At last we are back from our summer “vacation”, celebrating hubby’s birthday and visiting the in-laws in North Carolina. While there I had the pleasure of participting in Carrboro’s Four on the 4th, you guessed it, a quick 4-miler thru residential streets. I last did this race 2 years ago and shocked myself by snagging an AG 2nd place.
This year I arrived to find the race had grown exponentially. No exaggeration I think it tripled in size. I have to admit the conditions were perfect. Hot but that’s to be expected in these parts, but really not terribly humid. I don’t have my actual splits handy but they were positive and ugly.
Mile 1: We’re off most of us like bats out of hell, charging downhill, me praying I don’t get flattened while still debating on a pacing strategy.
Mile 2: It’s all coming back to me now. The first 2 miles are practically all downhill. Perhaps I should settle down and save something for the end but we’re going downhill for heaven’s sake shouldn’t I be making some hay??
Mile 3: The ascent begins. What goes down must now come trudging back up. Blech.
Mile 4: I feel pretty awful but I am passing people, more than a few. Maybe I’ve got more than I thought left. We finally make it onto a middle school track for the finishing lap. I feel like I’m doing maybe 9:30 miles but my Garmin reads 7:19 so I’ve got a smidge of something left, maybe because my father-in-law came to watch.
Finish time: 31:43. 7:55 pace. Although I beat my old time by 30+ seconds, my performance this year was good for an anemic 7th place AG standing but most important a new 4-mile PR for me! Thanks to The Cardinal Track club and co-race directors Dick Forbis and Eric Paul for another very enjoyable experience this year and congrats on such a fantastic turnout!
Which brings me to my next point: I read in the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago that even in this tenuous economy, races are filling up faster than ever. And 2009 has seen marathon times improve in nearly every age category. The number of runners achieving BQ times has increased a whopping 39% over 2008. The theory is that people who are unemployed are running more, training harder and getting indesputable results. That, some much-needed stress release and an endorphin boost to boot. Wow. Just wow.
As for the rest of the week: Week 2 of the marathon training cycle is almost complete but not without the challenge of North Carolina’s “Triple H Threat”: Heat, Hills and Holy Hellacious MIL Batman! I managed a leaden morning-after-the-race long run thru Chapel Hill, 4x800m and a peppier 6-mile tempo effort. And yes folks, I held up my end of the bargain and actually did some crosstraining! Hubby can attest to the fact that I spent some quality time on the elliptical (still waiting for this one to grow on me) and finished our stay with some plyometric intervals.
And finally: I’ll be in Madison WI for their inaugural 1/2 marathon in August!
