Week in Review (March 31 - April 6)

Tuesday (18,829 steps) - Leisurely stroll on the treadmill and a total body workout video.

Wednesday (13,953 steps) - Run Club! Ran with Heather again for a super awesome (2?) miles.

Thursday (21,321 steps) - 4+ miles on the treadmill. I have no recollection of this run, but based on pace, I either did hills or it just didn't go that well. I did another total body video.

 

 

Friday (13,088 steps) - Literally did NOTHING.

Saturday (38,881 steps) - Three Creeks half marathon. You can read the recap here.

 

I have NO recollection of the rest of the day. We went grocery shopping, and at some point, the kids and Batman Sour dyed Easter eggs.

Sunday (14,760 steps) - Up before dawn to volunteer at the Westminster trail races! We had to be there by 6 am. It was pretty darn chilly when we first arrive, hence the winter wear. We assisted in handing out packets (there were three distances - 5k, 10k and half marathon) and then we manned the first/last aid station for a few hours. Once they were actually BUSY, the kids did a great job.

Surprisingly, WORKING a race isn't that much exercise. A and I took a walk around the lake in the afternoon.

I did some yoga later that night - hoping to loosen up my legs and tight muscles. Batman Sour was NOT amused.

 

Monday (19,564 steps) - Stroll on the treadmill to show off the INKnBURN shirt I finally got (after almost a YEAR of hoping someone would resell or trade me for it...

 

I had hoped to do more yoga when I got home but I was having some screwy internet issues and I couldn't even get my phone to load a video. I managed to get maybe 10 minutes in, but nothing to write home about. Trying to take it easy this week because my legs are worse than ever.

 



Stats

• 140,396 steps
• 19.7 miles run
• Some walking, no real cross training
• 69 minutes of strength/stretching

Everything Else

• Hit my 90 days this week and I'm still employed :D - I guess they like me just as much as I like them?
• This was a super boring week. There is nothing else.

Fa La La Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Westminster, CO
Saturday, December 7
Half Marathon #97
Colorado Half #35
Weather - COLDEST COLD EVER

The Fa La La half marathon is the first half I have ever seen for Colorado in the metro area in December. And probably for a good reason! Last Wednesday we had a fairly decent snowfall. Now snow, obviously, is not the biggest deal here. It snows all the time. HOWEVER, in early December, it does NOT normally snow and then stay hovering around 0 for days and days. As the days ticked closer to the race, I was REALLY dreading it. I was sure they weren't going to cancel because of cold, but wow, I do NOT run outside in this freezing weather! L had picked up our packets in advance, so we planned on showing up only early enough to use the bathroom.

Running in the #coldpocalypse

We dropped off the kids with my parents at 8:15 and drove to the start, only about 15 minutes away. DID I MENTION IT WAS THE COLDEST COLD EVER? To have some perspective, L, who is part robot, actually wore long sleeves AND a jacket AND kept her gloves on the entire race. My dream of a miracle 15+ degrees at the start did NOT come true:

We used the bathroom inside at the rec center, where I got L to get this awesome shot of my last moments of being warm.

We headed to the start line and honestly, once I had my headphones and ear warmers on I could not hear a thing, but the race director was blabbing on and on.... LET'S GET GOING ALREADY.

I have run outside in Denver before in the winter. OK, maybe only a handful of times. But every time I have run outside, it has been on PAVED city trails. Did you know, that the city did NOT shovel/plow the path/trail??? I probably would have made a different shoe choice had I known.

L and I started in the very back, but I lost her in a matter of seconds. It was a bit congested in the beginning, which was fine. My calves were tight, I was cold, my legs were cold, IT was cold. The beginning section was one of the icier sections of the course:

I was wearing an INKnBURN tech tube over my  mouth, which was great. Well, until about 15 minutes in when I pulled it down to get water and then I tried to pull it back up and it was FROZEN in a slouchy mess around my neck. (FYI, messing with a frozen article of clothing will keep your mind occupied FOREVER) - I took an awkward selfie of how it looked frozen around my neck:

I could go on and on and on about the cold. I have never in real life seen snot icicles. Everyone had frozen facial hair and eyelashes. It was pretty terrifying!

I think I was running a decent pace, but I really didn't care. I caught up to Ross around mile 6 (the 76 year old man that beats me EVERY RACE). Spoiler: I actually ran faster than him for once!

Um. My GU was pretty much frozen solid (I took two during the course of the race) and the water at the aid stations was like a slushie.

It is REALLY REALLY REALLY difficult to run in snow/ice. The Big Dry Creek Trail is fairly flat, but it felt like I was running in quicksand. Everything felt like it was uphill and I was working really hard to not be making that much progress.

Time passed, I managed not to freeze and I was pretty surprised to see L at the finish area. I thought for SURE she would do the smart thing and go sit in the car! However, she got this shot of me that I LOVE heading into the last .2 or so:

Bib #839
Official Time - 2:26:44
Overall Place #212/288
Gender Place #129/185
Division Place #54/73
Garmin Time - 2:26:44
Mile 1 - 10:57
Mile 2 - 11:47
Mile 3 - 10:39
Mile 4 - 10:35
Mile 5 - 11:09
Mile 6 - 11:23
Mile 7 - 11:35
Mile 8 - 11:04
Mile 9 - 11:36
Mile 10 - 11:35
Mile 11 - 11:25
Mile 12 - 11:24
Mile 13 - 11:03
Mile 13.1 - 9:52
 

We stuck around long enough to get a picture together and to talk to Ross for a minute, then we went to the car. It had warmed up substantially while we were running:

For an idea of what the back of people's heads looked like while running - look how frosty L's head is!!!

Thoughts:

• I mean, it was cold, obviously. However, I was prepared for it. I wore a base layer (a Champion long sleeve shirt - the same one I wore for NYD last year) with my INKnBURN Lust jacket over it. I wore INKnBURN pirate capris and compression socks. I used hand warmers with gloves (best purchase EVER EVER EVER). I wore ear warmers and had my tech tube. Yeah, I was concerned about losing my nose or a toe to frostbite or hypothermia, but it was fiiiiiiiiiiine.
• The WORST part about the race was running on the ice. That made the downhill areas EXTRA scary since it WAS slick. I really wish the race director had sent out an email the night before advising of trail conditions. I probably would have worn different shoes.
• 2/3 of the runners were women, and yet the shirt is still a men's shirt. WHY WHY WHY????? I am so tired of all these race shirts that I cannot wear. At least give me the option to skip the shirt and save a few bucks if you are not going to give me one I can wear again.
• An annoyance with the registration of this race... they DO have a mail in option. I was thinking, YAY, I can save the almost $6 processing fee (10%) if I send in a check. NOPE. They still charge it. WHY NOT JUST INCLUDE THAT AS THE TOTAL RACE REGISTRATION FEE. I hate hate hate the sneaky fees. Annoying.
• They DO, however, have race day registration (obviously it costs more), but if you want to wait to see the forecast, this is a good option for a winter race.
• We got ear warmers in our swag bag. I wore mine, they kept me nice and warm and toasty.
• The course is good, but again, had it been plowed, probably would have been faster/easier.
• AND YET, this was still my 3rd fastest half of the year! Woot!
• I am SHOCKED that there was such a big turnout for this event. 288 for the half, 137 for the 10k and 120 for the 5k. SO OVER 500 PEOPLE BRAVED ARCTIC WEATHER JUST TO RUN. We are a crazy bunch, aren't we?
• All in all, I would recommend this event. Plenty of aid stations, gels at the mile 6 (and I guess it would have been mile 11ish on the away back) aid stations. Medal for all distances.
• AND.... I just have to say THANK YOU to all the volunteers who were out there for HOURS. That is even more nuts than those of us running. AND there were actually spectators!! One guy was offering people "warm water" lol!! Never seen that at a race.

Redline 13.1 at Westminster (Race Recap)

Saturday, April 6
Westminster, CO
Half Marathon #78
Colorado Half #18
Weather - Overcast for first half, sunny. Ideal temperatures.

As part of our goal to run all the half marathons in the state, we of course added Redline 13.1 at Westminster to our schedule. The course is on Big Dry Creek, which is probably where I have run most of my outdoor runs over the last few years. L had run it last year and wanted to run it with me again.

The race started at 8:00, and the start was only about 10-15 minutes from our house. We didn't expect a big turnout, and dropped off the kids around 7:00 at my parents house. We ate our pre-race fuel (donut holes of course) and had the car parked by about 7:15. We managed to get a spot just feet from the 5 port-o-potties. There were less than 100 runners participating in the half marathon, although there was also a 5k option that didn't start until 9:00.

We hit the bathroom a few times and headed to the start area with 10 minutes until it was supposed to start.

You can tell I've added some chub to my waistline!

I told L right from the beginning that I knew I was going to have a slow day and that she was more than welcome to run without me. (Spoiler Alert! - Glad I told her to run without me, she ran a 1:58 for her fastest time in over a year!)

I started in the very VERY back. Well, about as far back as one can get in a race that only has about 75 runners. I kept L in my sights for maybe the first mile, and then she was gone. The first aid station was about 1.5 miles in and I never saw her again. My stomach was feeling off AGAIN and I had to stop and use the bathroom that was at mile 2.5. I got passed by a few people around that point and never caught back up. I looked behind me and DID NOT SEE A SINGLE PERSON. There was a separate "walker" division that had started at 7:00, but it looked like I seriously was going to be the last runner. WTF.

The course is nice, but nothing special, I've run it a billion times. What I hadn't run was the section that split off after the aid station at mile 4. So there were a few miles in the middle of the course that were on sections of trail that I had not run before.

The course is partly paved bike path and partly dirt "trail." It is NOT at all technical and one of the most popular trails for dog walkers, runners, walkers, bike riders, etc. One of the issues I had was with how dry it has been, the dirt sections were REALLY packed down and it was hard to run on some sections that were grooved from bike tires and strollers.

I have not been wearing my garmin, and although I use mapmyrun on my phone, I do not look at it during races. My stomach was feeling off and my legs were extremely fatigued. I wasn't having any pain, I was just really REALLY tired. So I walked. A lot. It was very discouraging being so far in the back and I just stopped caring. The mountains looked so pretty but it's hard to capture it with an iPhone:

There were tons of volunteers on the course, so even though I was completely alone, I never felt like I could get lost. Not that I really COULD get lost, I know the area, even if I don't know the specific path that I am on. I saw the leaders coming back when I was just past mile 5. I saw L right before I hit the mile 6 marker, so she was well over a mile ahead of me at that point.

When the sun came out, so did the bugs. There were swarms of gnats EVERYWHERE. It was so disgusting. I spent the second half of the course waving my arms around like a crazy person trying to keep them off my face. GROSS!!!

I probably walked even MORE the second half. I finally DID see ONE person behind me. ONE. I was about a half mile ahead of her, so my only goal was to not come in last :-/

I had to stop and use the bathroom again around mile 7.5. I was starting to see more people on the trail... although they were people just out enjoying their Saturday morning.

The rest of the "race" was uneventful. I never saw anyone else in front of me, and the one runner that was behind me never caught up.

Top: INKnBURN, Skirt: Lululemon, Socks: Running Skirts, Shoes: Newton

I pulled my phone out when I saw the finish area and when I stopped the timer I was shocked that I came in just under 2.5 hours. Considering how deserted the course was, I honestly thought that I was looking at a 3 hour race.

Official Time 2:29:32
Gender Place - 58/59
Division Place - 17/17
Time - 2:29:24
Pace - 11:28
Distance - 13.03 miles
Mile 1 - 9:57
Mile 2 - 12:00
Mile 3 - 12:05
Mile 4 - 11:11
Mile 5 - 11:14
Mile 6 - 11:06
Mile 7 - 11:31
Mile 8 - 13:23
Mile 9 - 11:34
Mile 10 - 11:29
Mile 11 - 11:39
Mile 12 - 10:52
Mile 13 - 10:37
Mile 13.1 - 8:50

What, if anything did I learn from this race?

• I'm NO faster if I "run" the whole race. Other than the first mile, I walked IN EVERY SINGLE MILE. And this is pretty much the average time I have been running over the last 6-8 months or so. And actually, although by seconds, this was my fastest time since last August.
• It really REALLY sucks to be in the back of a race. I don't care what anyone says, it SUCKS. Yes, I know I finished and yes, I know I finished with an average time for my running, but it still SUCKS.

Thoughts on the race itself:

• This is the third (?) race I have run put on by Redline and it was by far the best / most organized.
• There was Cytomax (normally I would say ew, but the flavor they had was ok) and water at every aid station. There were gels at the turnaround - both GU and the Clif for a total of 4 flavors to chose from.
• The shirt is nice - gender specific tech tee in a fun "orange-y" color.
• Nice medal
• Good post-race items. They had a bakery "Nothing Bundt Cakes" that was giving out samples, a restaurant that had samples of chips, salsa and guacamole and flat bread. They also had bananas, chips and boxes of cereal. Plus they had little Lara bars. The volunteers gave me about 40 bars, so that alone paid for my race entry :D
• Only "complaint" was that there were supposed to be 6 aid stations and there were only 5. Didn't make that big of a difference to me though since it wasn't super hot out and I wasn't really over-exerting myself.
• I guess a secondary "complaint" was all the bugs. No way to get around that, and certainly not the fault of the race, but still, SO GROSS.
• The awards and raffle weren't being done until 11:00. That is a LONG time for the fasties to have to sit around and wait... I mean, for crying out loud, I am 100% aware I am not getting an award, it is perfectly fine to start that earlier. We didn't have time to stick around for the raffle because we had to pick up the kids.
•  Overall, this was a good race and I would probably run it again.