Noodleini 2011

This morning was the annual Noodleini run in De Pere.  This is the third year I have run this race.  Last year, I was quite pregnant and was just out there to finish.  And I did, after taking a fall about the 1 mile mark.  This year, I had much high aspirations.  I have been running well lately, and I felt that I could turn in a pretty decent time.  I was running with my cousin, Jason, who I also ran with earlier this month at the Hewitt Pumpkin Run. 

My goal was to try to run the race with Jason.  We hadn’t really talked about it, but I felt that I could probably keep up with him for at least the first two miles.  The beginning of the course was really congested.  By about the 3/4 mile mark, Jason had pulled ahead of me.  My goal turned into just not letting him get to far ahead.  I thought that maybe I could catch up with him at the end.

The last two races, I have had some problems with my Garmin.  It won’t give me my pace.  it just shows my running time.  This is frustrating because I don’t know if I should be going harder, or if I’m pushing too hard and in danger of running out of gas.  This wasn’t so much of a problem at the Turkey Trot earlier this week, because I was running at Tim’s pace and not really worried about time. 

Today, I only looked at my Garmin once…shortly after mile 2.  At that point, I knew I was making pretty good time.  I could still see Jason a few steps ahead of me, and I was feeling pretty good, so I didn’t think I needed to adjust my pace.  I am familiar with the course, so I knew what was left.  I tried to close the gap with Jason during the third mile.  Eventually, I was able to reel him in with about a quarter mile to go.  He took one look at me and picked up the pace.  I tried to keep up, but the finish chute narrows and this lady got in front of me and I couldn’t get around her.  Jason beat me by three seconds. 

My time: 26:43.  That’s a PR, folks!  Average pace of 8:37!  What a great way to end my season.  I wanted to go out strong before my surgery in two weeks.  I’m hoping I can pick up right where I left off when I get back to racing in February.  Come back race:  Seroogy’s 5K.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I entered this race as an Athena.  Basically, in running language, that is a woman over a certain weight.  On the men’s side, they are called Clydesdales.  Anyway, I got 2nd in the division!

sorry the picture is blurry.  I was using my phone in a moving car.  But, I’m pretty proud of the hardware!  But, what’s even cooler, is that I was only 30 seconds from placing outright in my age group.  That’s only 10 seconds a mile!!  Something to look forward to after I come back from surgery.