Race Report: 2008 Coach Bubba 20K

The day of the Coach Bubba 20K, my first at that distance, finally arrived this morning! It was a chilly, but pretty morning, cold enough for half-way leggings and a long sleeve shirt, but not cold enough for me to bother with a hat and gloves.

It was fun running into some people I knew before the race, including Susan from the Junior League and Rey from previous races, and George ran into Jack from the Cary library. During the race, I chatted with a retired Duke political science professor, and passed Cindy from blogging/Facebook/Twitter on the trail.

I really enjoyed the course, though the first part of it had some hills. We started in downtown Durham, then went through the Forest Hills neighborhood before hitting the American Tobacco Trail. Once I got on the ATT, I felt like I was on my home playing field.

I only had to make one pit stop this race, which was a relief! During the half marathon I ran in November, I had to stop at every porta-john, and I knew I needed to work on my food intake during race week! It worked, with only the one stop this time--yay! I also worked on drinking plenty of water this past week, and got to bed early the past three nights. All of this worked in my favor.

Even still, I was the last person in the field for most of the race, with the police car hovering behind me for most of the course that was on the streets. Once I got over being irritated at hearing the police car so close by, I was resigned to the fact that I might come in last, and that I'd be okay with it. (Not thrilled, but okay!) It wasn't until the last three quarters of a mile that I passed a couple of people, and that just happened by plugging along. It wasn't a race at that point, but a run to finish, a goal to complete.

At one of the street crossovers while I was still at the back, I told the police officer holding traffic that I was it, and he replied, "You may be it, but you're an inspiration." That was a nice little lift for this back-of-the-packer.

I'd definitely recommend this race to others! Kudos to the Carolina Godiva Track Club and all the volunteers! I'll update with an official time later.

UPDATE: My official time was 3:02:31. I came in 453 out of 455 runners, 12 out of 12 in my age group, and 200 out of 201 female finishers. One of the most telling stats for me, though, was my average pace of 14:43 minutes per mile. In the last longer distance race I ran, the City of Oaks Half Marathon in November of last year, my average pace was 15:13 minutes per mile. I'm thrilled to have made a 30 second improvement in that average over a 10+ mile race!

Friday Light Workout

1) Ran 1.25 miles in 15:13 minutes on the treadmill
2) Walked 0.60 mile in 10:13 minutes on the treadmill
3) Rode 4.41 miles in 25:03 minutes on the treadmill
4) Did 0.43 mile in 5:06 minutes on the elliptical trainer

It felt strange holding back on the workout today, but I hope it will pay off tomorrow at the Coach Bubba 20K Race. So far, I haven't been very good at tapering for races in the past. I felt like I needed to burn more calories today. We'll see tomorrow.

The short elliptical workout was an afterthought on my way out of the gym. I don't think I've been on the elliptical all year. Just needed a little umph.

Wednesday Easy Day--Not

I'm sleepy tired this morning, got to bed too late, but went to the gym anyway. I thought I'd take it easy today, but I ended up being able to push myself harder than expected. I'm glad, because I'd wanted a solid mid-week workout before slowing down a bit for Saturday's Coach Bubba 20K Race.

1) Walked 1.18 miles (20:05 min) on the treadmill
2) Ran 3.45 miles (40:01 min) on the treadmill (still under a 12 minute pace--yay!)
3) Rode 1.80 miles (10 min) on the recumbent bike

2009 Running Goals

I've been mulling over my 2009 running goals lately, trying to decide how big or specific to be. I also mulled over whether or not the go for a full marathon this year. I decided I wouldn't push it this year, but continue to work on my base mileage and speed. If the marathon happens this year, okay, but at this point, I'm thinking 2010 will be the marathon year. So, for 2009:

1) Run 1000 miles this year.

I tried to do this in 2008, but with injuries early in the year, I wasn't able to catch back up.

2) PR in the half marathon.

I ran my first half marathon in November 2008, and I want to put the things I learned from that race into action and run a faster half marathon time in 2009. I've already signed up for the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon in March.

3) Race a new distance.

I've already signed up for next month's Coach Bubba 20K. It'll be my first 20K, so it'll be an instant PR, the time to beat when I get around to another 20K!

More Crosstraining

This morning I started with the recumbent bike, as I often do, riding 4.07 miles in 20 minutes. I was going to stop at 15 minutes, but all the treadmills were full! (The gym has been pretty full the past 2 mornings. Today I got there 15 minutes earlier than yesterday, hoping it would make a difference. Guess people are burning pre-Turkey Day calories!) I ran on the treadmill next for 31 minutes and 2.53 miles, and finished with 16 minutes and 1.31 miles on the elliptical machine. I was tempted to run more miles on the treadmill, but a little voice inside my head has been telling me to stick with crosstraining these days.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for the Coach Bubba 20k race in February, and I'm excited about that! I'd signed up for the accompanying 4-miler last year, but got injured a couple weeks before due to high mileage, and couldn't run it it. That's probably why crosstraining is on my brain!