The Stockade-athon 15K

Another Sunday, another race in the books and another race bib to add the collection!

This morning Chris and I got up bright and early to go pick up Heather. Heather was supposed to run the 15K with us, but she fell and got injured a few weeks ago, so she stayed on the sidelines and spectated for us! 🙂 Thanks for the support Heather, you’re amazing! (Heather was also my personal photographer on the course!)

Love her awesome sign?? I do! 🙂 Anyway, the race started at 9AM sharp, and it was COLD. We waited around at the start for about 30 minutes and tried to get warm by walking up and down the street…but it didn’t really help! We had to get running!

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel during this race, since my last long run was two weeks ago, but it wasn’t too bad. It took me about three miles to get warmed up and finally get into it. All I knew was that I wanted to beat my Boilermaker time of 1:39.

There was one big hill at mile 1. A good time for a hill, in my opinion, but it wasn’t the last. We also saw Heather at mile 1, and dropped off our sweartshirts and gloves. Thanks Heather! 😉 And look! Both of my feet are off the ground!!

The race was pretty uneventful…Chris and I stayed together for about the first five miles. The course was flat until mile 5, where there was a huge hill on State Street in Schenectady, as we go past Proctors. I pretty much walked/ran the the big hills, which actually didn’t effect my time. 🙂 One thing I do wish was that there were more spectators throughout the course.

The 10K point was through a cemetery, which was rather freaky! It was kind of cool though…there’s nothing like death to push you through the last three miles of a 15K! 😉 I tried to get a picture of it with my phone but it didn’t come out.

But I saw Heather again at mile 7! Seeing her was very motivating at the top of the big hill. 😀

I liked the end of the course because it ended in the park, and we ran around a lake, it was so pretty! There were tons of people at the finish line!

Almost done!

I crossed the finish line at 1:27:06 (Garmin time), and my official race time was 1:28:29. STILL beating my Boilermaker time by 10+ minutes! On a bruised ankle! Thankfully the ankle was fine the whole time!! I felt great!! And I have a new PR!

Garmin Stats
Total Distance – 9.46 miles
Total Elapsed Time – 1:27:06
Average Pace – 9:12 (WHAT?)

Mile Splits
Mile 1 – 9:36
Mile 2 – 9:00
Mile 3 – 9:06
Mile 4 – 8:34
Mile 5 – 9:12
Mile 6 – 10:08 (hills..but I actually beat my 10K PR time according to my Garmin!)
Mile 7 – 9:09
Mile 8 – 9:46
Mile 9 – 8:40 (finished strong!)
Mile .46 – 8:24

Right now, my foot and ankle feel fine, but my LEFT foot is a bit sore…I think I just need some good old fashioned REST after this race. At first I was having second thoughts about running it–but I’m glad I did, since I feel like I ran a pretty strong race. I could probably run another half marathon next weekend if I had to! 😉

Chris finished in 1:23. He never ceases to amaze me!!! I’m so glad we ran this race together–it was fun. 😀

Post-race, Chris, Heather and I went to Moon & River Cafe, based on Heather’s recommendation! It was so quaint and cute, and had an awesome vegan/vegetarian selection! In my opinion, more restaurants need to have healthy options like this place.

My stomach was out of whack after the race, but I ordered anyway, since I knew it would end up feeling better and I needed to eat something. I ordered the Breakfast Burrito: farm fresh eggs, salsa and cheese in a tortilla. It was INCREDIBLE!!

The cheese was a salty and wonderful. I think my body was craving salt after that race. It was so tasty.

Chris and I also split a pot of Lemon Ginger tea! I got ginger in hopes it would soothe my stomach, and it helped a little bit!

Chris, Heather and I chatted, and had a nice time at brunch. I would highly recommend this small cafe in the Stockade district of Schenectady! It was so cute and the food was great.

Well, now I’m relaxing–I just watched the recap of the New York City marathon–someday I have a dream of possibly running the 26.2. 😉 But who knows when…

Right now I’m just going to enjoy the 15K and half marathon distance! I think I’m a big fan of the half distance so far! I can’t wait to run another! Every time I finish I race, the first thing I think is “when can I run another?!” But for now, I think I may try a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot to finish out 2010…and try to beat my 5K PR of 26:10. I know I can do it. 😀