Sunday, March 9, 2008

I've come a long way, baby

I had a race this morning. It marked my second Foggy Bottom Milk Run in two years. I did the 4.1 mile course again, hoping to run it faster than I did last year. I had a feeling I could do it, despite the sinus infection, which FINALLY seems to be getting better.

The weather was just about like it was for this race last year: sunny and warm, with just a few puffy clouds. Gorgeous. I wore my running tights with some shorts over them, and a short-sleeved wick-away shirt. When I picked up my T-shirt, race bib and timing chip at the registration table, I put the T-shirt on over my wick-away one.

I won't bore you with the details of the race. The course was exactly the same as last year, and I had to visit the porta-potties numerous times before the race started. This year, I took my iPod with me (a lot of other runners had theirs and no one said we couldn't use them this time).

The race itself was just surreal. The first two miles flew by. The second two, well, they felt slower, but were still much faster than last year. My goal was to break 45 minutes this year. As I crossed the finish line, I could not believe my eyes: 43:45. OMG, I totally shattered my time from last year! I was tired, but so happy. Then I wished Tim and the kids were there. They had to stay home because Tim isn't feeling well. That made me a little sad because I really wanted to share that moment with them.

Anyway, the official times are up and I know how I placed. I broke my time from last year by 5 minutes. How crazy is that??! Overall, it was a blast and I am so glad I did it.

Race stats:
Foggy Bottom Milk Run, 4.1 mile:
Time: 43:44 (old PR was 48:44; they updated it tonight and this is my official time)
Pace: 10:40 minute/mile

Finished 122 out of 260 runners
Finished 8 out of 17 in my age division
Finished 53 out of 158 female runners

**NOTE**
I was just perusing last year's results online, and apparently I finished 122nd last year, also! I had it down as 119 because right after the race that's what it said, but I guess things changed in the official standings. So I did better this year, standings-wise, also. Last year I was 122 out of 211. This year, I was 122 out of 260. So I finished in the top half of all runners in today's race for the 4.1-miler!! Woo hoo!!!!

8 comments:

Nikki said...

Congrats Michelle!! Great great PR!!! I know DH and the kiddos will be there for more PR's in the future :D

It sounded like a great race!

BTW..why would they ban IPODs?

Wes said...

Oh yea! Very cool! You smoked that PR and with a left over lurgy too :-) (I've been hanging out on English speaking bloggers sites too much! LOL!!)

Mendy said...

You should be soooo very proud of yourself! Wow, to shave 5 minutes off a yearly race!!!! Wow! You did great!

Anonymous said...

Woohoo, way to break that record!! Major congrats! :D

Nancy said...

SHATTERED....what a great word to get to use in respect to PR's. CONGRATs, your speediness!!

J~Mom said...

Excellent job Michelle!!! What a wonderful reward for your hard work this year!

Sonia said...

Yes you did! congrats on such a big PR =)

RunnerGirl said...

Congrats on your PR, awesome!