Run the Woods Race Recap {10-3-15}

Run the Woods 8k

1st Place OA Female

41:14

This was my 8th year participating in the event (I've been on the committee that plans this race since 2010 or so), my 6th year running it, and my 2nd year running the 8k distance. Clint's retrospection when he wrote his own race report on the event inspired me to look back on my own past performances at this event:

My first RTW - 2008 (5k) 28:52 (further inspection revealed I ran this one with my then-new coworker/friend Jillian McGriff and finished less than a second behind her...we finished 2nd and 3rd in our oh-so-young age group of 25-29 :))

2009 (5k) 26:12, 2nd in 25-29 AG

2010 (5k) 25:46, 2nd in 25-29 AG

2011 (5k) 24:52...better each year and still 2nd in 25-29 AG :)

2012 (8k) 41:53...1st in AG, I remember fighting off two girls as we finished...one of the first times I remember such a thing happening (I have a strong history of limited competitive drive:-))

I didn't run in 2013 and 2014 because of darn injuries (laugh it up...in 2013 I didn't run because of a back injury from my brief stint in cross-fit-esq workouts. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Last year, I didn't run because of a leg injury and the fact that the course was partially covered in water...figured I didn't need to gamble! I was still there volunteering both of these years, of course! :))

This brings us to 2015...

It's no secret that this race is one of my favorites. It's probably tied with the Bix...how could one really choose a favorite out of the two ;)?! For those of you who don't know (probably no one hasn't heard this diatribe by this point :)), I am a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and I have worked with Easter Seals of Central IL since July of 2007. Being a pediatric SLP with Easter Seals was truly my "dream job"...I started pursuing employment with the organization starting in November of 2006 when I was in my second-to-last semester of graduate school at Purdue in IN. Easter Seals' mission is something I stand firmly behind, "Easter Seals provides exceptional services to ensure that people with disabilities and their families have equal opportunity to live, learn, work and play in their communities." My experiences at Easter Seals have been among the most rewarding and inspiring {and sometimes challenging!} of my life. These kids...who fight to accomplish milestones most of us take for granted are who push me to do more and be more in my professional and personal life. The ES parents, who advocate for their children and keep their heads up through sometimes discouraging odds, also inspire me with their strength and tenacity in spite of often having to deal with things they did not choose and were not prepared for.

Fun fact: in 2010 I started a "training group" with co-workers at Easter Seals, getting people to run their first 5k. I had NO idea what I was doing. I downloaded a couch to 5k plan from the interwebs and shared this with the group. We met once (sometimes more) per week to run together and to chat about running. I wish I had recorded these "training sessions" to see what kind of advice I was giving to these poor newbies. Haphazard as I am certain this group was...everyone who participated DID finish! Coach Rachel...has a nice ring to it, eh!? ;)

Ok, ok. Enough tangents. For now.

Clint told me he was going to go for the overall win...which of course sounded pretty awesome, but I was a little bummed. As a RTW committee member, one of the fun things I am part of each year is constructing the pretty amazing ;), unique awards. If you haven't seen them...they are a (usually) round "slice" of wood with a gold plate on them detailing the age group and place. This year, we had some irregularly-shaped wood chunks. One, I was convinced, looked like a goat's face. During our "glue party" out at Timber Pointe as we constructed the awards, i strategically chose the award I was *pretty* sure Clint would get (1st place male 30-34) and put that plate on the goat's face. See?! It's a GOAT!

Clearly I wanted him to do well...but couldn't he please just get first in 30-34 instead of 1st OA?! ;)

Clint and I headed out to camp a little later than I hoped (ha...the story of "us"!), but ended up arriving right around 7:05am which was just fine. My duty as a committee member that morning was to oversee the registration table. As is our usual RTW style, we went into race week with only a few volunteers resulting in some frantic e-mails between committee members about doing more recruiting. In spite of this...it ALWAYS works out that we have more than enough volunteers (THANKS to so many amazing people in our community!). Big thanks to Andy and Amber for helping out at the registration table, to Andy for helping on the course, to Nigel for being a course pointer on the 8k course and to Gary for whatever it was that they ended up making you do ;). I also brought the goods to make GF pancakes (as I have every year for the past few years) and spent the ~2 hours leading to the 9:00am race start flitting here and there, chatting with committee members (we lost a few awards...but ended up finding them, whew!!), volunteers, Easter Seals colleagues and other community members who had come out to run.

Often Running Racing Team volunteers and racers!

Me with Ginnell, Metcalf co-worke/friend and star athlete :)

I also began to informally scope out the running field to see what kind of competition I might have in the 8k. ORRT teammate Karen arrived (thanks for running, Karen!!) and signed up for the 5k...which made me then wonder if I had some sort of shot at the 8k OA female spot. The sensible side of me was trying to remind me that I am not running for just myself any longer and I did need to be responsible...meaning watch my footing extra-carefully (who wants to scrape a pregnant lady off of the trail?!), keep my heart rate "reasonably low," listen to my body, etc., etc. I decided that I would go out fairly strong for the first mile and see where that left me and then decide "on the fly" how to handle the rest of the race. It's also been increasingly more difficult for me to take deep breaths while running (my lung capacity is decreasing...apparently this is a real pregnancy thing...my internal organs are shifting up and pushing on my lungs. SO WEIRD!). Additionally, I have to pee ALL OF THE TIME...during our Thursday night run, for example, I had to pee at exactly 0.38 on my watch. And it's not a "normal" I-have-to-pee sensation either. It's more of a, "you better pee right now or it's just gonna flow out!" Add this all to the fact that I am now carrying 8lbs more than my normal weight. Running IS getting harder! WOW. Did you know you'd get this much education in this race report?! You're welcome! ;-)

We lined up at the very-official starting line (a crack in the parking lot outside of the main lodge). Jim Cooper (my fabulous boss!), our director of clinical services, spoke to the runners about one of our Easter Seals kiddos who had passed away the weekend prior. After acknowledging her sweet and too-short life with a moment of silence, the traditional barbershop quartet began singing the national anthem. I danced around a bit (my idea of a "warm up"), looked down at my shirt and realized something was...missing. OH CRAP! I didn't have a bib! I made a mad dash into the lodge, dumped out my bag...couldn't find the bib. I grabbed a new bib from our registration pile and yelled at one of the (very nice and quick-acting!!) volunteers that my name was Rachel Wells and I lost my number and now I am 770 and could she please tell Eric Arndt in the timing area?!?! With a final mad dash, I made it to Clint's side at the starting line in time for Laurel Schumacher to snap a pic...and then we were off!

I started out with a strong pace and was the first female for a few tenths of a mile before Karen easily sailed by, on her way to an OA female finish in the 5k. I felt the now-typical tightness in my lungs and had the need to take in more breaths than usual...Mile 1 - 7:41. I haven't run under an 8-minute mile since my BQ marathon 3 weeks prior! I guess I CAN still manage that! I didn't hear any other females around me, though, so I knew I could back it off a bit for mile 2 (and frankly, I knew I SHOULD back it off!!).

As I started the second mile, I reminded myself to keep an eye on my feet. A few weeks ago during one of our race committee course previews, I had taken a spill after getting distracted by the sun setting over the lake and had tripped over a root. We didn't need that happening today, for more reasons than one! Mile 2 - 8:41. HA! A whole minute per mile slower than mile 1, but still good enough to hold onto first (while slow enough to not push things too hard!). I'll take it.

Right before the third mile ticked off, I saw good ol' Andy directing runners at the split for the 5k/8k. I yelled something at him about myself breaking heart rate rules and soldiered on. Mile 3 - 8:24. Still no other girls in sight.

The fourth mile is on the newer portion of the trail and is rather rugged. I gave myself the liberty to reign in the pace and run cautiously. As Clint mentioned in his report, portions of the trail were littered with walnuts. These in addition to the roots and sticks on the group forced me to keep my eyes glued to the ground. Mile 4 was a much slower 9:51...still good enough to hold on to 1st! I actually didn't see any other runners for a large portion of miles 3 and 4...until the 8k course had the annoying section that ran back on itself, causing runners to be going both directions on a narrow trail (shout out to Nigel for helping to direct traffic here!!). Somewhere in the final portions of the race, I was passed by Merlin Anderson...I knew had I not been in my current "condition," I could've pressed harder to try to keep up with him but I let him go without a battle.


Soon enough, I rejoined the few remaining 5k runners for the race to the finish. As always, it felt great to cross that finish line!

 
 
Total finish time 41:14.

I chatted with some other finishers for a bit outside before heading inside for some yummy (GF!) pancakes and BYO Funks Grove Maple Syrip. I was also pleased to see that there was orange juice...one of my big, weird pregnancy cravings.

Standing up in front with Clint as overall finishers for our respective genders was the best part of the morning :). I'm glad I was able to pull this one off....as I know my days of "running fast" are coming to a close. Being able to claim OA female at 3 races this year was pretty awesome (Easter Seals' Run, Walk and Roll 5k in April in East Peoria, Lake Run 12k in May and Run the Woods 8k now!)....and I will use these memories to fuel my fire to get back into shape as quickly as I can next year after this sweet babe is born!

Wells Family!

THANK YOU to Mitch/Often Running for the privilege of being a part of the Often Running Racing Team, to Adidas to the great gear (my pants were Adidas at this race...but my top was Easter Seals attire, appropriate for this event seeing as this supported my employer :)), and to my ORRT and Challenge teammates for the support and camaraderie...and to everyone who participated for supporting this organization that is so important to me by either volunteering or running or both (*Shout out to Paul who ran a great race post-injury! GREAT to see you and glad you are doing better!)! We might joke that "running is dumb," but in actuality...running helps us remember that there are far bigger things in this world than ourselves and it has given us many ways to give back to our communities. So...thank you, each of you, for everything.

Some of our Often Running Thursday Night running group who came out to RTW!

What's next?! Well, The Mister and Baby+I will be doing the Allerton Park Trail Race (on Clint's birthday!)...join us if you can!! Following that, there is Canal Connection...and after that I will be playing it by ear. I hope to keep running up through April (casually at least!), but we will see!

Have a great day, all!

~Rachel

PS Here's a link to my Easter Seals fundraising page if you'd like to read more about Team Believe...or if you'd like to support families in our community with a donation to Easter Seals! https://kidstherapyprogress.com/Volunteers/RWells