Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cold and all alone

The time has come to face the bitter truth...that no matter how much you wish for warmer weather in March it's probably not going to happen. Case in point the first meet of the outdoor season. I somewhere in my dazed logic thought that running the steeple would be a brilliant idea in the middle of March. The weekend before was perfect weather, I wasn't quite ready to take on the 400 IH or really anything too short, I absolutely loathe the 1500, I was burnt out from the 800, and I kind of enjoy steeple minus the fact that it's 3000 meters. I also wanted to see where I compared to last year. I was roaring and ready to go take on all 7 1/2 laps and 35 barriers until I watched the temps Friday night drop below 36 degrees. Why that matters is not so much the temperature of the air, I can deal with that, it's the temperature of the water in the pit. Lucky me they were out there at 11am just before the men's race raking off ice! I kid you not. The sun was shining but it was still quite brisk out (we're talking mid 40's). I bellied up since I did pay for this entry and it's non refundable, signed myself in only to find that there was only one other girl in the race. The rest had scratched. Smart girls. I one the other hand am crazy so I just gooed my legs up with Aquaphor (similar to Vaseline) to try and help defer some of the cold from both the air and water. The time comes to step up to the line only to find out now the other girl wasn't running, it was going to be just me out there. Not the most ideal conditions. HA! I'm slightly amused by this, as well as slightly nerve wracked because that meant ALL eyes were watching ME. I do love the spotlight but only when I know that it's something I can super excel. I got over the that fast once I smoothly went over the first couple of barriers and just ran. That was until I got to the first water pit jump. I approached it with vigor until my left foot pulled up on the barrier, I stood on top of the barrier with both feet looked down into the water and in a split second jumped in with TWO feet like you would jump into a pool or puddle. I'm not sure if it was the first initial time of going over the pit or if I was trying defer the inevitable coldness of jumping into the freezing water, but I can assure you that that is NOT how you jump the water pit. After the jump I thought to myself what in the world was I thinking and chuckled. I also had a laugh because some guys had been standing by the pit, for some reason that's people's favorite watching spot in race, and I heard one of the say 'Oh no she didn't' referring to my two footed jump. Haha. I did resolve after I got my breath back from the shock of cold water that I would not do that again. And around I went 7 more times all by lonesome, with no more mishaps might I add. I finished about 10 seconds faster than my time from last year so not too bad, all things considered. I do think that I will probably reconsider opening in March with the steeple if I decide to go at it again, I was pretty painful.


Photos by GreaterSnap


Sunday, March 15, 2009

Luck be a lady



The annual St Patrick's Day 5K road race, one of my few favorite road races. It falls nicely in my training schedule where it won't hurt me, and is a bit helpful. I'm also partial to it because I seem to shave time off every year, so that doesn't hurt the ego at all.


Mid-March in Boston can bring a myriad of temperatures-it can either be freezing, snowing, a combo of freezing and snowing, it can be mild, warm, sunny-there is no constant from year to year. This year it was perfect, sunny and mid to high 50's. I lined up with 2 other of my teammates decked out in my green shamrock boxer shorts, team singlet (which I'm on a mission to find a green or white one and screen print it so I don't look like a xmas ornament or an Italian flag) and the finishing touch of knee high shamrock socks. Since it's a fun run may as well have fun! I'm beginning to see big improvements on my 5Ks in the past year or so. First and foremost in the finishing times but also in my race tactics. I'm running smarter and more efficiently rather than so haphazardly. I managed to pop out a fairly even split race, made sure I unleashed the monstrous kick, finished in a PR of 19:53 and 4th overall female. It's nice to know that even though I'm not in the realm of fast in the distance I still kick some butt on the local level. I picked up the first South Boston female resident for the 3rd year in a row, which this year they threw in a free pair of kicks with the medal. Gotta love free sneakers, especially when you go through them like water.☺