Scope It Out 5K

I am up in Washington DC this week and ran a 5K race this morning.  The weather went from the mid 80's and sunny on Friday to in the 50's and rainy this morning.  Not the best of weather but that was part of the fun.

Melanie and I did a warm up run from the hotel to the starting line at around 8:10 this morning. After a small detour and about 3.5 miles we found our way to freedom plaza and the start of the 5K Scope it Out Race.  We got there just in time to stretch, use the restroom, walk to the front of the starting line...and then we were off.  We were very lucky that we were able to easily make our way to the front, so there was no fighting for road space once the race started. My intentions were to hold pace with Melanie for the first mile, but I quickly lost site of her after about .1 miles in.  None the less, I had a great first mile, clocking it at 7:42. I think this might be my fastest mile since I started back up running.  Second mile was 7:56 and third was 8:05 with a strong finish of 24:50.  A new PR for me by 1:03.  I love 5K's!!

Savages!

Not too many races end with digging mud out of your ears for three days but you can't run a Savage Race without getting a little dirty.  All my favorite ladies and I participated in the first ever Savage Race last year and had the best time; so when the opportunity arose again...it was time to run.  This time the group grew and most of our handsome men joined us for what was an amazingly fun day. Photos came out yesterday and they cracked me up.  As much fun as I had, I looked as though I was in pure AGONY the entire time.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Sand Bag Run

Running out of the water after a huge (and very steep) slip-n-slide

Lots of Mud Crawling

More Mud Running

Ice Plunge...my face says it all

 

Fire Jump (and warming up from the ice plunge)

"Here for Beer" Team had an awesome finish (all the ladies finished in the top 7 of our division out of 260, I took 5th)

First Marathon

Its official.  I am signed up for my first FULL Marathon.  This October 28, I will be racing the Marine Corps Marathon!

Third time's the charm

What an interesting race that started as just a run.  I decided about a week before hand that I would just take this run easy and have some fun.  I have one more half marathon this season next month that I decided to focus on; so this run was just going to be for training. And when I woke up to 50 degree weather, rain, and winds up to 30 MPH, it was confirmed...time to just have fun and run. Or at least I thought but just a few miles in...it turned into something incredible for me.

I had the most random mind set that morning.  I was just in the best of moods and not worried about time or trying to get a person record.  I was gabbing with other runners, commenting on all the ridiculous sayings on the back of people's shirts and hamming up each photo op.  Turned up the jams and was just in the zone.  As mile 1 and mile 2 passed and I was averaging 10 minute miles, I wasn't even worried.  There were a ton of people and I was taking my time.  After about mile two, things started to thin out a bit and I fell into a groove. I watched my time drop to the mid 9s and I am usually good with that.  Its not a race pace...but I wasn't racing so I was happy to just be cruising along.

As the sun started rise, it seemed we were in the clear from having any further rain.  With over cast skies, cool temps and a breeze (okay, still very heavy winds), it was near perfect conditions for a long run. By the time I got to the mile 6 marker, I was still having fun and watching my time drop with decent ease; I then changed my mind that maybe I would actually try and race the second half. I didn't have anything to lose and if I hit a wall...well then I would just say that I intended to just "run" anyhow.  I crossed the mat at the half way point at 1:04:10 which was actually about 6 minutes slower than my half marathon last month.  But it was about this point last time that I hit my wall and quickly started averaging high ten minute miles.

At mile 7 I took a gel and picked up the pace again.  I love running sub 9 minute miles, but since I am still a slow poke and I didn't want a few really good miles kill the rest of the race, so pulled it back a bit for mile 8 and 9.  During these miles, I made sure to stop at both water stops and drink both water and Gatorade as well as eat my gummies with intentions of running a good remaining 5K.  My plan worked.  In fact, it worked really well.  A 27 minute 5K is great for me, and most of the time I don't run 10 miles before hand.  I was ecstatic to cross that finish line and proclaim a new personal record.  My second half took just over 57 minutes! That is the gusto I have been talking about for months. Guess, third time's the charm!

So close to a sub 2 hour half.