Happy Racing!

Race Time!!

During training seasons, I rarely take the opportunity to race.  You see, I’m a clutz.  I trip over air.  I have also managed to burn boiling water.  I redefine the term accident prone.  Because of this, I try to minimize the opportunities to get injured before a marathon or half marathon.  Today, I took that risk.  The Tulsa Running Club Winter Classic is a 10k, 20k, and 30k race all in one.  It’s a great race because it’s right in the middle of our training series, and since it’s long, I’m not inclined to attempt to run very fast.  Plus they have great shirts!

I’d never run a 20k, so this was obviously going to be a PR (Personal Record for those of you not familiar with running terms).  I think it’s important to track Personal Records, it helps you stay motivated and helps you celebrate others’ success.  It always feels great to hear someone say “I’ve never ran this far before!  This is a distance PR!”   In every personal endeavor, it’s important to celebrate your milestones.  Sure, years down the line those may seem like small steps, but it takes a lot of small steps to climb mountains and it’s important that you celebrate each step along the way.

The weather today was phenominal.  Crisp air and a gentle breeze made the race one where just when you think you’d like to take off your jacket, you turn and suddenly you’re glad you kept it on.  Not too hot; not too cold.  My original plan was to run it a bit slower than normal.  I had fully planned on maintaining a 10 minute mile.  That’s just a bit faster than my Fleet Feet training group pace, but still very comfortable.  Right before the start, I came across a friend from a local Symphony that was planning on running a bit quicker, so I rethought my original plan and decided to see how long I could comfortably stay with her.

I ran the first 10k in 58 minutes, which is a relatively impressive time for me in the first place.  I slowed down a bit the second 10k but still managed to finish the entire race in 1:58 which I am very happy with.  It’s a 9:23 pace, considerably faster than I had planned, but I’m very, very pleased.

Sweeny Strong

This past Saturday I took my fitness evaluation for our church’s yearly fitness program.  I am so proud of my church for being a guiding light in the area of fitness.  We have a state of the art fitness center and have recreational basketball programs for athletes from 5 to 99 years old.  Each year they have a 12 week program where they encourage members to get fit by increasing their cardiovascular, strength, and felixibility workouts.  I flew through the flexibility and cardio, but failed miserably at the strength.  I think we all know what I will be working on.  My goal by the end of the 12 week program is to be able to complete 30 pushups.  I’m not going to limit my time to 1 minute or 3 minutes, just within a single session with little breaks.  I’m embarassed to say that I was only able to complete 4.  Yes.  4.  One of the main reasons I really enjoy this program is it requires participants to hold a magnifying glass to their fitness abilities and see where they can really improve.  I’m excited to see what I can do!!

Celebrations – time for the Brag Roll!!

Quite a few have awesome celebrations from this past weekend!  If you have a celebration that you want mentioned, please send them to me – I’d love to add you to the Brag Roll!  And yes, the sticker is cheesy.  It’s the sticker they give to one kid a day at my son’s preschool for doing a great job.  I like it.  I’m a little gold star on the paper kind of gal!

Linea – A Penguin Runner completed her 5k this weekend and placed 1st in her age group!  Look for another awesome performance next weekend in her next 5k!  Great job!

Jenn – A Tulsa runner and new coach helped pace her new group through their 20k today.  I know they appreciate your leadership!  Awesome job!!

Yassir – Ran his 20k today with a 6:33 pace (wowzers!!) and came in 3rd overall and 1st in his age group.  Incredible!

Kathryn – Ran a 10k this weekend and placed 1st in her age group.  Way to go!!

Robert – A fellow board member with me came in 2nd in his age group today.  Great performance!

Troy – had a 10k PR today!  I won’t say the time but it was pretty awesome!!

Tory – not sure if it’s a PR, but she ran a 50k race today.  I think that gets double entry in the Blog Roll!!

Wendi – nominated by her friend Kim set a distance PR this weekend of 16 miles.  Awesome job!!

Steve – a Twitter follower ran his first 20k race today!  Great job!

Jan – set a PR on her 10k this weekend and 1st place in her age group!   Wonderful run!!

April – ran her longest run since 2007!  Awesome job mommy!  I have to give props to the moms getting back out there after babies – it’s tough work!  Good job!

Awesome job everyone!  It’s great to see you all working so hard.  If I missed you, please let me know!  You deserve your time in the spotlight!

~ by Shawna on February 7, 2010.