Kim Versus the 10K: Bayou City Classic

This is my first repeat race EVER and it will be only one of two repeat races that I have scheduled for the year (though, of course, I reserve the right to add to that list as the year progresses).  

I had two goals for The Bayou City Classic.

1)  PR  (last year's time was 1:26:38)

2)  Run the entire distance, walking only through the water stations

I did have one friend to run this race with me - Melissa - who, consequently, ran this race with me last year, as well.  I love knowing at least one other person running a race.  It doesn't matter to me how much faster they are - it's just nice knowing someone else is experiencing the same conditions and that there is a natural built-in support, you know?!

I wish I could say I prepped all week long for this race like a true champion, but sadly...I'd be lying.  My diet plan was practically non-existent.  I have a bit of insight into my psyche as to why that occurred, though, and I'm working on it so that I can get back on the right track and stay there.  My running plan didn't happen.  A little birdie barely managed to convince me to hit some minor mileage on Thursday night, but other than that I hadn't done anything since last Saturday's 9-miler.  My hydration plan was lacking. I finally got the water thing down on Friday, but that's not saying much when I had caused such a deficit in my system.  =/

Enough about my downfalls...onto the recap:

Saturday morning, Melissa and I agreed to meet at my work so we could drive together to the race.  We got there VERY early so that we wouldn't have to deal with road closures and all that jazz.  It was quite windy, though not really cold.  We met up with a couple of her friends and started the race just after 8.  My legs felt kind of heavy right from the start.  I had some defeatist thoughts come through my head.  I fought them.  For the first mile, we navigated down town and then we hit Memorial Parkway.  I really don't know how they get away with calling the course "flat and fast" because Memorial Parkway is anything but flat.  I had forgotten this from last year.  =/  I thought about walking up the hills, but then I reminded myself that wasn't what I had set out to do (see goal #2), so I just pumped my arms and carried onward.  

There were water stations set-up every 1.5 miles.  Initially I had considered skipping the first and third, but since the sun was beating down on us pretty brutally and I could feel the salt caked on my face, I knew I needed to hydrate, so I did walk through all of the water stations.  I was happy when I finished drinking my water just past mile 3 and I heard Melissa and her friend shout my name from across the median as they were approaching mile 4 on the opposite side of Memorial Parkway.

I started getting a bit discouraged as I hit the 5th mile marker and realized I was going to be cutting it SUPER close to last year's time.  I knew there was one last big hill to conquer and I thought about giving up and just walking the rest of the race - see...total defeatist.  I didn't register for this race to give-up on it, though.  I pumped my arms hard up that hill.  I rounded the corner and saw the 6th mile marker.  I looked at my watch and knew I had to high-tail it to have a hope of PRing.  I sprinted my heart out.  It worked.

I look like a VERY serious runner here.

Official Time:  1:25:50 (48 seconds faster than last year)

Finishing Song:  Dead and Gone - TI featuring Justin Timberlake

Melissa and her buddies were there to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line - awesome!  I then consumed massive amounts of water and we got our finisher's t-shirts.  Then came the swag.  Wowsers - check out the loot I got!

Yeah, buddy - I got 3 packs of Shot Bloks, a 5-hour Energy, and many Clif's bars.  Sweet!

All in all, a good race, a positive experience, and I was quite proud to say I accomplished both of my goals - a PR and I ran the whole thing, only walking through the water stations.

Lessons learned:  eat right, stick to running/training schedule, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate as my actions for the week will affect my performance!

Kim Versus the 10K: H.E.B. Bayou City Classic

A little unknown fact for ya - before I even turned 16, I was hired by H.E.B. to be a cashier in their work-in-progress pantry store being built across the street from Klein High School at the intersection of Louetta and Stuebner Airline. It was pretty exciting stuff because they only hired a handful of us and we had to train at the Tomball store until our store opened. Since then, it has transformed into one of their bigger/better stores, but I still remember the days fondly...

Flash forward 17 years later and I'm running a 10K sponsored by them. Who would have ever thought?!

Pre-race Commentary:

How did I prepare? Well, the Saturday before the race I hit the trail at Meyer Park 5 times around for a grand total of 6.35 miles. I completed this in 1:48 minutes. This was with stopping after each 1.27 miles to stretch that hip with the nagging tendonitis and to drink some water PLUS I even stopped once to use the facilities. Additionally, though I had better intentions of hitting the gym more than once, I did have one amazing elliptical workout "running" a 5K at a 6 incline with a 9 intensity.

Since I have been dealing with some below the knee pain (most likely as a result of over compensating for the hip) and of course the hip pain itself, I took an Epsom salt bath and then I put menthol patches on the offending areas to sleep in.

I have fully charged my iPod. I have come up with a reasonable goal - 1 hour and 30 minutes. I have picked out an appropriate wardrobe choice for the weather. I am going to bed at a reasonable hour to make sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep. I have planned a balanced carb/protein breakfast. I have had a rough work week and instead of letting it break me, I will break it...taking each bit of frustration I have endured out on that pavement. Bring it!!!

Post-race Commentary:

Success!!! The race was awesome, y'all! First and foremost I have to give props to H.E.B. Of the 3 races I have participated in so far, this was by far the most organized. There were 6 drink stations in total - one at the start line, 4 along the course, and one at the finish line. All the volunteers were friendly and fabulous! My only complaint would be that the course on the website was advertised as being "flat, fast, and fantastic" and the flat part was a bit of a lie. There were several uphill/downhill parts to the course. I handled it, don't get me wrong, but the last one located between mile 5 and mile 6 was extremely challenging because by then my right hip had become more than a nagging problem...let's call it a shooting pain instead. I kept telling myself to push through it and I did. Though I was able to maintain my 3/1 interval method for all but the last 1 1/4 mile of the race (blame the hip and the hill), I was able to regain some of my lost time by running the last 1/2 mile outright (though quite slowly). Something I didn't blog when finishing my Rocket's Run 5K was the Finish Line song on my iPod...which was Beyonce's Single Ladies. Remember how lame I was to not run with my iPod during the Rodeo Run? Yeah...there is no Finish Line song for that one. The Finish Line song, however, of this race was Natasha Bedingfield's Pocket Full of Sunshine.

Oh and may I also take this moment to mention what a glorious, beautiful day it was!!!!

It was most wonderful to run a race with my sister, Linda! Let's not get confused and think we actually ran together, though. Oh no sir-eeee...Linda and I had a whole discussion about this - don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't even act like you know me (okay, this may be a dramatization, but basically you catch my drift...all for one and one for all).

We also ran with Linda's long time friend Melissa (who was a fellow bridesmaid in Linda and Craig's wedding alongside me and our other sister, Cathy). This was Melissa's first race, though she is a runner, and she ran all 6.2 miles without walking a lick of it. Very impressive, lady!

Lauren and her sister also ran this race, but sadly I never did find them before the race start, or after for that matter. Lauren told me later she heard me (then saw me) as I double asked one of the water dudes if he was handing out water (versus Powerade - since the only Powerade I drink is the Zero kind and that wasn't what they were serving). Missed ya, girl!!!

Okay, so now onto the stats...the idea is to get a negative split in your run. This means you finish faster than you started. I failed on this, BUT I had a PR for the first 5K. If we were to reference my Rocket's Run time right now, we would note that I got a 44:15. That was 6 weeks ago. I got a 41:33 for the first leg of this race which is an improvement of 2 minutes and 42 seconds. I'll take it! I got a 45:05 for the second 5K (hip...rar!). The grand total = 1 hour 26 minutes and 38 seconds. Let me do that math for ya...3 minutes and 22 seconds better than my goal time!!! Also important to note is that I ran the Rocket's Run at a pace of 14:16 per mile, but I ran this H.E.B. Bayou City Classic at a pace of 13:58 per mile. That's improvement; that's triumph (especially considering it was twice the distance and I'm dealing with an injury that wasn't present during my first race)! =D

All in all, it was my favorite race to date - in organization, in performance, and in weather. I felt total redemption from my Rodeo Run disaster a couple of weeks ago - having applied all my lessons learned. I actually didn't even run with a camera, so the only pic I have is this one of Linda and I wearing our finisher's t-shirts later in the afternoon at our family's lunch at Los Cucos.

Next stop: Tomball's Bunny Run 5K on April 10th