race report

Race Report: Midnight Sun Midnight Run 5K 2016

Official Results:
Time: 30:02 (-4:19 from last year)
Pace: 9:40
Placing:
Overall: 226/551
Division (F30-39): 20/69 (I think. There are some people listed without ages as well as some unidentified runners on there, so I could be lower.)

Watch Results:
Time: 30:06
Pace: 9:37
Distance: 3.13 mi
Heart Rate: 183 bpm

Goals:
A: 29:59
B: 30:30

Food:
What I ate the night before for lunch: Thai peanut pasta and tabbouleh
What I ate on race morning for dinner: Small steak (bad idea) and corn
What I carried with me: nothing

Gear:
What I wore: T-shirt, shorts
Gadgets: GPS watch, fitness tracker

Discussion:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. SO CLOSE. Just 3 seconds away from a sub-30 5K. I’m disappointed, but I will survive. I think I ran a good race, and probably wasn’t in a position to run a great race.

We left the house at about 11:20, parked at a ramp on Michigan Ave, and then jogged (well, I jogged, my husband walked) over to the race start. I did about a mile warm-up in all, as we ran a small part of the course to check it out. It was much darker than I recalled. Maybe last year the moon was brighter, I don’t know. But, I warmed up! Hooray! I would have liked to do a slightly longer warm-up but realized it was 11:45 and turned around to get back in time for the start. The start seemed to take forever to come, we stood around for 10 minutes but it felt like 20. We didn’t start exactly at midnight either, and then it took awhile for us to filter through the start area. My heart rate was kind of elevated at the start (still aerobic) due to the warm-up and some slight pre-race anxiety.

Mile 1: 9:54 (180 bpm)
I was in the hole from the beginning, but it was so hard to dodge people. There weren’t pace groups, just a single sign at the front that said 7:00 pace. I think that was just a deterrent for slow people who might want to start at the front. It was very frustrating to try to dodge and weave through people while uncertain what the ground in front of me was like. There were a few small puddles and you’d think they were filled with battery acid from the horror of some participants. They were stopping, panicking, and making sudden lateral movements, just to avoid a puddle that wasn’t more than an inch deep. People were slowing to a walk (and not an intentional run-walk walk) less than half a mile in; just take 10% off your effort and you won’t have to do that, folks! I had a lot of speeding up and slowing down during this time, and it took almost half a mile to get up to goal pace, which was now too slow to make my goal. My mouth was a little dry which bothered me.

Mile 2: 9:45 (184 bpm)
Still above goal pace, argh. I really screwed myself. This did have 2 hills, but I did ok on the hills, even sometimes accelerating on them. I regretted the steak; I didn’t feel actually nauseated in my stomach, but did have kind of a gaggy feeling in my throat. I still had some dodging and weaving around people to do, which was made more difficult by the visibility. There were lighted stretches, and then unlighted stretches with enough ambient light to see, and other stretches in shadow where the ground wasn’t visible. That made it challenging for my eyes to adapt, and I wasn’t sure of my footing at times, so I had to be a bit cautious. So that caution cost me those 3 seconds… but tripping, falling, and twisting an ankle would have cost many more seconds. Right before the turnaround, the woman in front of me slowed suddenly due to an errant glow bracelet on the ground, which she said aloud that she thought was the cone. Um, thanks for stopping short right in front of me. I found anytime I was forced to slow down due to a sudden movement from someone else, it took me a bit to find my groove again, as opposed to a gentler slowdown from approaching a slower runner

Mile 3: 9:22 (186 bpm)
This mile was mostly downhill but did have one significant (for a 5K) uphill. I knew I needed to make up time, as I’d set my watch to show average pace and could see I’d been in a hole the whole race. I did have some slight cramping in my lower GI system but I knew I could power through and it would go away, either when I finished or before. It did, and I was glad I didn’t let it scare me. I was really able to get in a groove and was running much faster, but it clearly wasn’t enough. When my watch flashed for the 3rd mile, I saw I had about 55 seconds to get to the finish, and I turned on the jets, but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t know right away, though I knew it was close. I came through the chute at a sub-8 pace. Some spectator reached across to give me a high five, but they reached out so far I had to dodge around their hand. Look, I don’t mind giving high fives at the finish, but don’t hold your hand out so far it obstructs me. Let me choose if I want to touch you or not. I blew my nose into my hand about 80 times during the race so I saved the guy a snotty high-five.

My husband finished before me by about 45 seconds, and was lying in the grass (because he doesn’t know how to race without practically dying… I could use a bit of that devil-may-care attitude) and called out to me to let me know that he was there. I acknowledged him but he was also coughing and I was like dude if you’re going to be sick get away from me. He was fine, I was just being paranoid. We got some water and cookies and picked up our race shirts, then cooled down walking along the Lakewalk a bit before returning to the car. I felt fine until we got in the car and started driving, and then I started to feel a bit queasy. It passed, but gave me a moment of panic.

I am pleased with how I raced, even if I didn’t get that sub-30 I wanted. This was not a good race to try to push myself to the max, since it was fairly crowded until maybe the last kilometer or so (after passing the last of the runners still heading out), and it was pretty dark in some spots, with some sketchy footing. I probably shouldn’t have eaten steak, but it was what was for dinner. I can analyze every aspect of this race and find a million spots where I could have just changed things a little bit and I’d have made my goal, but it really doesn’t matter. I still ran a very good race, finished strong, improved my time and placing significantly, and now I know without a doubt that a sub-30 race is within my grasp. There’s still a lot of potential left in this body and mind, and I’m not even working on speed or shorter distances right now. We’ll see if I really do try to chase down the sub-30 dream again this summer; so far I haven’t found a 5K I want to run that’s cheap, convenient, and timely.

Race Report: Superior 25K

Official Results:
Time: 4:51:40
Pace: 18:47
Placing:
Overall: 258/288
Gender: 133/157
Division (OPEN F): 75/87

Watch Results:
Time: 4:51:51
Pace: 20:27
Distance: 14.26 mi
Heart Rate: 163

Goals:
A: 3:59:59
B: 4:15:00

Food:
What I ate the night before: Goldfish crackers, a banana, chunks of bread & Nutella, 2 cookies, Rice Chex
What I ate on race morning: one chunk of bread & nutella at the condo, banana after packet pickup
What I carried with me: 2 energy bars

Gear:
What I wore: cap sleeve tech t-shirt, shorts, ball cap
Gadgets: GPS watch, heart rate monitor, fitness tracker

Discussion: Oh man, this race broke me. It chewed me up and spit me out again. At times I vowed not to run the race ever again, not to run the Moose Mountain Marathon, and that I would never be capable of running something as intense as a 100 miler. The only reason I didn’t contemplate dropping out of the race is there’s only one chance to drop: the aid station at the turnaround. A few hours later and I’m probably going to sign up for a marathon before MMM in September. Ah, recovery. And shade, and a ceiling fan, and cold water and vanilla Coke. I’ve already forgotten the pain. Mostly.

I slept kinda poorly, but still got more sleep, and definitely more restful sleep, than I did for Zumbro. I woke up before 6, thanks to the sun coming through the roman shades of my east-facing condo, and I couldn’t get back to sleep due to race-day anxiety. I got out of bed around 6:30, and almost everything was ready to go. I’d laid my clothes out the night before, stocked up my baggies of food, mints, and medicines (I ended up combining the mints and pills into one baggie so that I could also carry a baggie full of sunscreen, since I didn’t have a small enough tube.)

I stayed only a mile from the race start, and my worries about parking were for nothing, there was a huge lot with plenty of space. For some reason I remember that lot being smaller for the fall races last year, when I was working the parking area, but I guess I was either wrong, or there were a lot more people last year. I am fairly certain some people slept in various RVs in the parking lot. I checked in for a second time (required for people who checked in initially on Friday) and went back to my car, since it was close to the start. I screwed around for awhile and then realized it was getting close to race time and I needed to warm up. I ran about 0.4 miles to warm up and returned just before the short pre-race briefing. I lined up near the back and tried to stay out of the background of people’s selfies.

I started the race in near-last place and clearly didn’t budge from there. The race starts out on Ski Hill Road, winds a little less than a mile down the road (which turns to gravel), and then hits the Superior Hiking Trail. It crosses the Poplar River right away, which was a nice early view. There’s a slight gentle climb before hitting the first climb, Mystery Mountain. I think that climb went all right. I can’t remember, my brain has been fried. I was overall slower than I would have liked to be, but I figured I’d have time to catch up. Mystery Mountain has a fairly gentle descent on the other side, so I bombed down that with another guy, who I am going to guess swallowed about one bug per mile during the time we were running near each other. The bugs were rather annoying; I was getting dive-bombed by flies, they were landing on the underside of the bill of my hat, and in general irritating me. They only went away when there was a breeze or I was able to run decently fast. I caught some people on the downhill. There was a short section between Mystery Mountain and Moose Mountain, and then came the steep climb up Moose Mountain. It was really starting to warm up; it had been over 60F at race start, and as the sun rose, so did the temperature.

The climb up Moose Mountain to begin the race was steep, but I was still in control. Once I crested the mountain, I encountered the first runners of the 25K on their way back. They were really zipping by. The first two guys were only a few minutes apart, and it turned out the first 4 runners finished within 5 minutes of each other. The 5th runner overall was a woman, so it was nice to see her kicking some butt out there. She took down the course record.

I started to feel like a real jerk as I realized what these speedy runners were coming up from. Once I began the descent of Moose Mountain, I realized it was steep and awful. It wasn’t runnable (for me) on the way down, which was really annoying, as I was hoping to pick up some time on the downhill like I had on Mystery Mountain. I stepped aside and let the faster runners pass, offering encouragement as the hauled themselves up the long, steep climb. When I reached the bottom I was fairly horrified I’d be suffering through that same climb in a few hours.

I was encountering 25K runners regularly after Moose Mountain, which was difficult on single track. I tried to offer encouragement and many offered the same in return. I got a little tired of stepping off the trail or skirting to the side (sometimes right into branches), but that is how the race goes. It was throwing off my rhythm, but it turned out that didn’t matter! I crossed another creek, tromped directly through some mud other people were trying to pick their way around, and began the final ascent of “the front 7.5,” if you will.

The ascent of Oberg Mountain was less challenging, as it wasn’t as steep, but I was dodging runners and less able to offer a cheerful to them during some of the steeper parts. I came across the first 50K runner during the ascent to Oberg, and he told me “great job” (or something) before I could even congratulate him. He looked incredibly strong and finished under 4 hours, 26 minutes ahead of the next guy, someone I know by sight from running around Duluth. I saw maybe 4 50K runners before I got to the turnaround; I’d been hoping to avoid seeing any, but I realize that was pretty silly, considering even my initial time goals.

I thought I heard the aid station coming up, but it turned out it was a small pack of people with cowbells out to cheer us up over the top of Oberg Mountain. It was great to see them and get a nice pick-me-up, they were really lively. I did tease them that I thought they were the aid station and was a little bummed out. I also didn’t realize that the aid station isn’t on the top of the mountain. I don’t know why it would be, because that is stupid, you can’t drive to the top of these places. It meant another descent (fine) followed by another ascent (not fine).

The Oberg Aid Station people were totally amazing. There were people directing traffic, another guy greeted me with a pitcher of water to refill my bottle (I dumped the remaining contents of my water bottle on myself, soaking my hat and hair, before refilling), another guy put ice in my sports drink bottle himself and then handed me some cubes that I stuffed into my sports bra. I don’t remember where I read to do that, but whatever race report or blog I saw it on, I’m grateful, it came in handy. They had sunscreen at the aid station and I slathered up again, ate a couple of pretzels, and left.

The pretzels didn’t sit too well, so I had to back off the ascent out of the aid station. The banana I’d had for breakfast hadn’t been sitting well in my stomach for the whole race. It wasn’t disastrous, but I was burping banana and overall feeling a little yucky. The cold water and cold sports drink felt so good, I drank a little too much and started feeling full and nauseated. This was a very bad sign. I slowed down, even on the descent down Oberg, to let my stomach settle.

Then I hit the Moose Mountain climb, and that’s where the race fell apart. I felt so awful and sick climbing it. The only saving grace was it was in the shade; if it had been in the sun I’d have needed to crawl up. It took forever, and I finally took to stopping to let my heart rate go down and my nausea abate. I just felt so terrible. This happened the rest of the race: my stomach felt full, and then every time it settled, I would take another drink of water/Powerade and feel gross again. Most people would probably just puke and rally, but I am too much of a wimp for that. Another woman climbing behind me was shouting encouragement (how? she was climbing too!), which was so nice to hear. I cheered when I reached the top. I was surprised that I was able to do a little bit of running after a bit, but I was still mostly walking/hiking.

On the descent of Moose Mountain, I encountered a 50K runner, which wouldn’t have been unusual except that he’d already passed me. He’d run out of water and his body had just quit on him. Another 50K runner came across him at the same time I did and gave this guy his spare water bottle. Trail people are the best. I made it down Moose Mountain but I was in fairly rough shape at that point and had no interest in running. I knew there was one more ascent coming, but I thought it would be a bit easier.

Mystery Mountain was another disaster. It’s not as steep as Moose Mountain, but it goes on forever, and it’s in partial sun. (Maybe later on in the year, like, say, September, it is more shaded, once the trees have leaves, but the bare branches were offering no respite.) I encountered that poor guy with no water once again, and he had to get some more water from the woman behind me (same one cheering me up the Moose Mountain) to continue. I ran into two other 50K runners who needed water and I was able to share some. None of us accounted for the heat, but most runners were still prepared with hydration packs or handhelds. Some people either had nothing or had a single water bottle and had lost that gamble. I don’t get it. Maybe if I was fast I would, but running out of water on a hot day would have been terrible. The final aid station for the 50K (Oberg) is almost 8 miles from the finish. Be safe, people!

I felt crummy descending Mystery Mountain, and even tripped and fell once, although it was pretty slo-mo and I didn’t get hurt. All my goals were slipping away… sub-4, 4:15… then I adjusted to 4:30 and that came and went, and then I realized I was unlikely to beat my Zumbro time and unlikely to break 5 hours. It seems at some point my GPS got confused and I was shorted a mile. I know I didn’t go off course at any time because the shape of my GPS data is the same as the shape of the race map, and because the trail was extremely well-marked. So I’m not sure what happened there or when it happened, but I didn’t know that I was short according to my GPS data until I was almost done. I realized I was crossing the Poplar River again, and there was a volunteer there to cheer people on. She said “less than a mile to go!” and I hadn’t even hit 14 miles on the GPS yet. People at trail races aren’t jerks who lie about stuff like that, so I realized I could still break 5 hours and perked up a bit. The road is also mostly downhill so that was enticing, too. I was able to get a steady pace on the pavement, my stomach stayed under control, and I was able to run in to the finish.

I got my medal, drank a cup of cold water, and then got a cup of lemonade and sipped on that. There was chili for a post-race meal, but I just couldn’t imagine eating chili. I wanted to go back to the condo and die in piece. I found the poor dehydrated 50K guy, who was still upright and functional. He gave me a nice sweaty hug and said I saved his life, although I wasn’t the one who gave him water. I told him it just wasn’t our day, and he agreed and said it didn’t matter, being out there was what mattered, to which I agreed.

I am not too badly sunburned. Arms look ok, legs are ok, face has seen worse. I think my plan for the rest of the night is take-out from the resort restaurant, a bath in the whirlpool tub, maybe lance a few blisters, and then some Star Trek: Voyager and crossword puzzles, because I am cool. Oh, and a short evening hike down to the shore, for some active recovery. It should be blissful.

Race Report: Be The Match 5K 2016

Official Results:
Time: 30:51
Pace: 9:56
Placing:
Overall: 152/286
Gender: 68/151
Division (F30-39): 22/44

Watch Results:
Time: 30:56
Pace: 10:04
Distance: 3.07 mi
Heart Rate: 185

Goals:
A: 31:30
B: 32:00

Food:
What I ate the night before: Crackers and a banana chocolate chip muffin
What I ate on race morning: 3/4 of a plain bagel
What I carried with me: nothing

Gear:
What I wore: t-shirt, hoodie, buff as headband, shorts
Gadgets: GPS watch, heart rate monitor, fitness tracker

Discussion:
I exceeded my goals, which is outstanding. The race could have gone better for me, which is not outstanding.

I didn’t feel 100% well on Friday. I was… ok, but feeling a little off, at least where my GI system was concerned. I didn’t want to eat anything that would throw off my system more than it already was, so I didn’t have a very good dinner. We were also driving down to the Twin Cities during dinner time, so my food options were limited. I woke up in the morning feeling hungry but also nauseated, a poor combination. And of course slept poorly. First two “keys to success” nailed. Not.

We arrived to the race later than planned, of course. It was COLD. Maybe 36-37F. I left all my stuff in my mom’s car, including my Body Glide, so I was fairly certain I was going to have no skin left on my thighs at the end of the race, but there was nothing to be done. We met up with the rest of my family and were going to hand out bib numbers and shirts for the team, but it turned out they had checked in again, and due to a miscommunication, had received new bibs. It wasn’t a big deal since the only people running with timing chips were my husband, my sister-in-law, and me.

I didn’t miss the tot trot (key to success: check!), but my nephew was cranky and didn’t want to run. It was cold, so I get it. My sister in law carried him so he “completed” the race. I failed to do a proper warm-up (ANOTHER key to success missed), but I did get in a few minutes of running, which was… slow. And disheartening. I had no pep in my step. The call for 5K runners to line up was right after the tot trot ended, so I went to the back to get in position. There were signed for different paces, ending with 10:00, but there was hardly any space between 10:00 milers and walkers/strollers. Annoying. I saw my brother, sister-in-law, and husband lined up in the 9 minute group and moved up.

We started off slow, dodging walkers and slower runners as we moved up. I started off probably too fast and just figured screw it, go for it, don’t back off. I separated from the rest of my family and then my husband ran up alongside me and then passed me. This is his first race ever, I think (and his first in 20+ years, for sure), and he beat me by a minute or so. Pretty bada$$, but now the competition is on for the Midnight Sun Midnight Run  next month! Mile 1 split: 10:08. There was a slight GPS error here, and the map of my run shows me cutting through the lake, which most certainly didn’t happen.

I remembered my mistake from last year, not getting any water at the water stop halfway through. This time, I did, and I felt yucky after drinking it. I’m used to drinking water at a slow pace, not a fast (for me) pace. I kept checking my watch and reminding myself to push the pace. Mile 2 split: 9:49.

In the third mile, I slowed quite a bit, conserving energy (ha, more like being lazy) for a final push at the end. I didn’t quite have as much pep as I’d have liked, but I don’t usually go out so hard. It didn’t smell like dead fish at the end, which was good. Mile 3 split: 10:19. 0.07 extra: 9:09 pace. The weird glitch in the first mile must have thrown off the distance, as the course was USATF-certified and my GPS usually measures long.

My husband destroyed himself to get under 30 minutes (not realizing that he had a nice cushion, since he was running without a watch and had no idea what his start time was relative to gun time), as I discovered him sitting on the ground near the chute. He got up and walked around and felt better, and then we caught up with the other runners in the family and got our free food. Then we froze our butts off waiting for the walkers to finish, which wasn’t that pleasant. I was glad not to be sweltering during the race itself, but we were outside for an hour after completing the race.

I’m pleased with my time, and I feel like a sub-30 5K is within reach this year, maybe even next month. That’s a tall order, but with adequate sleep and nutrition, I know I’ve got more in the tank.

I also had a personal best in fundraising; I raised $551.66, and my team raised $1286.66 in total. Both family members who were bone marrow transplant recipients participated in the walk; we have been fortunate! I’m so proud to support Be the Match and to help others find life-saving donors.

Race Report: Zumbro 17

zumbro

Takin’ it to the house.

Official Results:
Time: 4:47:58
Pace: 16:56
Placing:
Overall: 332/358
Gender: 168/186
Division (open): 107/112

App Results:
App: MovesCount
Time: 4:48:13
Pace: 16:07
Distance: 17.87 mi (LOL, no)
Heart Rate: 162 bpm

Goals:
A: 4:59:59
B: 5:29:59

Food:
What I ate the night before: Bagel with cream cheese, banana, pretzels
What I ate on race day: Banana, bagel
What I carried with me: 2 handheld water bottles (1 for water, 1 for strawberry lemonade Powerade), 2 protein bars

Gear:
What I wore: Long sleeved tech tee, tech hoodie, running tights, buff (as headband), baseball cap, gloves, short socks
Gadgets: GPS watch, fitness tracker

Discussion:
This is a tale of risk and reward. I have whined and complained and looked for any reason not to run this race over the past week. The weather annoyed me, but then I thought of the people tougher than me running the 100 and 50 races, and the volunteers willing to brave the elements. Then my cold returned, but I drove down anyway, because the room was paid for and I needed to fulfill my promise to volunteer. Then I slept horribly and decided in the middle of the night that I couldn’t race. I would sleep in some, and then go volunteer.

Nevertheless, I completed the race, felt mostly great during it, and even came in under my goal. A freaking miracle. Or something that was always possible, I just didn’t have the information to confirm it.

The last hour or so of the drive from Duluth to Wabasha (where I stayed) was gorgeous. I’ve never been past Red Wing in Southeastern MN. The bluffs were stunning, as was Lake Pepin, which is enormous. The drive took a little over four hours, including a quick detour to pick up bagels, which turned out to be my dinner and lunch.

I checked into the hotel and then drove out to the race start/finish area to volunteer. I was assigned to work in the timing tent with some friendly people, including last year’s winner. Trail people are the best: even the elite runners in the community contribute. We had a good time gathering data as runners came through for their laps. Most were finishing their 3rd laps as they came through, though the leaders completed their fourth laps while I was on duty. We had sufficient staff that I was able to leave a little early, which I didn’t want to do, but I wasn’t feeling well.

I went back to the hotel and did all the prep work I could. I set out my clothes, charged my watches, and ate some food. I thought I was being super prepared by opening up my protein bars and tearing them into small pieces, since their wrappers are hard to open and the bars can sometimes be hard to tear with teeth when it’s cold. And it was cold. It got down to 18 F overnight, which is I believe the coldest it’s ever been for a Zumbro event. The 17 mile race start was in the mid-20s F, I believe. I also put some mints in a snack-sized bag in case I was a little nauseated, and I had a pharmaceutical bag with a Pepto tablet, antacids, and ibuprofen. (I know ibuprofen is not recommended for distance running, I also didn’t want to end up with menstrual cramps ruining my race.) I turned out not to need anything other than the protein bars (of course), but my bite-sized pieces mushed into larger lumps, so it wasn’t a total success. It was easier than eating one out of the wrapper, I will say.

I went to bed at a decent time, after soaking in the bathtub in my hotel “suite” (a fancier single room), hoping to fall asleep quickly. I was so nervous about the race that I tossed and turned the night away and slept in fits and starts.

I got ready fairly quickly, since there wasn’t much to do, and drove to the race start, arriving at maybe 8:10 or so. I checked in and then looked around for my friend, who was also running the race. There is truly no cell service in the race area, so it was amazing I found him so quickly. We sat in my car while I filled one of my water bottles with sports drink and I pinned on my bib and took off my winter coat. It’s not great that a winter coat was necessary in April. I slathered some Vaseline on my nose and we decided to mill around at the start. There wasn’t much else to do. Probably should have warmed up, but didn’t. I never learn.

The race started around 9 after a short, funny briefing from the race director. The 17 mile race has a slightly different start than the other races, due to the large number of entrants. We followed the RD, who was on an ATV, up a road instead of hopping right onto the single track. That supposedly spread out the runners a bit. I’m not sure if that’s the case because I was in nearly last place at the time. There was plenty of room for me to run! I spent most of the race alone, which was fine with me.

I have to go with my GPS data when discussing the race, because I have no other splits, but it was off by over a mile. I thought by planning my average pace, I’d be in good shape, but that doesn’t help when the distance is off. I needed instead to calculate what time I’d need to be at each aid station in order to make my overall time goal. I had WAY less of a cushion than I thought. According to my GPS, I hit 16.7 miles in 4:33. Now that would have been incredible. I suppose it doesn’t really matter because I don’t have a very good recollection of this race, mile for mile.

I didn’t run this race at an aerobic pace. I barely paid attention to my heart rate at all. It maxed out at 188 bpm when I was climbing the second of the four big climbs. I noted when the climbs were coming (race start, 6.5 mi, 7.5 mi, and 10 mi, or so) as well as the approximate distances between aid stations (they were really close! The farthest distance between stations was 4.33 miles.) It was nice to have that information socked away, it made the race more manageable. It was also great not to have a big climb during the last 7 miles of the race.

I was passed by multitudes in the beginning of the race, as I expected/planned. After the first mile (maybe less), no one else passed me permanently. I was on the chase for the remaining 16 miles. One woman passed me heading into the first aid station, but I didn’t stop at the aid station, and she never caught back up. I caught up to a couple of 50 mile runners on their final lap after I left the aid station, and stayed with them off and on until they stopped at the picnic pavilion at the top of the 3rd climb. They didn’t finish too long after I did, so they must have rallied.

I started hunting people down on the hills. I am (comparatively) good at climbing hills, thanks to my experience running in Duluth. They really suck, and there were some STEEP climbs in this race, but I think hills defeat many people mentally before they do physically. I refused to be defeated by the hills and just kept chugging away slowly, heart rate be damned.

I whined about the sand when I found out about it, but it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t like running at Park Point, where half the beach comes home in my shoes. There are a few short stretches of sand early in the race, but the longest stretch of sand is between the 2nd and 3rd aid station (it’s the same station, visited twice). I caught my foot on a branch and tripped in the sand, which was lovely. I wasn’t hurt and only got a little bit of sand on the tip of my water bottle, so it wasn’t a disaster. It threw me off, and then the sand stretched on a bit, so I was a little low, but I hit the third aid station pumped up again.

The final big climb began when I left aid station 3. It was really tough, and followed up by a VERY challenging downhill, with all kinds of rocks. I encountered a 100 mile runner on the way down. The poor guy was injured I believe, and was inching down the hill by holding on to the shoulders of his pacer in front of him. Rescue was on the way when I got to the bottom. *Update* He finished the race! Amazing. I came across this account from the fellow who was helping the runner down the hill; it turns out he wasn’t the runner’s pacer, but a spectator and a true Trail Person willing to help someone in need.

The reward for reaching the bottom of the hill is a flat gravel road and then the bridge to aid station 4. After that, it’s fewer than 3 miles to the finish, and just a few uphill battles to wage. The actual finish did seem like it would never come, but I was so excited to come down the long stretch of grass I’d seen runners come through the night before. I was really pleased that I was able to run it in to the finish. My friend and his parents saw me coming and literally had to yell to get my attention, since I wasn’t expecting them. I got a nice welcome from the race announcer in the timing tent; volunteering has its perks! I’m not 100% sure what he said, but it was more than just “here’s Runner XXX from City, State.” Or, “can we get a bib number on that?” Which happened a lot. I learned from the night before and had my bib positioned on the left side for easy viewing and easy scanning from the timing mechanism. “It read beautifully,” I was told after I checked in to say hi after the race.

I ate eggs and bacon and cookies and fig newtons post race and it was glorious. I didn’t feel barfy at all during the race and only had mild worries about stomach cramps. For the first few miles my head was a little fuzzy due to a little bit of congestion, but it mostly cleared up. I coughed plenty during the race and had a few rather painful coughs after the race ended, but I must have just had to shake something loose. My nose, on the other hand, was RAW. I had a runny nose for most of the race, and of course was being gross and just wiping it on my sleeve, because what else could I do? I’m not good at snot rockets. I had a lip balm with me and finally became so bothered I dug out the lip balm and smeared it on my mouth and nose. Heavenly. I need to find a better way to carry stuff than the pockets of my water bottle hand-holders. It’s challenging to get stuff out (because I jam so much in them) and moreso when I’m carrying both handhelds.

I would absolutely, without a doubt, run this race again. The course is challenging but I really enjoyed it! I’m not sure I would enjoy it 3 or 6 times, but maybe. It is well-marked (I did hear of some wrong turns though), although I did have a few “OMG am I on the trail?” moments, even though there was nowhere to take a wrong turn. I’d come across a “reassurance” marker eventually, though. Everyone was so friendly, the food was delicious, the swag was amazing (I was only deterred from getting a hoodie because I didn’t have cash to pay for it), and the scenery was heavenly. I can see how the trail could get extremely muddy, so while it was cold (and terribly windy for the Friday runners), we were fortunate for mostly dry trails. There was some mud, and it was a little tricky to navigate without slipping, but not impossible.

I hung around for a little bit post-race, and then went back to my car, intending to hang out in it for awhile before driving back, to make sure I wasn’t out of it. I felt pretty good though, and actually didn’t even feel cold, which surprised me. I went back to the hotel, drew a bath, and then lounged around for the rest of the day. I didn’t hurt physically, but I was worn out. I drank a couple of vanilla Cokes, ate some bagels and other snacks, drank some water, and rested. I need to bring some more substantial food next time; I really should have left the hotel in search of a real dinner, but I didn’t.

Sunday I felt ok. A little tired and cranky, and my hips were creaky, as usual. I desperately needed coffee and stopped for a latte in Red Wing, which was the closest Caribou. (I wanted to hold out for Sbux but the closest one was inside a Target in Hastings, and I wanted no part of that.) It took forever thanks to a billion people at the drive thru plus some annoying dude in front of me taking 11 guesses at the trivia question. This is irrelevant to the race recap but it annoyed me and kept me from feeding my addiction. I stopped in the Twin Cities as well, to break up the drive and move around a bit.

I am so glad I didn’t quit before the race even started. I got a nice dose of endorphins and a confidence-boosting result. And I only have to suffer through a few more days of cold weather before we get some 50 F days in Duluth! I’m ready to take a few days off and then regroup for Superior.

Race Report: Gobble Gallop 5K

Official Results:
Time: 32:31
Pace: 10:28
Placing:
Overall: 1030/1802

App Results:
App: MovesCount
Time: 32:35
Pace: 10:27
Distance: 3.12 mi
Heart Rate: N/A

Goals:
A: 33:00
B: 34:00

Food:
What I ate the night before: Qdoba burrito bowl
What I ate on race day: 2 Starbursts
What I carried with me: Nothing

Gear:
What I wore: Hoodie, short sleeved tech tee, medium-weight running tights, buff (as headband), gloves
Gadgets: GPS watch

Discussion:
I woke up early after dreaming that I was late to the race. Actually no. I dreamed that I was with 3 of my high school friends who I’d convinced at the last minute to run the race. They needed to sign up, so we needed to get there early, and I was lollygagging around, and then we arrived too late for them to sign up. I woke up feeling like a jerk. Then I was too worried about being prepared for the race to go back to sleep. Annoying.

I need to stop eating entire burrito bowls before races, because I still kind of felt full. I mean, it was good on one hand, because I didn’t need to eat anything, but I could have maybe eaten 3/4 of the burrito instead and not felt so… uffda. The quintessential Scandinavian-American onomatopoeia is the only appropriate word for it. So I was a little worried.

I left for the race at about 9. I love the races around here, they start so late in the day! 9:30! I thought parking might be an issue, but that was dumb. It’s Thanksgiving, businesses aren’t open, their parking lots were fair game. I parked up the hill about 4 blocks. That was good thinking on my part. It was snowing but not too windy, which was nice, and the streets weren’t slick, which I was worried about. A large portion of the race was run on brick, which can get a little tricky.

I warmed up without feeling self-conscious! That was nice. I just kind of trotted around for awhile and then watched the end of the mile race. The winner of the mile race was also third place in the 5K. I hate him. Most of the runners of the mile were kids (or their parents) and most were faster than me. Some fairly small kids are really freaking fast. So now I’m jealous of 9 year olds.

I spotted Joe, a friend of mine, and glommed onto him until race start. He is a fast runner so he of course lined up well ahead of me, but it was nice to have someone to talk to for a little bit. I lined up at the back as usual. It was a bit more of a bottleneck at the start, since the pack was wider than the start/finish gate we had to go through. The results don’t have gun time/chip time differentials posted but I think I started about 2 minutes after the gun time. At first I wasn’t even sure the race had started because it seemed like nobody moved.

Throughout the first half of the race, I had to tell myself to slow down. I kept going under 10 mins (I was looking at my watch way too much during the race, but clearly I needed to) because it felt good. I am glad that I kept reminding myself to back off because I needed that energy at the end, although I probably could have pushed a little harder. (Especially if I hadn’t eaten the burrito the night before, as I had a feeling of fullness in my stomach. Nothing more concerning than that, but it was still annoying.)

My splits were fairly even: 10:23, 10:31, 10:34. So it’s clear I started a little faster and backed off, but that’s fine. That was tempered by slower segments where I was moving around runners. Because of the delay in the start plus my overall slowness, the first runners passed me on the way back before I reached the first mile marker. So that was a little demoralizing, but it makes sense. 10:23 + 2 minutes after gun time = 12:23 with less a mile to go for the lead runners, and the winner finished in 15:36. Joe passed me going the other way relatively early on too and I yelled at him to get after it as he blew by.

The race itself was fairly straightforward, with little elevation change, although I could definitely feel those small inclines. A young girl said to one of the adults with her that she was “definitely feeling the burn.” I was, too. I tried to take advantage of any slight declines to speed up, and then dialed it back on the inclines. I knew at the halfway point that there was no doubt I was going to at least meet my B goal, based on my average pace so far. I had that set up as one of the displays on my watch so that I could see it the whole time, since I was so obsessed with setting a PR.

With 0.2 mi to go (according to Strava, I didn’t know this at the time), I started to kick, and then with about 0.1 miles to go I hit another gear and zipped in. Joe waited around to cheer for me at the end for a second, which was nice! I had a lot more juice in my legs than maybe I should have had left, so I guess I left something out on the race course. Oh well, that just means another PR next time.

Because yeah. That was a giant PR. 1:50. I clearly didn’t see that coming, since I thought 33:00 was a stretch. I am excited and happy, and I am glad to see some improvement after stepping away from racing shorter distances for four months to focus on my half marathon. I know that PRs come easy at the beginning and in a few years I’ll be happy to shave a couple seconds off a 5K time. I’m still going to soak it up and enjoy it because I did earn it, and I did work hard to get to this point, even if it wasn’t a goal race.

This is my last race of 2015. I was going to race a December 5K, but the one I had in mind turned out to be next weekend. I didn’t want to run back to back races, so there we have it. Ending the racing year on a high note!

Race Report: Harder ‘N Hell Half Marathon

Official Results:
Time: 3:51:24
Pace: 17:40 (Assuming 13.1 miles)
Placing:
Overall: 118/142
Gender: 54/72
(Updated to include official results)

App Results:
App: Strava
Time: 3:52:18
Pace: 17:04
Distance: 13.6 mi
Heart Rate: N/A

Goals:
A: 4:20:00
B: 3:59:59

Food:
What I ate the night before: Chicken tenders and fries
What I ate on race day: Large latte and bagel with cream cheese
What I carried with me: 2 handheld water bottles, fun size Snickers bars

Gear:
What I wore: Long sleeved tech tee, short sleeved tech tee, shorts, buff (as headband), over the calf socks (which fell down immediately), gloves
Gadgets: GPS watch, iPhone with Strava and MapMyRun running

Discussion:
What a great race. I am thrilled!

Race day I woke up before my alarm and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. I got up around 7 and my friend (who was also running the race and who was staying with us) and I drove to get coffee. He was planning on leaving at around 8:10 to leave his car at the finish and take the bus to the start, but he couldn’t find one of his gloves, so he decided to ride with me to the start. I wanted that little extra bit of control, plus if it was cold then we could huddle in there. He drove to the finish line, I picked him up there (after making two wrong turns, one because I was zoning out and started driving to work, and one because I didn’t realize a street was closed), and we made it to the Spirit Mountain trailhead at about 9:05, giving us 10 minutes before the race briefing was scheduled and 25 minutes before the start. It was cold but not overly cold, and I realized I probably could have gotten away with a short sleeved shirt plus arm warmers. Eh. It wasn’t like it was the difference between winning and losing or anything. I didn’t do any warming up, which was dumb, but I don’t feel like it was a big deal.

The race briefing actually began right before the race was scheduled to start. I started my phone apps in advance because I didn’t want to be messing with my phone while running, especially since the pockets attached to my handheld were jammed full of stuff and my phone had to be wedged in. I didn’t realize once we went to the start, we would just… start. So my watch wasn’t ready, and it took forever to get the GPS to find a satellite, and then I realized at some point I hadn’t started it. I think I was about 0.4 miles into the race at that point but I had no idea. So the start was a bit rocky.

Mile 1: 18:30
This is a little messed up because as I said, I started the app before I walked to the starting line, so it includes that walking time. That means the distance is a little messed up, too, but the data from my watch is all kind of messed up since I didn’t start it on time and it was underestimating the distance. My watch had me running several 20+ minute miles and had an average pace of 18:17, which would have had me finishing in 3:59 (for a true 13.1), so that data is basically garbage. So, Strava it is.

Anyway the first mile was typical of a trail race, I gather, in that we were all bunched up. The stairway to hell was no problem because everyone else was going up it slowly, too. I let people go by me and went along at my own pace, and pretty soon I was basically in last place. Not a problem, someone had to bring up the rear.

Mile 2: 16:41
There’s a big descent here so it went by pretty quickly. I was a little bummed because there’s a couple of gentle descents/flats that I like to let loose on, but I couldn’t because we were bottled up, but I guess I made up for it by scaling the hills more quickly. I ended up in the middle of a running group somehow, which was awkward. Their leader told me they were aiming for a finish time around 4:30, so I told myself I hope I didn’t see them again. (Spoiler alert, I didn’t, but they were a fun group having a blast and I wished their time goal had been closer to mine so I could have joined them.)

Mile 3: 17:25
Uneventful. I was following a woman in blue patterned running tights and trying to keep her in sight the whole time. I think I might have had my first candy bar here, or slightly after. I felt a little gaggy from the bagel and cream cheese, which weren’t very good (from Starbucks. God I wish there was a Bruegger’s up here.) I had taken a couple of Pepto Bismol tablets pre-race as a precautionary measure but they hadn’t kicked in yet, I guess. I took my gloves off during this mile because my hands were getting warm and I’d need my hands free to unwrap my Snickers. I stuffed them down my shirt into my sports bra, so I am sure I looked a little lumpy for most of the race. Oh well.

Mile 4: 16:47
As I was crossing Cody Street I passed a woman who was cheering people on. She said “I’ve seen you out here training, great job!” It made me smile, it was a nice thing to say. I guess I am pretty distinctive looking since most people do not run wearing glasses, I’ve noticed.

Mile 5: 20:26
Yeesh. I tried eating another candy bar and nearly threw up. It was rough and I was slowed to a walk for quite awhile. I was pretty low for this mile, though I faked it for the race photographer. I thought oh man, I’m going to barf all over the trail, I won’t be able to eat anything the whole race, I won’t make it. It was depressing. The first aid station was at the end of this mile and I walked right through it, since I hadn’t consumed much of my water and I couldn’t imagine eating anything else. This ended up being a good idea because I got ahead of a bunch of people that way. I just kept moving and tried to will my stomach to calm down.

Miles 6 and 7: 17:50 and 17:06
I started feeling better at this point and the race turned around for me. I got passed by a few people fresh from the aid station while I was walking, but I ended up passing a couple of them when they stopped to pee. Another one followed me for awhile and didn’t pass me despite the multiple opportunities I gave her to go by. She finally rushed by me on the side, which was kind of annoying. I passed her when she stopped to take a photo, and but she seemed to keep me in her sights.

Mile 8: 16:47
I was still being pursued by the woman who rushed past me, and she got pretty close as I’d slowed down to eat a Snickers and I took the descent to Haines Road carefully. There were a couple of really slippery spots on the trail (like the first mile or so, which was covered in wet leaves) and the rocky descent down to the tunnel under Haines was one of them. I went slow and still nearly biffed it. In the tunnel I tried to really hit the gas and that was the fastest little snippet of the race, according to my Strava results. I was passed by a couple of mountain bikers on the gravel on the other side of the road. My pursuer was absolutely killing herself to catch me, which made no sense. I looked over my shoulder as I was heading back up into the woods and saw her bent over, hands on knees, stopped, at the edge of the gravel road and the woods. That was the last time I saw her. I did hear someone coming up behind me at one point but it turned out to be the winner of the 50k.

Mile 9: 18:07
Uneventful. Passed by the 50k 2nd place runner. I think I had another Snickers here, the last one I ate, and then I had a mint.

Mile 10: 16:24
Passed by the 50k 3rd place runner as I was crossing Skyline. Started to realize I wasn’t as far off my goal as I thought. I still thought I’d be over 4 hours, but I really couldn’t tell. I ran alongside a guy with trekking poles for awhile and we chatted. We talked about how nice the new boardwalks were; they had just been added in a few weeks ago by some fabulous volunteers. I asked him about his trekking poles and he said “They saved my life.” He had a total knee replacement and this race was the longest he’d run since then. I might have to look into them since he said they lessen the impact of downhills and my knees are pretty creaky today. He got ahead of me as we hit 10th street, but I caught up with him at the aid station at 24th Ave W.

Mile 11: 17:55
I stopped at the aid station at 24th Ave W to fill up one of my water bottles, and then I kept on going. There was food there but I decided I wasn’t going to eat anything else. I saw the woman I’d seen earlier (the one who’d seen me training), she appeared to be a friend or family member of the guy I’d run with. He stayed at the aid station a little longer than I did but he was soon coming after me. I thought he would get by me but he didn’t. I saw him finish and he told me he ran out of gas in the last few miles. I got passed by the 4th place 50k runner (who looked really miserable), the last one to pass me for the day. I really started to pick it up out of the aid station, I really wanted to get to Enger Park and start the downhill part of the race. I drank a little too much water and felt sloshy for a few minutes but my stomach calmed down.

Mile 12: 16:55
I realized at this point that 4 hours was within my grasp and I was really motivated. I knew the last bad hill was ahead of me heading into Enger, and I was ready to attack it. I passed a guy on the hill who was absolutely SUFFERING. I felt really bad for him, and told him it was the last bad hill and then it would be all downhill. I wanted to ring the peace bell at Enger but this tween girl seemed to be hogging it so I just kept going. She rang it as I ran by. I passed Twin Ponds and had a moment of sadness for the woman who was struck by a car and killed there earlier in the week. I didn’t know her but many people I know did, and it was a sad, preventable accident that has resulted in criminal charges. I passed a guy here as we crossed Skyline and started to open up a bit.

Mile 13: 14:15
I was flying at this point. It is a fairly steep descent but it was manageable and I was running it perfectly, no tripping or slipping. I passed a few other people here, including the only half marathoner to pass me back. A friend of mine lives just down the road from one of the road crossings, so I’d told him to be out cheering, but he wasn’t. Oh well. I didn’t need encouragement at this point, I was practically grinning. I was checking my watch to see my pace rather frequently, and I knew I was going to make it under 4 hours. I checked the actual time just to be sure, and confirmed it. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was where the actual finish line was. I mean, I knew it was in Bayfront, but where, and what was the path to get there? I was flying over the pedestrian bridge across the highway, but started to lose energy a little bit (and got passed) when I was running along the train tracks.

The rest (0.5 miles according to Strava, who knows what it really was): 11:40 pace
So the finish line wasn’t visible until the very, very end. That was a little bit annoying. I ran along Railroad St, turned at 5th Ave W, turned again and starting running through the Bentleyville tunnel, and then FINALLY saw the finish line. Since I was so far ahead of my expected finish time, no one was expecting me. In fact, my husband said that my friend’s parents had just asked when they expected to see me finish, and he said “Between 1:30 and 2… or right now” as I had just come into view. I saw the clock, saw I was well under 4 hours, and blew through the finish line with a smile on my face.

I wrapped up in a blanket right away to keep warm, even though I hadn’t felt cold at all during the race. I sat down for a little while and heard about how the race went for my buddy. He said he finished in about 3:02, which was a little over his goal, but he had a blast just as I did. He reminded me to go get my swag, which I hadn’t noticed. Instead of medals, we got a mug with a little spoon, which I used to get DELICIOUS chicken wild rice soup. I should have eaten like three more helpings. I felt pretty amazing right after the race and was surprised to see how easily my stomach accepted the soup and bread. My husband drove me back to Spirit Mountain to pick up my car, and then I went home to shower and get the snot and salt off my face.

I was pretty tired the rest of the day, probably because I needed more food. I had another latte (pumpkin spice, because I’m unashamed to be basic) while I was picking a friend up from the bus station (he was covering the Bulldogs-Gophers hockey game Saturday night) but I was really dragging. I tried to nap, but I couldn’t. I barely made it to the hockey game (UMD shut out the stinkin’ Gophers, so that was great!), but once I ate some glorious fries, I perked up again.

I am pretty pain free. Only a minor blister or two, no chafing, no muscular soreness, but some joint soreness and stiffness. My hips and knees aren’t pleased. I thought my back would hurt more since I didn’t do a good job working my core during this training cycle.

I am really glad I put in all that grueling training. I felt really prepared for the race, took all the hills in stride (huffing and puffing, but considering I barely made it up some of them during the first few weeks of training, it was an improvement), had plenty in the tank at the end, overcame nausea, and didn’t bonk. I’ll recap the training cycle in a later post, but suffice it to say, while it wasn’t perfect every week, it did the job.

I will definitely run this race again. It’s very low key, the volunteers were great, the trail is gorgeous, and it’s a perfect way to wrap up a distance racing season. (Of course I only ran one longish race, but that won’t always be the case.) Maybe next year I’ll run the 50k! Or try to beat this year’s time in the half, I don’t know. Thank you, Wild Duluth Races, for a great race!

Race Report: Park Point 5 Miler

Official Results:
Time: 61:09
Pace: 12:14
Placing:
Overall: 334/365
Gender: 183/209
Division (F 19-34): 82/98

Watch Results:
Time: 61:15
Pace: 12:08
Distance: 5.04 mi
Heart Rate: N/A

Goals:
A: 56:00
B: 59:59

Food:
What I ate for lunch: Bacon, lettuce, avocado sandwich with fried egg, french fries
What I carried with me: Handheld water bottle

Gear:
What I wore: Tank top, running capris, ball cap
Gadgets: GPS watch

Discussion:
What a disappointment. That’s all I can say. I was over a minute off my 5K PR pace, and even though I started conservatively (mile 1 @ 11:45, mile 2 @ 11:34), the wheels really fell off.

I clearly did not handle the heat well. I just haven’t trained for it enough. I got to Park Point at about 4:30 or so, after stopping to pick up some mints, driving back home because I forgot sunscreen, and then finally getting underway. It was about 84 F at that point, with very little cloud cover. I walked over and picked up my race packet, t-shirt, and socks (socks! Yay!), then walked back to my car. I sat in my car and read/fooled around on my phone for a little over an hour. This was not a good idea, because I wasn’t in the shade. I was mostly in the shade, but a small part of me (depending on where I was sitting) was in the sun. And overall I was just heating up, although it didn’t feel too bad. There was really no reason to get there so early. I could have arrived at like 5:15 or 5:30 and had no problem parking in the exact same spot I did, and I wouldn’t have been letting my body heat up.

At 5:50, I was antsy enough to walk back over the pavilion and start warming up. I was feeling slower than normal during the warmup, but that’s the point of the warmup, to shed the slowness from the legs. I sat in the shade by myself after that and just waited. I SHOULD have parked somewhere closer to a shady area. Then I could have gotten out of my car, sat in the shade and read, and then stowed my stuff back in the car before starting my warmup. Anyway, I felt ok after the warmup and I felt better about the run. A few minutes before I walked over to the start, I doused my hat in water from my handheld and then doused my hair.

As I said, I held back at the beginning. I started near the back again, but there was no time clock, so I had no idea how far off I was from the start. There were only 365 finishers (maybe more starters, I don’t know if anyone DNF), so my chip time turned out to be only 25 seconds off of gun time. I was feeling ok, but hot, and my mouth was kind of drying out. A few people along the route had sprinklers or hoses going and sprayed consenting runners when they went by. These people were lifesavers.

I reached the turnaround, which was a little over 2.5 miles in, and I saw my uncle standing there waiting for me. He lives on Park Point in the summer and rode his bike over for some moral support, which was nice. He told me I looked great, and looked strong, which I probably did at that point. Later he told me he hadn’t had a chance to get his camera out and I am very grateful for that. I looked at myself after the race, maybe 10 minutes after I’d finished, and I was beet red, as always.

I don’t really know what happened, but I started to feel really badly after the turnaround. I took a sip of water and a little went down my windpipe a bit, so I had to cough. The water was pretty warm already (another consequence of leaving too early for the race) so it wasn’t refreshing and didn’t make my stomach feel great. I must have swallowed a bunch of air because I was burping a bit, which worried me that my stomach was going to be even more upset if I wasn’t careful. I doused myself with some water from the water bottle, completely wetting my tank top, and poured some more on my hat, but it didn’t feel that refreshing. I also dumped the cup of water from the aid station on myself, rather than trying to sip from it. I would never survive the Western States Endurance Run. I ran mile 3 at 12:28, which ate up all the cushion I’d given myself in the two previous miles, and then I lost focus, energy, everything in mile 4, 12:55 pace.

I think something was funky with the clock, because I thought the clock said 1:02:XX when I crossed, and at the 4 mile mark, I thought an hour was out of my reach. It really wasn’t, and if I’d known that, maybe I’d have been able to dig a little deeper. Maybe not. I wanted to pass a couple people I’d been following at the end, and I wasn’t able to get enough of a kick together. I did get passed at the end by someone, but I think she had been sandbagging a little, picking up a runner behind me and trying to help me out, so she had a little more in the tank. There were a couple people who I think were trying to keep up with me, or at least were using me as a benchmark (would walk, run until they caught up with me, then walk again), and I was able to turn on a little more speed to leave them behind, but I didn’t have as much of a kick as I would have liked. My final mile was at a 12:09 pace.

I didn’t walk at all during the race, and I pushed myself to keep moving, keep speeding up, whenever I saw my pace slowing. I didn’t let fear of an upset stomach slow me to a walk (I did slow down a few times when I felt really iffy, but I didn’t walk.) I could have done more to manage the heat, but I made the right choice to carry the water bottle with me, and it didn’t annoy me too much. I learned how to suffer in a race, I guess. I FELT strong, physically, and I wasn’t gasping for air at any time, so my training worked, but the heat just sapped my energy and my competitive edge.

After the race I sat in the grass for a little while, just to shake away the post-run wooziness (it was still 82 degrees at 7:30 PM, when I finished), and then I got in line for the goodies. They had little mini containers of Ben and Jerry’s! Amazing. And also very helpful because I was stuck on Park Point. There’s only one way off, and that’s the same road the race is on. I had to wait til the race ended and the road was cleared, and then it took forever to get off the point. The traffic in Canal Park, four miles away, was backing us up. I will need a better strategy next year.

I trained hard and ran somewhat hard (not as hard as I could have) and I learned some hard but valuable lessons. I don’t know how common 5 mile races are (it seems 10Ks are more popular), so I might have to wait until next year to try to get under an hour. I’m mad at myself because, looking back, less time pre-race in the heat and the sun would have made a difference, maybe over a minute’s difference, I don’t know. But hey, it was a PR! And I had a good time, even when I was suffering. Since I wasn’t winded, I could talk to spectators or other runners a bit, and I smiled most of the way. I had a disappointing result, but a good overall experience.