Race Report: St. Patty's Day 5 Mile + 1 Mile

I woke up super early Saturday morning feeling very meh about racing. My knee had been bothering me, Toni was going to be out of town, and there was potential for some really gross weather to roll through town. Last minute, Toni ended up not going out of town, due to the really gross weather making its way across the state. YAY! I told her my plan was to head into town to get in a 3 mile warm up prior to the race. I'd decide to either skip the race altogether or just run it for fun, without worrying about a goal time, weather dependent.

We ran into Greg, co-owner of 605 Running Co. on our way out to run and he said that it was slick. Uff. Toni, Melissa and myself started out on the run, and it was a sheet of ice. We kept going in hopes that it would clear up, or get better, we attempted to run in the ice coated grass lining the trail. The most telling moments were when we would all catch a piece of extra slick ice at the exact same moment and shuffle our feet in unison until we had passed it. We turned around at .75 miles and I think our average pace was in the 11s. I told the gals I was out. I didn't want to risk hurting myself knowing that I couldn't race, and I'd be really mad at myself if I got hurt by my own accord, or if someone else accidentally took them down with me. They both agreed.

I picked up a coffee and high-tailed it back home.

Toni and I met up late morning to get in our 5 miles around town, determined to keep our mileage on track for the day. The roads were completely fine (as they were for the race as well, but we were set to race on a completely untreated bike path side note: yes I'm annoyed that the race organizers and director didn't bother to put down any salt along the path what so ever. A little bit would've gone a long way. We were told to "run at our own risk" via email at 4am). Rant over.

We had a beautiful little jog around town with some speedier than normal paces. And most excitingly, my knee felt fine. PHEW! Thanks to my massage therapist for my emergency 9:30pm massage on Thursday night! She's the best.

We drove into town, parked near the running store, and congregated in the store for a bit before our warm up for the one mile race. Ideally we could've timed our extra miles and warm up a little better, but I knew there were road closures that would make getting downtown difficult, so I wanted to be parked before all that happened.

Finally it was time to take off on our warm up mile, and we left the store with all the super fast runners from 605. As in, the team of runners that took first place as a male/female team in Chicago the following weekend for a really big 8k! The race route/parade route was already closed, so we ran along it with the parade goers cheering us on. That is officially the coolest I will ever feel in my life. :P

We got in another mile of warm up with 10-15 minutes before the race, to get our muscles warmed up. Everyone thought we were crazy for running in shorts and tanks, but whatever. We lined up near-ish the front, but as it was gun time, I'm a little annoyed we didn't line up closer. The gun was off and so were we! Some of us at a sub 6 pace. Oops. If you'll recall, my goal was to run really damn close to 7 minutes, if not under, so sub 6 may have been a bit ambitious.

I caught up to Toni pretty early on and somehow shouted to her to "get her ass going" and she took off like a rocket. Two of my running buddies who are pretty close in race times to me were right with me, and we took turns leap frogging down Philips Ave.

I tried to figure out how to lap my Garmin at every quarter of a mile before the race, and I couldn't do it, but my running log is amazing and did it for me. Wahoo!

First .25 1:30, 6:04 pace. Barf.

I didn't check my watch until about a third of the way through the mile, which was great. Hey, we're almost done already! I feel great! And then I remember shortly thereafter feeling pretty darn tired. HAh. I had warned myself prior to the race to not panic or freak out when it started to feel really hard about halfway through the race. A) you're hauling mail (that's what Kyle likes to say when I'm racing well) and B) the first part of the race is slightly downhill, so it feels SUPER HARD once it flattens out.

Second .25 1:47 7:09 pace.

The third quarter is always where I'd struggle in middle school when I raced the mile, I had hoped that I'd be able to stay strong and consistent with my pace, but I clearly did not. I lost sight of most of my running friends during this quarter as they pulled away and my legs mysteriously gained 900 lbs each.

Third .25 1:53 7:33 pace. gulp.

With the final stretch coming up I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the finish line was. I knew we had started a block closer than the previous year I did it, but since we were entering the falls, I couldn't envision where the finish line would be, and I couldn't see it. OMG I'm READY TO BE DONE. Luckily with about that quarter mile. to go I finally spotted the finish line and kicked it in to high gear. I flew by one of my running buddies and set my sights on another, meanwhile the clock was slowing making it's way to 7:00.

Fourth .25 1:45 7:04 pace. uff da. Max pace 5:18.

My Garmin clocked me at 6:56 for the full mile, but the official time had me at 7:02. I'm partially annoyed with that big of a swing, but I'm just choosing to take on the 6:56 as my official time. :) So that's a post HS one mile PR!!! Wahoo!!

After the race, we jogged a mile to cool down and then met up with our husbands to enjoy the parade and drink some beers. I love St. Patty's day!!

Race Result

Overall44 / 283 (15.5%)

Ages 30 - 3910 / 75 (13.3%)

Gender17 / 181 (9.4%)

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!

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!