Awesome run! I bet you can beat that time with the next one, provided
there are no hills to slow your bad self down again!

Congrats!


--- In PDXcouch25k@yahoogroups.com, "shanaob" <ShanaOB@...> wrote:
>
> I've already been blasting the internet with my crowing about how
> well I did in yesterday's 5k, but I thought one more toot of my own
> horn here on Yahoo and then I'll give it a rest : )
>
> Weather was muggy, but overcast, which was yucky but better than
> sweltering sun. Race started at 9 am, was 30 minutes away from my
> house, and I did not preregister, so we left at 7:30 am. A friend of
> mine from court reporting school ran with me. She has not been doing
> couch to 5k, but she has been doing her own version of it with timed
> intervals. She's 30, so 12 years younger than me, and very trim
> though she claims to be "out of shape," "shape" being a relative term
> as she is a former Marine. Her "out of shape" and my "I wish" are
> about the same thing. Anyway, she's a former distance runner, has
> not run in years, and has just been easing back into it. This 5k was
> her first run over three miles and she beat me by almost three
> minutes (not that I'm counting, haha!)
>
> The run was the Mt. Hood Jazz Fest Fun Run, first annual, and was
> held on a very lovely community college campus (Mt. Hood CC) as part
> of the jazz festival. There were vendor booths, artists, food, beer,
> etc. at the festival, the race being kind of the "kick off" for the
> day. One special treat that I LOVED was the fact that there were
> jazz musicians scattered along the 3 mile route playing for us as we
> ran. That was unexpected and so nice!
>
> So, the nitty gritty. I started out too fast and knew that I was
> going to run out of steam, but it's really hard to slow down when
> you're part of a group that's moving along at such a nice clip. And
> man does it suck to have people whipping past! So I was having my
> internal debate about slowing down, trying to formulate a plan, and
> literally before I could even figure out what I wanted to do to pace
> myself, I see the one mile marker. I was elated and couldn't believe
> I had run a mile already, checked my watch and it was 10:08 minutes!
> That is by far the best mile I have ever run.
>
> I ran past the first water station because I usually don't stop and
> drink anything when I am running 5k anyway. Somewhere between mile
> one and mile two there was a hill (the first of many) and, get this,
> I RAN UP THE HILL. I couldn't believe it. I hate hills, but I had
> nice momentum and I kept it up. But here's the kicker. Get to the
> top of the hill, round a corner, and there's another effing hill. I
> didn't have it in me to make it up that second hill, so I walked up
> the hill. There was a water station just over the top of the hill,
> so I walked to the water station, drank a cup and then started
> running. The walking segment up the hill and through the water
> station was about one minute.
>
> Got back to a brisk jog and hit the two mile marker at 21:15. I was
> losing steam and the crowd had broken up so it was easy to slip into
> a nice slow jog at this point. Eventually I could hear the finish
> line up ahead, but couldn't see it because, guess what, another
> freaking hill. I walked up the hill, and the thought of running that
> sucker was pretty funny because I barely walked it! Got to the top
> and could see the finish line in the distance, so I started running
> at a good pace. Crossed the finish line with my arms thrown up in
> the air, which my friend who was watching thought was hilarious.
>
> Grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it. Grabbed a second bottle
> and sipped it. Got out of the crowd because I thought I was going to
> throw up (I didn't). There was a nice buffet for the runners of
> fruit and bagles, but the thought of food was too much, so got away
> from that area.
>
> We walked around the festival for a little while and I got a
> smoothie, which totally hit the spot and made me feel human again.
> Enjoyed some music and checked out the artisans (I bought a very
> lovely bracelet).
>
> So I am really pleased with my second 5k. I beat my goal (38
> minutes) and beat it good! I am happy that I came in in the top half
> of women my age and the top half of women overall. I have another
> local 5k that I am planning to run in September and I hope I can do
> as well in that one. I'm not going to up the goal, though, because I
> felt really maxed out by this race, I don't think I want to be
> running any faster than what I did yesterday. Having started running
> at age 42, I am happy right where I am. I'd like to work up to
> longer distances, but I am pleased as punch with an 11-12 minute
> mile, thank you very much.
>
> My race stats from the Web site are posted below. Thanks C25k'ers
> for all of the support!
>
> Shana, Vancouver, WA, Female, 42
> Chip Time: 0:35:52
> Chip Pace: 11:33
> Age Division: 4 / 9 (I was 4th out of 9 women in my division)
> Place Overall: 64 / 108
> Sex Overall: 24 / 53 (I was 24th out of all women, of which there
> were 53)
>