Weekend success

As promised in my blog post last week, I ran a 5K on Saturday! After skimming through my results on Athlinks post-race, I realized it was my first 5K since Johnny's Run Like Hell in October of 2011, where I ran a 22:57.

My results from Saturday? 22:32. 4th OA female, 1st in my age group (which is 30-39 now btw, ew). You won't find me in the results because there was a bit of a mix up at registration.

that girl passed me but I passed her back

I like this shot

I am fairly happy with that. In general, I run between 22 and 23 minutes for a 5K. When I am in really good shape, I can run a 21:xx, and when I am super out of shape, I run a 23:xx. So I am feeling pretty good considering it's May and I was pretty inconsistent until this month with my running and had NO idea what would happen. Plugging that into McMillan gives me a 1:44 half marathon and a 3:39 full marathon.

I don't really operate in a "goal-time" setting universe. The "A" races I have done have always been so long (Ironman, half-Ironman) and so dependent on everything going perfectly that I never had splits to aim for and more or less just wanted to finish (usually sub 13 was my safety zone). My first Ironman I finished in 12:18 and then my next 2 were slower. My fastest half-IM was 5:16 and again, the next 3 were slower. I have ALWAYS been sub 13 for the full and sub 6 for the half but those are times I set for myself when things go wrong. The 5:16 I did was when everything went really, really right. I have always wanted to tackle the half-IM goal but the season following that one great race, I did 2 Ironmans and no halves, and the one following that I was burned the f- out from racing and had 2 really slow races.

I have a hard time with goals.. but I think that with a shorter race I can control more of it and be closer to nailing my time. Part of me wants to see if I can pace for the 1:44 half. But the other part of me is dying to run sub-1:40 because I've never done it. I don't know if I CAN do it right now, so: Do I try for it and risk blowing up? Or do I play it safe and go by McMillan? These are things that I am inexperienced in - I don't know myself well enough as a runner to know what I can and cannot do. There is a 25 sec/mile difference between those two finish times which is a lot!

Anyways, I will be pondering that for the next two weeks.


After the 5K, I drove to the Lima Gun Club and participated in the RXCSF (Rochester XC Ski Foundation) Summer Biathlon Clinic. I AM a member of RXCSF and have done a few summer biathlons, so I am happy that we are bringing them to Rochester! I got there about an hour late but was still able to practice a little bit of shooting and then go through an informal practice race. I shot ok, but not great. Hopefully I will be able to get a rental gun and maybe actually improve!

getting some practice shots in the standing position

for the race we all shot prone (easier to hit targets)

Then on Sunday, I got up early, met K-Dub at his house in Mendon, where we proceeded to run 12 miles, mostly on trails, through the park! It was great to have someone to run with. I am not a great trail runner (I trip/fall down) therefore I avoid them and mostly stick to the road, but I do think it's a) good to get out of your comfort zone sometimes and b) easier on your joints for long runs like that.

It was a really good weekend running and otherwise. I got some yard work done, got some homework done, did some socializing, got a sunburn. Now unfortunately I am back to real life where I have to work, study for my final, and get ready to go out of town this weekend for my dear friend Jessie's wedding!