playing catch up yet again

I have such good intentions of writing a blog post at least once a week but I'm so easily distracted that those intentions pave the way to.......well, not getting blog posts done for sure.  So what have I managed to be distracted by?

The Chase Race 2 miler, my all time favorite short distance race.  This year I didn't get a personal record but still managed to snag 3rd in my age group--mostly due to everyone being sore and tired from having ran the Little Rock half or full marathons the weekend prior.  Due to extenuating circumstances I wasn't able to run with Elsie in the one mile pet race afterwards.

I also had a last-minute but VERY welcome house-guest from the UK in the form of Dr. Sue Black who had unfortunately gotten stranded by Delta Airlines in Atlanta (there were approximately 15 people that missed the connecting flight to Austin for SXSW)--after some searching by TWBrit for alternative ways to get her where she needed to be that didn't involve a greyhound bus trip out of Houston in the middle of the night, I asked him if she was ok with a road trip from Little Rock to Austin. Yes, there were flights from Atlanta to Houston, Dallas, and Little Rock that night but no more to Austin until Sunday (this was Friday night!).  I managed to help get her where she needed to be and hopefully didn't terrify her too much with my driving.   

The next weekend was the Big Rock Mystery Run, the awesome blog Arkansas Outside has a great write-up explaining what it is and also provided fantastic photos of the event for FREE!  I ran this with Brenda and Maria, had no intentions of racing it from the beginning, this was a fun run for us to get out and play on some trails with other like-minded (read: insane!) people.  Saw some gorgeous parts of the trail that I didn't know existed and a tunnel with knee-deep, icky water that I never hope to see again, lol.  Some parts were so steep we had to use our hands to clamber up.  Brenda ended up falling on her butt twice in the same spot on a creek crossing (sorry Bren! It was funny after we figured out you were all right).  I demonstrated some of my cursing skills on a climb that was killing my calves.  All in all, great fun, can't wait to do something like that again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's a link to an Arkansas Outside photo of me, yes I'm the one with the crazy hair and dorky grin :D.  

Finally this past weekend was the Spring Fling 5k, again no personal records or even course records set but I did manage to shave a minute off from the Valentine's Day 5k so there's some progress being made to being somewhat faster(ish).  Felt like I was gonna puke from mile 2 all the way to the finish line so that means I gave it my all, which on this day was a 24:14 (chip time), enough for 15th female overall and first in my age group.  Afterwards, way afterwards--too much stuffing my face with homemade goodies kind of afterwards--7 of us went out to run another 10 miles.  Yes, we ARE insane.

My medal was being held by Julie for this pic, her hands are much prettier than mine!

There's a lot more to talk about but it's mostly centered around the women can run clinic that I'm attending and that's gonna be very long-winded so I want to write about that in its own post (just not tonight). 

Oh and there's been a lot of this going on! Puppy cuddles and naps rock :-)

Why am I doing this again?

Since I ran a 5k on Saturday I guess I should do a quickie race report before I forget all about it...........What I won't forget is how freaking cold it was! 20F/-6.7C with a windchill of 9F.  For a southerner that is brutal cold, we're just not used to those kind of temperatures.  This was one race where we weren't standing around talking beforehand or even going for much of anything resembling a warmup run (or maybe that was just me?).  Nope, lots of huddling about in giant coats or in idling vehicles trying to stay warm.  So why in the world would I drive an hour and run in miserable conditions?  For the points! The Valentine's Day 5k is the 3rd race in our state RRCA Grand Prix series.

We did manage to leave the warmth of the pickup long enough to go for a 1 mile shuffle to loosen up the muscles but I felt like my feet were gonna fall off and my sinuses decided to go into outflow overload, ewwwww.  Since the Valentine's Day 5k was split up into four heats this year (male masters, female masters, female open, and male open) the start line was MUCH less crowded than in years past--I also think the brutal cold and winds kept a lot of people home.  I'm not sure how I feel about the division but I will admit that not getting kicked or accidentally kicking people was a very nice change from the previous time I'd ran this 5k.  There was no guessing about who in front of you was in your age group, you KNEW that everyone there was female and in the masters class.

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The actual race?  Despite my lack of speed and saying I wasn't "racing" I did the first mile a wee bit too fast, 7:58 if I remember correctly from the garmin data afterwards but darn it, I was cold and wanted it over with already.  The problem with jackrabbiting is that the remaining 2 miles feel incredibly, interminably slow.  Then comes mile 2 and I'm feeling nauseous--which is my gauge of knowing I'm racing a 5k right--and I start burning up.  Oh yeah, frigid air, extreme exertion, burning lungs, and sweat..........either the best combination ever or the worst depending on what day you ask me, lol.  Mile 2.5 and my damn stomach starts cramping again--this is simply me pushing my body at a pace I'm no longer used to hitting and why I need to start doing speed work.  The temptation is strong to look at my garmin (I try never to look at it in a short distance race) and walk but I keep pushing on at a slightly lower level of exertion.  

Going into this I was hoping to be around 26-27 minutes finishing up but imagine my surprise when I come around the corner see the finish line clock and it's showing just over 25 minutes...........that my friends is what my fall-back time was on the couple of years when I was faster and having a bad 5k.  Oh yeah, I'm well happy with a finish time of 25:19 right now.  Looking back over my splits, it showed there to only be one second of difference in my miles 2 & 3 times, so while not a negative split race, it was evenly paced after I settled down.

Even with that I wasn't expecting an age group award but because quite a few of the faster women stayed home I managed to snag 2nd place in the 40-44 women's division, 11th place overall in the masters.

Gotta send a huge shout-out to my friends, quite a few of them ended up with personal records despite the conditions.  Well done!!!!!!! Shoot, it's well done for us to have gotten up and driven that far for a 5k in below freezing temps but to combine it with your faster time ever? Amazing stuff, proud of everyone.

Patti & me (isn't she adorable?!?!)

On a more serious note, Saturday, February the 11th was also the Virtual Run for Sherry.  I'd heard about this from twitter and then our running club president posted up a link to it on facebook. Several of us wore our Running For Sherry bibs during the 5k and even more of our running club wore them on their runs that day. I encourage you to go read about what happened and while it's too late to participate in the virtual run, you can still have a thought in remembrance on your next run (or next several). Please leave a note of encouragement and if possible donate to the fund that's been set up for her children.  

Crunching numbers

Numbers:  Trying not to focus on them is hard when you're a runner that also likes to track, plot, and analyze them to death.  One glaring number for me lately is 45.66.  That's the number of miles I ran last month.  Yep, not in a week, the entire month of March.  For the majority of my friends who also run, that's a normal LOW weekly mileage.  Can't help but prey on your mind especially once you finally get an opportunity to toe the line on a race.  Oh yeah, that's something else that's nagging at me--3 races this year, 2 of which were these last 2 weekends.  

I'm sure some are wondering why it does bother me, after all, I'm just a middle of the pack runner, rarely do I crack into the top 10 females at a finish line, much less the top 5.  But I do take this seriously.  I want to do the best I possibly can in a given situation and let's face it, I'm a bit competitive with my other middle of the pack running mates.  Not in the rude, in your face, you're going down manner but I do want to know that I gave it my best shot wherever and whenever I happen to race.  And of course there's the always elusive PR (personal record) or PB (personal best as those across the pond say).  In a way I'm always racing against MYSELF more than any other person. That being said, hearing your name called for an age group award ROCKS!  Ok race report time :-).

(spent too much time here before and after the race, yuck)

Today was the Capital City Classic 10k, my absolute favorite 10k course, it's flat and when I bother to look around, has some absolutely gorgeous scenery.  I really should have skipped it this year though, yesterday I was plagued with the most hellacious pollen induced headache for most of the day and just felt completely out of it.  Top that off with gastrointestinal issues today and it doesn't make for a very promising race.  Didn't even bother doing any warmup, my goal was to just finish and gather up the grand prix points for crossing the finish line. Thankfully several of the people I try to run with whenever possible that are around the same pace as me were there (YAY!!).  

(some of my gurls!!)

First mile I woulda sworn that I wasn't going to make it to mile 3 much less finish......felt extremely lethargic and just couldn't seem to get my legs to move.  Funny that it was at an 8:02 pace, sure didn't feel that fast. We also had a VERY heavy breather fall in behind us, I don't want to knock anyone getting out there but oh man does it throw off my breathing rhythm :-(.   Mile 2 finally settled into a good steady, sustainable pace and grabbed a water from the first stop........huge mistake!  My gi issues decided to flare up then, yikes! Right, steady pace, steady breathing, work through it--8:30. Mile 3 I felt like hey, I can make it so long as I don't have to make a sudden pitstop in the woods, lol--8:28.

Mile 4 starting to catch up and pass people(and a few were passing me, grrrr), joked around with a few runners around me  which helped me pick up the pace, stomach issues were easing (thank goodness!)--8:12.  Mile 5, can see Carol's ponytail in the distance so made that my goal to catch her, she's fantastic to run with, always a great cheerleader--8:12.  How odd are those mile splits? Bang on though.  Mile 6 was  cheered on by Carol and that helped me picked up the pace--8:02.  And then comes the longest .26 miles evah!!!!  Could see the finish chute but didn't think it was getting any closer no matter how fast I ran--1:54 which works out to a 7:18 minute pace per mile.  

All told, my garmin time was 51:18 (didn't shut off right away), official time was 51:16, not a chip timed race with over 500 participants so that's not bad at all......especially for a race I intended to use as a training run.  Ended up being a course pb, last year was 53:22, 2009 was 51:50.  I think this is my 4th best 10k time overall but would have to do a more thorough check before saying so for sure.  Good enough for 3rd in my age group today and with my training numbers lately, I will own today proudly.  Finished it up with  3.28 miles with friends to bring my total for the day over 9.5 miles.

Today's age group award, really funky looking re-usable plastic cups. Much heavier than they look.

I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!

Yeah, first race of the year is done!!!!!!! The Chase Race 2 Mile Grand Prix race and the 1 mile pet race.  Considering that this is my second week back to running and the fact that the ex and I were up over half the night prior arguing, I'm quite pleased with how well I did.  Last year I ran it in 15:11, this year was 15:20. Not going to complain about that, lol. 

I do love this race, lots of people, excellent goody bags full of pet stuff, great entertainment, awesome cause. It's just a lot of fun even though it was cooooold yesterday.

Oh, to celebrate my first race back and the upcoming St. Paddy's Day, I wore a lime green tutu to race in. Let me tell you if you want cheering specifically towards you--wear a tutu!!! I think it would even work for the guys. Heck, it may work even better if you're a guy, lol......

Elsie wore a tutu also! We had so many little girls coming up to us wanting to pet on her and tell her how cute the skirt was, such fun!  One little girl carried on quite a conversation telling her she was pretty and pink was her favorite color, awwww.

Finish line is in sight! I'm smiling because it felt so good to be back in the game but I was hurting too (not the ankle though)

Back of the skirt at the finish line

Carol and I lining up for the 1 mile pet race

Elsie and I approaching the finish line, she's all excited about it until 2 feet before the mats and she put on the brakes, I had to pick her up and carry her over them. The crowd got a kick out of that, lol!!

Debbie & Louie with Elsie & me waiting for the pet awards (Debbie also won a grandmaster's award yesterday, yay!!!!)

Ok, race recap. It was COLD!  My shoulder started aching about 1/3 of the way in which means I'm back to tensing up my upper body, grrr. Overall felt good so that means I probably could have pushed it a bit harder but then again I did have to slow down the pace a bit right before the 1 mile point. The garmin reflects that--mile 1 was at 7:32 pace, mile 2 was 7:43.  Definitely shows that I'm out of race form & have had no speed work since last year.

Final stats

15:20.4 chip time (15:23 gun time)

13/157 female placement

97/304 overall

1/23 40-44 female age group

The pet race! It's so much fun but after the 2 mile race my legs were trashed. about 1/2 to the turnaround point, Debbie looked at me & said "I think we should have the turnaround right here" LOL!! Can't say I didn't disagree.  This year I managed to get closer to the front and avoided most of the leash entanglements & runaway dogs, whew!

Time 8:00.73

10/117 overall

3/83 female

Here's our bling for the day

Ego boost for the day. while in the bathroom I was discussing my recent injury with a friend and fellow Cabot Cruiser when another lady came out from one of the stalls. She said her and a friend were discussing who all was there in their age group when my name came up but they decided they had a shot at placing because it was my first race back from the sprained ankle :-). Yep, nothing like a bit of friendly competition pre-race to get you fired up, lol!