Don’t Ask Me How I Know: Poor Race Prep

When planning to run a race, do not also plan to donate blood the day before.

The typical donation is about a pint of blood.  We have about 10 pints of blood in our body.  Therefore, in donating blood you are losing 10% of your blood supply.  It takes approximately 24-48 hours to replenish the volume, and four to eight weeks to replace the red blood cells.

If your race is 30 hours after your donation, it’s probably not going to go well.

A pre-race meal, approximately 3 hours before the run, should not consist of fried dough and a root beer float.  The fruit salad will not make up for it.

You may spend the entire race hoping and praying you do not throw up.  Because really, it’s a 5k and that would be embarrassing in itself, but this happen to be the biggest 5k in the state with over 6,000 runners and walkers that the news not only covers, but many of their employees run as well.

And lastly, if you’re planning to run a race, actually training for it, even in a minor way, will help.

I fully support blood donation – its one of the easiest ways anyone can help save lives.  Being uncomfortable for ten minutes to a half hour (yea, sometimes my blood doesn’t flow quite so fast) and maybe enduring a bruise for a week is nothing compared to what someone in need a blood transfusion is likely going through.  But I will never do it within a week of a race again. Ever. Ugh.

I fully support fried dough and root beer floats at appropriate times.  Post race would be a good choice.

Pretty sure fruit salad is okay in almost all situations.

Blood donation facts taken from : the internet, per Google. kthanks.

5k Fail.

Balloon Festival 5K

I ran another 5K last Friday.

I couldn't help it.  It was small, cheap, and based on last year's results - I had a chance to place in my age group.  So I went for it.

The weather didn't seem like it was going to cooperate, but it mostly just stayed cloudy and the rain held off.  The race was part of a hot air balloon festival a few towns away which included food vendors, crafts, rides, and of course hot air balloons!

Somehow I convinced B to join me.  He's only been to two of my races - my first 10K, and my half marathon - so I was excited, even if he wasn't overly thrilled.  (Don't worry, while I was running he got a sausage and talked to the air national guard people that were there.)

It wasn't a chipped race, which always annoys me because I like accuracy.  But, since it was small, getting over the 'start' line wasn't really an issue.  I lined up with everyone, probably in the front of the middle of the pack.  The race was started with a "ready, set, go" through a bull horn, and the course guided by a guy on the bike.

I knew it was going to be somewhat hilly, and I haven't exactly been *ahem* keeping up with training, so I was nervous.  I felt good for the first mile and finished it with a split of 8:44, which is pretty fast for me.  There were a few woman around my pace so I stayed with them for a while before passing several of them.  Mile 2 was out through farmland (aka manure smell) and was mostly flat, except for the uphill turn around that included a water stop.

At this point, I was just pretty ready for it to be over. I wasn't feeling it and just kept pace with a girl next to me through the up and down hills.  Mile 2 split was 9:01.  There were rolling hills the last mile and I was grateful to see the dirt road that lead to the finish line.  As I ran towards the finish I saw B on the sideline with the camera.

I know, I look so great when I run, huh?  Sidenote: the girl behind me in the green shirt was the one I ran with almost the whole time.  After I got home and went to log my miles onto dailymile.com, I realized she was a girl I had recently friended on the site.  We're also running a few more of the same races this summer. Small world!

Mile 3 split was 9:08.  My official finish time was 27:55.  It wasn't a PR, but I'm still really pleased with it.  There were more hills than the one I PR'd on a few weeks ago, and this one was 3.13 whereas that one was 3.01.  So, yea, I was okay with my time. It was still well under 30, and it was in the 27s, so I can't complain!

Oh, and then there's the minor fact that I got 2nd in my age group again. Woo hoo!!! So, I call that a WIN.  2nd out of 15 in my age group, and 68 out of 154 overall. Not too shabby for a Friday night.  And it didn't even start to sprinkle until the awards.

I felt alot better than I looked here, I swear. So sloppy looking!

Anyway, now I've got myself $15 to spend at RoadID, which is what I chose from the table for my award :)  I'm probably going to get a wrist or ankle sport ID.  For those who aren't familiar, they're similar to the medical ID bracelets people with certain conditions tend to wear - only they have personal and contact information available in case anything where to happen to the wearer while running (or biking, or whatnot).  Gives the wearer and their loved ones some piece of mind.  There is also room on them to include an inspirational quote.... so now I need to decide on a running mantra.  And of course which color I want.

Ugh, decisions!

The Race That Almost Wasn't

But I'm SO glad it was.

This was the Rush Hour 5K Road Race at my work.  Around 11am this morning, people started noticing that the toilets weren't flushing and the faucets had almost no water pressure. A friend and I walked over to the other building on our company's campus and found the same situation.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I drink a lot of liquid throughout the day - water, coffee, tea - pretty much constantly.  So, without working toilets there was a bit of panic that sent in with many of us.  Shortly after, a company email went out that there was a water main break and by noon our management team decided to let us head home for the day.

I sent an email to the organizer to confirm if they would still be holding the race.  Part of me really didn't want to drive back to work once I got home, and a few people in my department echoed similar sentiments and said they might not bother coming back.  A little after two, an email went out confirming the race was still on. I had spent the afternoon walking the dog, mowing the lawn, and finishing up some projects around the house, and headed back to work in time for the race.

Couple of things... it was pretty hot today.  And admittedly, I haven't run that much lately, at all.  Most shockingly, I showed up to this race by myself.  There was no guarantee anyone else I knew would be running, and I hadn't signed up with any one to run with.

There were some familiar faces since it was held at work, but no one I knew enough to talk to.  I was there about a half hour early, so I jogged a little, and walked around, stretching and listening to my ipod.  I started getting nervous, realizing I was really about to do this by myself.  Each race I've run has included at least one friend running with me - and many times had people I knew would be cheering at the end.  But not this time.

I put myself in the middle of the pack.  I know all the advice - don't go out too fast, find someone to pace with, save some for the end, etc etc etc.  And I told myself the only goal was to break 30 minutes.  So imagine my surprise when I look down after a quarter of a mile and I've got an 8:06ish pace going.  I knew I had to back off or I wasn't going to make it.  I tried to keep pace with a few women around me so I wouldn't keep speeding up.

Mile 1: 8:52

Crap. I'm not known for sub-9 minute miles. Ever. I suddenly became very worried I was going to bonk.  I tried to pull back, just stick with the group I was with and not worry about passing anyone in mile 2.

Mile 2: 9:19

I felt good. I had a good cushion left in order to get under 30, and that was the only goal.  It all went by so fast.  I kept checking my Garmin for my mileage and around 2.75 was headed down a windy sidewalk and couldn't believe it was almost over.

Mile 3: 8:52

A woman passed me that I had noticed before the race.  She looked like a runner.  In the half hour before the race, you can bet I was scouting everyone out and making assumptions about people - because what else are you supposed to do?!!?  I wasn't sure if she was in my age group (20-29) but felt like she might be.  But it didn't matter.  I just wanted under 30.

I could see the finish line and timer and was shocked and excited to see a time starting with 27.  I gave what I had left and came flying down the hill.  My Garmin read 27:06.

Total shock. I had thought maaaaybe I could get in under 29, maybe.  Seeing that 27 put a massive grin on my face.  I wandered around a little after, drinking some water and grabbed a clementine.  I tried to decide if I should just go or hang out for a bit watching the rest of the finishers.  I took a seat on the basketball court and ate my clementine, and just kept looking at my Garmin and smiling at the time.  I looked at my splits in awe.

I got up to throw out the rind from my clementine, and noticed they had started printing the results.  I looked at them upside and saw a 2 next to my name.  And then I saw the pile of medals.

Wait a minute... did I just get an age group award?

Yes, not only did I PR my 5K, by 3 minutes and 16 seconds, I received 2nd place for the 20-29 female age group.  And yes, there was more than 2 people in my age group - 7 of them in fact.  Last year,  in this same race, I was 7/9 in my age group.  This year...  I got a freakin' medal you guys!! I love medals.

Embarrassing picture with my medal.  

Yes, I'm in my truck - but don't worry mom, I swear I was at a red light!

I'm so happy and feel very rejuvenated with running.  Like all these miles I've run over the last year have actually helped me accomplish something I wasn't sure was possible.  And now I'm off to find myself another race to run...

No Really, I Still Run...

Approximately a year ago tomorrow (okay, it was actually June 29th, so a little less than a year), I strapped on my first timing chip and stepped up to the start line of my first ever road race.

I ran a 5K in 30:37, without stopping once.  I haven't looked back since.

Tomorrow I'll be running the same 5K at my work, and have high hopes to finally break 30 minutes.  I've run hundreds of miles (wow, that's kind of crazy to say) since that last race, and I know I can run a lot farther than I did then, let's just hope I can run faster!

I've done a few 3.1 mile training races and come in under 30 minutes, so I've got my fingers crossed.  Most of the people that run it are pretty quick (i.e. 102 out of 116 that ran it last year came in under 30 minutes), so hopefully I can find someone to use as a pacer and between them and my Garmin, I can achieve one of my big goals for the year.  I plan to do at least a few more to better my time this summer, and then hopefully I can go off and do a 10k under an hour... we'll see about that.

I haven't been running as much as I probably should be, or want to be.  But I've been doing a somewhat crazy amount of zumba, so I think I'm pretty strong cardio wise.  My plan is to run the first two miles around the same pace... aiming for somewhere between 9:15 and 9:30, kick it up in the third mile, and for the last quarter mile go pretty much all out.  I know the course much better this year, since I've walked and run it several times over the last few months, so I'll know where the ups and downs are and how much I have left.

Regardless of what happens, its crazy to think I've actually stuck with this for over a year.  Granted I took some time off in the late fall/early winter, but I've stayed with it for the most part - more than anything I have before.  Even though I played sports in high school, I don't think I've stayed this consistent with exercise before, ever.  For someone who has claimed many times in her life that she just wasn't cut out to run, I'd say that's a pretty big accomplishment.  I might not be fast, but at least I'm out there.

No matter what my time tomorrow, I'll still be proud of myself.

My Running Secret

I've been keeping a secret.... the last six weeks I've been following the Couch to 5k Program.  It's a 9 week program designed to help you get from being a couch potato to running a full 5k.  (I asked B if he wanted to do it with me... he said he'd take care of the couch part.)

With two friends training for marathons - that they discuss frequently, and still feeling the "newlywed nine", I was looking to get myself into decent shape again.  I've never enjoyed running, and would never dare to call myself a runner.  I played sports - soccer, basketball, rugby, and I swam.  There's an amount of running required (well except for the swimming), but beyond that it was never something I enjoyed.  Over the years I've tried to run, it always seemed like a good idea, but I would come home in pain and convince myself my body just wasn't built to run. That I have bad knees. That I have a bad back. Etc. Etc. Etc.

But, then I looked at the Couch to 5k Program.  I'd never followed any programs before, I'd just go out and run as much as I could.  I told myself I would follow this program, and not overdue it - which always leads to me feeling awful and not wanting to do it again.

Well, this is week six.  I've completed all of the trainings so far, in order and not gone over (at least not by much).  It also happens to be the week of the "Rush Hour 5k Run" at my place of employment.  I figured what the heck.  One of my crazy marathon friends works in the same location as me and said she'd run it too.  Perfect.

The race was today.  And I finished. And I ran the entire time (minus about 5 seconds of tying my shoes).  And I wasn't last. Not even close. In fact, I passed several people in the last quarter-ish mile.  I did pick up my pace a little too soon - didn't realize the last loop was so long!

My "unofficial" time - i.e. when I crossed the line what the clock read - was about 30:25.  It was a chipped race - meaning they gave us ankle bracelets that track you specifically, so they'll have the results based on exactly when I crossed the start line, and exactly when I cross the finish line - so I'll have an official time in a few days hopefully.  And, for those who are metrically challenged, a 5k is 3.1 miles, and 30:25 is under a 10 minute/mile pace.  Which is pretty decent for a beginner runner - at least from what I know.

I'm really proud of myself, and will continue to finish off the training plan as is, in hopes of being able to push myself a little harder.  I had fun, even if I was a bundle of nerves (cause I mean, my boss, Mr. something-like-7-time-Boston-Marathon-runner was running too), and am excited to get back into a competitive sport - even if the competition is mostly with myself.

Big thanks to Kristin (check out her photography site Focused on Life) for running it with me, and helping me push myself.

So, I might be doing some more running, but I'm still not calling myself a runner...