2015 Running Year in Review

It is already the end of 2015 and the year has flown by!  I did a year in review post last year and I thought I'd go ahead and do something similar for 2015.

259.93 miles logged with Garmin.  This is much less than last year where I had close to 500.  I think that's because I did a lot of time on the treadmill this year when I wimped out of running outside due to weather.  I've got to get back to running outside for most of my runs and I've also got to remember to log those treadmill miles.

I need to remind myself of views like this to get outside

16 races - This met my goal of at least 15 races in 2015.  7 5k's, 1 5k obstacle race, 3 8k's, 3 10k's, 1 half marathon, 1 supposed to be a half marathon but 6.7 miler.

Eastern County 8k

3 virtual races - 2 5k's and 1 10kwith the Nerd Herd trilogy

2 volunteer experiences at races - registration at the Piece of Cake race and handing out medals at the Parks Half Marathon

I enjoyed handing out these beauties at the Parks Half Marathon

PR's - Semper Fi 5k 35:16, Eastern County 8k 1:02:14, Marine Corps 10k 1:14:40, Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon 2:56:55.  This last one was a PR by only 30 seconds or so but I'm still counting it!

Post Marine Corps 10k

So that's my year in running.  I had a great year with lots of fun and hope to continue the same for next year :)

Jingle All the Way 5k

I ran the Jingle All the Way 5k this past weekend.  I was there with one of my usual running buddies and also with Mike! Since we had done the Disney 5k at my dad's pace, he wanted to try one more at his pace.  And I told him I'd stay with him to encourage him so we did this one at his pace.

I had done this race last year and loved it!  It's really well organized, has a scenic course downtown by the Capital and the smithsonians, and it is super flat. There was packet pick up at Pacers (the running store that puts on the race) for the couple days before the race but we decided to just do race day pick up.

In fact, we cheated a bit on the logistics of this one.  We found a super cheap rate for the J.W. Marriott in DC and this hotel is literally right across the street from the start line.  It's also a beautiful hotel so we decided to make a weekend of it and get a night at the hotel.  We came into the city Saturday afternoon, had a nice dinner, went clubbing for a couple hours Saturday night, and were still able to be in bed by midnight.  The race didn't start until 9am so we were able to get a decent amount of sleep.  We woke up at 8am and I went out and got everyone's packets.  It included a nice long sleeve shirt as well as a $20 coupon for any Mizuno purchase over $50.  We finished getting ready and head out to the start line around 8:45.  This was so nice to be able to do and not worry about transportation in the morning.  I know this was a one time thing though so I better not get too used to it :)

When we got out to the start line area, there were a lot of people milling about but not much of a line for the holiday photos so we went ahead and got a photo of the three of us. I don't have the photo yet but will add it as soon as I get it.  There were lots of people in really fun costumes, and even lots of dogs dressed up in festive attire.  There were 2 giant dogs in "reindeer in training" shirts that were especially cute. That's one of my favorite parts of this race, all the fun theming that people get into.

The race started on time and off we went.  I told Mike we would go for a 2:00 run interval and :30 walk interval but the run interval shortened throughout the race.  Poor Mike hadn't gone for a run in a couple weeks, mostly because he was too busy taking care of me!  But I was proud of him for pushing through.  Our official time was 46:56 for a 15:07 average pace.  My Garmin data shows it as 47:26 for 3.22 miles which is a 14:44 pace.

Here is a post race photo of Mike and me, sweaty but all smiles. We then found our friend and went back to the hotel.

Another good thing about having a hotel room is that we were able to clean up before heading to brunch.  We had brunch at the Hamilton and it was delicious.  I didn't manage to get a food photo since we were all starving and dove right in.  But I did manage to get a photo of our hibiscus mimosa.  It was delicious, and the flower was even edible.

What's next?

Well, I'm done with my major races for the year and not currently training for anything.  So what's next for me in terms of running? 

I'm planning on a couple small races between now and the end of the year.  I'm not signed up for a Turkey Trot since I'm going to be at my parents' place in Ohio for Thanksgiving, though I am hoping to get a 5k in on my own Thursday morning.  I am signed up for Pacer's Jingle All the Way 5k the first weekend of December.  I'm really looking forward to that one since it was a lot of fun last year.  I loved all the costumes people came up with.

Last year's Jingle All the Way 5k

I'm also planning on the MCRRC's Jingle Bell Jog.  It is close to my house, their last low key race of the year, and free for club members, so why not?  I missed this one last year because of the flu so I'm looking forward to experiencing it this year.

And then, I start training again.  My next big race is going to be Rock and Roll DC again in March.  I signed up right after last year's race so was able to register for $50.  I really loved the course and am excited to give this one a try again.  

 Running through the rain at last year's RnR DC Half

Even more exciting, I've talked two of my friends into running it as their first half marathon!  So the plan is for the three of us to train together through the Winter. We're using one of Hal Higdon's beginner half marathon training plans and I'm really looking forward to doing their first half marathon with them.

So that's the plan for now.  A couple weeks off and then back to training.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Wine and Dine (half of a) Half Marathon review - Part 2

My review of the Wine and Dine Half Marathon was so long, I split it into 2 parts.  I talk about the expo and a lot of the pre-race happenings in Part 1.

Race

I think the fireworks for the first corral start went off and 11:00 or so.  By that time, we were pretty sure thanks to social media that the race would be between 6-7 miles.  Things moved pretty quickly after that and I think our corral started around 11:30 or so.

So my race strategy had gone back and forth a couple times.  Initially I wanted to try for a good finish time, maybe even a PR.  But once I saw the race was red flagged due to heat and humidity, that went out the window and I just planned to take it easy.  That decision was cemented with the delay.  But once I saw the race would be shortened to less than 7 miles, I thought I might push it a bit.  I think this uncertainty kind of hurt me as I just wasn't sure what I was doing.

I started out running for 10 minutes and then started my intervals of 2 minutes running to 30 seconds walking.  But then I saw a photo with dancers from the Main Street Electrical Parade with a short line so I stopped for a photo.  Obviously not thinking of time then.  Plus, I was sweating like I've never sweat before.  The humidity was out of control so I decided to go back to just doing the race for fun. But then toward mile 5 or so I saw the 3 hour pace group pass me and I felt the need to catch up and finish ahead of them.  I'm not even sure why.  I was obviously not thinking too clearly at this point.  

Random giant light up lobster puppet

Ok, so the shortened course at least included the best parts of this half marathon course.  The out and back on the highway was cut out, as well as running in Animal Kingdom. There was tons of entertainment on the course, including the characters, DJs, the green army man motivating people, etc.  And the best part of the race was running through the Osborne Family Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios.  I stopped at this part to take a couple photos as well.

After the lights, we left Hollywood Studios and ran on a path going toward Epcot.  This part was very narrow.  There were loud announcements warning that the case was going to narrow, and I was glad of the heads up.  It was narrow enough that I had to walk a lot of this section.  It turned into run when I could but walk when I had to due to the congestion.  We got to the area by the Epcot hotels and the course widened a bit so I was able to run again with my normal intervals.  And this section was nice because there were cheering spectators hanging out to encourage us on.

We then entered Epcot and I knew this meant the end was near.  We ran about a mile through the park.  I was looking for Mike at this point but wasn't able to find him.  There were a lot of spectators and runners that had already finished cheering. And then it was out to the Epcot parking lot and the finish line!  

My official time was 1:35:06 for 6.72 miles. According to my Garmin, it was 1:32:45 for 6.84 miles so an average pace of 13:34 per mile. This included one character stop, stopping to take photos of the Christmas lights, and a quick stop at medical for more body glide.

Post-race

The finish line area was pretty chaotic.  Thankfully, I hadn't checked a bag since Mike was carrying stuff  for me and he was already in Epcot for the after party. Therefore, I didn't have to stop in bag check or the changing tent.  I just trudged past to get some water and a banana.  I didn't take the food box since I was planning on getting food at the after party in Epcot. I did get my free beer and this is the first race where I've been able to do that!  It was too cold at my first half marathon and too rainy at my second.  So yay for finally getting my free beer. When I saw the line to get into Epcot, I was again glad I didn't have a bag.  There was a giant line to go through bag check, even with the clear bags that you had just gotten from the race bag check :(. I was able to skip all that but I felt really bad for the people who had to wait in that line.  I think I would have given up on the party if I had to wait in the line.

Instead, I went into the park, found Mike and changed clothes.  We the walked toward the party but had to wait since it involved crossing over the race course.  This part seemed really chaotic and I think it took 15 minutes or so.  Finally, we got to one of the food booths and Mike parked me on a bench while he went to wait in line to get me some food and drink.  We enjoyed the band that was playing, walked and a bit, but then headed out a bit before 3am since the lines seemed pretty long everywhere.  

The party was a bit disappointing if you finish toward the middle or back because the lines made things seem inaccessible.  But Mike said it was great for spectators.  He was able to get into the park at 7, see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in concert, catch the fireworks show, sample the food and wine booths using the $15 gift card I was given with race registration with very little lines as well as several of the rides.  He said the character lines were also really short at the beginning.  I heard the same from the faster runners, the party was great at the beginning.

Final thoughts

Overall, I think Run Disney did the right thing.  There was definitely lightning in the area and I was feeling nervous about running in those conditions.  I don't know how you would evacuate everyone to shelter once the race had started so I think they had to delay.  And I heard afterwards that there was a lot of debris on the ground in Animal Kingdom from the rain, so that part had to be cut out.  I was obviously disappointed, but I understand why it had to be done.  It was also really hot and humid, and I had a hard enough time with the shortened course.  I feel bad saying this but given the way I felt after those 6.7 miles, I'm not sure I would have done well with the whole 13.1 miles. I think it was good for runners well being that the course was cut.  I do feel bad for people who trained for this as their first half marathon, but hopefully they were able to find another local half so the training wasn't "wasted."

I listened to the Mickey Miles podcast from last week where they did their recap of this race and it was very informative.  Apparently the race came really close to being black flagged earlier in the afternoon and the close to being cancelled with the Lightning in the evening.  So I'm glad I got to run at all and I feel positive about rolling with the punches and running the race that was put in front of me. No one can control the weather and we all have to deal with the circumstances we're given on race day.

The only thing I wasn't happy about was the communication to people in the later corrals.  The majority of our information was coming from social media and the few people who were able to get service in the crowd were kind of reporting out to all of us.  It would have been nice if the official race communication could have been filtered back to us somehow.

This race, more than any other I've done, felt like a really different experience for the back of the pack than the front of the pack, especially with the communication difficulties, the lines to get into Epcot and the lines at the after party.

Wine and Dine (half of a) Half Marathon review - Part 1

Well, I foresee this being a long post, so settle in for the story :). Actually, the post was so long I ended up splitting it into two parts.

By this point, I'm sure many of you heard about what happened at the Wine and Dine half marathon at Disney World but for those of you that haven't, I don't want to bury the lead.  The half marathon was shortened to about 6.7 miles because of weather and timing concerns.

Expo

But first things first, the expo.  We got to the expo pretty soon after it opened and the crowds were pretty big.  The expo is split into two buildings, one for bib pick up and the second for buying stuff. So we went to pick up our bibs first.  There was a huge line, but before I waited too long it was announced that the line was just for people who had pre-ordered merchandise.  I don't know why they had to wait in a separate line instead of putting that stuff with their bibs.  But thankfully for me, it meant I could get out of that line and instead go straight to the bib pick up line, which was only a couple people in front of me.  I had to wait in two lines since I did both the 5k and half marathon, but both were relatively short and moved quickly.

There was also some official race merchandise for sale here, but the line was really long so I decided to go buy the stuff in the other building instead.  This would turn out to be a mistake.  There were also some fun photo ops here so we took advantage of that before heading over to the second building.

Where the crowds were even worse!  We went to the area to pick up our included race shirts first, and that moved quickly.  But then we went to look at the official race merchandise and the crowds were crazy.  I found the shirt I wanted and thankfully, Mike and my dad agreed to wait in line for me.  It took them more than an hour :(

My mom wanted some shoes and a knee brace, so I took her over to the Fit 2 Run booth where she got some oofos and a knee brace.  We wandered around some more, took some photos, and went by the KT Tape booth but the line was long there as well so I skipped it.  We wandered around a bit more, Mike found a booth giving away some free stuff from Disney Springs along with a coupon for the place we already planned to eat lunch, so score!  I think we spent about 2 hours at the expo, total.

Pre-race

Race day was the following day.  We had left the room at 5am for the 5k so after a late breakfast, we spent the rest of the day resting.  The half marathon was a night race so I had a hearty late breakfast and a light dinner at 5pm of a bagel with PB2.  Mike and I then left at 6:30 to drive to Epcot.  We got in easily with smooth parking and I got in line for the buses, which started at 7pm.  I got on one of the first buses heading to the start area.  I'm glad I did.  I heard from others that there was quite the back up later, even for people who arrived shortly after 7.

But of course, this means I was at the start area pretty early.  The race was supposed to start at 10pm and I was there shortly after 7 so I had quite a bit of time to kill.  Thankfully, there were characters out and the lines weren't too long so I got in line for a photo op.  Then, I saw that the Mickey Miles podcast hosts tweeted they were in the start area as well so I went over to say hi to them.

After that, I went over to the runner only area.  It was still early but I wanted to minimize time on my feet so I just found an empty spot and sat on the lawn and listened to the DJ. Around 8:30 or so, I went over near the area that opened up into the corrals because I figured they would open that up around 9.  Shortly after I got there though, the temperatures dropped petty drastically, the wind picked up, and we began to feel a couple raindrops.  I also saw some flashes of lightening. People near me began checking their phones for the weather radar and worrying about possibilities for storms.  I pulled out my poncho and continued to wait but I was beginning to worry too.  We then started moving and I just assumed that they were letting us into the corrals as I hadn't heard any announcements saying otherwise.  But as I passed one of the volunteers, I heard her saying we were being evacuated due to the Lightning. I think this was around 9.

I ended up in the baseball stadium, seated on one of the steps.  And we continued to wait.  There were some announcements but we couldn't really hear them at all and I had no idea what was being said. But I figured it was ok because I'd see other people moving once it was announced.  I was beginning to worry about whether we'd get to race at all and if we did, how I would handle the delay. I got up at one point to go to the bathroom (yay really bathrooms!) and when I came out, saw that everyone was moving! So I followed along with the crowd, back to the corral area where we were earlier and we were held there again.

I had put my phone on airplane mode as I was trying to conserve battery but other people around me were checking Twitter and the rumors were flying.  This is where I first heard someone say Run Disney had tweeted that the race would be shortened, but still no details on what that meant.  Most people around me assumed that meant Animal Kingdom would be cut out, but how much of the highway section would be cut out?  We were guessing it would be somewhere between 6 and 10 miles but that's a pretty big range.

I think it was around 10pm when we were allowed into the corrals and this was a giant mess.  Everyone just streamed towards the corrals en masse and it didn't seem like anyone was cracking whether people were going into the proper corrals or not.  Now, runners obviously have to take some responsibility for this.  You know where you belong and you deliberately chose to take advantage of the chaos and try to sneak into an earlier corral.  Not cool.

Once we were in the corrals, more waiting and more listening to people getting information from the Internet.  We were in corral H and so we couldn't hear any of the announcements back where we were.  I later heard that the speakers where we were had malfunctioned, so maybe that's why? Nonetheless, we felt pretty left in the dark.

The good news is that people and me were pretty positive the whole time.  I think people felt disappointed but able to roll with the punches.  This helped me put a good face on it as well.  At that point, I and most of the people around me, just wanted to start running whatever race ended up in front of us.  Also, we were laughing about being pretty hungry so I think we just wanted to get to the food too!

You can see the rest of the story in Part 2 of my review.

Friday Five - Jingle Jungle 5k

I'm back from Florida, and just in time to join the Friday Five link up with Mar, Cynthia and Courtney.  Since the Wine and Dine weekend races are still on my mind, I thought I'd take this week's Friday 5 link up to write about the Jingle Jungle 5k and 5 reasons that we loved it.

1.  Welcoming to newcomers - I did this race with my dad and Mike.  It was their first big 5k and I could tell me dad was a bit nervous.  I let him know that there would be plenty of walkers and that he didn't have to worry about being swept or not finishing.  It's an untimed fun run and it seemed like a lot of people were taking their time and having fun with it.  And that really helped my dad relax and enjoy it as well.  This was a great even for people who might be new to races and are anxious about it, they even gave out medals at the end.

Dad showing off his first race medal

2.  Costumes - Mike and I dressed up as Agent P and Dr. Doofenschmirtz from Phineas and Ferb.  We loved the opportunity to be silly and dress up together.  And we all loved checking out everyone else's fun costumes.  Disney 5k's are a little easier to get elaborate with your costumes compared to the longer races since you don't have to worry about running for too long.

Having some in character fun after the race

3.  Characters - We were taking our time with this one and going at my dad's speed.  Since we weren't worried about time at all, we had fun with it and stopped for multiple character photos.  I love that Disney had a lot of characters out for this one.  I remember at least 7, which is a lot in a 3 mile distance.  And they were all animals in keeping with the Jingle Jungle theme.

4. Animal Kingdom - This race started out in the Animal Kingdom parking lot, ran around the parking lot for the first mile, went through the park for the second mile, and then backstage for the third mile.  I loved the time spent running through the park.  That's one of the biggest perks of the Disney races and we really enjoyed it here as well.  Animal Kingdom is such a well themed park and there were a lot of details to check out and keep you interested.

Stopping for photos with park icons in the background

5.  Backstage - And I mentioned that the last mile was backstage.  Which sounds kind of boring but I really enjoyed that peek at the backstage area of the park.  It was cool seeing the back side of the Expedition Everest roller coaster as well as some old items they had hanging out back there.  And of course, they still had characters and photo ops in that area to keep things interesting.  But it was a fun way to see a side of the parks most people don't get to see.

The backside of Expedition Everest

Random backstage props

In short, we all really enjoyed this 5k.  It was untimed but I did have my Garmin on.  It's a bit off since I had it paused while we were waiting in line for characters and I forgot to turn it back on right away at one point.  But it's close. So while it took about 58 minutes of moving time, it took around 1:15 overall for us to finish the course.

Marine Corps Marathon 10k

Last year, Mike and I went down to the Mall to cheer on runners in the Marine Corps Marathon.  And then I learned that they had a 10k that morning as well.  So this year, I decided to run the 10k as a way to participate in the excitement of the weekend in a smaller way.

So the weekend started Saturday morning with the Expo.  The expo is at the Conference Center which is easy to get to via metro.  But in addition, the MCM site offered Parking Panda as an option.  Since metro isn't always so reliable on weekends, I checked out Parking Panda and was able to find a spot half a mile away for $6.  It was super easy to use and that's much cheaper than it would have been for 2 of us to take metro.

We got to the expo around 15 minutes after it opened.  There were separate pick up areas for the 10k and the marathon and the lines were minimal.  The 10k lines were split up by bib number and there was only one person in my line, so score!  We picked up our bibs and then walked down to another section where we were able to pick up our clear plastic bag and shirts.  The shirt lines were split by size and you could decide what size you wanted after looking at the shirts, which was nice.  They seemed to run a bit big.

Though the lines weren't bad in that section, it was really crowded in the official merchandise area.  So we hurried through there and out into the general vendor area.  It was crowded but manageable.  So we wandered through, bought some items (race dots, a bondi band, and a jacket/shrug thing).  We also waited in the KT Tape line since my friend wanted to get her ankle taped.

Race morning I woke up at 4:45 and we left the house around 5:15.  Definitely an earlier morning than I'm used to!  But we didn't want to risk getting stuck in long lines later so we erred on the early side.  We drove down to the city and were able to easily find parking since we got there at 6:10am (race start was at 7:55).  It wasn't raining when we left the car so I decided not to take my hat.  I would regret that decision!

We walked through security and bag search easily as there wasn't much of a line that early.  We checked our bags but thankfully kept our ponchos.  Because about 5 minutes after we checked our bags, it began to rain! There were already port-a-potty lines by 6:30 but they moved really quickly. Around 7, we moved into the start area and lined up in the 1:15-1:20 section as that is where we would be based on our last PR.

So we hung out and chatted for about an hour, listened to the music and the announcer.  It seemed surprisingly low key, maybe because of the rain?  And then all of a sudden, it was time to go! The race starts out with a bit of a loop on the mall past the museums and government buildings.  This is a beautiful, scenic area and I think comprises about the first mile of the course. But it seemed crowded in this whole section.

Then we turned left and headed on to the 14th street bridge.  There are some inclines and declines here but it wasn't too bad since it was the beginning of the race for us.  I'm sure it was a much different proposition for the marathoners. Though the bridge definitely seemed much longer on foot than when driving! The bridge was nice since it seemed to allow people to spread out a bit more.  There was also a really upbeat band on this section that was great.

Next, we took an off ramp into Crystal City a little after the mile 3 marker. This was a fun area and there were a couple spectators cheering already which was nice.  There seemed to be a lot of energy here but it got crowded again.  I also was feeling good this whole time, and passed the mile 3 marker about 20 seconds more than my 5k PR, so that seemed like a good place to be in.

A sea of people in Crystal City

After Crystal City, we were on the highway and headed toward the Pentagon.   I think this was somewhere around mile 4.  We passed the Pentagon and kept on running along the Highway.  This stretch was nice because it opened up again and it wasn't too hilly at all.  And there was a band near the start of the highway. But this was the point where it started to get tough.  I kept telling myself it wasn't meant to be easy and to just keep pushing through.

Once we hit mile 5, there was more music with DJ's and also lots of Marines lining the sides of the road giving high 5's.  That was awesome!  I went for all the high 5's I could get :) I also knew at this point that I was definitely going to get a PR so that was good for the morale as well.  I got a bit of a pick me up but I also wanted to make sure to reserve some for the end since I knew there was a big uphill at the end.

And finally, I saw the mile 6 marker.  And right after that, I saw that the course turned left and there was a giant uphill.  This hill was no joke and it was a little disheartening at first to see that.  But I just put my head down, concentrated on form, and managed to run up the hill.  I passed a lot of people here as a lot of people were walking.  It had gotten really congested again in this section as well. But all the hill training I've been working on this Summer paid off and I crossed the finish line feeling strong. I loved all the excitement in the last .2 mile.

But the crowds made the finish area really congested again.  There were points where we were just at a stand still in the finish area trying to figure out what was going on.  But as we got closer, we realized the hold up was because of the handing out of the medals.  It was slow because a Marine personally shook your hand, put the medal around your neck, and then posed for a photo if you wanted.  So while this slowed things down, it was also one of the cool parts of the race .

Waiting in the crowd to get our medals

After that, people were directed up toward the Iwo Jima Memorial if they wanted an official photo.  We just took a selfie and headed on down the finisher chute.

I love the way they did the post-race food.  It was so organized!  They handed you a clear plastic bag first, which made it so much easier to carry things.  Then full bottles of gatorade and water.  There was a box of food so that was also nice and compact.  There was a banana as well.  I ate the banana since that was easy to do while walking and threw everything else in the bag.  They also gave us actual hooded jackets to wear instead of the mylar blankets, and that was much appreciated.  The rain had stopped at this point but we were still wet and cold.

After that we went to bag check.  Everything was really well marked so we just followed the signs.  There was no line at all for bag check so that process was super quick. We stretched, ate some of our boxed food, and then continued on to walk about a mile to brunch.

So the only real downside of this race was the number of people as the 10k was sold out.  I think that was around 10,000 people.  That made the logistics complicated (having to go early) and the course congested.  There were pace signs to help you line up in the right place but it quickly became clear that many people didn't pay attention to them.  We were passing a ton of people and a ton of people were passing us at the beginning.  I'm not sure why so many faster people lined up in the back.  Maybe it was crowded enough that they couldn't get to the right area if they arrived late?  But it made the race feel congested for the first 2 miles or so and then again while we were in Crystal City and again at the finish. But it's an awesome race, and a great way to participate in the energy of MCM weekend if you don't want to do the full marathon, so I can see why there were so many people.

So how did I do?  Well, this was a 10k PR for me and I was super excited about that!  My official time was 1:14:40.  My previous PR was from the 2014 Lawyer's Have Heart 10k and that was a time of 1:18:50. So an improvement of 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

My friend and I both felt that we would definitely do this one again!

Cons - logistics and congestion, rain (though that's not in anyone's control)
Pros - Course, excitement, energy, marines, motivation

Friday 5 - MCM 10k Plans

I'm especially excited that it's Friday this week because it's Marine Corps Marathon weekend in town.  There's a great energy around town and it's also the first time I'm going to be participating in a small way since I'm running the 10k.  And of course, Friday also means it's time for the Friday 5 link up with Mar, Cynthia and Courtney.  Today, I'm going to talk about my plans for MCM weekend.

1.  The weekend starts with the expo Saturday morning for me. The friend I'm running the race with is going to join me at my place in the morning and we're going to take the metro in together to the convention center.  The plan is to take our time checking things out, taking photos and having fun.

2.  Saturday night, my friend is coming back over to spend the night.  Yay, slumber party!  Except for the fact that we have to wake up super early.  So chances are that we'll chat a bit but then just go to bed early so we're ready to head out at 5am.

3.  I went ahead and used parking panda to get a spot not too far from the race start Sunday morning.  I didn't want to mess with metro race morning and since there are 2 of us, the price for the spot is about the same as metro would cost for 2 people. I love Parking Panda!

4.  The 10k. So I'm not sure of my plans for the race itself. My long run last week where I felt like I was struggling with the uphills was close to a 10k PR anyway.  I really want to try for a 10k PR and I feel like I should be able to do it since my last 10k PR was from June 2014 and I've gotten faster since then.  But every time I've tried for a 10k PR this year, I've flamed out.  I still haven't figured out the 10k pacing correctly.  The other variable is I'm not sure how hilly the route is. I know there's an uphill at the end for the final .2 and there's an incline at the memorial bridge, which is around mile 2.  So I think I'm just going to try to race by feel and keep it a more comfortable pace for the beginning.  If things are going well and I'm on pace for a PR toward the end, I'll push it some more.

 

One of my earlier 10ks from this year that did not go well.

5. Post-race brunch! We've made reservations a mile or so away from the finish line so that we can walk over after the race.  The reservation is at Tupelo Honey Cafe and the menu looks delicious!  I am excited to try it.  And as an added bonus, the metro stop by the restaurant will be a stop earlier than the MCM finish line stop so hopefully it won't be too crowded when we get on the train and we can actually get seats as we take the train back to the car.

So those are my plans for the weekend!  I hope you guys have a great weekend too.

Shape Diva Dash 5k review

This race took place on September 12th and I've waited so long to write this review that I feel like I've forgotten a lot of it!  That should teach me not to wait a month before reviewing a race.  But I feel like I had a hard time finding a lot of information about it ahead of time so I'm still going to go ahead and write about my impressions.

First of all, this is an obstacle race 5k that is focused on women.  I didn't see a single male running the race.  I've never done an obstacle race before or a woman focused race so it was an interesting, and overall good, experience.  Really, the main downside is that it was raining that morning but that's not in anyone's control.

The race was at a farm in suburban Maryland.  I felt like the directions and signage were good.  We had no problems getting there and no problems parking.  That went really smoothly.  There was also no need for pre-race package pick up.  In fact, I really liked that one of the things they did was that all you picked up before the race was your bib and a buff, which you got instead of a shirt.  I loved the idea of a buff instead of a shirt as it was something different and most of the people I heard talking about it seemed to like it as well. And since this was all you got before the race, no need to go back to the car to put away a bag or anything.

Us wearing our new buffs

The other nice thing they did was separate people into different waves with different start times.  The waves were just based on sign up, not on speed.  We knew our start time was 9:45 and I think this helped reduce pre-race crowding and lines.  The waves were also spread out, so much so that there were people still starting by the time we finished.  This also helped with the congestion on the course.  Each wave seemed pretty small and that helped, especially as there were some portions of the course at the beginning that were really small. There was one location at the beginning that was so narrow you had no choice but to kind of shuffle along single file.  But thankfully that area was small and we could spread out soon after the start.

 Pre race photo ops without a lot of lines

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this race and I think part of that was because it was a low key, women focused race.  There seemed to be lots of groups of friends doing the race together.  I don't think I saw anyone doing it by themselves.  And there was a really supportive, collaborative environment both at the beginning and during the course. There were a lot of tutus, boas, superhero costumes, and just people having lots of fun together.

Pre-race group warm up dancing

As I mentioned earlier, the race was at a farm.  So this was not a road race.  There was varying terrain from grass, to gravel, to just mud by the end of the race since the rain was really coming down at that point. And the obstacles included things like giant, inflatable columns that you had to run through, something that looked like monkey bars that you crawled over on top of, a pit of giant inflatable balls that you crawled over on top of, little trampolines that you ran across, a stream that you had to run through (the water was a little over knee high on me), etc. None of them were too bad but the only reason I ran this race is that it was very clear that you could just skip obstacles if you wanted to.

I skipped two of them because I don't think they were meant for people my height (I'm only 4'11).  The first was kind of a strap suspended above the ground that you had to walk on (think like a tight rope) while holding onto some bars over your head.  The problem is that by the time we got there, probably due to the rain, the straps had kind of loosened and were hanging a bit low, so that I couldn't reach the hand bars.  My friend is a couple inches taller than I am and had a hard time with that one at the end too.  The other one I skipped was a set of bars you climbed.  I wouldn't have had a problem with the climbing section, but then at the top, there was a fireman pole you had to slide down.  The pole was located far enough from the bars that I was worried I wouldn't be able to reach it with my short legs!  So at both of those, I waited for my friend to finish and then we continued on our way.

They billed it as having a great finish line party but not so much.  The finish was definitely on the empty side, but I think that was probably because of the rain and maybe it would have been better otherwise?  As soon as you crossed, you did get a swag bag and also a photo.  I like that the race included free photos, always a nice little bonus. And the bag had a little mini luna bar in it, which was a good thing but there was no other food.  Well, there were a couple food truck where you could purchase food but no other freely available food.  I'm used to all 5ks at least having bagels and bananas but maybe I'm spoiled and that's not normal?

So overall, I really enjoyed this race and would think about doing it again, especially since I was able to sign up with a discount. 

Pros - atmosphere, fun obstacles but option to skip them, pretty location, well handled logistics
Cons - rain, mud, lack of post-race food

MCRRC Eastern County 8k

I ran the Montgomery County Road Runner's Eastern County 8k this weekend.  It was a really small race but I wanted to go ahead and review it anyway since I had a hard time finding any information on this race before hand.

The race is one of MCRRC's low key races so there is no sign up in advance.  If you are a member, you just show up with your bib and shoe tag and you're ready to go.  If you aren't a member, there was a registration table set up under a tent where you could pay the $10 fee and get a bib and shoe tag for the race.  The registration looked like it went smoothly and there was never much of a line.

The parking also seemed to be ok.  I got there about 45 minutes early (I had lost my bib and shoe tag) and was able to park fairly close.  There were alot of parking lots and my friend who cam later was able to park in one of the further lots.  She said the only downside was that it was unclear of where to go for parking, but once she parked it wasn't a far walk at all.  All the logistics seemed really smooth and I'm sure that is helped by the fact that there were less than 200 participants.

The race was at a local park in Silver Spring and it was beautiful.  There was a lake in the middle that we past a couple times.  We ran on the street for the beginning of the race, and then on paved paths for the middle and end of the race, and there was a portion on side walks.  It never felt that crowded because of the small field.  But there were moments on the paths that were a bit tight because they were out and backs so people were going both ways.

The course was a little weird.  As mentioned, there were lots of out and back sections.  And at approximately mile 3.5, you ran right past the finish line.  I always hate that and it always seems confusing.  Plus, the runners that had already finished were milling about right on the race course so it made it a bit tough to get through.  I realize you're already done but the rest of us are still running!

The other thing I didn't like about the course is that there was a lot of uphill action toward the end of the race.  It felt really tough at the end, both because of the uphills and because the sun had come out.  The shaded portions were all early in the race.  So I did have the opposite of negative splits.  I knew that I would have a harder time at the end of the race so I tried to push it a bit in the early portion.

Mile 1 was my warm up before the race started.  Mile 2 through Mile 6 was the actual race and mile 7 was my cool down after the race.  So you can see my slow down as the race went on.  But given the elevation and the sun, I'm ok with that.

My official time according to the race website is 1:02:14 or a 12:32 pace.  This was an 8k PR for me!  I haven't done a lot of 8ks and the last one was in much hotter weather so I'm happy to have a better 8k time.

 

Photo from MCRRC photographer...yay for free photos!

After we finished our cool down, we went back toward the finish line and there was still food!  I was prepared for everyone to have packed up since we were toward the back of the pack and since we had chosen to run a bit extra after the race.  It was awesome that people were still there.  In addition to the usual oranges and bananas, there was watermelon.  The watermelon was amazing in the heat! There were also some bagels, donuts, juice, coffee, water, etc.  But to be honest, I didn't look at anything other than the watermelon.

 

So pros for the race ... small field made logistics easy, the location was beautiful, there were great volunteers, the cost was low, and the post race food was great.  Cons... the elevation increases at the end of the race, there were weird out and backs, and having to run past the finish line when you have more than a mile to go.

As an aside, Disney just announced a Star Wars Half Marathon in Orlando in April 2016.  The Orlando race will be themed after "the Dark Side." I am so tempted but I'm planning to stay strong!  I would love to do this race one year but I don't think next April is it.  If any of you are interested, I think registration will open up September 22nd and I'm sure it will go fast.