Lemonade....

What’s the saying? When life gives you lemons, make lemonade? That’s just what I did this weekend after the cancellation and then postponement of the Tommyknocker 12 Hour Race. More on the postponement later... With the race for this weekend off due to Jeff-Co closing the trails because of the snow and potential for serious trail damage and mud, I turned my attention to another kind of racing. The Women’s Distance Festival 5k here in COS - one of the Brewer’s Cup races I was originally going to miss. Short and fast has never been my forte, and there was a zero missing from the distance - but it was still a race. And running a fast 5k is in my mind is as hard as a 50k - but a different kind of hard. So instead of long, I was going short.

Of course, I still wanted some decent mileage today - just because TommyKnocker was postponed doesn’t mean I get to slack on the running training. That meant I had to change things up a little to get the 5k race and the long run done. Timing wise, doing the longest part of the day before the race made the most sense, but I wanted a solid performance. There would have to be compromises. Running too much before the race would be bad, so I had to balance the distance. Warmups before short races have always been my weak point. I never seem to time things right and get to the starting line ready to go. This time, I ran longer then normal and added in some intervals. It’s seemed to work before the Neilson races! I also managed to get the timing right this time. I finished up the starting miles with just enough time to get photos with my FH Beerworks team and stretch a bit. And that was with redirecting some of the Girls on the Run participants that they needed to be on the east side of the creek and it was either walk back down to Uintah or wade across the creek. I think most of them opted not to get their feet wet...

Most of Team FH Beerworks!

Anyways, as we all lined up, I found myself more nervous then at the last 50k. I hate 5ks. There’s such a balancing act of starting hard, but not too hard. Starting hard is something I’ve worked on with the Neilson - start chill on the first half mile, then pick it up. I’ve been running negative splits at the Neilson the last few months. Keeping the pace high but not all out. That’s the hard part - I haven’t been training super hard speed, with my intervals ranging from 7:00s to 7:30 pending the duration. But the Neilson times have been between 6:40 - 7:00 last few months, so there’s a chance. Staying steady but being willing to suffer as long as needed. Suffering for as long as I need to has gotten much easier, but that’s at a slower pace. Much slower pace... 

Then it was time to run. Careful on the grass soccer fields, but still pushing a solid effort. I found myself in a cluster of four other women, including Rochelle and Lauren - both much faster runners. They weren’t pushing the pace though and the pace actually felt really solid. Too soon to make a move? You think too hard in a 5k and the chance to make a move will be gone. I decided to take a chance and go. As we approached the turn to head south around the Bodington Field, I charged up the slight hill, getting a gap from the cluster of women behind me. I was pretty sure it wasn’t much of a gap given the breathing. Yes - women breath differently then men and I know the difference after so many years of running. But I wasn’t going to worry about that. I was just going to run as hard as I could for as long as I could. Past the first mile - 6:27. Ouch. Faster then I’d anticipated, but still. It felt decent. As decent as running that pace could feel! Down the hill and we made the turn south along the creek. Lauren pulled along side me just after the turn and we ran together for a short bit. She got a small gap as we approached the turning tree, but not huge. Hummm. I was still feeling okay and she wasn’t really pulling away. After we turned, I latched back on and stuck on here heels for a short time. Then I moved around her. Maybe I could get enough of a gap to hold until the finish? Up the Stupid hill and then it was two-way traffic. And the little people were not paying attention to the runners heading back around the soccer fields.... I actually had to slam on the brakes for a few seconds as I almost ran into one of the kids! In hindsight, it may have been smarter for me to stay right behind Lauren for longer - let her clear the traffic. Oh well. The changes in pace from dodging the outbound runners definitely affected my intensity though and Lauren caught back up just as we turned to head south again. Try as I might, I couldn’t stay on her and watched as she gradually pulled away. I was more then ready for the race to be over as I crossed back into the grass for the finishing sprint. The clock was still reading 19 when I approached - numbers I haven’t seen in years! But I wasn’t able to bring it as fast as I wanted, finishing in 20:21. 

Getting ready to dodge traffic
Photo - Christina Miner

Yes, I was planning on running longer today. But that 20 minutes, 1/15th of the time I would have spent racing otherwise, hurt just as bad. It was just a different kind of pain - the pain of running on the edge of cracking, as fast as I could go and then trying to eke even more speed from my legs. I’ve never been good at that. Perspective though - when I looked at the personal course records from the MVP 5k course, I ran 19:06 in 2003. And in 2003, I ran a marathon with an average pace faster then today’s 5k! Really though, only slowing down 80 seconds in 16 years is pretty impressive. I definitely will not be complaining about that! 

Not sure how I managed the smile at that pace!
Photo: Vanessa Shawver

After the awards - I managed to hang onto 2nd overall - I headed out for the last part of the days miles. No goal but to cover some distance. I knew it would be slow because my legs were tired! Not sure why they were so tired, maybe something to do with that darn 5k! I just headed north from the park, trotting up the Santa Fe. So many people out enjoying the sunshine! It was nice to see all the runner and riders out and about. While some hills would have been better quality for the upcoming running races, the consistent running was good. I wasn’t fast, but I covered the distance I needed for a solid training day. Add in the effort from the race and I was happy with the day’s work. Might not have been the distance, but it was still fun and a good day of running. And getting the extra points for my FH Beerworks team was even better!

So it was a day of Lemonade. And pretty good lemonade it was!