My Hips Don’t Lie (Stu’s 30K Recap)

Yesterday I ran Stu’s 30K race.

 

 

Not that Stu. But that’s how I felt. This Stu.

I ran this race last year with my friend Charlotte as a prep race for Boston. I find the race atmosphere helpful and it really allows me to push myself (and force myself to do the mileage). Although, two races back to back (Hyannis and then Stu’s) was tough on the weekend schedule. Either way, the mileage needed to happen. Charlotte was going to train with me this year for Boston but it didn’t work out due to a personal roadblock for her. However, she’s been training for the Vermont marathon instead and she came out with me yesterday to push herself. Two of my Team Challenge friends, who are also running Boston for Cops for Kids with Cancer also came out to brave Stu’s.

I started out the day with the breakfast of a champion! Bagel with PB and banana! I usually eat something like this pre-race.

This month is National Kidney month, and in honor of Ryan and other kidney patients, I ran with my Team New England - Donate Life tech jersey. I had been in contact with the team before I decided to run for Cops for Kids with Cancer, but they don’t receive any bib numbers. However, they do provide these cool tech jerseys if you promise to wear it on race day. They have their own photographers on the course as well. So far we don’t have jerseys for CFKWC, so I will probably wear my Donate Life shirt.

Sporting Donate Life (got a couple beeps along the course!)

Outtake - haha

Ok, back to the race…

Stu’s is extremely hilly….worse than Derry. At least I thought so…I ran with Charlotte for about the first 6 miles or so. I took a GU around mile 6 just after I took off. I felt great. And as I was about to GU for the second time, I realized I dropped one on the course. Then it started to rain hard again. I was not happy. Around mile 10, I was starting to hit a brick wall. As you can see from the elevation below, it was in the “heart” of the hills. Miles 16 to 18 I was hurting. My hips were locked up and my back was killing me. This is when I decided what I was going to name my blog…

Ryan was waiting at the bottom of the last hill around mile 17.5. I told him I had to walk it – when we got to the top – he ran with me. I totally needed it!

Felt so good to cross the finish line. Although I didn’t do as good as I wanted, I still gained another PR over last year’s time!

2010: 3:52:36 12:29 avg. pace

2011: 3:31:55 11:24 avg. pace

 

Recovered at home with a huge glass of chocolate milk and bowl of pasta. Then an hour later we had yummy marinated chicken, roasted potatoes and green beans! Made love to my foam roller as well. Today I went to spin during lunch and that helped a lot! This week I plan to recover a bit before the two LONG runs come up. I’m going to do 10 miles on Saturday at a slow easy pace.

Song of the Post: "Hips Don't Lie" - Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean