Strides for Mental Health 5k Race Recap

Well now that I have midterms out of the way and I’ve semi-stopped freaking out (for the moment), I can finally get around to posting my race recaps!!  By the way, you all crack me up!! lol… love your comments!!  Especially Pam’s!!  CLICK HERE to see it!  A couple of you were curious as to why I might be running alone Saturday… I may or may not still post about it later… if I don’t, I’ll email you!  OK… onwards!!

First up is my first 5k/race of the season!! :D

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Strides for Mental Health 4th Annual 5k Walk/Run
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Start Time:  8:00am

I ended up getting up later than I wanted to (surprise surprise lol) so I didn’t eat anything, didn’t drink a whole lot of water, and just grabbed the nearest running clothes, threw in my contacts, grabbed my garmin, and rushed out the door lol… yeah, I’m not a morning person remember? ;)

Insert Random AWESOME fact here: My bib was #25!!!  lol  (I’m getting married on the 25th of June)  I just thought that was fun :)

I knew that one of my friends from church was going to be running the race too and knew that he wouldn’t have anyone there either because his wife got called in to work, so when I got there around 7:50am, I started looking for him.  I found him and we lined up together towards the front of the pack… about 4 or 5 rows back from the fast people.  This wasn’t a very big race, so it wasn’t chip timed or anything.

The head honcho counted down and we were off… well my friend runs faster than me and I was running with him…  AKA:  starting out too fast!  I started worrying about it, but decided I could just slow down when I wanted to because I have not been running very much or training very hard so I knew I wasn’t going to beat any records or anything lol…

My friend and I (I’m in the BLUE)

I was feeling good so I stuck with him til right about the halfway point then told him to go on without me…  This race was all mental for me… thats what a lot of my runs have been lately… a mental war… anyways… I was going to slow down with half the race left, but I realized that my legs felt great, it was just my lungs that were sucking air and I blamed that on the cold I was trying to get over… so I just kept running trying to stay at the same pace I was running.

I’m not gonna lie… I really wanted to slow down a few times, but I started getting excited, because I wasn’t doing as bad as I thought I would with as little training as I’ve had so far this year!!  Well, I came up to the straight stretch with about 800 meters left to the finish and I looked at my Garmin and blinked a couple times and then said OUTLOUD  “Heck YES!!”  I didn’t have a whole lot in me, but I dug down deep and picked it up, not a lot, but as much as I could… and I kept thinking “this is why I practice negative splits and ending kicks during most of my runs!  I KNOW I can do this!!!”  and as I kept running that finish line kept getting closer and my time kept ticking away…

My friend had finished with enough time to walk back about 100 yards to the finish to cheer for me and it really helped me out… something about having your named yelled out by someone just breaks through those mental walls…  I gave it all I had at the end and crossed that finish line so happy with myself… so ecstatic…

I PR’d by 19 seconds!!!

AND….

I BEAT MY GOAL IN MY FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON!! I RAN A SUB 25 MINUTE 5K!!!

I was so happy!  AND surprised!!!

My official time was 24:55!!  I did it!! 

I probably would not have run that fast if I hadn’t started out with my friend… I would have just made excuse after excuse as to why I couldn’t run that fast the whole time lol.. so thanks David!! :)  Now, I have to reevaluate my goals for this year ;) lol…sub 24 it is ;)

 

Here are my garmin stats:

Stats

Official Time: 24:55
Average Pace: 8:02/mile
Overall Place: 32/183
AG (20-29) place:  7/22
     **If it would have been the regular 20-24 age group I would have placed 1st by about 1:30!!

Upcoming Races

May 7, 2011 – Capital City Half Marathon
October 16, 2011 – Columbus Marathon

Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 3: The Race!

 

Part 1:  Traveling and The Expo

Part 2:  Before the Start

 

Well, I had decided to take only one GU with me because there was going to be a GU station about halfway into the race and I decided to leave my handheld with my dad because there were plenty of water stations.  I headed to the starting area, the national anthem was sung, and *BOOM* we were off!

 

*QUICK NOTE*  I do not remember everything that happened in each mile, nor do I know my splits for each mile so I will try to just vaguely recap the race a few miles at a time.

 

Miles 1-3:

The race started right away with a pretty steep hill and I found it to not be very difficult, which surprised me.  I was going at a pretty good pace and was passing people as much as I could within that first mile or two.  I had been nervous going into the race that my legs would be dead in the first mile because I hadn’t run in 2 weeks.  But I felt strong in the first 3 miles… I may have gone out a little too fast but I was feeling good and just kept going.  There was a live band set up around mile 1.5 and the singer said “seriously gals, you’re the ones with the tough job!” lol… made me smile.  Around mile 2.8 I saw a girl’s headband fall out of her hair and no one was stopping to pick it up so I scooped it up and picked up my pace to give it back to her because I would’ve like someone to do that for me.  Right before the 4 mile marker I remember thinking that I really did start out too fast because I saw the 2 hour pace team run by me lol… whoops!

Miles 4-6:

Honestly, after the first 3 miles I did start having a bit tougher of a time mentally.  I kept questioning myself and why I was running this race and telling myself that I wasn’t a runner, just a wannabe…  Then I took my GU around mile 4 1/2.  A lady came up and started running beside me and we started talking… It was her first half marathon too, but she had a faster time than my 2:30:00 in mind and shortly took off.  I honestly don’t remember a whole lot about these 3 miles except for the ground… I was looking at the ground and trying to overcome my mental lashings.  Around mile 5 or 6 there was a guy that had a tray of orange slices so I grabbed one.  I had never eaten an orange on the run but it did the trick for the time being in taking my mind off of “how many more miles I had left”.  These miles seriously were making the race not fun so I kicked myself in the butt.  Also, after that mile 1 hill, there were many other smaller hills on the course.

Miles 7-9:

Mile 5.5-8.5 was an out and back.  I saw the woman who was in first come by (going the other direction of course) and cheered for her by name… she was really booking it!  I decided to cheer for as many people as I could by name and clap for them as we were passing each other because most of the women would smile and wave or nod.  It took my mind off of my mental breakdown lol…Shortly after the mile 6 marker, I noticed the GU station… I was so excited!  Up til race weekend, my favorite GU was TriBerry (I hadn’t tried the chocolate outrage yet) and an email prior to Saturday had said that they were going to have TriBerry.  Well there were different people with different flavors (remember this is my first half marathon)  and the first flavor I heard was Vanilla, then Espresso… I kept running down the line expecting my flavor to be next and IT NEVER CAME!!  Well, I wasn’t about to turn around to grab a GU… so I just kept running.  This really didn’t help the funk I was in.  There was a water station around mile 7 so I decided to walk through it.  I grabbed a Lemon-Lime Gatorade and a water and walked “fast” while I still took my time drinking the cool liquid.  After walking through the station I decided enough was enough and I was supposed to be having fun!  I decided to forget about my time and just enjoy the run!  I started running again and called my mom around mile 8 to see where her and my dad were standing cuz it would be nice to see my support!  She told me that they were around mile 10 and I told her that I would see her in about 20 minutes.  Then I snapped a photo on the move with my cell before I put it back in my SPIbelt and smiled because it was a little pick up talking to my mom on the run!… only 2 more miles til I would get to see them! I remember mile marker number 9 seeming like it came up really fast!  I even remarked about it to the closest woman to me!

 

Mile 10:

Well, mile 10 came and I was expecting to see my parents and they weren’t there.  This was a hill part and it was getting tough to keep running all the hills!  I kept running and I finally saw them turning the corner around mile 10.5!  I was so excited to see them that I waved… with both hands… and I dont think I remember doing it! haha!  And then yes, another little hill that flattened out before mile 11.

Mile 11:

  ANOTHER hill!!  This hill seemed like a really steep hill and there was a water station a little ways up it…  At this point, I was having fun, but I was definitely getting tired and the hills were not helping!  So I ran to the water station and walked with my water and Lemon-Lime Gatorade up the hill…  I actually saw a couple photographers in this mile.  One at the water station that I didn’t see til it was too late and one that I saw early and threw my cups away and started running as I got to him.  He said “haha, got you running!” lol phew! ;)

And NO I don’t feel bad for posting all the proof pictures because yes, it being my first half marathon EVER… I ordered a CD with all my pictures on it ;) I just haven’t gotten it yet.  I also saw this sign somewhere around the last 3 miles I think… I dont know, it was all a blur really, but it made me smile!

 

Mile 12 – 12.5:

I felt pretty good actually!  It was like I got a burst of energy during this half mile… there were also a few spectators and one guy said “it’s all downhill from here!”  I was so excited!!  All the hills were behind me and I could focus on the last couple of miles!!

 

Mile 12.5 – 13.1:

The first thought i had was “THAT GUY LIED TO ME!” Seriously… I had one HUGE MONSTER of a hill to go known as the Shelby St Bridge!! This picture just doesn’t even do it justice!

Gee whiz!  it was like once you used up all your momentum trying to go a little ways up the hill, you hit a wall… seriously EVERYONE was walking as far as I could tell… it seemed like a brutal trick they were playing on us and everyone was encouraging each other to run/walk the hill and saying “we’re almost there”  I walked most of that hill… and I’m not ashamed to say so… but once i got mostly up it, I started running again … up and over the top hump and then I just let gravity do its thing and I was FLYING down that hill!  I could see the last turn I had to make and I could hear the spectators cheering for everyone… I made the turn and could see the finish!!  I almost started crying I was so happy!  Had I seriously just ran 13 miles?!  Wait… what did that time say?!  2:10?!  HOLY CRAP!!  Forget the goal time of 2:30 and GO GO GO!!!!  I pushed as hard as I could and seriously dug down deep… I’m sure I looked like I was moving at a snails pace to everyone else but I was in pain as you can see in the finishing photos) and going as fast as I could! 

                 

I crossed that finish line and had an instant PR of 2:13:06!!! 

They weren’t taking pictures of crossing the finish line, just in the home stretch.  A uniformed army man put my medal around my neck and I was trying not to puke all over his shiny shoes.  It was the best I could do to shake his hand and say thank you!

My parents found me… they had been able to walk back from mile 10.5 to stand at the finish line to see me finish!  They hugged me and I started crying… I was seriously an emotional mess!  Happy, crying, heaving, gasping…  What had I just done?!  I HAD RUN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!  13.1 MILES IN 2:13:06!!  I was elated!  I’m still kind of on a high from last weekend! lol

Well, after catching my breath and wiping my tears I walked through the food line and got as much food and water and Gatorade as I could hold.  Then we went and sat down to watch the awards ceremony.  The lady who had come in first finished in a time of 1:24:46!  How fast is that?!  I chowed down on all my food and didn’t stretch… mistake!  But I had fun talking to my parents about the race and just being around all the other finishers!

Me with my parents:

 

After I decided to get up, I went and had my official finisher photo taken and then got my medal made into a necklace so I could wear it everyday!!  It might have been weird to wear the medal everyday!

This is the medal front and back:

 

This was seriously one of the best days of my life!  Was I in pain? YES!  Was I tired?! YES!  Was I on top of the world? YES!!!  We left the race and I took my tennis shoes off in the car because I left my flip flops out there on accident and this is what I saw:

Yes, It’s gotten a lot better but I think I will lose a total of two nails from running last week!

Lessons Learned:

1) Don’t wear new shoes to race in!
2) Grab the first flavor of GU available just in case they don’t have the flavor you’re waiting for!
3) Take flip flops with you in your after race bag
4) Don’t start out to fast so you have energy at the end and can take pretty finishing photos
5)  Register with just a “Z” as my name if it’s going on the bib so that people can cheer for me by name too!  (only one person tried, and she did get my name right!)
6)  Take a handheld or belt next time because I got a little thirsty in between stations and it would’ve been nice to be able to drink whenever I wanted

Things I disliked:

1)HILLS! (mainly the one at 12.5)

Things I liked:

1) hills
2) the mile markers had a running time on them
3) The live music
4) The GU and water stations
5) The crowd!
6) The medal and charm
7) the servicemen handing out the medals
8) the food!

Stats

Finish Time:  2:13:06
Pace:  10:10
Overall Place:  936/3883
Overall Gender Place:  921
Age Group Place:  71/230

 
This is the elevation chart… although it lies… It definitely wasn’t all down hill halfway through!  Those hills at mile 11 and 12.5 were ridiculous!  A lot of people and “veteran marathoners” were complaining about it online.  And here are my nike+ stats:

Fastest Pace:  6:20/mile
Slowest Pace:  26:28/mile (walking)

We went back to the hotel where it took my mom and I a total of 6 tr1ips to get enough ice to make the “cold” water cold and proceeded to take an ice bath and put on my recovery socks.  After a little lounging around my parents and I headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!

Next:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 4:  Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum!  (Last post I promise!!  It will also be mostly pictures!)

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!

View Full Album

 

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?!

Goodies!! Race Report too! (finally)

Well, after signing up for my first half marathon in mid-July I had a sudden urge to buy running gear lol ;) I knew that I would NEED new running shoes lol ;) and decided to buy running compression shorts (no idea why I felt that need because i HATE my butt!! I think it is too big), and a running hat as well because I always end up with sweat in my eyes and then I'm running half squinting, half crying the rest of the way home lol... Of course, I ordered from Nike! I like love am obsessed with Nike for some reason! (Nike, if you see this just know that I would GLADLY take a sponsorship from you and wear free Nike gear even if I am just starting out in my running journey tehe)

Anyways... I finally received my packages in the mail and could hardly contain my excitement!!

Here are all of my goodies

My lovely shoes

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my shoes :)



I haven't run in them yet because I don't want to wear them out too much before my Half Marathon on September 25th lol... Aren't they awesome? They're the new Nike LunarGlide+ 2

I am thinking about getting a fuelbelt... has anyone had any experience with one? I dont know if I should get the 2 or 4 bottle belt. But I do not like carrying a water bottle in my hand because once my hands get sweaty it starts slipping and I would like to take my camera or phone along in case I get the urge to take some pictures :D What would you guys recommend?

On July 31st I ran the Festival 5k here in the town I live in... Registration was from 7-8 and the race started at 8:30am…

I woke up around 6:30 and ate a piece of peanut butter toast and drank some water. I decided to wear my new nike compression running shorts and my new nike running hat (LOVE THEM BOTH!!) :D I arrived downtown around 7:40am and didn’t have to wait in line for registration, I just went up and told them I had pre-registered and they grabbed my shirt, tag (yes a tag, not a bib) lol, and a coupon for a free real-fruit smoothie from McDonalds. I went and put everything in my car, took a pit stop at a porta pot, and headed back to the race start area… Some random guy asked me "What time do you expect to finish it in?" I replied "um... I'm not sure, maybe 28-30 minutes" I really dont have a lot of confidence in myself in running yet, but i figure it'll come with more experience... I started stretching and realized that I still had a while before the race started so i did a little jog around the block and then started stretching again. Sometimes I wish that I had someone to run these things with instead of going by myself…

Anyways, We started lining up and I managed to start out in the middle of the pack instead of the back. (There was about 300 people) I told myself to not start out too fast cuz i didn’t want to run out of steam and i was kind of nervous because i really wanted to beat my PR by atleast 1 second! lol (my current PR is 27:27) The horn went off and I started out pretty good. I told myself that my pace for the first mile had to be atleast 8:15 and I would be happy. I started getting really thirsty before I even hit the 1 mile mark but I kept going at a comfortable “fast” (to me) pace. I hit the one mile mark and looked down at my watch to see that I had run it in 8:10! :D YAY ME!! Well that gave me a boost to keep going! :D I saw someone I knew up in front of me so I picked up my pace a little to catch up to her and i ran with her for a while.

We got to about mile 2 (at which time i was thinking i was going to die if i didn’t get water soon) and finally!!! a water station! lol… I slowed down considerably to try to get some water down my throat but soon picked up the pace. I encouraged the girl I had been running with from around mile one and told her I was going to try to pick up the pace. I was feeling good and didn’t want to look at my watch (hadn’t looked at it since mile 1) I now had about a little more than 1200m to go and it was a straight stretch from where i was to the finish. I saw about 4 people in front of me that i could easily pass so i picked it up and passed them.. then there was about 3 more people spread throughout the last 400m that i targeted and picked off the first girl, gained and passed the 2nd person and then with 10 feet left, pushed through and passed the guy right at the finish! haha, it was AWESOMELY FUN!!! :D

I always forget to stop my watch until after i give my tag to the people at the finish and take a drink of water so when i finally remembered to stop it, my watch read “26:04” i was like “what in the world?! it has to be broken!!” lol… Well the results came out a few days after the race and I beat my PR by more than 2 minutes!! my final time was 25:26! :D new PR!! lol… I was so pumped!! BTW, "haha" random guy! I tricked you! Then I got giddy when i thought what my time would have been if it would have been chip timed.. ahh! lol… overall it was a quick, relatively flat, and fun race. I really enjoyed it! I’m proud of myself! lol (is that too egotistical? lol) But, my improvement gave me a renewed confidence and enthusiasm for my first half marathon in September! :D

In training, this week is a cutback week and my schedule has me running an easy 4 miles 3 times this week... 1 down, 2 to go! Coming up soon look for a recap of my long run this past weekend and some exciting stuff! :D Thank you everyone for following my blog and for the wonderful encouragement you have shared with me!