I know that I still owe a Pittsburgh Marathon recap, and I am working on that so check back later this week. Since last Sunday, I had only run/walked 4 miles and done some core exercises. I promised myself that I would really let myself recover.
I was scheduled to run the Mother's Day 4 Miler with Zach as a training run for his make up 10K (since his previous 10K had to get rescheduled) in a few weeks. We had talked about how we didn't need to run hard since it was a hilly course, and it was a training run. He said that he wanted to break 40 minutes. He was slightly over 40 minutes last year so that seemed like a realistic goal.
We got to the Browns Chapel park early and picked up our packets. The shirt was the exact same shirt as the last two years. I like the shirt, but I really wish they would at least change the color or the color on the tree or something.
We hung out in the car since and listened to music since we were super early. Then we went over and met up with Moms Run This Town friends, and Zach took our chapter photo.
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| Multiple NOVA chapters |
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| Gainesville MRTT |
We lined up in the section for 9-10 minute pace, but Zach was antsy and wanting to be closer to the front. He also warned me that he might leave me if I didn't keep up. Well, OK, then!
We were off at 8 am, and it was congested for about the first 1/2 mile. Zach was doing a lot of weaving to get around people. His first mile was 9:18 which I thought was fast considering how hilly the course as. I let him know that we had a huge cushion on the 40 minute time so he could ease up if he needed too. My legs were also feeling pretty heavy so I was hoping he would let up on the pace a little. He had other ideas and laid down an 8:58 on one of the hilliest sections of the course. OK, now I'm really dying as we come through the water station. I slowed down to grab a water, but he cruised right on through and dropped me on the hill. He slowed down slightly on this mile because he turned around a few times to look for me. I was pushing to get caught back up with him so we ended up with 9:17 for mile 3.
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| Zach killing me going up a hill! |
He was starting to get a little fatigued on the last mile so I was able to stay with him on the big climb. Then we hit a downhill, and he realized that we only had to make a right turn and get up a small incline to the finish line. As soon as we hit that right turn, he picked it up, and I couldn't hang with him. My legs were just dead so I went as hard as I could. He finished with a final time of 36:58 for a 9:15 average pace. That was a PR of 3:11 over last year. I was a little behind him at 37:10 which is not too shabby considering that I had just run a hilly marathon 7 days ago. He was waiting at the finish line for me with the complimentary flower. We grabbed some water, and I think he ate one of everything that they had on the table while we waited for the results to post. He ended up 10/32 in the <14 age group, but more importantly the boys that beat him were all 12-14 years old. He was super happy with his performance. I ended up 16/86 in my age group which wasn't all that bad either. We had a really fun morning and are looking forward to doing it again next year.
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| Post race with the flower |
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| Zach at the lake |
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