Running Faster than Ever Before!

I had a stellar run! I always thought that my race pace was pretty much an 8 minute mile. But somehow I surprised myself and the spirit of competition brought out a new best in myself. I set new best times in the 5k, 10k and 15k!
I owe a lot of my success to two of my coworkers. I met up with coworker and veteran runner Dennis (who has run all 33 Heart Minis!) at my office. I had a bit too much wine the night before at my homie Datina's wedding and I was very forgetful (I even forgot my LPK team running shirt and had to wear my bike kit jersey which was actually Bridget's jersey because I left all my stuff in the dryer — thus I was showing a lot of man boob). So seeing Dennis and his friends get ready really helped me remember things like race number and gels. Last year I just walked down and filed in at the back of the start. This year Dennis and friends jogged from our office and filed in comfortably behind the first few rows of people at the head of the race.

I saw another coworker Emma who was lined up behind the 7:15 pacers. I never used the pacers before (this is my third running race) and thought that was a brilliant idea. I was expecting to run my 8 minute mile pace so I thought I would hang with them for a bit and then fall off and find a slower pacer. But I tucked in behind their draft for about 7 miles! And then I did my Contador-esque attack on the Torrence turnaround. It was way slower than last year's attack. The last 2 miles were painful, runners passing me here and there (I think I dropped roughly 6 places).


I want to thank teammate Joe for pumping me up at the Delta turnaround. I wasn't sure if we should high five or hug, so I used his midsection as a pole to circle around careening me back on course — yelling and hooting the entire time! I saw Jason Garneret and Eric Knight on the Torrence and it was great to get more support. I also saw Bridget's coworkers Jeremy and Susan from Fleet Feet in the final stretch (I just bought a new pair of Brook's Ravennas from them and my feet felt great).

Since I was wearing the bike kit I would leave the comfort of drafting in a pack of runners to get exposure for the shop and run close to spectators and cameras! Okay, I am a cheese ball.

2010 RESULTS:
15k Time:1:06:53
Overall Pace:7:12
10k Split: 44:27
5k Split: 22:06
Last Mile: They didn't track it this year, but I was going backwards!

2009 RESULTS:
15k Time: 1:14:37
Overall Pace:8:02
10k Split: 50:23
5k Split: 26:02
Last Mile: 7:29 (Looks like I had plenty of gas in the tank)

Previous 10k Best: 49:30 (7/10/2007)
Previous 5k Best: 22:10 (11/05/2007)

I went from 580th place to 218th. I think somehow I ended up being the fastest person running for my company (I barely beat Dennis and he was injured in January! He is badass!). Both years I think I put roughly 120 miles of running in my legs (since December). This year I focused a lot more on trail running, hoping the irregular running surfaces would strengthen my legs and prevent injury and the beautiful scenery would prevent burn out.

This year I chose to ride to and from the event. I spun in to warm up my legs and hopefully the ride home spun some lactic acid out of my legs. They are killing me though!