OCR Winter Series Four Miler

 

 

Yesterday was my first official race of 2015! Technically, this is week 2 of the series, but last week the park cancelled it, because of ice on the course.

SO

This was my first time racing a series put on by the Ocean Running Club. It was a four mile race, which is another first for me. In addition to the snow, I have had a pretty bad cold for the last week, so I went into this race with very low expectations. My goal: finish. That's it. I don't know about other areas, but every local race series I have ever been to has been filled with super speedy runners. Die hard marathoners who run all year round and make me feel slow. Which is fine. I am slow. This does not bother me, so everyone is happy.

Back to the race!

I showed up, paid my whopping $6 (I LOVE race series!) and filled out my raffle ticket for the enormous TV they are giving away at the end. The race started at exactly 11:00, with just a little fanfare, and lots of happy runners. I started Map My Run, and off  went. It started on an uphill and my lungs burned for the first half mile. I settled into a rhythm, but when I hit the first mile, MMR didn't give me a time check. I wasn't surprised, there were trees on both sides, very tall, so I figured the mileage might be off by a bit. I felt like I was slogging though, and there weren't many behind me.



 

 

 

 

As I approached the end of the first loop, a guy passed me. He was about 70. A very speedy guy, apparently, because my slog was actually a 10:45 mile average! What?!?! This was unexpected! The second lap felt harder. I tried to keep up with speedy old guy, but the longer we ran, the further ahead he got. Just before mile 3 MMR told me I ran a mile. Darn trees!

 

 

I turned the last corner, looked up the last hill, and saw the club photographer. Almost there! I wondered how much I slowed down.  Darn phone. Darn app. Darn vision, because I cannot see far away, and the time was blurry up until the last minute! I finished in 43:30, which was easily 5 minutes faster then I hoped, and about 10 minutes faster than I expected! Score!

 

 

I was second in my age group, but prizes are only awarded to first place finishers, so back to the car I went, where the hubs was waiting with my chocolate milk. What a good sport!

 



I am lactose intolerant, but usually a run over 45 minutes allows me to drink this without repercussions. Today was not that day. Note to self: take a Lactaid next time!

 

 

I am looking forward to next week, to see if I can improve my time!


Did you race this weekend?