Groundhog Run & Revised 2013 Running Goals

Today was my first race of 2013 - the Groundhog Run in Kansas City, MO! This is a unique event - the entire race is held underground in January. As the ever-reliable Kansas City Star describes, this means that the race is held in the "sprawling limestone cave of the Hunt Midwest SubTropolis, a storage facility with more than 6 miles of basically flat roadways." It also means reliable temperatures between 65 and 72 degrees. Oh, and stagnant air. 

Will and I did the 5K here in 2011, and we both decided to do the 5K again this year. Will was a trooper and decided that he was recovered enough from the flu to give it a go. We drove over to the every-classy AmeriStar Casino early this morning and prepared to walk over to the SubTropolis. There was a pleasant surprise waiting for us - buses! These definitely would have been welcome at the sub-freezing temperatures our last go-around, but were a nice addition in the drizzly rain today. 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/27/4034018/4000-turn-out-for-largest-charity.html#storylink=cpy

On the bus - ready to go!

Entering in to the cave storage center.

As you enter, there is a fun mural with "Home of the World Famous Groundhog Run" on the wall. We quickly got our packets, got ready, and hopped into our wave start time. This was another nice addition this year - chip timing AND wave starts! I felt much less claustrophobic than in the past.

No pictures during the 5K run, but picture lots of twists and turns. Will likened it to running the halls of  school during bad weather in high school track. I was never quite sure how long we would go down a particular stretch or where we would turn next. The air was very stagnant but much better than a time we went to watch my sister Julie in 2005 and I thought it smelled like raw sewage the entire time.

Here we are after the race! Will finished about 50 seconds in front of me so I got to see him a little during the different turns.

Post-race food - they had water, chocolate milk, and bars. I also saw orange slices but that sounded like too much work at the time.

After finishing the race, I was kind of bummed at my time. I finished in 33:37 (Will was 32:49). These were almost exactly what each of our times were in 2011 (I was 5 seconds slower this time). My race time today was also about 40 seconds slower than I had run at a race in December. And, I seem to be a rare person who can run faster on the treadmill than in a race - I have run below 30 minutes for a 5K on the treadmill but have not been successful yet in translating that into a race.

I then had an epiphany. My 2013 running goals are to break 30 minutes in the 5K and 60 minutes in the 10K (my PRs for each are roughly the same pace) - so an outcome-based goal. All of my other goals for the year are action-based goals - such as items that I want to do with the kids or at home. These action-based goals are structured around doing certain actions rather than achieving a certain outcome in the end (such as "have strong relationships with children", although that is the implicit goal).

So I am revising my 2013 running goals to make them action goals, too. While I would still very much like to run faster, and intend to keep training as such and working more on incorporating speedwork, my new running goal for 2013 is to run a 5K or a 10K race every month. And to have fun while doing it! :)