Race Report - Rock 'n' Roll Cleveland Half Marathon

Half marathon number 5.  Yep, the girl who swore she was never meant to be a runner has now run in and completed 5 half marathons.  It's crazy.

My friends and I are always on the look out for races that look like fun and have cool medals (yes, sometimes, it is all about the bling), and we found this one way back in the spring.  Becca and I signed up for the half marathon, and when they announced that there would be a mini-marathon, Jen signed up for it.  After I registered, I told myself I would train my little butt off so I could run a PR.

As training progressed and as I gauged my fitness level, I pushed the PR goal back to my November race and switched my focus to just beating the time from last year's Marshall half.  I was optimistic that I could do it, but I knew it was going to be tough.  I also knew that conditions would have to be 100% perfect on race day for it to be a possibility. 

Race day came and as it turns out, conditions were not 100% perfect (are they ever?)  6:30 in the morning and it was already 72 degrees and muggy. (I believe my words as we left the house were "holy humidity batman!")  And as it was "that time of the month" I was feeling a little sluggish and achy.  But it was a race!  I was with my best friends!  I was happy! (really I was)

how can you not be happy and having a good time when you get to do things like this at the race expo:

Or when you wear fun socks, arm warmers, and a sparkly skirt like this:

You can't!  Especially if you're running with friends (with equally fun sparkly skirts):

Jen ran the mini

Becca and I ran the half

I started in corral 8 with Becca so we could give each other moral support as we waited for the start.  She tried to get me to start in my correct corral, but I was sticking with her to help eliminate the pre-race jitters I always get when I'm by myself at a start line (mission accomplished!)  Once the gun/air-horn went off and it was our turn to run, I stuck with her for little while.  We got separated about a quarter mile in due to the crowds and my faster pace (don't worry I didn't ditch her - it was our plan all along to run our own races).

A little past the mile 1 marker I saw another familiar racer running strong on the opposite side of the course.  I dodged and wove (weaved?) my way across the runners to give Jen a pat on the back and was off on my journey.

To be quite honest, I don't remember much about the race other than I was hot, tired, achy, and starting to get hungry.  I was so focused on just putting one foot in front of the other and getting to the finish line that most everything else faded into the background. 

What I do remember:

• I ditched my time goal after mile 5 because I knew it wasn't going to happen. 
• I  made sure to grab a water and/or gatorade at every aid station to stay hydrated (and the gatorade tasted much better if I poured the water into it). 
• I took a strawberry banana Gu at an aid station to try to stave off the hunger - it was a bad flavor choice, but the little bit that I did swallow made me feel better and more energized (note to self - check out other flavors.)
• I walked way more than I wanted to
• I  kept looking for Jerry (the amazing guy from the Komen 3-day who would pop up at various points on the course to shout encouragement to the walkers).  He wasn't there, but there was a different guy providing encouragement and reminding us that we were strong and could do this.
• I had a race angel: I was struggling at mile 13 and walking toward the finish line, when another runner (who had already finished) ran up beside me and said "you don't want to finish this walking; it's only a tenth of a mile. Come on let's run. you're strong; you can do this!"  I responded, "yes I can.  I can do this!"  As I ran away from her I heard her say "Yes you can! Go for it!"

And I did.  I finished running.  It wasn't a strong run or a fast sprint, but it was a run:

As I crossed the line, I heard a "GO MELISSA!"  from the crowd - My friends were there waiting for me!  Such an awesome feeling - my very own cheering section! (such a small thing, but when you're used to being at races on your own, it's a nice change).

I got my medal, a bottle of water, a bottle of gatorade, and a chocolate milk (i'm not normally a fan of milk, but that was the best tasting ever), and joined the girls on the sidelines to wait for Becca to finish.   She too finished strong and had her own race angels to get her through the day.   And Jen finished her 3.5 mile mini with a new found (or maybe re-found) confidence in herself.

So all in all, it was a good, but tough, day for all of us.

Happy finishers

Race Stats:



2013 Inaugural Cleveland Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

October 6, 2013
Time:  2:52:43 (Garmin); 2:52:41 (official)
Pace: 13:03 mpm (Garmin);
Place: 4305 of 5044 overall; 2566 of 3140 women

 

Addendum to Color Vibe Race Report

More Pictures!!! 

Being rebellious - Touching the "Do Not Touch" sign
I'm out of control...

Covered with color

Race Report - Color Vibe 5k

Way back in April, one of the girls in my office had the idea of a group of us doing this race together. So we gathered a group of about 20 of us and for 5 months, while we waited for race day to finally arrive, we plotted and planned how Team Commercial could make a big colorful splash at the race:

before

Team t-shirts in Commercial Insurance orange logo- check
Orange sparkle skirts from Sparkle Athletic - check
Colorful sunglasses, socks, bandanas, and other accents - check

We were ready to go!

A group of us met at the office and walked over to Magic Island to join the thousands - Yes thousands; it was insane the number of people (reminded me of the Princess Half with all the tutus and costumes in the corral) - of runners, walkers, and color lovers.

I could have run this race and been by myself (alone in the sea of thousands) the whole way, but what fun is a group event if you leave the group behind? So I walked with most everyone else (the guys decided they would run); even though we tried to stay together, we did end up getting split up. Two or three of us here, three or four of us there, we ended up spread out pretty equally along the route.

But the need to run overtook me at about 2.5 miles in and I ran the rest of the way, crossed the finish line, and headed back along the course to find the group and finish again (not really, but almost).


after

So why was this race called the Color Vibe?  Because they shower you with purple, pink, yellow, green, and blue colored powder at color stations along the course and while waiting for the start and after you finish and walking back to your car (even if you have to run to beat the street sweepers to get a little extra green).



It was a really fun way to spend a morning, and if a color race comes to your town, do it.  It's awesome.

The Color Dance Party

Race Stats
(Officially, this was an untimed race, but being me, I had to wear the Garmin anyway, so here are the details, for the record, if you care.)

Color Vibe 5k, September 28, 2013
Distance: 3.04 miles
Finish Time: 54:29 (17:57 mpm)

Part of the team (That's me w/ the scarf & orange sunglasses)

 




Part of Team Commercial

 

Race Report - CDR 5k

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't at all sure how this day would go.  Coming off of a week with some not so great training runs (didn't get all the miles in that I had hoped for and the miles that I did get in were hot and hard).  A while back I had set a goal pace and finish time, but was feeling really optimistic when I did it.  I didn't think I could hit either.  I've run this race that last 2 years, and both of those race days were hot and humid, which made for some pretty miserable runs.  I've always finished, but it's always been a struggle. With the tough week I had and the anticipation of the heat/humidity run killer, my expectations were not at all high.

First thing I did when I got up was check the temperature and humidity, so I could decide if I wanted to wear a t-shirt or a tank top.  I chose the tank.  Orange tank, blue sparkly skirt, green cap, and I was dressed and ready to go in my Goofy-inspired attire.

I got to the parking lot, pinned on my bib, performed my car door lock ritual (for some reason I have to keep checking to make sure my extra car key will in fact unlock the car), and got my ipod situated.  I started to walk away from the car and realized I had lost one of the pins holding on the bib.  Not good. I looked on the ground; didn't find it.  I looked in the car; didn't find it or another one from a different race.  So I rearranged the remaining three pins so the loose corner would be in a less annoying spot.  Before heading to the start, I thought I'd check around the car again.  Guess the light was better this time, because there it was.  Bib repinned on all four corners and I was ready to run.

I lined up near the back of the middle of the 5k-ers, and took off nice and slow when the cannon went off.  I wasn't in a hurry, and I didn't fall victim to my usual race day rush to keep up with everybody else.   I took it easy and slow.  It felt great.  At the one mile point, my pace was a little slower than my goal, but I didn't obsess about it and just ran.  As the crowd thinned out I started to speed up a bit.  Still felt really good - no heat/humidity issues, no stamina/endurance issues.  I was cruising along to a negative split at mile 2. Awesome!  Haven't done that in ages.  Since I was still feeling good, I sped up a little more for mile 3.  Easy peasy run to another negative split. Wow!  Entered Laidley Field with plenty of energy for a nice speedy lap around the track to the finish line (only a tenth of a mile, but it was a negative split too). OMG! I met my goal finish time, pretty much down to the second. Score!

If I had had a plan (other than a time goal), it would have looked a lot like what I ran - starting slow, keeping it easy, getting faster as I went, and feeling awesome at the finish.   It's been a long time since I've had a 5k feel easy; if I've ever had one feel easy.  This wasn't anywhere close to PR time-wise, but I'm still putting it into the Personal Best category*
*aside - I'm such a West Virginian that I spelled that phonetically as "catergory", before proofreading. ;-)

Race Stats
Finish Time: 32:34 (Garmin); 32:32 (official)
Pace per mile: 10:25

(in case you're curious, my goal was a pace of 10:30 per mile, with a finish time of 32:30)


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Definitely feeling the runner's high today, and I have high hopes that my goals for my fall half marathons might not be quite so far fetched after all.   Running this year has been a struggle but lately, during the month of August, I've been having some really good runs and running is finally starting to feel fun again.  My mindset is changing back to "I get to run x miles tonight" instead of "I have to run x miles tonight."  And that's a good thing.

What made the change? I think part of it is I got new shoes.  And by new shoes, I don't mean a new pair of the same model shoe in some new exciting color (the new ones are a kind of boring grey). I went to a running store, talked with a run shoe expert and I switched to a totally different shoe.  I went from the neutral Nike Pegasus (which unknown to me) caused my feet to tilt inward, to the Nike LunarGlide.  It's a stability shoe that keeps my foot flatter.  I get more power when I push off every step, which means less leg fatigue and just an all 'round better feel. 

Running Races in Costumes

I've got 3 "special" races coming up in the next few months.  They're special because I'll be running them in costumes.  Yes, costumes.  Nothing outrageous or crazy. But definitely fun.

What are these fun costumes you ask?   Here they are (still in the planning stages for couple of them, but the main parts are there).

Race #1:  The Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon in Cleveland, October 6, 2013.

 

Race #2: The Disney Enchanted 10k, February 2014

 

Dopey

(still needs buttons and a belt buckle)

(and the sleeves match better inside out)

(doesn't really look it, but that hat is perfectly Dopey purple)

 

 

Race #3 - Disney Princess Half Marathon

 

Belle - before the ball, apparently known as "Provincial Belle"

(need to find something other than Gramma's antique handkerchief to use an apron)



Race Report - Biggest Loser 5k

A week ago if you had asked me what my plans were for today I would have told you - Nothing much; some laundry, watching the start of the Tour de France, hanging out at home.  But on Wednesday, I saw a small ad for a 5k at the bottom of a website. Since I was at work, I didn't check out the link and went on to what I was actually searching for (lots of happenings at the  US Supreme Court in the HR world this week), but I did make a mental note to check it out when I got home.  And I did, thought it looked like fun, and registered, just a couple of hours before online registration closed.

So that's how I came to run the Biggest Loser 5k this morning.  I've been running, but not really training, and definitely not training to run a fast 5k. But my thoughts were along the lines of "I'm planning on running at least 3 miles on Saturday anyway, might as well do it with a bunch of other people."  A t-shirt, a medal, and the camaraderie of other runners are worth the race fee any day.

I lined up at the start line and was feeling a bit claustrophobic because the corral was really narrow and crowded.  There were a lot of runners there, but not quite so many that they needed a corral or a wave start, but that's how it was done.  They also had pace groups. Once I saw that, I had the plan to stick close to the 10:30 group, but with the way the corral was angled, I wasn't in the same wave as the guy with the sign.  By the time I got started, they were just far enough away that I couldn't catch them. 

And of course, my trying to catch up with them means I started out too fast and wasn't able to keep up the pace.  Between the fast start and the heat, I ended up having to slow down (and walk some as well).  But all in all, I did pretty well for running a race on a whim.  There was a time, not so long ago, that I couldn't even run 3 blocks, let alone 3 miles.  And to run a 3 mile race without really training for it, that's saying something.  I've come a long way in my running journey.  And it's not over yet.

Race Stats:
Biggest Loser 5k, June 29, 2013
Overall Time: 34:00, 10:46mpm
Splits: Mile 1 - 10:21, Mile 2 - 11:00, Mile 3 - 11:10, Mile 0.16 - 9:22

Enough about me, let's talk about the race. The Biggest Loser people put on a good show.  A nice packet pick-up/expo with some seminars if you're interested and stuff to buy (t-shirts, stickers, stuff like that). And the race itself - motivating atmosphere, balloons, music, contestants from the show participating and keeping you entertained before and after, a decent race shirt, and a cool medal.  It was well organized and well done.  I don't want to sound negative about my town, but I don't think we did the race justice.  I don't remember seeing it advertised or promoted; maybe I missed it, but I don't think it was.  And it should have been.  It was a good time.

Eating my words

I know I've said multiple times and in multiple places that 2013 was the year.  It was the year that I was finally going to make the commitment to run the 15 miler at the Charleston Distance Run.  It was the year that no matter what, I was going to run that race. No matter what, I was not going to give up and give in and run the 5k instead.

Well, maybe not no matter what.  There is a very small list of things that would make me change my mind.  And tonight, in a conversation with Marc, one of the things on that list happened.  The "if you run the 5k, I'll run it too" thing.

Promise or no promise, I just don't think I can pass up the opportunity to run a race with Marc; the opportunity to have a partner who can help me train; someone to push me and make me find the faster runner I know is in me, but can't seem to find on my own; to have someone there with me to help me attain that ever elusive 5k PR (I can't let him beat me!) 

Nope, I just can't pass that up.  No way, no how. So once again, in 2013, I'm eating my words. Only this year, they taste pretty good.  Unlike past years, where they've tasted like disappointment and defeat, this year, they taste like opportunity, potential, and victory.