Race report - A Midsummer's Night Run 5k

This weekend was the 25th anniversary of A Midsummer's Night Run 5k in Lexington. I ran this race last year for fun, in part because one of my best friends had a broken toe and wasn't going very fast. Now the same gal is married and has moved to Lex, so it seemed a great opportunity to see their new apartment (and their first place together) and get in some good runs.

As you might guess, it's an evening race. It starts at 8:30, so you begin with the sun up and finish with it mostly down. Kinda neat. Weird for me because I rarely run in the evenings. It's a huge race, with 3,967 finishers this year.

The course is a tight loop, lapping back on itself for part of it. They're using the D-tag chip system, but the start is still packed and crazy.

I drove to Lex after work on Saturday and got there about an hour before the race. My friends actually live on top of the start line, so it was a quick elevator ride down to start our warmup. It was at least 80 degrees still, and Kentucky muggy. Several more of our Bourbon Chase relay teammates were racing, so we all hung out at the start for a few. Mostly I complained about how much I hate 5ks. I mean, really, I do.

I was dead-set on negative splitting this race, which would make it my first 5k ever where I did that. I've never been sure before how fast to go out, so I usually just floor it and hang on as long as possible. My psuedo-coach and training partner, who has been there for all my recent speedwork, recommended I go out at 6:20 pace for the first mile then start dropping it down, trying to split under 6 for the end.

I don't look around much at the start to assess the competition, because I know there will be plenty. There's a guy running barefoot, with his D-tag fastened to a rubber band; a mulleted women's masters runner in gear as old as I; etc., etc.

My friendly Garmin 405 Cassidy was pretty handy in the negative-split endeavor, but I pretty much hit 6:20 out of the gate and then it was too dark to see the damn thing and I had locked the bezel for once so I couldn't activate the backlight. Sigh.

The first mile feels easy -- that was the plan -- and I nail 6:20 on the dot. I'm trying to settle in and get comfortable, but there's so many dang 90-degree turns in this race I'm constantly running tangents and trying not to kill the soccer-cleated dude cutting every corner.

Mile 2 is an "oops," a 5:58, but it's the only mile with a net elevation loss so maybe it's not my fault. I was getting into a rhythm though, and feeling much better than I usually do at that point. I get passed in here somewhere by a woman in purple, which I don't like (that I was passed, not the color purple). Somewhere in here I'm telling myself I have to learn race strategy somewhere, and I'm sighting other women and catching them.

Mile 3 is a little more uphill, a little slower, but not bad: 6:07. I see purple lady ahead of me as we hit the final straightaway. With about a half-mile to go I ease on her shoulder and sit for a minute, then surge past and hold that pace for a few seconds. I can't tell if it's her I hear behind me or someone else, and I worry I went past too soon. I'm backing off the pace a little with a quarter to go, trying to not totally die before I kick after hearing the last mile split.

As I near the finish, I hear someone right on my heels and hope it's not her. It's not. It's some dude. I don't care about him. I cross the line totally toast, and there's a race official stopping me and getting my bib number written down. I realize this means I probably placed top ten, since that's who gets plaques that evening.

Oh yeah, I ran like 19:15 according to Cassidy (who also got the mileage at 3.16), and 19:19 according to my chip, which I think is crap because they had two chip mats placed like 10 feet apart. There's no telling which mat actually started my time. Whatever.

Moral of the story is I hate 5ks slightly less now. My Bourbon Chase teammates all did awesome (watch out!) and I got a plaque for 7th place female (out of 1,999!). Then we had greasy pizza, drank whiskey sours (made with bitters muddled in your glass), stayed out till 3 a.m., got up five hours later and ran 15 miles. We roll hard.

Race report - Heart Mini 15k

Much to everyone in Louisville's confusion, a "mini marathon" is not necessarily a "half marathon." Sunday I headed to Cincinnati for my first race since Memphis. I decided to just drive up that morning, so that I could sleep in my own bed and save money, so I was on the road at about 7:30 a.m. ... gotta love a 10 a.m. race start! I had a coffee, a donut, some poptarts, a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade with me. Most of those were consumed en route.

Got to the parking garage at about 9 a.m., watching everyone walk around the pickup area in tights and jackets. "Crap," I thought to myself, "I hope I'm not the only fool in shorts." My current philosophy is that if it's too cold for shorts, it's too cold to race. Granted, I wore shorts and short sleeves in Memphis and it was 35, so the bar is pretty high.

I had resigned myself to the weather; when I arrived it wasn't awful. Mid-40s, occasional drizzle. I had packed short sleeves and a singlet, plus my shorts. And gloves.

Inside, I scooped up my packet, along with a rare creature: a race shirt that fits. When they handed it to me, I was worried it would be too small. It looked tiny -- probably because it was a youth small. It fits perfectly. Go figure.

At 9:15 I was back in my car, heater running, pondering my warmup options. I had a running jacket and warmup pants, but couldn't decide if I wanted to warm up in those and come back and sit in the car for a few and change, or if I wanted to ditch everything and and warmup just before the start. I opted for the later.

I listed to a litany of obnoxious songs that make me want to run fast: Drop it like it's hott (Snoop), Walk it Out (DJ Unk), Ole Ole, etc. I put my tag on my flats, pinned my bib to my shorts, and locked up the car at about 9:40. I jogged over to the convention center, hit the bathroom, did some strides inside where it was warm, then jogged outside some more.

Had a hard time getting to the front of the start, so guess I should have warmed up earlier. They had seeded spots, but nothing about them on the website, and the female seed standard was 57 minutes anyway. Yeah right.

Mile 1: 6:20. Totally uphill through the first half mile or so. Nice overpass bridge. Weather crappy. Too fast. Pull self back under control.

Mile 2: 6:44. Right on pace. Water stop at mile 1.5, the 5k turnaround from earlier that morning. Really loud stereo. I hate running past speakers. Makes my head want to explode. Nice view of the river.

Mile 3: 6:34. Fast? Slow? These middle distances (10k/15k/HM) kill me. Trying to settle in. 5k in 20:16.

Mile 4: 6:37. Better. Nice hill thrown in here. Approaching turnaround, always fun to navigate. This race has two! Count seven girls ahead of me, so I figure I'm in the top ten, but you don't always know for sure.

Mile 5: 6:40. Back up the hill we came down as we approached turnaround. Getting to see runners still coming in.

Mile 6: 6:48. Hill from HELL. Goes up about a quarter mile so steep you can touch the ground in front of you, whips around the second turnaround at the mile marker. Wind getting nasty. 10k in 41:04 (a new PR).

Mile 7: 7:05. Then you go back down the hill, and up a really long one. At this point the wind is so hard I can't breathe or see. Catch girl in front of me who looks totally spent. Stay with her for a bit.

Mile 8: 6:46. Wind still terrible, hills still terrible, I'm starting to be miserable but it's almost over. Encouragement gained when crossing chip mat at mile 8.3 -- they give awards for the fastest final mile. It's a good reminder there's just one stupid mile left.

Mile 9: 6:57. Back up the huge hill from the race's beginning. This one hurts. My calves are screaming, the wind is blowing me backwards, and I'm ready for it to be over. 2:09 for the .3 - not much of a kick. Chip timed to 6:40 for the last mile (seventh fastest final female mile).

Finish time 62:40, 6:45 pace, ninth female overall. Somewhat encouraged that the seed time was 57 but the weather was so rough only the first-place girl ran that fast -- she ran 57:30. I'm happy, had gone in hoping to run anywhere between 6:30 and 7 pace, so I was about dead middle. Think better weather and I could have ran faster for sure. But, all things considered, for that course on that day, it was a good performance.

Flats worked out well, no owies. A little dinged up overall post-race, but that's to be expected. Other updates to come later.

Rattlesnake 50k Race Report

Friday around lunchtime we piled six people's stuff, two tents and ourselves into a shiny white rented Tahoe and drove to lovely Charleston, WV. The Rattlesnake 50k was held in Kanawha State Forest, one of the prettiest places I've ever been. We got to the campsite around 5 p.m., and hustled to set up our tents since dinner (which was included with our entry fee) was at 6.

We gorged on pizza and Gatorade while realizing we were the youngest people at the race, and spent a lot of time rifling through our sweet swag bags. Each runner got a small yellow duffle bag with the race name screen printed on it, a yellow T-shirt, and a bunch of product samples from Hammer Nutrition. Hammer and Inov-8 donated other full-size products to be randomly distributed in bags, so a friend got a 26-serving jug of Hammer Gel and I got an Inov-8 waistpack.

While at the dinner we found out we could save the group $36 and camp in a group campsite behind the starting line. We tore down the tents, crammed everything back in the Tahoe, and relocated. After exploring the forest a bit, including the last part of the race course, we all went to sleep.

Alarms went off at 5 a.m. and we sat in the tents figuring out what, exactly, one has to have on-hand for a 31-mile race. The race started at 6:30, and the 90 minutes of prep time seemed barely enough. I knew there would be well-stocked aid stations roughly every 3 miles, so I filled up my two waterbottles on my Amphipod belt, tucked in four GUs, grabbed my sunglasses and headband and was ready.

The start was pretty informal, a group of a hundred or so people in a parking lot. The race director said, "3, 2, 1, go!" and we all took off. We ran for about five minutes before hitting the first uphill climb, at which point we all started walking.

That was the pattern for the next 6 hours -- run a little, walk a lot. I suppose it was split pretty evenly, but I felt like I was doing an awful lot of walking. Maybe because there were 5,000 feet of uphill climb.

I was running with an awesome friend, Diane, with whom I've been running and working for about 18 months now. This was her second 50k, and we laughed and joked and talked about all the neat plants we saw.

The race, because of both the terrain and the length, didn't have mile markers, which I think was for the best. What we knew was that the aid stations were roughly three miles apart, so that was how we gauged our progess. After the first aid station, the runners were spread out enough that Diane and I didn't see anybody else until the next station, and then we ran some with two older guys off and on through aid station five. They were behind us until the fourth station, and then at aid station five they told us we were "hammering on the downhills" which we took as a great compliment. They were changing socks and taking a break at that station, so Diane and I pulled away.

Shortly after aid station six, about four hours in, I lost Diane. I wasn't purposefully trying to go any faster, and I didn't want to leave her behind, but it was understood it was an every man for himself kind of race. She had been dealing with a renegade IT band, and we had two friends up ahead somewhere that I wanted to catch. As we crested the hill after the sixth climb, I started running again (we walked all the uphills) and Diane didn't. I gradually pulled away, still feeling pretty fresh.

I coasted through aid station seven, roughly 21 miles in, and laughed at the idea of only having 10 miles left. I really did feel surprising good. We'll credit some excellent weeks of training, GU Roctane and candy orange slices.

At aid station eight, I caught our other two friends, Rebekah and Chris. Of course, as I spotted them, I got excited and stopped paying attention, stepped in a hole and gave my bum ankle a good twist. It hurt the few next steps to the aid station, but then went away. Rebekah, Chris and I started walking the next hill, evaluating how we were feeling with a mere seven or so miles to go. I said, "Hey, it's just the distance of one of our weekday easy runs!" I may have been the only one feeling that way. Again I pulled away, walking faster up the hill and running once I hit the top.

For the last two hours of the race, I continuously caught and passed people. Nobody passed me, which was a good feeling but makes me think I probably could have ran the first half faster. But, in such a long race and having not done one before, I wasn't sure how I would feel. As we got to the part of the trail I had walked the night before, I started really running (as opposed to the slow plod I had been using), and cruised all the way to the finish -- where two other friends were waiting and cheering. I finished 37th overall and 14th female in 6:25:50.

The race director shook my hand and gave me a cool handle-less Fiestaware mug with the race name and year on it. Matt, one of the two pals at the finish, had ran 5:21:33 in his second trail race and first ultra to finish 16th overall. He did Ironman Louisville last year and was a great runner at Centre College, so we expected him to do well. Nikki, the second friend and the one person I can usually count to be yelling my name at the finish, ran about the first 10 miles of the race as she comes back from a pretty vicious IT band flare-up after running the Cincinnati Flying Pig half-marathon.

Chris and Rebekah came through in 54th and 55th, in 6:59:22, looking tired but strong. We had sandwiches and hung out as we waited for Diane, who we feared might be struggling with her IT band out in the woods somewhere. Some other guys finished who said they had seen her an aid station or two back, so we knew she was still going. She rounded the corner without a limp, which was a relief to everybody (especially boyfriend Matt), but also without her shoes. After her finish in 7:54:33, 71st overall, she told us her foot had blistered so badly she had to run the last three miles without her shoes -- including up a rocky hill! She should get some sort of superwoman award.

All in all, I loved running this race. Usually I get bored running longer races, but this time I had a blast the entire time. I have already started looking for another trail 50k to do, and I would recommend Rattlesnake to anyone looking for a well-organized, scenic race well worth the $50 entry fee.

Sweat and spiderwebs

ORN: Just over 7 in just over an hour, trails over at Sawyer. Nice recovery run.

Wednesdays and Fridays are tough because I only get about 12 hours between runs. We run on the preceding days at 7 p.m., finish around 8, then sleep and run again at 7 a.m. They get a little sloggy. But, today was good anyway; really humid but just ambled along.

Last night was an hour of trails in the rain; Wednesday another easy hour and Tuesday intervals. A good week all-in-all, after tomorrow's run I'll be at 60 for the week.

I've been dragging this week with a sinus infection -- my second since April. The doc is sending me to an allergist in a few weeks to try and pinpoint the problem. I assume it'll be something dumb like grass.

A complaint: the race at Hubers, the Barnyard Dash 10k, did the awards not the usual way. Typically, the overall gender winners are not eligible for age group awards. The Pacers and Racers folks, though, gave the overall gals age group and overall awards. Silliness. Add to that the fact I drove to New Albany for early packet pickup on Friday, only to find out they had decided not to have it but didn't post that anywhere. Then, when I arrived on Saturday, they were out of shirts -- even though the registration form guaranteed shirts to the first 300 registrants, of which I was one. I'm a little irked and not planning to do that race or any of their others, in the future.

This week has been pretty fun because many of the company reps are showing us shoes for 2009. I've seen a lot of cool things in the past two weeks or so, and I'm excited about some upcoming products. Plus, I think it feeds into my newsroom junkie habit of wanting to know things first. Now I've seen shoes most people won't see until January!


Also this week I got my new racing flats. My awesome sponsor Mizuno supplied me with two new pair of Wave Ronins, weighing in at just over 6 ounces. It's a great fitting shoe, so much that I may have to race again sooner than I thought.

That's it for now! Ten miles tomorrow and 20 on Sunday -- I live an exciting life!