Indianapolis Monumental Marathon {November 4, 2017}

So I haven't posted a race report on my blog in forever...but decided that I would post this one so that I can find it again when I am looking for it in the future. 

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

November 4, 2017 8:00am

1266th out of 4678 overall//93rd out of 394 AG//360th out of 2045 females

Chip time: 3:43:57

(My 18th race of the 2017 season)

10K Split:  52:42 (pace 8:30)

13.1mi Split: 1:50:44 (pace 8:28)

30k Split: 2:38:18 (pace 8:30)

Last half: 1:53:13 (pace 8:39)

Finish: 3:43:57 (pace 8:33)

*This is, without a doubt, my most steadily paced marathon ever*

50 States Marathon Challenge:

Illinois

Iowa

Indiana

Virginia

California

New York

Washington D.C.

(44 States to Go! HA!!)

13th full stand-alone marathon

OK, guys, as many of you know I haven’t run in two weeks (as of Monday, November 20). I ran the Indy Monumental Marathon on Saturday, November 4. Then, the next day I ran the Canal Connection 10k. After these two feats, I actually felt pretty decent, but I took the day following Canal (Monday the 6th) off. Then, I ran 4 miles on Tuesday the 7th - negative splits with the stroller, not exactly an "easy run.” Surprise, surprise - after this run, my right knee was toast. As I have stated over and over (mostly to myself), I deserved it - it’s “fine”. It certainly made sense to have SOMETHING give out after the blatant abuse of my body! Come on, Rachel, use your head!! :) Yeah - runners aren't always good at making wise decisions.

So, here is my Indy Monumental Race Report…or Part 1 in the saga of Rachel Jacking Up Her Knee…

So, backing wayyyy up to this past winter and spring - I had an absolute blast training for the U of I marathon with my good friend Holly-Rae (and others, of course, but namely Holly-Rae because she and I were both gunning for Boston Qualifying times together at the full at the U of I).  When HR had a disappointing race, it sucked. Of course it sucked the most for her - but as her friend and training partner it sure sucked to watch! I was really hopeful that she would be able to rest up, train hard over the summer, and then run a strong race at the Geneva Last Chance BQ Marathon in September.  Well, as you may know from reading her reports - that race didn’t happen. She was stricken by some awful illness in late August/early September and was unable to run that event. I had been planning to spectate with Gabey (and, in my mind, witness her big victory!!) and of course then was greatly disappointed for her again. In the words of the great Holly-Rae Van Hoof, “BARFO!”

After this series of unfortunate and just plain SAD events, I let her know that if she wanted to run the full at Indy, I would run with her for as long as I could last. In my head, it would be FUN to run a marathon WITH a friend - and if it were me, I might appreciate the company.  Plus - I had never run Indy and had heard good things...and it would mean adding another state to my Run-A-Marathon-In-Every-State list.  HA!  So, I offered it up, not sure what she would end up deciding. She ended up going back and forth and I was kind of thinking that she wasn’t going to do it – which was fine with me. I could really go either way. However soon it became apparent that almost ALL of "our runner people" were doing this race - seriously. Between the half and the full, we had a ton of race team teammates and other friends running.  I started to send Holly-Rae some “encouraging” texts (HAHA!) such as reminders that the race was filling up, the deadline to get your name on your bib was nearing, etc. etc. Well…believe it or not (which of course, at this point, you’ll believe it since you already read her report ;)), she registered! 

This became kind of an, “oh crap!” moment for me…I had been talking such a big talk and had been telling her that I would run with her…I HAD to put my money (or Clint’s money…hahaha!) where mouth was!  Truth be told, my training had really been lacking leading up to the Indy weekend…feel free to skip on past my little review if this doesn't interest you, but heres a synopsis of my running August-October:

-I ran a PR 5k in August at Evergreen on 8/5/17 of 20:20 (no stroller). This was a definite HIGH!

-Later on in August, I completed my longest EVER stroller run of 17 miles with Clint and Holly-Rae. This is probably more impressive for Gabey than for me! ;) What a tolerant child I have!

-Then, on Wednesday, August 23 on an easy family run with Clint - I had to literally stop (I can count on one hand the number of times this has happened in my life) and walk it in because I was having breathing difficulty/weirdness - and it honestly freaked me out more than I admitted at the time

-I didn’t run again for six days - still dealing with breathing/lung weirdness (honestly, sadly, it was all probably due to anxiety due to some increased life stressors at the time)

-total August miles: 97.4 were significantly less than July (139), but would be the most by far that I would run during a month’s time for the rest of the year…

-in September, I didn’t run anything longer than 8 miles (9/2/17 with my sister on our Labor Day mini-vacation in Michigan) until the end of the month when I paced my sister in the Quad Cities Half Marathon…and then ran Clint in for the final 10k of his full there…for a total of 20.2 miles for the day. WHAT?!

-total September miles: 88.6

-in October, prior to registering for the marathon, I didn’t run anything over 10k

-I did run two 5k races in October: (1)- 22:07 (1st female, without stroller) and (2)- 21:07 (1st AG, with stroller). 

Regardless of what a bad idea it all seemed to be on paper and in my head, we also thought it could be a lot of fun. Clint decided that he, too, wanted to run and we decided to make a late birthday date weekend out of it.  Why not, right?!  He registered us on Monday, October 16th as I sat on our kitchen floor and laughed at him as he said, “It’s done!” CLICK! He said that if he took care of the race registrations, I had to take care of the hotel. Fair enough.

On Clint’s birthday (Wednesday, October 25), we went out for a run together in the late afternoon…that was mayyyybe going to be in the 7-8 mile range.  Clint had already done a morning birthday run (while I worked a half day – he took the whole day off for his birthday) and didn’t want to necessarily run a bajillion more miles.  As we started running, I decided in my head that we were going to actually run 10 miles. I knew that, mentally, I needed to get in at least ONE double-digit run before the marathon…I mean, seriously, right?! I also knew that Clint was almost always literally down for whatever and that I would be able to sneak our shorter run into a 10-miler.  HA!  We decided to run out on Route 66 toward Towanda.  Our first mile was in a conservative 7:55.  Mile two - 7:49.  Great! We can probably negative split this bad boy, right?! As we were running along, Clint asked me how 8 miles sounded. I said, basically, “I was thinking we could do 5 out…” HAHA!! Ten miles it is! Sorry not sorry, Clint! The next 3 miles of our first half were nicely negatively split (however slightly): 7:45, 7:47, and 7:43.  After we hit the turn around…ooooh boy…turns out we would be running straight into the setting sun. After about a mile or so it was at the absolute PERFECT height to hit Gabey right in the eyes under the awning of the stroller.  He let us know how much he loved this by screaming his fool head off. Clint tried removing his shirt and tying it around the awning to lengthen it - unsuccessful.  So, we simply tried to dial down the pace and get home as fast as we could. I did think of pulling up some kids’ songs on YouTube (here's looking at you Pop See Ko) and played the music for him which did quiet him down significantly for miles 8-10.  #promomtip

Our final five miles were in 7:37, 7:30, 7:29, 7:26 and 7:25.  When we arrived back at home I was both (a) relieved for Gabe’s sake that the torture was over, and (b) encouraged - I know there’s a HUGE difference between 10 miles and a marathon, but I felt SO strong during this training run that I knew I could at LEAST hang on to Holly-Rae for the first half of the marathon (or maybe even 15 miles or so!).

I got in four more runs between that workout and our big race and let Holly-Rae know that I really wasn’t sure how long I would be able to hang with her. I verbally committed to sticking with her for her goal pace of 8:30-8:35 for the first half, but was very clear with the fact that I doubted my ability to hang on past that. I know she will scoff and roll her eyes as she reads this (just like she did in person when I said this to her the first time!), but I really wasn’t sure what my body would be able to withstand on race day. I literally prayed that I would be able to fulfill my promise to her and that my body would hold up for a half marathon with her and that I could finish the race by run/walking it in for the final half.

Friday night, Gabe’s Gram (my mom) met us at our place after we got home from work - we had made arrangements for her to come down to our place to stay with him when we traversed to Indy for the race. We got on the road about 5pm - it felt weird leaving the little guy, but it was also exciting in a way as well. We had arranged for the rest of our crew to coordinate getting our bibs and T-shirts - it’s slightly disappointing to not get the “whole” race weekend experience with expo attendance and pre-race dinner with a group of friends, but the general excitement of the impending race day was more than enough “thrill” for us (since we both had to work and couldn’t leave earlier in the day to get to the expo ourselves).

When we arrived at our hotel in Indy (set up by Holly-Rae and her friend Aaron, THANK YOU GUYS!!!), we met Holly-Rae and Aaron in the lobby and got our T-shirts and race bibs. We chatted a bit about the next morning and made a rough plan – we hoped to leave the hotel together by 6:30 to drive down to a lot near the race where Aaron had purchased us a reserved spot and then walk to the start to arrive roughly an hour before start time.

We may or may not have stayed up wayyyyy too late watching the creepy movie Split on HBO - we don't have HBO at home, nor do we have many opportunities to watch movies without the "distractions" of a little guy. Plus, once we started watching the movie - I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if we stopped before seeing how it ended. SO. CREEPY!!

Morning-of hotel-shenanigans

Hotel Lobby - ready to GO!

Tired girls in the car...

A few minutes of warmth in the expo center

Date Day Pic!

Clint ordered this bib caption for me - love it!

 Of course things always take longer than expected or planned for on race morning, it seems. We found our parking spot without a hitch and walked to the start. We ended up cutting things a bit short trying use bathrooms a final time and finding where the start was.  We made our way to some large expo building – but for some reason the security didn’t want us using what seemed to us at the time from the direction we were walking the most obvious entrance. We ended up walking a few blocks around to get into this building…and once we got inside the bathroom lines were astronomical so we aborted that mission.  We went back outside and located the finish line and then the start line which wasn’t far from the finish.

The finish line - calm before the storm!

Aaron needed to deposit his drop bag (which also included Clint’s long-sleeved top and my sweatshirt for after the race – THANKS again, Aaron! This guy really was one of the MVPs of the day!) so Holly-Rae and I walked to help him find the depository. We ended up leaving Clint in line for the porta potties so he could hopefully take care of business (spoiler alert – he ended up leaving the long line and just went to the starting line and used a porta potty on the course later). I felt bad leaving him!!

After getting rid of the drop bag, Aaron made his way to the start and Holly-Rae and I decided to chance it looking for a bathroom inside a Marriot near the start – another girl participating in the race told us there wasn’t a line! So, we hurried up a few flights of stairs and across a skywalk…and there was indeed a literal light at the end of the tunnel in the form of glorious, warm, no-line secret BATHROOMS! We used them quickly and then got on our way…the crowds were HUGE, larger than I expected. Turns out this is the 20^th largest marathon in the country – who knew!?

Starting line...

Gellin' UP!

We lined up mere minutes before the start…and before we knew it, they gave the starting signal! It became clear after a few minutes that we had actually somehow gotten in the second wave. No big deal (obviously, with the chip timing!), but we ended up waiting a few minutes longer before our crowd moved up to the start line and were then released.

We didn’t do a warmup other than our running around bathroom-hunting, so my first few strides (or more!) were a bit creaky and unsteady.  We did our best to find our own space and rhythm as we settled into the race.  Mile 1 clicked off in 8:17 – definitely a bit too far under our target pace of 8:30-8:35. I knew we needed to be conservative and not blow things early on in the race – for both of our sakes!

Holly-Rae cast off her large sweatshirt (an Aaron-gift that he had secured from a Goodwill – that guy thinks of everything, I tell you!) as we started to warm up. We were able to slow things down from our first mile and Mile 2 clicked off in 8:41. Ok, a little on the “slow” side, I knew we were still fine as the two miles averaged together to below our goal pace. However, I didn’t want us to lose too much so early on!

Mile 3 brought us through lots of turns in the city amongst the tall buildings. Our pace jumped around like crazy. As we verbally compared what our watches read, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to totally rely on them for a clear pace reading at this point.  Case in point – my third mile clicked off in 7:48. I knew we weren’t going THAT fast…and when we crossed the Mile 3 marker on the course, it was a bit after the mile dinged on my watch. This kinda stressed me out a bit…but I knew that things would still be fine and that I could just assume my watch was about a tenth of a mile over the actual distance on the course.

After this, we did our best to keep our pace in check, but with my paranoia of going too far under the pace and the inconsistencies of our watches it was kinda challenging. Mile 4 was 8:19 according to my watch and mile 5 was 8:32. I was keeping a running total in my head of approximately how many seconds under our pace we were. Math games are a fun distraction to me while I am running. Another fun distraction was taking selfies and silly pictures along the course. Inspired by Tanya who took pictures at every mile during her first marathon out at Big Sur, I decided to bring my phone along for the ride during this race. I wore one of my fav race gear items – my stretchy “Flip belt.” This thing is great – super stretchy and has fit me throughout a variety of different-times-of-life sizes without chafing or excessive bounce. My phone, car key, gels, and debit card all fit inside perfectly. I’ve had the flip belt for years – I got it probably 6 or so years ago at a race expo and love it! After the first half mile or so, though, the phone came out of the belt and was in my hand or stuffed in my sports bra for easier access for the rest of the race.  At one point during the first quarter of the race, a fellow runner actually offered to take a picture of the two of us while we were running – fun! Ha!

Thanks for the snap, Random Stranger!

The camaraderie and upbeat atmosphere amongst runners was pretty great, particularly in the first half of the race.

Mile 6- 8:11

Mile 7- 8:20

Mile 8- 8:25

Mile 9- 8:24

Mile 10- 8:20

After Mile 11 dinged (8:24), we knew that our friend Amber would be nearing the end of her half - she was gunning for a big PR and we were reallllly hopeful for her that she would hit it (her training indicated that she should!!). I became obsessed with finding out how she did and send out texts to HR’s hubby Tim as well as AP (who was pacing Amber) to get updates ASAP. Focusing on her race and hoping for a big day for her distracted us for a while, which is always nice. I also tried my hardest to get an update about Clint from someone, anyone. Since we didn’t see him at the start (the last I knew at that point was that he was in a porta potty line!), I wasn’t sure where he was or if he had even gotten to the start line at all. I was hoping all was well…but really NEEDED to know for sure! It literally about drove me mentally batty for the first 15 miles or so of the race before I heard that someone had gotten a text update that he had crossed the half (yeah, as usual, the text updates were less than timely).

Mile 12- 8:34

Mile 13 was over in 8:20. I was ecstatic to hear my watch ding at mile 13. I knew we were almost to the halfway point in the race and I had almost fulfilled my commitment!

When we reached the half, my watch showed 1:51ish (later chip time checking showed 1:50:44) which felt pretty darn great to me. I knew from my mental calculations that this was roughly an 8:30 average pace (actually it was 8:28) – so we were well on track to meeting our pace goal of 8:30-8:35.  Ok, not OUR pace goal – HOLLY-RAE’S pace goal! I was now done – my work was complete after half right?!

HALFWAY HOME!

 Well, I didn’t fall back. Honestly, I was feeling great…so of course I kept running, we kept chatting, etc. etc. Mile 14 was over in 8:33 and Mile 15 in 8:27 – things were still right on schedule for Holly-Rae’s goal and our bodies were feeling decent.

I was somehow still hangin’ at mile 16 (8:45)…

And for the next three delightful miles…

Mile 17- 8:36

Mile 18- 8:28

Mile 19- 8:20

Sweet, sweet mile 20!

 After mile 20 dinged (8:19) and we were well under the goal pace of 8:30-8:35, I smiled at Holly-Rae and commented that we had met another one of her big goals for the day – to get to mile 20 and to feel strong and in control and to not let the final 10k be a total sufferfest. Personally, I was pretty floored that I was able to still hang with her at this point – and that I was still able to be relatively positive and upbeat and was still snapping pictures and texting updates to HR’s fan club along the way. Bonus - our pace was pretty darn consistent. Keeping a consistent pace while running anything longer than a half marathon is challenging for me, so I was pretty proud of this feat.

Our 21^st mile did usher in our slowest 10k…but it was in no way a total slog-fest. We kept our spirits up and kept working and fighting. 

Mile 21- 8:41

Mile 22- 8:39

Mile 23- 8:42

Mile 24- 8:41. Sure, things slowed down a bit…but we had seconds in the bank from our first 20 miles and I knew we were still realllllly close to her (our!) goal of the 8:30-8:35 pace.

Twenty-Five!!!

Shortly after mile 25 rolled over (in our slowest time - 8:58), I saw an oh-so-familiar form in front of me running next to a less-familiar form in a pink Grim Reaper Fitness shirt. Could it be? Yup! It was Clint! Who was he running with though? It took me a second to figure out who it was – Rick Vincent! Shortly after I realized who it was, Clint turned around to look behind himself and he saw us and grinned. Judging from the grin and the fact that he really didn’t look tired (I have seen PLENTY of tired/worn out/beaten down Clint toward the end of other races!), I formed the hypothesis that he was pacing Rick. About that time, Rick also turned around to see us and I saw his face fall. Uh oh. In my mind, he was hurting and not doing as well as he had hoped and was pissed that we were catching up to him. After he turned back around, he actually picked up the pace – I would like to think we gave him a figurative kick in the pants to get past a bit of his hump and finish as strong as possible. Wait…is that…yup, Clint just mooned us. Sick, Clint! Believe it or not, Holly-Rae didn’t even notice – her head was down and she was nose to the grindstone, workin’ it out. I really don’t think anyone else around us noticed either. The end of a marathon, as y’all know, is just not a time to notice much other than your own pain. Too bad ;). Or maybe - lucky! HA!!

Mile 26 clicked over in 8:43 – of course my watch was almost a quarter mile short at this point, so we had about a half mile to go.  We put our heads down and did work. I was sure ready to be done at this point – and I would be LYING if I said I wasn’t moderately hurting. We made somewhat of an effort to catch Rick and Clint (in my head it would be fun to cross the finish all together!), and Holly-Rae urged me to leave her and catch them. First of all, NOPE – we are finishing this together, girl! Second, I really don’t know if I COULD have!

As we approached the final right-hand turn toward the long-awaited finish line, I heard some familiar shouts and saw AP, Tanya and Amber cheering to our left.  I motioned toward them so that Holly-Rae could be sure to see them.  She didn’t see them at first, but I motioned again and I think she saw them! We powered down toward the finish line and I did my best to speed up a bit more so that I could slow down right next to the finish line to catch a pic of HR as she crossed and then I quickly crossed after. 

Three-time marathon finisher, Holly-Rae!

Our last 0.46 by my watch was in 3:33/a 7:39 pace – looks like we had some speed left in our tired legs, believe it or not!

Total Chip time: 3:43:57 – this was my third fastest marathon, ever (out of 13 total marathons run from October 2009-present). I’m calling this a big success – not every race can be or should be a PR.

The finish line of a marathon is one of my favorite places

 WOW it felt good to finish! We gathered a mylar blanket and a bottle of water each and then received our hard-earned medals. It was awesome to be in the finisher chute at the same time as Clint and Rick so we could all get some pictures and celebrate together. Shortly after crossing, we met up with Tanya, Amber and AP off to the left in the beer area (some finishers – not naming names!! – required their celebratory libations!) and also others in our Blo-No group off to the right of the finish area where we, of course, snapped more pictures and chatted about the race.

Rick + Clint

HR + Me

BloNo crew (most of it!)

 Soon it was off for COFFEE…during our walk to the starting line I had seen a yuppie-esq coffee shop that I was sure would have something great for us post-race. Thoughts of a post-race hot almond milk latte got me through more than a few moments during the race! Thankfully it wasn’t disappointing – we made our way there along with AP, Tanya and Amber, got our coffees, and then parted ways to go find our cars.

Thanks to my less-than-stellar homing skills, it took us a while (and a few wrong turns) before we found our car. Once we did, we got on the highway toward Blo-No and stopped off at a Chipotle about 10 minutes away for some post-race salty, delicious calories before heading home.

THANKS to Mitch, my teammates, Saucony (those pretty NYC Freedoms treated my feet well during the marathon!!), and Coach Clint. Shout out to Holly-Rae for a FUN day. I’ve never run an entire marathon with another person and I had an absolute blast. What a ride!! Let’s do it again sometime!! I'm proud of you, girl, you ran a great race and absolutely NAILED your pace goal as well as your goal to run a strong final 10k and not totally die. Here's to big things in 2018, my friend!

Next up: Race reports for Canal Connection, Oglesby Turkey Trot, and FOLEPI (which may or may not be posted on my blog if I get around to it! :)

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Next Race: the BRRC 5k on Saturday, December 2 (for more information about this if you are interested and didn’t see the info on Facebook – shoot me a message! We would love to have you!!)

Happy Running, all! Here's to the winter months and training for a strong spring season (and, for me, my very first BOSTON!!)

Maybe I'll see ya again someday, Indy! You were a pretty sweet race!

Town and Gown 5k {October 21, 2017}

Town and Gown (iSU’s Homecoming 5k)

October 21, 2017

8:00am

21:07 // 3rd Overall Female out of 177 // 1st 30-39 AG out of 45 // 22/322 Overall // 1st stroller ;)

(My 17th race of the 2017 season)

So originally I had thought I would do this race since (a) I work at ISU and all that and (b) I have run the event in the past and have enjoyed it (I ran it last year in 21:05 *without the stroller* and was the overall female winner and ran it in 2016 in 22:49 at 13 weeks or so pregnant). Like a week or so out I decided NOT to do it because, eh, it’s another race entry…I would rather sleep in…blah blah blah. Well on Wednesday prior to the race, my friend Sharon Carr texted to ask if Gabe and I were running because she was planning to run with her little guy Charles (he is just one month younger than Gabe). Well, I couldn’t say no to a good excuse to hang out with them! So, I decided to give it a go :).  

I won’t lie, since (a) I was the top female at Town and Gown last year, and (b) I was the top female at Augustana’s little 5k last weekend, I thought it would be cool to try to go for another win. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t in the cards.  

The day before the race, I got a call at 9:45 from our daycare provider that Gabey was sick - she told me he had a temperature of over 101 degrees and I could hear him SCREAMING “mamamamama” in the background. I quickly made arrangements to head out and got on the road to go rescue my poor sick boy. I picked him up and got him home, read some books and snuggled (he wouldn’t let me out of his sight - or really out from under himself as he sat on me, for that matter!), and shortly thereafter he went down for a nap. I hemmed and hawed regarding the decision to bring him to the doctor or not bring him to the doctor, and ended up waking him up around 4pm to bring him to our pediatrician’s walk-in hours.  

The doctor checked him out and informed me that his throat was very red and he had white bumps on his tonsils - ugh! They ran a rapid strep test - negative.  They said it was just a virus and would need to run its course.  So, we headed home and laid low that night, with lots of snuggles and some cold smoothie-action to help soothe that poor throat of his.  I texted Sharon to let her know that we might not be doing the race after all.  

I put him down for bed on the early side and decided to set my alarm for 6ish - I thought I would proceed as if I was racing and assess the situation with Gabe and make an appropriate game-day decision.  I rationalized (right, wrong, or otherwise!) with the fact that he would be outside getting fresh air that would be GOOD for him and I wouldn’t be letting him get out of the stroller to touch other people/kids and spread whatever germs he had.  I cautiously ventured into Gabe’s bedroom and he woke up pretty easily - he seemed a little warm, but the thermometer read that he didn’t have a fever (though, I won’t lie, he was thrashing around - who wants a thermometer up their rear end anyway?!?! UGH!!). So, we decided to go on our way!

He was in great spirits and seemed eager to go on yet another “adventure” with Mama. We got in the car - and of course had to bring his trusty bestie, Bawk-Bawk the rubber chicken (seriously - he is obsessed with this silly/gross rubber chicken!).  Parking is always a great time on Homecoming weekend. The parking “helpers” are less than helpful and are really just there to yell at you about where you CAN’T park without any helpful advice about where you CAN park. We drove around for a while and ended up finding some street parking on the same street as the race start - sweet!

We parked and I loaded up the stroller. We headed over to the registration table to get registered and saw Steve and Paul! Sweet!! I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I might see other teammates there, since my decision to run it was so last minute it had totally slipped my mind!

After registering, I ran back to my car to drop off my packet (I love the soft t-shirts this year!) and then ran over to Metcalf to use the bathroom (perks of working on campus - a key fob to get me into places with non-crowded bathrooms!).  I then got in an easy mile warm-up, during which some older guy joked, “Gotta get those wheels warmed up!” Heck yes I do, sir!  As my warmup was coming to a close, I spotted Clint with Paul and Steve - he had run from home and had met us at the course. He warned me that there was a gross hill on part of the course and gestured to an area somewhere behind the starting area that I estimated would be later on in the race.

After our warmup, I found Sharon and Charles and we lined up near the front. I told her to line up right behind me - because I clearly wouldn’t mind if she hit me with her wheel (which she did - and I TRULY didn’t care - been there!! :)). I lined up right behind Paul (sorry to crowd you, Paul ;)). We were enlightened by some group fitness instructors leading a “warmup” and before long it was GO time!  I had my longish-shot goal of getting 1st overall female in my head and had ID’ed 4ish fast-looking girls - two young girls in red T-shirts, a girl in an ISU tank and shorty-shorts (cross country team?), and a thin/fit looking girl in leggings and a neon long-sleeve.

I did my best to make a clean and fast break out from the starting line. As I told Sharon when she asked for some stroller-racing tips (she had only raced with Charles one time prior to Town and Gown), I always try to get as far away from everyone else as I can as fast as I can - both for my sake and theirs.  I stayed to the outside and ran next to Paul for a while. By the time we took the first right-hand turn, I was in front of Paul (see ya soon, Paul!!).  Also of note, during the first straight-away prior to that turn, I managed to get in front of all of the women other than the two young girls in red T-shirts (never to be seen again by me…darn speedy kids!!!) and a third surprise woman in a pink tank top.

The course takes a slight uphill on College before going down a hill and then a right-hand turn took us into Uptown Normal. Two more right-hand turns and we were through the circle…and there was Clint spectating in front of Coffee Hound with Eric Fortune!  At this point, pink tank top girl and I were side by side but I could feel that she would fade soon.  I tried to stay as strong and chipper as I could to psych her out. I chatted with Gabe as he pointed out dogs and birds and other things he saw and tried my hardest to keep my voice even and strong and not to sound “out of breath” (though I could feel that I was pushing it with my pace).  We ran past Clint and shortly thereafter mile 1 beeped in 6:46. What-whaaaat?

I muscled past pink tank top girl and turned to the left as mile 2 began.  At this point, I could tell that the course had been changed from the previous few years - sweet, maybe it would be an actual 3.1 and not a 3.0-course!  Before long, I was *thrilled* to see that Clint was right - there was a gross new hill on the course. I did my best to power up that dang thing (I could feel my pace dropping) and then headed to the right…back to the starting area.  Every now and then I would sneak a glance behind me to check to see if any girls were gaining on me.  I knew Sharon wasn’t far behind because she sent up a cheer (that I returned) when we saw one another after the hill.  I also noticed that Paul was pretty much right behind me. "I wonder how long I can hold him off?” I asked myself.

Mile 2 clicked off in 7:02 at the corner of University and College…so much for holding a sub-7 pace for all 3 miles today!  I headed back up the hill on College and felt my pace slow more. UGH. THIS HURRRRTS. Paul pulled up next to me and I informed him, “Paul, we are DYING!” (as if any of this was Gabe’s fault!). “You go get it!” He didn’t need my permission, of course, and moved on past me effortlessly. Thanks a lot, Paul.

I rounded the corner into Uptown Circle and ran down toward Coffee Hound where I once again saw Clint.  He ran with us for a few strides before sprinting on ahead (thanks - don’t want to get me disqualified for accepting outside aid!!) to catch us at the finish.  I did my best to buckle down and push hard to the finish.  Mile 3 clicked off in a somewhat-disappointing 7:07. I crossed the finish in 21:07 - HILARIOUS to me because this was a minute faster on the nose than last week’s 5k at Augustana (which was without a stroller and with a slight off-course portion).

I finished 1st in my age group…pink tank top lady came up to me and asked me to please tell her what age group I was in. I am not sure what age group she is in, but I would assume she just wanted to be sure I wasn’t in hers? No clue, for the record. Kinda funny because I remembered her from last year when she came up to me like that! Last year, she came up to me in similar fashion because she had gotten 2nd overall and I had gotten 1st…she was very concerned because, according to the results, there was a woman who had finished ahead of me. Further investigation revealed that a guy was wearing a girl’s tag and I did in fact get first female. She was more concerned about this than I was - basically because she wanted to be sure she won her age group. Whatevs! I was kind of oblivious, but excited to find out I won last year!

It would’ve been fun to win again ;), but I am satisfied with my performance (especially considering my training hasn’t been amazing lately). It was a really fun day with lots of fun people. Glad to see you there Paul and Steve (and, of course, Clint!)!!

This year - red T-shirt girls took 1 and 2 females…in 19:11 and 19:15 at ages 12 and 13. OHHHHHHHH jealousy!! :) :)

THANK YOU to all the usual (amazing) suspects -

MITCH

SAUCONY

TEAMMATES

CLINT

Dome Dash 5k {October 14, 2017}

Dome Dash (Augustana College’s Homecoming 5k)

October 14, 2017

8:00am

22:07/1st Overall Female

(My 16th race of the 2017 season)

In early September, my good friend Brooke reached out to me to see if I was interested in going back to our undergrad alma mater, Augustana College, for some Homecoming festivities.  While I definitely think highly of the college (and have a not-so-secret maybe-desire to one day work there, depending, of course, on many different life factors for our family) - I am definitely not the “school spirit” type and Homecoming festivities are far from on my radar.  We joke about “sportsing” in the Wells household - while we definitely don’t hate on sports (I see a true value in team sports)…we are just clueless about them over here.  I didn’t grow up in a “sportsing” family and have never understood football, not even a little bit. I think I am a at least fairly intelligent person, but when I stare at a football field with people running all over, I go totally blank. No clue what’s going on.  Anyway, all that to say - going back to homecoming has never been high on my “desire” list because typically homecoming revolves around a football game and that just isn’t my personal idea of fun - I know that I am in the strange minority here :)….maybe i just need lessons.

In addition to the “big game,” though, Augustana’s Communication Sciences and Disorders department (where I completed my degree work) holds a homecoming brunch for past graduates and current students to come back and reminisce about the “good old days” and learn about new things that are happening in the department.  Brooke suggested that it would be fun to go together - and I decided to take her up on the offer to hang out and make it happen.  I knew there was also a Homecoming 5k, but had never done it.  I looked up the info - race start was at 8am and the brunch was at 11am. Perfect! I reached out to my sister to see if she wanted to run it with me (she did!) and to my mom to see if we could stay at their house (of course!).

So, Gabe and I made plans to head up to the Quad Cities Friday night before the race.  We met my mom, Brooke, and my sister and her family at a Mexican restaurant right on the edge of Geneseo (where my parents live) - nothing like some dirty Mexican food the night before a race! YUMMMMM. Gabe and I ate our weight in chips and salsa, and I also had some “special” that involved rice, chicken, cheese and soft corn tortillas to wrap it all up in. Gabe wouldn’t touch his plain chicken taco that I ordered for him - whatever.  After dinner (which was loud and crowded and a little dirty, but still enjoyable), Brooke, Gabe, and I headed over to my parents’.  We chatted for a while - ok, a long while.  Brooke and I don’t see each other very often - and when we do we could literally talk for hours without stopping.  In addition to attending the same undergraduate institution (we actually weren’t friends there - she was a sorority girl and I was a band nerd - but we still have the commonality of having a similar foundation for our speech pathology training at the undergrad level which makes us have lots of nerdy conversations), we were actually roommates for 2 years during grad school when we went to Purdue in Indiana.  We literally did everything together for two years - so much so that professors (and classmates!) would interchange our names quite often. I am pretty convinced that there were people who never actually knew who was who. We lived together, grocery shopped together, had the same research assistantship in the same research lab, had virtually every class together, had almost every clinical placement together, prepped meals and ate together, and worked out together after class. Neither of us were (are?!) morning people, so sometimes we would get up in the morning, get ready in the same bathroom, go downstairs to eat breakfast, pack up a car, and drive down to campus….all without saying a word to each other. But it was ok. We had an “understanding” that never needed to be discussed (though we laugh about it now).

After getting to bed WAY too late, my alarm went off at like 5. I think I got 5 hours of sleep. Maybe. I got ready as quietly as I could and packed up to head out. Brooke was planning to head out to join me later.  I had originally planned to bring Gabe with me, but his Gram (my mom) convinced me that perhaps I should leave him with her.  The weather was a little icky (rainy) and, plus, didn’t I want him to have a good nights’ sleep?! Gram is always right…

I arrived on campus around 7:00am and wandered around to find the packet pickup (located in the middle of the track/football stadium). It became apparent that this was going to be a VERY small race….there were basically no other runners anywhere around.  Whatev! My sister arrived around 7:15 or so and we gathered up her things and then headed out on a mile warmup together.  As we started running, I was reminded of an unfortunate fact - Augie’s campus is NOT flat.  Ugh!!  I didn’t have “big” goals for the race, but I did hope to keep somewhere around a 7-flat pace (21:44ish).

We rounded out our run and made our way to the starting line. I assessed the “situation” quietly and saw one woman in some colorful capri pants who “looked fast.” Other than that, I didn’t see much in the way of female competition. My sister, reading my mind, said, “You’re going to win this!” I said, “nahhhh”…and we took our places on the starting line on the track.  The race director had gone the course in the packet pickup area beforehand and said we would be running approximately 500m on the track before exiting out a certain exit and then would follow orange cones to make our way through campus before returning back to the track to run approximately 300m from our entrance to the finish.

The signal was just the race director shouting over a megaphone…and then we were off.  I settled in on the inside lane of the track behind 3 men.  As we rounded the track, some volunteers pointed us out an exit…but I was thinking in my head, “This is wrong…this is wrong! This is just about 300 meters, I thought it was 500 meters on the track…what the heck? Oh well, follow the leader!” So…I followed the first 3 guys out into a parking lot and, sure enough, WRONG MOVE! Another volunteer yelled at us to go back, so we turned and sprinted back onto the track…right into the thick of the pack at this point.  We fought our way up, laughing (at least I was laughing - one of the lead guys actually did seem mad. Whatever!!).  It wasn’t hard to get back up to the lead of the pack shortly after exiting the track at the CORRECT point.

We went up the first small ascent and then turned to the left to go up MORE.  We crossed a street and then ran past the science building and a computer lab building.  As we approached the library on our right, I saw a long table set up with a big water jug on it and a sleeve of disposable cups. Curious.  I assume this was supposed to be a water stop that didn’t end up getting manned?  I didn’t end up seeing water anywhere else on the course, but water was advertised - so who knows.  I didn’t “need” it so it was all good.  The temps were cool and I never felt desperate for water - though I do feel bad for people who would’ve wanted/needed it!  I entered the “Slough path” and soon my mile 1 sounded at 6:57.  A bit after this, I crossed the 1-mile marker on the course - I seemed to be just under a tenth of a mile over thanks to our little “detour”

I was definitely starting to feel my lack of speed work and I knew my body was slowing significantly.  I came to one small out and back portion of the course which allowed me to see my sister Megan. She was second female! WOOOT! I gave her a cheer which she returned as we passed one another and soldiered on, somewhat renewed.  Mile two was over in 7:24. Oops - I had let my pace drop considerably!

I started in on the third mile with somewhat improved focus and did my best to pick up the pace.  A second small out and back portion was around the mid point of the third mile which meant I saw Megan again - still in second!  I powered UP the last darn hill and made my way back into the Centennial Hall parking lot (the building where I played many a band concert during my time at Augie!) and onto the track.  Mile three somehow was my fastest (by 1 whole second!) at 6:56.  I put my head down and ran as hard as I could to finish out the race. I made my way around the track and crossed the finish line in 22:07 - just over a 7-minute pace. First overall female (I was right - no real competition at this one) and 7th overall…out of a whopping 65 finishers. Megan ended up getting second overall female - so fun to be 1 and 2!  Brooke met us at the finish and we shared some water, granola bars, and bananas before heading out on a reminiscent walk around campus and to the bookstore to buy Gabey a t-shirt and ball.

I ended up wearing my pretty chroma Rides for this race (I hadn’t done a 5k in a while and literally wasn’t even thinking and didn’t pack racing flats!) and they were a delight as always. Maybe lighter shoes would’ve been better but - oh well!

Thanks Mitch - being on this team is just so much darn fun. Thanks Saucony - the gear really is the best. Thanks teammates - love the camaraderie both in person, via e-mail and through social media! And, thanks, Coach Clint (can I still call you that even though I haven’t really been using any real coaching suggestions lately?!).

Next up - Town and Gown 5k and then….the Indianapolis Marathon (Yes. I do mean the full).

Have a great day all :).

`Rachel