St. Pete's Beach Classic Review

Miles Run This Week: 4.1
Days until Burlington: 128

Back from vacation! Florida was exactly what I needed - low humidity, warm temps, and awesome running routes. My 4 mile run this week had these as the turnaround point:

 So things could have been worse. On Saturday the 14th, I ran the St. Pete's Beach Classic 10K with Joe. My parents came to watch (not really knowing what to expect) - so around 6:30 AM, we were packed up and off to St. Pete's Beach. It was about 50 degrees and pretty gusty when we got there - but we had about an hour and a half to kill, and the sun had just come up.

One thing I hate is standing in the start corral, freezing to death while you wait for the gun. But that's what we did.

The field didn't look very big - considering the races I've run in the Boston area, I'm used to being packed in at the start, and having to weave through the crowd after the start (total aside - if you're not a sub 6:00 min/mile runner, you being at the front will not make a difference, trust me. No need to start your jog from the front if the pack and run 3 across with all your friends - be real with yourself and get into the middle with the rest of us). Joe and I cruised right through the jogging pack, and after about .3 of a mile, settled into a nice 9:25 pace.

The course was flat - as in, real flat, not 0 elevation change because you kill yourself up a hill but get to dog it back down. A real flat. It was also weave-y, which isn't my favorite. All in all, I added about .15 to the run because of the turns (since race courses are measured in tangents). This might not sound like a lot, but in order to hold pace, I'd have to run a little bit faster to compensate the difference.

Things I noticed about running in the South versus running in the North:
-Everyone was nicer. I know this sounds like a cliche, but there was a guy ahead of Joe and me for about half a mile that was thanking every single spectator  for coming out to watch. I suspect that he has never run a race that draws a big crowd (like Boston or Chicago) - otherwise, he would be exhausted by mile 2 with all his gratitude.
-Everyone seemed slower. Or newer to a race setting. One of my race hallmarks is to pass a whole bunch of people at the beginning, only to be picked off by 70% of them again at the end. This time, I passed a bunch of people, kept passing more, and none of them ever caught up.

So I paced us to about 9:17s til about mile 4, when I  hit the wall. Joe picked up the pace to 9:15s and started shaving off time until we were cranking at 9:05s. I didn't whine, I didn't complain, all I said was, "My stomach is starting to hurt" and he replied with "Then you're doing it right." (Jerk.)

The worst part of the race was the last mile - you crossed the start mats at the mile 5 marker, and then had to run down to a turnaround and back. I'm really glad I looked at the course map ahead of time, or I would have been pissed. We watched some guy turn on his afterburners about 250 yards from the start mats - letting me know that he had no idea how far a 10K really was. Joe and I caught him about a quarter mile after his premature sprintalation, and passed him without any effort.

Once we hit the turnaround, we were running straight into the headwind. I had to start ramping up my speed to make sure the wind wouldn't slow me down. We stayed at 9:05s (but had that extra distance in there to negate that speed - awesome).

We turned the corner for the finish, and there were my mom and dad - so then I had to really sprint to make it look hard (it was already kind of hard). True to form, my mom tried to take a picture, not realizing that we weren't going to slow down just for a photo op (I think she's got a shot of just my arm).

Official time when we crossed the mats was 57:25 - so a 9:15 pace. I beat my previous PR by over a minute (1:09 to be exact)! I also came in 89 out of 323 women - which is probably one of my top finishes to date (but like I said....I don't think it was because of some blistering speed....I just think I wasn't racing tough runners like I do in Boston).

Regardless - I'm pretty stoked at my run, especially considering the fact I wasn't actually training for this race, and I could come out and lay a time down like that. Of course, now my hip has been yelling at me for over a week because of the pace I took (and I ran it in my Reeboks instead of my Saucony's - guess I do still need that support!).

I finished plotting out the training scheduled for Burlington - my goal race pace for this marathon is 10:18s, something that is totally doable (and sustainable for 26.2 miles - unlike my 9:15s that probably would have burnt out around 7 or 8). I think my biggest concerns right now are strengthening my hip abductors to stop this nagging pain, and keeping flexible and relaxed to avoid any other injuries.

Fifteen weeks to go!