Black Cat 10 miler

So today was a good day, not a PR but a good day. I haven't run an open road race in over 2 years so I thought since I'm trying to rebuild my run and get stronger on this front I needed to add some road races into the mix. Unfortunately, in the fall I was suffering from severe plantar fascitis and I couldn't do the trail marathon I wanted to do and my running really didn't start building until late november, early December. I have only done a handful of speed sessions and a few tempos, otherwise most of my runs have been at a extensive/intensive pace ( 8:45-9:05 pace). AFter my plantar fascitis resolved my right hamstring started aching again and acting weird ( tight) so with all the bad weather we were having and the black ice and large snow banks I have spent a significant amount of time running on a treadmill and not outside. As you runners know that is not ideal and ones legs need the wear and tear of the road to really get your groove on. However, that being said its what I could do and I made the best of it and worked as hard as I could without tweaking my hamstring and getting hurt further.

So with that being said I went into today with not a ton of expectations except that I wanted to run, I wanted to feel strong and I wanted to pace myself in a way that I could go faster if I wanted in the last few miles. Well, since my Garmin bit the big one last night and my friend got sick so I didn't bring my Ipod I went solo into the race accept my ironman watch to check my splits ( which I only did 3x). The weather was perfect, a bit chilly to begin with, slight drizzle a bit windy and then a brief glimpse of the sun. The course was great, some flats, some gradual inclines and some good hills thrown into the mix to make you honest ( not too big though). I was thinking if I hit an Average of 8:20-8:30 and felt good I was doing something, well, I did an 8:19 average with the last two miles being around 8:05's, so their must of been a few miles that I must of dropped a bit below 8:20, oh well. I knew at mile 8 I was still feeling good and I had some speed left so I just picked up my cadence and started to run without completely going out of my zone. i watched my form, tried to get good extension out of my legs, took in my gel and my water and finished strong in 1:23. Now, this isn't a PR for me but it isn't too far off from it and given my running at this point and in March I am very encouraged that I am getting back and that a sub 8 min 1/2 marathon is coming my way this year. My goal is also to make my open running time very close to my triathlon run time, so I'm going to work with coach a lot this season on this.

Anyway, 7/85 in my age division, not bad. Congrats to all my friends who ran today, Brooke, Erica, Kim, Betsy, Pete, Sharon and thanks to B&S fitness, Brandi, Steve, Ashley, Jeremee,Greg, Emily for doing a great job with the first Annual Black Cat. Way to go.