Lucky 7 miles
Yesterday P and I ran the Lucky 7, seven mile run in Davis. I’d been really dreading this run because I’d been feeling like poop the last week and then was literally up half the night on Friday with cramps (sorry guys). I say that for context, because I was literally thinking about not doing the race since the longest I’d been able to run in about a week was 3 miles before my stomach was in knots.
That being said, I don’t like backing down from a challenge, so I got it into my head that I was going to finish the race even if it meant walking half of it. One of my sisters came along to be our official photographer (also she lives in Davis and needed a ride home after staying at our house the night before).
The race was kind of odd in that there was actually a 7K and a 7 mile race that ran the first 3 miles on the same track. Since I don’t own a watch or any other pacing device I never have any idea how fast I’m going, and usually just pick a person who seems to be going a good speed to pace myself off of. But because there were two races going, I was concerned that I was going to pace myself against people who were running half as many miles as me and burn myself out. Bottom line is that I need a watch.
When I got to mile 3 I was feeling totally burnt out, but mile 4 came really quickly and then the rest of the race seemed to go by in a fraction of the time of the first 3 miles.
No pictures of me finishing because my sister and P were busy chatting about when I was going to finish
In the end, I actually ran the entire race and my time was on pace with what I’ve been running in shorter runs (8:34 pace). I think we are going to try and run a half marathon in April, and then Bay to Breakers in May (pledge here!) and I’m super excited for both!
You may have noticed that I added a running page to the site. I’m in no way offering advice on how to run, but I wanted a place to keep track of our times, so that’s what that is.
Hi Katie,
Have you read ‘Born to Run’ by Chris McDougall? If not, grab a copy (along with a pair of Vibram 5-fingers and a bag of chia seeds)…I used to do triathlons until running injuries forced me to do nothing but Masters swimming. This book actually got me running again–pain free.
Btw, congrats on your running progess.
Tom
Tom-Thanks! I haven’t read it but I keep meaning too. My husband’s cousins are ultramarathoners and one of them is dating a woman in the book (she’s also a professional runner). They were making fun of my running shoes the last time I saw them. I keep meaning to hit up an REI sale to try and get Vibrams. I think I’d really like running in them.
My sister’s best friend’s brother is a well-known ultramarathoner down in Carlsbad/San Diego. His name is Ben Hian…do they know him?
Tom-I’m not sure. We aren’t super close to them (they don’t really use phones/internet so they are generally pretty hard to track down).