Race Recap - Running into the New Year - literally!

How did you celebrate on New Year's Eve? I don't know about you, but part of my celebration was running a 5k! I loved the idea of this race from the minute I heard about it. A NYE 5k, how cool is that?!

Mustering a smile post-run

I have to admit that this race was a little disappointing.  I really wanted to beat my previous time of 28:22, and sadly, I was not able to do that.

Because of the weather, there were some last minute changes to the course, but it was still less than ideal. I appreciate the volunteers and staff of this event going out of their way and working harder to accommodate these conditions, and I understand there is only so much that could be done. Much of the course was pretty slippery, and the beginning was really narrow so there was some considerable bottleneck going into it. Because of the iffy roads and the freezing cold temperatures that day, a lot of people didn't show up and it seemed like morale was a little bit down. I know it was for me, because I was there by myself (Kevin had to work and couldn't come with me, and none of my friends were there). So I think that I and many others just wanted to run the race and get out of there.The festivity I imagined around this race just wasn't there.

Well, except maybe for these folks:

If the temperatures had been slightly more bearable and the roads/course not so affected by ice and snow, this event would have been a blast. And, I probably would have performed better.

I understand that these things aren't under my control. There is nothing I can do about the weather and the course conditions. Once it gets to that, I just have to do my best and be proud of myself for it.

I read a great article in Runner's World recently about bouncing back from disappointing races. The first step, they say, is to acknowledge what was and wasn't under your control. The weather wasn't under my control, but some factors were under my control.

Once the bottleneck at the beginning eased up, I overcompensated trying to make up the time lost from the slow start. That was a mistake. Before I even hit mile 1 I was worn out. My legs felt heavy and tired for every step of that race. For the first time ever, I wasn't enjoying a race, I just wanted it to be over. And then, the pinnacle of lack of preparation: my shoe came untied (really?? REALLY?!?).

Waiting to start the race...guess I should have been paying more attention to these laces!

Also, I think I had some unrealistic expectations going into this race. I really built this one 5K up in my mind and for some reason, it was uber-important to me to beat my previous time. This is my last 5K before I go on to bigger races (well, for the forseeable future anyway), and there's a chance I won't be as good or fast in longer distances, so I guess I wanted to get one last taste of victory before the hard stuff comes. I remember the thrill of my November 5K and how good it felt to beat my time, and I wanted that again. I actually trained harder for this one than the previous ones, and I didn't want all that to be for nothing. Or maybe it's just that it was the last day of the year and I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.

It wasn't until my drive home that I realized I had become way too obsessed with this one race. I wanted to beat my old time so bad that I lost my perspective. This is just one race, it's not the be-all-end-all of everything. I had to remind myself that I have bigger goals - my halves and my full - and I need to remain focused on those. Those are what's really important, those are what I'm running for. I love small races and it's important to me to do well in them, but I need to remember to put things in perspective. Beating my goal 5K time and being higher up in the results than I expected are great feelings, but not as great as the feeling of crossing the finish line of my first half and then my first full marathon.

I also needed to put things in perspective to remind myself that just because I didn't live up to my expectations, doesn't mean I did that badly. I came in at 29:21, which is still a respectable time considering what we had to work with. I was 14th in my age group of 50 women. That's not bad at all! Hey, I'll drink a complimentary beer to that!

Since I had already taken 2 pictures in front of this thing, I was a little embarrassed to go back and ask another stranger to get a shot of me with my eyes open

"Linked together for hope": a world record attempt at 500 people running a 5K linked together! Don't think they reached 500 though :/

My next race (and 1st for 2014) is a 10K on February 2nd, one month from today. That's right, I'm movin' on up! A 10K will be much more challenging for me and I'm both nervous and excited to take it to the next level. Stay tuned!

Getting Better: My 2nd 5K Race!!

This Sunday, I ran my 2nd-ever competitive 5K. I ran the "Elf Run," which is the 2nd of 6 races in the GLM Winter Race Series (no, I'm not running all 6. I am running 4 of them; this was my first one).

In the days leading up to Sunday, I started feeling nervous. The high for Sunday was only 24 degrees! It's been a cold November, so it's not like I haven't run in cold weather yet. But never THIS cold! I wondered if it would have an adverse affect on my running that I couldn't forsee.

I was also nervous about how this race would compare to my last one. I did really well in my last 5K and got a much better time than I imagined. So, even though I made sure to not let that get to my head and to keep my expectations in check, it was tempting to just assume that this race would be even better. I keep trying to remember Pablo Coehlo's timeless novel The Alchemist, in which the protagonist at one point receives a warning about "beginner's luck": bascially, that it is an illusion that doesn't last and that he who isn't prepared for the difficulties that follow the initial beginner's luck is doomed to fail and give up. I had to remember that starting out really well doesn't mean all my races will be that way. Still, I really wanted to beat my old time, and I was afraid of feeling the disappointment of a "sophomore slump."

Well, Sunday morning was just as frigid as expected. Although clear and sunny, it was a bitter 19 degrees out. After going to the wrong building (that's what I get for assuming the SUV full of racers in front of us knew where they were going better than my directions did!), we arrived at the Expo center and picked up my sweet race bib and tshirt. I wasn't really nervous as we waited around with the crowds in the expo center, or as I bobbed up and down trying to keep my legs warm with all the other 5K runners who were crowded into the starting chute in the minutes before the race. I just kept reminding myself not to start off too quickly, to harness the energy of all the runners around me but also not to get fazed by them. And then, we were off! Finally!

The course was pretty boring - it just weaved through a corporate park area. Music is allowed in these races, so I took full advantage of that and let my running playlist pump me up. U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" came on in the middle of my race, which has to be one of the best running songs ever.

I pushed myself HARD for that last mile. They had timers at each mile, and I remember the surge of empowerment I felt as I neared the finish line and saw myself cross it at 20 seconds earlier than my time to beat. I had done it!!

And that was just the gun time. After waiting in the freezing cold line to get my results, I was stunned to see that my net time was 28:22 - a whole minute better than my last 5K time! And that I got a whopping 17th place in my age group - out of 50 people!

Minute by minute, I'm nearing my goal of medaling in one of the GLM Winter Series races. The races in this series give medals to the top 10 finishers of each gender age group, so realistically, this is my best shot to medal in a race that doesn't give medals just for finishing. I didn't expect one at this race, and I doubt I'll be able to medal in the next one - a 5K on New Year's Eve. But my last two races in this series will be 10Ks, not 5Ks, and I really hope to medal in at least one of them. Not as many people run 10Ks so I'm hoping if I stay on top of my training this will increase my chances of medaling in one of them. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, to sum it up: WOO HOO!! It's such a great feeling that my training is paying off and I can see myself improving. I'm slowly getting better, faster, and more competitive. 17/50 is SO not bad!! If only all my days could feel as good as race days :-)

Running and Time Management

It's been almost 2 months since I last posted here - yikes! I do feel really bad about that, but life has been a little crazy as I try to adjust to being busier with volunteer work and social stuff and taking on new projects.

You'll also note that I've rebranded and renamed the blog. Now that I like running and am setting all these goals for myself, I don't really identify with the "anti-runner" like I used to.

But the important thing is - I HAVE been running still! Don't worry everyone, I did not give up! Quite the opposite: I ran my first "real" 5K on Sunday, October 13th in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. It was a beautiful, chilly day and I stunned myself by running it in 29:38!! I know that that doesn't sound like a competitive time to any other runner out there, but this is huge for me for my first ever timed 5K! I am lucky to get 2.5 miles in 25 minutes on my normal runs, so to finish a 5K in under 30 minutes was incredible!

I've been keeping up with my running since then, but today I want to talk about a big problem I'm having with training and time management. The problem? Well...it's hard. This fall, as I've joined new organizations and taken on more volunteer work, I've had weeks that are so busy I'm lucky if I can squeeze a run in during the work week (I run in the evenings). Last week I only ran ONCE in seven days (I was not pleased with myself!) because I had something going on every evening except Friday and by then I was too burned out.

This is starting to frustrate me. On the one hand, being busy and doing things in the community is important to me. It was a goal of mine to meet new people and become involved in the community instead of sitting at home and staying in my shell, and I've really worked hard and put myself out there to make that happen. But now that it is happening, I'm starting to see that it's no picnic. But the thing is, being this busy means sacrificing running time. And while my social life is important, running is ALSO important to me. And as I get closer to my half in May, it's going to be less acceptable to skip runs during the week. I want to be more focused on my training, but in order to do that I'd have to give up some of my activities, and that's hard for me. So, many weeks I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place.

So, I'm trying to kick into problem-solver mode to see how I can reconcile these two things that compete for my time and energy. I could cut back on some of my extra curriculars. But the thing is, I already don't do much more than the essentials: meetings, important events, book club every so often. It's just busy right now and hopefully it will die down a bit after the holidays and I can focus more on training in the early months of 2014.

Another option is for me to do my running at a different time, aka, in the morning. This is possible and I often consider it, but it's problematic for a number of reasons. One: I can't get up early. I just can't. I've tried to make myself get up earlier so many times and I can never stick with it. Two: I don't want to give up evening running, because I like it. After a long day of sitting at work, I look forward to that "release" I get from running. It's theraputic and refreshing. Three: The inverse to Reason 2 - I don't like exercising before work. I don't know why, I just don't. When I run or workout, I like to reward myself by knowing that once I get through it, I have free time. Working out before I have to go to work all day just makes the workout feel like a chore instead of something that adds to my day. I just don't like having a great workout only to have to follow it up by sitting at work for 9 hours. Yeah, maybe I haven't given it enough of a chance, but even if I did, that leads into reason Four: it would make my days (and thus, weeks), longer and more tiring. Some weeks I can barely get through as it is, but having a morning workout would mean a run and possibly an event/late meeting all in the same day and just thinking about that makes me exhausted.

So anyway, that's where I'm at. I'll continue to problem-solve about my time management and try, while I'm at it, to be better at updating my blog too. Happy Friday!

My First 5K - The Color Run!!

You're lookin' at a gal who has officially completed her first 5K! Whoo hoo, I did it!



Thousands of people in white shirts packed into the START chute on that unseasonably cold, cloudy July morning. Some were in bouncy groups of friends, others in family groups with parents and children, still some in couples. Very few, I think were like me - runnin' solo. Because there were so many of us, they staggered the start time and had us start in chunks. The fact that we didn't all start together and all of us were here in different posses (or, ahem, lack thereof) symbolized the fact that this wasn't really a race but a collection of people for whom this race had different meanings: a fun family outing for some, an excuse to party and stay in shape for others. And then, packed somewhere inside the herd of eagerly-waiting Color Runners, was me: for me, this race was the first step into my new journey. I definitely wasn't the only one in the crowd attempting a 5K for the first time. But I wondered how many others were using this Color Run as the starting point of a journey to conquer their doubts about what they are capable of.

My first 5K was a lot of fun. At each color station, I made sure to get close to the sides of the lane so I could get as much powdered color on me as possible - and even that didn't seem like enough.
I was able to jog a good portion of the way without stopping at first, but after a while I had to settle for run-walking. I knew this would happen - after all, I only had like 3 weeks of training. That plus the fact that it's the Color Run made it hard to be disappointed in my performance. But at one point, as I was panting through a stretch of jogging on my way to the Yellow color station, I thought: how will I EVER be able to do 10 more miles of this?! If 3.1 were giving me trouble, I couldn't imagine a time when I could ever RUN non-stop for 13 miles! Will I really be able to do this one day?

The Color Run delivered on its promise and was a very happy 5K. I ran enough of it that I felt exhilarated when I was done, ready to take on the day (the best part: I'd done all of this and it wasn't even 10:30 AM yet!). This truly was a new experience for me, and I can't wait for more. I can see how people get addicted to the thrill of completing races.

My next 5K is the "Especially for You" 5K for breast cancer prevention in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. It's not until mid-October, though, so I'm trying to find another one to do between now and then to keep myself motivated and get more practice. After all, I intend to go out with a bang in my hometown 5K!

Some pics from The Color Run, July 28, 2013, Milwaukee

The BEFORE pic....

...aaaand the AFTER pic!!