Race To The Moon

Saturday night Shane and I ran the Race to Moon in Apollo, PA. Get it Apollo? Moon race? Hahahaha. Yeah, I must be too young. Shane had to explain it to me.

The race didn't have an exact start time, just listed it as 'dark'. So we drove out after dinner since sunset was listed as 8:30-ish. We arrived a little after 7PM and parked and then went to check in. Only we weren't on the list. Turns out Shane registered us so early (and by paper form instead of online) that the race director forgot about us. Thankfully he found our forms tucked away somewhere in his car and we were able to get our bibs and goody bags.

I think the shirts were okay and the glow-in-the-dark mug is pretty darn awesome. We were also given glow necklaces to wear during the race for visibility. Shane and I both wore Black Diamond Spot headlamps since there was barely any moon.

Since we had arrived so early we hung out by the Kiski River and then did a little warm up jog along the course. In the fading light there were already hundreds of lumineries lighting the rail trail path for the entire race. I had been hoping for a 3 mile warm up but I was afraid we'd miss the start so we settled for one. Turns out we had plenty of time and it was pretty much a wasted warm up mile.

Shane gives me this look often.

 

We got to meet up with some of the Latrobe Area Pacer Society (LAPS) members that we 'know' online but hadn't actually met yet. A couple people also recognized our shirts and introduced themselves so it was a really nice evening regardless of the wait to start.

 

LAPS group. Excuse my paler than the moon stomach

 

Finally we lined up around 9PM. The race director said he wanted to wait for it to get just a little bit darker but everyone was ready to go so we just stood at the line and chatted. There was a 5k and a 5 mile race both running together so I had no idea who my competition was. I figured I would run comfortably to the 5k turn around and then see who was still ahead of me. Of course, easy never happens for me on race day.

 

The gun went off and people were flying by me left and right. I looked at my Garmin and saw 6:59 pace so I pulled back despite the sprint happening all around me. By a half mile people were settling in and I was able to start passing back most of the runners who had taken off so furiously at the start. I was hoping for an 8:30 pace but my body didn't want to settle in there. I was either close to 8:00 or close to 9:00 and I couldn't get in the middle. First mile: 8:17

 

In the second mile I finally began to feel the pace and zone out. As I approached the 5k turn around I was right behind another woman but she made the turn. I shouted good luck and then looked ahead to see who I could catch. About 100 feet ahead were a man and woman so I focused on reeling them in. Mile 2: 8:33

 

As I approached the 5 mile turn around I counted people while looking for Shane. I counted 7 men and then Shane. I only saw the same woman ahead of me that I had been trying to catch so far. I couldn't believe I was in second! I told Shane he was in 8th and we missed our high five. Then I set my sights on the man between me and the first woman. I caught him right as mile 3 beeped in at 8:33.

 

I asked if I could hang on him for a bit and he said he didn't mind but he was fading. I could see the glow of the light stick on the woman ahead of me and estimated her to be 45 - 60 seconds ahead of me. I began to put the hammer down but I knew I wouldn't catch her unless she faded. Mile 4: 8:19

 

Somewhere in the final mile I lost the man I had been running with. I began to pass the 5k walkers and back-of-the-packers. One guy was running hard and then walking and then repeating. As I passed I yelled "Let's go, only a half mile!" He hung with me for a bit but dropped off again quickly. I continued to push. My legs had no more to give and I knew my pace was slipping despite the effort. My ragged breathing and aching chest were really starting to hurt but I couldn't let the women behind me catch up. Finally the finish line was in sight and my Garmin beeped in 5 miles. I hit stop and handed over my bib tag. Mile 5: 8:26

 

I found Shane and he told me he had finished 8th in 39:56. My official time was 42:13. I was 11th overall and second woman!

 

Getting my award.

 

In the end, I'm really happy with my performance and my results. Even though I was suffering I maintained a pretty even pace. I didn't let the early sprint get the better of me and ruin my race. And I gave every last bit of energy I had to chase down the woman ahead of me. She ended up beating me by 1:01 which means I really didn't let her gain anymore ground after I set my sights on her. I'm also pretty sure this is a 5 mile PR for me and now I feel really confident about my night running capabilities at Burning River in less than 2 weeks!

 

Shane and his medal

 

trophy

 

 

From Alex With Love

This was the second year Shane and I took part in the Run For Alex, billed as the premier event of Washington County. It attracts a good number of runners and features a course that is 4 miles of rolling, mostly up, hills followed by a mile of sharp downhill grades. The proceeds from the race go to the From Alex With Love Foundation to provide scholarships for local kids in memory of Alexzandra Loos. Alex was killed by a speeding car on her way home from soccer practice in 2004. She was also a track runner and held the WPIAL record in the 1600m her first year on the team.

Last year the weather was cool and fairly forgiving which allowed me to run a 50:43 despite being out of shape. This year the weather was hot and the pavement was baking. After Monday's 5k, running a fast-ish 8 miler mid-week, and then running hill sprints and doing back squats Friday my only hope was to beat that time.

Elevation profile

 

Shane and I woke up at 6am and got the girls and ourselves ready. Then we dropped the girls off at his parents house and made the 45 minute trip to Bentleyville. We arrived in plenty of time except for a small SNAFU where I realized I had $24 in my hand, not the $25 needed for race day registration. Thankfully they let me write a check and all was well except for my stomach. I'm not sure if it was the heat or the recent overhauls I've been making in my diet but my stomach was not happy this morning.

 

I lined up at the very back of the pack this year with a plan of going out easy. I was aiming for 9:45 per mile for the most part. I found a couple of my friends and they had similar goals so we started out together but the heat, hills, and blowing allergens out in the country soon split us up. I started my watch late because I forgot there are no starting mats despite the large-ish field and chip timing.

 

Mile 1: 9:46

 

In mile 2 my stomach started to act up again. I started to consider bailing out at the water stop and just volunteering or dying in the grass until I could walk back down to the social hall. Right before the water stop my stomach eased up again so I dumped some water on myself and kept going.

 

Mile 2: 10:00

 

After that my stomach cramped every time I drank from my handheld so I gave up on drinking and just hoped to stay cool by throwing water on myself. We also encountered the largest hill portion here so I power walked up. Last year I jogged 2/3 of the way, today I didn't bother. It was shady and cool and I just didn't care to push.

 

Mile 3: 12:33

 

At the top of the hill there was a family with a hose. I sped up just to get to it faster. I've never felt anything so awesome in my life! And shortly after that was a sprinkler set up in the middle of the road! And then a family with water bottles misting runners! Oh, I was miserable but all that cool water felt amazing.

 

Mile 4: 9:55

 

From the last water stop to the finish is almost entirely downhill. I checked my watch and thought I could beat last year's time by a little bit if I really pushed. I let gravity have its way and I bombed down the hills ignoring the screaming in my dead legs. I passed tons of people on the way down and one girl latched on for the ride. At first my competitive drive kicked in and I began to push even harder. I even dropped her for a bit but then I realized I was being a bit of a witch. I wasn't out there to compete and I didn't feel well. I hadn't given it my all from the start so it wasn't really fair for me to out-sprint this girl in the final hundred yards just to improve one age group place. I pulled back and she blew by me.

 

Mile 5: 8:20 (best pace 6:37 - yay downhill!)

 

I crossed the mat and hit stop on my Garmin. I grabbed a cold water and chugged and then checked my watch. I saw 50:42 and I felt hope that I had actually beaten last year's time. Then I started to feel ill. I found Shane and got some fruit and more water and we sat in the shade but it wasn't long before I made a headlong dash to the nearest bathroom. Once it was over I felt mostly better. I was a little uncoordinated, dropping water bottles and such constantly, but not so icky.

 

By then all of our friends had finished and we were able to get everyone in for a picture.

 

Results were posted soon after and neither Shane or I had placed (knew I wouldn't). My official time was 50:45, so 2 seconds slower than last year. But when I think about the fact that it was hotter this year, I was nowhere near rested, and I lined up farther back than last year I am willing to bet I actually beat my time by at least a little bit. Good enough for me!

Oh, and we won a door prize.

It's a picture frame with a gift card to a local restaurant called the Spring House plus two coupons for a free appetizer and a free kid's meal at King's. Can't beat that!

Week In Review: Week 7!

Time flies when you're having fun! Ummm, training hard? Sleeping 9 hours a night? Spending double digit hours running? Yeah, that's fun right?

I've been meaning to write a post about keeping your body in top shape during blocks of heavy training (and I know what I'm doing is moderate by most standards but it's the hardest I've ever consistently trained). I'm really trying to nail down the things that make me feel better and experiment with recommendations from other runners to find more recovery tricks. So if you're interested look for that soon!

Now onto the nuts and bolts fun:

Monday: 10 minute warm up, walk at 8% incline for 5 minutes, walk at 2% incline for 2 minutes, cool down. Ab Ripper X afterwards. Total: 4.5 miles

Tuesday: 2 mile warm up, 3 x 10 minutes at 5k pace with 3 minutes recovery between, 1 mile cool down. Total: 7 miles

Wednesday: 90 minutes of 9:1 run/walks. Total: 9 miles

Thursday: 1 mile run + weights.

Friday: 1 mile warm up, 5 miles of hills, 1 mile cool down. Total: 7 miles

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: 10.6 miles of hills!

Sunday's elevation profile

Total: 39.1 miles

It's funny how that seems like low mileage to me after having a few weeks in the mid 40's - 50's. Not that long ago I would have been stoked about running this much and now I feel like a slacker for not hitting 40. The good news is the coming week is going to beat that slacker feeling right out of me!

How was your week? How are you keeping track of your training in relation to your goals?

Zombies, Ghosts and Dirt Monsters

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy our Trick or Treat was delayed until yesterday. We're procrastinators so we spent Friday painting, carving, and decorating for Saturday. We had planned to eat at the spaghetti dinner hosted by the local church but they cancelled at the last minute so we were left to our own devices. Shane made a run to the grocery store and saved the day with some fixings for our own spaghetti! Then we bathed the girls and got ready to head out for some candy collecting!

Gem was a goth prom queen

Princess Ash wouldn't sit still or wear her tiara

 

Scoops was a .... good question

 

Lily the weiner, of course!

 

There's one house in our neighborhood that the girls call the scary house. They have a great love of Halloween apparently and go all out. Ash and Gem both insisted that we had to Trick or Treat there. I was prepared for tears and going home early and traumatized children but they both handled it well and Ash even wanted to go up twice!

 

Scary House

 

Mercifully it was too cold for staying out long and the girls were happy with their hauls after only an hour. Shane and I were able to get them cleaned up and in bed by their normal time and then we turned our clocks back and jumped into bed ourselves to rest up for the Dirt Monster 5 Mile trail race. After running this two years ago I felt confident I would get a course PR and I was looking forward to the last race with huge hills for the month! This race is funny in that it beneifts the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Foundation of Pittsburgh, hence the name Dirt Monster. It also lends itself to the logo on the shirt.

 

Elevation profile

 

We left the girls with my mom and headed down to the park around 8:30. We were pre-registered so arrival was easy. We parked at the pavilion and got our shirts and bibs. Then we huddled in the car, avoiding the 40-ish degree temps, and debated wearing our jackets or not until the race started at 9:30. I decided to run with my jacket, hat and gloves. For my base layer I had INK n BURN denim print capris and a long sleeved shirt.

 

Race shirt - scary dirty shoes!

 

 

The race started right on time and we headed uphill, made a left turn followed by some rolling hills and then continued making our way up, Up, UP! I knew how long this hill was and how much it would cost me later if I pushed so I jogged until the effort felt too hard and then I hiked as fast as I could. A lot of people blew by me and I think they figured it would be up and then back down and they could recover. As you can see by the elevation profile there's only one good down in the first 4 miles. The rest is all in the last mile and that's what I was saving for.

 

Looking towards the hill we run up

 

I tried to keep my pace even and sustainable for the first three miles. Walking the steep hills meant my splits don't reflect it but the effort felt even. 12:40, 10:06, 12:38 for miles 1, 2, and 3. After mile three I started to pick it up. I was sick of being passed and I could see people starting to blow up in front of me. I passed a lot of people, notably a couple guys in kilts and a girl wearing road shoes. I was impressed that the girl in Kinvaras had managed to stay ahead of me for 3 miles on a thick blanket of wet leaves, through mud, and over a ton of rocks and fallen branches. When I passed her I noticed her breathing was way too labored for only a little over halfway though and realized she was putting out way too much effort trying to move forward and stay upright. My husband said he saw three people wipe out but my Altra Zero Drop Superiors served me well and I remained upright the entire time.

 

My new Altra's got their first taste of mud

 

I continued to gain momentum with each person I passed and felt that I could really improve on my time from 2010 (1:09:34). I thought I might even break an hour if I got moving. I was projecting 57 or 58 minutes and really excited about it. Mile 4 done in 10:37. There was one moment of annoyance when I came up behind a kid that was walking. He had blown by me on the first steep uphill and now it looked like he had blown up. I said excuse me and nothing. I realized he had headphones in so I yelled excuse me. Apparently his music was up too loud because again there was no reaction. I finally just ran up on the birm of the narrow singletrack trail and pushed by him. Lesson: Turn down the volume when you run!

 

I passed a few more people as I navigated the first part of the downhill to the finish chute. Then I caught a glimpse of orange cones through the trees and floored it. I was thrilled to see the finish clock was still under 55 minutes. Last mile in 8:28. My official time was posted as 54:36! That's 2 seconds shy of a 15 minute course PR!

 

Pavilion

 

Back at the pavilion Shane handed me my sweatshirt and we were treated to chicken noodle soup, soda, beer and Halloween candy while we waited for results. There were far more people this year than the last time I ran so I doubted I had a shot but enjoyed seeing my old running partner and some other running friends for a bit. When awards were announced SURPRISE! I got 3rd in my age group which happened to be 18-29 for this race so I was even more shocked. Shane was apparently in the most competitive age group because he placed 7th despite finishing in 46:11.

 

Trying not to freeze while posing

 

All in all it was a good day and really helped me see how far my fitness has come since Ash was born. Now to keep the momentum going through the winter and see what I can do next spring!