Town and Gown {10-24-15}

Town and Gown/ISU Homecoming 5k

October 24, 2015

22:49

2nd AG (30-39....big age group!)

8th/256 females

54/436 overall

I had never run this race, in spite of it taking place down the street from my office at ISU where I've worked for 4+ years. Usually it's the same day as Run the Woods...so not an option for me since I've been part of the RTW committee for the past few years and am therefore committed there all morning (not to mention the fact that RTW is one of my fav events of the year!:-)). However this year ISU moved homecoming back a few weekends and my good friend AP convinced me to run...and even said he wanted to pay for my entry for my birthday. Free race?! Sounds awesome! :)

Clint and I left our place around quarter after seven and headed to campus. We got chewed out by some awesome parking attendants who informed us that my faculty parking permit wasn't valid on game weekends and that in order to park in my faculty lot I had to have a football pass. Whatever ;). So, we parked down the street a bit and headed toward the start. We met up with AP and Viktor (another one of our Thursday night group runners)...used a non-porta-potty bathroom (thanks AP...his office was right next to the start)...and I set out on my "warm up" (a few strides around a building). 

A few minutes before the start time of 8am, I joined the runners in the starting area...and soon enough President Deitz signaled the start of the race.

It was kind of novel running through the closed roads around campus. The first 'mile' ticked off in 6:50....but my watch said what was marked as a mile was actually 0.9. When I reached 1 mile on my watch, it had me at 7:27 which is much more likely to be accurate. 

The course is two loops with a bit extra before the first loop and a bit extra after the second loop (if what I am saying makes any sense). I approached the quad (around mile 1.5) and saw Clint cheering us on...thanks for the support, CW!

I started in on my second loop....right around the second mile it started getting windy (this was also the case on the first loop, however it definitely sucked worse the second time around ;). Mile two according to my watch was 7.38.  A bit slower than mile 1, but frankly I was excited to see times below 8 minutes ticking off. My evening run on Thursday night at the group run two days prior felt AWFUL and I had to fight to keep 9:30 miles. I definitely fare better in the morning (just for general life as well as for running!) during this pregnancy situation.

By the start of mile 3 I was definitely feeling fatigued...heavy lungs (though not as heavy as they are sometimes so I am not complaining!), etc., but I tried my best to soldier on. I approached the finish and saw that the course was indeed going to be quite short (I had been warned of this). I crossed the finish in 3.0 flat with a time of 22:53 according to my watch/22:49 clock time. 22:49 for 3 miles is an average 7:36/mile pace...I'll take it! It's a pregnancy 3 mile PR! :)  Looking back, I wish I would've pulled an AP...he ran THROUGH the finish line when he saw the course was short and carried on until the 3.1 mark on his watch so that he'd have a legit time for a full 5k :).

THANKS to Mitch for allowing me to be part of the Often Running Racing Team! :) Thanks to all of my awesome teammates for the comraderie and support. Thanks to Adidas for the great gear...esp my fav racing flats! I can't get enough of these great shoes! Thanks to CW for being the best supporter and spectathlete, as usual.

Next up...a race report for the Allerton Park trail race...and then one for the following weekend: Canal Connection!

13 weeks, 1 day pregnant...Run Happy!