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Codfish Bowl

September 24, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
I ran an 8k XC race in Boston on Saturday with a combination of club and college teams. First time racing a true XC course in several years. Got there just as the collegiate/open women's race was starting and who do I see toeing the line behind a big pack of Tufts girls...Elisa! She looked like she was working hard and moving up relative to the other Tufts runners at least at the 4 points in the race where I cheered for her, but she wasn't thrilled with how she did. She then cheered me on during my race and got some of teammates to cheer with her which was really nice. I ran a ridiculously uneven race with splits of

5:41
6:20
6:30
6:00
5:27.

I really wanted to break 30:00, though by the 2nd mile it had become apparent that I wasn't in the shape I wanted to be in nor as well rested as I'd have liked. When I came through mile 4 in 24:30 I thought to myself, well, it's gonna be pretty hard to break 30:00 given how I'm feeling and how much time I have to make up, but technically I have run a 5:30 mile before in a race like this. Let's push it and see what happens. With less than half a mile to go, I booked it over the last hill and came flying down toward the finish, passing over a dozen runners including 2 from my rival running club, GBTC. As I neared the finish line at what felt like a full kick, I eyed the clock and saw that it read 29:44. In that instant I had one thought - not about pain, not about wanting it be over-- just one question "Is it physically possible to cover that much distance in that amount of time?" The answer? "Maybe." So I throttled it and shot through the line in 29:58. Wow. Felt pretty sore afterwards, especially since I spent the afternoon sprinting up and down massive hills to cheer on my runners at a race in Rhode Island. But it was worth it.