Virtual 10K Race Report

Are you sick of this Virtual 10K stuff yet?  No?  Good, because I am certainly not.  All day I have received e-mails, tweets, and messages about people's 10ks and I just can't get enough!  People are having so much fun with this 10K, it is so awesome.  We ended up reopening registration - why not, its the holidays, and now more than ever, the more the merrier!

Today we got more fun stories:

• these girlies (Kelly and Run for Pi(e) ran with a whole group and then had a cookie exchange, what a great idea);
• many runners took their families, friends, pets, and significant others out running with them (what a perfect way to spend time with loved ones on the holidays);
• this blogger's two dogs had a PR today and this blogger also took her dogs on her run;
• Tanya and many others braved the weather; and 
• Debbie is in the middle of a 100 pound weight loss journey and rocked it with her first 10k. 

I got even more great stories from bloggers and non-bloggers alike and will continue to try and share because they are great and inspiring.

So here it goes, my first ever Virtual Race Recap. And to tell it, let me back up.  Usually my morning of a race goes like this - I wake up way too early, eat my English Muffin, Peanut Butter, and Banana breakfast and get ready to go!  This morning, instead of my usual ritual, in the spirit of running for fun , I lounged around, slept in, and lost hours in blogging and tweeting (did you ever notice how you can lose hours with Twitter?).  Then, things got crazy when we realized we needed to reopen registration for the Virtual 10K.  Needless to say by the time I put together my Glee fun playlist for the Virtual 10K I was a bit late when to meet Robin...uh potentially a half hour late! Ooopppss, sorry Robin!

But eventually, I got to Robin's and we got ready for the 10K.  Of course, we took some pictures

All festive, guess who forgot her sparkle skirt in the craziness that was this morning...

If you are wondering we are holding dreidels and Elves on a Shelf 

Robin's husband gave me some good advice on how to beat Robin in our race but I just laughed at him knowing that I would never beat Robin (good thing we are not in the same age group anyways)!

We got to the trail and did a two mile warmup run (because I actually had 10 miles on schedule for the day and Robin was nice enough to tack on two miles before and after the race).   During the two mile warmup, things just did not feel right.  My legs felt heavy and my chest felt kind of tight.  Robin remarked that after the first mile, the second mile went a lot better...uhhh I just remember thinking, yea...right...sure, I agree with that statement?

After the two miles, we got ready to go.  We gave each other a pep talk reminding each other that there would be lots of people running today too and reading all about everyone's runs so we wanted to do our very best.  And then on your mark get set go!

All smiles for running in the freezing cold with funky, Christmas socks

Robin took off (I told her no bobbing and weaving in this race, well maybe a little for practice).  I tried to follow her sparkle skirt for the first mile - which explains why the first mile was about 7:37.  Unfortunately, after the first mile things went kind of downhill from there.  I wish I could tell you it got better and that I rallied.   But it was tough goings! My legs felt sooo heavy and my chest felt so tight and it just felt really really hard. I was so confused.  Why did this feel so hard? Why was I so tired?  Ultimately the best explanation seems to be the weather.   Apparently, it is Christmas and it is actually cold out - LAME. I liked these 50 degree days.  This cold weather stinks and it seems to make running hard!  It is crazy that you wait all summer for the cold where you expect to get faster without the heat and then can't deal with the cold weather and dry air.  But...

NO EXCUSES

I had a race to run and was going to complete it no matter what.  I had to keep going and push through.   I imagined Robin out there running, I listened to my Christmas music, and I pressed on coming in with the second mile at 8:12.  I am not going to lie,  I felt like crap (so fun)!  I wanted to stop.  At one point, I had to stop to fix my Under Armor shirt from riding up (does that happen to others?), but I made myself keep going.   

Soon enough I saw Robin running back towards the finish.  We both gave each other a big thumbs down but I knew I had to keep going.  Mile 3: 8:32

At the turn around, I thought it was all over.  That eventually Robin would just come find me on the side of the road.  I could not breathe, my legs were heavy, and I could hear my feet pounding in a not-so great way along the pavement.  But this was a race and you guys were out there too so on  I went pushing and digging deep.  Mile 4: 8:36, Mile 5: 8:09

The last mile was tough.  I just wanted to be done.   Eventually I could see Robin in the distance.  She was there on the sidelines cheering for me just like our real races.  It was awesome.  I gave it one last push to finish the 10K in style.  Mile 6 - 8:26 and Mile .20 8:15 It went something like this....

The Big Finish..Reenacted 

Final Results - 6.2 miles, 51:14 (a one second PR)

After I finished, I kind of, well keeled over.  I told you I was not feeling it.  I drank a ton of water and could hardly talk. It was weird, I was not huffing and puffing but I could hardly breathe.  I guess I have some work to do on learning to run in the cold. 

No matter how bad I felt, we had two more miles to do. I did not know if I had it in me and they were slow miles (for me) but I kept at it because this is what training is all about.  Yes some days I am faster and some days this is a lot easier, but some days it is just not.  Some days you struggle and it is pushing through that struggle and realizing that you worked hard and pushed hard that really matters and gets you through the finish line.  Getting out there and trying, being proud of yourself, learning, and having a blast is what it is really all about. 

So the last two miles - 9:57 and 9:27.  Not the fastest, but am I proud of them? Hell ya!

Not every good run is about being your fastest 

Rocking the perfect running form right here, one step at a time haha

So that's it.  Tell me how your race went! I can't wait to hear all about your races and see great photos. Don't forget to submit your times here. 


By the way, does anyone have trouble running in the cold? I need help here!