Give N' Gobble 10k - November 2016

by Jodi

Me again.  Here's installment two of three for races updates.  After Hood to Coast, I dropped any and all speed and tempo work.  I continued my run streak, but dialed back my mileage and intensity. I needed a break from training schedules and some time to just let my body "rest" a little.  I ran just to run.  It was awesome.  And definitely slower than when I'm following a training plan.

Dawn ran with me on my 500th (or as she said "Fifth-hundredth") day of running consecutively.  This was a few days before our race on a gorgeous day at the Oregon coast.

Dawn and I decided at the last minute to run the Give N' Gobble 10k in Sherwood on Thanksgiving morning.  It's early enough that we could both get our run for the day in and be back to our families before they really noticed we were gone.

Neither of us had been doing any speed work or tempo training so we knew we would finish slower than the year before.  I wanted to try to run a low seven minute pace.  Dawn scoffed at my suggestion.  She wanted to 7:15 to 7:30 pace.  We both tried to convince the other that our plan was best, but in the end we agreed to disagree and each run our own race.



The morning of the race was TERRIBLE weather.  It was a torrential downpour that never let up.  Thankfully it was a warm rain so we weren't freezing, but HOLY COW!  It was wet.  And wet.  And a little windy.

Do I have to get out of the van?

The gun went off and I set a pace in the low seven minute range, hoping Dawn would change her mind.  But she smiled, waved me on, and stuck to her game plan.  I was on my own on another race course with rolling hills.  Is there any such thing as a flat course in Oregon?

As the 10k crowd thinned out and settled in, I saw two women ahead of me. I am not a good hill climber, but I can run the downhill pretty well and do okay on the flats.  By mile three I had caught up to and passed the first woman.  Then I caught and passed the second woman to put myself in the lead position, but all of us were still close together.

Both women caught and passed me on a hill climb around mile four.  We grunted at each other, but we were all pretty miserable in the rain.  And then we turned a corner.  Strong headwinds and one long, slow climb.  I put my head down, didn't look at my watch and tried to force myself to go with the lead women.

I told myself, "This feels hard because it is hard.  They are feeling every bit of these hills and the wind and rain like you are.  Don't worry about pace, but stick with them.  GO WITH THEM!"

Our group started to spread out with the lead woman taking a more prominent position as she pulled away.  I hung with the other woman until about mile 5.5 when she turned it up a notch.  I had a 3 hour car ride ahead of me when I got home and I just didn't care enough to push myself to chase her.  I let her slip away (something I kind of regretted after the fact) and finished the race in the third position for the women with a finish time of 44:09 and a 7:07 average pace.  Dawn stuck to her plan and finished with our friend Natasha in 45:07 with a 7:16 pace.

We went straight to the car after our cool down to change into dry clothes.  We were DRENCHED!  And home by 10:30.  A perfect way to start our Thanksgiving holiday.

just wring us out already.. 

DONE!  Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks Dawn for another race together.  I learn so much from training with you.

By the Splits: (44:09 - 7:07 average)

Mile 1: 7:18	Mile 4: 7:06
Mile 2: 6:58	Mile 5: 7:33
Mile 3: 6:55	Mile 6: 7:24
	Mile .2: 6:46