You might have guessed it, but I'm a little behind on my race recaps. I have still been running my one (or more) races a month, but I just haven't sat down and written all of it down. I'm trying to catch up with the races now that our move and vacation are over, so just bare with me - I'll be flooding the blog with race recaps.
The Patriot Half Marathon took place on Memorial Day 2012 and was my third ever half marathon. All I can say is, I love this distance! The half marathon distance is the furthest I have ever run; I wonder if I will like the full marathon distance as much?
This race in particular was H-O-T! Luckily there was some cloud cover so that it wasn't too incredibly unbearable, but it was pretty toasty. And there were hills. And I had to run up them - it felt like in both directions (it was a keyhole course I believe). The course started at the high school football stadium. Which was seriously nice because there was lots of room for vendors, parking, and my absolute favorite: REAL bathrooms and not port a potties. Oh how I loathe port a potties!
I went to the bathroom about 30 minutes before the start, and headed down next to the start line to watch the start of the 1 mile kids fun run. They announced that the half marathon would be starting in two minutes. And I immediately had to pee again. I didn't think that there would be time to go back up to the stadium and back to the starting line before the actual start of the race, so I just held it. Running 13.1 miles while having to pee sucked big time. I really should have just gone, but, I REALLY hate port a potties and my pace was AWESOME so I didn't want to stop and use the port a potties they had set up along the race course. I think next race, I really need to wait until the last minute to use the bathroom and not go so early. Anyway, that's enough about my having to pee :)
Like I mentioned earlier, I had an awesome pace. For me anyways. I kept about an 11 - 12:30 minute mile pace for the race. My last half marathon's average pace was 13:15. This time, I didn't even dip into the 13 minute mile pace once. How cool is that?? As I also mentioned, it was pretty darn hot. I'm talking in the 80's around the start of the race. Or at least close to. Plus humidity. For the half marathon, they had 15 water stations. I took water at each station just because I was worried about dehydration due to the high temps. They also provided towels dipped in water to wash your face off or put on the back of your neck. That made a huge difference in my body's core temperature. They were supposed to have gels at mile 7, but I didn't see any of those. Luckily, I had crammed about 4 gels in my SPIbelt and was able to just use my own gels for the race.
Another cool feature was pace groups. They had a nice range of pace groups as well. I started out with the 2 hour pace group (knowing that I would not be able to keep up), and was passed by the 2:30 pace group. But guess what? I was NOT passed by the 2:45 group. My goal was to finish this race around 2:45. I did 2:38:55. How AWESOME is that???? This is yet another PR for me and I could not be happier. I'm already signed up for my next half marthon - The Hottest Half in August. The heat will definitely be a challenge at this race and I am trying to mentally and physically prepare for it by running outside more and more. Actually completely since I no longer have a gym membership. For that race, I'm hoping to be around 2:35 for a race completion. I'm thinking the heat (and my general lack of running the last three weeks) will affect my time, but we'll see. I love racing! In fact, I already signed up for the 2013 Patriot Half Marathon for next Memorial Day. I hope next year I can totally rock that race and manage a much better time. Each race shows a slight improvement. Can't wait to see how far I've come next year!!
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Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Monday, July 2, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Race Recap: Run Like A Mother 5k
You might have guessed it, but I'm a little behind on my race recaps. I have still been running my one (or more) races a month, but I just haven't sat down and written all of it down. I'm trying to catch up this week now that our move is over, so just bare with me - I'll be flooding the blog with race recaps.
The Run Like A Mother 5k was a Mother's Day race. I ran it with my Mom and it was her first official race where she got a race bib number and a timing chip. My mom is awesome - she runs 5 miles a day pretty much every day. She is genetically tall and super model skinny (Why oh why did I miss out on this gene???), but has some cholesterol (or maybe it's blood pressure??) issues that cause her to exercise to keep it in check. That and she just likes to exercise and be physically fit. I keep trying to talk her into doing a half marathon with me, but she keeps saying she doesn't know if she can do it. I think she can. We'll see who wins :)
The day before the race, my mom, Danny, and I headed out to Run On to pick up our race packets. And were pleasantly surprised. In addition to the normal t-shirt, we got a super cute bag with the "Run Like A Mother" logo on it. It's a nice bag - big and roomy - and is made of a plastic-y material so it wipes up clean easy. You know - perfect for a mom who is constantly on the go and carrying 18 bajillion toys, sippy cups, sunscreen, matchbox cars, crayons and coloring books in her bag. I use the bag on a regular basis now and absolutely love it. I also wear the shirt quite a bit too. I was a little bummed about the shirt - only because I ordered an X-Large thinking it would be a woman's sized t-shirt and thus more form fitting; however it's pretty loose and I easily could have worn the large. It's still nice, just next year I will have to remember to get the Large instead. My Mom ordered the right size and hers is adorable. I just love the Run Like A Mother logo. That's actually why I wanted to do the race.
The day of the race, my mom and I got up early and drove down to Dallas for the race. We got there with time to spare, so we got to talk and hang out before the race started; which was nice because usually when my mom comes to visit we busy with my kiddos (who had stayed home with Daddy and were meeting us post-race for mother's day festivities). The day before our race, I had ran 10 miles, so my legs were still a little tired, but nothing major. I felt pretty good and ready to run. They had a 1 mile kid's dash before the 5k and oh man! Those kids were FLYING! I was very, very impressed with how fast those kids were going.
The time came for our race to start, so mom and I lined up in the front-middle and when the starting buzzer went off, we took off. My mom had kept telling me how slow she was, and how I should wait for her at the finish line and I kept telling her that just because I run long distances, doesn't mean I run fast. I don't think she believed me until the race was over (and she totally smoked me!). But I digress, let me talk about the race course.
The course was on the Katy Trail. It was a nice place to run and if I lived closer, I might go run there often. As it is, though, it's a good probably 45 minutes from where I am now, so I'll stick to my little running trail that I discovered at my new house. Anyway, it started out pretty flat and then there was a killer hill. And I mean KILLER. It was steep and my quads were screaming. I honestly should have walked up it and saved my energy. Like my mom did. I, though, chose to run up it and wear myself out completely. Which - hooray for me! - I did. After the hill, I slowed WAY down and couldn't get my energy level back up. I started walking and watched as my mom passed me just before the turn-around point for the out and back course. She was bookin' it!
With sweat pouring down my face, I crossed the finish line at 35:06. Which was a PR, but not really what I wanted. I think I've been doing a lot of distance running and not really focusing on speed. I should be happy with the PR, but honestly, I wanted to be somewhere a little closer to what my mom did. My mom rocked a 32:56 for her first timed race. I think that's pretty awesome!! After we crossed the finish line, we were handed roses and invited to go over to the food table - which was a pretty decent spread for a smaller race. I think my mom and I both guzzled about 3 bottles of water each post-race. It was pretty warm!
Derek was meeting us with the kids for a playground and lunch mother's day extravaganza at the park where the race started, so mom and I hung out to listen to the race winners. And guess what?? Mom came in 2nd in her age group! How sweet is that?!?!? Even sweeter, her "win" was a free entry into next years race. So I guess this is our new mother's day tradition :)
All in all, I would definitely do this race again next year. It was a fun way to celebrate being a mom and get some running in as well.
The Run Like A Mother 5k was a Mother's Day race. I ran it with my Mom and it was her first official race where she got a race bib number and a timing chip. My mom is awesome - she runs 5 miles a day pretty much every day. She is genetically tall and super model skinny (Why oh why did I miss out on this gene???), but has some cholesterol (or maybe it's blood pressure??) issues that cause her to exercise to keep it in check. That and she just likes to exercise and be physically fit. I keep trying to talk her into doing a half marathon with me, but she keeps saying she doesn't know if she can do it. I think she can. We'll see who wins :)
The day before the race, my mom, Danny, and I headed out to Run On to pick up our race packets. And were pleasantly surprised. In addition to the normal t-shirt, we got a super cute bag with the "Run Like A Mother" logo on it. It's a nice bag - big and roomy - and is made of a plastic-y material so it wipes up clean easy. You know - perfect for a mom who is constantly on the go and carrying 18 bajillion toys, sippy cups, sunscreen, matchbox cars, crayons and coloring books in her bag. I use the bag on a regular basis now and absolutely love it. I also wear the shirt quite a bit too. I was a little bummed about the shirt - only because I ordered an X-Large thinking it would be a woman's sized t-shirt and thus more form fitting; however it's pretty loose and I easily could have worn the large. It's still nice, just next year I will have to remember to get the Large instead. My Mom ordered the right size and hers is adorable. I just love the Run Like A Mother logo. That's actually why I wanted to do the race.
The day of the race, my mom and I got up early and drove down to Dallas for the race. We got there with time to spare, so we got to talk and hang out before the race started; which was nice because usually when my mom comes to visit we busy with my kiddos (who had stayed home with Daddy and were meeting us post-race for mother's day festivities). The day before our race, I had ran 10 miles, so my legs were still a little tired, but nothing major. I felt pretty good and ready to run. They had a 1 mile kid's dash before the 5k and oh man! Those kids were FLYING! I was very, very impressed with how fast those kids were going.
The time came for our race to start, so mom and I lined up in the front-middle and when the starting buzzer went off, we took off. My mom had kept telling me how slow she was, and how I should wait for her at the finish line and I kept telling her that just because I run long distances, doesn't mean I run fast. I don't think she believed me until the race was over (and she totally smoked me!). But I digress, let me talk about the race course.
The course was on the Katy Trail. It was a nice place to run and if I lived closer, I might go run there often. As it is, though, it's a good probably 45 minutes from where I am now, so I'll stick to my little running trail that I discovered at my new house. Anyway, it started out pretty flat and then there was a killer hill. And I mean KILLER. It was steep and my quads were screaming. I honestly should have walked up it and saved my energy. Like my mom did. I, though, chose to run up it and wear myself out completely. Which - hooray for me! - I did. After the hill, I slowed WAY down and couldn't get my energy level back up. I started walking and watched as my mom passed me just before the turn-around point for the out and back course. She was bookin' it!
With sweat pouring down my face, I crossed the finish line at 35:06. Which was a PR, but not really what I wanted. I think I've been doing a lot of distance running and not really focusing on speed. I should be happy with the PR, but honestly, I wanted to be somewhere a little closer to what my mom did. My mom rocked a 32:56 for her first timed race. I think that's pretty awesome!! After we crossed the finish line, we were handed roses and invited to go over to the food table - which was a pretty decent spread for a smaller race. I think my mom and I both guzzled about 3 bottles of water each post-race. It was pretty warm!
Derek was meeting us with the kids for a playground and lunch mother's day extravaganza at the park where the race started, so mom and I hung out to listen to the race winners. And guess what?? Mom came in 2nd in her age group! How sweet is that?!?!? Even sweeter, her "win" was a free entry into next years race. So I guess this is our new mother's day tradition :)
All in all, I would definitely do this race again next year. It was a fun way to celebrate being a mom and get some running in as well.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon Recap
Let me just start this post off by saying, YES, you can in fact complete a triathlon by doggie paddling in the swimming portion. You'll go really slow, but you can do it. And it doesn't matter your shape or size - or age for that matter - triathlons are for everyone! Here's a pic of me and my Dad after we finished our first ever indoor triathlon! Sorry it's a little blurry.
We made it to Lifetime Fitness out in Allen, TX right at 8:15 or so, which was perfect for our wave start of 8:40. My Dad and I were awestruck by the enormity of the Lifetime Fitness. For real - this place could have it's own zip code! It had a salon, three or four class/yoga type studios, an AMAZING spin room, a juice bar/restaurant, an outdoor pool complete with an awesome looking slide, and an indoor pool that I think was Olympic sized. And that's just what I saw as we breezed through. Seriously, if I didn't already belong to a gym, I would join this one. And no, they are not paying me to say that ; )
Instead of a race t-shirt, they gave our swim caps and running hats - "if you wanted them." I pocketed my running hat, and threw my swimming cap on for the first leg of the triathlon: swimming. This was the portion of the race that I was dreading. Mainly because I hadn't swam in over a year, and my swimming "skills" are somewhat lacking. I remember taking swim lessons where I learned all the fancy moves, but I was a little fuzzy on the details. I'm more of a doggy paddle/tread water type of gal. My Dad thought the swimming would be easy since he goes to the pool for 30 - 40 minutes at a time when he goes. Turns out, I was right - swimming is HARD! We had to swim laps for 10 minutes and a lady at the end of the pool counted our laps. I did 12. My Dad did 11. The guy next to us did 24. I was in awe. My Dad decided that when he goes to the pool he is probably more like me: a water treader.
After the swimming, we had five minutes to change and meet in the spin room. I'm horrible with time and am always late. So I was worried that I was going to be late. I changed out of my swim suit in record speed. And tried to put on my sports bra. While I was still wet. I ended up with it stuck in a very awkward position and totally wrenched my back. It was awesome. And I was the first person to make it to the spin studio :)
The spinning went by pretty fast. It was 30 minutes of spinning on those super uncomfortable spin bikes. But I made it a little over 13 miles in the 30 minutes. For some reason, I thought I would go further than that, but oh well. That's what I did! Running was next, and I busted out 1.88 miles in 20 minutes. I was pretty proud of that. I'm a slow runner and I was super happy with my fast-ish run. My Dad did a little over 12 miles on the bike and 1.5 miles on the treadmill. My Dad rocks! I'm so proud of him for his race accomplishments this past year. And myself for that matter. Getting fit and healthy is sometimes such a challenge. But when I can push myself that little bit further and test my own limitations and endurance and will power, it makes it all worth it.
We made it to Lifetime Fitness out in Allen, TX right at 8:15 or so, which was perfect for our wave start of 8:40. My Dad and I were awestruck by the enormity of the Lifetime Fitness. For real - this place could have it's own zip code! It had a salon, three or four class/yoga type studios, an AMAZING spin room, a juice bar/restaurant, an outdoor pool complete with an awesome looking slide, and an indoor pool that I think was Olympic sized. And that's just what I saw as we breezed through. Seriously, if I didn't already belong to a gym, I would join this one. And no, they are not paying me to say that ; )
Instead of a race t-shirt, they gave our swim caps and running hats - "if you wanted them." I pocketed my running hat, and threw my swimming cap on for the first leg of the triathlon: swimming. This was the portion of the race that I was dreading. Mainly because I hadn't swam in over a year, and my swimming "skills" are somewhat lacking. I remember taking swim lessons where I learned all the fancy moves, but I was a little fuzzy on the details. I'm more of a doggy paddle/tread water type of gal. My Dad thought the swimming would be easy since he goes to the pool for 30 - 40 minutes at a time when he goes. Turns out, I was right - swimming is HARD! We had to swim laps for 10 minutes and a lady at the end of the pool counted our laps. I did 12. My Dad did 11. The guy next to us did 24. I was in awe. My Dad decided that when he goes to the pool he is probably more like me: a water treader.
After the swimming, we had five minutes to change and meet in the spin room. I'm horrible with time and am always late. So I was worried that I was going to be late. I changed out of my swim suit in record speed. And tried to put on my sports bra. While I was still wet. I ended up with it stuck in a very awkward position and totally wrenched my back. It was awesome. And I was the first person to make it to the spin studio :)
The spinning went by pretty fast. It was 30 minutes of spinning on those super uncomfortable spin bikes. But I made it a little over 13 miles in the 30 minutes. For some reason, I thought I would go further than that, but oh well. That's what I did! Running was next, and I busted out 1.88 miles in 20 minutes. I was pretty proud of that. I'm a slow runner and I was super happy with my fast-ish run. My Dad did a little over 12 miles on the bike and 1.5 miles on the treadmill. My Dad rocks! I'm so proud of him for his race accomplishments this past year. And myself for that matter. Getting fit and healthy is sometimes such a challenge. But when I can push myself that little bit further and test my own limitations and endurance and will power, it makes it all worth it.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sink or Swim!
Triathlon day is here! I got up early thinking my Dad (who thinks getting up at 4am is a "normal" time to get up) would be up, but he's still fast asleep. So, I of course decided to blog a bit. I can't wait to see how this triathlon goes and if I'll be a convert. We were joking around last night and I said I was going to be a 'triathlete' and my husband said, "Your going to try to be an athlete??" Which I thought was pretty funny. But maybe that's just me because that's what I feel like sometimes. Like I'm really trying to be athletic. Before I took up running, I would never have thought of myself as an athlete. But now.....am I a runner? An athlete? I don't know. I just know it feels fantastic when I run and I'm training for my third half marathon in one year. That just sounds crazy to think that my first half marathon ever was only last year, and now I have set a lofty goal of completing a full marathon in December and possibly doing a sprint (outdoor) triathlon sometime this summer. I feel athletic...so maybe I am!
I still haven't cut up my veggies for my breakfast salads, so I decided to try something that Monica over at RunEatRepeat makes. And OMG! Now I know why she eats it so much. It's so incredibly good!! Here is what I did:
I still haven't cut up my veggies for my breakfast salads, so I decided to try something that Monica over at RunEatRepeat makes. And OMG! Now I know why she eats it so much. It's so incredibly good!! Here is what I did:
- Warm up a 1/2 cup of pumpkin in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
- Add a little Splenda to your taste.
- Add pumpkin pie spice and vanilla (I just shook some in; didn't measure)
- Add some granola (I did a 1/4 cup of vanilla almond)
- Throw on some Chia seeds (which are actually pretty good - a little expensive - but pretty good)
- And the best ingredient: 1 tablespoon of creamy peanut butter
- Mix it all up and enjoy. You'll thank me!
It kept me full until about 1:30 pm when I ate it at 8:30 am yesterday. I'm doing it again today for race day. It's a little high in points, but it was so good and filling, that I'm going back for more. Now I better go get ready for that race!
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