Wow. A Snails Pace really represented this past weekend in the 12^th Northgate Downtown Anaheim 5K. Actually, this race attracted A LOT of fast runners in general, very impressive.  Loved it! I ran an 18:32 and was the 9^th female finisher, 3^rd in age group and 41 out of 1231. The winning F finished in 17:19 while the winning M time was 15:03 — talk about crazy fast!

Click HERE for full results.

Anyway, I really wanted to run another race after leaving my  last 5K race uncertain of my real time since the course was cut short (2.85 miles).  I asked my coach if I could give it a shot and she was more than happy to re-work out my schedule for the week so I could squeeze it in. I was really excited to see her show up to the event along with two other teammates Radell and Bill. My boyfriend also decided to be spectator instead of racing so he could support me and act as photographer (thank you Goose).

Now I don’t really know how to set goals for this type of short race right now but I am going to see if eventually I can break 18:00 this year. For this race, I figured I would try to hit a 5:52 pace to finish around an 18:10.  The only stern direction I got from my coach was that I make sure I don’t go out too fast. Noted. She didn’t have to really convince me though, these races are exhausting and the last thing I want to do is hit the wall too early.

Those arms are tired and apparently I am a heel striker. :/

Anyway, during my typical pre-track/race warm-up, I was feeling fatigued but once the race started, I was just fine.  As the gun went off, I tried to keep an eye on my watch to check my pace. It’s not easy to stay on any kind of pace when you are training faster than you are used to and have to stare at your watch just to make sure you are where you need to be. I tend to find myself looking at it a little too much during races, track and tempos and I actually wear the watch with the bezel at the back of my wrist so I can inconspicuously view it without notice.

I came through the first mile around 5:53 (perfect) and started to feel tired around halfway.  To my surprise my coach was waiting for me at the two mile mark ready to run me in to the finish and keep me on pace. She had started the race with us to do her own personal time trial for two miles and boy was she was flying!  As I saw her I was both happy and worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up my pace.  Luckily she didn’t say much, she just stayed right in front of me hoping I’d try to shadow as I do during track practice. Mentally that helped, it was a common feeling and although I was slowing down, and my arms again felt like dead weight and I knew I might be in trouble when a woman who had been only a few feet in front of me until about 2.5, started to get further ahead without any sort of struggle on my end to prevent it.

I managed to hang on and run the last two miles in 6:03 and 6:05 and was extremely happy to see the finish line and remembered what my coach told me when I had finished: BE PATIENT AND ALWAYS GRATEFUL.

Twenty more days until the next one. I don’t want to think about hitting a goal just yet, I just want to training hard and smart and let my legs carry to the finish.

Radell ran a personal best today! It was always fun to run with him at LA Roadrunners and now I am lucky to run with him while training with Sylvia.

Radell - 17:53 (3rd in AG), Bill - 18:12 (2nd in AG) and me - 18:32 (3rd in AG)

My Athlinks profile. My fastest 5K time was in high school - 14 years ago. OMG, that doesn't sound right but it is! Anyway, I stopped racing in 1999 after injuries, work and boyfriends. It would be awesome to beat that time in my old age!

First Overall Woman - Every Child Matters 5K

The past week has been dreadfully long and pretty painful for more reasons than I will elaborate publicly. Doing everything in my power to dig deep and not slumber into that bat cave that I currently long for.

 
Running-wise, another solid week! Five weeks in and I am feeling very strong mentally and physically.  I am also taking note of the change of my energy while 5K training (compared to mary training).  So much more energy, so much more time on my hands – can’t complain, gotta enjoy it while I can.  Had a few good runs in this week – most notably track (see workout here), the Every Child Matters 5K (see workout here)  and today’s long run (see workout here). Just keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that they will continue to get better all the while avoiding injuries.

I ran that 5K yesterday and really, it wasn’t 5K, it was about 2.85 miles, nearly a quarter mile short! I found that rather disappointing because I am so eager to see where I will land at the finish line so I can determine a really 5K goal moving forward. I crossed the line at 16:59, first female and rather pissed off. I was really annoyed when on camera I was asked to say my name, finishing place and time because I wanted to throw that “but” in there right after saying, “Hi, my name is Tracy Bowling, I was the first female finisher with a time of 16:59.” Kind of felt like I was lying…oh well, not my fault. I know it is safe to say I would have ran low 18′s and that pushes my goal to break 18:00 this year. This is much easier than a mary just simply due to statistics – I can race a 5K every weekend and get lots of practice and experience without taking a major toll on my body. I guess we will just have to keep plugging away at it, I say “we” because my coach is 100% in to help make all my running goals realistic.

Not much else to say…I am typing from bed while I procrastinate packing my bags for NYC tonight.  All work I am afraid, and a little play that will surely equal one nice run in Central Park. Oh, I can’t forget hitting up all my favorite bead stores and restaurants!! I seriously LOVE New York.

PS – RIP Remy.  He must have been visiting because I had never met him or any other rat for that matter at my place before. Apparently he had such a wild fiesta while I was away, gorging on my Tostitos chips, that he decided to stay permanently.  He only lasted two days here before the exterminator caught him. Gross right? Well I only tell you so you won’t ever ask to stay at my place when you have a marathon in my area… JK