Wood Duck Dash Race Report

      18 Comments on Wood Duck Dash Race Report

This is a very late race report because I have been very busy, but I’m happy to report that I finished my second 10k, and the whole day turned out very well!  It was a busy day for our family, so I decided to split the race into two posts. You can read about my boys’ participation in their first race here.  Meanwhile, keep reading to hear about my experience.

Saturday morning, I woke up about 6am, which was actually kind of early.  The nice thing about this run is that it’s actually very close to where I live, and I could leave at about 7:45 and still make it in plenty of time. Sweet!! 😉 So, I took a shower, had a bit of breakfast (English muffin with a small amount of peanut butter), and even managed to get some laundry folded, ha ha! The one downside was the weather–it was raining when I awoke, and although it did taper to a drizzle, it was definitely still wet.  When we arrived at about 8am, it was still drizzling.

I probably shouldn’t admit this on the Internet, but I will offer this true confession: I like to think I’m a pretty tough chick, but when it comes to certain things, I am a total priss. 😛  One of those things is that I do not like to be dirty and/or wet.  I love to swim, but the minute I’m out of the pool, I am changing into clean, dry clothes.  You will never get me to a mud run or color run because the though of getting dirty positively drives me crazy!  So, for it to be drizzling as much as it was the morning of the race put a total damper on my mood.  The boys arguing in the backseat didn’t help, and I really considered telling my husband to just turn around and go home while we were sitting there waiting for the race start.

But of course, I couldn’t do that, especially since a few friends had also signed up for the race at the last minute and would be looking for me. 😛  I went out with my umbrella to start (because otherwise I might melt!!), but eventually I gave up the umbrella.  I did get a pre-race picture with my boys.

Once the boys’ race ended, I didn’t have long to get ready for mine.  I was nervous, but I was also really cold! The temp was in the high 50s and it was still misting. (Blech!)  I knew that it wouldn’t take long for me to warm up, though, so I just got in line, pretty near the back but not quite last. 😉 My friend Katie was next to me, but she had already run eight miles that morning on her way to a total of 14! We talked for a bit and although I was nervous, I found it was calming to have someone next to me to chat with before things got started.  🙂

She asked me what my goal was and I told her to beat my previous time, with hopefully a sub-11 pace. Within a few minutes, we were off on our 6.2 mile run!

When we started, I raced with Katie for a while.  Normally this wouldn’t happen, ha ha, but I knew she was taking it fairly easy since she’d already run 8 miles before we even hit the start line!  Eventually, I pulled ahead of Katie, not too far ahead, but I was feeling pretty good and I knew that I really wanted to beat my previous 10k time and therefore wanted to go with whatever pace I could push myself to but still remain comfortable.

I saw my friend Jessica coming back as I got closer to the turnaround, and she cheered me on as she went by. That put a smile on my face.  🙂  As we came back the other way, which was at about the 2-mile mark, I finally decided to look at my pace.  I was astonished to see that I was doing a sub-10 run!  Dude!  Part of me was concerned, but the other part of me was thinking that if I could just keep this up for another mile (to mile 3), I would be almost certain to beat my old pace, no matter what I did for the last three miles.

I kept up my pace for the next mile, but then, the bottom kind of fell out.  🙁 By the time I hit the three-mile mark, my body was just exhausted from running at a pace that I know was just too fast for me.  I told myself I would wait and walk at the next water station, but then suddenly my feet were not listening to my brain and they stopped running of their own accord at 3.06.  😛  I allowed myself to catch my breath until my Garmin read 3.10, and then I started running again.  I slowed it down some, even though I knew I had to make up that short walk period, but I knew that my body would not survive anymore sub-10 laps.  To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it would survive a sub-12 lap at that point!

Somewhere between the three and four mile mark, I heard someone calling my name.  It was Katie!  I slowed down a little so she could catch up (it didn’t take much, lol!).  She commented on how hard I was to catch, and I confessed that I had totally blown my sub-11 theory to hell, lol.  She mentioned that she had used catching up with me as a goal to help her keep going, and I was so impressed.  Here I was struggling to keep running after just three miles, and she was already on mile 11 for the day, but she still managed to catch up to me!!

We agreed to run together for as long as we could, and I secretly wondered how long it would be before she passed me. 😉 I must admit, having Katie next to me for the rest of the run was a blessing.  I was really, really feeling like I wouldn’t make it by the time I got to the fourth mile, but knowing I had a running partner gave me just the strength and motivation I needed.  If Katie could keep up with me after running 8 miles earlier, there was no reason for me to quit before I finished all six!!  Plus, it would be really embarrassing to give up with her next to me. 😉

By the time Katie found me, we were running on one of two nature trails.  Let me tell you, nature trail running SUCKS!  Not only was it twisting and winding, making it pretty much impossible to get a “groove” going, the wood chips made for really rough footing. I say that, and yet, it actually got harder when we hit the end of second natural trail…that one had rocks! Plus, there were several wooden bridges, and those were very slippery after the rain, and the wet leaves sticking to my shoes made me even more nervous about the footing!

On the bright side, the views were pretty cool, and I do plan to go back someday with my camera.  I hear there was a bald eagle in there somewhere, but I was a bit busy to look for him. 😛

Running with Katie wasn’t just beneficial for my motivation–it was actually fun.  We talked quite a bit, and it definitely helped the time go by faster.  I kept checking my pace and being disappointed to see that it was much slower than I felt like I should be. (In the 11s, whereas I thought for sure I was in the 10s!) Those trails really did make things difficult, I think.

Once we got back on the path, I was excited because, despite my walking break and the rough terrain, I knew I was on pace to blow past my previous 10k pace.  When I got close to the finish line, I went just a bit ahead of Katie to try to get the best pace I could.  I was sooo happy when I crossed the finish line…

So happy, in fact, that in my delirium, I forgot to stop my Garmin–again!!! 😛  Thus, my final lap pace and overall pace were skewed.

Doh! I knew I had done better than that, and the race results confirmed it–a 10:29 overall pace!!!  😀  I was so happy for that.  My time was 1:05:02, which is over 5 minutes faster than my previous 10k time (1:10:25).  My timing clearly shows my walk break and how I slowed down quite a bit afterwards.

But I’m still very pleased with the run! I was still near the end of the pack, but that’s okay…I beat my own pace, and that’s what counts.

Actually, though, as happy as I was about my run, I was probably more pleased by the fact that my boys ran a race that day as well.

They were pretty energetic afterwards, but I sure was tired–so much so that I went home and took a three-hour nap. 😉

I have plenty more to say about how I spent all those activity points ;), but this post is way long enough, so I will save that for another day later this week.  I am hoping to catch up on blogs and other areas of my life soon, but the tomatoes from my garden aren’t blanching, peeling, and quartering themselves right now, so I will probably still be behind for awhile.  I’m looking forward to catching up, though!

Thanks so much for reading my race report! All the motivation I have gotten from the readers has really done wonders for me.  It is very much appreciated! xoxo

18 thoughts on “Wood Duck Dash Race Report

  1. Joy

    wow that is amazing time!!! Good for you for shaving off 5 mins. I loved reading your adventure of your 10km. I feel like I was there with you 🙂

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Thanks so much, Joy! I’m glad you enjoyed it–it was fun to retell, from the comfort of my couch. 😉 Thanks for reading!

      Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Really?? Wow, now I’m just that much sadder that we live so very far from each other!! Thanks so much for being so supportive. xoxo

      Reply
  2. Kelly@Sublurban Mama

    Congrats Steph! Somehow the runs we struggle through make the victory that much sweeter. Mark stole my thunder because I was thinking as I read this, “It would be so much fun to do a 10k with her.” Sounds like you have your choice of running partners! 😉

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      I would LOVE to do a 10k (or any race!) with you!! We need to seriously figure that out!! Thanks so much for commenting!!

      Reply
  3. MountainHawk

    Congratulations on beating your previous pace!

    *rofl* on spending activity points. The other day I saw a recipe video for Chocolate Zucchini Bread and wondered how much of your zucchini supply remained.

    Reply
    1. steph Post author

      Oh, wow!! You need to send me that recipe–I have TONS of zucchini still in the freezer!!

      Thanks so much for stopping by and for the nice comments!

      Reply
  4. Jenn

    Totally snagging that receipe, L.
    Congrats on your new PR, Steph, and for keeping it all in perspective. I am in awe of all that you have accomplished in such a short time.

    Reply
  5. SlimKatie @ Runs for Cookies

    I’m SO glad that I didn’t slow you down… I really struggled mentally with whether or not I should even catch up to you, because I knew you wanted to PR, and I didn’t want to “spoil” your race experience 😉 I can’t believe you thought I was going to pass you–I felt like I was going to DIE catching up to you! haha

    Thanks for the company!

    Reply

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