't run any thing over 5 miles in a long time and i honestly wasn't sure i could cover 10 miles at that point. last thing i wanted was to get to mile 8 and have to walk the rest of the way in the freezing cold.

however, planet fitness must have heard me trying to bail on the race and offered a membership i couldn't turn down. so i hit the gym. and hard. if you follow me on dailymile, you know that I have been busting out speed work and miles like its my job (really...i wish it was. anyone looking to hire a kinda slow runner who has lots of determination to get speedy?). ive pushed myself harder then i thought possible and in turn speed work has started to get easier. huh, who woulda thought that hard work would pay off. i've been feeling good about the work that im doing in the gym. while i wish it was outside on the track or on the roads, ill settle for the treadmill. its not as bad as i remember it being. i even managed to get in an 8 mile run a week before mid winter classic. ok fiiiiiiiiine. ill run the damn race. not becuase i want to and i think it will be fun but because its gonna make me better.

so i ran. i really wish i had stayed home and slept in....kinda. i know i would have regretted not running but still, it wasn't a pretty day. this wasn't a goal race and so my "coach" aka slave driver (read: my friend who knows a shit ton about marathons/running whos been pushing me to my limits and has a lot of faith in me that offered to help me out via text, free of charge) decided he'd see what my limits are. he wanted me to go out hard and see how long i could maintain an 8:30 pace. HA! it's no surprise that that i blew up. big time. its a hilly course and i was able to maintain an ok pace through mile 5 but after that i lost it. physically and mentally. my heart really wasn't in the race from the beginning but once i couldn't maintain a pace that should ,on any other day, have been easy for me i checked out mentally. i stopped and walked for a little bit and from that point on it was all over. (also to note. slave driver told me after the race that "i intentionally kicked your ass. i just wanted to turn it into a super hard workout that would beat you up and see what your current limits are") mission accomplished.

i was beyond frustrated. i know that this wasn't a goal race and i know that going out hard was going to impact my ability to hold a good pace but i haven't seen 10s on my garmin in a loooooong time. not being able to hold a sub 10 pace was hard on me mentally. i just feel like i had been kicking butt in the gym and doing so well that 9:20s should have been a walk in the park.

im chasing a sub 2 half and i was hoping to go for that at the begining of march but now im not so sure i have that in me quite yet... ugh. we'll see. monday after the race i got right back at it and did 5 recovery miles. tuesday my son was home sick and so i hit the gym at 4:30am with danielle for a good sweat fest. i missed my wednesday & thursday runs and now it's friday and i need to get back at it. i can't let one bad race knock me down.

i know that sundays race is in no way an indicator of where i am with my running right now. we tested my limits. learned a few things and i vote to never do that again. all i could think of for the last 5 miles was my husband and son waiting for me at the finish. when i finally saw them i heard ruddley say "it's mommy! gooo mommy!". i threw my handheld water bottle to him and grabbed ty from his arms and ran with him through the finish line. ty had the biggest grin on his face and that my friends made my day.

the finish line with ty!