Tag Archives: races

2013 Race Calendar

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I love racing. I like big races and small races. I feed off the crowd’s at the big-time ones and the challenge of pushing yourself at the smaller ones. It’s one of my favorite things about running, and keeps me pushing towards getting fitter and faster and reaching tougher goals.

In 2013, I want to race smart though. Seven races in seven weeks at one point last year where I ran my hardest in most of them might not have been the smartest idea. Adding a marathon to my schedule a month and a half out from race day was another one of my not so bright moves. My break from running as I recovered from an overuse injury in 2012 has left me hungry for all the races I can sign up for, but to make sure I don’t overdo it, I’m only planning two goal races for this year. I know I’d go crazy only having two races on the schedule so I have a handful of others I’m planning to run for fun as training runs.

2013 Race Calendar

February 10 – Love the Run You’re With 5k

March 9 – Four Courts Four Miler

April 7 – Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

*April 28 – Nike Women’s D.C. Half Marathon*

July 27 – Crystal City Twilighter 5k

*October 27 – Marine Corps Marathon*

December 8 – Jingle All the Way 8k

*Goal Races*

Now it’s time to get running to get ready for all these races! Let me know what your race plans are this year, and if you have any big race goals!

Lottery Luck

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My first experience with trying to gain entry to a race via a lottery was several years ago with the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I did not get in. I tried again the next year, but had the same result. Thanks to their policy regarding two failed attempts, I received an automatic entry to last year’s race. The email with my link to register said something along the lines of: looks like your bad luck has turned into good luck.

Well, my good luck didn’t stop there. I entered two lotteries for April races in 2013 recently. Based on my past experience I didn’t have high hopes of getting in. One was to again run the Cherry Blossom since I had so much fun in 2012, and the other was for the inaugural Nike Women’s D.C. Half Marathon.

Good fortune shined and during the past week and a half I found out that I got accepted into both races! I know a lot of people running in both races, which will make them even more fun. The Cherry Blossom on April 7 will make for a perfect training run for the Nike Half a few weeks later on April 28 as it appears the courses are almost identical with the exception of the beginning and end of the half to get the additional 3.1 miles.

Let me know if you’re planning on running either of these April races in D.C. next year!

On another note. I think I might buy a real lottery ticket tonight!

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Setting Race Goals

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Last night I headed out to Falls Church for Tri360’s clinic: Big Goals for 2013 Panel. Tri360 is a new triathlon store in the area that I’ve wanted to check out for awhile, and it’s very cool. The space is awesome and they’ve got a great assortment of bikes and gear for all three disciplines as well as a service area for bike repairs and maintenance.

I’ve been biking a bit lately since I haven’t been able to run and am really enjoying it. I haven’t done a triathlon in years, mostly because I got frustrated with the fact that I’m not very good at either the swim or bike portions. I’ve been thinking about giving it another go though when I get back into running, so I have some other outlets to keep me from overdoing it on the running right away.

Tri360 put together a great panel of professional and elite triathletes, an elite cross/mountain biker, an Ironman finisher and a swim/run coach resulting in some really good advice and an info-packed discussion. They talked about setting realistic goals based on your fitness level and time to train to avoid burnout and set yourself up for your best chance at success.

The panelists reminded us that goals don’t just have to be about your finish time or place, but can focus on other things like improvement and attitude. It’s also helpful to have training goals and to document your progress so you can look back and see how far you’ve come. Set your goals based on what’s right for you, not based on a competition with someone else – especially if you’re not at comparable fitness levels.

A big theme of the night was achieving balance between training and the rest of your life. Family, friends and work shouldn’t suffer because of your training. Having family or friends that don’t participate in swim, bike and run with you can be really beneficial – sometimes you need to “step out of the bubble”. They also talked about remembering to have fun and the reasons why you do this. If you’re not having any fun then what’s the point.

I really enjoyed the clinic and loved the store. I’ll definitely be back!

Other than the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon, I’m still planning out my race goals for next year. Let me know what your big goals are for next year in the comments!

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Running in the Rain

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The October 7 Run for the Parks 10k got here before I knew it. Where is this year going? Everytime I blink another month goes by. Naturally, I still hadn’t seen a doctor about the tightness and pain that started in my hip flexors this summer, so this was going to be another race that I treated more like a training run than an actual race. I wasn’t thrilled about that and I really wasn’t thrilled that temperatures were supposed to drop 25-30 degrees overnight the morning of the race.

This face pretty much sums up my race day attitude!

Put on by the Potomac River Runners, the Run for the Parks 10k was held in West Potomac Park. This has always been my least favorite stretch of races like Marine Corps and Cherry Blossom, but since it’s right around the corner from my office I force myself to frequently run it on my lunch time and post-work runs. I still share a love-hate relationship with this flat, quiet and windy stretch of road, but it’s actually starting to lean more towards love.

I woke up early on race morning already angry about not getting to sleep in after only catching a couple hours of sleep. Seeing it was 40s and rainy didn’t make me much happier. West Potomac Park doesn’t have any real close public transportation so I took my negative attitude over to the closest bike share rack and rode my way into D.C. for the race. I was at least pleased with myself for not bagging the race and crawling back into bed.

I lined up at the starting line pretty chilly, but warmed up quickly. We headed down Ohio Drive and around the bend at Hains Point before turning around and tracing our steps back toward the finish. I started slightly faster than I planned, slowed in the middle and sped up again for the last two miles. My hips were annoyingly tight once again so I averaged a 7:50 per mile pace, which for a 10k is slow for me. (For anyone that’s annoyed by that, years ago that would have been a quick 10k pace for me – it’s all relative and fast and slow is different for every runner.) My finish time was 48:40 good for 16th in my age group and 56 out 643 female finishers, so I can’t complain too much.

The rain wasn’t bad, but it held steady throughout the race, and the temps weren’t showing any signs of rising. All I wanted to do after crossing the finish line was go home and take a hot shower, but I noticed that Fast Track Physical Therapy was on-hand giving massages and free injury consults. I figured it was finally time and signed up for the waiting list for an injury consult. It didn’t take them long to tell me I was in fact injured and needed to stop denying it. I set up an appointment to visit their office, and will hopefully get to the bottom of this soon so I can get back to a training schedule and working toward Boston again!

On a side note, I’m pretty sure my finish line pic (courtesy of Potomac River Running’s Flickr page) could rival some of Mark Remy’s best “race face” pics.

Race Recap: Running to Remember

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Last weekend I ran the Arlington Police, Fire & Sheriff 9-11 Memorial 5k. Like most Americans I vividly remember where I was that day 11 years ago when the planes first hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. It was surreal at first. I remember thinking it must have just been an accidently plane crash when I heard about the first plane. After the second plane hit, the terrifying realization that this was not an accident set in.

During last year’s tenth anniversary of the attacks, I watched hours of footage from that day – much of it sad and horrifying, but also uplifting to remember how everyone came together for each other after the attacks. I was amazed at how many of the stories I had forgotten about. I think it’s so important to remember that day, the victims and their loved ones left behind, and one of the ways I can do that is participating in this race.

This is my second year running the local 9-11 5k that takes off from Army Navy Drive and loops through Crystal City before running by the Pentagon where another one of the terrorist planes struck that day. It’s incredibly moving to pass by the Pentagon and to see all of the law enforcement and fire fighters running together. I love the bag pipers along the course as well. Last year we finished under an American flag held up by the ladders of two fire trucks, which was amazing and I’m assuming had to be scrapped this year because of the weather.

As my last post mentioned, I haven’t been able to run as much lately due to some hip issues so this would be my first time out on the road and off of a treadmill in awhile. My plan was to take it easy and see how I felt back on the road. I put in a slow, one-hour treadmill run on Friday night and cranked out a couple miles Saturday morning also on the treadmill before spinning class. My main reason for getting some miles in that morning was that I wasn’t sure if the race would go on.

We had some pretty severe storm warnings for Saturday night, but fortunately the storm hit early enough and moved quickly enough that the race went on as scheduled with a minor delay. The start of the race was pretty chaotic and disorganized as people piled into the starting corral after the rain delay with little regard for what pace they were running. I got the biggest laugh out of a girl I passed in the first quarter mile who was telling her friend that she was going to go slow so that she wouldn’t sweat – apparently she missed the fact that one, it was raining, and two, she was running a race! Knowing what this race was about certainly puts things in perspective and kept me from getting angry.

Despite the crowded start, I still went out a little faster than I planned, finishing the first mile in about 7:15. I pulled in the reins and slowed it down a bit for the remaining 2.1, finishing in 22:49. While much slower than my PR, it was a lot better than I had expected given the circumstances and my hips only tightened up slightly after the run, but didn’t bother me during it, which seems promising.

The time was good enough for 246th overall out of 3,070 and 10th out of 504 in my age group. I also ran as part of the Pacers Ambassadors team which finished in an impressive 16th place out of 68 teams in the open division!

I encourage anyone who lives in this area to run this race next year if you haven’t yet. It’s an experience you won’t forget, and a way to always remember what happened on that tragic day.

9.11.01 Never Forget.

My Best Forest Gump Impression

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Last Saturday I started running, and kept on running for a lot of my day. It was my last big, long run before my upcoming marathon so I had a 20-miler on tap for the day. I was up bright and early so I could get 6 miles in before meeting up with the DC Road Runners for a 14 miler at 7.

I started out with a loop that took me over the Key Bridge, through Georgetown, down Rock Creek Parkway and back to the Iwo Jima Memorial via Memorial Bridge. The Road Runners route took me on a course I hadn’t run before, and if I’d know how hilly it was ahead of time, I might have just chosen to finish my 20 on my own! The first five miles felt like a seemingly endless uphill battle, but hills are always easier when you’ve got other runners to help push you up them. The run took me up the Custis Trail, through Zach Taylor Park and by Marymount College before a very steep downhill sent me over Chain Bridge onto the C&O path, by the Kennedy Center, back over the Memorial Bridge and up the Mount Vernon trail back through Rosslyn.

Getting ready for the Pacers Mini Relay with Blair and Lindsay

I’ve had some tough, bad-day runs over the last couple weeks, which can be pretty discouraging leading up  to a race, so I really wanted to do well on my last big test before my next marathon. My pace was a bit slower than I’ll need to qualify at 8:29 per mile, but I felt strong throughout and given the terrain we followed, I wasn’t disappointed with the time. I ran some pretty fast late miles too finishing miles 17 and 18 in close to 8 minutes each. I crashed a little at the end and slowed way down for miles 19 and 20, but instead of letting this freak me out, I’m going to hope it just had to do with the extreme ups and downs over the course and will look forward to the mostly flat marathon course I have coming up at the Niagara marathon.

One of my favorite Saturday post-long run treats is waffles, so I had my waffle iron, mixing bowl and ingredients out and ready to make things as easy as possible when I got home from the run. After a quick shower and some delicious waffles, I had a few hours to sit on the couch and ice my legs. I wasn’t done yet though.

I met up with my friend Lindsay and fellow Pacers Ambassador Blair for the Pacers Mini Relay. Pacers teamed up with Ragnar and Saucony to put this race on and it was a lot of fun. It was more of a fun run since it wasn’t a timed event and there were no winners or awards, but it was a blast and ended with a great party at the Clarendon store. The starting point was the Pacers location in Alexandria and the run went from store to store with the last leg ending at Clarendon. Blair started us off running the longest leg from the Old Town Alexandria store to the Pentagon Row location. I took off from there on a 5-mile route to their Logan Circle store, where Lindsay finished things off with the shortest, but by far the steepest leg of the race ending at the party in Clarendon.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to move very well, but was surprised how good I felt. After running my first mile in 7:25, I looked at the Garmin shocked and decided to slow it down a little, but still managed to average a 7:40 pace over the 5 miles, which left me feeling pretty good. My only issue was the lack of signage at a few spots along the course. There was no set route as you were allowed to get from point to point taking any route you wanted, but there were suggested routes and at least along my section a turn off of Rock Creek Parkway onto P street was completely unmarked. Not being familiar with that section of the trail, I would have had no idea it was where I was supposed to turn had I not seen another runner sporting an orange snap bracelet out of the corner of my eye. A small sign posted in the ground would have been really helpful, but I guess figuring out your way was also part of the fun of this event.

All participants got a commemorative pint glass at the finish filled with complimentary beer – more races should end this way! To make the day even better, a grilled cheese food truck pulled up outside of the party so Lindsay and I enjoyed delicious Vermont Cheddar Cheese sandwiches on sourdough. The event was a lot of fun and a great way to meet and mingle with other runners in the area. I can’t wait to do it again next year, but maybe next time I’ll plan better and won’t run 20 miles earlier in the day!

Run-Centric Weekend

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For anyone who knows me, it comes as no surprise that I spend a lot of my time running, talking about running or doing other running-related activities, but this weekend was a particularly run-centric weekend.

Friday night I headed out of work for week 2 of Pacer’s Crystal City 5k Friday series. I got there early to help out with packet pick-up before the race. My first stop was the shoe lab, however. After having a lot of success last week with a pair of racing flats from Newton, I planned to try out their Gravity performance trainer this week. As soon as  I laced them up I could tell these shoes felt great. They were super light, gripped my foot, but roomy around my toes, and had some great bounce to them.

The race actually started a few minutes late to accommodate the huge turn out of runners on a really beautiful Friday night. My pace was all over the map last week so I wanted to really focus on running a consistent pace and did a great job of it. I hit mile 1 in 6:54, crossed mile 2 at 13:53 and mile 3 at 20:47. My finish time of 21:29 took another 11 seconds off my PR! I finished 133 out of 1,426 overall, 23 out of 773 females and 16 out of 344 in my age group. I also walked away with my own pair of Newton Gravity’s thanks to a 10 percent onsite discount! (It doesn’t take much to talk me into buying new running gear.) I’m really excited to start logging some more miles in them.

Saturday morning I linked up with the DC Road Runners club for their weekly Saturday long run. This group meets right across the street from my apartment and I’ve been saying I was going to get myself up and run with them for years. This was the first time I actually went! I’ve been trying to make much more of an effort to run with groups since it makes training a little more fun and helps me push myself to run faster.

We ran a route that took us over Memorial Bridge, down the Mall, by Union Station and back down the other side of the Mall before running along the river and returning via 14th Street Bridge and the Mount Vernon Trail. Runs like this remind me why I love this city so much. No where else can you go for an early morning run past so many cool monuments, memorials and historical sites. I was also entertained by the set up and prep for the Cherry Blossom parade going on later that morning.

Sunday I volunteered to help with the early packet pick-up for the GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler and 5K. I’ve heard great things about this race and definitely plan to do it sometime. I helped out at the Clarendon store, and let me tell you – it took no small amount of will power to spend 5 hours in a Pacers and not spend any money. I did leave with several things on my wish list for my next visit there though!

New Kicks and a New PR to Kick Off the Friday 5Ks

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I love the Crystal City 5k Fridays race series. It’s such a fun race; is a nice, relatively flat course; and Pacers does an awesome job with it. I was able to run 3 of the Friday 5ks last year, and set my PR for the distance with a 22:50 finish.

I know I’m a cold-weather wimp, but I don’t think I’d be the only one to say the weather for most of last year’s races was not too fun. Last Friday was perfect, however. Sunny and close to 60 – I was in my element. My boyfriend was in town for the weekend too, so I was very excited he was going to get to see my race, cheer me on and take some pictures!

Pacers is doing a cool thing at the series this year called Shoe Lab where Mizuno, Newton and Brooks have test shoes you can try out for the race. After turning over my Nike’s and my ID as collateral, I had a pair of Newton’s racing flats on my feet. I’ve never worn racing flats so I couldn’t believe how light they felt.

I’ve been running hard lately and running a lot, so I hoped to set a new PR at this race with a goal of breaking 22 minutes by the end of the series. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance and now have to readjust my goals to make them a little tougher as I blew away my old PR by 1:10 finishing in 21:40! Maybe it was the shoes?!

For some reason the first mile of this course always seems to take forever in my mind so I thought I’d gone out slow, but saw my watch read 6:46 at the one-mile mark. I slowed down a bit for mile two passing the marker in 14 minutes even, and picked it back up to a 7 minute pace for the third mile. The 6:59 pace is my first-ever sub-7 minute race pace!

The 21:40 finish was good enough to put me in 137th overall out of 1,253 finishers, 19th out of 652 females, and 12th out of 268 in my age group!

I’ve wanted to try out some Newtons since I went to a seminar they put on at Pacers in Clarendon last October. While I loved the speedy Newton flats, I’m going to give their regular performance trainers a test run this week since those would probably be a more practical purchase for the distances I’ll be running in training for the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon.

I’m already looking forward to this Friday’s race – such an awesome way to kick off the weekend. I’ll be volunteering at packet pick-up before the race so stop by and say hi if you’re there!

(Lots of pictures: courtesy of Ian Gallagher – check out his food blog for an entry on our post-race dinner date!)

Race Recap: Run Rogue 5k – Running for a Cause

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This Saturday I got myself up bright and early to run in the Run Rogue 5k in Fairfax. I found out about it on Facebook just a week and a half before the race, but once I learned what it was all about, I couldn’t resist signing up. This was the inaugural Run Rogue 5k race, and it was created by the Rogue Racers to honor two of their athletes who are battling brain and breast cancer. The proceeds went to Life With Cancer and the National Brain Tumor Society.

The day I found out about this race my aunt was undergoing surgery to remove two brain tumors, and it’s been just over a year since my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, which thankfully they caught at a very early stage and were able to treat. I was excited for the chance to give to these causes and help out in someway in the fight against cancer.

On race morning, I grabbed a Zipcar and zipped out to Fairfax. It was a bit overcast, but the rain managed to hold off. The start line was a bit crowded, but as the announcer aptly reminded us all – this race wasn’t an Olympic Qualifier, so be careful and have fun. After getting through a slow (well, slow for a 5k) first mile in about 7:45, I was able to pick up the pace for the next 2.1 and finish in 23:26.

It wasn’t my best time, but that’s not what this race was about and it was still a great way to start a Saturday morning! I stayed to hang around the finish line for awhile, and was able to see a lot of cancer survivors (wearing special shirts so you could spot them) cross the line. It was a really inspiring and awesome sight. I’m glad I got to be a part of it and will definitely go back next year!

I was hoping to test my luck in the post-race raffle, but as it started to get a little chillier the Fairfax Wegmans was calling my name. I took advantage of having the car for the morning and headed over to Wegmans to indulge in my favorite chicken finger sub!