Race Report: Run for their Lives 10k

I added one last run to my spring/summer schedule as a bit of a reception run since I was sick leading up to the Fargo half. I had hoped that some of my fitness would hang on to have a decent 10k day. Plus my running friends Tom and Sara put on the race in a nearby town for a great cause.

 

I had thought I could run the 10k around 8:15-8:25 pace. Based on the warmer temps and humidity, I dialed that back to 8:40s, thinking that would be comparable. LOLZ. Reminder to Jeri: you do not race well in the heat. Especially if you've yet to really run in the heat. Got it?

 

So as previously stated, I started off conservatively. And about a quarter mile into the second mile I started to feel like toast. Not exactly great when you have FIVE MORE MILES TO RUN. I pushed likely way harder than I should have, and in mile 3 I knew I needed to slow way down to finish.

I think I started walk breaks around the 5k mark, which is impressive for a 10k when you've run a million marathons and half marathons. Derp. 

1. 8:40

2. 8:53

3. 9:40

Luckily in the 4th mile we started to meet up with the 5k runners, so there were significantly more people around. And we were all walk running out there in survival mode. I saw a couple of running friends from the Friday morning coffee run and caught up to them, and the gave me a second wind to push through to the end. I didn't realize they were doing the 5k until after.

4. 10:10

5. 10:44

6. 10:16<--this was me picking up the pace to finish. :P

.08 :39 for 8:09 pace

This smile is a lie

You will rarely, if ever hear me say this, but thank goodness for a short course! I took all sorts of sweaty post-race hugs, and chugged so much water and gatorade because I was feeling light headed and unsteady on my feet.

I survived, and it raised good money, and I got to see lots of my running friends, but it made for a not so great evening out to celebrate Kyle's bestie's wedding! Uff da.

What's Next?

Leading up to Fargo half, I suspected that race day wouldn't be a 100% effort for me. To mitigate my disappointment, I started to think of a back up plan if that was the case. I had planned to do a 10k for fun-ish in early June, and have since decided that it'll be my official substitute goal race for the spring (even though that's probably summer at that point). My marathon training will start in later June, so this gives me an opportunity to still have another attempt to post a race time that'll help me project a fall marathon goal race time.

Now fingers crossed that it doesn't feel like summer on race day! If so, I may drop to the 5k, which would still be fun.

There's also a 5k the following weekend in my little town that features bacon and bloody Mary's post race. And the money goes to help with Junior Achievement. So why not race on back to back weekends? My thoughts exactly!

And THEN Strava and NYRR announced a 1 mile virtual race challenge. Well that sounds like fun too. So sometime during this 8 day span, I'd also like to do a 1 mile time trial. LOLZ. This'll either be the most fun 8 days or the worst idea I've ever had.

Stay tuned.

Race Report: Banquet 10k

It was perfect race weather the morning of the 10k; so nice that I debated wearing a jacket for the race, because it was a little chilly. Lucky for me, and my super sweaty soaked self, I opted to ditch it before the race. Phew. I didn't get in my warm up, or any stretches, leg swings, nada. In fact, I didn't know where the start line was when a person with a hand speaker started saying incomprehensible things toward the crowd. Until I realized that it was the start, and we were to go. Ok then!

When I got to the corner that the guy was on, I started my watch. As a no frills, no timing, donation-based event I was cool with the laidback nature, but as I approached people going two different directions I realized I didn't know which why I was supposed to go. Luckily some guys instructed me to go left. From there I knew it'd be an out and back, so easy peasy. Others weren't as lucky as they were trotting along with us only to realize that they were planning to do the 5k and that we weren't doing a double loop as has been done in the past. Oops!

Prior to the race, I had messaged my buddy Jacqueline to see if maybe I could pace off of her for the race. She wanted to know what I was thinking I could/would run, and I said 8:40s maybe 8:30s. I also slipped in that if I was having a super excellent day, maybe 8:20s (as some race calculators have predicted off of a speedy 3 mile this fall). She let me know that she usually starts slower and speeds up and I said that was my usual plan as well, but I've sucked at doing lately. I saw her before the race, but after the weird start, I just ran.

Mile 1 8:33

Mile one felt good but I usually slow down after that first mile, so I mentally prepared for this race to be in the 8:40s. Which would still be awesome! I ran a 5k in the 8:40s this summer, two maybe even. And my 5 mile last spring was 8:50 pace. Around mile 2 Jacqueline and her friend ran up on me. And were chatting away. And tried to engage me in chatting. Sorry ladies, this is far too fast for me to converse during.

Mile 2 8:37

They went ahead of me shortly and I tucked in behind them, and I was surprised to see that our pace was picking up but I was still feeling just as good. Hmm..... It was during this mile that I like to distract myself during an out and back race by counting places. Just shy of the turn around I was in 5th place for females and 25th overall.

Mile 3 8:35

We hit the turn around and I was shocked at how good I was feeling. I failed to look at my watch at the turn around so I wasn't sure what my overall time was going to look like, or if the course was long/short, which is probably for the best (foreshadowing).

Usually miles 4 and 5 of a 10k are the worst because you've hit the turn around but all of that fatigue starts to hit your legs and you feel like you're the weight of an elephant. But nope, not today. I started to realize that I was running on my buddies heels, and that I needed to go around them because I was feeling GOOD.

Mile 4 8:35

(Did somebody order some super consistent splits or what??)

I told the ladies I was going to push the final two miles because I refused to let mile 5 be the shit show that it typically is, and they told me to go on ahead. I knew that Jacqueline wouldn't let me go, because she has the same competitive brain that I do, so that kept me pushing ahead. Despite running my fastest mile split of the day, I still had tons of people pass me this mile. I actually lost track, but a few women and quite a few men flew by like they were just out for a jog. I guess maybe they were out for a jog since no one had bibs on, but it was such a huge crowd and so disorganized at the start, I'm guessing they just started out way behind or accidentally went with the 5kers at the start.

Mile 5 8:27

During the final mile, my friends again passed me, and I vowed to stick to them like glue knowing they'd help me along for a nice finishing sprint. I kept calculating my final time based on an 8:30 pace, but then couldn't really think of what a good 10k finishing time was. Derp. I was following my friends and working so hard that my brain said "I think they all missed the turn for the finish" my brain responded "they've done this race for years! surely they know!" I caught up to them when they realized their mistake and I hauled up 3 flights of stairs to make up ground and get back on track. So much for that 8:30 pace. Grumble.

Mile 6 8:36

I knew my race was going to be over 6.2, but I wasn't sure how much and I was getting tired. And now there wasn't any one in front of me to chase. And I knew we started on a nice little downhill, so the opposite was my finishing stretch. I noticed a few people walking from the 5k looking at me funny when I was crossing the train tracks, and just after I crossed them I realized there was a train coming right toward me. Uff. 

.33 2:42 (8:09 pace, 7:20 max pace)

I finished the 6.33 miles in 54:08 for a pace of 8:33.

It felt so good to run so strong, and mentally be in the race. 10ks are SO HARD. And will always be the hardest race distance in my opinion. 5ks you can hurt for 23-24 minutes, nbd, half marathons you pace yourself so really only that last 40-50 minutes is hard, but a 10k is that crazy all out mentally tough distance. And I'm so excited at how I did!

This 10k is tied for the second fastest 10k pace ever, which was on a short course (like almost a half mile shorter than this course) so I'm excited for this to be my last race of 2017 (and as a 33 year old!) and to lead into the 2018 year.

P.S. Did I use the word excited enough? Because...uh... yeah. I am.

Race Report: Lennox Firecracker 10k

I had put off signing up for the Lennox Firecracker 10k until the morning of the race, because I wanted to see what the temperature held for the morning. I probably should've opted for the 5k based on the 91% humidity, but I wanted to get in a hard effort 10k to give me an idea of where my speed and endurance was leading into half marathon training.

I had hoped to be around 8:50 pace for the race. Spoiler alert: that didn't happen.

The firecracker went off, but since it went off at the start of the 1 mile/2 mile/5k and the 10k were lined up an opposite way, we were all a bit jostled when our starter just shouted out "Uh you should go now!" and we all took off.

There was a much smaller group for the 10k than normal, and I found myself all by my lonesome before we got to mile one.

Mile 1 9:02

I focused on trying to keep an even pace and not slowing down too much.

Mile 2 9:09

I did a decent job of that until we hit the portion on gravel during the 4th mile.

Mile 3 9:09

Mile 4 9:22

During this point I found a couple of people to chase, so I focused on the backs of their shirts to not fade any further.

Mile 5 9:21

I passed two of the three folks I was chasing during the final mile, but got very annoyed at the traffic on the open road. There was an SUV that literally ran me off the road because someone else was running in the middle of the road ahead of me, and I was hugging the curb. I ended up having to hop up on the sidewalk to pass the vehicle and dodge him. My final mile reflected how hard I worked in the last mile with my fastest split of the day.

Mile 6 8:57

The course ended up being a little bit short with my watch showing 6.06 miles. I heard that the 5k was .1 long, so it kind of averages out with the humidity and running twice as long, right? :P

I finished the race in 55:25 for a pace of 9:09.



More importantly, my nephew Harrison was in South Dakota and ran his very first 5k. So proud!!

 

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 3

Monday I slept in too late to run, so Tuesday I had to wake up super early to do my speed work session. I planned to race on Friday so I needed to get it done earlier in the week than normal to ensure my legs were recovered.

I had 3x1600 repeats on the schedule with 800 m jog in between each one, as well as a one mile warm up and cool down. It was a gorgeously cool morning and my paces reflect that. A bunch of high school boys showed up during my final lap for conditioning, so I cut my cool down to a quarter of a mile and called it a day. 

Fastest repeats so far! Whoop!

Thursday I did a short shake out run with some striders.

Friday I raced the Lennox Firecracker 10k (race report here), after a half mile warm up jog.

Saturday morning Kyle's mom accompanied me on my recovery run around the lake on her bike. It was awesome to have some company because it took my mind off the fact that my legs felt like junk for the first mile.

Race Report: Lennox Firecracker 10k

Friday morning, I woke up for the Lennox 10k and wished I wasn't running. My stomach was beyond angry and I couldn't calm it down. We got to the race and I strongly considered signing up for the 5k, but I convinced myself to do the 10k. Because of my stomach problems, I didn't get in as long of a warm up jog as I was hoping for. I did squeak in a half mile and that left me with time to do leg swings, form drills, and glute exercises, followed by a couple of striders.

It was time for the race and the set up was really wonky. The 10k was starting with the 5k/2 mile/1 mile at our backs going in the opposite direction. They had the starting gun at the front of that group instead of the 10k, so when the gun sounded, we all stood around until someone shouted at us "That's you guys! GO!" Oh ok, I started my garmin right when I crossed the starting line.

I planned to go out in an 8:40 pace, so when I looked down and saw a 7:20, I reeled myself in. I couldn't believe how many people were still flying by me at that pace. Is everyone planning to run a sub 7:30 pace? I'll just be back here bringing up the rear I guess. (After looking at the results, yup! I pretty much brought up the rear, yet my 10k pace would've won at AG award for a 5k. Whatevs.)

Mile 1 8:36

I felt pretty comfortable during the first mile and thought that maybe I could hold that 8:30-8:40 pace for the duration of the race! There were a few people spaced out in front of me, so I just set my sights on slowly catching up to them. The race route was just a loop around the country surrounding the city so it was pretty boring, but it was nice and flat.

Mile 2 8:26

Well alright, speeding up a bit and still feeling good. I found myself slowly creeping up on another small group of people and just set my sights on them. I told myself that I was gaining speed and they were getting tired.

Mile 3 8:27

I did a little math and realized if I could keep it up, I could run a 52:xx like Kyle had predicted. Well damn if that boy doesn't know his stuff! Mile four the wind was at my back so I started to feel HOT. There was a water station so I chugged half a glass and dumped the other half on my head. Ahhhhh.

Mile 4 8:34

I lost some steam in mile four and mile five brought the dreaded gravel mile. Uff. Luckily I only had 2.2 miles left (what I kept telling myself) and I knew I could keep pushing and not blow up. I haven't had that sort of confidence or realization before or during a race in a long time, so it's nice to be in tune with my abilities. I had been chasing a guy most of the gravel section and finally caught up to him. Thank goodness he was my rabbit during that section so I didn't slow down and throw in the towel.

Mile 5 8:51

With a slower gravel mile, I knew I really had to kick it up the final 1.2 miles to come in under 53 minutes. I was all by myself so I tried to just put my head down and push. When my watch hit 5.7 miles I told myself I had four minutes to haul booty to the finish line. I also thought "shoot! There haven't been any mile markers. For all you know, you're way over (like usual) and will just miss 53!" 

Mile 6 8:22

As I got closer to the school I realized that the course might actually be a bit short. Once I saw the finish line I had a full dead sprint because I was expecting to have another .1 to go!

Look! No heel strike here!!!

I hit the finish line in 51:41 for a pace of 8:20 for a full 6.2. By my estimation on the regular course distance, based on my pace and finishing speed, I would've likely run around a 52:20, which is still well under my A goal. WAHOO!!

Running my second fastest 10k at the beginning of marathon training just has me even more excited to knock this training cycle out of the park. PRs are gonna roll, yo.

Since I signed up race morning, on a piece of paper, I somehow got in the results as Jerry, a 30 year old male, so I'm happy I didn't win an AG award as a female, because we jetted off to the cabin shortly after the race was done. No time to argue. :)

10k Scratch

I had originally planned to race a 10k tomorrow. Which would be my third race in three weekends. For someone who's injury prone, they sure didn't think that planning through, did they? I've been planning to try to run the automatic qualifying time to gain a guaranteed entry to the Houston Marathon, and knew I wasn't going to hit a 1:52 in either of my halfs, and thought maybe, juuuuuust maybe, I could run the 51 minute 10k requirement.

Once the race got closer I realized that I'd have a shot of running the time on fresh, recovered legs, but not on legs that are one week post-half marathon. Since the Brookings half was my goal race for the spring, I decided to scrap the 10k. My stupid luck, I'd try to run the 10k time, fail AND hurt myself. Nope nope nope.

So I'll be entering the lottery like lots of other schmucks and hoping for the best.

But fear not.

There is a 10k that I'm setting my sights on for mid-June as my last spring (uff that's technically summer, huh? Or no..... wait! Only after the 22nd?? Seasons are HARD) hard effort race. Which means more dates at the track working on mah speedz. Whoop! So maybe I'll get that sub 52 this spring anyway. ;)

AND THEN MARATHON TRAINING STARTS. ERMAHGAHHHHD.

10k Race Pics and En Route to Madison

Today I'm en route to Madison, Wisconsin for the Madison Marathon, and more importantly TO SEE KRISTA, RENEE, AND JEN! I feel like I've known Krista and Renee for roughly a million years, but we've never actually met in person, which is weird, I guess. Jen and I met up in Vegas a few years back, and she's so sweet and awesome, she would've been even more awesome if she had come and talked to me at Curly's Pub when I was eating at the bar all by my lonesome for my first marathon, but whatevs, I've totally forgiven her for that (#stillholdingagrudge).

I've always felt like I belong in Wisconsin (or Oregon, if we're being completely honest), and prior to landing my current job at my dream South Dakota library, I was constantly following Wisconsin library job postings. I'd like to think that if I someday get my wish and end up in Packers country, I'll get to run with these girls (and watch many Packers games whilst drinking Spotted Cow and eating cheese curds, yes I am 20 lbs. heavier in this scenario, thanks for asking!) as much as I'd want, aka all the time.

Krista is going to dominate the full and is sweet enough to let me crash at her place and be my "host" for the weekend. She's also NaNoWriMo-ing so there may be moments of writing furiously while I'm there. There's also talks of visiting a newly remodeled library, be still my beating heart! (P.S. Ask me post-race what my finishing prediction time is for K-bug, I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm right!)

Jen and Renee are going to be spectators extraordinaire, and I've already put in a bazillion requests to Renee, they are as follows:

1) Jordy Nelson
2) Your garmin, in the event it's a cloudy day and my battery dies asap
3) Spotted Cow beer (preferably snuck in to the post-race finishers chute. The post-race beer selection is less than appealing. Bonus points for dixie cups of it along the course...just sayin'....)

I think that was it! Just a small list... NBD.

I've also analyzed the course map and written down mile markers that I plan to "suggest" that they cheer at. I'M BOSSY THIS IS WHAT I DO. But really I did it with them in mind as well, I wanted them to be at spots that I *think* would be easy to see us quickly at another spot on the course as well. We'll see since they obviously know the area a lot better than I do. I'm just looking forward to having race spectators on the course for a full this has never happened before!! 

Ok, that's enough race obsessing.

No wait! It isn't. I have a cold. That should be neat. It was knocking on my immune systems door last week and I finally came down with it on Saturday, basically thought I was dying. I said, that's cool, make yourself at home for 72 hours, and then you're out on your ass, cold. Well, unless this cold is TERRIBLE AT MATH, it has severely overstayed its welcome. Thank goodness I'm not in PR shape, or I'd be freaking the eff out.

Ok, now THAT'S enough race obsessing. On to the pics!

The 10k race I did 2 weekends ago posted 500 photos to their facebook page this week. I decided to pan through them to see if I could spot a flash of green. Even better than a green frog were these two:

I die of preciousness.

Even more so if Kyle had been dressed as a storm trooper or darth vader or something.

You can almost see the "Go Mom Go #teamgreen" Conversation bubble hovering over their heads, right??!?!?

This one was shortly after the start, and I look fast, which is neat. This was certainly the portion when I was all "Wheeee sub 7 pace is super eeeeeeeasy!" lolz.

And then you might end up letting Pi beat you to the finish because of that sub 7 pace start. But in my defense, this chick passed me around mile 4, and I reeled her in big time that last mile and a half. She's actually the reason I hit sub 7 paces at the finish. Competitive Jeri FTW (except not the win, obvs.)

And this is just all sorts of LOLZ. Running hard is hard, you guys....

Race Report: Trick or Treat Trail Run 10k

I woke up Saturday morning after going to bed way too late for a race eve.  Luckily the race wasn't scheduled to start until 10am.  I ate breakfast and did my hip exercises, foam rolling, stretching, hip flexor stretches, and finally woke up Kyle and Ollie to head to the race start.  I did a half mile warm up with some striders and then it was time to start.

I was the only one wearing shorts and a tank, so I win that category I guess.  I started toward the front because NO ONE was going up to the front.  It was weird.  There were probably 3 girls at the front front, otherwise no one was even close to the start.  The race is chip timed, but it's gun chip timed (does that even make sense?) so I didn't want a ton of extra time from starting at the back.  Also, there were a TON of runners, and a skinny path to race on.

We started and I felt good and fast.  I settled in to a comfortably hard pace pretty easy on.  Jenn wanted me to run without my garmin because she's convinced I'm faster than I think I am (spoiler:  I'm not) so I compromised by ignoring my watch for the first while.  My first mile clocked at 8:32.  Oops.  After consulting my garmin info, my max pace was 6:39.  LOLZ.  Pacing, I haz none.

I could feel my legs slowing and getting heavier during mile one, so I wasn't surprised when mile two was slower, but I wasn't expected to run it that slow.  Mile 2 was 8:58.

Mile three and four stunk.  My legs felt like poo, and I kept getting passed.  During mile three I started to see the leaders fly by going the opposite direction since it was an out and back.  I kept myself busy counting chicks to see what place I was in.  At the turn around, I was 26, which is my lucky number.  Wahoo!  Before too long I was 31.  Womp.  Mile 3 was 9:01, Mile 4 was 9:07.

I finally got my mind straight the final two miles and realized I only had about 20 minutes left of hard running to do, and if I didn't kick it in, I was going to run slower than I did in June, when I was just getting back in to running.  I started slowly picking off the gals that had passed me in mile 4.  Mile 5 was 8:59.

The final mile I just tried to haul as best as I could, and I was really invigorated by catching up to people (as terrible as that sounds).  I forget how nice it is to race in a race, that extra little competitive edge really helps the final miles when you're just ready to be DONE.  Mile 6 was 8:49.

I had started to run "all out" or as all out as I could muster at about 5.7 because I thought I could run a 4 minute half mile to finish close to 55 minutes.  There were a few more girls I was chasing down that had passed me in miles 3 and 4, so I kept them in my sights.  My final .24 was 1:48 for a 7:27 pace, and a max pace of 6:40.

My final time was 55:17 for an average pace of 8:51.

This was about 25 seconds faster than the 10k I did in June, and a slighter lower HR, but higher max HR, which is interesting.  I definitely kept my mind during this race, which is a huge win for me, as I usually give up when my goal time is out of reach.  But it also shows my extreme lack of speed work for the last 4 months.  So many LSD runs.  It'll be nice to crush this 10k time this spring after I add speed back to my newfound endurance.  WHOOP!

Race Review:  I would highly recommend this race to anyone considering doing it.  It was cheap, $35 for the early bird sign up, came with a tech T, had 5k and 10k options, race loot for winners, costume contests with various categories, EVERYONE dressed up (which was awesome, I'm a sucker for costumes!), well run, well organized, great treats post-race.  It was great!

Official Results

Trick or Treat Trail Run

RACE STANDINGS

Overall Place

55/136

Gender Place

23/91

Age Place

4/22

Bib Number

307

Gender

F

Age

29

Start Time

10:02:39.243

Split 1

0

Split 2

0

Split 3

0

Split 4

0

Elapsed

00:55:17.724