Race Flashback: Lucky Leprechaun 7k 2013

I got to race over the weekend! Like actually race, race. I think the last time I ran a race that I felt I could push myself was the Turkey Trot back in November of ’11… And talk about a totally different everything from last year’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend running… So where to begin?!

I woke up to actually find snow on the ground on Saturday, not really something I was expecting. I don’t recall ever doing a race when there was snow on the ground! When I signed up for this race, I was not at all thinking Spring would still be a distant event, especially considering last year’s race was 80 degrees and I was frantically trying to rip the sleeves off my shirt because I was way too hot. I guess a year makes a big difference! (and PS, the groundhog needs to be shot and a new one hired, this one is as accurate as the weather forecasters…)

The race started at 9am down in Tosa and my parents decided to come along and cheer me on! Little did they know they were going to freeze as well. The start area was SO crowded (3,500+ runners!) and considering this was the inaugural year, I really hope they realize the course cannot support that number, let alone any additional that will join next year. Parking was chaos, running was terribly cramped and the finish area was horrible. I actually think I had more room at the Disney races I’ve done and that’s saying something. I feel bad for the people finishing behind me because the finish line got so much worse within five minutes after I crossed! I was also really glad my parents were along to help with the parking situation because I would have totally freaked out when I got there if I was alone!

I got to Hart Park with plenty of time to get my packet, use the port-o-potties (which were plentiful at least!) and stand around for a few pictures before the race began. It was crazy cold and I was really glad my mom + dad brought along some blankets so I could try to stay warm. I was so cold I even kept my puffy vest on at first which was dumb but whatever.

The first two miles were super crowded and I had to really weave and pop through people to try to get to a point I felt like I was running. I surprisingly felt really good and like I was keeping a great pace, except for all the crowds holding be back so I tried my best to get to some clearings so I could really run. At about the two mile point, we got to a neighborhood and that really helped ease the route crowding and I could finally run freely for another 1.5 miles.

I hit the three mile marker and thought, “Hey, just one more mile!” but within a half mile, I passed the four mile sign so then I was really confused. Also, by this time, I was carrying my vest, headband, gloves and phone… oops. I was sure a 7k was only four miles, even, and I guess I never looked that up to confirm it?! Also at this point we started running on a SUPER narrow path through the park so it got even worse before I could finish as far as crowding was concerned but I knew I had to be getting close so I just kept running.

Once I finally could see the finish line, I took off to try to get in close to 40 minutes which was my original goal, thinking that would equal 10min/mile pace and I thought I was already over that.  (Gun time 41 minutes or so) I missed a chance to grab my pup and bring him with me because I was way too much on a mission to finish

Once I finished I was super confused for awhile because I really felt like I ran faster than 10min/mile pace which is what it would have been had the course been the four miles I stupidly thought it was After a few minutes though, I realized it was really 4.3 miles, hence my confusion all race!

I was even more surprised to find I had finished in 38:57 or an 8:58 pace!?! No wonder it felt kind of challenging!! Either way I would have been happy with my finish time because I didn’t walk once which was my secondary goal, but considering I came in under 9 minute miles, I was really shocked by that finish time!

Pros/Cons of this race:

Pros
1. Start/Finish in the same spot
2. Free t-shirt, bandanna, beer + green “finisher” necklace
3. Short porto-potty lines!
4. Awesome volunteers directing traffic + lots of police helping with that
5. Fun distance!

Cons
1. WAY too crowded…
2. Poorly marked miles
3. Chaos at the finish line through the beer pickup, spread this OUT!
4. Cold But I don’t think that was under any race official’s control!

I do think the snow amounts negatively impacted the amount of space at the finish line and maybe even all along the course, also, it was likely way more people than they thought would join an inaugural race?! I guess before I sign up next year, I will make sure they either choose a different course or stagger walkers/runners/strollers. (I was passing walkers within 2 minutes) But all and all, it was a fun race that I would like to do again, provided more room on the course in future years.

To continue the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, I also made the best dinner EVER! Cottage Pie, Irish Soda Bread and Irish Salad. OMG so good!

I am excited for racing this year and really hope my slow + steady weekly running with an actual plan will help me a lot for my upcoming half marathons! Now if only Spring would appear so I can run in shorts and tanks…

Next race is a 10k at the end of April, unless I find another 5k to run before then

Monday Mileage Recap: Week 2

Two down, 16 to go! Can’t wait for warm weather! Just not too warm…ehem, Cellcom, ehem.

Here is how I worked it out last week to prepare to run a good 13.1 miles this summer:

Monday: 2 mile run + Yoga class led by Sister
Tuesday: Walk + Weight lifting!
Wednesday: 2 mile run + Yoga class by Sister
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest/Shovel
Saturday: 2 mile run + Body Pump DVD
Sunday: 3 mile run + Body Pump DVD

Total weekly mileage: 8.5!
Lifted: 3!
Yoga: 2!

It seemed like a pretty good week in training (which is good considering it’s just week two…). I was planning to not run + lift back-to-back days over the weekend but Friday’s plans got messed up because of more snow. Shocker.

It actually ended up being really nice weather over the weekend though so I was glad I waited out the blizzard Now if only the forecast for the snow tomorrow would be false, I could actually start believing Spring exists. And yet, 4-7″ more tomorrow. Gross. Why now, Wisconsin? Why? What was wrong with snow at Christmas and nothing now…

I miss the Florida sunshine…

 

18 Weeks.

So my first half marathon of this year is in 18 weeks. That gives me hope for warm weather! But it also got me thinking about half marathon training. I’m pretty sure I’ve never really done it… oops!

My first attempt at Summerfest and also probably the last time I semi-trained for a half marathon. – June 2011

So maybe I should actually try to be a good runner and train for races, no? Well, at least this one. I am revisiting a training plan that I loosely followed two summers ago when I ran this race but with less focus on speed-work this time around. I’m also going to follow the 6 week lead-in option since I haven’t done much running since the marathon in JuneJanuary. So the 12 week program + a 6 week lead-in = 18 weeks of training which = THIS WEEK!

The first 6 weeks are pretty low mileage and even the peak week is not that crazy high so (knock on wood) hopefully, I can avoid injury and ease my body back into training and running consistently again. I’ve been such a bad runner this past year it’s really sad…

My week has not really started out on track already… Monday was supposed to be 2 miles but… it was black-ice galore and 40mph winds. Let the excuses begin!

Here’s to making 2013 different than 2012, or at the very least trying

What now?

I feel like I have been training for a race for like two years.  Scratch that, I am pretty sure I HAVE been training for most of the last two years.  And as you can probably gather from the last six months of my training (or really lack thereof), I need a break.  I want to like running and I want to like following a training plan… but I just don’t right now.  And haven’t really since oh, May?

Back when training was fun… even when it was COLD!

I want to complete a successful training cycle for a race and feel prepared on race day! (has never happened)

I want to feel like my running fitness is improving rather than disappearing.

I want to strive for PRs instead of just setting personal pain records.

I want to surprise myself by actually enjoying a run instead of dreading it.

I want to be a “runner” again…

But I think in order to do any of this, I’m going to have to take a few weeks/months off of running and see what happens.  I’m thinking not much running until end of March/beginning of April.  It’s not really a ton of time but I’m hoping it might do my legs and body some good?

This guy still likes running – except he’s not fond of the current weather.

My first race of 2013 (that I am signed up for already) is not until June 15th so I should have time to get in a 10-12 week 1/2 marathon training plan.  And hopefully “just” training for a half marathon will be a needed change as well.  I really think halfs are my favorite!  And races are my favorite too

I’m sure I’ll be looking forward to training for this one

Maybe a few weeks from now I will be ready to run again and excited to run again?  I guess only time will tell… But until then, I plan to have some fun revisiting my workout DVDs I already kind of miss running…

Have you ever trained yourself into running exhaustion?

Race Flashback: 2013 Walt Disney World Marathon

This marathon can be summed up in one word.  Pain.

It was a little painful to have the 1:50 am wake up call again but this time we’d had success going to be early so that helped.  I think we ended up with 5ish hours of sleep so that’s not much less than normal for me.  We got ready for running and then headed to the race bus shuttles around 3:30am.  For some reason, the buses were not coming fast enough and the line was so long!  We were all supposed to be at the race start line by 4 am (per Disney’s instructions on our race materials) but we were not even loaded on the bus until 4:20ish and we were the first bus of about 6+ probably.

We got to the race start pretty quick and felt really rushed but we should have just taken our time because we ended up sitting around everywhere.  Our walk to the start corrals was actually much better than the half last year (because we were later??) and we got there in about 10 minutes (swear it was closer to 30 last year…).  Ours was a rather late corral, F, so we had to wait about 30 minutes after the official start to go.

They do a count down for all the corrals, complete with fireworks and everything which is really cool!  You get kinda over it by corral C or D though – ha!  But eventually we did get started and started making our way through the crowds.  Last year we just kept the pace of the corral we were in but that ended up sucking up so much time + energy so we tried to do some weaving and passing this year without going crazy doing it.  I think it really did help us not walk so much the first half because we knew the last half was going to get H.O.T.

Mile one-two was pretty boring, mainly on highways but you still have that running adrenaline going so it goes SUPER fast!  We were keeping about 10:45 pace at this point and that was feeling super easy.

Mile three you start heading through the Magic Kingdom entrance gates and to me that is one of the highlights of the race because it’s when you first realize this is real and you are running in Disney World! We were still keeping a pretty good pace at this point and feeling strong!

Mile four was through the outskirts of Magic Kingdom and again pretty boring.  Lots of parking lots and lots of side roads.

Mile five started to get interesting as you go through the Magic Kingdom Park!  The feeling of running down MainStreet U.S.A is like no other stretch of road I’ve ever run on.  You see the Castle straight ahead, so many people are cheering and you feel so IN Disney.  It’s probably my favorite mile of this whole race.  You continue through Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and then THE CASTLE!!!  We stopped here for mom to take our picture and then continued through Adventureland and exited the park.  This mile was closer to 12:30 with the picture stop + crowd getting through the castle.

Mile six through eight was pretty boring again.  Lots of highways + side roads to run on.  Our paced picked up again after the park and we were still feeling really good at this point.

Miles eight through nine were really runfun because we got to run on the Speedway they have down here.  No clue what they have on this speedway??  But it was really runfun to run on.  Because it’s a race track, it was a little slopped so you had to be careful to run on the flatter parts but there was actually plenty of room on this track to pass people and go your own pace.

Miles 10 though twelve were quite horrible.  Running was still going good for us but Disney decided to have 2+ miles with no water stops at this point along the way which also ended up being the hottest part of the beginning half because the sun started rising by this point.  You also run past the sewage treatment plant which is just plan disgusting.  Kind of makes you realize Disney is not some perfect place after all…  For the life of me I can’t figure out why they don’t try to reroute this race to avoid that…

Miles 13 through 15 started to get harder running-wise but we were both able to keep at it.  At this point my stomach really started to bother me though and made it increasingly difficult to run… We did go through Animal Kingdom at this point which was a welcomed diversion but was kind of anti-climatic considering how cool it is running through MK.

After mile 15 we both essentially died.  It got SO hot and my hips started hurting SO BAD! My knees also did not feel so good but the hips were the killers.  I’ve never felt pain like this running before… We ended up trying to stop and stretch some and walk a large portion of this part and I think our paces dropped in the 16+ minute pace… (never really got any faster after this…)

Mile 16 through 17 we both wanted to stop running so darn bad.  It was so painful.

Mile 17 we started the loop through the ESPN Wide World of Sports which maybe helped distract us some but this 3 mile stretch was quite possibly the most horrid stretch ever.  I think this stretch is when we clocked our 20 minute mile.  Awesome, right?  We also saw mom at this point again and got to runshuffle on the baseball field so that part was cool.

Mile 20 was the 20th Anniversary 20 Mile Spectacular! It wasn’t really that spectacular but it was kinda cool…

Can you see the pain in my smile?

Miles 20.05 through 23 were hellacious.  On a side road/highway, frying in the heat we are not at all used to in January in Wisconsin, sick to our stomachs with so much gu + powerade and just plain miserable.  It was during this stretch I became very resolved to never run another marathon.  Maybe not EVER but certainly not anytime in the next 10 year… Bad, bad, bad stretch and I think I was in tears about 90% of it because I.Hurt.So.Damn.Bad.

Owwww

Mile 23 through 24 were through Hollywood Studios and that was a welcomed relief at this point but also just plain exhausting to realize we are only at 5k left.  Kels had a bright idea to “run through this park at least” well, that lasted a total of 60 seconds… ha!  We were in SO MUCH PAIN!!!!  It was really cool though to run through another park.  I really did like runningwalking past Tower of Terror and the big magician hat.

Mile 24 was bad.  Pain, pain, pain, ouch, ouch, ouch.  We ran on the Boardwalk which I had never been on before and it was really cool looking.  I just wish I could have enjoyed it a bit more but the pain was intense.  I ended up taking some Tylenol which is totally not something I would have ever done in any other race I’ve ever run before, the pain was that bad.

As we came into EPCOT, we were nearing mile 25 and decided to give running a go again.  I was surprised that Sister and I were able to run the last 1.2 miles with only 1 maybe 30 second walk stop!  It helped us feel a little better about our finish to feel relatively strong running through World Showcase and redeeming ourselves after almost 10 miles of walking (gosh that sounds like a lot of WALKING outside of a marathon!)

I think we both have never been so happy to see a finish line.  I think we actually managed to “sprint” to the finish and we were so darn happy to be done!!!!!  We took an exhausting 5:54 minutes to finish, 3:30 of which were so painful but we still did it.  Somehow!

In hindsight, I should not have signed up for 3 marathons before even doing 1.  I should have never done more than 1 in 12 months, let along 3 in 7 months.  There is not enough time to recover!  I really do think my overzealous-ness caused me so much pain in this race but I also think if it would have been less painful, I would have thought about signing up for marathons in the future and then dreaded training/regretted it.

I wouldn’t trade any of my marathon experiences for anything though.  Maritime was my first, my whole family was there and I finished my fastest ever.  Lakefront was a real surprise that I could finish and with such a decent time.  And Disney was with my sister, my sister’s first and only marathon and was magical in it’s own way.  It’s OK to end my marathon running career here – lol.  I think it’s time to retire the 26.2 and just enjoy the 13.1 and work on getting faster at that distance.  I really do enjoy the halfs and enjoy training for them!

We’d planned to walk around a park after today but then decided a resting at the hotel day was in order so didn’t really do much else.  Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, a quick stop at the outlet mall and an early bedtime rounded out day #3 in Disney!

T-3 days!

When my sister and I signed up for the Disney marathon back in like MarchApril?, I never thought the day would actually get here!  But somehow, it has and we are now talking a number of hours until I will be in Florida and only a few more hours until we will be running 26.2 in Disney!

all 8.7 ounces of glory!

I always go into races with a ton of regrets/worries: didn’t train enough/at all, not ready, it’s going to be too hot/too cold, it’s so early in the morning, etc., etc. but when all is said and done, a race really does go by in a blink of an eye.  Sure, when you are running miles 22+ of a marathon, you feel like they might last forever but sooner or later you DO finish and looking back on the race it feels short!

Since I am not particularly trained for this race, my only goal is to finish and I guess to finish grimacing smiling.  I know running for 5+ hours is going to suck and will feel really difficult at the time but I want to try to focus more on the fact that I am running through all the parks in Disney World and try to remember as much as I can and take a few pictures if I am able.

 

As much as marathons are physically taxing, they are equally, if not more, mentally taxing. But on Sunday, I will be mentally prepared and ready (and excited) to run.  Physically, maybe not so much but mentally, I got this!

(Praying these are not jinxing famous last words like they were for Cellcom… Side note to a side note, how was that only like 7 months ago?)

Running Recap: 2012.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas yesterday!  My second most favorite Holiday ever Too bad I woke up feeling sick as a dog and have continued to feel horrendous for the past 48 hours.  You know what’s also awesome?  Being the only person out of three at work this week when it’s our busiest week of the year.  #fml

I’ve seen quite a few bloggers post about their years in review as far as running is concerned and I really liked that idea so here is my year in review:

Total miles: 807 per Daily mile.  This is likely not 100% accurate.

Total Races: Started = 10, Finished = 9

This is not going to end well.

Total States run in: FL, TN, MN, IN, WI

# of new shoes purchased: 4-5 I think?

New Distances: Marathon! and 15k

PRs: 5k!

Favorite Race: Tie between Maritime Marathon and Disneyworld Half Marathon

And just like that… a Marathoner!

Least Favorite Race: Turkey Trot 15k.

Most forgotten race: Bellin 10k.  Totally forgot about this one happening in 2012  Also, the Madison Shamrock Shuffle 10k…

Most remembered race: Fox Cities Half Marathon

Most disappointing race: Cellcom Marathon

Best Race Photo EVER!: (You’re quite welcome for this)

Don’t let anyone tell you marathons are easy.

It really was a crazy running year for me this year.  Starting with hurting my back in January and being unsure how I would recover to run again.  Then, the fiasco that was Cellcom and living with the severe disappointment of a race that I never got to finish because of the weather.  Five more weeks of training and then FINALLY becoming a Marathoner!  Totally being burnt out on running after training for 6+ months and then taking a running break that lasted a few months (and fighting a piriformis/sciatic issues all the while).  To really make it a weird year, throw in one of my most favorite half marathons ever in Appleton and then randomly deciding to attempt Lakefront even though I was not trained at all and finishing it in relatively good shape…

I think 2012 will always be remembered by me as the year where I learned you have to just throw all your expectations out the window with running and just have fun!  Rest when you need to, break if you want to but run when you can.

Here’s to another good year in 2013!

Marathon Monday: 12/3

Another week is starting up.  I’m already certain it will be a crazy busy one.  For whatever reason, my work turns crazy busy this time of year #merrychristmastome But to distract myself from that, there is always exercise and marathon training!

Here’s a look at last week:

Monday: 2 mile run in the morning + TRX class at the gym in the evening (why does this class cost extra )

Tuesday: 45 Kickboxing circuit I did in the basement which also included some weights!  I always forget how much I love kickboxing and really wish it was at my gym…

Wednesday: 4 mile run in the morning + pilates in the evening at the gym

Thursday: 3 mile run in the morning + insanity upper body weights in the evening

Friday: rest!

Saturday: 11 miler for fun.

Sunday: rest (again)

I really like doing the double workouts during the week but then when the weekend rolls around, I just want to sit on my butt and do nothing!  But at least I ran Saturday…

Total running mileage: 20 miles!

Total gym trips… 2.

Made the mileage goal but fell a little short on the gym goal.  Hopefully one of these days I start feeling like less of an outsider at the gym.  Clearly I take these things way too personally…

Goals for this coming week include running 23 mile + 3 trips to the gym (for real this time)

Did you do anything extra fun this past week?  Any rediscovered favorite workouts?

Race Flashback: Turkey Trot 15k Prediction Run

On Sunday I ran my first ever 15k.  The concept of this run was to predict a finishing time and then run completely blind (no garmin, watch, looking at time in any way) and whoever ends closest to their predicted time wins a turkey.  I went fairly moderate with my prediction time and picked 1:35:45 which would have been about a 10:15 pace.  Long story short I ended up finishing this run in 1:26:XX with a closer to 9:15 pace.  Um, ok.  Too bad it wasn’t a 100% good reason I finished this fast.

The longer version of the story is that I got up Sunday morning after the lovely gift that is fall back feeling very rested and with 4+ hours until the start of the race.  Haha.  At least this race started at 9:30 so it wasn’t like I was up at 3am or something crazy like that.  I took my time getting ready, did some scrapbooking in my race Shutterfly album that I started over the weekend and then my parents stopped in to pick me and little dog up for the ride south.  The race was in Greendale which was supposed to be about 40 minutes away but I swear we got there in like 20.  So we had tons of time to wait around until the start of the race and it was a little chilly so that maybe wasn’t the best idea ever

How long do we have to wait?

The race got lined up and headed out – part of the group for 2 miles and the remainder for a 15k.  Now I’ve never run a 15k before and I’ve never run a distance + time blind race so I should have started very conservative but I’d asked about the course ahead of time and was told it was out this loop, out that loop and then to the finish.  Ok, I can do that.  So I ended up running pretty fast because I was visualizing what I had been told and it didn’t seem that bad.  Well, maybe if I was a better runner who’d done more long runs recently that weren’t marathons, I would have had a better grasp on what 9 miles feels like but…well… obviously that was not the case.

When I still thought the end was near…

So, I’m trucking along feeling good but really tired and ready for the end up ahead when I see people running out the course again… um… So I asked the people helping on the course do we have to run another loop?  To which I head “yes, you have to run the whole thing again.”  Wait, what?!?!?  Oh good heavens.  Everything in me just wanted to stop right there and be done because I was done.  Spent.  Out of gas.  But my parents had driven all the way down to spectate and I couldn’t full well disappoint them so I slowed WAAAAAAYYYY down and kept plodding along.

That was quite possibly the hardest + most discouraging 4+ miles I have ever run.  But somehow (with multiple walking breaks the second half) I managed to rally some energy to finish!  And about 10 minutes faster than I’d put down into my prediction aka no turkey.

Is this a trick again?

I know I didn’t pay much for this race but it still would have been nice to be warned that we had to do the loop twice.  Especially when I did ask a volunteer and she said nothing about 2 loops.  It does show my lack of real running knowledge that I thought 5 miles was 9 but I am also not used to running without at least a watch to look at for elapsed time.  I know that’s part of the trick of this race but would it have been the worst thing to have a little more description of the course online?  Or a rough sketch map at the start area?  I can’t really see how that would hurt… but oh well!

Me and my trophy.

Another race complete.  Another distance conquered.  Next time I run a 15k, I plan to actual pace myself a little better so I don’t positive split by like 10+ (but who really knows how many) minutes.  Yikes

Have you ever been totally shocked at something about a race?

2013.

I’ve told myself time and time again to stop signing up for races until after Disney.  And yet I have this incurable addiction to [pretending I'm] racing… I just can’t seem to help wanting to sign up for races and get out there and run!  I know 2013 is still a little ways away but I already have started putting some tentative races on my calender, much to my sister’s dismay.

Or it’s just true and I really don’t care

The races I really want to run next year are:

Deer Run. This race is literally a mile or two from my house and I have been meaning to do it for years but this year I think I will actually just do it!  It’s a 10k which is not my favorite distance but it might be fun to try this one?!

Cellcom Half Marathon.  I want to cross the finish line in Green Bay.  I want to PR in Green Bay and show this race who’s boss…

This time I want to earn the medal.

Summerfest Half Marathon.  Another race I want to conquer.  My attempt in 2011 was impeded on by the weather but I want to try again.  I want to finish strong.  I want to see what’s changed for this race and I want to crush the Hoan Bridge again.

Madison Mini Marathon.  This is another half marathon and if you do this half marathon and Summerfest, you get a special M2 medal!  I’m all about the medals so why not!  I might have already signed up for this one before the price increases today.  Oops.

Fox Cities Half Marathon.  I’ve been doing this one every year since 2010 and I love it so much, I would really hate to miss it!

Wisconsin Dells Half Marathon.  This one sounds hilly but Honkey Tonkey.

One race in either Illinois or Minnesota.  I’ve got my eyes on a couple, Chicago’s Perfect 10 in Illinois and a few in Minnesota but nothing REALLY catches my eye there… I would also like to get in a few 5ks that I can actually race and maybe a triathlon or duathlon.  But the more I think about doing those, the less excited I am because I really just like running…

I wouldn’t mind crossing another race off my bucket list either!

I’m sure I will change my mind like 100 times before the year is over and I might hurt myself or something stupid too but as of right now, I just really want it to be next year’s race season so I can get after a PR.  2012 was waaaaayyyy too light in the PR department. Like a whopping 1 in the 5k which hardly counts because I’d never really run one on the road before…

And I want an under 2:00 half finish.  Like enough to actually train for it

I want 2013 to be the year of the PR, the year of redemption and the year of no running burnout.  We shall see how that one works for me…

How about you, anything you are eyeing up for next year already?