Sunday, April 22, 2012

18 miles

this weekend i ran 18 miles.

i ran my first ragnar relay this weekend. i loved it. despite the fact i was the odd man out on my team (they all knew each other & are from AZ) and i probably had very little in common with them, they were nice, we all got along and we had a great time! 12 runners, 2 vans and 203 miles later we made it!
this time around i had average length runs.
awesomeness
5.5 miles at 3 PM- in sweltering, beating, no shade, 92 degree weather. mostly uphill. HORRIFIC. i ran like an 11:30 minute mile. so bad. so hot. everyone on every team had to slow down and take it easy- not worth the heat stroke.
3.9 miles at 4 AM- 34 minutes baby! i SMOKED IT. i really think i could have ran it faster, i just didn't want to pull muscles or anything and have some juice left for another run. i felt SOOOO good. no, i mean, SOO good. the music on my ipod came at perfect times, it was cool, dark, uphill and downhill, i ran passed tons of people (and since i am competitive that felt good) and it was basically the biggest runners high i've ever had!! i could not have been happier.
4.9 miles at 4 PM- another amazing run- i don't know my exact time, but i know it was around an 8:45 pace. another great run. i thought it would be cold with fog and rain and cold, but actually it was amazing.  coming into the finish i SPRINTED and gave it all i could. felt sooo good!! i had no idea i had that much in me.
after I finished
i barely trained in the last few weeks and NEVER at any pace faster than a 9 minute mile. i thought with having a baby and being lazy about training i might never see my 7:45 minute pace return. but NOW... i'm thinking if i sign up for another race and actually train REALLY hard i could do it!

doing this race definitely made me feel young(er?) again and made me feel like i COULD accomplish something.  i was SOO proud of myself and Brad was so proud of me- it was worth it all. the best part, besides the surprising awesomeness of my runs, was seeing my best friend at one of the exchanges. his team was way faster than ours, but we got to see each other once. i love him.
two ragnar lovebirds

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