10k Race and Packing Up

Cooper was not to happy I had to leave this morning for my race bright and early. The night before I got some packing done for my 3 day stay in Lincoln Nebraska. Some may call me totally obsessive, but I prepare for my workouts when I pack. As you can see below here are my must have essentials:

• EAS and Myloplex shakes for pre/post workouts
• 100 calorie packs of almonds and mixed nuts
• Packaged oatmeal and protein powder mixed in zip lock baggies ready to throw in a bowl for breakfast
• Lots of dried fruit to bring along to snack on during the long meetings I have ahead of me and also to throw in my oatmeal
• Whole wheat wraps to have along side a salad
• Chewing gum
  

Once I arrived in Lincoln I discovered that my hotel had a fridge!! I hightailed it to the local Sun Mart and picked up some fresh veggies as well as some greek yogurt. Most of my meals should be covered for the next three days, but I like to have veggies and snacks on hand just in case.

Back to today's 10k race. I woke up this morning around 6:45 and felt kinda funky. I had a really deep nights sleep and it was hard to wake up, usually I am roaring to go. Today was not the case. My throat was a little raw and my neck still throbbed from my car accident on Friday. Once I stepped outside the weather sure did not help my mood...it was raining and muggy!!

As you can see from my expression I was a little scared to run this race. Luckily, the course is a course that I grew up running many long miles on, Zorinksy Lake. The race turned out to be a smaller race, only about 200 people or so running the 10k.

As I awaited for the race to start, I sat in my car and devoured my oats and yogurt with pb. This seemed to kick in and woke me up a little. If you are wondering, yes I was out here all by myself. My boyfriend Craig is out of town this weekend, and my real close friends are not to much into the running world as I am, so I was a little lonely this morning.

I can say, I have ran better before...much better then today. I started off real slow, my legs were very stiff and my knees were a little sore. I thought I would have all the energy in the world considering I took a complete rest day yesterday..not the case. My legs did not kick in until mile 3, and finally I felt like I was at a good pace. The time....shamefully 1:02....pretty sad. I don't know what it is about running races, but I am so afraid of starting out to fast because I will feel like I will burn out...in the long run this hinders my time at the end. After the race, I knew I could have ran a lot harder by the way my body felt. I was still able to head home and run Cooper for a while. Then again, have I really put all my time and effort into just running...NO! I have been doing A LOT of cross training and Insanity. I really can't feel sorry for myself, if I want to become a better runner...well then I have got to focus on just RUNNING. This is hard for me to commit to because I like variety.

Before leaving to Lincoln this afternoon, I made a Tuna Wrap. I forgot how good tuna is...it has been forever since I have had tuna. I checked into my hotel around 3 this afternoon. I was able to walk around and scope out the place. The workout facility is pretty small, has your usual cardio machines and just one set of hand weights. Thankfully I brought my Jilian Micheal's Shred book and I am going to try to put a workout together for tomorrow morning. Considering I am in a hotel for the next three days with no friends, no Craig or Cooper, and no family around me...I am going to have a lot of free time on my hands.

My Hotel Room-not to shabby!!

Have you ever had to travel for work by yourself? How long, what did you do to keep yourself busy?

When starting races, do you worry about starting off too fast?