My first recap

[Vally]

My first recap and it's a 2-for-1! I ran the Gasparilla Cactus mini challenge- 15k Saturday and 8k yesterday.

My first race ever was the Gasparilla 5k last year (finished in 39 minutes) and so much has changed in a year. I ended up doing a bunch of smaller runs last year so being back at Gasparilla was my first time in a large race with pace groups. On Saturday I knew I wanted to start out slow and began way in the back of the pack (I think there were ~6,000 people in the 15k) I could see the 12:00 pacer, but knew I wanted to pass them quickly. Caught up to the 11:00 pacer, and then hung back because I didn't want to burn out. The course is where I've been doing my runs longer than 8 so I know it very well but I always take a break at the halfway point. Saturday my only goals were hopefully not needing to stop for the bathroom and only stop for water if needed (and it was needed, it rained an hour before the race and the humidity was in full effect).

The crowd thinned out at the first water stop and after that I started to pick it up slightly. I found the 10:30 pacer, but it felt like she was going a little too fast and I wanted to just watch my watch. Saw my run club on the side cheering. Took a gu around 45 minutes in and picked up water. I think there was one more water stop before the turn around, and there was a mister station. On the way back I wanted to find my sister who was running too. I was concentrating so hard to find her in the sea of people, which was a nice distraction, but then I started to think I wouldn't find her and that would be a bummer. Then I saw her and that gave me a boost. From there I turned it up. I knew I was more than halfway, and I told myself I've done sub10 minute miles for 4 miles in training so this was time. Saw my run club again, grabbed one last water, and just sprinted for home. Crossed at 1:36 and am very pleased with my avg pace (10:19) and splits.

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We treated ourselves to pizza and I lounged around in my compression sleeves. The Sunday start was later so that was nice to not have to wake up at 5 again. I didn't have a true goal for the 15k since it was a new distance but for the 8k I wanted sub50 minutes, although I wasn't over confident since I had run so hard the day before.

For the 8k I lined up with the 10:30 pacer in sight. I don't know if there were more people in the 8k or if it was because I was closer to the front but it was packed. Started on time though (both days) and it felt so great knowing I would turn around so much sooner than the previous day, yay motivation!

Once again the crowd thinned a lot at the first water stop and I passed the 10:30 pacer. After the turnaround I looked for my sister again and found her, then my run club and then my dad at the finish line, then it was over.  Finished in 48 minutes! As I was sprinting to the finish line I was staring at it  thinking "this is it, the weekend is over and you did BOTH races!" Very pleased with 9:42 avg. pace and my splits again.

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My real goal I'm working toward is my first half next month and this weekend gave me a lot of confidence going into that. I remember reading here on H&F someone saying to "trust the training" and I definitely believe that after this weekend.

[breezy8407]

Congrats!

[gt7301b]

Nice work!!

[libbygrl109]

Great job!

[sassystace]

Nice job! Your splits make me feel like you could have run both even faster--plenty of energy left in those in last miles! You are on track for a great half.

[cinco]

Nice splits! You did great!

[clseale]

Congrats! Those are some very pretty splits. That's how you run a race!! Well done.

[kams]

Those are lovely splits! Great job!

[skwcm80]

Very nice job!!

[shauni27]

congratulations on two very well run races! You should be so proud!

[runaways]

Congrats on finishing, and nice splits!

[noisemaker2]

Great job! You're going have a great half!