Race Report, Iron Girl 10-mile race
Michelle
my first ten mile race ever.
My friend Mary, who was going to walk the 5K race that was being held at
the same time, came to my house the day before, and we went to the expo to
get out bibs, chips, and goody bags. �Just like last year, the set up thing
to "Make your own goodie bag." �In other words, they laid out whatever was
going to go in the bags, and we got to choose what we wanted to go into
them.
After getting home, I cooked a pasta dinner for us, and then set up my gear
for the race. �I showed Mary what to do to get ready, this being her first
event ever. �We went to bed by 9 PM, and I was asleep by 9:30. �I woke up
at 4 am, before the alarm went off, and took care of my morning stuff. �I
woke Mary at 5:30 (she had less to do because she was walking in street
clothes and didn't want to eat breakfast), and were out the door by 6:05.
We drove to the light rail station, and took the 20-minute drive to our
destination, thus avoiding the problem of finding a parking space at the
race site. �It was probably the most stress-free trip to a local race I've
ever had.
I found a vendor who would store my sweatshirt hoodie in his booth; this
race doesn't have drop bags. �Right before I took my warmup run, I left the
hoodie there.
I ran one mile for a warmup, did a few strides, and it was time to get into
the starting corral. �This year, the 5K and 10-mile racers all started
together; in past years, one or the other group started 15 minutes before
the other.
The 10-Mile race was two loops around Tempe Town Lake, essentially between
Rural Avenue and Priest Drive, on both sides of the lake. �That meant we
went over two bridges, twice each. �(I found that I don't care much for
races that do two loops around the same course.)
The loud speaker sounded "Ready, set, AFLAK", and we were off!
The race had an official time limit of 2:30 (15 minutes per mile), but so
far as I could tell, they didn't enforce it. �I was told last year that
people who can't make the first lap (5 miles) within half the time are not
allowed to run the second lap, and they did have a timing mat at the 5-mile
mark. �But I know that there were a number of people who didn't finish
within 2:30. �In previous years, the cutoff was 2 hours (12 min/mile);
that's slightly faster than my 6K PR, which is the reason that I haven't
run this race before.
My goal was to finish at 2:05 (12:30 pace), and I would have been ecstatic
to finish at 2 hours or under. �By the same token, I would have been really
bummed out if I had taken more than 2:10 (13 min/mile).
My Garmin said that my time at 5 miles was 1:02, so I knew that I was on
track to meet my 2:05 goal, but I also knew that I was not going to have a
negative split, so the 2:00 goal was out the window.
My official time was 2:05:08, as Maxwell Smart would say, I missed it by
<i><b>that</i></b> much. �But that's so close to my goal time that I
consider that I met the goal.
I finished 580 out of 621, and was the only runner in my age group. �In
fact, I was the oldest runner in the race by three years.
There were a few young women (my guess is that they are in their early to
mid 20s) who were playing leapfrog with me during the las few miles of the
race. �At about the nine mile mark, I told them, "Are you going to let a
67-year old woman beat you?" �That spurred them on, and all five of them
finished ahead of me.
I am so proud of my friend Mary. �I had given her a walking training plan
four weeks ago; it was fairly simple: walk three days a week, with a day of
rest after each walk (which meant that she had two rest days after the
third walk). �The first week was 20 minutes, and increased 10 minutes a
week, culminating in one hour in the last week (but for only two days).
�She told me that she had measured the distance at 2.8 miles the last day.
�She said she expected to walk the 5K in about 1:10 to 1:15, but I told her
that she would finish it in under one hour. �Her time was 57:50, she came
in 66 of 75 in the 45-49 age group and 727 out of 783 overall. �As I said,
I am so proud of her for sticking with the program and finishing the 5K.
�What makes me even prouder is that she said she is planning to keep on
training.
-- Michelle
--
26.2 Because I can
Ed Prochak
> So today I ran in the Iron Girl 10-mile race in Tempe, Arizona. This was
> my first ten mile race ever.
So a PR was guaranteed.
[]
>
> The 10-Mile race was two loops around Tempe Town Lake, essentially between
> Rural Avenue and Priest Drive, on both sides of the lake. That meant we
> went over two bridges, twice each. (I found that I don't care much for
> races that do two loops around the same course.)
>
> The loud speaker sounded "Ready, set, AFLAK", and we were off!
>
> The race had an official time limit of 2:30 (15 minutes per mile), but so
> far as I could tell, they didn't enforce it. I was told last year that
> people who can't make the first lap (5 miles) within half the time are not
> allowed to run the second lap, and they did have a timing mat at the 5-mile
> mark. But I know that there were a number of people who didn't finish
> within 2:30. In previous years, the cutoff was 2 hours (12 min/mile);
> that's slightly faster than my 6K PR, which is the reason that I haven't
> run this race before.
>
> My goal was to finish at 2:05 (12:30 pace), and I would have been ecstatic
> to finish at 2 hours or under. By the same token, I would have been really
> bummed out if I had taken more than 2:10 (13 min/mile).
>
> My Garmin said that my time at 5 miles was 1:02, so I knew that I was on
> track to meet my 2:05 goal, but I also knew that I was not going to have a
> negative split, so the 2:00 goal was out the window.
>
> My official time was 2:05:08, as Maxwell Smart would say, I missed it by
> <i><b>that</i></b> much. But that's so close to my goal time that I
> consider that I met the goal.
How many seconds to get to the starting line? 5seconds is round off
error.
You made it! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> I finished 580 out of 621, and was the only runner in my age group. In
> fact, I was the oldest runner in the race by three years.
Another record!
[]
> I am so proud of my friend Mary. I had given her a walking training plan
> four weeks ago; it was fairly simple: walk three days a week, with a day of
> rest after each walk (which meant that she had two rest days after the
> third walk). The first week was 20 minutes, and increased 10 minutes a
> week, culminating in one hour in the last week (but for only two days).
> She told me that she had measured the distance at 2.8 miles the last day.
> She said she expected to walk the 5K in about 1:10 to 1:15, but I told her
> that she would finish it in under one hour. Her time was 57:50, she came
> in 66 of 75 in the 45-49 age group and 727 out of 783 overall. As I said,
> I am so proud of her for sticking with the program and finishing the 5K.
> What makes me even prouder is that she said she is planning to keep on
> training.
She obviously has a great coach. Way to go, Michelle. You are a triple
winner!
>
> -- Michelle
>
> --
> 26.2 Because I can
I'd close with my usual "Enjoy the run", but clearly you already did!
Ed
Michelle
<f357ea13-5cd4-41c5...@h10g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
Ed Prochak <edpr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So today I ran in the Iron Girl 10-mile race in Tempe, Arizona. �This was
> > my first ten mile race ever.
>
> So a PR was guaranteed.
Yup. ;)
> How many seconds to get to the starting line? 5seconds is round off
> error.
It was chip timed, so the two minutes to get to the starting line didn't
count.
> You made it! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks. So far as I'm concerned, I made my goal.
> She obviously has a great coach. Way to go, Michelle. You are a triple
> winner!
Well, all I did was tell her to run 20 minutes a day for three days, taking
a day off between walks; then take two days off, and then repeat that with
30-minute walks, adding ten minutes each week until she reached an hour.
The last week of training, she did only two days; the third day was the
race. Oh, I also told her that she had to call me after each session to
let me know that she did it. Not much coaching, really.
> I'd close with my usual "Enjoy the run", but clearly you already did!
Thanks; I did.
Anthony
Looks like you're on course for more
improvement and your training is paying off.
Anthony.
Michelle
"Anthony" <ant...@nospam.biu.ac.il> wrote:
> Nice race Michelle.
Thanks Anthony.
> Looks like you're on course for more
> improvement and your training is paying off.
I hope so.