Gate River Run 15k Recap

As many of you know, I am not the best at doing race reaps, but lucky for you, I am on Spring Break which gives me a few minutes of free time.

Friday after work I went up to Jacksonville to visit one of my best college friends.  I registered for this race probably the day it opened.  I was very excited for this.  Not only would I be doing the race, it was the perfect excuse to see my friend.  We were going to make it a fun weekend with the other half of our crew coming up, but unfortunately, they were unable to make it.  

Friday after work I hit up the expo because Jamie home yet.  I picked up my packet, walked around a bit, shopped some and saw Marcia.  It is so nice to always see her.  It was also her birthday weekend and she killed it with a PR!  She was ma wasn't nning the Donna 26.2 booth where I picked up a pin for Jamie and I to wear in her moms honor.  This is actually how she noticed me along the course.  Luckily, I did not need anything from the expo so I just walked to kill some time.

After the expo, I went to Jamie's, but my stuff down and did a nice little two mile shake out run.  Once Jamie got home, we ran to Target for a few things then waited for her boyfriend to come home.  He just was awarded a promotion so we went out to carbo load and celebrate.  We went to an italian place near their house which was very good.  I am a very picky eater whose stomach cannot handle much before races so I thought our server would murder me, or spit in my food.  All I wanted was plain pasta and grilled chicken with marinara sauce on the side.  I didn't think that was too hard.  Just saying.  We went home and went to bed.  

Get in my belly!

Saturday we were up bright and early.  I knew I would not have time to do my scheduled warm up, per Mary's request, so I woke up a little earlier and got out there.  We met at J's friend, Kerry's house at 7 to head downtown.  It makes me laugh that we met at 7 because I love early races, especially if they start in the dark.  Call me crazy, but I don't like seeing my watch and the pace and if it dark, I can't see the watch.  We all carpooled on over, got stuck in traffic, went to the pottys and went to find our corrals.  This was Jamie's first race and I told her I can run with her, walk with her, or do whatever.  She told me to rock it and run my pace, which is exactly what I did.  See, I am training for this Irongirl Half Marathon so.. I sort of wanted to see what I had in me.  They were in wave 3, I was in wave 2 so we hugged goodbye and wished them luck.

Let me start off by saying, this was not an easy run.  There are two bridges.  One is worse than the other.  The Hart bridge is a terror, a bitch to say nicely, luckily it was at mile 8.. Thinking back, I sort of wish it was at the beginning so I still had energy.

I accidently went into wave one to start.  I had my phone out about to take a picture of the start line and people started walking, I figured I had time and was just being moved forward, I was wrong.  I was in the wrong wave.  I am not complaining.  This was beneficial because I wasn't stressing out.  I just went.  The first few miles flew by.  By mile 1.5 is when the first bridge, the Main Street bridge was up.  The elevation was not bad, the bad part was the grates in the bottom.  It freaked me out, and being from NY where this is normal on the street, I do not like that and always walk around them.  

 I was scared I was running to fast when at the 3 mile marker I was under 30 minutes.  At least that was a new PR for me.  I just kept running.  I sort of had a goal in mind but did not want to commit to it because I wasn't sure if I was going to run with my friend or if the bridges would get the best of me.  This is about where Marcia ran into me, she said HI, and took off!  Who would think there is a hilly course in Florida, but it seems as I always seem to find them.  I sort of figured that besides the bridges, the course would be flat, I was wrong.  Rolling hills, lots of rolling hills.  I just kept treking on.  The course was beautiful when we went by the water and the houses, WOW!  I was consistently holing about a 10  min mile pace, give or take a few seconds.  I was very excited and was hoping not to crash!  Jamie's boyfriend spotted me, gave me a shout and gave me some extra motivation.  My stomach started to cramp and I got nervous.  I knew I just had about a 5k left.  I had a Powergel with me, I wish I would have taken it at about mile 6.5 because at mile  I started to burn out.  I knew I can maintain my pace till I got to the Hart Bridge.  I did just that.  I stopped twice during mile 7, once to get an orange from a spectator, the second to get some water.  You can see my pace dropped there.  Then it was the bridge!!!  I ran that bridge..or so I thought.  You would never know I was running, it looked like walking, felt like walking but the energy was running.  I promise, I was running.  Once to the top, I sprinted down.  I know I had to get in the last kick!  I saw that before I hit the bridge my pace was about a 10, after the bridge.. a little more!  I wanted it down, I was determined to get it down.

And there the finish line was!  I made it, and a shiny new PR!  The last and only time I ran a 15k my time was about 2:04.  I was out of shape!  I wasn't running.  I just said, OK, this is better than doing the Half.  So that is what I did.  This time I was training, and I used this as a training run for Irongirl.

There were certainly some pro's and cons about this race so I will just give you a few of them:

*I loved our names on our bibs!  It is great to hear people call your name out while your running.

*I did not like that there was no Gatorade or anything of that sort on the course.  After we started, it got hot and I think that would have really helped me the last few miles.  

*The line to get the medal at the end, a cluster mess

*Free post race bags of ice and massages

*A beautiful race shirt (I will have to post that) and it fits perfectly!

*hilly course, you tell me..good or bad?

*Great Crowd support!

And I almost forgot.  My official time was 1:35:11.  Just what my Garmin read! Perfect!

Before!

After

 After the race, Ryan got us flowers!  So sweet!  And we headed for a post celebratory lunch at a bar!  It truly was a great weekend with great friends!  I am so glad I was able to do this!

Post Race celebrations!

have you ever done this run?  What were your thoughts?

Did you go into a race and crushed your expectation?

Also, did you enter the lululemon and race entry giveaway yet?

Happy Friday

Every day, each and every period, I greet my students "Happy (Insert day of the week)", or "Good Morning/Good Afternoon Boys and Girls"!  They know how to respond but sometimes it takes us a few rounds to get it correct.

So heres to you...HAPPY FRIDAY BLOGGERS AND READERS!

Friday letters are my favorite and I have been pretty absent on the bloggosphere lately, but here goes nothing!.

Dear Friday, I am so happy you decided to finally show up.  It has felt like forever since I have seen you last. 

Dear Brother, I am so excited I get to spend the weekend with you.  I am sad the other half of our B-Squad couldn't join us but we are going to have so much fun.  I am excited for your first race!!  We are going to dominate the gate River Run

 Dear Spring Break, hallelujah!! Even though I am already stressing out that I won't see any of you, I may only be home one day, I am determined to make the best of you.  I am determined to revamp myself.  My eating, my room, and learn to make some ME time. 

Dear Thursday Run, I need to give myself credit here.  This is a run I would have normally skipped, I was exhausted, overwhelmed with what I needed to get done, such as packing, cleaning, eating, and I actually went out to run.  I had 5 easy miles on schedule so I just went out to clear my head.  I came home with the overall pace right under goal pace and a few miles a little too under goal pace for it to be an easy run.  Yay for finaly making changes and progres.

Dear Friends and Family, thank you for putting up with my this week, especially Thursday when I had a near meltdown.   

This week is going to be super busy with lots of traveling and running.  I am excited to announce a few of my favorite bloggers and I are hosting a giveaway!!!  It is a nice BIG one with a GREAT prize! It should go live Monday at Midnight so check back here!!

What are your weekend plans?

What do you like to do with your vacation time?

How do you get through the chaos of life and remember what is important?

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! 



Overachieving and harsh realizations

I have these big dreams and goals of completing and accomplishing certain races.

I tend to take on more than I can handle, especially when it comes to training for events.  I have race after race, run after run until March.  I didn't really realize how much I have planned until someone mention, are you racing every weekend?  Well, sort of...

I had these BIG dreams of doing the Croom 50k and Augusta HIM 70.3

I have been toying with these ideas for about 6 months now, and I have no doubt I can physically complete them.  I then realized how much more training would need to go into a HIM.  I would need to do two a days.  When did I ever think I would have time for that?  I can't even complete my scheduled runs now.  

Right now, my marathon training plan was given to me through team in training and I believe was a little too ambitious for my schedule.  I have two medium long runs during the weeks, which now, are 9 miles.  I think to myself, this takes me almost two hours.. so coming up at 7, impossible.  Next training cycle, more realistic plan will be made and will incorporate speed because one day, I would love to qualify for Boston!

Back to Croom and Augusta, I think I am officially burnt out.  I want a social life!  I want to run because I want to, not because I have a training run.  I think I am saying goodbye to running Croom and doing Augusta in 2013, but there is always 2014.  Not to mention, a tri is very expensive and I certainly do not have the money at this time to invest in the proper training and equipment.  I am so thankful for the friends along the way to help me out this far.  

I want to be proud of my race and know I have done all that I could do :)

Will I have a change of heart in the next few weeks once Goofy is over?  It is possible, but I am staying away from the "Register Now" button for a while, until I am 100% sure I have the time and the energy.  

So what is up next?

Dec. 15 The color run

December 21- 10 miles

December 22- 20-22 Miles

January 12 DIsney Half Marathon

January 13 Disney Full Marathon

January 27 ING Miami Full or Half Marathon

February 9- Mud Run

February 17 Donna 26.2 or Half?- Possible with Meghan

February 24 Disney Princess  Half Marathon with Meghan, Tori, Caitlyn

March 9- Gate River run with my best friend Jamie

March 17- Sarasota Half Marathon (Hoping for a PR)

What runs are you planning?  How do you get motivated again?