Speed & Progress

Two years ago I first heard about and signed up for the Bagel Run 10k, hosted by the local Jewish Community Center, which serves a bagel buffet after the run. It was a warm, humid day on a challenging hilly course. Much to my surprise, though, my 1:18:23 finish netted me 3rd place in my age group! It was the first time I ever medaled. That's the neat thing about small local races.

Last year, the event was canceled due to tornadoes in the area.

This year, I brought my mom to cheer me from the sidelines, and I finished 5 minutes faster than at the 2014 event. And I had a 6-minute negative split from the first lap of the 5k course to the second: 39:36 and 33:47!

AND this 1:13:24 was much faster than my recent training, during which I had been logging 1:03-1:04 5 milers and a 1:21:40 on a flat 10k April 10!

But I came in 3rd to last out of everyone. Small local races are funny that way.

Now I’m thinking about signing up for The Hottest Half since it takes place on my birthday and has a cool medal with my birthday on it, and I’ll be turning 30, which is special. But running in August in Texas is THE WORST. But it will motivate me to train through summer and prepare for the Plano Balloon Festival Half happening 6 weeks later.

There will be no way to keep cool at that event, so I need to try to get fast if I’m going to get through it. I already knew I needed to work on getting fast for the December marathon, because I cannot stomach the thought of spending more than 5 hours on the course. So maybe registering for my birthday will give me the necessary push to focus on speed work. Or maybe I’ll get heat stroke and have a terrible birthday.

Lots of stuff for me to think about. What do you think?