Ashland Harvest 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Many years ago, when I was training for my first half marathon, I heard about the Ashland Harvest 10k.  I had always wanted to do it as we do not have many 10ks around here and I have always liked that distance.  I was happy to hear that they also had a 5k option.  To my surprise, they have always had the 5k option and I never realized it.

I signed up for this race a few weeks ago before one of the price bumps.  This would be the race I did for October.  I had been looking forward to it, as Ashland is such a nice little quaint town.  Most of my bike rides are from my house up through Ashland and back.

They had packet pickup for a couple hours the evening before as well as an hour before the race started.  I decided that I would get up early and get my bib before the race.  That would give me time to get parked and situated and not worry about anything last minute.

That morning it had been raining, but radar showed that by the time the race started, it would be sprinkles if not gone.  I got my bib and shirt and two tickets for door prizes.

The door prizes ranged from $25 off oil, to a gift certificate for Creative Memories, to jewelry.  The drawing was at 8:30, so everyone would just need to check back after they were done with their race.  I put my tickets in and headed back to my car.

On the way back I saw that they were setting up a pin for two horses.  I made a bee line over there to say hi to the two beauties.  It turned out that they were from Wings of Hope Ranch which rescues and rehabilitates horses.  There are free programs for children who are in need, no matter what type of need.  It's mutual help between the horses and children.


I went back to my car to shed the jacket and sweats and get ready.  As I headed back to the main area I heard someone call my name.  It was a lady that I see from time to time at the gym.  She actually volunteers with Wings of Hope Ranch and was only running to support them.

It was time for the race to start so we headed to the start.  The 10k start was at 8 and 5k at 8:10.  The 10k had a separate start line and they did their thing.  I stretched some and just kinda tried to enjoy the moment.  It was in the mid-50's and the rain had stopped.  It would be a nice morning to run.  There were some announcements and then the National Anthem and then we were off.


The race started on a unpaved path that went from the road we were on to the road next to the railroad.  I hate running on unpaved paths cause I'm such a clitz.  But I made it to the other road without issue.


My knee had been bothering me a lot more then usual the last few weeks, so I tried to keep an eye on it.  So far so good as I continued my 30sec/30sec run/walk.  We ran parallel to the rail road for about a mile.  I was bummed that no train came while we were running next to it.  The 10k course was a bit different so there were runners coming towards us for a little bit of that part.


About mile in, we turned off the road next to the train tracks.  We were now running through a neighborhood.  Even though I bike a lot through Ashland, I have never been to this part of the town.  It was nice to see a different part while running.  A lot of the houses had their Halloween decoration out, and I enjoyed seeing all sorts of scary items on the lawn.

We had our first an only water stop.  I actually didn't grab water as I really wasn't too thirsty and I knew I would get a bottle at the end, so I kept on trucking.  Around mile 2 you could see we were near the finish line.  I knew we had a turn off soon, to get the extra mile in, but I don't like when races get you so close to the finish line when you are not close to being done.

After the turn away from the finish line, we ran through another cute neighborhood.  At this point the 5k and 10k were on the same course and would finish together.  There were a handful of runners around me at any point of the race.  I knew the ones that zoomed past me were the 10k runners and the rest I was playing leap frog with.

At this point my knee started to bother me.  I tried to slow it down and made sure that I took all of my walk breaks.  But after I did my second mile well under 13 minutes, I knew why my knee was hurting.  But at the same time, I knew that if I kept it up, I would do my fastest 5k in a long time.  I really tried to talk myself into slowing down, but as usual, I got caught up in the fun of the race.

We came around and the finish line was behind me.  There were two ladies in front of me that I knew I could pass.  I knew that going full out at the end would not help my knee, but it felt great to just run as fast as I could.  As I came close to the end, I saw my friend from the gym call my name.  My knee hurt, but after stretching at home, it felt better.

I got my bottle of water and headed to see if I won any of the door prizes.  I did not win anything, but that was OK.  I love door prizes and it's just fun to see what could be won.  I realized at that point that we didn't get a medal.  I think their logo would make a super cute medal, but if that meant more money for the charities, I was OK with that.  I noticed that if I left at that time, I could make it to Costco as they opened, so I headed to my car.

I would defiantly do this race again, either the 5k or 10k.  Even though the courses were a bit different, it was very well organized.  Even when there were only a couple people around me, I never felt like I would get lost, or end up on the 10k course.  There were different colored arrows plus a ton of volunteers everywhere.  Plus there was a door prize with tons of options to put your tickets in.


I just looked at my official time, and shockingly, I was 3rd out of 4 in my age group.  I didn't see anywhere that said that they did age group awards, so it was OK that I didn't stay.  And I looked and one of the ladies I passed at the very end was in my age group, so the knee pain was totally worth it. :)

I haven't chosen my races for November or December yet.  But I have a couple in mind, so stay tuned.

What has been your favorite attraction at a race while you waited for it to start?  Do you like door prizes as much as I do?  Do you get swept up in a race and push it more than you should?

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.

Pink Power 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Uggg, it's been forever since I've had time to do a post.  Work has just been crazy for the last couple of weeks and I've just been too tired when I get home to think.  But I do have this week off and I am taking full advantage to catch up on everything, including posting.

A few weeks ago, on August 11, I ran my August race.  Like most places, it's hard to find races in the summer, August especially.  This year was the 10th year of the Pink Power Triathlon.  It is a sprint triathlon that is only open to women and it was my first triathlon 5 years ago.  And no, I didn't sign up for it this year.  This year was the first year that they added a 5k on Saturday open to both men and women.  And I signed up for the 5k.

When I got the email the day before discussing the details of the day, they had said that they were still taking walk up registration and they were still advertising the fact that the first 100 signed up would get a medal.  I knew that this would be a small race, which is never good for me.  I didn't even have past years to look back to see if I would be able to finish the race before they started to clean up.

I got there early as I planned on picking up my bib before the race and I wanted enough time to bring everything back to my car and still have time to stretch and stuff.  I got down there and it was sprinkling.  I got my bib and shirt (which was so soft).  I asked how many signed up and they said 54.  My stomach sank.  I decided to wait in my car since it officially started raining.  When it was time to head back to the start line, it had stopped raining.  Not that I would have minded it to continue, as it was hot out.  But for the race it stayed dry, but overcast.

The parking lot was set up for the tri the next day and I looked around to the crowd as we waited and saw a few men (7 in all) and a bunch of ladies.  I was terrified that I would be left in the dust.  The national anthem played and before I knew it, it was time to start.  The course was the same as the one they use for the tri, so I sort of knew what to expect.  A big down hill to start, tunnel under the road and around the lake, back through the tunnel and through a neighborhood, and then back up the hill we came down at the start.


Most of the runners took off.  There were a handful of people back with me and I started to feel better.  I stuck with my 30s run/45s walk, even down the big hill.  I knew I could make up time if I just ran down the hill, but I have been very protective of my knee.  No way was I going to mess up my knee again this time by over doing it when I didn't have to.

At the bottom of the hill, we rounded to the tunnel that took us to the park with the lake.  The tunnel was very slick and dark so I took my time through it.  The lake was beautiful.


I even saw ducks!


Back through the tunnel and on this gravel path.  I made sure I was careful as uneven ground is very hard for me.  I didn't remember this path from when I did the tri, but it was very interesting.  It happened to be the "Richmond Coal Basin".  There were a couple restoration type buildings that were on display.  This was the Grove Shaft Ventilation Building which was built in 1924.


We ran up a short little hill and into the neighborhood.  I realized that this is the same neighborhood that hosts the Tacky Light Run, which made sense since the start is in the park with the lake.  Earlier I noticed that there was a man running without a bib near these ladies and he kept taking pictures of them.  He had run ahead of them and past me.  He mentioned that this was his wife's first race in several years and he was there to support her.  That was nice to hear.

After the neighborhood, we were back to the main road and that hill.  Having to end a run on a hill like that is just cruel.

This does not do the hill justice - it was steeper then this looks.

I kept up my walk/run even on the hill.  I made it up and through the grass to the finish line and I was done.  There were not many people left cheering people on and I knew that there were only a handful behind me, so I decided to stay and cheer on the last few.  It turned out that there were only ten ladies behind me, and it was so much fun to cheer them on.


Overall it was a fun race.  I know I shouldn't be nervous about finishing last, but it's more then that.  I'm afraid that these smaller races would be packing up before I can even finish.  And really the lady that came in last had the loudest cheering section.  And after all of that, I looked at the stats when I got home and in my age group I placed third out of five.  Unfortunately they were not doing age placements.  Always my luck. :)




Do you like to do races the first year?  Do you like very small races like this?

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.

Hamilton (Friday Five Edition)

Last month my mom and I drove up to DC to see Hamilton.  My mom got to my house around 9 and we headed up in the pouring rain to the Kennedy Center for the Saturday matinee.  I had never been to the Kennedy Center and was excited to see the place.


We parked in the underground parking lot and headed up to their Cafe for lunch.   The Cafe was packed and I wasn't sure everyone was there to see Hamilton, or if there were other shows going on.  After we ate, we had a little bit of time before the show started and looked around the gift shop.  I ended up getting a beautiful necklace and bracelet for a great price.

The Kennedy Center is huge and have several theaters.

I didn't know much about the play Hamilton, except it was a Broadway hit, it was about Alexander Hamilton, and that a lot of the music incorporated rap and hip hop.  I knew even less about Alexander Hamilton.  I'm a little embarrassed to say, I thought he was a president.

We headed down to our seats and my mom said that they were in the center about half way back.  The usher walked us down and it was about half way back, but it turned out that our seats were all the way to one side.  My mom said that she called a third party ticket agent and they knew the row, but did not know the seat numbers, just a general section.  Looks like they were wrong.  In the end it turned out fine.  It was easy to get out and we beat the crowds to the bathroom during intermission and the garage after the show.


The Opera House theater was so beautiful!  As I was taking a picture of my playbill with the stage, an usher came to me and said that there was no photography allowed.  I looked around and tons of people were taking selfies, so I thought he meant of the stage.  I get that.  The balconies were so pretty that I had to take a picture of that and he came back and said that there was no photograph at all.  I told him I thought it was just of the stage, and he said no.  It turns out that they were protective of the design of the theater and did not want pictures of it out there.  He walked off and again I see tons of people taking pictures.  I did eventually see something about photography restricted in the playbill, but nothing on the walls as we walked in or any announcement. 

The play was AMAZING.  Probably one of the best plays I've ever seen.  I found myself tapping my foot or bobbing my head along with most of the music.  The actors were amazing.  One of the things I didn't know was that they purposely cast non-white actors as the Founding Fathers.  It made it more of a history of America, not just a history of old white dudes.  It seemed that they also made the point that Hamilton was an immigrant.  With what is going on in the country today, we have to remember that except for the Native Indians, this country was built by immigrants. 

While Hamilton will be in Richmond for the Broadway Under the Stars 2018-2019 season, it was so good that I don't know if I want to wait that long to see it again. It was such a fun day that I could totally do another trip up there to see it again.

Have you seen Hamilton?  Have you been to the Kennedy Center?  What is your favorite play?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Before I get started I wanted to see if there was anyone out there that has an Apple Watch and participate in the Activity Sharing, I'm looking for Activity Friends.  You can find my email in my profile or leave a comment.  

Another busy week.  This was my high mileage week before Princess.  I am officially on taper.

Monday I got up to run 3 miles.  As I was watching the local news for the current weather they were talking about all the ice on the roads from the rain that came through overnight.  They were talking about all of the accidents, naming at least 5 accidents on major highways.  I thought it best not to go out, slip on some ice, and bust my behind.  I mentioned the ice and not running at work and a coworker said that she went out for a run and it was very slick.  But apparently she has special shoes to help with the ice.  I felt like I made the right decision.  I had also found out that my friend that wasn't sure if he was being laid off, is being laid off.  He is there till the summer and has severance, so he has awhile to find another job.  I know he will find something quickly.

Tuesday was my FT class.  Well sort of.  Instead of letting us have our class till the end of February like they said we would, they forced us into the Strive area.  This area is small and out in the middle of the place.  It's made for 5-7 people and when we normally have over 10 we were in other member's way.  On top of that the classroom was empty.  Yup, they'd rather have us out in the middle of the gym then in a room.  I didn't feel like I got the workout I normally do.  It's very disappointing and no one but the manager of the gym was happy.  That afternoon I heard from a different friend of mine that worked with me at my last job.  She said that she found a new one.  I was so happy for her because where we used to work is so dysfunctional.  She is going to be so much happier.

Wednesday morning I absolutely couldn't sleep.  I kept waking up and finally at 4 I decided to go find a book to read.  I read for about an hour and was starting to get sleepy.  My alarm was to go off at 5:30.  I fell asleep for 15 minutes and awoke before my alarm.  I was actually refreshed so I just got up to start my run.  With missing my Monday run, I had to up my mileage for Wednesday to 5, so getting an earlier start was a good thing. 

I woke up with a sore throat, but didn't think much about it.  Throughout the winter I tend to have a lot of sore throats, especially in the morning.  But they never turn into anything.  During my run it didn't hurt at all and that usually is all there is.  After my run I noticed it again.  Throughout the day it just got worse.  When I got home I checked my temp, and no temp, which was good.  I took some NyQuil and went to bed early.

Thursday I headed to the new gym class.  We did the same thing we did on Tuesday.  It was boring and it was so motivating that I barely got my 30 minutes in of activity by the end of the day.  Yes, it only tracked 10 minutes of activity for the 45 minute class.  My throat was still hurting, so that didn't help.  In fact most of the day my throat hurt, again with no fever.  Bleck, this was too busy of a week to get sick.  I ended up emailing the director of the gym (cc'ing those that take the class as well) asking several questions that we all have been wondering.  She replied that she wouldn't answer the questions via email and will only see us individually.  This is very frustrating!!!

Friday I had another 5 mile run on the docket.  My sore throat was going away, but my head was very stuffy.  Like how your ears are stuffy when you are on a plane.  I was glad that I got out for a run.  I took it slow, but getting the heart pumping.  I kept thinking that the faster my heart pumped the quicker this bug would make it out of me. I did see another beautiful sunrise.



Saturday I was supposed to do 10 miles.  While it would be in the 40's throughout the morning, there was rain predicted to start at some point in the morning.  I decided to start earlier then the running group.  I knew it would take me awhile to get the miles in and I wanted to try and beat the rain.  I ended up really liking the 10 mile route that the group had planned.  It took us over the river and back then up through part of the city and back.  While my throat felt fine and my head wasn't very stuffy, I had mucus - ick!  So it was good that I could bail the run half way through if I needed.

While I love going over the river, I hate this particular bridge.  You can see all the way down and with my fear of heights I HATE it.



But seeing the river, even with the cloudy skies, can be very beautiful.



And I do like this bridge because it has a good hill down and a good hill up.



I got through the neighborhood and I saw this in someone’s yard. It reminded me of my grandmother who loved dead trees.

Then back over the bridge.



After crossing the bridge I saw the big group of runners I would be behind if I started with them.  I headed back through the city and felt good enough to continue on.  About mile 6 1/2 I felt a few drops.  Before I knew it, it had started raining.  Not a sprinkle, but not quite a rain.  I decided to push on.  While it was somewhere in the 40's the rain didn't make it colder.

After the turn around I had a couple miles to go and the rain became a true rain.  At this point I was just really tired of the rain and the run.  About a mile to go and the rain started to really come down.  Man that sucked.  It did make my last mile quick.  I was soaked by the time I got back to my car.  A hot shower was on the docket when I got home.  And then a nap.  I couldn't sleep, but a couple hours laying down helped.

That afternoon I had an appointment to get my hair cut.  I'm growing it out so that I can give it away to someone that needs it.  I finally felt like my hair was starting to grow, finally.  She trimmed and thinned it.  It's good for another 12 weeks.

That evening I went to see "Brave New World", a local play.  We usually get dinner before, but I wanted the extra time to just relax.  While I wasn't feeling bad, I was tired.  The play was good, it was 1984-ish.  While it was written back in the early 1900's it was about a future world where the "proper society" was perfect, well at least their Alphas and Betas were perfect, and everyone belonged to everyone.  And the "savages" believed in God and had families.  The word "Mother" and "Father" were profane words.  It was interesting, but I think I liked 1984 better.

Sunday is usually my day to stay home and get things done around the house.  I was finally starting to feel better.  Still some flem and mucus, but nothing annoying like Saturday.  But Sunday was my big fun of the weekend.  I met a friend for lunch and then we went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with the music played by the symphony.  They played the movie on a screen without the music track and the symphony played live.



The symphony was great.  They didn't miss a beat throughout the whole movie.  They were so good that half the time I forgot there was a symphony there to play and got sucked into the movie.  I had to keep reminding myself that I payed a lot more then a regular movie ticket to see this and I should really appreciate the live music.  During the last scene people started leaving.  I know that almost everyone there probably has seen the movie, but why miss the credits where the symphony plays and you can really appreciate it?  Oh well, their loss.

Monday is right around the corner and there is another busy work week.  Last full week till Princess.

How sick do you have to be to not get out and run?  Do you like to go to the symphony?

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

Weekly Update - Even If It's 2 Days Late (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Last week was a very busy week.  So busy it flew by.  As in, when Friday hit, I couldn't even remember if I worked on Monday or not.

Monday we still had snow and ice on the streets, so I took off to the gym before work for my second in a row treadmill run.  At least this time I knew what I needed to do for the treadmill, that is until I noticed that it was going to end my run after 20 mins.  Well, poo.  So I decided to end that run at one mile and then start it up without it counting down the time.  I did 3 miles watching The Sopranos and it really wasn't too bad.  I feel like I really only work on speed work when I use the treadmill.  But again, I didn't want to push it too much as I'm still really early into a training cycle (one with no real base to work from).

Tuesday I got to the gym and took my class.  That evening I went to an Agile User Group.  I'm not sure if they have them for outside IT, but basically it's groups that get together once a month and have someone give a presentation.  They have them for all different jobs within IT.  They are great networking tools as well as getting fresh ideas about your job.  I did run into someone from my last job.  It was fun catching up to see how my old team was doing.

Wednesday was a planned rest day.  I had a longer run to do that weekend and am watching how many miles I run during the week when I do have longer long runs.  I also had someone coming into upgrade my security system.  While he was there he was testing the window sensors and he leaned over my kitchen table and knocked over a full, unopened bottle of vodka.  It was from a distillery in Virginia and I was really looking forward to trying it.  Not only was it all over the floor, but landed were the cat food dishes are.  It all had to be cleaned up as I not only wanted them around the vodka, but there was also broken glass everywhere.   I wasn't really upset that he did that and he did clean most of it up.  I just wish that he would have offered to repay me.  I wouldn't have let him, but the offer would have been nice.

Thursday I went to my gym class at the gym.  Friday I got out and got a 3 mile run in.  It was 65 degrees and raining.  A huge change from the week before when it was below freezing.  I got a little bit of a late start as I was watching the radar and local news and saw that if I did wait just a little bit, most of the rain would be gone.  And then a little bit of a later start as I found my head lamp's batteries were dead.  I went back into the house to get my second one.  Dead too.  I grabbed some extra batteries but neither one of them would work with the new batteries either.  I really didn't want to waste more time as I did eventually have to get to work, so I thought I would see what blinky lights I had and see if they would light up enough to see the road.  Then I saw and remembered my knuckle lights.  And the first on I pulled out was dead.  Well this looked like something was telling me I shouldn't run.  But I wanted to run more then anything because it was so warm out.  I wouldn't have this opportunity tomorrow as it was supposed to be cold again.  But as luck would have it the second knuckle light worked.  And out the door I went.

It was a little later then I planed, but it seemed like most of the rain was gone, so it probably was a good thing I had a little extra time running around the house.  When I started it was a little bit of a drizzle.  Not bad at all.  By the time I got to the end of the first mile, it was really starting to rain.  If it had been any colder I would have been upset, but it was so warm out that the rain felt good.  I'm sure the people driving by as they went to work thought I was even more crazy then normal to run in the dark and the rain.  By the end of the second mile it had gone back to a drizzle and had stopped by the time I finished.  I so cannot wait for the weather to get warmer.

Saturday I planned on doing 8 miles.  The running group had 5 and 9 miles planned.  I took their 9 mile route and guesstimated on where to turn back to make it 8 miles.  I knew that we would start off warm and then just get colder as the morning and day progress.  When I turned on the news when I woke up they said that we had already hit the high for the day at 55.  So what to wear was something I himmed and hawed about.  Since I'm a morning runner, I'm used to preparing for temperature during my run to get warmer, not colder.  So I decided to dress for the coldest temperature that I would be out there for.  And from what I could tell it would be between 35-40 by the end of my run.

I decided that I would give myself a head start and get out there about 30 minutes before the rest of the group.  With as slow as I run, I wanted to try and get the run done as soon as possible so I wouldn't be out there when it got really cold.  And I really don't run with anyone in the group.  I'm usually doing more miles then the slower people and I'm not fast enough to keep up with those doing longer runs.  As I drove to our meeting place I noticed that some people still had their decorations up.  I thought to myself that this weekend was probably time to take them down.  When I got out there and started my run, the temperature had already dropped almost 10 degrees.  There was no way I was going to be over dressed.  I brought my hat and sun glasses (as it started off cloudy, but the news said that they were going to part soon).  I put on my hat sooner then I anticipated and never needed my sunglasses.  I really had wished I brought a pair of gloves too.

I read the directions and knew where I was going and knew I needed to turn on Grace Street.  When I got to Grace Street I pulled out the directions to read the next few turns.  Well I realized when I read Grace Street, I really should have turned on Grove.  Not a huge deal, I know the area well enough that I knew how to get myself back to the route without backtracking.  So I ran on.  I ended up passing a house that still had their Christmas decorations up and had to laugh at myself.  I was glad they did as they do the "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme.  I have run by it the last couple of years, but since I had not been training for a January race, I had not seen it this season.  I then had to take back my, "it's time to take down Christmas decorations" as I was happy to see these.





As I got closer and closer to the turn around point I needed to figure out where I was going to turn around.  I didn't know the mileage difference between what I ended up running and what the route was, so I decided to just turn around where I had planned to.  And then I second guessed myself and went down to the next light.  I wanted to make sure I got in the whole 8 miles and didn't want to run around the block over and over to just hit that.  Well it turned out I really didn't need to worry about that as I ended up getting 9 miles in instead.  The extra mile wasn't too bad, but by the end, I was ready to be done.  It had gotten really cold and had dropped down to 37 degrees with a wind chill of 28 and I just wanted a hot shower.

The clouds we so beautiful as I finished up the run.  This picture does not do it justice.

Sunday was a planned rest day.  I had Monday off and I knew I wanted to get my kitchen clean.  It wasn't really dirty per say, but it was cluttered.  I have very little storage in my kitchen, so a lot of stuff ends up on the counters and kitchen table.  Which is how my vodka bottle was broken as it should have been in the cabinet but it was as full as it could get.  So really, I wanted to reorganize and see how I could get as much as I could put away.  I got the eat in section, including my table done.  I even got on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor.  I thought that when I shoveled snow the week before that I used muscles that I never used.  But scrubbing the floor showed me even different muscles.  I'm still sore today.  Getting my kitchen cleaned meant that I stayed off the computer so that I wouldn't get distracted.  Which is why my post is two days after I planned it.  But when I look at a clean and organized kitchen, it was well worth it!

Did you get a warm day to run last week?  For those who run in the evening, how do you dress as it gets colder on your run?  When stuck on the treadmill, what do you like to watch or listen to to help pass the time?

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