USA Half Marathon Championships Recap

Goal:
place in top 80% of the field
goal 1: run faster than 1:20:17
goal 2: run 1:18:36 (6 min pace)

Actual:
1:19:06
27th place out of 44 (37 finished, but 44 started)

As you can see outlined above, I did achieve over a 1 minute PR for the half marathon distance on a course that featured three 180-degree u-turns. However, I came away from this race much more disappointed than I had anticipated. Where to start....

When I arrived in Houston on Thursday night, Ruth and I met up outside the baggage claim and hopped into a shuttle with several other athletes who were competing in the Half Marathon Championships as well. One guy, Jason Orday, actually went to SIUC and we chatted about my hometown for a bit.

There is not much to report between my arrival and race day besides eating healthy and free meals and hanging out with Ruth and my roommate (Ann Alyanak), splitting our time between the Elite Hospitality Suite and our hotel rooms. The race directors set up a nice buffet style lunch and dinner that featured steamed veggies, brown rice, salad, chicken, pasta, and cookies. The food was definitely great, and the pre-race massage was just as enjoyable. I didn't have to pay a single penny for food the entire weekend because they kept the hospitality suite so well stocked with fluids and snack foods. I also met lots of amazing runners, including Jen Rhines, Zoila Gomez, Sally Meyerhoff, and Leah Thorvilson. The best part was realizing that many of these women are not too different from a runner like me, who runs almost 5-7 minutes slower than they do in a half marathon.

On race morning, I woke up at 5am to shower and eat some oatmeal. I headed to the Elite Hospitality Suite to get another gatorade before heading back to the hotel room to waste more time. Ruth stopped by and we headed over to the elite staging area in the GRB Convention Center, which was attached to the headquarters hotel and just outside of the start line. During my warmup, I couldn't help but think that this is the city where Garrett could play some day. It inspired me that I was running in the city of his baseball team!

After a short warmup around the Astros Stadium by myself, I considered my race plan. Originally, I wanted to shoot for sub 1:18:00, but I knew that my training had not been where I had expected it to be for the last six weeks. For instance, I had to drop some key workouts and I never hit 80 miles in a week due to my IT Band problems. Unlike my training leading up to Twin Cities, which left me feeling confident and in control of my goals, my training for this race left me doubting myself and like my goals were out my control. While that statement may sound depressing, I do believe that I was being realistic about how my training had gone over the past six weeks. In that respect, I reassesed my goal to run a PR and to try to hold 6 min pace as long as possible.

Soon, I headed back into the staging area to change into my Nike Zoom Marathoner racing flats. Before I knew it, we were being escorted to the start line with our plastic bags in hands. After a couple of strides and drills, I was ready to get rid of the pre-race jitters and get the show on the road! After Meagan took a cute picture of Ruth and me, we situated ourselves behind all of the really fast professional female runners.


The gun went off. I took off at my seemingly pedestrian pace compared to the front runners' pace. Ruth and I settled into a small pack of maybe 4 women. We tried to recruit people to our pack but the numbers were too thin for the back of the pack. Ruth and I led our small group through mile 3, and then Emily Potter took over the lead for less than half a mile. After the first water stop, we lost our small pack. Ruth and I ran side-by-side as we made our way back to the start line and through the 5 mile mark. I told her that I was glad she was there. Otherwise, it would have been a race completely solo for practically the entirety.

We alternated leads up until mile 8, when Ruth could feel my beginning to falter. She took off, and I fell off pace. At the water stop before mile 9, I accidentally knocked over someone else's water bottle. I didn't want to get disqualified so I stopped to pick it up. Ruth's lead on me went from 3 meters to 15 meters. That was a tough mile. After going through the first 9 miles around 6 min pace, I am most embarassed with how I executed the final 4.1 miles of the race. Instead of focusing all of my mental energy into my competition ahead of me, my thoughts began to slip out of the race. I wasn't looking up and my head was filled continuously with negative thoughts.

I gave up.

This is quite uncharacteristic of me, but I guess this is what happens to me when I'm stuck in no-mans-land and when I'm not that happy about how my training was leading up to a race. The key to success is calm confidence, and I was missing that key ingredient out there on the roads today. My last two miles were 6:11, which is the pace I ran my marathon at. In fact, I closed my last two miles of my marathon at an average pace of 6:04. Today, I was slower than that.

While I suffered, I also got to see Ruth (albeit from behind), race herself to a 2 min PR in the half - 1:18:29 - with almost exactly even splits. Had Ruth not been there, it could have been an uglier day out there for me, and I grateful that she made the trip down south, away from her kids and husband for a couple of days to participate in this championship race. It was also great to see the USA Olympic Trials course for the marathon in 2011. There will be SIX u-turns that are VERY tight. This is in an effort to mimic the Olympic marathon course in London. Why London thought it to be a good idea to make u-turns part of a world race beats me, but so goes it.

The most important thing to come away from this race is knowing what I could have done better and what I will change for next time. Fast is relative, depending on what level you are looking at it from. On a national level, I am nearly 8 minutes behind the champion, Jen Rhines, in a half marathon. That's a big difference. I finished almost fifth to last in a very competitive national race. In order for me to continue making strides in my development as a runner, I need to close that gap and get in the training that will allow me to do so. I need to stay focused during a race, even when I would much rather succomb to my body's tired whispers. Most importantly, I need to trust the work that I've done leading up to it, which is really only possible when you are completely injury free.

On a positive note, I did run a 1 minute PR on training that was not very consistent. Clearly my fitness level is higher than when I ran a half marathon in 2009 at the OBX. Also, I was very close to my 10 Mile PR on a course that was much slower than the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler course. I also was able to scope out the hotel and the course of the Olympic Trials. This will help me be better prepared for when the Trials do come! The race volunteers were also very friendly and helpful, so it is good to know that we will be in such good hands on January 14, 2012.

The plan is to now take a couple of days off, in hopes to get my IT band fully recovered and to make the transition into my next training cycle for the USA 25k Championships in May....

As a side note, some regular runners paid anywhere from $1000-$1500 to run in the Half Marathon Champs with us. Here is a great article about one man's experience.

Fall Harvest Run 10k Race Recap

Goal: Run a 10k at Marathon Pace (6:10)
Actual: Pretty much that (6:08 pace) for 38:13

Well this was a mediocre race for me. For all intents and purposes, John and I made the trek up to Huntersville in the hopes of winning a cash prize. To our defense, the website leading up to the night before the race had publicized "cash prizes" for top three overall finishers, and Ben Hovis recollected how he took home some cash in 2009. After a 3 mile warmup, John and I showed up in all-out racing gear at the start line and discovered rather quickly that we were in the minority. We spotted Allen Strickland at the starting line, and he even referred to losing out on the opportunity "to win money." We smiled and continued our strides.

Other than the cash, the other motivation for me running this race was to get in a solid workout. I had a 60 minute progression tempo on the calendar, but opted for a race of that effort at the 10k distance. I figured that by running the race, I'd still be achieving the goal of a hard effort.

At the starting line, John and I scoped out his competition. It turned out to be a triathlete wearing a plaid shirt and a mullet wig. My competition turned out to be a man in a taco costume that seemed particularly uncomfortable to run in. Once the gun went off, we had a solid downhill for the first 400m, and about 10 people sprinted in front of Allen and I.

I felt like the pace was a bit fast, but figured the downhill was the reason. I came through the first mile in 558. I figured the ten people in front of me would fall back. Sure enough, after the second mile (603), I had already passed six of them and would pass the other two after the third mile (601). We ran around the Huntersville Business park and then rounded back out toward the highway. I was familiar with these streets since I had run a tempo here back in September.

Once we got back onto the highway, I only had the taco man to look towards and I passed him at mile 4 (613). After that, it was a race where I was running against myself and I blasted my decision to run this race. I would have had much more fun if I had run with one of my buddies over at McAlpine. Oh well. I kept on trucking, looking at the rear end of the guy 100m in front of me. The fifth (610) and sixth (611) miles were uneventful as I crested the top of a gradual hill and then turned onto the road towards the finish. The entire time down the home stretch, I was amazed at how much easier the last 10k of my marathon felt.

I cruised into the finish in 38:13, where John was waiting for me, and freezing his tush off! He got the win, with a new road PR, just edging out the mullet man. The two of us enjoyed a nice warm down together, and both felt really sore and tired. We saw Allen later, and he ran 42:01, and was upset that he lost to a taco.

In the end, we got a blanket for our endeavors. We waited around while the race directors figured out why these crazy runners thought there was cash prizes. Turns out they had used the "old" website from 2009 up until the night before the race. While it was an honest mistake, it was definitely a letdown. The blanket is very nice, but the $20 gift certificate that the age group winners received would have been an added bonus.

In the end, I realized that about a month after the marathon, it's still hard to recover from workouts and races. It just takes a couple of more days than it typically does, when you don't have a marathon under your belt. I'm ready for this recovery period to get back to normal!

OrthoCarolina 10k Race Recap

My mom got in a bike accident and fractured her shoulder, so she's got lots of time to read my blog. She asked that I update my blog since she is bedridden and this is the one thing I can do to make her feel better while her shoulder aches.

Today I laced up my (fairly) new Nike Pegasus to toe the line at the inaugural OrthoCarolina Classic 10k Race. In the early morning hour of 645, I met up with Aaron and Jay to pick up our packets and to warm up through the first 1.5 miles of the course. We picked up Allen Strickland and it was nice to have him join us for the easy jog throughout the streets of Elizabeth.

Once we got back, we found an entourage of CRC running fans. If you want a testament of the camaraderie that the Charlotte Running Club exhibits, then check out this list of people who came out to support the members racing: Billy Shue, Jason Martin, Mark Hadley +2, Alice Rogers, Adrian Stewart, Justin Breland, Lauren Robbins, and Jay’s Dad. If you count correctly, you’ll see that ten people woke up to cheer us all on. Pretty impressive stuff.

After we said our thanks, we all parted to our vehicles to pin our race bibs, to attach our D-tags, and to take that last swig of water. With the expectations that the race was starting at 745am, we meandered over to the poorly marked start line and waited….and waited…and waited until almost 8am when a strong police man got out of his undercover car, walked up to the starter and said “You are starting this race now.” Apparently they were waiting to get the timing equipment from the finish of the 5k race, but with the cop’s orders we took off without that equipment.

I went out in a casual clip, situated behind Alejandro, with Jay and Aaron pulling away as they took off with some Queens kids. Chris Lamperski passed me in the first 400m and I asked him what pace his Garmin said we were going. He said “5:20.” Crap. Too fast. I slowed down (and you’ll see just how much when you get to the mile split). I passed Alice’s cheering squad (Justin, AJ, Jason) and maintained my pace through Elizabeth Ave. At some point, a woman pulled up alongside me and she told me she was visiting Charlotte and asked if I was from here. I asked her what pace she was looking for, and she said she wasn’t sure and then I told her I was looking for 550 pace. Well 50 meters later we came through the mile in 609 so I immediately said “Crap, I’m too slow, I gotta go!” In hindsight, that was probably very rude, so I do hope that Emily Potter understands why I took off in a mad dash: I had goals to meet! I never got to talk to Emily more, so if she sees this, I hope she emails me (I couldn't find her on facebook).

The rest of the race could be categorized as a race against my own mind, in no man’s land, with the exception of two miles in which Justin was kind enough to keep me company.
Continuing on with the race, for Mile 2, I took off and ran a 548 through Plaza Midwood. At mile 3 (550), I was still solo, with Alejandro as the next person in sight - a distant 200m ahead of me. Fortunately, at mile 4 I got picked up by Justin, Alice, and Jason who ran with me through the downhill mile. We cruised to a 544 split for the 4th mile. We saw Aaron walking up one of the hills because he was done pacing Jay. Out of the goodness of his own heart, Justin decided it would be a good idea to stick with me through mile 5, which features a couple of nasty uphills. Boy, was I grateful. We went through in 550 and Justin was telling me really encouraging things. Aaron was behind me for the 6th mile but this did not stop him from cheering me on. It was really great! I finished up with the clock stuck on 36:33 - a full minute than what I ran last year at the Hit the Brixx 10k, which is a comparable course. I was pleased. (Editor's note: pictures to come!)

I regrouped with my boys and we cooled down for a good three miles. The awards ceremony occurred immediately after we got back from our cool down, which is something that I'm not used to. I'm very appreciative of the gift certificate and the check they gave out to the top three male and female finishers. Once I grabbed my award, I got lots of free goodies that were out for the post-race expo. I was impressed with the variety of vendors and the variety of free items available. Look forward to running this again next year!

Later during the day, I ran a nice 5.4 miles with Jordan and my legs felt great!

Beat the Heat 5k Race Recap

There's a certain beauty and excitement that lingers with one after a successful race, and such is the feeling that is still with me today. Racing always excites me because it puts to test all of the hard work that I've pounded out on the pavement, the trails, and the grass fields. When the plans and goals all come to fruition, there is sweet victory for yourself. Or, if the goals are not met, tweaks to the training plan can be made, and you wait for the realization of that plan to unfold with the next race. Such is the cycle, and this cycle allows for us to always push ourselves to the limits and to see what kind of pain we can handle the next time around.

With that being said, I've spoiled the ending to my race recap for Beat the Heat 2010, but you all already knew the ending thanks to all the support that stems from the Charlotte Running Club and Theoden Janes, the Perez Hilton of the Charlotte Running scene.

Regardless, I'll start at the beginning. I lazed around during my day of nothingness, the highlight was when I walked to Woodies' Auto Shop to pick up my car. At one point it dawned on me that the weather could be bad in Winston, so I checked it out and, sure enough, there was lightning in the hourly forecast. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the race would still go on and left Charlotte at 430pm to make the trip to my alma mater, Wake Forest. Since people in North Carolina don't seem to know how to drive in any sort of precipitation from light rain to a couple of snow flurries, there was a bit of a traffic jam on I-85 and this made my trip about 15 minutes longer than normal. I made it to the race with one hour before the start, and I immediately hopped into the porta-jon and then picked up my bib.

I began my warmup and, within 10 meters, I spotted Bill Shires and we ran the entire course. I learned more about Bill's bruised ribs from an unfortunate bike accident and this helped pass the time. Also, I spotted all of the women who I expected to be there. My goal going into the race was to get third place, but I wanted to go in a controlled fashion so that I would not crash and burn in the last half of the this speedy race.

During my drills, I spotted Billy Shue, who was kind enough to drive up from Charlotte to watch Bill and I race. It sure did mean a lot to both of us! By the time I had completed my A skips, karaoke, and strides, and laced up my racing flats, the race was about to begin. I meandered up the hill to the start line, gave the Demon Deacon a high five and said "Go Deacs!" and took off for another stride. I strategically placed myself on the start line far away from any of the other girls who have posted very fast times in the past month - Stephanie Pezzullo, Allison Grace, and Amber Moran. I did not want to get caught up in the excitement and go out too fast, and this proved to be a smart decision.
The race director shouted go and we were off in a tightly packed group. I situated myself in the top 50 of the pack for the first 400m and then it eventually evened out as the half mile approached. I saw Moran and Pezzullo tucked in close behind Grace and I figured the pace was quick. I didn't want to go out too uncontrolled, but needed to keep them within my sights. They were about 20-30m ahead of me. I came through the first mile in 5:26 with Bill on my shoulder. My breathing felt a little more difficult than expected, and I worried for a moment. Instead, I decided to make a conscious effort to keep the pace honest, and latched onto a young man.
The second mile features a slight incline for the latter part, but I didn't much notice. I saw Billy sprinting toward my group to capture some photos of us in action, and I smiled to myself. His enthusiasm goes practically unmatched! During this mile, I could feel Moran fading backwards toward me and I picked it up a bit to make a move on her. When I passed her, I provided some words of encouragement. I figured if she stuck with me, we could help each other post a fast time. At this point, I was feeling pretty confident and came through the mile in 5:32.

At the start of the third mile, there's a legitimate hill about 200m long and I passed a couple of guys here as I tried to post a faster mile split than my previous one. Luckily, the last 600m of the race features a nice down grade which propelled me to make some ground on Pezzullo, now within 5-8 seconds of me. I wasn't sure how far back Amber was so I was listening for someone to cheer for her. When I passed the three mile mark in 530, I heard someone say "You can catch her" which triggered a response in my legs that I haven't felt in quite some time. I pressed at an all-out sprint so that I could ensure a third place finish. While my legs were turning over at a speed that they have not seen since college, I saw the clock tick over to 16:47 and I knew I had a legit shot at breaking 17:00. When I crossed the line, I had closed in 31 seconds (4 seconds faster than I closed at CPCC Skyline) with an overall time of 17:01.
In the chute, I congratulated Pezz and Grace and thanked Amber for helping me out. I'm always impressed at how encouraging and supportive the women at these races are. In the end, I think we all recognize that we all share the same love for running and that, despite the competitive nature that seems natural to us all, there is a shared sense of respect.

In comparison to last year's race, I ran 38 seconds faster than 2009 and posted much more even splits. I can't complain about the improvement that is indicative in those times. This served as a huge confidence booster as I am one week out from beginning my marathon specific workouts in preparation for Twin Cities Marathon in less than 3 months!

I found Billy and Bill so we all cooled down together even though Billy was rocking a WF polo shirt and cargo shorts. I got a horrible side stitch 2 miles in so I called my cool down short by one mile and opted to find some grub instead. I ran into Joel Tull, who was our massage therapist when I was at Wake, and happens to still be the favorite massage therapist of both Garrett and I. We enjoyed a short but pleasant conversation before he had jet off to get back to Greensboro to give a rub down to a client.

Like last year, I was impressed with the post race food - bananas, oranges, watermelon, energy drinks, soda, water, pizza, granola bars - that never seemed to run out. The race organizers got the results up in a timely manner and presented the awards before the sun set so that I still had time to get to Whole Foods to pick up a cucumber avocado roll. I think the Twin City Track Club does a great job at organizing races and I always look forward to attending their events.

Overall, it was great to post a solid time, run with some great competition, and see some old friends from Wake Forest. I look forward to the next weeks of training with the CRC!!

Running of the Bulls 8k Race Recap

This weekend felt like the hottest weekend of 2010 in North Carolina. On Saturday, the temperatures were already above 85 degrees around 8am, with the humidity levels equivalent to those in a steam bath in an upscale spa. Despite these conditions, 700 people still came out to participate in the Running of the Bulls 8k in Durham, NC.

Since the race was in Durham, I decided that it would be most fun to drive up the night before and spend the night with my old teammate/roommate from Wake Forest, Erin. It was so great catching up with her on Friday night. I was most grateful to sleep the extra 2 hours that I would have missed had I driven up from Charlotte that morning. Unfortunately, my sore throat made it very difficult for me to sleep soundly, and I woke up about every hour and finally woke up 15 minutes before my alarm at 5:30.

After completing the tasks of eating my oatmeal, putting on my race gear, and braiding my hair, I suddenly was hit with a wave of panic. I was worried that my sore throat would make it difficult for me to breathe, or that my lack of sleep would make me feel lethargic and slow. I immediately shoved these thoughts aside and reminded myself of my goal: have fun competing!

Once at the Downtown Durham YMCA, I picked up my race bib which was gigantic because it had the chip behind the bib. I was very happy that I had decided to wear my Nike Mid-Airborne top because it was large enough for me to pin it on. Had I worn my Charlotte Running Club sports bra, I would have had to wear a t-shirt because the bib was too large for it. Considering the amount that I sweat, a t-shirt would NOT have been a pleasant option.

Bill Shires and I warmed up about 20 minutes together and then I did some light strides and drills, both in my trainers and in my racers. At this point, my shorts were soaked through with enough sweat that I could have rung them out and filled up a small glass with my sweat. Perhaps a bit too descriptive, but it is a good way to illustrate just how hot it was at the start of the race.

The gun went off right after the race director explained that riders from the DurhamCares Race Across America team would be our race escorts on the course. That sounded pretty cool, but I didn't know just how cool/helpful that team would prove to be until I was well into the race.

The start of the race was similar to the CPCC Skyline start, with a hill in the first 400m. Once I crested that hill, I relaxed and settled into a rhythm, settling myself comfortably behind two of the best male masters runners in the state. I felt controlled, but was not sure of the pace until I hit the mile mark, coming through in a perfect 548.

The second mile was basically downhill, and I was still latched to the masters and a couple of other young guys. Bill Shires began to drop off and I offered some words of encouragement to him to get him to attach himself to me. He had just come back from a whole week at Disney World, so I'm sure his legs were screaming at him. I could feel all of the guys' sweat flying onto my legs and face, but it didn't matter. I was pretty sure my sweat was flying off onto another racer as well so I figured it all evened out. Mile 2 - 537

The third mile is when John Hinton and several other guys separated from me, and I was left with two other guys. There were several hills in this mile, and one of my running buddies dropped off in the bigger hill. It ended up just being a guy in a red shirt, myself, and a biker escort who proved to be extremely encouraging from this mile and on. I'm not sure if he was tasked to bike alongside the first woman, but he stuck with me and red shirt guy the rest of the way home. I found out later that the escort's name was Henry Kaestner. He leads the DurhamCares team. In this mile, he told me that the next girl was more than 300m back, which was encouraging because I was hurting now. Due to the sore throat, I was breathing heavier than normal as I felt like the passageway was much smaller than it should be. Red Shirt guy and I came through this mile in 559.

The fourth mile was almost the same as the one prior, with a good uphill that took us back into Downtown Durham. At this point, my racing buddy almost fell off of me, and I did not want to be in no-man's land, so I told him to "Let's go" and he latched on again. We pretty much ran side by side or I tucked in behind him for the remainder of the race. Again, Henry was offering lots of encouragement and telling us to work up the hill and use our arms. With a split of 6:01, you can tell that the hills and the heat took a toll on us.

The last mile was much better because it was flat/downhill and the finish was so close. Red shirt guy began to pull away with 800m to go, but Henry stuck with me and told me "You've definitely got the win, but pretend like you don't know that and push it girl!" It was so nice and motivating. I mumbled a "thanks" and promised myself that I would try to find him afterward to thank him for all of his help. I turned into the old Durham Bulls stadium and ran around to the finish, clocking a 534 last mile and a 28:59 finish time. All I could think about at that point was water, but it was another 200m away so I made a mad dash to get myself hydrated again.As I was stuffing my face with watermelon, a woman named Tiffany approached me and asked me to cool down with her. I graciously accepted! In the course of the cool down, we found about five more girls to join us including some Duke girls I used to compete against -Elle Pishny and Liz Wort - and Molly Nunn, Heather Magill. It was great to have such friendly companions on the run and to learn more about what they all do.

Right after the awards, my mystery escort approached me and I told him thanks. I asked about his trek across the USA and I told him that I was very much inspired. He told me that I had inspired him! It was really cool to see that we were both helping the other out and didn't even know it.

Although the course is hilly and the race is in the beginning of June, the Bull City Running Company did a great job managing the race, kept the course well-marked with large arrows to prevent getting lost, and provided delicious post race grub. It was also convenient to have access to the restrooms and showers in the YMCA. I would recommend this race to those from the Charlotte region!

Great Harvest Bread Co 5k

I woke up at 529am (before my alarm) due to Cicero pawing on my legs as though they were a horizontal scratching post. Although this isn’t something too far out of the ordinary, it was still quite annoying because I had wanted those extra four minutes of sleep. I jumped out of bed, braided my hair, and climbed up the stairs to brew up some oatmeal. Supposedly I was clinking the spoon so hard against the bowl that it woke John up, who had unintentionally set his alarm for 5:30pm as opposed to am. Good thing I’m a clinker because he got up and ready in just the nick of time.

The two fastest roommates in Charlotte were out the door right on time and we parked at the South County Library, about a half mile from the start, in an effort to avoid being towed from the Piper Glen Shopping Center. John and I walked down to pick up our chips, made a porta-potty pit stop, and met Aaron at the start line to warm up. We enjoyed a nice easy three miles and made our way back up to the car to grab our flats.

At the start line, I did a couple of drills, wiped the massive amounts of sweat off of my face, and looked around for a good spot to position myself on the starting line. I chose to be on the exact opposite side of where all the fast guys were standing so that I wouldn’t get tempted to drop a 5:20 (like Billy Shue did).

Practically out of nowhere, Meagan Nedlo appeared and we discussed a semi-race plan together, which I threw out the window at the start because I guess I think I’m in better shape than I actually am. We had discussed doing a 5:50 first mile and then dropping from there. The start was delayed because a shuttle bus was late, so in those five minutes, the runner next to us slapped his face REALLY hard to pump himself up. With ten seconds before Tim Rhodes said “GO!” Meagan decided to slap my face to provide the same effect. It was startling and completely hilarious, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on Meagan’s friendly slap because the race was off five seconds later.

In the first mile, I went out relaxed with Chad Crockford in my sight and Meagan at my side. I felt like charging up the hills and then slowing down on the downhill for the first mile, which extinguished any leftover energy I might have wanted to use on the third mile. We came through in 5:40. In the second mile (5:38), Chad surged up one of the hills and pulled away, but then I gained on him again around 1.5. Stephen Spada passed me and gave an encouraging “Good Job” as he continued to negative split his race. Eventually, I really started to hurt and slowed up. I could see Billy coming back to me and really wanted to pass him, but my legs just would not go. Meagan pulled up alongside me at 2.25 and we exchanged some words. The conversation went like this:

Meagan: Are you okay?
Caitlin: I’m just hurting.
Meagan: Alright, you can do this.
Caitlin (huffing and puffing)

Meagan gained about 10 seconds on me in that last mile, which makes sense because I ran a 5:50. I appreciate having Meagan as someone to compete against and can’t wait for her to finish up her NCAA DII campaign this weekend so that we can work out together more often.

While I was not nearly as strong as I would have liked, I’m confident that once I get my mileage ramped back up and my three weeks of downtime get pushed further into the past that my body will feel stronger in that final mile. It would be kind of cool to race Meagan neck and neck and to bring the race down to the final wire, holding hands through the finishing ribbon. Ha!

Best of all, the top five finishers won bread, cookies, an apron, and a chef’s hat. I give Great Harvest an A+ for creativity in their awards. Definitely beats out a trophy.

After the race, I lifted for the first time in two months at my new gym Pura Vida Fitness. We'll see how sore I am in the days to come.

Heart & Sole Five Miler Race Recap

For this race, I was not looking forward to the drive down to Columbia early in the morning. However, I found out that Elyse was going to be moving out of her dorm at U of South Carolina that same day and that her parents were coming down to help out. They booked a hotel room and were kind enough to let me share a bed in the room, even though they were going to be gone enjoying a Taylor Swift concert when I arrived at the room. Suffice to say, I enjoyed a great night's rest at the Inn at USC.

The next morning, when my alarm went off, I got all my race gear together and meandered down to the made-to-order breakfast room, where my mouth began to water at the sight of all the fresh fruit and omelets. Of course, since I was racing, I could not eat, so I chatted with Ann, Scott, and Elyse before I made my way to my car to drive to the race.

At the race, I got a great parking spot, picked up my bib, and began my warmup on my own. I saw two Kenyan women and figured they would be out of my reach. I also saw Amber Moran and knew she was in good shape. Other than that, I was still hoping to win some sort of money for a top five finish. I got to the start line, saw my fan club comprised of the Bullocks, and Ann gave me a quick hug. When the gun went off, I strategically placed myself in about 7th place. I knew that lots of women would come back to me and I also knew the third mile was entirely uphill, so I was preparing for that. I had just come off of two weeks of downtime, with no workouts and was not in the right mindset to race super hard. Admittedly, I was quite pleased with my ability to pass four girls over the course of the race, including one in the final 800m.

With that being said, I came through the first mile in 541. I felt controlled at least.

In the second mile, I passed two girls so I was now in fifth, contending for prize money again. For this mile, there were two smalls hills and I came through in 551.

The third mile boasted a huge hill in which I ran from Finlay Park all the way to capitol building. It was brutal and I did not fee like trying. Somehow, I managed to maintain my fifth place despite running a 626.

The fourth mile we circled around USC's campus and ran right by the Inn at USC. It was fairly flat, and here I passed another girl as I cruised in a 614.

The fifth mile was flat, with a steep 300m hill as the finish. For this one, I was closing in on the third place girl and eventually overtook her with 800m to go. She cried out "Oh no" and I continued to press. With the motivation of earning 100 more dollars and with the help of the downhill, I threw down a 535 for the last mile to finish third (29:52) behind Amber Moran and Janet Cherobon.

Obviously, my splits were all over the place, which is as a result of the terrain as well as my lack of desire to make myself hurt too much. Overall, I was satisfied because I won some money and I also came away with a big beach towel. I was also very impressed with the post race party which featured chocolate covered strawberries, free samples from Earth Fare, and lots of other yummy goodies. They also started the awards pretty quickly after the race, which bode well for our move out schedule.

Afterwards, Scott, Ann, and I all helped Elyse move out and managed to fit her entire dorm room into the Sequoia. We also ate a delicious lunch together at a local restaurant. Overall, great trip with some of my favorite people!

CPCC Skyline 5k Race Recap

Like most races, I woke up naturally at 615am before the alarm even went off. I ate some oatmeal with soymilk and then got my race gear on. I was ready earlier than expected and was in the process of putting on my Charlotte Running Club t-shirt when there was a knock at the door, promptly at 655am. I knew that people were coming over around 715am, so I was slightly surprised to open the door to a smiling Meagan Nedlo and a groggy Jordan Kinley. Of course, Jordan forgot his bib at home and had to sort out how to get a new one, so Meagan and I just played with Cicero and talked on my bed until the rest of the gang got there. It was definitely a great way to spend my time before a race. I felt like Meagan was my teammate chatting me up before a race.

By 720am, Boriana, Thomas, Michelle, Matt, Jay, Lauren, Meagan, Jordan, John and myself were all ready to warm up and pick up our chips two blocks away in front of CPCC. We ran parts of the course backwards and then just made our way back to my house, where we dropped off our trainers and switched into racing flats. John and I arrived at the start with about seven minutes to spare. I did a couple of strides and settled into the front of the race pack next to Val and all the fast guys.

As a way to signal our start, a small woman barely murmured “GO” and we were off, definitely without a bang. I settled myself a safe distance from guys that I know can beat me like Will Isenhour and Stephen Spada. I wanted to keep them within sight because I work out with Will and know what kind of fitness he is in. I had run this course about 3 times the week prior, and I felt familiar with the terrain. I saw Stephen Spada right in front of me and settled into a pack with about five other men. I saw Spada pat a baby jogger on her back and then he pushed a little harder and made a wider distance between the two of us. Megan Hovis was cheering everyone on, but I don’t think she could see me tucked in with all the guys. I went through the first mile in 5:42, but it felt like a 5:35 to me. To my right, Michelle Hazelton was screaming her lungs out for me, forcing me to smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was jumping up and down like a cheerleader so that made me forget about my slower than expected mile time.

The second mile boasted a nice downhill, followed by a slight incline with a grade of about 2%, so nothing too drastic. Will was about 10m in front of me, so I felt comfortable about my placement. I went through the second mile in 5:40.

The third mile featured the most turns and the best downhill. Once I turned right onto Elizabeth, about 800m from the finish, Alejandro came up alongside me and started telling me to push it and that I was faster than him. I thought he was absolutely delusional because I could have sworn he’s beaten me in almost every race we’ve ever run against each other. He repeated “Come on, you are faster than me!” or “You can get him!” or “Go faster! It’s a downhill.” Needless to say, his encouragement allowed me to push a little more on the hill than I would have had he not been there, and helped me to run a 5:35 third mile. I definitely did not feel good doing it, and then he blazed past me with 200m to go to finish in 17:30. I finished four seconds behind in 17:34. I was happy with my race time, but was disappointed I was not under 17:30. Also, I would like to run sub-17 at some point in one of my next 5ks, so perhaps that will be the goal for Beat the Heat 5k in July in Winston Salem.

At the finish line, I found all the top guys to figure out how they ran: Jordan Kinley 1st, Dan Matena 2nd, John Compton 3rd, Ben Hovis 4th and Paul Mainwairing 5th. Tim Rhodes gave me a high five and so did Paul Mainwairing. Mike Beigay, Greg Isaacs, and Stephen Spada also had some great times! I found out after talking to John Compton and Paul that they felt a little sluggish in the muggy weather, which made me feel better about my own race. I looked to find out if Chad Crockford’s hip had survived (it did!) and saw that Alice Rogers blazed to a sub 18:10 5k to place second, five days after the Boston Marathon!

I did find Alejandro later to tell him that he was much faster than me, and he assured me that I had beaten him before (at the Shamrock Four Miler).

A big thanks to all those who came out to cheer us on and also to Run for Your Life for being patient with me as I figured out our Charlotte Running Club team. The open Mixed Team champions went to Jordan Kinley, Paul M. and me, good enough for a $50 gift certificate to Mac’s on South Boulevard. Second place went to my roommate John and Dan and Val Matena.
For all those who did not stick around for the raffle, you should have because they just chose the winners for the door prizes by looking at the visible race numbers on people in front of the stage. It was pretty awesome.

All in all, I think that this course is conducive to fast times and boasts a spectator friendly atmosphere. The post-race beverages were good because they had big bottles of gatorade.

Cherry Blossom Ten Miler Race Recap 4.11.10

I woke up Sunday morning at 557am to the voice of a monotone, groggy John saying "Caitlinnnn...." I had been wearing my earplugs during the night because my mom was snoring in the same bed as me. I could not hear the incessant ringing of the alarm clock, and John wanted me to turn it off!

I jumped out of bed and immediately grabbed my Trader Joe's version of a nutrigrain bar out of my snack bag. I also made up a quick batch of oatmeal, which tasted disgusting and opted to eat a Kid's Clif Bar instead. Once I had all of my gear on and ready, I made my way downstairs to run a couple of extra minutes with Megan at 640am. Soon, the rest of the crew was out ready to warmup to the starting line, which was approximately .88 miles away.

Mike led the group and dropped Megan and I off at the expo, where he continued to warmup with Matt. From there on out, Megan and I were left to figure out the race start logistics on our own. We immediately went on a search for a short line at the porta-johns. Of course, there was not a short line, but we waited anyways. After that, I realized there was actually an elite tent that Megan and I could be utilizing! We ran off, asking every race official if they knew where it was. After three unsuccessful attempts, we finally found a person who pointed us in the right direction.

For what I will be most thankful for in the elite tent: private restrooms! I feel very lucky that I was given this opportunity and I thank the Cherry Blossom Elite Cooridnator for providing both Megan and I with such a privilege. In the tent, Megan and I were the only people who actually brought the plastic bags that were given to us at the Expo. Everyone else had brought their own Nike sports bags because they knew their stuff was going to be secure in the tent. Clearly, we are novices at this game.

With 15 minutes until the start, a man started pushing us out of the tent to go to the starting line. They were going to take all of our sweats for us, so we got to keep our warm clothes on. I shed my pants, but kept my CRC long sleeve for my strides at the start line. Once we were there, I noticed that Joan Benoit was not in the advance start corral with us. I had about 5 seconds of panic because I thought there would be no one for me to run with. I calmed myself down and revised my goal to stay relaxed through the first mile.

Megan and I strategically placed ourselves in row two of the start so that the Ethiopians who were much faster than us would not have to trip over us. The gun went off promptly at 730am, and we were off in a race that included only 20 women in the advance start.


From the get-go, it appeared to me that two main groups formed, and Megan and I situated ourselves comfortably into Group 2. Our group comprised of two women that I had competed against while running at Wake Forest - a runner from NC State and one from Duke. This made me feel more comfortable with the people I was racing against. The group of six or so settled into a nice rhythm and the pace didn't feel out of control fast. In fact, it felt comfortable. We went through the first mile in 551. Perfect!

The second mile I felt Megan at my side and felt safe. It was nice to know that my occasiosonal long run buddy was right there beside me. After a little ways though, I noticed that she was touching her side, and knew that she was not feeling too hot. I sent my feel good vibes her way. We continued to run together and apparently the 2nd mile we slowed up a bit: Mile 2 - 6:00.

Going into the third mile, Megan fell back and I was still catching a break from the wind behind Lucinda Hull (her name might have changed now). I could tell that the pace had quickened because all of the girls had seen the 6:00 2nd mile and panicked. Beyond our small group, there was not a runner in sight, so I knew that I needed to stay with this group as long as possible. Third mile: 545.

During the fourth mile, I could see some of the runners from the big race, and two people cheered my name. I have no idea who they were, but that alone encouraged me to stay with the group for as long as I could. I fell off a little bit, but made a slight surge to catch back up. Mile four: 552.

It was around the 4.5 point that I fell off of my little training group. From here on out, it was going to me, myself, and I. I knew that I needed to focus a ton in the final half of the race in order to reach my goal of sub-60. If I fell off the girls that I was feeding off of, it was going to make that a much harded endeavor. Luckily, my mom was around taking pictures and she screamed her lungs out for me. You can see in the picture me falling off the pack.
Mile five: 555


I really hadn't looked at my splits up for the entire race; I was going mainly off feel. The next five miles could best be described as meditative because it was really a race against myself. I discovered new focus techniques that I had not used before in efforts to keep my pace honest. Since I was in no-man's land, I knew it would be a long day out on the roads of DC with few people to pick people off and use them as prey to catch. Therefore, I kept my eye on the next woman ahead of me (about 15m away), focused on my breathing and sometimes even counted each time I took a breath in. During these key miles, I repeated to myself whatever phrase someone had cheered to me. For instance, one man said “Keep it going Number 56!” and I just turned that phrase over and over in my head for miles six and seven. In fact, at mile six, I forgot to split my watch because I was too busy trying to grab water while running six min pace. It was during mile seven when I hurt the most, and I'm guessing I ran about a 608-612 for this split.
Combined 6/7: 12:14

Mile 8 was when the Kenyan males (who had started ten minutes later) began to pass me. Of course, I knew they were coming when the lead police motorcycle passed by me. However, I was not prepared for the speed in which the number one male passed me with. In fact, I found out later that he was running about 415-420 pace so it makes sense why I sped up a bit on this mile. I didn't want to completely look like a turtle compared to these guys.
Mile 8: 554

For the 9th mile, I was really ready to have the finish nearby. I saw the Washington Memorial in the distance and knew it was almost time to finish. Unforunately, the mile marker was completely in the wrong spot, and my watch told me I ran 630 pace. Slightly disheartening, if you ask me.
Mile 9: 630 (however it was probably more like 613 or something)

For the tenth mile, more men continued to pass me and I just didn't want any white guy to pass me, especially not Bert. I ended up accomplishing that goal and in the final 800m stretch, there was a hill strategically placed - the one and only hill on the entire course - and I was mad at that hill. I thought of the Twin Cities marathon and how miles 22-25 are all uphill, and told myself I was just preparing for that in a mini way. After the hill, I could see the finish and began to really push it in. Unfortunately a woman with a stroller decided to run in front of me with two children in tow. Luckily, an official yelled at her and she stopped just before I would have plummeled into her.
Mile 10: 543 (however, since mile 9 was off, this was probably more like 6 minute pace)

Overall time: 59:48! Woohoo! In the finish chute, I congratulated Phoebe and thanked a girl named Caroline for helping me out during the race. I saw Megan come in and we shared a half-hug and made our way to the tent to get some food and drink real quick. I hijacked my camera from my mom and we ran to cheer the guys in as they came in to the finish. That was pretty exciting to get to see the guys finish for once.

Once John, Dan, Jordan, Ben, Chad, Matt all came in, we said our congratulations and went our separate ways to get our cool down gear on. Megan and I never found Jocelyn or Kelly, but we found Danielle, so we cooled down with her and Chad around the WWII Memorial and other monuments. It was an absolutely beautiful cooldown on a sunny cool day in DC.

On the cooldown, I was able to reflect on a couple of things. First, I feel very honored and appreciative of having the opportunity to run with the advance start. On the other hand, running by myself helped me appreciate the company of others on all the training runs I’ve enjoyed with the Charlotte Running Club. I realized that I truly benefit from the camaraderie and energy in a large field of runners. I find running with others keeps my energy focused and pace on target for the duration of the race. There’s something unique about latching onto a runner, who ends up being your racing buddy throughout the rest of the race. At the finish line, there’s a shared moment because you both helped the other accomplish their goals. I didn't really get this with the advance start, so next time I will opt to start with everyone else.

After the cool down, Megan and I rushed back to the hotel to shower because we thought we would be getting an award. We were wrong. They just announced our names. On the website, however, it says the top 25 females will receive an award, so that was definitely false advertising.

We walked back to the hotel to get ready to enjoy some lunch! On the way back, my Uncle Joe took Megan, my mom and I through the Smithsonian Gardens!

In the end, all of the various CRC members and cars made their way back to Charlotte. However, the caravan of Caitlin, Matt, John, and my mom wanted to enjoy the weather in DC and we headed to Adam's Morgan to eat a delicious brunch/lunch and walk around. I got a double serving of Mochi in my frozen yogurt, so Matt and I were in Mochi heaven. We also hit up Dupont Circle and departed DC around 3pm.

To top it all off, our women's team won the Running Club, Open Female Team Division by over 12 minutes!!

1. Charlotte Running Club Feline Fatale

59:48 1:00:48 1:01:52 (1:01:55) (1:03:28) = 3:02:28

Caitlin Chrisman, Megan Hovis, Kelly Fillnow, Danielle Walther, Jocelyn Sikora

Our men's team placed third!

3. Charlotte Running Club

53:29 53:33 53:58 ( 56:19) ( 59:09) = 2:41:00

John Compton, Jordan Kinley, Ben Hovis, Mike Beigay M, Chad Crockford

Friday and Saturday Cherry Blossom Prep

This past weekend I competed at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler as part of the Charlotte Running Club Open Women's Team. Essentially, this weekend served as the culmination of all of my training since December of 2009.

Of course, the race was defintiely fun, but the entire trip in itself was a great time, so I'm going to fill you in on the whole thing!

On Friday, Matt Jaskot, John Compton and I all met up at my house to start our road trip to Richmond, where we would stay at Matt's parent's house to split up the driving. Matt and I switched off driving throughout the trip, so it went by pretty fast. John served as our reliable co-pilot, ensuring that we always had good tunes playing through the speakers. We arrived at the Jaskots' house around 1015pm and shared some small talk with Matt's parents. John and I were ridiculously tired, so we said our good nights pretty soon after our arrival.

The next morning, I jumped on Matt and John in their separate bedrooms to wake them up for our morning run together. After they groggily got out of bed, the three of us ran an easy four miles, spotted some white squirrels, and did some light strides. Matt's dad made us some delicious waffles, which I topped with some yogurt and fruit. Once we all cleaned up, we were back on the road, heading towards DC.

Of course, we ran into some traffic, and I don't like driving in traffic. Once we made it to DC, we had Matt giving me directions, John repeating what the GPS was telling us to do, and me pissed that we were still in traffic. Overall, it made for an interesting interaction amongst the three of us, but we finally found our hotel and safely parked the car on the side of the street. John used his patience that he must use on the freshmen high school students he teaches as he was navigating us through DC.

Once we got to the hotel, we began our trek to the expo, where we would meet up with the rest of our Charlotte Running Club team Ben, Megan, Danielle, Chad, and Mike. The walk was not far at all so we decided to grab a subway sandwich before we made our way in. Once we arrived at the National Building Museum, we were directed to the packet pickup. I spotted Joan Benoit Samuelson but was too scared to ask her for pictures because she looked like she was ready to leave. Megan and I did try on some crowns though. Not quite sure why they were being sold at an expo for a ten miler, but whatever.


After the expo, Matt, John, and I went to China Town so that Matt could get some authentic Kung Pao Tofu. While he got his food, John and I sat on a stoop and people-watched. I saw a man with a beard all the way down to his shins and with one huge dreadlock down to his thighs. I wish I had gotten a picture. I also ate a huge chocolate chip cookie because I was hungry. I hadn't had a cookie in forever, and I decided it wouldn't be THAT bad if I ate it less than 16 hours before my big race. HA!

Once we returned from China Town, we relaxed in the hotel room by watching "Saving Private Ryan." Then we made it down to the hotel restaurant to enjoy a nice pre-race meal with Megan, Ben, Dan, Val, Mike, Andrea, John, and Matt. I had spaghetti and a big romaine salad. Afterwards, we all felt like we had gorged ourselves on spaghetti and decided it would be a good idea to take a walk. I got a great picture of the Capitol!


After dinner, Megan and I discussed our race strategy and how we could work together. We figured that we would probably end up going out in 550 pace, which would be fine, and then try to hang on from there on out. Once we had that conversation, I met Jordan to give him his packet, and waited for my mom to arrive at the hotel.

I crawled in bed around 9pm, and fell asleep around 930. However, my mom arrived around 1030pm, so from that point forward, my sleep was on and off. Matt also came into the room a little bit later, and I had to open up the door for him. I wasn't too worried about my lack of sleep though because I felt pretty lively once I awoke the next morning.

Taper me Forward

Over the past couple of weeks, I've felt pretty rotten on the majority of my runs. I'm sure it has to do with the massive amount of pollen in the air and the sudden heat wave that has forced me to turn on my air conditioning in April. Despite having garbage legs in workouts over the past two weeks, the effort was still there, which is important to remember.

Instead of letting this overall bad feeling bring me down, I’m still heading into Cherry Blossom with an optimistic outlook. Back in the fall of 2007, I regularly had absolutely horrible workouts at Wake. The top five runners would always beat me in practice. However, somehow I was able to pull it together in races and always finished as either the 1 or 2 runner.

Now I’m in full taper and ready for that to propel me forward in this race. I did a light fartlek yesterday of 1-2-3-3-2-1 with half rest. My legs felt the best they had in weeks, with a light spring to my stride. The goal is a PR (faster than 1:00:50)!

Some cool things to look forward to other than the race:
1) At the expo, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Bill Rodgers will be presenting and signing autographs!
2) Matt and I are going to a pre-race dinner at the race headquarters hotel.
3) Megan and I are starting in the advance women’s start, so we might be running with Joan Samuelson
4) Yogurt with mochi in it after the race in Georgetown
5) My mom is going to be there to cheer

Most importantly, I’m excited to share the experience of this race with my Charlotte Running Club friends in a team competition and to see the DC sights on a run!

Shamrock 4 Miler...The women are getting faster!

I don’t run many of the GPx series races, but this Shamrock 4 Miler definitely would serve as an incentive for me to run more! The atmosphere was great! The participant numbers were massive (almost 1000!), the course allowed the runners to cheer for each other, and there was great competition for both males and females!

Going into the race, I had a great 1200m workout on Tuesday, so I was hoping that I could maintain a faster pace than I did at the Winter Flight 8k (5:47). Unsure of what the course was like, I was going on the conservative side for my race goal pace of 5:45 – 5:50 because all that I had heard about the course was bad: all downhill the first two miles, hairpin turn around and then straight back up the hill you just ran down. I would find out later that the course was not nearly as bad as I had prepared myself for (perhaps that was why??).

Unsure if there would be any women for me to run against, I was expecting to run with whichever random guy I could attach myself too. Fortunately enough for me, Friday night I received an email from Meagan Nedlo, a Queens University runner, and she asked if I would mind if she ran the race with me as a tempo for one of her 10k prep workouts. I was thrilled! Instead of emailing her back, I called her and we worked out logistics over the phone.

That morning, I warmed up with mostly Charlotte Running Club people, and learned from Meagan that Paul Mainwairing was planning to pace the two of us during the race, since he was coming back off a calf injury. I got to the starting line with four minutes to spare and I’ll make a mental note to do this more often with local races. Really, there is no need to get to the starting line 10 minutes before hand because you just end up standing around, without much room to stretch or do drills. Instead, I did all of this in a much calmer area, so I did not have to dodge runners during my strides or other pre-race drills.

At the starting line, Meagan was rocking some awesome flame tights that she informed me were really volleyball shorts. I think that all CRC women should buy the same! We jumped off the start line to some Irish jig which was very festive. In the first mile, I situated myself a safe distance from Chad Crockford, whom I know has made ample gains in his fitness. Paul, Meagan, and I settled into a nice rhythm and even enjoyed some small talk. Meagan asked me about my workout on Tuesday, and if my answer seemed short and curt to her, it was probably because I was starting to feel the effects of racing in my breathing. Paul also asked about what kind of shape I thought John was in, and I mumbled something incoherent about John’s sore calf.

I split 5:42 on the first mile – and felt bad because I had told Meagan I was hoping to run 5:45 pace in the race. At that point, I was worrying whether or not I was going to mess up her workout…We continued to press, using the next downhill to our advantage, coming through the second mile in 5:35. Right before the two mile marker, we ran a hair pin turn, so that we could see all the runners who were behind us. Surprisingly enough, there were several cheers for Meagan and me as we climbed the hill in the third mile (5:49). It was actually very motivating, so I thank all of those who did cheer for us, many of whom I probably do not know. Meagan was so surprised that she even asked me “Do you know these people?” Nope – but girl, you’re going to be a Charlotte running celebrity once you start running these races more often! ;o)

The last mile Paul pulled away from me, and I, in turn, pulled away a bit from Meagan. I knew I probably hadn’t put that much distance on her though because I could hear people cheering for both of us. Regardless, she was tempoing, and I was racing…So when she graduates and actually races, it should be really fun. Admittedly, I was almost expecting her to come blazing by me in the last 150 meters because I was definitely feeling the lactic acid buildup in my quad and glutes from all of the hills and did not feel like I move my legs as quickly as I would have liked. I crossed the finish in 22:48 – a 5:42 average for the entire race and with a 5:42 last mile.

Finished!

After the finish, I congratulated Meagan, thanked Paul, and found my men to cool down with. I enjoyed a long warm down with Jordan, Bert, Thomas, Aaron, and Meagan for a bit. Since the cool down was so long, not much time was wasted between the finish and the awards ceremony, in which I got a free one hour massage!

me and my men

I would like to note that this is probably one of the fastest races for women in the Charlotte area in a while. I checked the results and compared them to previous years. This year we had two women under 23, and two women under 24. Last year, there was only one woman under 24! The reason why I bring this up is because I am excited for the race where all of Charlotte’s fastest women come out to compete against each other and use this as incentive to break some personal records.

If we put Megan Hovis, Alana Hadley, Meagan Nedlo, Danielle Walther, Kelly Fillnow, Jocelyn Sikora, Alice Rogers, Val Matena, Rebecca Thomason and me in one race, I think we would all be very impressed with the fast times that would come and with the overall camaraderie of the group. We are all teammates and ambassadors of the Charlotte running community and I would be inspired to race with such a fine group of ladies.

Overall, this race has enabled me to go into the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler with confidence. I believe that running sub 60 minutes in three weeks is something that is within my fitness range! Look out for the Charlotte Running Club men and women in three weeks on April 11 in DC - Ben Hovis, Jordan Kinley, John Compton, Chad Crockford, and Mike Beigay will comprise one team. Megan Hovis, Jocelyn Sikora, Kelly Fillnow, Danielle Walther, and me will make up the women's team! Dan and Val Matena will also be racing, but not on the team competition!

A True Appreciation for Organization

My parents first visited Charlotte in September of 2008 for a short weekend trip. Since my parents are just as passionate about running as I am, I figured they would love to participate in a road race uptown. Admittedly, I also was using this race as a way for me to make friends in Charlotte since I was having a hard time meeting people. The race we chose, the inaugural Hog Jog 5k, is in conjunction with the Blues, Brews and Barbecue Festival that occurs annually in the fall, in which the main drag uptown, Tryon Street, is closed off for the entire weekend so that people can drink beer, eat pork, and watch pigs race each other from Brevard to MLK street. An ironic race for my family to participate in, considering both my mom and dad are vegans and also raised their kids (from birth) to be vegetarians as well, the three of us still woke up, exuberant about the running tour of Charlotte we were about to embark on.

The three of us warmed up the mile to the start of the race and picked up our numbers and chips. Eventually, it was time to start, and despite having a hellashish cloud of barbecue smoke hovering over the start line, everything was perfectly organized. The gun went off at the punctual time of 730am, right on time, and we were off.

At every turn, I was directed which way to go. At every mile marker, someone screamed out my splits. At various points in the race, a professional photographer snapped an action photo. At two points, they had water stops to relieve us all of the sticky summer heat.

Horribly out of shape, I finished the race and didn't really think too much about how great of a job the race director had done to ensure that the inaugural Hog Jog would be a pleasant experience for all runners. It was my mom, after she crossed the line, who made me aware of such a feat. She immediately asserted, "WOW! I don't think I've ever run a local 5k race where they closed a lane of traffic! There were police officers everywhere directing runners! There was plenty of water! That was great!"

Keep in mind that my mom has been running for as many years (if not more) as I have been alive. Despite that, Charlotte was the first town she had seen to successfully put on a race, even though it wasn't necessarily very large. Coming to Charlotte allowed her to see that local, small-sized races could still be well-organized, flawlessly engineered to cater to every runners' needs.

While I noticed the same organization at Hog Jog that my mom raved about, I did not think much more about. Subsequently, I continued to be impressed with the organization at other local races I've participated in Charlotte (Greek Fest 5k, Hit the Brixx 10k, South Park Half Marathon, Corporate Cup 5k), but I never truly appreciated the organization that takes much time, effort, and money for a race director and volunteers to make a race successful.

After having ventured to some other small towns for races, I have seen that what Run for Your Life and other race organizers in Charlotte have done is not a small feat to go by unnoticed. Races in Charlotte tend to be, for the most part:
1) High in numbers of volunteers
2) Extremely well directed (aka - people don't get directed off course often)
3) Fairly quick in the compiling of results for the awards ceremony
4) Safe - plenty of police to block traffic or close lanes
5) Accurate with their timing systems

Just two weeks ago, several of my fellow Charlotte Running Club teammates were directed off course and could not even finish a half marathon that they had paid over $50 to run. This past weekend, several runners in a 10k race were misdirected and missed out on potential prize money and a top three spot.

People put a lot of time and effort into their training and racing. It is refreshing to know that race directors realize this and, in return, put a lot of time and effort into their race organizing.

Winter Flight

(L-R: Molly Nunn, Caitlin Chrisman, Jay Holder, Boriana B, Bert Rodriguez cool down)

Might want to grab a drink. This is going to be a long one.

Doing the first race of your new training cycle is like going on a date with a beautiful someone.

Think about it.

You get nervous for the date because you have absolutely NO IDEA if the beautiful someone likes you. You contemplate all the 1943734986 different scenarios of how the date could potentially play out. If the date goes bad, you want to get over with it sooner. If the date goes great, you never want it to end. After the date, everyone calls you to see how you liked it, how it went, and if you think you'll do it again. Afterwards, you think of what you could have done different to make the beautiful person like you more or what you did wrong or what went great. You could also say that you feel successful at the end of the date if you get a kiss - the trophy of the date! :o)

Now apply this to your first race in over three months. You get really nervous for the race because you have NO IDEA what kind of racing shape you are in. You contemplate the 21433934 different races strategies that could happen. If the race goes bad, you want it to end ASAP but you know that it won't since you are probably running slower and want to keel over onto the side of the road. If the race goes great, you still do want it to end, but not so much the post-race festivities (especially if there is free beer). After the race, all of your friends call you, facebook you, text you to see how it went and if you would run that race course again. Using your running sense, you analyze every single aspect of the race: your mind, the course, the organization, the food, the awards...and the list goes on...At the end, you anxiously await to discover whether or not you will be receiving an overall or an age group trophy.

In so many ways, I had my first blind date with a road race in over three months yesterday in Salisbury at the Winter Flight 8k. There is something truly unique about racing that allows you to truly put your fitness to a test and to prove that the training has paid off. As far as I could tell, yesterday proved successful for most everyone in the Charlotte Running community who raced.

To start from the beginning, my team of Boriana and Jay met in the parking lot to pick up our race packets. Immediately we saw a slew of Charlotte running people who were out there to cheer us all on, which was extremely exciting. Like a true teammate, since the day boasted temperatures in the upper 60s, Jay was kind enough to bring his sport sunscreen so that this semi-albino's skin would not burn during the race. Teammate #2, Boriana, was also kind enough to let us store our stinky shoes in her car and be our driver for the day's activities.

After lathering up, we were off for the warmup. Knowing that we all had the support from our fellow countrymen, I began feeling excited to put everything on the line. Although my legs did not feel fantastic on the warmup, that is typically the way I like to start a race (never have raced well when my legs feel fan-freaking-tastic in the warmup). I will admit that I had several different doubts going through my head during this time. I was wondering if my breathing would be okay because my throat seemed really tight, as though I was coming down with a bad head cold. I pushed these thoughts aside because I really knew that the most important task at hand was to race to best of my potential on that day given the circumstances.

We made it to the start line to check out our competition. It looked like there were at least four girls who looked capable to run sub-30:00. Alana and I situated ourselves behind Bill Shires and, although it was hard to hear, the National Anthem was played. Immediately before the gun, we all gave each other a fist slap (is that what it's called??) as good luck. The race director blew the horn and we were off!

I could feel two people on my shoulder and instead of worrying about that, I focused on staying relaxed through the first mile. I settled into a groove with Molly, some guy in a red shirt, and Alana. It was nice to settle in behind red shirt guy so that I could get a slight break from the wind. First mile: 5:44. Perfect - ish. After a while I could feel the pace slowing and knew I needed to make a move to maintain the pace I wanted - 5:50s. Luckily, after the first mile, there was a decent downhill, which is where I pushed down and left the red shirt guy and the two girls. I said good job in my mind to them!

After the move, there were two other guys about 20 meters ahead that I could focus on for the next two miles over the rolling hills. I got a boost of energy when I saw Chris Jones and Todd Mayes at the top of the second big hill, especially because they told me that it flattened out from there. Thanks Chris and Todd!

However, I rounded one other turn and then there was a hill, or two, or three...again. I chuckled to myself, but instead of worrying about the hills, I focused on the guy that I was reeling in. I ran my fastest miles during four (5:40) and five (would have been 5:44), mainly due to the fact that I caught the guy that had been in sixth place and was trying to catch the guy in fifth place (never did). After running up the 400m hill in the last mile, we turned back into the Catawba campus, where a beautiful downhill awaited the runners before they entered the track for the finish. Running onto the track was fun and I felt fantastic considering it was fairly hot and the course a bit hillier than I had expected. As I rounded the last turn on the track, I saw my time ticking away the seconds - 28:37, 28:38, 28:39 - and I pushed harded so that I would get my reach goal of 28:50-ish.

As I stumbled through the chute, I was directed to a table where a woman wrote down my name and time with a pen on a piece of paper. Very old school, but very cool at the same time. I felt like I was in high school again. I met up with Jay and Bert and we waited for the next Charlotte crew. We cheered in Alana, Molly, Chad, Allen, Boriana, Larry, and Scott.

My favorite part of the race was cooling down with Molly, Alana (for a bit), Jay, Boriana, and Bert. It was refreshing to know that everyone else didn't feel like going faster than 8 minute pace on our cool down and also that none of else wanted to run up another hill. It was great to share stories of how everyone felt at different parts of the race, especially for Jay since he literally had NO ONE to race with the entire time.

The awards ceremony took place in the college gym and the trophies were probably the biggest I've ever seen. I did come away with $100 so I'm only $1400 away from my goal race earnings for the year. :o)

Really Big Trophies

While the majority of the success stemmed from the individual efforts each person has exerted over the past months in their own training, I also believe that a part of that success may also be attributed to the amazing support that was out there on Sunday (and Saturday too at Cupid's Cup!). The list of people who came just to watch was extensive: Théoden Janes, Chris Jones, Todd Mayes, Garrett Bullock, Lauren Robbins, the Hadley family, Terri Nunn, Kathy Seavers, and there were probably even more people that I didn't know their names! Clearly, what we've got going on in the Charlotte Running community is just amazing. Every person is so supportive, encouraging, and enthusiastic about everyone else's success that it feels like we all make up a very large family.