Race4Taylor 5K Recap: A New Course Record

This Saturday was the Race4Taylor, one of my all-time favorite races. It was the third year that I've run it and the fifth (and final - makes me sad) race.

Last year, I set a new course record at this race. My goal this year was to run strong and break my record.

My legs were feeling pretty tired Saturday morning. My Fridays off have unofficially become longer run days which isn't a great combination with a Saturday race, especially one I want to run fast.  That said, I ran seven relatively easy miles and did a gym workout Friday, which meant that I ran 17 miles in the three days leading to the race. Not the smartest decision ever, but I won't complain because I really had a great run Friday morning.

When we got to the race Saturday, I ran a brief warm up and stretched really well. My run club sponsored me in this race, so I wore my singlet which was really comfortable. I'm pretty loyal to Nike dri-fit racerback tanks, but this singlet felt surprisingly good. I also wore my new Mother's Day gift: my Garmin Forerunner 220. I'll do a full review of it later.

This race attracts around 400 runners each year and all the top runners from anywhere remotely close were there on Saturday.

I didn't get as fast of a start as usual. I somehow got lost in the bog of the runners from the second and third row. If you race often, you know that everyone, regardless of ultimate pace, runs fast at the beginning. This is great and by about half a mile in (at the latest), the crowd has thinned. My slower start hurt me at this race though. I like being out in front from the beginning.

I ran the first mile great, albeit a little slower than normal in 6:13. My first mile has been right at or under 6:00 for my last few races. It's around this point that the 5K and 10K broke off, so once this happened, it was me and a little boy with a few men in front of us. I always watch this small group of guys who run faster than me and feel like if I can see them at certain points, I'm doing well.

Mile 2 on this race killed me. Flat out killed me. It's when I started feeling the previous day's miles. It's also the mile of rolling hills. It's relatively flat where I live, but this course has some hills. Not a steep up and down, but rather a few nice, long rolling hills. If you're into that sort of thing. My legs weren't feeling it Saturday. I looked at my Garmin at some point on this mile and had to give myself a pep talk because at that point, I didn't quite know for sure whether I'd even beat my record from last year. I wasn't looking for a sub-19 like last week, but I did want to be somewhere below 20. I ran this lovely second mile in 6:38, 25 seconds slower than my first mile.

Mile 3 was better. While the road did look like it was going on for days, I managed to give myself a big enough pep talk to finish the race with a 6:18 mile for a total of 19:45. I also broke the course record of 20:25 which was my PR for most of last year. I was first female and eighth overall. I was happy with my run!

I won another bobble head trophy - seriously, is this not the best trophy? There were also pirates running with us and anyone who beat the pirate got an "I beat the pirate" cup. I got this as well along with a gift card to a local running store and a cash prize for setting a new course record.

I really hope this won't be it for this race. It's a great race, but an even greater family is behind it. The family who owns and operates our local timing company began it after their son was killed in a tragic auto accident almost six years ago. I've gotten to know and love this family through the incredible sport of running. They are an inspiration to all of us. Through their foundation, they've given tens of thousands in scholarships. I'm thankful to have crossed paths with them and know that I don't speak alone when I say running means more because of them.

18:56!

This Saturday, I did something that I didn't really ever expect to do in a race: I broke 19 minutes and PR'd at the Sonoco Birthday Bash with a time of 18:56 (6:06 pace). To say I am thrilled and on cloud 9 is an understatement.

I am fortunate in that I don't work on Fridays in the summer and I like to take advantage of the early morning to get in a long run. I've had a race the past few weekends and have one the next few, but I was itching to try out some new shoes (Brooks PureFlow) and feeling great, so I ran 8 miles.

When I got up Saturday morning, my legs felt a little tired, but I wasn't worried about the race. I ate my usual scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast (in the car) on the way to the race.

I picked up my bib when we got there and then did a short warm up run. I stretched probably three or four times as much as I normally do before a race. My legs felt tight and I wanted to loosen them up as much as I could before we started.

I started up front like usual and stayed with the fastest guys at first.

Going into the second turn, I told one of the fastest men I know (really, he is incredible!) that I was sticking with him because I wanted to PR (my previous best race time was 19:48). We stuck together the whole race.

This course had some small hills on it which is different for me. I used those to my advantage and went up and down fast.

I don't look at my watch often when I race - usually just at the first half mile or so and again on the miles - but I love that my new watch (Garmin Forerunner 220) beeps at each mile. When I was at the half-way point, I was pretty confident that I'd PR, just had no idea it'd be by that much.

When I got about 100 yards from the finish, I saw my husband and our boys. A few seconds later, I rounded the final corner and saw "18:40" on the clock. At that point, I just sprinted in as fast as I could.

I may have also screamed "I broke 19!" as I ran through the finish. I was thrilled to say the least.

I ended up with a time of 18:56 (6:06 pace), was first female and sixth overall.

The feeling of accomplishment is still so strong. When I race, I race against myself and my best time and I can say that without a doubt, this race was the best won I've run.

Petal to the Medal 5K Recap

On Saturday, I ran my first Petal to the Medal 5K. I missed this race last year and I'm so glad I had a chance to run in this time. It was a trail race which is my absolute favorite kind of race. It wound throughout a state park which was beautiful.

The weather was perfect Saturday morning. When we got there, I did a warm up run of a little over half a mile. I don't always warm up, but I can tell when I do. Our run club also took a picture before the race.

When it was time to go, we lined up and readied our watches. My husband gave me The Little Red Book on Running for Christmas and I've been putting many of the tips to practice, one being to get a good start. I've really started pushing my start which in turn has helped me. I could tell it did big time in this race.

Unfortunately, my Garmin broke. I noticed a problem with it last Saturday when it wouldn't turn off after the race, but I was hoping that it was just a fluke. It picked up the signal fine and started, but the timer didn't start and after 2-3 minutes, it just turned off. I knew my pace for those first few minutes had me running a little less than a 6 minute mile, so I was happy with that and just enjoyed the race.

My favorite part of the course was when it went into the woods. I think because I grew up in the country and running trails, I really appreciate these races. I miss running on dirt roads and around fields some days.

I saw my husband and the 3 mile mark when I turned off of the trail and back onto the main road that goes through the park.

I finished the race in 20:29 (6:36 pace). I was really happy with my result. I was less than 20 seconds slower than my last road race and this was on a trail. I finished as the first female and fourth overall. It was a great race!

Running Week in Review: 4.28.14

I had a great week of running last week. I also managed two strength training workouts at the gym. My race on Saturday was good as well. I'm looking forward to knocking out my 100 miles in April tomorrow!

Monday

5 miles (4/28:04; 1/7:13)

Strength training at the gym - upper body, abs, back, butt, legs

Tuesday

2 miles/13:24

Wednesday

4 miles/27:48

Strength training at the gym - upper body, abs, butt

Thursday

4 miles/28 minutes

Friday

2 miles/14:27

Saturday

Color Me ArtFields 5K - 20:10 plus about another mile for warmup/cool down

Sunday

5 miles/34:47

Total Miles: 26

Total Time: 3:00:53

Color Me ArtFields 5K

This weekend was my first-ever color run. And it was fun.

In a small town near my hometown, the second annual ArtFields is being held. ArtFields is a 10-day art competition and exhibition in tiny Lake City, SC. The winner of the competition gets $100,000, so it's a big deal.

We drove down for the race on Saturday morning and I'm glad we did. The boys really wanted to run it, but when they saw everyone covered with paint, they decided not to. I don't blame them. I wasn't crazy about getting covered in paint either!

With my mom before the race.

There were three competing races run on Saturday and truth be told, I was sad to be missing my favorite trail run which is really one of my favorite runs. But, in the spirit of points for the Grand Prix, I decided to run the ArtFields run this year.

I didn't have a set goal for this race. I just wanted to go out, have fun and finish strong. Throughout this month, I've been participating in a challenge with my run club. My goal is to run 100 miles in April and I'm almost there, so needless to say, I didn't take a rest day before the race.

I started off the race really strong. It went through what I consider an unsafe part of town, so I wanted to stay as close to the three men ahead of me as I could while conserving what I needed to finish strong. I managed to stay around 50 yards or so from them (if my estimate is right) through the first part of the race. I did get chased by a dog at one point and had some guys yell at me at another, but for the most part, I felt safe during the race especially as there were police on almost every corner at each turn.

My first mile was run in 5:59. I was excited. About 1.6 in, I was under 10, so I felt like I'd PR this race (current PR is 19:48). I didn't pay much attention to my Garmin while I ran and really just enjoyed the race. The weather could not have been better.

There were stations along the route where people were dumping colors on the runners. At the first station, I told them no color, but got some anyway. The rest of the stations asked me, so I was able to say no. It's not that I didn't want color so much as I knew we were going to walk around the festival after the race and I really didn't want to be all painted. Plus, there was no use in them wasting color on me as I was by myself.

My mom teaches school in this town and I saw many of her students along the course. It was fun to hear my name yelled out as the last part of the course used the same street as the middle.

When I got near the end, I looked down at my watch and saw that I was close to my PR. I also saw that the distance on my Garmin was already 3.1.

When I went across the finish line, I got covered in the colored corn starch. It was fun though!

I finished the race in 20:10 (6:30 pace) as fourth overall and the first female. I wish I had pushed it near the end as I had plenty left.

After the race, the boys went for a cool down run with me. I can't wait until we can really run races together!

They were pretty excited about the trophy, too!

A Look Back: My Very First Race

Happy Friday! In honor of it being a Friday and a Good one at that (pun intended), I thought I'd take a minute to look back at my very first race. In fact, I think I'll look back at a race each Friday until I have them all integrated from my other personal blog to this running blog. That should take a while!

When I was reading over my notes from my first race, I see how much I've changed. What was something that I just decided to do on a whim has becoming part of my daily life. It's amazing to see how I've transformed over the past almost 30 months since my first race. My race PR today is almost five minutes below my race time from this first race and my body, while always small, has definitely become more toned. My love for racing has only multiplied these last few years and I'm thankful each day that this running thing that I've done consistently since I was a young teen is something that I love even more today.

My Very First Real Race
The first real race I ever ran was a 5K that is a part of a local festival. (I say real race because I have run the Cooper River Bridge and a few other races, but those weren't done to see how I could do. They were more about doing them with other people.) My husband's best friend runs and was running this race and they both encouraged me to sign up for it.

At the time, I was running probably 3-4 days a week and 2-4 miles each time. I went to the gym for strength training regularly, but I didn't do speed work or really train for races. I just enjoyed running and did it.

I was really excited about this race. On race morning, we headed downtown to get my bib. It was freezing cold and I wasn't prepared for the weather with proper race gear, so I wore my shorts and a jacket over my t-shirt. It's funny to me to think back to that day now as I'm all dri-fit everything, light weight shoes and playlists. Such a contrast from not too long ago.

When the race started, I decided I'd stay with my husband's friend as best I could. I had no expectations about this race whatsoever and really didn't know what other people would be running. Surprisingly, I finished the race in 23:58. I was not only first in my age group, but fourth overall. I was so excited!

This race is what got me hooked on racing and really kicked my training up a notch. I loved the environment of racing and I really liked winning something. From that day forward, I've only gotten faster and I know that's attributed to my training. Since this first race, I've run and won countless other races including this one!


What was your first race like?