catherine's running efforts

AF Steel Days 5k

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Location:

Provo,UT,USA

Member Since:

May 06, 2009

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 21:01, 9/11/2010

10K: 43:49, 7/24/2010

15K: 1:21:00, 5/22/2010

Half-marathon: 1:41:41, 8/28/2010

Short-Term Running Goals:

Now that I'm (almost for sure) done having all the babies, I'm working on building consistency and seeing how fast I can get in my old age. ;)

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'd like to be a healthy and relatively injury-free runner for the rest of my life.  

Personal:

I'm married to Eric (Faceless Ghost on the blog) and we have very active daughters and one dog. I have a PhD in sociology and demography, and I'm incredibly grateful to have work that is meaningful and that builds on my academic experience. I run because it makes me feel strong and it helps to keep the crazy away (there is a long history of abuse and mental illness in my extended family).

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Brooks Cascadia Lifetime Miles: 73.39
Saucony Kinvara Lifetime Miles: 372.79
Girly Altra Lifetime Miles: 366.08
Kinvara 3 Lifetime Miles: 175.92
NB Orange Lifetime Miles: 13.50
Race: AF Steel Days 5k (3.1 Miles) 00:22:22, Place overall: 19, Place in age division: 2
Total Distance
5.10

I'll write a report later, but the little story is that I made my goal of a post-pregnancy 5k pr, I should run more if I want to run faster, I was 2nd in my age group (but 6 minutes slower than the person who was 1st), and Eric got beat by a couple of strollers because he and Elliott ran with me. 

*The report that I wrote later:

I was nervous about this race because I wanted to have a post-pregnancy PR (PPPR) even though I totally didn't deserve one. I was pretty consistent this year until knee-gate (*cough* altra-gate *cough*), and then I totally fell off the wagon. I've had weeks in the past few months where I didn't run at all, lots of weeks where I ran just a few miles, and I haven't run more than 22 miles in a week since the end of April. FRB keeps me honest, so this wasn't a "I'm going to PPPR even though I haven't trained because I think I can beat the system." I was just hoping I hadn't regressed. I was up late the night before looking up running stuff, and I found a comment thread on JakeK's FRB about how he would never race in Kinvaras. I had a mini freakout about my shoes, but then Eric reminded me that I'm not the kind of runner where the structure of my shoes is going to really matter. :)

I knew the course pretty well - it passes our house, and I ran it and drove it a few times before the race. The first about .75 is easy, the next about .8 is uphill some, and the rest is a gradual downhill. In my mind it's similar to the BYU 5K course, so I thought it would be fair to shoot for faster than 7:17/mile (what I did at BYU in March).

Usually in a 5K I start too fast and I get this funny feeling in my head and arms and stomach (also happened at Tuesday's track workout with Toby) where I feel like the blood is rushing away and I wish that I had eaten something. So I had a gel about 20 minutes before the race. I didn't get that feeling, but I also didn't start as fast. I knew the hill was coming, so my goal was just to have the first mile under 7:00 (other 5K first miles this past year have been 7:44 (up the BYU hill), 6:51, and 6:59). When we started on the uphill part I was watching my watch and saw that our pace was creeping up. I kept increasing the effort, but I couldn't keep the time down. Our (Eric and Elliott were with me) first mile was 7:12. I knew that we'd hit the downhill before the second mile was over, so I tried to push through and not watch the time until we were going back down. Second mile was 7:31. 

I like thinking about using downhills to rest my lungs and push my legs, so even though we were too slow after the 2nd mile I thought we'd be able to make up some time before the end. We did, but we also didn't pass very many people. We were both surprised at the big group that was with and ahead of us; usually a lot of people start faster than they can sustain, and we pick them off before the end. But we never saw a ton of people that were ahead of us. We did pass the purple shorts girl (Eric called her grape butt) I had picked out to beat early on, but she sprinted at the end and beat us anyway. We didn't ever catch the two stroller guys ahead of us (sorry, Eric). Third mile was 7:02, and the last bit was 7:23 pace. 

So...I'm glad I (barely) made my goal. I'm glad that I have some fall races planned. I'm glad that even though I won't PR at the Des News 10K, I'll still be a lot faster than I was last year. I'm glad that I'm not injured. And I'm glad that I'm happy with where I am and where I can be in the future instead of bummed about where I'm not. 

 

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 5.10
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From jun on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 11:33:11 from 65.130.142.12

Awesome. Congrats on the AG 2nd place.

From Lily on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 14:24:20 from 67.199.178.95

Lindsey dunkley:16:50! Good job Catherine. I am way way proud of you!

From catherine on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 14:36:16 from 98.202.112.38

Thanks Jun.

Lily - yeah, she's fast. And lean. I kind of feel a little fat when I stand next to her. :)

From Lily on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 14:51:19 from 67.199.178.95

She's tiny as can be. Her genetics. Her sisters are all same. But so are you Catherine.

From allie on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 15:01:17 from 174.23.135.116

way to go, catherine. congrats on meeting your goal.

i love the looks of the 22:22. :)

From RAD on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 16:00:46 from 98.202.23.178

I was going to say - how in the world could YOU feel fat standing next to anyone?!? Plus a 22:22 is awesome! A 7:12 AP is dreamy for me any day of the week. You are really doing a great job! Congrats on a PR and placing in your AG!! woot woot!!

From Toby on Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 19:19:40 from 199.101.229.6

Good grief...I feel like the Pillsbury dough girl standing next to all of you!!!! As I was finishing my 14 miler, I ran the first mile of the 5k, but I missed you. So sad!

YAHOOOOO....for a PR!!! It's the TRACK TUESDAY, eh? Way to bring home the bling!!

From catherine on Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 12:46:12 from 98.202.112.38

Thanks everyone. I finished the race report.

Toby - I was looking for you for so long after the race! I'm sorry we missed you. Want to run together on Wednesday? :)

On the slender/lean/fat thing - the way I see it, she's lean and slender. I'm slender but not as lean. Some people are lean and not as slender. Lean's an accomplishment. Slender is genetics. We should all aspire to be lean. We shouldn't stress about the size of our bones/frames.

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