St. Patty's Day 5 Mile and 1 Mile Race Goals

I am beyond excited to race tomorrow. I always enjoy a good excuse to race in green gear and celebrate my Irish-ness! We originally had planned to race the 5 mile, as I always like a good 5 mile/10k race to help me figure out where my fitness currently is. When Toni mentioned she wanted to race the one mile too, I figured, why not? They're about 5 hours apart, so might as well try, right?

So without further adieu, here are my goals for the races!

Based on my Frostbite 4 Mile race time, the racing calculator gods seem to think I can race the five mile in an 8:14 pace. My 5 mile PR was set in 2010 on a short course. Like a quarter of a mile short. So I've told myself that if I run that pace for this race, I'll count it as an official PR and toss out the old liar of a race time. :P I ran an 8:10 for that race, so we'll see! [it's insane that 11 months ago my goal for this race distance was sub-9, so stoked for how my training has been going!]

For the 1 mile, I really want to run a post-HS PR. I've only raced one, back in 2011 after running the 5 mile and 5k at this same race series. That PR is a 7:14. I'd be really stoked for a sub 7:10. If I recover swiftly from the 5 mile race, I'm gunning for a sub 7 finish!

St. Patricks Day Shenanigans

My favorite holiday has come and gone. So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen! (<--I had to look that up to spell it correctly). Our city celebrated the holiday on Saturday so I was sure to have that day off from work to help the city celebrate!

I started off the day with the 5k, that I wrote about previously. And then I went home to stand in the shower for hours to warm up. I'm normally the warmest runner in the history of warm runners, but when I get cold, it takes me hours to warm up. I think I have a poor bodily thermostat. :/

Jenn and I met up downtown to watch the parade, and as we arrived at our lunch meetup, it started to snow. And kept on snowing through the duration of the parade. Sideways snow, no less. Thanks monster wind gusts! We ended up snagging a table at a restaurant near the window so we could watch it from indoors. Which is great, because I wore flats without socks and may have gotten frostbite on my feet. Derp. Tom joined us later in the afternoon.

She's fast and pretty. 

Tom & Jeri.

Our eyes look slightly satanic in this picture, but it's the only one of my head to toe green, so plz deal with it.

Once the parade was over, in record timing, I met up with TJ and his lady friend Katie at an Irish bar.

Where I may have found a few of these guys.

(Which I later learned I'm allergic to, or so I think.... uff)

Me and TJ. We tend to dress alike, and I swear I have an almost identical flannel. And glasses. And chucks. TWINSIES!

After we were bored there, we headed to a different bar to watch one of Katie's friend's bands. I dunno if this is the Guinness talking, or not, but I thought they were pretty good!

These guys are sham-rockin! (<--Yeah, I went there)

Me and Katie. I was wearing enough green that she didn't have to.

And after a long day of work, this guy showed up to keep me company (and give me a safe ride home).

Don't worry, I'm still going strong in wearing green everyday to work this month. Tuesday was the first day I did. not. want. to. do. it. but still did anyway.

Race Report: Free Rebel 5k

I'm not used to late morning race starts, so I had my normal nervous dreams (don't ask me why I was nervous for this race, I get nervous for long runs and hard workouts, I'm bizarre) and couldn't sleep. I finally just woke up early to be sure my stomach would have time to chill out after I fed it. I've been having a lot of stomach issues lately, blergh. I finally texted Jenn to let her know I was leaving early and I'd see her there. 

I thought I was going to regret wearing long sleeves, so I threw armsleeves in my bag, and planned to ditch the long sleeve for them after our warm up together. And then I stepped outside and brrr. I texted Jenn to bring gloves. I was one of the first runners to get to the race and was super excited that I got to snag one of the free race shirts! For a free race (donations for the Humane Society encouraged--awesome!) I was shocked at how cute the shirt was! I also got a commemorative novelty bib, they had drawings for door prizes, and a free green beer ticket for the first 200 race finishers over 21. Yes I think I picked the correct 5k race this holiday.

Jenn finally got there so we headed out for our run. And almost froze. Oh my goodness. It was right around freezing, but with the wind (the out portion of the race route) the wind chill was 19. Uff! We ended up cutting our warmup short to just a mile. My cold is still sticking around with a vengeance so I was nervous that would effect my breathing on the run, especially coupled with the cold wind gusts.

We snapped this adorably green clad photo before the race. 

And this awkward gem of a pic. I was trying to look like the leprechaun on my race bib. I ended up looking like I was trying to pee/poo standing up. Sooper hawt.

And then after standing outside in the cold for an hour (awesome race strategy) the race was finally off!

My race goals I had set for myself were done last week when I had assumed I was going to be over my cold, so I was pretty confident I wouldn't be running a sub 8:30 pace, but I decided I'd only know if I tried. 

I tried to keep Jenn in my sights and also tried to stay with a pack of runners so I would have some wind block on the way out. My first glance at my garmin was a 7:54. Hah, oops. My pace slowed down throughout that mile, since I'm clearly not in sub 8 5k shape at the moment. The crowd of runners dispersed almost immediately so I was stuck with zero wind block, and zero people behind me (or so it felt). Luckily for me, I was finally able to let a ton of snot out behind me without fear of smoking fellow runners with my leprechaun hued boogers. Eeew.

After hitting the one mile in 8:30, I realized that my goal race time probably wasn't going to happen, but I started to feel a little better than I did in mile one and knew we were close to the turn around and would finally have the wind at our backs. At one point my pace for mile two was 8:48. Uff. I kept digging and tried to slowly pick off people. I hit the turn around in ~13:30 and had a totally renewed sense of running. I quickly passed a couple of people and picked up the pace. My second mile was an 8:40.

Shortly after the third mile started I felt like I was all by myself. No one behind me, and a few people not quite catchable in front of me. I started doing the math to see how much time I had left to run to determine when I could start kicking. I picked it up with about 6 minutes left in the race and really tried to haul. My third mile was an 8:24, my fastest of the race, and my final .1 was :41 for a pace of 6:49! Hey, there's still speed in these legs!

I started off around seventh place for females and passed two shortly before the one mile marker, and held on to fifth for the remainder of the race. I was hoping for top ten so I was pretty thrilled about this, and I think that helped keep me focused on running hard throughout the race.

AND for the first time in a couple of years of racing, I finally hit a race goal I set for myself! I was shooting for 25:29-26:21 and ran a 26:17. Whoop! Considering my mile repeats have been in the high 8:30s, I'm pretty pumped I ran an 8:29 pace for this. Slooooooooowly getting back to regular runner Jerbear!

Yayzies!

First Race as a 30 Year Old

Wowsers, tomorrow marks my first race in the 30-39 category. *gulp* I absolutely love St. Patty's day and have run our local St. Patty's day race(s) for most of the years that I've been a runner (2007 5k, 2009 5k, 2010 5 mile, 2011 Irishman [5 mile, 5k, 1 mile]). I haven't done it the last couple of years for a number of reasons. The cost of the race has gotten really high. Most local halfs are $35-40 if you sign up by the early bird deadline, and the 5k and 5 mile cost the same as that.

One year that I ran the race there was extreme flooding, and the route wasn't changed, so runners had to go through mud that was inches deep, another year they started the route on a sidewalk instead of a road because they didn't get road closure permits, and with 100s of runners starting in that much congestion, it was a $#!t show to say the least.

I will say that this race does always have pretty killer long sleeve technical race shirts. They are some of my fave in my training shirt rotation.

This year, I'm racing a half in NYC the weekend after the St. Patty's day races. While tooling around on our local race schedule website, I found a Free Rebel Run planned for the same day as the St. Patty's day races. And it's free, as its name suggests. I convinced my friend Jenn to run it as well. Shockingly, the race day weather looks pretty great.

I haven't ran a 5k in...... over 2.5 years. Hah, and I know I won't be anywhere near a PR. But I would like to have a strong run that gives me confidence going in to my half marathon the following weekend. Since I'm hoping for a sub-2 slash close to 2 hour half next weekend, my goals for this 5k per McMillan race predictor are:

25:29 (8:12 pace) to 26:21 (8:29 pace)

As I'm seeing those paces, that doesn't seem like it should be hard, but my tempo paces have only been in the low 9's. However, after looking over my training log, I have had a set of mile repeats near the 8:30 range, so we'll see!

Regardless I'm excited to get out there in all my green glory to celebrate my favorite holiday with a hard effort run.

(OMG I loved those shoes. Fave running shoes EVER.)

Excuses.... I HAZ EM!

After my tumble last week, I woke up the next day and was in a lot of pain.  My left hip was super creaky.  And it remained creaky until Sunday.  When Kyle and I were leaving the Hunger Games movie after sitting for 2 1/2 hours he asked why I was walking like a grandma.  Ooops... didn't even realize I was limping.

Luckily my tumble coincided pretty nicely with a ZOMG stressful week of school.  The number of hours I spent searching and searching AND SEARCHING for answers to an assignment this past weekend are almost astounding.  I estimate that I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 hours researching and writing a paper that is worth 24 points, tops.  My soul died a little when I realized that.  And then I went and got a bottle of wine.  At least the rest of my classmates were all in a similar boat.  Misery loves company, as it is.

After finally getting the school craziness out of the way on Monday I found myself without any eyeballs.  Friday night my left eye was really bothering me during the movie, and when I took out my contact it had a nice little tear in the center.  And naturally I had yet to re-order new contacts so I was blind Betty.

So if you're following along at home, my list of excuses for not running go from pain from falling-->too busy with schoolwork-->no eyeballs.

I finally got to run again last Wednesday and had the worst shin pain ever.  I've had issues with my shins back in high school when I high jumped, but this wasn't the same.  There was a huge radiating pain running from my knee to my foot.  My foot was completely numb for the first 5-8 minutes I was running. So weird.

It would calm down for a mile or two and then after a short incline the pain would come back full force.  It was so bizarre.  I'm not sure if it was a random annoyance or leftover from my spill, but I don't like running when I hurt.  I feel like I need a crystal ball that will tell me whether the pain is something I should/could run through or whether I should rest.  Based on my track record, I'm obviously not the best at determining this on my own.  ;)

And somehow I haven't shared any pics from my favorite holiday.  TEAM GREEN!  Yeah that's me double fisting guinesses.  Twofers.  Yum.