Chunky Monkey 10k Run 2008
Chunky Monkey, who wouldn’t respond to a run named that, it’s named after a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. The thought of getting Ben and Jerry’s ice cream after a 10k run was an added bonus in getting me out there to run.
I hadn’t done a 10k since the Bolder Boulder. In fact, since being released by the doctor to return to running the furthest I’ve managed to run is 4.5 miles. I really didn’t have any goals other than to 1) finish the run and 2) beat my Bolder Boulder time of 1:23:(and some change). I managed to do both, but it wasn’t easy.
We had to do one lap around the Valley High school track before we were off on our trail, so while I’m making my way to the track I introduce myself to another woman who was making her way to the track. She had a duathlon hat on so it was easy to strike up a conversation with her. I joined her and her friends at the back of the pack on the track and when the horn blew I found that their pace was perfect for me and so I was gonna stick with them. (You see, it was supposed to be all about pace this race. Pace is something I have problems with simply because I want to get out there and go, and I want to go fast. Not pacing myself is also what kindof killed me in the first mile in the Bolder Boulder.)
Running with these women was cool because they had a walk run strategy which is what I like. They would run for 4 minutes and then walk a minute, and it was cool because one of them was wearing something and so it would beep at a 4 minute mark and then again at a 1 minute mark so we knew when to walk and when to begin running again. I didn’t have the brains to ask what it was that they had but whatever it is that they had, I want one, it’s far easier than looking at my watch every so often.
I got about 1.5 miles before my ribs were hurting, on both sides, and (as I so thought to myself) my left intestine (I really have no clue what it was, but it hurt). I guess that’s what’s referred to as a stitch in my side, and I said so, I have a stitch in my side and I slowed down. I knew I had to take deep breaths, and I was told to take deep breaths. The problem with this was, it hurt to take deep breaths. Somehow by mile 3 I was ok again. At about 3 and a half miles I split from the women I was with because I wanted to go a little bit faster than they were going (we had slowed down a bit). I had a goal to reach and I couldn’t reach it at the pace we were going at that point. It was very important to me to do the 10k in less than 1:23.
I made it in under 1:23, barely. I made it in 1:22.(and some change). When I got to the last 100m or so I all out sprinted, it felt nice to be able to be on my toes and be sprinting. I was very excited to have made it.
My splits, as far as I can tell from my watch were:
Mile 1: 12.39.63
Mile 2: 13.31.69
Mile 3: 14.22.75
Mile 4: 13.06.07
Mile 5: 13.14.65
Mile 6-6.2: 15.51.00
The exciting thing about them is that the timing of them is far more even than the times from when I did the Bolder Boulder. I’m going to take that as a sign of improvement 
Diabetes-wise things ran ok. 2 hrs before the run I lowered my basal rate to 70%. I was 126 at this point. An hour before the race I was 117, UH OH! headed in the wrong direction. I let it be though. A half hour before the race, I was 125. I ate a CLIF Builder Bar. Took insulin for only 15 out of the 30 carbs. I washed it down with a bit of e-fuel. I had about 45 carbs in my system at this point. I deemed myself good to go.
At about half way into the run, I checked my blood, I was 164. I was doing ok. When I got to about mile 4.5, I needed to check my blood, my mouth was saying that my blood sugar was high. I had sweaters on my teeth, I was like a cottonmouth snake (actually, do they get their name based on cottony mouths?), I was foaming at the mouth like a dog with rabies. Unfortunately, I had lost my pricker, how I managed that is beyond me, because I had put it back in my little zipper pocket with my machine, and my machine was still there. Needless to say, I didn’t get to check my blood. I steered clear of the e-fuel in my water bottle for fear that I’d been sipping on it too much and not running hard enough to clear it out of my system. I got water when I passed the water stations.
When I got to the end, I was a little bummed because Chunky Monkey ice cream was not in the flavors that were available to us. Only Cherry Garcia and Cookie Dough. I’m not a fan of either one so I just decided to go home without ice cream. When I got to my car and could check my blood again, I did. It was 176. I bolused a little and put a smile on my face because I had run without going low and without going high and I had finished and I had finished a minute faster than the last 10k I ran.
One Response to “Chunky Monkey 10k Run 2008”
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July 22nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Way to go!!!