Sunday was the Santa Monica 5000, which I had signed up for a few months ago and then promptly forgot about.
I hadn't done any running since Malibu (not even for a cab), but it was such a beautiful day that it made up for any lack of training on my part.
I rode my bike to the start, since I figured parking would be evil (and it was), and then checked in and got my number. I'd forgotten to bring my race belt, so I had to pin the number on my shirt, which was really annoying - I kept hitting it with my hand and I'm sure I'm going to look pregnant in any race photos.
The start was huge! All of the various races (pro/elite, kids, baby joggers, 5k, 10k) went off in waves through the starting corral. I hung back as the corral was really crowded and it was too early in the morning for me to be dealing with body contact.
I ran into my friend Dan (who has run the LA Marathon three times!) and he was kind enough to slow down and run with me for the first quarter of the race, and give me some pointers, which was very cool.
After the first water station, Dan took off like a rocket and I stayed at my pokey pace. I was actually running slower than I had after biking 40k a couple of weeks ago, but the sky was blue with fluffy clouds, the day wasn't too hot and everyone was in a great mood.
Halfway through the 10k, my glutes started to stiffen up, so I kept having to stop and stretch out, which is probably helped contribute to my time being so slow - 1:14 (I averaged just under a 12 minute mile).
Still, it was fun and at the finish line, they had cheerleaders, which was awesome even if the did run out of pancakes by the time I finished. To console myself for the missing of the pancakes, I joined a few fellow racers at M Street Kitchen and had some of their fantastic bacon!
I hadn't done any running since Malibu (not even for a cab), but it was such a beautiful day that it made up for any lack of training on my part.
I rode my bike to the start, since I figured parking would be evil (and it was), and then checked in and got my number. I'd forgotten to bring my race belt, so I had to pin the number on my shirt, which was really annoying - I kept hitting it with my hand and I'm sure I'm going to look pregnant in any race photos.
The start was huge! All of the various races (pro/elite, kids, baby joggers, 5k, 10k) went off in waves through the starting corral. I hung back as the corral was really crowded and it was too early in the morning for me to be dealing with body contact.
I ran into my friend Dan (who has run the LA Marathon three times!) and he was kind enough to slow down and run with me for the first quarter of the race, and give me some pointers, which was very cool.
After the first water station, Dan took off like a rocket and I stayed at my pokey pace. I was actually running slower than I had after biking 40k a couple of weeks ago, but the sky was blue with fluffy clouds, the day wasn't too hot and everyone was in a great mood.
Halfway through the 10k, my glutes started to stiffen up, so I kept having to stop and stretch out, which is probably helped contribute to my time being so slow - 1:14 (I averaged just under a 12 minute mile).
Still, it was fun and at the finish line, they had cheerleaders, which was awesome even if the did run out of pancakes by the time I finished. To console myself for the missing of the pancakes, I joined a few fellow racers at M Street Kitchen and had some of their fantastic bacon!
 | ||
| One gorgeous day and one shitty phone pic. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love comments! Thanks!