Gaylord Alpenfest 12k - RunOther

For the last several weeks, I've been feeling pretty down about my running. I'm not a fast runner. I admit that much.

I know that I can be a much better runner though. I want to be a much faster runner. I will eventually become a much faster runner. I promise that much. :)

So, this race was only my second stand alone running race. I'm still pretty new to this stuff. My plan was to go out fairly easy for the first four miles, then start ramping it up for the last 3.5 miles. My gut told me that I'd be somewhere around 9 min pace for the whole thing, maybe just under.

I started out with a fast start, but holding my position in the pack. We were all cruising along at about 7:30 pace for the first half mile, then we settled down. I settled into a comfortable pace, not looking at the Garmin, but just going by feel. After about a mile, I saw that I was at about 8:20 pace.

The HR was great, I was comfortable, the legs felt great, so I just held on there for the first 3 miles or so. There were a couple water stations. I got a little water at each.

After mile 3 came a slow climbing hill. Nothing major, just enough to slow me down a bit. One more water station, then we got into the hills.

We hit the first big decent, and I flew past others. I just let my weight carry me and hoped my legs could keep up. I managed that okay, then had the corresponding climb. That slowed me way down. I noticed that I was playing leap frog with a guy, so I chatted with him a little bit.

I was working just beyond conversational pace, and the HR was still looking pretty decent. The last climb pushed it up above 190, but it was slowly falling with each flat or decent. We went through some rollers, and I was still feeling excellent. I was going faster than I anticipated for the work the heart was doing, and I was feeling good.

As started to talk to Charles, I slowed down and wasn't paying much attention at the time. I'll have to check the Garmin data, but I slowed down for at least a mile. When I noticed the drop, I was down to 9:20 pace. Oops, better pick it up.

By this time, we were rounding back onto 32, and I dropped pace down to 8:20 again. One mile to go, still strong. I started to pick it up a bit. .75 to go, I picked it up again. I'm not looking at the watch. I don't want to know where I am. I'm starting to feel it in the lungs and the legs.

.50 to go. OMG, the lungs are really feeling it. My legs are getting wobbly. I can see the pavilion in the distance. I need to push it harder!

.25 to go. My lungs are begging for mercy. I'm wheezing. I can hear trixie in my head, "why are you breathing so hard?" My own voice interrupts hers, "is this exercise induced asthma?"

Smile for the photog. Hey, there's Dad too!

There is the finish, its a right hand turn, made the turn, ran over both mats, and stopped. I wanted to collapse, but stayed up. I saw 1:02 on the timer. WOW. That's a lot better than I thought I'd do.

Don't make friends on the course. Run the whole thing! I could have broken an hour.

Banana, powerade, water.


Running abilities.


I was really happy with the results. It wasn't as painful as I feared, and I went faster than I had hoped. That was encouraging. My timed race runs have mainly been the result of tris, so I was getting skewed results on running times. This was important for me to do this race, and get a better feel for where I am.