Sparkle extravaganza (I mean River Ramble) race recap

We sparkled and shimmered all along the river today in the River Ramble Fall Classic 10k, coming in 2nd out of three teams. We had a great time dressing up in our skirts and applying glitter gel to our faces and glitter spray to our hair. We definitely had the most character and personality on the course!

Team Blood, Sweat, and Sparkle

Two of my team members also set personal records in the 10k and won age category prizes!

Here is how the race went for me:

Even though we were running our own paces, we decided to line up together as a team near the front of the pack, since there were hundreds of runners and no chip timing. Starting in the front may or may not have been to my advantage. I can't tell if I burned myself out by going out too fast or if I would have set myself a slower pace if I hadn't had the momentum from everyone else.

In any case, when we started, we ran 0.2 miles through the parking lot to the hill that takes us out to the road. I kept a light but brisk pace through the parking lot and just tried to take it easy but keep the pace going up the hill. Then I tried to remind myself to use the slight decline to my advantage and let gravity do its thing.

I tried to keep at a steady, quick pace, and I got to the 1 mile mark at 8:08 minutes. I thought that I usually go out a little faster, but I knew that if I held that, I was still on pace for my goal time. I was feeling tired though, and the balls of my feet down to my toes were totally numb. It's hard to describe running without feeling your toes, and I can just say that it is very uncomfortable, especially when you know you're continually pounding on those spots. Around this time I also started getting the dreaded cramps, and I don't mean the lactic-acid kind.  Still, I kept on my pace, and it seemed like no time before we got to the 5k turnaround. Alas, what an easy race the 5k must have been! Even with my frozen toes, I think I could have turned out a time around 25:30 on that course.

But I was running the 10k, so I kept going straight beyond the turnaround, and it wasn't long before the hills started. These were not nearly as unforgiving as the hills that I usually run on, so I should have flown up them, but I did not perform as well as I expected I would. When I found myself plodding, I picked up my knees and lightened my step, but I was much more tired than I should have been. I continued to fade as I got closer to the turnaround point, and more and more people passed me. I can't say that's not disheartening, but I flashed my sparkle skirt (well, it did its own flashing) and kept going, trying to pass people on the downhills.

I played leap frog with a couple of people until they either drew ahead or fell behind, and I found myself in a no-man's land with no other runners around me for the last 2 or 2.5 miles. At this time, I tried to do the math to see if my top goal was anywhere near attainable and settled on trying to finish in under 55 minutes. My time at the turnaround was about a minute and a half slower than it should have been if I wanted to match my PR.

After passing the 5k turnaround, I tried to use the flats there to my advantage and speed up a little. I got excited when I could see the parking lot. There was one slight incline left, and I jogged up it, hoping that maybe I'd get a burst of speed and somehow be able to pass the guy up ahead of me. I dropped my hand-held bottle of Gatorade next to a road sign where I'd be able to pick it up later  and immediately felt lighter and freer. I crested the hill and started to coast down towards the parking lot. I heard someone coming up behind me, and that spurred me on just enough. I opened up my stride and made for the finish line.

The last stretch is deceivingly long. I was told to smile for cameras, so I held back a bit instead of going for the usual power sprint (and accompanying photos of flailing limbs and ridiculous grimaces). I heard someone say that my skirt was flying, and one of the race volunteers said that even though I was the last of my team to finish, I was still fast, and they were all waiting to cheer me on. And they were!

That skirt is flying!

I finished in 55:26, which is a little disappointing, considering I had been improving so much and know that I was capable of at least 53:52 on that course, but it's something to beat in the future. I have to remember that my first goal in this race was to have a great time running in our sparkly skirts. I wanted us to bring a lot of fun to this race and have a blast, and we did! We all left with such a great feeling and are already planning on continuing our weekly groups runs. There's even talk of signing up together for a half marathon in the spring! And I think that our enthusiasm extended out to a lot of other people today. One or two people actually thanked me for dressing up!

After cheering on many other 10k runners, we got some refreshments and stuck around for the awards ceremony, where two of our girls won 2nd and 3rd place in the 30-39 year age group! Way to go!!! What is even more impressive (and a little frustrating) is that the friend who placed 2nd was only a second or two behind 1st place in that age group. Believe me, when we do this next year, she's going for 1st!

After individual awards were given, every member of Team Blood Sweat and Sparkle was awarded a River Ramble mug for 2nd place in the team competition! Go team!!

Celebrating with 2nd-place mugs

This was a great race that was very well organized, even though it was in its first year. The weather was beautiful, and everyone I saw had a great time. The location was also awesome. After everyone else left, I took my unfinished breakfast (more on proper - and un-proper - nutrition in a later post?) down to the boat launch and sat down and finished it while looking across the river. It's a beautiful spot, which is why I'm getting married just a few miles downstream from there next September...! You can't beat the view of the river and mountains behind them.

Anyway, the course was great, everything ran smoothly, and I'm so glad that we were able to put such a quirky team together. It added an element to the race that I don't always see.

I am really looking forward to finishing up my grad school program and having more time to exercise again so I can work on improving my fitness and becoming a fast runner. Watch out, River Ramble - I'm coming back next year, just as sparkly, but faster than ever!

River Ramble 10k goals

Two months ago, the 10k distance was a little daunting. I hadn't been running for months, and I just didn't see myself completing the distance with anything but an agonizingly slow pace. But the River Ramble, which offers both a 5K and 10k distance, only permitted team competition for the 10k. And I wanted to form a team - a team comprised of people wearing sparkly running skirts. So I got my running buddy, her sister, and one other runner together to form Team Blood, Sweat, and Sparkle. We ordered skirts from Team Sparkle, which I had read about on the Chic Runner's blog and set out to train for a 10k.

Initially, my goal was to run faster than 9:30 per mile pace. We mapped out a training route that was hillier than the race course, and on the first time running it, I came in at 58:52. That was 9:28 pace! I revised my goal to be about 55 minutes. The next time I ran that route, I cam in at 57:41 -  9:16 per  mile! I was very excited about doing some long runs and a timed mile to work on both endurance and speed, but I got sick with a cold, and then a secondary infection, so I lost about 2 weeks of training. I got back out as soon as I could, and last Tuesday I ran the race route in an amazing (for me) 53:52. Then it was time to rest and wait until race day. My goals for the race were:

• Have a great time running in our sparkly skirts! I wanted us to bring a lot of fun to this race and have a blast.
• My top time goal (aka goal that might be in reach) was to finish in under 53 minutes. That would involve running about a minute faster than in my fastest training run (which I had put pretty much everything onto the table for). 
• If that wasn't achievable, my next goal was to set a personal best. 
• My next goal was to finish in under 55 minutes.
• If I had a pretty stinky race, I hoped to still finish with a pace of under 9 minutes per mile.

So, there you have it!

My next post will be a race recap!

My first 10K!

Distance: 10K
Time: 1:06:30
Average Pace: 10:42

Although I was worried about injuring myself and not having trained for the past 4 weeks, I ran my first 10K race on Saturday. It was raining steadily, but the support staff came along as well to cheer me on. The race was being held at the local community college, and the events for the day included both a 5K and 10K. I picked up my packet and tried to stay somewhat dry under a pavilion before the race. Based on how wet I was just warming up and walking to the starting line, I knew that I'd never be able to see out of my rain-splattered glasses, so the support staff held them for me. As I wandered around in a world of blurry shapes, I hoped that the course was very well-marked so that I wouldn't end up following the 5K course or something. I should have asked, because I didn't even know if the 5 and 10K courses were different.

Because of the shin splint/possible stress fracture problems, I was not racing this 10K. I began way at the back and started off very slowly. We ran through some parking lots, out the back entrance of the college, and made a left onto the road. We had been given a map of the course in our packets, so I knew that the 10K course went a little way down this road and then doubled back. Not 30 seconds after we turned onto the road did the front-runners come flying past me after having turned around. A woman ahead of me asked a volunteer where the turnaround was and was told somewhere around mailbox number 50. That was a little odd, because we were passing mailbox 200 at that time. Those front-runners must have been running really fast.

We stopped seeing people coming back from the turnaround. Does that mean we missed it? Was I following a line of people wasting time by running down this road in the wrong direction? Was I following 5K runners instead of 10K? There weren't many other 10K runners around, but we all started talking about it. We didn't come to any conclusion, so we just kept running. When we did turn around, I should have asked the volunteer if it was both the 5K and 10K course, but I didnt. I doubled back and then headed out to another road, which was a long, steady down-hill. Of course, what goes down goes back up again in most races, so once I reached the bottom of the hill, I turned into the school drive-way and began the trek up "college hill". I took quick and light little steps and didn't have too hard a time of it. Up ahead I saw where the 5K runners branched to the right and the 10K runners continued to the left. People were shouting and waving signs, so I knew where to go. I continued on and saw that I had another hill. This one was steeper than the last. I continued with the little steps, although I can't say that they were quick or light. I almost felt as if I would be faster if I walked, as everyone around me was doing, but I kept running.

When I neared the top, I heard my support staff cheering me on. He was waiting at the very top of the hill, and it was so great to see him there. As I came by him, he started jogging with me. He told me that a lot of runners were complaining about the course not being marked well. I chatted with him about how I wasn't sure if I had run the right course or not. He ran with me through the parking lot at the top of the hill and stopped when I started down toward the back entrance, around where the race had started.

When I was on my own again, I was confident that at least this time, I was in the right place, since the volunteers were able to direct each runner. Somewhere here I noticed that I had blisters under my toes and that my right knee was starting to hurt. I stopped a few times to let the knee click and crack and kept going. At the turnaround point, someone took a picture of me, so unfortunately I may see my rain-soaked face on next-year's promotional info. A volunteer was commenting on how her poncho made her look like a penguin, and she asked me if I was tired. I said yes, even though I really wasn't. My feet just hurt. And my knee.

When I reached mile 5 I felt like cheering about how we were almost done, but there were no spectators around, and I figured that would be really dorky, so I saved my breath. I enjoyed the long downhill slope, took a sip of water at a water stop at the bottom, and then began the last leg up college hill. Like the first time, I didn't have much trouble, except my right knee started hurting very badly toward the top of the hill. It began to hurt so much that I started limping, and if the ground hadn't leveled off there, I think it might have given out. I heard my support staff cheering me on there, and I turned to make a loop around some of the college buildings before heading to the finish. I kept the pace steady, and once I began to get close I picked up the speed. I made it through the chute and there it was: I had finished my first 10K.

It turns out that the people who had passed the rest of the pack so early in the race had made a mistake and cut off almost a mile and a half of the course. Because of the mistake, no awards were given or times posted. The support staff reports that my time was 1:06:30, give or take a few seconds, so I at least have a good idea of how I did.

The most amazing thing about this race is that my shins didn't hurt at all. Not even the slightest bit! I don't understand what went right for me to feel so good during it, but I'm certainly not complaining!

I am so excited about having run my first 10K. I knew before the race began that I would have no trouble finishing the distance, but it's a good milestone. I'm already planning my next distance goal: a half-marathon next spring!