Milwaukee Beer Run 5K & .05K

Milwaukee Beer Run 5K & .05K - November 2, 2014
time = 24.35
pace = 7:55
placed 3 in my age group (40-44) out of 131
placed 13 in women out of 1061
placed 48 overall out of 1542

i want to preface this by saying that the course ran long.  turns out that the race organizers (via twitter) said that they made it long for "safety" at the turn around.  what a crock of shit.  the turn around went off the path onto a gravel chunk around some trees and back onto the path.  i've run the striders half that past 2 years and they have a turn around right on the path with no issue so i'm not sure what this race thought might be the issue with safety... makes me wonder if these people are even runners?  my garmin said 3.31 which puts my pace at 7:26 and considering my splits were 7:09, 7:31, and 7:35... i'm going with that.  i'm not buying the 7:55.  that's straight bullshit.  why this matters to me?  well, because i'm hyper-competetive.

bib and mug goodness

so... the race.  i'll say nice stuff first because there's not a whole lot to say:  the best thing about this race is that they gave out a hoodie and a beer mug!  that alone was worth the race fee.  even though i don't drink beer the mug is pretty great and it's cool that i have a mug that commemorates a race i've done.  estabrook park is pretty, and all things considered the day was perfect for racing.

i am disappointed that they didn't have age group awards.  this is a draw for me in that part of the reason i run races is for the recognition.  it's a hold over from my childhood (probably) and some serious psychobabble garbage but whateves... i like to be recognized for my accomplishments.  running is hard and (in my opinion) running a 5K FAST is REALLY hard.  i want it to be noted that i've tried to do that.  gosh... seriously not enough attention as a child... lol!

so THAT was a bummer.  the second bummer was that it was cold out.  i was really hoping that it would still be sorta warm given that it was 70 degrees only 2 weeks ago.  no dice... it was 35 degrees as we were sitting in the car waiting for the race.  it may have been in the mid-40s by the start.  the third bummer was that i was running this on a totally empty stomach because i am having a colonoscopy tomorrow and can have nothing solid today.  sucks.


at the start of the race there was confusion about where we were supposed to be.  the .05K went first and there were people milling all over the course so no one seemed to really know what was going on.  once those "racers" took off then the rest of the runners seemed to figure out what was going on and got out of the way.  after that was done then the 5K runners began lining up.  the organizers decided to do waves.

the people standing in front of me

8min mile and under first wave.  unfortunately people didn't listen and i was standing behind 3 people who were absolutely not running an 8min mile or faster.  i guess that's par for the course tho'... at the end kellie told me the same thing happened to her and she was stuck behind a whole group of people who she couldn't get around and she ended up missing her PR by 2 minutes or something ridiculously tiny like that!  it really doesn't take much...

kellie and i - happy finishers

another thing i noticed was that the volunteers at the water station were just standing there... they weren't handing out the water to anyone.  maybe they weren't instructed on how to do this?  i thought that was surprising... they must have gotten the hang of it because after the turn around they were doing it.  or maybe they were told not to do it until after people started heading back?  either way... poorly organized and disappointing.



the course was pretty unremarkable.  it was an out and back on the oak leaf trail.  pretty much following the same course as the striders half.  i like the out and backs only because you can see who's ahead of you.  other than that not so much.  this race i was really annoyed by the out and back because the runners on the way out were running 4-5 deep and edging us on the way back off the trail.  i actually yelled at a few of them to move over.  probably because i was finding it so challenging to continue running at a fast pace and with no nutrition to speak of.  i was getting more and more irritable by the second.  to say that i enjoyed this race would be a low down dirty lie.

this race left much to be desired.  i will not be running it again.

i suppose it is as much my fault as it is the race's for why i didn't enjoy it.  a race like this is going to draw non-runners and that will explain the lack of etiquette on the course with the 4-5 deep run/walkers as well as the starting in the wrong corrals and not caring about it.

i guess i take my running too seriously to run races like these.  if i'm going to pay for a race then i want to get out of it what i want to get out of it.  i'm just not a fun run kind of runner.

badgerland striders 1/2 marathon

badgerland striders 1/2 marathon - august 23, 2014

time = 1:50:35 (1:51:12 last year)
pace = 8:26
placed 11 in my age group (40-44) out of 66 (9 out of 61 last year)
placed 65 in women out of 441 (58 out of 408 last year)
placed 226 overall out of 838 (226 out of 792 last year)

weird to get 226 again this year. also weird that i ran faster and placed lower in my age group...

awesome striders' medal

there's some fast old ladies out there.

so i did a couple of things different for this race which proved to be disastrous. i used a new nuun which has caffeine in it.  not sure if that contributed to the problem or not.  i'm guessing not but it's hard to tell at this point considering the disaster that i call my stomach.  i stupidly opted for an aleve which is an nsaid. i haven't taken an nsaid since ragnar and we all know how well that worked out.  basically, nsaids wreak havoc on my intestinal tract.  i also took an imodium assuming that they would cancel each other out yet i'd reap the benefits of both.  yeah, um, not so much.

the products i use that are beneficial and wonderful are:

• x2 performance - 1 2oz bottle
• 2 capsules of sports legs
• 1 tablet of nuun in my water bottle

i'm going to assume that the nuun was fine and that my gut problems completely stemmed from the aleve.  

my splits

so... the run.  the race started out and i was supposed to be running it as a training run.  i decided i was going to keep it slow, steady, and run at a comfortable pace.  i decided on 8:20 as a good pace and began there.  i kept it there and ran.  at mile 2 my friend jim from the LPTR group passed me, and admittedly it was all over for the "training run" at that point.  oh, who am i kidding... i was never going to be able to contain myself and run this as a training run.  so jim passed me and i spent the next mile catching up to him.  we ran together until about mile 4 when i realized there was no way i was going to make it any further without peeing.  thankfully there was a port-o-potty conveniently up ahead at which point i ducked off to go.  moments later i was off again.  interestingly enough mile 4 was my fastest mile at 7:48.  i could see jim ahead of me and spent the next couple of miles catching up again.  i think i caught up to him around 6 or 7.  we then ran the rest of the race together which was really great.  it was around 77 degrees with 95% humidity.  very foggy and so wet!

my stomach started letting me know how uncomfortable it was around mile 10.  by mile 11 i had to take walk breaks.  i wasn't sure i was going to make it to the end without hitting a bathroom which was so disappointing!  thankfully this course is almost completely flat so it goes very quickly.  

jim stuck with me the whole time bless his heart!  it's pretty awesome that even with the walking we still managed really good splits!  i'm disappointed with the last 3 miles, but it really couldn't be helped.  i just keep thinking about how i could have shaved at least a whole minute off my time if i had not had the stomach issues!  what a stupid idea to take the aleve!  admittedly, if jim had not been there to encourage me on i may have walked that whole last mile... or stopped at that last port-o-potty.  i'm so grateful that he was there.  i finished strong and with a PR from last year.  so... good enough for me.  next year i'll do better.  

this is such a fun race.  the weather was so gross that i just was so happy when it was over.  they fed us sausages, potatoes, and of course beer.  i don't drink beer so whateves to that.  they also had the standards... bananas, water, some sodas, and oranges.  the start and finish is at the estabrook beer garden which wisconsinites really love (obviously).  

my poor toes

i've been running in my shoes for over 300 miles now.  this is notable because when i got home today and got my shoes off i realized just how badly i need to replace them.  ugh... blood blisters.  i will be losing a nail for sure.  my poor toes.  runners toes... oh yeah, so hot.   yup... those are my toes fresh out of my shoes.  don't worry... i have since lanced the blisters and painted the nails so they look presentable.  geez louise...