Boo Run Race

Just finished the race this morning. I really wasn't feeling it. Think I was still a bit sore from Thursday's race, and I was simply tired. I had to get the kids up and get them fed/dressed...before you know it, it was time to leave. I did manage to inhale a small cup of OJ and a frozen waffle, and I grabbed a bag of sharkies for the drive. The race was at Lakewood Ranch Main Street....which is basically a small walking outdoors mall area with restaurants/boutiques/businesses that essentially ends in a cul de sac, so its truly not a "main street" in most interpretations of the word.

We got to the venue about 7:15, and wandered around. Saw a few runners, but there was not much signage where we parked....honestly, if we didn't see people walking on main street in between the buildings, you wouldn't even know there was a race. But, once we got to main street, it was evident. We wandered around looking for the porta-potties and the packet pickup. Neither was in an intuitive place. I think the main street merchants ensured that the porta-potties were placed far far away from everything else, which is odd....after all, the merchants were closed during the race. As for the packet pickup/registration table, we definitely needed to ask for guidance to get to it...it was a bit rainy, so maybe the table was moved from a better location to this location last minute (as it was under shelter). When we got to it the lines were all over the place and not clearly defined. If there was a way to put signage over the tables (rather than on the front where visibility is hindered by people standing at the tables), that would have helped tremendously. That being said, I simply don't know how overhead signage could be accommodated given the location of the tables. I don't want to make it sound as if this was stressful at all...these are two minor things that could be improved upon and did not detract from the race at all.

Now, once everyone gathered their items, they walked back to main street. There were announcements, tables to check out, drinks, an array of tables from the restaurants that were closed this early. Plenty of space and plenty to wander around to waste time until the race started. The race actually started 10 minutes late due to a police issue on the route....details were not provided, but then again, definitely not needed. So, the announcer took the opportunity to thank the volunteers and let the charity organizations speak about their efforts...all worthwhile minutes.

The starting line and finish line were clearly marked with blow-up tunnels. So, I was able to get pretty close up to the starting line. I absolutely didn't want to have an experience like I did at my last race, so I ensured that I was up close away from any pets and strollers! Now, that being said, I know I wasn't as fast as many up there, so as soon as we started the race, I made sure to move to the right side to avoid hindering others run. I saw the kids and Joe, and the kids were clearly excited to see me run :)

I started out too fast, for sure. After I saw the kids at the corner of Main Street and Lakewood Ranch Blvd, I saw I was running under an 8min/mile...absolutely too fast...I slowed down, but not fast enough...I was still running under a 9min/mile pace. I continued doing this pace too long though. The first mile ended in 9:11. Great if it was a 2-mile race, but I knew I was headed for trouble doing the first mile faster than I should. Second mile was 9:55...so I was right were I should be, although a mile too late. The last mile, I stopped 4 times...a total of 1:30 minutes...crazy, eh? Well, I should have been able to predict it, since I started out way too fast. Last mile (due to the stops) ended up at 10:19. My total race time, per garmin, was 30:56 (official time on digital timer at finish line was 30:58, I think. Official postings forthcoming.

About the race...pros:

• Great layout....widest path was in the beginning (the way it should be) and by the time most crossed Lakewood Ranch Blvd, it went down to 1 lane...which was perfect for the size of the crowd. Nobody was riding anyone's behind!
• Course clearly marked....honestly, hard not to do so as the road was the perfect layout for this. It was a simple out and back, which is fine.
• Police were great holding back traffic. I did hear coming back one woman yelling at an officer because they had to wait. Seriously, I'm assuming that there was signage before they got to Main Street telling them to bypass the area due to race (or expect delays). Granted, this is my assumption...but sounds logical.
• Nicely sized event...the venue could easily double the number of participants and it would be fine, so this event can easily grow over the years without much change.
• Water stop was about 1.3-1.4 mile out...you could grab water outbound or on the return...more than sufficient
• Chip timed, which is important to me
• Final 1/10 mile I was able to see the digital clock which definitely encouraged me to kick it up a notch at the end and finish with a strong sprint.

Cons:

• Takes forever to get the official race results online...and when the results were taken they were a tad off due to the line waiting to get scanned. Not significant, but I really was hoping to see an official timing under 31 minutes. The digital timer said 30:58 when I crossed the finish line, but my recorded time was 31:06. Also, I don't think the results are posted to Active.com, Athletes.com or Coolrunning.com for posterity.

• Weather looked unpredictable and started to sprinkle near the end....seriously, didn't Mother Nature know we had plans????
• Would have liked clear markings from parking lot to packet pick-up. We arrived in more than enough time, but if you were a late arriver, I can imagine this would have been stressful if there wasn't that police-dictated 10 minute start time delay!
• Wish the bathrooms were closer. When you have kids along with you, its quite a trek...would be nice to see bathrooms at the start line area and the finish line area
• Packet pick-up table should have overhead signage if at all possible. Maybe a pop-up shade tent would alleviate weather issues AND allow for display of this?

All in all, would I run this race again? Yes!

As for my time, I was quite pleased with it. I will have to work on balancing my energy and not starting out too fast, but at least I was able to give a final kick at the end to finish in under 31:00. So, a PR for me. Sure, I'm a new runner and still have a ways to go, but I'm pleased with this performance, even if I did have to stop more times than I otherwise should have!

Creaky Bones 5K Race

Last night was my first halloween-themed race! Major pros and major cons here....


Pros

• great costumes


• free face painting for kids


• nice festival atmosphere all around


• great venue


• great Mix1 protein drink (disappeared fast as they were so tasty!)

Cons

• I was in the front of the pier and it wasn't clear to me where the starting line was. Silly, I know, but I kept seeing the finish line which was on the main part of the pier, and it was logical to me that it would start there....so there was no way I could be at the front of the pack. There was also no indicating of pace flags, so those that are faster start near the front...but this wasn't a huge race, so that shouldn't be expected.


• The 5K and the 1-mile fun walk started with the same shotgun...and the first 1/4 mile was surrounding the building at the end of the pier, so there was little room on the road. Now, this would be bad enough with just the 5k'ers (as they did have more than enough if they started the run on the pier roadway (which was 3-4 lanes wide and then it would easily/naturally widdle down to a 1-lane width at the end of the pier to the sidewalk/roads). The problem here is that there were double-wide strollers and lots of small/large dogs as part of the 1-mile fun run. So, I was competing with an unnecessarily crowded 1-lane space against strollers and dogs with dim lighting for the first 1/4 mile. There were a few people that were tripped by leashes; I was fortunately not among them, but it was close more than once!


• Sorry...but I don't think a ton of dogs should be jammed in a small darkened space with tons of strangers running....just asking for trouble there.


• There appeared to be a chip mat at the start of the race, so I unfortunately presumed that my time would be adjusted by my actual start time...not so. I waited until the crowds dissipated a bit, so I was one of the last to cross the start line. This could be clearly a result of my naivete here, I completely admit that. But, if there is a mat that looks like its recording chips, why not use it and adjust the final recorded "official" times with the data? This would have been a PR for me, if it were adjusted...as the first 1/8 mile took me time to cross the line + congested....yeah, 3 minutes to do just that! Live and learn.


• The course was dark for most of the way, which is what is expected...but I rarely heard anyone telling times. I actually saw 8-9 signs indicating where the course marshalls were, but only saw 1 sign indicating my distance. Frustrating since I had no idea how far I had gone or how far I still had to go.

So, will I do this race again? Nope. Next year, I will try the Creaky Bones Sarasota venue (not the St Pete one again), as the initial part of competing with dogs and double-wide strollers in a crowded space makes me uncomfortable and unnecessarily stressed, and my final official time was off by way too much as a result.

My official course time was 32:45. That being said, I absolutely know it took me over 45 seconds to cross that starting line....without a doubt. So, my true time was under 32:00...an unofficial PR for me. Again, my disappointment with my time is my problem as I just assumed the time would be adjusted by the starting time...but just imagine what it would have been if I didn't have to compete with double-wide strollers and dogs AND was at the front of the line!


Now, on a really happy note, I am finally in the top half for my age group (Women 40-44)...and I would have been in the top half for these other age groups as well:

• Women 35-39


• Women 30-34


• Women 25-29

Not bad :)


UPDATE: So, I received an email from athlinks.com, stating that the Creaky Bones race results are now available to link. Lo and behold, I have a chip time of 31:35! Not sure why only shot gun times were (and still are) posted on coolrunning, but that is besides the point. Woohoo.... So, I'm presuming that I had a 32:48 shotgun time and a 31:35 net time. Love to see improvement!

Running Coach Wannabe

I know its completely premature for me to be a formal coach, but I must say I really do enjoy helping all of these other people at work run! Its been great. Today, we had a total of 6 runners during lunch. The "club" is now a formal group at the office, and I can only imagine that it will continue to grow. I do enjoy being that positive influence on people. Its not like I'm trying to convert them to something that they don't already want, so the desire is there already, and I'm just helping them find the drive!

I was clicking around Road Runners Club of America's website and came across the Coaching Certification program that they offer. I must say it does intrigue me, so I got on their email list. The course seems to fill up rather quickly and they are not offered very often, so maybe by the time they make their way to Florida, I'll be up for it? As long as it doesn't occur during the crunch time for runnign the half marathons down here (February-April), I may just do it. Its $300, but the sense of accomplishment would be wonderful, don't you think? Its completely a personal endeavor, I know. And, I doubt I would ever generate revenue from it, but I would enjoy having that little piece of paper. In all actuality, I'm very curious to see if I'm doing things properly here at work. I know its hard to screw up a newbie and the certification really helps those develop more competitive runners, but still it would be nice to know these things. If nothing else, i can use it on myself!

Fit Bit Ultra

You've heard of the Body Bugg...you've heard of the BodyMedia Fit....but now there is another player in this field. The Fit Bit! They just recently came out with a new product, so the older model is called Fit Bit Classic, and the new model is the Fit Bit Ultra.

So, how does this differ from those other models? First and foremost, there is no monthly subscription price. While I was really intrigued by the BodyMedia Fit, I was a bit put off by them "owning" my data and that they can also sell it and sublease it to others, for commercial use. I also didn't like the fact that I needed to invest in a product and (if I only used it on occassion) would have to pay a premium to utilize the device I already purchased.

Now, Fit Bit does a lot of the things that these other products do. It does err on the low side, compared to the BodyMedia Fit, which I prefer, e.g. it estimates steps/calories less than the BodyMedia Fit.

There is also no bulging arm band. Now, for those in northern climates, this may not have been an issue when you always wear thick sweaters or long-sleeve shirts, but for us Floridians, I wear short-sleeve shirts more days than not.

This is definitely a gadget, very unnecessary. But, it does its job. Its not going to yell at you like Jillian Michaels, so you need to have some personal drive already. But, if sometimes you need that extra push, this will do it for you. You will instantly see your progress in the day, calories burned etc (unlike the other devices which you need to sync/upload first), so it will provide a little extra incentive to get moving.

All in all, this is now on my Christmas wish list....hope my hubby sees it! So, if I do get it...I will definitely provide a formal product review afterwards.

How to make time...

Certainly we cannot create more time. We have to learn to live with the time we have. And, we all know that if something is important to us, we need to make the time to do it. That doesn't necessarily mean foregoing other things we need to do with our time, but instead, we need to learn how to be creative with our time...to make the most efficient use of every moment available.

I'm trying to find more ways to do just this in terms of exercising. Many of those moments I have may not allow me the opportunity to run for 45 minutes, but surprisingly many allow me to run 1.5-2 miles.

For example, my daughter's softball game was yesterday. It is 1.5 miles away. I ran there. I left 15 minutes before my husband/kids left the house and we met in the parking lot right on queue. I also ran home afterwards...just made sure I left during the last inning...and I met them at the door (good thing we timed that right, otherwise I would have been sitting on the stoop!).

Today, my husband brought the kids to their soccer practice. 2 miles away. I got home a tad early, raced into my running clothes and off I ran to soccer practice. I get there right before they finish, saw the last 10 minutes of practice, and we all drove home together.

Right there, in the span of two days, I was able to run 5 miles more than any other week...and it hardly took anything away from family time! I'm also running 2-3 days a week during lunch with other people consistently now...which gives me another 5 miles a week. Sure, they will never constitute the necessary "long run", but they sure do increase my bone strength and speed my recovery time. Short runs also help me focus on speed. Since I've been doing a lot of these quick runs, I've seen my speed average 9.5 the first mile...never would have thought that would have happened before. Can I keep it up for 2 miles...not really...yet. But, I'm not exhausted, nor am I about to keel over from lack of oxygen, so there truly is an improvement!

Now, I can never rely on these quick jaunts...but when I see them available, I need to jump on them. For example, I don't see another similar opportunity until next Tuesday for my daughter's next softball game, but I can guarantee you that I will try to squeeze it in! And they have a soccer game next Friday, which I may just be able to run home from since it ends at 6pm. Really, I see no acceptable reason not to do this more often. I just need to plan ahead and have everything I need ready for the waiting.

Again, if exercise is important to you, you need to make it important to everyone around you...you need to make the time!

Tummy Troubles

I don't know whats going on. My tummy is just a ball of nerves! Hasn't really settled since Saturday. I thought it was something I ate, then I thought it was just some phantom gas....but even that eventually goes away by itself. its not really causing pain, but definitely noticeable discomfort like I need some pepto bismo just in case.

But it has hindered me enough. Maybe its just the last few weeks and the craziness that we've all been dealing with. Between the trips, the funeral, the hectic schedule...I just need a week to rest, but we all know that is not going to happen. Life goes on and its surely not going to slow down for me! I'm just mentally worn out right now. At least its happening now, rather than when I need to start my half marathon training, right?

But, I want to get in some more exercise and not make my stomach worse in the process. My daughter's softball game is tonight, so hopefully I can run there and then run back, so while its not a solid 3 miles, its 1.5 miles twice :) And, then if I'm up for it, I'll do some kettlebell exercises later on....and then bed!

A Battle with Pace

Hmmm...so I know that I can run 4 miles straight..I've done it before, and while its been awhile (been focusing on speed lately), I know its possible even if I have to pause a bit. But, its the shorter distances that frustrate me.

This morning, I went out too fast. I was planning a 3-mile loop at the local preserve...wonderful wide trails, eagle's nest in site, bridges, small critters, but still safely populated. Its actually my first trail (when I started C25K). I was on this same trail for a good 6 weeks before I outgrew it...but I ventured back there today. Beautiful morning, and I ran right from the car. Now, I know I can run 3 miles straight. I've been doing that off and on, but the problem is the pace! If I go out too fast, I bonk and cannot find the drive to run the entire distance. But, I want to run faster.

The problem here is finding the right pace thats still a stretch for me, yet doable so I don't bonk. My initial pace was under 9:00/mile, which is insane for me. I slowed it and finished the first mile in 9:23, which is still way too fast for me. I wish I could do that for 3 miles, but its simply not going to happen. I know that I can run 1.5 miles at that pace, but once I get over 2 miles, I slow to a tad less than 10:00. If I go for 3 miles, I can manage 10:00/mile if the stars are aligned. :)

So, no negative split for me today. Overall average pace was 10:15. But, you can see how awful my pacing was!

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	29:54.2	2.92	10:15.1
1	9:23.7	1.00	9:23.6
2	10:09.0	1.00	10:08.9
3	10:21.4	0.92	11:17.9

In fact, I walked 5 times in the last mile alone! Just imagine how great my pace would have been if I could have sustained that. That being said, I wonder how much more I could have done if I was running with someone. Its simply too easy to walk when nobody is around.

On the good news, I have been getting better. My maximum cadence has been averaging 88-92spm. My average cadence has been averaging 86spm. When I first received my garmin footpod, my average cadence was 83-84spm, and my maximum was around 86spm. I just need to find a way to level it all out.

So, for a 5k run, what should be my pace to strive for, but not overstep? I'm thinking a sub 10:00/mile pace, just barely sub of course and then try to do a negative split the last mile. At least thats my plan. I have a race Thursday night and then one again Saturday morning, so maybe I'll play around with that idea then and test it out.

A New Beginning

Its been such a crazy month already. First, the trip to Orlando with the kids (just a quick trip, but a trip nonetheless). Then, Joe and my trip to Hawaii for a wedding. Then, the sudden trip to Pennsylvania for Joe's father's funeral....that was busy. Joe flew up last Monday, and I followed with my two kids plus my stepdaughter Thursday, and we just got back yesterday.

But, all this chaos, and especially a death in the family, helps place health and fitness as a primary goal of ours. Joe is now down to 205 so he wants to lose another 5 pounds, and that will certainly happen before Christmas. He's 6'3" so 200 pounds is perfectly fine for him. But then again, maybe he'll change his goal to 195 soon thereafter :) I remember him at his high of 225 and while I noticed the little belly, I didn't really think it was bad. Its amazing how different your perspective can change in a few years, isn't it? He simply looks fit now. And, he's running better now as well. He's started playing baseball again, but hasn't pitched again yet (but we know he should asap to diminish the scar tissue buildup after his shoulder surgery earlier this year), and he's back to playing basketball once a week.

So, where is my new beginning? Still my weight, but with an added umph as of late. I've been plateauing now for awhile, but its time to kick it into high gear. Dieting is always so hard, but at least once you lose some weight, its pretty easy to maintain it! Honestly, with three trips this month and tons of food, I haven't really gained anything, so I know I'm doing something right. The problem with me is...it takes a serious effort to lose weight. It takes constant focus, constant exercise and constant food watching. But, I know I need to do it. If nothing else, Papa's death is a reminder that health should be valued and constantly sought.

Running in the Cold!

Up in northwestern PA and it was chilly! But, I had a margarita earlier that afternoon...and man, what a great thing to do after a calorie-laden drink! First, you burn the calories off. Second, the alcohol doesn't make it nearly as cold as it really was (I'm thinking that it was 35-40 degrees....freezing for my little florida bones) :)

Now, I did list out all the items that you should consider having when running in the cold here....but seriously, alcohol could easily be added to that list!

Lunch Bunch Run

Looks like our little running group at work is growing again! We have two new runners that will be joining in the next 2 weeks. Its exciting! One hasn't run for a year or so, so she'll be trying out the C25K program this weekend to gauge where she is...she may have to start at week 1, or maybe week 3...who knows. The other, I don't even know if she runs at all, or if she is an able runner already. Either way, our group now totals 6!

Now, I still want to get the miles in, so I just have to determine how I'm going to do this if there are some runners who are in the early weeks of the training....I feel I should step back with them, or maybe we can rotate...those that have time to do 4 runs a week can take one run to do the early weeks of the program. That way, they are still getting out and giving back, but are not risking injury simply because they have a somewhat bigger base AND because the early weeks are not requiring a lot of extra exertion. Besides, I think it will encourage their pride if they can rerun Week 2 or Week 3 and realize how easy it is for them now :)

I simply cannot wait to have scheduled runs every day of the week, so people can just join when/if they are able to. Right now, we have 2-3 scheduled runs/week, and schedules/vacations/sick days all limit everyone's ability to always make those scheduled runs. But if we have critical mass to have daily runs, then everyone can chose those 2-3 days during the week that works with their individual schedules...how great is that!

I do love the comaraderie that is being felt. Everyone is so encouraging of everyone else, and I love playing the role of mentor, even if I am still a newbie myself!

Most of them should be able to run 30 minutes straight by the end of November, which will really help my half marathon training also. That starts mid-November, and I need to get in at least two 5ks mid-week during the first 2 months....so if I can get that done during lunch, I should have more time with my family at night. Besides, the weather is great this time of year!