Alright
so it's been a long time since I've blogged and there has been a lot
that has happened (running wise!). I wrote a blog for Innovative
Fitness about my race in NYC. So I'm pretty much just gonna share
that blog with you guys today. I will write more about World XC, Sun
Run and whats coming up this spring in another blog.
The
NYC Half Martahon was a fantastic race experience. About a month ago
I went to NYC and not only smashed my half marathon PB, but had a
super fun weekend too. The elite athlete co-ordinator, David Monti
(and his lovely wife Jane) take such great care of all the elites.
They treat us like gold,- amazing accommodation, super awesome
healthy food for breakfast and lunch, and every detail of the race
weekend is taken care of. It's pretty cool to be surrounded by some
of the world's best runners too- I got to meet last year's Boston
Marathon Champion, Meb Keflezighi- such a nice guy!
Ok
so lets just get to the race! I couldn’t sleep the night before
the race- stupid time change really messed with me. Getting up at
430am EST was not easy, as I still felt like I was on pacific time (3
hours earlier). Felt like I slept maybe 1 or 2 hours....but once I
was on the bus to the start line, I forgot all about how tired I was
and just felt excited! I was also very nervous as I had been dealing
with a few minor injuries leading up to this race. My last few runs
weren’t feeling good and this pain in my left groin-abdominal area
was flaring up (ongoing issue for past year). My left calf had also
been unusually tight....and during my strides right before the race
it started to hurt pretty bad. I told Lanni (who was also racing)
about my calf and she was like – its just a niggle it'll settle
down once we get going- don't worry. She is the Canadian Marathon
and half marathon record holder, so figured she probably knew what
she was talking about:). This made me feel better and I relaxed a bit
and was ready to go!
The
race didn’t go out as hard as I thought it would. Surprisingly I
found my self in the back of the front pack for the first 3 miles-
hitting 5:21-22 miles and feeling good! I was ranked 15th
going into the race, so I wasn't expecting to be right in that top
group...But I was, and I felt good, so I just went with it. My calf
had settled down, but I definitely still noticed it. For the most
part I blocked it out and don’t remember feeling a lot of pain-
just more tightness. We went through 5k in 16:26 and this is when
the lead pack of 8 girls dropped the pace and broke away. I knew
that I couldn’t run that fast so I stuck to my own pace and
continued rolling along through hilly Central Park with Lanni next to
me. Around 8km we went down a big hill and I got a little gap on
Lanni. And from this point on I was alone for the rest of the race.
Running through Times Square was amazing- the energy was unreal and
really got me pumped! It was the motivation I needed to going into
the second half of the race. I split 33:42 at 10k and was still
feeling good. My plan had been to go through around 33:45, so I was
right on pace. I was relieved that my calf was under control and the
pain in my left side was not flaring up.
After
12km the race goes right down the river for almost 9k straight. We
were told that the wind would likely be at our backs for this part of
the race. I was really looking forward to a nice little tail wind
for the last half of the race. However, I came around the corner and
was not happy to meet the wind right in my face. Knowing I was gonna
have to run the rest of the race into the wind was pretty lame, but
this almost meant so did every one else. And I tend to be a pretty
decent runner in the wind. So perhaps this was to my advantage.
With
about 5km to go I could see 2 girls up ahead starting to come back to
me. I kept pushing on and with 1 mile to go I had caught one of the
girls. I passed her and kept my eyes focused on the other girl still
about 100 meters ahead. With 400 meters to go I had closed the gap
and was only about 20 meters behind her. I scrunched up my face and
ran as hard as I could- I passed her with only 30 or 40 meters to the
finish line. I was pretty shocked to see the finishing clock-
1:11:20! A 63 second PB! I was very happy, especially when I was
told I was 6th
place- I couldn’t believe it! This was totally unexpected and
really awesome. I never gave up and pushed when it was really hard.
I finally felt like I was “back”. Its been a long time since I
ran that hard and it felt good!
I
attempted a cool down but my calf was now very painful....managed a
10 min shuffle/jog but knew my calf was not in a good place...I found
out a few days later when I got home that it was strained:( I had to
spend a week of just very easy running and cross training while it
healed up.
After
the race I spent the rest of the day and night enjoying NYC with
friends and it was a really great day. We drank wine, ate lots of
delicious food and had lots of laughs.
I
came home from NYC feeling motivated and hungry for more Pbs. The
strained calf slowed training down a bit for the first week when I
was home, but perhaps this was a blessing in disguise because it
allowed me to recover fully from the hard effort in NYC. When I
arrived in China 10 days after I got home from NYC I was feeling
recovered and ready to race hard again! I'll save my World XC race
for another blog.
Ok
that's my lil NYC recap for ya'll! I'll write more soon!
jogging in central park with these lovely ladies
