Saturday morning was the kick off workout for the No Boundaries program that I'm mentoring at Fleet Feet. First let me show you our sweet mentoring shirts, you know I'm a sucker for a good tech tee.
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| front |
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| back. like a boss. |
I was with the 10k & 5k 2.0 (like level 2 of the 5k program to get you faster). Their workout was a two mile time trail and the mentors were assigned to be spread out throughout the group to pace/encourage/etc.
It was interesting being on the other side of things but I definitely enjoyed it. I was towards the back (shocking for such a speed demon like myself) and chatted with my little group of people around me. Once my group was done I went back out with some of the mentors to run in with the others still out there.
Not to get all mushy and teary-eyed after only one day, but I'm really excited to work with these groups and see their progress towards their goals. During my training for the half, one person's positive or encouraging words during a run could make all the difference in my mindset and belief in myself. Sometimes it was the only thing that kept me going! My goal is to be that person to these runners, because I know what a difference it can make. I'm excited to pay it forward!
Enough of the deep reflection, let's talk about what an awesome race experience I had on Sunday. It was my first 5k since November, when I ran my first race ever. My time from the November 5k was 41:19, and my goal for Sunday was to come in under 35 minutes....
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| boom. |
Mission accomplished. Cutting almost 7 minutes off my 5k time was no easy feat, but I'm so excited I did it. This was my first race that I actually "raced" -- usually I just "run" races, not aiming for a specific finish time. It was totally different to keep a constant eye on my watch, making sure I was on pace for my goal, and pushing myself when I wanted to slow down.
It wasn't easy, but it was an awesome feeling knowing that I pushed myself and achieved the goal I set for myself. Not only was my chip time under my goal, so was my gun time. As I was running toward the finish I saw the race clock ticking towards 35 minutes and I'll be damned if my gun time shows over 35 minutes. I full on sprinted (which in reality, according to my garmin, was only a 9:20 pace) and clocked my gun time at 34:58. Boom. Mollz for the win.
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| frontier field, home of my first official PR |
Naturally I was on a total runner's high after my exciting race yesterday, so I used that high to fuel a long run today. The Buffalo half marathon is TWELVE DAYS AWAY and I've done ONE long run since April 29th. No bueno.
No bueno would be an understatement, because my run today was AWFUL. I ran with Emily for the first time in a long time, which was just about the only positive of my run. I felt all out of sorts, my legs weren't on board and my mental game was shot.
It was brutal physically and mentally and that's all I'm going to say about that. Chalking this up to a bad run and a lesson learned (not a good idea to skip long runs for a month). We finished just over 8 miles and that point I was ready to take what I could get.
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| worst ever. |
We collapsed in the grass to stretch when we were done, although this was my view for the first five minutes:
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| sky. |
I
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| stretching in my new kicks |
One final note about tonight's run: It. was. HOT. Hot as in you could feel the sticky humidity the second you walked outside. Hot as in I had to rock a bandana to catch the sweat pouring out of me. Because I want you to understand how brutally hot it was, and because I've lost all sense of shame in showing you awkward and unflattering pictures of myself, I'll leave you with this little gem:
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| hint: that's not water. |
You're welcome for that picture.
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