I've recently started a sponsorship program with For The Win Racing. (So maybe you could call me a sponsored athlete now!?) Basically, I help them promote their events. If I get 5 or more people to join me at an event, I get in for free! Awesome hu?! Along with that, throughout the year, everyone I recruit to do one of their races gets me a point towards them paying for a race for me. I could potentially get up to 700 points which would more than pay for IM St. George! I'm not kidding myself into thinking I'll get that many, but every little bit helps when you're addicted to endurance sports because it gets quite pricy! So, if you see any of their events that you'd like to do, I would really, really love it if you put my name in as your team when you register so I can get a point!
(You can expect me to keep begging you to sign up for races, but I'll try not to be too annoying about it.)
I handed in my timing chip, and they told me I had done 31 laps! Yay, one more than my goal even! It's even cooler that for my last run of 2011, I did one lap for every year of my life. It's almost like I planned it that way. :)
Anyway, For The Win put on a run at the Utah Olympic Oval on Saturday called The New Years Revolution Run. I did get 2 people to sign up, but it was really short notice since I wasn't planning on doing it until last week when I realized our climbing trip to St. George wasn't going to happen because somebody had to go and sprain her wrist. I thought this would be something fun to look forward to instead.
My friend from high school, Shannon - who also did Utah Valley Half Marathon with me - was going to be there so I was excited to see her. She is really fast, so I thought I'd just see her in passing, and maybe try to keep up with her for a lap every time she passed me. When I got there, though, I couldn't find her so I was worried she wouldn't be there.
I got there just minutes before they started. I just had time to pick up my timing chip on, put it on, drop my jacket by the bleachers, and find a spot on the track. Then we were off!
Inside the track is the Ice Rink, and the Olympic speed skaters were in there practicing. That was really fun to watch! They are crazy fast!
After about a lap and a half, Shannon tapped me on the shoulder. I was so happy to see her right there by me! We ended up sticking together, and I was able to keep up with her for about 45 minutes! I'm sure she was holding herself back for me because when I told her I needed to slow down for a while and to go ahead, she just took off. She is a really good runner! I was resolved to run with her again when she caught back up with me, but she passed me before I was ready so I just kept going at my own pace for a little while longer.
When I thought she should be catching up soon, I stopped at the aid station and looked for her. Sure enough, she was coming so I just hopped back in and ran with her again. That was at about 1:10 in, and I ran with her for the rest of the time. I was shooting for 30 laps, but I wasn't counting, I was just going to stop at around 1:30.
When we got about 2 laps away from 1:30, I was glad I had picked that time as my stopping point because I was starting to feel it! But I was really happy that I was able to run with Shannon for so much of the time! It was so fun talking to her and catching up, it really made the time go by super fast! I was worried I would get bored running in circles for so long, but I never got bored once. It was actually really fun! And it was really awesome to have the option to take a bathroom break or stop at the aid station every 442 meters! I didn't end up needing the bathroom, and I just got a couple drinks of water, but it was really nice to have the option for more fuel.
When I got done, I said goodbye to Shannon, who kept running. She ended up doing a little more than a half marathon!
Look at her zooming by!
So my total distance was 8.5 miles, and it took me 1:30:04 which is 10:32 min/mile pace. That's not really as fast as I felt like I was going with Shannon, but I won't complain. I was sore later that day from running so far when I haven't really been doing very many long runs. I ran 6 miles last week, and before that, my last 8 mile run was a month ago!
For The Win Racing is having another race at the Olympic Oval February 11. This time everyone does the same distance and it's a half marathon! Shannon and I are planning on doing it. Does anyone else want to join us? I'd like to get 4 more people, but I know it's kind of short notice for a half. Let me know if you want to do it!
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