Allison's Big Toe

RACE REVIEW: Camarillo Kiwanis Club 10K

Official times and distance: 55:56 / 8:57 average pace / 5th in age group out of 9 women 20-29 yrs (It’s a small race!)

Wow, I did not expect to beat my goal by this much! I trained to run the race in less than an hour, and was aiming for 9:27 average pace. Yesterday I set a personal record, running faster than I did in any of my previous 9 races. Cool!

Ever since my hip flexors were really hurting during my last half marathon back in October, I’ve been training at a faster running speed, because it means I have to lean more from my ankles and not lift my knees up from the hips. I think that paid off yesterday.

I started the day the way I normally do for a big morning run. Got up two hours before race start and ate a cup of homemade yogurt with blueberries, chia seeds, 1/2 banana, coconut milk, honey, and two dates. YUM. I’ve found this breakfast to be sooo sustaining on runs because it has a great mix of natural sugars for quick fuel and fat from the yogurt for endurance. If I give an hour to digest I never get cramps or feel heavy from it.

The race was only about 20 min. from our apartment so we left at 7:20 for an 8:00am race start. Probably less than 200 people registered for the whole race, and I knew there would be plenty of close parking and a quick package pick-up. I had time to do my ChiRunning body looseners and run up and down the parking lot a few times to loosen my feet up. It was about 45 degrees outside, so we runners were all bouncing around trying to keep warm in our shorts.

I started out as slow as I could with the rush at the beginning, about 9:00 min/mi. Then I backed down to 9:30 and held it there for the first 2.5 miles. I was trying to run at a good clip but not too fast because I wanted to save energy for the big hill at mile 3. It’s the steepest, longest hill I’ve run in a race, and demands a lot of focus. I made it up nicely using the ChiRunning hill technique, seen here in another short video clip of mine.

After the uphill, it was all moderate to steep downhill from mile 4.5-6.2. I think this is what allowed me to finish with such a good time. I played with the “runnable downhill” and “non-runnable downhill” techniques described on pages 180-185 of the book ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer (click on the ChiRunning widget to the right to check it out).

The race was a big success in really all aspects. I beat my goal, my dad won first in his age group and I didn’t get any blisters or cramps. It was a small community race with no time chips, medals, or fancy prizes, but all the important aspects were solid. The course was well marked, and there were volunteers everywhere with stop signs and helpful directions, water, or just a smile and a cheer.

And, before I go, I must thank my wonderful husband for riding along on his bike to videotape and photograph my race and for putting together the awesome video above. Enjoy!