One down, six to go...

One race, that is. Yes, I'm turning this back into my running blog since I am obviously hard-pressed to write about anything much these days.

Between yesterday (April 23rd) and June 26th, I have seven races I'm in, and I started off with the Boulder Distance Classic 15k at the Boulder Reservoir. I have not raced in about eight months. Last summer I did my first half-marathon, but then the heat and drama of the year got to me, and I didn't really keep up with my previously strict running schedule.

BUT. I'm back and stronger than I was last year...I think. I've been upping the weights and trying to diversify my types of endurance training. So I decided to sign up for the Boulder Distance Classic to jump right in. Mind you, this is the longest race I'm signed up for until I do another half-marathon in August. At 9.3 miles, I figured it would be a good leg stretch and a test to see if my endurance level is up to snuff. Of course, it was snowing in Boulder for the race, and it did snow the entire race and stayed at 32 degrees...but I prefer cold to hot any day. I wore my Bikila LS shoes, and was originally dismayed with my choice because of the cold and the wet ground. Then I reasoned that shoes with socks would still have gotten wet and stayed that way (and heavy). I also cut up a pair of compression socks so I could wear the legs without the feet.

Surprisingly, I was not overly nervous for this race. I was just cold and wanting to get moving. My main goal was to just pace myself and finish strong. It took me a good two miles to get warmed up, as in to stop shivering, but then I found my pace and forced myself to ignore the other runners. I always have to remind myself that I'm not truly in competition with them. This is for me. So when others pass me, I have to fight the urge to speed up. By the time I got to the first 5k split, I felt great and saw that I was under my typical 5k pace and wasn't tired at all. I purposefully didn't memorize the course so that I could not worry about where I was and pay more attention to my pace. The hills were there, but they were fairly easy. I appreciated the course's rolling quality: it served as a good practice run for me. By the 10k mark, I was still moving easily and feeling good (and surprised about it!). A few more hills started to wind me slightly, but I caught my breath quickly. I didn't get any side stitches...until mile 9 (of course), but I got rid of those by stretching as I ran along. When the finish line was in site, I was able to stretch out and sprint over the timing strip with ease. What I didn't realize was that there was a timer to cross BEFORE the actual finish line, so I stopped up a tad early (oops!).

My finishing time was about an hour and a half, well under the 10 minute miles I had wanted to achieve. In fact, my separate 5k times were nearly equal, so I did maintain a steady pace nearly the whole time. It took me zero time to recover (breathing wise). All this said, I could have easily pushed the pace, especially at the end, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the race. I truly did not think I had it in me to do the whole race (and so easily). I've been tired lately, so I had expected a much slower time. Guess my training is paying off. Now I need to work on more hills and sprints so that I can get my time down.

After some ice and a hot tub session, I'm not really sore today, so that's a plus as well. I'll post pics as soon as they are available.

As for the rest of my upcoming races...

I have the Furry Scurry on May 7th. Since it's a two mile fun run,  I'm only counting it as a "race" because I'm actually organizing our team for work, so it's taking up a lot of head-space (rather than training space).

Then I'm taking a trip to Georgia where I'll be competing in the Warrior Dash on May 15th with my love JLL. This is a three mile race with 12 obstacles, including mud pits, cargo nets, walls to climb, and a fire leap. We're going to kick some butt! I'm very excited to get muddy. This one will be another good leg stretch to prep for the next few...

Fire leap: image by Steve's digicams

After the Warrior Dash, I'll kick it up a notch and run the Buffalo Creek Trail Run on May 21st. This one is a trail race that is 7.7 miles that climbs 1300 feet with a variety of uphill and downhill terrain.

I'm also running the Bolder Boulder again this year on Memorial Day (May 30th). This is a challenging 10k (uphill for the first few miles, and then a final uphill at the last stretch) that has over 50,000 runners each year. I ran it for the first time last year and had a blast, so I'm going for it again, and this time I'll be in an even better wave (yea!). 

THEN...

If you didn't already know...on June 12th, I'm running the DIPSEA, a 7.4 mile trail race in Mill Valley, CA. Last year, around this time, I read about the race in Runner's World magazine, and decided I wanted to run it. The chances were slim, and I figured I'd just keep trying every year to get in. Somehow, I lucked out and made it in this year! One of less than 100 people running from outside California. One of 1500 total who gets to run in the country's oldest trail running race. I'm still floating from finding my name on the LIST. This race will be one of the coolest things I will probably ever get to do, and I'm going to make the most of it! I already have my flight and hotel, so I'm all set. I can't describe how excited I am to have this opportunity. It's u n f r e a k i n g r e a l.

Ending at the Pacific Ocean

Last, but not least, I am competing in the Tough Mudder at Beaver Creek. Team BlackIce is going to dominate. Okay...actually we're just hoping to finish. This race is on June 26th, and for that I am glad. This way, if I do something stupid and get injured, all of my other races are behind me. The Tough Mudder is an eight mile race at the ski resorts at Beaver Creek, and there are 23 obstacles between the start and finish, including (but not limited to) running up a ski slope, sliding down an icy/muddy ravine, burrowing through tunnels, climbing walls, and barreling through hanging live-wires. The race is not even timed. It's all about finishing, and finish it I will. It's scary, but I'm already itching to dive in there.

Weeee!!!

So that's my schedule for the next two months. You know where I'll be...running, training, climbing crazy hills, etc. So. Very. Worth. It.

Wish me luck! And of course, I'll be updating on here along the way.