OFFICIAL RESULTS OF THE COW HARBOR 10K

Surprisingly, when I woke this morning I feel great. A little tired, since the birthday party for my daughter went until 9pm, and I am usually in bed by then. LOL But, I totally expected to be in pain, since my calves were screaming at me at the end of yesterdays race. Very nice surprise indeed:) Still taking today off as a rest day, and will resume my half marathon training schedule tomorrow. Only plans for today, is yet another birthday celebration for my daughter, but this time, at my in-laws house about a mile away. At some point today I have to make cupcakes for her to bring to school tomorrow to celebrate with her classmates, on her actual birthday, day. So, let the celebration continue....

Got the final/official results from the Cow Harbor 10K (see below post for all the details)

I came in 1,551 out of 4,154 participants

I am in 65th in my age group (40-44) out of 322 participants

Today is a good day:)

COW HARBOR 10K RACE AND NEW PR

Although I am training/running races to qualify for the 2009 NYC Marathon, THIS race was the race I was waiting for. I ran this race in 2005 (1:01:30 a 9:54 pace), and I knew I could do better. Kids, life in general got in the way, and 2006, 2007 went by the wayside. But, this morning, I woke up, and it was 2008 COW HARBOR day!!!! And I was READY!! My legs felt great, considering I ran the Queens Half just 6 days ago, but I was smart, and just did a very easy (10min miles) 3 mile run on Thursday to keep the legs loose, and took the rest of the week off.

It was great sleeping in before a race (Cow Harbor 10K race is run in the next town over from me), so no 4:30am wake up this time:) I slept till 7am, lounged around the house with hubby and kids, and left the house around 7:50 am. Drove to the closest Stop and Shop parking lot (which was about a 1/4 of a mile from the start of the race). Got there with about 30min till race time. No issues with having to pee this time!! Walked around, found my orange corral, and waited for the gun to sound.

Oh, today's weather could not have been nicer. No humidity (or at least I don't know what it was, LOL, but it was very low, BR411, any clue????) and the temp was about 62 degrees. Cool, but not too chilly. Just the PERFECT day for a run.

Start was supposed to start at 8:30. but they were running about 5 minutes late. I was the 9th wave. This course is organized perfectly. You put in a predicted time, they place you in a corral based on that time, and then they start the corrals about 1 minute apart from each wave. So, it's crowded, but NOT mass confusion.

I got myself to the start of the wave/corral. and when the gun went, took off. The first mile of this race is downhill, and I took it a little faster than I would have liked (8:04), but I guess that's what happens when the adrenaline is going and you're at the beginning of the corral, you kind of get sucked up in the moment. But, not a bad start...

Mile 2: is basically all uphill, climaxing with James street which is a 202 ft elevation. I took mile 2 at 8:55, which was about the pace I wanted to do this mile, but the legs started to get tired because of doing the first mile WAY too fast (I think I was also starting to feel the affects of the Queens Half, i think:(

Mile 3: was basically a little uphill and then flat, and I did that one in 8:43, slower than I would have liked, but like I said, the legs were starting to get heavy. and I stopped to walk for about 15 seconds while I drank some water. I still can't run and drink at the same time. LOL

Mile 4: was basically flat and then downhill. I did this one in 8:12, and the legs were feeling good again.

Mile 5: was basically a gradual incline, but not too bad. Usually I do this one in about the same time as mile 4, but I could feel legs, so I took it slower, and came in at 8:43 Guess the downhills were affecting me more than usual. LOL

Mile 6: starts with a fairly steep uphill, but not for long, and then it levels off, and then it's all downhill. I kicked it in, even with the hill, and did a 7:55 mile, might have kicked it in a little too soon, as I didn't have the kick for the last .2 that I would have liked, and by then both my calves were yelling at me. LOL

Last .2: This is all downhill. I gave it my all, and was definitely passing people, and my calves were complaining, but I entered the finish shoots at, I think 52:38, I was so spent and excited I forgot to turn off the Garmin right away, and we all know how long a second can take. LOL My Garmin time was 52:44, but I'm guessing it took 5 or 6 seconds for me to realize I had to turn off "George", my nickname for my Garmin:)

So, when I get the official results I will post them, but overall I am very happy. I went into the race with a HUGE goal of trying to beat 51:00, since on May 19th, I ran the Healthy Kidney 10K, in 55:29, and then on July 12th, I ran the Park to Park 10K, in 54:38, both of these races were run in excruciatingly HOT and HUMID conditions, so I thought I could run today's race faster, and set the goal to 51:00, since it was cooler, and virtually NO humidity. Oh well. LOL

But I am still excited, because I still ran it faster than the above two 10K's, and I completely blew away my 2005 course time of 1:01:30 for this race.

Next race, 3 weeks, 1 day away, Staten Island Half Marathon on Sunday, October 12th!!!

I came home and soaked in a very cold bath tub for about 30 minutes, and hung with the kids.

Now it is time to get ready for the birthday party for my 8 year old. Wow, how time flies, I still remember giving birth to her like it was yesterday:) Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you!!!

FIRST HALF MARATHON COMPLETED; WHAT AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE!!!

Well, I woke this morning at 4am, got myself ready doing the normal pre-race stuff, and headed to my friends house at 5:15am, to drive into Queens together. By the time we got in there it was 6:15am. We parked about a mile away from the start, as they were closing roads from 7-10am and did not want to get stuck there. So, by the time we got to where we picked up our bibs, it was 6:50 for a 7am start. Got our bibs and chips. We all had to potty, so we got on line. OMG, at least a 100 people deep, but thankfully it was moving fast. LOL As start time approached we watched the race start, and we're still waiting to us the porto-potties. Now any of you bloggers out there that have had children, you know you have to pee before a race. LOL so we stuck it out and waited. At 7:05ish, people started coming by yelling if you don't get to the start in 4 minutes we are pulling the start mats and you won't be able to run the race. Thank God we were next in line for the potty, and we did our 'thing', and sprinted to the start. As we crossed the start matt, I looked back and sure enough they were pulling them up. Not like cutting it a little close. LOL

But the upside was, there was no crowd, we just ran the race. As with most of these NYRR races, it's not when the gun goes off, it's when your chip crossed the start and finish. So, we started at 7:10. It was cloudy and grey, and very hot. After the race my husband said the humidity was 95%, YIKES!!! (actually according to the site stats, it was 87% humidity) At about mile 2 we started seeing people in front of us, by mile three we were in the crowd of the race, but it was never stifling (sp??), and never had to zig-zag. Basically it was a pleasure.

My friends and I kept about an average 9 minute pace for the first 7 miles. It was hot, and it was hilly at times, but I felt great!! At mile 7 one of my friends had to use the porto potty (was having stomach issues), and his girlfriend said she was going to stop and wait as her knees hurt from the hills). They both told me to go on by myself. Up until then, I was running with them. They are experienced half marathoners and offered to drive me, so I didn't want to run ahead. I know it's a race, but since I was running it as a training run, I thought I'd do the politically correct thing. But since they stopped and I was now running alone, I sort of took off. My body felt great. I took the next 4 miles at about an 8 to 8:30 pace, and I really felt good, but man eventually the hills caught up with me. LOL Guess I should have just stayed at average 9min pace. Oh well.

At about mile 10 the sun came out and it really got hot, and I was thinking I feel good, but if this was the marathon, I would still have 16 miles to go and there was no way I could do that. LOL At this exact moment, I run by this volunteer who must have been reading my (all us runners) minds, cause he was saying "come on runners, you're doing awesome, you won't remember this race, because come marathon day it's going to be 50 degrees, and you will blow today's time out of the water" It was so funny. Gave me a little inspiration, and I kept going.

By mile 11, I was starting to feel it, I didn't hurt but I was HOT, and my legs were getting tired, but I kept plugging along, saying one more mile, one more mile. Before I knew it the finish was in site and I was able to give it a good sprint the last 300 yards, and I crossed the finish line at 2:01:33. a 9:16 pace. I still can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!

Got home, took a cold bath tub, got kids ready for their soccer games, went to them (2 HOURS OUTSIDE IN THE HOT HOT BLAZING SUN) both kids did awesome!! Then had a wonderful dinner at my in-laws and just got home.

Looking forward to going to bed and sleeping in. LOL

Hope to have more of the stats tomorrow, but for my first half marathon race, I'm VERY pleased!! and I feel like I am totally ready for the Staten Island Half on October 12th!! Pray for cooler weather. LOL

Next race for me, the Cow Harbor 10K race in 6 days. Bring it on....


OFFICIAL STATS FROM THE NYRR.ORG WEBSITE:

NYRR Grand Prix: Queens Half
Distance: 13.1 Miles
Date/Time: Sept. 14, 2008, 7:00 am
Location: College Point, Queens, NYC
Weather: 73 deg., 87% hum, wind 7 mph


Bib # 3138
Gender/age: F43
Distance (miles): 13.1
Finish Time: 2:01:33
Pace Time: 9:16
Overall Place: 1,394 (out of 3,054 people)
Gender Place: 343 (out of 1,173)
Age Place: 36th (out of 115 women ages 40-44)
AG Time: 1:53:29
AG Gender place: 266
Age-Graded%: 58.0%


When I woke this morning my legs felt a little sore and heavy, but 2 hours later, they feel OK. Guess my muscles just had to wake up. Taking today off and might do a very easy run tomorrow.

ONE MORE DAY TILL THE QUEENS HALF MARATHON

Well, tomorrow is the day. Hopefully the rain will hold off for the race. I think I'm ready, though I could have done without our cousins wedding last night. But we had a great time, I abstained from alcohol, wore flats, and was home by 11:30pm, but woke this morning tired, and with cramps in both my feet and calfs. ARGGGGHHHHHHH I knew I should have worn flip flops or something, or just not worn shoes at all. ARGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Been drinking lot's of water today and will soak in the bath tub later. Hopefully I do not have any issues during tomorrows 13.1 miles. Just planning to run through the race as a training run, as my Goal Half is still the Staten Island Half on October 12th, which I want to run for time. But I am excited as, although I have run the disance before, I have NEVER run a half marathon. Should be fun!!!

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but had another great run with BR411 OUTSIDE; 4 miles around the pond. Honey you are really doing awesome. You set the pace, and kept it for a very consistent 9:45 pace for 4 miles. I'm very proud of you!!!!!!!! I have no doubt you will be joining me next year on some of the half's!!!!

WONDERFUL RUN 'OUTSIDE' WITH MY BEACHRUNNER411

Today was a gorgeous day and my BR411 and I got out for an awesome 4 mile run around the pond. Legs felt great after yesterdays 12 miler, and then we had the most awesome sushi lunch!! No vino as my race is 6 days away, but we'll celebrate again then. LOL

Here's to many more years together beachrunner411, I love you, and it gets better and better every year!!!!! (kind of like a good bottle of wine:) Speaking of which, some day (when the kids are older), we WILL run the Napa Valley 1/2 marathon together. Keep up the great work, YOU are doing awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODAY IS MY HUBBYS AND MY 12th ANNIVERSARY AND TO CELEBRATE I RAN A 12 MILE LONG RUN:)!!! & MY HALF MARATHON IS ONLY 1 WEEK AWAY

Well, I know I ran 10 miles on Friday, but since today was hubby's and my 12th anniversary, I decided to run my long run today, and do 12 miles:) Yesterday was a rest day, and legs/muscles feel awesome. So I hit the gym and took it nice and slow at 6.0 and 1% incline on the treadmill.

Your all probably wondering why I'm running on the TM instead of outside. The weather hasn't been so great, and I wanted to get my runs in!! Plus, it's the only time I get to watch 'my' TV shows, and the time just flies by and I like it. Don't get me wrong, I love running outside too, but I like to mix it up. I love that I can just set the machine to a pace and go. Helps to build those running muscles, and since my runs lately have been few and far between, I feel that at least running on the TM is preparing my body better for my race. And I believe there is no better place to build those base building miles than on the treadmill. And once again, my HR stayed below 140 with cardiac drift the whole 12 miles:)

Well, tomorrow BR411 and I will run 4 miles outside together after we drop kids off at the bus, and then we're finally going to celebrate our anniversary at our favorite restaurant on the water, eating sushi:)

9 MILES ON THE TREADMILL:)

Fantastic run on the TM today at the gym. Gym was actually quiet and empty, so that was a super nice bonus. Finished 9 miles in 1:27:14, and the HR never exceeded 140, even with drift. Gotta love base building training!!!

Run was great considering I haven't run since Sunday:( You'd think now that the kids are in school all day, I'd get a break, but unfortunately, as always the first few days of school, I have lots of catching up to do with errands, etc, so no dice on the running. but I know I'll get my runs in next week. Though my race is a week from Sunday and I should be in some sort of a taper, guess you could say, I've already been in a taper. LOL

But what I have chosen to do is make my runs long and slow, since they are so few and far between. So, tomorrow will most likely be an off day, and I will aim to run 12 on Sunday!!!

Oh yeah, today's run took me past 500 miles run since January 2nd when I started, as today is September 5th, I'm still running and it's 8 months later. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!