I say that hills are my friend because Saturday morning I ran the Arlington Science Focus School 5K. Gosh, I feel like I have a long way to go! This is a race that is always on the Team Z calendar as Coach Ed likes to call it one of our ‘grass roots’ events where we give back to the community. A small event of about 250 runners, the school gets to keep the proceeds. There is always a large contingent of Z’ers racing, too. Two years ago I ran this in 27 something. Last year I ran this in 28 something. I guess my main goal was to break 30 minutes in a standalone 5K, and since I recently did this at the Rumpass in Bumpass Sprint (29:43) I thought for sure that would not be a problem. But it almost was! My finish time was about 29:38…maybe 29:39. I don’t know as the results have not been published and I had to leave early. Well, between the heat and the hills that was all I could manage! I guess I have not been doing enough hills…and boy is the Columbia Triathlon - which is just around the corner - hilly. Just 20 days away. Yikes! I will run a few little hills this week. I guess.
And speaking of hills…on Sunday I met Harriet and Jason for a preview ride of the Columbia course. We ended up taking it nice and easy as Harriet was not feeling well. That was fine with me. I figured I would push harder on race day anyway. I have to say, while the hills were definitely there, I feel that my 33 mile ride a week ago Sunday (4 loops of the Prince William Forest Park 'scenic drive' plus the ride to the loop start and back) was much harder! I was ready to quit that after 3 loops! After the ride I changed shoes and helmet for hat and went on my 10 minute jog, including running(?) – as far as I could manage before switching to walking – to the top of the first hill on the run course. Yikes, that was worse the any of the bike hills! I’m as ready as I’m going to be for May 23!
Sunday night I had a really fun dinner with some girl friends. I am already looking forward to our next dinner!
This weekend I am technically ‘off’ on Saturday because of Sunday’s race, the Kinetic Sprint Triathlon. But since I am only doing the bike leg of a relay I am considering running another 5K this Saturday. It is another small local race, benefitting another school, or to be more specific, a group within the school. And my kids went there for Elementary school. So…I might just do that. And this race is a little hilly too. But probably not quite as hilly as this past Saturday! (But I can't quite remember - it has been 6 years since I've done this race!)
Happy training!
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