4th of July 8k

Hey all.

Well, it's Monday morning after the 4th, and I feel like I was flattened by a bus. Just totally whipped. Not sure why...it just sort of hit me. I woke up today and moved to get up and...ooyyy. Just exhausted. I didn't even run a long race yesterday - an 8k (never run one of those before...). Despite my fatigue, I'm feeling pretty good about my performance. Let me preface this little report by saying that I believe I hade 3 too many peartinis the night before. We went out for a drink and I ended up having 3. I wasn't hungover the next morning, just a little dehydrated? Ha. So, I feel as if I could have had a better race had I not consumed the alcohol (oh...and the 2 beers after those martinis, oops), and gotten more sleep. That being said, I faired pretty well. The race started at 7am...a little earlier than I would have liked, but fine. I went by myself, which I don't normally do, but Mike had to bring Logan to Grandma's so he could bike for 2 hours. It was kind of nice being there alone. Anyway, so we started off at 7, it was a beautiful day, a little high in humidity for NM. Nothing major, though. I headed out easy the first 1/2 of the first mile, and picked it up once I cleared ahead of the mass of runners. First mile came in at an even 8 min/mile pace. Not bad. I had originally wanted to run 7:45's, and I had based this on the fact that I can run a 5k at 7:24 pace, and my last 10k was at 8:07 pace. I think that estimate was a bit off, seeing how an 8k is closer to a 10k than a 5k....needless to say I ran slower than that. But that's okay. So, I continued running along, and kept an even pace of 8 min. miles for the 2nd mile as well. At this point I had picked off some more people, and was running behind one girl and practically alongside this 18 year old kid. He was big and muscley, and was breathing hard by this point. He stayed with me until about mile 3.5...where we struck up a chat and he was like, "if you would just slow down, I'd feel fine right now. But I'm trying to keep up." Then he asked if I wanted to slow down with him, to which I replied, no thank you! And I took off without him. Nice kid, though. At this point I passed the girl who was in front of me, and I was running alone for the remaining 1.5 miles. I was feeling pretty good, and was super steady at 8 min mile pace. My left hip flexor was beginning to bother me, though, because honestly? I haven't been running as much as I was this spring. And I have skipped track practice for about 3 weeks soooo....I was feeling sub-par. So, the last loop to the finish line came up, and I was pretty much ready to be done. There was a nice gradual half mile hill at the end, and then it flattened out. As I was running down the last stretch, a girl I had passed at mile 1.5 came speeding by me with her short little legs. I know her from the gym, and was like DAMN! I hate those people who have a good kick at the end. I personally don't have a great kick at the end, and so I just continued chugging along. I picked it up a bit when I saw the clock said 39:50....but alas, was unable to break 40 minutes. That's okay. I didn't have a goal for this race anyway, I was just pissed I got passed at the end, BOOO!

So, I finished, walked over to some shade and sat down (after retrieving water), and my heart was beating super hard and I was sweating martinis...err....bullets. Yeah. I think those drinks the night before were pumping their way out of my system. Yeck. I milled around, chewed on some bread offered by a great bakery at the race, and then hopped in my car to head home. Didn't stick around-didn't think I had placed because there were a lot of runners...a lot of women. Anywho, checked the results this AM and I ended up in 3rd in my age group - woohooo! Would have made 2nd if that GIRL hadn't scurried by me at the end. She beat me by 3 seconds. Bahh. But, I'm happy! 3rd in age group out of 18; 14th woman overall out of 128; 72nd runner out of 258.

Not bad! Didn't claim the prize since I left...maybe they can send it to me. If not, whatev.

Nice to know I can hang with the big dogs. Now imagine if I actually went to bed early and didn't indulge in too many beverages? Ehhhhh noooooo. That would just be boring!!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th. We bbq'd afterwards, watched some fireworks along the horizon (since you can see for miles where we live), and crashed into bed around 11PM. Now I am sucking down coffee and shuffling around like an old woman. We'll just veg today. Back to reality tomorrow.

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Happiness Journal:

Today I will just HANG OUT as a priority!
I am happy for a good book.
I am happy for swimming pools.
I am happy for the atuo setting on the coffee pot (coffee MADE for me before I get up?!)