training Tuesday – Thomas Wolfe 8k recap

The Thomas Wolfe 8k took place this past weekend and I’m so excited I participated.

Carol and I ran 3 miles on Friday and before that short run, my leg was not happy with me. I think I haven’t been stretching enough or doing any cross-training in the past couple of weeks, and my hamstring issues are beginning to return. I was not very hopeful about Saturday and we just went into it thinking it would be a fun run and not concentrate on being super speedy.

While I was walking to the gathering place for runners, a random runner stranger approached me about this possible race. Turned out he was staying at the hotel next door to the Thomas Wolfe house and I somehow convinced him he should sign up and run the race in 40 minutes. (Last I knew, he was running back to his hotel room to grab his wallet. Go, me, for convincing him to run this fun race!)

When I arrived at the start, I focused on stretching. My hamstring hurt to touch it, much less run on it. I think I stretched and tried to warm up for at least a half hour.

Changes this year: the start location. Rather than finish on a downhill, the race started on a downhill. Really? WHO DOES THAT? Oh, right. We were in Asheville. Carol and I started in the middle of the pack and just took our time. Another change this year? The other race/walk that was planned along the similar route was not held at the same time. (Last year, so many runners ended up taking a wrong turn. It was terrible.)

We literally spent the race talking, catching up and plotting out my job prospects. I was not paying attention to my phone (I had it turned on so the RunKeeper notifications wouldn’t be audible) and we occasionally slowed down to get a photo. I noted that the leaves really haven’t changed much yet. It was very cloudy and gray on Saturday morning and a lot of the trees were still green. What gives, fall?
And then we looked up and realized we were at mile 3! Who knew?? Before we knew it, we were at mile 4. We had just under a mile to go.
I felt a little tired on that last mile and there’s kind of a long uphill to head back into downtown Asheville. I just wanted it to be over, but then we turned and we were right next to Mellow Mushroom, which meant we were a block away from the Thomas Wolfe house – the finish!
The finish was on a downhill (YAY!!!) and I just let it all out on the course. I passed a woman who was just in front of us (funnily enough, she was also named Carol) and finished in 46:48! A total PR for this course!

Immediately upon finishing, we were greeted with Mellow Mushroom pizza and maple cookies from Earth Fare. (There was also beer, but I didn’t have any of that.) Pizza and cookies is THE BEST ending to a race!
Next up for us is the Positive Prevention 12k in a couple of weeks. I had wanted to use the 8k as a training race/fun run. I felt we did that. So this week’s goal is to get a 6-miler in.

My workouts for the past week looked like this:

Tuesday – rest.

Wednesday – Walked around the nature center and the neighborhood with the toddler boy.

Thursday – 2 miles in the rain.

Friday – 3 miles

Saturday – Thomas Wolfe 8k race! 46:48.

Sunday – Walking

Monday – Cycle class

This week I want to get a 6-miler in and water aerobics. I’ve got a pretty packed week, so we’ll see how it goes. Did you run a race this weekend? Training just to train? Link up below!