Built for speed

On my easy 6 miler on Friday, I started feeling very nostalgic for track season - aka, being FAST.  Running a sub-20 5K seems like something that I dreamed, not something I actually did...it's funny because I feel like since I started training for marathons I've gotten a LOT stronger, but not necessarily faster.  And I miss being fast. I miss doing speed workouts where I thought I was going to die but I was going so much faster than I thought I could that I didn't even care [someone please direct me back to this entry next time I whine about wanting to shoot myself on a 1200s workout or something]. I didn't really do much speed work leading up to Baystate, pretty much only the few workouts I went to with GBTC.  Since October, I have done exactly NOTHING resembling speed work, oh and I was injured...so I suppose it's no wonder I'm feeling poky and having dreams of speedy-mc-speederton awesomeness. I guess it also doesn't help that track season is actually starting right now for my former teammates, so I'm feeling nostalgic for the racing and team atmosphere that I just don't have out here - another reason why I'm totally eventually going to get more involved in GBTC. 

Or....maybe it's just that I need to RACE!  So with that in mind, I just signed up for the Super Sunday 10K on February 7.  I'm really excited! I've only run 3 10Ks in my life and all of them have been under...let's just say not great racing circumstances.  My 10K racing history:
#1 - First leg of a 100K relay, started at 6:30 am.  Made the poor life choice of going out the night before and so may or may not have been still a little drunk during the race? Luckily my friend from the other relay team from our club was in a similar situation, so we ran together.  I think I finished in somewhere around 48:00-48:30.  I jogged home and went back to sleep for like 4 hours, my roommates woke up and thought I hadn't even gone to the race haha. Our relay team actually ended up coming in 2nd overall, so I won a dartboard and a ton of cheese...sweet deal! 
#2 - A random race I decided to do while on vacation in NYC.  Being that it was the middle of summer, I wasn't in very good shape.  It was an NYRR race so they had the starting corrals and the lady at registration thought I was making things up when I said I would run a 7:45 pace.  I totally showed that lady, because I finished in 7:43 pace, which I was really quite happy with at the time.  I remember it was actually kind of cool because I wore my Wisconsin singlet and the announcer at the finish line yelled "Woo Wisconsin...Go Badgers!" or something to that effect when I finished. My time was 48:02.

After the Park to Park 10K in NYC, 2008. It was pretty cool running the Central Park loop, I have to say. Plus I just need to put more pictures on this blog. :)

#3 - Jingle Bell Run 2008, it was during that month of laziness between XC and track and I had just pulled an all-nighter at the library.  Genius, right?  It was actually a decent race though, and still is my 10K PR at 46:30, or 7:29 pace.

So, to recap? I've run 10Ks drunk, in a month where I hardly ran at all, and after an all-nighter.  Really, what do I have to lose by running one when I'm actually training, not going out, and not having to study all night? Haha. Plus, good old Brad Hudson [my "coach" for this cycle] has a 10K on the plan right around the time this one falls.  Seriously? Perfect.  And did I mention there's clam chowder and Harpoon beer at the finish? Umm, yeah.  Sign me up, please! And I need some new race numbers to add to the wall!  I love how in college I had no problem throwing down $20-$30 every single week to race, and now I never do because I feel like I shouldn't.  Well you know what..here's another goal for 2010: RACE MORE!

Also I'm ridiculous because I didn't realize that the reason it was called the Super Sunday 5K/10K is because it's Superbowl Sunday...

I'll be back soon! Right now it's off to get my 13 miler done...exactly how soon that will happen I don't know, but I promise you it WILL be done before I go to bed tonight! :)