Fredonia Flag Festival 6K Race Report

On June 11, 2011 I ran in "The World's Only 6,147,777 mm Race." I'll get to what that means in a little bit. My hometown of Fredonia, KS has the annual Fredonia Flag Festival. Why does my hometown have a flag festival? Well, Fredonia has a 40 x 60 foot American Flag that flies on a 100 foot flagpole atop the South Mound. You can see the flag from miles away and it really is a gorgeous site! Sorry that the picture above is a little blurry, but you get the idea. Every year the Flag Festival raises money to maintain the flag (you wouldn't think a flag would cost a lot of money, but it's a big flag)! For the last 3 years, they have incorporated a race into the festival. I have ran this race the last 2 years.

Now to the explanation of the 6,147,777 mm race. Why not a 5K? Well, to be creative, they decided to signify the date that congress adopted the American flag which was 6/14/1777, hence the 6,147,777 mm race and why the flag festival is held around that same time every year. The race comes out to be about a 6K and 3.82 miles is what my Garmin clocked it at this year. It was a nice, warm June morning and I ran with my friend, Sarah. Running with friends always makes races more enjoyable! Our time was 42:23 and the pace was 11:05 min/mile. There were 2 water stops along the route, which was really nice since it was pretty warm that day. They also had water and fruit at the finish line - bananas are my favorite after a race! It's a small race (about 20 people maybe), but the town is small too. I think every year they will continue to get more participants and it will keep growing!

I was only a few weeks out from my Rock-n-Roll Seattle Half Marathon, so my training plan had me running 10 that day, so I actually got up extra early and ran 6.32 miles before the race. Then with the 3.82 for the race, I got my 10 miles in for my Seattle training! Win-win situation!

This is definitely the smallest race I participate in, but I'm there to support my hometown and it's great to be able to run with my friends who I don't get to see all the time! I can't wait until next year's race!

Hospital Hill 10K Race Report

I'm a little late on some race reports, so I'm catching up. This race was on June 4th and it took place in Kansas City, MO starting and ending at Crown Center. This is a race that draws many participants and is always a favorite among runners in the area! I always get really excited about this race until I'm about a mile into it running up the first of many hills, and then I start wondering why in the world I signed up for it! It's not called Hospital Hill for nothing. There is a huge hill that goes right by the hospital and then quite a few other hills throughout the race. If you're looking for flat, this is not the race for you. Below is a picture of the Finish Line when I first got there. Not too many people yet, but then the next picture shows the crowd of people at the start line!

The great thing about this race is it is so well organized! They have great perks for the runners, great medals, great water stations, tons of support along the course and that is why people continue to do this race year after year. This was my second time doing the race and I did the 10K both times. They also have a 5K and a Half Marathon. I honestly don't think I could ever do the Half Marathon on this course because not only is the course hard, but it's usually pretty hot in Kansas in June. It's pretty brutal, but that is also what makes finishing that much sweeter! Below is a picture shortly after the start. We are heading toward downtown KC and you can see all the people way up there!

This next picture is in the last mile and there is actually a nice downhill heading toward the finish line. This was a nice sight after looking up so many hills throughout the race!

My 10K time was 1 hour, 8 minutes and 29 seconds with a pace of 10:51. Not a PR for me, but I wouldn't expect a PR on this course (for me at least). Here I am with my medal post race! I was ready to get in my car and turn the A/C on!

This race is still one of my favorites, regardless of the hills and the heat! And I will be doing it again in 2012!

I'm Back!!!

I can't say that I'm back, because I was never really gone. I was just a little absent from the blogging world. I have quite a few race reports to write and I hope that making this post tonight will keep me accountable to actually write those reports in the next few weeks.

But for now, I'll leave you with these pictures of all my running shoes from old to new (minus the pair I ran in while training for my first half marathon back in 2008). I have ran through many pairs of shoes, but I can't bring myself to getting rid of my old running shoes. I still wear them when I walk the dogs or when I'm going to the store. And by looking at them, you can probably tell I'm a Saucony girl!

The oldest pair is in the lower right hand corner and they are Saucony Paramounts. You can see that I have 2 pairs of Paramounts - exact same shoe, different color. And I also have a pair of Paramount 2's. It's just hard to switch to a new style when you find one that works. But I eventually had to because they don't make the Paramounts anymore.

The Mizuno's took me through a half marathon, but I always go back to Saucony's! I have the Kinvara's, but they are only used on shorter runs. They are a little too minimal for me and I need a little more support. My newest and favorite pair (top left hand corner) are the Saucony Cortana's! They are so comfortable and they have tons of fun colors - it was hard to choose which color combo to get!

The way to tell how old my shoes are is if you can see the label in the sock of the shoe. You can't see it in the older ones on the bottom row, but you can see the label in all the newer ones on the top row! Looks like the top row need to get some more miles on them!

Anyway, enjoy my running shoes and hopefully it won't be another 4 months until I blog again!!!