Category: Race Recap

Well y’all … I did something a little bit crazy this weekend. I ran my first trail race! I survived and I absolutely loved it (like really, really loved it).

I realize you might be asking yourself, “Is that really any different than all the other running that she normally does?” I am here to tell you that it is most definitely different from “road” running (especially when there is flash flooding all across the coast the night before the race).

Since I am admitting to my craziness, I need to go ahead and tell y’all what else I did. I signed up for my first ultra-marathon! It’s a 50K (31 miles) in August … wait for it … in Tahoe! You might remember that last year I ran 30 miles (broken up into two runs) for my 30th birthday. This year I am continuing the tradition with a 31 mile trail race for my 31st birthday. The race advertises itself as an “adventurous romp through some of planet earths most scenic and challenging trails […] with 360 degree panorama views of Lake Tahoe.” To say that I am excited about it would be a huge understatement!

Since I am running a 31 mile trail race in a few months, it seemed logical that I should practice running on trails. Enter –> Blackwater 10 Mile Trail Run Challenge just outside of Pensacola, FL in Blackwater State Park. I had heard about this race before, but I had never run it and I figured a 10 mile race would be a good way to ease into trail running. You know, start “small” with a 10 miler? It made sense in my head, but now that I am typing it out it doesn’t seem all that logical.

I have run on trails before, but I had never raced on trails. I would say less than 0.01% of my running has been done on trails. We just don’t really have a lot of trails to run on in this area. I plan to jump on any opportunity that I can get over the next few months. My friend Ashley is running Tahoe with me and I also convinced her to run the 10 mile race this weekend.

We got up early Saturday morning, made a quick stop at Starbucks (because … coffee) and made the drive over to Pensacola. We pulled into the park to find that the road was completely flooded. I don’t know if you’ll really be able to tell, but the water was pretty deep. At this point, we were starting to doubt ourselves a little bit. What in the world were we getting ourselves into?!

The atmosphere was refreshingly relaxed. I have heard that the “trail racing scene” was very low key and those rumors were definitely confirmed this weekend. The race director was going over some last minute course changes with us and he said, “Now at this point, the trail and the creek basically become one.” He also told us it wasn’t a matter of if the trail was going to be wet, it was whether or not any portion of it would be dry. Well okay then. Basically we went into the race with no real expectations, other than to not break ourselves.

The course is a point-to-point race that consists of single track, technical footing with some short stints on fire roads. Due to the flooding this year, we actually ran a few of the miles on the road, road, which was really nice for me. I was able to pick the pace up on the road and make up some time.

The trail the first three miles weren’t too bad. The trail was more sandy than muddy. We saw several deer and I was just enjoying being out and soaking up all the nature that I could. I ran the first three miles in 7:39, 7:21, 7:31.

We took our detour around mile 4 and ran a few miles on the road. I sped up and ran those miles in 6:59, 6:45, 6:49. I ended up passing a lot of people on the road, which I didn’t really want to do because I ended up in no man’s land. I was pretty sure that I was going to be running slower on the trail than the folks I passed though, so I wanted to go ahead and make up some distance on them.

Of course this is about the time that we turned onto the really muddy, wet portion of the trail. See pic above. For a mile or so I couldn’t see anyone in front of me. I tried my best to follow the course (it’s harder to do than it sounds) and stay upright. I came around a corner at mile 7 or 8 and all of a sudden found myself almost knee deep in water. The tree with the trail marker on it was smack dab in the middle of (what seemed like) a big pond. Hmm. I had no clue which way to go and either way was going to involve wading through water that was over waist deep. I made the executive decision to stop and wait on the next runner to come before I kept going. I really didn’t want to be lost in the middle of the woods.

I am so glad that I waited because we definitely went to the left and I was leaning towards going to the right. We had to wade through the “pond” and then cross the creek on a railroad tie (which was very slick). The water didn’t get much over my shorts and it actually worked out quite nicely because I was really muddy before that and the water cleaned me off. Gotta look on the bright side, right?!

The last few miles were all on super muddy trails. My pace slowed way down! The last four miles were 8:47, 9:00, 9:01, 7:30. I felt like I was doing “high knees” the whole time. It was tricky because there were lots of roots, limbs and trees to cross, but sometimes you couldn’t really see them because they were underwater. It was pure craziness and pure bliss at the same time! I was on an extreme runner’s high by the end of the race.

I crossed the finish line in 1:17:52 (just under 8 minute pace). I was 7th overall and 1st female. Less than two minutes later, Ashley came in. She was 2nd female! We got separated at the start and the majority of the race was single track, so I wasn’t really sure where she was. We were both really pleased with how it went and we had a blast!

Now I want to run all. the. trails. and I am even more excited about Tahoe!

Nature. Love it or hate it? I’m definitely in the love it camp.

Happy Spring!

While it doesn’t exactly feel like spring here on the Gulf Coast, as of yesterday spring has officially arrived and I don’t know about you, but that makes me really happy! We are also officially 29 days from the end of tax season! WOO to the HOO.

I am always reminded of and rely on Colossians 3:23 this time of year … “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men.”

Sometimes I get discouraged and start thinking that my work doesn’t really “matter,” or that I’m not really helping others with my work. I think this verse is a wonderful reminder that no matter what it is that you are doing, God can use you if you are willing.

I have another race recap to share with you today, and this is a good one because it is my favorite race of the year, the Spring Fever Chase 10K. If you are getting a little bit tired of my race recaps, don’t worry I don’t have any other races scheduled in the immediate future. This will be the last one for at least a little while (no promises as to the specific duration of this racing hiatus though). The plan is to just make it through tax season and then … who knows?!

Spring Fever Chase 10K. Let’s discuss. The 10K course winds through beautiful downtown Fairhope (with some rolling hills) and finishes along the bay. The race always takes place on the Saturday of the Arts and Crafts Festival, which is a really cool, three-day event. Over 200 vendors from all over the country bring their best work and set up booths all along the streets downtown. After the race, you can just hang out and enjoy the atmosphere. It’s awesome! If you don’t believe me, you should just come experience it for yourself.

I started running this race in college and pretty much haven’t stopped since. I missed last year because of the flu, but that is my only year to miss since 2006. Daniel has run the race every year since we met (2010) and he loves it too! He won the race last year, and so he was anxious to defend his title this year. Earlier in the week, the weather was looking a little bit iffy, but luckily the rain that was supposed to come in decided to stay out in the Gulf and the day turned out beautiful. Humid? Yes. Rainy? No.

We got to the race around 7:15 and ran a couple of miles to warm up, got to the start just before 8 and chatted with some friends. Very low key. No nerves, just excitement. I went into the race with no real concrete goals. Since the weather was warm and muggy and the course is quite challenging, coach wanted me to “run this 10K a bit more by feel and not worry too much about paces. Avoid the early sprint out and instead get into a good strong rhythm from the start and let the paces vary along with the roll of the course. Focus on your cadence and form on the hills.” I thought this was wonderful advice and I intended to do just that. I ran the 1st mile in 6:22 and the 2nd in 6:19.

Unfortunately, there was some confusion on the course during mile 3. About 99% of the runners didn’t run the area circled in yellow above. The police officer that was supposed to be directing the runners to turn left onto Myrtle misunderstood his directions and instead directed the runners to stay straight on Gayfer. This meant that a half of a mile and two of the biggest hills were cut from the course.

The problem was that the first 7 or 8 runners (who had gotten somewhat separated from the pack early on), ran the actual route. Daniel was leading the race and all of the runners around him were familiar with the course as well, so we all turned left onto Myrtle, even though the police car was blocking the street. Several of us even tried to tell him that he was blocking the course, but he wasn’t really listening. At some point after that, he actually turned the sign that was pointing for the runners to turn left and made it just point straight for everyone to stay on Gayfer.

I was still feeling good and was completely oblivious to what had happened until I ran up the hill on Ingleside to see about thirty runners turning onto Ingleside ahead of me. At this point, I was just really confused. I turned around to look behind me and y’all … not a single runner. No one after me had turned on Myrtle! I’m not gonna lie, for a minute or two (or three or four), I was mad. I went from 1st female (and 6th or 7th overall) to about 5th or 6th female (and about 40th overall), because the others hadn’t run the course correctly. I ran mile 3 in 6:35. I expected to slow down a little on mile 3 because it is the hilliest mile of the race.

With all of the confusion, I even missed seeing the fabulous sign that Jill’s husband made. He is in accounting too, so he added a little nerd humor in there for me. It was definitely “accrual” world out there Saturday! Luckily she had a picture of it, so I still got to see it (just after the fact) <3

It was really hard for me to hold it together mentally at this point. Miles 4 and 5 were 6:28 and 6:38. I just couldn’t find my “drive.” Even though I was steadily catching people and I came to terms with the fact that no one purposefully cut the course, they were just led the wrong way (I’m 99% certain that I would’ve done the same thing if everyone around me was too) … I was just kind of done with the race. I didn’t really care if I caught back up to the 1st place girl or not. None of the spectators along the course knew what had happened, so they were all yelling, “3rd place female!” or “2nd place female!” as I passed. I know they meant well and I am thankful that there were people out supporting the runners. It was still a tough pill to swallow.

I ran the last mile in 6:28 and the last 0.20 in 1:30 (ish), for a finish time of 40:20. I debated on how I was going to write this recap and I almost didn’t even get into the whole course being short debacle, because I definitely don’t want to deter anyone from participating in this race. It is a great race! I think that it was a wonderful learning experience and hopefully you can take something from it as well. How often do things really go exactly how you expect them to? Life is going to be full of obstacles. All obstacles can be overcome! We just have to maintain motivation, stay positive, dig deep, keep our faith, and never give up, even when nothing seems to be going our way. Easier said than done. No doubt.

It may seem like some people might have an easier route or path in life, but the character, wisdom and knowledge that we gain from overcoming adversity is what make us who we are. If you never face adversity, you never learn how to fully rely on God. Cling to Him and He will shape you into the person that you were meant to be! There you have it, folks. Deep thoughts to start off your Monday morning.

With all that being said, the race directors handled the situation beautifully. They were so apologetic, even though it wasn’t really their fault. Ultimately, it is the runner’s responsibility to know the course and run it correctly. Daniel still managed to win the race outright, regardless of the fact that he ran farther than a lot of others! So crazy! I ended up as 2nd female, but was given the win because I was the only girl that ran the correct course.

This was the second time that we have managed to pull off the double win. We both truly love this race and it is even more special to be able to stand up there on the podium together.

My mom also ran the race this year! She was planning to just walk the course, but her competitive side got the best of her and she ran most of the race. I was planning to go back and walk in with her, but I didn’t get very far back along the course until I found her running! She only had less than half a mile to go at that point, and she had two “ladies in pink” in her sight. She caught them both and won her age group! Go Mom!

We walked around and hung out at the Art and Crafts Festival for a while after the race.

Daniel and I both won a pair of shoes from Running Wild, so we definitely had to go redeem our prizes immediately! I got my second pair of Hokas. My feet love them.

After we rested for a little bit Saturday afternoon, we headed to dinner with our friends from Auburn, who were in town for the Arts and Crafts Festival. It ended up being such a wonderful day!

I know I have rambled on a little bit too long at this point, but I want to show you the coolest thing that Daniel got us for Valentine’s Day. I know that was a little while ago, but they were on backorder, so we just got them Friday. I’m pretty sure that I’ve told you about our love for the show Shark Tank. The latest Shark Tank company that we tried out is called Budsies. You submit an image (which I’m pretty sure is supposed to be your child’s art work) and they make it huggable. We decided to submit a photo of each of us and the result is absolutely awesome!

That’s all I have for you today. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Talk to you soon!

Well hello, hello and happy Monday! I hope the time change is treating you well!

I’m kind of torn about this whole time change thing. On one hand, it is definitely nice to have an extra hour in the evening, but on the other hand, I really miss the daylight in the morning and losing an hour of sleep?! Really. That’s just cruel.

Last week was a very busy week and weekend! As per usual, I’ve got a race recap and some other randomness to share with you today.

Race Recap:

We ran the McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Prediction 5K in Pensacola Saturday. This was my first time running this race, but Daniel had done it one time before this year (5 years ago). There were over eleven thousand participants in the 5K, which is huge! That’s got to be the biggest 5K that I’ve ever run in. It takes over 10 minutes for all of the runners to even cross the start line.

An added twist is that it is a prediction run, which means that each person guesses their finish time and person who finishes closest to the time predicted on their registration form wins. You aren’t allowed to wear a watch and there aren’t any mile markers (or clocks) along the course.

There is also a team division, which makes it fun! I was on the Running Wild female team and Daniel and some of his friends ran on the Lower Alabama Runners team. The top five runners for each team count towards the results and the team with the lowest total time wins (very similar to cross country scoring, but using your time instead of your place).

We carpooled over to Pensacola Saturday morning with some of Daniel’s teammates. The Running Wild crew was meeting at the store before the race to all warm up together as a group. We found a place to park downtown (which is not an easy feat with a race size of 11K) and a few of the guys “escorted” me over to Running Wild, so that I wouldn’t have to run in Pensacola by myself. So chivalrous.

It was fun to get to spend some time with the Pensacola girls. I don’t know many of them very well, since I run for the Fairhope team. Our uniform was supposed to be our regular cheetah singlet with a green tutu. I didn’t have a green tutu, so I went with tall green socks, green shorts and a green hat. Close enough, right?

The race started at 9 a.m. (which is a little bit later than most races, but was kind of nice since we had to drive about an hour to get there anyway). We left the store at 8:30 and ran the mile and a half back to the start together. I managed to find Daniel in the mob of folks in time for a quick kiss and then we were off!

Several people told me before the race to be sure to start at the very front of the race. If you don’t, you waste a lot of time stuck behind and/or weaving around other people. I got a couple of rows back and started just behind Daniel. Everyone takes off sooo fast! Way. too. fast!

It’s a very weird feeling to be racing without a watch and having no idea where you are along the course. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to take a look at the course map before the race, but it most definitely did not. I’ll blame that one on tax season. Ain’t nobody got time for that! I have no clue what my splits were, but I do know that I finished in 19:23. Since I don’t have proof otherwise, let’s just pretend that I ran 6:14 pace for each mile. Perfectly even. Highly unlikely.

I predicted 19:15, so I was 8 seconds off of my predicted time. Not too bad, but definitely nowhere close enough to win the prediction contest. I think I was somewhere around 150th in the prediction department. I was 5th girl in the speed department (which let’s face it, is what I care more about) and my team got 1st place in the female division!

Daniel ran 18:05 (5:49 pace)! He was smokin! His team did really well and they ended up in second place. He predicted 18:12 for his time, so he was 7 seconds under his predicted time. That was good enough for 130th in the prediction division. He was in the top 20 or so overall for speed, so that was good!

We got in a 4 mile cool down after the race and stayed around at the post-race party for a little while. This race is more known for its after party than the actual race itself. I wasn’t really expecting it to be all that much fun, but I was pleasantly surprised. We had a great time!

Other randomness from the week:

Daniel and I showed up at group run Tuesday night wearing the same outfit. It wasn’t planned. He wouldn’t even let me get a picture. I think he was embarrassed. It’s happened before, and probably will happen again. We run a lot of the same races, so we have a lot of the same shirts. Married runner problems.

We hung out at Gumbo Shack with some friends after our group run. I feel like this place has been featured on diners, drive-ins and dives, but my google search turned up some inconclusive evidence and I lost heart in the search efforts. Bottom line, if it hasn’t been, it should be. It’s a hole in the wall kind of place, perfect for hanging out post-run!

I had a tempo workout Wednesday to do (actually it was supposed to be done Tuesday, but I procrastinated and put it off). We had a really rainy week and the temperatures have definitely started to heat up. I struggled through the workout and ended it up cutting it short. It was supposed to be a 4 mile warm up, a 4 mile tempo and a 4 mile cool down. I ended up doing a 4 mile warm up, only a 3 mile tempo (6:38, 6:40, 6:50) and a 5 mile cool down. You win some, you lose some.

Thursday evening we had a baby shower for one of the girls in our small group. I was in charge of drinks. Who knew that there were so many questions about planning drinks for a baby shower?! I’m pretty sure that next time I will be in charge of plates or something. I was in a little over my head. I’m just kidding, kind of. I found a really easy punch recipe and it actually turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.

Check us out!

We went to a birthday party for one of Daniel’s buddies, Ali, Sunday evening. He turned 40 and his wife, Melanie, organized a fun little surprise party for him. Ali is originally from England. All the guys like to give him a hard time about being British. He got this *almost* life sized (photo shopped) poster that shows him saluting the American flag, instead of the British flag.

Whew. Okay … I think that pretty much catches us up. There was more running and working that took place, but all that is pretty much status quo.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Hello, hello! Happy Leap Day!

I had a wonderful weekend in New Orleans! Technically, it was more like a wonderful day in New Orleans, but regardless of duration, it was indeed wonderful.

I started the weekend off with an easy 4 mile run Saturday morning and then mom and I got a quick walk for coffee before we left to head to NOLA. We loaded up and dropped Brookser off at the Dog Ranch Resort. We had to get a road trip selfie before we left and Brooks jumped on the opportunity to give mom and big ‘ole kiss! He got her good.

Our hotel wasn’t quite ready when we got there, so we went straight to the expo. We stayed at the Omni Riverfront Hotel. The location couldn’t have been better. We were only a couple of blocks from the expo and a couple of blocks from the start line, and we were right across from the Riverwalk Market. There was a cruise ship docked right outside of our window.

The expo was fairly crowded and we were there for quite a while. We ran into Larisa and some of the other Crescent City Classic blogger crew right when we walked in! It was really cool to get to meet some of them before the race, which is coming up in a few short weeks! We had a little mini photo shoot in the lobby of the Convention Center. A couple of us even ended up doing interviews with Rock ‘N’ Roll media team.

I picked up my bib and we did a little bit of shopping. I love race expos! I think that basically boils down to the fact that I really just love running gear and there are large quantities of running gear at race expos and therefore, I love race expos.

We ended up heading straight to dinner after we left the expo. We met Rebecca, her mom, Savannah and one of Rebecca’s friends, Meggan (who won the marathon this year!), for dinner at Drago’s. We ate fairly early because we are all wanting to get back to get back and get a decent night’s rest before the race. We forgot to get a picture at dinner, which is a major bummer (and a major blogger fail).

I slept great and woke up bright and early Sunday morning ready to run. I fueled up with some coffee and UCAN and was good to go. The race started at 7:30. I left the hotel around 6:45 to get a 2 mile warm up in and have time to get into the corral for the start. I think I mentioned this before, but I had an “elite” bib for this race. I didn’t really think too much about it until we went to line up at the start. The elite runners have their own corral, and for some reason, I was really hesitant to go into the elite corral. I didn’t feel like I “belonged” in the elite start (even though I qualified to be there) and I was also worried that if I started with them, I would go out too fast (which I tend to do if left to my own devices, without any other outside influences anyway). Bottom line is that there was a lot of doubt floating around in my head. Ultimately, I decided to just go for it and start with the elite group. I promised myself that I wouldn’t start too fast.

I didn’t! I think this is the most consistently paced race that I have ever run. My splits were: 6:33, 6:33, 6:31, 6:29, 6:33, 6:31, 6:29, 6:40, 6:30, 6:38, 6:32, 6:29, 6:25, 1:08 (for the last .2 (side note: I really need to work on running the tangents a little bit better)). I finished in 1:25:59 (barely squeaked under 1:26!) for 9th female. This isn’t a PR, but I am very happy with the time! I ran smart and I felt really, really good (i.e., strong and healthy).

The course is amazing. It’s really flat and really fun! The start is at the corner of Camp and Poydras. You run down St. Charles for about four miles and then you turn around and come back, before weaving over to Magazine and Tchoupitoulas. You turn onto N. Peters around mile nine, run through the French Quarter (by Jackson Square and Cafe Du Monde), before turning onto Esplanade Avenue. You stay on Esplanade for the last three miles of the race and finish in City Park.

Lower Alabama was very well represented at the race. We were all over the place! I absolutely loved seeing so many familiar, friendly faces along the course! Once I settled into my pace, I pretty much ran with the same group of 3-5 runners the rest of the way. There was one man that decided to draft off run with me. He stayed on my left shoulder from mile 5 on. His goal was to go under 1:26. I told him that if he stayed with me, I would make sure that he met his goal.

I felt really good at mile 11 and I knew that we only had two miles to go, so I picked it up a little bit. There was a man running in a banana costume that had been about 100 yards in front of us the whole way. There was no way that I was going to let banana-man beat me, so at mile 11 I decided that it was time to go catch the banana. Thankfully I caught him and passed him. There was a decent gap between the 8th and 9th place girls, so I didn’t really have any other people to chase, but by golly I caught the banana.

How someone could run ~ 6:30 pace wearing something like that is beyond me. I told him great job as I passed!

Mom met me at the finish line and we walked over to do some spectating around mile 15 of the full marathon course. We saw several friends run by. I ran a few cool down miles with Rebecca as she passed and then headed back to meet mom. We caught a bus back to the French Quarter and walked around a little bit.

Check out the awesome finisher’s medal this year. It’s the St. Louis Cathedral, which overlooks Jackson Square. We walked over and got a picture with the Cathedral in the background.

After that we hit up Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets. I knew Daniel would be really excited if I brought him home some beignets … He was! He spent the weekend at home with his family, loving on our new niece.

We wandered around on the Riverwalk for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I was singing Creedence Clearwater Revival in my head the whole time. Rollin. Rollin. {Rock ‘N’} Rollin on the River.

Daniel beat us home and when I got out of the car, we discovered that we were #twinning in our “Home T” shirts. That was definitely not planned! Great minds think alike I guess <3 I had a great time in New Orleans, but it is so good to be. HOME. Y’ALL.

Congratulations to everyone who raced this weekend! I have really been enjoying seeing all of the posts from NOLA and Seaside.

Hi friends!

Apparently I am back to my once a week posting regimen. Lots has happened since last time we talked … let’s catch up with some week-end highlights!

I got some new shoes and y’all, I love them. I finally see what all the fuss is about with the Hokas. They may look like shape-ups, but they feel like pure bliss. Hokas are cushiony soled running shoes for distance runners and are known for their light weight and maximal cushioning. They are basically “maximalist shoes,” as opposed to minimalist shoes.

My feet are really appreciating the extra love and support. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve been dealing with plantar fasciitis on my right foot and also some extensor tendonitis on my left foot. I saw Dr. Justin last week about it. He recently got a new pressure wave machine. It sends pulses of high-pressure waves through the skin. The soft tissue and bone that are subjected to these pulses heal back stronger, due to the growth of new blood vessels in the affected areas (that is my understanding of it, at least).

 Are you guys liking my feet pictures?

Rebecca and I finished the #runlovechallenge Thursday evening. We ran 8 miles Monday morning and 5 miles Thursday evening, which gave us exactly 214. We even had a few days to spare! We both really enjoyed the challenge and it was great to spend some quality miles together over the last month and a half. We are both busy, but we stayed accountable to each other and completed the challenge. 214 miles together was a pretty lofty goal (in my opinion), so go us! Haha.

Saturday morning I ran the Pensacola Double Bridge Run. This race has been on my running “wish list” for years, but I hadn’t ever been able to do it until this year. I really enjoyed the race and will definitely be back again!

The race has an early start time of 7 a.m., which meant that we had to leave at 4:30 a.m. in order to get there and get on the bus to the start. The course is a point to point course, so you park at the finish and take a bus to the start. The busses stop running at 6 a.m., so you have to be prompt! There were five of us who all met up and rode together, which made for a fun race-day experience. Running friends are the best.

The course is unbelievable. It starts in downtown Pensacola at the Vince Whibbs Community Maritime Park, winds through historic Pensacola, over the 3-mile bridge spanning Escambia Bay, through Gulf Breeze, over the Bob Sikes Bridge and the Intercostal Waterway, and finishes at the Pensacola Beach boardwalk.

I made a conscious effort to start out a little bit more conservatively than I have in the past few races. My goal pace was 6:30 to 6:35, so I planned to start out at around 6:45 and then was going to drop the pace down if I felt good. My first two miles were 6:39 and then I dropped it down to 6:33 for the next two. We went over the first bridge during mile 5, and my pace slowed to 6:37. I got back into a groove during miles 6 and 7, which were 6:29 and 6:33.

I settled in with a pack of three or four girls and we worked together for most of the race. One really nice thing about bigger races, is that you have people to pace with. Here we are coming across the first bridge.

We went over the second bridge during mile 8, and my pace slowed down a lot more to 6:54. I was able to regroup and I finished the ninth mile at 6:35. The last 0.3 was 2:12, for a total time of 61:44. I placed 46th overall and 10th for the women. This was a pretty competitive field, so I am happy with a top 10 finish. There were over 3,000 runners!

Jessica, Lizzie and I did a 6 mile cool down. They are both training for Boston and needed to do their long run Saturday, so of course I joined in for the fun.

I got home from the race just in time to catch the second half of the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, which were run in Los Angeles, CA. I was so happy for Amy, Desi and Shalane! It was really cool to watch Amy and Shalane work together to make the team. Their teamwork and friendship is truly inspirational and really made appreciative of the running friendships that I have. I was also stoked for Meb! He is just legendary. This is the 4th Olympic marathon team that he has made. That is 16 years of marathoning!

We enjoyed a fairly uneventful Valentine’s Day. Daniel had to work Sunday morning, but he made sure to get my card and flowers ahead of time. He got me the cutest card with roadrunner on it. You make my heart beep-beep fast. I love it.

When he got home from work, we got in a run together, picked up dinner to-go from Vinny’s and watched Friends. It was a perfect evening!

I hope you guys had a great Valentine’s Day and have a wonderful week! Gotta run!

Hey guys! Long time no see.

Life has been a little bit crazy this week and I expect said craziness to continue for a few months (well for 2 months and 1 week to be exact). In case you forgot, here is what I look like with some beloved Dunkin Donuts coffee. In case you forgot, I like coffee. I also love the Lord, my husband and running. That pretty much gets us caught up I think.

When life gets a little crazy, it is easy for me to become overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed with feeling like I am not giving 100% to anything and instead, half-way doing a lot of things. I am not a half-way type of person, and yet, there is only so much that I can do. When I start to feel overwhelmed, other feelings like “failure” and “guilt” often pop up as well and it is just not a fun place to be.

Last week, a precious baby girl who the daughter of a couple in our small group, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She is 9 months old. I was literally at a loss for words. I don’t understand why, but I know that isn’t my job. What I do know is that God has his loving arms wrapped around all of them right now. He is capable and He is in control. In the midst of this storm, Tanner, Jordan and baby Tenley are making a huge impact on others. They are praising Him through the storm and they have faith that she will be healed. I want to ask all of you out there to please, please join us in praying for baby Tenley.

There are also several fundraisers going on to help with their medical bills. If you feel led to donate, here are some ways:

There is a t-shirt fundrasier here –> https://www.booster.com/tenleytough

There is a go fund me account set up here –> https://www.gofundme.com/upnd7e2s

In the midst of all of the chaos, I debated on whether or not to even write a post. I decided against in for several days, because I literally couldn’t form the words. This morning, a wonderful email hit my inbox and the timing couldn’t have been better. It said …

“Thank You for my life. I pray that I am honoring You with my life. I often wonder if I am doing enough with my life. I wonder if I am fulfilling my purpose and reaching my potential. I pray that each day I would submit my life to You and live for Your will. Help guide me and affirm me. Help me to be confident in all that I do and may I do it all for You. I pray against lies from the enemy that make me doubt and make me feel inadequate. I am Yours in Jesus’ name AMEN!”

I may not be able to do much, but I know that blogging is a way for me to reach people, so I will keep at it. I also have a race recap to share today, which kind of seems silly at this point, but at least some of you come here to read about running, so I will give you an abbreviated version.

I ran the Joe Cain 5K in downtown Mobile Sunday morning. The race advertises itself as flat, fast, & ugly! Totally accurate. The course starts at the corner of Broad Street and Canal Street in Mobile and runs through the “bail bond district.” I just made that up, but you really do pass by at least 10+ different bail bond businesses, as well as the county jail, along the course. Really ugly.

Jessica and I before the race …

I ran 19:34, which was decent enough for 1st female and 8th overall (out of 671 participants). I was hoping for faster, but … it’s okay. I ran as well as I could have. My legs are feeling really fatigued for some reason that I can’t exactly pinpoint. Coach reminded me that I needed to be taking an iron supplement, which I had somehow forgotten about. My splits were perfectly positive (which in running is not a good thing): 6:10, 6:15, 6:20 and 0:49 for the last .15.

Savannah ran the Moonpie Dash after the 5K. This was her first race (she is almost 17 months). She was by far the youngest and cutest participant.

There is a big street party after the race. We hung out for a little while and enjoyed some quality people watching. For overall female, I got $100 and a Yeti Tumbler. I was very happy with that award! I also won a door prize, which was a spa gift certificate. Sweet.

That’s all I have for today. Please pray for baby Tenley!

Hey friends! I’m linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap.

We ran the Big Beach Marathon & Half Marathon in Gulf Shores, AL this morning, and so I’ll be coming at you with a race recap today. This inaugural race started and finished at The Hangout, which made for a really awesome pre and post-race atmosphere. The course itself ran through the paved trails of Gulf State Park and finished on Beach Blvd with some amazing views of the gulf.

If you notice the distance on the race map above, you will see that the actual race was close to 13.5 miles, so … not a half marathon. I’m still a little bit baffled at how something like this happens. The half marathon distance isn’t an estimate, it’s an exact distance. 13.1 miles. This was the race map from the event website, by the way. The marathon was certified, but they didn’t certify the half. In my opinion, that is really just not acceptable. That is my only complaint though. I know this was a first-year race, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but … if you want runners at your race, you really need to certify the course.

It was a really warm day here on the gulf coast, which made for interesting race conditions. It was mid-sixties and 95% humidity at the start (read: not ideal for long distance running). Now that I have adequately set the stage, let’s talk about the race itself. I’m sure if you are reading between the lines at all here, you know that it didn’t go exactly as planned.

Going into the race, my A goal was to PR (1:24:41). With that being said, this wasn’t specifically an “A goal” sort of race. I wanted to run it because it was a first-year race and it was here locally, but otherwise it wasn’t specifically a race that I was targeting. I kind of feel like my A goal at pretty much every race is to run my personal best, so that’s why I am saying that my A goal was a PR. I think that I am in shape to run a PR, but today wasn’t my day.

I started the race off with 3 pretty strong miles (6:28, 6:22, 6:29). At this point, I was pretty much on target with the pace I wanted, but by mile 4, I was already starting to struggle and I knew that I needed to readjust my goals. That’s when it hit me … I didn’t really have any other goals. Oops. I just made a conscious effort to reign the pace in a little, as I knew there was no way that I could hold 6:30 the rest of the way.

Miles 4 through 8 were 6:45, 6:56, 6:49, 6:49, 6:56. We ran on the paved trails in Gulf State Park from mile 2 through basically mile 10. The trails were pretty winding and they were actually slick because of the crazy humidity. There were also a few rolling hills along the way, which I wasn’t really expecting. I ran the first 4 miles completely by myself, which was pretty tough mentally. Around mile 5, a guy came up beside me and we ran together for several miles. We chatted for a little bit and that helped to pass the time.

Miles 9 and 10 were both 6:57. Once we came to mile 10, we (finally) exited out of the park and headed back towards the finish along the main beach road. Around mile 10, Daniel and his buddy, Kenny passed me. I was excited to see them, but they didn’t exactly hang around to run with me … they pretty much left me in their dust. I was totally fine with that though. I was just really happy that Daniel was having a good race. He has still been battling the piriformis issue, so he wasn’t really sure what to expect. They were approaching the race as a workout, instead of an all-out effort, and man did they have one heck of a workout! They started out conservatively and picked it up at the end, which was pretty much the exact opposite of what I did. Their way is definitely recommended, by the way.

Miles 11 through 13 were 6:55, 6:50, 6:53. At this point I was just chasing Daniel. I kept my eyes on him and followed him to the finish. For whatever it is worth, my last .1 was 0:47. I lapped my Garmin at this point, so that I would know what my actual half marathon time was. It was 1:28:53. The “extra” distance that we ran added another 1:41 to my time, so my “official” race time is 1:30:34. I was 5th overall and 1st female, so I am very pleased with that. Daniel got third overall, which was awesome!

We hung out (at the hang out) for a while after the race. We had several friends running the full and we wanted to see them finish!

A special shout-out to my friend Jill, who ran a 1:33 for her very first half marathon ever. What?! Who does that? This girl. She’s amazing! She has so much potential. I can’t wait to see what she is capable of.

Also a special shout-out to Rebecca, Lizzie and Jessica, who ran the full marathon in crazy hot, humid conditions.

In conclusion, today was a really fun, really hot race. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but really, when does anything ever really go exactly as we plan it to? All we can do is do the best with the circumstances and situations that we are faced with day in and day out.

Mission accomplished!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Hey guys! I’m so excited to tell you about the First Light Marathon relay that we ran today. If you run and you haven’t ever run on a relay team … you really need to! It is hands down, one of the most fun running experiences you can ever have, especially if you have a wonderful group of teammates, which I most definitely did.

As per usual, I’m going to be linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap.

The marathon course is divided up into 5 legs for the relay. Runner 1 runs 1 – 5, runner 2 runs 6 – 10, runner 3 runs 11 – 15, runner 4 runs 16 – 20 and runner 5 runs 20 to 26.2. Our goal this year was to run under 3:00 (6:52 pace) and get a new course record. We needed to beat 3:01:39 to get the course record.

We had an early wake up call, as all of the Running Wild relay teams met at 5:45 to caravan to the start. Daniel dropped me off and headed over to Mobile to run part of the course with some of his friends. Running Wild is one of the race sponsors and they always have lots of relay teams in the race.

The race started at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Mobile. The weather was chilly, but perfect for running. It was low 40s at the start and stayed right around that for the entire race. There is so much energy at the start line of a marathon. It’s really cool to experience. Everyone was lined up and ready to go!

Jessica was our first runner. She had a phenomenal day today! She ran our first leg and then continued on to run the half marathon. She ran 4 PRs (i.e., your personal record or your best time) today … the 1 mile, the 5K, the 10K and the half marathon. Holy moly.

She came blazing into mile 5 and handed off to Lizzie, our second runner. Lizzie also had an amazing run and she made up some serious ground on the first two relay teams during her leg.

At mile 10, Lizzie handed off to Jill. Jill also ran great (and on a really hilly leg)! She caught and passed one relay team and came into the exchange less than a minute behind the lead relay team to hand off to Rebecca.

Only problem was that Rebecca was in the bathroom. Eek! I started yelling at Rebecca, telling her that she had to HURRY! She flew out of the bathroom and got to the exchange seconds before Jill came through. Whew. Definitely cut it a little close, but it’s the stuff like that that makes relays so much fun!

Rebecca ran the hilliest of all the legs and killed it! She averaged 6:38, which was only 2 seconds per mile off of her course PR for that leg (which was also pre-baby).

Rebecca and I have had a few “mishaps” at past relays, like that one time when we tripped each other during the handoff (2012) or that other time when she made it to the exchange point before we were expecting her to get there, I was still out doing my warmup and had to sprint (over half a mile) to get there before she did (2015). In typical fashion, this year we flat dropped the bracelet that we were supposed to pass off at the exchange (like the baton in track) on the ground. I had started to run, but then had to stop and pick up the bracelet. On top of that, my first attempt to grab it was unsuccessful so I pretty much was at a dead stop by the time I got the bracelet secured and took off.

We were less than a minute behind the lead (MEN’S) relay team at that point, so I knew what I had to do. The last leg is 6.2 miles and it is flat (if not slightly downhill) and fast. I was ready to run. Maybe even a little too ready … I came through the first mile in 5:56. Too fast, too fast! It’s really hard not to start that section of the course too quickly, because you are on a slight decline.

I told myself it was no big deal, I would just slow my roll a little bit. Well, I passed the lead relay team runner during the second mile, so that really got me pumped up. Second mile was 5:59. After that I pretty much ran by myself the rest of the way in. Mile three was 6:05 and then the fast start caught up with me a little bit. Miles four through six were 6:17, 6:20, 6:17 and the last 0.28 (I didn’t exactly run the tangents very well) was 1:43. This gave me a total time of 38:37 for the 6.28 miles, which is an unofficial PR (I say unofficial because my results will not be listed separately). I ran this same leg in 39:06 last year. I love being able to see tangible fitness improvements and so this definitely gave me a boost!

I did have one other slight mishap out there. I started out with gloves on because I was freezing while I was just standing around waiting. I really didn’t even want to take my long-sleeves off to run, but I knew I would warm up. I just didn’t realize quite how warm I was going to get. The second half of the race I knew I had to lose the gloves. I was burning up! Unfortunately the bracelet was wrapped around my gloves and when I took them off it hit the ground. Again?! Thankfully I heard it and was able to stop and grab it. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t had it at the finish, but better safe than sorry.

I carried my gloves with me the rest of the way and decided to toss them to Daniel as I came into the finishing stretch. See them?! Ha. Side note: I tossed them straight up and not actually towards him very much so they actually landed in the middle of the street.

We finished in 2:54:53! The results aren’t posted yet and there seemed to be a little bit of confusion about the finishing times. An almost 2 minute confusion at that. I don’t know how that really happens, but it did. Regardless, we do know that our time is somewhere between 2:53 and 2:55. We met both of our goals and we were the first relay team to finish (out of everyone … men, women, coed, etc.). We were so excited!

We hung around downtown for a while, got some coffee to stay warm and waited to get our awards.

The relay came at just the right time in my training journey. I am so thankful for the friendships and connections that running has brought into my life and today was a wonderful reminder of those things. There is something really special about a hometown marathon too. It is great to see so many familiar faces out there and to see everyone cheering and supporting each other. That’s what community is all about and we have (in my opinion) the best running community around.

I ran with joy today!

Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, got to spend some time with loved ones and got to eat some yummy food!

I love the idea of doing a race on Thanksgiving morning. In fact, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that Thanksgiving is the most popular running holiday of the year. I definitely wanted to take part in that … so yesterday I ran the Turkey Trot for Hope in Mobile. Here’s a quick recap!

Daniel told me that if I got ready early enough, we could stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way across the bay. My husband bribes me with coffee to promote punctuality, and I’m not sad about it. The Christmas joy cups are officially out and I was pretty excited! This is Daniel’s, “Seriously honey?” face.

Like I was saying, we got to the race early and had plenty of time to get my number, meet up with some friends and get a good warm up in. Daniel didn’t run the race, but he ran the warm up and cool down with us. We got a team picture before the race.

It was a beautiful day! The weather was a tad bit on the warm side, which doesn’t make for perfect race conditions, but it wasn’t too bad. I think it was probably mid-sixties at the start. The race started right at eight o’clock (actually it was 7:59) and we were off.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this race. I am a little less than one month out from the marathon, so I didn’t know how my legs were going to react to a race effort. Apparently my coach had a pretty good idea of what to expect though. He told me that he wanted my goal pace range to be between 6:00-6:05 per mile and was expecting me to run in the mid to upper 18s.

Spoiler alert: I averaged exactly 6:00 and ran a 18:43.

I ran the first mile in 5:53, which was a tad too aggressive. It is really difficult in a 5K not to get sucked into a quicker pace that you really want to at the start. This was a decent sized race for Mobile (just under 1,200 participants) and so the start was super crowded. I was by myself a good bit during the race and so I just kept trying to catch the pack in front of me.

I eventually settled into a good pace and came through the second mile at 6:00 flat. At this point I knew I was in first place for the girls and my main goal was to catch the turkey in front of me. Seriously. There was a man running in a full-blown turkey costume. This isn’t him, but this is the costume he was in (just so you can get a good mental image here).

I can’t even imagine how he was doing it! It was really warm and I am fairly certain the costume was fleece-lined. I was super impressed with his effort, but definitely didn’t want him to beat me. I passed Mr. Turkey somewhere in the last mile.

I fell off the pace a little bit after that and finished with a 6:07 third mile and 0:43 seconds for the last 0.1. I knew I had first placed locked in and I caught the turkey, so I felt like my work here was done.

The race benefits Camp Rap-A-Hope, which is a local organization that provides year-long programs and a week-long summer camp to children between the ages of 7 and 17 who have, or have ever had, cancer. This is such a wonderful organization and I am so glad that they had such a good turnout to support their cause! The kids make the medals, which is really special. I love unique awards like that. I also got an apple pie the size of a small child.

I ended up first place female and seventh overall. I was pretty pleased with my time! I ran a 5K a little less than a month after New Orleans last year and ran a 19:45, which was over a minute slower than this race, so I feel like my overall fitness level has improved. I really like to be able to see tangible improvements from one training cycle to the next.

I haven’t really done any speed work post-NYC marathon, so this was a good time to get some in and it will give us a good starting point to gauge my paces for upcoming workouts.

After the race we got cleaned up and headed to my grandmother’s (apple pie in tow) for a wonderful Thanksgiving afternoon with the family.

After we ate, it was (obviously) time for a little post-turkey nap.

I feel like I have so much to be thankful for, not only on Thanksgiving Day, but also on every other day of the year. Thanksgiving can be somewhat of a bittersweet holiday for me, as that is when the attack happened (10 years ago today, actually), but it also a wonderful reminder to just be thankful.

Every day is a blessing. There will be days that might not feel like blessings (and that is okay), but those days make you stronger and more appreciative of the other days. Happy (late) Thanksgiving y’all! Talk to you soon!