Race Report: Reedy River 5K

I ran this race with my brother, his 2nd 5K but first "real" race. We decided to start near the middle because I thought it would be a good place to start but boy I was so wrong. Even though it's in big bold letters in the email that is sent out that walkers should start in the back, they still started way up front. There were so many walkers and slower runners it took me nearly 1/2 mile to finally get into my race pace, but by then I was already way off my goal pace and had a lot of making up to do.

Shortly after we hit the first hill and was steeper and longer than any of the hills I train on, but surprising I flew up it  without breaking pace, passing others that already gave into walking. Mentally it was a huge confidence boost considering I'm normally the one getting past on hills. Once I got to the top of the hill, I saw my brother up ahead who got out to a faster start. I resisted the urge to run faster to catch up to him and instead stuck to my comfortably hard pace. I ended up catching and passing him on the second hill. By then, I realized this course is much tougher than I anticipated it would be but I was determined to give it everything I had no matter what. Every hill I would make it up about half way and then give into walking, my brother would catch up to me but there was no way I was going to let him pass me so I would start running again.

There was a nice downhill section and I took full advantage of it. I didn't slow down to recover as I normally do and instead sped up to keep the same comfortably hard pace. There were two more hills to get up and over but that last one, I thought my lungs were going to explode but there was no way I was giving up now. I glanced at my watch which read 29:29 with about a quarter mile to go. I knew I wasn't going to make it under 30 minutes but it didn't keep me from continuing the effort I had held all race long. Once I made the final turn and could see the finish line, I tried to go into a sprint but there was just nothing left in my legs. It felt like the longest stretch of road ever, what felt like 10 minutes was really only 90 seconds. I crossed the finish line 31:57, my brother right behind me 9 seconds later. I'm pretty happy with my time given I never previewed the course and had no idea how bad the hills would be and a significant improvement over January's 5K which was a much easier course.

Overall Results: 734 / 1,592

Women: 312 / 900

Age Group (30-34): 44 / 112

Race Report: Race for the Grasshopper 5K

This was my third year running in the Race for the Grasshopper 5K and my worst. Over the past few months, I've slowly lost my motivation for running. And now with a full-time job and limited daylight hours, it's just been way too easy to say "I'll run later" but later never happens.

I went into this race with very little training and honestly wasn't expecting much. The weather was great for January, low 50s. Much better than the last 2 years. I can remember standing at the start line waiting for the gun to go off and feeling nothing. No adrenaline, no nervousness, nothing. It was just one big group run where I didn't know a single person. To me, it felt like another solo run, another 5K without my husband supporting me or friends cheering me on. Why am I even here, running this race? I just didn't want to be there and sure as heck didn't feel like running.

The gun went off and I started running at an easy pace to get warmed up but it wasn't even a half mile in until I got a really bad side stitch. I tried to slow down but it just wouldn't go away. I pushed through the last mile which felt like it was twice as long as the first two miles just wanting to finish and get this race over and done with. I crossed the finish line in 33:37, pretty slow for that course.

Once I finished, I learn one important thing, I absolutely hate continuous running and prefer longer distances using run/walk method. Ironically my 9 miler last week felt easier than today's 5K and am probably not going to do that many 5Ks this year and instead focus solely on triathlons.

2011 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

This is the day where I look back at my log for last year and take a minute to reflect my accomplishments...

• I swam 14.5 miles


• I biked 493.3 miles with the Tour de Paws 28 miles being my longest ride of the year.


• I ran 356.1 miles with my longest runs being a 10 miler in February and a 9 miler on New Year's Eve morning.


• I completed two triathlons; The Middle Tyger YMCA Triathlon and the You Go Girl Triathlon.


• I completed my first charity ride; The Tour de Paws in September.


• I achieved a new 5K PR of 30:44 and new 8K PR of 50:58 and a 10K PR of 1:04:25.

My goals for 2012...

• Sub 30 minute 5K


• Sub 63 minute 10K


• Finish at least 1 half marathon


• Finish at least 3 triathlons


• Open water swimming


• Metric century (62 miles) bike ride