Frozen Shamrock

Remember that race from February that was postponed?  Today was the reschedule.  Even though it wasn't quite so frozen anymore, it was a nice race.  To be honest, I wasn't even really looking forward to running today.  I know I had too, but it was just one of those days.  But, I went out and did it anyways, which was necessary, because you know, if you spend the money, you might as well make it to the race right?  Anyways, I've been trying to do some speed training, which is as miserable as it sounds.  Basically, I take my normal pace and run down the beach.  At random intervals, usually between two telephone poles, I sprint, or at least, attempt to.  The theory is that speeding up for random intervals will increase lung power and endurance, overall making your running faster.  Supposedly running up and down large hills 5/6 times during a run will do the same.  Neither option is ideal, lets be serious.  But, I've been hoping to get my time down under 9 minutes, since I feel like I've been stuck there for a few months, so I've been out there doing it.  Not often, maybe once a week, which is not as often as I want to do it.  I'm hoping that combined with long runs, it will all pay off. (It sort of did last week in an unrelated note.  I went to the beach to run and happened to stumble into the new David O. Russell film being shot.  That's right, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and some others were filming across the street from where I was running.  BONUS!)
Well, anyways, the gist of it is that I've been working on increasing my speed and decreasing my time.  Here's the good news.  Today I ran the 5K in 24:40.  Yes, that's right.  From 27/28 down to 24.  That's at least a minute off each mile.  Before you ask, it wasn't totally flat.  There was a nice hill right after the first mile.  Here's my official stats, according to coolrunning.

 191  14/81   F2029   ALLISON RUNYAN   24:37.9  8:13    8:19.0   16:16.4   24:44.1 

That's 191 overall, out of over 700 people, 14 of 81 people in my age group. My time is 24:37, gun time is 24:44.   Basically, a fantastic run.  The best I've had so far.  I am super pumped for this new time, but a little worried about it too. Now I expect myself to run any 5K at that speed so if I don't, I will be disappointed in myself.  Anyways, that's my brag for the day.  Here are some pictures from the race.  Ryan was loving enough to come with me and wait for me at the finish line, so he took the pictures too.