New Personal Best!
Super Bowl 4-Miler 2011 / Goleta, CA
Finishing time: 37:06 / 9:17 min. per mile / 16th in 20-29 age group out of 30
I love minimalist running! I had such a great time on Sunday at the Super Bowl run. My sister came with my husband and I to race, and she ran with me. Husband took off and finished in 29:29, so we were definitely not slated to be running companions. Sister has long legs and is strong, so she helped me keep my pace up. I decided that 4 miles wasn’t long enough to have to worry about burning out, so I just went for it, about as fast as I could maintain, even up hills (of which there were many!)
The race wasn’t until 9:00am and was about 45 min. away from our house, so we woke up at 7 and had breakfast of a cup of homemade yogurt with chia seeds and honey, and a piece of homemade cashew bread with lots of butter and honey. I figured I’d have time to digest it all, and since I’m on a very low carb diet that emphasizes using good fats for energy (yes, saturated fats are good fats), I didn’t bother worrying if it would sit heavy on my stomach. We headed out the door and arrived in time to pick up our packets with 20 min. before race start. I would have liked to have gotten there a little earlier, but we didn’t run in to any problems. It was a small neighborhood race (only 253 total participants) so the atmosphere was very relaxed and enthusiastic, rather than anxious. I was able to get my ChiRunning body looseners in just barely before the guy said “Go!” into the megaphone.
We took off faster than I usually do, but since the only official races I ran last year were half marathons, what I usually do is pretty slow. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, but not hot; a pleasure to be outside. I had a lot of energy and thankfully the breakfast sat perfectly on my tummy throughout the race. I didn’t need to drink any water and felt strong. The only thing that would have helped was if my calves had been in a little better shape. I should have started training more than two weeks before this race, after having not run for so long. So I could feel my calves at times, like going down hills, and I tried to use all the ChiRunning techniques I could while running up hills (arms swinging up to chin to give momentum, leaning from the ankles). I think I started passing people in the second half of the race because I knew how to navigate hills better, thanks to ChiRunning. I could use gravity to my advantage and when I swung my arms I could feel it giving my legs a break.
There were a lot of kids at the race who were FAST! In the last mile of the run, a small 9 year old boy named Jake buzzed past me. His parents were yelling “Go Jake!” and I ground my teeth, knowing I was just about sprinting and was definitely not going to breat him. My heart rate was skyrocketing and I could tell I was at my limit, and the only thing I cared about was not letting the guy who I had passed earlier wearing the same green and grey Vibram FiveFinger KSOs to pass me back. That guy never did pass me, but Jake beat me by 10 seconds at the end. C’est la vie. I wouldn’t want to trample a 9 year old anyway. Just wouldn’t be sporting…that’s my excuse.
After the race we went to a friend’s house to hang out and eat brunch before the Superbowl party. I got to ride on the Harley Davidson that said friend assembled himself. I rode still wearing my running shorts, and I could just hear my mom’s voice in my head screaming “You’re going to kill yourself!” At least I put on my husband’s running shoes. Wouldn’t have wanted the Vibram rubber to melt off.
