The Shamrock Shuffle 5k

Lesson Learned.

 

Running a 5k the Saturday at the end of Spring Break is not the best idea.

 

It's not that we've done all that much. It's that we HAVEN'T done all that much. Which means that I have eaten. and snacked. and gone out to eat. and snacked. and so forth. 

 

I ran my usual mid-week training runs, but that's it. No cross-training, no extra anything. Well, except for junk food that is.

 

So this morning, Doug and I got up and drove over to Dublin, Texas to participate in their Shamrock Shuffle 5k. I figured, small town, not a lot of runners. Easy.

 

NO! It was HARD!

 

It was uphill for at least 2 miles and then we turned and ran into the wind coming back.

 

My time was 28:40.9.

 

I finished 4th out of 18 in my age group and 34 overall out of 171 runners. Not that bad, but I had hoped for a better time. My previous race had me at 28:38.6 so officially I was a couple seconds slower. :( 

 

However, interestingly my running app logged this race .10 longer than the last 5k, so my app says I had set a personal record for my pace. I like that, I felt like I pushed it today. And... I ran my first mile in 8:47. That is the fastest mile I have ever run!

 

As I struggle to run faster and longer I have to remind myself that I am less than a year into running and only 6 months into running races. The women I am chasing in races, for the most part, have been running a lot longer than I have. I know this for a fact, I run with them during our training runs almost every Saturday!

And so as I consider today's race, I'm a little disappointed that my official time wasn't an improvement. But I'm motivated to do better next year! Cause yeah, I'm hooked.

Glow Run Fun

Yes it was just last weekend that we ran a race.  But that was last weekend!

Last night we participated in a 5k at our local university (Tarleton State University).

 

We took the girls with us as it was close, not a school night and they hear us talk about running and racing all the time, but they had never seen us in a race.  It was cold, but they really enjoyed themselves. I think it might have been the plethora of glow sticks... but whatever, they had a good time!

 

Overall, It was a good race. However, I am not a night-time runner. I am a morning runner. Both are done in the dark, but when I run at night, I'm sluggish as my body is processing the day. So, I didn't go in with any real expectations. I knew I could run it in under 30 minutes, other than that, I didn't know. Prior to this my fastest time was back in November and I ran it in 29:09:7 and that was a morning run on a flat course!

 

So, my goal for the race.. to run in under 30 minutes and not throw up my barbeque sandwhich that I had for dinner. (Maybe the barbeque sandwhich wasn't the best idea??)

 

We started off with a big group of some really fast runners in the front and some slow runners in the front. About a half mile into the run, you started up a hill and we had to run on a sidewalk. This meant you were jocking for position on a sidewalk in the dark. That wasn't fun. There was a good bit of sidewalk jocking throughout the race. I understand as it was in the dark on open roads, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

 

The best thing about the race was that I enjoyed it, I ran my race the way I wanted to and I didn't huff and puff. Man, there were some of the college students who I worried about!! I thought they might die on the course!

 

Here we are at the end of the race!

 



Doug did incredible!! His prior best race was 32:23.1 and he ran the Glow Run at 29:56.7!! That is a huge improvement!!

 

My time was 28:38.6 which put me at 80th overall out of 230 runners and 6th in my age group out of 25 runners. This was a 30 second improvement since November. I can't discount that!

 

Part of what made the night special was that two of my good friends ran the race as well. They put up with my running talk every single day! So it was awesome that they ran and that they did great and looked great afterwards!! I'm looking forward to more races together!



Sidenote: whoever says that lower cut running wear is cute, fun or stylish is on my bad side!! Really! I have worked soo hard and the way my running skirt is cut, it makes my belly hang out and I look pudgy! Thanks. :(

The Cowtown Challenge.. oh yes it was!

It's done. 2 days and 2 races.

 

They don't call it a challenge for nothing.

Whew.

Here is the Cowtown play by play!

Saturday morning dawned COLD!! But beautiful.

Doug's race started at 7am, so by 6:30 we were standing in the freezing dawn. Doug raced in the 10k and did FANTASTIC!! He had been dealing with a nagging injury, so he didn't get to train like he wanted, and he still did better than he had hoped to do originally! Go Doug!!

Here he is getting started. He's the blur in orange.

 

Then, at 8:30am I did the 5k with Crystal, my challenge partner. Our third member got hurt and couldn't come. Super bummer :( .  So yes, I stood in the cold for 2 hours before my race. I'm learning that that's just what nutso runners do!  When the race started, Cyrstal and I didn't even realize it and so we ended up behind what felt like every walker on the course! There were over 4000 participants in this 5k and it was CRAZY!!  We didn't even start jogging until probably a mile into the race. And even then we were jumping curbs, running on sidewalks and through people's yards dodging walkers and other runners. We didn't break a sweat until 2.5 miles into the race. It's funny my run tracker on my phone even shows our weaving and curb running.

In the end, we had an awesome time, felt comfortable and jogged into the finish. I placed 38th in my age group out of 387. I couldn't believe it! If we had known, we could have RUN!  But really it was probably best, as we had the 1/2 marathon slated for the next day.

Here are Doug and me after our races.

 

Sunday morning dawned cold again, but not as cold as Saturday. By 6:30am I was jumping out of the car and walking to the start as the traffic was insane. It was unbelievable. There were more people here today than the day before.  The potty line was 50 people deep easy for every porta-potty and they had a lot!

 

Here is our team (Stephenville Women's Running Club) before the race.

 

The blur of our start. 6870 doing the half, 1500 doing the full and 420 doing the ultra. All of us started at the same time. 



 

When we got started, we were once again jumping curbs, running on sidewalks and running through people's yards! There were runners of all sizes, shapes and ages.

 

One of the coolest things about the race is that there were spectators everywhere and they were cheering us all on!  Truly, the only place along the 13 miles where there weren't many spectators was on a long, horrendous bridge that climbed and climbed and climbed. When we finished that, the crowds were large and soo incredibly supportive. That was mile 9.5.

 

Overall, I had a great run. I didn't keep to my training plan as I had hoped, but the volume of runners, the crowd and the adrenaline just kept me moving. My running app gave my time at 2 hours and 13 minutes. I paused it when I waited in line to go potty at mile 5!  My chip time was 2 hours 16 minutes and 54 seconds. I was the 270th out of 593 runners in my age group and 3664 out of 6870 half marathon runners. Given that I had never done this before, I am really proud of myself.

 

Here I am at the end with my medals!

With Crystal, my challenge partner!

 

And with the group that I train with each week.  

This has been one of those defining life moments and I'm already looking forward to doing the Cowtown Challenge next year!