Looking Back at 2010

It’s almost 2011 and I’ve stopped to think about all that has happened in 2010. It’s been a big year for me, both personally and for running. 2010 was when I started barefoot running, which seems strange because I feel like I’ve been doing it all my life. I can’t remember running in sneakers or why I ever would have. When I started this blog back in August, I made some running goals for myself:

1) Run the Hartford Half Marathon in October

2) Run a sub-30 minute 5k

3) Run at least 3 times per week

Well, 2 outta 3 ain’t bad 🙂

I ran the Hartford Half on October 9th (my first half marathon) and had set the goal for myself to finish with 3 hours, which was when they would start opening the roads back up. I finished in 2:57, right under the wire. I ran 8 of the 13 miles in my Vibram TrekSports and the last 5 miles completely barefoot. It was an awesome experience and I wrote a Hartford Half Marathon Recap the day after.

I finally ran a sub-30 minute 5k! This I finally achieved on my last race of 2010. At the Christopher Martin’s Run for Children 5k in New Haven, I came in at 29:54 (I have a thing for coming in right under the wire, don’t I?). It was pouring rain that day and the energy in the group was amazing. Nothing like rain and cold to get you pumped for a race!

I didn’t manage to run 3 times a week, but I’m OK with that. I ran when I could and didn’t get down on myself when I didn’t. I’m going to try harder in the new year to actually run 3 times per week. I wrote a post for Trailblazer about New Year’s Resolutions, and how a lot of people quit their resolution because they slip up once and get discouraged. I won’t be a quitter!

Other exciting things that happened in 2010; I met Christopher McDougall the day before the Half Marathon and got to run with him! He gave me personal running tips and signed my BORN TO RUN book. He was so down-to-earth and such a nice guy, it was a great experience. I was sponsored to race by Trailblazer in New Haven. I blog for them about 3 times a month so make sure you hop over there and read their blogs. I became a part of the HoneyMilk Team, which is awesome because HoneyMilk is so delicious! If you’ve never tried it, it’s a great post-workout protein drink that tastes FANTASTIC. Most protein drinks are pretty gross, and thick, and hard to drink after running. But HoneyMilk is made with real milk so not only do I not have trouble drinking it after races, I look forward to it! (Chocolate is my favorite flavor in case you couldn’t tell!) I met some great runners through a barefoot runners Meetup group, and because of that am now signing up for the New England Relay next June!

On a personal note, 2010 was a great year for me! I started a social media business in 2009 (soon to be called Barefoot Media!), and was able to leave my job in July of 2010 to work for myself full-time. I started working with the Hartford Young Professionals on a part-time contract basis in July as well and I’m loving it. I’ve made some great new friends and some wonderful professional contacts as well. My boyfriend Paul and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary in October and he joined Twitter, both very exciting for me. I met Nancy Brinker, the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. If you know me you know that I am a huge advocate for breast cancer awareness and I walk in the 3-Day for the Cure every year, so this was amazing.

I hope to see you all out in 2011, check out my upcoming races page and hopefully we’ll run into each other (pun intended!). I’ll update that page frequently in case I have a scheduling conflict or add a new race. And say hello on Twitter!

Happy 2011!

Christopher Martin’s Run for Children 5k

Race time 29:54!

If you remember from my first blog post in August when I set some running goals for myself, goal #2 was to run a sub-30 minute 5k. I am proud to say that I can cross that one off the list! This past weekend at the Christopher Martin’s Run for Children 5k I finished in 29:54! My previous PR was at Jamie’s Run in Wethersfield when I ran a 30:20. So while I made it just under the wire for my goal, I did make it! Now I have to work harder to be consistent and keep my time down in future races.

A few things that I think contributed to beating my goal in this race; 1) What I eat. I don’t like to eat really early in the morning. That, however, doesn’t help me when I have an early morning race. I’ve been trying to be better about eating something, even if it’s something small, on the morning of my races. The morning of this race I had a bowl of cereal and half of a Chocolate Honey Milk. I’ve been paying close attention to how I feel during a race and how that corresponds to what I ate before the race. During a 5-miler a few weeks ago, I felt fantastic and I attribute that (at least partly) to the steak and eggs I had for breakfast that morning. 🙂

2) What I wear. For these cold races, I’ve been wearing Patagonia Capilene pants that I bought at Trailblazer and I absolutely love them. They keep my legs warm pre-race and wicks away moisture when I’m running. These are essential for me to run in the cold weather.

3) Pre-race running. I always attempt to do a solid warm-up before the race actually starts. I used to be that person who would do some stretching but not actually warm up with a jog before the race started. I always thought that I would tire myself out, but the more I run, the more I realize that warming up my legs is the most important thing I need to do before running a race.

4) Starting place. This is a personal decision for me, and is not what I would recommend for every runner. I prefer to start at the front of the pack, or as close to it as I can get. I find that when I start at the back or even in the middle, I spend more time worrying about getting around other people and not running into anyone that I don’t pay attention to my breathing or my pace. Starting at the front of the pack allows everyone who is faster than me to take off and allows me to just worry about myself, and everyone behind me can move around me. I start in the front on the right, since it’s running etiquette to move to the right if you are slowing down or walking.

5) Pacing. I used to be one of those runners who would RUN for a few minutes and then walk. And then RUN and then walk. What I found is that if I keep a steady pace then I can jog the whole time. It was important to me to find a pace that I was comfortable with so that I could finish a 5k without walking. Once I found that pace, then I could step it up slightly if I wanted to in order to push myself. In a few races I tested out different paces throughout the 5k to find what would work best for me. I tried running faster in the first mile so I would hit Mile 1 at 9 minutes or less, but found that I would be too tired in Mile 3 to run the whole thing. I tried keeping a 10 minute pace in the first 2 miles then stepping it up in Mile 3, but that wasn’t helping me get to my goal. So I went for the middle. I ran just over a 9 minute pace for the first 2 miles which gave me some leeway for the last mile. And this is what worked.

So now I have all winter to train on a treadmill to work on getting my comfortable pace to 9 minutes or less a mile. This is my goal, so that by race #1 of 2011 I can continue to beat my PR for the 5k.