Festival 5k Race Recap

5th Annual Festival 5k Run & Walk
Saturday July 30, 2011
Start Time: 8:30am

I got my youngest sister to run this with me before she headed back to college for her sophomore year.  We got there around 8am to get her registered (I had registered in advance) and pick up our packets and warm up a little.  BTW, this year’s race shirt is my absolute favorite! Green and Blue is my favorite color combo (if you couldn’t tell!) lol… Our mom ended up coming to watch us and we got to chat with her for a little bit before we lined up. 

These small races are all gun-timed, so we lined up about 5-7 lines back from the front of the pack.  The first mile we were really bookin’ it, I kept telling her that if we kept up the pace we were at, we would both PR! lol… she really didn’t care ;)  We were going around 8:09/mile with our best pace being 5:45/mi? lol… Dont know how that happened…

Around mile 2, we slowed down… my sister has sports induced asthma and had forgotten her inhaler.  It was hot out and she was starting to have problems breathing.  We finally got to the water station and she told me to go on ahead… I was torn, because I wanted to go fast, but I didn’t want to leave her… she looked right at me and said “I’ll be fine, but I’m gonna walk so GO!!”  So, I kept running.

I couldn’t seem to get my legs back to the 8:09/mi pace, but I pushed it as best I could and came across the finish in 25:42 officially.

I ran back to cheer my sister in and then we stayed around for some door prizes. My sister won a gift certificate to a plant nursery lol… she gave it to my mom ;)  I wasn’t quite sure if my time would get me an AG place or not…  Ended up I passed a girl in my AG in the last 50 meters or so to take 2nd in my AG lol…

First time I’ve ever gotten a plaque for a race :)

After the awards were all handed out, a guy approached and asked if he could interview me for the festival, so I said sure… I don't know if anything ever came of it, but it made me feel famous lol ;) Then my mom took my sister and I to a cute little restaurant for lunch.  It was fun spending time together. :)

Here are the Garmin Stats:

Stats

Time:  25:42
Pace:  8:16/mile
AG (19-24) Place: 2/16
Overall Place:  128/313

Upcoming Race Reports

September 3, 2011 – Sweet Corn Festival 5k
September 10, 2011 – Fall Classic 5 Mile Race
October 8, 2011 – Cancer Care 5k

Upcoming Races

October 16, 2011 – Columbus Marathon

The United Way 5k Race Recap

13th Annual United Way 5k run/ 2 mile walk
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Start Time:  9:00 am

I ended up getting off work around 8:15am and arrived at the race around 8:25ish…  The sun was shining and it was 50 something degrees so it was beautiful!!  I went into the building to pick up my packet and took it back to my car so I could prepare to run.  I put my bib on and got my ipod set up. This was the first local race that was chip timed so I put the little chip on my shoe with a zip tie, and started doing a little warm up jog and stretching.

The race director was counting down over the loud speaker, until the race started and reminding everyone to put their chips on their shoes because if you didn’t have one or if it fell off, you wouldn’t get timed.  Once the director said there was 10 minutes left until the start, I went to the starting area.  I finally spotted my parents and I hadn’t been sure they were going to get there on time or not so I didn’t give them my camera.  Too bad because they ended up seeing me 4 times on the course!! (next year they’ll have my camera for sure!!)

**All the race pictures were taken by the people who put the race on, I just snagged them from facebook**
No clue what that lady is doing or what’s up with that dude’s beard but had to post this picture! lol 

I headed over to chat with them before the start of the race and as soon as I told them “im gonna go line up on the inside” I hear a horn and everyone started running!!  Oh my goodness!! Seriously?!  The last announcement was at 10 minutes before the start of the race!!  They didn’t even have any announcements before the race like the usual run through of the route or telling you where the water stop is or to have fun or anything like that… I was very surprised!  Good thing the race is chip timed! ;)

Well, I finally got to the “start” flag and realized that there was no “mat” to start my timing… great!  my time had started while I was towards the back of the crowd and the chip is only used to record our time at the finish! ugh!!  If I would have known that, I would’ve started as far in front as I could get away with! Especially since I’m trying to go sub 25!!  (next year i will start towards the front!!)

The first part of the race we had to run around the horse track (the race was at the local fairgrounds) 1 1/2 times.  I tried to stay on the inside as much as possible, but ended up passing people on the outside most of the time. Then we ran up a little hill and around part of the fair ground path.  I saw my parents right after mile 1 and shouted “If I want it, I gotta keep this pace!”  “It” being sub 25.  I had run the first mile in 8:01 according to the guy who was shouting out times as everyone ran by.  I’m so glad that my parents were where they were, because they had stationed themselves right in front of the big hill leading out of the fairgrounds and onto the road.

My parents are GREAT at spectating races… especially this being their first year to do so ;)  I destroyed that hill!  I was passing people going up and down that hill and I was feeling great! After the hill came a really long straight stretch and I kept looking for a mile 2 marker, but I never saw one… I was getting thirsty and hadn’t brought along my handheld.  Since there were no announcements at the beginning of the race, I had no clue if there was a water station or not. But I picked out a girl in front of me and focused on passing her…and I did!

A couple minutes later and I found out there was!!  Thank goodness!! I grabbed a cup and thanked the volunteers.  I didn’t look before I tried to drink some, but the cups were filled to the top with water and somehow I choked on the water causing me to swallow my gum causing me to throw up in my mouth, which in turned caused me to pull over and stop on the side of the road to let it all out… talk about disgusting!  Also, disappointing because I had no clue how much further I had to run but that little incident kind of zapped the remainder of my energy!  Also, that girl I passed had passed me back big time!

I started running again as soon as possible and focused on running strong and catching back up to the girl I had picked out.  We were rounding around a couple of side streets and now me and the girl were running side by side.  as we came to the road that would eventually take us to the finish line, the girl and a guy that was running with a dog pulled ahead of me.  I started thinking thoughts like “I might as well give up, I’ll never get sub 25 now”  and “I really haven’t run much at all the past couple weeks, why am I kind of expecting to run good today?”  I shook my head and pressed on telling myself I only had a little ways left. 

I could finally see the finish line a little ways in the distance.  Stay strong Zaneta!!  Just finish strong!!  Well, that girl and guy were only a little ways ahead of me now and I told myself I had to gain some ground.  Except I wasn’t so sure I could.  That is when I spotted one of the guys that runs all of the local 5ks (and he is mr speedster).  He had run back to stand across the street of the finish line.  He was cheering and then he saw me and started cheering for me and the one thing he said that pushed me to run as hard as I could was “Girl, you’ve got this!  You have to pass them!  You’re almost there!”

Bill, if by some chance you happen upon my little blog… thank you so much!!  You really pushed me and were the reason I crossed that finish line strong!  For some reason I just felt like I didn’t have it in me, but you helped push me along!!  I ended up passing the girl AND the guy with the dog to come in to the finish chute with a time of 25:16.  Not my best, not my worst BUT not a sub 25 either.  So yes, I was a tad disappointed.

I found my parents, grabbed a bagel and orange and some gatorade and told my story to my parents… IF I would have started in the front and IF I would have not had to stop somewhere right after mile 2 and IF I would have run more the past couple of weeks I SO could have gone sub 25! 

I ended up getting first in my age group which I was surprised by… I’m always surprised when I place in my age group… but especially 1st place…. Instead of a medal I got a blue ribbon and $10! lol… I joked with my parents that I’m a pro now because I got paid to run! ;)

All-in-all, this was a great race, great course, great volunteers, great shirt… my only complaint is that there was no warning that we were starting the race and that I was led to believe that “chip” timing meant that the chip would start timing once we crossed the start, and stop once we crossed the finish.  Instead, we had a gun time with fast web results.  It was fun, and I’ll definitely do this race again next year!

 

Stats

Time:  25:16
Pace: 8:07/mile
Overall Place: 105/343
AG Place: 1/9

Upcoming Races

11/25/10 – B.P.K. Scholarship Run/Fun Walk
11/27/10 – 4th Annual Turkey Trot 5k Run/Walk

Festival 5k Race Report

Saturday morning, I got up at 7am and made a piece of peanut butter toast.  I’m always really nervous race mornings for some reason… so I ended up only actually eating part of that toast and my mouth is always so dry when I’m nervous, so I started drinking tons of water!  The race didn’t start til 9am so I had plenty of time to let it out if I needed to!  I put the clothes on that I had laid out the night before and grabbed my bag that I had packed and got out the door and to the race around 8:15am. 

I headed to the pre-registration packet pick up and took it back to my car and my mom and dad met me at my car.  I handed my camera to my mom who said she would love to take pictures and we headed back into the festival to take a potty break and I jogged a bit and did some stretching.  Then I saw my aunt and uncle and cousin and his wife!  This is a record for me of most spectators at a race!! lol… usually I go to my races by myself!  We started lining up and I was quickly aware that this was a record of the biggest race I’ve run in to date!  I noticed this on my own, before the guy told us there were about 500 racers there that morning!  I guess that was the largest turn out for this race up til now too.

Seeing that my mom was taking a picture, I quickly made a face!  Also, a quick shout out to Running Diva Mom because that ladies skirt made me think of you! (Too bad it’s not pink!)

Me looking at all the people and getting more nervous

I lined up between the front of the pack and the middle of the pack just because I have the goal to run sub 25 (also part of the 100 day challenge) and the race wasn’t chip timed.  See the lady in the white on my right?  Her name is Cynthia and we talked as we were waiting for the gun to go off… she’s also running in the 5 mile race next weekend that I signed up for!  She was really sweet and had a few tips for me on the race next weekend!  Then the gun went off! **BOOM**

I took off and reminded myself not to start too fast, but ended up feeling like I started a little too slow, so I picked up the pace a little bit.  About a half mile in, I saw a girl that usually beats me and decided that I would use her as my pacer, so I tried to run with her without making it weird lol…   I actually ended up passing her and not seeing her for the rest of the race! 

There were water stations about every kilometer I believe because there were 5 of them!!  Another record!! Most water stations yet in a 5k! Another record (what is this, the fourth now?!) was the number of hills!  They weren’t huge hills… but they were enough to notice!  I felt really good the entire way, like I was strong and not pushing too hard, but just enough.  My parents were yelling for me with about 800 meters left to go, and I tried to pick it up a little bit because I was close to the finish but my time was getting up there.  Then when the finish line was in sight there was a really animated guy cheering for someone that was ahead of me.  He was yelling and doing motions saying “Come on _______, you’re almost there!  Pick up the pace!’  So I pretended like he was cheering for me and saying my name instead of the other person!

I sprinted ran as hard as i could to the finish line and remembered to stop my ipod and watch almost right after I crossed the line.  They both said 25:22 … so even though I didn’t run a sub 25, I still got a new PR!!!  So I was super excited!!  I knew that it wasn’t my correct time so that made me even more excited because I new I was faster that that even!!  As we crossed the finish line we were put into a single file line that was hardly moving and I just wanted to hurry up and get thru the line so i could get some water and not feel  like I was gonna die from my sprint hard run at the end! They took our little slip that we had pinned to us (it wasn’t actually a bib number) and then handed us an index card to fill out and put in our age group by male or female for the random draw prizes.  I filled mine out and went to put it in the tin and noticed there were already 3 or 4 cards in there which means I didn’t place in my age group… but i was still excited about my time and having family members there to share the experience!

I went and grabbed some gatorade, a bottle of water, half an orange, and half a banana and talked to my family and stretched while we were waiting for the awards.  Even though I dont win or place or anything like that, I like hanging out to see who actually did… I think its fun to see the faces of those who are better than me and who better watch their backs as I train more-and-more!! Only kidding… sort of!

Me stretching

Me with my parents (It was my mom’s birthday)

My Cousin and his Wife and my Aunt and Uncle

Some other pictures of us standing around talking… Me and my dad

 

Me talking to a guy I know… he pulled his hamstring midrace and didn’t finish in a time he would have liked to :(

Well, the awards started out with a whole bunch (another record of “most”) random draw prizes… I didn’t win anything, but it almost seemed like there were enough prizes for almost all the people who ran! (ok, maybe not quite, but there were a lot!)  It was getting really cold (it was about 62 degrees and the sun had been replaced by nothing but clouds and wind).  I’m just glad it was sunny for the race!! My aunt went and bought me a hot chocolate at one of the festival’s booths.

Then the guy announced that since there had been so many racers today, they were going to acknowledge the top 4 in each age group! Well my dad and Uncle kept saying “There ya go, you’ll still get acknowledged!” even though I kept telling them that I really didn’t think I placed still!  He got to my age group (20-24) and announced the 4th place time and name, and it wasn’t me and then I started to realize that… “and 3rd place, with a time of 25:14, Zaneta (insert last name) of (insert town)!!”  OH MY GOODNESS!!!  MY PR WAS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT AND I PLACED!!!  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t stop smiling!

Then, Cynthia (remember the lady at the beginning of the race?) came up to me and she had placed in her age group too!! Congrats Cynthia!!  She was so fun!  She kept hugging me and telling me how proud of me she was and that I did a great job… she made me smile even bigger than I already was!  After one last hug, we parted saying we couldn’t wait to see each other next week at the Hospital 5 Mile Race!

After the awards ceremony, all my spectators/fans/loving family members and I walked around the festival eating and having a grand old time… the big thing at this festival is the corn so we had to have some yummy corn on the cob!!

My parents at the corn crossing lol… gotta love them!  they’re so cute!

Me and my dad, my mom, and my aunt chowing down on corn!

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All-in-all it was a great race experience and I will definitely be doing this one again next year!  It was definitely a plus to have my family with me!  It made it all the more fun and not so lonely! 

**all the pictures were taken by my wonderful (birthday) mom, isn’t she great?!