Posts in Category: Race Reports
10 Surf ‘n’ Santa 10 Miler headlines
You are not going to hear me complain about being just a couple of minutes off my 10-mile PR after running in some horribly windy, cold and rainy conditions at Saturday’s Surf ‘n’ Santa 10 Miler. I’m pretty thrilled at how well things went in the weather.
There’s nothing really to talk about, so I thought of 10 headlines for a recap that I’ll never write. I don’t really know what else to say besides it was rainy, windy and colder than forecast.
In no particular order, here you go:
- Worst weather ever
- I would have PR’d if it was sunny
- Running with one eye open
- The PR streak ends
- Live and learn. There’s always next year
- The day I started wanting to train for PRs again
- The racing season that wasn’t
- Too exhausted for beer
- 10 miles of rain, wind, cold and almost tears
- Headwind hell
Read into those and you’ll figure out that this was a crazy, crazy day at Virginia Beach. I don’t know if I’ll come back to this race and try to redeem myself or if it was a one-and-done experience, but I definitely had a great time.
A revival race?
No bib at this race, just a timing chip.
As racing has taken a back seat this year, I’ve lost a lot of interest in my personal performance. While I’ve had my share of fun and enjoyed the thrill of helping my sister get to two PRs, personal goals for me just haven’t important.
Earlier this month I thought about signing up for the 5-mile turkey trot near my in-laws’ house in Ohio. I brushed those thoughts aside until last week when I thought about it a little more. Then, finally, I signed up on Monday.
With the weather forecast full of snow, cold and wind, I figured I’d have another race to enjoy the experience and walk away satisfied that I ran something a little faster than a run through my neighborhood.
I took the approach to the start of the Warren Kiwanis Turkey Trot pretty casual — with not having much cold-weather running experience lately, running at just under 20 degrees was a bit of a shock to my system. In the first mile I noticed my Garmin acting up — before the race started it kept returning to the home screen — so I just turned it off and put it in my pocket.
I hit the first mile in a clock time around 8:45. I was probably about 20 seconds back from the timing mat at the start, so I was pleasantly happy with the first mile.
At mile 2, the clock read 16:45. I at least knew I hit that mile in 8 minutes. I had a lot going through my mind more than usual — could I get under 40 minutes for this race? Could I stop feeling like crap at the end of a race? “Finish strong” hasn’t exactly been my power phrase in the past year.
I don’t remember what mile 3 read, but I hit mile 4 at just over 32 minutes. I knew that another 8-minute mile would get me to a sub-40 minute chip time, but I really wanted my clock time to read under 40. I felt like I was just making up goals with every step, but it was working.
I picked up the pace to get to an uncomfortable level. For the first time in a long time in a final mile, I truly felt confident about my performance. I got in a zone I haven’t seen in more than a year. I really felt like I could have easily kept that pace for a few more miles.
When I glanced at the clock at the finish, I saw 39:40. I think. I know it was under 40 minutes. I have to wait and see what my chip time is, but it’ll be closer to 39 minutes.
To be only a little more than 2 minutes off my PR at this distance in the shape I’m in and in this weather, I walked back to my vehicle completely satisfied.
If I use this as a baseline for improvement for 2014, I can’t wait to see what happens when I put more dedicated effort to training for something.
Thankful, grateful and a PR
I’m interrupting this month’s “Thankful for” posts this weekend to focus on one of the most amazing things that’s happened in my nearly 10 years of running — pacing my sister to a half marathon PR.
And not just any PR. Destroying a PR by knocking nearly 12 minutes off her PR and going under 2 hours by 56 seconds.
This is the second time this year I’ve run with my sister Heather and helping her notch a personal best — more than 6 months ago I paced her to a PR at the Monument Avenue 10K.
Saturday’s race was about the most well executed 13.1 miles I’ve ever run — all this coming after I overslept for an hour, forgot my Garmin, and stood in a downpour for nearly 30 minutes.
My friend Josh came to the rescue by letting me wear his watch, and we kept right on pace nearly the entire race. Josh, who was running his first half, ran the first 6 miles with us and cruised to a 1:52 finish. His race is deserving of a separate blog post.
There were a couple of moments just before 10 miles that I didn’t know if the sub 2-hour half would happen, but when we hit the 5K-to-go mark, the goal became simple: have my sister run a 29:30 or better 5K, something she’s done many times.
When he hit what I think is the most dreadful finish in all of racing — a sharp downhill for nearly a half mile — I knew she had this sub 2-hour half under her belt. It was all about not stopping or tripping on the wet pavement at that point.
I had so many emotions about crossing that finish line. Knowing she beat her goal and destroyed a PR felt as rewarding as any PR I’ve ever set. I also thought about last year when I crossed that same finish line in the marathon how much I had fallen out of love with running.
The last 5 miles of the half follow the same course as the full — running along those roads where I felt so bad last year gave me a sense of closure. Time to really move on.
And what better way to move on than celebrating a PR.
Understanding success
As I near 10 years of running, I have been doing a lot of reflecting that hasn’t made its way to pen and paper or a keyboard and computer screen. One of the big things on my mind lately is the definition of success and what it really means to me.
When I look back at my running highs and lows, the greatest moments haven’t been my PRs. The greatest moments have come when I’ve been challenged.
Sometime in the next year, I’ll probably have a top 10 list of moments that have helped me define success — things like finishing the 2010 Richmond Marathon and the 2012 Cleveland Half will likely be on that list.
Another may very well be this past weekend’s Runner’s World Half Marathon.
As I only briefly wrote about heading into the weekend, I fully planned on doing the Five and Dime — the 5K and 10K on Saturday. I had given in to my story of not being in shape enough to run the half marathon because I knew I couldn’t perform like I wanted.
Once I got to Bethlehem, though, I started thinking about it. Why shouldn’t I run the half? Sure the Five and Dime was a big challenge, but why not just run 13.1 for one more “running just to run” race?
So I opted for a big trade — sleeping in on Saturday (9:30!) and run on Sunday.
The half marathon was certainly no race for me — except for that mile I ran hard to get away from a very annoying pace group — as I finished in just under 2:05, my second slowest official half marathon ever and a far cry from my 1:40 half marathon PR.
For a long run though, it was what I needed for some motivation — big-time hills, perfect weather and thousands of people at the event celebrating running. Finding motivation, to me, is a huge success.
I said in my previous post that this weekend could be the spot where I fell back in love with running. It could very well be possible that this race is the one that gets me focused on a 10 miler PR in December and then even bigger things in 2014.
Only time will have those answers for me, and I’m ready to get there.
Falling back in love?
My favorite quote of the weekend was during Dave McGillivray’s presentation. Dave is the Boston Marathon race director.
For much of the past year, I have felt disconnected from the running world. I’ve had so many more downs than ups since I fell apart at the Richmond Marathon. Without diving into it too much, before this weekend I found myself glad I’ve given myself this break.
No pressure, no major goals, no thinking about running other than doing enough to not get too far off track, no getting wrapped up in what other people were doing.
After my experience this weekend at the Runner’s World Festival, though, I know that it’s time for change. In my mind I’ve been ready to make some changes, but I haven’t pushed myself enough to take action.
It’s time to refresh my goals. Really refresh them. And be realistic about them. And be harder on myself as I get closer to them.
I can get into all that later, as this post really isn’t about me. It’s about this group of 20 people over the weekend who have help me realize I need a new path.
As a full disclaimer, Runner’s World paid for my trip to Bethlehem, Pa., and treated 20 of us bloggers to an experience like no other.
While the swag was nice, the experience of meeting so many people I knew by blog name or Twitter name only is what made this weekend truly special.
It’s easy to say that this weekend is the moment where I fell back in love with running, but I won’t know if that’s true for another month or so. Like any good relationship, it’s going to take time to figure that part out.
As I think about how I want to really sum up the weekend, I have trouble finding the right words. Fellow blogger and #fitblog founder Katy (who was the inspiration for starting #runchat) said it best in her post:
From the Runner’s World staff and editors to the volunteers to the passionate sponsors who seemed truly excited to meet and work with us, this weekend affected me deeply. Thank you is not enough …
For those of who blog regularly or enjoy conversations on Twitter, I have to blunt with you: don’t hide behind your phones or computer screens.
Go to races. Socialize. Meet other people you think you know so well. You’ll be rewarded with experiences that will change you forever.
As for the actual running this weekend? I’ll save that unexpected story for later in the week.
Thanks to Running Skirts for hooking up me, Scott and Bart Yasso with a skirt at the Skirt Olympics.
Bloggers at the Altra clinic.
The Running is … board from Altra.
Runner’s World cookbook
Awesome items from Icon Fitness
Eat Run Repeat and Stuftmama with their tiny silverware.
Scott and I with #fitblog founder Katy, our inspiration for #RunChat
A huge thanks goes out to sponsors who provided gear or other information directly to the bloggers at the Runner’s World Festival: Altra, Running Skirts, Ortholite, Icon Fitness, Bondi Band, Injinji, PRO Compression, SPIBelt, The Stick, Wild Planet, Belvita, Deer Park Water (Nestle), Run Donna, and Bermuda Marathon.
Stars, stripes and motivation
After a rough couple of months and probably one of the biggest running funks I’ve ever been in, I returned today to the site of where I set a 5k PR a couple of years ago — the Stars and Stripes 5k in Howland, Ohio.
I didn’t think too much about setting a goal for this race other than using it as a test to see what kind of shape I’m in.
I’m a long way off from the type of 5k racing shape I’d like to be in, but I’m also not starting from scratch. I just needed some kind of bar to set headed into the second half of the year.
I figured that setting a goal of 24 minutes would be realistic. It’s kind of disappointing that I’m not going for sub 22 at this point in the year, but I’m not battling reality anymore.
The race started off well. I fell into a comfortable group and thought I’d keep that pace for a while, only to look at my watch at the first turn and realize I didn’t start it.
I took it off, put it in my pocket. Time to really fulfill that 2013 goal of mine by not wearing a watch in a race.
When I hit the first mile and the guy was calling out mile times, I was feeling pretty good. I was right at 7:45.
In the next mile I found myself pacing just behind a guy in a blue shirt. He kept looking back a bit, but I was very much running his race, not mine. And I knew that I was probably pushing myself more than I would have had I had my watch.
At mile 2, I was at 15:20. One thing was going through my head at this point — don’t fade away. Dropping off in the second half of races or the final few miles has been my biggest downfall in the past year. I wasn’t going to walk away from this race letting myself down again.
When I rounded the corner for the final tenth of a mile or so, I passed a guy who had passed me a quarter mile earlier, then two other guys dusted me as they were fighting neck and neck. I saw that clock and kept my focus on sub 24.
I saw 23:49 when I crossed the finish clock, so give or take a few seconds, I hit my goal.
I have some mix feelings about it — on one hand I’m ecstatic that coming out of a low point with running I can run a 7:40 pace 5k with a strong finish; on the other hand being 90 seconds slower than 2 years ago is disappointing.
It’s my own undoing with the shape I’m in right now, but it’s also motivation to turn things around in the next couple of months. I can feel myself breaking out of this both physically and mentally, and now I have to get to work making things happen.
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