2 races down, 1 to go!!

The 15K and 5K was a success!  It’s a beautiful day in Tampa, and I had so much fun running back-to-back races.

My day started very, very early.  I barely slept at all because I was so nervous.  My alarm went off at 4:30, and I felt like I hadn’t slept a wink!

 

I had two cups of coffee and 2 pieces of WW toast, PB, and a banana.

We drove to the downtown area to check out the running expo, which was HUGE and very interesting.  I’ve never been to a running expo before, and there were tons of things I wanted to buy — but somehow I said no! 🙂

 

The 15K race was first.  We headed to the start line at 7:00 and I got to stretching.

I was told at the running expo that tight hips throw your knees off balance, so I made sure to do TONS of hip stretches, and I do think it helped.  Meghann gave me a pep talk about my knees and it made me feel soooo much better.

Meghann decided at the last minute to run the 15K, too, which made me that much more motivated!  If she can do it, so can I!

 

We wrote our goal times in permanent marker on our arms.

There were over 19,000 people at the race today!  It was CRAZY!

However, more people ran the 5K than the 15K, so the 15K was a less crowded run and a lot more fun.  Which was fine by me because I was more concerned about my 15K time than my 5K time!

 

Right before starting…. (this is my signature photograph pose!)

The 15K went very, very well.  My goal was to pace 9:30 minute miles, and I paced about 9 minutes the entire time — which means I BEAT MY GOAL AND BLASTED MY PERSONAL RECORD!  My previous PR for a 15K is 1:27:30, and I ended up finishing this race in 1:23:30 (unofficially).  I can’t wait to see my chip time!

 

I learned a very, very important lesson today during the 15K.  As you know, last Sunday I aggravated my knee injury by pacing with Meghann for a 12.0 mile training run.  Although I physically can keep up with her, my knees do not like running that fast.  For this 15K, I paced with Meghann for the first 4.0 miles, and then she turned to me and said she was running at 8:30.  I KNEW this was WAY too fast for me to be running, so I said "seeya!" and dropped back about 100 yards. 

 

This experience really re-enforced my belief the only race that matters if the one against yourself.  I can’t let my competitive nature get the best of me when I know I need to stay slow and steady.   I was actually PROUD of myself for holding back because that’s what I needed to do.

 

The entire course was along the beautiful Tampa bay.  Here’s a course map:

Around Mile 2.0, I ate 3 Clif Shot Bloks (100 calories).   I ate them so early because breakfast had been three hours prior and I was already hungry when we started!

Around Mile 7.0, I hit my runner’s stride and totally disassociated myself from my body.  It such a weird and out of body experience when that happens — but I managed to turn off my brain and just RUN!  It felt great.

 

Once I passed the Mile 9.0 marker, I picked up the pace to 8:00-miles and finished strong and happy! :)  Meghann was ahead of me and was completely ecstatic to have also blasted her own PR.  YAY!

 

• Overall 15K Time: 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 30 seconds (unofficial).
• Calories Burned: 930 (estimate)

 

I was very concerned because we had 30 minutes between the 15K and the 5K.  I knew that if I let too much blood pool in my legs, I would have serious trouble starting up again, so I did MORE stretches and drank about two bottles of water.

 

I also ate a Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.  I was hungry enough so this didn’t feel like a brick in my tummy!

The 5k was a very unique experience.  There were so many runners that there was literally NO elbow room.  My legs felt super heavy for the first mile, but once I warmed back up, I was fine! 

 

Meghann and I ran the entire 5K together and didn’t take it too seriously for speed.  We just wanted to finish strong and happy!

• Overall 5K Time: 31 minutes (unofficial)
• Calories Burned: 250

 

After the race, we claimed our SECOND medal of the morning!! I can’t wait to get a third from tomorrow’s race.

I felt pretty cool walking around with two medals while most people only had 1!! 🙂

 

We met up with Jenna after the 5K! can’t believe we found each other!

Jenna ran the 5K and did AWESOME!! Way to go!

 

I immediately slammed 2 servings of Gatorade:

And 1/2 an Odwalla Bar:

And popped some OTC pain killers. :(  Right now my knees feel pretty sore, but not terrible. Let’s hope it stays like that so I can run the half marathon tomorrow!

 

We ended up walking around the post-race festivities for wayyyy too long, which was a mistake because I ended up almost fainting from hunger!  We stopped at Greenwise on the way home and I loaded up on yummy, greasy, delicious CHINESE FOOD!

Plus a roll:

Now, we’re back at home and I’m sipping on a glass of red wine! 🙂 YUM!  I think we’re going to head over to the hot tub and then I’m going to take a nap.

 

See you tonight for dinner, and stay tuned for Gasparilla Recap Part 2 tomorrow!  I’ve still got 1 more race — and 13.1 miles — to go!!