Better late than ever!  April 26th I had the honor of running the Louisville Mini Marathon again!  Last year (see race report in a previous entry) I ran the Derby and then finished running the Marathon with What About Bob.  This year Bob and I decided to both run the Mini.  After our respective spouses bagged out of our planned weekend in Louisville, Bob and I decided that we needed some time alone with each other and 10,000 other runners. 

There is not a lot new to this race report.  I approached the race pretty fatigued but with the intent of getting a PR.  I woke up race morning feeling very tired.  Tired as in I want to go back to bed.  Highly unusual.  Started my period after the race...no wonder I was tired...damn hormones!  Bob helped me rally along with my Starbuck's Double Shot.  After fueling, we headed down to the buses and the race start.

This was the first race that I qualified for seeding at the start (based on last year's race time).  Bob was not seeded and I decided not to go in the corral but to be just outside it with Bob.  It was a great choice and I suffered no initial race slowdown trying to run around all the people.  Weather was great.  My goal was to run 8:30 per minute per mile at the slowest and crank out the first half in the hills without blowing myself up.  Once I hit the flats I knew I could push the pace and blow out the engines at the end.  My Garmin 305 was a tremendous help. 

I used the following rules:
1)  Minimum pace 8:15
2)  Maximum heart rate of 170 until last four miles

Here is the data:


Notice the nice steady rise in heart rate (red line) as my speed (blue line) increased.  This race was truly hard work (hills in orange).  I am amazed at the focus required to stay on pace and do the work.  It was much easier to plug away at 10 minute mile pace in the old days.  Having said that, it was not nearly as rewarding!  Notice below that the first nine miles my pace was 8:12 and my average heart rate was 169.  The last four miles my pace dropped to 8:02 and my heart rate average was 179. 

 

The final results were shocking and a significant PR.


No that is not a typo...out of 555 women in my age group I came in 11th!  I just missed cracking the top 10!  Having said that, not much left in my tank at the end.  My quads had the two day soreness to prove I had done the work.  Because of my fatigue, for fuel during the race I used two Cliff Espresso Gels...one at 45 minutes and the other around 1:15.  The little pick me up helped a bit. 

Thanks as always to What About Bob.  He had a great race and is a terrific race partner.  Low maintenance and will always drink the prerace beer the night before.  I was very proud of him for pacing his race and finishing fast and strong.  I know he came in first in the heart attack/five stent division.  I love the fact that I am still chasing him...he is a great rabbit! 

  

 

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