Yin is my favorite kind of yoga because it doesn't require you to have any skill or flexibility whatsoever. You just flop into poses for a long time and hang out until something starts to stretch. Some people find it boring, but I think it's awesome. Yoga is number one on my backup list of other things to be obsessed with if I ever have to quit running.
This morning I got up and it was gross and wet again. I drove out to the east part of town to Warner Park for the race. It was a decidedly low-key affair. No timing chips. Most people hadn't pre-registered. I hung out with Kerri and some of her fellow TNT-ers until we were sent out into the rain to wait for the race to start. No one knew where to line up or which direction to face, but someone came over and got us generally in order.
The race started a little late because of all the same-day registrations, but it didn't matter too much. Again there was no timing chip or mat, and some people seeded themselves... inappropriately, but the first part of the course was open enough to pass people. There were tons of puddles and my shoes got totally soaked in the first few minutes. After a short run through a parking lot we ran onto a sidewalk along a street. This was kind of pain because it was hard to pass people and because you had to do a lot of puddle jumping because so much water was pooling at the end of the sidewalks. Still my first mile times were a respectable 8:06 and 8:00.
The third mile went back into a neighborhood. I admit to not paying attention to the scenery. I was more concerned about fording the mini-rivers and not tripping, etc. It started raining pretty hard at about this point. The course had a few small hills here. I finished mile 3 in 8:03. We passed the relay trade-off and I saw Kerri and the TNTers again.
Miles 4-6 were hillier. This was the "hardest" part of the course although I'd say the course was just hilly enough to make things interesting. There were some decently tough uphills but then they were balanced out by long downhills where you could recover. My next three mile times were 8:25, 8:10 and 8:20.
At mile 6.2 we passed the relay trade off again. I was still feeling really good, like I was in rhythm and was saving up energy to speed up in the last mile. Mile times for the last 3.3 were 8:07, 8:43 (I don't remember this being hilly, but I guess it was) and 7:55 + 1:50 for the .3. I was able to speed up during the last mile, and I actually got raced by another woman in the chute. I pulled ahead of her in the last stretch but she sort of snuck in in front of me at the end. Which was kind of annoying that she beat me by 1 second, but on the other hand, her being there made me push myself through the end in a way I wouldn't have otherwise. I yacked a little bit at the end, and I dedicated it to MM. My overall time was 1:15:42, for an 8:08 average pace. Pretty good for me for a "non-goal" race. Other than being really wet and really cold, I didn't feel too beat up immediately after the race. I got kind of nauseous again after lunch, though, and dosed up on my favorite no-fail anti-nausea treatment.
Oh yeah. Not sure what I'll do exercise-wise tomorrow. I don't feel too tired right now, but I might have better workouts the rest of the week if I take tomorrow off from at least running. I'm looking forward to seeing the age group results when those finally come out. Next up, the Girls on the Run 5k in November.
