Columbus 10K 2017

Last year was the first time I ran the Columbus 10K.  It was super fast and super competitive, and I knew I wanted to add it to the schedule again this year.  Three days before the race I started to have a little niggle in my hip (more on that another day) and frankly, I just haven't been feeling in all that great of shape, so I didn't expect a whole lot from this race.

We got down there in good time, but there was still a line for the three port-a-johns already a block long.  I decided to take my warm up run to the other side of Columbus to where I knew there was a public bathroom.  It was hot and humid and I was feeling like this race was going to suck.  I barely got back in time to get in line for the start.

I decided I just wanted to go hard and not worry about my splits, so I put a sticker over my watch.  In hindsight, this was a bad idea as my first mile was the fastest of the day and although I thought I was holding back, I wasn't.  I was suffering right from the beginning.  I wasn't getting passed by many people but I was getting passed and I was falling further and further behind.  I was struggling to keep my head in the game.  Six miles felt like they took forever. 

I have no idea what my final time was, but it was a solid 1:20 slower than last year.  I have no excuses but it is frustrating that I feel less in shape than last year when I have bigger goals this year.

Regardless, I still placed in my age group.  Last year I was fifth with quite a respectable time and this year with a slower time I finished third and walked away with a camp mug. 

WORST.BLOGGER.EVER!!

Worst.Blogger.EVER!!!

I said I was going to be consistent last month and whatnot and I wrote one freakin' time?  Can I do better in July? 

Here's what's coming up.

• I got hurt
• I ran a race
• I got more hurt
• I had a whole bunch of MRIs and X-rays done
• I did another race
• I'm still hurt

Chew on that.  I'll be back tomorrow.
 

Shamrock Marathon 2017

I read lots of blogs out there where the writers have big, fluffy, life-altering, insightful race reports.  I'm just not the kind of girl or runner.  When I run, I just run.  I don't solve life's problems.  I don't learn valuable lessons.  My life isn't changed.  I just run.

No sugar coating it, the weather sucked.  I woke up race morning to pouring rain, 40 degrees, and winds up to 30 mph.  I was pissed!  All this training and I was going to come undone because of the weather.  The husband helped me to settle down, get ready, and eat something.  We walked to the start line, keeping to myself.  I waited under a hotel overhang, took one bathroom break, and I lined up.  It was raining, but I felt almost peaceful.

And then I ran.  I didn't go with a pace group.  I didn't set a pace for myself.  I just tried to stay comfortable.  I kept my watch underneath my sleeve the entire race and only looked at it when it beeped for the miles.  The first couple of miles were so comfortable.  Then we turned around and we were headed into the wind.  It was rough but I tried to stay out of my head.  We toured a military base (the first of two) and anytime I could I tried to hang with other runners to block the wind.  I was close behind the 3:35 pace group but I couldn't quite catch up to them to use them in the wind. 

Before I knew it we were back in Virginia Beach proper and on the boardwalk.  This is when the wind was started to get crazy.  I was running with another girl and used her to block as much wind as possible.  She wasn't running fast enough for me, though, so I got ahead of her.  This was my marathon, I had to do the work.  And still I was just far enough behind the pace group to not be able to use their energy.  I saw Dave and Anderson around mile 12, and let them know I was okay.  He offered me dry gloves and shirt, but I didn't need it (famous last words).

We turned off of Atlantic Avenue and made it over to Pacific Avenue.  We were headed north, straight into the wind.  These were some miserable miles.  It was pouring and crazy windy (I was literally holding onto my hat) and then it started sleeting.  This was the lowest point of the race for me, and yet I still felt good.  I just kept running.

Somewhere around mile 16 or 17 we turned to the left and headed down a long, tree lined road.  This was my favorite part of the race.  We were finally out of the wind and I felt terrific.  I was flying.  We got to the second military base and I just felt great.  19 miles, 20 miles, 21 miles.  Things were going fantastic.  My pace was so consistent; my legs were a metronome.  At some point in here I did some math and knew I was going to be golden. 

Finally we were back on the boardwalk.  I could see the finish line.  I had run every step of the race.  And I was going to qualify for Boston 2018 easily.  It's hard not to smile when you've had such a great race.

My finish time was 3:37:29 - my fourth fastest marathon.  I was 11th in my age group (by four seconds, dang it!).  My fastest mile was a 7:57 and my slowest was 8:38 - pretty damn consistent.

Guess I'll see you in Boston on my 40th birthday!!!

Warm Up Columbus Half Marathon 2017

You can't win them all.  Or even come close, I guess.

I'm in the thick of marathon training.  It's four weeks until the race which means I have 1-2 weeks of heavy training left.  My body is shattered.  I have back pain that is not going away.  My calves and hamstrings are tight.  I am so tired I could sleep at the drop of a hat.  My mind is fragile.  I'm teetering somewhere between excited for the race and wanting to not do it at all.  I want to quit with every workout I do and yet I'm excited to run every day.  I am a mess.  You would think with this fitness, now would be a good time to run a half marathon.  Except, it wasn't.  My body and my mind just said no and I had to work to finish the race.

 That's me in the grey tank with black arm sleeves and green shoes.

I started off well, maybe even a little too fast.  I was in the 7:30s-7:40s - a pace I should be able to hold.  I was trying to calm down, though, as it felt a little tough and I knew there was a lot of race to go.  With longer training, those first couple miles lie to you, so I kept telling myself that.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until mile 5 that I felt good and also unfortunately, that seemed to be the only mile that felt okay.

You'll see in a lot of these pictures that I'm looking over to the right.  Lots of speculation on Facebook as to why.  It is actually because the husband and kid stayed home and I was hoping they'd surprise me and show up.  I was always looking for them.  I really wanted them there.

In my head I wanted to drop out of this race so badly - at the 5K mark, at the 10K mark.  But the course is a one mile loop you do again and again.  I could talk myself into doing "just" another loop.  

In the last mile I got passed by two women and that didn't make me happy.  I wanted to go with them but I really had nothing left.  In the end I came up 10 seconds short of 10th place and an award.  This may be the first time I've run this race and not gotten an award.  I'm not going to lie, I was super disappointed with this race.  I wanted it to be better.  I wanted to be faster.  I want to look thinner and leaner like I feel.  I want to be fast like those chicks that were whizzing past me.  This wasn't the confidence booster I needed going into the last few weeks before the marathon.

 Don't I look exhausted?

But, the marathon is a different beast and I don't have to run balls to the wall like I do in any other race.  Plus, the marathon is at the beach so there will be other things to see.  And the husband and maybe the kid will be there.  I need my support team. 

Just a few more weeks of focus and then the real goal. 

For bonus blogging points....is this 26point2ers Amy's KOB?  Dude, he was FLYING!!!  He lapped me no fewer than 4 times during the half marathon.

2017 Plans

Yeah, yeah.  It's the 10th of January and I'm just now blogging about my 2017 plans.  I've got some goals, some big goals, but I'm going to keep those private for now.  I'll let you know if I achieve them.

So, here are my plans athletically.

• A couple of half marathons.  I was thinking one next month, but I'm frozen to the bone.  Winter running is stupid.  I'll keep thinking.
• Early spring marathon.  I would really like to qualify for Boston again.  In 2018 it falls on my 40th birthday and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate such a big milestone (who the hell would say that running a marathon for their birthday is fun?!?!)  I have yet to sign up for the marathon, but I'm planning on the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 19th.  I haven't done a race yet in Virginia so this also checks that off.
• Aquathlons, aquathlons, aquathlons!  Surprisingly there are three or four aquathlons in Ohio that are eligible towards USAT ranking points.  I'm going to do as many as I can to help my ranking and to give me experience towards....Aquathlon Nationals.  I've got some BIG BIG goals for this race.  Nationals will be October 1st in Austin.
• Also some fun stuff like run 2000 miles (that'll never happen but I'll at least try for it), swim 200K yards, do pilates once a week, stop skipping strength workouts, continue to eat healthy foods, etc.

Let's talk about personal stuff.  I love the new year.  I love new goals and resolutions and all that jazz.  Here are some thoughts I have personally.

• Read more than 12 books.  I know this is the same goal every year, but my Kindle is awesome and I read much faster with it.  Now if I could just get the ebooks faster from the library.
• Take more pictures.  I swear this is a goal I set every year for myself.  I was making a Shutterfly calendar this week and struggled to find enough pictures from last year to put it together.  Unfortunately, the memory is full on my phone right now and my laptop is on it's last breath and I really can't afford a new one so I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish this.
• Be more present.  Honestly, I am still really struggling with having put my kid in daycare to go back to work.  It's been 6 weeks now and he still cried and throws a fit every time we go (although he does the same at the end of the day because he doesn't want to leave).  When we come home I want to pay attention to him.  I don't want to be on the treadmill leaving him to play by himself.  I don't want to be on my phone reading Facebook.  I want it to be family time.  Truly, this has been hard.  Aren't we all addicted to our phones and Facebook and Instagram (and for me, the TV)?  As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer I think family time is going to become even more special.

I thought 2016 was a great year.  2017 is going to be even better.  I'm back to work.  I've got money again.  I can make improvements to the house.  I can camp with the family now.  The kiddo is a fantastic age - he's so fun.  I'm really looking forward to what lies ahead.

What are your thoughts on 2017?

Thanks for Giving 4 Miler 2016

Like all warm blooded Americans who like to run, I too ran a race on Thanksgiving morning.  And I freakin' rocked it!

I didn't get much of a warm up in so I thought I would use the first mile as a warm up.  Well, if you consider a 7:13 mile a warm up then so be it.  The whole race would go this way.  I just kept catching people and zooming through the miles in the low 7:00s.  During the last mile I passed one of my high school coworkers who recently went to the state cross country meet.  WOAH!  The final time was 28:07, a 7:02 average (I had the course a little short, but hey, I'll take what they give me), and a 1:23 PR.  I finished 6th female and first in my age group. 

If you don't look like death at the finish line, you weren't running fast enough.  Also, how can you not feel fast when you're wearing a Team USA shirt from the world championships?

So in addition to working my ass off for the last year, I've made some serious nutritional changes in the last couple of weeks that have made a huge difference for my training, racing, and every day life.  More on those in the coming days.

Races, Races, RACES!!!

Have you ever counted up the number of races you've done?  The husband and I were wondering how many half marathons I had done.  It's my favorite race distance and it seems I race it often.  So, I counted.  And then I started counting the rest of the race distances.  Um, bored much?  Here's what I came up with.

1 mile - 4
5k - 42 (for a gift who doesn't like the 5k, I've sure done a lot of them)
4 miler - 8
5 miler - 10
10k - 7
7.5 miler - 1
10 miler - 4
Half Marathon - 28
15 miler - 3
20 miler - 3
40k - 1
Marathon - 17

I didn't count triathlons or aquathlons or relays or any of the distances within those races.  Totals?  118 races.  Dude, time to find another race...

Columbus Half Marathon 2016

The last time I ran the Columbus half it was a real sh!t show.  Literally.  My stomach just exploded and I had to take three port-a-john stops.  This time I had different thoughts.  I wasn't nervous, my stomach emptied early in the morning, and we had good logistics and I was able to stop into the port-a-john before the race without incident.

Things started pretty well.  I goofed and didn't have my watch on autolap per mile, which of course, I didn't figure out until three miles in.  Just in enough time for my stomach to revolt.  You have got to be sh!tting me!  Literally.  I got lucky and cut a guy off to get an open port-a-john somewhere in the three to four mile range and decided to just do my watch manually.  That's probably better anyway as my Garmin is always off from the mile markers (especially in a race downtown).

I was cooking.  I was moving.  Things were going well.  I really felt like I was racing, like I was back to the old Meredith. 

Mile 5 - 7:35
Mile 6 - 7:31
Mile 7 -  7:54 (uphill? long mile? gel?)
Mile 8 - 7:24

Then my stomach started to bother me again.  You have got to be kidding me?!  How can this keep happening to me?  I have, literally, raced more than 30 half marathons including faster ones than this.  How are my guts not cooperating?  I took another bathroom break.

Mile 9 - 8:23 (bathroom stop)

Dave saw me right after this.  I didn't see him.  But I was angry that I was losing time so I know I was going fast here.  The picture even looks like it.

Mile 10 - 7:22

Alright five kilometers to go and my legs and lungs and heart still feel good.  Come on Meredith.  Salvage a good race here.

Mile 11 - 7:40
Mile 12 - 7:48
(Both of those were uphill into downtown.)
Mile 13 and 0.1 - 7:49 (7:11 pace)

The overall time was 1:41:43.  Ya know, I'm okay with that time.  I haven't done a half marathon in over a year and I didn't have any specific training for this race.  I was able to take the endurance and speed I had from aquathlon training to turn this into a decent race.  If I wouldn't have had the stomach problems I wonder what I could have done.  For years my goal has been 1:35 or better.  I know I've got this in me. 

PS - Dear Marathon Foto, it you're going to charge me $24 for a single download, I am totally going to steal your images and put them on my social media.  Love, Me

Official Pictures from the World Championships

I spent about a million dollars to get four pictures from the world championships.  This might be a once in a lifetime opportunity so I HAD to get the pictures.  Right?  RIGHT?!?!

Coming into T1.  I like that you can see hair stuck to me as this proves how freakin' humid it was even with only a 1.55 run.

Coming out of the swim.  I don't know if I am starting to look like I've got swimmer's body or I just need to slim down my arms/chest.  Either way, doesn't everyone look stupid in a swim cap?

 Heading out on the second run.  Look at the focus.  Or, I'm saying, "where the heck is everybody?"

And the finally, quite possibly the coolest finisher picture of all time.  The time is irrelevant as it was from the start of the first age group wave and I was in one of the last waves.  But how cool to have the finish line all to myself, waving my flag, with my hands up in victory?!

Aquathlon World Championship 2016

Err.  Umm.  Errrrrrrrr. 

How do I even write this post?

Ten months of training.  Forty-five minutes of racing.  And now the biggest race of my life is behind me.

Mexico is hot.  Maybe I should say, Mexico is humid A.F.!!!!  I had trained for it (sauna, overdressed, general summer training), but seriously it was humid.  Between checking in to transition and the start of my race was about three hours.  By the time I started I was sweating like I was running a marathon.  I had sweat rolling down my back and the front of my uniform was completely soaked.  Thank goodness there was going to be a dip in the ocean in the middle of the race.

Let's get started.  My wave started at 9:50am and had two other age groups in it, 40-44 and 45-50.  In total there were somewhere between 50-100 ladies starting together.  I lined up somewhere in the middle and tried to not get nervous about what was about to happen.  The gun went off and it was time to move.  The race was all inside a park inside of a marina and there were lots of turns.  The first turn was within the first 100 meters and then the first water stop was 100 meters from that turn.  I lined up to take the turn on the tangent and then skip the first water stop.  I mean, who needs a water stop 200 meters into a 2.5k race?  Well, the chick in front of me, that's who.  She came flying from the right side, cutting in front of me to grab the bag of water (yep, BAG of water) and I pushed her out of the way.  Sorry chick.  You don't need water that close to the start of the race.

I stayed in the pack for most of the first run, probably running into transition in the top 10 of my age group.  Transition was quick, shoes and socks off, grab cap and goggles and I was off.  It was long run down to the dock and I took it a little easy to get my heart rate down.  And then I did the most graceful thing ever - I jumped like an 8 year old boy into the water.  The previous day at the swim practice I dove into the water and my goggles came off and filled with water.  I wasn't going to risk that during the race, so I just jumped and immediately started swimming.  I doubt I even lost a second and my goggles stayed put. 

I thought I had a great swim.  For me it was a great swim.  I swam confidently and strong.  My line probably sucked, but with the water being so clear I just looked for other competitors and swam toward them.  The whole backside of the swim I had a girl tapping my feet.  The whole damn way!!!  At one point I told her not so politely to GET OFF!!!  Then in the last couple hundred yards I was able to get on feet myself and swim in the draft.  That NEVER happens to me.  It was the fastest swim I have ever done in open water and yet, it was a solid two minutes slower than most of the competitive girls.  I've come leaps and bounds this year with my swimming but I still have a long way to go.

The water was so beautiful and clear.  There were fish and corral and I really tried to concentrate on my race.  I saw those things the day prior in the practice swim and while I was snorkeling earlier in the week.  But the coolest thing was that there were scuba divers at each turn pointing you in the correct direction.  I couldn't help but smile and wave to the first one.  So neat.

Anyway, I was out of the water and running up the dock into the second transition.  Cap and goggles off, shoes and race number on.  I had decided to do the second run with no socks, which I had never practiced.  I didn't want to waste time putting on socks and it was only for a mile and a half.  Who cares if my feet got ripped up.  But, I struggled with the stupid tongue on my right shoe in transition and in my head I'm screaming, WHO CARES!  GET MOVING!!!  And so I did.  But I was in no-man's land.  As much as I could run with those chicks, I fell behind them in the swim and there was no longer anyone to catch.  Well, I did catch about 5 girls during the run but only one was in my age group and all the others were from the previous wave.  I thought I was running well, but I was a solid minute and a half slower than the first run.  I kept running, though, and as I made the last turn onto the finishing chute, my team manager handed me an American flag and I got to have my own personal victorious moment at the finish line. 

In the end I finished 17th in my age group.  Top 20 at the World Championships?  I'll take it.  And I went from the 10th American to qualify in my age group to finishing as the fourth American in my age group.  I race confidently and without fear.  To me that's a victory.  But I have to admit, I'd like another crack at the race.  I believe I can do better.  Unfortunately, I can't go to the 2017 world championships as I already have vacation plans paid for during the championship.  But coach and I have already devised a plan to get to the 2018 race.  I'm ready for revenge!!!

Pajama Jog 5K 2016

Oh hi!

Last weekend we traveled to Colorado for Dave's big race - Pikes Peak Marathon.  Oh yes he did.  And hopefully he'll write about it here soon.  (I think I said the same thing about the Myrtle Beach Marathon he ran in March.)  While we were there I did a small race, the Pajama Jog 5K in Denver.  Secretly I had hopes of winning this race as it was super small, but damn!  Elevation is no joke!

That's me with the blue shirt and white sunglasses, on the left.

I started out great, hanging with another woman, leading the way.  It felt forced but okay.  And then I looked at my watch.  Man!  Sometimes I hate that Garmin.  Next time I'm racing without it.  It said I was doing 6:38s and I knew I couldn't sustain that with the elevation so I dropped back.  Then I was in no-man's land.  No one in front of me; no one behind me.  The race wasn't exactly marked well.  I came to an intersection where I had no idea where to go.  I stopped (and stopped my watch in the process, WTF Meredith!) and turned back to the closest competitor and asked where to go.  We took a turn, hoping it was correct, and kept running.  I was getting closer to the lead female but my pace was slowing.  I was tired, my legs were cranky, and I couldn't get a breath in.  Is this race over yet?  The last part took us past a million (only slightly exaggerating) geese.  Ugh!  I hate geese.  

I finished second female in 23:17.  Not a great time, but you can't argue with second place.  Too bad I couldn't win the sucker.  The winner got a tent, some socks, and a gift certificate to a brewery.

Next race: Aquathlon World Championships!!!

Colorado.  Check, check!

Official Pictures from Run for the Rainbow

I must have done a good job at hiding because I found several pictures of just my head or half my head.  I do, however, have two finisher pictures from the Run for the Rainbow.  Want to see what death looks like?

We'll start with the 'alright' picture.

I don't know why I care that I was stopping my watch since I had muffed it up at the beginning and it wasn't accurate anyway.

And now for the 'oh my gosh' picture.

This was, I think, the first time I have ever run a race without a shirt and it very well may be my last.  I am the smallest weight I've been since I've had my son, but no matter what I do I'm still going to look a little on the chubby side.  Look, I'm 5'1".  There's not a whole lot of room for anything.  On top of that I'm extremely short wasted so no matter what I do I look a little on the chubby side.  I'm as fit as I've ever been but I'm never going to look like an elite athlete.

Run for the Rainbow 5K 2016

I went to work on Friday morning and my coworker said, "you running the race tonight?"  Why, yes.  I am.  Game on, Eric.  Game on!

I showed up to the race plenty early.  Dave and Anderson were able to enjoy all the festivities - the race benefited Nationwide Children's Hospital so there was a small petting zoo, free food and goodies, face painting, balloons, etc.  Heaven for a three year old.  I checked in, went to the bathroom one thousand times, and warmed up.  It was a hot one, but the warm up went great and I thought I would be having a good race.  Just a few minutes before the start of the race I went off to a side street to do a few more pickups and then I looked over and the race had started. 

WTF?!?  It was still six minutes until the start of the race!

Who starts a race early?!?

So I took off like a bat out of hell to try to get around everyone and hit the first mile mark in a 6:49.  Now, I should be able to hold that pace but immediately I felt like the monkey jumped on my back.  I felt terrible.  My heart was jumping out of my throat and my legs would not go.  I slowed down and just tried to hold on.  And then I did something unbelievable in a 5K - I walked a water stop.  Yep.  I took in the water, got my stuff back together, and took off again.  Unfortunately, my legs still wouldn't go and I did all I could to get to the finish line.

My finish time was 22:12.  Not bad, but certainly not what I was thinking I would do.  I finished fourth female and first in my age group.  And my friend Eric?  Just 20 seconds back.  Woah. 

And I enjoyed the festivities too.  I got some ice cream and then watched my son man-handle some baby chicks.

 Eric, myself, and his sister.

Official race pictures are supposed to be posted soon.  Hopefully there'll be at least one where I don't look like how I was feeling - death.

Columbus 10K Finish Line Pictures

 As hard as I ran, I deserve to look a little bit like death at the finish line.  Seriously.  Death.

But look at those guns?!  Swimming does a body good!

Columbus 10K 2016

Our weekend was busy.  Dave was out of town running a relay race in Maryland, so I was on my own with the kiddo and dog.  My parents helped out as I had to work on Friday night and Saturday morning, then my sister had a family dinner on Saturday night, and then I made the decision to stay with my parents on Saturday night so I wouldn't interrupt everyone to go run my race on Sunday morning.

That was a dumb decision.

Anderson and I shared a bed, which would have been fine, except he was still awake at midnight and my alarm was set for 6:00.  On top of that, our dog was sleeping in bed with us, which is normal, but she kept hopping off the bed any time I got up and she wanted out at 1:00am.  And finally, my parents' dog, in his crate downstairs, barked all night long.  Needless to say, I did not feel rested and ready to go when I got up in the morning.  AND, everyone in the house was awake and downstairs when I left for the race at 6:45.

It poured down rain as I drove downtown and continued to rain right up until just a few minutes before race time.  I wore a hat because of the rain, which was a total mistake as the humidity was like 1 billion percent and the hat was hot, hot, HOT!!!  My warmup kind of sucked, but I was gonna run it and run it hard. 

And I did.  I started out a little too fast, but held on and ran hard until the end.  The race was highly competitive.  I did my best to hang on and race anyone down I could.  The course was honest with rolls and turns.

My final time was a 45:35, which is a 5 second PR and a 7:20 pace.  I finished 5th in my age group and even picked up a little award.

I have been working really hard on my speed and endurance this year.  It's great to see it paying off.  And I hate to admit it, I'm really loving these short, fast races.  Plus, a new PR after 15 years of running?  Icing on the cake.

New Moon Quarter Marathon 2016

Y'all?!?!?  I am having one heck of a racing season!

Saturday I ran the New Moon Quarter Marathon.  I had no specific plans or thoughts for this race, expect go out conservatively and finish strong.  Oh, and my fellow life guarding friends were running it with me so of course I wanted to beat them.

Between the long drive there, parking forever away, picking up my packet, and using the bathroom, I had less than 10 minutes to warm up.  I took a stroll around the block and did some pickups.  Everything felt great.  It was going to be a good day.

I started out what I felt was comfortably.  Dave said the look on my face would disagree with this statement.  However, I was able to have a conversation with him and everyone around me early in the race.  At the first turn, the girl in front of me, who was running the half marathon, got a bike escort for first place so I knew I was cruising and doing well.

Mile 1 - 7:36
Mile 2 - 7:40

This is where I saw Dave and he told me I was in 4th place. 

Mile 3 - 7:29

I passed the lead half marathon female going up a hill here.  I saw Dave somewhere again in here and he told me I was in third.  Actually I was in third the whole time since he didn't know the girl initially in front of me was doing the half marathon.  I was now hunting down the girl in second.  I was FLYING and felt great.

Mile 4 - 7:19
Mile 5 - 7:13

I caught the second place girl in the sixth mile and was now within sight of the first place girl.  I wanted her bad.

Mile 6 - 7:31

I chased and chased in the last half mile (0.69 miles according to my Garmin).  I was now going full-on and basically sprinting.  I was putting everything I had into it.

Last 0.55 (0.69 Garmin) - 6:45 pace

 

I did not cross the finish line first.  She was right ahead of me.  But she started in the corral ahead of me and each corral was held for 30 seconds, so in the official results I won.

I FREAKIN' WON!!!!

Wouldn't you know, there were no awards for this race?  What the heck?  But, my medal does glow in the dark which is really cool. 

Oh, and I beat my friends from the Y.

Pinwheel 5K 2016

Where have I been?  On vacation.  And what's a vacation without a race?!  I have been to Florida more times than I can count and yet, I have not run a race there.  This year we finally figured it out.  We traveled Friday to Friday and were able to pick up a race nearby on Saturday. 

The Pinwheel 5K was a smallish race at a beautiful rowing facility in Sarasota.  The two things I love: rowing and running.  I was in heaven.  The weather was sunny and not so hot, which made for great racing. 

There's not much to say about a 5K.  I went out hard and held on for a dear life.  Actually, I felt pretty good for about 75% of this race.  At the turn around I was able to count and see that I was in 5th.  Dave was right behind me and my dad also let me know my position.  I quickly caught 4th place and then spent a mile-ish hunting down 3rd place.  I really felt like I was on the hunt the whole time and felt great.  Until I caught everyone I could and then it was everything I could do not to get caught.  Each time we had a turn I looked to see my position.  It was close but I was able to hold on to third.

This is the second time I have placed in the top three at a race and also the second time there were no awards for top three - only first place.  And I wish I could have caught that girl.  First place got a $100 gift card to a local running store.  That's a heck of a lot towards a new pair of shoes! 

Anyway, I did win my age group.  My final time was 22:09 which is a 7:0-something pace.

It was a good day for Dave and my dad.  They both took home 1st in their age groups too.

I'm starting to like the 5K.  Don't get me wrong.  It sucks.  It's hard and painful, but at least it's over quickly.  I hope to race some more soon.

Pictures from vacation coming soon!

Bojangles 5K 2016

This past weekend was really all about the husband.  He ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon and I hope to post some pictures and thoughts about his race another time.  But, I was lucky enough to jump into a 5K, check off a new state, and pick up some hardware.

This was a night race.  I figured since it was around a shopping/entertainment center (Broadway at the Beach) it would be well lit.  It was, sort of.  There were definitely places that were DARK, but the lights from cars helped a lot.  I never felt unsure of my footing, but waiting all day to run a race and then doing it in the dark is not exactly my favorite way to race.

I started off what I felt was conservatively.  The legs were moving, breathing seemed okay, and the pace was right - 7:06 first mile.  And then things seemed to get tough instead of faster.  My arms were hurting.  My breathing was fast and labored.  Gosh, I hate the 5K!  The second mile was 7:24.  Come on, Mer!  You're supposed to be able to run this in the 6:00s!  The third mile I played all kinds of mind games - 10 steps of surges, 10 steps of backing off - whatever I could do to get to that damn finish line.  Finally I was there and got caught in quite possibly the best worst finishers photo of all time.

Regardless of what I would deem as a poor race, I finished second in my age group out of 67 and walked away with a cool glass plaque.

Two days after this race I had a temperature over 101 and it has continued for a few days.  Obviously I was catching something which may have affected my race.  There is another 5K in about 4 weeks.  Redemption!

Broke Man's Winter Warmup 7 Miler

I ran a race.  Finally.  Remember back in the day when I used to run 12-18 races a year?  Me too.  I miss that.  I asked Coach a while ago if I could run a race and she agreed.  Yahoo!!!  So I signed up for the Broke Man's Winter Warmup.  Broke Man's is a new racing company in town that touts no-frills races - no shirt, no timing chips, and a cheap price.  Dude, I'm down for that.

This is only the second race put on by this group and there are certainly some organizational things that need sorted out.  I got there a good 40-45 minutes before the start of the race and was surprised to find a very long line for packet pickup.  I was confused.  If this is a no-frills race why is there even a packet?  Shouldn't I just be picking up a number.  Once I got closer to the start of the line I figured it out.  There were no numbers.  You were given a wristband with a number on it and then you had to sign in with your number.  Are those wristbands any cheaper than non-race-specific numbers?  I'll come back to this in a bit.

The race started at COSI (center of science and industry), which allowed us to have indoor bathrooms.  Problem is, the line was literally like 70 people deep for those toilets.  I sacrificed my hiney in the 25 degree temperatures and used the port-a-johns outside.  A short warmup was done and we were lined up to start. 

The race had three different distances - 3.5 miles, 7 miles, and half marathon.  I opted for the 7 miler.  I'm not quite where I want to be for a "sprint" like a 3.5 miler and it was too cold to get moving that fast.  The course was a 3.5 mile loop.  We did the loop twice.  The half marathoners also did the loop twice with a spur on the second loop (more on that in a bit too).

I started off a bit quick and immediately my chest was burning with reflux (there's been a lot of stress in my world - more on that in a few days).  I wasn't feeling good but I was right behind some high school girls so I felt like I was doing okay.  I got a new Garmin - the 225 - which has wrist-based heart rate, so my Garmin was buried under a layer of clothes.  I was running this race by feel; exactly what I'd prefer.  At one point I got a little ahead of the high school girls but they quickly took over going up a hill and I never got hold of them again.  For the first few miles I was not enjoying myself.  My head even told me, "self, just stop at the end of the first loop".  But when I got to the end of the first loop I was feeling good and confident.  I kept going.  I had some people to chase and I could feel my competition behind me catching me.

Late in the race I got hot and was able to take my mittens off.  I glanced at my watch and saw I was running a very even pace, although not as quickly as I had hoped.  It was surprising to me, then, that in the 6th mile I was caught by at least four women.  But here's where things got weird.  At one point there was a hard right turn.  At that turn there were two signs - one said first loop, the other said second loop with two arrows, one for the 7 miler and one for the half marathon.  The half marathon was to go straight to the spur and the 7 miler was to turn right back to the start/finish line.  I had already hit 6 miles on my garmin.  It made sense to me to turn right and finish the race.  So I was shocked to see so many people go straight who I knew were in the 7 miler.  The girl who was right in front of me turned to me and said, "you're doing the 7 miler, right" and I said yes and we both took the turn.  Personally, I didn't think it was confusing but after reading all the comments on Facebook this week, I guess it was.  Frankly, a volunteer costs nothing.  There should have been a volunteer there.

The last part of the race had two 180 degree turns up a hill to the last sprint.  I was able to catch one of the girls who had passed me late in the race, but go smoked by another one. 

But it really didn't matter.   Remember how I said we had no numbers.  At the finish they gave you a homemade medal (that's okay with me) and then nothing.  There were no timing chips and no one took your name and number so therefore, there was no placement.  I don't know if I won, finished last, or what my age group looked like.  Frankly, this was a paid training run. 

I have two things I'd like to see improved with this race.  One, I'd like to see placement.  That's what makes it a RACE!  Even if we only have wristbands for numbers, get our number and name at the finish line and actually put together a document with finish results.  You already have the website; it's not costing you anything to add a document to it.  Secondly, I know to keep costs down this is not a certified course.  And I'm cool with that.  However, from my own race and others' accounts on Facebook, the distance was off, WAY off.  I got 7.39 miles and I didn't screw up the turn.  The trail wasn't that wide; I could not have screwed up the tangents that badly.

The price was right but it wasn't a race.  I was pleased with my performance, but I hope to get a lot faster in the next couple of months.

Thanks For Giving 4 Miler 2015

I had no business doing this race.  I have been battling a terrible cold for the better part of a week and was still quite congested with a bad cough yesterday morning.  I was already signed up, though, and I thought it would be okay.

Hail, Hail, the gang's all here!  Dave, me, Anderson, my sister, two of my nieces, a nephew, my mom and dad, and some of my sister's friends and their kids.

The day started with the Drumstick Dash, a kids race, where my youngest niece and nephew and Anderson ran.  I should say, we carried Anderson for most of the race until the crowd was out of the way and then he decided he wanted to run over the finish line all by himself.  He got a medal with a turkey on it.  He's way cool.

Our race was a four miler that wound through the neighborhoods, had many turns, and did some of the race on the bike paths.  It was definitely not a PR course but I did get to see part of New Albany that I've never seen before.  Of course, you've seen one Georgian house, you've seen them all.  (Google New Albany, OH and you'll know what I'm talking about.)

The first mile I went out at a pace I thought I might be able to sustain for the race, even being sick.  But I quickly realized that I was still way sick and should not be running this hard or even running at all.  By the second mile I was toast and needed to stop and cough.  At this point, Dave passed me, asking me if I was okay.  I got running again and stayed right behind him.  I was on the cusp of passing him at mile 3 when I needed to cough again.  This time I thought I might lose a lung.  Seriously.  The last mile was another coughing mess.  I finished the race in 32:05, just a few seconds behind Dave and a few second faster than my oldest niece.  Even with what I consider a poor performance, I finished fourth in my age group just narrowly missing getting a full-sized pumpkin pie.  (That's alright.  I don't like pumpkin pie anyway.)

So here's what so cool about this race.  This race started a few years ago when a few neighbors got together to enjoy a run before Thanksgiving.  Then they started doing it in conjunction with donating money towards services that would provide meals for others.  This year was the first "official" year of the race and it was 100% donation/charity.  You could pay a little; you could pay a lot.  You could pay nothing.  ALL money raised was given to charity.  The shirts and other goodies were donated by local businesses.  Now, I'm not one who runs charity races for the cause (I like to race to race), but this is a good cause and model I support and will do again.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.