This past weekend my mom and I ran the 2nd annual BAA 10k in downtown Boston. And boy, can my legs feel the fact that I haven’t ran in a few weeks. It wasn’t my best outing, but it wasn’t my worst. Despite not running a stellar race, I still had a great weekend with my parents.
On Saturday, I stayed with my parents at the Fairmont and we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Bistro du Midi. This meal did not disappoint, as it rarely ever does. To start, I had a cucumber infused cocktail. So refreshing and delicious!
Throughout the night I had water to get me hydrated for the next morning. For a starter, I had the market greens with seasonal vegetables and balsamic vinaigrette. So good! I ate every last bite. For my meal, I had the garganelli pasta with wild boar ragout and manchego cheese. Oh my gosh. The dish is small but the flavors are so intense and delicious. I was able to finish the majority of it, but it certainly left me full.
That night’s sleep was a little bit restless, since it never seemed to get that cool in the room. But once the 6:30AM wake up call came around, I was up and ready. We walked over to the start and the weather felt a bit cool in the shade but you could definitely feel the heat when you were in the sun. We arrived at the Common around 7:15ish and waited for the start at 8.
I lined up in the 9:00 to 9:59 pace group. Wishful thinking it turned out to be. The first couple of miles were in the mid to high 9’s but the course was in the shade at this point. Around 1.5 miles, I saw the winner heading back (Geoffrey Mutai) and he finished in 27 minutes! Dang. Kim Smith won the women’s division in around 31 minutes. I have to admit that seeing Mutai put a little fire in my shoes but it didn’t last very long. Between 1.5 miles and the 5k mark, it is a looooooong, unshaded stretch on Commonwealth Avenue. I was able to run up the hill without stopping, but by the 5k mark, my tank was on empty. I took about 4 walking breaks between then and the end of the race. I took advantage of every water stop. After the 5k mark, I also turned off my Garmin. The time was messing with my head and I knew that I wasn’t going to PR or have any spectacular race. I was just out there to run.
At the last mile I just told myself that I wasn’t going to stop, even if that meant running at almost a crawl. When I got to just past the 6 mile mark, I saw the finish line and just gunned it. Ending a race never felt so good.
My time ended up being 1:06:02 at a pace of 10:39. But you know what? I’m not bummed. I know I haven’t been running that much; my time has been spent on other things. But once this house is done, you can bet your butt that I’ll be out there and gunning for that 56:xx or under 10k.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
You go girl! You’re right, that race was a scorcher! I definitely felt myself getting pretty beat up and somewhat dehydrated around mile 4. The sun on Comm. Ave was strong. I couldn’t imagine handling a running schedule and building a house. Talk about busy!! Congrats!!
Congrats! I’ve done a few 5K races this year and my goal is to start doing 10K races next year!
I think you still did awesome, inspite of the heat and your super busy schedule (and not running regularly)! You and your mom look great!
I also ran the race and I felt like it got SO HOT towards the end…especially right at the turnaround!
Yeeshe it was so hot that day, you did wonderfully despite the circumstances though Alaina! Gahh this gets me excited to run a race again, someday! hhaha
Congrats girl! I think that’s an awesome time, especially for not running as much as you normally do.
Good for you for even running it – it’s been so damn hot in New England lately!