2015 Kelly St. Patrick's Day 5k

from Charm City Run

This past Sunday, hubby and I drove to Baltimore, MD to run the 2015 Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5k. This was our 5th year running it. It is one of my favorite races of the  year and I look forward to it each year.

Why? Mostly because you start the first half mile on a downhill and because I'm a back 'o the packer, you just see a sea of green laid out before you on Charles St. It's such an incredible sight to see. The downhill doesn't hurt either. ;-)

from Baltimore Magazine

This year hubby ran with me as he hasn't gotten out as much as he wanted this winter. We ran a pretty good race...well at least I ran a pretty good race for where I am training wise. LOL! We did the half mile run/1 minute walk and it went well.

We hit the 3 mile marker at 39:17 and I was so close to a sub-40, but I knew I couldn't swing .1 miles in less than a minute. We hit the finish line and my Garmin said 40:37. Darn it! Sooooo close! LOL! I should be happy though. Last year I ran this same race in 41:20, though it's a far cry from my best time of 36:43 in 2012.

Afterwards we tried to get into the post-race party at Power Point Live! Sadly, it is way too crowded for us back 'o the pack runners and we decided it wasn't worth the effort. That is the one thing I would say sucks about this race. The area for the post-race party is so small and with 4,300+ runners it's impossible to get anything. I wish they would change the party location so it was more open. Usually we would go to the James Joyce, but our friend Ada wasn't running this year. :-(

Did you run a St. Patrick's Day themed race this year? Will you? Did you run this one? What did you think?

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Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday! This week is a photo of me running the 2011 Princess Half Marathon. It was my very first half marathon ever! I picked this photo because this coming weekend is the Princess Half Marathon in Disney, so it seemed appropriate.

Would you believe hubby was on the monorail going to the first stop we agreed to meet at and he saw me on the road!I'm dead center in blue with black pants to the bottom of the road. I was shocked it timed itself out that way.

Since the 2011 Disney Princess Half Marathon I've run six more half marathons - Philadelphia Half Marathon {2011}, Shamrock Half Marathon {2012, 2013}, Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon {2013}, and The Love Run {2014}. This year I'm already scheduled for three halves - Shamrock Half Marathon, The Love Run, and The Wild Half.

What was your first race?

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I won the lottery

On February 1st I entered the Blue Cross Broad Street Run 10 Miler lottery. The race is scheduled for May 3, 2015 in Philadelphia. It's a 10 mile run straight down Broad Street. It is exactly two weeks prior to the Wild Half Half Marathon I'm running in Wildwood, which makes it the perfect last long run race.

So, today the acceptance emails went out. 85% of the people who entered the lottery got in {there are 30,000 people who run it}. My email came this morning. Low and behold I was accepted.

I'm pretty surprised to be honest. I'm such a slow runner and the time I submitted was awful. But, I guess they let in so many slow runners too.

I better get my butt back to running {more to come on this}. I have three half marathons and a ten miler in the next few months.

Are you running the Broad Street Run?
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February Goals

Well, we all know that January didn't go the way I wanted it to. I missed all my goals, which is slightly disheartening.

But, onward and upward. I've got a bunch of new goals for February. Gotta move forward, right?

On the positive side, I have already completed one of my goals for February! I entered the lottery for BSR - Broad Street Run. They will contact people on February 18 if they got in or not, so not much more I can do about it now. Hoping I get in because it will be the perfect last long run before The Wild Half.

I'm halfway through goal number four, as I've downloaded the ESP, Eastern State Penitentiary photos onto the computer. Now to just edit them. Pretty happy about that. It's such a small thing, but it makes a mental difference.

I will admit now that I have adjusted the 1500 calories for 23 days. I read in Runner's World's The Runner's Diet that to stay the same weight-wise you take your weight and times it by 15. To lose obviously you need to reduce the calories in or burned. Well, 1500 is really low for me at this stage, so I'm giving myself a range between 1500-2000 daily. I'm putting it out there since I wrote my goals before reading the book and making the adjustment. So far so good on this one too.

Maybe my lack of motivation in January could have been avoided if I had worked a bit on some of my goals. Maybe I just needed action to get out of the malaise I was feeling. Whatever the cause, I'm working on things this month. Hoping to meet a few of those goals so when I recap my February it's on a much better note.

Do you have monthly goals? Do you write them down?

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Weekday Training Runs

For the past year, maybe more, I've been awful at getting in my weekday training runs. I scheduled them for Monday and Wednesday for 30 minutes. Then on the weekend would be my long run. But, I would only get one run in during the week...if I was lucky.

This year I switched up when I do my weekday training runs; I scheduled them for Monday and Tuesday. These are my days off during the week from work. My reasoning being I'm off all day, I can run in daylight, and not worry about running behind schedule for getting ready for work.

I went out Monday around 4:00 p.m. for a 2 mile run. I decided that right now I'm running about 2 miles in 30:00. I like the idea of just going out for a certain number of miles and seeing if I can get it faster.

I have a 2 mile run perfectly mapped out with 1 mile out and 1 mile back. It wasn't as cold as it's been around here, but I was all geared up.

I picked up this jacket over the weekend at T.J.Maxx for $24.99. This run was my first time taking it for a spin. Let me tell you, it's awesome! I'm debating going back for a second one. LOL! It's Avalanche, if you're interested and I'm getting nothing from either T.J. Maxx or Avalanche for saying that.

The last time I ran 2 miles only, it took me 29:30. On my long run Saturday, it took me about 32:--. I really hoped I could break 29:30 honestly. It's been so long since I've been consistent in my training that I know I'm in for a long way back.

Woot! Hello! I'll take it! That made me exceedingly happy. LOL! I know my 2 mile time isn't as fast as most people's, but right now that time is thrilling! I admit, I knew I could beat 29:30 at 1.5 miles and I booked it as much as I could. Who knew I would beat it by that much?

I apparently overdressed because by the end of my run I was hot! So, I had to strip a bit... {get your mind out of the gutter! I run near a middle and high school!}.

Then I actually went out for my run on Tuesday! Went back out at the same time {4:00 p.m.}, but this day the sun was shining bright! Needed the sunglasses for this run.

Yes, I'm wearing the same jacket. It's so comfy and warm! I believe it is my new go-to running jacket. I'm totally in love with it!

The run on Tuesday was 10 degrees colder than Monday's run. Though I remembered gloves Tuesday, I should have had something around my neck and should have doubled up on pants. Those were the two parts of me that were sooo...cold....

I decided I wasn't going to push this run like I did on Monday. Just 2 simple miles. Nothing fancy. Same course, same me. Nothing too crazy. Plus, the sidewalks were much better than they had been Saturday and Monday.

In the end, I was really consistent with Monday's run. Kinda surprised because I know I didn't push as hard in the last half mile Tuesday as I did Monday.

Fourteen seconds slower than Monday. I'd say that's pretty consistent, especially since I busted my butt Monday for that time and felt Tuesday I was just running normal. This is a mental boost. Good to see I can hit these times consistently. Maybe by next month I can hit the 27:00s?

Since it was 10 degrees colder Tuesday, the hood did not come down!

Plus, look at that sky! So pretty! The color is great. So nice compared to the fogginess from Monday!

How has your training been going so far? Is it cold where you are? Have you found gear that lets you run in sub-freezing temperatures?

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8 Mile...7 Mile Run

All last week I fought back pain. I talked about it in my Friday post and had been dreading my 8 mile run for Saturday. Not for my normal reasons of having to run 8 miles, but because I was scared my back would go crazy and leave me crying on the side of the road cursing myself for trying to run {I'll end your curiosity now...I didn't end up crying on the side of the road cursing myself}.

I went out  a bit later than I wanted. I had hoped to get out about 9:00 - 9:30 a.m., but I didn't actually get out until 10:15 a.m. Eh. It was cold no matter when I was going to go out, so really what did it matter?

What fun running temps! LOL! I'll be honest, I kinda feel like a badass going out in temperatures like this. I had so many layers on though {wear all the clothes!} - two pairs of pants, knee high socks, a cami, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve cold weather shirt, two jackets, a hat, gloves, and over the ears headphones that cover the entire ear. Running in the winter is my favorite time to run. I much prefer running when it's cold because it keeps me from getting too overheated.

I started out with my fingers in so much pain. It wasn't until I was 1.5 miles in that my fingers felt normal. I ran slow. But, because of the back issues I decided to just go slow and see what happens. I ran in the boring neighborhood that I hate having to run long distances in, but it's only a mile from my car at the furthest if my back kicked in.

Happily I felt good for almost the entire run. I was slower than I would have liked. Not 100% sure if it was due to being careful about my back, all the ice/snow that people hadn't cleared from their sidewalks I had to walk through, or I'm just this slow. I'm hoping it's 1 & 2.

I had some technology issues at mile 4 that I had to stop to fix. Stupid technology. Then off to finish my 8 mile run. Until about 6.75 miles in. I started to have left leg pain as I ran, which turned into a limping run. Since the pain was on the same side as the back pain, I got to mile 7 and called it a run. I am sure I could have gutted out another mile, but I didn't want to make whatever the injury was worse. So, I walked at least a quarter mile back to my car in temperatures that are not conducive to walking. LOL!

So, I finished my shortened run. Not happy with the time, but at least in less pain overall than I thought. I didn't think I'd get two miles in, so seven was pretty nice.

Did you get out this weekend? What it a cold run?



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Celtic Solstice 5 Miler

This past Saturday hubby and I headed to Baltimore {really early} to run the 15th Celtic Solstice 5 Miler at Druid Hill Park. We ran this race several years ago and for some unknown reason {alright...the reason is I love the design on the swag} I have been wanting to run this race ever since. It just hasn't worked out that we could run it again...until this year!

So, we were up at 5:30 Saturday morning to get ready and head down to Baltimore. We arrived at Druid Hill Park and parked the car as we had to do packet pick-up day-of.

The view from the car

We headed over to the start line to grab our jackets and bibs. Falls Running Store puts the race on, but they are just a tad bit far for us to hit up during the week. The walk from the car to the start area took about 15 minutes, which was a hike when you had to go back to the car, then back to the start again! But, we got there, collected our bib and jackets, hit the port-a-potties, and headed back to the car. We put our bibs on and headed back to the race at 8:00 a.m.

Back at the start area it was packed! There were so many people this year! We totally missed the dogs and the bagpipers. Last time they walked right past me. It was pretty awesome.

Before the race

The race was scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m., but... The gun didn't go off until 8:37 and we didn't hit the start line until 8:44 a.m. Yes, it took us about 6 minutes to go from where we stood to the start. That was a bit crazy.

The race starts on a complete uphill. I was pretty happy I ran the whole thing. I was a tad surprised considering the last race I ran was very hilly and I could barely do the hills. I'm chalking that up to psyching myself out because I was by myself and so much of it was trail hills. Then it was a bunch of small rolling hills that took you towards the zoo.

What was neat about the race was while I was at the back of the pack {like always}, you could see the other racers as you weaved up and down the hills. It really was cool. While running I saw hubby much further ahead of me. I saw him first and waved. It's always nice seeing each other on the course, even though he's way ahead of me. It was also around this time I ran into a friend I met at the KidsPeace Trick-or-Trot on the course. She was just ahead of me, before the turn around. She was rocking it!

After the turn around and grabbing some water, we headed downhill to the lake. You ran around the whole thing before going down the big hill you ran up to start. As I was running to the lake, hubby saw me as he was running around the lake and we got to wave again. Yea!

Once on the flats of the lake I had a hard time determining how fast I was running - was I going too fast, too slow, just right? The hills kinda messed with my flow. LOL! I passed my friend along the lake, which surprised me. But, she was kind enough to say I was looking good when I felt like I was dying. Gotta love running friends!

I came around the lake and to the complete downhill to the finish. Yea! I had hoped to finish in 1:10:00 or below, but it was not to be. I crossed the line at 1:12:27 according to the chip. Bah! I had a really good 1.5 and 2 mile time. Guess the hills overall just did me in.

Hubby waited for me at the finish and cheered me in. I knew my friend wasn't too far behind so I headed back to the finish to cheer her in. She was just a few minutes behind, so we cheered her in, then after a hug headed to the finisher's tent.

We grabbed a warm cup of mulled wine, which was yummy!

We listened to the band for a little bit while enjoying our warm wine.

And took the obligatory post-race selfie.

We don't look too bad for having just run 5 miles.

After we finished our wine, we headed back to the car. I was disappointed though because there were supposed to be cookies, but there weren't any left by the time I finished. :(

We got one more photo before we headed home.

Don't ask about the hair. It was windy and cold Saturday! LOL!

Overall, this is one of my favorite races even if I can't touch the winning times of the overall winner or age groups. The swag is awesome, the course is challenging, and the post-race snacks are pretty cool. I'd recommend this to you if you're in the area. Hope to see you there!

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Spring Valley 4 Miler

This year I signed up to run the York Road Runners Club Winter Series. There are eight races for one {very low} price that I figured would keep me out on the roads for training. The first race I had to miss due to a wedding we attended, but this past Sunday I was able to attend the Spring Valley 4 Miler.

This race had me a tiny bit worried because it was the first one I attended on my own. Every race I have run, hubby and I attended together, whether he ran it or not. He's run a few without me, but this was the first one I went to alone. It's against my introvert/perfectionist {to make hubby happy - he says I'm Type A} nature.

So, I headed off to Spring Valley to run a distance I know I can run....just slowly. I got to the park and picked up my bib. The interesting this about the bib is in order to run all the races, you need to wear the same bib every time.

I don't know if I've ever had a number this low for a race. LOL! In order to keep the bib in good shape, I needed to wear it on my leg because I always mess up the ones on my stomach. So far, so good. The bib stayed in good condition to the end.

I had plenty of time to wait for the race to start. I didn't know anyone, so I wandered around. Nerves were hitting pretty heavy. I found the course map, but since I didn't know the area, it didn't help much. LOL!

I also took the obligatory pre-race selfie. It's not the best, but at least I tried.

The location for the race was pretty. Though driving in and seeing where we were had me nervous. I had a feeling this was going to be a bad race. It was hilly in the area and I started to think the race was going to be rough.

Pretty isn't it? The problem is those are hills. I'm not great at hills and I haven't been training on hills lately. Also, my hip flexor doesn't like hills. It always gives me trouble when I run them.

The race started a little later than I thought. Each race of the series has a one mile run as well as the longer race. I thought the one mile race was after the start of the longer race, but it was before. So we started later than I anticipated, which put me more on edge. Yes, this is not good for me.

We finally did get started and off we went! Down a small little hill, then up a ridiculous uphill. And that's when I knew it was going to be a horrible race for me. Not that I wasn't giving it my all, but I was out of my {running} league. Initially, I was in front of a few people, but I was at the back of the pack...not surprising.

And shortly after that, I went to the back of the pack. Before we hit mile 1, I was last. I was running my best, but still at the back of the pack...literally. I ran the downhills and flats, walked the hills. I started to see the person in front of my further and further away. A couple times I lost sight of him and wasn't sure I was following the right path. I admit this is always my complaint in races, not making race courses clear enough for all runners. If the back of the pack people lose sight of each other, how do they know they are still on the right track...especially when the course is hilly and windy.

Anyway... I finally reached the turn that led me back to the finish line and watched all the cars leaving the race. Oh it was disheartening. It was also a little dangerous as it was a downhill for them, an uphill for me on a very narrow road. I made it, with a high five from someone I knew from racing in the area. She is such a sweetheart!

I finished the race just under 60 minutes {I believe 57:--}. I don't know. Honestly, I don't care either. The goal had been under 55 minutes based on my 4 mile time at the Rocky Run a few weeks ago and had it not been for the horrible hills, I might have made it. Of course, I still would have been one of the back of the pack racers.

Post-race selfie. Don't let that smile fool you, I was pretty upset over this race. Not only did I finish last, but again having no idea on the course in terms of where I was going. I've only had that happen one other time and I DNF a duathlon because of it.

This race made me think of a few things as I was out there alone.

* About mile two I wanted to quit, but since it was a 4 mile race if I turned back I had to go the same distance as if I kept going forward. I went forward.
* The running people of York County are fast.
* For all the cheers I received when I crossed the line, I didn't feel like they were necessary.
* I know if I lost weight I would run faster. I kept thinking how much faster as I was walking up the hills.
* I need to get better at consistent training. Sure, I can run 4 miles, but not at a good speed. Sometimes races like this make me realize what a "bad" runner I am. {You don't have to tell me just going out there is the important thing, when you are last, it hurts.}

The next Winter Series race is a 10k. I have a feeling I will be last for that one too...


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2014 Rocky Run 10k

This past Saturday my hubby, two friends, and I ran the inaugural Rocky Balboa Run 10k in Philadelphia. We slept over our friend's apartment Friday night and we all headed down to the Art Museum Saturday morning.

It was a cold, cold morning! Seriously, I believe it was 33* when we arrived at the parking garage. None of us were prepared per se for those temperatures as this was really the first weekend it had been that cold! We realized in the shade it was way colder than in the sun since we could barely stop shivering, but in the sun we were ok.

Our friends dressed up as a chicken and Rocky, from Rocky 2. It was hilarious more for the looks and comments they received than from others than anything. They even got on the the local television station. It was funny.

Center City Philadelphia looking down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Center City. It was early!

 

Hubby and I pre-race

The 5k went off at 7:30 a.m. and we saw them heading off as we arrived. The 10k went off at 8:15 a.m. and went off fairly on-time. As we waited for the race to start, there were a few drones flying overhead taking photos...we think! They played Rocky music the whole time and we had lots of announcements. The funniest thing were the guys selling Rocky hats and gloves in the corrals. Odd...but Philadelphia. And as I say this, there were people buying them, so...

Personally, I was too far up in the corral for my pace. I apologize to those who had to pass me, but my friends didn't want to go back further and thought I shouldn't either. I was uncomfortable, but...

We started off through the very large start banner around Eakins Oval, past the Art Museum, and out towards Kelly Drive. Many people passed me at this point as I am not a fast runner to begin with, but for some reason was feeling really sluggish this race. I thought many a time that I should have just done the 5k. Had the two gone off at the same time, I probably would have.

It was a good race, an out and back, very flat. Throughout the course there were DJ's playing Rocky music, there were three water stations, and the volunteers were great. It was freezing. How those volunteers stayed out there in those temperatures amazes me. I was running and warmed up, but them? They just stood around.

I saw my two friends and hubby on the course. This was the longest distance he has run since surgery. He hasn't gotten past three miles on a training run, so this was a stretch for him. He did great! He completed 5 of 6 miles running and only took some walk breaks in the last mile. He finished without pain during the race, after the race, or in the next couple of days. Woot!

As I came up to the finish, hubby was waiting. He got a few pics of me coming to the finish.

Afterwards, he found me {it wasn't hard, there weren't many people finishing at the time}. We got a finisher's photo together. I estimated about 30 behind me; I was close, there were 38.

Then I grabbed my medal. Which is huge! Seriously, one of the biggest and funnest I've picked up from a race.

We grabbed a couple photos in front of the Rocky backdrop too.

We met up with our friends, who had been finished for a long while. They had plans in the afternoon and we had to get back because we were meeting friends for a birthday dinner at home. It was funny how we all had things later that day.

On the way home, we stopped for our celebratory donut breakfast. Yum! And I earned an apple fritter!

Can you see how big that medal is??????

The race was fun! For an inaugural event, I was impressed with how organized it was. Hubby wished the water stations were spaced differently or were more. I would have liked food at the end. Maybe there was food at the end, but we didn't see it and I didn't see anyone with food as we walked to our car. Other than that, we both thought the whole thing was fun.

Anyone else run this race? What did you think?
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Baltimore Runinng Festival 5k

On Saturday, October 18 I ran the Baltimore Running Festival 5k. In 2010 I ran the Marathon Relay with friends and had a great time. I had been wanting to get back to the race, but the last few years we had conflicts. But this year? Signed up!

It started Thursday night at packet pick-up. We headed to Baltimore right after work to grab my bib and shirt. We arrived at the convention center and it was a big hectic. We entered the convention center from the front and there were no signs for registration. We headed upstairs and found where we needed to go. And it was crowded! There were two rows of registration tables facing each other with only about 20 feet between them. I got my bib and pins, then headed downstairs for my shirt. We went down the stairs and into the expo area and wow, the amount of space just opened up! This is where registration should have been. Got my clear plastic bag and t-shirt, then moved into the race swag area.

And became instantly jealous of those running the half and full! The BRF did a fantastic job of making available cool shirts/tech tees/pants/jackets for those two races. For those running the relay or the 5k {both of which sold out, unlike the marathon and half marathon} there were no generic options. I was disappointed. With 4,500 people in the 5k I'll bet a few generic BRF with a crab would have sold.

We wandered the expo for a little bit. It was a nice one with lots of options. Hubby picked up a pair of running sunglasses that he needed. Other than that, it was nice to wander around. I did stop off at the J&A Racing table and pick up my free 13.1 sticker, a free Shamrock koozie, and Shamrock magnet {I'll be running the 2015 Shamrock 8k and half marathon}. Then it was off to dinner and home.

Friday, we headed back to Baltimore to stay overnight. Because of the ALCS and the Orioles being involved, the BRF moved all races back an hour, so we stayed overnight. The 5k was moved to 7:20 a.m. I think that's the earliest 5k I've ever run! LOL! We arrived at the start area and milled around.

It was a tad chilly and dark, but not bad. Ravens stadium looked pretty cool with the purple lights going around the top. But, it was a little chaotic with so many people and three races all waiting to get going.

Eventually they got the marathon and relay off and invited the 5k runners to the starting corral. We waited for what seemed like forever, but finally did get started with the same fanfare as the marathon/relay runners.

The thing I remember most about the first part of this race was the quarter mile uphill start! It was insane! And that is how the race went the whole time - uphill, straighten out a little, uphill, downhill, oh look more uphill... Until we reached the turn around point, then it was basically all downhill.

As I was coming back, I could see the clock tower outside Camden Yards and got excited. Yea! It's almost over. Until the clock tower never seemed to get any closer. LOL! It was a much further away than it seemed.

Finally, I reached Camden Yards {and the clock tower}. As I started through the statue area out front, I saw hubby! I missed him on the way out so it was good to see him at the finish. I ran down Eutaw Street {a place I have walked many a time during O's games} and headed to the finish line...which seemed a bit further away than I would have thought!

Crossed the line and checked my watch for finish time. Am I alone in this? My goal was to finish faster than my last 5k and woot! I managed that by over a minute! It's not my fastest time by far, but it's an improvement.

It took a bit to get through the finisher's area and find hubby, but we managed. We walked around the village and I tried to get my free adult beverage, but apparently there were tickets and I never received one {well, I should have had two}. I was slightly annoyed by this. I have no idea where people got these because when I checked my bag when I got home, I didn't have them in my bag either.

We headed out shortly after this and grabbed breakfast. That course was hilly and I was hungry!
Enjoyed breakfast at one of my fav places in Baltimore - The B&O Brassiere. After breakfast, it was back to the hotel to shower, then home. We had plans for later in the day and I had to prep for my 10k on Sunday.


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