Ricole Runs (Sometimes): Keizer Iris Festival 10k

So last Sunday I "ran" a 10k. It's been planned for a while, since before I kind of stopped running, but I didn't want to advertise it since I figured I'd be walking it. This is a race that Rachael and I ran in 2011 (Rachael's half marathon PR race actually!).

At 31 weeks I've started having some pretty horrible rib / ab pain which the internet tells me is totally normal (unlike my doctor, who says she's "never heard of it before" and that I should go to the emergency room. Um, you're crazy lady.) Anyway, the internet tells me that it's likely my actual ab muscle slowly tearing apart. Fun times. Thanks, Rudiger.

Also, don't judge, I'm not saying that I trust the internet more than my doctor. If it's an emergency, I'll go to the emergency room.

Anyway, so my running has kind of come to a halt. But we were due to hang out with some of our favorite friends anyway so we headed down to Salem, enjoying some lovely (though rainy) rainbow views along the way:

We had a blast all weekend, some much needed R&R, strawberry freezer-jam making, delicious-food eating, card-playing fun. And Sunday morning's alarm came way too quick. The good news was, though, that I finally got to take my new shoes for a spin:

Oh wait, can't see my feet?!?! Ha. Neither can I!

Aw, there they are, you beautiful Ravenna's you. As I've mentioned before, my shins and calves have been suffering recently when running and it seems to be pregnancy related. Although it's probably all the Relaxin coursing through my body, I thought maybe the minimalistic Brooks Pure Connects couldn't take my exponentially growing weight so I might need some more support, so I picked up some Ravenna 3's. The 4's did feel a little bit better but I couldn't resist saving $40.

I started on the Ravenna's years ago so it's funny that I'm back with them again after all this time. Honestly, I don't think it really matters what shoes I wear, it's just that I weigh a freaking million pounds!

Of course it was raining (our summer came for one glorious week and now winter is back) for the first half of the race or so, and I was cursing my clothing choices and wearing a visor instead of a hat. But what can you do? We were off.

This is a small race, and part of the Keizer Iris Festival, so of course we ran past a bunch of different iris fields, which were gorgeous!

And SHOCKINGLY enough, I pretty much ran the whole time. I walked a few times, but for very brief periods, and I actually felt pretty freaking good, considering! The lesson here is that apparently if I want to get some runs in, I MUST do so as part of races. When I go out to run alone, I start walking right away. When I'm part of a race, I feel fine and my pride or something keeps me from walking.

And then I finished! I was last out of our group, obviously, but not last in the race like I feared! I had JMan wear my Garmin so I don't know detailed splits but it appears the course was a bit short: around 5.8 miles or so instead of 6.2, which explains why I was able to surprisingly squeak in under an hour, in 59:39.

Also, the lesson here is that the mile markers were DEFINITELY off:

Um yeah, so apparently my splits were: 11:21, 9:48, 11:32, 7:59, 7:06, 10:16

I completely believe mile #1, #2, #3, and #6. #4 and #5??? Um, HECK NO. There's where the mileage was lacking, clearly.

JMan dominated with a PR of 45:xx (remember it was a short course though - but that's still DEFINITELY a sub 50 10k for him! He's getting so fast and I'm so proud of him!). And a lady told me I was impressive when I passed her, and that made me feel good. :-) At least until I walked 10 seconds later and she passed me back. HA!