Park 2 Park 5 Miler Race Recap

7-4-15 Park 2 Park

 

Oh Park 2 Park...I love to hate this race. Hate to love this race? Either way, I know I'm not alone. Typically the weather is stupid hot on the 4th and the hilly, sunny course through my home of BloNo, IL is no joke. However, it's a fun and festive environment on a great American holiday that brings out many familiar faces which also makes this "terrible" race a whole lot of fun. I believe I have run this race 4 or 5 times over the past few years.

 

Going into the weekend, I felt pretty decent. I had run 3.5 easy miles with the lovely Heat Wave ladies Monday night, 4 easy miles with Clint Wednesday morning, and 2 easy miles with my  sister Friday morning (after my RAUCOUS bachelorette party...see pic).

Nadya and Charlee...two of the sweet ladies who partied the night away Thursday night to celebrate our upcoming wedding at my bachelorette party! (They belong to the two Matrons of Honor, Jillian and Megan, respectively and are just too sweet :))

Maybe all of these nice, easy miles have been somewhat good for my body...because it endured some punishment over the weekend decently well with only minimal-to-sometimes-moderate discomfort in my troubled right foot {11.5 total run miles including the race Saturday, 8 trail miles early Sunday, a pretty intense 75-minute hot yoga class Sunday afternoon, 32.5 bike miles Monday am and 3.5 easy run miles with Heat Wave Monday pm}.

 

Saturday morning, we got up around 5 and left around 6 to meet friends and teammates Karen and Joe at the Corn Crib so we could all drive together over to Miller Park. We arrived right around 6:30 and pulled in behind good friend AP. I hate to admit it (after whining about it the afternoon prior when we made the plans ;-)), but getting to the race site with a full hour to spare was really nice. I visited the porta potties right away (ok, why are the porta potties at this race always right in the middle of the action?! Weiirrrrrd!!) and then stood around for a while chatting with friends. We all reveled in the mild, cool morning temps. 

"Obligatory" pre-race selfie with pals AP, Clint and Joe!

 

After a bit AP, Clint and I went out for a short, easy warm up...and then cut it short to visit the porta potties again. Race day morning priorities...always a balancing act!

Soon it was time to jog to the starting line...I saw one of my Metcalf runners, who taunted me a bit. Love it! AP asked me what my race plan was and I responded with my typical, "who knows!!" {maybe I need to start being more mindful of race strategies??} My pie-in-the-sky goal was to stick as close to a 7 min/mi pace as possible and ultimately I just wanted to beat my P2P PR of 38:31, set in 2011. 

 

We all lined up together at the front of the field and before long...we were off! I did my best to hold myself back from sprinting out too hard for that first mile (as I can often get carried away!). I stuck next to/right behind AP and the first mile ticked off in 6:55. Not too shabby...but I was feeling a bit tired from that effort and knew the hills coming soon would likely mean I wouldn't keep that pace up for long. 

I started mile 2 sticking with AP but quickly noted the fact that he wasn't breathing as heavily as I was and informed him he needed to start working harder and leave me in his dust! He brushed the comment off and we stuck together for about a third of a mile more, at which point I started to fall behind his pace. 

 

Mile 2 - 6:57. Pretty consistent with #1

 

Somewhere during the third mile someone turned up the heat. The formerly mild, cool morning began to feel more like a typical July-summer day. Darn it all!  Mile 3 was completed in 7:17. Whoops! I tried to tell myself that all was not lost...yet...and tried to pull it together. However, then...Gregory street and its stupid hill happened and mile 4 was my slowest of the race as my crap slowly hit the fan: 7:27. Yikes!! "Get it together," I told myself! With one mile left...I knew the pain would be over soon and did my best to dial in a bit more effortfully. I dumped a cup of water over my head to cool off as I went through the final water stop and set my sights on the stadium and finish line. 

 

My final mile was 7:15 and the final 0.05 on my watch was at a 5:57 pace so I'm happy to say I had a bit left in the tank for a strong finish in spite of slogging through miles 3 and 4. I crossed the finish line in 36:07, a PR of 2 minutes and 24 seconds and earning me 7th female (out of 354), 3rd in my AG and 58th out of 688 overall. 

 

We hung out for the awards ceremony (quick and dirty thanks to the amazing Larry Schumacher...awesome!) and then a group of 6 of us ran back through the course to our cars 5+ miles away at Miller Park. 

Woot! So excited that Coach Molly came back for this race! Her BF Bryce WON the race and we were excited to get to spend some time with her while she was in town.

All in all it was a great day with good friends and I'm glad to have been a part of it! Congrats to each of the other participants. 

Thanks to Often Running for the privilege of being on this super fun and supportive racing team (I've learned so much from my participation and have definitely become a better runner over the past year), Adidas for the sweet and functional gear, and to my Often Running and Challenge Triathlon teammates for the support and camaraderie. This multi-sport community is just so much FUN! :)

 

Next up...a triple threat weekend with Clint on Sat the 11th with Fisher/Dog Days/Moonlight Chase! Bring it on! :-)

 

After that...BIX on the 25th and then someone is getting MARRIED August 1! If you want to join us at 2pm for our 13.1/5k runs at Timber Pointe between the ceremony and reception (this is an open invite!!)...let us know/check out the facebook event for more info! :-)

Happy swim-bike-running, all!