Sweet Home Milwaukee - 5K

 Sweet Home Milwaukee - April 6, 2025
time = 25:38

pace = 8:16
placed 1 in my age group (50-59) out of 42
placed 7 in women out of 236
placed 32 overall out of 348
link to strava data

the last time i ran this race was back in 2016, the race was much larger (1369 participants), and i ran it marginally faster.  

picked my packet up yesterday at PRO and that was easy peasy lemon squeezy... in and out and well organized.

race day was just as seamless.

no corrals this time likely because there weren't enough people to need them. i signed up for this race on a whim.  i am FINALLY running consistently after years of injuries and life changes, and i'm feeling pretty good.  my brother was supposed to come with my nephew to cheer me on and go to brunch afterwards, but he wasn't feeling good and bowed out at the last minute.  i arrived about 30 minutes before race start.  didn't seem like there were a lot of people there, and several were arriving at the same time as me.  got a good parking spot right by the kites again and headed to the bathrooms.  no lines for me and i ran into celeste (incidentally, my yoga instructor), who signed up after i posted it on instagram a bit ago. she, in turn, spread the word and got a group of people together to run it.  i got to meet her friends and hang out with them all before and after the race which was really nice.  we got pictures, had hugs, and generally hyped each other up for a job well done.

photos by Eric Natamihardja

the course was the same as in 2016 (link to that race report).  just more potholes and uneven footing, as the trail could maybe use some repairing.  i started out near the front because, for some reason, i always think it's better to have people passing me than to have to pass myself.  this consistently proves to be a mistake.  i ALWAYS take off too fast and then sometimes putter out as the race goes on.  today was all of that and a bag of chips.  positive splits are not awesome, and they are what i had going on for sure.  i didn't know this during the race because i do not look at my watch/splits as i'm racing.  i wait to be surprised at the end. 

ran that first mile in 8:15, slowed down in mile two (while i chided myself in my head... yelling at myself "DON'T YOU DARE WALK!  DON'T YOU DARE WALK!" over and over until i got through that mile). clocked mile two at 8:31.  

the course was short according to my watch and the watches of others in the group.  my watch said the total was 3:04 instead of 3:10.  not a big difference, but short nonetheless.  mile three was 8:37.  nice and fast overall compared to what i have been doing for this distance.  just disappointed in myself for going out too fast and effectively thwarting a negative split.

i was struggling the whole time, but i managed to do some semblance of a sprint for the final stretch.  well, it FELT like a sprint, but it probably wasn't much of one. i didn't push hard enough to cry this time.  i suppose i'm not exactly in that mindset anymore, i am older but not quite wiser given that i still have no idea how to effectively pace myself.  

the race was fun.  the shirt is again a nice cotton long sleeve (the small is too big for me, but it is what it is), the medal is nice and doubles as a bottle opener,  and they had a well-supported finish with water and bananas.  a ticket for custard, a bloody mary at a brunch spot, and a coupon for another custard at a later date.

all in all, it's a nice flat, easy course.  today had barely any wind, which was also a blessing given that this is an open flat space, and if there were any wind, it would have been brutal coming right off the beautiful lake.  it was a really great way to start this sunday.  10/10 would do it again.

special thanks to celeste for sending me those photos!  you are the bees knees.  

Walk Run Wag 5K

Walk, Run, Wag for MADACC 5K - July 13, 2019

time = 25:52
pace = 8:19
placed 1 in my age group (40-49) out of 6
placed 6 in women out of 62
placed 15 overall out of 99
link to strava data

i signed up for this race on a whim.  i've been feeling pretty good lately and thought why the hell not?  it's right down the hill from my house and for a good cause... so i ran.

it's a pretty tiny race and turns out... had the exact same number of finishers as the last time i ran it back in 2014.  i was a hell of a lot faster in 2014 tho' and try as hard as i could this time... there was no way in hell i was going to clock a 7:35 average for this race.  granted, i'm 5 years older and man... i'm slower.  i'm even a bit embarrassed to say that i actually WALKED during mile 2 for a bit there...  yes, i walked in a 5K thank you very much.

2 women passed me while i was walking and that second woman... well, she was someone's grandma so i started running again.  no way was i gonna let grandma beat me.  so i ran as hard as i could for that last mile and 1/2 and smoked the grandma by a few minutes.  i count it a win.

it's hard to wrap my head around my slower "fast" but i'm hoping that i can bump that up still.  i know that as we age we naturally get slower but that doesn't account for all those folks older than me that are hella faster than me so i still have to try.  

all in all i feel like i did well.  i tried as hard as i could and can safely say i did my best and that's all i can hope for.  

next race up is High Cliff Ultras 25K... we'll see if i can finally make it there this time.  i've DNS'd twice due to injury so i just have to stay injury free for the next couple of weeks.   here's to staying injury free!

8th Annual Realtors - Earth Day 5K

8th Annual Realtors -  Earth Day 5K - April 22, 2017

time = 22:19

pace = 7:12 (strava says 7:48)

placed 1 in my age group (40-49) out of 10

placed 2 in women out of 54

placed 9 overall out of 94

link to strava data

(i'm not 100% positive on these numbers as i had to tally them myself while i wait for my request for overall results to be posted.  it is also notable that i won the master's award which is 40 & up in women.)

pre-race stretching - pc: husband

i signed up for this race because i enjoy running races when i travel if it's possible.  the 5K distance is not my favorite, but i appreciate the difficulty of it and know that i can learn a lot as a runner from sprinkling them into my season.  so i begrudgingly do it.

i typically go into this distance remembering that i hate it, but (much like childbirth) i've forgotten how very much it hurts.

this race was no different.  

i took off near the front because there seemed to be no timing mat at the start.  i didn't want to be stuck behind anyone clogging the shoot since my time counted from the moment the RD shouted GO!  so i took off at the front which typically has proven to be a terrible idea for me as i tend to run with the frontrunner pack and not temper my speed.  today was no different.  my first mile was 7:11 pace!  ugh... so i dialed it back since 1/2 mile in i was sweating bullets and having trouble breathing steadily.  it is very very humid here and already at 8am (race start), it was 70º.  i want to note that the race is really tiny, there were zero course markings (not even hand-written signs with arrows... NOTHING!), and the volunteer at the 2nd turn failed at directing the runners.  everyone in front of me went forward and the volunteer told me and those behind me to go right.  i still have no idea which was the correct course!  this would prove to be a theme...

but i digress...

view of saturday past's run

as of today (saturday, april 22nd) i am in florida.  we've been here approximately a week as of friday (yesterday) and i've been having an interesting (to put it nicely) time of running here.  the 23hr car ride last week friday made my subsequent saturday run go south.  dehydration, lack of sleep, and generally just thinking i'm super human caught up to me and 10 miles into my 22mi run (strava data here) my left foot was cramping so badly that i had to walk...  A LOT.  by mile 13 i was calling my husband to come and pick me up as i had to throw in the towel.  my left hip and left foot were in so much pain there was no point to continue the run.  it wasn't fun anymore...  while i am training for a 50K that commences in less than a month i also know when my body needs a break.  last saturday... it needed a break.  in fact, BOTH my feet ended up cramping throughout the day saturday and i could barely walk.  i ended up skipping sunday's run and by tuesday's shortie, i felt much better!  it was slow going as the heat/humidity is not something i'm accustomed to and it proved to be a challenge.  wednesday's run went smashingly and i felt great... by thursday tho'... the short-lived euphoria had disappeared.  8mi was on the schedule for thursday and by mile 4 my left ankle was hurting (in the back along the achilles) so badly that i thought i had pulled something.  i ended up cutting that run short by 3 miles and rounding it out at a little over 5 total.

friday morning my ankle still felt abnormal but no pain.  i was really worried coming into the race that i was going to have some sort of pain issue.  i'm happy to report that no such thing occurred!  my body felt great the whole time... minus the pain of simply running the race that is.

yeah for good running form!
pc: husband

there is now absolutely no doubt that i am a heel striker
pc: husband

pc: husband

so back to the race... by 1/2 mile in i was sweating like a grandpa in a sauna.  it was terrible!  i still felt pretty good tho' and held my pace.  that is until i saw what mile one rounded out at.  i think that is such a mind fuck!  when i see that i'm running too fast i suddenly feel TERRIBLE!  its almost as if not looking at my watch would keep my mind blissfully unaware of what my body is doing and i would have been able to maintain that speed.  so i checked my watch when the mile marker beeped and i saw i was sprinting a 7:11!  so immediately i felt ridiculously fatigued but i puttered on.  the course is totally flat and this race is so tiny & unassuming that there was barely any indication of where the course was.  scratch that... there was zero indication of where the course was!  i was maybe 2/3s of the way through mile 2 when i lost the lead pack.  i had no idea where they turned!  i got to an intersection and stopped in my tracks!  i had no idea where to run!  forward or turn right?!?  i looked around in a panic and saw a little old man in a yellow vest about 2 blocks further straight ahead and yelled to him.  he kept pointing to the right and i couldn't be sure if he meant that i come to him and go right or if i simply go right.  then another volunteer in a yellow vest came out of nowhere from behind me (and across the street) and told me to go right.  so i went right and so did another runner.  so it was just he and i down this unpaved dirt road.  i would have found it beautiful if i hadn't have been so annoyed at the misdirection.  my pace had slowed considerably when i resumed and i was having trouble getting it back to the ridiculous speed i previously finished mile 1 in.  we ran to the end of that road and found another volunteer who told us to turn right.  

we followed that around back to the straight-a-way that i got confused on and a volunteer there blurted out "you ran the old course, huh?!".  i thought to myself ... fantastic. 

at that same moment, we ran right up onto the back of the frontrunner pack!  literally directly behind them!  they were coming from a different direction!  wtf?!?

so we fall into line and run our hearts out.  i might mention that there were no roads closed, and the volunteers seemed to have no idea what the hell was going on.

thankfully this was the last stretch until the left turn to the finish.  i had no idea what group of runners had run the correct course.  with the 2 wrong turns, zero course markings, and lack of volunteer attentiveness it was really confusing.  my garmin came up 3/10 of a mile short!  that's a whole hell of a lot!  

i heard others say that their distance was shorted too, but overall i think the course would have proven accurate had i gone forward and not right at the 2nd questionable turn.  

none the less my performance was awesome and i feel really good about it.  the fact that i held a whole mile at less than an 8min/mile pace is amazing!  glad to know that i can still pull it out when it counts.

the weather was beautiful but challenging and really my only true complaint is the lack of course markings.  that would really solve all of those issues if they just had simple signs with arrows at intersections.  being that i don't live down here i had no idea the course before running the race.  it was frustrating, to say the least, but i still managed to do well in spite of those set backs.  i think my final time (adding in the missing 3/10s of a mile) would have been closer to 23-24 minutes so i still would have come in where i came in on the results.  this just makes me wonder how poorly i'll acclimate to bryce when i run it in june.  i'll only have less than 2 days to grow accustomed to the altitude and dry heat.  good thing my goal for that race is simply to finish and not blow any sort of time out of the water.

today was a pretty good end to a pretty good vacation.  tomorrow we drive home.

my "medal"

a week after the race my mother-in-law sent this to me.  i made the paper! lol!

Chilly Willy Run Series - Flannel 5K

Chilly Willie Run Series - Flannel 5K - February 25, 2017
time = 25:28
pace = 8:20
placed 2 in my age group (40-44) out of 25
placed 18 in women out of 212
placed 43 overall out of 324
link to strava data

why do i do this to myself?!?  i SWORE... literally SWORE... that i would NEVER race in winter again!  i blame the recent 60º weather for my lapse in judgment.  i mean... it seemed like a very good idea at the time of signup... let's run a race in freaking FEBRUARY for christ's sake!

sure... what could go wrong?



um... let's study that question for a moment.



turns out... a few different things.




so it was 18º with a wind chill of 5º at the race start.  that isn't cool (no pun intended.  ok... maybe pun intended).  i arrived at naga-waukee park in delafield, wi about an hour before race start.  it's a good thing too because there were no bathrooms at the start/finish.  the park is broken up into "picnic areas" and the start finish was at picnic area 5.  when i arrived i headed to the bathrooms and they were LOCKED.  yup... locked.  so i headed over to the tent and asked about that.  they said that bathrooms were available at picnic area 2 (which is directly at the entrance to the park) and down at the lake which was also a bit of a trek from the start/finish.  while this was inconvenient it certainly wasn't the worst thing in the world.  i drove down to the 2, took care of that peeing business, and drove back up to 5 and parked.  just after i parked i saw dave and made him get in the car to talk.  it was hella cold!  so we chatted for a while and then saw (and said "hi" to) jeff  who was volunteering and taking photos for the race.

approximately 15 minutes before the start we left the car so that i could warm up and dave could find some others he's friends with.  i ran up and down a little bit of the road and mentally thanked jeff for telling me to come with screw shoes.  the pavement was plowed and pretty clear of snow, but there were still a good deal of slick spots and areas still covered with snow.  i should have known that this was going to cause problems...

about 5 minutes before the start i headed over to the corral.  i like to be in the front so that i don't get frustrated with getting caught behind slower people.  i know that people will pass me, but i just like to get out in front and get out of the way.  so i started near the front and that's where i saw another instep running team member, andrea, so we talked a bit about the weather and our shoes.  maybe now is an appropriate time to say that if i hadn't gotten my race comped through instep for being on their team i probably would have flaked and not gone at all.  responsibility (and possibly guilt) are strong and motivational drivers.  i run for instep on their trail team as well as for oiselle voilée.  for that reason i sometimes get comped entries to races where i can represent instep... this was one of those races.

dave & i just minutes before race start - pc: jeff crosby

just moments before we took off - pc: jeff crosby

the gun goes off and we start running.  the wind is gusty and makes everything a lot more challenging and so much colder.  i feel pretty good, but right away the cold is affecting my legs.  i can feel the waterlogged dead weight feeling coming on, but i press on and try to ignore it.  i feel like i'm running pretty well and i guess i should be since the first portion of the race is essentially DOWN HILL!  while this makes me pretty happy at first i then remember that what goes down must come up... at the bottom we loop through picnic area 2's parking lot and head back up said mentioned hill.  by now i've seen a few people slipping and sliding and i hear a guy behind me say that someone fell.  i've slipped a few times and my legs are getting heavier and heavier... so heavy, in fact, that I STOP RUNNING AND WALK A FEW PACES!  

what in the ever loving fuck?!?  yup... i'm not even a hair out of mile 1 and i'm freaking walking.  there is nothing more humiliating for me in a 5K than having to walk.  i mean, it's only THREE miles for christ's sake... what is wrong with me?

so i walk a couple of paces and then start running again.  i'm surprised i can even pick up my legs at this point... they are so damn heavy.  i focus on putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.   there were several turns on the park roads and an adjacent neighborhood and then we ran downhill again to the lake.  as with before... what goes down must come up.  *sigh*

andrea fell back right out of the gate because of the slipperiness of the roads, but she moved up on and passed me around this time.  i only walked (again) a few paces but man... it sure plays with one's confidence to have to do that.  this is the first 5K i've EVER had to walk in.  EVER!  i think the fact that we started at the top of some hills was a bit unnerving for me because we started with a significant descent and then a very slight differential between that and having to head back up right away.  it was absolutely a challenge (two times over) that i was ill prepared for.

i was feeling pretty down about my performance at this point and really just trying to keep picking up my legs and putting them back down.  i knew i only had about a mile left so.... i kept pushing and really just thinking about why in the world this felt so hard.

finally, the finish came into view... i saw jeff again (taking pictures) so i put on my photo face and waved.  as soon as i passed him i went back to looking like death.  i ran through the finish incredibly relieved to be finished as i simultainously cursed the time clock which was ticking off the finish time well past what i deemed acceptable for myself.

dave was waiting at the finish with a congratulatory smile and kind words.  we went straight to the tent for the promised hot cocoa and to wait for the results.

it was a pretty spectatular turn out for a race held on a not so spectacular day.  i will try very hard to remember why i loathe racing in cold weather after this race.

this race series hands out awards for the most average runner of the race.  so the man and the woman who run exactly the middle pack pace win an entry to the "average joe" 5K which i think is really awesome and fun.  those were the first awards handed out.

next they did overall winners and then age group winners.  i always like to stay and see if i've placed in my age group.  the announcer gets to my age group and calls out my name as the 3rd place winner! yay me!  so i receive my medal and the person called as the 1st place winner of my age group is my friend cortney (i didn't think we were in the same age group so i was surprised).

dave and i left after that.  we were supposed to go run lapham (i had 10 miles on my schedule), but i was so cold and disappointed after my race that i didn't want to run at lapham.  plus dave is considerably faster than me so i didn't want to hold him back since my body is currently walking on the heaviest of railway ties.  i mean... lead weights.  iron beams. tree trunks... you get the picture.  they were damn heavy and subsequently S.L.O.W.

i headed home and ran another 6 miles on the treadmill instead.

after my shower and eating i looked at the official results only to find out that they were different than what was announced on site.  i had actually come in SECOND in my age group because (sure enough) cortney was NOT in my age group.  i contacted the race director and he confirmed that the posted results are correct.  this is where the rest of my "what could go wrong" disappointment regarding this race comes into play...

i was disappointed to learn that he was aware of the issue with the results, but chose not to do anything about it right away because it "only affected a few people".  i am a pretty serious and competitve runner and even tho' i did a pisspoor job at this race the results... the CORRECT results... are very important.  i didn't freak out or act like an ass when given this response... i just said thank you and sent him my e-mail so i can get the correct medal.  i don't want to be a jerk about it, but this is the second time this has happened to me with this race director.  the first time it was (thankfully) corrected right away so i left with the correct medal and had pictures retaken with the correct medal... now tho'... i will have pictures with the wrong medal and it's disappointing.  it sort of makes me wary of running their races.  i understand that there are A LOT of things that go into planning a race, but honestly, i think that the results are of the utmost importance.  i suppose there are some people that wouldn't care if this happened to them, but if there's even one person who cares about this then the race director should care about it also.  i would not want it to happen to someone else even if it isn't really that big of a deal... more of a minor inconvenience.  anyway... that's the race report and my experience.  if you like winter/cold weather racing then i recommend it.  the course was insanely challenging and totally worth it.  i think it's one of the most difficult 5Ks i've ever raced (and all 5Ks are truly difficult).  oh and the shirt... it was cute.  tech t with a flannel filled state of wisconsin.  the race director also said during the awards that next year they'll have ACTUAL FLANNELS! that alone might make me do it again... lol!  i mean... c'mon... a flannel race shirt?!?  that's pure gold.

Sweet Home Milwaukee - 5K

Sweet Home Milwaukee - April 24, 2016
time = 24:44:13
pace = 7:57
placed 6 in my age group (40-44) out of 103
placed 55 in women out of 999
placed 125 overall out of 1369
link to strava data

it seems that disappointment with my race results is a running theme.  although, this is not an unusual result for me for a 5K after i went back and looked at my average result for a 5K.  this is average for me.  not slow not fast... it's a bit slower (seconds) so probably not even worth mentioning.

since my last entry (4/10) my running has looked like this:

4/10 - 3.1m
4/11 - 3.1m
4/19 - 3.1m
4/21 - 3.1m

so i suppose it's safe to say that i should be happy with this time given the very minimal running i've managed.  in fact... since january my mileage has taken a nosedive to look like this:

january - 121
february - 23.5
march - 7.1
april - 15.5

where i'm at with my leg is this... my left leg has a pinched nerve somewhere which is causing me some issue.  my foot is going numb when i run, but the good news is that the tendonitis seems to have resolved?  of course, i'm barely running so maybe it hasn't.  i intend to pick up some mileage this coming week so we will see.  another issue i'm struggling with is my calves.  i have consistently had issues with them where the muscles (for lack of a more medical term) bunch up.  they get knots in them that then have to be "released" via A.R.T.  this is incredibly painful and my chiropractor (bless his heart) practices active release.  i have stopped going to my physical therapist because i felt he wasn't helping as much as i had hoped (he's not a runner) and i felt that the needling wasn't really getting to the root of the problem.  the active release works but i need to figure out what is causing the issue in the first place.  so after my last run my calves were really painful.  i could feel a knot in each one and no amount of rolling was getting them out.  it was painful to walk.  so i had my husband work on them the way my chiropractor had in office.  after the race i had my son continue to work on my right one and then my husband came in and simultaneously worked on the left.  my husband worked so hard on it that when it released it was so painful i burst into tears.  the right never released.  it is still incredibly painful.  i had no idea that the left had released until later when i had stopped sobbing.  it is crazy how painful it is.  my left leg feels great now but the right... man, that one really hurts.

so that's the body update.  let's get to the race.  i've been wanting to do this race ever since it's debut in 2015.  mostly because the t-shirt is awesome!  long sleeved cotton w/ the milwaukee skyline.  love it.  if you know anything at all about me you know that i absolutely HATE the 5K distance.  it is SO HARD!  i have found that sprinting for the duration of a race is not enjoyable to me.  sprinting in general is one of my least favorite things to do which is why i rarely work it into my training... much to the detriment of my speed i suppose. lol!  anyway... 5K... not my favorite.

i signed up for this race pretty early on and decided that in spite of my gross lack of training or any sort of running for that matter... i would still run it.  i really wanted the damn shirt!  so run it i did.

it was supposed to be 70 today.  it was not.  i got up to a balmy 42 degrees.  i opted to still wear capris and a tank.  i did end up turning the car around and going back for a long sleeve shirt because the wind was awful at the lakefront.  made it seem colder than it was for sure.  thankfully we now only live a 6min freeway drive from the lake so it wasn't much of an issue to go home and get another shirt.

arrived with plenty of time to get a great parking spot in veteran's park right by the kite dealer.  trip to the bathroom and a little warm up then back to the car.  waited there for a bit to stay out of the wind and then back to the bathroom to kill some time.  that's when i saw josh doing his warm-up so naturally i screamed his name.  we chatted for a minute and then i let him get back to it and i peed.

i got in my corral (yes a corral for a 5K)... and waited to run.  the first corral took off.  there were staggered starts and then my corral took off.  i thought i was going SO SLOW!  people were passing me like it was nothing.  all ho hum and jelly rum... just whizzing past me.  i was behind (what i assumed was) a dad and daughter team.  the dad yells to the daughter, cuz you know headphones, that they have to slow down... so i just stay behind them.  i stay behind them because frankly i'm happy they are going slower.  i'm already straining and feeling like a turtle.  i didn't look at my watch this whole time because i didn't want to be disappointed in my pace... i felt like i was moving so slowly and everyone was passing me by.

so the mile marker beeps and the dad man yells (cuz headphones) "that was a 7:30"  now i'm all... DAMN! i am running too flippin' fast!  there is no way i can maintain that pace for the duration.  mentally this man's blurt fucks me.  i start to slow down.  i realize how very hard that was to run that mile and already i'm going slower and slower and more and more people are passing me.  i should have turned my headphones up WAY louder!

so that dream team pulls away from me and i never see them again.  that's ok tho' cuz i'm just basically trying to stay alive and breath through this.

i am now looking at my watch every 4 to 5 seconds to see how much farther i have to keep this up.  i realize i have a littler over half way more to go and i keep plodding along.  i feel like a clydesdale.

little kids are passing me now... skipping along and playing tag.  well, ok... not really playing tag but there were kids who passed me.  small ones too!

finally i see i have about half a mile left to go and i look at my watch again... i'm running a damn 9 minute mile!  i am so sad... i really just want to lay down right there on the goose poop layered concrete next to the lovely lake... but i keep plodding along cuz... half a mile.  relentless forward movement.  right?  just keep moving.

finally i see the turn to the finish and i sprint... although, it might have just FELT like a sprint and not ACTUALLY been a sprint... i can't be sure.

i was just happy to be done.

the course was great.  flat, well marked, and lovely.  went around the lagoon, along the lakefront, and through veteran's park.  it's a nice little jaunt.  i can't really speak on the stuff after... i didn't stay.  they had bananas and oddly give out a finisher's medal which is weird for a 5K.  they were well organized and if this race weren't at the same time as beartrax at lapham i would probably do it again.  however, this race is always the same weekend as beartrax and i prefer trail races so i likely won't get to do this one again.  i recommend it if you like a fast and flat 5K.

North Face Endurance Challenge - 5K

North Face Endurance Challenge - 5K - September 14, 2014

time = 23:19
pace = 7:31
(there is no age group placing because i placed overall)
placed 2 in women out of 64
placed 6 overall out of 107

finished with my finisher medal

i entered this race at a lower distance because i was going to be coming off of the lapham race and (originally) was supposed to be running a 10K next weekend.  i thought it would be in bad form to run 2 big races in a row and then follow that up with a 10K.  now, the 10K is really no big deal, but running 2 halfs or a half and then longer 2 weekends in a row?  yeah... not such a good idea so i didn't do it.

i really wanted to run this race tho' so i opted for the 5K.  5Ks are no joke tho'... it seems like they should be easy peasy lemon squeezy since they're ONLY 3.1 miles, but DAMN... 3.1 miles of balls to the walls running is a damn challenge!

today was cold!  woke up to about 39 degrees so i wasn't sure how to dress as the weather said it would be up to 50 by the time i ran.  50's i can deal with and i know how to dress for but what to do about the pre-race dressing?  ugh... i hate being cold!  so i first opted for shorts and a tank.  i figured i could throw a fleece over it and be done.  yeah... not so much.  SO.COLD!  so i threw a long sleeve on and then the fleece and took off for ottawa.  when i arrived i saw so many LPTR friends.  it was great!  chatted for awhile and watched the other runners mill around then it was time for the 10K runners to take off.  thankfully, the race had provided nice little fire pits to keep warm around.  without those i would have been totally frozen!

stood around for another 15 minutes and sized up the competition... then it was time.

i decided to start at the front because this race goes along the shoulder of the road and i didn't want to get stuck behind anyone so i figured starting too fast would be ok since i'd rather get passed than get frustrated trying to pass.  proved to be good and bad as usual.

the front of the pack was 4 men and i pulled up on the 4th almost immediately and had to try to get around him.  it took maybe a quarter of a mile and then i got around.  i was right on the heels of the 3rd guy, feeling pretty good, and then i glanced at my watch.

i was running a SIX MINUTE MILE!  WHAT?!?  after i glanced at my garmin i didn't feel so good anymore.  what's that they say about ignorance being bliss?  so, i slowed my roll as there's absolutely no way on this earth that i could maintain that pace and come out alive.  mile one turned out to be 3/4 on the road and i'm a bit disappointed about that.  i sort of think that this can't actually be called a "trail race" because so much of it was on the road.  sort of 1/2 and 1/2 actually.  *sigh*

me and angelena - 2nd and 1st place respectively

my first mile i was the lead woman, and then at about a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half i glanced behind me... that was mistake number 2.  i saw who would be the eventual winner right behind me.  right after i caught her in my rearview she started gaining on me, and then passed me just before the turn around.  i stayed on her heels for the next half mile or so, but she hit a downhill at a great time and got away from me.  at that point i must have slowed down with all the little hills because she just kept getting further and further away from me.  after the turn around i got the opportunity to see everyone who was behind me and just how much leeway i had between me and the 3rd place woman.  it seemed like a 30 second lead is what i had but the finish put her at around a minute slower which is awesome.

all the goodies

i'd like to also add that the 3rd place finisher was 33 years old... this is notable because i'm freaking old compared to these 2 women!  yay!  i blew away everyone in my age group with a time gap of almost 7 minutes between me and the 1st place finisher in the 40-44 age group!  that's crazy!  the first place winner overall who beat me is 32 and she gapped me with just over a minute!  such a bummer, but it couldn't be helped.  i was running my hardest and doing my best.  my best wasn't enough to catch her or stay ahead of her... she did amazing!  competitive much? yeah... sorry.

back to the race... that's about it.  the course was not notable.

the blue is the first mile and as you can see where it veers off of 67
that's where it begins on the trail

it was an out and back with half of it being on the road.  the trail was what looked like a mowed down section of grassy trail with huge tire divots the whole way through.  sort of rocky in spots and i really had to watch my footing the whole way because the footing was very uneven and a rolled ankle was totally possible.  there was nothing all that exciting about the trail part of the race and i won't be doing this distance for this race again.  especially if they have it at the same place.  i suppose for someone who's never run a trail race before this would be a good way to get your feet wet because it wasn't totally trail.  however, i run trails all the time so this was pretty disappointing.  i expected a better trail (and total trail) experience.

next year i'm running a longer distance to make sure i get an actual trail run.

everything else was awesome.  i got a chiropractic adjustment and a (sort of) massage.  the food looked good (although i didn't have any).  the awards were awesome and the support was fantastic!  the volunteers were amazing and probably the best part.  the vendors were cool but i don't really care about that stuff so i didn't really spend a lot of time on that.  getting the results was really easy and they had a PODIUM!  that was really cool.  this is the first race i've been in that had one... i'm easy to impress... obviously.  i came in 6th overall and honestly i have no idea where the 4th man came from since after i passed the initial 4th man so there were only 3 in front of me i'm pretty sure that no one else passed me... i'm guessing that maybe one passed me  on the way back out of the woods or maybe there was a man in front that i never saw because he was so damn fast.  the lead winner finished in 19:36!  so very fast!  impressive to say the least.

i'm not sure i enjoy 5Ks anymore.  i like them to measure my speed but they're so hard and not very fun.  i feel like i'm going to die the whole time i'm running this distance.  i wonder how i'll feel at the marathon distance?  now that'll be interesting...

top 10 finishers overall

pre-race lookin' fresh

  

on my tail and so close!

crossing the finish with a smile

Walk, Run, Wag for MADACC - 5K

Walk, Run, Wag for MADACC 5K - June 21, 2014

time = 23:48:94
pace = 7:40
placed 1 in my age group (40-49) out of 14
placed 4 in women out of 85
placed 15 overall out of 128

there is conflicting information regarding this finishing information.  the preliminary results put me at 3rd in my age group and i was totally happy with that!  after all that i've been going through with my leg i was just so pleased to be running pain free and FAST!

the story my garmin is telling - look at those splits!

let's go back to the beginning for a moment tho'... the weather pretty much was sucking.  it was 60 degrees which was awesome but you wouldn't know it considering it was overcast, windy, and threatening to rain at any moment.  it was so humid that the chill in the air made it seem at least 10 degrees colder.  i sat in my car talking to my sister until the absolute last second.  actually, that's a total lie... i sat in my car until about 9am and then went to the bathroom, got back in my car for a bit, got back out and asked where the start was, and then got back in my car until about 5 min until the start.  once at the start i was feeling pretty good but no one was starting at the front.  it was so weird!  everyone was about 3 or 5 feet away from the start.  i really didn't want to start in the front because i tend to take off too fast and then putter out at the end.  always with the positive split which is a no no in my book.  so we all line up and when the announcer says to get closer to the start line people moved up but not really so there i was... right in the front.  *sigh*

we took off and after about 3 tenths of a mile i notice i'm going sub-7... i dial it back and let a bunch of people pass me because i know that i cannot maintain that speed for the duration especially with how my leg has been.  we ran out on the parkway and it was pretty beautiful.  after that we did a weird little turn around and headed back the way we came.  we turned off into a neighborhood and looped around back onto the parkway.  it started drizzling in the last mile but it was ok because i was hot at that point.  in the last mile i was running right next to a guy who spit in front of us both.  i admonished him because he got me with it and we chatted for a moment about kids because as i was admonishing him i also said it was ok because i have kids.  he told me about his 4 week old and i said to get used to the spit and vomit.  he told me about getting peed on and we then talked about how hard it was to run that fast.  he complimented me on my speed which was nice because i felt like i was dying but not as bad as really dying because i was still able to hold a conversation with him.  i pulled away from him and decided to stay ahead of him the rest of the way.

on the parkway it was really cool because we were heading back as the people with dogs were heading out so we got to run past all the dogs and runners.  i was just so glad to be holding a sub-8 pace and it felt hard and effortless at the same time if that makes sense.  hard in the sense that my body was working and effortless in the sense that it was pain free and my body was absolutely capable of holding that pace for the duration.  i kicked it into high gear when i saw the finish line.  i did (as is evident by my splits from my garmin) run the last 2 miles slower than the first but i think that might have been because i was speedy gonzales and running sub-7 at first.

my garmin tells a different story than the
"official" results

afterwards i was chatting up some little boys (read: probably in their 20's) and one of them said that they were pacing me at the start because he looked at me and said "she's a runner so i'm going to stick with her".  that felt good.  i know that i'm a "runner" but i don't really always feel like a REAL runner.  i don't know what i mean by real runner but different than what i am i guess.  it was nice.  the funny thing is that all those boys passed me right away because that was right about the time i realized i was going too fast and dialed it back.  i often wonder what the outside perception of me is when i'm running races.  i always feel like i need to be faster or like i'm not doing good enough.  i always strive to be better than i was the last time and it is really hard sometimes.  maybe i'm too hard on myself, but i'm very competitive and my desire to win is strong and goes deep.

as i said before, the results were very confusing in that the preliminaries put me at 3rd and then there was a bunch of running around by the officials and they got a new print out and came back and handed me a pretty little medal with 1st place on it.  i'm not exactly complaining, but i didn't want to have a medal i didn't earn so i e-mailed the officials when i got home and asked to make sure.  i was assured that it is mine.

in this printout i'm listed as 1st in my age group
but this is the one that excludes top 3 overall

if you look at the print outs tho' it is easy to see why it is confusing.  it seems what they did was count the top 3 overall separate from the age groups so while i came in 3rd in my age group if you counted the top 3 overall together with everyone else i would be in 3rd... by counting them separate i was 1st instead.  is that how it's normally done?  i don't even know.  i've never seen it done like that i guess.  i always thought that the top 3 finishers got their medals and that they counted in their age groups as well.  maybe i'm wrong.  i have no idea really.

in this printout i'm listed as 3rd in my age group
but this one is inclusive of the top 3 overall.  see?  confusing!

i guess i'm just glad that i finished in the time i finished and did so well.  makes me feel good that my leg is doing better and i believe we're on the right track with treatment.  this race was really fun and for such a great cause. i really like what MADACC does and i'm so glad i got to support them with this run.  i had fun and i wish my husband would have been able to be here with our dogs for all the afterward fun.  maybe next year.  instead i came home and ran an additional 8 miles to make the 11 i had on my schedule for today.  while my leg didn't hurt during the 5K it did begin to feel not so good during the 8.  i'm happy with my performance on this run too tho' because i managed to maintain a pretty steady pace for most of it and it felt pretty good the whole time even tho' my leg was hurting some.  all in all today was a total success!

that dude (1304) won in his age group - 60-99.  he is 72 years old.

he finished this race in 23:52 which was only 3 seconds slower than me!  he was fast!

Run Like a Mother (5K)

Run Like a Mother (5K) - May 11, 2014
time = 25:22
pace = 8:10 average
placed 9th in my age group (40-44) out of 64
placed 29th in women out of 420
placed 29th overall out of 424

i had a great running streak from saturday to monday and then it seems that those 3 days of just over 6 miles was overdoing it because on wednesday when i wanted to run again... i simply couldn't.  my leg hurt so badly that i couldn't even do a little jump on it without pain.  i went for a long dog walk with the husband and then thought that it would be loose enough after that for a short run.  not so much.  got home and took off for my run and didn't even make it down the driveway.  went to PT on thursday and i feel really defeated.  all the PT did was give me some exercises to do at home and quite frankly i don't think that's going to do anything for my issue.  so here i am today after not having run for the past 5 days and i try to run a 5K.  i am so slow now and it is really disappointing.

i'm trying to be optimistic and positive.  i'm trying to cut myself some slack given the current circumstances but i'm really pissed off.  i'm pissed off because no one seems to have an answer on how to fix me.  no one has been able to say to me... i can help you fix this problem in x amount of time and you'll be back to running your normal pace pain free in x amount of time.

so basically i have nothing to look forward to but more of this weird numbness and non-pain and weakness and nerve stuff.  my heal is numb right now... my heal!

so this morning when i got up for the race i was pretty indifferent about it.  i wasn't sure i was even going to bother going because i feel like i'm settling into this slower race pace and i don't want to get comfortable here.  once i got moving this morning tho' i decided that i would probably regret it if i didn't go and i've been getting more and more bummed out the less i've been able to run so i figured all the activity and the other runners would do me some good.

i got my boys up and we all left for the race.  the 1 miler kid race was first and the kid that won it did it in 5:58!  insane!  kids are so fast!

when it was time for the 5K to start suddenly i had to go to the bathroom.  3 minutes to start and i need to go to the bathroom?!?  sheesh... in and out in a jiffy and i'm at the start line.  no one wanted to be at the front so there i was... in the front.  of course, i took off too fast and was clocking under a 7 minute mile out of the gate and when i realized it i dialed it back.  good thing too because by mile 2 my leg was hurting.  not exactly hurting but feeling tight and weird.

still feeling fresh

by 2.5 miles there was a double loop which i managed to slow down down down for and then i got stuck behind a 2 deep team that was clocking a 8:30 mile (yes i checked my garmin).  while i was stuck behind them i was debating staying there because it was comfortable or trying to get around them because i can run faster.  i stayed behind them and then when the water station came up i decided to stop, walk, and drink some water.  i NEVER stop in a 5K so that was deeply disappointing.  This was an out and back which i always like because i enjoy seeing all the people in the race as well as seeing who is in front of me.  i finished strong and am a little afraid to see the pictures because (of course) i wasn't working on my "race face" as i was uncomfortable and my leg wasn't feeling good.  i really just wanted it to be over as i was thinking about my lack of endurance the whole time.  i need to figure out how to build my endurance while not aggravating my leg further.  i just don't know what to do about that.       

my beautiful children on mother's day

these beautiful faces

afterwards my boys were right there and that was wonderful!  we went to brunch at juniper 61 where my little brothers are chefs and had a lovely meal.  all in all it was a worthwhile experience and i would do it again.  hopefully faster.

the shirt, the bib, the medal

only one mile left to go

still trying to be positive

almost done

the finish!