#racerecap

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Ran peachtree this morning (10k)!

Honestly this was the first time I felt like I was really racing since at least my marathon, maybe my second half marathon (fall 2017)

So many of the races I’ve run in the past few years ever since I first started distance running have been more of a “get to the finish” mentality and less about speed because I always have some sort of nagging pain going on that I’m afraid of making worse

I’m pretty certain my 10k pr comes from my half marathon pr (1:39 holla) but I have a new watch now so I don’t actually know what that is BUT considering I haven’t run a sub 8 mile in like 9 months I’m pretty stoked with how this turned out

I started off at a pace that I knew would probably fuck me over (mile 1 @ 7:28, 2 at 7:19) but I decided to pull a Jim Walmsley (or just pull a me because I always go out too fast) and figured I’d rather crash and burn than finish feeling like I could have pushed harder (granted, this was a shorter race than I’m used to so I was willing to take that risk)

Around mile four I was DYING and it gets HILLY but I was like girl, just don’t fucking walk, you can go slow but do not walk

And I didn’t! The last two miles I felt like my body could push faster but every time I did I felt like I was either gonna vom or shit my pants so I held back a little (lol)

I’m really happy with this and I think I wanna race a 10k in the future when I’m actually in what is for me good shape

[fast-and-fit-sam]

#RaceRecap below! | Did it for the (amazing) free shirt, obviously 😂 #rockthemock Swipe for my Marine Corps Marathon #flatrunner - I really got a kick out of these #PeoplesMarathon shirts. 🔸#MarineCorpsMarathon 🤩 🔸First of all, let’s just say race morning was an absolute cluster - and I got to the start as the gun was going off. (💩 I’ll post this full section in the comments but spare anyone not interested in hearing details about the shuttle situation; just know that I essentially started 25 min late behind 20k runners - behind the 5:30 pace group!!) 🔸I was stressed but I trained to be unfkingbothered by things I cannot control, so I just trusted in the plan of the day. 🔸I tried to not weave through people but after a while I really had no choice to do a little off-roading. I was jumping up on curbs, running on slopes bankings, through damp grass (I knew I was being dumb 🙄) all while just telling myself to relax and get to where the course opens up. 🔸Well, after 8 miles it still wasn’t opening up. But I was having FUN. I was singing along with the bands (Shipping up to Boston gave me all the feels), cheering on bad ass runners running their first marathon, pushing the disabled, service men & women running in uniform, etc, hitting every Tap Here for Power sign and little kids offering high fives that I could. It was so awesome experiencing the *fun* part of marathoning. 🔸When my times were coming up as 8:30s and the crowds still weren’t opening up, I started to panic a little. Every person who stopped short in front of my, or every mass of people I couldn’t get around, made me feel like I was expelling so much extra energy early in the race despite only running in the 8 min zone. Water stops were my salvation: when the masses parted to the left for Gatorade and to the right for water I legit felt like Moses and would zip through a sea of people, grabbing the last possible water cup and maximizing my small clear runway 😂 🔸 Finally through the half, I decided I was just going to go for it. After all, what I had wanted so badly for the first half was to be able to move, so I did exactly that. Contd in comments, bless you if you’re still reading 🤪 (at Marine Corps Marathon) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpra9KjBvn6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=3hujvbdu4juf

🔸Even when I could finally pick up the pace, I was still on a high from the “fun part” of the race - I continued to high five spectators. I gave my sister a massive hug when I saw her 😍 (she did the 10k, crushed it, and immediately came to cheer me on! @nconnolly141 #MVP. A couple miles later, a stopped to kiss my boyfriend. I was barely looking at my watch; I just knew I felt good and that I had trained at a faster pace than my planned GMP so I let the wheels roll. Finally when I saw more pals along the course, I didn’t stop - cause I was finally entering the overthinking part of the race - calculating what it would take to still PR despite the unreal start. Somewhere after the mile 9 I had passed the 5:00 and maybe 4:30 pace group. I focused on finding and passing the 4:00 group in the coming miles. 🔸 I hung on to my pace for as long as I could. Mile 20 came and reminded me I probably couldn’t PR bc your legs don’t really agree with your brain after that many miles 😂 but I had diligently fueled and hydrated the whole race. I just kept pressing. The end of the MCM course is so hard IMO. You go from exciting sights and cheers to desolate, slight inclines over bridges with nothing to look at but other runners slowly fading around you. But it fortunately goes by pretty fast. 🔸 Someone along the course had bumped into me and split my watch, so I was confusing myself with being on lap 24 but really on mile 23. I was also about half a mile ahead on mile markers - I knew I’d end up coming in well over 26.2 miles. I tried to take this as a blessing: not knowing exactly what I had left so just keep rolling. 🔸My goal was to get the the 24 and see what my legs had left. I pictured myself kicking for the last 2 miles. Well, they didn’t have much left. I was hurting. My hips were locking up. But I had such a great past few miles that I didn’t want to throw it away now. Before I knew it I was finishing. Literally what my face looked like when I made it up the hill and could see the finish: 🤩🤩🤩 🔸The end! Not quite a PR but close enough for me. I’m so happy with how much fun I had, and thankful that the cluster of a start forced me to start slow. 💩 Details on the start: Okay what the HECK, MCM? For a race where Marines are helping organize things, the shuttle situation in Crystal City was far from efficient. I left my hotel room at 6 AM and got to the shuttles at 6:10, to find already massive lines wrapping around the park. This part is my bad: maybe I didn't get there early enough. The start was at 7:55. However, in 2014 I took the metro to the runner's village and had to walk 2 miles to the start. I purposely chose my hotel so that I could take the shuttles directly to the start without the worry of walking. *My complaining ends here - because all in all, everything went fine. But it's still a race morning experience I'd like to document so I can remember for the future! 💩After waiting over an hour in line, post-coffee and fueling, my body was STRESSED. I was cold, needed a bathroom badly, and was getting concerned about standing for so long in the cold without being able to move around to warm up for fear of losing my spot in line. I also didn't have my phone to seek an alternate route to the start (good thing I didn't learn until after that I was only 2.5 MILES from the freaking start!!) 💩Another 30 min later, we were finally to the start of the shuttle line, only to be cut by people who were well behind us in line. Literally people were screaming and fighting about boarding 😅 It was aggressive and a little scary (don' fk w runners the morning of a big race!) but I literally didn't care about anything but getting on a bus bc HELLO BUS BATHROOMS #BLESSED. Legit, a bus bathroom could have been the only bathroom I got to use that morning, and we all know what an important part of race prep that is. 💩We got to the runner's village with less than 10 minutes until the gun went off. I quickly realized I wasn't going to be lining up with my corral by the time I made it over to the start, so I spent 10-20 minutes getting ready to run, shedding my throw away clothes (the weather was perfect🤩), and waiting for a port o potty just in case (I had nothing to lose at this point). I started at around 8:20 - and soon realized I was behind even the 5:30 pace group aka it was suuuuper crowded. The course gets narrow in a lot of places so even when I thought I was getting break free, I'd quickly be back in a place where I quite literally could not get around walkers, joggers, or even just runners who were cutting from side to side to jump in front of cameras 🙄 I respect ANYONE doing a marathon at ANY pace, but holy moly was all the stopping, starting, and jolting not fun. I finally resorted to running on curbs, through rocky terrain, and even in grass bankings. Should out and sorry to the 100+ people I accidentally elbowed 😅 💛All in all, I'm not too mad at this start situation because it gave me the best IDGAF mentality that ultimately allowed me to roll through the second half. I recall repeating I.D.G.A.F. on repeat in my head.👽

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Race Recap: Hot Chocolate 15k

What? Hot Chocolate 15k

When? October 7, 2018

How far? 15K

Website? www.hotchocolate15k.com/denver

Pre-Race:

Packet pickup was at an expo in Denver’s National Western Complex. Because of the size of the event, there was no race-day packet pick-up available. The expo was a good size and was all running related which was nice. When picking up the swag bag, they had stations to make sure the hoodie fit and exchange booths in case it didn’t. This was a first for me at a race since it’s usually “you get what you get.” 

Picking up my packet.

Race:

Since most of my races are usually in the middle of no where (or at least they feel that way) it was really cool to run through Denver. The aid stations were well stocked, and the traffic control was on point. The weather was chilly, which added to the experience of wanting a piping hot cup of hot chocolate.

Post-race:

Ooh wee there was a lot of people at the after event! The finish line/post-race party was at Civic Center Park, which provided a gorgeous background of the Capitol building to each photo. There were plenty of photo opps available with inflatable Hot Chocolate themed props. Plus, you got a cool finisher’s mug filled with hot chocolate and other chocolate goodies.

Summary

This was a big race through downtown Denver. Everything was spot on and professional. I have to say that the medal and hoodie that came were the best I’ve seen so far. The quality is absolutely stunning. Overall the race was a ton of fun and it was great to be part of a positive and excited crowd of runners.

Look at this medal! (Not real chocolate.

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So I got my official race results back from peachtree and I’m feelin’ pretty good about ‘em 😎

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Your fave tomato faced gals at it again!!

Highlight of the day was confusing the shit out of the people working at the grocery store we went to post race. “Why would you do that?” (in reference to running the half)

Also managed to snag 5 “free” gels and felt like we were trick or treating from aid station to aid station

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We did it fam!!!

 -This was by far the hardest course I’ve run for a half so. many. hills. And the last ~7 miles were an out and back which is ROUGH with hills because you know exactly what’s waiting for you on the way back 

-That being said hills are my strength and where I usually pass people because I just pound into them to get past ‘em so even though it was challenging, this race played into that 

-Considering I had the flu twice this spring (aka 3 total weeks of rest), have not run at ALL this week because of said flu, and have not run more than 8 miles at once in the past 3 months also because of flu complications, I’d say this was pretty decent 

-My mom and her bf ran the 8k and my mom came in first for her age group we were all like wait WTF???? She openly admits that she went very slow for her and did not expect that at all lol but she got a nice certificate and glass so that’s cool

 -I feel like there is prob more to say but *shrug* idk I can’t wait to finally run a half when my training is on point because the two I ran before this I was dealing with injury and running easy and even though I was def putting in effort in this one I know it wasn’t what it could have been but it’s all good, I’m just glad I got to run 

 -((Also featured is the post run brunch action: blueberry bagel, kite hill cc, avo, fruiiiiit)) Happiest of saturdays to you friends ☺️

[blackcoffeeandblankpagess]

NYC Marathon 2017 Recap

Woke up at 4:45 and walked over to penn station to take the subway to the staten island ferry, the walk was a lil sketch but once I got to the platform there were a few marathoners and we all traveled together, one dude on the subway looked at me and was like “you look fast” I hope so buddy

While waiting for the (6:15) ferry I talked to a man from israel who had run 8 marathons in his home country, a few in europe, and this was his first in the states, so cool

The ferry ride goes right past the statue of liberty which is also cool

On the bus the man who sat next to me was AWESOME. This was his 28th time running nyc, 107th marathon, and he was 70 years old. Goals??? He was telling me about the races he has run all over the world and it makes me so excited to think that today was the first of a lifetime of marathoning 

Got to the start village around 7:30, my wave wasn’t until 10:15 so plenty of time but it didn’t feel slow. I ate some oatmeal for breakfast and drank a shit ton of water and gave myself about 2.5 hours for the food to digest 1.5 hours for the water (these are the things that you learn to prioritize when your gi tract is out to kill you)

We could see the bridge from the starting village but couldn’t actually see the runners on it, still it was super cool to hear the cannon go off for the elites even if we couldnt see them ALSO can we talk about how fucking badass shalane is??? wish I could have watched the race but from what I’ve seen/heard it was phenomenal #tarheels

When the cannon went off they played frank sinatra’s new york, new york and it was magical

I was being very careful with my pacing on the bridge because i was warned by many people who have run nyc that it’s easy to go out too fast and ignore the hill and screw yourself over and my strategy was supposed to be running the first half at ~9 minute pace. The first mile was exactly 9 but then….

I went out way too fast, I was dropping sub 8s in the early miles and even though I kept repeating myself that the race doesn’t start until the second half and doesn’t really start until mile 20, I continued to betray my plan

I think the main issue was that I felt good, it wasn’t like I was killing myself to get my splits so I was just like …this is fine, also I’ve only raced half marathons before in which case pushing the pace is okay because by the time it really gets to me the race is over

Needless to say, I fucked myself over real bad!!! (we’ll get to that in a minute)

I saw the wonderful @mountains–and–miles at mile 5.5 and one of my best friend’s (who is currently abroad) family at mile 8.5 so I had a lot to look forward to in the first half, also the crowds in brooklyn are AMAZING 

At mile 7 I just happened to pass fricken KATHRINE SWITZER!!!!! talk about strong women. I had no idea she was running and I was like HOLY SHIT!!!!!

Around mile 10.5 I started to realize my mistake of taking off too fast but the effects didn’t really hit until mile 16

Ironically I ran the first half in the exact time of my first half marathon (1:47) although my tracker prob said 1:49 or something because weaving in and out of people added distance

Miles 15-16ish are the queensboro bridge which I think could more accurately be named hell on earth. I was also wary of this area heading into the race after everything I had read. It’s really silent after leaving the crowds of brooklyn, a hill, and it was the part of the race where I really started to come apart

Miles 16-19 are first ave in manhattan which is wild but I was seriously breaking down at this point, threw my time goals out the window and decided to just focus on getting to the finish line, as the OG tumblr homies will appreciate my mantra was “it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop”

Basically miles 18-25 I did a run/walk pattern that I remembered someone I know using for an ultra and shockingly it didn’t cost me as much time as I expected

I saw my mom at mile 19 and again at mile 22 where she jumped in and ran with me for a few blocks which I desperately needed at that point

By some crazy turn of events at mile 24.5 I just happened to run into the other girl from the unc marathon club who was running the race…out of 51,000 runners, what are the odds??? 

According to my watch I ran 26.2 in 4:09, but my official time was 4:12. Because of a lot of weaving around in the beginning of the race I added about a quarter of a mile in distance

One of the toughest parts of nyc is actually the finish, once you cross the line you have either a half mile or mile walk to exit depending on if you checked a bag. During my walk towards the exit I ended up making a fun detour to the medical tent!!

My calves were hurting a LOT, not just the expected I just ran a marathon so obviously I’m sore hurting. I decided I would stop at the med tent since I still had probably about a mile total of walking left to meet my parents. On my way to the med tent I suddenly was having trouble breathing which is fucking terrifying. Every time I took a breath in my breathing was all shaky and I felt like I was gasping for air and couldn’t get any. Something which has never happened to me so that was bizarre.

The doctors were all wonderful and one of the guys joked that he couldn’t help me since I had on my UNC jersey and he was a duke alumn, fair

After a few mins my breathing was normal and my legs weren’t much better but I didn’t think sitting there was really gonna help so

I got a post race poncho and I was expecting it to be a shitty rain poncho but it was giant and fleece and fuzzy and I think I’ll probably build a home inside of it and live in it forever

When I finally reached my parents (who for the record are divorced so the fact that we were all together briefly made my heart happy) I burst into (happy) tears

Afterwards we went back to our friend’s apartment in manhattan and they had an ice bath and hot tea waiting for me, amen  

Took a train home and got back around 8 to some leftover homemade pizza and kombucha for dinner, nice

Those are all of the little details I think. I would definitely summarize it as a learning experience. Went out way too fast but also expected that to happen since it was my first marathon. In training and in racing I have a lot I plan to do differently the next time around (spring!!). Overall though i have no regrets, it was an absolutely incredible experience and as bart yasso said, “the nyc marathon is the closest thing a regular person can get to an olympic experience” so many runners from all over the globe. The announcements in the starting village were in all different languages it was amazing.

Also thank you so much to everyone who messaged/commented/texted me wishing me luck and giving me advice, it seriously means the world to me

Edit: Something else worth noting, I never once felt nervous for this race only pure excitement and that is how I know this is a lifetime sport for me, love love love

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Whaddup from philly!!

-I got in last night at 10:30ish and didn’t fall asleep until almost 1, I’m staying with one of my best friends and I haven’t seen him since july so lots of chatting to do -I only got about 4.5 hours of sleep and when I woke up the temp outside was 34 degrees so I was slightly less than stoked about running my half this morning -This is the the first time I have’t been totally excited about a race but I think the combo of being sick last week, still having some lingering aches/pains from nyc, and getting very little sleep this week just kinda got to me -I decided to go into the race treating it as a 13 mile run, not a race, and that helped my mental space a bit. Still ran faster than I would have on my own but definitely my slowest official half marathon -The race itself was nice! The views of philly were sweet and the crowds were good considering this was just a precursor to the full marathon tomorrow -My uncle surprised me by coming to cheer me on!!! I literally just happened to be on the right side of the road and see him, I later found out he looked at the course map and my splits from nyc and calculated when I would be passing him. He also brought a sign my little cousins made, I felt so loved :,) -I’m now back in my friend’s apartment waiting to take on ze day, going to his acappella show tonight and then tomorrow is back to NC