Race Report: Living Dead Challenge (2-4-1!)

The Living Dead Challenge just sounded like a good time, right y'all?!  5k on Saturday night and half marathon on Sunday morning.  I'm typically a morning runner, but usually have faster times at evening 5ks...strange.  I was really looking forward to this particular 5k because it was at Starkey Park which is a very familiar course.  And flat.

The race directors also did a one mile kids run before the 5k, in which children (who were dressed up for Halloween), ran a mile and collected candy at "fuel stations" along the route.  It had to be the most adorable thing that I've ever seen!  After we cheered on the kiddos, I ran a warmup mile and a half with Ben and Tracey.

There's a small issue with my marathon training and racing.  I have to run before and after the races in order to get the assigned mileage for the day.  It's really not so bad, this is the first year that I've been incorporating races into my training schedule, and it's been working out pretty well so far.

The weather was actually really nice for a 5k, and the sun was just about to set as the 5k was finishing.  I set off and was trying to run the best I could knowing that I also had to run a half marathon the following day.  Ben caught up with me right around the finish and really helped push me to the end.

5k is the race distance that I love to hate.  I love how short they are, but I hate how you have to basically go all out in order to achieve the time you desire.  I've really, (really) been trying to break the elusive 25:00 minute mark.  I'm getting close...super close.  In fact, the Bride of Frankenfooter 5k is my new PR!!

25:03 - 4th out of 38th age group, 64th out of 329th overall

Ben actually got 3rd place in his age group, so he got this really cool looking bronze hand award.  We proceeded to use it as a prop whenever possible on the way home.

All hands on deck!

Hold on!

Shout out to the Saucony's that carried us through the 5k on Saturday night! (From left to right - Tracey's Fastwich, my old school Fastwitch, Ben's Ride)

The following morning for the half marathon, I wasn't really feeling it.  My original goal was to finish around two hours.  Ben decided that he was going to stick with my for this race (bless his heart!).  This normally goes one of two ways - it's either extremely motivating or really aggravating.  Ben is naturally a talented (faster) runner than I am and running just seems to come so easy to him.  Which can be a little frustrating for me.

About halfway through the half marathon course, the water stops were out of water.  Not good.  Luckily, Starkey Park had their water coolers full of ice-cold water.  This race just really fell apart after that.  I got some cramping from the Gels (I'm assuming), it was getting hotter, and there was no water.  It was really a tough race.  And I was very happy to finish.

2:03:32 -- 5th out of 24th age group/40th out of 128 females/88th out of  210 overall

And wouldn't you know it - Ben placed first in his age group!  (I told him that it was his award for being such a patient human being)  The award for first place was a gold foot (not nearly as cool)

We did clean up at the raffle afterwards.  I won a $50 gift card to my favorite running store Suncoast Running!  Tracey got some sort of light up balloons and a cigar bar gift certificate.

Overall, this race was a TON of fun.  I don't remember ever laughing so much before or after a race.  More importantly, check out the BLING!!

Wedding Update!

The countdown is also on until the BIG wedding day! Only 172 more days until I'm a married woman.  Wow, that seems so soon.  Thankfully I've been using Wedding Wire to keep me on track as far as what needs to be done in what order.  (You can also check out our wedding website HERE).  

Thankfully my honey is super talented in PhotoShop, so we designed our own Save the Date cards (pictured below):  Most of the inspiration for the photos came from PINTEREST!, but the idea to do the back side as a racing bib was totally mine!  Can you believe it?  They turned out much better than I anticipated and since we did all the labor ourselves we saved some $$$ too!

Front

Back

Photo credit for the Save the Dates goes to the talented Mrs. Rebecca Dodson.  You can see her website HERE , but sadly (for us, not her) she has moved to Nashville, Tennessee (and is expecting her first BABY!!!!).  She has done several photo shoots for us in the past, and is AWESOME.  Here is a link to our engagement shoot and Rebecca was also able to capture our engagement on film.

Here are some of the other vendors that we have chosen:

Accommodations - Brooksville Holiday Inn Express.  You can find their website HERE

Photography - Ms. Harmony Blackwell.  When it came to booking a photographer for the wedding, we were a little lost.  (As we are on a lot of wedding things).  Luckily, Ben went to college with fellow architect, Harmony Blackwell who has recently gotten in to photography.  Check out her website HERE!  We are very excited that Harmony has agreed to take part in our day

Flowers - Ms. Pamela Verschuere.  Pam is admittedly bad at internet and e-mail, but her telephone number is 813-505-6043.  Pam actually did the flowers for my sister's wedding in 2005.  She is very knowledgeable about flowers (which helps because I'm totally ignorant in regards to flowers) and very competitive with her pricing.

Catering - Luis Rovira of L & L Events.  You can contact Luis via his website.  Luis is super flexible and very nice.

Wedding Dress - Patricia's Boutique.  If you grew up in or around Pasco or Hernando counties, they you know Patricia.  I actually got my Senior prom dress at Patricia's.  They were really friendly, and I'm totally in love with my dress (which will remain a secret to most until April 13th).  The only downside of Patricia's is that they are really heavy in to pageants and suggested that I get my alterations done on my dress in November.  For an April wedding.  Dislike. So, if you know of a good seamstress in the area, please let me know!

And that's pretty much all we have done so far.  I've also been using my Bridal Bargins books (that I bought on Amazon to save money, but you can also find it HERE!)  The book has some really good ideas that I would have never thought of.  That's pretty much where are are at, it seems like a lot of work but it's pretty fun and exciting to research and learn more about weddings.

Race Report: Picnic Island #2

This race went much better than I could have ever anticipated; however, it did not start off great.  Ben and I left the house at 5 pm to head over to Picnic Island, thinking that we would have plenty of time to get there for the 6:45 race start.  But, there was a TON of traffic.  We didn't land up getting to the park until 6:15 - ahhh!!

There was plenty of parking available, but not too close to where race registration was located.  We had to run to get our race numbers and while Ben can pee in the woods, I discovered the line for the ladies room was too long to make it before start.  I recalled seeing a restroom at the front of the park that was open, so I decided to make a run for it at 6:24, but it was over a mile round trip.  But, there was no way that I was going to be able to make it through the race with all the water I drank.

There wasn't anyone at the front bathroom so it was very quick and I ran back to meet up with Ben and spray down with bug spray before the start.  We jogged most of the race course and it was much more than a mile by the time we got to the start line.  We met up with our friends Vera and Joe and had approximately three minutes to spare before the start of the race.  Whew!

The water levels were really low for this race, so it made it a little easier than Picnic Island #1 because you didn't have to slosh through the water as much.  Unfortunately, there are also a lot of rocks in the water that were now on the shore.  Which I got caught on and fell in the first 1/2 mile or so.  SUPER embarrassing.

The remaining of the race was pretty uneventful.  I did loose my Sweaty-Band in the cargo net, but it's my own fault for wearing it to this particular race.  I will say that knowing the race course is a plus for Picnic Island.  Here are the splits from my watch:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	35:45.6	3.71	9:38
1	8:35.2	1.00	8:35
2	9:49.7	1.00	9:50
3	9:22.6	1.00	9:23
4	7:58.2	0.71	11:13

Overall, 7/58 age group, 32/298 females, 180/717 overall.  This was my best finish at at Picnic Island ever.  It was a little bit of a rushed experience at the start, but it was also helpful that the tide was low and there was plenty of cloud cover.

Here is photo of Vera and myself with our Top 50 finisher glasses:

Next and final Picnic Island will be Friday, July 13th! 

Long Run Socks

The summer in Florida is no joke, especially if you have to train in it.  And, like most runners, I am a creature of habit.  There are certain clothes that are "approved" for longer distances.  They are tried and true.  I know that they will not chafe, bunch, or irritate me on a longer run.  This includes my special pair of "long run socks".  However, I was having a hard time locating my special long run socks on Sunday morning a few weeks ago.

As I frantically searched my sock drawer for my coveted socks, Ben looked over to see what the heck I was doing.  I told him that I was looking for my special long run socks and that I need to find them ASAP or I would be late.  At which point, he rolled over and pulled the blankets over his head.  Perhaps, I should invest in another pair.  Apparently I had already worn them this week, so I had to go with my back up socks.  Sigh.  What article of clothing can you not go without?

Anyway, after I settled on my back up socks, I met Rhonda and Melanie at the Upper Tampa Bay Trail for a 8-9 miler.  The one thing about my friends is that if you talk about more than one distance, you can be sure that you are going to longer distance.  The nice thing about the Upper Tampa Bay Trail is the amount of shade that you get, especially in the morning.  However, there is a huge over pass that is not so pleasant.

Here are the splits (from June 3rd - it's been a while):

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:19:47.0	9.00	8:52
1	9:15.1	1.00	9:15
2	9:00.3	1.00	9:00
3	8:47.5	1.00	8:47
4	8:28.4	1.00	8:28
5	8:40.2	1.00	8:40
6	8:53.2	1.00	8:53
7	8:51.2	1.00	8:51
8	8:59.1	1.00	8:59
9	8:52.0	1.00	8:53

On Saturday (June 2nd), I met up with Tracey for a quick, easier run in Longleaf.  There were a lot of things going on this particular Saturday, so we met at 6 (waiting a few minutes for Natalie to bail on us, ahem!) and set out to Dianne and Craig's house and back.  Dianne and Craig live half way between Longleaf and Starkey Park.  And they are gracious enough to have a Gatorade/water buffet for the Strider runners.  Here are our splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:04:08.5	7.01	9:09
1	9:15.1	1.00	9:15
2	9:11.4	1.00	9:11
3	9:05.8	1.00	9:06
4	9:08.7	1.00	9:09
5	9:10.7	1.00	9:11
6	9:13.6	1.00	9:14
7	9:00.7	1.00	9:01
8	:02.6	0.01	8:16

Then, I also did a San Antonio Hill Run last Sunday, June 10th which was a long(er) run.  It was supposed to be another 9 miler, but I wasn't feeling it after the RAP River Run.  So I cut it shorter and ended up with 8.27 miles.  Clearly, I should have just done the 9 mile route.  Here are the splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:15:50.3	8.27	9:11
1	9:38.3	1.00	9:38
2	9:21.6	1.00	9:22
3	8:55.8	1.00	8:56
4	9:06.9	1.00	9:07
5	9:02.8	1.00	9:03
6	9:04.7	1.00	9:05
7	9:03.6	1.00	9:04
8	9:05.0	1.00	9:05
9	2:31.8	0.27	9:33

Check out THIS elevation gain!!!

Distance:	8.27 mi
Time:	1:15:50
Avg Pace:	9:11 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	468 ft
Calories:	964 C

We have been running the same 10 mile loop in San Antonio, but found another one on WalkJogRun to try.  It was much more difficult in terms of elevation gain and number of hills, but it was a nice change/challenge.  This particular run was Natalie's last hill run before her move for college.  We did our photo Kids Incorporated style:

Don't know what Kids Incorporated is?!?  Check it! (Excellent video quality of the 80s..)

(Looks like we made it!  Recognize Fergie Ferg?!?)

Finally, have you heard of this website? Hey Runner Girl  Here's a sample:

Talk about a dream come true!

Race Report: RAP River Run

Yesterday was my first actual 5k since November of last year. (I did the Kumquat 5K in January, but the distance was only 2.92 miles).  Personally, I find the 5k distance horrendous.  I'd much rather do a longer distance race where I can really settle in to a pace.  I was really hoping to break 25:00 at Rap River, but was going to be realistic with myself as far as the heat/humidity was concerned in a June race.

I was able to pick up our race numbers and "packets" the day before, so Ben and I didn't have to arrive too early.  We have a special parking location near Fitzgerald's in downtown NPR that I always like to snag in the morning.  We arrived and set out on the new 5k course to warm up a little and stretch before the race started.  I knew that in order to break 25:00, I would have to maintain a 8:02 or better pace for the entire race.

The start line had markers for different pace per mile, I had thought that I would line up where I thought appropriate.  However, I should have realized that other runners don't always pay attention to the markers.  The first lap around the lake was a little hectic, but I hit the first mile a little faster than I wanted to.  I knew that I had to calm it down or I was not going to be able to hold on for the remainder of the race.

However, I totally lost focus after the first mile.  I can not really pin-point any one particular thing that went wrong, but it was not my day - and that's okay.  This was the fastest 5k I've ran since 2004, so I'm making progress and will keep working at my speed.  I will aim for another race when it cools down a bit in the fall.  And as Ben says, I should probably build a bridge and get over it.  Here are my splits from my Garmin:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	25:26.0	3.14	8:06
1	7:40.4	1.00	7:40
2	8:11.3	1.00	8:11
3	8:26.9	1.00	8:27
4	1:07.4	0.14	8:03

Official chip time is 25:25, 8:12 per mile.  8th out of 65 in my age group, 211 out of 923 overall.

Official age group results are HERE

The other really great thing about the Rap River Run is that PHCC participated in the Team Challenge this year.  Our college president is on the board of the RAP House and suggested that we form a team.  Admittedly, we completely slacked on coordinating a team outfit for the race, as pictured below:

Ben, myself, Bobby, Merissa, Julia, Ana, Bob and Alex

But, we totally won the Fastest School Team Award!

It was a great moment with my co-workers as we talked over breakfast about what campus we should house our huge trophy on.  And how we would need to get a big case with mirrors for all of our future awards. =) 

Team results are HERE

Next up, Picnic Island #2 on Friday Night!