Race Recap: Bath Steeplechase 8k

What kind of a moron signs up for a race three weeks after her first marathon?  What kind of a moron decides that a STEEPLECHASE is a good idea three weeks after her first marathon?  Well, you are looking at just the moron who would do that.

This Saturday I ran the Bath Steeplechase 8k.

How did I train for it?  Ummmm. . .well, I did run, so technically that is training, right?  Ok, to be honest, I have managed to do a mini tempo run ( 5 miles) at half marathon pace and a set of 400s at faster-than-5k-pace since the Akron marathon.  I thought this would be a nice, relaxing race.

As if such a thing exists.

One of the reasons I like the Bath Steeplechase is that it is about three miles from my house, so I was able to sleep in.  Plus, it started at 10:00 am, a time that screwed with my head, I must say.  It was a very inexpensive race, and I liked the long-sleeved tech shirt that came with it.

I showed up at Bath Community Park about half an hour before the race, timing that is unthinkable to me for any other race.  Usually I am worried about parking and bathrooms, but this time I kept telling myself, "Relax.  It's five miles.  You can do five miles in your sleep. Just run in the sun."

To my delight, I saw my friend Vicky, who was there to cheer on her grandson Gabe:

I can't describe how happy I was to see Vicky there.

I had plenty of time to screw around and even visit the bathroom, and then it was time to start.  This is an extremely small race, only 109 participants in the 8k.  When I looked around the field, I realized that I would not be placing on that day.  My age group (45-49) is full of badass women who have been training for years, and many of them were there, so I knew my chances were slim.  That's ok; I wasn't planning on placing anyway.  I'm still recovering from the marathon, right?

The gun went off when we started at the bottom of a tiny but steep hill, and I managed to slip in the grass for that first hill.  Nice.

The course had a little bit of everything: trails, pavement, stream crossings, crushed limestone, and large rocks.  In addition, we had to jump over hay bales and horse jumps.  Around mile 2 I felt like trail running and marathon training had ruined my racing drive because honestly I had no desire to run up the hills.  I ran what I could and walked at least three hills.

Here I pretend that everything is just fine.  See my sweet Bondi Compression Socks?

Anyway, my time was nowhere near what I could have done.  I stalked the times of the top three women in my age group, and I should have been able to run that. . . but I guess I'm not ready yet.  More yoga and strength training; less running.  That should be my routine right now until I feel recovered.

Fun should also be my focus.  For now, I will only do workouts that I consider to be fun.  I have tons of dance DVDs and Tae Bo DVDs, and I intend to use them between runs.  I want to be excited about feeling strong and capable; I don't want to dread exercise.

How do you feel after your recent races, Peeps?  Still trying to recover?

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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