Coach has not included this on my plan. Should I not do it then? This year, I decided to ask her. Hoping she allows me to do it.
She did allow it and she asks me not to race it. NOOOOO! I am on the 2nd wave, I mean I am on the fast group people and I have finally unleashed this crazy animal inside of me that allows me to push through pain that I really would like to experience on race day. But Coach says no, so I am going to listen to her. After all, I pay her for a reason. To keep me from getting hurt and pushing to my potential. Fine, I’ll do a tempo run.
The morning of: Nutella woke up at 5 am, it is like she knew I had to be somewhere soon. Well, we also went to bed early so it seems that she wakes up whenever she has enough sleep. Dog momma duties as usual, walk, feed, walk again, play some and play some more. I am almost late. How do people do these races with families? I feel it is hard enough with one puppy.
I get breakfast, coffee, bathroom and I am out the door at 6:15am. Marta is steps away from my door, I am only one station away and the next train is at 6:37am. My start time is 7:05am. I am living grand! It seems like…. till Marta doesn’t show up till 6:51am. I am soooooo UPSET but I am over it because it is out of my control. As soon as Marta gets going and I arrived, I run to the start. I miss the National Anthem, the jets and my wave start at 7:05. Argh! I make it on time to the 7:10 start. I start running and I am not happy I missed the B wave. I get over again and try to get into a rhythm. It seems like people are flying by me, I hold back and keep on focusing on my breathing, it is a tempo run. It is hilly and hot. This is a great training day.
The race started earlier this year, but heat and humidity were still big part of this day: 80F at 7 am. The first 3 miles were good, I got ready for the hills. As I conquered the cardiac hill, I realized that I was having fun on my tempo run. The last mile seemed longer. I wonder a couple times how much longer I had to keep running, then as I turn into 10th street, I got a sudden boost and pushed forward. I saw some familiar faces as I approached the finish line. Sprinted all the way though. Finish time: 55:04
Once the race was over, I got to see some friends. It was one of Ironman friends first Peachtree road race, also her first 10k race ever! We hang out, took pictures and decided to run back to the start line. We got some side hilly road and run back on the hear. After standing for over a hour. We mostly jogged but it was good to talk and catch up. As I got home, I decided to eat some and then to go look at my past year results. It turns out that this is my best Peachtree Road Race. Can you believe that? Now, it is hard to say that it is because I had no pressure of a PR or because I am just running better. I guess I will only know next year if I race it.
girltritalk.wordpress.com 