Zenaida Arroyo

Yay!  A great race today but the weather was OK.  It was not cold nor hot but it was a little bit windy.  My goal was to beat 32:03 and I am so happy to say that I finished the race in 31:19.  Yep!  Not only did I do better than last year but I set a new PR.  I am beaming!!  Let’s hope I can repeat it tomorrow in a half marathon.  The time to beat is 2:20.  I remember from last year that the course was FLAT.  For real.  It was a really nice course with enough room to pass the walkers.  🙂

I told myself that from now on I will begin a race as close as possible to the start line.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am not really fast that deserves to be right at the front.  However, I am much faster than the walkers.  I am in no way trying to put the walkers beneath me but I am just saying that they are slower and most of them take up the running path and are in my way.  We know what the running etiquette is “If you are going to walk, move over to the right”.  Also, walkers should be BEHIND the runners.  Anyway, I spent the first few minutes passing up the walkers and weaving my way through the path and stopped when I finally caught up with a group that was running at a decent pace. 

Around halfway through the race there was a water station and not only was there water but there was also beer!  Yeah!  I got a cup of better and the volunteer so kindly reminded me that it was beer and not water.  Still I gladly took it from him.  It tasted so good.  I don’t LOVE beer but I can drink it once in a while.  Plus, it was so cold so it hit the spot at the right moment.

I hope tomorrow goes well.  Looking forward to it.

It was a great day for a race yesterday.  However, I must confess that I almost did not make it to the race because I was just so tired.  I like going to races in which I can take the train versus driving and paying a hefty parking fee.  The 10K portion of the race was at 9:15 so I got to the park around 8:50.  I found the Fleet Feet tent, dropped off my bag and made my way to the bathroom.  Luckily there wasn’t a long line since walkers and runners were already lining up to for the race.  The first portion of the race was for the walkers followed by the 5K runners.

There weren’t a lot of 10K runners which was kind of nice because the start line was not crowded.  I got off to a good start and my splits for the first 3 miles are: 1-10:27; 2-10:39; 3-10:32.  I don’t know what my times were for the next 3 miles because somehow my Garmin got screwed up.  I can tell you that my finish time was 1:06.  The finish time for my last 10K in September was 1:04.  Ugh!!!  Definitely NOT happy about that.  What is wrong with me?!?!?!?  I am frustrated and cannot figure it out.  I am worried because I have a race on Saturday (5K) and Sunday (Half Marathon) and let me tell you that I did real good last year.

I am glad I made it to the race yesterday.  It was a beautiful day to be downtown and as always it felt good to run.  🙂

Marathon training is right around the corner.  Yikes!  Looking forward to it but nervous about it too.

I did this race on Saturday, April 16 and finished in 1:49.  I am somewhat happy with my time.  You see last year I finished this race in 1:47:57.  My last two races I have finished in about 1 minute slower compared to last year.  What is going on?  My goal for each race is to always improve on last year’s time but so far I have done two races and it is not looking good.

Let’s go back to Sunday’s race.  I almost did not make it because it was raining.  Ugh, I am not a fan of running in the rain, especially if it is cold.  I got to the race early because I got an email letting me know that the parking lot was not going to be open but instead to look for street parking and/or parking at other lots.  I wanted to get a good spot so I would not have to walk too much hence getting there early.  I waited in my car hoping that the rain would go away.  It finally did but it was mostly drizzly and that was fine with me.  I got out to go to the bathroom (loved it no line at all) and got some coffee.  I was so cold so I went back to my car to warm up for a little bit.  I left again about 7:45 and I went to the bathroom again, stretched, and waited in line.

The race began and I made my way.  As usual I started off too fast and paid for it later on.  I still do not know how to stay on pace.  I took my first break after 2 miles and then began running again.  I took a break every 2 miles or so but I think I need to stop doing that if I want to improve on my time.  🙂  The weather was great.  It was not pouring and not windy at all.  It was a good course with no incline and enough space/room to pass other runners.  I did not pass a lot of runners but at least I had the option of doing so if needed.  Last year I ran a race that was so crowded that it was difficult to pass anyone at all!!  Anyway, at the end of the race there was beer but there was a long line and I did not want to wait for it.  I did get bottles of Muscle Milk (love it!!) and FRS Health Energy Drink.  I had a good time at this race and will definitely do it again next year but next time it will be less than 1:47:57!!!!

My next race is the Wrigley Start Early Run 10K on Saturday.  This year is the first time I do this so I am looking forward to it.  I hope the weather cooperates since we have been having some crappy weather here in Chicago.