Frostbite 5

Last week I ran my first ORRRC (Ohio River Road Runners Club) club event.  My husband signed us up for the club back in December and it gets us some free races (certain races).  While I have run the Turkey Trot in Miamisburg and the Ghost and Goblin 5k in Dayton, which are both ORRRC events, I have never run in an event that was free for members.

This race started and finished at Centerville High School and followed roads in the neighborhood.  It was a balmy 50 degrees for February in Ohio and a beautiful day.  When I decided to run in this race I knew it would be for fun.  It wasn't going to cost us anything so I might as well have fun.  I wouldn't mind winning something, but I wouldn't be disappointed if I all I got out of it was a nice run.

Race Registration

When I got to the registration I knew I didn't stand a chance.  I got there about 5 minutes early and the parking lot was far from empty.  20 minutes after I signed up I took the picture to the left.  The registration line had looked like that for the past 15 minutes and continued like this for the next 20 minutes.  There were a lot of people running this race.  I also noted many people wearing "Runners Plus Elite" Jerseys.  I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I knew I was in trouble.  I later found out that it was a collection of people who run 5-6 minute miles =0.

So, I ran my race.  I took my pace easy and comfortable and tried to enjoy the run.

Here we go

The first 2 miles were great, under 9:00 each.  I was feeling good.  My foot wasn't hurting and my heart and lungs felt calm.  The wind was disrespectful, headwind at every uphill it seemed, but it wasn't a big problem.  I got to mile 2.5 where the water stop was.  I walked through and drank some water.  I was ready to go again, or so I thought.  I picked up my pace to a run again only to feel a pain and pounding in my chest.  I slowed to a walk again and caught my breath, I didn't know what could have caused that pain.  Once I felt better I picked up my pace again only to have the pain return.  This was causing some worry.  I walked again.  The thought of arrhythmia came to my mind.  It was like my heart was out of sync with the rest of my body every time I tried to run (like my ponytail swinging opposite of the rhythm of my body).  I knew there was something wrong so I kept trying to fix it, taking breaks, running, taking breaks.  I didn't care if I had a walk to the end of the course but I wanted to stop the odd feeling if I could; my body wanted to run.  After 1.5 miles of alternating I finally was able to run without feeling the pain.  I was able to keep going and finish strong with an average pace of 9:20.  This was a 5 mile PR for me at 46:42 (last 5 mile race was in 2012 and I finished in about 54 minutes).

 Another fun part of the race was passing some people after I got my rhythm back.  I climbed up this hill to this photographer at the top following the woman with the stroller (seen in the picture to the right).  She was strong up this hill.  I admired her speed and endurance while pushing her child.  Once she got past the photographer she slowed to a walk, catching her breath.  As I passed her I said to her, "You are Awesome!" because I couldn't imagine doing what she had done.  I stayed ahead of her until the end, where they had volunteers asking our age to determine age group winners.  I told them my age, but I knew I won nothing.  Stroller lady wasn't far behind and was the next person to give the volunteer her age, the same age group that I am in =).  Even though I had a rough race and didn't come close to placing I was able to pass someone in my age group in the end and stay ahead of her.  I'm sure she'll be beating me in a few years when she doesn't have the stroller anymore.

I did check my heart rate data when I got home.  I wear a heart rate monitor because many people in my family have struggled with heart disease.  I want to make sure I catch signs early if I can.  Each time I tried to run during the 1.5 miles my heart rate jumped up to over 190 beats per minute.  I tend to have a higher active heart rate than most (170s) but this was still extremely high.  I'll be taking this information to a doctor soon because I don't want it happening again.  I will keep running, and I will keep trying to improve my speeds and distances.  Next planned race: Lucky Clover 4 Miler.