Monster Dash 10k (Race Recap)

Saturday, October 24
Louisville, CO
Weather - sunny and warm
A's second 10k

Halloween races are my FAVORITE. Ariel, Heather, Dan and I were looking to find a fun race that we would be able to wear costumes at. We found the Monster Dash race up in Louisville with both a 5k and 10k option. We gave A the choice of what distance to run, and I was surprised that she picked the 10k.

One of the best parts about the race is that it was NOT a morning race! That meant we would actually be able to sleep in! And there were tons of other things at the race for an afternoon/evening event.

With the race starting at 3 pm, we headed up around 1:00 to find parking and our friends. We arrived around 1:30 and found a spot on a side street behind the finish line with minimal difficulty. We spent the next hour doing pre-race pictures, talking to people and wandering around.

Team Goblin!

The 5k and 10k lined up at the same time - right before the start we ran into our friend and teammate, Maureen, and we all headed out together for A's second 10k.

A and Dan had both chosen horrible costumes to run in. Full length black robes and masks and head coverings. It was a fairly warm day and the sun was shining. I had a feeling that A was going to get HOT in her costume, and I was right. Between the hot costume and the annoying "medallion" - there were plenty of things BESIDES running for her to complain about.

Right off the bat this was a better event than the race we had chosen last year. Most of it was on "trail" and it was a lot prettier. Plus, there wasn't a giant hill on the course. A did great the first few miles, struggled a bit the middle 2, and then had a strong few miles for the finish.

Mile 3

The most fun we had on the course was when Dan ran ahead and while us girls were gabbing further back, we managed to jump out from behind a tree - scaring us all nearly to death. It was a fun race though.

Thankfully, we were NOT at mile 13... I think this was around mile 4

My only complaint was that they started the kids races before we had a chance to finish... The last 10th of a mile we were trying to run into the finish line and there was a sea of flailing arms of hundreds of kids and their parents and strollers and dogs headed straight towards us. That was a bit of poor planning, as at least part of the road should have been coned off so that we could finish.

There was no "chip" timing for this race so we don't have an official finish time, but my Garmin definitely showed a HUGE 13 minute PR for A!

Garmin time - 1:20:05
Garmin distance - 6.3 miles
Garmin pace - 12:43
Mile 1 - 10:56
Mile 2 - 12:33
Mile 3 - 13:17
Mile 4 - 14:19
Mile 5 - 13:21
Mile 6 - 12:27
Mile 6.3 - 10:49

We collected our wine goblets (with a comment from the volunteer "did you guys even finish?") and then we wandered around looking for the food and beer.

The finisher party was at a restaurant a few blocks away, so we all walked over and got a seat on the patio so Maureen could have her dog sit with us. It was a great evening of good beer and good food (seriously, the restaurant made an amazing mac and cheese with green chilies and bacon and to die for brussel sprouts!).

I went for a quick walk to the car to move it closer to the restaurant and to get our hoodies, as it was getting chilly in the shade.

A great time!!

Thoughts:

• Course was very well marked. Mile markers at every mile - chalk in the dirt at an "confusing" intersection.
• Plenty of aid stations with both water and Gatorade.
• Most people wore costumes - which made this FUN.
• The shirt was cute - with a vampire on it, but I didn't take one of course.
• The race was "time" and yet there are no results that I can find. I guess I don't understand why you would bother timing if there are no results anywhere?
• My only complaint, again, was the kids race starting before everyone had finished. We were not super slow by any means (I mean, not the fastest, but still) - they should have waited maybe another 15 minutes, or at least coned off a small section of the road.
• Yay for the free beer! 
• We had a great time and we will likely find another fun Halloween race for next year :)

Kooky Spooky 10K (Race Recap)

Sunday, October 26

Golden, CO

Weather - Sunny and warm

Ariel had been asking to run a 10K for years. I had been very hesitant to let her sign up for one since she doesn't do much, if any, recreational running. She joined me a few times for run club over the last few months, but other than that, no "training" for this race at all.

She was very excited to go to packet pick-up and get her bib, but was a bit disappointed that there was no "expo" to attend. We picked up our stuff the Friday before at a busy Italian restaurant. Not a great choice for dinner time.

Saturday night she got her clothes ready - Flat Ariel is ready to run!

Race Day

My friends Heather and Dan were super excited for Ariel's race and offered to run with us so we could all motivate her. We didn't get up super early since the race was only about 20 minutes from the house and didn't start until 9:30. We got there with about 45 minutes to spare and got some pictures and used the bathroom.

I knew Ariel was nervous about the distance, and to be honest, so was I. The course is a loop course and it is NOT a flat course. It was unseasonably warm and the sun was beating down on us before we even started running. We lined up just in front of all the strollers and I hoped for the best.

The first mile was a gradual downhill, and was the only mile where A was "happy" and feeling well.

Dan and A

I love Heather's "Top Gun" costume!

Not being a seasoned runner, Ariel was drinking a TON of water because it was so hot. This caught up to her as the miles went on and she got a stomach ache, which made for an unpleasant few miles. Her legs were tired, she was getting discouraged, but we did our best to make it fun for her.

Once we got to some downhill, it was a bit easier to motivate her - mainly, because she wanted to pass people. She did really great the last mile or so - even managed a few smiles for the photographer:

When she could finally see the finish line, she was a bit more motivated. She ran most of the last half mile, and the adults held back so that she could cross the finish line ahead of us. L and Hannah came to the finish line, which made A really happy.

I was pretty disappointed that the announcer screwed up Ariel's finish line announcement. All-Out allows you (when registering) to include a "tidbit" for the announcer to say when you cross the line. He was supposed to say Ariel was finishing her first 10K, but didn't announce it. Kind of a bummer! 

Ariel's Officials

Overall - 223/245

Gender - 153/170

Garmin Time - 1:33:32

Garmin Distance - 6.24 miles

Garmin Pace - 14:59

Mile 1 - 10:37

Mile 2 - 13:43

Mile 3 - 18:49

Mile 4 - 17:20

Mile 5 - 15:14

Mile 6 - 14:53

Mile 6.24 - 12:06

We collected our medals and it was already time to head over to the awards and raffles.

I think Dee, the race director (who knows Ariel pretty well), created the special age group just for her. Regardless, she was pumped to win first place (out of one, she says) in her division. Dee made a really big deal out of the award, which was neat.

Thoughts:

• All-Out really puts on a good event. Ariel has volunteered at 4 races and earned a free entry for a race, and picked this one - which turned out to be a pretty good choice.
• Very clear communication - both in writing before the event and on the event website,
• The courses are very well marked. She runs multiple distances and there is pretty much no way you could screw it up. Plenty of aid stations, all well stocked with water, "electrolyte drink" and 2 of the aid stations had Clif gels (although those were probably intended for the half marathoners).
• The race offers FREE race pictures!! I love free race pictures, and I'm happy that we got a few really good ones.
• All her races now offer separate medals for all three distances, which is also really cool.
• As for Ariel and the race itself, I think she was in over her head for the distance. She normally is fine for the first mile or two, so a 5K with minimal to no training is probably her max for now.
• Overall, it was a pretty fun day, and huge thanks to Dan and Heather for sticking with us on a sunny, hot day. It really made the experience fun for Ariel that her "big friends" were willing to stick with her.

Disneyland Half Marthon (Race Recap)

Sunday, September 2
Anaheim, CA
Half Marathon #68
California Half #3
Disneyland Half #2
Weather - HOT and SUNNY

I was REALLY looking forward to my second Disneyland half marathon. I had such a fun time running Tinker Bell with Heather that I was understandably giddy about another matchy matchy costume and 13.1+ miles prancing through Disneyland. The funny thing, is that Heather and I had decided after running last year that we wouldn't run it again. But then it started to get close to selling out, and I panicked and registered anyway, the day before registration closed. And I'm soooo glad I did!

We carbloaded at Heather's house the night before. That chick can COOK. She made baked mac n' cheese. One kind with bacon, the other with green chili and chicken. SO DELICIOUS. We headed to bed decently early, and in order to get up STUPID EARLY to to be out the door by 4:15 for our first attempt at driving to a Disney race.

Race Day

Alarm for me went off at 4:01. Would I really need longer than 14 minutes to get ready? Once we finalized our costumes (Heather even made us TAILS, which I don't think either of us got a picture of) and headed out the door, we were really only a few minutes past goal time. We ate a tasty breakfast of donut holes on the drive over, and traffic wasn't really that bad. However. We couldn't seem to actually FIND the parking structure. And by the time we DID find it, it was backed up FOREVER. They were actually collecting $15 in parking fees from every single driver. By the time we parked, it was 5:23. We were in "A" corral, and gun time was 5:45. No worries... by this time, there was ZERO line for the bathrooms, we waltzed right up to our corral and actually had to wait for the race to start.

Mile 1 was the only "speedy" mile of the race. It was still dark, and since we were outside the park, there was nothing to look at. We caught up to Dave just before entering the park and managed to get a picture with him before we lost him.

I had warned Heather in advance that I hadn't tried anything further than 4 miles in two weeks, and that we were likely going to have to take it slow. Being experts at the slow, we stopped for EVERY character picture inside the parks, as well as using real bathrooms.

I was feeling ok through the entire park section, but around mile 4, I felt the knee starting to ache. We jokingly had an "A" goal of beating our super slow Tinker Bell time of 3:20. As the race went on, that seemed harder and harder to do. It never hurt as bad as West Virginia, but that is probably because as soon as it started to hurt, I walked. Like before, as long as I was walking, it was fine.

Anyway, the course was the same as last year, and they adjusted the boring section around mile 7 by having classic cars parked alongside both sides of the course for close to a mile. Definitely gave us something else to look at.

Unlike running Tink, there are NO character pictures after you leave the park in the very beginning. So that was a bummer. However, thanks to being so slow, we got to see lots of stuff we wouldn't normally see. We saw Sandy and her husband hanging out on the curb around mile 12, we saw a random chick stop to puke, we saw ALL THE COSTUMES. I think my favorite was a girl dressed as Perry the Platypus. So cute.

The last few miles it got pretty hot, and I really wanted to be done. The dumb knee would not cooperate, so we did a slow jog/walk and finished even SLOWER than Tink. A new PW!! (Or as Kim would say, a new Personal Underachievement).

Please enjoy the pictures the course photographers managed to get:

 

Caption for all of the above pictures: "We are the cutest and most fun EVER."

Official Time - 3:26:08
Official 5K - 45:43
Official 10K - 1:45:21
Official 15K - 2:30:36
Overall Place - 13098/14829
Gender Place - 7996/9340
Division Place - 1417/1647
Garmin Time - 3:26:09
Garmin Distance - 13.48 miles
Garmin Pace - 15:18 (ouch)
Mile 1 - 9:59
Mile 2 - 11:09
Mile 3 - 15:38
Mile 4 - 33:03
Mile 5 - 14:14
Mile 6 - 13:26
Mile 7 - 14:23
Mile 8 - 14:20
Mile 9 - 15:38
Mile 10 - 15:34
Mile 11 - 15:26
Mile 12 - 12:36
Mile 13 - 14:56
Mile 13.48 - 12:13

We collected our ginormous medals, our cooling towels and our box of random food. Then we made our way to Downtown Disney to get gelato bars. If you haven't had one, try one. They are tasty and delicious.

The Good:

• The bling. I love the bling.
• The characters. Disney really IS the happiest place on earth.
• Our costumes. So freakin' awesome. (Also, other people had really awesome costumes too).
• Running with my BFF! She's the funnest.
• All the aid stations were well stocked, best volunteers ever.
• The change to the middle (boring) part of the course by adding the classic cars. Thanks, Disney!

The Bad:

• The whole parking situation. Heather almost LOST HER MIND. It wasn't too bad for me, you know, since I was gorging myself on tiny donut holes from heaven.
• The earliest races EVER in the universe. 
• The mofo KNEE. (Not the fault of Disney)

Run Disney puts on a kick ass event. I love it. I know I'm paying a premium to run these races, and I do not care. I have so much fun. Cannot wait for the next one.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around, going to the pool, trying to figure out how to cure crotch chafing, and a trip to Yogurtland (aka, my new favoritist place on earth).

 

Bummed, as always, to leave SoCal.