Monday, October 25, 2010

Cross Country 8K, Swamp Devil 15K

Really quick race update, before I plunge into silence again. I won't waste time on apologies, because I know you all get it, and I'll probably be apologizing again another month from now anyway...life is just too crazy. I just popped in to remind you all I am still alive! And I miss you all!!!

I ran the USATF Cross Country 8K race at Deer Path Park on October 10. It was a team race, and our women's team, despite losing many of our fastest runners to various fall marathons, turned in a neat performance, coming in first in the women's open category. Our men's team came first too, and our club had a number of masters' teams place in the top 3 spots. The men's and women's team got $500 each toward the National Cross Country Championships. I was a little disappointed I couldn't represent the team at the nationals (have to be a citizen), but I am really happy for the team. I'm sure they'll do just fine without me.

My time: 35:56:78 (7:13 pace). I placed 68 overall, 8/62 women and 5/17 in the open category.

I also ran the Swamp Devil 15K yesterday, which quite unlike the name, is a really scenic, rather flat road race, not a muddy, wallow-in-the-filth kind of race. The scenery was lost on me though, because I was busy running too fast the first 2 miles, then paying the price for the rest of the race. You see, I've been doing trackwork with a few club members on Tuesdays, and I've gotten used to letting others do the pacing for me. Besides, I have not done longer races since the Bronx Half Marathon in August. So, until Doug, one of my favorite track-mates and pace-keeper, caught up with me at Mile 4, I was doing sub 7 minute miles. I almost cried with relief when I saw him, because that meant I could stop struggling and just cling to his pace (which at this point was also torture, because I was so spent). I had side splits all the way, was cramping and had gallons of lactic acid coursing through me. But of course, I lived to tell the story and didn't do too bad at all. In fact, I was quite proud of myself. I managed to complete in 1:07:30, a 7:14 pace, placing 50th overall, 5th out of 120 women, and 1st in my age category. And it was great to bump into Glenn at the race, after a looong time. All in all, a fabulous day.

14 comments:

Heather said...

Nice to see you are still alive. :)

Is it just me, or is not blogging frequently making you faster??? Great job on the races!

J said...

Great job on the 8k race! I know the feeling of starting off to fast, and its not fun. Great job finishing though and in such a great time!

lauren (athlEAT) said...

congrats on the races and glad you are doing well. You are fast!

Lindsay said...

Dear life, please chill out so kavi can blog more. Thanks.

That's pretty awesome about the 8k! And on great placing in the 15k. Glad you are still out running well! Miss you in the blogosphere!

Scott McMurtrey said...

Wow, congrats on a great showing at the 15k! That name does sound deceiving if it was a flat road race. :)

zzz said...

Missed your blog all this time. Glad you are back and congrats on the 2 races.

Beth said...

Glad you are doing fine. You are racing so well- good for you!

Jamie said...

Congrats on both races!

Erica said...

Glad to hear you're still racing and doing well :) Thanks for the comment on the blog look! You actually commented on my new blogging partner's post!

Abby said...

I'm with Heather - you might not be able to write much these days, but you're clearly running well!!

Kavi, where in North Jersey are you? I'm working in Union now - maybe if it's not too far, we could link up for a run sometime!

I Run for Fun said...

Abby, I work in Summit, which is not far from Union. It's a beautiful place to run too. I'd LOVE to meet for a run!!! My email is kavi1874@yahoo.com. Let's chat on what makes sense for us, based on schedules.

I Run for Fun said...

Thank you, Lakshmi. It's been crazy lately. Hope to be more frequent soon.

Scheri said...

Congrats on the great races!!! You have really gotten super fast :-)

I signed up for the Colorado Marathon on May 1st. It is in Ft Collins, CO and is where I got my PR (3:31). I hope I can beat that by ten minutes or so this time around... keeping my fingers crossed!

Irene said...

Ditto to what everyone else has said! You've gotten extra speedy!

I'm happy to see you blogging again.