Thursday, November 22, 2012

"Be Thankful That You Are Who You Is"....

And to me right now, that is a middle of the pack runner! (*woot woot*)

Today before celebrating Thanksgiving I ran the Thoroughbred Classic 5K. Now, this was the first time I was out running in Keeneland and all I can say is "holy hills!!" I will have to spend quite a bit of time out there before the end of March. However, you could not ask for a better morning run. It was a beautiful day with temps in the 40's when we started and climbing towards 50 at the end.

With my body fueled on 1/2 a Clif Bar and 1/2 bottle of water I started at a pretty good pace. The start was crowded, which slowed down the pace for the first quarter mile or so...but soon everyone got spread out and down to business. What was my "business" you may ask? Cutting my time down by a minute from the Race for the Cure...all while on a hillier, tougher course. I am quite proud. I also got to rock out to some new additions to my play list...including Gangnam Style..Barbie Girl...and Take It Off...I mean really...who could not have fun running with those songs blaring in your ear?!

Another good thing (besides getting in a little workout on THANKSGIVING) is that I got to try out my new Salomons. I say it was good because they did great as far as their performance went....but I can't say breaking in a new pair of shoes during a race is the best strategy. That annoying "pebble in your shoe feeling" at about mile 2....yeah...what they say is true....not a pebble....more like a blister :(  It really didn't matter though...3 miles is not really long enough to start fixing yourself up mid race...however...I am going to have to keep that in mind for the 1/2 marathon.

The best thing about running on Thanksgiving, is once you get home...have some water and tea...you really are not ready to stuff yourself with food later in the day. A few bites into dinner and I had the "yeah you are almost full" feeling...which in 20 minutes led to the "thank g*od you stopped eating" feeling. So here I sit...on Thanksgiving...unable to say "oy! I ate so much!". If I can keep this up thru December I am golden.

Tomorrow I hope to make it back to the trails. I did notice today that it is much easier to handle the grade change on the trail or grass instead of road. I don't know why but I get really bored running road races (hence my entering the world of trail). I don't know if park and trail running lets me get a little more "lost" and able to enjoy nature or what. I don't find myself looking around at my surroundings as much when I am on the road (hence the boredom I guess.)  But of course, a cold front is coming in with some rain over the next few hours and it will go from the 60's to the 30's. Just my luck! Perhaps the ol Salomons will have to make another run in the rain in the grassy fields instead of the trails..

OH before I go...here is a pic of the race...not my pic...I was too busy shaving time!!




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