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Birthday race – Get Pumped for Pets 10k

25 Monday Mar 2013

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I’m surprised that it was so long between posting an update to the website but the weather has quite frankly not been very inspiring for running. I had been looking forward to running the Get Pumped for Pets 10k run in Maryland with my girlfriend after we made it a destination race for a birthday vacation together.  The race was to race money for the Animal Resource Foundation that rescues animals from shelters and was between our birthdays. Although we didn’t train for the race, I felt able to run a 10k – but this was going to be the longest I’d run since the stress fracture last year. The day before the race we stopped into the shelter to see if we could pick up our packets early and ended up seeing and petting some of the very cute animals – it was a good job we were on holiday or I think there is a very strong chance we’d have come home with a cat or a puppy (or two).

Sunday morning – the day the clocks moved forward an hour, we got up early and got ready for the race. Our hotel was about 2 mins from the start which made losing an hour of sleep a little more bearable.

Before the race we stopped to take some photos for the Running with Spatulas website competition – much to the amusement of the girl we asked to take our photos. The conversation of “Are those spatulas? Yes. Why are you running with spatulas?” was quite amusing and a good conversation starter.

Spatula Runners

Spatula Runners

I was also wearing my gofaster batman socks that my amazing girlfriend got me for christmas.

Note the capes on the back of the socks.

Note the capes on the back of the socks.

The go faster capes didn’t actually work as I ended up running just over an hour – 1hr and 6 seconds which is slower than last year, but this was the longest run after the stress fracture and not that much slower so I was actually pretty pleased with the result. The race was an out an back route and very flat but unfortunately I still had to walk a couple of times during the run which shows I need to get back to some serious training. At the 6 mile beep on the garmin I looked at the watch and saw I had 90 seconds to run the last .2 miles. As I sprinted towards the finish line I caught up with a woman who had been just in front of me and we came running fast into the finish line. Brandi got some video (which I haven’t had time to convert to the computer yet) which looks like I was hardly moving at all as we came round the corner, yet I felt like I was really sprinting in at the end.

The official results was 1hr 6 seconds,  54/106 runners, 4/7 age group, 9.42 pace.

The only other time we got to run on the vacation was on the beach, in the freezing wind as we went looking for a geocache. I saw the beach and knew I had to do a very short run on the beach – but I really don’t recommend running on the beach in brand new shoes, jeans, snowboarding jacket and a wooly hat Running on a Maryland Beach I can’t wait until my next vacation and a chance to run on the beach properly.

Have you ever gone on vacation for a race? Any recommendations for a destination race?

4 mile run!

11 Friday Jan 2013

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Yesterday was a pretty significant milestone. I went running with my usual Thursday night friends – the Turtle Thursdays group. It was the first time I have run over 4 miles since July 22nd which is an incredibly long, long  time ago. Although I had run part of last nights route before, we had turned around at the 1.5 mile point so there were a couple of points on the trail last night when I realised just how long ago it has been since I last saw that piece of scenery. July 19th is actually when I last saw the 2.5 mile turn around point and had done the entire route.

It was also the first time I had been there since Brandi (another runner from the group) and I started dating so naturally there was a little bit of teasing which was fun, although it was a good job it was dark out so the blushes weren’t *too* obvious. It was really nice to see the rest of the group happy for us both.

My knee seems to be healing up nicely now – I’m nervous about overdoing it and doing damage so I’m being very cautious in increasing the distance. It didn’t hurt at all yesterday and I felt like I could have carried on at that pace for several miles further but I had to keep the distance in check as I’m only increasing about 1 mile a week. Currently I’m not bothered about speed as I’m more focused on slowly bringing the distance up to double digits and also I want to ensure I run with Brandi where possible. However my solo runs will be faster than last night – I’ll just consider them my speed workouts for now 😉

We do have a goal of a 10 mile race in March and will be signing up for the Scioto Miles training plan (This year you get “free shoes” instead of last years jacket) as this was a real confidence booster in preparing for the half marathon and if the first run and the 10 mile race goes well, I’ll be signing up for my second half marathon – the 2013 Capital City Half Marathon that will be held in May.

Have you signed up for any 2013 races yet or should I say do you have the budget for any more races in 2013?

Merry Christmas everyone!

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

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Apparently the weather outside was really nice so before I went off for a run I had a banana to fuel up or to be more accurate I had half a banana and had to share it with someone. As there are not many photos of me on this blog, I thought I’d take the time to wish everyone a Happy Christmas from Basil and myself.

It was a really nice run out although cold. If you haven’t done so yet, and plan to go for a run today, wear some gloves – I forgot mine, again – I need a pair of idiot mittens so I don’t forget them.
This was my first Christmas day run – as I ran through the deserted streets I remember Mum and Dad dragging me out for a Christmas afternoon walk as a kid. I hated those long walks, but here I am going for a run.
This time last year I had started running but was waiting for surgery on my meniscus so it was really nice to be back on my feet and out running again. I saw a grand total of two people out and 1 car. Of course the only two people I saw were runners. Naturally I waved hi, so it was a good job I didn’t have my idiot mittens on after all and smacked myself in the face with the other hand 😉

Anyone else get(ting) a run in today – Before or after the big meal? Did your parents make you wait a torturously long time to open all the presents like after Lunch, walk and a cup of tea? – just mine???? oh….

 

Perfectly Normal Behaviour *

08 Saturday Dec 2012

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Distance
2.64
mi

Duration
0:27:43
h:m:s
Avg. Pace
10:29
min/mi
Avg.Speed
5.72
mph
Burned
389
calories
Climb
216
ft
Avg HeartRate
164
bpm


A good run around Thaddeus Kosciusko Park in Dublin. I really like this park as it has a gentle slope and has a mix of gravel path and the ability to head off into the woods. As usual I did a clockwise loop on the gravel path for 1/2 mile and then headed across the field and into the woods for a slosh through the mud. Yet again the weather was great for December, I was wearing shorts and my Columbus Running Company bright green shirt. The ground through the woods was pretty muddy due to the rain we’ve had this week but still firm enough that I wasn’t going to slide all the way down the hill.

I got to the pond, looped around and headed back to the main trail and completed the 2 mile loop on gravel. It’s nice to see that the gravel path seems to be holding up and is a nice offroad 1 mile loop (the woods adds another mile to the loop).

I finished the first loop and as I’m still slowly increasing mileage, I headed back out on the loop and took a diversion off one of the paths intending to cut through the middle of the loop and cut it in half. Instead the path I chose for some reason dropped down into a valley, over a stream and back up the other side and then back to the path I had left. I therefore decided just to run back the way I had came but made a mental note that next time I’ll use that side path as it gives you more of a workout (not a big one mind) going down the hill and back up again than staying on the gentle incline.

When I made it back to the car I had done 2.6 miles in just under 28 minutes. A fun run, not rocket fast, but I’m going to blame that on recovery and my first muddy run where I had to slow down a bit to navigate through the puddles (the deep/muddy ones at least) (an ok I admit it – a couple of walking breaks too)

I did regress to my childhood as I splashed through some of the puddles and sure enough my socks were a very dark brown when I took my shoes off but I did get an impressive set of splashes up the legs.

After the run I tried to take a picture of myself with the shelter in the background and the bright green Columbus Running Company shirt I was wearing. Unfortunately the fact that I didn’t get to sleep until 3am this morning and then up at 7am  – makes me have a weird fixed eye gaze in this photo – but you can see the brightness of the shirt. So after the photo was taken I headed off to Kroger for some weekend shopping and whilst I was walking around the aisles I had a funny experience.

I was looking for some enchilada flavoured soup that I’d had a couple of days ago, had my running shorts and the bright shirt on and was looking puzzled in the aisle as I could not find this soup anywhere.  This woman came up to me, tried to squeeze by me and so I moved the cart over and she said she liked the shirt – it was nice and bright. Seeing as though I’m in my running shorts, shoes and a running shirt, I assumed she knew I was a runner, laughed and said that it was so I don’t get shot as it’s hunting season. She looked at me blankly as if to say “why would someone shoot at you in Kroger?”. I explained that you have to take precautions when running through the woods.  Yet again I got a blank “there are no woods in kroger”. I explained, Not *here* – I was running in the woods earlier and the shirt makes me more visible. At that point – the penny dropped for her – she hadn’t realised I was a runner and was just liking the brightness of the shirt I was wearing (or trying to make conversation).

We laughed and carried on shopping – that was the most bizarre conversation I’ve had in Kroger for a long while and not exactly the most successful one with a woman 😉

*At Least For Runners –  isn’t it perfectly normal behaviour to wear bright clothes so they don’t get shot and go to Krogers?

1. What is the weirdest conversation you’ve had in the grocery store and do you go shopping in your work out clothes or go home and change first?

I don’t mind shopping in my work out gear but if I’m wet from rain or a sweaty run, I do avoid the freezer aisle as wet clothes are not pleasant and in the case of sweat I do towel off and use deodrant first.

2. What other Perfectly Normal Behaviours are applicable to runners?

I’d have to say running in the road rather than on the footpath. Used to bug me as a nonrunner to see runners doing that, but I know the tarmac surface is a lot kinder than the footpath – less tripping hazards to start with. However the camber of the road and crazy drivers does offset this benefit. Give me a trail through the woods any day.

Dublin Irish Festival 2012 5k runcap

05 Sunday Aug 2012

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[wprunkeeper activity=”106732256″]Dubln Irish Fest 5k 2012 medalAlthough it now seems a while ago, last Thursday was the 2012 Dublin Irish Festival 5k race. I had been looking forward to running this race since I started running last year. I had only been running about 5 days when the event came round and there was no way I would have been able to complete a 5k race this time last year. In fact looking at the stats from last year, I was running just over 2 miles including the warm up and cool down but at least I was running. The big reason I wanted to do this race is that it goes right past my front door. In previous years it has been frustrating to have the race go past my door as it meant it would be hard to get home if I was out in the evening (and I was invariably trying to get home after doing projection or sound at church) and I can remember at least one occasion that I had some takeaway gyros getting cold and I couldn’t get near the house.  This year I was looking forward to running the race.

Unfortunately I did something to my left leg over a week previously and I had not run for a week so I was a bit nervous to see how my leg would hold up, but walking around during the week I had no problems.

Thursday after work I came home and hastily put together a sign for the front garden, got changed into my running gear and then headed to the mailbox to stash a frozen bottle of water to grab on my way past.

I headed down the road and stopped off to say hi to the neighbours who were manning the first water stop. They were putting the signs and banners up as I left them with instructions to cheer me on as I came through and then I started to run to the start.

I tried to keep the pace slow as it was hot, slightly uphill and I didn’t want to tire myself out. My leg didn’t start to give me any trouble until about half way and as I was early to the start I then headed up the road to Kroger to get some ibuprofen and washed some down before the race started.

The race is put on by the Columbus Running Company – my running group, so as usual it was nice to see some familiar faces and hang out before the race started.

There were loads of people there, most of whom were wearing the race tshirt as there was a garmin giveaway after the race and you had to be wearing the sponsored tshirt. Due to my leg hurting I lined up with Chase who was the 1030 pacer but had intentions of hoping to do better than that if possible.

The race started and the first part was all downhill, very congested and felt slow. It was really funny to hear everyone groan as they turned right and saw the hill. Normally I hate this hill as it is at the end of my run, so I am hot, tired and have to face this hill to get back into the neighbourhood. It took me ages before I could run up it without stopping but today I smiled at the groans from the other runners and pushed myself up the hill, powering up and overtaking tons of people and felt really good. IMy pace actually increased to sub 9 minute mile as I went up the hill. At this point my legs seemed to have eased up and I enjoyed the run through the neighbourhood with tons of spectators.

I got to my house and pulled off to the side, flpped the mailbox lid down and pulled out my water bottle. It felt so good to be holding an ice cold bottle and the water was really refreshing. I heard a couple of laughs and comments about what I was doing but then headed off to the water stop two doors down the road and grabbed a cup of water to dump on my head.  The neighbours were so busy with all the runners, noone recognised me so I didn’t get my cheer Sad smile

Not to worry, I headed down to the bottom of the hill and turned right back up another hill (or few). I was pleased to see that the leaders had not yet made their way back so it felt good knowing that I was making a reasonable pace.

About 1.3 miles into the race as we were going up another incline we saw the leaders heading back down the race and cheered them on and then it was our turn to head right and towards the turn around point. At this point, MothAudio on RunnersWorld describes it in his race report very well – “The road is rising, the sun is in our face and the devil in screaming in my head. All I can do is look straight ahead for the lead runners knowing the turn around can’t be much further.”  Rings Road seemed very long and very slow and even the water stop half way down on the return journey took forever to get to.

The way back was tough but seeing other runners from the Thursday night Turtles group and getting cheers from them helped me to keep going.

As we turned the corner on High Street we could see the finish line in the distance. I looked at my watch and it was 27.15 – there was no way I was going to be able to run the entire length of the road in 45 seconds to beat my pr so I decided to just keep my pace going but about half way along Robbie jumped in with me and ran, pushing me onwards and I started to increase my speed. I kept increasing my speed and finished the run as fast as I could do –probably not good for me, but it feels good Winking smile  I did make sure that there was plenty of space between me and the person in front in case there were photographers but so far I’ve not seen any finishing line photos but I crossed the line smiling with no trace of pain in my legs at a time of 28:53 placing 423 or 39th in the M40-44 group.(Official Results)

I was surprised to see we got a medal for this race – so this joins my half marathon medal around the cats neck and I grabbed a banana and water to cool down and went to look for other runners. About 3 minutes later my left leg was screaming and it hurt to walk up an incline, let alone up the kerb at the side of the road. Standing still it was ok and I had to move slowly with a bit of a limp but I still had the runners high (which was probably just as well).

We hung around for the finishing ceremony and I was 11 away from winning the new gps and then had a very long, slow walk home. Even the cops asked if I was ok as I walked home and laughed with me as I said I had probably overdone it but still enjoyed it.

As I walked back up the hill again towards the water stop, I joined the neighbours who were having a party afterwards. It was good to hang out with them for a while and grab a burger. Getting up after the rest was painful though and I hobbled back home.

Friday morning was not fun. My leg had totally tightened up overnight and it took me about 5 minutes to get to the bathroom in the morning – really not how you want to start your day as I shuffled around at about 4” per step. I eventually got to the other side of the house and grabbed my crutches which made it a lot easier to get around and I ended up using them all day Friday. As it didn’t seem to be getting better and this is the second time in a fortnight that this has happened, I’ve made a Dr’s appointment for Tuesday.  Saturday I needed one crutch for half the day and then the evening and Sunday I’ve been moving around the house slowly without any crutch. The leg is feeling a bit tight but better so I’m currently wearing my compression socks to see if that helps.

Speaking of which – Pro Compression are currently having a 50% off sale on their socks. Normally they retail for $50 but you can get them for $25 with free shipping too. Just enter the coupon code “socks” to get the discount at Pro Compression. (Offer expires 8/12/12) I’ve not tried these one but they’ve had good reviews and this price is a bargain.  I’ve ordered a pair so I’ll have a pair to wear whilst training for the Marathon (which I still hope to do)

I totally had to miss out on the Irish Festival events – crutching around a festival n 95 degree weather would not have been much fun, so I’ve taken the opportunity to just relax and catch up with some of the running blogs and finally getting around to writing this runcap.

Anyone else run the Dublin Irish Festival 5k run? What did you think – did you write a recap? Do you write recaps for 5k runs?  Anyone ever checked their mailbox in a run or had a race go right past their front door?

Longest distance (for now) of 15 miles run

14 Saturday Jul 2012

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[wprunkeeper activity=”101923704″]Yep – thats not a misprint! Had a great time this morning. Got up early and joined the 7am group for the first run this morning and we did a 9min pace, 5.5mile run and got to the store about 10 minutes before round 2. Looked around the shop to see if there were any shoes to buy, got excited when there was a pair for $8.88 that were allegedly my size but too small once I tried them on 🙁
New Balance were at the store this morning with loaner shoes to try, so I swapped out the Glycerin’s for 890’s (I think) and then we headed out with the large group for the second part of the run.  Stupidly I forgot to check the distance for the first run but was told around 5.5 so my next goal was to beat the 13.2 mile run from the half marathon. To round it up to the next mile and have a decent milestone, I figured I’d run 10 miles to hit that 15.  The first 3 miles or so were running in the rain – really nice as it cooled you down and it wasn’t really raining hard enough that you could feel the rain coming down. Continued on a good run out to the half way point with someone from the group at a decent pace and I kept going until the garmin bleeped 10 miles – slightly more than the distance marked on the ground but I wanted to make sure I hit the 10 on the watch. At this point I was questioning the wisdom of wearing new shoes for a 10 mile run – they were hurting the top and sides of my toes so it was a bit painful to run back – I think part of the problem was that I was wearing cotton socks and they were soaking wet from the sweat and rain.  Also the way back was a solo effort and a lot harder. At this point I had run 10 miles already so there were a few walking breaks including up Emerald Parkway – there was just no way I was ready to run up that one.  Somewhere towards the top of Emerald Parkway I hit 13.2 miles – the rest of the run from here on was just a bonus. It was good to stop for a minute at the last/first water stop to refill the bottles, dump some water on my head and then continue back towards the store.  These last two miles were tough – but that is the point of running long distances. I kept going wishing I had brought more swedish fish to eat but I had eaten the last one about 3 miles previous. Soon I rounded the corner and finished at the store 2:42:20 less the 11:25 between the two runs meant I had run 15.45 miles in 2:31 – an awesome feeling….for about 10 minutes and then the back of the legs started to hurt.
I hung around the store stretching, got a free towel and a well earned doughnut with thanks to New Balance and then headed to Kroger for some food and a large bag of ice for an ice bath. I wasn’t sure how long to sit in the bath so did a quick search and found anything from 15-30 minutes but also found out that it was going to hurt. I didn’t find it hurt that much but my toes were complaining about the cold at the end and I found it hard to pour the ice into the bath (after I had got in) as it was in one big chunk in the bag AND then sit back to relax, drink some coffee, eat some chocolate cake and read a book. At which point I realised I had left the phone/timer the other side of the bathroom so had no idea how long I was in the bath so I read “until the end of the chapter” a couple of times and then got out and enjoyed a hot shower before a nap 😉

A couple of hours later (and not *entirely* due to the nap) my legs dont feel sore – they do feel stiff and I won’t be climbing many flights of stairs today and I’m super hungry and a bit tired but on the whole feeling great for achieving a new distance record and knowing that a full marathon is not that much further (Think positive right?)
Funny thing is, this is actually the end of week 2 of my Marathon rookie training plan. Somehow I don’t think I stuck to the plan  😉

PS: Did the half marathon distance 10 seconds faster than my actual half marathon in May, over 10 minutes faster if you don’t count the 10 mins waiting between the runs.

Columbus 10k Road race and another PR

11 Monday Jun 2012

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[wprunkeeper activity=”94178590″]A week ago I gave into peer pressure from other Thursday Turtlers, and registered for the oldest road race in Columbus – the 35th Columbus 10k run that also included pancakes ad sausage afterwards (which may or may not have had some bearing in the decision to take part.
After getting up at 6am I was trying to work out whether to have coffee or not as the hot coffee would not help to cool me down.  However I decided to grab some coffee before leaving the house – As it turn out, I really did *need* coffee as I poured cold water out from the kettle. Next time I’ll have to be awake enough to turn it on.  Thankfully I did realise before taking a sip of coffee.

I arrived early at the site and enjoyed people watching and chatting with the various runners from the CRC pacers groups and slathered on the sunscreen ready for the race as it was going to be hot.

Before we started they had the kids race – it was really neat and impressive to see the kids run this race.

Even funnier to see some of the dads carrying the kids over the finishing line whilst the kids bawled their eyes out. 

Standing in the crowd as we waited to start, I could feel the heat beating down. I was lined up between the 9 and 10min pace groups as there wasn’t a 9.30 pacer and wasn’t sure what pace I was going to actually run. I had checked a pace calculator and knew that to beat my previous 10k run on 59.11 I needed to do a 9.30pace so decided I’d start out with the 9 min pace.

We started off running south which meant that the run *up* Broad Street was longer than I thought and had done in the past and I was really pleased when we headed on down Front Street and were able to take advantage of the shade offered by the buildings. Looking at the Runkeeper Map its quite funny to see it has no idea where we were running – looks like a drunk ghost wobbling through the downtown buildings.

I was able to keep up with the 9pacer until the water stop at 2miles but as he was currently running under the 9min pace I decided to just let them go, dumped more water on my head and then turned left to head down the shadeless 1st Ave.This pattern continued along the race – taking water at the water stop, drinking about half and then dumping the rest on my head to cool down.

After mile 3 we ran the rest of the way back on the Olentangy trail, a route that has far too may ups and downs and stretches without shade so my pace dropped a bit as I tried to keep cool – I was glad I had taken my own water with me. It was quite suprising to see a Cop car come driving down the trail towards us – normally you just have to look out for bikes on the path – first time I’ve had to look out for a car.

Mile 5 onwards was the standard Scioto Miles run so I knew where I was going and what to look forward to. However at mile 6 the marker was missing so I wasn’t really sure when to start the sprint towards the end. Probably just as well as I was thinking the run was 6.1 miles and not the 6.2 and would have started early. As it was I got a good sprint in at the end – I could hear Jamie and her cowbell ringing away but didn’t have the time to look around to see where she was.

I hit the finish line in 58 *something and it was cool to have a kid come running up to me with some water to cool down and hear several people shouting congrats to me. I had no idea who they were but it felt really good. Thanks to Jamie for taking a photo after the race.

After taking some time to cool down in a malfunctioning hose that acted as a sprinkler (good find Melanie and Mike) I went up and got my sausage and pancakes and a banana. Tasted *really* good – a definite bonus to running this race.

Hanging out with the other runners was fun to congratulate people as they came in, with Chris getting a 2nd place in her age group – so congrats to her. Then it was time to line up with other cbus runners for a group photo – I have a strong suspicion I’ll be in the cbus pacers newsletter again 😉

The other weird thing is that although I felt fine during the run and didn’t notice anything – I’ve had my first case of wishing I had Bodyglide when walking around the house this afternoon. I guess it’s better to have it now rather than mile 6 on a marathon, but it’s weird that I’ve never needed it before.

Official Times
58:25.1
329/589 (Top 50% now!)
31/41 M40-44
Pace: 9.28/mile
Splits

mi Pace (min/mi) Elevation (ft)
1 9:10 27
2 8:58 2
3 9:16 -20
4 9:25 -26
5 9:46 1
6 10:15 -6
7 7:04 -5

Pasta!

04 Friday May 2012

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Today is the day before the big race – my first half marathon and the furthest distance I’ve ever run in one day (although I came pretty close to it with a 11 mile run and a 2 mile hike on the same day).

I’ve been training for this since January when I had an operation on my knee which meant that my proposed half marathon on my birthday in March was not feasible. However, the Capcity Half Marathon in Columbus was the next best choice – a comparatively flat course, local and I’d have some other friends there.

Since Jan 10th – my first measured walk of .4 miles, after the operation I’ve run 169.97 miles and walked/hiked 30.73 miles.  They may not seem a lot for some of the more experienced and longer runners (and it’s less than I should have run on my training plan) , but it’s a long way for me and a great improvement to my health from last year.

Yesterdays run, the last one before the race was particularly tough – it was the shortest I’d run in a long time but also the hottest (75 degrees 4 hours after running so I’m not sure what it was at 6.30pm). It’s not much fun running in the heat and having luke warm water to drink. I’m hoping Saturdays weather will be a lot nicer although – its going to be between 55 and 79 at the moment. (Meanwhile in England it’s 42).

It was nice at the Expo this afternoon – outside in the shade was pleasant and it wasn’t too bad in the sun so hopefully tomorrow will be better.

As far as the expo was concern3147 Half Marathon Bibed, I wasn’t very impressed. It was a lot smaller than the Columbus Marathon expo that I went to last year (when I wasn’t actually running) but I guess that is to be expected for a half marathon?  The line to pick up my race number was non existent and very fast, but then you had to walk down the other end of the hall to get the t-shirt which seemed a bit pointless.  The bib has my name on it and space on the back to fill out emergency information which seems like a good idea until you realise the timing chips are stuck over half of the writing and it’s very difficult to find a pen that will write on the shiny/rippled surface and I dread to think what the ink will be like after 2 hrs of sweat (he said with a very optimistic finishing time)

I was actually up pretty early this morning and it was pleasant outside in shorts so I’m not going to need my throwaway clothes tomorrow which is nice as the sweatshirt I got was actually pretty good.  Speaking of shirts, I picked up the race shirt and it fits nicely and also scored a free shirt from Ohio Health and a free 13.1 shubeez (button that goes on your shoelaces – that will go on after the race along with the 13.1 sticker on the car. I inquired about the minimum run for the shoebeez but it is 500 – way too many to get some done for the Turtles – mind you, some of the runners do have a lot of running shoes so would need way more than two……

Pasta tonight for the traditional carb loading (but the first time for me) and an early start – they recommend being downtown by 630am but if everyone else gets there then……  What time are you getting there for?

Hopefully I meet up with everyone at the race but no idea where yet – possibly at the CRC van?

The gps is on charge, phone on charge, water bottles in the freezer, swedish fish purchased, alarm clock set, ipod on charge, new tunes added to a Half marathon playlist and I think I’m set.

Good luck everyone – hope you get a good nights sleep, have been drinking water today and see you tomorrow!

 

Scioto Miles 15k runcap or I ran 15k and all I got was half the chocolate?

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

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[wprunkeeper activity=”83272114″]I was a bit anxious going to bed on Saturday night as my legs had been a bit sore all day despite not running since Thursday. I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning from a dream where I had somehow bashedbut it does look rather peculiar. the back of my head in and it was covered with maggots… Not a very nice way to wake up and I hadn’t eaten any cheese the night before -honest. It was a bit of an ominous start however I soon cheered up when I checked my email and had a great offer from Groupon – Weightloss Hotpants…err no thanks – I’ll think I’ll go for a run instead.

I got to Cosi nice and early and saw Tina and Heather by their car and honked my horn giving Tina a fright. Thankfully she didn’t jump too much and did not bang her head on the roof of the car (maybe that is what the dream was all about?). I parked up and discovered that the meters were free on Sunday (after I put the first quarter in) – a nice perk.

I headed into Cosi and picked my race packet up as I hadn’t gone to the store beforehand. Then back inside the warmth –  a great perk of having the race held from the back of Cosi is being able to hang out inside the building in the warmth and with real toilets is a nice treat. Unfortunately for Tina I had drunk all my coffee at this point – if they had a stand selling coffee before the race I think they’d make a killing.

I met up with Heather, MelanieI think this is me next to the blue lamppost, Tina, Heather and Mike, posed for the usual shots inside and then headed out to the race. I think you can see me just to the left of the blue lamppost in this picture but that might be someone else, especially as I don’t see anyone else from the group.  Mike and I were running in shorts and a tshirts – after all – it was above freezing and I get too hot when running if I don’t wear shorts. I was surprised at the number of people who were wearing leggings, full trousers and jackets – it wasn’t that cold (at least not at the start).

A couple of minutes before the start of the race the inflatable starting line started to collapse much to my amusement – for a moment it looked like the start might be an obstacle course but it didn’t take long for them to fix the issue and a few minutes later the horn sounded and we were off.  Like last time I immediately lost contact with the rest of the group but I couldn’t find them despite hanging back for a while so in the end just got on with running.  The first few minutes is pretty intense – a flock of people all around you – most of whom are treading and running in the exact same space you want to be, you have to ensure the garmin is started, the itunes started, the run/walk timer started and runkeeper started…..or at least I did on the last race.  This time I ran with just the Garmin. My original intention was to use the run/walk time on the third loop but in the end I ran the whole way – including all the hills. Initially I didn’t start the ipod as I was waiting for the others to catch me up and then I was enjoying the running with no music so just left it off.

Anyway, as we’re heading down towards the start of Broad Street I’m fiddling with the camera on the phone and almost run smack into the barriers at the end of the road.  Who’s smart idea was it to put barriers in the middle of the course stretching across the width of the road? Thankfully I heard the Woah! from the people in front just before they swerved, giving me enough time to avoid having to do a very bad impression of a hurdle, which I would have failed miserably at.

Action shot as we start up Broad StreetUp Broad Street we went and I managed to snap an action photo , the only one I took of the entire race – I don’t know how Tina does it. As we turned off Broad and headed (the wrong way) along Wall St, the race felt different from last week – this time there wasn’t anyone yelling at everyone to get off the sidewalk. I checked the Garmin and saw that my pace at that moment was 24min miles…I put that down to the bad satellite reception as there was no way I was going anywhere near that pace.

I settled into the run and it was pretty uneventful. The aid stations had very vocal helpers which was a nice incentive to hear as you approached the bridges. I still managed to get water all over me and up my nose once despite pinching the cup together.  One day I’ll get the hang of it.  No homeless people on the path this time grunting incomprehensible messages to everyone as we passed them.

I was running about the same pace as the 10k 3 weeks ago but this time I spent more time looking around and being aware of my surroundings – there is a ton of art and nice views in downtime Columbus. If I wasn’t racing I would certainly have stopped to take more photos.

The out and back portion of the race was horrible (again). Under a dark underpass and a narrow footpath with people going in both directions and up and down the hills a lot means it’s a tough portion of the race. It was made infinitely better by running down the hill and seeing and hearing Melanie and Heather cheering me on as we approached each other on the second out and back – nothing like your own personal cheer team 😉 On the first out and back I ran past Heather who gave me a high five – with the cold and the combined speed we were doing, that stung for a couple of minutes afterwards to my amusement.

Towards the end of the race, around mile 8.5 I was doing pretty good. I was running alongside another runner who was about to run a marathon the following week. Scary to think that a 15k is considered tapering… Anyway we talked a little bit as we approached – he wished me luck and then I looked at my watch – about 2.5 minutes to get to the finish line in under 90 minutes.  I started to sprint to the finish line…

With the occasional glance at the Garmin it looked like it was going to be close but passing people at the end, whilst running fast feels good. The only hard bit is trying to run around pairs of runners and avoid the goose poop.  As I approached the finish line, Michael was standing there cheering me on – a glance at my watch and I gasped “15 seconds to go”. I didn’t have the spare energy to give a high five as I ran past Michael and through the finish line . By the time I slowed down and stopped the Garmin it read 90 minutes and 5 seconds…my official time ended up being 90 mins and 2 seconds – a slight, very slight disappointment but still over the moon that I had run 9.3 miles in 90 minutes and really enjoyed it.  Besides, if I had broken the 90 minute mark, what would I aim for on my next 15k?

Final results were 1:30:02, 357th out 645 runners, 44th in my age group of 62 runners.

After grabbing some water and a banana I headed back to the finish line to cheer in the rest of the Turtles.  My hands were freezing and the camera was slow/ I wasn’t really thinking straight, so the photos I got were not very impressive…oops. The photo I have on the left is the best I could do.

After we all had finished we did some stretches in the warmth of Cosi and then headed downtown to get some coffee.  I can’t believe how hard it is to find an open coffee shop.

I think we passed about 5 coffee shops before we ended up in Tim Hortons. Food and coffee tasted *really* good but I was totally ripped off when I pulled out the Boston creme doughnut from the bag and left half of my chocolate attached to the inside of the bag.  Adding insult to injury I then watched everyone else tear their bags open and start eating their fully coated chocolate covered doughnut. I was very tempted to go and get another one – after all, I *had* just run 9 miles!

As usual, thanks to the Turtles for keeping me company and thanks to Tina for the use of some of the photos.

I’m now less than 10 days away from my first half marathon and very excited – after all I now get to put a 13.1 sticker on the back of the car.  My question is, should I wait until after the race to purchase the sticker or buy it beforehand so I can put the sticker on the car with great ceremony as I get back to the car? – Do you have a 13.1 sticker (or more) and when did you put it on the car?