onejdc

Well I've run the 4 miler. I would state that serious 'training' started for me about a 4 - 6 weeks ago. Now having not run in years (and not ever really being any type of distance runner, only a mile or sprinting for soccer), I thought it would be too ambitious to try the 10 mile race. So I settled for the 4. Hey, it's there for a reason, right?

So...how'd I do?

Well, I paced myself extremely conservatively. I've only run a true 4 miles in training once before this race so I was very, very nervous. I kept my pace at nearly 11 minute miles just to make sure I made it through the entire race. I was only vaguely familiar with the course and I had no idea what kind of pushback the few hills were going to be giving me.

Shortly after crossing the 3 mile mark, I realized I had a TON of energy left. I'd paced myself a bit too conservatively, and that had a rather large affect on my final time. So, I sprinted the last 3/4 of a mile. This dropped my time by almost 2 minutes and rushing past people was amazingly fun *grin*.

I probably could have run 9.5 minute miles and been ok. That would have put my final time around 36-37 minutes.

Now while training, my 4 mile times were in the 44 minute range. Something magical happens when you're actually running in the race. You get more energy than you realize. You run faster. It's AMAZING.

My final time? 41:51, found here. That's a pace of 10:46 per mile.

I'm happy with my time. I'm quite satisfied in knowing that I could have easily broken that into a 38 minute time or even better. That would have effectively put me in the top 5 for my age group. And to think that I did that with less than two months of training. :)

Running is becoming a part of me that I only once thought of as a wonderful thing. Heh. I do know that I once ran a hard 4 miles in about 36 minutes when I was in high school. That only happened once, and I was really, really bored.

So now that I've accomplished this, what are my goals?

1. Continue Running at least 3 times a week


2. Run in the "Turkey Trot" race, 5K on Thanksgiving


3. Improve my per/mile time to 8 minutes (flat)


4. Run the 10 miler next year, with a time under 90 minutes

So are my goals achievable? Absolutely. Some of them are long-term, some of them are short term. I'm hoping that with proper nutrition (I'm switching to turkey or chicken from tuna), increased dedication and staggered speed-run training, I'll be able to hit 9 minute (flat) miles by the November run.

My first goal may be ambitious, but when I first started this training, I couldn't even run a full 1/4 mile without walking.. In just 6 weeks my running growth has been exponential. I went from a 16 minute mile (and no energy after that) to 10 minute miles (x4!)in 5 weeks. Now is this considered good progress? I'm not sure what the general standards are, but I'm quite happy.

I don't really have a runner's build (my leg muscles are built for sprinting and kicking, not distance running; I'm short *wink*), but I feel like if I give 10-30% more effort into training, I can overcome my genetic shortcomings. Wow I'm excited. I ran a race...and finished...STRONG!