Weekend Review: White Tail Trail Half Marathon Race Recap

Saturday: 13.1 mile trail run

Well, hello there Monday! Why do you always arrive so quickly?

This weekend was neither productive nor restful. But we did have fun!

Friday night was spent prepping for my trail half marathon the next day. Foam rolling, laying out outfits, drinking wine...

Saturday morning I was up nice and early since the race was about 45 minutes away. I was nervous about finding the right location and there were buses to take us to the the start line so I wanted to give myself plenty of time.

It was a gorgeous morning and this sunrise greeted me at the finish area/packet pickup area.

The course basically went all the way around the lake.

This was probably the hardest race I have ever done. It was extremely humid and in the lower 70s at the start. The trail was gorgeous, but very technical - at least to my inexperienced trail running self.

I didn't want to risk losing my chip again so I used 4 zip ties. The poor volunteer at the end had quite a rough time getting it cut off, but it was worth it.

I fell at mile 3. But my chip stayed on!

Thankfully it wasn't that bad. I picked myself up right away and kept going, but I refused to look at my knees until the end.  I lost count of how many times I slipped or almost fell. I am lucky I only went all the way down once.

All the runners were very friendly and helpful. The woods echoed with warnings of  "mud", "log", "slippery" and the loud stutter steps of runners catching themselves from falling. I met several first time trail half marathon runners which was reassuring.

The second half seemed to be much harder than the first. There were more steep inclines and the trail seemed much more windy. Or maybe I was just tired at this point! I just kept saying to myself "the more you run, the sooner you're done" and "run when you can, walk when you must".

I wished the race was over at mile 9.5.

Looking back, I should have brought my own water and Gatorade. There were several aid stations, but it was so humid and pretty warm, I could have used more.

 On Saturday I was listed at finishing 3rd in my age group, but when I checked again I had moved to 4th. Darn! Overall the race was well-run. I am really happy to have completed my first (and possibly only) trail half marathon!

Weekend Review: The Color Run #kindawesome!

Over the weekend I had the awesome opportunity to run The Color Run because of the amazing people at KIND.

Sarah and I arrived at the race early to pick up our packets and to have time to stop by the KIND booth since we were KIND ambassadors. As soon as you walked into the festival area you knew it was going to be #kindawesome!

We knew we wanted to do some sort of fun costume for the race, so we made tutus last week!

Lots of women (and a few men) were also rocking the tutus.

There were so many fun outfits - patterned leggings, silly hats and fun sunglasses. It was #kindawesome to see everyone's creativity shining through their outfits.
 

 

We had such a good time. It was #kindawesome to do a fun race. Sometimes I get so caught up in my time or training for longer races, that I forget about the fun and silly side of running.

I definitely recommend The Color Run for a fun day, family event, bachelorette party, girl's day or just any excuse you need to get a little exercise and have fun!

Don't expect to set any PRs, but do expect to have a #kindawesome time and be covered head to toe in color!

Race Recap: Little Miami Half Marathon

Sunday morning I arrived at the race fairly early - about 6:40 for a 7:30 start. I was nervous about parking and I don't like to take chances on race morning. We lucked out with a great parking spot so we stayed in the car to stay warm until it was time to meet our friends at 7.

Mojo had a great group of runners for the 10K and half marathon.

I was extremely  nervous to start running.  I hadn't run since Monday and I just didn't know how my calf was going to react. I decided to start out conservatively and just see what happened.

I ran the first few miles with Sarah and Maureen. My calf was feeling good and the miles were ticking by rather quickly. Around mile 4 or 5 Maureen told me to go ahead with fellow Mojo-er Bryan. So I did.

I was still feeling good. It felt like I was flying. My Garmin would go from 8:20 to 7:05 - the trees along the trail were messing with the GPS signal, so I didn't really know what my pace was. I tried to slow myself down, but I just felt good. I was worried  I would run out of juice though in the last few miles.

Between mile marker 8 and 9 Bryan told me he was going to hold back and to go ahead.

I held my pace as best as I could. I kept my eye on a guy in a red shirt and just tried to stay with him. I let him get a little bit ahead of me in an effort to conserve some energy, but made sure he didn't get too far ahead.

With 2 miles to go I knew I was going to PR if I could just hold on.

The guy in red passed an older gentleman and as he went by the older guy said "Way to go, you're passing a 74 year old man!". As I passed him he said "You're doing great lady!"

This made me giggle.

I kicked it in a bit with about a little less than half a mile to go. A guy next to me looked over and laughed and said "oh no you don't". In response I said "I'm about to PR, I don't care what else happens!"

We raced across the finish line and congratulated each other after we crossed. It's always nice to have someone push you at the end!

After crossing the finish line I stick my foot out for the volunteer to clip my chip off...

and it's GONE!!!!!!

My heart dropped to my stomach and I was about to cry. I'm always a little emotional after races.

K and Sarah's husband met me at the finish and I'm pretty sure my first words were "my chip is gone". I was so focused on finding a race official to see if anything could be done, I couldn't think about anything else.

Thankfully one of the race officials looked me up and my chip did cross the starting mat. I had worn my Garmin for the race (which I RARELY do), so they set my time by my watch.

I knew I wouldn't win anything - but it was a PR and so important to me that it was official.

K asked me if my leg hurt during the race. I barely remember this, but I looked right at him and said "yeah, it started at mile 10.38".

I was so happy it didn't hurt for almost 10.5 miles. And when it did start hurting, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be. I wanted ice as soon as I crossed the finish, but the missing chip took my mind off of that pretty quickly.

So, my new PR is 1:46:32.

I finished 4th in my age group (by 19 seconds!) and 34th woman and 136th over all.

Not to shabby with a bum leg!

The race was a great event, I would definitely do it again. It's on the smaller side, but well organized. The course is scenic (but not many spectators since it's along the bike path), mostly shaded and flat.

Race Recap: Sugarcreek 5 Mile Trail Run

Wednesday: 5 mile trail run

I knew I would need some motivation to get back to a running routine after the wedding, and boy was I right! I am so glad that I had made plans with Jen to meet up last night for a trail race. This was super exciting for 3 reasons: I got to spend time with Jen, I got to do my 2nd trail race and it was national running day - what a great way to celebrate!

Oh yeah, it was also my first race with my new last name!!!!!

I joined the Ohio River Road Runners Club yesterday (they put on the Sugarcreek 5 Mile Trail Run). It's only $25 for the year and that gets you entry into almost all of their 30 events throughout the year! What a deal!

I had to show my registration email since my card is being mailed to me at the registration table - I wrote my name on a clipboard, signed it and they gave me a chip - no bibs for this race. 

It was super easy and fast.

They definitely know what they are doing!

I was a little nervous for the trails. I have a HUGE fear of falling and injuring myself.

Most of the path was fairly wide.

There were also a few sections that were very steep - some it was steps.

 

We crossed a few creeks (or the same creek multiple times?).

I was impressed with the course - it had a lot of variety and it was very pretty!

Thankfully the ground was mostly dry so keeping my footing was not really an issue.

Jen and I got to get a run in and catch up at the same time - can't beat that!

 

We also crossed the finish line at the same time, making us co-award winners in our age group!

We're not sure if it's 2nd or 3rd place, my guess is 3rd.