PR — Page 2

Fall Classic Race Report

October 31, 2012 by Michelle 9 Comments

Nice tech shirt this year!

On Sunday, I ran the Canton Fall Classic. I just love this race! It’s really well organized, it’s a challenging course and, being a local race, it’s fun to see so many familiar faces.

My goals for this race were simple: to have fun and to hit the target of 30:00 Coach Bennett had set for me — done and done!

Unfortunately, when I woke up that morning I had a good headache brewing and my left ITB was feeling crank…hmm not exactly how you want to feel on race morning. But I was psyched to meet up with my friend E and her son (who was running his first 5k!) and head over to the race, so I went through my usual pre-race routine and got moving. E’s husband dropped us off, we picked up our numbers and race shirts and then milled around chatting with friends.

E was planning to start out slow with her son towards the back, so we wished each other good luck and I weaved my way to about the middle of the pack. Soon we were off! The start was a little crowded and I did my best to find an open lane to run without doing too much bobbing and weaving. But within the first half mile I found some space, I spotted J and the boys cheering and then settled in.

The climbs begin in the 2nd mile, my cranky ITB was not happy and I could feel my pace started to slip. There’s a short down hill before the second climb and I started targeting people to pass as I pushed up the hill. Thankfully, most of the final mile is a straight flat shot with a final turn towards the finish. It was great to spot my guys again right before that final turn. Garmin time: 30:00/Guntime 30:28 — a new PR!

I caught up with a few more friends and then found E and her son. He passed me, by the way on his way to a 28:44 finish and E PR’d too! I checked out a couple of the vendors and it was nice to get to meet Nick Warren the creator of Perfect Fuel Chocolate – a new fuel option I’ve been trying out.

It was a fun morning and I’m already looking forward to running it again next year!

Filed Under: Canton Fall Classic, PR, race report, running coach

Wamapanoag Old-Fashioned 10 Miler Race Report

February 20, 2012 by Michelle 12 Comments

On Saturday, J and I drove the course to get a better sense of the race’s director’s definition of “rolling hills.” Well they didn’t lie – a nice fairly flat start and then the rolling began around mile 3 and continue through mile 6, but nothing dramatic. Mile 7 was one longer climb, but by 7.5 it leveled off to a nice flat finish.

OK so now I knew what I was in for, I had two simple goals for the race: 1) finish uninjured and 2) finish ahead of my 10-mile split from the Philly Half (1:53:48). The one thing that had me worried was that I felt horrible when I went to bed. Both my stomach and head had not been cooperating for the past couple of days – I just hoped that whatever it was would be gone by morning.Yeah well, no such luck!

I went through my usual morning routine but I was not doing well. At one point J even asked me if I was sure I was going to run, and for half a second I considered not going. But I figured, if all else fails, it would just be a slow training run. We picked up our numbers and chatted with people while waiting for the bathrooms (indoor ladies’ room – score!). It was warming up nicely so we went back to the car to dump our extra clothes and then I made a critical mistake – I took a GU. By the time we did our warm-up jog over to the start, my stomach was doing flip-flops again. Uggh…here we go.

J’s plan was to stay with me for the first mile or so – this was his first time running 10 miles and he was worried about going out too fast (He ran a great race, by the way!!). But once we started I knew almost immediately that we were going too fast. I glanced at my Garmin around a half mile – 9:36…yeah too fast! We slowed just a little. By 1.5 miles I could tell he was itching to move a little faster so I told him to have fun and sent him on his way. As the rolling part of the course started I knew this was going to be more of a mental race than anything else – could I keep myself distracted from my stomach and headache enough to hold a decent pace? I tried to enjoy the scenic course and beautiful weather. I thanked volunteers, said hi to the little kids cheering, encouraged other runners and focused on my music (I was grateful for a new playlist!). The fresh air definitely was definitely helping my headache…the stomach was just angry!

I managed the hills well, but did need to briefly walk part of the final climb. Once I hit mile 8, I knew it was flat to the finish. Frankly, I was tired of feeling like I was going to throw up – I just wanted to be done! Somewhere along the final stretch I heard someone call my name – it was Jose from And So It Burns! He had already finished but ran along with me towards the finish. Alleluiah the finish! Garmin read 10.08 miles 1:51:35! J, Jose and I chatted a bit before he headed out – it’s always great to meet the people behind the blogs you enjoy! (Jose I’m so glad you found me and stopped to say hi!)

So I hit my goals – no injuries (legs felt really good!) and a 2:13 PR despite feeling cruddy! Definitely a confidence boost with 4 weeks till RnR USA Half. All-in-all it was a good local race I would definitely run again!

Filed Under: blogger meet, Old-fashioned 10 Miler, PR, race report

November Rewind

December 1, 2011 by Michelle 7 Comments

Good things for the month:

While I logged just 60 miles – one of my lowest months of the year – this still goes in the “good things” category because they were quality miles that helped lead to 2 PRs this month!

I was selected to be a FitFluential Ambassador! I’m really looking forward to connecting with other bloggers and the opportunity to test, review, and hopefully giveaway various brands of fitness gear/equipment/books/food.

Things I could do without:

My left ITB/knee saga – Yeah…enough already!

On the decks for December:

The Jingle Bell 5k – my last race of the year!
Returning to acupuncture for my ITB — it really made a difference in the days leading up to Philly.
A little 2012 planning — trying to figure out my training plan for my next half marathon…and maybe a little race shopping 🙂
Diving full force into the holiday season!!

How was your November? What do you have planned for this month?

Filed Under: acupuncture, FitFluential, ITB, month in review, PR

Fall Classic Race Report

November 7, 2011 by Michelle 10 Comments

The week’s delay on this race was worth the wait. It was a great fall morning (cool but not too cold), the energy among the runners was high and though the spectators were fewer than last year – they were enthusiastic!

I have not run a 5K since I ran this same race last year – so my goals were simple: to have fun and to try to PR – done and done!

It was fun to be running another race with my hubs J. We got our family set up along the course where they could easily spot us both heading out and coming back, and then we headed off for a quick warm-up run to the start. When we picked up our numbers & race shirts, we found out we’d each won one of the raffles – How fun…prizes and we hadn’t even run yet! We ran into some people we knew and chatted with them while we watched the finish of the kids’ fun run. Then they called us to line up. J gave me a kiss and we wished each other good luck then he headed to the 10k line – that was the only bummer cause we had hoped to run the first mile together, but the 5K and 10K lined up separately. Then we were off.

In hindsight I wish I had been bold enough to line up a little closer to the front cause I spent the first half mile or so weaving around people before I could get some space. But I found a comfortable pace and settled in. Before I knew it I was at the first mile marker and I heard the volunteer calling out the splits say “9:30” – say what? I checked my Garmin for the first time…yep 9:30! Then came mile 2 — uphill with a slight down hill break then climbing again. I gotta say the policemen and volunteers along this section were great! I definitely slowed here – still gotta work on my hills.

Yes those are cars – the roads were not closed

Thankfully mile 3 levels off. As I hit the final straight stretch I glanced at my Garmin and knew a PR was in reach – time to push and I did. Chip time 30:51 (Garmin said 30:41) — a 2:26 PR!

I quickly grabbed a chocolate milk, said hi to a few people and then headed back out to meet my family on the course and wait for J to come through. We had fun cheering the runners on and chatting with the other spectators. It was great seeing so many of the runners I come across in my daily runs out there racing.

Soon we spotted J coming up the last hill and looking strong – he finished 59:45 hitting his goal to run sub-1 hour! We collected our raffle prizes (a race sweatshirt and a gift bag from one of the local salons) and headed home. A good way to spend a morning!

This was a fun race with good, challenging courses – and the fact that it was right in my town is an added bonus! We’ll be planning to run it again next year and my oldest is already talking about doing the kids race 🙂

Now it’s a little less than two weeks til Philly….let the taper begin!

Filed Under: family running, PR, race report