Welcome to Summer Virtual Race Recap

As a last minute decision, I decided to sign up for the Welcome to Summer Virtual 5k and 10k.  Toni, from Running, Loving, Living is hosting this race and she has some really great prizes.  This past week, which was week 5 of half marathon training, brought with it more miles, so I thought, why not?

I singed up on Wednesday and knocked out the 5k on Thursday.  This was one of the hottest days of the week and I had no one to stay with my kids, so off to the gym we went with AC and free baby sitting.

As most of you will agree, running on the TM is not the most fun, but I had good tunes and knowing it was a Virtual race, made the time go by nicely.  I felt good, no problems with my knee or back, so I upped the speed.  I finished this one in 34:30, which, for me, is an unofficial PR.

The last two week, I have notice my speed improving.  It really makes me want to find a 5k race and see what I can do on the road with an official timer.  I will take some time this week to see what some of the upcoming races are in my area.

As you can see by my after photo, I was sweating like crazy.  Not sure why, but you know the saying, It's not sweat, it's liquid awesome and that is exactly how I felt after this 3.1 miles.

Friday, I headed back to the gym with the kids in tow for 4 miles.  After two days on the TM, I couldn't wait to run with my TNT training group on Sunday.

I had decided that I would combine the Welcome to Summer 10k portion of the Virtual race with this run.

I had missed the last two weeks with the group and was looking forward to catch up.  I was also going to run one of my longest distances to date and needed to have the motivation and advice from the coaches, mentors and alum.

I started out excited to be there and was doing a lot of talking.  I realize after the first two miles that I was getting winded and tired.  I had done two miles in 21 minutes and that proved to be too fast for me, especially in the beginning of the run.  My third mile was my slowest as I was trying to recover.  Once I  slowed down and had a drink, I was back to my normal self and was able to finish in 1:08.

Lesson learned, save the speed for later in the race.  All in all, I was happy with the time.

One of the things I need to work on this week is fueling durning the runs.  I have said since the beginning of training, that I should start tasting different things and see what works for me.  Well, I didn't do that.  I ran Sunday's run with just a banana fueling me and by the end, I was hungry and couldn't wait to eat.

I have a few GU's that I got in race bags, which I will try, but I would love to hear what you guys like. I am not sure GU sounds that good to me.  I think I may prefer something I could chew.  

I have now done 4 Virtual races, plus I am hosting one in July.  I love the idea of them.  I like to have a goal, which I do with the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October, but I like the idea of little goals to help with speed and endurance along the way.  There is not too much pressure and you get to chose the time of day and where you run.  To me that is cool.

The other thing I like is most are free, but some are to raise money for different charity's.  This of course, I also love, which is why I put together the Run Strong, Think Big Virtual 5k.  We now have 30 runners from 4 different countries which is super exciting.  I hope you will consider joining us.  There is just under a month to still sign up.  Everyone will get a little bling by doing this race, and I know we all love our medals.

So with the 10k done today, it marks the first day of week 6 of half marathon training.  It is still hard to imagine doing 13.1.  When I think back to the day I first started running, I thought 3.1 would never happen but it did and I kept going.  There is no stopping now.

Thinking of that day, I would like to give a great big Congratulations to my friend Connie, who finished her graduation run from the c25k program yesterday.  She had set a goal for herself and stuck with it even when she didn't want to.  She has been a huge supporter of mine and I have found tons of inspiration from her kind words.  Running is what brought us together, but it is friendship that will keep us together.  Way to go my friend!

Run strong, think big!