Category: Race Recap

Oh boy. This one is going to be a doozy. I don’t even know where to begin …

I had envisioned writing this awesome race recap that said:
1) the weather was magical,
2) this magical race was the culmination of ALL of that hard summer training and
3) it FINALLY paid off and I ran a magical PR.

Just roll me in magical fairy dust and call me a unicorn. Perhaps my expectations were a tad unrealistic? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s really hard to say for sure, but that’s not exactly how it happened today.

First, let’s back up for a minute. I have had my eye on this race for quite a while. It is a new race (keep this in mind), but it is part of the Port City Pacers grand prix and I’m trying to run all of those races this year. Also the race is the first weekend in October (traditionally, this is when the first of the cool weather arrives) and the course was going to be flat and fast!

The cool weather arrived yesterday, almost as if on cue and I was so excited to RACE. Daniel had to work and none of my usual crew was running this race (lame), so I was kind of flying solo. I don’t do that much, but it’s good for me every now and then. I made it to the race at 7:15 for an 8:00 start with plenty of time to get my bib and warm up.

The weather was very nice. It was not nearly as cool as it was at 4:15 a.m. when I ran yesterday morning (yes, you read that correctly), but it was still much cooler than it has been. I think it was probably in the upper 60s or lower 70s during the race. It definitely warmed up a lot between the time that I woke up and the time that the race started.

Thankfully I ran into Cody before the race and we ran 2 miles to warm up. I added a few strides and got lined up on the start line, ready to go! After we sang the National Anthem, a rather loud cannon was fired and we were off with a (literal) BANG.

The first quarter-mile was pretty typical and all the kids took off like bullets. I try my best to avoid that early sprint out since it spikes the production of lactic acid, which decreases muscle efficiency and makes you feel like you are basically dying. We want to avoid that at all costs.

I ran with another girl for the first three-quarters of a mile or so and then I kind of surged ahead. I ran the first mile in 5:56. My goal range was 5:50 – 6:00 pace, so I was pretty much right on target. I ran the next mile with a younger guy (I think he was probably a high-school XC runner). Having someone to run with helped me stay in the race mentally. We came through the next mile in 5:52.

The third mile felt like 3 miles in and of itself and I was starting to hurt. I checked my watch a few times and saw 6:20 as my current pace, which confirmed my suspicions that I had started to struggle. As it turns out, the watch was just having issues locating the satellites in between the taller buildings downtown and I actually ran the last mile in 5:58. Sweet!

Unfortunately, this is exactly where the race ended … at 3 miles. There was no 0.1. The course was marked incorrectly and we cut off one block. I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but that last 0.1 definitely makes a difference.

I would’ve been close to my PR, if not *slightly* under. I ran 17:48 for 3 miles and was 1st OA female. I am very happy with my effort, but a little bit bummed that it wasn’t an official 5K.

Unfortunately, things just kept going wrong at this race. If you notice our times above … it shows 4 hours and 13 minutes for the 5K. What in the world?! Longest short 5K EVER. Oxymoron level: 10/10.

I don’t want this to come across as a total bashing. I know that there is A LOT that goes into putting on a race, but there is no way to write an accurate recap of this race if I leave these things out.

Cody and I ran 5 miles after the race to cool down and came back in time for the awards. WELL … they didn’t get that right either. They called out the wrong names for overall male and overall female, which in turn threw off the age group results as well. I can understand getting a few people mixed up in the results or something, but it really baffles me how they can mess up the overall winners.

I’m not big on confrontation (that is probably a huge understatement), but I thought they should at least know that the results were not correct. I’m fairly certain that they got the 5K and fun run overall winners mixed up, but honestly, I’m not entirely sure what happened. I did, however, know for a fact who the first five 5K runners were and I explained that to them.

They said that they would “make notes” and try to fix it later, so I came home with this lovely medal for first place in my age group. I really do like the medal. I think it’s very unique.

I really don’t mean to complain! It was a great day to run (not quite as cool as I was hoping for, but WAY better than it’s been) and I ran as well as I could have.

The race itself definitely has some kinks to work out, but I’m sure they will get there.

Have you ever run a race that was longer or shorter than it was supposed to be?

Hello! I’ve got a race recap to share this evening.

This morning Jessica and I ran the Hurricane Run 5K on Dauphin Island. This is one of the races in the Port City Pacers Grand Prix. I’m hoping to run all of the Grand Prix races this year.

When we were making plans this week (what time to leave, where to meet, etc.), I was thinking that it was a bummer that we were going to have to drive all the way around the bay to get Dauphin Island. It’s 50 miles by car, but as the crow flies (i.e., straight across the bay), it’s only 20 miles!

My wheels started turning and I asked my dad if he would want to go on an early morning boat adventure. Of course he did! Jessica loved the idea too. She is a self-proclaimed “ride or die” girl and she was all in. We got started just after 6 a.m. and headed to Dauphin Island.

It was a little dark at first and the bay was a tad bit choppy, but it turned out to be a great ride. We got to see the sunrise over the water and it was beautiful out. There was even a nice cool breeze while we were riding. It’s too bad that breeze didn’t stick around once we got to the race!

We rode right by Middle Bay Light, the lighthouse in the middle of Mobile Bay. It has a really cool history (click on the link if you are into that sort of thing). We also saw lots of pelicans and several container ships.

It took us just about an hour to get there. We thought it would be closer to 45 minutes, but we weren’t able to go quite as fast since the bay was choppy. We got to Dauphin Island just after 7 for an 8 o’clock race start.

I had only run this race one time before (in 2010! … that seems like forever and a half ago). I remember that Daniel and I had some logistical issues getting to the race that day and ended up having to literally run from our car to get our bib and then straight to the start line because we were so late. That was not a great pre-race experience and I definitely didn’t want to repeat that this year.

Thankfully we had plenty of time today to get our bibs, go to the bathroom (twice) and get a 2 mile warm up with some striders in. We weren’t rushed at all, which definitely makes for a better overall race experience.

It was in the low 80s and super humid at the start. That’s pretty much just par for the course in lower Alabama (for at least 10 months of the year). My plan was to use this race to gauge where my fitness was (after a short break from workouts) and focus on getting more comfortable with the intensity of shorter races. I just wanted to give a strong, solid effort. I didn’t have a super specific time goal, but I was hoping for sub-19.

I settled into my pace fairly quickly and actually ended up passing all of the runners in front of me within the first mile. I came through mile 1 in 5:54.

I basically led the race from a half a mile in through the finish, which was a new experience! I was hoping to have someone to run with (I run my best when I have someone to pace and work with), but that didn’t really work out. It was fun to lead the race, but it was also hard to stay focused and not let up on the pace.

The second and third miles were 5:58 and 6:10 … so a nice little positive split, but I can live with it. I finished in 18:51, which is right where I wanted to be.

Here’s some random pace and heart rate data (in case you like that sort of thing).

Jessica finished in 21:20 as the third overall female! Woo hoo!

We got a short cool down in after the race and got our awards (medals).

We had to wait out a little storm that blew through before we could venture back across the bay. The rain cooled it off a good bit and we were even a little chilly on the ride home. The cool air was a great reminder that fall is coming! I just like to keep telling myself that anyway.

We had a great day. It was really neat to go to the race by boat (that was a first!) and we decided that we want to make this an annual tradition.

Hello! I’ve got a race recap to share with you today.

Last night I ran a two-mile race at Chickasabogue Park in Mobile County. I’ve done this race several times before (2012 – 2014). There aren’t many two mile races, so it’s fun to race a shorter distance every now and then. Also because there aren’t many two mile races, the age group state records are sometimes semi-attainable.

Every so often a race distance will come up where I have a shot at an Alabama record for my age. It’s usually an uncommon distance (1 mile, 4 mile, 10 mile, etc.) that people don’t race very often. Let’s face it, Alabama isn’t known for being one of the fastest states in the country. Even so, it’s still cool to say that you have a state record!

Also if nothing else, it gives me a good goal time to chase when I otherwise wouldn’t really know what to shoot for. About a month or so ago when I was planning my fall race schedule, I checked the state record website to see what the two-mile record was for my age. It is 11:23 for a 30-year-old female and 11:40 for a 31-year-old female.

The race was the day before my birthday, so 11:23 was the goal (or well, just under that). The strategy was to race as evenly as possible, but I wanted the first mile to be just a few seconds faster than goal pace because the course is an out and back with a very slight downhill on the way out and a very slight uphill on the way back. The turnaround also slows you down some.

The race started at 6:30 p.m. It takes about 45 minutes to get over to the park, so we left the house around 5. I hadn’t registered for the race, so I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to get there, get registered, get a few warm up miles in, etc. before the race started.

After a 3 mile warm up and some strides, it was go time!

The start was a little bit crowded, but it cleared out really quickly and by about a quarter of a mile in I found myself running completely by myself. There was one guy ahead of me (Alex) and I was running about 10 – 15 seconds per mile slower than he was. I was really hoping to have someone to pace with, as I find this to be extremely beneficial in races, but that didn’t really work out this time.

I came through the first mile in 5:41. Whew. I was right on track, but I was working really hard. I had to stay really focused during this race. There were several times when I was actually talking out loud (quietly) to myself. I was saying, “Keep this pace. Don’t fall off. You’ve got this.”

According to my watch, my second mile was 5:43. My official race time is 11:26.9, so I got an extra two seconds somewhere in there. I missed the state age group record, but this was still a 7 second PR for me, so I am super happy!

We did a 3 mile cool down after the race. The guys tricked me into running on trails for a little bit and wouldn’t you know it, I ran right into a massive spider web! There was a HUGE spider was dangling from my arm. I didn’t freak out, but eww. No thank you.

In hindsight, I needed to run the first mile a tad quicker, as the turnaround slowed me down a good bit and I didn’t leave myself much of a cushion at all to fall off of the pace in the second mile. I was kind of intimidated at the thought of running 5:40 pace to begin with though, so I don’t think I could’ve wrapped my head around a faster pace before the race.

My times have gotten faster each time I’ve done this race (12:32, 12:00, 11:33 and now 11:26), so I am moving in the right direction. It’s always nice to see the progress over the years.

What is your favorite distance to race?

Hello friends! Happy Friday! Before we get to the recap, let’s catch up on this week’s training:

Monday: 18 mile “fast finish” long run (w/ 4 mile Shark Run Race)
Tuesday: Easy 6 + RW group run
Wednesday: Easy 8
Thursday: Easy 8 + Track Meet
Friday: Easy 10

Yesterday was the last evening of the Robertsdale High School Summer Track Series. ICYMI: The track series was 3 meets over the summer to raise money to support the Robertsdale High School XC team. After last night, they raised enough money to send all of their kids to overnight camp, so the fundraiser was a success!

There were three events yesterday: 400, DMR (distance medley relay) and MILK MILE. The track meet was my “speed workout” for the week. I didn’t have any specific goals or anything, other than to have fun and push myself a little.

After we got home from work, Daniel and I loaded up and headed to the track. The meet started at 6:30 p.m.

We were able to get a 2 mile warm up in before the first event, which was the 400m (one lap around the track). They did a guys and girls heat for this event. The guys went first.

And they’re off!

The girls went next. I ran a 78, which was just a hair slower than I ran the 400 at the first track series event. I was happy with that.

Next up was the distance medley relay. There are teams of 4 for this event. The first runner runs a 1200, the second runner runs a 400, the third runner runs an 800 and the fourth runner runs a 1600. We had just enough runners for 3 teams. Rebecca divided the teams up and we sorted out which leg each person would be doing.

Here is the start …

Check out Sarah’s stride! She is 11 and is already an amazing little runner. I think she’s got a bright future in this sport!

I ran the last leg for my team. I wanted to give a solid effort, but it was a little bit of a struggle mentally (physically too I’m sure, but it seemed to be more of a mental thing). We were about two laps behind the other two teams when I started the 1600, so I pretty much ran the mile by myself. I ran a 5:57 mile, which is totally fine, but it was just hard to push myself.

The last event of the day was the real kicker … a milk mile!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with how this works, you basically drink milk, run a lap, drink milk, run a lap, drink milk, run a lap, drink milk, run a lap. 4 cups of milk and 4 laps around the track. Sounds awesome right?! Yeah, no.

This was the third year of the milk mile. I had never run it until this year. I was there the other two years, but I was always a spectator/videographer. I’m not exactly sure what changed my mind about it this year, but I decided that I wanted to participate.

If we are being honest, the thought of drinking 4 cups of milk was intimidating. I know that probably sounds udderly (get it?) ridiculous. I mean, I’m not lactose intolerant or anything like that, but I definitely tend to stick to “safe” milk alternatives like cashew and almond milk. Actually I do love me some chocolate almond milk, but I don’t drink 4 cups of it at a time. Once I evaluated the reasons that I was hesitant to participate, I realized that my reasons were silly and that I needed to “face my fears,” so to speak.

Turns out, it wasn’t that bad! We got to drink our first round (the cups were pretty small, so we had to drink two each time) before the timer started. I drank the first cups a little bit slower than I did the others and I quickly decided that “savoring” the milk wasn’t really going to make the experience any more enjoyable, so after that it was just gulp and go.

Some transition area shots …

Kenny is the undefeated milk mile champion. He has won every year! Not only is he a ridiculously fast runner, but he’s got the whole milk chugging thing down as well. He ran a 5:32! Holy cow.

The Daniels had a photo finish and came through in 5:50 ish.

I came through next in 6:32. I’ll take it! The picture below says 1) ahh! I’m almost done, 2) eww! I can’t believe I just did that and 3) I hope I don’t ever have to drink milk again. ever.

Sarah was such a trooper. She hates milk, but wanted to be in the running for a prize, so she did it! I think she’s done it every year actually. Here she is taking off for her final lap with, cheeks full of milk! Lol.

It was an awesome event and we had the best support squad ever!

The team heads to camp next week! It’s going to be a wonderful experience for them and the summer track series was a huge success!

So tell me … have you ever done a milk mile? Would you do it?!

Happy Independence Day!

I’ve got a Fourth of July Race Recap to share today. According to Running in the USA, the Fourth of July is the second most popular holiday for road racing, second only to Thanksgiving.

I’ve run in a few holiday themed firecracker races in the past, but they were never actually on July 4th. Well, that changed today because I ran a 4 mile race, the SHARK Run in Gulf Shores, AL on the Fourth of July. I like the idea of a 4 mile race on the Fourth of July. Then again I’m a numbers nerd, so that’s par for the course around here.

The race started at 7:00 a.m. at the Flora-Bama. There was also a 4.5 mile race that was 2 miles on the road and 2.5 miles on the beach. If I hadn’t been doing a specific workout, I would’ve been all over the half and half run. I love running on the beach. Maybe next year!

I ran the race as the last 4 miles of my long run. My schedule called for 18 – 20 miles with the last 3 – 4 “up tempo” (6:40 – 6:50 range). Since I raced Saturday and needed an easy day in between, Monday (aka today) became my long run day. I was pretty excited when I heard about this race because I thought it would be a perfect way to get my long run in, especially the fast finish portion.

Err, well … I was excited at least until my alarm went off at 3:15 a.m. this morning. The things I get myself into AND the things I rope others into with me … My friend Jessica joined me for my long run! Y’all. How awesome was that? She met us at 4:45 to get 14 miles in before the race. Daniel also put up with my shenanigans and got up with my at 3:15 to ride to the race. He did the race, but didn’t participate in our 14 mile “warm up.”

He said that he would come as long as I would drive and he could sleep in the car until it was time for the race. Worked for me! Bless him.

There was no traffic during the 3:45 – 4:30 hour when we were traveling (crazy, I know), so we made it to the Flora-Bama pretty quickly. After a quick pit stop at Waffle House (where there were people still up from the night before), Jessica and I were on our way. They told us to have a good night as we were walking out. Ha!

I used Strava to make us a route and then I wrote it down on a sticky note so that we wouldn’t get lost. Apparently I could’ve just saved the route on Strava and then used my phone to make sure we didn’t get lost, but I didn’t exactly think that through all the way. Daniel was proud of me for using Strava (I got 1 cool point), but then he took away my cool point when I used a sticky note to write the route out.

We ran towards Florida and looped around on River Road and came back to the Flora-Bama (which is on the Florida Alabama line).

The route was really good. It was nice and flat and we even found a place to refill our bottles along the way. We enjoyed lots of pretty scenery and we averaged 8:34 for the first 14 miles.

We got back to the Flora-Bama with just a few minutes to spare before the race started. Thankfully Daniel was able to get our bibs for us while we were out running. It kind of felt like we were doing a relay (or perhaps a triathlon) and we exited the transition area pretty seamlessly. I didn’t really have time to change clothes, so I didn’t end up wearing my Rabbit jersey, but other than that, everything went according to schedule. We drank some G2 and headed to the start line of the race.

I ran into a couple of friends from my hometown at the race which was fun! We chatted with them for a little while before the race (and again afterwards). It was great to see y’all, Ashley and Rayne 🙂

I wasn’t entirely sure how my legs were going to feel once we started the race and my goal was to try to stay around 6:45 pace if I could. The course was a really flat out-and-back. There was a little bit of a headwind on the way out. Even though the wind resistance makes it a little bit tougher to hit your pace, the breeze felt really good. I ran miles 1 and 2 in 6:36 and 6:40.

There was a pack of 4 girls ahead of me for pretty much the entire first two miles. I kept them in sight, but wasn’t really super concerned with catching them. Two of them slowed down a little bit and by the time we came through the turnaround, I was in third place. One of the top two girls was doing the beach run, so she turned off to run back on the beach and then all of a sudden I was in second place.

After we turned around it got really hot. That nice breeze that we had on the way out was gone and I could tell that I was starting to fade some. Daniel came up beside me and really helped me to stay in the race mentally. Even though I thought I was fading, we actually ran the third mile faster (in 6:34). I was still pretty content with second place, but Daniel wasn’t letting me give up. He kept encouraging me to pick it up and come with him. His support helped me a lot.

During the last mile of the race, all of a sudden, the skies opened up and it started pouring rain on us. I didn’t even know that there was a chance of rain at all. I think it was probably just one of those summer pop up showers that you can’t really predict. Regardless, it couldn’t have come at a better time. The rain felt so, so good! I was very thankful for some relief from the heat.

Daniel had a decent gap on me at this point, but I kept closing in on the first place girl during the last mile and ended up passing her with less than half a mile to go. The rain definitely came to my rescue and I felt awesome. I ran the last mile at 6:14 pace, which was my fastest mile of the day. I ended up in first place for the women with a time of 25:27 (6:32 average). I was really happy with how that whole long run + race went down!

I usually detest fast finish long runs. They are difficult, but so effective. Physiologically, you are training your body to work more efficiently at marathon pace and mentally, you have to combat the extreme fatigue that you will inevitably face during the final few miles of the marathon. I will definitely be thinking back on this run in my next marathon (which is still TBD, by the way). It was a major confidence booster for me.

Rebecca came and met us for the race. Y’all. She ran a marathon Saturday night and still ran sub-8 minute pace today, pushing the stroller. What?! Her 50 mile training is really paying off! I can’t wait to see how well she does at her race in November.

After the race, we went to Brick and Spoon for brunch. We were all pretty hungry. Lizzie and Karl met us there and we had a great time hanging out and catching up. That place is so good! I got the Caribbean Scramble, which was scrambled eggs, jerk chicken breast, grilled pineapple, onion, Monterey jack cheese & mango salsa. It was delicious.

Hello friends! Happy (long) weekend! I’m comin’ at ya with a race recap today.

Let’s start off with a picture of Daniel on his bike. My dad brought it down yesterday and Daniel is so excited!

Onto the race part … I mentioned it earlier this week, but the Ronald McDonald House Firecracker 5K in Pensacola was a last-minute addition to my schedule. The race became a topic of discussion amongst the Ragnar TN group this week (we have an ongoing Facebook messenger thread) and I jumped at the chance to do another race. It’s probably because I only did one race last month, but for whatever reason I was itching to do another one.

I really just love it. I love the race atmosphere and pushing myself to get the most out of myself on that day. If nothing else, you come away with a fairly accurate gauge of your fitness that can be used to plan out your workouts for the next few weeks. Not all races and going to be stellar, but I definitely think that you learn something and improve as a runner from every single race that you do.

I had done this race one time before, in 2013, so I was somewhat familiar with the course, etc. The race was in Pensacola and they actually had day of registration, which was very much appreciated!  For whatever reason, the Pensacola races rarely have day of registration, or packet pickup for that matter. I understand that for really big events (NYC, Chicago, Rock ‘N’ Roll races, etc.), but it really baffles me why they do that at smaller races. All of the local races in the Mobile area have day of registration and packet pickup, but Pensacola is a whole different ball game.

We live about 45 minutes away, so it really stinks to have to drive an hour and thirty minutes round-trip the day before the race to go get your packet and then to have to drive an hour and thirty minutes again the next day for the race. I got burned on this the last race that I did over there (they wouldn’t even let a family member take my ID and pick my bib up for me (I had to work Saturday because it was right at the end of tax season)) and apparently I’m still holding onto that a little bit. Cue Elsa & Anna and … LET IT GO.

Moving on! Young Daniel, Kenny, Daniel and I headed over to Pensacola this morning. We got there around 6:30 and we were easily able to register, get our packets and get in about 3 warm up miles in (2.75 + some strides). At 6:30 a.m. before we started our warm up, the temperature was 77 and the dew point was 74 (90% humidity). It was really sticky. We knew we were in for a tough race.

The race got started promptly at 7:30. My goal for the race was to be sub-19. I ran 19:05 a couple of weeks ago at Hot Trot and I was hoping that I could shave at least a few seconds off of that and get under 19 minutes. I ran the first mile with Steve and Young Daniel in 6:05. I felt pretty comfortable. We passed Valeria (the girl who was in first place) just after the first mile mark. I met her at another race this spring and she is so nice. It was fun to run with her today. She stayed right with us as we passed.

Steve started to pick it up a little bit … oh and he was wearing a dress, by the way.

He and Daniel were the ones that lost a bet to Ali during March Madness. Daniel paid his debt by wearing the British flag shorts during his first leg at Ragnar. Today was the day that Steve had to pay his debt by running in a dress. I don’t know how he did it, but he did it fast. So Steve picked it up some and I decided to try to hang with Steve for as long as I could. We came through the second mile in 5:57.

The funniest thing was that the three of us (the two leading women and Steve in his dress) basically stayed in a little clump for most of the remainder of the race. People were yelling stuff like, “Girl Power!” etc. as we passed. It was hilarious!

With about half a mile to go I started to fade a little bit and Valeria and Steve put a gap on me. I was just trying to hang on and not completely lose it at that point. My last mile was 6:12 and my total time was 18:53. I was 2nd female and 10th (ish) overall. My time was exactly what I wanted it to be, so I was very happy!

After the race we did a short mile and a half cool down and sat down on the curb to catch our breath.

We hung out for a little while in Seville Quarter and waited on the awards. They did the awards inside, which was nice because it was toasty outside.

Apparently I was super-duper excited about that medal. Ha.

Overall it was a fun race and we had a good time!

Just out of curiosity, I put the temperature and dew point into my spreadsheet when we got home and tried to see what sort of time it would predict in perfect conditions. Typically you use the spreadsheet to see how much you should slow your pace and time goals given the heat and humidity, but I wanted to kind of do that in reverse and see what my predicted 5K time would be using my heat adjusted pace. I have no idea how accurate this would be (I mean logically, it seems like it would work), but it puts me at 18:04.

Now I have my goal for the fall! Actually I already knew that my next big 5K goal is sub-18, but this at least gives me a glimmer of hope that it is somewhat within reach!

That’s it for today. Anyone else racing this holiday weekend?

 

Hey friends!

Today I ran the LuLu’s Hot Trot for ARC 5K. This race was my first official race recap when I started the blog last summer, so I’ve come full circle now. Sweet!

I always like to compare race times from year to year to see how my fitness has changed over the years. Hot Trot is a really good one to use, because the conditions are always the same (i.e., hot and humid). A quick walk down memory lane revealed that this was my 4th time to run this race! It is definitely one of my favorite races of the year. There aren’t many other races in June, so I’m usually itching to do a race and it’s at the beach. You can’t really beat that.

A quick summary of previous years:
2012 – 19:56. The year of my inaugural Hot Trot. Finished (barely) under 20 minutes.
2013 – 19:35. The year Rebecca and I first pulled the #twinning stunt and I won an hourglass. Super unique prize!
2014 – No race. I don’t remember why we didn’t do the race this year, other than Daniel was probably working.
2015 – 20:50. The year of the 3.25 mile 5K.

Now that we are caught up on previous Hot Trot races, let’s talk about this year’s race. Daniel had to work again this weekend, which stinks. He was definitely missed. I don’t like going to races without Daniel. Thankfully, lots of our friends were there so I had some buddies to play with!

In fact, it was basically a mini Ragnar reunion, which was perfect because our medals came in the mail this week and I was able to give out over half of them today. We all got two more medals! One for first place regular overall and one for first place mixed (co-ed) open.

A storm blew through our area late Friday night and brought a little reprieve from the super intense heat and humidity. All the runners were so thankful! Saturday morning was by far the coolest morning in the last couple of weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it was still pretty toasty, but it could’ve been much worse.

It was a pretty early wake up call. The race starts at 7:30, but it is about an hour drive and we wanted to get there by 6:30 ish to get our packets and get a warm up in before the race. I caught a ride with Jill and Mitch and we pulled into LuLu’s right at 6:30. The day was off to a good start!

We got our packets, did a two mile warm up and some strides and then it was go time.

I ran the first mile with Steve and Young Daniel (two of my Ragnar teammates). We came through in 6:18. I was expecting to be a little bit quicker than that, but that’s where we settled in, so I just went with it. After mile one Steve picked it up and I decided to hang with him as long as I could. He is a very smart racer and always negative splits his race, so I knew the next miles would be faster.

Sure enough, I came through mile two in 5:54. I mean, I knew we were going to pick it up, but wowza 24 seconds was a lot! Steve was already a little bit ahead of me at this point and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run another mile at that pace. I ran the last mile by myself in 6:02.

I ended up as the 6th overall finisher and 1st female. My official time was 19:05, which is a 30 second course PR. I’m definitely happy with that!

They had ice-cold towels for everyone at the finish, which was really nice. A few of us went for a two mile cool down and then walked over to the post race party.

The post race party is at LuLu’s, which is the perfect venue. The restaurant isn’t open yet, so it’s basically a private runners-only party. We hung out for a little while and got our awards.

The awards (3 deep per age group) are usually coffee mugs. I look forward to getting a mug each year. They are the best, basically because they hold a lot of coffee! I also got a medal and a trophy this year. It’s a shoe with wings (symbol of the Greek god Hermes). Too cute!

After the race I went out on the boat with Jessica and her family. We went to Gumbo Key, which is basically a floating musical concert in Orange Beach, AL. It was a beautiful day to be on the water!

Daniel got off work in time to meet us for a little bit. I was happy to see him!

Today was so much fun! I know I’m going to sleep so well tonight.

It’s fri-nally Fri-yay! (Too much?)

Before we get to the recap, let’s catch up on this week’s training:

Monday: 13 mile TM workout with 5 “quick” miles (6:50 – 7:10 range)
Tuesday: Easy 12 + RW group run
Wednesday: Easy 5
Thursday: Easy 5 + Track Meet
Friday: Easy 10

We are also still going strong with the push-ups and sit-ups every M, W & F. This was the second week of “training” with 4 X 30 second segments of each. I haven’t been counting each time, but I figured once a week I should count to track my progress … so Monday I did:

Push-ups: 26, 25, 24, 18 (I always really struggle on the last set)
Sit-ups: 23, 23, 24, 24

Next week we bump up to 4 X 45 seconds segments of each. Eek!

Now to the main order of business … Yesterday was the first evening of the Robertsdale High School Summer Track Series. The track series is 3 meets over the summer to raise money to support the Robertsdale High School XC team. Rebecca is taking the kids to XC camp at UAB this summer. This is a huge step for the Robertsdale XC program and they are really excited to be able to go to an overnight camp this year! Overnight camp is not cheap and some of the families aren’t able to afford to send their kids, so Rebecca created a “camp scholarship” for any kids that need financial assistance and she is raising money this summer to help pay for those kids to be able to go to camp with their team.

For anyone local that is interested, there are two more events this summer as well.

June 23: (800, 1600 and 4 x 400 relay)
July 7: (400, DMR (distance medley relay) and Milk Mile)

If you aren’t local and want to help send a runner to camp, you can still donate!

There were three events yesterday: 400, 5000 and a 4 x 400 relay. The track meet was my speed workout for the week. Coach didn’t give me any goal paces. He just told me to have fun with it and give a good solid effort. Check and check!

We started out with the 400, which was a little tricky since we had the 5K afterwards looming over us. I wasn’t really sure how to approach the 400. I didn’t want to push too hard and have my legs be toast before we even started the 5K, but I wanted to push hard enough to get a respectable time. There was a girls heat and a guys heat for the 400 and I ended up running 77, which I was happy with. If I just could hold that pace for a mile (5:07), I’d be super happy 🙂

After the 400 it was time for the 5000. I had never run a 5K on a track before, so I was kind of excited to see how it would compare to a road 5K. There was only one heat for this, which worked out well. Rebecca called our splits out to us as we came through each lap, so I hardly even looked at my Garmin the entire time. Since we were running loops, there was also more cheering and support than a typical 5K. We ran by everyone 12 times, so we got lots of cheering!

Young Daniel and I settled in to about the same pace and we worked together for the first two miles. We stayed pretty consistent with a 5:59 and a 6:02.

After the second mile My Daniel hopped in to pace us for the last mile. [If this is confusing, “My Daniel” is my husband and “Young Daniel” is one of his training buddies that did Ragnar with us]. Having Daniel run the last mile with me gave me a boost and the last mile was my fastest at 5:53. According to my Garmin, my 5K time was 18:28. I am very pleased with that!

The last event was supposed to be a 4 X 800 relay, but everyone was pretty much done after the 5000, so Rebecca ended up switching it to a 4 X 400 relay. My legs and lungs were appreciative! I ran the 3rd leg for my team and I ran the 400 in 78. I was happy with that and even happier to be done. Whew! That was quite an intense Thursday evening workout.

There was a good turnout for the event and everyone had fun. It’s always nice to get a good workout in (with lots of training buddies) and support such a great cause.

I hope you enjoy your Friday! Does anyone have super fun plans this weekend?

I don’t know that words will even be able to do this recap justice. We had an absolutely amazing trip to TN and the race itself was just icing on the cake!

There is a lot of planning that goes into an event like this and getting a team together. We had to rent vans, get places to stay at the start, along the way and at the finish, and gather 12 people who were crazy enough to want to join in on the adventure.

We assembled a killer team, some of whom we knew really well and some of whom we had only met a few times, and headed to TN with a pretty lofty goal. Simply stated, we wanted to bring home the win. This was my third overnight relay type of event. In 2011 we did Ragnar Del Sol in Arizona and came in 2nd place and in 2014 we did Ragnar Northwest Passage in Washington and came in 4th place. It was time to bring home the gold.

Our team ran the 189.10 miles from Chattanooga to Nashville in 21:12:08. We were the last team to start the race. We passed every other team along the course and not only won the race, but crossed the finish line first!

PRE-RACE

Thursday morning we got our rental van, loaded everyone up and headed to Chattanooga.

We had two groups that traveled up, one left early (that was my group) and one left after work. We had several hotel rooms in Chattanooga, where we stayed Thursday night before the race. We got to Chatanooga around 6 p.m. or so, settled into our rooms (which were surprisingly nice and very large) and headed to dinner.

We tried to hit the hay pretty early Thursday night, as this would be our last night of real sleep for close to 48 hours. The van that left after work didn’t exactly have this luxury, but they were all troopers.

Saturday morning a few of us got up and did an easy 20 minute shakeout run before breakfast. Some of us wouldn’t be running until really late that afternoon, so it was nice to stretch our legs out after sitting in the van all day the day before. We did just over 2.5 miles and got an early taste of some of the hills that were awaiting us along the course.

We hit the continental breakfast at our hotel that morning and went over some of the last minute details.

After a quick shower (also our last real shower for close to 48 hours), we loaded up and headed to the start to check in.

Teams started as early as 6 a.m. on Friday and we were the last team to start at 1:45 p.m. There were 121 teams total. Each team member submits their most recent 10K time and each team is assigned a different start time based on their estimated finish time, with the goal being that everyone would arrive at the finish line at close to the same time.

We were able to watch the last group that started at noon. There were three teams in this wave. We had almost two hours to wait until it was our turn to start, so we headed to the grocery store to stock up on snacks and decorated our vans (and ourselves).

Coconut bras for the boys …

Or makeshift Beats By Dre for DJ Holley …

Grass skirts, leis and hair flowers for the girls …

The whole gang!

THE RACE

We started at 1:45 p.m. (EST) Friday afternoon. Ashley was our first runner.

She actually crossed back into the Central Time Zone during her leg, so she finished earlier than she started! Fastest leg ever.

Once the race starts, the team is separated into two vans. Each van has three girls and three guys. Van 1 follows and supports their runners, while Van 2 goes ahead to the next exchange to wait on Van 1 to get there and then you switch, so Van 2 follows and supports their runners, while Van 1 goes ahead to the next exchange.

Daniel was our second runner. He had a very hilly leg, but he ran great! He lost a bet to Ali (our third runner) during March Madness this year and his “punishment” was that he had to run in British flag shorts during the relay. Shortest shorts ever.

Daniel handed off to Ali (our team Brit). If Ali had lost the bet, he was going to have to run in a Lady Liberty costume. I think we need to come up with another bet, because that would be an awesome sight to see!

Our first few legs were right along the Tennessee River and it was beautiful! The river was so pretty.

I started on my first leg at close to 3 p.m. Friday afternoon (read: HOT). My first leg was my toughest leg. It was 10.20 miles with close to 1,100 ft. of elevation gain. I don’t particularly enjoy running on hills, so I knew this one was going to be a bit of a struggle mentally.

At this point in the race, we were running completely by ourselves. We hadn’t started to catch any teams yet and so this was essentially a solo run on the side of a fairly busy, hilly highway. I decided to carry my phone just in case I need to call in an SOS and also so I could play some tunes.

I ended up with a 7:13 average, which I was pretty happy with. Our team “goal” was sub-7 minute pace, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold that for my legs (23 hilly miles doesn’t translate into sub-7). Fortunately we had several runners that easily went way under 7 minute pace on their legs (some even sub-6!) so it all evened out.

I handed off to Jessica. She crushed her first leg (all of them actually) and before we knew it she was handing off to D. Holley (aka DJ Holley, Young Daniel and many more). Their handoff was on a busy road, so instead of passing the bracelet, they did a “virtual” handoff. Jessica did the “Dab” and D. Holley was on his way.

After Young Daniel’s leg, it was time for Van 2 to do their thing! This meant that Van 1 had a little bit of downtime. We stayed around and cheered on a few of the Van 2 runners and found a nice little field and playground to hang out in for a while.

You know you are only 1 leg in if you still have enough energy to swing!

Eventually we decided it was time to head to the next major exchange where we would take back over from Van 2. This is where things got a little bit hairy. We ended up at the wrong location! By the time we realized it, we didn’t have time to get to them in time for our first runner to start. Van 2 stepped up and Becca volunteered to run another leg. She and Ashley basically swapped their remaining legs and everyone still ran 3 legs. It just didn’t go exactly as planned.

That’s one thing with relays … it is inevitable that something will go wrong. You have to be flexible and just roll with it. It’s like life, you can plan and plan and plan some more, but things don’t always go as planned and you have to accept those things and deal with what you’re given.

It was almost like this one (pretty big) mishap set off a chain of mishaps. We got back on “schedule” with our runners and it was Daniel’s turn to run. At this point it was close to 9 p.m. so it was really dark out. About a half of a mile into his second leg, he lost a contact. Now to some of you that might not sound like a big deal, but Daniel has really bad vision (like really, really bad) and this made things very tricky!

He dealt with the hand he was given and he still ended up running 6:22 pace for that leg! He handed off to Ali and the mishaps kept on coming. Ali took off and was on the right course until another team’s van told him that he was running the wrong way. He thought he was right, but he decided to turn since they told him to.

I would’ve done the same thing too. It’s dark out there and you don’t want to be lost! After we didn’t pass him in the van, we realized what happened and thankfully he was running with his phone so we were able to call him and tell him, “Turn around! Turn around!” He was the best sport about it and he stayed in good spirits. He even managed to average 6:50 pace for 9 miles!

Ali handed off to me. Like I said earlier, I have done these things before and so I knew what to expect for the nighttime leg. I honestly wasn’t even worried about it at all. As it turns out, my leg ran down the darkest, windiest, scariest back country TN road EVER (perhaps I am being a tad dramatic, but you get the point). I was terrified! About a mile into my leg the van passed me and I told them (very emphatically), “DO NOT LEAVE ME!”

They stayed really close to me the rest of the way and I was fine, but I was definitely a little rattled after that. I wasn’t expecting to be scared, so I was a little bit frustrated with myself, thinking that I had “regressed.” Looking back now, I realize that it is okay (and perfectly normal) to be scared, anxious, etc. and as long as I am listening to and recognizing those feelings, I am doing whatever is needed to take care of myself and that is the most important thing! I was thankful to have Daniel there to make sure I was safe.

I ended up averaging 7:19 for that leg, which was slower than I was hoping for, but again, I made it through safe and secure and that’s all that really matters!

I handed off to Jessica. She and Young Daniel finished up Van 1’s second legs and then we were able to head to our mid-way hotel at this point. I highly recommend having somewhere to stop during the race if you ever do one of these things. We were only there for about an hour and a half, but we were able to rinse off and lay down for a few precious minutes of rest. It made a huge difference!

After a little bit of rest, we piled back into the van and headed out to meet Van 2 for our last leg! Woo hoo! We were so ready to run that last leg and be done. I think it was about 3 a.m. or so at this point (time starts to really have no meaning whatsoever). Becca took off and Van 2 headed to the hotel to get some rest.

Before I knew it, it was time for my last leg! The sun wasn’t quite up (I said lots of prayers that it would be), but it was on the rise. Thank you Lord! I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel going on the third leg. I was already 16.30 miles in and I had 6.80 miles to do. The third leg can definitely be all about survival. I started running and much to my surprise, my legs felt really good! We were starting to catch a ton of teams and that got me even more pumped up.

The third leg was my fastest average!

As we each finished up our last leg, our spirits got higher and higher. By the time Jessica ran her last leg, we were having mini-dance parties on the side of the road to cheer for her as she went by!

Our spirits got even higher when we found a Dunkin Donuts along Young Daniel’s last leg. Coffee was all we really needed. We met back up with Van 2 at the last exchange and found out that there were only 3 teams left to catch. Even though they had started 3 or 4 hours in front of us, we still wanted to catch all of those teams and really seal the win.

Van 2 was on fire and they reeled in those last 3 teams over the course of their last legs. Kenny was our last runner and he passed the last team about 1 mile into his last leg! He came blazing into the finish area and we were all planning to run it in with him. He was running so fast that we couldn’t even keep up!

Team Flip Flops in Porta Johns and Other Bad Decisions for the win!

POST RACE

After the race was over it was time to celebrate and REST! We had an awesome house in Nashville that was on the river. There was a pool, hot tub, ping pong table, air hockey table, dart board, kayaks, etc. It was incredible!

We had a great time hanging out at the house after the race and talking about everything that happened along the way! It’s so much fun to get everyone back together after being separated into two vans during the race. We had plenty to talk and laugh about!

There was a swan in the pool at the house and we got a lot of mileage out of that thing! Ride the Swan might have been the most used phase over the course of the entire trip! Ha.

I went to bed pretty early. It was maybe 5 p.m., but felt like midnight. My internal clock was so off. I did, however, recognize the feeling of tiredness and exhaustion. I slept so well that night!

I woke up refreshed and ready to Sunday morning. A few of us went for a short run to work out some of the soreness Sunday morning and came back to find breakfast waiting for us!

Thanks Momma Becca and Jessica.

We spent the day exploring Nashville! We had lunch at a really good local barbecue restaurant, Edley’s. Daniel has a few friends from a camp that he worked at in college that live in Nashville. They met up with us and were wonderful tour guides. We felt like locals.

Until you have experienced an overnight relay, I don’t know if you can truly understand how much fun and what an awesome experience it is. This was the best relay that I have ever been on! Our team was incredible (fast and just in general). There is so much effort that goes into getting the thing planned and that just makes it all the more exciting. Everyone on our team ran their hearts out and ran better than we expected, which was so cool to see. We were truly a team. Friendships were formed, strengthened and tested. Everyone was so supportive of each other and we built a wonderful camaraderie.

I can’t wait until the next one!

Tell me … what is your fondest racing experience? This one is ranking pretty high on my list right now!

Well y’all … we made it. I *officially* survived another tax season and it wasn’t even all that taxing. Who knew?!

I managed to sneak in a half marathon two weekends ago that I haven’t done a recap of, so today’s post will cover that. I don’t really enjoy reading “late” race recaps myself, so feel free to skip over that portion of this post if you want to. I’m just writing it for myself. I haven’t missed a race recap since I started the blog, so I don’t want to start now!

Gulf Coast Half Marathon at Pensacola Beach

The race itself was somewhat of a last minute addition to my schedule. I needed to get a long run workout in anyway, the Running Wild team had some race entries that needed to be filled and Rebecca was planning to go over for the race as well, so I decided to go too.

This race is part of the Gulf Coast half marathon series, with races in Gulf Shores, AL, Pensacola Beach, FL & Mandeville, LA.

We did the Mandeville race a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so I was excited to try the Pensacola race this year. The course is an out-and-back route that takes runners from the Casino Beach Boardwalk out onto the roads running in between the Gulf to the south as and the Santa Rosa Sound to the north.

The race starts at 7 a.m., which makes for an early morning commute over to FL. One nice thing about the early start was that we got to see the sunrise over the water, and it was a beautiful morning.

We got to the start with plenty of time to spare, got in a quick warm up, hit the porta potties and lined up at the start. Since the race wasn’t technically even on my schedule (coach didn’t know I did it until afterwards … surprise!), I was just hoping to get in a good, solid effort. I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to be feeling and so I didn’t put any pressure on them to “perform.”

Rebecca and I started off together. We came through the first few miles in 6:58, 6:58, 7:03, 7:03. I felt pretty good for the first 4 miles and we had decided to break the race up into three 4 mile segments and then see how we felt and go for in on the last mile.

Once we got to mile 5 and 6, things got a little hairy. And by hairy, I mean windy. Very, very windy. We were running straight into the strongest headwind that I can ever remember running in. It was crazy! Although I think our effort remained the same, the pace fell off to 7:23, 7:17. Just after mile 6, we passed the turnaround for the 10 mile race. Rebecca did the 10 mile race, so she turned off and I was left to battle the wind by myself.

Fortunately, I only had one more mile of headwind. I came through mile 7 in 7:27. I was hoping and praying that the tailwind would carry me home after we turned around! Thankfully, that did prove to be true. It’s amazing how much of a difference the wind made on my pace.  I was able to keep it under 7:00 pace for the rest of the race. My splits for miles 8 through 13 were 6:45, 6:56, 6:55, 6:46, 6:41, and 6:45, with 0:44 for the last 0.1, for a total time of 1:31:45.

Running Wild was very well represented. We went 1, 2 and 3 in the half marathon for females! I was super-duper happy with my time. I think it is nice to go into some races with a mindset of just enjoying it and seeing what you can do that day. No real expectations, other than to be thankful to get to do what you love and love what you do.

The post-race party was at Flounders on the sound. It was a beautiful day to be outside and so we hung out for a little while, soaked up some Vitamin D and waited on the awards. I really enjoyed the race and would definitely do it again.

A few other things that have been going on …

We had our after tax season crawfish boil Sunday afternoon.

I got a new Garmin! It is the Forerunner 235. I am obsessed. It has heart rate technology that measures heart rate at the wrist 24/7 and it identifies your heart rate zone and beats per minute in real time. A built-in accelerometer captures distance and pace data when you’re running on an indoor track or treadmill, with no need for a separate foot pod accessory. Once you’re done running, it doubles as an activity tracker, counting your steps and calories throughout the day (so I have replaced my FitBit with this guy). Plus, it’s so pretty! I mean, what more can you really need in a running accessory?

Summer is around the corner! Actually, let’s just go ahead and start calling it summer. That makes me happier. My summer schedule is shaping up nicely. I’ll be working part-time and I definitely plan to take more time to just slow down and enjoy life. I plan to get back to blogging more regularly. I really enjoy it and I miss it when I am “too busy” to feel like I can write something worthwhile.

I have found writing, when mindfully engaged in quiet and solitude to be a way of listening to myself. I don’t know about you, but I know that I am really good at shutting things down and not listening to myself. I need some sort of “activity,” like reading, blogging, journaling, yoga, etc. to make me slow down and practice mindfulness. Lately, I feel like I have been practicing mindlessness. Hoping to change that, stat!

I was reminded of this quote recently and I like it.

It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind that you forget that it doesn’t have to be that way. Don’t get me wrong, there will definitely be times where you do just have to “endure” to survive, but hopefully this isn’t your normal state.

I also saw this little quote and it made me smile, so maybe it’ll make you do the same.

That’s it for today! Make it a good one y’all!