Rollin' In The Deep

This was the third time Shane and I decided to race the Runnin' Outta Our Mine 5k in Wampum, PA. There were some changes this year such as the course and scheduling. Usually the race is held in February because the mine is a constant 55* F and makes for a great winter run sans long sleeves and tights. It also used to begin inside the mine with only about 100 feet outside to the finish line. It also had somewhere around 45 sharp turns. This year it was held in August, started and ended outside the mine, and the number of switchbacks inside the mine were reduced. Also shirts were $10 extra on top of the $25 entry fee so we opted out.

Our niece, Gabby, is visiting from North Carolina so we dragged her along with us. We arrived at packet pickup around 8:30 and stood around chatting with our friends for quite some time. I got some congratulations on my Burning River finish which was both embarrassing and amusing. Mostly because most of the people around me either appeared in much better shape or completely befuddled as to what Burning River might actually be and why it mattered.

Before the race with LAPS members Darlene and Donna

 

The race began a little late around 9:05. It started with a fairly steep uphill that lasted a good bit. I didn't bother with GPS since we would be underground for the majority of the run.We ran into an open mine entrance and I was suddenly blind from leaving the bright August light. I am sure I slowed a bit until my eyes adjusted somewhat but I never felt like I could really see. I had no GPS to guide my pace and no idea what to expect one week post-100 miler so I went purely by effort. I'm guessing my endocrine system isn't fully recovered because I felt aerobically taxed long before my legs even said a peep.

 

I hit the first clock marking the end of the first mile around 8:10. A little slower than normal but not bad for an uphill start and running over gravel.

 

map of the course

 

The second mile I just tried to hold the same effort with a slight increase to adjust for fatigue. My breathing became a little more labored but I was still okay and passing people intermittantly. Every few hundred feet we would make another sharp bend and I would see the people either ahead of or behind me on the other side of a row of rock columns. Sometimes I would see Shane and sometimes I thought I saw Gabby but mostly I was focused on not tripping over a rock or pothole in the dark.

 

I passed the clock for the second mile around 16:20. Still holding strong!

 

The last mile I began purposely trying to push with whatever I had left. I passed more runners and a few passed me. As we approached the end I could feel the warmer air and the gravel floor turned to concrete and pavement. I tried to fend off the women that were overtaking me but I couldn't hold on. Most likely I'm not as recovered as I would like to be and I pushed too soon because I really wanted a chance at an age group award this year.

 

I cleared the entrance to the mine and crossed the timing mat at 25:11. Nowhere near a PR but I will take it!

 

After the race with more LAPS members

 

Shane finished in 21:54 for 33rd overall and 9th in his age group. Gabby finished in 35:32 and 10th in her age group. I finished in 25:11 for 87/294 and 5/25 in my age group so none of us were able to take home our chunk of mine rock this year. Overall it was still a good day and any chance to get Gabby through another 5k is a good one. Now we just have to try to find another one for Gabby before she leaves for home!

Gabby finishing the race

 

 

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!

The Shane Report

It was a dark and stormy night…  

Okay, so maybe it was a sunny and somewhat cold day, but I always liked that line better.

Sara wanted me to write about my half marathon experience.  However I do not have a lot to say about it.   To sum it all up.  It was.. well, “okay”.   Hear me out.  I have done 59 small town races.  A few with as many as a  1,000 people.   But this one had 11,000.  I felt lost and alone.  In small town races everyone is so friendly and nice.   Here I could not get word one out of anyone.  I think big city races are for some people, just not me. 

Let me begin with the day before the half marathon.  I worked third shift, hence I was up all night.  Sara had planned for us to leave as soon as Gemma was on the school bus that morning.  However she was not ready.  I had a few things to do so I drove around doing them, dead tired.  I had planned on sleeping on the drive down, so I stayed away from caffeine that morning. 

Finally we were off at close to 11 am.  I fell right asleep.  Little did I know that I would awake soon.  Sara pulled into a turnpike plaza about an hour and half into the trip.  She needed coffee.  Not the coffee that I remember as a kid.  You know, black, with sugar or cream.  No it was the 4 or 5 words that do not go together kind.  I ordered a small fry, then sat and ate it while I waited. 

Soon we were back in the car and the fries from Popeyes were not sitting well.   I managed to fall back asleep for an hour when Sara again pulled over.   It was lunchtime.  Or at least to her stomach it was.  We made our way in and selected subway.  I was going to order a 6 inch but Sara ordered a footlong as I did too.   Why?  But I was very tired and not quite awake.  After finishing and bathroom breaks we were on the road, again.

I slept the next hour and half and woke up just as we entered into the Baltimore metro area.  I have only been to a few cities and they all look pretty crappy and run down.   Sure, the inner harbor is nice and clean, but why can’t they do something with the rest of it.

At the hotel we could not find a space to park in the street.  After the third drive down the same alley, we gave up and paid $31 for valet parking, plus a $5 tip.  What a scam!  Just knock down some of the buildings and put in a parking lot.  I’m sure half of them are empty anyways.

On the way to the room I noticed that the hotel restaurant was having a pasta dinner.  I read the sign to Sara.  We dropped off the bags and started walking the streets of Baltimore looking for the expo.    I was excited to go to my first expo.  I always heard good things.

Apparently this was not a normal expo.  It was crowded and disorganized.  It reminded me of a college fair in high school.  On a side note, I guess that I should have tried to collect pens.  LOL.  We had to walk one way then back the same way and back that way again.  All while fighting a crowd that seemed to be always going the other way. 

Sara kept stopping and looking at the booths.  I just wanted to get the stuff and get back to the hotel.  I’m still awake remember?  About 25 hours at this point with the 3 little cat naps in the car.  I got my bib and then Sara came with hers and said “okay, let’s go”.  I said “what about the shirts?”  Sara went and asked, while I fought with the exhaustion and claustrophobia.  She came back and said that they were all the way of the other side of the expo.  Great-googly-moogly…

We made our way to the shirts and I got in my line.  I was excited, finally something cool.  I had read my paper.  I was getting a cold black under amour shirt.  Only the lady handed me a purple shirt.  WTF was this?!  I walked over to Sara, she had gotten a green shirt.  Turns out “cold black” is clothing line, not a color.   I was not pleased.  We started out of the stadium and Sara wanted her picture taken, so I did.  Only she did not take any of me.  Guess I probably wasn’t smiling at that point.

 

We made it back to the hotel just as a sun was starting to fall.  I was happy we made it back before dark, since we did not know our way around.  We had a half hour to kill, so Sara got her race clothes out and went through the race bags.  I watched tv.  I had hit the point where I wasn’t tired anymore, nor did I have feeling in all parts of my body.   I was just there.

Dinner was awesome.   It was a pasta buffet with 3 different pastas, salad, bread, 5 desserts.  Only thing that I didn’t like was that they only gave you water.   I know, I know…water is good for runners…but I like something with more flavor.  We finished up and headed to the room.   Sara got a few more things done for the race, while I stared at the tv.  28 hours and counting.

A lot of people that work third shift say that get use to it.  And you do.  At least to the being up all night part.  But your body never gets used to staying awake.   Running adds years to your life and staying up over 24 hours takes them away.

I was planning on going with Sara to her start, since it was before mine.  The alarm went off.  I didn’t move.  The alarm went off again.  Still out.  The alarm went off the third time and I opened my eyes.  Sara was almost ready to go.  I’m not sure why Sara didn’t just get me up.  I mean I could have slept through the races, like in that Seinfeld episode. 

Finally I got up and started getting ready.  As I was going to get in the shower, Sara said she was going.  I felt bad.  I looked at the clock, I thought we still had time.   But she needed to go and I didn’t want her to miss her start.   I got ready for my race and looked around for food.  I had cereal in the car, but we didn’t take it out when they parked the car.  So I had healthy chips that Sara got at the expo, licked the salt off a small bag of peanuts, and downed a GU energy gel.  My stomach barked back.  I topped it off with a 24 oz Pepsi and said, “It’s go time.”

 

I knew where Sara’s race started, but not where mine did.  I started walking toward the stadiums and then followed the crowd.   I felt awkward and like an outsider.   I made my way to where it looked like a race might start and stood there for 45 minutes.   The closer I got to race start.  The more people jammed into the space.  Then of course there were the people who just had to walk through.  I held my ground.  When people pushed into me, I pushed back.  Apparently people in the city ever heard of “excuse me” or “pardon me”. 

Right at about 10 minutes until start they moved us up the street, which was also up a small hill.  At this point I could see the crowd of people.  It was crazy.  There were just thousands of people jammed into a street no wider than 20 feet.

The race started.  Well at least for the people in the front.  I walked and walked and ,when it was my turn, crossed the start line. I started my new Garmin.  The first mile was up hill.  It was really crowded.  In the second mile I almost tripped over a traffic cone.  Not one person yelled “cone” or “watch out”.  There were too many people the first couple miles.  I couldn’t see anything.  I was not having fun.  I was stressed and hoping that the race would get better.

 

At mile three the half joined the full marathon, now at mile 16.  The road was wider and some of the half marathoners were starting to drop back.  I could see the sidewalks now.  No one was there.   At mile 4 or 5 a cop yelled “welcome to beautiful East Baltimore” with sarcasm in his voice.  The place was a dump.  Was this it?  I slowly ate one of my GU energy gels.

Mile 7 started at a park and the race went one mile around a peaceful lake.  Minus the news helicopter hovering over it.  In the park there were people holding signs and cheering.  This must be what a big city race is, I thought.      

 

 At mile 10 I arrived at Waverly.  The friendly neighborhood with folks handing out candy, water and beer.   Music played from radios and from small bands, sometimes just kids with a drum or bongo.  It was nice.  It was happy.  I ate some candy corn and picked up my pace.  Why couldn’t the rest of the race be this nice?  I saw a funny sign that said, “marathon today, law and order marathon tomorrow”.  Who doesn’t like that show…

At mile 11 I was back downtown.  Huge buildings, huge crowds.  I downed my second GU.  I wasn’t tired or worn out.  I was just sick of running.  The whole race was up and down hills and no one would talk to me.  Somewhere in the “I just want to quit” thoughts… a voice yelled “Go Team Brunazzi!”  She even said it right.  That was all the motivation I needed.  I took off, passing runner after runner.

 

My Garmin said 12.6 miles when I saw the baseball stadium.  You had to run threw it on a small path and then finish in the street.  It was crowded and I tried to keep my speed up.   I figured I was over 2 hours with all the hills and lack of enthusiasm.  I finished in 1 hr and 49 minutes.  Not bad.

 

I got my medal and then tried to walk out of the finish area.  It was just as crowd and disorganized as the expo.  I tried walking through a line of people, which seemed to be a line of nothing.  I yelled, “What are you people doing?”  Some guy yelled back, “We’re waiting for our bananas”.  I got through and out of the finishing area.  I was so happy to have space around me.

I walked to the food booths and got an order of fries and chicken.  Bad move.  Then I went to the hotel to get Sara and mine’s UA pullovers.   On the way back from the hotel I realized that I forgot my Pepsi.  I went to the finish line and walked the course looking for Sara.  There were too many people.  I looked at the clock.  Sara should have finished.  I stopped and bought a Pepsi and then went to look for Sara.  Last time we were at Baltimore I saw her finish, but could not find her in the crowd.  I was hoping this time she had her cell phone.  I pulled mine out of my SPIbelt and saw a voice mail.  It was Sara, she couldn’t find me and was walking back to the hotel.  I called her and she was still in the crowd.   We yelled back and forth trying to hear each other and find out where we each were.  She asked if I saw the Dunkin Donuts truck.  I said no and then turned around, and said yes.  I was close to it.  I said that I was near the C1 parking sign.   She said she was too.  I thought, great there must be 20 “C1” signs.  She said there is a guy standing on the sign.  I said yes, and he has a green shirt on.  Sara was only 6 people away from me.

Sara started talking about her race and how she did.  I had to stop her.  I had bad news.  The hotel had dropped off a bill at 7:50am.  10 minutes before she started her race.  It said that we had to get of the room at 12:30 or get charged more.  It read quote, “We know some of you are running in the Baltimore Marathon and require some additional time after the race to freshen up. We can extend your check out time to 12:30pm so that you can refresh prior to check out. “    Full marathon starts at 8am.  Half at 9:45am.  You do the math. :o)

 

We then loaded the car and hurried out of town.  23 minutes to go 4 blocks.   Once out of the city we ate dinner at a little tavern in a mini mall.  The food was overpriced and under cooked.  After that we drove to an outlet mall to use our Under Amour coupons.  This was probably the best part of the weekend, save the half a pizza that I ate an hour later. LOL.      

Boston Harvest 5k

September 22, 2012 marked a new experience for all of Team Brunazzi. We directed a race, with no help from co-directors, for the first time! If you remember the last two years we helped with the planning and execution of the Dead Man's Hollow and Boston Trail 5k. But this is the first race Team Brunazzi put together ourselves!

We had a great reason for doing this. Rex is a four year old boy in our school district who is affected by Batten's Disease. It causes loss of motor function, seizures and a lot of other symptoms. There is no cure and the treatments are still developing. Raising money to improve Rex's quality of life and help his family afford the best possible care meant a lot to us. It also meant a lot to all of the runners and walkers that came out to support Rex! Donations from those who couldn't attend poured in as well. All together we raised $4,062! So thank you to all of our sponsors, runners, and volunteers. You made this race happen!

Signs for Rex donated by Carol Hill.

So what went into making it happen? Five months of planning, begging, brainstorming, designing, buying and scheduling. In the days leading up to the race our house began to look like an episode of hoarders. Shane and I had to pick up donations of chips, cookies, and donuts. Shane took the week before the race off work and spent his days picking up race shirts, bottled water, and communicating with volunteers. During the day before the race Shane and I loaded vehicles with tables, chairs, food and water, race bags, etc. We met with Pittsburgh Tent Rentals on Friday night and set up two large tents to cover the food and registration tables in case of rain (it did). We also put out the mile marker signs as well as signs cheering on our family and friends.

Registration tents

 

Our basement prior to the race.

 

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and took everything down to the trailhead. With the help of an army of volunteers we laid out the race day registration area and check-in tables despite a constant drizzle. Fall decorations in the form of hay bales, corn stalks and mums were everywhere thanks to a wonderful volunteer named Carol. Our family and friends helped us hang signs thanking all of our (75!) sponsors and also door prize lists.

 

Three pages of door prizes

 

Rex's family made a poster to explain Batten's Disease and his battle

 

Next thing we knew the timing company was setting up and so was the band, AE Honick & The Soul Shakedown. The local bar provided electricity and I'm sure we provided them an early crowd! More than 70 people showed up for race day registration! We had our own race to get everyone registered and chipped before the actual 5k started at 9am sharp. Around 8:00am the rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds. At 8:50 Shane made the announcement that everyone should walk down to the starting line. I made sure everyone lined up with faster people in the front and walkers in the rear. Then the timing company started us off with a horn!

 

Making signs for our family and friends

 

Shane and I both jumped in and ran too. Both of our girls, Shane's mother, my step father, Shane's sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and a family friend all ran in the 5k wearing the Team Brunazzi shirt. I quickly realized we'd made a mistake when I reached our 1 mile sign and my Garmin read 0.90 miles instead. This was the only major glitch of the race. The course ended up being 1/10th of a mile short because of the misplaced mile sign. Besides that everything was going perfectly.

 

Start of the race

 

By the turn around I realized I was on PR pace. I was running with some of the guys I'm usually trailing. I was having a blast too. High-fiving kids, yelling encouragement to our friends and family, and chatting with those around me. I ran the whole race with a huge grin plastered on my face. It turns out Shane was having the exact same experience a couple minutes ahead of me. I ended up finishing in 24:58. I know the course was a little short but I'm claiming the PR anyway! Shane finished in 20:50 for a new PR as well.

 

My finish picture courtesy of JMeyers Photography

 

Shane finishing with style

 

After the race it was time to make sure door prizes were drawn, awards were arranged, food was available and everyone was having a good time. A quick count showed somewhere around 215 people registered! 180 of those people picked up timing chips while a few chose to walk part of the course or register but volunteer instead. It was an amazing turnout for a first year race! What could make it even more amazing?

 

How about an Olympian?!

 

Amy Yoder-Begley, the 2008 10k Olympian, finished in 17 minutes for 2nd overall and first woman! She was awesomely kind and gave out autographs to everyone, including a special note for Rex! I can't imagine a better surprise than having an elite athlete turn up at a race!

We had some other very special guests that included Kristi Torba of the Pittsburgh Passion women's football team, Lulu the Clown, and Team Odyssey! The Big Beaver Big Dogs and Latrobe Area Pacer Society were also represented well.

Kristi Torba of the Pittsburgh Passion gave a medal to every kid as they finished.

 

Awards

 

The timing company did a great job of getting the results in our hands quickly. There were only a couple glitches where race-day registrants ended up being listed as the wrong gender but those were quickly corrected. Gemma and Ash helped me hand out the awards and a lot people were impressed with the custom medals. Gemma was proud because she helped to design the logo.

 

Custom medals

 

After the awards ceremony most of the runners started to wander off. Our courageous volunteers and amazing friends stuck around to help us clean up and load our cars. Thanks to their generous help we were able to completely clean up the start/finish area in under 2 hours. After that Shane walked the course again to take down the signs and markers and pick up trash while I unloaded our vehicles at home. By dinner time everything was back in its place and Shane and I were exhausted! We celebrated with dinner out and a movie before we crashed.

 

Once we got a good night's sleep we were able to fully appreciate the scope of what had happened. We'd actually pulled off a first year race without any huge mistakes and had double the number of runners we'd originally expected! We also managed to raise double the original goal for Rex and his family. We can never say thank you enough to everyone who came out and made this day so special for the Timko family! Our sponsors, family, friends, and the community made this the best race of the year. It's going to be really hard to top but we really hope we'll see you on September 21, 2013 to do it again!

Guest Post: Endorphin Dad?

Hello endorphin(mom) junkies, my name is Shane.  For those of you that don’t know me, I am Sara’s husband.  I have wanted to do a guest blog for some time.  Two weeks ago I wrote one about a 5k I had just run.  Sara read it and said that it didn’t really say anything so why would people want to read it.  A few days later I reread it and it was like watching NASCAR.  I’ve got better things to watch than NASCAR.

One of my favorite movies is Throw Mama from the Train. If you haven’t seen it, the movie stars Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, and Anne Ramsey.  DeVito’s character, Owen, is attending an adult college writing class but he is having trouble coming up with ideas.  Crystal’s character, Larry, tells him to “write what you know”.  So Owen comes up with a great story about pushing his Mama from a train.  Only problem is Owen wants Larry do the pushing.  If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s a great 80’s comedy.

What was the point of telling you about the movie?  Simple, I decided to write my blog post about what I know.  When I go to races or talk to people about running I usually get asked three questions.  So I am going to answer them here.

 

All in the family.

Question #1:  When did you start running and why? 

Right after Sara had our second daughter she started doing 5k’s every weekend.  I looked at her and said, “Why do you do this? Running is pointless.”  I continued to shoot my mouth off for about a month.   Finally I said, “Running is easy.  Anyone can do it.  I’m running in your next race.”  I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into.

Race morning I had on an old t-shirt, old work shoes with holes in them, and a pair of Old Navy wind pants from 1998.  This took place on November 7, 2010.  When the gun went off I was gone.  I yelled back to Sara, “This is easy!”  I even went as far as running backwards just to show off.  Then came the half mile mark.  I was exhausted.  Is it over yet?  I jogged/walked/crawled to a  time of 32:12.  And yes, Sara beat me. 

Come the next morning I decided I had to win.  I couldn’t let a girl beat me!  I started training and a month later I was at my second 5k.  I finished with a time of 26:25. I have been running ever since.  Do I love it?  Well, I do like to earn a medal and I love spending time with Sara doing something we both like.

 

Running in a mine!

Question #2: How did you come up with Team Brunazzi? 

When Sara and I started dating she was on Team Under Armour, the clothing line.  After Sara got pregnant with Ash, they did not renew her contract.  When Sara started running again she started looking for a new team.  She got turned down by a couple brands because she didn’t have any race times to report while she was pregnant.   That got me to thinking, “Why does she need a team?  We could be the team.”

At first I was going to call it the Brunazzi Running Team.  However my boss said when his kids all participated in a sport his wife would call them Team L.   So by my fifth 5k, we were in gray shirts with a turtle and Team Brunazzi on them.  A few months later I changed to the bright blue shirts and skeleton logo we use today and the team started to grow as our family and friends started coming to races.

#3 What made you start your own 5k?  Well, two things happened pretty close together.  The first was we were at one of the two 5k’s on our local trail. A group of runners started talking about why there were two 5k’s in the spring and none in the fall.  I cannot remember if it was Sara or I who said, “We should just do one”.

A few days after the second spring 5k a woman named Melanie messaged me.  She wanted help organizing a charity 5k in the fall for her friend’s son who is suffering from Batten’s Disease.   I said I would help out so I sat down and started running numbers and costs.  About two days later, I decided to go for it; I would put on the 5k.  I picked a day and hired a timing company and the rest is history.  I had Sara and Gemma design a logo while I typed up a request for sponsorship letter.  Five months later it is all coming together. 

***WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!  Planning a race is not easy nor is it cheap.   I spent all of my free time, lunch breaks, and even some family time planning the race.  It was like having a second job.  It was also fun and rewarding.   Heck, I’ll probably do it again.  But it is a lot of WORK.***

 

Recruiting new Team Brunazzi members.

What do you think? To Blog or Not To Blog.

It's Supposed to Hurt

I ran the Jerry Maher Memorial 5k today. Shane and our niece, Gabby, ran as well and we had a blast in the process. This race is held to raise money for Parkinson's Disease research. This year I believe there were 108 runners and I don't know how many walkers.

Team Brunazzi after the race.

I knew going into this that I'm not in PR shape so I dropped that hope before I left home. I thought 27 minutes would be a good goal given that the temperature was a little lower this morning. I know Shane always wants a PR and this was Gabby's first race so her only goal was to finish. I pointed out a group of teens that didn't look like local track stars and told her to beat them, which I believe she did!

By the time we registered the race was already out of shirts except for XL. We opted to take some of last year's leftovers off their hands instead. I ran a quick half mile warm up and the hung out with our group until it was time to line up.

Never look a tech tee in the mouth... even if it is the wrong year!

The race start was crowded and it didn't seem like most people were lining up according to their abilities. There were little kids in front of me and a woman who definitely looked faster than me right behind me. I tried to plant myself at the middle of the front of the pack but I couldn't tell who was walking and who was running so I gave up.

When the race started there was about 2 minutes of mass chaos while everyone figured out their pace. I went out way too fast and was actually ahead of Shane for a little bit. Once we made a couple turns the runners spread out and it was easier to try to pull back. The first little bit was a slight uphill and then a slight downhill. I checked my Garmin and I was running sub-8 minute miles. Time to pull back more!

The middle section of the loop was a long uphill which really got me. I think this is where I lost most of my time. Once we finished the hill runners turned right and ran downhill for a short distance. Then it was a gradual grade up over some train tracks and around a bend to end up back where we'd begun. We ran this loop twice and by the second time around I was really have trouble keeping my pace sub-10 on the uphill. I repeated, "It's supposed to hurt" to myself over and over again.

What really helped was that there was a man right behind me on the second half of the second loop and I got it in my head that I didn't want him to pass me. When we got to the railroad crossing he tried but I gave a little extra and put him behind me again. As we approached the finish he kicked again and once again I caught him. Maybe 10 feet before the finish he was breathing down my neck and gave one last push. I tried but he threw himself across the line before I got there. I wanted to be mad at him for beating me in the last 2 feet but really I'm mad at myself for not having one more kick to out-race him.

My official time was 27:46. After I finished I found Shane and he said he'd done 22:16. I tossed him my water and went back out to find Gabby. I was surprised to find she wasn't far out from the finish line. I turned back and ran with her to the chute. She finished strong in 33:18!

It ended up that I was 4th in my age group. I was a little disappointed but I would have had to run a PR race to get an award so I didn't feel THAT bad. Shane took third in the 30-39 age group! Unfortunately for Gabby teens seem to be finding the joy of racing this year. The 15-19 age group had NO runners last year. This year there were at least more than 3. Gabby didn't get the medal we'd promised her but we did take a pic of her wearing Shane's and post it on her FaceBook page saying she'd won the race! Hey we gotta have fun somehow right?!

Shane with his medal

After the race we stopped at IHOP for some lunch and I mowed down the International Crepe Passport! I could have eaten another full meal too! I'd post pictures of the food but if I'd pulled out my camera to snap a pic it probably would have gotten eaten too!

After we dropped Gabby off at home I realized I had 4 miles for the day counting my warm up and cool down but I was scheduled for 6. I asked Shane to drop me off roughly 2 miles from home and I ran the rest of the way. It was definitely a little hot for my taste but it felt good to have all my miles out of the way early on.

Now I just have to convince Gabby she can race with us tomorrow! And maybe a Firecracker 5k on the 4th.... and maybe next weekend too.....   I hope I've created a monster! ;)