PR!

I'd been sort of dreading the last couple of days for weeks. I subbed on Thursday and Friday, and knew that Rich worked OT both of those days (so no back up plan if anything went amiss). As soon as we were done with school on Friday (which was a little more hectic than usual since it was the day of our annual Penny Carnival), I took Ryan to his swim lesson, rushed over to get my bib number for a race the next day, and then picked up my nephews and one of their friends for a simple home cooked 'goodbye' dinner (since we won't see them for few days, and they requested it). So I ended up being on my feet all day, which wasn't great preparation for my race the next day.

I was more than a little nervous on Friday night. I was tired. I hadn't run in three days (tweaked back in the garden). I haven't run a race since mid-2015 (half of 2015 and all of 2016 had me sidelined with Achilles tendonitis). I'd also regained about five pounds over the last four months, and hadn't run much of the last month and half due to my knee injury, groin pull and back ache. And of course...I'm not getting any younger. At 42,I figure I'm not as fit or fast as I was at 32.

But I'd made a commitment to a friend that I'd do it with her (I'd suggested that she should run the race to prep for her upcoming triathlon), and I didn't want to back out. So I was prepared to suffer the embarrassment of a crappy race time, and boy was I feeling the pre-race jitters the night before! I've only run 6 miles a few times over the last six weeks. But rather than focus on the negative, I kept trying to focus on the positive- I'm still a few pounds lighter overall than I normally am. That I had been doing more running than I've ever done in my entire life the weeks prior to the knee injury. That I had actually done 3-5 speed workouts in the last month. That I've been to the gym 20 times this year and haven't been at all since 2008.

But I still wasn't convinced.

Partly because I'm a Negative Nelly when it comes to positivity in personal athletic feats, and partly because I had some pretty legit reasons that I could royally suck.

Still, I gave it 100%. I heavily drugged myself the night before to get some decent sleep. Then I heavily caffeinated the next morning to counter the nighttime drugs (definitely doctor recommended for a race day best)! I tried not to freak out when my car wouldn't start, but it didn't help my nerves (one $360 battery from Toyota later, it's fixed!) having to switch cars at the last minute and making alternate plans for Ryan's care. Thankfully, once I got there and the race started, because I was with two friends and I had no expectation of a good finish time...I had zero jitters or nerves. It helped that it was 'only' a 10k, as I get pretty nervous stomach for half or full marathons.

The first few miles felt great. I did my best to stay with my friend, who is faster than I am, and tried not to walk as much as possible (but of course, I did...because Aunty Jo isn't made for speed and when I do try, it hurts real bad). Out of the six miles, the first and the last one were at the 8:30ish/mile pace (what?!), the rest were 9ish and change.

Running with a faster-footed friend really helped me defy my highest expectation...which was to run the race in less than 1:05 (my normal race pace is about 59:00 - 1:03). I ended up setting a PR for myself with 56:07 (a 9:03 min. pace)! This involved lots of misery, pain, sweat and bladder malfunctioning (I blame age and childbirth), but I was pretty thrilled.

Right after the race I had to hustle over to the brewer's festival to shower, so I couldn't linger and bask in the glory of my PR (which put me in the top third of female runners overall, but 6th out of 9th in my age group). I swear, Kona peeps are speed demons. They don't mess around. So I have that to keep me humble! ;-)

The beer festival was nice, but lordy- it was awful hot, crowded and loud...three things old, chubby people don't handle well. So we weren't there long, and I was thrilled to get home even though we had a great time with the people we were with.

I now have this silly idea that at 42, I'm could try and get faster. Even though it isn't fun and hurts, I feel pretty excited whenever I do have a rare, 'good' race. And now that my friend's brother (who's a triathlon coach) has agreed to help me out a bit, I just may do it!