Race Recaps

Man how time flies!  The past 6 months have been super busy and I’ve totally neglected you all.  I apologize :(  I’m finally on a vacation and have some time to write.  I’ve been meaning to write a recap of all of my races but time has really caught up with me and I just haven’t had the chance so I’ll briefly say a few things about each of the races I’ve done in the past few months (there hasn’t been that many).

1. Five Points of Life Gainesville Half—It was 2/16/13 and REALLY cold.  29 degrees at the start.  For florida that might as well read -3.  I hadn’t trained in that cold of weather and felt a bit unprepared.  However, I did just fine.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I layered in long sleeve running shirts and was just fine for the half.  I didn’t get too warm and didn’t feel the need to peel layers either.  It was just right.  I wanted to do this race slow because I was running  the Princess half the very next weekend (which I did).  I think I did 3min/2 min walk/run intervals with Kelsey.  We ended up finishing a lot quicker than planned with a time of 2:29:58.  This was Kelsey’s first half and she did amazing!  I’m so glad she let me talk her into it.  It’s my goal to convince at least one person a year to run a half marathon.  I already have a few people in mind for this next year :)  **Alyssa W. and Jamie Y.**  When we finished we grabbed a quick shower and went straight to church.  Our pastor was super impressed as several people from our church ran the same race and we were the only ones that made it.  It was a bit uncomfortable to sit still during the service after running so long—at one point I looked over at Kelsey and noticed that we were both sitting in our chairs and massaging our legs haha I’m not sure if anyone noticed but if they did they probably gave us odd looks.

2. Princess Half—I ran this race on tired legs.  I really should have went slower for the five points half seeings how this was the first time I’ve done 2 long runs back to back.  I should have trained for that…oops.  Princess half was a bit tough for me as it was really humid and my legs weren’t having it.  I tried to do intervals but ended up just running and walking when I felt like it.  I still had a lot of fun because 1. Dressed up like a princess (I mean who doesn’t like to run in a tutu?) and 2.  This was the first Disney race I stopped to take pictures with almost all of the characters (I needed the breaks from running).  I finished in 2:39.  My slowest half yet but I felt accomplished for completing 2 half marathons only a week apart.  The best part of the Princess half was starting in corral A.  My 10K time bumped me from B to A :) Because it is a women’s focused race all of the guys have to start in corral C so my race time wasn’t competing with theirs.  I felt really slow when the guys started passing me hahah but I really enjoyed seeing them out there running and supporting all of us women.  Their princess costumes were also entertaining and kept my mind off of the exhaustion I was experiencing.

3. Iron Girl Half (half marathon #5 for me!)—This half was a last minute decision.  One of my running friends talked me into it.  She’s a much stronger runner than I am and said she wanted to help pace me for a PR.  The goal was to run a 2:15 half.  I signed up a few weeks before the race with enough time to work up to 1 long run before race day.  I went 10 miles at a 10 minute pace.  I was well on track for a sub 2:15 PR.  However, all of you who run know you can’t really predict how you’re going to do race day.  There are just too many factors that play a role.  Jenn was an awesome pacer but I just felt like crap the entire race.  I mean I felt nauseous before the race even started and by mile 8 I was ready to quit.  I didn’t but thank God Jenn was there or I might have seriously walked the rest of the way.  There were 2 huge bridges (hills) that we had to run over twice and I was not prepared.  We did 1min/30 sec run/walk intervals for the most part and I finished in 2:19.  It was still a PR :) but didn’t meet the 2:15 goal :(  I kind of felt like I let Jenn down as a pacer, but I just wasn’t feeling well.  Thankfully, Jenn is an awesome friend and didn’t give me too hard of a time about it.  I think I’ll be back to run this race again to try and beat my time.  I loved that it was on the beach and so much pink everywhere :)

We're Iron Girls!

I also ran a 10K in there somewhere.  It was a local race and st. pattys themed.  It wasn’t a PR but a nice good race for me.  It had a 3mile trail portion which was a first for me.  That same morning I also ran a 5k for 2 races in a day.  You know you’re a runner when you won’t limit yourself to 1 race a day lol.

Ok that’s it for the race recaps.  This one is getting a bit long so I’m going to do a separate post on my reflection of 1yr of running and what I’m doing to celebrate.  My 1 yr running anniversary is tomorrow!!!  Yaya! :D  That’ll come in a few days because of the lack of internet.  So excited for tomorrow!