Trail of Lights 5K 2007 finished, Phew!!

The big Zilker tree, if you stand underneath when it's lit and look up, talk about psychedelic man!




I am in the back, to my left is James (from my Club Chronicle Challenge)in front of him, looking sideways is Christine (my non profit compadre, we're crossing our fingers). The other three ladies I know from the training but not their names except for Jeanette who's next to Christine.


Yesterday, the race was set to start at 6pm. At around 3, I was hungry for protein and made myself a broiled salmon with sauteed vegetables. I had James drop me off around 5sh and found a few people from Team Zen. It was much warmer than expected too. As last year's event was cold and people were wearing hats and mittens, this year's events the speedo 'santas' were probably the most comfortable. And you know, there were people dressed up for instance the couple dressed up as two Christmas present boxes, a guy with lights wrapped around him, the speedo santas (benefitting the non profit Out Youth, services for young gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender and 'questioning' youths from 12-19)and naturally, the beautiful light displays in the park. HowEVER...as I was running and fighting fatigue and feeling parched (breathing through my mouth, I know, it's not good but this being my first 'RUNNING' running event, I had to figure things out..)I did not want to be bothered in reaching into my fanny pack for my camera. I was trying to make TIME!

Close to the starting line





Going through the entrance of the trail of lights, it was a long arched lit up part with all the red, green and other colours. Man it was psychedelic! There was such a throng in the beginning before we even got into the actual trail (the race starts a mile beforehand) that it was easy to run more because you couldn't even get to a faster pace. Which suited me fine because I do just a very paced jog. If you speedwalk well you could keep up with me easily! lol

James, soaked to the bone but he did it! I took this after the 3mile mark when I backed out to see where he was. He was the only one on our Club Chronicle team that had to walk it.




Anyhow, I took some pictures before the race and afterwards. Unfortunately, I did not get shots of all my team mates (was too exhausted and exhillerated after the race) and the lights on the trail but I'll try to be better next time. I'll bring my camera to the next training so you can get an idea of our Team Zen group. Erin from the Chronicle was out to cheer us on (remember the contest??)

Adam Weisberg, owner of the Zen restaurents here in Austin is our sponsor and every Saturday morning for 8am, he gets there and provides 'Tokyo breakfast' for those who want it after the training. I never do because when I eat brown rice, I eat it with something saucy plus I'm not good with the spice that comes with it. Also, like last night when Adam sauteed Chicken teriyaki, I totally don't feel like eating after a workout. Saturday mornings, I relax and drink coffee while some of the others eat and we just chat. Last night, I had some water (there wasn't enough water for some reason) and that's it. When I got home I ate a tuna sandwhich.
Cassandra from my team with her boyfriend who supported her by coming out and joining her (and to think I told 'my' James that I didn't want him to run with me "It's my time to shine, no way!")

Another one of Cassandra in case she thinks the other picture didn't look good enough. She's pretty photogenic so she'll look good regardless!

I felt really proud of myself. I raced what I thought was a 34minute race. It was not a timed event, then I thought I did it in 37minutes, but now I figured I did it in 43 minutes and 43 seconds! Well ha! Still good!

I will definitely have to do a timed event next. No ifs and buts about that. It's good to get your first running race out of the way. What would I do different next time?

Next time, I'd rather run in the morning than in the evening. Plenty of time during the day to re-hydrate and feed your face with much needed protein! Also, training a known trail gives you a different and easier perspective on how far you've been running. They had big mile markers out during the race, but it's still difficult to pace yourself. I think you might need to acquire a built-in navigational 'feel' of sorts that you can only get through experience. Also, eating a good protein meal a few hours beforehand helps. Naturally, being the nervous nelly that I am, it 'affects' my stomach. Where other people eat, I don't. Or can't rather.

NOW I feel more committed to eat not necessarily 'right' but the right way for working out. After a long yak with my sister in law, I figured I might like to get a heart monitor. That, plus finding someone to help me with personalized cross training exercises and/or core body exercises. I'm pretty weak with all that. A light bulb went off, and I think today I finally figured out what it would take to be committed for training. Of course, Adam's offer really helped!

cross posted at Bloggerroundtable

Postscript..

I forgot to explain Adam's offer. After the race, Adam rounded us up and offered a commitment (or committed an offer, take your pick! lol) on his part that IF we stuck with the Saturday morning trainings throughout the year, that he would pay for us doing 5K races next year. That is pretty generous and from now on, I'll promote ZEN till Nirvana Come!