Towpath Ten Ten Recap

Another PR!!! :-p 

I love being relatively new to all this still because there are so many races that I haven't done before so my calendar this year is filled with automatic PR's (that's personal record for my non-running friends who may read this blog). 2 weeks ago I PR'd in the Twinsburg Duathlon simply because I've never done one before. I also think I like the fact that I'm SO slow now because these PR's "should" be pretty "easy" to beat in the future!

I mean, that's why I have already been able to take something like 40 minutes off my half marathon time in a total of 3 races....because my first half marathon was 3:20! Yea, people do FULL marathons in that amount of time.

But I digress.....on to the Towpath Ten Ten Recap!

As you all know from my previous post, things have not really been going as well as they should be. I'm eating like crap, I'm skipping workouts, etc. The week leading up to this race I kept having to remind myself that I'm doing a 10 miler this weekend. I also have to stop thinking that 10 miles is not that far! In actuality...it's not that much shorter than a half marathon! Just a short little 5k less than that half! I ran on Tuesday and then did NOTHING until the race. NICE! I suppose I was tapering...right?!!? I picked up my packet on Saturday and still had no real feelings about this race. I'm pretty confident these days that I'll cross the finish line. I also know it won't be anywhere near as fast as I want so I'm getting to the point where I don't really care (not good).

Sunday morning I woke up around 5AM to get ready for the race and wait for SIL to arrive to drive to the race (she was racing as well). We got to the Quaker Steak and Lube around 6AM and started our walk to the start line. The start line was about 1 mile from the parking lot so SIL and I took a nice stroll to the start line. We had no interest in jogging that mile to warm up! We waited in line for the porto potties, chatted for a while and then the cowbell was ringing and we were off. I think there is something I like about these smaller races.

I started out great. I was passing people during my run intervals and was getting passed by some during my walk breaks. But, even at the start I would pass people as I ran and then be passed by them when I walked. I played leap frog with a few people throughout the race like that. However, it continues to frustrate me because I can't seem to find an interval that continues to work for me throughout the mileage. I chose 3/1 for this one because I've been struggling with the 4/1 intervals I do. 3/1 was still tough after about 4 miles.  I don't remember for sure, but I think I started messing up my intervals after the 5th mile, but it may have been before. From that point to the end I struggled. I sometimes ran 2/2, 1/1, 1/2...sometimes I didn't even pay close attention and would just stop to a walk because I felt like I couldn't keep going. I'm getting really sick of these runs. I'm getting sick of not being able to sustain my intervals throughout my entire run. I'm getting sick of feeling like I'm going backwards rather than improving. I used this to motivate me to get back into the game....more on that in a minute.

A positive was that I realized around mile 8 that I could probably walk the last 2 miles (which I didn't) and still meet my very realistic and SLOW goal. That made me happy. It made me happy that I finally picked a goal that was totally realistic so that I might actually meet it! Of course then it aggravated me that the only reason I'm meeting my goal is because I set it so low....ugh...gotta get out of my head!


This is my....damn  you for taking your camera out as soon as I start walking! And, what's that I see behind me??? People??

I passed mile 9 and figured I'd be seeing my family soon. I was right! I could see in the far distance a very tall man, with a shorter woman and thought that might be my parents. Then, I saw a little kid jumping up and down wildly and just KNEW that was my son! I was running towards them and really wanted to take a walk break, but I knew my Dad would start taking pictures and I wanted to be running in the pics (not that you can even tell the difference in pics since I'm so darn slow)! But, I just couldn't keep it up. As soon as I started walking I see him take his camera out! Damn! So, I started running again. I tossed my water bottle to my family and told my kids to come run me in. It was so fun to have them running me in.....well, until my lovely daughter who was running next to me in flip flops said "mommy, you're SLOW"! I told her that's not really what you want to say to someone who is finishing 10 miles!

I don't know why, but I like this picture. I had stopped to walk again and was telling my kids to come with me.

 We crossed the finish line together (can't wait to see those official pics) and I finished my first 10 miler in 2:17:04. I came in 29th out of 34 in my age group. Yes, it is WAY in the back of the pack, but it was NOT last! It was not even 2nd to last so I'm happy about that! My goal was to finish under 2:20 and I did that so I left the race happy.

I know this is a long post....bear with me...I actually have stuff to talk about tonight!

So, as I said above. I used my frustration on Sunday to fuel my motivation. I NEED to get back on track. The Olympic Triathlon (that I'm not yet officially signed up for) is in 7 weeks from yesterday and I am nowhere near ready! If I'm LUCKY I'll be able to get my weight down to where it was last year when I did my sprint tri and that ticks me off! But, that's only if I'm lucky and if  get my butt in gear!

I'm happy to report that today was a good day! I'm starting with trying to just keep my calories under 2000. Even with 2000 calories a day I should lose weight (slowly) since I burn so many calories (if/when I actually workout). I also did 40 minutes in the pool today. I did 1550 yards in those 40 minutes and 1200 (the length of the oly tri) was in 30 min....that is my goal for the oly swim! I ended my day with my calories right around 1890. All in all a more successful day than I've had in a long time. I decided that yes, I want to lose weight like yesterday (don't we all); but I need to be happy as long as the scale is going in the right direction! When I become satisfied with where I am and happy if the scale is just moving (no matter how slowly) I think I'll ultimately be more successful. I mean, really, what does it matter how long it takes to lose the weight if the scale is consistently moving down and I'm doing things like half marathons, 10 milers, triathlons, duathlons, FULL marathons in the process?!?!? It's about being HEALTHY right?? I do believe in the ability to be FAT and FIT as I believe I am now. I don't believe someone could cross 4 half marathon finish lines (plus all those other things) without being FIT. So maybe the journey to "just" fit will take me longer than I want....at least I'm fit in the process!

And with that I leave you.

Let's try something new....a question for you....What is your favorite race distance?