Pooler 5k Review

Another race put on by ERS, Endurance Race Services, is the Pooler 5k.  It's part of the Pooler Patriot Weekend, which is an event celebrating our military with events like a golf tournament, a festival, fireworks, a food tasting.  The 5k is mostly associated with it, but they're trying to bring the two events more together.

This is an out and back course that goes through some of the neighborhoods of Pooler that I'd never seen before, so that was interesting to go through!  There's also a really mean part of the course where we went through the 10k finish line at less than halfway through the 5k!  There was a water stop about halfway through.

I felt pretty accomplished in this race.  At one point, around halfway, I ran for 2 minutes straight.  1 minute is usually a struggle, so I really pushed to get through the 2, and it made me feel great when I did it!  Also, there's an older gentleman who power walks a lot of the 5k's we do, and he always beats us.  But! At this 5k, we beat him for the first time!  We felt accomplished because of that.  Also, I had an unspoken goal of 42 minutes, and as we were coming up to the finish line it was reading at 41 and change, so I sprinted faster than I think I ever have to get to that finish line and passed right at 42!  I smoked Ray at the end too, so that was exciting ;)

My only complaint about this race is that it does go over a set of train tracks.  While I don't think anyone in this race was stopped by the train, one did go through during the awards ceremony, so that could have been troublesome.  I think they were talking about changing the course next year, possibly for this reason? so we'll see what happens.

Also, as a 2 year anniversary present, Ray got me the Newton Energy's that I've been wanting for a while now!  They're not quite as extreme as the Momentums I have now, and I wanted to start rotating shoes.  I haven't tried them yet but I plan to this upcoming week!

Have you gotten running gear as an anniversary present?

Lauren

Past Two Races

I've been slacking with racing information!  I do a lot of races, mostly 5ks, because I find it helps keep me motivated.  I do try to match things up with my training schedule though, so I don't get too off track!

On September 14th, I ran the Tunnels to Towers race in downtown Savannah.  This run is to honor Stephen Siller, a FDNY firefighter.  He was off work when the attacks on 9/11 occurred, but called his wife to tell her that he had to help those in need.  When he couldn't get through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in his truck, he literally ran towards the towers with all of his gear strapped to him.  Unfortunately, Mr. Siller lost his life that day, and now there are Tunnels to Towers runs in his honor, and for the other 343 firefighters that were lost that day.

Sgt. Michael Schlitz ran with us, who was wounded in Iraq.  Proceeds from the race were going to assist in building his smart home.  You can see some of his story here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NceL12VFYeE.

I felt good during this race.  It started out cooler than it has been in Savannah, but warmed up pretty quickly.  I have been working with 1:1 run:walk intervals, as I've mentioned before, but I did manage to run the first .6 miles or so, so I was proud of myself for that!  I ended up finishing with an official time of 41:22, which puts me at an official PR!  For some reason at the end of the race I felt completely wiped out, but after a banana half and a little water I was fine.  I think I didn't hydrate enough the morning of.  I'd love to do this race again next year, for the cause and because it's a nice course. 

Patriotic Minnie Mouse look!

Running up one of the very few hills in Savannah!

Many firefighters from local areas ran in full gear, and competed in teams for the Siller Cup.

Boy Scouts & Girl Scouts lined Forsyth Park with pictures of all of the fallen firefighters.

Coming through the finish line!

All done!

Then this past Saturday, the 21st, I ran in the Tiger Bass 12k in Bluffton, SC.  I wanted to run this so I had a timed 10k+ I could turn in for Tower of Terror.  I finished with an official time of 1:48:58.04, so I don't know if it will bump be up a corral, but it's worth a shot!  I finished dead last overall, but defaulted to 3rd in my age group, so I need to go pick up my medal sometime!  I'm surprisingly ok with finishing last, probably because there were a few times I thought about quitting.

This run was about half trail, which is shown below.  There wasn't a single foot long section of this trail that was flat, and my ankles were not happy with it.  I literally walked the entire trail portion of it, except for maybe .25 mile that was done with small bits of jogging here and there.  This was also my longest race to date, since I've only done 5k's up until now!

I did learn that this whole minimalist shoe deal is not working for me.  I'll probably still use my Nike Free's for short runs and 5k's, but anything about 5 miles or more is killer.  I broke my foot about 6 years ago, I believe.  They think that I also tore a ligament and it healed itself incorrectly.  So now whenever I run 5+ miles, the arch of my foot gets almost unbearably sore.  I think due to compensating for that, I also get knee pain and the worst hip pain!  It's on the inside of my hip, and still hurts now - 4 days later!  I don't want to switch to a new shoe that I can't do a long run in before ToT, so I'm going to push through that race in my current shoes, but as soon as I stop being sore from that I'm going in to Fleet Feet and having them analyze my running, etc.  My other leg, that I didn't break the foot on, is completely fine though.  I'd like to stay with an extremely flexible shoe, etc. but my injured foot definitely needs better arch support.  I'll keep everyone updated on this!

Blurry Savannah Bridge - running up this in December!

Blurry Savannah River at sunrise.

Most of my ToT costume, but SparkleBottoms + tutu instead of SparkleSkirt.

And we're off!

I must admit, the views were pretty!

The bridges on parts of the trail.  They were great to run on.

The trail =( See that soft unpacked sand/dirt? It was like running on the beach.

Highest mile marker I've seen!

Then there were turkeys!

They ran away from me =(

Then decided to ignore me and look the other way! Silly birds.

Overall, I have decided I'm not going to do anymore trail runs.  They just don't work for me personally, as much as I love the idea of them.  I also can't wait to get new shoes!  And I'm so excited for ToT in less than 2 weeks!!

Have you ever realized that something major needed to change in your running?
Lauren