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A Plan To Start Running
I revealed a few weeks ago my plan to start running again regularly. That time arrived yesterday!
As the first race in the Austin Distance Challenge, the Run Free Texas 80s 8K offered a festive kick-off atmosphere. My favorite tunes were grooving at the start area, pumping me up for the first race in my new training cycle.
That said, I am not well trained. I spent much the summer not running or running only very little. I’ve run for an hour only three times since Comrades, and even most of my shorter daily runs have been sloggingly slow. Every time I would plan to start running again regularly, the weather beat me down. August and its lesser-known but still beastly hot and humid cousin September have not been kind to me. The 60ish degree temps at the start of the 8K were a gift.
As I toed the line for the race, I had one main goal: don’t embarrass myself.
I went into the race with astonishingly poor research and planning. All I knew was that the route is advertised as flat.
The advertising lies.
I would describe the route as gently rolling; while there were a few sections that were flat for 800m or so at a stretch, there were also several long slow pulls. Fortunately, because the start/finish point was the same, there were also several nice long declines. Overall, it is a very runnable course.
Once the gun went off, the runners were surprisingly quiet and reserved given the exuberant atmosphere of the start. As is my practice, I thanked every officer at intersections and waved at the few clusters of folks out cheering. I know that keeping a positive mind is key to my success.
With zero recent speedwork, I had no idea how fast I was running; I was aiming for an 8.30 pace for the first mile. At mile one, I hit the split on my watch and saw 8.20. That’ll work.
The rolling hills appeared in the next mile, and I wanted to keep well within myself. Mile 2 marked: 8.16 split.
The course meandered through a residential neighborhood, so there wasn’t much to look at. I tried to just keep running steady. My breathing was still easy and regular. Mile 3 came at the bottom of one of the nice long hills: 8.22.
But then there was an immediate uphill. I knew I didn’t want to push the pace yet. I kept steady, briefly encouraging a young boy as I passed him and his dad. The boy just turned nine. I told him I’ve been running with my dad since I was his age, and we’re still running together. I left them on an uphill, getting to Mile 4 in a surprising 7:59.
The plan indicated a push in the last mile. I’m not exactly sure what happened, because I felt like I was running harder. This is where my lack of knowledge of the course came back to bite me. In the last mile there is a nice gentle downhill followed by a 400m-ish uphill. Then there’s another 400m or so until the finish. The uphill really zapped me. I was able to finish strong, but I admit I was disappointed with an 8.20 final split.
Overall (official) finish time: 41.34.
I ran my 10-minute cooldown, grabbed a breakfast taco, and started writing this recap in my head.
It’s a decent time, and it not surprisingly equates to right around a 4-hour marathon. This prediction gives me hope. I am not in good shape now, nor was today’s distance my sweet spot. That said, results indicate I am currently in 5th place for women 40-49 in the Austin Distance Challenge.
I look forward to some good, hard training over the next month before the second race of the Austin Distance Challenge: Run for the Water 10 miler. I plan to start running with the consistency and intensity needed to be much better prepared.
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