2017 St. Patrick’s Day 5k

If anything will bring me back to the blog, it’s a good race recap.  And since the 2017 Sweetheart Run Double ushered in spring race season, there will be plenty of recaps coming up.  Yesterday’s 5k is the first of 5 races (Ft Gibson, Aquarium, BAA 5k, Garmin) happening over the next six weeks!

I ran this course last year as a coach to a client so I was very familiar with the up and down layout of this short race.  I’d also run the north part of it earlier in the week on a 10-miler with Michelle.  Psychologically I felt prepared.  Physically (save some lingering respiratory issues), thanks to StudiOne Fit Camp and track days, and consistently running with faster partners, I felt prepared.

Mary, my stroller partner

I rested completely the two days leading up to the run – no circuits or miles, extra naps and earlier bedtimes.  I wrestled all week with wanting to finish my Fit Camp program and giving this race a shot.  It’s not my target race so early in the week I was motivated to keep up with my normal workouts.  But by Wednesday night I was feeling pretty beat down and let the spirit of the race win me over.

Friday night was a low-key night at home with leftover homemade chicken noodle soup and an attempt to pack up for a trip the night before instead of the morning of.  It worked, mostly.  This race has a later start so I was able to get up in the morning and finish tidying up, load my car, grab coffee, drop some things off at the studio, realize I only packed my running and circuit shoes, go back home, and make it to find parking. With 15 minutes to spare, I sat in the car for a while debating my race outfit.  It was drizzling with more rain in the forecast (hat on).  Low 40s and cloudy (mid-length tights, long sleeve shirt).  Considered a rain jacket but thought I would be too hot.

Waiting to start

While I was searching around for my race pals, big and cold drops started to pour down so I caught some shelter under a shop overhang.  This is definitely up there among least desirable start conditions I’ve had.  I hang out until they announced 2 minutes to start.  I managed to find Catharine and Jessie, talk quickly about goals and then the gun went off suddenly.

False start.

We take a minute to push back behind the line and then get a true countdown.  Then we’re off.  I have my phone in my favorite side pockets with music and Strava tracking the miles.  Watch on my wrist to help me not go out too fast.  And a general goal to keep it as close to 7 mins a mile as I can.

The first mile is mostly flat, and I feel pretty strong.  I can feel tiredness deep in my legs but part of that is the 5k race and part is all the activity early in the week.  When that first mile goes by and my pace is read, I don’t feel as tired as I should for a sub-7 mile.  I try to mentally prep for the inclines that I know are coming.  They’re not too steep or long but still noticeable.  Thankfully I start to hit the faster runners coming back upstream and their energy fuels me enough to get to the turnaround.

All downhill from here into the flat finish.  I love running against the crowds (Sweetheart Run, Tulsa Run, St Patricks) and it carries me to the end of the runners.  The flat finish still stretches out in front of me and I start to notice tired forearms and pains in my upper back.  I want so badly to walk or pause but I try to just keep moving. I haven’t seen Michelle at all, and I know Catharine is right behind me.  I alternate thinking about members and how they inspire me at Fit Camp until finally I’m across the line.

Tough, rainy effort

I go hands to knees in an effort not to puke and get a friendly pat a squeal from Michelle as she comes across right behind me, followed not too far by Catharine.  We all realize and briefly celebrate our PRs.  I am so, so relieved to finally have another after chasing last year’s Go Short PR for over a year!  My Strava even says I broke 22 minutes but I’ll keep working on an official sub-22.  We take a few pictures in the rain, a little immune to the cold now. And then I have to dart back to the car to hit the road for vacation.  Next up: Ft. Gibson Spring Fling for a Cause.

Training gals, PRs for most!

Official results

Strava stats

Official results

Strava stats

Official results

Strava stats

Races: The Sweetheart Double

Last weekend I ran for the first time in the Tulsa Fleet Feet Sweetheart Run.  When I first put it on the calendar, I was thinking I would race the 5k in my ever-continuing effort to break the 22 minute mark.  Then I discovered their option to do the 5k and 10k, one right after the other.  I figured this would be a fun option, especially as I increase mileage a bit with upcoming half marathons (and a looming full in July – I know, I still don’t know how that happened).  Also, since there are few things better than running with friends, I enlisted the company of Teresa for the 5k and Michelle for the 10k.  I tried to rally some more friends but was unsuccessful.

The plan was to run with Teresa in the 5k, and chase Michelle in the 10.  The race fell on the day exactly 9 weeks from my Boston 5k race, so I’ve been in speed training mode for a while – including track workouts, circuits and partner runs with M, who is faster than me.

Flowers and a bib, true love.

I spent the night at Michelle’s, mostly because I currently don’t have a toilet in my house (post about the bathroom renovation is forthcoming) but also because who doesn’t love a sleepover?  We are a sight to be seen getting ready in the morning.  Making sure we’ve got coffee, food, bibs, shoes and gear all before heading out the door is a chatty, calm chaos with some pump-up music in the background.

We met up with Teresa at the Studio and walked to the start line.  It was a little chilly and overcast but I knew we would warm up once we started running.  Cassi and Steve were there to cheer us on!

StudiOne community is the best.

In true Michelle and Sprenkel race form, we barely made it into the corrals before the gun went off.  I stayed with Teresa and Michelle went on to run a 4th place age group finish.  Teresa really wanted to beat her 5k time from last year, but I should have coached her better out of it considering she hadn’t run even close to the same training as she did the race before.  Life was just tough the weeks leading up to the race and didn’t leave much time for training.  If I had one wish for her, I would love that her competitive side could subside so she could just enjoy being out in the race (but I also know it took me years to develop that kind of relaxed approach).  I loved running with you T, and am so proud of the runner you are, and are becoming!  Can’t wait to race out there with you again!

Blurry but smiling!

Our prizes!

I had about ten minutes to find Michelle.  We reviewed our plan at the start line which was basically run fast but don’t kill us.  I would stay with her as long as I could, like I do on our longer training runs, with a more specific goal of staying under an 8 minute average.

Start line!

The first part of the course led us out of the flat Blue Dome neighborhood.  We were mostly downhill out of downtown towards the river. We both had our watches on, and the Strava app going but I wasn’t paying too much attention to pace.  My effort to this point felt strong, kind of in that perfect not too easy but not totally taxing zone.  We were a little chatty and I was just thinking of staying with her as long as I could.

We cruised right down the Denver hill and my next goal was to really push the flat two miles we had left before we had to go back up the hill.  This is also the part of the race where the lead runners started to run back against us.  Michelle pointed out there were only 9 females ahead of us, we had a good chance of placing in the top 10 ladies.  Soon, we were part of that lead pack running against the big stream and that is always encouraging to me.  With the breaths we had (Michelle had more than I did), we cheered on people running against us.

Then we were at the hill, four miles behind us, 2.2 in front of us.  We fell into the climb with another gal in a St. Jude singlet and the three of us pulled each other up that hill.  Michelle pulled ahead of me, and I could hear her expletives as I let out exasperated sighs and our new pal commiserated with us.  It was long and moderately steep – several blocks. There were moments I thought I would puke but seeing those two girls in front of me kept me in a run instead of a walk.

The ending was not glamorous.  I was hot and humid by mile 5 and taking the cups of water to pour on the top of my head.  This trick makes me look really really sweaty but also quickly cools me down.

When that final stretch of a few turns around the block hit, I tried to draw on thoughts of track workouts, step ups and jump lunges – all things from my training that make for strong legs.  If anything, it’s distracting and helps tick off some distance.

Glamorous action shot

Finished strong, reaching my goals and hitting a 10k PR.   We hung around for a little while to get our official results – a 2nd place age group for M, 3rd for me.  9th overall female for M, 11th for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this course.  I loved doing the back to back races and getting the magnetic metals for each was clever.  I’m very pleased to be placing in age groups in 10k distances and satisfied with how the harder running and circuit training is paying off.  It hasn’t been perfect but it has been consistent.

2 and 3, 9 and 11.

Next race: Saturday, March 11, St. Patrick’s Day 5k.

Thirty Thursdays

In my weekly schedule, Thursdays are track days.  I have some time between my early classes and my lunch classes to get a good string of outdoor miles in.  I’m pretty amazed that today I actually managed to get any miles in.  I wanted to get a studio blog post written before I ran out the door.  So I sat in bed working on it typing up a story of how I got bribed into running over ten years ago.  Searching and placing photos at just the right increments with perfectly thought out captions.  Just as I was hitting save on this pretty creative and wonderful blog, I lost it.  A quick prayer that the little draft I saw in the queue of posts was answered with a “no”.  I let out an exasperated sigh, did some deep yoga breathing and then decided to quickly re-write it with the pertinent info I was trying to get across rather than try to rewrite the actual story I had told with it (I’ll have to tell it again another day).

The one-glove, borrowed-watch, too-early-in-the-year-for-excuses look.

The determination within to run was still strong.  I drove to the studio so I could just finish up there before teaching my lunchtime class, bag packed with changes of clothes and all my cold weather gear (in the mid-20s!).  Except one glove.  And my watch.  So I borrowed Michelle’s and tucked one hand into my coat sleeve.  At this point I had run out of time to get my assigned miles in but I figured some miles are better than no miles.  My assignment was 1 mile easy, 2 miles hard, 1 mile easy, 2 miles hard and 1 cool down mile.  I figured I had time for 1 easy, 2 hard, 1 cooldown.

Guess where the hill is.

The watch didn’t find the satellite until probably a half mile in so I probably really warmed up for a mile and a half.  I made a goal for myself to hit the two fast miles in under 8 minutes each.  I was on pace until I hit the pedestrian bridge across the river and lost the satellites.  By now I was wondering at what point I would hit hospital hill.  Would I have to be running fast up it, or would I be on my cooldown?  Luckily, especially since I was headed into a pretty strong wind, I was on my rest.  So, I don’t know what my actual distance or time was but I do have some mile splits.  Even though one was a little skewed by the pedestrian bridge.  I still got out there, and even in the 20s, it wasn’t horrible!

Really loving having a journal just for training for the first time ever.

Thursdays are also going to be Thirty Thursdays here on the blog.  2017 is the year of 30 for me and a while back I mentioned the 30 before 30 list I put together.  As I was making it, I wanted to include some adventures, acquire some new skills, of course travel and stay dedicated to my fitness goals.  I think the list covers a nice spectrum of mind, body, spirit, career, home and adventure.  Of course, with 30 items there’s a lot of room to cover those things.  I’ve checked a few things off since posting that list and each week I’ll pick one topic to share here.  This week all you get is the announcement of that new schedule because of the day it’s been.  And hey, I’m just glad I got that run in and got a post up two days in a row!

Winter Season W3: Track Run

Y’all I am determined to keep up a daily blogging habit.  I have a few reasons for this:

1. So I can look back on this journey to two new PRs and keep track of what went well and what didn’t
2. So I can reconnect to this online world of like minded fast-running, healthy-eating, organized-at-home creative people.  Or at least network with some so I stay inspired.
3. Reconnect to you, the readers to share my perspective on things in life and continue to tell stories.  If there’s any particular content you’d like to see, let me know and I’ll try to sneak it in.

So, as I get started back into this, I am going to work on using the word “so” a little bit less and also commit to writing daily.  This may mean a few junky posts for a bit while I just sit down at my computer to hash out some thoughts, get a little creative or wake up the writer in me again.  I used to have lists and lists of things to write about but today I can’t think of a single thing except to tell you how my runs have gone.  So, (whoops) that’s what I’ll do.

I have two big, hard, almost impossible goals I’ve been chasing for a while now.  I want to break 22 minutes (used to be 21 but then I got a little more realistic) in the 5k and I want to break a long-standing (almost 4 years, maybe 5?) half marathon PR.  Before I turn 30 in August (the back up plan is just anytime in 2017).

Setting the goal, and even making the plan are the easy parts.  Doing the plan through to the finish is the tough part.  Here’s the plan:

1. 3 quality runs a week (via Run Less, Run Faster method): track, tempo and long (I’ve added my own twist to the long run, which I’ll tell you about soon!)
2. Fit Camp Style workouts 3x per week: This is my own version of strength training.  I give credit to this for my last half marathon success on a single long run of 7 miles.
3. Yoga everyday: not necessarily a class a day, but some kind of on the mat designated stretch out time.  The key to staying injury free.

Lucky for me, all of those things are at my studio! There really isn’t a better time for me to try to do this.  Yesterday was my week 3 track day.  The first week I ran 400s which I’ve come to love, last week was 800s which I kind of hate and this week’s assignment was 2 one mile repeats and an 800.  Weird horribly “long” track distances.

I planned to run with two of the girls who usually come to the YogaFit class on Tuesday mornings but we had some extra people show up (which is awesome!) so we went for a windy 3 mile run instead.  I was still determined to get my track work in so I hopped straight on the treadmill after class (my preferred track location).  My legs were so tired!  I did my best to keep up with my set pace but a lot of the time had to scroll down or hop to the sides.  This is always disheartening and reminds me of a slow balloon deflation.  I was so hopeful starting the workout and then as I trudged along and my legs got heavier, my little hope balloon slowly lost all its air.  But, I did it.  It’s over and I can write it down in my Believe Training Journal (more motivating to get runs in than it should be).

Hope y’all have a great first Wednesday of the new year and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for some more dusting of the rust writing…..(it’ll get better, I promise hope.)

 

Celebrating Two

I made it for a second day in a row on my training plan!  I’m not a believer in running every day.  I am also no longer a believer in “more miles are good miles”.  My training includes three hard runs a week with maybe one additional run for just a little stress relief or because the weather is nice.

So today wasn’t a running day.  But, I still like to have a designated workout or task I can complete for my training.  This morning after my first client, I completed an arm circuit geared toward helping me build pull-up muscles.  (Full disclosure, I tried to get up and get this workout in before I trained with him, but I’m just not adjusted to the early early mornings yet.)

Here is the circuit:

• 3 sets of 10 scapular pulls.  Hang at the bottom of the pull up and pull the shoulder blades together.  That’s it.  This is a small movement but will train that initial pull of the motion.
• 3 sets of 10 reverse flyes.  Nothing special here, just working on developing the rhomboids and other upper back muscles.
• 3 sets of 5 assisted pull-ups.  Right now I’m using a green band to help pull me up.  I’ll keep scaling down in bands until I don’t need them anymore.  Hopefully before I turn 30 😉

Then, just because I needed to get a good sweat in, I did 15 x 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds slow on the treadmill.  Did I say I didn’t run today?  I guess I did, but I count this differently in my mind.

Also celebrating 2 years today with Chap.  What the heck? I can’t remember anything I was committed to for that long.  Does college count?  Never would have thought “beast mode baby, Sprenkeled” would have turned into this.   Here’s to two more!

Winter Season

Hi friends!  There is a lot to catch up on from my running standpoint on the blog but I don’t want to spend any time on that tonight.  I am ready to commit to my next 12 week cycle of 5k training to try to get that PR goal and sub-22 goal before I turn 30 in August (modified for realism’s sake slower than sub 21).

I had my fall target races roll around about 3 weeks ago.  And I got sick.  It sucked.  I’m fairly positive I could have killed that 5k.  But you know what, it wasn’t in the cards this year.  And I’m left with the effort that I gave that morning, and the training in my muscles and lungs that didn’t disappear just because I got sick.  I took 3 weeks off to rest from running, and too, major strength training.  I did a lot of yoga, I rested and I read books.  It was awesome.

Then I started to get stir crazy.  I added some strength training back in, and took Miley on a one mile run around the neighborhood.  It’s getting colder here in Tulsa so I don’t necessarily miss running in that, but I do miss running regularly.

So, Monday night after returning from my NYC Christmas trip, I sat down and mapped out the early spring’s races and year of travel for races.   In my new Believe Training Journal.  My next target races are the Sweetheart and St. Patrick’s  Day 5ks here in Tulsa, with a long hopeful shot at the Boston 5k in April.

That meant a Tuesday date with a track run, so I picked one of my favorites to kick it off with.  The ol’ quarter mile repeats.  Run .25m fast fast, and then jog/walk a .25m lap slow.  Do this a total of 8 times.  I cranked it out indoors on a treadmill, after my first class of the day.

I felt surprisingly strong and not too stiff for this first longer run in a few weeks.  I am really looking forward to detailing my training in my journal and on here, and feeling strong and fast again.

What are your athletic goals for 2017?

State 17: The Sedona Marathon Event (2/3)

This race is the one that brought back some confidence to my feet, heart and mind.  You don’t know about the race that sucked it right out of me down to my lungs and bones because I haven’t written it yet.  I promise to, it’s important to see all the sides of racing but it’s not time yet.

It is time to review State 17: Arizona.  I picked Sedona because that’s where Grandpa Sprenkel lives and he invited me.   Also because it is a breathtakingly beautiful place.

The race was scheduled for a Saturday morning.  This is not unheard of in the running world (St. Jude Half another favorite that’s hosted on Saturday) but it is a little unusual.  I was carb loaded from the pasta the night before and after all that strategizing, we (my cheer team and I) went to bed with a pretty good plan for the morning.  There were parking lots with shuttles to the start but after the fiasco with state 15 shuttles, I’m a little wary of them.

We went to Starbucks first thing because it was on the way (they’re on the way to anything aren’t they?) for coffee and my pre-run meal of oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts and brown sugar (about half of each packet).  This is routine for me on race days no less than two hours before the start -either made at home or from Starbucks.  With a small cup of coffee and water on the side.

Next we drove to make sure we could find a parking spot.  Then, our plan kind of fell apart.  We found one but still had so much time before the 9am start.  I didn’t want to hang out in the cold at the start, and the cheer squad didn’t want to stay in the car.  So we hiked to a local breakfast diner and Grandpa got some food while I used the bathroom more than twice and continued to hydrate and try to stay warm.

After leaving Nick’s Cafe and seeing the long line of cars in the single-lane that the shuttle would be using, we made the decision to just walk to the start line.  I’m guessing it was maybe half a mile.  I was still shivering and my teeth were a chattering but the walking definitely helped (so did my moms calf-length down coat that she thoughtfully and selflessly gave to me in regular Davi fashion.  Thanks mama 🙂 ).

We made it to the start, hiking up the final hill I would have to climb to the finish, in time to see the marathoners get started.  They were on the same out and back course I was, except their out is twice as long.  From the preview drive we took Friday, I knew it was a doozy and hilly race.  But I took all the pressure off myself when I decided I would enjoy it fully, taking pictures along the way.

Still so cold. Banana for start line

Cheer sqaud

The prettiest start you ever did see

Sun rising on the red rocks

I made a playlist on Spotify during some of our downtime that morning, taking suggestions from friends on Facebook.  It was a mix of my favorite 90s tunes, some slow and sweet country and energy-driving techno.  I put it on shuffle in hopes the right songs would just appear when needed.  It worked.

The miles just rolled on by.  The air was as crisp and clear as the sky looks in my pictures.  My legs felt strong and pain free underneath me and lungs worked how they were supposed to.  I was in my own little world, surrounded by the most magnificent beauty of mother nature.

Everything went great until I accidentally snagged a water cup that was full of gatorade.  I knew it even before that first drop hit my tongue.  I could smell the lemon and just thought, “oh shit.”  I’ve had a bad experience with gatorade in the middle of a long training run – if you’re not used to it, the sugar can do crazy things to your insides.  Not a good thing period, but especially when you’re in the wilderness with limited options for disposal.  But I was too far committed to the quick shot of liquid.  I got the whole disgusting gulp.  Ugh.  But it all turned out fine and everything stayed in 😉

Up,up up

On the top of one all

Early in the race

Almost to the turnaround

The final big hill

I remember one big hill towards the end (not the very last one) that was big and steep.  I fell into stride with the gal in white long sleeves in my pictures and we made a silent sort of deal to not stop running.  We made it to the top together and stayed close the last few miles.  With one mile to go I was still feeling strong but was starting to get warm due to the cloudless sky.  I stopped to take off my top layer and get one last drink of water before pushing through the last mile and up the final hill(s).

I finished somewhere around 2 hours but with some extra mileage on my app.  I went searching for the girl in white to tell her thanks for the hill support but my crew found me first.  I lamented about the mismeasured course while stretching and eating.  The 26 and 13 mile markers were together at the same spot, with the same start and finish line.  It just doesn’t work.  The half marathoners got an extra tenth of a mile I think.  Oh well, I wasn’t too caught up in it.  My mind had already moved on to pizza.

Overall I highly recommend this race as a recreational experience.  There are water and aide stations along the way but not every mile.  There are very little humans along the course cheering but it’s a great scenic run.  A little mismeasured but made for some mental conditioning.

I left the course feeling like myself again.  I know I can run 13.1(+) miles without walking too much.  I know I can do it in a strong and confident way.  I know I can do it on hills and at altitude.  Because I did!  Happy to be back 😀

Go Short, Go Long, Go Very Long

Publishing out of order for the sake of trying to get a new habit going!  Route 66 is coming, I promise!

As part of trying to get faster in general this year, I decided to focus on my most hated distance – the 5k.  I plan to check in on my progress every month by running one (either a local race or just the distance on my own) and tailoring my training to this particular distance.  I know I won’t be able to resist the pull of the half marathon but my training will not be geared towards a strong half marathon time.

I decided this almost immediately following the Route 66 race last November.  You’ll see why in a few days when that post pops up.  A large part too was that I needed shorter runs and training days to help me manage my time better, and to feel successful.

I started 5k training almost immediately after the half marathon.  Nothing like a disappointing performance to light a fire underneath your motivation, right?  So, it’s been about 7 or 8 weeks of focused training of one track, one tempo and one long run per week.  Plus some cross training and lots of yoga.  I’m very pleased with my first test of training!

Race Review

• Price: Reasonable, purchased on sale during Thanksgiving weekend.
• Course: Awesome.  West side of river trails.  If race grows too big, could be very crowded.
• Organization: Not great.  We had that false start and awards seemed to take forever to get started in the cold.  Volunteers were awesome.
• Post-Race: Awesome.  I wish I’d remembered to use my food and beverage tickets!
• Would I run again? Yes.

I signed up for this race on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  Fleet Feet, the organizers, do a nice discount on one of those big sale days and I took full advantage signing up for this 5k and the Golden Driller half in April.  This particular race had four distances to choose from: 5k, 10k, 25k and 50k.  With my new goal in mind, I selected the 5k.

Packet pickup was a breeze.  I was in and out of the downtown location in less than 4 minutes.  I chose the earliest time on the Friday before the race to go.  It was a simple packet, as to be expected with such a small local race, and included our bib, shirt and four safety pins.

Contents of the Packet

The morning of race day was pretty low key for me.  I got up, fed Miley, grabbed a banana and headed to Foolish Things for a cup of coffee before the race.  The later start time of 8:30 was awesome for these morning errands.

The start was at River West Festival Park, a recently renovated part of the trail system on the west side (obviously) of the river.  I showed up around 8:20, had no trouble parking and finished my coffee in the car.  The start line was just a quick warmup jog away.

West of town

Hot pants and fuel

Not much was around, a few tents and the vendors for after the run.  The start line was set up and we had a great view of downtown.  I’m imagine this park to be pretty stunning when all the wildlife isn’t in hibernation!  I’m way excited to get back on these trails in the spring.

I found my spot close to the front of the pack in the corral.  The entire 5k is run on the trail system on the west side.  We had a small glitch at the start where the race director did the countdown but we didn’t actually start when he said go.  This added some time to my app timer but wasn’t a huge upset since the chips didn’t activate yet. We got officially started about 5 minutes late and I got swept up in those front runners.

The 10k group was also running with us, but at our turn around at the pedestrian bridge on 21st street, they continued on.  This race was small and I could see the leaders almost the entire time.  I definitely had my sights set on April (I learned her name later), the lead female.  I felt my leg muscles starting to get the wave of fatigue before the half mile and knew I should back off.  So easy to get swept away in the energy.

The race flew by!  It’s been so long since I’ve run a 5k that it seemed really short!  It wasn’t very hilly and I enjoyed the out and back part of it.  Loved the energy of people running against me after the turn around and cheered as many on as I could in between breaths.

My pacing was decent throughout the race – I prefer negative splits but I feel like I gave it my all without tanking too early.  It’s always nice to feel strong through the entire distance, and also at the end like you might lose your banana and coffee.

I’ve never ever finished so well in a race.  It was a personal best but also, placed well in the field of runners.  Everyone at the finish was so polite and friendly and congratulatory. The first female came up and introduced herself to me, and we congratulated each other on great runs.  I was 90 seconds behind her.  I met a guy named Jim who hung around with me while we waited for age group awards.  He’s familiar with the local racing scene and told me April is one of the best in the state.  A couple other runners came up to talk too and it was nice meeting such friendly people – not sure if it was my breakout time or my flashy pants!

Records for Sprenkel

New Park on the Westside

1st place age group prize

We stood around for what felt like forever waiting for these awards.  My fingers went numb and my brain was so cold I completely forgot about the free beverage and food tickets!  I missed out on some Old School Bagels, Marshalls Beer and a food truck.

I set my sights on 24 minutes today – that’s been the goal of training these past 7 weeks.  I’m surprised by my fast time today, but I’m also not.  I’ve been consistent with the training runs, eating well and consistent with strength training and yoga.  These are the results I should have.  Let’s see if success can fuel the flames as much as disappointment did in November!

The goodies from today

Results

 

Tulsa Run 15k

Last Halloween I ran a race that I will tell you about today!  Since moving to Tulsa in August of 2014, I’d heard rave reviews of a strange-to-me distance race – the Tulsa Run.  It’s a 15k or 9.3 mile run through downtown and close by neighborhoods of my current hometown.  It’s Tulsa’s longest running foot race and fits well into the training cycle for the more popular distances of half and full marathons in November.

I made sure this year (now, last year!) to fit it into the race schedule.  All fall I’d been focusing on a tough training regime to help me PR in the half marathon distance in late November.  The 15k distance would be an excellent indicator for how ready I was for the half distance just a few weeks later.

I don’t really get nervous for runs like these because it’s just a fun opportunity to have a bunch of people with me on my long run.  Normally I would have sported a costume but I was in this run to actually race it.  So, no tutus or capes that would add wind resistance BUT I did wear a bright orange top.

My game plan was to just run how I felt.  It wasn’t an intimidating distance since I was prepping for 4 additional miles.   I was a little concerned about the hills I’d been hearing about but I figured I was familiar enough with the streets of Tulsa to know where the big hills would be – Utica area and coming back into town from the river.

It’s been long enough that I don’t really remember the weather that morning.  I think it was chilly to start, especially as we transitioned out of a steamy summer.  But I also remember it was humid.  I use the Nike+ app to track my runs now – no more worrying with a watch (I do miss it, just not in the budget currently).

The run was amazing.  I ran strong and felt like I was moving at a decent pace.  I saw a few familiar faces from YMCA and boot camps around town and it was fun to say hello and cheer on some friends.  We started downtown, in a similar way to how the Route 66 race starts, so I tried to visualize that race too.

The first hill came leading up towards Cherry Street so I didn’t try to push the pace.  Just stay steady.  Especially that early in the run.  And then as each mile passed it was still – just stay steady.  Soon I was on the Peoria out and back and really loved watching the crowd pass as I looked for familiar faces.  Didn’t see many but lots of costumes kept the miles entertaining.  There was an entire troop of Star Wars characters, a Forrest Gump (of course) with a fish on a line! (another runner dressed as a fish).

I periodically checked my pace and was pleased to see that for not much apparent effort I was keeping a fast (for me) pace.  All those treadmill track days paying off!

The last part of the race on the West side of the river was tough.  Not sure if it was because it was the tail end of the race OR knowing that there was a big hilly effort to get back into town.  OR that some humidity had set in and by now it was after 10 am and fairly warm.  My Foolish Things family all came out to cheer me on as I ran by and that gave me a surprising burst of energy.  Enough to push hard to the finish line (also slightly up hill).  I finished strong and had my first ever puke at the finish line.  Thankfully not on anyone, and I’m not sure anyone actually saw me.  I feel like a real racer now ;).

Happy Halloween!

The final uphill Boston Ave push.

Wore my RunInkspired Tattoo. This medal is glow in the dark!

Overall this race totally lived up to its hype.  I can’t wait to do it again and again as long as I live in Tulsa.  It is beautifully organized, a challenging course, well supported and the medal glows in the dark!  If you live in Tulsa, you should definitely add this to your calendar.  And if you don’t, you should consider a special trip, even though it’s not one of the “big” distances.

According to Nike+ app I ran 9.46 miles in 1:16:50 for an average of 8:07.  This set me up for a great half marathon effort in just a few weeks.  I only need to add 4 strong miles to the end of this and I think with the right weather I totally could.

A few weeks later I got a surprise package in the mail for an award.  I wasn’t fast enough to be in an age group for this race (although I hope for one in 2016) but I was fast enough in my weight category for a pretty little trophy.  I’m not sure how I feel about weight group prizes….not sure yet if I think it encourages or categorizes people in an unnecessary way.  What do you think?

3rd place in my “Filly” weight group.

State 15: Colorado/The Race that Almost Wasn’t

Revel Rockies Half Marathon

Oh boy do I have a story for y’all.  The past 5 days have been spent on vacation in Colorado, including my 15th state run.  Sometimes for runs I’ll just drive up for the night but Colorado was a special one – since so much travel was involved and it’s a place I’ve never explored, I made it an extended trip.  Drove through the night Wednesday, hiked Rocky Mountain National Park Thursday, white water rafted Friday, explored Denver Saturday and raced Sunday.  This post will cover the race – a series of follow-up posts will cover the vacation part.

Saturday

After a morning of exploring the city of Denver, my client/main squeeze (Chap) and I headed to the Colorado School of Mines in Golden to pick up our packets.  It’s his first half marathon experience (although I credit the Austin Half Marathon in February for giving him some inspiration).  I picked up my packet with no problem but he hadn’t registered yet so we set out to find that table.  Revel was very accommodating to us because although they had just sold out the half moments before we got there, they managed to wiggle him into the pool somehow.  We played around for a bit, Chap got a hat to keep sweat out of his eyes and I found a super discounted pair of running shoes! Then we set out to find our mountain retreat.

Ready to race!

We planned the trip so the first two days were full of Colorado activities and adventure, and the weekend days would be full of restful mountain time.  I can’t wait to share pictures and details of the place I found to stay in the mountains!

We were so tired on Saturday driving into our town that we crashed for a few hours and took a nap.  We decided we didn’t have the energy to drive the winding roads back down the mountain into town for my normal pizza ritual and instead I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner.  We took in views of the sunset from our hot tub and enjoyed a relaxing evening around the fire pit before heading to bed.

View from our weekend stay!

Best pre race routine yet!

Sunday

The race route was a point to point, starting west on 74.  Our place was right off the route as it wound east from Evergreen into a small mountain town called Morrison.

West to east down the mountain

The plan was for buses to leave the finish area from 4:15-5:15 am to drive us west to the start line for a 6:30am start time.  We were staying between J and K on the map so decided we’d leave the mountain castle around 4:50am to catch some of the last buses (ok, probably the very last bus).  I had my pre-race coffee and we made PBJ sandwiches for some muscle fuel before we left.  We made it to the parking lot before the last bus was supposed to leave but encountered a line of hundreds of people still waiting to catch the bus.

We figured people probably had the same idea as us – stay in bed and catch the last possible bus to the top.  Seemed to be an ok plan since we still had well over an hour until race start.  It was a little bit chilly out but I had on a sweatshirt that I planned to drop at the bag drop at the start so I wasn’t too miserable.

Waiting to catch the bus

By 5:45 we started to wonder what was going on since no one had moved and we hadn’t seen a single bus.  There was a line of hundreds of us wrapping up around a hill and none of us really knew what was going on.   Runners were milling about, working their way down to the gas station for bathrooms and back and forth to their cars.  By 6 I figured we’d have a delayed start time and was starting to get antsy.  We still hadn’t heard anything.  Finally, we saw a bus come around the corner and down the hill with no one on it.  It was definitely going the wrong way – we figured it was turning around at the bottom of the hill to drive up to the front of the line but instead it turned left and drove away into the distance…..

I joked with Chap that we should start a rumor and spread it up and down the lines.  Only one bus was operating for both the half and full.  There was a bear attack.  The roads are closed.  We had fun for a little while and it passed some more time.  People around us were speculating as well.  I knew it wasn’t a good thing that we’d been out there almost an hour and not seen a single bus.

Just about that time a car of runners drove by and said, “The half is cancelled”.

It seemed unbelievable and I didn’t really have time to think about it.  Honestly my first thought was, “Well let’s get the hell out of this parking lot before we get bottlenecked for hours.”  I just believed them for some reason so we hurried back to the car and got out of there.

First cancelled race ever! So sad.

We got back to the car and I was starting to feel the weight of the disappointment.  We’d come all this way.  Chap was ready for his first.  I wanted to count Colorado.  He was driving us back west to the mountain castle and we stopped at several aid stations to ask if they knew anything about the cancellation.  None of the volunteers had heard anything.  As we were driving I was thinking – the road’s still blocked off, we can head west, they’re still going to host the marathon, this is great blog material……

about that same time Chap said, “What do you want to do?”  “We’re going to the start line damn it!”

So we did.  On the way up I told him about hearing of the people in New York who ran the race anyway when it was cancelled due to Sandy.  I was thinking we’d get up there, see if they’d let us start and if not, we would just use the blocked off lane as traffic control for a routine long run.  We would figure out how to get back to the car later.

Once we finally did make it to the start, the volunteers there welcomed us and said we could start anytime.  A small bus of true halfers had made it before us and they started around 6:30.  We crossed the start mats around 7am.

Goin’ for it!

It was an incredible sunshiney day.  The temperatures were great, the air was crisp and I only noticed the elevation on the first few inclines.  The course was mostly empty, with a few runners who crossed our paths throughout the run.

Miles 1-3 took us through the mountain town of Evergreen and were mostly downhill.  There were a few little inclines where I definitely felt the elevation but that was about it.  I was so happy to be running.  In the mountains.  With Chap.

By mile 4 we’d been spit out close to a creek that provided some cooler air and calming background noise for us.  Still very much downhill but the sun was shining on us and I was getting pretty warm.

At halfway we munched on a Stinger Waffle and I grabbed a jolly rancher from one of the water stations.  As usual I took small sips at each stop. My knees were starting to feel a little tender from the decline but nothing like my left calf.  I had been stung by a bee on the Wednesday before our trip and it bothered me a little since then.  Race day though I’m not sure how it affected my muscles but it hurt!  Pushed on though 🙂

Miles 7 through 9 wound us down through a town called Kittredge and on towards our mountain castle.  We could see our beautiful place from the road.  The landscape turned a little more rocky and the stream was still with us.  Chap seemed to be doing great and was so excited when he saw the sweat drop off the side of his hat bill.  “It’s not in my eyes!”.  At this point we started seeing runners coming up the mountain!  I’m not sure if they were running the entire course in reverse (crazy!) or running half way up and coming back down (slightly less crazy!).  I cheered them on and they returned the favor.  It was great to see people making the best of this situation (like runners usually do 🙂 ).

At some point after 10 (Chap’s farthest ever!) we got a little separated.  My calf was really, really bothering me and he later told me that he just leaned into the downhill and went for it (his average time for that mile showed it too – 8:24!).  I stayed a good tenth of a mile behind for almost an entire mile.  I kept thinking “surely he’ll slow down and wait for me.”  Then I thought “well, it’s his race, he can go on without me.  But he didn’t really train that hard for it, and didn’t really have a specific goal he was going for.  Why isn’t he waiting for me?!”  So I turned on the jets and chased him down.  I finally caught him and sassed him with a “Thanks for waiting for me.”  He replied (smartly) with “I knew you’d catch me.”

We had a mile left and I got over it and helped coach him to the finish.  I was hot at this point.  Not like Oklahoma but the sun was just shining right on us.  At the last two water stops, I’d poured the rest of my cup on my head to try to help me cool off.  My knees were sore, my calf was throbbing but I knew we were gonna make it.  We had no idea of the time as his phone died and we started way after the official clock did.

Once we hit 13 miles, I couldn’t see the finish.  I knew we’d have more than .1 to go but we turned on the final sprint and made it the extra .3 miles to the finish line.  There was one final downhill that I leaned into and my knees have never felt so bad.  I actually made faces and winced out loud.  But the crowd roared us in and we finished with big smiles – or I did at least.  I couldn’t see Chap since I smoked him at the last minute ;).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We hung out at the finish for a while enjoying table massages, free TCBY scoops and of course post-run beer.  We still weren’t sure of what caused the bus problems that morning but it was like living in our own reality TV drama for a while.  When we stopped at the table to get our official time print outs we were surprised to learn Chap placed third in his age group!

3rd place!

First half marathon and he places in his age group – not too shabby!  (We won’t tell anyone that it’s because more than half of the runners didn’t get to the start line…..it’s because he has such a great coach!).

Now came the tricky part of finding a way back to our car.  We asked people along the way if anyone was heading west and didn’t have any luck there.  We looked for someone to make an announcement on the stage but also struck out there.  Finally we searched for some cardboard and marker to write “Runners stranded, ride to Evergreen $20” but no one had even that.

Finally Chap said, “you should try hitch hiking”.

And so….

Hitch hiking to Evergreen

It took maybe 5 minutes before a jeep pulled over with a runner in the front.  I said, “We’re trying to get back to the start line”  “Well we live in Evergreen so we’ll take you!”  Oh it worked out so perfectly!  Turns out they were from Oklahoma but had moved to Evergreen a few years ago.  Chap and I squeezed in the back with their daughter and enjoyed the open-top air in our faces.  They gave us an excellent lunch recommendation and we went our separate ways.

One World Cafe

We downed some burgers and bloody Marys at One World Cafe in downtown Evergreen while perusing the Facebook drama of the morning.  Revel had released a statement on their page saying “The Half Marathon has been cancelled due to the bus company not providing the number of buses contracted. Information regarding this and many more details will be forthcoming.”

Oh people were so mad and the comments were quite entertaining.  I can understand the frustration – especially for the out of towners, for the people trying to qualify for Boston and the first-time runners.  I applaud the people who made the best of the situation, enjoying the scenery of the Rocky Mountains and either running the course or mapping out their own miles.  There were lots of wins on Sunday despite the “rocky” start to the race.

We’re still waiting to hear what exactly happened – Revel has decided to refund the entry fee for those who were not able to run, or to offer a free entry into one of their future races.  Not very many race companies would do that, or have done that.  It was thoroughly entertaining to see it all unfold over social media and I’m so lucky to have had a partner willing to make it work.

Check out their Facebook page – Revel Rockies – if you want in on some of the commenting entertainment.  Several articles have also been written on the chaos if you want to search on Google you’d find some things there too.

Every time I do a race I think it’s going to be the most memorable.  From the Icepocolypse of Arkansas to the fantastically put together race in San Francisco.  Thank you Colorado for another great story to add to the books!

13.4 done!