St. Brigid's 5K

This morning I celebrated my mom's birthday by running a 5K race in Amherst. To be more precise, Mom, Dad and I all marked the day with our participation in a race/walk to benefit the local Catholic church, St. Brigid's. Mom and I had seen the race advertisement in a walk through town last weekend, on the lawn of the church in downtown Amherst, and I thought it would be fun - my mom ran races with me back in the 80's in NYC and Boston, when I was just starting running - and my dad had run his first race in November, when he walked the 5K race in Rehoboth in which everyone in the family had participated. I put it on the list of things to do this weekend, and both mom and dad seemed interested, anyway.

When I arrived in Amherst on Friday night, however, my Dad complained that it would be snowing on Saturday morning, and he groused that he didn't want to be out in the snow. My mom had gotten race forms, however, so she and I filled them out, to be ready for the next day. Rain was definitely predicted, but we decided we would make up our minds the next morning.

Saturday morning broke with a cloudy sky, and chilly, but with no rain. My brother arrived just after 8 from Worcester to join us for a birthday breakfast with my mom, a festive occasion. (He doesn't pop over to see them that often.) We were going to leave for the 11 a.m. race at 10 - and it still wasn't raining as the hour approached 10, so my dad decided he was in with mom and me. Eric bid us goodbye, and we started off to the UMASS football field, where the race was to start from. As we were driving the 8 minutes to the field, I noticed snow flakes. My Dad's prediction had come true - snow! But the snow was just spitting (as we say, generally about rain, in New England) - it was not coming down hard, and it wasn't getting in the way of anything (my dad later went back home to get his gloves - he wasn't going to run with cold hands!).

We arrived just after 10 at the field, and registered - I was going to run the 5K and mom and dad would walk the 1.5 mile out and back - and then we had 45 minutes to wait. I generally like to be at a race about 45 minutes ahead of time - that gives me enough time to find the bathrooms, do a mile jog, stretch, go to the bathroom a few more times, and prepare mentally for the race.

It was snowing at that point, and I suggested that we all go back and sit in the car and keep warm. That's when Dad decided to go for his gloves, and I decided to do my jogging. Mom joined me in finding a bathroom, and then got on her phone with her granddaughter for a good chat.

So, as you might imagine, this race was meant to figure into my marathon training. It had not been a great training week. On Monday, I ran the full 6 mile loop in the Park (although I am running on the horsepath these days, so am not sure that the mileage is exactly 6 miles - seems a little more), and then did an elliptical workout on Wednesday in my gym - a full 40 minutes, which I haven't done in a while. I was going to do my hardcore Pilates class on Thursday night, but that morning, my niece called to invite me to see "Porgy and Bess" with her on Broadway, and I decided to forgo Pilates and spend the evening with my niece; she won't be in NYC after May, and it's always good to see a Broadway musical at a cheap price (she got last minute student price tickets)!

I awoke on Friday morning, expecting to do a run, but I was really tired (I had been out every night that week, and it was a stressful week at work), and very logy, and decided I would sleep in, and run the race on Saturday instead.

So I was at the track at UMASS, doing sprints in the intermittent and lightly falling rain/snow, and wondering how my legs would stand up for me.

It was a small local race, and certainly the weather figured into the 60 or so folks that showed up to run. I stood at the starting line with tall, thin guys in tank tops and shorts; I was in tights and wearing my trusty 25 year old LLBean running jacket over my long-sleeved Barnard t-shirt and wearing my PricewaterhouseCoopers baseball cap. Intimidated? Heaven's, no! But fun to hear the racing talk amongst the guys. I heard the Westfield Half Marathon mentioned a few times; it was to be run on Sunday morning, and I knew about it because I had originally thought it would be a good race to target for a long run. But as I got my training going, I realized it would take some time for me to get myself ready to run a half-marathon - currently, I am signed up for the Whately (MA) Half Marathon to be run on Mother's Day in May.

The race took off at 11 a.m. The rain/snow had stopped. The skies were grey, the wind was chilly. The families at the start cheered as we took off at the gun. The blinking blue lights of the police car at the intersection would be our first indication that we were headed for the open road.

I started off fast, with the guys, and then realized they were going to run a 15 minute 5K and I was going to finish at least 5 minutes behind them, and eased back. But I did find a pace that worked for me, and got my head thinking about how I was feeling and how and whether I could stretch the pace to pick it up.

Back when I was running cross country in college, my coach would tell us to go out fast the first mile (but not too fast), hang in there in mile 2, and then pick it up in mile 3 and sprint to the finish (the last tenth of a mile). I decided to follow that plan (more or less), and helpfully, there were mile markers on the road. The race, while small, was well run by the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club - the road markings were good, and we had good police protection and guidance - and even a water stop! - along the route.

I was breathing pretty hard, but not too hard - this was my first race since November, after all, and I didn't need to kill myself. But I was running by myself pretty much the entire race, which makes it hard to push yourself. When I was in the last mile, we were running on the track around the UMASS Stadium, and it felt like a good time to start trying to move in on the few guys I could see in front of me. I started striding, as my coach would call it, running at full stride, sort of like a horse cantering (not quite galloping), and tried to close the gap between myself and the older man ahead of me. It worked, I did close the gap, but I didn't reach him - but the push felt good.

I finished the race in 21:12, 30 seconds slower than my November 5K time, but I felt pretty good. I was third in my age group (40-49), and again, the woman who won the race was over 40, so I was actually second in my age group in the awards. I can't wait to turn 50 (in six weeks!) and start competing against women my own age! The woman who won the 50-59 category ran the race in 26 minutes...

So, the plan is to get some long runs in during April (in Worcester, DC and NY), and come back to Western Massachusetts in May to do the Half Marathon. That will tell me how much work I have to do in the following six months. I have signed up to run the NYRR Mini Marathon in early June (and the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge a week later). I'm looking forward to running with my race partner, Jean-Yves, in Paris in late June too. July will be a series of long runs, and August will bring a trip to Washington State, where I hope to have at least one good long run that is not in the heat!

That's the plan.

A pretty fast 5K under my belt. A good omen.