Running Between the Lines: December 2011

At the start of the week, I looked at my training program and saw I had a 10 mile run for the upcoming Saturday. I thought it would be more fun to do that training run in an actual race, so I started searching for one. I was lucky and found a 10K in Lawrence called the Nash Dash. I hadn't done this race before, but I thought it sounded fun! The course started downtown on Mass St, and went up on the University of Kansas campus, so I knew there would be challenging hills!

I decided to do 4 miles before the race and then do the 10K to get the other 6 miles in. I thought I might be crazy for doing it in that order, but I wanted to get it over with and not have to run after I had done the race. So I got there early, ran almost 4 miles, and then went to the start line! The great thing about this race was it didn't start until 8:30 and I'm not a morning person, so it worked perfect!

The weather was pretty perfect that morning. Not too hot and not too cold and it was nice and sunny. First off I ran 3.83 miles in 38 minutes and 55 seconds. My pace was 10:09. I honestly didn't mean to go that fast, but I was feeling really good. Then I ran the Nash Dash 10K, which was actually 6.29 miles according to my Garmin in 1 hour, 3 minutes and 32 seconds which was a 10:06 pace. It wasn't a 10K PR for me, but it was pretty close! There were a few brutal hills, but that was expected when you're running on campus. The thing I didn't expect was for them to have us run up the steepest hill going up on campus. Challenging and hard and I was tired by the time I got to the top, but it felt good!

A thing they did at this race that I'd never seen at a race before, was they did a hill challenge. On that steepest hill they had a time mat at the bottom and at the top, so they could get everyone's splits just on the hill. They gave prizes for the fastest hill sprinters. I wasn't one of the winners (or even close), so I can't tell you what they got. But I thought that was a unique thing for a race that added an extra competitive element.

This is definitely a race I would do again because it's at a great time of year when the weather is really nice and it's always nice to do as many local races as possible!

After hearing about the Rock-n-Roll series, I have always wanted to do one of the races. This was also the year for our 1 year Anniversary and we had talked about going on a mini vacation. So, I started looking and we settled on Seattle for a few reasons. 1^st and most important reason – my husband’s brother and his family live outside of Seattle and I had never met them and my husband hadn’t seen his brother for 10 years. They weren’t able to make it to our wedding, so we thought we would go to them. 2^nd reason – we could use this trip as our 1^st Anniversary trip. And 3^rd reason – I could run the RNR Seattle half while we were there! So, we just celebrated our anniversary a little early (in June instead of August), I ran a race and we got to spend time with family. Very productive 5 day vacation! I’ll give the race report first and then post some pictures about the rest of our trip and all the fun things we did.

The race was on Saturday, June 25^th and I booked our stay in one of the hotels that sponsored the race. This was the best thing I could have done! All I had to do on race morning was get up, get ready and walk out of the lobby and get on the bus. The bus then shuttled us to the start in Tukwila which was about a 25 minute bus ride. I’m not a morning person, so not having to worry too much on how to get to the start was a huge plus for me!

The morning was overcast and chilly, but not unbearable. There were tons of people doing the race – I think around 35,000 – 40,000 people! I was toward the back of the pack and there was a lot of waiting. I actually crossed the starting line about an HOUR AFTER the actual start time. That is how long it took for them to get through all the different corral starts! But, there were great people to talk to and great music to listen to while waiting to start, and it definitely made the rest of the race better. I didn’t feel like I was weaving in and out of people and I didn’t feel like I was running in a huge crowd of people. That was what was nice about the corral starts.

The scenery was beautiful! The spectators were amazing and encouraging! The bands every mile were great! Since the race started in Tukwila and finished in Seattle, we ran in little neighborhoods, ran by a lake, ran in non-populated areas, ran on major highways, and then finished in the city. It was all different areas throughout the 13.1 miles. The neatest thing was getting closer to the city and seeing the skyline getting closer and closer until you were there at the finish! The best thing about the whole race is that I got to see my husband on the course! He was about a mile from the finish line and seeing him so close to the end gave me the strength to finish strong! It was the first race of mine he’s been to and I loved seeing him supporting me on the course!

I didn’t feel like I was completely prepared for this half marathon like I was the one in April. There had been so much going on and I did have some injuries that made me skip training runs, or cut my distances back. I felt pretty good while running the race. I had some soreness in my knee while running, but nothing major. It was about an hour after the race when I noticed my foot was really hurting. It hurt to walk on it even and it made the last 2 days of our trip a little difficult if I had to be on it for long amounts of time. Once I got back from Seattle, I went to the dr after a few days of it not feeling better. They didn’t find anything wrong with it but wanted me to wait a couple weeks and come back if it was still hurting. I stayed off of it (very hard for me to do) for 2 solid weeks and at that time it was feeling much better. Then the pain was completely gone after another few days. I never went back to the dr and have no idea what was wrong with it. It hasn’t acted up since. I usually run in Saucony’s, but I trained for this race and ran this race in Mizuno’s. I didn’t like them as well as my Saucony’s, but gave them a shot. It might or might not be the shoes, but that race was the last time I wore them and I went back to the kind I know that have worked for me in the past! Even with not being as prepared as I would have liked, I still did the 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, so I was pleased. My pace was 11:14.

Everclear (one of my favorite bands from my college days) performed at the post race party and it was awesome to see them in person and hear some of their great songs! We hung around the party for an hour or so, then headed back to the hotel to rest a while before going to meet up with my brother-in-law and his wife. I did love my first experience with a Rock-n-Roll series race and can’t wait to do the Las Vegas one in December!

I wrote this blog post a month or so ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. Since writing this, I have actually finished my 2nd RNR event, but that race report will come a little later. Below are some pictures from the race and the overall trip!

I also wanted to add the website for the Rock 'n Roll Series events. If you haven't checked it out, you should! They have so many different sites all over the country!

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/

The view from our hotel room