TotR: Where I Run

Today for Tuesdays on the Run, the theme is Where I Run.  April from Run the Great Wide Somewhere, Patty from My No Guilt Life, and Erika from MCM Mama Runs host Tuesdays on the Run.  And yes it's Wednesday.  I had this written yesterday, but I might have forgotten to hit publish...

I'm sad to say that I don't really have a consistent place that I run, because I don't exactly consistently run :/ That being said, this is Lake Mayer.  It's a 1.4 mile loop so when I was running consistently, I went there a lot.  This means I don't have to carry water, etc. because I can leave it in my car, plus there's a water fountain there.  The only thing I don't like about it is the geese, because they make me nervous.

Other than that, here's a few exciting places I've ran:

Asheville, NC - ALL the hills!

At my school, where I did a 10k

Disney World! This is from Wine and Dine

On top of the super tall Savannah bridge

Tom Triplett, which I would run at all the time if it wasn't an hour away

And most recently, in Portland, ME!

I realized I tend to just take selfies when I run, so I don't have many pictures of where I'm actually running.  Here's a quick glimpse into it though!

Lauren

Red Shoes Run 5k Recap

A week ago, on April 5th, I ran the Red Shoes Run 5k with my uncle and my boyfriend.  It's to benefit our local Ronald McDonald House, which is a charity I've always felt really drawn to.  It was especially important for them this year because they were greatly impacted by mold last year, and were closed for about half the year.  They've recently reopened and are currently full, with about 20 families on the waiting list.  Afterward, the Children's Hospital at Memorial Hospital (where the Ronald McDonald House is located) held a Teddy Bear Hospital, where they had nurses and doctors diagnosing and fixing kids' teddy bears.  It was absolutely adorable!

My aunt and uncle were visiting from Connecticut for the weekend, and my uncle has been running for quite a while.  He usually runs about a mid-20's 5k, but both he and my boyfriend stayed back to run with me, even though they both probably could have placed had they not!  Well, I know my uncle would have, at the least.  We ended up finishing in 40:40.  We were on track for me to PR after the first mile, which came in at 12:06.  I tried to keep up the pace, but it just wasn't happening.  This was my first run after RunTheBluegrass, which was a mistake, so I was still tight.  Plus it was about 70 out, while Bluegrass was about 45 and felt like 32, so I think my body was very confused!  Mile 2 was 13:29, much closer to my usual pace, and the last mile was 13:54.  While I probably could have pushed harder and gotten a new PR, I didn't want to push too hard, and I'm mostly happy with this time.

This is known as the "mini bridge run" because we go up and over a bridge that goes over the highway.  Despite my hills at Bluegrass, it still kicked my butt, especially by being in the hot sun!  For about a mile or so after that, though, we were on a road that went through a wooded area, so it was shady and much cooler.

Overall it was a really great race, with a wonderful cause, and I look forward to running it again next year!

My uncle, me, my boyfriend, and his mom

Did you race last weekend?
Lauren

Beaufort Twilight Run 5k Recap

Last weekend, I decided to run the Beaufort Twilight Run 5k + 8k challenge.  Well, as I'm sure you guessed, the 8k portion just didn't happen.  My calves were tight and I just really wasn't feeling running at all that night.  But hey, I got the 5k done at least!

It started in a really cute little part of Beaufort called Habersham Village that I'd never been to before, and it had lots of little shops and restaurants.  I didn't get to look around too much because it was absolutely packed and we had gotten there a lot later than expected.  One thing I will note though - all of the restaurants either had their bathrooms blocked off or they were for customers only.  This kind of ticked me off because they had about 3 portapotties there, I had about 5 minutes till start, and there were at least 20 people in like (not doing the 5k), so it would have taken too long to get to the front.  I guess this is partially my fault for getting there late, but I feel like the restaurants should just be nice for that one day.  Anyway, rant over.

I got to the start line having to pee like a racehorse, and stressed out (we didn't have the best ride up there...).  I didn't do any stretching, and was in a bad mood overall.  I just wanted to get this race done!  Well, the first two miles that paid off.  They clocked in at 12:03 and 12:56.  I think I pushed it too much the first mile though, because after mile 2 I really started to overheat and I could barely push my run periods.  Mile 3 came in at 13:37 (around my normal pace), and the last 0.18 at 2:13.  I do know I hit 3.1 at about 39:55, because I pushed for a sub-40.  My official time was 40:47.

Usually, I run at a comfortable pace and fast-walk.  Yesterday, I pushed my runs, and just walked normally and it seemed to work better.  I think I just pushed the first mile too much (I thought I could PR it, which I was off by about 10 seconds), because the last mile I couldn't push the runs as much.  I was way too hot.  Granted, it was also hot out in general in the mid-70's and sunny the whole time, but I was starting to heat up in general anyway.

I ended up doing a lot of weaving in this race, for two reasons.  First, there were a ton of kids under 13-or-so and NONE of them knew race etiquette.  They were walking three across in the middle of the road, taking off running and zig zagging all over without looking around them, and other various things.  They actually had a big sign that said "5k Walkers Start Here" and walked them up after the runners started, yet there was a pair of 15ish year old girls casually strolling in the middle of the road in the first tenth of a mile.  Things like that kept happening, and maybe I only noticed it because I was in a bad mood already, but no one knew any etiquette.  Second, the roads seemed to be very narrow, maybe one and a half lanes at most.  It was a complete neighborhood run, and a gorgeous neighborhood, but you could tell it was a small one that didn't have a lot of traffic, and there just wasn't enough room with all the weaving I had to do.

So while my time was good (for me), my experience overall was not.  Like I said, maybe it was just because I was in a horrible mood already, but I probably won't do this race again.

Did you race this weekend?
Lauren

Valentine's Day Celebration - 10k and a fancy dinner

I know, I know, bad blogger going 2 weeks without posting.  But I have 2 or 3 posts that I should get up today/tomorrow to make up for it!  First was from yesterday, Saturday.  On Friday we didn't celebrate Valentine's day, we just went to my parents' house for dinner.  Saturday brought the inaugural Savannah Hot Cocoa Half and 10k.  My boyfriend and I were both doing the 10k, and we had both gotten SavedbytheDeal deals for half off (at different times).

The weather going into it was decent - it was 50's and sunny but the WIND was absolutely killer!  It didn't make it cold, really, it was just so darn strong, and most of the race it seemed we were fighting against it.  Sometimes I couldn't even hear him because the wind was rushing by my ears so much.

The race itself was in a community about 15 minutes away from us.  It's not a gated community, but very nice.  Gorgeous houses - I love to go "house shopping" whenever we have races through neighborhoods.  It was an out and back course with the 10k turning around at 3.1, and the half continuing on to 6.5 before turning around.  Probably the only issue I have with the race itself was the water stops.  I didn't end up stopping at all - I was on a mission to PR which I'll talk about later - but they were inconveniently placed.  The course went out and about a third of a mile in you go through a little gazebo type thing, where a water stop was.  Then you go around a lake (pictured below), and back through the gazebo, just around mile 1.  In my opinion, this is far too early for a water stop.  If there was one at the turn around point, I probably would have used it, but we just hit the gazebo again around mile 5 when we went back through.  That, for me, is too late in the race.  I will say that the water station was very well stocked - fruit, water, Gatorade, and of course chocolate!  They had Snickers, Reese's, and a couple other kinds I didn't see.  I just wish they were placed a little better.

My boyfriend ran this race with me.  He knew he couldn't PR, since he just did at Tybee with a time of around 1:10 and change, and didn't want to race for time if he couldn't PR, so he stayed back with slow little me!  I, on the other hand, DID PR!  I was so so so excited!  I finished in 1:22:52, which is a PR of 3 minutes and 17 seconds.  I honestly feel like if the wind was nonexistent I could have broken 1:20, but I was so excited to PR, and by that much!  I did my 1:1 walk:run intervals, skipped the first walk like I always do, and skipped I believe a total of 3 run intervals, which is much less than I normally do.  

At the finish line there was hot chocolate, Girl Scout cookies, and chocolate fondue with many dippers - strawberries, grapes, marshmallows, pretzels, and more things I'm sure I'm forgetting.  They also had Hershey's Kisses, homemade cookies, and a few other little things.  I just had a cookie and a Kiss; I pushed hard during the race and my body wasn't quite ready for food yet.  We got our medals and mugs, and walked around for a few minutes after to cool down, then met a friend at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

Another comment about the race - there was really no course support.  The volunteers at the water station were absolutely amazing, cheering for every runner.  They had a few volunteers here and there to keep you on course, and at the 10k turn around (I'm sure the half turn around as well), and they were cheering.  A few people were outside of their houses watching, but not really cheering.  It didn't really bother me, but I did notice the lack of it, but completely understood with it being a neighborhood race.  I knew one lady who was running the race, Tara.  She's such a wonderful person that I met through running, through rarely see and barely know, but when she passed me on her way back in while we were still going out, she cheered for us and yelled our names, which was sweet!  We also met a couple (and their cute little baby) who did Tower of Terror and are doing Glass Slipper Challenge next weekend!  Overall, it was a great race that I look forward to running again.

After having breakfast/lunch and getting all cleaned up, we hung around the apartment for a while, then got ready for our fancy dinner.  We went to the Melting Pot, as we always do for fancy occasions, and it was fabulous as always.  They even brought us a champagne toast at dessert, which was so sweet!  I won't go into too many details, but if you've never heard of it it's an absolutely amazing fondue place!

I can't stay fancy & classy for long!

Overall, it was a great Valentine's Day a day late.

What did you do to celebrate?
Lauren

Reindeer Run 8k

On Saturday 12/14/ Ray and I ran the Reindeer Run 8k on Hutchinson Island, raising money for the Rape Crisis Center in Savannah.  I've ran on Hutchinson for 2 5k's before, so there was a little bit of extra course that I hadn't done before, which went under the Bridge.  It was a pretty nice course, mostly flat, except for the camber on the race track (as seen here).

People were dressed up in costume.  I had my tutu, shown below, that I talked about in my last post.  You still can't really see the sparkle, but I promise it's there!  

As far as actually running it goes, it was sooooo painful!  I worked out more than I ever normally do this week, and my body was not happy with my for it.  On Monday, I did gentle (but still power) yoga, Tuesday I did a Pure Barre class which was pure torture (look the method up if you've never heard of it!), Wednesday I didn't do anything because I was too sore from Pure Barre, Thursday I ran 10 miles even though I haven't gone more than 3.5 since Rock n Roll on 11/9, Friday I did yoga again, then Saturday was my 8k.  My legs were so heavy, and even just walking was painful.  Thankfully Ray was sore too from working on our roommate's car Thursday night, so we commiserated together.  But hey, technically it's a PR at 1:10:06 since I've never run an 8k before!  It was 4.92 miles, for those of you wondering ;)

Afterwards, they had a great after party in the Convention Center, with chili tasting and lots of other things going on.  Leopold's Ice Cream was there, and if you're ever in Savannah, you have to go!  It's so amazing, and the owner Stratton Leopold has also worked on many major films, whose posters are all around the restaurant.  I even got to meet him! (last picture)  Annnnnd, I also met Paula Deen!  I almost didn't recognize her because she's lost so much weight.  The Deen's were judging the chili cook-off.  Overall, it was a really fun race, I just wish I hadn't been sore!  I'm sure I'll be back next year!

Have you ever tried to do too much in one week?  How long did it take to "reset"?

Lauren

Savannah Bridge Run Race Recap

On December 7th, Ray and I ran the Savannah Bridge Run.  We ran the 5k, although they have 10k and Double Pump (5k then the 10k) options.  However, we had never conquered the bridge before, or any hills for that matter living in Savannah, so we opted to just go over it once.  According to the race website, the bridge itself is a "5.5% grade and 1.4-mile span" and then of course 1.7 miles after that (which had many smaller hills included!).  

Many people dress up in costume, a lot of which are shown below.  We didn't dress up, but his mom was Wonder Woman, along with the women from our local Moms Run This Town (also below).  And none of these at all are stolen from the professional photographer..... 

Like with the Pickle Run a few weeks ago, the race itself was hard, but the community was so amazing.  I had so much fun, and we might even do the Double Pump next year.  We'll certainly dress up.  I don't have all too much to say about this race.  We did complete it in 45:15, and my Garmin measured it long at 3.17 I believe, so about the same as the Pickle Run.

We did just join a local running club, and every Sunday morning they run the bridge, so that will be really helpful!

Did I mention it got to almost 80 during the race?  He took his shirt off about halfway through.

These are our war faces.

Has it been unreasonably or unusually warm for anyone else lately?

Lauren