Pushing the Pace

Whew! I survived the weekend with minimal stress, lots of work and a few humid runs. 

Saturday after work, I called the manfriend (who had just finished a 60+ mile bike race) to ask if he wanted anything specific for dinner. He had already eaten mac 'n cheese, but requested ice cream and beer from the store. Gotta love an appetite like that. 

I came home and threw together a quick dinner as it was past 8pm and I was staaarving! 

Corn tortillas with leftover brown rice, black beans, spinach, mushroom, mozzarella, avocado and salsa

This morning I was up and at 'em to head to my first 8K! I thought I'd show you my socks because they're from the last time the Olympic Trials came to Eugene and I love them. 

Can you see the Olympic rings below "EUGENE?" I'm already excited for the Nike tent this year. My wallet is not. 

Is anyone else as obsessed with their workout clothes as I am?

Anyway, the Prost8K raises funds for a free mens prostate screening clinic each year. I got to the race about 7:30, grabbed my packet and did an easy mile warm up. 

Because it was a smaller, local race, I made my way to the front before the gun went off. 

As planned, I started off at tempo pace and held a 7:46 for quite a while. After a mile or so we went up and over a pedestrian bridge across the freeway and into neighborhoods. 

From miles 1-4, I slowly pushed the pace as the legs got warm and was cruising at a 7:30 by mile 4, when it was time to kick it up another notch. 

I may have left a bit too much in the legs - found myself sprinting hard the last 100m. Guess I could have pushed a bit harder that last mile. 

Anyway, with an official time of 37:40, it was enough to take 1st in my age group (out of 6) and 2nd female overall (out of 67). 

 Medal winner!

It's been a while since I've done a fast, local race so it was a nice change, but I realize I get more satisfaction from those longer sustained efforts (half and full marathons) than the short, fast stuff. Plus, I don't really push my pace regularly and running fast HURTS.

I've felt like my pace has slowed quite a bit in the last month, but it could be simply because I'm not pushing myself. It was nice to be reminded that my legs have a little speed somewhere inside. Maybe someday I'll actually train specifically for one of these short, fast races...

What was your best moment of the weekend?