Finding my running groove (Comments Welcome)

Nice race recap! This race is pretty close to me so I might run it sometime. It's great that they give finisher medals - not many 5k's near me seem to do that.

I felt great the whole race, but then I was super nauseous after finishing. We headed down a side street to stretch and I thought I was going to throw up.

I always feel like that after finishing a 5k. I seem to do better if I can keep moving after the race. My theory is that when my heart-rate is high, but I stop right after the race, it takes some time for my heart-rate to settle down and if I don't channel that into movement of some kind, it makes me feel icky.
 
Nice race recap! This race is pretty close to me so I might run it sometime. It's great that they give finisher medals - not many 5k's near me seem to do that.

I am all about the bling so I try and find races that offer something. My husband likes to tell people I only run races for the swag. He is not into it as much.
 


Countdown to Rockfest Half Marathon -

My hopefully first half marathon is in 14 weeks and I have zero training going on. So a little backstory - I signed up for this marathon a long time ago. I had always planned on doing seacoast for my first half and had Rockfest on my radar as a potential. However, I wanted to run one half before signing up for another. But then in February, they released a great coupon code and I am all for saving money when possible so I bit the bullet and signed up. Fast forward to now and this is going to be my first half. I hear that it is a fast course as it is mainly flat although the weather can be very hit or miss.

So I am not looking forward to training during the summer. Summer has finally arrived here in NE and it was very humid on Saturday. It was a T+D of 145. It hasn't really been that humid so my first run in summer weather was torture. Plus this week our highs are all in the high 80s so I better get used to it. I run after work usually around 7:00 PM so at least the sun has started to go down. I just need to get better about getting up on the weekends to run in the morning. I did try out my new goodr and I do really like them.

So I am not really sure what I am going to do for training. My schedule is all over the place for the summer as I have some scheduled time off and some travel so I just need to make it work. I am thinking I am rework the plan that I was using for my last half, but I am not sure. The heat is making me feel very unmotivated so I need to get back into a routine soon.
 
This summer has definitely been a struggle when it comes to running. I thought I would have more motivation after my 5k in June but the opposite seems to have happened. For one thing it has been a very hot and humid season in New England. This has made going out for runs not the most appetizing. I feel so slow and sluggish whenever I go out and just not into it.

I did spend four days in Chicago last week for a work conference. It was my first time to the Windy City. The weather was warm but otherwise gorgeous. I was able to see some of the sites as my hotel was right downtown. I took advantage of the one free day I had to get out and explore. I also feel like I ate my way through the city. One thing that I know will not be a popular opinion was I did not care for deep dish pizza. I think my experience was marred by the fact that the restaurant lost my order and then gave me the wrong pizza after 2 hours of waiting. I would definitely be willing to give it another try on a future visit. And I definitely want to return to the Windy City again on a fun trip. I did drag myself out of bed early and get some treadmill runs in so I felt good about that. But since coming home I have been so unmotivated.

I have 11 weeks until my half and I am just not sure it is going to happen. This weekend the high on Saturday is supposed to be 97 which is unheard of here. I am going to try and get out and run early this weekend and get my mojo back. Wish me luck!

Some photos from Chicago -
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It has been a really long time since I posted here. Life just seemed to get away from me for a while. I thought I would come back and update after my last race.

Great Pumpkin Run 5K 2019 - September 21

I was really excited for this run. The race looked fun with cool swag and a great atmosphere. I was highly disappointed and it is a race I would not run again. The race was about a 30 minute drive from our house in Hampton Falls, NH. It started at 9:00 AM, but they recommended that everyone be there by 7:30 AM so you had time to park, do bib pick up, etc. We left around 6:45 AM with a quick stop for coffee for Peter as he was not running. The drive up was very uneventful and it was looking like it was going to be a lovely day. This race was taking place at an apple orchard. We were making great time and about a mile from the farm we came to a dead stop and didn't move. Now initially we were not that concerned. Figured that there could be a variety of reasons for the stop, maybe a light, stop sign, etc. But after 30 minutes and going less than .5 mile, we were beginning to wonder. Now as we slowly inched along and the time to the start ticked down, people started panicking. I knew that I could make it to the race if needed by hoping out since Peter was not running. We finally got to the farm, but it took an hour to go that 1 mile. We thought it might have been a parking issue, but there was plenty of parking. The issue was they were waving people in from both sides of the streets and individually waiving cars to a parking spot, which was not a good system. We ended up parking right around 8:30 AM.

Luckily, there was no line for bib pickup. I got my bib and my light weight tech hoodie. Now it was pretty warm and sunny on Saturday. I had worn a tank top and leggings. I had really wished I had worm shorts. However, walking around I could not believe how many people were wearing the hoodies. I was thinking they are going to be melting. I handed the hoodie to Peter who ran it back to the car as I got in line for the bathrooms. Now it is a farm so there was no real bathrooms, but they only have 20 port a potties for 2000+ people. Not the best idea. I was concerned about not making it through the line before the race started. Luckily that was not the case and I had about five minutes to spare and quickly headed to the corrals. We did self seed and I was in Corral C, which meant you planned to run the whole way. They went all the way up to J for those planning to walk.

Th race started promptly at 9:00 AM with corral A. Now they didn't really space the corrals out so it was more like one massive herd of people at the start. We start running and immediately come to a dead stop. The path was too narrow to allow people to run more than 2 abreast. And it was like this for the first .3 to .4 miles of the race, which really killed any mojo that people had. I guess it helped me from going out to fast. Now I knew that it was in an apple orchard and that it would not be a paved road, but it was tough terrain. Even once the orchard opened up at .4 to .5 miles, you really needed to watch your footing. There were rocks, holes, and apples everywhere. I saw more than one person go down with an ankle injury. I decided then that this was not going to be a PR day and I just wanted to make it through. When we hit mile one, there was a water stop. However, they made you get off the path to get a cup so there was confusion as some people were stepping off and others back on. On top of that, for an additional medal you could sign up for the tough pumpkin, where you ran with a pumpkin that was up to 10 pounds so you had people struggling to carry a pumpkin that you also had to watch out for.

By this point, the sun was out in full force and it was hot. I continued along and was happy to see mile marker 2. What I was not happy to see was the continued uphill that we needed to climb. They failed to mention on the race sign up that this course was primarily up hill. It was brutal. About 2.25 miles in, we hit a downhill patch on grass that gave a much needed break. We then ran through this mud puddle and got our shoes soaked and then immediately hit a dry dirt patch so everything was covered in dust. As we neared mile 3, we hit another uphill that was very steep. I was over it at this point and walked this section. After that it was a quick jaunt to the finish. The weird thing was the finish was very chaotic. I saw Peter at the finish, but he missed me as you couldn't really see the runners come across the line due to the trees. They only had bottles of water at the finish and your medal. No other foodie treats. I got my medal and then went to pick up my free pumpkin. They also had apple cider, but I saw that the cups had been sitting out since I arrived in the sun and decided that looked less than appetizing. I went and found Peter who was shocked that he had missed me finish. We stood around for a few minutes, but decided that we should try and get out of the parking lot before the masses. Luckily, there were very few people leaving right away and it took less than 5 minutes to get out.

Overall Thoughts:
*I think this race had great potential, especially with a cute theme, but fell far short of the mark.
*The parking was terrible and really didn't leave people enough time to park, get their bib, etc. especially with the lack of bathrooms.
*They did not announce the start of the race so you had people in corrals A & B, racing to try and make the start once they realized what was going on. Unfortunately, the course was so narrow, there was no way they could pass people and make up time.
*The course was uphill for the most part. The winner didn't finish until 21:07 so that tells you how tough it was.
*Poor lack of treats at the end. I know not every race will have beer, but what about a donut or something.
*Medal was neat, but not worth the other pains of this race. I have a race in Maine picked out for next time that offers a flat course, beer, and a medal. I would have ran it this year, but it was announced after I had already signed up for this one.

I finished 39:37 overall 569 out of 2014 and 99 out of 450 in age group which I am happy with.

So I currently have my medals just sitting on our dresser in our bedroom. Peter does not care for race medals as he thinks they should be only giving out to winners. We agree to disagree on this point. However, on Sunday he came out of the bedroom and told me we should find a hanger for my medals. I was like I thought you didn't like medals. And he says I don't, but you do and I feel like we should display them somewhere so probably look into doing that at some point. We also saw the Downton Abbey movie over the weekend. It was really good if you are fan of that series. Highly recommend. I am back on the running again so hopefully will update a little more frequently.
 
New Year, New Plans

It has been a really long time since I have updated this journal. The rest of 2019 just seemed to get away from me. But I did want to post new goals as we enter a new year.

Things have been going well. Although I have not posted much, I have been running very consistently. I am curious to see what the new year brings. I ran 475 miles in 2019 - not the goal that I had in mind, but more than 2018 so that is still a win. I ran 3 5Ks, but was unable to run my half due to injury. I fell off the running wagon over the summer as it was very hot and humid and finally got back into running in October. I am looking forward to having an even more successful year in 2020.

2020 Goals -
1. Update this journal more frequently.
2. Surpass 2019 total mileage
3. Run at least 2 races

I am keeping my goals somewhat vague as although I definitely plan to keep running our lives are a little busy right now and I don't want to over commit and then be disappointed. However, I am much better trained this year and I been much more consistent so that should help.

Potential Races -
Celtic 5K - March
Portland 10 Miler - April
Run for the troops 5K - April
Maine Coast Half - May
Old Port 5K - June
Beach to Beacon 10K - August
Breakaway 5K - August
Smashed Pumpkin 5K or Half - October
Jingle Bell Half - December

So the only race that I had signed up for is the old Port 5K. We ran it last year and really enjoyed it so doing it again this year. I am thinking I want some redemption and doing the Maine Coast half since that was the one I had to cancel this past Spring. I could do the Portland 10 Miler as my last long run so I wouldn't race that one. Beach to Beacon is on my bucket list, but it will depend on what is happening in my life when sign ups roll around. Breakaway 5K is on my birthday so that could be fine, but it could also be ungodly hot. So I may run a bunch of these or only one. I am currently dusting off my DB plan from last Spring and plan to train for Maine Coast. However, I am not going to sign up until it is closer. I am traveling more for work and have some other life commitments so I need to make sure the date works before committing the money.
 

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