Races

I find one of the most runspirational things I can do for myself is to register for a race. I know that come race day I am going to do the run whether I have trained for it or not. Gotta get my money’s worth. I also know that because I don’t want to be suffering on race day I am much more likely to run in between races. So I schedule myself for a few throughout the summer. This summer I started with a 5k trail run in April and I am planning to end with a 10k run in October at the Toronto Zoo with several in between. Check my profile page for a complete list of planned runs.

My most recent 10K race was really awesome. We (my mom and I) were attempting to come in under 55 minutes and both of us did. Yay! My chip time was 54:12.4 (gun time 59:29.6) This is much better than last year’s chip time of 59:07.2. My stats are below, but first an explanation on gun vs. chip time. The gun time is the amount of time it took to finish from when the starter gun was fired. The chip time is the time between when I crossed the start line and when I crossed the finish line as determined by a microchip attached to my shoe. The official results and placings are all determined by gun time, but I went and figured out my placing based on chip time as well and made a chart:

	Gun Time Place	Chip Time Place	Total Runners
Females 30-34	278	217	865
All Females	1452	1168	4695
All Runners	3513	3967	8590

From the start of the race I really wasn’t sure I was going to make our goal, it was very windy and I wasn’t feeling like I was running well, but I kept pushing. Having my mom there really helped with the motivation too, I wanted to finish with her so I had to keep up.

I know that keeping up the training well for the last few weeks is the only reason I was able to break 55, so now I know I have to keep that going until my next race in June.

Those pesky hills…

First- Congrats to Jack- I’m sure we’ll hear all about her result on the weekend! Well done!

So, today was much better runspiration-wise. Maybe better songs on the iPod, better temperature, who knows- but it was a good (little) run and I enjoyed myself so surely that is a good thing.

 So- what I need now is some hillspiration- how on earth does one convince oneself to run up a hill??

Any suggestions??

Help!

The first hard run….

Well, I knew it had to happen- I’ve been on such a running high for a couple of weeks so the first really tough (motivationally) run had to be around the corner- and it was yesterday. Managed to get through (thanks to a little old school iPod action- Jump Around) and felt even more runspired at the end. I discovered one interesting thing on this run- when I run by myself and listen to my iPod, my breathing gets all wacky- perhaps a need to re-evaluate my volume level. Hopefully a more runspired day today!!

iPod iDeas

One of the biggest influences on my willpower during a run or a giant hill is my iPod.  The go-to song to keep me going at my lowest point on a run is Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas.  That song always gets my feet moving and my arms pumping.  With that in mind we have added a list on the left of your screen with our recent or favourite iPod runspiration songs.  You can click on the title of each song to go to the amazon.com mp3 store and listen to a preview of the track.  Just added today were 4 Minutes and Do Your Thing which have now been added to my iPod’s runspiration playlist too (thanks Hils & neL).  I also added Bounce With Me (by Kreesha Turner) which is this week’s free iTunes download  – in Canada at least – and it’s got some potential too.  I’ve also added Where’s Your Head At by Basement Jaxx.  Another upbeat catchy tune, but more electronic sounding than some of the others, so maybe not as popular.

So what’s your best runspiration tune?