Frostbite 15k Race Recap (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

On Sunday I ran the Frostbite 15k.  This was a last minute decision to do.  The mileage fit pretty well within my training schedule so I had thought about it.  And when I found out that the weather was going to be really nice, I pulled the trigger on Thursday.

The night before I kept asking why I had signed up for it.  I didn't want to get up early.  I knew I would be one of the last runners to come in.  I didn't know anyone else that was running it.  The normal butterflies the night before races.

I decided to do packet pickup the morning of the race.  I got up early and ready and headed out nice and early.  I still wasn't sure why I had signed up for the race, but at least the weather was going to be nice.  I got to the race around 7:30 and found parking very easy and very close.  Packet pickup was in the school and there were absolutely no lines.  I then realized I forgot my race belt so that I wouldn't have to pin the bib to my shirt.  Oh well, there were plenty of safety pins.  I asked if I could use the bathrooms inside and the answer was no.  Oh well, there is always the fun port-a-potties.

There was over an hour till the start of the race, so I went back to my car and played games on my phone.  Around 8:30 I ate my Honey Stinger cookie and put on my running shoes and headed toward the start to find the port-a-potties.  When I got up to them I could not believe the line.  It was huge!  I still had 30 minutes to the start and I had to go so I headed toward the back of the line.  I ended up passing one of my friends who was half way through the line.  I stopped to talk to her and catch up.  We talked so long I ended up cutting in line.  I hope no one cared.

We were getting closer to the front of the line as it was nearing 9 AM - race start time.  It didn't matter to me, I wasn't going to be able to run the race without going to the bathroom.  The race was chipped, not that my time mattered either, I wasn't going to win the race.  So I stayed in line.  I finished just in time to get to the start and have the gun go off.  It was nice to just start the race.

The temperature at start time was about 45 degrees.  Great running temperatures.  I wore tights, a short sleeve shirt, and a jacket.  I knew it would be somewhere in the 50s by the time I finished, so I wanted to be able to take some layers off as it got warmer.

The course started through the local neighborhoods.  We passed by Hollywood Cemetery.  I love that place.  I know it sounds creepy, but in college my friend and I would take our lunch and hang out there.  It is so beautiful and peaceful there.  Our favorite part was to visit the Iron Dog.  It's a cast-iron Newfoundland dog that stands guard over the grave of a little girl that died in 1862.  It is the second most visited cemetery behind Arlington.  The views of the river are amazing.  There are two US Presidents buried there and it has a 90 foot pyramid that is a monument to the 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried there.  Passing by just brought up memories from that time in college.

When we passed mile 3, the lead runners were heading back and were almost at mile 8.  For me, seeing the front runners so close to the finish when I'm just starting defeats me a little.  I pushed that out of my mind as we were now heading towards Byrd Park.  Byrd Park is an area that has 3 different parks clustered together with 3 different lakes.  It's a popular place to run, bike, and have time outdoors with the family.  Our Saturday runs tend to take us through or pass these parks.  To get 9 miles out of the neighborhood and park, we circled the lakes what felt like a few times.  Thankfully the signs, rope, and volunteers did a good job to make sure that we didn't follow the wrong person and go the wrong way.

The weather was warming up to the mid-50's and was so nice.  The sun was bright and it was nice to be out after all the cold we have had the last month.  As I look around I realized I was really glad that I signed up for the race.  It got me out to enjoy the weather.

I was defiantly at the back of the pack, I still saw a handful of people behind me, so I knew I wouldn't be last.  Once we had gotten into the parks no one passed me and I was able to pass a handful of people.  It wasn't a very fast race for me, about normal, but I felt strong.

I notice that my balls of my left foot really started hurting me.  I noticed the same pain the week before.  Both times it started the last few miles and stopped when I was done.  I think it is my Morton's Neuroma acting up.  I haven't had that problem in years.  I'll have to bring it up to my PT tomorrow.

Once we were done circling the lakes we headed back to the school.  All the sudden we had so many hills to go up.  I didn't remember all the down hills at the start, but now all we had were up hills.  I still felt strong and ran all my run segments, even on the up hills.  We zigged and zagged through every street.  There were about 3 points where I could see the school just to be turned back around.  I guess it was the only way to get the mileage in and still stay in the neighborhood that didn't have any traffic.  We finally got back to the school and we hit the last hill.  It sort of reminded me of the end of MCM marathon having a huge uphill right at the end of the race.

I crossed the finish line and got my medal.  There weren't many people left out as I was at the very end of the pack.  I looked around and ended up seeing my friends that I ran into in the port-a-potty line.  It turns out that one of their mom's was running the race.  We hung out about 10 more minutes to see her cross the finish.  She is 72 and kicked ass running this race.  What an inspiration!

We headed into the school to get our finish line doughnuts.  I also wanted to see if I could get a shirt.  I signed up too late to get one ordered, but they said that if there was extras after the race we could have one.  I went up to the front of the room and asked the first person I saw.  One of the ladies at the side of the table told me to come see her.  Apparently they had been telling people that they didn't have anymore left as there were some very rude and disrespectful people demanding a shirt.  They were saving them for nice people, like me. :)

I did realize that I got a PR for this race.  Nothing special, but this was the first 15k that I have done, so it's an automatic PR.

I would probably do this race again, but I think I would wait like I did and see how the weather would be before I signed up.  But it was good to see some of my running friends.  They talked about doing the Sweetheart 8k next month.  I'll have to see if it works with my training cycle to hang with them some more.

After I got home I realized I was a little sore.  Not just muscle sore, but I chafed myself.  I haven't gotten back into the habit of using Glide.  I have to remember to put it on for my long runs.  Especially as the weather starts to warm up on a regular basis.

Have you ever run a 15k?  How late have you ever signed up for a race?  Do you get the race butterflies before a race and wonder why you signed up?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Weekly Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

It was another busy week.  The kind where you can't believe it's Friday already.  I haven't had many of those in the last year, so to have two back to back has been odd.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I haven't had that day off since I was in school, so it was a happy surprise to have it off.  It was another chilly day and I was glad that I was able to wait till mid-morning to get my run in.  I did get a new face mask for running and was excited to try it out.  It was soft and comfortable, but I found that by the last half of my 3 miles, I was getting hot.  It is fleece lined and really too hot to use, even in 25 degree weather.  But since it was a shorter run, I was fine with it.  I really did like the face mask part of it as it was more of a shape and unlike the others that I have warn, the material didn't feel like it was getting sucked into my mouth.  A good purchase, but will only be able to use in the really really cold weather.

Tuesday was back to the work week.  Nothing special, but I did get to the class for my FT class.

We got snow again on Wednesday.  Unlike two weeks ago, this one wasn't as bad.  Though it seemed to have a little more ice to it then snow.  Thankfully my run schedule called for a rest day, so I didn't have to worry about the roads or getting to the gym.  Even though I could have worked from home, I made it into the office with a handful of people.  It was nice to be in a quiet office to get work done.  Though I did have to scrape all the ice/snow off my car when I went home.

Thursday morning I looked out my window and my road didn't have that much snow or ice on it, so I knew I'd be heading out.  The gym said that it wasn't going to open till 7 that morning.  My normal class starts at 7, so I thought I would head there.  I brought my running shoes and iPad just in case we didn't have class.  I stuck to my normal morning schedule and got to the gym about 5 minutes before 7.  There already was a handful of cars waiting for them to open up the doors.  The instructor was there as well as other regulars for the class I take.  So we started a little late, but still had our class.

During the day on Thursday I had made the decision to run the Frostbite 15k that Sunday.  My long run for the weekend was slated to be 10 miles and since the race was 9.3 I thought that would make due.  The weather for the weekend, and especially for Sunday morning looked amazing.  Without much thought I signed up.  This is the latest I have ever signed up for a race.  The site said that I wouldn't get a shirt, but that's OK, I have plenty of race shirts.  The site also said that we could check after the race to see if there were any left, so I planned on doing that.

Driving home Thursday night I made a special effort to look at the side of the roads to determine if I was going to run outside or if I had to head to the gym on Friday morning.  They looked fine enough to run on, so I ran outside Friday morning.  Since I was running the 15k on Sunday, I decided to up my 3 miles to 4 to compensate.  The run was interesting as the first 3 miles were in the dark.  So I was judging if the dark areas were shadows or ice and if the white areas were salt or snow.  Most everything was shadows and salt.  There was only one area where the whole width of the road was ice which I carefully walked slowly over.

Since the race was on Sunday, I decided to get out early and run my errands as the stores opened.  I hate crowds, so this is when I like to get out and get things done.  One of my stops was Michael's as I have decided to try and give Bullet Journaling a try.  I've needed a better way to organize my many Post-its and scraps of paper worth of lists.  While I love my lists, I hate that they are all over the place.  I have tried to keep a notebook with everything there, but found that it was hard to organize what still needed to be done, especially if it needed to be done by a specific date.  I ran across someone's post mentioning it a few weeks back and liked the idea.  I wasn't sure if it was for me until I saw the disc notebook at an office supply store.  It is a morph between a spiral notebook and a three ring binder.  It acts and feels like a spiral notebook, but the system allows you to remove and add pages through out the notebook.

With the Bullet Journal the ideas are endless so I spent some time looking through my scrap booking items as well as at Michael's to get inspiration on what I could do with it.  By the end of the day on Saturday I had a basic layout that I cannot wait to put to use.  My main use for it will be organizing items that I need and want to get done, as well as having one place for my training schedule.  Also a place to make notes on my day or events that I go to.  I also want to try and organize my blog thoughts.  I have so many ideas that roll through my brain that I want to blog about but I never remember them when I sit down to type.  If I find that I'm still using it in a couple of months, I'll go into more detail of how I've been using it.

Sunday I was up bright and early to run the Frostbite 15k.  I'll have a full post about it, but here is a sneak peak.  I kinda dreaded this race.  I dread most races the night before and morning of, but I think I am a little out of practice, which is good that I did this race.  I did packet pickup the morning of and it was very simple.  The weather was wonderful and running around the lakes was beautiful.  Couldn't have had a better morning.  I ran into running friends and it was good to catch up with them.  I did end up getting a race shirt after the race.  There were a handful left and I was able to get one in my size.  I got a PR!  Well not as exciting as it might sound, because I have never raced this distance.  I was glad I did it.

How was your week?  Have you tried Bullet Journaling before?  Did you get snow?  What was the latest that you have ever signed up for a race?  Have you ever done race day sign up?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

2016 Races in Pictures (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I don't feel like I did many races this year, but after looking at my pictures I did.  They were all part of challenges.  I also had a huge gap between April and October, which probably is what made it feel like I didn't do many races.  But with all of the challenges, boy did I get a lot of medals.  19 medals for 13 races this year.



At the start of the year I did the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World in Florida.  At some point I want to see what I can remember of this race and do a recap.  It was something that I'm glad I did, but it's defiantly a one and done.  4 races in 4 days for 48.6 miles.

I then the weekend after that I turned around and did the Star Wars Light Side Challenge in Disneyland in California.  Yes I'm crazy, but I have to say that the half was the most fun I had in such a long time.  After the half, I had run 7 races in 11 days running 71 miles.

This year was the first year that they did a Star Wars Dark Side Challenge in Walt Disney World in Florida.  If you did both Star War races then you got a special Millennium Falcon medal.  You had me at Millennium.

Most of my summer was focused on training for the Marine Corps Marathon.  That was my goal race of the year.  MCM was the hottest marathon I have ever run and I felt a little disappointed with the conditions, but I was so prod of my 10 minute PR.

Because I signed up for the Richmond Marathon Training Team to train for the MCM I had entry to the Richmond Marathon.  I had decided to make the decision of doing the marathon or half at the expo.  I decided to do the marathon - the second in two weeks.  Plus another PR, 20 minutes faster then MCM.

This past weekend I did my last race of the year.  The Surf-n-Santa 5 Miler.  It was a really fun run with festive lights on the Boardwalk and a Guinness Book of World Records set for the most Santas in a race.

So what is up for next year?  I'm doing both Star Wars Challenges and that's all I have signed up for in 2017.  I have thoughts on other races, but with the limbo of the job, I don't want to plan any more big trips just yet.  Now that I am back in touch with some of the family, I have already been offered places to stay in MD.  Maybe I will do the King Crab Challenge.  Or maybe the Triple Dare Challenge with the J&A races in Virginia Beach.  Who knows, I have a feeling that 2017 will be a bit of spontaneity when it comes to races.

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

MCM 2016 VLOG (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I know it's been way over a month since MCM but I finally got around to putting this vlog from the trip together. 

In case you'd like to read the recaps from the MCM weekend:

• Highlights
• Expo & Hotel
• White House Tour  
• bRUNch - 5K Shakout Run and Brunch
• MCM Carbo Dining In
• MCM Part 1
• MCM Part 2

I really wish I would have made a few more videos through the weekend, but I put in pictures instead.  Also there is part of it that is really weird cause I moved the phone from horizontal to vertical and I guess you are not supposed to do that.  I tried to fix as best I can, but there is still a part that looks weird.  This is the first time I tried to do it and I hope you like it.

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Richmond Marathon Recap - Finally! (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I had another week of very little work outs.  I ran a couple of times, including a Turkey Trot, and went to the gym once.  I really need to get back on a good schedule.  Not a very exciting week, so I'll give you a more exciting (and a little long) recap. :)

So two weeks after I ran the MCM, I had decided to run Richmond.  Because I was signed up for the Marathon Training Team, I have entry to the marathon.  I wasn't sure if I would drop down to the half, or run my second marathon in two weeks.  I had gone back and forth on what I would do for the two weeks.  Come the week of the expo, I was leaning more towards the marathon and when I went to the expo, my decision was made to run the marathon.

So let's start off with the expo.  This race hosts the marathon, half marathon and an 8k.  I've done the half and 8k but this was the first time I would run this marathon.  The expo was the same as always.  We usually go to the expo on Thursday night and then go out to dinner.  This year was the same.  We went to the expo after work on Thursday and bib pickup was easy as usual.  The expo seems crowded and hot, but really there are no lines for anything.

I picked up my bib with no wait.  Went to the official merchandise area and decided that I wanted to get a marathon shirt since this probably is the only time I do that distance.

I walked through part of the expo to pick up my race shirt.  I do hate how the official shirts are so far away from bib pick up as I'm always afraid to put down my bib and lose it.  We get a bag with the shirt, but till then we just carry around the bib on its own.

I walked around a little waiting for my friends.  While I waited they had beer samples.  I don't mind if I do.  A couple of my friends showed up and we went on a lookout for cheap gloves that we could throw out.  We headed out and went for a very fun pasta dinner.

On Friday I decided to go check out the talk by Bart Yasso.  Both Bart and Don Garber were there to talk logistics of the race.  While I knew most of it, it was nice to hear it all again.  Both are fun speakers and people asked Bart a bunch of questions and I heard some of the same stories he shared at MCM.

I even got a picture with Bart Yasso.

Race day...

I met up with my running friends at one of the hotels.  The Richmond Marathon has been known as "American's Friendliest Marathon".  I didn't know this, but Bart Yasso said this of the Richmond Marathon because of the nice hotel and businesses that open up their doors before the marathon to keep us warm and let us use their bathrooms.  I did see Bart Yasso as I walked to the hotel and said hello again.  My friends and I hung out in the hotel and used the bathroom a couple of times and I ate my Honey Stinger Waffle.  Then we headed out.  They all were doing the half and I was the only one to do the full so we parted ways as each race has it's own start line.

I dropped off my bag at the UPS trucks.  I have to say that this is the only race that doesn't make you use a clear plastic bag.  I was able to check my backpack.  Then I headed towards the start line.  There also wasn't any security to get to the start line.  There were only 6 corals and of course I was in the last.  There really didn't seem like any structure to the corals so I stood on one of the corners and finished up my water and took a 5 Hour Energy.  I turned everything on and realized that my HR monitor would not stay on.  I know I charged it but it kept going off.  So I would have to run this without my HR monitor.  I wasn't going to run by my HR, but it would have been nice to have it to look back on.  I did run 30 second walk/1 minute run.  And before I knew it, we were off.

I had a throw away sweatshirt on as it was about 38 degrees as we started.  I also had my throw away gloves and a headband ear warmer.  We did a couple of turns and ended up on Broad Street where we could see the half marathoners on the other side of the street.  I kept looking over and I did eventually see my friends.  They didn't see me and they were too far away to yell at.  I wished them a good race to myself.

I was debating on when I should take off my sweatshirt.  It was still a little chilly but I was warming up.  We were in the shade of the buildings and I decided once we moved out of the shade, I'd take it off.  I did finally ditch it and decided that the first bank of port-a-potties I'd have to go.  What I loved about this race is that the first set were 10 long on both sides of the street.  No lines as this is where everyone decides to take a potty break.

The crowds were good.  Our bibs had our names on them and everyone was calling out by name.  I loved that.  Felt like they were all out there for me.  The first few miles went by quickly.  Everything was feeling good.  We made our way onto Grove Street and saw this wreath that was still up from Halloween.

I felt like I had to use the bathroom again.  I have never used the bathroom more then once during a race.  What was going on?  I saw another batch of port-a-potties and stopped.  We headed down to cross the river.  I ran into someone from the training team who is just a tad faster then me.  He was running with a bunch of people from out of town and they sounded like they were having fun.  I also ran into a lady that said that this was her 149th marathon.  I can't even imagine that.  How great.

As we were crossing the bridge about mile 7 I felt like the race was really thinning out.  Like a lot.  There were times that I felt like no one was around me.  I kept looking behind me to see if I was the last one, but there was a handful of people behind me still.  It was like this the rest of the race.  No wonder everyone on the training team was always ahead of me, this race has mostly fast runners.

We crossed the river and ran beside it for awhile.  We have run this road a couple times and I find it so pleasant to have such nice scenery right next to the road.  I felt like I had to go to the bathroom again.  What the heck?  I decided to ignore it to see if it would go away.  Eventually it did.

There was an older gentleman that ran past me and the back of his shirt said that his name was Woody and he was 86 years old.  We will see each other several times throughout the rest of the race.

We made our way away from the river and it seemed like every road was up hill.  Looking at the elevation chart, I was heading into 3 miles of rolling hills where most of them is up.

During the race, the coaches from the training team were all over the course.  They were there to cheer us on and run with us every so often.  At this time, one of the coaches from my team saw me and ran with me a little.  It was nice to chit chat with someone even if it was only for a few hundred feet.  He had said that he had already run about 11 miles back and forth at different spots.  So he was right about at the same mileage as I was without running the course.  I did notice about this time that every so often, even on my walk breaks, I was having a hard time catching my breath.  It wasn't bothersome, it was just weird as this has never happened before.

There were a few more miles till we reached the bridge to cross back over the river.  I heard stories of the wind on this bridge.  Everyone says to keep your gloves cause it will get breezy and cold while crossing the bridge.  I never took my gloves off, so that was no problem.  By this time it probably was in the mid 40's.  Before we turned onto the bridge, I could feel the wind.  I was a little anxious about what it would be like when I finally was on the bridge.

Once I hit the bridge, there really wasn't any breeze.  It was kinda nice out there.  At the end of the bridge, you could hear the after party.  Seriously, I had 10 more miles to go and the after party was so close, right under the bridge.

We headed up one of the biggest hills of the course.  I've run this a few times and hate it every time.  About this point, I started to feel nauseous.  It wasn't much, but it reminded me of the first 10 miles of MCM.  I hoped that it would go away quickly.

We made our way out onto Main Street and there seemed to be a bit more people out cheering.  It probably was cause they were hanging out at a bar and they were drinking.  That's OK, I was glad for any and all of the people out there cheering for the back of the pack.  They even had this cool drumming group from VCU.

Once we turned onto Boulevard we were on the half marathon course.  I was also so very nauseous.  I kept taking my Gu cause I didn't want to hit the wall hard cause I didn't fuel.  But the Gu made me more sick to my stomach.  Once I started to feel a little better it was time to take another Gu.  I was so excited for the last Gu I had to take.  We would pass a pizza joint and it made me want to puke.  We passed a BBQ place and it made me want to puke.

We made our way through some really nice neighborhoods.  I was so glad there were no more restaurants around to have to smell.  We have run this a lot, not only in marathon training, but for long runs throughout the year.  It was finally getting close to 50 degrees and I started to peal off my gloves and ear warmers.  Every mile during the last 10 miles I would skip one of my running segments every mile to take a break.  I knew if I kept up my pace, I would get a second PR in two weeks.

The course was so space at this time.  We got to one turn and the other two people that were around were not sure if we were supposed to go strait or turn.  We stopped and had to ask a volunteer that really wasn't paying attention to the runners.  That's how few people were still on the course.

I got to the last few turns and knew I was almost there.  The coaches were there and so encouraging as we made it to the hill.  If you haven't seen the end of the Richmond course, the last .2 miles goes strait down hill.

I was so happy to be done.  My legs held up and really didn't have much pain with them.  Crossing the finish line was very emotional for me.  I knew that my stomach would feel better once I stopped and I couldn't believe that I just finished a second marathon in two weeks.  Not only that, I couldn't believe that I made it under 6:30, which was my MCM A goal.  My official time was 6:26:45.

After I crossed the finish line I saw Don Garber, the MTT head coach, and I asked him for a hug.  I needed a hug so bad.  And then I heard that Woody (the 86 year old man that I saw many times on the course) finished right behind me.  I turned around cause I wanted to congratulate him, but he had stopped to talk to a couple people and I was just so tired that I needed to keep moving.

I got my finisher medal, blanket, and hat.  Along with water and snacks.  I couldn't even think about eating, but I did grab a bagel and was able to eventually eat about half of it.

I ended up buying the finisher jacket.  I have the finisher jacket from my first Richmond Half (which was my first half ever), and wanted one of my first (and probably only) Richmond Marathon.   They didn't have my size so they are shipping it to me for free, which was nice.  I just wish it was a full zip, but I love the color.

I started walking up the big hill towards where I remember the bag pickup was and my car.  I was just tired and just wanted to be home.  I was wrong about the bag pick up and ended up having to walk all the way back to the finish line to get my sandals and jacket.  It was probably good that I went back as I saw the PR bell on my way back up the hill to my car.

My breathing at this point had not gotten any better.  It was just like I had walked up 5 flights of stairs. Everything turned out OK, but it was really scary for a while that night.

Overall I was really glad that I had done it.  Except for the nausea (that stopped soon after the race) and the breathing problems after the fact, it was a great race.  The weather was great, the few crowds that stayed out for the back of the pack were wonderful, and the course was not too bad.  I know I felt like I was going up hill the whole time, but there were a few good down hills.  I probably won't do this race again, as I don't see me doing many more marathons.  I'd rather do a new marathon then this again.  I actually would like to do the half again.  Out of the many halves I have done, I've only done this one once.  Also, I'm officially a Marathon Maniac!

Have you done the Richmond Marathon before?  Are you a Marathon Maniac?  Have you ever felt really sick during a race?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.