Phoenix Half Marathon

We arrived in Phoenix on Friday, checked into the Hyatt Mesa (host hotel), walked over to packet pickup, grabbed and early dinner, and then sat out by the pool where we enjoyed the little bit of sunshine that the trip would bring. 

Saturday morning I woke up before my 4 am alarm, went through the usual pre-race process, and walked over to the shuttle busses around 4:45. It's a point to point race with no parking at the start, so everyone had to ride the shuttle. The busses ran from 3:45 until 5:00, so it was great to be able to see them out of my window as I got ready and not have to worry about any additional logistics given the already early morning. I boarded a bus fairly quickly, and arrived at the start line around 5:10, leaving me with an hour and twenty minutes to kill until race time. Fortunately it wasn't cold (temps around 60), but the wind was blowing pretty hard and every now and then it would sprinkle a little, but fortunately the heavier rains held off for most of the time we were sitting around. I was a little cool in my singlet and shorts, but had to laugh as thousands of runners clad in capris, pants, and jackets huddled around the 60+ heat lamps they'd set up in the parking lot. Of all of the races I've done, at least 75% have been in colder weather (often MUCH colder), yet this was the first time I'd seen a sea of heat lamps like that. I went through the porta potty line, walked down to check out the start, went through the line again, and then found the 1:40 pace group. It started to rain as they played the national anthem at 6:05, so I put on my garbage bag for the warm up. I went off with the pace group and we ran about a mile or so before heading up to the start. We had a few minutes left and I had to pee again, so I ducked off into the woods with a few dozen others. I had to laugh again because I couldn't think of many other situations where people would be peeing in the woods around total strangers with little (if any) attempt to hide. Ah, runners… lol

Over the last few weeks, I've been building my mileage little by little and even added in a track workout last Tuesday, but I wasn't sure what I could expect of myself. I decided to start with the 1:40 group (7:38 pace) to be sure that I didn't start out too fast, but given the course (all flat or gentle downhill), I was hoping to finish somewhere between 1:35 and 1:38. The rain picked up as we waited to start, but thankfully the wind seemed to die down a bit. After battling the wind in Myrtle Beach two weeks ago, I decided the rain was definitely the lesser of two evils, and it wasn't a cold rain, so I really didn't mind.

After about five minutes with the 1:40 group I'd been chatting with, I sped up and settled in around 7:15 pace, coming through the first mile in 7:27. I stayed pretty consistent with my pacing (miles 2-9 were all between 7:10-7:17), drank Gatorade at the water stops, roughly ever other mile, and felt surprisingly good. The rain mostly stopped after mile 2, and the clouds helped to keep the temps from climbing out of the 60s, so I was thankful for that. The only thing that was bothering me was the bruise on the bottom of my right foot, but that hurts with every step regardless of walking, jogging, or running fast, so I figured the faster I ran, the sooner I'd be done and slowing down certainly wasn't going to help with that. I considered taking a gel or some honey stingers about an hour into the race, but after the less than awesome experience I had eating Gu while trying to run fast-ish (at Battleship in November), that idea was off-putting and I decided to just stick with gatorade. It worked out ok for this half, but I'm really going to have to figure something out before Boston.

Somewhere between miles 9 and 10, I started coming up on the 10k runners. The 10K ran on the last 6.2 miles of the marathon/half marathon course, but started a bit later. This really wouldn't be a problem if the walkers and joggers at the back end of the 10k were a bit more courteous, but they didn't seem to care that I'd already been running for over an hour, had a time goal, and was trying to get by. The weaving, curb-hopping, and missed water (there were so many people walking through that it was impossible to grab water on the move) had me really frustrated; and combined with the fact that I was actually starting to feel tired, I fell a bit out of my rhythm and off my pace (7:29 and 7:28 for miles 11 and 12). Fortunately once I passed the mile 12 marker, I was able to get it together a little and pick the pace back up for the last mile. As mile 13 beeped on my Garmin, I realized that if I hurried I could get in under 1:36, so I did what I could to kick to the finish (which I am always lacking) and crossed the line 1:35:58.

I got my medal and a water and headed out of the finisher's area, met Monte at our agreed upon spot, and walked back to the hotel. The awards ceremony for the half was supposed to be at 9, and we were back at the Hyatt by 8:15, so I had time to get some breakfast (they had a pretty decent free spread) and take a quick shower before heading back to the post-race festivities. Yet another reason staying at this host hotel was a fantastic decision… I wish every finish line was only a 3 minute walk away from a post-race shower! 

Results/awards were delayed, so after an announcement that it would be while, we went back to the hotel so I could eat another breakfast and get packed up while we were waiting. The second return to the finish line was well-timed, as they were in the middle of the awards ceremony but hadn't yet gotten to my division. Monte told me that I was around the 35th female, but that there were a couple of women ahead of me who might have been Athenas, so I wasn't sure if I'd placed. Either they were under 150 or didn't want to race in the heavy weight division, because I finished first and am now two for two in winning my division in half marathons with weight classes! 

Summary
Pros: Nice swag (wearable race shirt, arm sleeves), convenient host hotel, fast course, well organized, plenty of busses to the start, pre-race heaters.
Cons: The last bus leaves at 5 am, which is well before the 6:30 race start; few spectators (though this could have been due to the rain); the 10K creates a lot of congestion, results/awards over an hour later than scheduled.
Verdict: I would definitely run this race again, and may consider the full some time in the future.

February

The good news is I'm running knee-pain free!  I'm starting to get some consistency back into my running training, but it's a slow process and my weekly mileage is only back into the 20s.  

The most exciting news from this month, though, is that I've hired a coach!  With so many races on the calendar and some ambitious time and distance goals, I think it will prove to be a wise investment, and I am really excited to see what happens!

Myrtle Beach Half Marathon

A few months ago, Sara and I decided that the timing of this race would work well as part of our Boston Marathon training plan.  Myrtle Beach is just over a 3 hour drive from Durham, has a beach, offered a fun post-race party, and hotel rates were reasonable, so it also seemed perfect for a girls' weekend.  We set out on Friday after work, checked into the hotel, grabbed some dinner at the pre-race pasta buffet, and picked up our packets.  Since our hotel was race headquarters, both dinner and packet pick up were right there, which made things very convenient, and I would definitely recommend staying at the Sheraton if you're to travel to MB for this race.

To our disappointment, sun and spring-like temperatures were markedly absent from the forecast, and the weather was predicted to be in the 40s and rainy with 20-25 mile per hour winds.  I guess this was much better than the snow and ice storms we'd had just a few days earlier, but still wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for a race at the beach.  So at 6:00 we set out to run yet another half marathon in the rain.  After a mile warm up, we lined up somewhere between the 1:30 and 1:45 pace signs and thankfully the rain stopped just as we ditched our throwaway clothes.

The plan was originally to run at goal marathon pace (7:30), but given this year's setbacks and complete lack of mileage, I decided that was probably not the best idea and called it a supported training run, especially given the weather conditions...

From MyrtleBeach.com:
[Runners] were greeted with a cold, rainy morning and bone-chilling wind on race day.  But they ran. Sporting makeshift trash bag raincoats at the starting line and ditching layers of wet clothes along the course, they ran.  The rain stopped shortly after the race start, but the wind was a constant companion, relentlessly battering the participants and spectators as the course weaved along the oceanfront. But that’s the thing about runners. They just kept running.

Miles 1-3 (7:38-7:29-7:31)
I was curious as to how much of a struggle that GMP would be and how much I should adjust my expectations/goals for Boston, so I started out with Sara.  She sped up during mile 2, so I decided to just stick to 7:30s as long as it felt comfortable.

Miles 4-7 (7:43-7:50-7:55-7:55)
The headwind was taking a lot out of me, so I decided to slow down a bit.  My training plan called for 14 miles at 7:45-8:00 for the day, so I figured I could stick to that pace range and still end up with a successful workout.  SO. WINDY.

Miles 8-11 (7:51-7:42-7:51-7:52)
I assumed that once we made the turn to head back to the start/finish, that the miserable headwind would be a tailwind.  Unfortunately, that part of the course is more sheltered from the wind thanks to some large hotels, so we didn't benefit from it nearly as much as I'd hoped.  We did have a few nice gusts at our back though, it felt a lot easier to run the same pace, and in between resorts we had a nice view of the ocean, so I actually enjoyed this part of the course quite a bit.

Mile 12-13.15 (8:11-8:05-1:02)
Just after mile 11 we turned left off of Ocean Boulevard, and the full force of the wind was coming right at us.  I felt like I was almost running in place, and the effort level went way up while the pace went way down.  I wish I'd pushed a little harder to keep it under 8, but at that point I was cursing the wind and the thought of running faster had zero appeal. 

Overall, the race went about as I'd expected, though it took a little more effort than I would have liked to just run at my normal training pace.  Given how little I've run, I'm trying not to worry about it too much.  Sara, meanwhile, killed it despite the wind and won 2nd place female master's, so at least one of us was fast!  

After the race we walked back to the hotel, showered, and went back to the finish line for the awards ceremony, which featured both an elephant and a monkey!  Normally I'm ready to go home and shower, so I don't spend much time at post-race parties, but since we were clean, dry, and dressed relatively warmly, we decided to stick around.  The band was pretty good, they had unlimited Sam Adams and cider (which sure beat the standard one-free-bud-light), and we made some new friends, so all in all it was a great experience and I'd definitely recommend it/run it again.

Elephant at the finish line

Award winners got to hold a monkey for post-race photos!

3rd half marathon in 4 weeks

Of course we'd have to make friends with this team, right?

Putting that award to good use

And we met Superman
(Um... NO)

Interviewing for Not the News
#kindofabigdeal

Massacre Marathon Relay

Running, spending time with friends, and dressing up in festive attire are all high on my list of favorite things to do, so it's no surprise that I'm a huge fan of relays.  Fortunately my friends are like-minded, and were on board with ordering the somewhat-overpriced-but-totally-worth-it holiday sweater tech shirts, so we felt confident in (at the very least) being the best dressed team out there!

Speed-wise, I wasn't really sure what I could expect of myself.  I threw a faster-than-jogging mile and some 400s into a run on Wednesday to test out the knee, and thankfully had no pain, but hadn't done any speed work or tempo running since my injury in December so even those short efforts felt incredibly hard.  I do think the cycling has helped me avoid getting completely out of shape, but I'm definitely lacking running fitness and had no idea how the 1.6 mile intervals would go.

Fortunately, I have very fast teammates, so I figured they'd give me a big lead and I wouldn't have to worry about it too much.  Last year we were edged out by four cross country girls, who, thanks to their homemade shirts, we referred to as the Puffy Paints.  Sure enough, the puffy paints were back, and we were determined to take them down this year.  Allie started us off with leg 1, which is a little longer than the others at just over 2 miles (to get the total to an even 26.2), and to my surprise, puffy paint #1 came in a few seconds ahead of her.  Allie is crazy fast, so that was not a good sign, and I hoped that, like us, they'd put their speediest woman first.  Caren ran leg 2, and kept even with her puffy paint girl, so I started leg 3 a few seconds behind.  As expected, they'd put their slowest runner in 3rd position as well, and to my pleasant surprise, I found that I was actually running faster than she was!  The first part of the course includes a relatively big uphill, some flats, and then another uphill section.  The great part about the course layout is that the corresponding downhill is at the end of the loop, so you can see the finish as you come out of the woods it's all downhill from there.  I was happy to hand off to Ellen showing an average pace under 7 on my watch, and even happier to have put a few seconds on the puffy paints.  

The remaining laps went by in similar fashion, with Allie, Caren, and Ellen pretty evenly paired with the fast xc girls and blasting laps at near 6-minute pace.  Though I was by far the slowest runner on our team, I was able to put additional time on Puffy Paint #3, who was finishing each lap in about 12 minutes while I kept it close to 11.  By lap 3, I felt that our lead was safe, but was inspired by my super fast teammates to not slack off too much, and was thrilled to average under 7 minute miles for all 4 laps.  Happily, redemption was ours, and we finished as the first women's team (5th overall) in 2:48:33. 

Victory!

Overall, I was really pleased with how the race went.  I didn't think I'd be able to run sub-7 but my body is responding to returning to running pretty well.  I am not where I had hoped to be and have a lot of work to do, but the last couple of weeks have me feeling pretty optimistic.  When we did this race last year, I had a lot going on and was preparing to fly home to visit my mom in the hospital, so it was a very emotional time and I didn't really race well, but I decided to compare this year's splits to 2013.  While I expected this year to be quite a bit slower, my splits for laps 1 and 3 were actually exactly the same, and 2 and 4 were faster this year!  I'm definitely taking that as reason to be optimistic, and hope that all is not lost for my spring racing season after all!

2014 Splits

Lap 1: 10:55 (6:49; 2013: 10:55)

Lap 2: 10:48 (6:45; 2013: 10:57)

Lap 3: 11:02 (6:54; 2013: 11:02)

Lap 4: 11:06 (6:56; 2013: 11:17)

Big thanks to my awesome friends/teammates for being supportive and encouraging through everything! 

RNR New Orleans Half Marathon

I still haven't run much and am trying to gradually come back from my knee injury, so this was to be my first longish training pace run in about 2 months, and the goal was to run about 8 minute/mile pace and just stop along the way whenever the mood struck us.  The result: the most fun run ever, as evidenced by our race photos, which tell the story better than I could write (and in far fewer words)... 

Sarah and Ellen before the race 

We had to stop because of the irony

Donuts and beer?!
Clearly they knew we were coming.

Giant inflatable = excuse to pose in the middle of the street

Running into the fog in the French Quarter

More inflatables, more posing

I think they made these just for Ellen

King Cake!

Jello shots
(we had to do 2 because the first photo was blurry)

Signs for Sarah

Mile 25
On her way to a new PR of 3:13!

Mission accomplished!

My knee started to feel a little sore before mile 2, but thankfully the pain never got worse than a bit of discomfort, which is good news for my hopes of getting back to marathon shape in time for Boston.  Of course I'm not where I'd like to be training-wise, but 13 miles is a good place to start, and I couldn't have had more fun doing it!

January

Finally starting to run again... hopefully the extra time on the trainer will help me in the long run.  In the meantime, just trying to patient and ease back into training without overdoing it... 11 weeks until Boston...

Charleston Half Marathon

Other than a spectacularly miserable 2 mile test run a week ago, I hadn't run in a month and wasn't sure how my knee would fare, so I decided I'd just walk the Charleston Half rather than skipping it altogether.  As the race approached, I changed my plan to starting with my friends Emily and Robert, sticking with them as long as possible, and then walking if and when the knee pain was more than I could tolerate.  I was wearing walking shoes rather than my running shoes and had done absolutely nothing in terms of pre-race nutrition/hydration/preparation, but it was really cold, so I was extra motivated to keep running, and as we set out I had some tightness in my leg but the knee felt ok.  We settled in at a nice comfortable pace, and the first mile split clicked off at 11:11, which I thought might be a lucky sign.  

Emily (in black) and Robert (in green) on the prettiest part of the course

The first few miles of the race were quite scenic, running along palmetto-lined water front streets and through historic Charleston.  Miles 2-5 were similar, and I distracted myself by chatting with my friends (thanks, Emily and Robert for letting me tag along!), checking out the scenery, and taking some pics, as we continued to average low-11s.

As the race left Charleston, it was more industrial and not particularly pretty, but my knee was still ok with the pace and shortened stride.  We took little walk breaks around miles 5 and 7, and it was a little harder to get going again after walking, but thankfully I didn't experience any of the stabbing knee pain that ended my test run a week ago.  

At mile 8, my friends decided to make a pitstop, and the portajohn line was fairly long, so I decided to keep going, not knowing if I'd be able to start up again after stopping.  Once I was on my own, I figured I'd try to pick up the pace a little, and see if my knee could handle a bit of a faster pace.  This was motivated by several factors, including curiosity about my ability to resume Boston training at some point in the near future, a desire to warm up, and recognition of the fact that the faster I ran, the sooner I would finish.  I was passing so many people that I felt like I was flying, but a glance at the garmin showed I was actually running high-8s.  Not exactly my goal half marathon pace under normal circumstances, but close to my suggested long run training pace, and though my glutes and calves were really starting to feel tight (not surprising considering my shorter stride/slower pace and the fact that I have only run 2 miles since Christmas), the knee was fine.  I maintained that pace for the remainder of the race, finishing feeling cold and tired but thankfully knee-pain free!  Official time: 2:18:05

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find Monte (who was going to meet me at the finish) or Ellen and Caren (who had finished the race about 45 minutes earlier), but I walked back to about mile 13 to cheer Emily and Robert on to the finish.  Thankfully they were smart enough to have their phones with them, so we were able to reunite our little group for some post-race shrimp and grits, beer, and photos.  

Garmin data

Race summary...

Pros: Driving distance, flat course, ran with friends, no knee pain, and the food in Charleston is amazing (as evidenced here) so it's worth the trip just for that! 

Cons: The majority of the race was less scenic than I anticipated, it was freezing, the race shirt design was pretty whack, and the delayed onset muscle soreness is reminding me that 13 miles is still a long way, especially on zero run training.

2013 in review

I cannot say I'm sad to see 2013 go.  Losing my mom, the Boston bombing, injuries, another race cancellation... I just have to hope that 2014 will be better.  

Goals set for 2013:

1.            Finish the Ironman Raleigh 70.3 in under 6 hours

2.            Run a sub-70 minute 10 Miler (likely goal race: ATT 10 Miler)

3.            Run a Half Marathon under 1:30 (likely goal race: Metro PCS Dallas)

I barely made the first one (5:58:26) and the addition of a second Ironman 70.3 shifted my summer/fall focus from my plan to meet the second two goals.  The decision to continue triathlon training through the summer/fall paid off with a much better time at the Augusta 70.3 (5:20:45), but I fell short of goal number 2 at the ATT 10 miler, finishing in 1:10:48.  Still a PR, but not the sub-70 I was hoping for.  By December, my knee was not cooperating and the 1:30 was already off the table, but I never even had the chance to race for a new half marathon PR in Dallas thanks to the ice storm and subsequent cancellation.  So a big fail on goal #3.  Despite feeling quite disappointed with the year in general, I ended up with new PRs in the mile, 5k, and marathon, and finished in the top 6% of my age group in the Ironman Age Group points standings, earning an "All World Bronze" award.  Unfortunately those are not offering me much consolation at the moment, as various injuries have me sidelined from running.  Nonetheless, I'm hoping to be able to turn it around in 2014 and am not deterred from setting some new goals...

1. Sub-3:20 marathon
2. Sub-1:30 half marathon
3. Sub-13 hour Ironman at Beach to Battleship (update 2/2014: Deferred to 2015)

Hopefully at this time next year I'll be able to report better than the 1 out of 3 for 2013.

Final stats for the year:

Running:

1,479 miles

201:33:32

156,671 calories

Cycling (outdoor + trainer)

1,207 miles outside

118:26:19

Swimming: 25:51:11

Total time: Over 370 hours

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 will bring!

D is for Dallas... and Disappointment.

I registered for Dallas in June, but have been planning on it since last December.  Like the 2012 New York City Marathon, it was a big goal race a long time in the making.  It seemed a perfect end of the season race since my brother lives in Dallas and the course is pretty flat, and my biggest fear was that it would be too warm to attempt a fast half marathon.  Also like NYC, my dad and stepmom were amenable to the idea of traveling to the race as a mini-vacation and family get together.  Even better, Adam took up running and was determined to run the full in a 0 to marathon first year of running, and Brittany opted for the full as her main fall/winter race.  Perfect plan, right?  What could go wrong?  Well, as it turns out, just about everything, as once again Mother Nature stepped in to squash my best laid plans.  After the NYC cancelation debacle due to Sandy, the bombing at Boston, and now the ice storm-driven cancelation of Dallas, I am starting to think I'm cursed when it comes to running big city races.  With my knee resembling a "water balloon" (thanks to my doctor for that quote), it's probably best to not run, but I am just so disappointed.  I'd really been looking forward to pushing myself in a PR attempt, visiting with my family, and cheering on my brother in his first marathon.  But now I end the year with a jacked-up knee and not even an attempt on a half marathon PR, and it's just so disappointing to see so much planning, training, and anticipation go for naught.  Again.  Combined with a doctor's recommendation of no running for at least two weeks (yes, I was going to race on Sunday anyway), my year is over, I failed to meet the goals I set for myself at the start of 2013, and I don't know where that leaves me going in to 2014.  But as Allie said, bad things are said to happen in threes, so hopefully with NYC (canceled), Boston (bombed), and Dallas (canceled), I'll be in the clear from here on out.... If not, I may have to hang up my racing shoes for good :(

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really am fortunate and blessed in many ways, so it doesn't seem feasible to make a list of everything that I am thankful for.  But I will say that  running would be pretty high up on such a list!  

Great friends and Bull City Track Club teammates

My wonderful and supportive husband/cheerleader/race photographer

Destination marathons
(clockwise from top: Boston, Miami, Paris, OBX)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Battleship NC Half Marathon

I ran this race in 2009, in what was my slowest (2:06:52) and most miserable (temps in the 80s) half marathon to date.  I'd never run more than 13.1 miles, was going by feel because my watch died that morning, and went out way too fast before getting sick at mile 7 and walking a good bit of the second half. Since that race, I've run over 5,000 miles and have taken 12 minutes off of my half marathon PR, so I barring anything disastrous, this was pretty much guaranteed to be an improvement over the first one.

After racing the 10 miler last weekend and putting in a pretty respectable post-race training week (about 35 miles since that race), the plan was to use this as a training run.  After conferring with my running friends, it seemed that a progression run was the best option, so I decided on 4 miles moderate, 6 miles comfortably hard, and 3.1 miles at Dallas goal pace (6:59).

Weather was perfect: low 50s and sunny.

First 4 Miles: From the Battleship through downtown Wilmington
Goal: 7:30  Actual: 7:25
As usual, I got caught up in the crowd at the start and went out a little fast, but worked to correct that pretty quickly.  This section includes two bridges, which equate to small to moderate hills, and then goes through downtown Wilmington parallel to the Cape Fear River.  There were some nice views from the bridges, it's a cute downtown area, Monte and several other spectators were near our hotel at mile 3, and I was running a fairly comfortable pace, so these miles went by pretty quickly and easily.  The most challenging aspect was that some of the footing was less than ideal, particularly the metal grated section of the second bridge and some of the cobblestones through downtown.  I definitely felt like I could have gone faster, but stuck to the plan.

Middle 6 Miles: Around Greenfield Lake
Goal: 7:15  Actual: 7:15
This section is a loop with a lot of turns (including a 180 around a cone) and a lot more hills than you would expect in for a race near the coast.  I picked up the pace a little and was just below my goal pace without much difficulty.  Around mile 8, I ate a Gu, not because I felt like I needed to, but because I thought it would help give me some extra energy at the end for what I hoped would be a strong finish, and having only used gels in marathons, I thought I should practice taking them during a shorter/faster race in preparation for Dallas.  That turned out to be a huge mistake.  It never really settled well at all, and by mile 9 I was pretty sure I was going to be sick.  At least I learned this during a training race rather than my goal race.  I decided to try to push through one more mile, telling myself when I got to the end of this section I could jog it in.

Last 5k: Across Memorial Bridge and back to the Battleship
Goal:  7:00  Actual: 7:40 for 3 miles, then 6:30 for last .13
By this point my stomach was not happy at all, and I was just aiming on keeping everything down until getting to the finish line. This part is definitely the least scenic section of the race, and there are parts that you have to run on the sidewalk, which is challenging because for most of the race you're going by walkers (who start one hour earlier than runners).  It wasn't bad when we were in the road with plenty of space, but there were so many of them walking side by side and taking up the entire sidewalk without any consideration of the runners trying to pass them that I was starting to get annoyed.  Each time you'd have to run off the sidewalk into the wet grass/mud and no one even moved over at all.  Once we headed onto Memorial Bridge to go back to the Battleship, things opened up again, but then I was wishing there were people in front of me to block the headwind!  Even though I was feeling bad, I managed to pass a few more people who were seemed to be pretty miserable.  Given the incline, headwind, and painful-on-your-feet metal grates, I could see why.  Coming off the bridge I tried to pick it back up a little, and when I heard Monte yelling I decided after sandbagging the last 3 miles I should at least try to kick it in.  Though the little pick up at the end got me in under 1:37, it was probably not the best idea and as soon as I stopped that Gu finally came back out.  So I am 2 for 2 in vomiting at the Battleship Half, but thankfully this time it was after the finish instead of right in the middle.

Final time: 1:36:53 (4th F30-34, 13th female out of 865)

Tobacco Trail 10 Miler

The Tobacco Trail 10 Miler was my A race of the season.  One of my goals for the year was to run a sub-70 10 Miler, so this was my shot.  I've done this race 3 times in the past, so I definitely know what to expect.  The way my training has been going, I know that running sub-7 miles for this distance would be at the edge of my fitness and everything would have to go really well to hit my goal time.

Weather on race morning was unseasonably cold (30 degrees at the start), but I would definitely take that over unseasonably warm.  Monte dropped Sara and I off at race headquarters around 8:25, giving us just enough time to go through the bathroom line and jog a short warm up before the 8:50 start.  We nailed the timing, but the start was delayed because too many people had tried to get the last shuttle bus, so despite our efforts we ended up standing around in the cold for a bit.  I learned that the girl next to me was also shooting for sub-70, so we figured we'd try to keep each other in sight at the very least.  About 10 minutes later we were underway.

Everyone thinks the ATT is flat, but there is very little flat on this part of the trail.  Granted, there are no hills, but it's nearly all a slight incline or decline.  The first 2 miles have a loss of about 130 feet, and though I knew I had gravity on my side, I tried to stay on pace and not go out too fast (6:56, 7:00).  Then it's back up another 100 feet in mile 3 (7:09) and down a little in mile 4 (6:56), then flattening out to the turnaround point (7:06).  It's an out an back, so it just goes back through flat (7:02), up (7:12), down (6:57), and the last two mile up (7:12, 7:15).  Sadly those splits all add up to 1:10:48, so I didn't meet my goal.  

Every year my mile 7 split is quite a bit slower than the others (usually about 20 seconds), and I knew this year I couldn't afford to lose so much time.  Since I was right on pace through 6, I worked harder to keep my pace close to the target, and when that 7:12 popped up, I was really disheartened.  I knew I had one mile of decline before going back up to the finish and would have to make up the time there, and I just didn't.  When I passed the mile 8 marker, I realized I'd have to average under 6:50 for the last two miles and at that point the idea of speeding up on an incline just seemed impossible.  I had a hard time continuing to push myself when I knew I was not going to meet my goal, and my feelings of disappointment squashed any motivation I had left.  In hindsight, I am kicking myself for that mental lapse and wish I hadn't thrown in the towel just because I wasn't going to hit that arbitrary number.  On the positive side, I think that loss of focus/will/strength and my subsequent regrets have taught me a little more about myself and about racing, so hopefully I'll be able to use that in the future.

Despite not getting the sub-70 that I've been working for, I did come away with a new PR (previous best was 1:12:57) and finished first in my age group.  Sara finished right behind me, and is now the Female Master's State 10 Mile Champion, so the morning was certainly not all bad :)

Family Race Weekend

I just love fall racing!  The problem is that there are so many great races around, I always end up signing up for way too many things.  Fortunately I've gotten pretty good at really "racing" only a few key races and using the others as workouts, so it hasn't been a problem.  

After doing the Augusta 70.3 and Ragnar DC within a 7 day span, my back was really bothering me and I ended up skipping the 5k that was on the schedule for the weekend of October 12.  Given everything else, I didn't feel that bad about it, and I think the forced break was probably a good thing.  Thankfully by mid-week I was quite a bit better, just in time for the family race weekend that we'd been planning since the spring.  First up was the Oktoberfest 8k in Raleigh.  My goal was to run comfortably hard and hopefully win the glass boot for fastest in a dirndl.  

The first mile was a bit fast, but then I settled into a more tempo-ish pace until picking it back up in the last mile in an effort to work on my (currently non-existent) finishing kick. Unfortunately the guy in front of me suddenly stopped dead in his tracks around mile 4.7, causing me to run into him and the guy behind me to run into me, creating a Kara-sandwich and some not-at-all happy runners. I was able to regroup and chase down a few more people, and it helped to have my dad, brother, and husband all out there cheering near the finish line.  Despite the crash, the last mile split was 6:45, which is definitely the fastest last mile I've run in an 8k, and my final time was 35:22.  Not a PR and not what I feel like I am capable of, but pretty close to what I was shooting for, so I was happy.

After the race, I collected my free beers and chatted with my family while waiting for the awards ceremony and brat eating contest.  Though I think I would be victorious in endurance eating (say how many brats can you eat in an hour), it quickly became obvious (as seen in the video) that speed-consumption is not my forte!  It was fun though :)

The next day was our big family race day at the Bull City Race Fest, and, most notably, my brother's first half marathon.  Dad and Mary had registered for the 5 miler; and Brittany, Adam, and I were all running the half.  For the first couple of miles, Dad, Mary, Adam and I all ran together, which was really nice.  Eventually Adam decided to speed up a little, so I told him to go ahead and I'd catch up with him later.  We were then down to three.  In the last mile Mary picked up her pace and did an amazing job finishing her first 5 mile run in less than an hour.  Dad ended up 3rd in his age group, and after looking at the garmin, I saw that we ran negative splits (12:30-11:41-11:37-11:28-11:24-11:16), which is pretty impressive!

I took a post-race photo of Dad and Mary, chatted for a second, and then set off to catch up with Adam.  I ran about 3/4 of a mile just above 7 minute pace, during which I photo bombed Kelly and got an enthusiastic high five from Nan, before finding Adam and settling in for the second half of the race.

When I met up with him, he was doing GREAT, and the miles seemed to go by pretty easily.  At each mile marker, I'd run ahead and take a photo as he went by, and even at mile 10 he was smiling and feeling good.  The course is pretty tough, especially the climbs at the end, and as we passed a bunch of people who were walking up the hills I thought about how glad I was to not be racing that one.  But despite the lack of hill training in Dallas, Adam was a trooper, finishing his first half marathon in under 2:30.  Before January of this year, I don't think he'd run a mile in at least 10 years, so to take up running and finish a half marathon in such a short time is a big accomplishment.   In fact, I was so happy and proud of him that crossing the finish line was just as exciting as running a PR for myself.  I'm so proud of everyone, and so glad this was something we were able to do as a family.  Next up for us: the Dallas Half Marathon in December!