Quad Cities Half Marathon {September 24, 2017}

Quad Cities Half Marathon

September 24, 2017

7:30 am

2:01:24

(My 15th race of the 2017 season)

Ever since my 5k PR of 20:20 at the Evergreen Lake 5k in August (I mention this simply because I have to keep reminding myself that, yes, I actually did get pretty close to my goal of breaking 20 in a 5k this year…though my current fitness level has certainly plummeted since that time) I haven’t done much in the way of racing.  I am teaching my first college course this fall and that has kind of taken over more of my life than I would’ve liked.  As we all know, life ebbs and flows…and the great thing about running is the fact that it isn’t going anywhere. It will still be there for me when I am able to come back to it (though I will need to work hard to get back to what my fitness level had become!). 

Anyway, here is my race report from the only event I participated in during the month of September. This wasn’t a “race” for me - but I did run it, so I figured that warranted a report/story to share with anyone who is interested.  This event has been a substantial one in the life of my family - I have participated in it in one way or the other (completed the half or full) five times and spectated it once, making six times in the past nine years that I have been a part of this event.  If you’ve never trekked up 74 to the land of the Mississippi and John Deere for this event - I would truly highly recommend it. It boasts a 5k, half marathon, full marathon, marathon relay, a kids’ fun run, and some sort of “pump ’n run” nonsense.  The course isn’t necessarily the greatest in the world or anything, but it is decent. The Mississippi provides some beautiful views and running over bridges, in my opinion, is novel and kinda fun.  I will say - the course offers very little shade. Usually in September this isn’t a big deal…but if it is unseasonably hot WATCH OUT!!  

I had promised my sister long ago that I would run the Quad Cities Half Marathon with her this September. She and I have a colorful history with this race, starting back in 2009.  That fall, she ran her first full at the Quad Cities event while I ran the half and then ran my first full at Chicago a few weeks afterwards (I earned 1:52:09 in the half and she earned 3:52:19 in the full). The next year (2010) we both ran the full (I earned 3:53:31 in what was my 3rd marathon and she earned 3:57:37 in what was her 2nd marathon).  The following year, 2011, I ran the full (in 3:49:46, which would be my PR for 4 years until September of 2015!) and she had registered to run the half but didn’t end up running….because she was pregnant. Instead of running, though, she played Spectator Extraordinaire for me.  Sadly, Monday after the race she endured her first miscarriage.  Naturally, I (irrationally) blamed myself for the fact that she was running around like a crazy person at the race watching me (if you know my sister, you do know that “crazy” only comes close to describing her zest for life ;)).  I know that there is, of course, no blame to be placed in such a situation…but the “feels” were intense at that point.  At the time I couldn’t even fathom really HOW intense those feelings were for her…but after having my own baby now I know that the loss of a pregnancy would be absolutely earth shattering.  I do regret not being “there” for her more after that experience…but that fall also ushered in my own intensified personal drama/hell (if you know me well, you know what I am referring to), causing me to be rather emotionally compromised myself for quite some time.

I didn’t make it out to the Quad Cities Marathon in 2012 (I was in the Quad Cities the weekend prior to the event that year attending my dear brother and his amazing wife Laura’s wedding), but was back in 2013.  Megan and I ran the race side by side as her first postpartum half marathon - she had welcomed Macy, her first daughter and my first niece, into the world in November of 2012.  In 2014 - Meg was pregnant again! We didn’t run the race, but instead spectated Clint (my pretty-new-still “boyfriend” at that time!). We also spectated our friend Aaron Van Lauwe in the half (I believe it was Aaron’s first - Aaron is one of the people I can claim as someone I converted to running). It was a blast driving all over the place, doing our best to find Clint (and Aaron) at a few different places on the course.  Clint had trained hard that summer and did really well at the race - he ran a 1:25:32 in the half…19th out of 1946 participants and 4th out of 91 in his age group.  Seeing him do so well at this race is one of my favorite spectating memories.

The next summer (2015) brought our wedding and honeymoon…and pregnancy.  I ran the Last Chance marathon in early Sept and basically took the rest of Sept off before the Chicago Marathon in early Oct that year. We also didn’t make it out to the QC Marathon in 2016. I am glad that we finally made it back out there this year!  Megan had told me a few months back that she wanted to run this race - what would be her first half since 2013.  Since the 2013 event, she had another little girl (Charlee, in May of 2015) and then had very sadly lost two more babies/pregnancies.  In September of 2016 she lost a little boy, Caleb, at 26 weeks.  This was a soul-crushing time for our entire family.  This past September marked his one year birth/death day - what better way to commemorate his impact in our lives than by running?

As I mentioned, my own running has been sub par as of late. In September prior to the marathon weekend, my longest run was an 8 mile run I ran with Megan (and Gabe) over our Labor Day vacation in Michigan.  I was legitimately nervous about being able to successfully pace her during the race.  I did my best to keep my anxiety at bay and made plans and arrangements to run the race. Clint got the wild hair up his you-know-what to do the Quad Cities event as part of his 5-week ultra-extravaganza (this was, of course, after he had said a number of things including (but not limited to), “I will run the half too!” “I will run with you and Megan too!” “I am going to run the full but I will run the first part with you guys,” etc…etc.).  So, one way or another, it was going to be a family affair!

Clint, Gabe, and I drove up to the Quad Cities Saturday afternoon.  We hit the expo in Moline, IL where we gathered our packets, as well as packets for my sister, our friend Aaron (who was also doing the half), and Amber (who later ROCKED the 5k!).  Then, we drove out to Geneseo, IL to my parents’ home where we had dinner with my parents and my sister and her family. It was so much fun, as usual, to watch Gabe interact with his cousins (he is 17 months and his cousins Macy and Charlee are almost 5 and 2 1/2, respectively).  My mom had prepared a variety of grilled meats, including my FAVORITE “Hawaiian burgers” (ground pork and pineapple patties from a local butcher shop) and we enjoyed other pre-race staples such as sweet potatoes and fruit.

After eating and playing with the kiddos for a while, we got Gabe ready for bed and put him down to sleep at my parents’.  We then headed to Davenport, Iowa where we slept at my sister’s home.  Her house is just 15 minutes or so from the race start - totally ideal.  The Quad Cities event isn’t stroller-friendly, so we made plans in advance for my parents to keep Gabe during the race. I really HATE leaving him on the weekends (the plight of a working mom - the guilt over spending non-work time AWAY from my kiddo is REAL), but we don’t do it often.  It really is nice to have some carefree time away from him, knowing he is in the second-best place he can be (my mom is my second choice for caregiver after Clint/myself, with my sister at a close third).  

We had offered to pick up our friend Aaron who lives not TOO far from my sister's in a neighboring town to bring him to the race.  Unfortunately for us, this meant that our morning routine was a little earlier and a little more complicated. Big shout out to Clint who took one for the team (as he often does) by leaving a bit before 6 to go pick up Aaron…and then coming back to Megan’s house around 6:20 to pick up Megan and me to bring us all to the race start.

We arrived to the start in Moline, IL around 6:45 and got a totally rad parking spot on the street just two blocks away from the start/finish.  I texted with Amber to coordinate finding her to deliver her race bib to her…she had arrived on site super early (she drove in from BloNo that morning, which means she had to have left around 4am! Rockstar status!) and had found a coffee shop to get some caffeinated action going.  After finding Amber and delivering her bib, she set off on her 2-mile warmup and Megan, Clint and I jumped in a bathroom line at a Subway down the street from the start. Sure beat the long lines for the smelly Porta Potties!  Clint took his sweet old time and Megan and I were about ready to leave him and set off on our warmup…but then he emerged from the depths of the bathroom just in time.  We all set off on a warmup jog…just about 7/10 of a mile and called it “good.”

We scooted our way into the coral and I scowled at the extreme body heat radiating around us. I could tell it was going to be a steamy-gross day!! The humidity was just…yuck.  I gave Clint a kiss and he slithered his way up closer to the front while I stayed back toward the middle of the starting corral with Megan.  Meg’s rough plan was to try to average 8:45s. She wanted a finish in the 1:50-55 range. On a more temperate day, this would’ve definitely been a reasonable goal.  We waited through the Star Spangled Banner and the starting signal…and endured a crowded first mile that was a bit slower than our goal, but still reasonable. I did my best to lead a path through the bodies.  The first mile goes straight for a quarter mile or so and then takes a right-hand turn up a circular ramp up to the I-74 Bridge (bringing the racers from IL to IA within the first mile).  This is typically one of my favorite parts of this race - running across this HUGE bridge.  It’s kinda creepy (in a “good” way) being that HIGH above the Mississippi. To make things extra-creepy this year, to the right you could see cranes and barges in position in the beginning stages of building a new bridge.  Apparently the current I-74 bridge is getting on the OLD and UNSTABLE side.  YIKES.  Spoiler alert - all the runners made it across without the bridge collapsing and our first mile clicked off in 9:03.  One mile down. Twelve-point-one to go.

My only-slightly obsessive-compulsive brain was rather irritated by those “extra” 48 seconds. I take my “instructions” as a “pacer” very seriously, guys. I knew we needed to make these up, but carefully so as not to make Meg expend TOO much energy and waste her body.  The course boasts a pretty significant DOWN hill as the runners make their way off of the I-74 bridge and turn to the left in Davenport.  I “used” the downhill as an excuse to have us naturally gradually pick up the pace a bit.  As the second mile clicked off in 8:37, I quickly calculated in my head that we were EIGHT seconds “under” the goal on that mile so when you subtract 8 from the 48 seconds we were OVER in our first mile, we were still at a 40-second deficit. 

Mile 3 brings a turn to the left…and the second climb of the race.  I did my best to keep us from dropping the pace TOO much, but mile 3 clicked off in 8:50. Poop. Now we were in a 45-second hole. Meg was doing pretty great - but it was obvious that the warmer-than-anticipated weather was not being kind to her. I did my best to keep offering her water from my hand-held bottle and reminded her to stay on top of her hydration so that she wouldn’t hit a wall. Mile 4 was over in 8:43…one of our few miles that was within the target pace.

During the 5th mile, I let Megan know that I would stop at the next water stop to refill my hand-held water bottle so that it would be at the ready for both of us.  I pulled off at the water stop, filled up the bottle, and sprinted back to where Meg was.  A guy that passed us a minute or so after I caught up to her commented to me, “Oh, you were just running up here to catch your friend? I thought you were going to go on and win the whole thing!” HA! Mile 5 clicked off in 8:52.  I was pretty sure at this point that we wouldn’t be able to make up our “lost" seconds to achieve our 8:45/average pace goal - but I knew that sub-2 was well within grasp so I held that in my mind as my goal to help her achieve. 

The sixth mile runs along the river front in Davenport. We had the privilege at this point of witnessing a giant inflatable T-Rex waterskiing.  Seriously.  Gotta love people with a sense of humor - this definitely brought a bit of lightness to the suffer-fest that this run was starting to be for many.  Mile 6 was over in 8:25. What!? Thanks, T-Rex! Apparently you powered us on to smash our 8:45 goal pace. Maybe Meg’s goal would still be within reach…

The half- half marathon point featured the first relay exchange.  It’s always a nice little mental break to see and hear the cheers of the people waiting in the relay exchange areas.  Things were REALLY starting to heat up at this point.  Mile 7 was over in 8:41- hooray!!  However, the elation over our near-goal paces wasn’t to last...

Megan reported that her stomach was feeling sour sometime during our 8th mile.  Turns out the sugary gels (she had taken just 1) and Tailwind (my first fill of the handheld I was holding had Tailwind in it) was not sitting well. UGH.  The gel on the course was Boom, which is a fruit-based product, so Clint and I had both said it would probably sit well and I decided personally to take the gamble and try it.  Megan did as well.  For the record, I would never recommend that anyone try something new on race day…as we all know, sometimes it works out OK and sometimes it just DOESN’T!.  Mile 8 clicked off in 8:59 as poor Megan did her best to fight through the external HEAT and internal gut rot.

Mile 9 brings the runners onto Centennial Bridge for a bit.  We wrapped this one up in our slowest-yet 9:33.  Regardless of the fact that we were not going to achieve the A-goal of an 8:45 average pace for the race, I was very pleased that I was able to stay with Megan in spite of not training much for the 6 weeks leading up to the race. I was proud of the residual fitness that my body had held on to.

We ran our way toward the third bridge of the course - the Arsenal bridge.  This bridge is entirely metal grates and actually opens and closes to allow barges to travel through.  Course officials roll out rugs down the center of the bridge so that runners have a flat surface to run on if they don’t wish to run on the metal grates.  They also have volunteers stationed at the entrance to the bridge advising runners to watch their steps and not trip over the edges of rugs!  We ran mostly single - file over the bridge and I did my best not to push TOO hard so as not to get too far ahead of Megan.  Mile 10 clicked off in 10:04 right before our left turn onto Arsenal Island.  Arsenal Island, which was actually called Rock Island in the past, is a current US Army base.  It’s pretty neat to be able to run on the base.  In the past, they have had individuals who are currently in the Army working water stops on the base. However, this year there weren’t any uniformed Army soldiers - I am not sure why. In fact, the base seemed pretty quiet and desolate.  Mile 11 was over in a slightly-faster 9:51 as we soldiered on.

Mile 12, held steady with 11, was over in 9:52 after we passed an expanse of green with stark white military tombstones protruding in neat rows - talk about a somber scene to run past.  As we neared the end of mile 13, we had to climb our final bridge.  Megan asked for water from my handheld and slowed for a second before powering up and over the bridge. I won’t lie - I remember being SO SO SO hot at this point.  I will take this opportunity to note that there is barely any shade on this course! The heat and sun felt literally oppressive at times.  As we descended the bridge, we picked up our pace.  Mile 13 clicked off in 9:53 (making the final 3 miles pretty even actually - I am proud of Megan for FIGHTING through the pain on these miles and holding steady!) and we make the final right-hand turn off the bridge and onto River Drive, back in Moline where we had started this thing.  

With the finish line in our sights, we buckled down and ran hard to the finish.  It was awesome seeing Amber and Tanya over my right shoulder as we turned off the bridge! THANKS for the cheers and support guys!!  I slowed momentarily to allow Megan to cross right before I did…2:01:23 for her and the same +1 second for me.  I had the course slightly long and had our final 0.24 in an average pace of 8:24.  Megan can and did dig deep to finish it out!  I was slightly disappointed for her sake that we were just barely over the 1:50’s…but my pride in her accomplishment did overshadow that emotion!

We collected our medals and some water…and a banana for Meg and some salty potato chips for me.  Megan started to feel kinda light-headed, so I directed her over to a curb where she sat down to collect herself for a minute. Amber excitedly made her way over to us at this point to share her amazing news - she got fifth place in the 5k out of 705 women! INCREDIBLE!

I felt…good. I started toying with the idea in my mind of meeting Clint when he came off of the Arsenal Island bridge (where Tanya and Amber had been spectating) and running with him for a while during his final 10k (the full marathon runners exit the Arsenal Island bridge around mile 20). I wasn’t sure how long I could reasonably expect to run with him (seeing as I had already run 14 miles, 6 more than I had run at one time all month!)…but thought maybe I could keep him company for one mile out and then run a mile back to catch him at the finish.

Megan met up with her family who were there watching (Macy was all TOO proud and excited to see her Mommy! I just love that sweet girl.) and I wandered back over to the Arsenal Island bridge area with Tanya and Amber. We weren’t sure at this point when, exactly, to be expecting Clint. He’s kind of a wild card :). To review, he had run the Fox Valley Marathon the weekend prior AND the weekend prior to THAT he had run the 50k at Lake Evergreen. That paired with the big issue of the day’s heat and humidity…who KNEW?!  We knew he had gotten to the half at 1:42:xx (7:46/mile pace)…but things significantly slowed down after that.

When we did see Clint making his way toward us, it was about 10:14 - so about 2:46 on the race clock.  HIs pace at this point for the race was an 8:18 average…still clearly fighting the good fight.  I jumped on to the course with him and offered him some water.  I informed him that I would run with him for a while…”as long as I can,” I said.  

This out and back section is just awful. Awful! I remembered it all too well from the two times I had run the full at this event - my two runnings were back in ’10 and ’11, but this is the kind of crap you don’t forget. Literally, you run off the Arsenal Island bridge at mile ~20 and you SEE the finish line 0.1 mile away to your right. However, instead of running to the beckoning finish line, you must force your body to turn to the left and run a full 5k OUT and a 5k BACK.  It is seriously a straight out and back with ZERO. SHADE. So hot. So boring. I knew, if it were me, I would appreciate the company. So, after our first terrible, terrible mile (in 80 degree plus heat and some terrible humidity) clicked off in 11:08, I informed Clint that I was indeed in it for the long haul with him and would help him shut it down.  It became somewhat of a proverbial death march...water station to water station.  There were a few stations where volunteers offered cold wet washcloths that we could drape over our heads, across our necks, down our shirts, inside our hats…wherever! Those felt like slices of heaven for sure.  Our second mile together clicked off in 11:43.  I assure you, it wasn’t pretty.  Clint is a maniac - how he kept pushing through, I am not really sure.

After the final turn-around of his race, we had 5k to go to get back to the car.  We stopped somewhere shortly after the turn-around to pull off Clint’s sweaty calf sleeves. I balled them up and shoved them into the back pocket in my shorts (yup, that tiny little pocket in my Saucony shorts is roomier than it looks - totally functional and awesome!).  We ran past a coffee shop and all I could think about was how great an iced mocha with almond milk would taste and feel in my mouth right at that moment…

After what felt like an eternity, the finish line was within grasp.  I veered off to the left and “sprinted” down the sidewalk to try to catch Clint at the finish, while he powered on down toward the finish on his own.  I joined him in the finish area once he crossed the line (official time 3:59:21- yeah, yeah sub-FOUR in awful conditions both body- and weather-wise! :)) and did my best to make sure he was still alive :).  He was definitely rocky there for a bit…after we left the finish area, he hobbled from shop doorway to doorway along the few blocks back to the car.  

Don’t you worry, our boy lived to fight another day. Two weeks post-QC Marathon he went on to finish the 50-miler at the Hennepin Hundred. That Clint!!

All in all, I am thankful for another great Quad Cities running experience. It’s no Bix (what is, really?!), but the QC Marathon is always a great event and will hold a special place in my heart forever.  I got in an unexpected 20.2 miles in total that day - insane, really, when you think about the fact that my training in Sept in no way set me up for that kind of mileage.  I don’t regret it, silly or not ;).

Summary of my QC Marathon Experiences:

2009 (half) - 1:52:09

2010 (full) - 3:53:31

2011 (full) - 3:49:46

2013 (half) 1:56:55 (identical time as Megan)

2014 - Spectated Clint in the half

2017 (half) - 2:01:24 (1 second behind Meg)

THANKS to Mitch for allowing me to be on the great Often Running Racing Team. Thanks to Saucony for the ever-amazing gear (can we talk for a second about the new “Chroma” color way?! I have the Rides in Chroma and I love them more than anyone should actually love inanimate objects).  Thanks to the team for the camaraderie (I use this word all of the time, but it's true!) and support - it’s a privilege to have your friendship!  And, thanks to Coach Clint who is ever-patient with me and gives me some sporadic “coaching” right now as I ask for it which fits my current state in life…but has also been gently reminding me that I need to probably get my rear in gear sometime s-o-o-n to start working toward Boston 2018 since I got that acceptance letter and everything...

Up next:  I am traveling back to the land of the Mississippi and John Deere in October....Augustana College’s homecoming and I am running the 5k with Gabey. I graduated from Augie in ’05 but have never run the homecoming 5k (dubbed the Dome Dash - in reference to Old Main, a big old domed building on campus that is featured in most pictures of campus), so I am looking forward to it. It won’t be a 20:20, and it certainly won’t be sub-20…BUT it will give me a good idea of what my current fitness level (or lack thereof) is. Regardless - I hope to have a bit of fun! I might do the ISU homecoming 5k the next weekend after that as well…anyone want to join in that fun? I was the top female finisher last year and I don’t expect to repeat that, but it will be fun (and short - as you know if you’ve run that course!).

Happy Weekend to all, and Happy Racing to all who are racing!

Much love,

Rachel

How to Have Your Best Race Yet

Tuesday night I spoke on a panel at a local-to-me running store, Often Running, on topics pertaining to “How to Have Your Best Race Yet.” While I am definitely not a “running expert,” nor am I a trained running coach – I do have a fair amount of knowledge regarding some things that have worked for me (and others that have not!) garnered over the roughly eleven years that I have been running.

Here are my top ten takeaways from Tuesday night's presentation (anecdotes shared either by myself or by one of the other panelists) that I thought I would share as a wrap-up for those of you who attended (and as a summary for those who were unable to attend!):

10. Things like strength training, dynamic warmups, stretching, and foam rolling sometimes fall to the wayside when we are in our running groove (as panelist Meghan said, she used to think (like so many of us do!) “I am a runner! I just run!”)…but each of these things are an important part of a holistic running program to compliment your running and can help keep you strong and injury free….so do what panelist Mike said and hop off the couch while you are watching Netflix and roll out those muscles!
9. REST. Resting your body gives you time to heal and that healing makes you a stronger runner. One way that some runners make sure to give their body time to heal is by working in a 4-6 week recovery period during the year during which they dial way back on the intensity and duration of runs, as described by Kevin McCarthy, the leader of our discussion. At the end of this recovery time, you will likely come back stronger and ready to take on the next training cycle!
8. Being mentally strong is an important part of running – thinking positively about your abilities and strength helps make your dreams realities.
7. While the mental aspect of running IS important (visualizing success, being positive about the outcome of your upcoming race, etc.)…you still do need to put in the work and have the physical training and skills to back up your mental positivity. Having realistic expectations of your performance is also helpful.
6. If you run long enough, you will likely encounter some kind of GI/”bathroom” issue at some point during your training. Trust me. And know – it happens to all (or at least most!) of us. Think about what you ate that could’ve caused it and adjust as needed next time so that it hopefully doesn't happen on race day. Shrug it off. You simply unlocked a new running-related accomplishment…and you now have a great story to share at parties ;).
5. Always try out as many things related to your race as you can prior to race day (proper preparation can help prevent poor performances!). Examples of this include: (a) Finding out what sort of nutrition is offered (if any!) on the course at your upcoming race. Try this out in your training runs to see if it works for you…and if it doesn’t, be prepared to bring your own. (b) Make sure the clothing you plan to wear doesn’t have hot spots that cause chafing (check out an anti-chafing product if needed!). (c) Make sure your shoes aren’t worn out, but also not brand new. (d) If you plan to run with a hydration aid (hand-held bottle, vest, belt) – try out your tool of choice on long training runs prior to your race! The bouncing/sloshing may or may not annoy you and you might need to adjust your choice.
4. Nutrition is SO important. Last night we shared many examples of ways that nutrition has impacted our running. For me, consuming MORE calories during long runs (12 or more miles for me) and long races (half marathons and marathons) was life changing (I choose to use both liquid nutrition and gel nutrition). Kevin shared some specific mathematical formulas for figuring out your specific needs related to calories, sodium, and other factors. Working with a coach is one way to figure out your specific, unique needs (we are all different!). Trial and error during training runs can also be helpful.
3. Working with a running coach is truly one of the best ways to impact your running for the better. There are many running coaches in our town – for specific recommendations, you can chat with any of us who presented last night! There are options for people at all price points and at a variety of levels of involvement (from simple plan outlines, to weekly contact with a coach, to training groups you can join along with your coach). When I started working with a coach, my running changed in ways that I never thought were possible (and this was AFTER having a baby!).
2. No matter how long you have been running, there are new things you can learn about this sport from others and from looking at things from other perspectives. Trying new shoes (I recommend being fit by someone at a running store!), new routes, new nutrition (but never try a nutrition item you didn't try before on race day!), new gear, hiring a coach, running with a new running group, tackling a new race distance – each of these and more are ways that you can change things up with your running and maybe learn something that will change your running for the better if you are in a rut.
1. Unless you are a professional runner/make a living from this sport – you likely have priorities in your life that are more important than running. If running ever starts taking too much away from those things, take a step back and re-evaluate how you could structure your time differently so that you are able to focus on those most important things while allowing running to complement (but not distract from) these things. For me – as a new mom – this has meant that I do not run every day. In fact, there are some weeks during which I only get three runs in and that is ok. Your running story will look different than mine and mine will look different than yours and that is ok!

Now...go forth and have your Best Race Yet!

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

Park 2 Park 5 Miler {July 4, 2017}

Park 2 Park 5 Miler

July 4, 2017

7:30 am

Official Time: 35:34.7 (*Pushing Gabe*) (33 second PR)

Overall Ranking: 54/554

Female Ranking: 8/272

AG F30-34: 1/35

(My 11th race of the 2017 season)

So Monday around 4:45pm, Clint, Gabe, and I headed to the shop to register for Park 2 Park. We ran into Amber and Sophia there and chatted for a bit - Amber told us she was planning to head to a hot yoga class at 6 for a good stretch after leaving the shop. Hot yoga is one of my love languages, so I commented that I would love to join her…I quickly calculated times in my head and didn’t think we could make it work with such limited time. Clint, however, insisted that I go…so we hurried home, I fed Gabe who promptly fell asleep for a late nap (this holiday weekend had us alllll sorts of discombobulated!). Clint prepped me a bottle of Tailwind (the nectar of the Gods) and I was out the door by 5:40. I called Amber to give her a heads up that I would be joining her…and extended the offer for her to join us for dinner afterwards.  I got to Body, the studio where the class we were attending was being held, with about 7 minutes to spare….turns out there were only 4 people attending the class which was pretty awesome

Yoga was ahhhmazing. I think I have only managed to make it to 3 postpartum yoga classes, a bit pathetic because it is something I truly enjoy. I had to reign myself in a few times to keep from extending too far in some of the poses…my body hadn't done some of the poses for a while and there was no need to get hurt the night before Park 2 Park! After a great class, Amber and I headed back to our place where Clint had made us a great pre-race dinner. Yoga + a personal chef = no excuses NOT to have a great race, right?!

After dinner, we did our best to go to bed early-ish. Morning always comes too quickly on race days…when my 5am alarm I lounged around for probably 20 minutes or so before jumping out of bed to get things ready for the morning.  Clint had prepped my traditional GF pita with almond butter and salted honey, which I started eating as I got things packed up and ready for the day.  A few minutes before it was time to leave, I got our sweet/tolerant child out of bed, changed his dipey, plopped him in his carseat and we were off! We left our house around 6:10, just 10 minutes behind our goal time of 6:00. We drove separately, first to the Corncrib where we dropped off our blue car. Clint hopped into the SUV with me + Gabe and we made our way to Miller Park/the race start.

We rolled in right at 6:30. It felt great to have a whole hour to spare before the start. My stomach was a little rocky…not sure what was up with that. I did the usual bathroom visits (love the option to use the indoor bathrooms at the pavilion!) and chatted with people at the race start while Clint and Gabe and I hung out. We saw Jeremy who hung out with us for a while…but other than that, we didn’t see any teammates.  I was moderately concerned about this because I had Holly-Rae’s race number that I needed to get to her prior to the start!

A little after 7 Holly-Rae texted saying she would be looking for us around the pavilion but was putting her phone in the car…so I put my phone away in its little pocket on the stroller and Clint and I set out on our warmup, all the while keeping our eyes out for the bright Often Running uniforms. We still didn’t see anyone!! As we started in on our “warm up” (we were really already quite “warm” from the muggy air!), my stomach started telling me that it didn’t agree with any sort of running plans I had for the morning. I felt as if I might surely vomit and started walking around 0.7 and turned my watch off at 0.8. Well. This certainly didn’t bode well for the race.

Right about this same time, Clint saw Holly-Rae walking toward the starting area and screamed out to her. She saw us and ran toward us, all in a tizzy ;). FINALLY - we had made the connection and we were able to pass off the race bib…success! We also saw the rest of our teammates…kinda funny how most of us missed each other all morning! Oh well - the important thing is that we all arrived safely, on time, and everyone got their bibs!! BAM!  We lined up at the starting line (no strides for me…stomach said NOPE) and I literally prayed that my stomach would allow me to push hard through this darn race.

My A-goal was to run 6:50s. My 5k PR pace is 6:38. Saturday I ran a 5k with a 6:57 pace (pacing HR). My tempo workouts are generally around 6:50 though, in all honesty, I can’t recall right now when my last one was….so….yeah. Maybe this goal was not realistic. Well, that’s neither here nor there. As I lined up, in spite of my rocky stomach, I was still hoping to finish with a 6:50 average.

I lined up near the front of the pack, always a bit nervous to do so, but I knew I could bust out fast enough to deserve to be up there…plus, again, having the stroller in the middle of the pack is really more hazardous for everyone.  A guy to my right said, “Good luck!” and then reminded me that he was the guy who had helped me cover Gabe’s ears with his hands prior to the start of the Lake Run in May (protecting him somewhat from the loud cannon blast!). Awesome!! I exchanged some, “good lucks” and fist bumps with teammates…and soon enough it was GO time!

As the signal blasted, I did my best to bust out of the starting area without running into anyones’ ankles.  Jennifer LaFrance, a sweet girl who is one of Clint’s new run coaching clients, pulled up next to me and we settled in together for the first mile or so.  We chatted about the fact that it was stupid hot and humid and GROSS and also about our experiences last year at the race. She told me she did last year’s race in a 7:08 average pace but wasn’t thinking she would be able to do that well this year because she’s been battling some injuries. I was thinking to myself, “girrrrl you’re starting out fast and strong now!” I told her about the fact that this race marked one year of postpartum racing for me…my first postpartum race last year was Park 2 Park when I had been back to running for about 5 1/2 weeks and Gabe was about 2 1/2 months old. I had gotten 40:02 which kinda ticked me off because my goal was 40:00 or under. HA!!! Anyway, with this being the one-year anniversary of my jaunt back into racing I was hoping to smash last year’s time (and maybe PR my 5 mile…36:07 set in 2015?).

Sometime during the first mile, Gary and Marshall Watson ran by me.  Uh, why do I always go out harder than Gary? That’s not the way things should be. I literally always see him pass me that first mile in races and think, “Ugh!! I did it again! I have NO business being in front of him for any amount of time!” The first mile ticked off in 6:39. Whoops. Maybe a little too ambitious. Darn race-day adrenaline. Oh - apparently my stomach stopped hurting. Or at least I forgot about it!

Somewhere after the first mile, Jennifer dropped back.  Ryan Leuty ran with me for a while somewhere in the second mile. I was able to keep what I felt was a strong pace during that second mile and pulled away from him and some other ECo peeps. It was so hot. I kept asking myself why I decided to push the stroller. I saw Diane Eckhoff, who had actually offered at one time to watch Gabe during the race, spectating to the left in the Downtown Bloomington area. She gave me a shout and I thought about shoving the darn stroller off toward her…but instead I smiled and soldiered on.  Mile 2 clicked off in 6:46. WOOT! Still sub- 6:50! Right on target for my “A-goal,” with 15 seconds in the “bank,” right?! Uh…yeah.

The third mile started in and I felt my muscles start to refuse to keep firing at their previous rate. Here the course starts a mild climb up to the water stop near the end of Mile 3/around UHigh. I concentrated on my breathing…in through my nose, out through my mouth. I was steaming HOT and asked one of the young boys at the water stop to throw a cup of water on my head. Uh - some quick advice. If you ask someone to do this, CLOSE your EYES. He was alllll too eager to douse someone in the face with water and threw a cup on me with gusto. The water hit my open eyes, causing my left contact to fold and travel down to the bottom of my eye. I did my best to keep running while I blinked maniacally and rubbed my eye, trying to get the rogue contact back in place.  I thought about what would happen if I had to finish out two miles with only one contact…and knew it would give me an awful headache.  Thankfully, I was able to work it back into place and continued on…soon turning to the right and DOWN Gregory before the worst hill on that darn course.

I remembered last year when I got to this point. I can still remember exactly how I felt - almost defeated. It was hot, it was hard, and Julie Sibley was coming up behind me. Pre-baby, I knew I could beat her…but that day, there was no way. She gave me some encouraging words as she passed me up the hill. I sighed, and carried on.  This year, though, I didn’t let up. I channeled her positive wishes from last year and was greeted at the top of the hill by some familiar faces cheering - Ryan Case’s wife (we had just chatted with them prior to the start of the race) and Kristin Techmanski, a co-worker at SPICE. It always feels so good to see familiar faces, especially when it’s during a hard point in a race.

Cresting the hill felt amazing….SO good to get that thing in your rear-view mirror! Somewhere around here I noticed that Taylor Yaklich, a speedy area 12-year-old who had beat me at the Memorial Mile and at the Downs Freedom 5k, was just ahead - well within reasonable striking distance. I narrowed my focus and concentrated on pushing to pass her, which I did somewhere around the 4 mile mark. My 4th mile clicked off in 7:30, my slowest mile of the race by far.

I shook off the feeling of that yucky mile (and made peace with the fact that a 6:50 average pace finish wasn’t happening today) and dialed it in, picking up my pace. I concentrated on trying to put some distance between myself and Taylor. I saw that Ryan Case was right on my heels…pushing a stroller with his 8 month old. Well, there goes my top stroller finish! I knew he would have no problem catching and passing me, but I did do my best to hold him off as long as I could. He passed me with his stroller and cute daughter, both of which were decked out in red-white-and-blue. Ryan Leuty also pulled up next to me again, passing me around the 4 mile mark and then pulling away.

After a quarter mile or so into the fifth and final mile, I was able to catch back up to Ryan. I yelled up at him, “Don’t LET me catch you!” He didn’t respond, but did pick up his pace a bit. I pulled up next to him and told him he could feel free to curse at me if he needed, as I gave him some encouraging heckling.  He was obviously hurting and I wondered if some verbal pushing would help him out. With less than a half mile to go, a cute brown dog ran by on my right side. I thought maybe someone behind me was running with a dog on a leash. Whatever, I am a rule-breaker with my illicit stroller…so I really wouldn’t mind if someone was running with a dog. I turned my head to the right to note, though, that the dog did have a leash on…but it was running with the leash dragging beside it (with no human attached). I turned my head to ask the runner behind me if it was her dog…turns out it was Taylor Yaklich who had caught back up to me! She said it wasn’t, and the dog proceeded to wind in and out of the line of runners from one side to the other. The whole thing made me kinda nervous for the poor lost dog! Right before the trail crosses Raab prior to the entrance to the stadium, I saw Jamey Whitlow - hooray for another friendly, familiar face cheering!

I continued to spew encouraging words at Ryan as we crossed Raab and made our way through the parking lot and into the stadium. I remembered two years ago - in 2015 when I saw David Quinn here at the stadium entrance yelling at me to “Get on your TOES!!!” We crossed the parking lot and entered the stadium. I saw Clint to my right and barreled down to the finish as fast as I could.  Mile 5 clicked off in 7:08. We crossed the finish line right on Ryan’s heels…chip time of 35:34.7 (the final 0.6 by my watch was at a 5:54 pace)…a 7:06 pace (or 7:02 according to my Garmin with the course being slightly long)…and a PR of 33 seconds. 

I know this was a great performance and I am truly satisfied. However, truth be told, I am a little bummed about being so-close-yet-so-far-away to my goal of a 6:50 average pace/sub 35-minute race. This is not to ask for sympathy or pity…I just need to keep working, keep pushing, and keep (hopefully!) chiseling away at my times!!

After crossing, I cheered in teammates and some Heat Wave ladies. After chatting with a few finishers (and making my way over to Clint!), I loaded up the top of the stroller (with Gabe sleeping inside - he worked HARD, ok!?) with water bottles and stood at the finish to hand them out to sweaty finishers!

THANK YOU to Mitch, my teammates, Saucony, and Coach Clint. This is a fun race to suffer through together as a team!

***PS After a tough race and a busy weekend…what’s the most sore today?! Yeah….my arms from that darn yoga class are aching. HA!

Have a great week, all! Hope everyone comes down from the 4th of July holiday-hangovers and is able to be productive in life the rest of this week (ha!).

Rachel

Next up - Dog Days 5K

On Deck - Bix 7

Downs Freedom 5k {July 1, 2017}

Downs Freedom 5k 2017

July 1, 2017

7:30 am

Official Time: 21:36 (*Pushing Gabe; Pacing Holly-Rae*) 

Overall Ranking: 17/127

Female Ranking: 7

AG F30-39: 2nd (to Holly-Rae at #1!!)

(My 10th race of the 2017 season)

This race is a new one for me and one that hasn’t ever been on my radar, in spite of it really not being far from home.  It is in teammate and friend Holly-Rae’s hometown of Downs and is a race that she’s enjoyed numerous times.  One thing led to another and Clint ended up registering us for the race.  He also told Amber she should do it, and like any good coachling, she complied.  Ha!

Still being rather unsure of what my personal goals are for the remainder of this year (for the record, I want to have a great race at Boston next April but am kind of torn regarding what to do in the meantime - mostly I want to just keep enjoying my runs and not get stressed out if things don’t go well or if I can’t get a certain run in on a certain day because of Gabe or something), I got the idea to see if Holly-Rae was interested in having me pace her for this race.  I know this is a race that means a lot to her since it’s in her hometown and full of familiar faces and history.  I also knew that she had some goals for the race - she wanted to PR her 5k and get under 22:00.  Her current 5k PR was 22:07 and I was pretty darn confident in her that she had a sub-22 in her.  

I will say, offering to be a pacer for someone makes me pretty anxious.  It’s one thing to offer to pace a person or a group that is a minute or so below your personal race pace - to me, that feels safer and like something you may be able to relax a bit doing.  However, offering to pace someone who runs pretty darn close to your own pace is kinda frightening - if you have a bad day, you could totally blow it for them!!  Life, and running, only gets better when you step out of your comfort zone, though!  So…I sent her a text asking if she was interested in a pacer.

We went back and forth about it a bit - it seemed like she just wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t rather trying to hit my own PR.  No no no!  I truly wanted to give this a whirl and support a good friend.  So, she agreed and we decided to plan on me pacing her while pushing Gabe.

Holly-Rae picked up our bib numbers the night before the race - one less thing to have to worry about race-day morning.  Thanks, Holly-Rae!  Also, her kiddos John and Gracie presented Gabe with a colorful pinwheel similar to a pinwheel he likes to play with outside of their home. He was pretty pumped about this (see attached picture).

Our goal was to go out at 7:04/5s - this would get us right at a 21:59/22:00 finish if we held it perfectly.  For me, a 7:04 pace still hurts - I tried to mentally prepare myself for the run and prayed that I wouldn’t let Holly-Rae down!!

Holly-Rae, Amber and I all went out for an easy 1-mile warmup together on the first part of the course and then made our way back to the starting area in front of the middle school. It was definitely starting to heat up a bit and I could’ve done without the sticky humidity! Oh well - deal with what you’re dealt!

We lined up in the starting area and exchanged our usual good-lucks with the team.  Gabe grasped his pinwheel (I did attach it to the stroller so it wouldn’t get lost...HA!) and I knew that at some point he would likely toss it from the stroller, necessitating that I make some sort of wild dive to retrieve it. Smart or not, I decided to gamble and let him keep holding it. It kept him from crying in the starting area, anyway. HA!

A young girl sings the national anthem (quite well, might I add!), after which we are given the starting signal - we were off!  Holly-Rae settled in right next to me on my right side immediately.  A few strides into the race, some guy drops his cell phone right in the middle of the pack.  It bounces and lands behind us…he stops and forces his way back through the runners like a salmon swimming against the current. Poor guy! I did see him later, so I know he wasn’t trampled to death or anything. Hope his phone was ok!! 

I keep an obsessive eye on my watch - I have it on the “lap pace” screen so that I know what the average pace of our current mile is.  We run thru Dooley Park and cross to the other side of the village. Mile 1 dings at 7:01 according to my watch and I inform Holly-Rae that we are right on the money and tell her that we have about 3 seconds in “the bank."

Mile two starts working our way thru a neighborhood. We pass a water station which I use as a signal to offer Holly-Rae some of her water that I have in the bottle holder on the stroller.  Holly-Rae barely looks at me but gives kind of a nod and reaches a hand out.  I hand the water off, she drinks without breaking stride, hands it back, and I replace it into its place in the stroller.  At this point, too, I am holding the pinwheel against the top of the stroller in my left hand - Gabe had thrown it out of the stroller, javelin-style one too many times for my liking, so Mama commandeered it.  We start running up a small but annoying ascent and I feel our pace drop. I look down at my watch and note that we started to dip above 7:04.  I steal a glance to my right at Holly-Rae and note that she seems to really be fighting. I do my best to push the pace up the hill but she doesn’t increase her speed.  I do some quick mental calculations and decide that reserving some effort here will probably work out just fine if we use the upcoming descent to our advantage.  I definitely don’t want her to push too hard up this hill and torch her legs.  I drop back negligibly and inform her that as soon as we get to the top of the hill, we will pick things up and hammer it down the hill. Mile 2 clicks in 7:04. Right on the target pace, 3 seconds still in the bank from the previous mile.

Mile 3 starts up and, as she wrote in her report, HR was "really feeling barfo and working hard at this point. No talking, no smiling, just keep moving.”  Motivational speeches are not my forte, but I try to turn on the verbal encouragement here.  I know she is SO close to her goal and we can definitely get her there…but there was little room for error.  I started worrying that my watch was off JUST enough and we were actually missing our goal paces by even just a few seconds.  How maddening would that be at the end?!?After the first quarter mile of mile 3, I let HR know that we had just THREE “laps on a track” left (picturing laps on a track always helps me, mentally…hopefully it did the same for her!).  We powered through to a left-hand turn in front of a school. I let her know we had just TWO figurative laps left and that she COULD keep going! PUSH PUSH PUSH girl! And PUSH she did! She picked it up that final mile and Mile 3 clicked off in 6:54! HECK YES! Mile 3 was the fastest one of the race! We entered the track for the final 0.1...

Holly-Rae wrote, “Coming into the track for the finish was great, seeing so many friends and hearing the cheers.” We saw Clint cheering her on and I stepped back a bit to let HR do her thing and guide the pace for the final bit - I knew she’d done it!  As we hit the final straightaway of the track for the last 100 meters, I let up and let HR finish solo - she had more than earned it!

I finished in 21:36 and HR finished in 21:34 - not only a sub-22:00 5k but also a sub-7:00 average pace!! WHAT a RACE!

After we crossed the finish, I gave HR a sweaty hug and congratulated her on her monster PR.  We then caught our breath, grabbed some water and cheered Amber in.  After this, we jogged back out on the course to run Holly-Rae’s husband Tim and their two kids in.  Tim was running with a single stroller with BOTH kids in it! Ok, maybe they each got out and ran a bit here and there - but mostly he was pushing two kids in a single stroller.  Dad power!  It was fun to find them and run with them a bit as a cool down (as many of you know, I really suck at taking the time to get a cool down in most of the time, so this forced cool down was probably a GOOD thing!).

It was such a fun day - a great kickoff to a super 4th of July weekend.  After the 5k, they did a kids’ fun run - one lap around the track.  Clint and I went out there with Gabe who was the happiest final finisher ever.  He’s just learning how to walk (took his first steps on June 13!) and it took us a good 15 minutes to complete the lap together.  When he got down to the final 100 in front of the stands, he had to stop and have his own little dance party inspired by the music blasting from the speakers.  I am not sure where he got that - not from his mama or daddy!

This race does ten year age group brackets for awards and only recognizes the 1st place individual in each category, which means fewer people get called up - and it also means it’s all the more impressive if you DO get called up!  Holly-Rae, Clint, and Gary each got 1st in their respective categories - awesome job, guys, and great OR representation!!

I am SO proud of Holly-Rae’s performance in this race!  She said in her report that in 2016, she was 22:58 at this 5k and it was a season PR for her.  For her to run 1:22 faster today was just amazing.  I am glad to have had the privilege of playing a small role in her success.  As we all know, pacer or not, YOU - the runner - are still the one who puts in the hard work! WAY TO GO, HR! HR for a PR indeed!  Additional shout-outs to our other ORRT members who were present at this fun race - Gary and Amber. WOOOT! What a fun morning!

THANK YOU to Mitch for letting us have TOO much fun with this running stuff while we represent the great store, the teammates for being just plain awesome and fun to be around, Saucony for the best gear (I am loving my new pink hat that I scored a few weeks ago - lightweight and perfect for these hot summer days), and of course Coach Clint for the guidance and advice.

 

Steamboat Classic {June 17, 2017}

Steamboat Classic 15k 2017

June 17, 2017

7:00 am

Official Time: 1:08:22 (*No stroller*) (31 second 15k PR)

Overall Ranking: 58/666

Female Ranking: 8/296 (and awarded 7th out of top 25 because one of top ladies was pulled out for overall masters female winner)

(My 9th race of the 2017 season)

Well, now that I am finally sitting down to crank this report out - it is just over 3 weeks after the fact.  I need to take a page from Clint’s book and get more of my race reports at least partially done the day I run so that I remember more of the great details! 

I didn’t run Steamboat last year - I played Mama-duty and spectated with our nearly-two-month-old Gabe near the finish while Clint ran.  I did run it in 20:15 and earned 19th female overall with a 1:08:53…which was my old 15k PR.  My goal for this year was "simply" to PR and to place in the top 25 again - love how Steamboat recognizes the top 25 runners in each gender with a plaque. Honestly, when I placed in the top 25 in 2015 it came as a total surprise to me - I really had no expectation of doing that well at a race that has a notoriously "fast" field of runners.

As I made plans for my Steamboat-strategy, I stressed about the Gabe-factor.  With the super-early race start, if we were to leave him in Normal with a babysitter - we would have to either have someone come to our home really early or bring him to someone else’s home really early. This option didn’t seem kind to either Gabe OR whomever this person may be.  I thought about running with him in the stroller…but MAN…those HILLS!!!!  However, Tim Van Hoof was planning to spectate Holly-Rae’s race with their kiddos and graciously agreed to watch all three kiddos. I helped out a tiny bit by bringing our new (to us!) double stroller to help out with the kid-and-gear hauling. SO thankful to him for watching our little guy and of course for keeping him safe and helping him have a fun morning!  For a while, it looked like it was going to RAIN Saturday morning - and it, again, stressed me out on Gabe’s behalf. I decided that if it was raining, I would push Gabe in the race with the rain cover so Tim didn’t have to deal with THREE kiddos in the rain. Insert eye roll. That would’ve been TERRIBLE! Thankfully, it didn’t rain so we didn’t even need to think/worry about any of all of that!

Holly-Rae met us at our place at o’dark thirty and we headed over to Peoria with Clint at the wheel. Seeing as it was her BIRTHDAY we had to have a little celebration in the car. HOORAY for birthdays!  When we arrived in Peoria, we met up with a bunch of teammates in the lobby of the Mark Twain hotel. I did my best to get Gabe and his huge stroller packed and ready for the morning and met up with Tim and the kiddos once they arrived in town. I transferred Gabey over to Tim’s competent caring hands and headed outside with Holly-Rae to get in a little mile warmup. It was already steamy out. ICK!!

I realized, with a start, that I had FORGOTTEN my prized, much-counted-on huma gels. ACK!!! Thankfully, the ever-generous Holly-Rae gave me one of her small handheld bottles to use - it was filled with water and 100 calories-worth of Tailwind. I was really thinking I would need SOMETHING in the way of calories during this race (right, wrong, or otherwise) so it felt good to at least have something with me (a crutch? placebo effect? actual aid? who knows…whatever it may be, I was grateful to have it with me. THANKS for your selfless generosity Holly-Rae!!).

We headed over to line up and the adrenaline coursing through me picked up its speed. There were SO many people - and so many FAST-looking people! This race always brings out tons of studs (to use Carol's term!).  Race volunteers directed people saying that only those who thought they would be in the top 25 should line up in the front area.  I had placed in the top 25 two years ago and thought there was a good chance I could do so again today…but felt like a tool lining up in that area, so I didn’t. Yeah, I am a wimp. Oh well.  

The crowd started to get larger and larger (and the starting area got hotter and hotter!) and before long, we were poised and waiting - ready for the signal! As I waited, I thought about my race strategy - go out hard, but not too hard. Try to keep my first 2 5ks decently equal and then make the third 5k the fastest - it’s somewhat downhill so this is a totally reasonable goal. 

As the signal sounded and we started out…I tried not to be too crazy and reminded myself that most of the fastest people busting out from the start were doing the 4-mile distance. Still, mile 1 managed (as usual!) to be a little quicker than I should’ve made it.  Mile 1 - 6:48

I quickly reigned in my pace, settling in and embracing the suckiness. Man, was I SO grateful I wasn’t pushing that darn stroller. It. was. HOT!!  Mile 2 - 7:17

Here the lucky folks doing the 4-miler “get to” turn around.  Never mind the fact that they are hurting, too, as they run their 4 miles at a faster pace…I am always envious of them at this point! As I started in on the big hill on my first loop of the park I did my best not to slow down too much. The sweat dripping from my body was pretty gross and impressive. Josh Favus was at the top of the hill - just as I remembered from two years ago! It felt great to see a familiar face in the midst of the discomfort.  As the course snaked through the park and back on itself, I had the privilege of seeing some familiar faces for the first time.  First, I saw Clint and gave him a shout.  Soon after, I saw Gary and Steve and yelled out at them as well. Next were Holly-Rae who was followed not far back by another BloNo runner, Aimee Dziekan. Mile 3 - 8:00

First 5k - 22:32. I’ll take it.

I LOVE the people that set up the sprinkler. I run through that thing. Every. Single. Time. AHHHH!!!! Mile 4 - 7:21. Great, dropped the pace back down from that ugly Mile 3.  With that, it’s time for the second and final loop through the park…starting first with The Hill.  I concentrated on keeping my breathing as much under control as I could - in through my nose, out through my mouth. I wanted to walk so badly but knew I just couldn’t allow that madness.  Water and Josh Favus were at the top - both refreshing in their own right. Mile 5 - 8:03. Not too shabby, but of course I knew I needed to dial it back as I continued through the park.  Before long, the switch back started up again and I said hello to the same crew as before - kinda like some fun deja vu.  This time I saw Holly-Rae and Aimee together.  I had been counting females so that I could estimate if we were in the top 25.  Based on my quick counting, they were right around 24-25ish at the time - I relayed this information to them with a shout and told them to keep pushing! Mile 6 - 7:41

Somewhere around here I came to the last ascent in the second loop of the park and some super-fit chick passed me and literally bounded up the hill. I probably had to literally pick up my jaw off of the pavement - how the heck was she able to move so effortlessly and why the heck had she been behind me for so long?! I can’t remember where she finished, but it was at least a few spots ahead of me.

10k - 45:58/ Second 5k 23:26 - slower than my 1st 5k, but this was to be expected seeing as the bulk of this was HILLZZZZZ.

As the third 5k started, I did my best to get serious about pushing as hard as I could until the end.  I still have lots of work to do regarding pacing for longer races like this. I just don’t know HOW badly I am able to hurt/where the boundaries of my abilities truly lie. Mile 7 - 7:21  One of my favorite parts of this race is at mile 7.3ish as you are running out of the darn park - it means the hill work is done and there are just TWO miles left of the course. These miles are basically downhillish and bring you right to the finish!  Mile 8 - 7:18

I saw Tim and the kiddos to the left as I closed out the 9th mile. Tim was holding Gabe and I could tell that Gabe saw me - we locked eyes and he smiled. I said “HI GABEY!” and continued on my way, feeling kinda bad about it knowing that he might cry and be confused as to why he saw me for a second and then I disappeared.  Mile 9 - 7:13. 

Time to finish this thing out!! I put my head down and ran as hard as I could with what I had left as I ran down the final descent and turned left to run into the finishing chute. I saw Clint (woot!) and saw 1:08 on the clock. I wasn’t sure if it would be good enough for a PR but I pushed as hard as I could to finish things out.

Final 0.23 - 6:10 pace

Total Official Time: 1:08:22/7:20 per mile average pace 

(Third 5k -22:24 - barely faster than my first 5k by 8 seconds!)

(And, yes, a PR but barely…just by 31 seconds!)

Clint and I cheered Holly-Rae in and hung out in the finishing area for a while trying to make a plan about how to find Tim and the kids.  Before we had time to figure out a plan - they appeared!  Tim resourcefully made his way down to the finishing area, taking all work/effort out of our hands. What a great guy :).  Also of note, Clint and I ran into our old-crazy-British friend Andy Wheatcroft in the finishing area and chatted with him for a bit. Every conversation with him includes a smattering of cursing, both in American English and British English - and we can only understand maybe 65% of what he is saying. But, it’s all funny so there’s that! Great to see him!

While we waited for the awards we celebrated our girl Holly-Rae’s birthday with some homemade gluten-free/dairy-free oatmeal cream pies that we brought. YUMMMM. I do love any excuse to make/eat sugary desserts (#sorrynotsorry)! So, thanks for having a birthday Holly-Rae - and thanks for spending part of it with your crazy teammates running a hot and crazy race!

THANKS to Mitch for the privilege of being on the Often Running Racing Team and for allowing us to be a part of this consistently fun event.  THANKS to my teammates for the fun in Peoria together - what a great day with lots of outstanding runners and all-around people.  THANKS to Coach Clint for helping me get some great PRs this season and continuing to push me even though I don’t even know what I am doing.  AND…big THANKS to Tim Van Hoof for hoofin’ our collective THREE Van-Wells kiddos around while Clint, Holly-Rae and I raced!  While I genuinely do love sharing races with Gabe, it is pretty great to have the opportunity to “relax” and “just race” without needing to worry at all about him!

Next up - the Bix is just under 3 weeks away!! This year is big #14 for me and #5 for Clint. My current PR was set in 2015 - 52:01 (7:26 pace). I am hopeful for a sub-50 finish this year (7:08 or faster average pace) - too lofty? We’ll see!!

PICS-

-2 Race pics from Steamboat website

-Precious Cargo/the Van Wells kiddos spectating 2 mommies and 1 daddy running

-Me + Gabe with Aimee D. during the top 25 awards (great snap, thanks HR!!)

-Me + the Birthday Girl with our awards

-Oatmeal. Cream. Pies. (and also, some awesome peeps :))

-Wells Fam