During the month of November, I ran 4 races including a 5K, two 5 mile races and a 13K. Here is my place, finishing time and pace for each race:
I came in 53rd place in the Halloween 13K with a time of 1:15:30, which is a 9:21 min/mi pace.
I came in 69th place in the Returning Warrior 5 Miler race with a time of 44:00, which is an 8:48 min/mi pace.
I came in 27th place overall and 2nd place in my age group at the Chilly Chase 5K with a time of 25:55, which is an 8:20 min/mi pace.
I came in 297th place at the Pete Keyes Turkey Trot 5 mile race with a time of 44:57, which is a 9:00 min/mi pace.
For someone who just had surgery 6 months ago and is making her running comeback, I would say that those are some pretty great race times. A few months ago I was not sure that I would ever run again or if I would ever be good at running again. It definitely took me quite awhile to get back into running and it was a bit of a struggle at first. I am actually a faster runner now than before I had surgery. Being healthy again makes it much easier to run.
Out of all of the races that I ran this month, I am most proud of how well I did at the Chilly Chase 5K. I decided to sign up for this race because I wanted to run a shorter race after signing up for 3 longer races this month. I knew that I had a chance to do well in this race because my pace kept continuing to improve and this was going to be a smaller race.
There were only about 100 people who ran this race so it was nice to run a smaller race for a change. When the race started, I was out towards the front of the pack and there were only about 15-20 people ahead of me. I definitely got caught up in the hype of this race because my first mile ended up being around 7:50 and I never run that fast. I knew that I needed to slow down if I wanted to do well so I did.
As I finished my second mile, I did not see anyone ahead of me that looked like they would be in my age group. I was feeling good and I knew that I was going to have a really good finish. When I was around mile 2.5, I turned around and did not see anyone who was very close to me. I thought that I was going to be able to finish the race without anyone in my age group passing me.
At mile 3, I turned the corner to the finish line. I only had 0.1 miles left and I could see the clock at the finish line. I knew that I was going to get a personal record for my best 5K time. I was running as fast as my legs would let me when 2 girls blew past me right before the finish. One of those girls was in my age group. She beat me by 5 seconds and took 1st place in our age group. I was a little upset at first that I was so close and I had missed 1st place by 5 seconds. However, I would say that coming in 2nd place in your age group and getting a 5K PR is still a pretty big deal.
November was a really good running month for me and I had a lot of great races and runs. I am glad that I am finally back into running and even faster than I was before. I am going to continue running through the winter, but I always cut back my mileage during the winter months. I like to give the body a break from running and I plan to do other forms of cardio this winter. Amy and I actually joined a gym so that we could take classes and do things other than running. It was funny that we both ended up running on the treadmill the night that we signed up for the gym. I have been doing other things at the gym besides running since then. I do not have any upcoming races, but the month of November was definitely a great finish to the 2014 running season.
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