The Great Candy Run (Race Recap)

Sunday, November 8
Denver, CO
Weather - Sunny and warm

I decided to sign up to be a "Running Buddy" for Girls on the Run at the The Great Candy Run. I signed up to run with Heather's school. A and I left the house early enough to meet Heather at her house and ride over to Wash Park with her and Dan. Thankfully, since I didn't realize this was pretty much the biggest 5k ever.

Took us a bit to park, and then we walked over to where her girls were. Turns out they all had buddies to run with, so I would just be running with Heather and A.

Heather with A and her GOTR

Me, A and Heather

We headed to the bathrooms and then got into the corrals. A decided at the last minute that she didn't want to run with us because we are "too old and slow." I managed to get back into the last corral with Heather. We didn't end up crossing the start line for almost 20 minutes! Apparently there were about 6,000 people running, according to the race director.

Somewhere WAY up there is the starting line

I was actually a bit sore from running the trail half the day before (and the lower body video the day before THAT), so I was happy that Heather wanted to run "just for fun." Which is what we did. For ME, I actually pushed the pace a bit and actually ran fast (again, for me).

I couldn't believe how warm and sunny it was during the race, I actually got pretty hot, even though I was only wearing a skirt and tee. We had arranged with A and Dan to meet up at the bouncy castles at the finish, and we found each other without any issues.

My times are fairly unimpressive.

Garmin time - 32:07 (seriously, I haven't run this pace in a while)
Garmin distance - 3.15 miles
Garmin pace - 10:11 (practically sprinting)
Mile 1 - 10:44
Mile 2 - 10:00
Mile 3 - 9:55
Mile 3.15 - 9:29

What WAS really impressive was A's performance! She told me she knew she was running fast because she must have passed two thousand people. She could have!

Thoughts:

• Wow, this would have been the most fun race EVER for a first time 5k! There were almost as many spectators as there were runners! The course starts on the road and then runs parallel to Wash park, with a loop inside the park. It was estimated that there were over 3,000 spectators. What a boost for these girls!!
• For a race this size it was extremely well organized. We picked up our packets the day before, but I could see exactly where I would have picked them up race day.
• Plenty of bathrooms. Even with around 10,000 people out for the event we only waited maybe 10 minutes.
• There was one aid station on the course with water and it was well stocked with friendly volunteers.
• There was a nice long sleeve tech tee (A is wearing it in the start picture). 
• And according to Heather, this was the first year the race gave out medals. And we all know how much I love medals.
• This was a really fun race, I would probably run again if I had the chance to be a "real" running buddy!

Week(s) in Review (December 16 - December 29)

So. In case you hadn't noticed, I am SUPER behind in blogging. I almost thought about just skipping all this, or just not blogging at all, but then I remembered that I blog for ME, and I like going back and reading stuff. I'll try to remember what happened in these lost weeks.

Tuesday (December 16) - No workout during lunch because I had a job interview! After work, a 3.2 mile run on the treadmill.
Wednesday (December 17) - Nothing during lunch (again) but A joined me for the last run club of the year. It was snowy, but not as cold as it looks. Heather got me a Roost beanie for the second year in a row! She is The Best.

Thursday (December 18) - Upper Body Tabata video during lunch. 2.5 speedy miles on the treadmill after work. A gave me my Christmas present that she made at school. So adorable!!

Friday (December 19) - The weather has been unseasonably warm, so I went for a run during lunch. I was confused as to how far away the parks were, so I only made it as far as East High School (with their AWESOME track) before I had to turn around and head back. A fairly fast 3.2 mile run.

After work I had to drive home, pick up A and head immediately to the airport so she could make her flight. My dad met me at my house to save me a few minutes and alerted me that my water pump was leaking pretty bad and I would need to get it replaced before my drive to Texas. NEAT.

Saturday (December 20) - I had managed to secure an "almost" guarantee that I would be able to get my car worked on at the dealership, as long as I made it there by 8 am. I had grand plans for a nice long run in Waterton Canyon, but it was too cold and windy, and I am a wimp.

Sunday (December 21) - 6.5 mile treadmill run at the gym. After my run, I met up with Lisa for brunch at a cool place near her house. Delicious food, mimosas, and great conversation.

After THAT, I came home, got on my super fancy clothes to head to my last party of the year. This time, not actually a holiday party, just a party with friends where it was requested we look our very best. I tried.

What IS this face? lol.

Monday (December 22) - I GOT THE BEST NEWS RIGHT BEFORE LUNCH!!! The place I interviewed contacted me. I GO THE JOB I GOT THE JOB I GOT THE JOOOOOOOB!!! I managed to eek out a Butt and Thigh video during lunch, and a quick mile on the treadmill after dinner after a celebratory dinner with L.

Tuesday (December 23) - All my stress has MELTED AWAY!! Work flew by pretty quick, as I found out that with my upcoming "vacation" to pick up A over New Years, my last day of work would be Christmas Eve! That escalated quickly :) I went to Happy Hour with Lisa, and then went to the gym where I ran a pretty great 4.2 miles.

Wednesday (December 24) - My last day of work! I ended up going to lunch with the Office Manager (turns out, she is somewhat bearable outside the office). I had plans to go to the gym but they closed early, so I ran a quick loop around the neighborhood before heading to Jessa's house for Christmas Eve dinner.

Thursday (December 25) - I went to Washington Park in Denver to run with Runners Roost run club host, Phil, who was fundraising for a friend. The park is a 2.5 mile loop. I was only planning on running one loop with my late start, but got suckered into running two. I am so glad I came out. Weather was perfect and I got to see a lot of friends out there.

Phil, me, Sean

I rushed home, took a shower, PACKED, dropped Batman Sour off at my parent's house and then headed to the airport. 

All I brought with me for four days in California!

Heather and her daughter picked me up at the airport, fed me, and then it was LATE to bed.

Friday (December 26) - Heather and I went for a hike/run in Bommer Canyon up to Turtle Ridge. Did you know it was the most clear day EVER and you could see forever? It was such a nice day and I really enjoyed being on the trails.

I have zero recollection of what we did the rest of the day, but I am assuming it involved TV. Was that the Doomsday Preppers marathon? It all runs together on vacation.
Saturday (December 27) - Quick run in the morning and then an early lunch at Lazy Dog with Julie (one of our awesome Ragnar team members). It is so great to catch up with people I haven't seen in forever.

Around 3:30, Heather and I drove down to San Diego. We had dinner with my L, H and my parents at their timeshare at Lawrence Welk before heading to our hotel.
Sunday (December 28) - Holiday Half Marathon! (Blog post coming, eventually).

We had lunch before heading back to Irvine. L joined us, because she was flying home out of OC with me. Afternoon was spent eating pumpkin bread and watching more high quality TV. Dinner at Chili's (with some ridiculously terrible service and not great food, but with great company). Heather dropped us off at our hotel near the airport. DID THIS TRIP EVEN HAPPEN???
Monday (December 29) - Immediately upon getting to the airport, for our 7 am flights (?!), we discovered L's flight was delayed due to poor weather in Denver. AWESOME. By the time we got back, it was already lunch time, so we stopped at Beau Jo's for a pizza buffet. Diet starts on Monday, right?

The weather was already super sketchy and the last thing I wanted to do was get stuck in bad weather on the back country roads in Eastern Colorado or North Texas. We picked up Batman Sour, went home and I WHIRLWIND packed. Like less than an hour later, I was out the door heading to Texas. I was hoping to get as many miles done as possible.

The roads were terrible. Just getting out of the city took way longer than it should have. I gripped the steering wheel, drove under the speed limit and got passed by semi trucks going 70 miles an hour on two lane roads. HOURS later, I had only driven 200 miles and stopped in Lamar, Colorado for the night. I was restless after being trapped traveling all day, and did a quick run on the treadmill at the gym.

Miles Run (W/E December 22) - 22.46

Minutes of Cross Training - NADA

Minutes of Strength/Stretching - 57

Miles Run (W/E December 29) - 31.63

Minutes of Cross Training - NADA

Minutes of Strength/Stretching - NADA

Weekly Gain/Loss - Weighed in 12/23, with a gain of 1.4 (122.2), no weigh in the week after, totally spaced it with all the travel nonsense. Ate all the things over these two weeks, who knows how it will all play out after all is said and done.

Everything Else

• As you can see, the best part of these two weeks was ME GETTING A NEW JOB. Seriously, a huge weight has been lifted, and I am SUPER excited to start! The only tiny storm cloud is that the job is literally right across the street from my old job (and on the SAME FLOOR??) - but I should be able to avoid people just fine.
• Had a great time hanging out in California with Heather, like always. I never want to leave, I just love it there so much (sorry, B, for taking over your TV for three days).
• I honestly did not even have TIME to miss A after dropping her off to go to Texas for the holidays. These two weeks were pretty crammed with stuff.
• Nothing else, but isn't ALL OF THAT enough?

Polar Bear Run 5K (Race Recap)

Sunday, January 23
Denver, CO
Weather - Chilly, Slight Breeze, Sunny

I had been eyeballing the Polar Bear Run 5K for a few weeks. I didn't sign up early, because weather here in Colorado is very unpredictable. I won't run if it's in the single digits, if it's really windy, if it has snowed a lot, etc etc. I'm picky like that. The race has a nice 10:00 start time, so I woke set my alarm for 8:15 am and figured I'd decide in the morning if I was going to race. The weather looked good, so I called my Dad to see if he would be willing to watch A while I raced. We agreed he would come pick me up around 9:00 and we would drive down to the start at Washington Park.

A and H

Me and A before the race

I hadn't remembered, but where we parked is the same place where I watched L run her awesome marathon back in October. We could see the tents from where we parked and I found the race day registration with no problems. There WAS a slight problem. Apparently the port-o-potty order was messed up and they weren't delivered until literally about ten minutes before the race started. Once I have it in my head that I have to go, I have to go... so I got in line anyway. My dad took A (and my niece H) to the playground while the race was starting. There were maybe 20 people in line, and luckily I was able to get in and out and literally walk up to the start line as they were counting down for the gun to go off.

The first five minutes of the race? Pure chaos. Another race where there is no timing mat at the start so EVERYONE wants to be as close as possible to the front, whether they are running or walking. I find that REALLY annoying. I obviously am not a contender for a prize, but I'd like to be able to run at a comfortable pace without having to slow down dramatically or frogger around people. The start was also the most narrow part of the course, so I had a hard time getting my groove.

I've never run at Washington Park, and by the looks of it I'm the only person with a hundred miles that doesn't. There were TONS of people running, walking (with dogs, strollers), cycling, even a dude using the ski poles. The course was "sorta" closed. Meaning they had orange cones out. But a lot of people seemed to ignore that, so there was some dodging of pedestrians, including a man in a wheelchair who was coming towards all the runners walking two dogs (one of which tried to jump on people as they ran by).

I'll admit. I hadn't really planned for this race. With the bathroom scenario I didn't really stretch or mentally prepare or anything. By a mile in I was pretty tired. By a mile and half in I was cursing to myself and reminding myself that the 5K is the most terrible distance to race ever. There was a water station on the course just before the 2 mile marker, and yes, I walked through it. The break was just what I needed and for the last mile I was able to settle into a more reasonable pace. I was PSYCHED when I saw the finish line ahead. I saw my Dad and A on the sidelines, and I loved that! I hardly ever race locally, so there isn't usually anyone cheering for me. I sprinted (well, sorta) to the finish, with an official time of 27:23 (since I started farther back, my watch said 27:10, which is only about 18 seconds off a PR).

My Dad got this shot of my heading toward the finish line

Official Time - 27:23
Official Pace - 8:50
Overall Place - 102/410
Division Place - 15/92
Gender Place - 38/247
Garmin Distance - 3.16 miles
Garmin Time - 27:10
Garmin Pace - 8:36
Mile 1 - 8:08 (way too fast for me)
Mile 2 - 8:47
Mile 3 - 8:54
Mile 3.1 - 8:38

There was REALLY good stuff at the finish line! I've been at races where you're lucky to get a half a banana and a cup of water. This was NOT the case here. I bet I can't even remember everything that was there, but I know I got granola bars, bags of chips, Sport Beans, Cereal sample boxes, Girls Scout cookies, coffee, chocolate fondue and fruit from the Melting Pot, bagels, bottled water and Powerade, etc. Also in the goodie bag was a GU packet, a sample of deodorant, some of those recovery ointments, and more that I can't even think of.

We had about 40 minutes until the start of the Kid's Fun Run. Most of that time was spent trying to gather all our freebies and having free coffee and hot chocolate. I had a few women approach me and tell me how awesome my skirt was. No kidding :D I should get commission for the number of folks I refer to the runningskirts! With about 5 minutes until the start both kids decided they had to use the bathroom, so we had a short run to the port-o-potties.

Ready to run!!

If you haven't ever watched a Kid's run, you really should. The kids that do this are the happiest and most energetic kids you have ever seen. The kids were lined up at the start line, they were walked through a short set of stretching exercises.

A is in between tall boy in red shirt and hat and girl in pink jacket

They were instructed where to run, and then they just sprint. It's the most adorable thing in the world. A and H were some of the smaller kids running. At the turn-around, A stopped and waited for H and then they ran back to the finish where they got a certificate, a ribbon, and silly bandz.

Kid's Run - A is in there somewhere...

A good race! Too bad I loathe the 5K distance too much. This race is part of a series though, and the next one is Super Bowl Sunday... maybe I'll wear my yellow/green and head out. Go Packers!