Crappy Rust Buster: Labor Day Five Miler

Goal:
Run as close to 27:45 as possible
Top 2

Actual:
2.7 mile warmup solo
5 miles in 29:12
2.7 mile cool down with Sarah Powell and another guy

Saturday, May 30th, 2015.  98 days ago.  The last time I raced.  Seriously?  That's a really long time ago.

I'm pretty sure that's the longest stint of not racing that I've ever had...Those 98 days extended into a long break from racing that included two weeks in Turkey, one and a half terms of MBA classes, two weeks of sickness, six work trips, a trip to the beach, a decision to move long-distance from my husband to California, a trip to the Midwest to see family, and lots of hours at work.  Even though I haven't been busy racing, I've been busy in about every other aspect of my life.

Back to the race. I laced up my Skechers GOrun 4's for the Labor Day Five Miler in Columbia, SC.  With a small prize purse of $200, $100, $50 for 1-2-3, it seemed like a decent place to test my summer training.  But what really attracted me to the race back in June was the site that boasted a bonus prize purse of an additional $500 for breaking 27:45 and then another $500 for breaking $500.  I knew that best case scenario I could break 27:45, but that I was not in shape for sub-27:00.  After all, I only did that once back in 2013 at the Main Street Crit, two weeks before I PR'ed at the Cal International Marathon.

So, what happened in the race, you ask?

It was crap.

It was hot.

My time was slow.

I ran practically the same pace for my marathon two years ago.  I ran faster than this pace in a 4 mile tempo on Thursday of this week.  I ran my 2014 half marathon PR approximately 10 seconds faster per mile than I did today for five miles.

I'm done ranting.

Important to consider though is that I did put myself out there. I race to test my fitness and my mental fortitude; I use this to understand what to tweak in my training. This race was not an accurate indicator of my true fitness, but I do believe that it was an accurate indicator of my mental tenacity.  It's not where it needs to be. I've been worrying too much about little aches and pains, about my weight, and about my upcoming move.  It's time to really refocus my attention to all the small things that make a huge difference when it's comes to a giant goal race like the Olympic Trials.  With so many upcoming changes, it will be critical for me to focus my energy in the right places, in the positive places, so that that I can be as successful as possible.

Photo courtesy of Alex McDonald

Main Street Crit 8k Recap

Goal #1:  Top 3 and at least $500 cash
Goal #2:  PR (Sub-27:45)
Goal #3:  26:xx

Actual:
All 3 goals
3.5 miles warmup with strides & drills
8k race in 26:45, 2nd place, $750, results
3.2 miles cool down for ~11.5 miles
Splits for each lap: :31, 2:47, 2:52, 2:55, 2:57, 2:57, 2:59, 2:58, 2:59, 2:55

I walked away from this race with a one minute PR and $750 cash, so there's a lot to be happy about. Going into the race, I knew that Joan Tangwar from the half two week's ago would most likely be here since she discovered that Columbia has some of the best prize money races around. Other than that, I really had no idea what the competition would look like.  I did know that I could control only my training and execute my race plan, which was to go out semi controlled and to try to pick off as many people as possible.

After an early Thanksgiving celebration with my parents and Garrett, we jumped in the car for the quick drive to Columbia.  I scoped out my competition, which at this point seemed to be limited to just guys.  At one point, I saw Allison Grace (former Zap Fitness member) and a couple unfamiliar faces.  After my first lap of warmup, I watched as several Africans, including Joan and three other women, climbed out of a ten-passenger van.  They all come from the Chapel Hill Marathon Guide team, and I just hoped that I could beat at least half of them.  After a longer warmup, we got escorted over the start line and I situated myself right in between Joan's posse and Allison Grace.  I exchanged a couple words with Allison before we were off.

As expected, the Chapel Hill group all took off like crazy, and Allison and I settled into a nice rhythm for the first lap (only 8 more to go!).  I had no idea what my time meant and decided to disregard it for the rest of the race.  After the first lap, I passed Allison and then set my eyes on Joan, who was up ahead.  It took me two more laps to catch up to her, and I finally passed her on the 4th lap.  She didn't even respond when I passed her, so I knew she was hurting.  After I passed Joan, there was only one more woman to pass to be in first place (or so I thought--I actually was in third place at this point, but the lead woman was so far ahead I didn't even know she was there).  After the 4th lap, I was about 6 seconds behind the next woman, and by the 8th lap, I was only 2 seconds behind.  During the 9th lap, I contemplated sitting on her shoulder for a bit, but then, after a quick battle ensued, I accelerated on one of the turns and effectively dropped her.  At the same time, I began to get lapped by the lead male runners and I fretted that it would be my female competitors, but it wasn't.  As I passed through for the bell lap, the male runners who had just finished in 4th place had collapsed right in front of me, so I had to hop over them to continue on my merry way.  I caught the time on the clock--around 23:50 something, so I realized that I had quite a good chance of breaking 27:00 for the first time.  My stomach hurt a little bit on that last lap and I wasn't sure if I needed to vomit or something else.  Fortunately, neither happened, and I was able to keep my early Thanksgiving lunch in my stomach.

As I rounded the final turn into the finish, I thought for sure that I had won and smiled very big in the final stretch, both for my "win" and my PR.  After I came through, Garrett congratulated me on $750, and I said, "NO, $1000."  That's when I found out that I was actually second and that the leader had been about 30 seconds ahead of me.  Regardless, I was still very pleased.  It's nice to start my taper on such a high note and with such a big PR in the 8k.  I know that these shorter races are much different than the marathon, but if anything, they've been an indicator that my fitness is where it should be and that I can execute a great marathon plan if everything falls together correctly.

I cooled down with Joan and learned a little bit about her life, which is very interesting. She has a degree in Biology but now lives in Chapel Hill and races practically every weekend.  Her legs were very tired today, which is why she couldn't respond to me today. Her whole family is still in Kenya, except for her sister.  I definitely couldn't race every weekend and left feeling very fortunate that I have a job that allows me to pay the bills and to selectively choose which races I want to peak at.

Moe's Burrito Dash 5k

Goal:
Win Prize Money

Actual:
3.1 mile warmup
5k race in 19:04 with Burrito, 2nd place, $1000
3 mile cool down

PM:  6 miles with Laurie for ~14 miles total

Last year, I found this gem of a race, the Moe's Burrito Dash, with a very deep prize purse, but with a slight catch: you had to eat a burrito in the middle of the race.  Last year, only one other competitive woman showed up and it was a relatively easy win.  It helped that the race was short, that the burrito station was at mile 2, and that the burrito was about the size of a taco.  This year, the course was exactly 5 kilometers, the burrito station was at 1.5 miles, and the burrito was bigger.  To further complicate matters, there were six women with me in the burrito station.

Despite all of that, it was a blast because of two things: (1) Garrett and I got to take a mini road trip with Laurie down to the race, one of my favorite people in Charlotte and (2) Laurie, Pezz and I finally all toed a start line in the same race together!  Ironically, I had told Pezz about this race a couple weeks ago, questioning her decision to do the Tar Heel Ten Miler, which was further away and featured a smaller prize purse.  On Thursday, she texted me asking permission for her to run it. Pezz is so nice that I'm pretty sure if I had said NO WAY, she would have actually not run it.  Of course, I told her that I do not own the Burrito Dash and that she should definitely do it.  Knowing that both Pezz and Laurie have PRs that are minutes faster than mine, I didn't want to discount either of them before the race because I had done a decent job of eating my burrito last year.  Well, not this time around....

After a nice warmup with Laurie and Pezz, we all toed the line and waited for the signal.  Pezz effectively false started, but it didn't matter as we all followed a couple seconds later.  Pezz shot off to the front and another tiny girl went with her, but then fell back to where Laurie and I were.  After 1000m, Pezz was about 15m ahead of me and I was in second. I knew that Laurie, the tiny girl and a couple others were close, but I kept chugging through.  I didn't catch my splits, but I guess I went through the first mile in 5:15.  We got the burrito stand, and Pezz had taken about 2 bites.  After 10 seconds, Laurie, the tiny girl and two former college runners entered.  We were all stacked against each other and eating a burrito.  I couldn't breathe without snot shooting out of my nose, and I kept glancing at Pezz and Laurie to see where they were at.  At one point, I almost threw it all up but managed to keep it down.  Out of nowhere, Laurie downed her burrito and took off right before Pezz yelled "welcome to moe's" and I was left to follow in their dust about 10 seconds behind.  Another girl was right with me and I broke her after 400m.  Around 2.25, I caught up to Laurie (finally), told her GREAT BURRITO EATING and she told me to GET PEZZ.  I told her that another girl was close behind me and powered ahead.

At the finish, I crossed the line about 8 seconds back from Pezz and threw up as soon as I crossed.  The next girl, Christina Supino, a former Dartmouth runner, was close behind and then Laurie.  I was bummed that Laurie, Pezz, and I did not take the top three spots, but Laurie had just gotten an iron drip, so she was still recovering from that.  Fortunately, she is a great sport and was totally supportive of us and patiently waited for us to get our awards.  She did come away with 50 Moe's Bucks, but since they were only valid Columbia, she gave it to Christina, who lives there.

Overall, this year's experience wasn't nearly as positive as last year since I threw up and had a much more difficult time eating the burrito, but I had a lot of fun with some of Charlotte's fastest women!