This race took place in Valparaiso. It's a little town in Northern Indiana about 1 hour outside the city. I was excited about running a race that took place outside Chicago. The race was put on by the Valparaiso high school, and there were A LOT of very fast little high schoolers. This was essentially a local meet. Being a Valentine's themed race, they offered a "couples division" in which they took the couple's cumulative time and ranked it against other couples.
Considering it is mid-February, the conditions couldn't have been better. Sunny, 18* and little wind. I did a 1.5 mile warm up with some strides, and I felt pretty good going into it. We lined up, and took off. I went out at what I thought was a reasonable pace. However, at a half mile into the race, I was ALREADY starting to feel the pain. It was intense. It's been a while since I raced, and I'm not used to the discomfort.
At about 1.25 miles I was really struggling. I fought hard to stay on pace, but I fell off a bit. It was frustrating because I was expecting to run faster than this. I hung on as best I could, and with a half mile remaining in the race, I was able to step it up somewhat. I passed several people in the last half mile, and had a nice kick at the finish. But I was not pleased with my time.
The race finished on the high school's indoor track, which was kinda neat.
Mile 1- 6:49
Mile 2- 7:01
Mile 3.1- 7:41
FINISH- 21:32 (6:56 pace)
In November of '09 I ran an 8k in 36:05 (7:15 pace). After almost 3 months of good training and alotta miles, I expected more out of myself today. It's disappointing. This is a new PW. I worry that I'm not progressing as well as I should be. I had high hopes for this spring/summer, and today seems like an unfortunate reality check. It's gonna take a lot more than I had thought to get back to the kinda fitness I had in 2008.
On a more positive note, my gf KICKED ASS! She finished with a PR of 22:35. We also took 2nd place in the couples division.
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