Evergreen Lake 5k {August 5, 2017} *Overall Female Win*

Evergreen 5k 2017

August 5, 2017 

8:00am

Official Time: 20:20 (no stroller)

Female Ranking: 1

(My 14th race of the 2017 season)

I know the start of a new school year affects many of us on the team (some work in schools, some are parents with kiddos who are in school, etc.) - so you hear me when I say that August = insanity.

The first weekend in August is Anniversary Weekend #2 in Wells World. If you haven’t heard, we celebrate our wedding anniversary in both April (our “top secret” courthouse April Fools Day wedding!) and in August (our larger “with beloved friends and family” party).  This year marked two years of wedded bliss and we wanted to celebrate with a mini vacation of some kind that first weekend in August. Well, you know, time and money and all that jazz…and we ended up not doing anything too major (just one night “away” in Iowa City while my parents cared for Gabey!) which meant that I could do Evergreen!  I have done this race once before (last year!) and I do enjoy it - it is reminiscent of my foray into triathlon (same course as the run portion of Tri Shark!) AND it is the culmination of a summer of running for many of the ladies in the Heat Wave group (this was my third year volunteering with that awesome program). So - while we would love to someday have our repeat vacation-in-the-mountains, staying in town for a “mostly stay-cation” isn’t too bad either…especially when running and friends are big parts of it!

Clint had a 20-miler for his marathon training regimen the morning of Evergreen and had made plans with his friend/coachling Michael to run from our home out to Evergreen. He would then take the stroller/Gabe from me so that I could run the race sans stroller, run a bit while I was running, return the stroller to me after I cross the finish line, and wrap up their 20 miler. Perfect.

Clint and Michael headed out from our home the morning of the race at O’Dark Thirty. I got myself and Gabe ready and headed out later than I would have liked because my stomach was super messed up for some reason. Clint would later blame it on the fact that I ate *a few* gluten free snickerdoodle cookies the night before after dinner/kinda late. I refuse to believe that they had ANYTHING to do with it ;). Who knows. Gabe and I arrived at Comlara at the race start around 7:15 (later than I would like). I visited the bathroom (sadly they just had the small bathrooms open - just two stalls! - and the larger bathrooms were locked up) and tried to work the stomach issue out. It was still icky, but I did my best to mind-over-matter it and convince myself that I could survive for around 20 minutes.

My big goal was to *finally* break 20. I have yet to do so…my PR going into this race was 20:34 (set at St. Pat’s in March pushing Gabe). My training this past year has been strong (for me). My mental game going into this race wasn’t where it probably needed to be - sub 20 SOUNDS so awesome, but if I am being honest it also sounds TOO FAST and unattainable for me. Guys - take note - if you think you can’t…you won’t.

I didn’t see Clint or Michael yet, so I prepped the stroller to run my warmup. With my stomach hurting, I wanted to decrease the variables/things I needed to think about…so I had donned my racing flats right away so I wouldn’t have to worry about wearing trainers for a warmup and then changing into the racing flats. Right, wrong, or otherwise - that’s my style. I try to simplify things for myself when I can! The running duo came into view as I was getting ready. Clint, of course, needed to use the bathroom ;)…so I started my warmup with the stroller. After about 0.75 mile of easy jogging, I passed off the stroller to the Daddy and ran around in circles a bit to make my watch click at 1.0 mile (cough *OCD* cough).

I joined the crew at the starting line, shared some smiles, fist bumps and silliness with the usual suspects…waited for Mitch’s signal…and we were off! I busted outta there like a bat (fill in the rest). Again, I know it’s always bad when Gary ends up passing me in the first mile - because it means I went out WAYY TOO HARD…Gary should never be behind me.  Gary passed me around the half mile point here. Whoops.  I pressed on and mile 1 beeped in 6:20. "Well isn’t that nice! If ONLY I could hold that for an entire 5k!”  I know, I know, mental game right?!

I saw Clint and Michael jogging off to the left with Gabey as I took the curve on the road to the right and up the slight hill. My legs were definitely feeling the burn. I waved to the boys and pressed onward toward the turn around.  I love out-and-back local races because they give you the opportunity to wave to and cheer for friends and acquaintances as you see each other. I gave a bunch of shouts and continued on my way. I gave Rachelle and Ross a wave as I passed the water stop they were manning. Mile two was over in 6:40. I knew that the two first miles averaged together equaled a PR pace (6:30 - with my PR pace being 6:38)…but I also knew I was fading fast.

Mike Eckhoff pulled up next to me shortly after my second mile with some encouraging words. He told me to stick with him, which I did…for about 20 seconds. Maybe. He pulled away and I sighed. Sub 20? Not today. (Yeah, yeah…mental game…).

Mile three hurt…it hurt real bad. I did my best to keep driving through. I did know that I was first female, but I could also tell that I had secured that spot decently significantly so I didn’t have a huge need to push super hard (since I had already resigned myself to the fact that I would not break 20).  Mile 3 clicked off in a disappointing-but-still-leg-burning 6:59.  

With the finish line, Clint, and Gabe in my sights…I did my best to hammer it in. I dug deep and managed a 6:08 pace for the final bit (which was just 0.06 by my watch).

Official finish time was 20:20.  This equates to a pace of 6:33/mile for 3.1…but my watch had me a bit short at 3.06…which means the pace per mile was 6:39 which is actually slower than my PR…so who knows. I am going with the official race time, though, and calling this a PR. 20:20 because I know GPS watches aren't always perfectly accurate…14 seconds knocked off from March and 21 more seconds to knock off to get that 19:59.

It did feel good to be the first female finisher, run a PR time, and to earn a solid time for the race. However, it was also a bit disappointing as I felt I SHOULD be able to be at least a bit faster without the stroller (and with great weather…64 degrees at race time!).

After my race, Gabe joined in the kids’ race and ran part of it by himself. It was a short and simple out and back….once the bigger kids starting running back, he followed them in (instead of carrying on out to the turnaround) and collected his medal proudly. So. CUTE!

THANKS to Mitch for an awesome race. Love Evergreen! Thanks also for allowing me to be on this team. Thanks to my teammates, both those at the race and those who weren’t. Thanks to Saucony for the killer uniforms and shoes. Thanks to Coach Clint for the guidance, support, belief, and daddy-ing! Thanks to Gabe for the inspiration!

Shout out to Clint for the pic below - one of the few of me lately running without the stroller/Gabe and one of my fav pics (I look like I can really run!)

Next up - ??? 

Canal Connection in November for sure. Other than that, I haven’t solidified a plan. I will likely pace my sister at the Quad Cities Half at the end of September. I want to try a stroller marathon this fall…maybe Whiskeydaddle in Peoria in October? I do still want that sub-20 5k…maybe I need to try again somewhere this fall? We’ll see.

Also…stay tuned for my Bix Report. One of these days, I will get around to finishing it.

Have an awesome day, friends!

~Rachel

Top Female - holding my biggest inspiration

Dog Days 5k {July 8, 2017}

Dog Days 5k 2017

July 8, 2017

6:00pm

Official Time: 20:47.8 (*Pushing Gabe*) 

Overall Ranking: 20/154

Female Ranking: 3/74

AG F30-34: 1/7

(My 12th race of the 2017 season)

I’ve now run Dog Days four times and earned 3 1st AG places and 1 2nd AG place:

2017 - 20:47 (1st AG) (my course PR and 17 seconds slower than my 5k PR of 20:34)

2016 - 25:04 (2nd AG) (*11 weeks postpartum/6 weeks back into running)

2015 - 21:24 (1st AG)

2014 - 23:10 (1st AG)

Last year, this race was my very first stroller race. It was SO hard but it also felt pretty awesome to run with my little guy.  It’s no surprise that I pushed him again tonight, as most of my races are now run with him in his stroller. My C goal was to beat last year’s time (each of my 5ks since then have been faster so I felt pretty confident about this goal), my B goal was to have a course PR, and my A goal was to be the first female. I knew the A goal really depended on who showed up as much as it depended on how hard I could push - so it was really just a wild shot in the dark.  My race strategy was also really on point - go as hard and as fast as I could until I had to slow down.  Let me be clear - this was MY bright idea, NOT my coach’s!!!

This morning I ran a great 8 miles with Amber, Jennifer (another one of Clint’s coaching clients) and then Sharron Carr (familiar face to many in the Blo-No running scene) joined us along with her stroller and son Charles for about two miles.  We met at Tipton this morning at 7 and planned to have an “easy” go of things…but ended up running about an 8:27 average pace with a few miles under 8:15. We blamed the fact that we ran a little faster than we might’ve liked on the fact that we were just trying to keep up with Amber’s daughter Sophia who was biking with us. That’s our story, anyway.  After that run, I met Clint back at home where he made us some killer pancakes (after his own long run of 14 miles).  After breakfast, we hopped in the car and headed to Peoria where we hung out at Camp Wakonda for a while to spectate our good friend Tanya’s 50k+ (the plus is because the course ended up being 35.5 miles instead of a real 50k/31 mile distance! INSANITY!!). We saw her at her mile 21 and 23 which was awesome - I think it meant a lot to see some familiar faces and I am glad we could be there for her! She went on to be the top female finisher in the 50k! The girl is incredible!!

After this adventure, we went to One World (a Wells Fam Peoria favorite) where we ate a lot of food and I drove us home. I hit a tired wall a few miles outside of BloNo but of course powered through. We had a bit of time to lie around at home before heading out again at 4:50 for Lake Bloomington/Dog Days! I might’ve told Clint to go on without me as I languished in a recliner. Man, it was a challenge to force myself out the door for this evening race tonight! However, I am absolutely glad I did (of course :)). As usual, it was great to see everyone - and it felt “awesome” to push myself for a nice hard-effort run.

Amber and I ran a nice, easy 1-mile warmup. There was no way I was running more than that as a warmup tonight, right, wrong, or otherwise. I was tired and frankly, irrationally proud of myself for doing any warmup at ALL! After the warmup, I changed my shoes into my racing flats and lined up. Since it was a chip start, we all had to kinda cram together in the finishing (so also the start) chute and I did my best not to run over anyone’s ankles. I positioned my wheel directly behind Ryan Leuty’s foot, knowing that if I hit him he wouldn’t kill me. A few minutes before the race started, anyway, he started kicking the wheel (likely trying to sabotage me…spoiler alert…it didn’t work)…so whatever. HA!

After a few minutes in the chute, the starting signal was given and we were off! I immediately charged to the outside/right side of the pack to maneuver around a few of the people in front of me (yes, including Ryan Leuty).  We flew down the first straightaway and turned to the right.  Taylor Yaklich and Audrey Jenkins, two fierce little 13-year-olds, had settled into a rhythm next to one another maybe 20 strides in front of me (and were the front women in a sea of men). I told myself to keep them within my sights as long as possible.  As we approached the left turn in the road, I heard two guys behind me chatting about being glad that they weren’t running too hard and were just “jogging” or something along those lines. Funny, guys. FUNNY!!!! I turned my head around to give them a joking eye roll and one of them said, “I am not talking about YOU! I just mean US! YOU’RE pushing a stroller!” Oh whatever ;). But seriously, the first half mile was over in like 3:00/6:00 pace. WHOOPS. The chatty fast guys passed me right around the half mile and we all carried on down the descent to the left hand turn at 0.75. Up the hill a bit…Taylor and Audrey running in stride with one another and within striking distance but I knew if I made a move I would likely blow it at some point. Mile 1 clicked off in 6:23. I knew that was wayyyy too fast but it was still fun to see.

As anyone who has run this course knows, mile 2 is the worst of the three. I did my best to hang on and push to, at the very least, keep a sub-7 pace. The rolling hills as you enter the inner loop keep things interesting. I passed the water stop with a smile at Rachelle Leuty and company, but kept running through without grabbing any water. I had a bottle with Tailwind in it in my stroller should I need any liquids. I hit the turn-around (a fire extinguisher that had been set out in the middle of the road to run around - HILARIOUS!) and powered on….now back UP and out of the darn inner loop. My breathing definitely sounded labored as I hauled it to get up and out of there. I cheered on tons of people as I ran back (a perk of an out and back). Amber and Carol looked gooooood as usual! Mile 2 - 6:57….34 seconds behind Mile 1 (HAHA!).

As I ran down to cross the lake, I did my best to pick up some speed on the downhill. I noticed that Taylor had pulled away from Audrey…and Audrey was actually walking over the bridge. Poor thing was obviously hurting. Taylor rounded the corner to the left to start the hill and Audrey looked forlornly back behind herself, saw me, and started running again. Gabe and I rounded the corner to the right and I told myself…just three laps around a track left! I started singing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” in my head as I powered up the hill…my standard mind-over-matter distraction tool. I know, it’s weird. It started back in my triathlon days when I was trying to keep my mind off of swimming for long periods of time. I would sing that darn song over and over in my head. Whatever works, right?!

My gap on Audrey kept closing. I asked myself if I REALLY wanted to pass her - did it really matter? No, probably not really. I gave maybe an 80% effort toward catching her and kept closing the gap in spite of my tired legs. Mile 3 clicked off in 6:54…at least it was SLIGHTLY faster than Mile 2, albeit barely! I put my head down and put in work for the final 0.1. I crossed the finish, cheers for Gabe ringing out from both sides, in 20:47. The final 0.1 on my watch was in a 6:01 pace. I’ll take it! It was so fun to hear people tell me that Gabe was clapping as he heard the cheers as we ran down to the finishing chute. I love it! This was a great way to close out one year of stroller racing.

Thanks Mitch - this race is always so much fun. Thanks to the rest of the team - whether you were there in person or in spirit at this one. Thanks to Saucony for the best gear!

Next up - the BIX!

Have a great day, all!

Rachel

Memorial Mile {May 29, 2017}

Memorial Mile

May 29, 2017

“Elite” Heat Start: 8:00 am

Chip Time: 6:33.4

Watch Time: 6:20.1 (where my watch beeped at a mile…my watch had the course at 1.04)

Overall Ranking: 11/14

Female Ranking: 2/3

AG: 2/3

“Recreational” Heat Start: 8:10 am

Watch Time: 7:22

(*It doesn’t matter at ALL - but just for the sake of conversation, the reported #1 Recreational Heat runner got 8:22...so technically I would've gotten first had I been actually "entered" in the run)

{My 7th race of the 2017 season...and Gabe's 4th race of the 2017 season!}

First of all, please feast your eyes on THIS:

Yeah, that’s the elevation profile for this silly one-mile-long race.  

Why did I choose to run this?  Why not - it was on a Monday holiday…no work…my good friend Amber was doing it…sounds like a fun challenge, right?!  The night before the race, I told Amber that I would see her there IF I woke up in time and IF I felt “ok.”

The days leading up to the race I had some doozies for workouts (for me).  Saturday, I ran a 12 mile “long run” with 6 1k repeats in the middle of the workout. My first two 1ks were run with the stroller at a 6:39 and 6:46 pace.  The final four 1ks were run without the stroller (thanks, Coach Clint, for supervising at the track! :)) at 6:14, 6:14, 6:21, and 6:35 paces.  Sunday, I accompanied Clint to the ISU track where he was completing a 1k repeat workout. I planned to just do some “easy miles” and somehow that turned into me running a “stroller mile time trial” after a 3 1/2 mile warmup.  I was shooting for 6:10 (my mile PR was 6:17, set at the Main Street Mile in 2014)…but somehow I managed to get this "time trial" completed in 5:54 - whoa!!

So, yeah, I say all of this to say that my “lead up” to the Memorial Mile wasn’t exactly probably what one would do if they wanted to run their very best…but seeing as running a fast mile really isn’t my “A” goal, who cares right?!

Monday morning I was able to wake up fairly easily and got Gabe ready to go.  I had formulated a very loose mental game plan of running the recreational heat at 8:10 so that I could push Gabe - the website explicitly stated that there was a “recreational heat” available for those pushing strollers, walking, etc. and that no strollers were allowed in the other heats. Totally fine and understandable - I didn’t want to press my luck since I do try to edge my stroller into many area races as long as race directors don’t explicitly forbid it/kick us out ;).

Clint planned to run down to Miller Park where the race finished and would meet us there by 8:10.  He did ask me before leaving to clarify that I would NOT, indeed, be running the women’s heat or the elite heat. I assured him that I would only be doing the recreational heat since I was bringing Gabe with me.

Gabe and I made our way down to the race start and got there around 6:35. Late registration/packet pickup went until 6:45 and I did my best to make sure that we got there prior to that cutoff.  After some chatting with friends at the start I decided that I would register for the elite heat and leave Gabe/the stroller with someone at the finish if I didn’t see Clint prior to the start. Whatev, right?! YOLO! HA!

Gabe and I went over to the swings at Miller Park where I pushed him for a bit…the boy LOVES swings!  Then…I decided to ask Julie Sibley (race director!) if it was OK if I ran the elite sans stroller and then grabbed the stroller and ran with Gabe the half mile back to the race start and then run the recreational heat (slated to start at 8:10).  I knew it would be cutting things close, time-wise, but I wanted to give it a whirl. I love crazy plans!!  She said that since the recreational heat didn’t have awards that I was more than welcome to give my weird plan a whirl. Sweet!  This made me feel better about my plan to do the elite heat - frankly, racing with Gabe is my favorite. I genuinely hope that doing these crazy races together is something that he will start remembering once he gets a little older - making these memories together is pretty special (and totally worth the added challenge).

About 7:30, Amber and I went out for a warmup.  I left Gabe in his stroller with Mike Eckhoff at the starting line (BIG thanks, Mike!!) along with an applesauce pouch to give him as a distraction if needed.  Amber and I scoped out the route from the finish line back to the starting line so that I had my strategy ready to go for after the elite heat (PS can I just say, referring to something I ran as “elite” anything is just kinda laughable ;)).  After a mile and half, we stopped at the starting area - where Clint was standing waiting and chatting with some other runners.  I sheepishly told him that I was going to be running the elite heat and he probably rolled his eyes, unsurprised ;).

We chatted with the other runners a bit and Amber and I scoped out our “competition” - a young speedy thang named Taylor was the only other girl…and we had seen her around enough to know that we should make peace with the fact that we wouldn’t be getting top chick in this race. HA!

We lined up at the start (all fourteen of us!) and waited for the signal…and soon we were off! So the elevation profile doesn’t really show it, but it FELT like the first quarter mile or so was uphill. I hit it as hard as I could and was able to bust out from the start first among the girls and stick with the bulk of the group of guys for at least a little bit (watch average pace was reading around 5:45 at this point). When I crested the first little uphill and started to go downhill a bit, my legs felt like literal jello…perhaps the most jello-y they’ve ever felt in the history of my running. SO weird. I felt like I was pushing really hard at that point but still standing still.  

Around a half mile, Taylor passed me and I made peace with the fact that I would not be catching her. Nope - my old lady legs couldn’t hang.

I watched my average pace fall to the 7’s at one point as I climbed the final hill. OUCH…legs were on FIRE.  As I turned to the right and made my way to the finish line on the final quarter, I did my best to dig in and push through as strong as I could to the finish. A bit back from the finish, my watch beeped off a mile in 6:20. I crossed the finish in 6:33 (1.04 by my watch), hit “lap” on my watch, grabbed the stroller from Clint, and headed down to the start…to do this thing AGAIN!  Thankfully, G appeared super content.

Clint ran with us back to the start and we chatted a bit. It was definitely heating up. I tried to will my legs to work quickly to get down to the starting line but, boy, was I tired! We saw the recreational group toeing the line and heard the starting signal blast when we were still about a block and a half back…I picked up the pace, hit my “lap” button again when I got to the start…and started chasing down the field.

It didn’t take us too long before we started passing some walkers and kiddos. My body was definitely feeling spent and I was cursing myself for making the silly decision to run a second heat…but I powered on.  After about a half mile we had passed all but a final group of 5 or so (two guys, presumably dads, and three kiddos).  We passed all but one kid and rounded the right-hand turn toward the finish line. I slowly reeled him in and passed him (even though I did feel a little guilty about it, truth be told).

I crossed the finish line around 8:15 race time, but my watch for my last mile split read 7:22 (or 7:34 for the final 1.03) - since I had started the mile a bit after the heat had set off.

Two hard miles and a total of 4.1 miles for the day…rounding out a three-day hard-effort-fest of 21.1 total miles with 3 hard miles (2 with the stroller) and 6 hard 1ks. I probably should’ve taken a rest day the next day, but I ended up running until the next weekend when I took Friday-Saturday-Sunday OFF. Can we say burnt out?! Or wimpy…you be the judge.

THANKS to Mitch-teammates-Saucony-Coach Clint-baby G for making things FUN and FAST!  Looking forward to a great rest of the summer with everyone. Next up - Toluca 5k (report pending!). On deck - Park 2 Park. Still trying to decide - next “big” goal.

Have a great day! :)

Rachel

Mile 1...

Mile 2...

2nd Place Female in Mile 1!

Lake Run 12k {May 6, 2017}

Lake Run 12k

May 6, 2017

Start: 8:30am

Finish Time: 53:18 (7:08 pace)**

(PR of 1:39)

Overall Ranking: 16/188

Female Ranking: 3/89

30-34 AG: 1/10

Sixth Race of 2017 (third with stroller)

So Sunday, the day after the IL Marathon, I realized that the darn ol’ Lake Run was just TWO WEEKS away!  I ran my mouth (or fingers, I guess) and had typed in my race report that I wanted to try to be the top female finisher in the 12k (Exact quotation: “I was the top female finisher in 2015. I hate to be greedy, but it would be awesome to repeat that performance! It scares me to put something like this kind of a goal 'out there' - but I think I need to start being more brave”). Insert eye-roll here. While I am not exactly poo-pooing my performance that year (I know I should be proud/satisfied...and I am), it was on the slower side of Lake Run 12k Top Female finishes, historically.  I won with a 54:47 (7:21 pace) that year.  That’s all good everything, but the winner last year/2016 ran a 50:33 (6:46 pace) and the winner the year before my win (so 2014) ran a 51:30 (6:54 pace). So, yeah, I should’ve thought things through a little more before putting THAT crazy/unrealistic desire out there!!

Somewhat going along with that topic (running my mouth/fingers), at some point I commented that I wouldn’t be running again post-IL Marathon until the Lake Run (so, in effect, taking two entire weeks off).  Well, that lasted all of three days.  My crazy brain and body was itching to run Monday!  I was running again on Wednesday with an easy-peasy little stroller-pushing’ 5k (with the last mile at 7:44/my marathon pace).  So, yeah, in other words I never really know what I am going to be doing. Clint! Get me under control!

The week of the race, once I realized how stupid my comment about wanting to win the 12k was, I thought about doing the 7k instead (out of embarrassment, truth be told). All along I had planned on pushing Gabe in the race even though I had multiple people offer to watch him (thank Tim for me, Holly-Rae ;)).  I genuinely enjoy pushing Gabe and I really don’t think it slows me down all that much. Ok, let’s be honest. It probably does. But it’s ok/worth it.  I also, for just about one hot minute, considered registering for the third distance - the half marathon.  Yeah, no.  On Thursday I finally bit the bullet and registered - for the 12k, my fav Lake Run distance (ok, the ONLY distance I have ever run at this event).

With race start being 8:30 AND local, we didn’t have to wake up as insanely early as we had to for some previous races (here’s looking at you, IL Marathon/Champaign and Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon/Springfield!).  I had my alarm set for 6am and rolled out of bed around 6:15am. I showered and then ate some breakfast (thanks, Chef Clint, for preparing it as usual!), packed my bag, and then got Gabe up and ready to go.  We headed out around 7:25 (later than we wanted, as per usual) and got to the race site at 7:49 (I remember because I commented to Clint that we had exactly 41 minutes before the start as we made our way down to the starting area).

Note to future-self if I happen to read this race report next year as I am prepping for the Lake Run - LEAVE EARLIER!!!! We parked our car like a million miles away from the start! Ok, maybe not a million - but at least a half mile! It took a little longer than what is ideal to make our way down to the race start and get ready, but it really all worked out ok. We chatted with friends and used the porta potties. Running besties Amber, Holly-Rae and I went out for a nice, easy 1-mile warmup, running by other running bestie Tanya who was doing a more-responsible longer warm-up. Someday I need to be “responsible” and do a longer 2-mile warmup and add some strides and dynamic stretching in like Clint instructs….buttttt for all of my races lately I have been cutting things way too close to race start and leaving myself only enough time to do one mile. Oh well, one is better than none right?!

Lake Run, here we come!

I made a final pit stop to empty the bladder (being a good post-bladder prolapse patient…my PT says the seemingly simple task of frequently emptying ones bladder can stave off many “issues”! Ladies, you hear me!) and made my way to the start. I smiled confidently as I pushed Gabe/the stroller to the front of the line-up. This is the most uncomfortable part of stroller racing. I KNOW people look at me with irritation but, trust me, it’s a whole lot less invasive if I just start up there as opposed to starting toward the back and doing my best not to run into peoples’ poor ankles. I set Gabey-baby up with one of his fav applesauce pouches and awaited the starting signal.

Oh crap. I had forgotten that they use a freakin’ CANNON to start this race. Uhhhhhhhh…. The SLP-mama in me started to mentally hyperventilate about the potential damage to little G’s hearing. I quickly strategize that I would lean my body over the stroller and cup one hand over each ear as best as I could to at least muffle the sound somewhat. As soon as the cannon blasted, I would jump up and blast out of the start as quickly as I could to get out of peoples’ way…and start my watch.

They lit the cannon…I leaned forward and cupped my little boy’s precious ears as he slurped on the applesauce, unsuspecting.  I held my watch in my teeth…oh yeah, important note, I had made the decision with Clint to run this race “blind”/without my Garmin on my wrist….BUT I still wanted the data, so I had planned to start the watch and then drop it into the cup holder on the back of the stroller so that it would gather my splits.  After a few seconds (that felt like minutes!), the fuse burned down and the cannon blasted! Gabe didn’t even jump (WHEW!), I sprang up and simultaneously hit “start” on the watch and rushed forward as quickly as I could with the stroller. As we took off, I dropped the watch face-down into the cup holder on the left side of the stroller handle. There was no way I would be able to see anything unless I put forth lots of extra effort - good.

We started off at what felt like a quick clip. I felt like I was moving fast but not TOO fast. I could see the leaders (a bunch of dudes + the ever-inspiring Carrie Mack) just a few yards ahead of me and settled in. I chatted with some of the runners around me, all guys, including the familiar face of Eric Fortune. He joked, “Huh, I wonder if Andy Kubiak will with the 12k” as we watched Andy round the lake to the right…at least like 200 yards in front of the rest of the runners, still speeding up. HA!  Gabe, clutching his beloved applesauce pouch in his hands, took the spout of his mouth to talk and wave to the other runners. He chattered and waved while I gave him back my typical encouraging motherese, “I HEAR you, buddy! You’re talking to the RUNNERS! Tell them HI! They are so FAST, aren’t they?! OH LOOK at the WATER! Oh there’s a BIRD! He says TWEET TWEET up in the SKY!” Yeah, yeah, I shouldn’t wast my precious running-energy on talking/narrating to my bebe…but you just can’t take the speech-language pathologist out of the mama and you can’t take the mama out of the runner…so you get what you get ;).

I heard the first mile 1 beep on my watch and took mental inventory of things - I was feeling  pretty dang good! (Mile 1 - 6:53)

The leaders were still in my sights (but by no means within striking distance) after I finished the first mile but most were out of sight by the time I hit the second mile. Things felt generally good, though it was driving me a little bit crazy not knowing what my pace was. I really wanted to ask someone but soldiered on “by feel.” I knew that if I could keep the same people around me I was probably keeping a pretty steady pace. Probably.  Soon my watch beeped again.  (Mile 2 - 7:04)

Man oh man, those little rolling hills on this course are NO joke. I had run a tempo workout with Clint on this course a few weeks back - my final tempo workout of my marathon training cycle. Monday, April 11 the three of us headed out to the lake where we completed the Clint-prescribed workout of 2 miles easy, 4 miles tempo (6:50-7:00), 1.5 miles easy. I remember really struggling through the 3rd and 4th tempo miles in particular (tempo splits - 6:54, 6:50, 6:55, 7:00). I reminded myself of the fact that I had run THAT hard WITH the stroller in basically the same conditions as race day.  Therefore, I COULD and WOULD push through to the end for a course PR! BEEEEEEP (Mile 3 - 7:06)  Looking back, I am kinda disappointed in myself that I couldn't get closer to an average pace of 6:55ish the way I did during that tempo run...but I guess that tempo run was on legs that hadn't been torched on a marathon two weeks prior so I should be satisfied ;).

Somewhere during my 4th mile, I heard gal pal and bad-A runner Aimee Dziekan’s voice behind me yelling, “RACHEL! RIDE THE STROLLER DOWN THE HILLS!!!!” I laughed and turned around momentarily to give a strong-arm gesture and yelled back, “WOOO HOOOOO YOU KNOW IT!” At this point I was SO happy to hear her voice - it gave me a mental push (SHE’S CLOSE ENOUGH TO SHOUT AND HAVE YOU HEAR HER - HURRY UP OR SHE WILL CATCH YOU!) as well as a much-needed relaxing funny moment during moments of pain.  I saw her (thanks for wearing bright yellow-green, Aimee!!) somewhere behind me - maybe 200 yards or so?  I wondered if I would be able to hold her off until the finish… Sometime during this mile I saw Tim Van Hoof, my friend Holly-Rae's hubby, and their cutie-pies Gracie+Jack set up with a cheering station basically in the middle of a terrible, terrible ascent. I yelled at them that I was thinking about passing the stroller off after all!  But…I kept on pushing.  Soon enough, another beep (Mile 4 - 7:08).

The course curved around to the right and I thought about how I was REALLY READY to be all done with this race. Man oh man, it HURT! Beep…(Mile 5 - 7:03).

Thanks for the pic and the cheers on the course, Andy!

I knew that soon I would be making the right-hand turn onto the longest straight-away of the race…whenever I get to this point on this route I remind myself that it is ALMOST over.  Well, I made the right-hand turn into the FREAKING WIND and felt like I was pushing my stroller into a stinkin’ WALL. HOLY OUCH. As I made the turn, I peered back over my right shoulder to see if I could spot Aimee.  Yup.  A yellow blur was not far behind me.  At that point I made peace with the fact that she would be catching me, but I still did my best to hold her off for as long as I could.  RAWR AIMEE!  At some point, I recall feeling a presence behind my left shoulder. I glanced back and noticed that a guy in a red shirt was tucking behind me … drafting! HA! Seriously, though, way to use your resources guy! I am pretty sure that the stroller+I did offer him up a bit of relief from the wind for a bit. No skin off my back - I had to fight through it one way or the other. Someone else might as well benefit from the battle I had to fight regardless of my surroundings! ;).

As I ran down that sixth mile marker, Tim and the kiddos drove by in their familiar black Jeep.  As they passed me, I waved as Gracie and Jack leaned out the open back window and yelled at us, “GO GABEY! GO RACHEL!” It was so silly-adorable and I was grateful for the push!  I definitely feel the love from those Van Hooves! ;)

Somewhere right around the sixth beep (Mile 6 - 7:19), sweet Aimee pulled up alongside me and fellow area runner Kevin Hanrahan. Kevin and I had been running back and forth together for much of the race. When she pulled up, she even stuck around to chat with me a bit instead of just blowing by me like she could ;). Thanks, Aimee!!  Aimee and Kevin both pulled away from me after mile six and I continued to fight on through the blasted blasting wind.  Soon, it was time to turn left - and earn a bit of temporary relief from the wind.  I cruised along over the bridge and made a right…back into the wind and UP that darn final hill.  The seventh beep couldn’t come quickly enough (Mile 7 - 7:19).

I turned to the right again and was welcomed by a little less wind…almost home! The final turn is left - back into the wind, but at least here you can SEE the crowd and the finish AND there is some cover from the houses and trees. I tried to pick it up and push it in faster, but my legs and arms were pretty darn exhausted. I crossed the finish with a smile and grabbed a water bottle as I was welcomed back by familiar faces - teammates and other area runners.

Total- 53:18 (watch said 53:26 - took me just 8 seconds to stop it in the cup holder;))  Final 0.49 by my watch was at a 7:17 pace. So much for finishing with a stronger pace! Oh well…I really didn’t have much left!  As usual, Gabey was an angel (true to his name!).

It was WEIRD to cross a finish line and not have Clint there waiting for me!  This ONLY ever happens if he is running a longer event.  After I crossed and got a snack (dates and figs FTW!), I walked back on the course to spectate/cheer for others and to see Clint cross.  I stood and chatted with area super-star runner Carrie Mack for a bit, congratulating her on her win in the 12k and her super-great race (sub 3 hours!) at Boston a few weeks ago.  We watched two guys cross the finish of the half in 1:15. I was REALLY surprised but just figured they were faster than I realized.  Before long…there Clint was, in all his glory! As he rounded the final corner, I cheered for him and started running after him. I shouted, “You better run faster or we will catch you!” Some lady who was running the 7k or 12k turned and looked at me like, “WHAT?!” I smiled and nodded toward Clint - hope she knew I was yelling at him and not her. I tried to stay with Clint but alas I couldn’t hang, not even kinda. I backed it off to walk/slow jog it in, pretending like I never was trying to keep up with him in the first place. Oops.

I was super proud of his finish - 1st in his age group and 2nd overall in the half with a nice sub-1:30 (in spite of not really focusing on training for this distance!)

After I caught up with him we chatted with friends, teammates and other area runners and helped cheer people in/pass out a few waters at the finish. One of the best parts of the Lake Run is seeing so many familiar faces. It’s such a fun and festive event - everyone is usually in a great mood and all pumped up for SPRING and RUNNING and FRIENDS oh and the beer (I always forget about that since I don’t care about it ;)…I’m always like, “where is everyone?!” ohhhhh……beer garden….).

Little angel-boos!

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Pushing a stroller for 12k is hard.  Pushing a stroller for 12k over hills is harder.  Pushing a stroller for 12k over hills in the WIND is hardEST!
• I STILL need to incorporate some strength training into my weeks. (*insert eye roll*)
• I can manage a watchless 12k (Though I do wonder how things might’ve been different had I worn a watch. Would I have pushed harder at some points if I knew how much my pace had dropped those back miles? I don’t know!)
• I love the strong women in our running community. I already knew that though. (Ok, ok, the strong men are pretty cool too) But in all seriousness, the camaraderie of strong women has lately begun to mean even more to me - women who push one another to achieve higher levels of strength (both mental and physical) as opposed to being rudely competitive and condescending are where it’s at. HEALTHY competition is one thing - when it pushes us ALL to be better. The nasty stuff that makes everyone feel awful and even sick-y - not so cool. Glad to be on a team with STRONG women and to enjoy camaraderie with the other STRONG women in our running community!

WHAT IS NEXT:

• Steamboat 15k (June)! (sans stroller!)
• Park2Park 5-miler (July)! (with stroller!)
• Enjoying as many Tues/Thurs/Weekend group runs with my running crew as I can! (with stroller!)
• Helping to lead an area summer running group for women on Monday evenings (with Gabe!)

THANK YOU TO:

• You know, all the usual suspects….Mitch, Saucony, teammates, Coach/Chef/Hubby Clint and Gabe! Y’all are amazing!!

**So weird - 7:08-7:10 pace seems to be my current jam.

1)  Run for Hope 10k with stroller March 26 - 7:10 avg pace

2)  Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon without stroller April 1 - 7:08 avg pace

3)  Lake Run 12k with stroller May 6 - 7:08 avg pace

Looks like I need to start pushing myself out of my default/comfort pace!

Fun times with this guy!

Often Running Racing Team {love these guys}

Daddy + Son :)

Clint with his sweet age-group award: a Lake Run/Destihl pint glass!

Oh c'mon Tanya. Be proud. You did great!!! :)

Gary had to get some practice wrangling a baby boy...preparing for his own baby's arrival in just a month!

When a half marathon isn't enough...you run home to make it 24 miles for the day. HA!

St. Patrick's Day 5k {March 12, 2017}

St. Patrick's Day 5k 

March 12, 2017

20:34.5 (6:38 min/mile) *11 second PR over Frosty 5k January 28, 2017*

1st AG (F30-34) (1/30)

5th Female (5/278)

28th overall (28/497)
{My 2nd Race of the 2017 Season and Gabe's first race of 2017!}

This was my second race as an Often Running Racing Team member after my one-year hiatus and I put a fair amount pressure on myself to make it a GOOD showing (I feel like I have to prove I can still hang with the cool cats on the team!). I came up with the idea a few weeks ago to push Gabe, my 10 1/2 month old son, in the stroller for this race. I wasn’t really sure about how others would feel about this plan of mine, so I kept it somewhat quiet. Selfishly, it’s just easier (if daddy-Clint and I are both planning to race) for me to push Gabe as opposed to finding someone to watch him. Plus, being a work-outside-the-home mother, I do deal with a fair amount of guilt leaving him when I am not at work for something “selfish” like running when we could just participate in the activity together. Additionally, I truly enjoy the added challenge of pushing him while trying to still run “fast.” I am acutely aware that some people really aren’t a fan of stroller runners, though, and I know it is my responsibility to stay out of peoples’ way and not interfere with anyone else’s race. I think (please correct me if I am wrong!) that I do a successful job of this…and I will always make myself open to feedback or criticism if anyone thinks I need to handle myself/the stroller differently.

I went into the race with a goal of running a sub-7 pace with the stroller (read: 6:59). I was shooting for a finishing time of between 21-22 minutes. I knew this would be a challenge with the stroller, but I also knew it was well within the realm of reason based on recent workouts. I have pushed the stroller with Gabe in it during some recent interval workouts and did a 10-miler at goal marathon pace (7:50) with him at the beginning of February. I really wasn’t feeling like anything I was doing with the stroller was much (if at all) slower than runs I was doing without the stroller. I knew the wind forecasted for race day and the slight hills on the course might have an effect on me…but I was game for finding out what I was made of. Bring it!

Clint, Gabe and I left home around 11:40 on the Sunday morning of the race. We had planned to arrive at noon so that we would have a good hour before race start. Having the little guy in tow - the extra prep time was definitely necessary. Big thanks to friend and teammate Gary for getting there even earlier and securing us a great team table in the back of the VFW! We got an ideal parking place (I was really nervous about getting a good parking spot - I knew the VFW would be packed, as it typically is on St. Pat’s race day, and I didn’t want to have to worry about bringing the huge jogging stroller into the building. As long as we could get a good parking place, I figured I could leave it in the back of our SUV and get it out right before the race start.) and started getting things ready to go, physically and mentally. Leading up to the race I really wasn’t too nervous. All week, I had been chatting with some other teammates who WERE pretty nervous leading up to this race and frankly it helped keep my own nerves at bay (because I was focusing on theirs!) - UNTIL race day that is!

After we arrived on site, we went inside the VFW with all of our many parts and pieces and found our crew. I was hoping to do a 2-mile warmup and then take a gel following the warmup prior to heading to the starting line. Between wrangling the child, visiting the bathroom, and figuring everything else out I ended up having time for just a 15-minute warmup. I went out with Clint and Holly-Rae and Amber….Clint turned around at just over a half mile and the rest of us carried on for 15 total minutes prior to getting back to the VFW. I located my Huma gel (in a shoe in the back of the SUV and not in my bag inside the VFW like I thought…sorry Clint - I had asked him to go find it for me) and slurped it down. 

Clint and I tag-team peed in a port-potty outside the VFW (took turns watching the stroller/Gabe while the other peed and vice versa) and then jogged to the starting line. This is when my nerves started to really build up - really, they were mostly due to the stroller situation and not wanting to make anyone mad as a result of the stroller-pushing. As we approached the starting area, I gave Gabe one of his favorite snacks - a pouch of applesauce, hoping that it would keep him entertained for a while during the run. He immediately started excitedly slurping on that thing like it was his job.

As we lined up at the starting line, I asked Clint to stand right in front of me/the stroller. I didn’t feel quite right lining up in the very front with my stroller, but I also certainly didn’t want to be far from the front. I asked Clint to stand right in front of me so that I didn’t make anyone else nervous by standing in front of me and worrying that I might run into their ankles with the stroller wheel. Thanks, Clint, for taking one for the team ;).

I had seen and chatted with area speedster Lisa Becharas prior to the race and knew she would be the female winner. I didn’t see many other women that I recognized, other than the speedy Celeste Kudrys, so I wasn’t really sure about what all of the female “competition” was outside of our speedy team. I did eyeball some girls wearing Endurance Company kits and (correctly) assumed they would be fast as well. Soon enough the starting signal was given…and we were off! I blasted out of the gate as quickly as I could, careful not to run into Clint’s Achilles tendons with the front wheel of the stroller. Thankfully, he blasted out even faster so I didn’t need to really worry about that ;). Lisa easily took the lead for females, just as I predicted, and two other quick girls took their places not far behind her.

Quickly, racers settled into a groove as we ran up the first road. I generally had a person next to me, right in front of me, and directly behind me for the next half mile or so but it didn’t seem to me as if I was in anyone’s way with the stroller. I began to relax a bit (I was pretty nervous about getting in someone’s way or messing with someone’s race). I peeked down at Gabe and noticed he was clutching his prized applesauce pouch in both hands…and the darn thing was already completely flattened as a result of him sucking every last drop out. So much for that entertaining him for a while…oh well!!

I settled into my pace as we approached the first left-hand turn. I estimated that I was fourth woman and wondered how long I would be able to keep that post. My first mile clicked off in 6:27. 

Sometime early on during the second mile (I think - or it could’ve been late in the first mile), I was passed by another female. Darn it all :)! I wasn’t sure who it was - but later I learned it was Carianna Gibb. We’ve seen one another at a few area races - she has a little guy who is just a few weeks older than Gabe - hooray for little boys! I’m pretty sure she was the top female at Park2Park in 2015 - speedy woman!! I did my best to ensure she didn’t get TOO far ahead of me, but it became clear that I wouldn’t be able to catch her. Without the stroller - maybe, but who knows. 

I love that there is a part of this race where the races change directions on the same road so we are able to see one another go by. I cheered for everyone in ORRT attire and anyone else I recognized and was excited to see that Clint appeared to be doing well near the front of the pack. After I rounded the turn-around, I tried to peek back to see if any other girls were super close. I spotted Celeste and Holly-Rae and gave them both a shout as I kept pushing forward. There were a few turns in this mile and I was thankful that I have gotten rather adept at quickly turning the stroller without slowing down much (or without taking out anyone around me!). Things were starting to hurt a bit, which is fine because I guess they SHOULD…but still ;). Mile 2 was over in 6:47….oof…I had slowed a whole 20 seconds/mile down from the first mile!

I willed myself to pick it up a bit as I started in on Mile 3. I kept stealing glances at my little guy and he was silently clutching his precious applesauce pouch in both hands while he chewed on the spout. I silently breathed a prayer of thanks that he was SO content. He is usually pretty chill in the stroller - especially if there are things to watch (like droves of other runners!). However, there have been a few times during which he has become less than happy about his lot in life while in the stroller. Once he starts in on the screaming…nothing usually stops him other than getting out (or falling asleep). However, I don’t think he ever made even a single peep during this race!

Once the finish line was within my sights, I dug in and tried to close the gap on the next girl (Carianna) in front of me.  Just before the third mile ticked off, she bent down - her shoelace had come untied! Now’s my chance!! ;) I yelled at her, “just keep going! That happens to all of us!” She glanced back momentarily, smiled, and hopped back up without tying the shoe and powered on toward the finish. Atta girl! Thankfully she never tripped - I would’ve felt terrible if I gave her some bad advice!! 

My mile 3 - 6:42. WHOA! I think this is the first time in the history of EVER that my third mile in a 5k wasn’t the slowest! THAT is an accomplishment for me! Now to work on those pretty negative splits...

I didn’t feel like I had a ton left to give, but I put my head down and pushed as hard as I could for the final 0.1. My pace for the final stretch was 6:05. I crossed the finish in 20:34.5 - an average pace of 6:38 and a PR of 11 seconds over my previous PR which was just set at the Frosty 5k in Peoria on January 28. It felt pretty great to smash that PR - WITH the STROLLER!! I was definitely proud of the PR, but I was also very glad to have this fun memory with Gabe (thanks for the pictures, Mike and others!). Additionally, I am glad that I was still able to represent the shop well in spite of the added challenging element of the stroller!

Between us ;)…I am looking forward to seeing just how fast I can get this summer while pushing the stroller....

This was FUN! (in a painful-sorta-way!)

I will steal my friend and fellow ORRT teammate Holly-Rae’s great idea and list my lessons from the day…

What I Learned:

• I CAN push a stroller for a 5k at a sub-7 pace! I had set this goal for myself but didn’t know how realistic it was.
• I CAN run a fast 5k while pushing a stroller AND without interfering with anyone else’s race - with this being such a big area race, I now will feel a little more confident going into other area races this spring/summer with the stroller.
• Gabe’s an easy-going lil' first mate (ok, I already knew this)!!
• I CAN still get faster, even after having a baby!
• I CAN push through the pain for a 5k…now, to learn how to push through the pain for longer distances...

THANKS to Mitch for allowing me to be a part of this great team. THANKS to Saucony for the SWEET gear (my Freedoms are my favorite trainers…EVER!). THANKS to my teammates for the camaraderie. THANKS to Coach Clint for the guidance, patience, and advice. THANKS to Gabe for being the best little co-pilot ever! Sappy/corny/whatever - being a mom is the best thing and sharing this team and my love of running with Gabe is a great honor. Bring on the next challenge/adventure!

Happy running,

Rachel

Year-in-Review {2015}

What a year it's been!  Lots of BIG things happened in the (Matyasse-)Wells household.  Here's a (not-so) quick run-down month-by-month--

JANUARY

I penned my "New Year's Resolutions Goals" for 2015 in January and am happy to report that I did pretty well with them.  In my "Goodbye, 2014" post, I included the following:

Goals for 2015

1-Run a sub 21:00 5k

2-Run a sub 1:40 half marathon

3-place in my age group at Tri-Shark (local sprint triathlon in June)

4-Complete a sub 6 hour 70.3

5-Run my 11th marathon sometime next fall in any amount of time

6-Get married 

7-log all of my training miles so I can report back on yearly totals at this time next year :-) 

*if goals 1-5 interfere with goal 6, they shall be discarded ;-)*

Results:

1- CHECK

2- CHECK

3- CHECK

4- Nope :) (I didn't do any 70.3-distance events this year)

5-CHECK

6-CHECK!!!!!

7-CHECK (I think)

86% is a B, right?! I think that's pretty good :).

January included my first PR of the year...at the 5k distance set at the Frosty 5k in Peoria with a time of 21:09.  Not quite able to check #1 off of my list of goals yet, but darn close.  This race was a great confidence-booster and a good way to start off 2015. I had fun with soon-to-be-teammates (and already-friends) Andy and Paul at this race and at this point was pretty certain a sub-21:00 5k was well-within my reach this year.

FEBRUARY

February didn't see much action, race-wise.  I concentrated on building my base, sights set on my big spring goal:  a sub 1:40 half marathon at the U of I in April.  I think it was sometime during February that I mustered up the courage to have a chat with Mitch about being on the Often Running Racing Team.

MARCH

March was my first official month on the Often Running Racing Team! My first race in the team uniform was the St. Patrick's Day 5k in Bloomington. Let me tell you...I was a nervous WRECK leading up to this race. Visions of tripping in my new race kit danced in my head. In spite of my nerves, I pulled off a 21:31...not a PR but a respectable time and good enough for second in my age group and earning me a pair of socks (that Clint ended up wearing since they were too big for me ;)).

2nd in AG in my first race as an ORRT member!

Fun fact: in one of the pictures on my blog post (link in the paragraph above) you can see our now-friend AP running past me on our final push toward the finish line.  We didn't know each other yet...but would meet shortly after this race when he starting coming out to our Often Running Thursday Night Running Groups!

After Metcalf's spring break, I started my first season as a track coach!  Apparently many (??) years ago, Metcalf had a track team but this had fallen to the wayside in more recent years.  A group of parents and administration wanted to get a team up and running (ha!) again and so we've been chatting about the possibility of a team for the past couple of years.  In March...we held the very first practice with our new Metcalf Wildcats Track Team!  I fumbled my way through guiding a great group of kids...and was so thankful to have support from assistant coaches Molly, Kris, Maddy and Tara as well as from our Athletic Director Mr. Paxson!

March also featured the Starved Rock Marathon Relay. I ran with a group of Metcalf friends...as well as a loop of the relay with teammate Joe.

My "relay" team: Ginnell, Marilyn, Laurel and myself! We opted to run one loop all together so we could chat as opposed to running the loops one at a time as a true relay :). We had a great time!

Teammates Carol, Gary, Mike, Paul, Clint and myself before the start of this cold-but-fun adventure.

I was very excited for my first month on the team with these fast guys! 

APRIL

April brought my first BIG PRs of the year. First, I broke 21:00 in the 5k distance at the Easter Seals Run, Walk and Roll event in Peoria (and I got to hang out with random-stranger-turned-pal Jennifer Blackorby :)).  I clocked in at 20:54, a PR of 15 seconds below my previous PR set in January!  I refer to this as an "accidental PR" because I truly didn't mean to run as hard as I did...I just felt great so I went for it!  Clint had advised me (like a good coach!) to be reasonable with my pace since what I was REALLY gunning for was a sub-1:40 (and a PR) at the U of I half marathon the following weekend.

Thankfully, my efforts in the 5k didn't ruin my half marathon that next weekend.  I pulled off a 1:35:43 at the U of I Half Marathon event.  To date, this continues to be one of my favorite running memories.  I ran this race entirely with Clint.  Crossing the finish line with him was pretty great...and the emotion of the moment may have brought a few tears to my eyes that I artfully hid at the time :).

Paul, Steve, Andy, Clint and me before the big race at the U of I.

I had the privilege of attending my first bridal shower at my aunt's home in April! Thanks to my aunt Linda, my sister and mother and to everyone else who helped put on a fun afternoon get-together :-). It was a very special day. 

Me with my sister (and baby Charlee...just over a month before she made her big debut!)
and Jennifer and Macy Jo at my shower.

In April, Clint and I also celebrated the first anniversary of our first "not-a-date." Seeing as we are now anticipating the due date of our son this coming April of 2016...April is a big month for the Wells family! :)

Up to something?!

MAY

In May, I had the privilege (and utter surprise, frankly!) of being the first female finisher in the Lake Run 12k!  I was even interviewed for the Pantagraph (our local newspaper), ooh boy...new territory for me! ;)

Molly (sporting one of our new Metcalf Track shirts! WOOT!), myself and Clint prior to the start of the Lake Run!

The evening after spending the day at a big track meet (Sectionals if I recall correctly!), we also had our engagement party in Peoria with a bunch of great friends. Big thanks to Jillian for heading this up and to everyone else who helped out and attended.  It was a great night!

Sometimes we get dressed up! Our engagement party was SO much fun!

Me with 4/6 of my lovely bridesmaids (and 2 little babies in utero! :))

Clint with 4/5 groomsmen...such gentlemen ;)

Later on in May, Clint and I traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee and did our first triathlon relay together...the Olympic distance at Challenge Knoxville.  I swam+biked and Clint ran.  We had an absolute blast (...though if it weren't for me, we would've had a top 3 finish :). Clint had an amazing run!) competing and spending time with friends and my Challenge Triathlon Team teammates there.  Seeing as we had two families close to us expecting babies around this time...I was kind of nervous to travel so far away but it ended up working out perfectly.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us...teammates in every sense of the word!

At the end of May we welcomed good friends Jillan and Lynden's new daughter Nadya and just six days after that we welcomed our new niece, Charlee Mae!  We also had a fun time getting engagement photos taken on a COLD spring day out at Lake Bloomington and in Uptown Normal.

Visiting Jillian and Brand-new Nadya Quinn (NadyQ!) in the hospital. Little did we know we were practicing for what will be OUR turn at this very hospital just ~11 months from the time this picture was taken!

Sweet Charlee Mae with Uncle Clint and Aunt Rachel at just one day old!

Big thanks to Christopher Cole Photography for our fun {and beautiful!} engagement shoot!

In professional news, May marked one year since I had begun working on my doctorate degree in special education here at ISU.  One down, many more to go :).

JUNE

June 5 welcomed back one of my favorite parts of summer, the Lake Run Club Kids Run for Fun events!  I started helping with these events each Friday night during the summer of 2014 and was excited to come back and help out in 2015 (even though I had to miss the last night - Trophy Night! - due to being on our honeymoon later on in August :)).

Me with a bunch of goons ORRT members volunteering at the first Kids Run of the year.

June 6 I completed the Tri-Shark sprint-distance tri.  While 2012, 2013, and 2014 were triathlon-rich seasons for me, this was the only triathlon I completed (other than the relay in May with Clint) in 2015.  Unfortunately, I never got around to writing up a race report for this event...but I had a really great day!  I got second in my age group and had so much fun being out there with other area athletes.  This race is truly one of my favorites.  My splits were as follows:

Swim - 11:03:09 (1:51/100m)

T1- 1:19.1

Bike- 41:35.9 (18.8mph)

T2- 1:08.7

Run- 22:40.5 (7:19/mi pace)

Total- 1:17:48.1

Thanks to Kelly for the fun pic of me getting my wetsuit "stripped" in preparation for the bike!

My swim was faster than I expected seeing as I tend to be at or slightly above 2:00/100m by default.  I think the only swimming I did prior to this race was the Oly-distance swim at Knoxville. Ha!  My bike was actually a bit disappointing because I had been consistently riding at faster than 19mph for that distance.  Turns out one of my brakes was rubbing...which I discovered AFTER the race.  My run was great...I felt strong and confident and moved up quite a bit in my final placing thanks to the run.  I was happy with the 1:17:48 finishing time, which was a PR of around 3 minutes I believe.  I also snagged 2nd place in my age group and it was fun to sport my Challenge Triathlon Team jacket up on the podium!

Podium, baby! :) Maybe someday I will get 1st in my AG at a tri?! :) Goals!

June brought my return to the Steamboat Classic (I had run it twice previously but it had been a few years. Last year I attended just to spectate Clint).  I had the surprise of receiving an award for being in the top 25 of my gender with 19th place...pretty cool!  This is a big race with a fast field so this was a really big honor for me.

Often Running Racing Team at the Steamboat Classic

I also started volunteering with Heat Wave, a women's running group that met on Monday nights. This meant a tough choice for me: I had to decide between attending my usual Monday night yoga classes or Heat Wave.  I decided to take a break from my regular yoga classes (which was sad!) for June-August and helped lead a group of Heat Wave ladies and I am so glad that I did.  I met some great women and I had a lot of fun.  Rachelle Leuty, you lead a really great group and I hope to be a part of it again next summer in some capacity! :)

At the end of June, I hosted a 35th anniversary/60th birthday party for my parents with my siblings! We were excited to have so many family members turn out for a great celebration of my parents.  It was a beautiful summer day spent at a park where we went frequently when I was younger.  Sadly Clint couldn't join us because he had to work part of the weekend, but he had his own fun...an epic (mostly) solo 70.3 training day!

Matyasse Family :)

Party Fun!

Clint sent this pic after he wrapped up his 1.2-mile swim and 56-mile bike...time for that half marathon, baby!

JULY

July brought some of our favorite running memories of 2015:  Park2Park 5-Miler, the Matyasse-Wells Triple Crown (yes...three races in one day and featuring a visit with our pal Aaron Van Lauwe!), and the Bix7 (one of my top two events of each year...this year's Bix was my favorite yet as many of our ORRT teammates and OR Thursday Night Running Group friends joined us!).  It also brought my bachelorette party adventures (featuring painting at Merlot and a Masterpiece and dinner at Reality Bites with my bridesmaids Megan, Jillian, Jill, Brooke, and Jen ...minus one...my SIL Laura who lives in San Diego).  Wedding planning started taking over our lives a bit as we realized it was truly crunch time!

So glad to spend a fun day with some of my favorite ladies this summer! :)

The last day of July was our wedding rehearsal/whirlwind set-up day...

AUGUST

July was great, but August was even better.  August 1 brought our wedding day and with it, the Wells Wedding Run 13.1 and 5k.  This run is truly one of my favorite memories of the year (and my life, really!) and we are both SO grateful to everyone who ran (and biked!) with us as well as to everyone behind the scenes who helped out so that the run could be a success.  My amazing mother drove our sag support vehicle, featuring water and a variety of snacks.  My great friends Jillian, Adelle and Jen managed to pull off making our reception venue even more beautiful than I thought possible while we were out running.

I get to marry Clint Wells today?! Cool!

Yup...one of my fav pictures of some of our fav people for sure...love my lil sis ;)

Joy!

First "dance"...neither of us are really dancers ;)...do not be deceived here...this was not some sort of romantic moment with us staring and smiling into each others' eyes. Rather, we were laughing at (with!) each other in our "mutual weirdness" :).

We ventured out on our honeymoon on Sunday, August 2 and spent the next 9 days out west in beautiful Utah and Colorado.  In true Wells-style, we covered 100+ miles on foot with our daily runs/walks/hikes during our time there. Clint came back weighing less...while I came back the exact same as before leaving.  Turns out it was probably partially due to the fact that Baby Wells was already in the works!  We found out we were expecting for certain on Tuesday, August 18 but kept it *mostly* a secret until October.

Yoga in the mountains? Yes, please!

Such beauty! We can't wait to return to the mountains.

This is the very first in the series of photos Daddy Clint is working on...me on Day 1 (well not really Day 1...but rather on Tuesday, August 18--the first day that we knew for certain we were expecting our little one!)

Morning honeymoon coffee in CO!

I ran my first "pregnant race" in August...Painful Elimination (I didn't write a race report for this one, but you can click on the link if you'd like for more info on this crazy race!).  In short, the race consists of a 4.25-mile trail loop that runners run up to 12 times.  It starts at 6am with everyone running their first loop. The second loop starts at 7am, third at 8am and so on.  You run until you can't any more (or until you take longer than the allotted hour to complete a loop). I ended up running 5 loops of this race for a total 21.25 miles before calling it for myself...quite a day!

One of the first laps of Painful Elimination...running with AP!

Oh.....we also gained a new family member in August:

Olivia is just about as thrilled as she looks here ;).
Welcome to the jungle, Richard Parker!

SEPTEMBER

September ushered in Marathon Season!  I proceeded into September with a bit of trepidation.  Being newly pregnant, I didn't want to be foolish and push things too hard.  However, I also knew that I had worked very hard and was in the shape I needed to be in to run a sub-3:35 (my current BQ standard!) marathon.  Since everything was proceeding with the pregnancy the way it should've been and the doctor said that running was fine...we went ahead and drove up to Batavia for me to have what ended up being the best race of my life.  I am so grateful for Clint's coaching, advice and guidance through my training and on race day!  The Last Chance Boston Qualifier (BQ2) was an amazing experience and I was thrilled to walk away with a 3:33:16.

I will never forget this moment.
Thanks, Clint, for making it possible...
and for making me believe it was possible!

The day after my big race, I spectated Clint in his fall ultramarathon (as well as our friends AP and Tanya). I had almost as much fun that day as I did running my own race the day prior!

My inspiration!

I volunteered at the finish like of a 5k event supporting our local McLean County Autism Society in late September and had fun seeing a number of families and kiddos that I know.

OCTOBER

October featured Run the Woods, where Clint and I snagged "First Family" honors (thanks, Kevin, for coining the term ;)). He was the first overall finisher in the 8k trail run and I was the first overall female finisher in the 8k.  As friend and fellow committee member John Pratt called me up to give me my award, I was pretty sure he was going to give away our baby news (still a secret at that point, but he was one that did know) as he said into the microphone, "Rachel, is there anything else you want us to know?" Ha, no thanks John ;).  Run the Woods is one of my favorite events of the year, and not JUST because I have served on the race committee for the past ~5 years...big thanks to all of my ORRT and OR Thursday night running people who came out!

Yup, there's a baby in there too!

October also brought the Chicago Marathon...and our public pregnancy announcement.  This was my second time running a marathon as part of Team Believe, a team of marathon runners who runs to raise funds and awareness for Easter Seals of Central IL.  It was a MUCH SLOWER (intentionally) marathon than the BQ2 the previous month but was still a great experience.

DONE!

Clint's birthday weekend featured the ISU Town and Gown 5k (my first time running this...he spectated :)) on Saturday the 24th and the Allerton Park 5.7-mile trail race on Sunday the 25th (Clint's 31st birthday! :)).  We celebrated our birthdays together by having Sunday and Monday off of work together which was really nice.  We visited Rader Family Farms near our home and picked out pumpkins...that ended up rotting on our apartment floor before we thought about carving them (our fault, not the pumpkins' ;)).  Oh well.

NOVEMBER

November started out in a big way with Canal Connection on the 1st.  I had gotten first in my age group at this race in 2014 but wasn't expecting big things this year since I was just starting the second trimester of pregnancy at this point.  I managed to get 1st for the second consecutive year (out of 43 in my age group!).  Big thanks to one really speedy lady in my age group who got an overall award and was therefore taken out of the age group ;) (if she were included I would've gotten 2nd out of 44...still awesome!).

We had a great time with a big group of running friends at Rachelle and Ryan Leuty's home...THANKS for being amazing hosts, guys!  I ate too much and stayed up too late...that's how you know it was good ;).  I also think we all actually kept our phones (mostly! ;)) put away all night and as a result have no pictures of this event. Wild!

I added a (new-to-me) race that had been on my radar but I had never really thought seriously about it before...Furrow Euro.  Well, wasn't that just a great idea?!  This race featured our first snow of the season...and what a snow it was!  3.1 miles of cold and wind and snow at 17 weeks pregnant. What the heck was I thinking?!  It actually was a lot of fun...and I was surprised to grab 3rd in my age group (out of 7) in spite of taking it REALLY cautiously.

Thanksgiving brought my second running of the Oglesby Turkey Trot.  I need to remember to read this report again prior to the race next year so I remember how dang hilly it is!  Holy crap, somehow I had *forgotten* about that this year...until I started in on the second mile.  EGADS!

DECEMBER

We had a great time in early December at our Often Running Racing Team holiday dinner at Destihl. It was awesome to have our ENTIRE team all in one place at the same time!  We are sad, of course, to say "good-bye" to Nigel but we know it's only good-bye as a teammate and we will surely see him around at races and the like!

December 11th marked the halfway point in our pregnancy...crazy how fast it seemed to get to that point!  I also made a night-before-decision to run Da Deer Run Run 8k XC race at COMLARA on December 12.  This was my first experience with this race...and it was tough! I think it would've been tough had I not been pregnant :).  

December 25th is a great day for our family for a number of reasons.  First, the obvious - it's Christmas! Second, it is the first anniversary of our engagement! Third...we will be 22 weeks into this pregnancy! I'm really looking forward to celebrating the holidays this season with my family and friends.  Last year's Christmas/New Years celebrations were bittersweet as we, as a family, mourned the loss of 3 of my 4 grandparents who each passed away in 2014 (two of whom died over the holidays).  It will be impossible to celebrate without remembering the struggles of last year, while also remembering to celebrate and acknowledge the privilege of having those wonderful people in our lives for so long.  This has been a good reminder to me to never take for granted the time that I have with my dear family and friends.

2015 SUMMARY

I PRed in almost every distance I ran this year (all attempted distances other than 10k I believe).

PRs

5k (20:54)

4 mi (28:52)

7 mi (52:01)

15k (1:08:53)

13.1 mi (1:35:43)

26.2 mi (3:33:16)

Sprint tri (1:17:48)

Age Group Finishes (mostly 30-34 age group; some 30-39 age group)

Top Female Finisher (3) - Easter Seals Run Walk and Roll 5k, Lake Run Club 12k, and Run the Woods 8k*

1st in Age (5) - Frosty 5k, Fisher Fair 5k, Dog Days 5k, Canal Connection 10k*, Da Deer Run Run*

2nd in Age (3) - St. Patrick's Day 5k, Town and Gown 5k*, Oglesby Turkey Trot (3 mi)*

3rd in Age (2) - Park2Park 5 miler, Furrow Euro XC (3.1mi)*

* = run while pregnant

Looking ahead...

This brings me to my 2016 Goals!

1. Finish the all-important race to the finish line of this healthy pregnancy and delivery a healthy baby boy around April 29! This is the ultimate priority and takes precedence over all else for 2016 (well, other than maintaining my happy marriage that is :))

2. After running the best I have in my life and managing 13 overall or age-group finishes in 2015, I would be lying if I said I didn't really care about racing well in 2016. I know "well" is going to have to have a different meaning for me this year, though. I have NO idea what the final half of pregnancy will be like...much less the labor, delivery, and recovery situation.  Plus, after all of that, we will have a little one vying for our time and attention!  All of that said, I would like to try to get 2 top 3 age group finishes in races {of any distance} in the second half of 2016.  We'll see!

3. Complete a marathon in August, September, October or November.  I was in the best shape of my life, marathon-training-wise, in September in spite of being 7 weeks pregnant.  With Clint's guidance I had trained wisely and worked really hard toward my initial goal of a sub 1:40 half marathon in the winter/spring and then through the late spring/summer toward the goal of PRing my marathon and running a Boston Qualifying time.  I want to try to get this fitness back.  I know it will be VERY different post-baby, but I've seen women do it...and some come back after childbirth even faster than they were previously. I'm putting this goal in writing because I want it to happen. I am not saying I will run a BQ next year, rather that I WILL "get back on the {marathon} horse!"

4. Run (at minimum) the following races (in addition to a marathon): St Patrick's Day 5k (March...yup...I will be LARGELY pregnant! :)), Dog Days (July), Bix7 (July), Run the Woods (October), Allerton Park 5.7mile Trail Race (October), and Canal Connection (November)....and volunteer (with baby in tow? :)) at at least some Kids Run For Fun events this summer.

5. Run confidently with a jogging stroller!  Oh boy. I may need some tutorials! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2015 has been a big year full of exciting life changes for me (and the hubby!)...as well as much stronger running than ever before in my life.  Even though it's often the BIG things that we talk about the most with others, write about, share on social media, etc....it's the little every-day things that I am the most grateful for.  Waking up each morning with my very best friend, sharing quite moments together in our tiny cave of an apartment (moving next year will be bittersweet for certain!), spending time with our dear sweet nieces, (almost) daily chats and text messages with close friends, runs (and some rides!) solo or with friends on our beloved Constitution Trail, enjoying coffee dates with Clint at Coffee Hound or 3030, Jillian at CH, or Megan at Dunn Brothers, hitting "submit" on a big paper for a doc class, hikes with Clint (at our local parks as well in the mountains!), and of course seeing my Metcalf and Easter Seals kiddos meeting goals and milestones ... these things (and more!) are some of my favorites from this year.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that spring 2015 also brought the safe return to the States of my brother, Dan, who was in the Middle East with the Marine Corps...and therefore bringing a very joyful ending a very tense period of time in our family.  

I'm looking forward to 2016...with all of the joy, challenges, friendship, love, baby snuggles, sleep deprivation, and peace that is/are sure to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, All!

~Rachel

Everyday moments of 2015....