Race Report: Virtual Peachtree Road Race

Previous PR: 47:53 (5/6/2017)

Goals: 55:00ish
Result: 49:37

Training:
Nope. None of that up in here. lol. I've been keeping 25-30mpw for awhile, with tempo Sundays, but no trackwork. I'm also halfway through an 8-week lifting program. My diet's been ho-hum, and I had a week of sickness less than two weeks ago. 

Pre-Race:
Kid birthday/Thanksgiving madness, and lots of wine the day before meant that I was just happy to be out running. My oldest had asked to accompany me for "Peachtree", so I knew I was going to be pushing about 80+ pounds of weight. Originally, I'd wanted to do the greenway, but the previous days' rain/storms meant there was a good chance I'd encounter down trees or flooding... so I opted for the river. 

I haven't raced with a stroller in... a very long time. I also hadn't, until this week, really thought about doing a real "race" Peachtree. Ultimately, I decided I wasn't going to race it, but just wanted to give it more effort than I would a normal run, to make it feel "more like a race". I figured somewhere around the 54-56min mark would be a good estimate, but definitely didn't have a goal in mind. 


Race:
I think this was the worst start to a race I've ever had. It was low 60s with 100% humidity, so I opted for a sports bra alone (well, and shorts, obv). Since I wanted my bib to be prominent, to feel a sense of camaraderie with any other virtual P-tree-ers we might see, this meant I was pretty darn cold to start. I got my stroller and kid ready, explaining "Mommy's racing today, so we're not stopping for snacks. You keep the snacks you brought in your stroller pocket and just feed yourself at our normal landmarks." 

Our normal parking spot didn't give me a good ONB route (it would've been about a mile short). I wanted an easy ONB, so I parked a little further down the path. I think I kind of thought about warming up for a mile, and then going into it... but then ended up just kind of taking off... from a dead, cold start. No stretching. No warm-up. No thought about drinking water, etc. Just GO. 

Then I realized within the first half mile that I was freaking flying. Sooo, guess we're racing right off the bat, eh? 

Mile 1: 7:55

Hot damn. I'm running sub-8s with a stroller. That'll be a great fast 5K, and then I can slow it down a bit.

Mile 2: 7:59

Oh, hey.. this is still feeling good? 

Mile 3: 8:05

Had to slow down a little along the boardwalk section, due to lots of people and lots of turns. Also, kid started talking to me here, so we had a bit of conversation.

5K mark: 24:59

Sooo, that's a sub-25 with the stroller. Do that again, and you've got yourself a sub-50 10K-- something you've only ever done twice, with some serious effort (Flying Pig, Sizzler). Guess that means I'm just close enough to not be able to give up...

Mile 4: 8:04

Had to open a pack of teething biscuits for the kid at the turn-around, but still felt pretty good. Thinking back, I actually feel like this race was really similar to my current 10K PR at Flying Pig. It was an effort to keep the pace, but not unsustainable.

Mile 5: 8:13

Things got a little harder here. I had to tell my kid "Mommy can't talk right now-- we'll discuss when I'm done with the race". Still, I knew in my head that I was just on the edge of a sub-50 with a stroller, and was not going to let that go gently.

Mile 6: 7:43

This entire mile was a mental game. If you can just keep yourself under 8, you've got it. Under 8:00? Of course I can do that. 

Kick: 6:53/mi

I finished in 49:37, and was SO freaking proud of myself. 

pace graph

Reflections:

• If I can do this with a stroller on a whim, what am I capable of with training and the right mindset? :D 
• Also, clearly, as multiple teammates have pointed out to me, I do best when I don't think about my race much ahead of time and don't psych myself out. Heh. 
• I did Peachtree with this munchkin in my belly several years ago, today in the stroller, and hope to do it again with him at my side when he ages in several years from now. That's really cool