Race started out on a semi-sad note...had been planning for sometime for my Sole Sister, Roxanne to come down and run. She found out Friday morning that she had to work this weekend and it was a bummer. Was reallllly looking forward to seeing her, running with her and getting caught. Ahhh well, another race, another day.
Up dark and early to head to Columbia for the race with Bethany and Jess. It was really quite nice not to be the one driving, I rather enjoyed it, might have to do that more often lol. Thankfully, the rain we had last night(and early this morning when I got up at 0330) seemed to have tapered off by the time we got to Columbia. We sat in the car as long as we could since it was a bit chilly and none of us wanted to shed our outer layer. But, it's kinda like getting into cold water...just do it lol. We headed over to the start area and there was a line for the porta potties-ok, that's my one complaint about the race overall...2000 women in the half and you have what appeared to be less than 2 dozen porta potties(and only one other porta potty stop on the course). I opted out, thinking I could hit one a few miles down the road, but that didn't happen(there was one set of them about halfway through, but with a line and I had hit my stride by then and skipped it). We lost Bethany in the crowd so Jess and I headed to the start. Minor rant-saw way toooo many people at the race start(runners and athletic supporters alike) who didn't feel the need to remove their hats when the National Anthem was being sang. Note to race directors/announcers...friendly reminder prior to the start of the song might be a good idea.
It was a nice race course-there was one slight hill that wasn't fun, but I had to remind myself to suck it and that I've ran way more ugly and numerous hills in the PAC NW lol. The race itself was well supported throughout(fully stocked water stations all the way to the end). Ran into a few fellow Fanatics along the way, which is always nice.
I am not a fast runner in general, but have had a decline in my race times the past few years. It started around the time I was marathon training-the longer distances I ran, the slower I became, and it seemed to carry over into even my shorter races. I just embraced it and figured, I wasn't winning anything, and I was still doing a whole lot more than most of the couch potatoes out there. I frequently run with my camera, take pics, have been known to grab a beer along the way or stop for a pretzel(come on, it was a NY street vendor, how could I not??). This greatly dismays one of my best running buddies, Nikki lol, because of the zero competitive drive(even with myself) that I wasn't displaying. I have been using 2012 as my rebuilding year for my running-from the ground up! I recently completed the Couch to 5K program. Running consistently as of late, albeit it short distances and doing yoga and piyo seems to be helping to improve my form and I'm happy to report that my race times have started coming back down. Last month at the NY 13.1 I was 20 mins faster(even WITH a pretzel stop!) than the Annapolis Half last fall, and I'm happy to report that today I shaved ANOTHER 20 mins off the NY 13.1 time-and ran my first sub 3:00 half(with time to spare) in almost 3 years!!!
Today's race has given me a boost to continue my rebuilding training and work on improving my times.
Up next-May 5 and 6, Frederick Running Festival...5K on Sat evening and the Half on Sunday morning. Doing both of those will earn me a Nutjob medal; and doing the half in conjunction with today's race will garner me Titanium Girl medal as well!
Can't wait to see what else this year brings with my running!
Up dark and early to head to Columbia for the race with Bethany and Jess. It was really quite nice not to be the one driving, I rather enjoyed it, might have to do that more often lol. Thankfully, the rain we had last night(and early this morning when I got up at 0330) seemed to have tapered off by the time we got to Columbia. We sat in the car as long as we could since it was a bit chilly and none of us wanted to shed our outer layer. But, it's kinda like getting into cold water...just do it lol. We headed over to the start area and there was a line for the porta potties-ok, that's my one complaint about the race overall...2000 women in the half and you have what appeared to be less than 2 dozen porta potties(and only one other porta potty stop on the course). I opted out, thinking I could hit one a few miles down the road, but that didn't happen(there was one set of them about halfway through, but with a line and I had hit my stride by then and skipped it). We lost Bethany in the crowd so Jess and I headed to the start. Minor rant-saw way toooo many people at the race start(runners and athletic supporters alike) who didn't feel the need to remove their hats when the National Anthem was being sang. Note to race directors/announcers...friendly reminder prior to the start of the song might be a good idea.
It was a nice race course-there was one slight hill that wasn't fun, but I had to remind myself to suck it and that I've ran way more ugly and numerous hills in the PAC NW lol. The race itself was well supported throughout(fully stocked water stations all the way to the end). Ran into a few fellow Fanatics along the way, which is always nice.
I am not a fast runner in general, but have had a decline in my race times the past few years. It started around the time I was marathon training-the longer distances I ran, the slower I became, and it seemed to carry over into even my shorter races. I just embraced it and figured, I wasn't winning anything, and I was still doing a whole lot more than most of the couch potatoes out there. I frequently run with my camera, take pics, have been known to grab a beer along the way or stop for a pretzel(come on, it was a NY street vendor, how could I not??). This greatly dismays one of my best running buddies, Nikki lol, because of the zero competitive drive(even with myself) that I wasn't displaying. I have been using 2012 as my rebuilding year for my running-from the ground up! I recently completed the Couch to 5K program. Running consistently as of late, albeit it short distances and doing yoga and piyo seems to be helping to improve my form and I'm happy to report that my race times have started coming back down. Last month at the NY 13.1 I was 20 mins faster(even WITH a pretzel stop!) than the Annapolis Half last fall, and I'm happy to report that today I shaved ANOTHER 20 mins off the NY 13.1 time-and ran my first sub 3:00 half(with time to spare) in almost 3 years!!!
Today's race has given me a boost to continue my rebuilding training and work on improving my times.
Up next-May 5 and 6, Frederick Running Festival...5K on Sat evening and the Half on Sunday morning. Doing both of those will earn me a Nutjob medal; and doing the half in conjunction with today's race will garner me Titanium Girl medal as well!
Can't wait to see what else this year brings with my running!
Bethany, Me and Jess after the race
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