I raced! Coach emailed about a week ago to tell me about the Colgate Women’s Games at Pratt and I figured I might as well give it a try. It was free, on the first Saturday when B didn’t have to teach all semester, and I needed some motivation to do speed work. I decided on the 1500 since it was probably going to be the first race of the meet, and also because the mile has always been my favorite distance to race on the track.
To prepare, on Wednesday I ran a short 400 workout – 6×400 with 2 min rest – mainly to see what my race plan should be for Saturday. The workout went well, with all of the 400s at around 88 and I was able to finish fast, with the last one in 84. I figured this meant I could go out and run around 90 for the first lap of the 1500 without having to worry about dying in the second half of the race.
So Saturday morning, I headed over to Pratt. It was an easy trip from Carroll Gardens on the G train. When I got off the train, 3 other women got off too and we walked outside and looked around wondering where to go. Luckily, another woman in running clothes came by, saw that we looked lost and asked if we were headed to the meet and then led the way for us. When we arrived, I checked in and got a goodie bag and headed into the track area. The stands were already filling with spectators and I found a spot for my stuff and got a warmup in. I ran for about 20 minutes and did some stretching and realized at that point that nothing was starting on time. I asked one of the women nearby who looked like she’d run here before and she said that the first one of the series each year tends to start late. She was right, the first heat went off about 45 minutes after the posted 9am start time. For my age group, the first heat was all women that said they’d run 5:00 and then the second group was all sub 5:20, so it was the last heat for me. Turns out, I could have stuck with the 2nd heat and been fine as I ran well and they were a little ambitious with the 5:20 predictions, but I didn’t know it at the time. So after lots of waiting, walking around to try and stay loose and some last minute strides on the track, we were on the starting line.
And then we were off… I followed my plan and tried to stay comfortable, running the first 2 laps in 88 and in 3rd place. I realized the two women in front of me were slowing down so I went around them and led the rest of the way, trying to pay attention to my splits. I was running 45′s for the rest of the time and feeling strong. The last two laps were tough, but I never felt like I was slowing down or that the distance I had to go wasn’t going to be manageable. They didn’t give times at the finish line, so I don’t know what my final time was but I left knowing I ran a smart race and that I was happy to be running 6 minute pace for a 1500 before W’s 6 month birthday.
This was a really great event and I’m hoping I’ll be able to make it to another one in the series this winter. Even though it didn’t start on time, it was free, and it got lots of girls and women out racing on a Saturday morning. I’m finding that being a new mom is all about balance. Since I don’t have much time to devote to running, getting in shape so I can run decent times in short distances is more practical than trying to fit in longer runs so I can get the endurance to race longer distances.