Race Takeaway: Even pacing feels so good!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, filled with time with family, friends and good food! We enjoyed having family over and cooking for everyone. Saturday (11/24), we went to Peoria, IL to run the Festival of Lights River Trail Classic 4M race. This race is a point to point race on the trail system (a paved road, not trail as in a path in a forest) that has a down grade the whole way. It’s normally a great race to set a new 4M PR, but with being pregnant I would be running to get in a good workout and Rob would be with me.

We did a 2.15 warm up with our friend Mike. I’m glad we got out in the cold temps to warm up so it was less shocking by race time.

It was cold, upper 20s and a chilly breeze was in our face the entire time. Rob and I haven’t been good at gauging where I should start at and we once again were too far back (about 15 people deep) and had to pass people the first half mile to get into a pacing area that felt good.

Miles passed quickly and all of my splits were 7:3x. I was very happy that I knew I was working and able to keep the effort even for all four miles. It’s hard to know right now if a pace is sustainable for multiple miles and each day is different.

I was even able to speed up on the last push to the finish and we were done in 30:16.

After talking with our friends we didn’t stick around for give aways or awards. I was certain my time wasn’t award worthy, but I was wrong. I ended up 3rd in my Age Group out of 37 and our friend Senthil picked up my medal for me.

My 3rd Age Group Medal

Meanwhile Rob and I bundled up in clean, warm clothes and headed over to one of our favorite breakfast places, One World. Me with my decaf coffee trying to get warm.

Stats:

30:16

7:34 Pace

F 35-39: 3/37

2011 – Festival of Lights – 4M – 27:41

2010 – Festival of Lights – 4M – 26:16

2009 – Festival of Lights – 4M – 27:39

2008 – Festival of Lights – 4M – 35:05