Friløbet 10k

I can't explain exactly why, but life is so good these days. I feel on top of the world and my family is happy. Certainly these two things go hand in hand. Christian learned to ride his bike this weekend. Natti scored the first goal of her soccer team's season. Ok - ok, Mattias still isn't so good at walking, but he is so gosh darn cute.

And  Kirsten's  wonderful comment on my blog was a perfect start to my day.

So let's see. In the last eight days, I have set 3 PRs plus ran a 23 mile run on Monday and a 25 mile run on Friday.

What is going on? Mania? No, I am sleeping normally and feel pretty peaceful.

I guess I attribute it to the following:

1. Eating right, with almost no gluten, no soda, no gum, no meat (except fish) and no dairy. Lots of no's here, so  I will say I eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, peanut butter, tofu, eggs and corn totillas (grrr... and chocolate). (but, yes! they finally sell peanut butter in Denmark!!)

2. Taking evey other day completely off from running

3. Bikram yoga. My right hip hurt so badly after my 25 miles on Friday that I could barely walk. I went to  Bikram Yoga in Copenhagen  yesterday, and today, I didn't even notice the hip. (I'm actually hoping to get certified in teaching Bikram Yoga so that I can start it in Næstved, but that is an entirely different story)

4. SR sleeping with Mattias every other night. I love my husband for so many reasons, but the fact that we can each get a good night sleep every other night is such a blessing.

So what happened today? I ran Nykredit Friløbet 10k in Copenhagen. With almost 6000 participants, there was plenty of competition. I had been assigned a start number at the very back of the pack, but after asking permission I was allowed to start up with the elites. I love the elite women. They are beautiful. Perfect hair and bodies. Their thighs are so far from rubbing together. They were all wearing club jersies. My thighs were probably touching and I was wearing a t-shirt with a woman serving cheese on a platter. I was too nervous to ask anyone how fast they would run. Short dance warmup (Danish tradition) and we were off.

I was scared shitless of shitting my pants...

We ran along the lakes in Copenhagen. A nice flat route through to HC Andersens Boulevard and into the world famous Tivoli amusement park. This park was the toughest part of the run with many twists, turns and little hills. I also think I counted 5 sets of stairs. Coming out of the park, it was incredibly windy. There were no km markers that I noticed, so I didn't catch my 5k split.

I must have run a pretty even pace since I only passed one woman and wasn't passed by any. Finally I saw balloons marking the 7k and 9k points and I knew I could manage a PR.

We finished up running around the Østerbro Stadium track and I sprinted in for a 40:07 (this is highlighted for mmmonyka who will scroll down to find the time), taking 41 seconds off of my PR from Wednesday. I was happy. This was only a training run. Had I not run 25 miles two days before, I imagine a sub 40 would have been in the cards. But imagining and doing are two different things.

I was 7th/2142 women. This meant getting my name announced on the loud speakers for the top ten women. Thrilling! I also have to note that I was 2nd in the 20-34 age group. This means that 5 of the top six women were older than me! There is much hope.

Here are the women's results. Just look for the American flag.

So am I ever going to run a goal race? Yes, but my goal races are ultras. I am, inspired by Steve Q, Piccola Pinecone and my husband, to concentrate on the basics. If I can get faster at middle distances, speed in marathons and ultras will follow, as long as I continue with my long runs. Or so I've been told.