Daniel Defense Pooler 5K Recap

Official Time: 29:53
My GPS Watch Time: 29:01

Proof! ...Of my fastest 5K for 2012, so far...

So I stopped my watch well after I crossed the finish line. I didn't even notice the small time clock at the end. I just sprinted my way to the finish. It was not a chip timed race, so the clock started when the gun went off – not when I crossed under the starting archway. Also, the course was a bit more than a 5K, my watch registered 3.19 miles. My goal was to get a sub-29 5K time... which I JUST MISSED by 2 seconds (by my watch...LOL), oh well, maybe next time!

Beginning of the race, waving to Liam

About to cross the finish line... I totally sprinted past this one gal I was trailing the last quarter mile... sneaky!

It was a hot race. It started at 8am, not the ideal time to run in these parts. I definitely started out too fast, but tired to slow it down... it's hard in a race setting. I guess it's something I need to mentally train myself to do, but the only way to do that is to enter races! On my training runs, I usually keep a steady pace throughout the run until the very end where I try to kick it up a notch to the finish because I have that saved up energy (which I have learned is not good for my knees, lol, but I have toned it down). I probably could have pushed myself just a bit faster at the end, but I was pretty wiped. That mask didn't help either!

There was a costume contest for "Most Patriotic" male and female runner. I ran in a silly costume that I put together the day before the race. I made the cape from an old race T-shirt that was too big for me, and I spray painted the star on it, as well as the red stripes onto the white shirt. I bought a cheap mask and spray painted part of that too and bought the star "race legs" from Team Sparkle! I wore my awesome blue MRTT Bondi Band to represent my mommas and my awesome pair of red Aspaeris Pivot compression shorts! Turns out I was pretty much one of the only few people in costume! I wasn't expecting to win, but after seeing the lack of patriotic costumes, I was pretty sure I had a good chance... and well, I did win!! Too bad it wasn't a cash prize! :)

A few of my fellow mommas from MRTT ran this race and so did about half of my CREW training group (our group long run that morning was actually cancelled due to low participation). It was a great small race that wasn't super crowded, but still had a great turnout. I think about 600 runners participated. The race proceeds went to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Stewart where wounded soldiers go to heal. They raised $20,000 for them!!! Woohoo!

Me and fellow CREW mate, Janet

Liam and Mom (me) running the Kids race! Notice the matching capes!

This was also a special race because it was Liam's FIRST race!! They had a kiddie run right before the actual race started. I ran alongside Liam and he was doing AWESOME! He ran ALMOST the entire distance until he tripped and fell right before the finish line! :( It was so pitiful, but cute... he of course cried when he fell. I dusted him off and asked if he still wanted to run, but he shook his head, still crying. I held his hand and asked if he still wanted to finish and he nodded. So we walked into the finish line with everyone cheering him on! It was a pretty awesome feeling, even though he had a little fall -- I'm sure part of the crying was due to embarrassment. But I am glad he wanted to finish because that's what it's all about -- getting back up after you fall and NOT QUITTING what you start! I was so proud of him! :)

Me and Jen

Thanks to Jen at Running Our Way for my free entry into this race!

Jen's 12-year old son Morgan ran the 5K in 21:27!! He got FIRST in his age group! He's such a talented young runner! The MRTT moms are very proud of him!!

Katie also had her first table set up for MRTT at the race which was pretty awesome. We are trying to attract more members... so if happen to be reading this, are a mom (even to furbabies), live in the Savannah area and want to join an AWESOME, free running group, come check us out!! http://savannahmrtt.wordpress.com/

Oh, I also want to thank my husband JOEL for watching Liam and carrying my purse while I ran. :D

Awesome MRTT Running Moms!

Up next: the LoCo Motion 10-miler on the 29th. Woohoo!!

First 5k Race of the Fall!

Tomorrow morning is the 3rd annual Daniel Defense Pooler 5K - my first time doing this race – all thanks to the awesome Jen!

I'm really excited about this race for many reasons:

1.
It's the first official race of the new race season! I've got lots of races planned for the rest of the year. Check out my Upcoming Races page for more info.

2.
It's the first 5K race during my half training, so I am really curious as to how much faster I can run 3.1 miles after conditioning myself to run longer. I hope to make this a 2012 PR (my all time 5K PR is 27:49 – back in 2009 – I don't think I can ever beat that) – so in order to do that I have to run faster than a 29:06. I really hope I can. I would like to see a "28" on the race clock when I finish! I'm thinking I will be able to do it because the last time I did a sub-29 5K was in 2009... RIGHT AFTER I trained my body for running 10Ks (ableit not my fastest 10Ks - I think I can actually run faster 10Ks now). So I am confident that the half training will not fail me! :)

3.
And the last reason... I'll be wearing a costume!! Not anything really elaborate, but hopefully I'll stand out enough to get some good photos taken of my crazy running outfit. ;) It's a patriotic theme, so I'll be donning the red, white and blue!

Race report coming soon!

Up and At 'em

So I'm getting back into somewhat of a groove of getting my fitness on! I've got 2 different types of yoga (fusion yoga and Bikram) in addition to my running, so I am feeling great about that!!!

photo from http://bikramyogasavannah.com/

I started my Bikram yoga classes (26 yoga poses and 2 breathing exercises in a 105 degree room), on a whim... it was mentioned in one of my fusion yoga classes and the idea of it just got me interested. The Bikram studio here in Savannah offers a $25 ten-day unlimited introductory period and I went 4 times in my intro span. The first 3 classes were awesome and I felt great --- thinking  "hey, this isn't so bad! I could do this multiple times a week if I had the time!"), but the 4th class last night was very challenging. I don't know whether it was my first PM class (the first 3 - I went in the morning) and had a kind of heavy lunch... or what. Because I was getting dizzy, almost to the point of blacking out, and felt just plain WIPED OUT! I really wanted to leave at one point, but they are really against leaving the room in the middle of the hour and a half class, so I fought through and tried to focus and do the poses to the best of my ability. I am glad I did.

The heat isn't so bad, but the sweat is the gross part. What I like about hot yoga is that because you are sweating, it feels like your body is working really hard. Also, I've had noticeably decreased body aches since I started.

Anyway, other than that, I've been running as well. Instead of listing my progress like I have done in the past, I will just post this screencap from my garminconnect.com profile which pretty much sums up the last number of runs since I last updated. My DailyMile.com profile has the FULL fitness training log.

The starred run is my 5K PR for this year so far - 30:12. I hope to break 30 minutes on March 9th. I signed up for the Savannah Shamrock 5K Run. I've run it a couple times before - it's a flat easy course, so I should be able to do it! I also just signed up for another 5K at the end of March. Woohoo!

2011 Savannah Bridge Run 5k and Runs since then (sadly, not too many)

The 2011 Savannah Bridge Run took place shortly after we moved back to Savannah. I can't remember if I did a "training run" before the race or not... Anyway, I ran the 5k race in 32:41, honestly it was better than I thought I'd do considering the lack of runs beforehand. This event is somewhat dear to my heart as it is one of the first races I've done and trained for, and is also the race that I have done the most. They have some of the best post-race parties: with yummy Brunswick stew and free beers!! Plus a lot of my friends have run it too. It's a great race. I posted some photos from this race in the Race Photos tab.

I only ran once after that in Dec 2011. And so far 3 times in 2012! My goal is to run at least every other day, with longer runs (eventually) on the weekends. I need to get in half-marathon shape by November!

Since Liam is in daycare now, I can use my lunch breaks to get a run in because I would not be able to otherwise. It's pretty awesome.

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1.
Wilson Bridge Trail
November 13, 2011, Sunday
7:46am
4 miles
44:10, 11:02 pace

2.
Savannah Bridge Run 5k
December 3, 2011, Saturday
8:19am
3.1 miles
official times: 37:19 (chip), 10:31 pace

3.
Newport (my Neighborhood in Savannah)
December 14, 2011, Wednesday
12:19pm
3.1 miles
32:03, 10:20 pace

4.
Tom Triplett Park
January 2, 2012, Monday
late morning
3 miles (approximate, I forgot my GPS watch)
n/a time unknown

5.
Newport
January 6, 2012, Friday
12:18pm
3.1 miles
33:25, 10:47 pace

6.
Newport
January 10, 2012, Tuesday
12:30pm
3.1 miles
33:25, 10:47 pace (NOTE: Exact same time as last run!)

Back to Running - Anything is Possible 5k

Did 3.1 miles last Friday to prepare for the Anything is Possible 5k that was this past Sunday:

Ft. Washington Park
November 4, 2011, Friday
5:28pm
3.1 miles
33:26, 10:47 avg. pace

Mostly flat. Kind of chilly. Was not trying to push myself, but trying to do the distance since it was the first time running in 3 weeks.

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Anything is Possible 5k
November 6, 2011, Sunday
1:50am
3.1 miles
official times: 37:19 (chip) / 38:02 (clock)
negative net time: -22:42

This race started at 1:50AM (YES, in the middle of the night) on the night of Daylight Savings. Which meant that you ended the race before you started it! I ran with my friend Bonnie and her husband Mike. We were tired and cold in the beginning, but warmed up a little in the car before the start of the race and eventually got into it! The cold felt great as we kept on running. It was really fun and I'm glad we did it! Too bad Shonna wasn't able to make it! We missed you!

I didn't start my watch on time, so I wasn't able to track my mileage on my Garmin watch. D'oh!

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Don't know when or what my next race will be. But I do know that both Joel and I will be signing up for the 2nd annual Rock and Roll HALF Marathon in Savannah for 2012. It takes place on November 3, 2012, so I have a year to train. I seriously need to start now! (The 2011 Rock and Roll race was this past weekend, I heard it was chaos!)

3.1 miles - Chick-Fil-A 5k

September 10, 2011, Saturday
8:00 am
3.1 miles - USATF certified
official times: 31:21.2 (chip) / 31:38.9 (clock), 10:12 pace

mile 1 - 9:31
mile 2 - 10:12
mile 3 - 10:37

Hilly road course. Lots of zig-zagging in the beginning of the course because the first mile bottlenecked into a narrow road path. Didn't thin out until .5 mile in. I felt good the whole time, and managed to keep a good pace on the uphills. I got tired near the end, but pushed with what I had left nearing the finish line.

I was excited to get some free Chick-Fil-A food post-run, but was let down when all they were giving out were yogurt parfaits and plain bagels with cream cheese. BOO!! Where's my chicken sammich!?! Other than that, it was a good race - a good "breaking-back-in" 5k for me.

More pictures are on the Race Photos tab.