DRC Bloomin’ 4 Mile Race

June 5, 2012 by · 6 Comments

 

Yep, you see that right, 4 miles. This was definitely a first for me in terms of race distance. I was slightly nervous because the last 5k we ran, we both wanted/did vomit so I had no real idea about how hard or fast to run 4 miles.  I didn’t set any goals, no need. It’s a free race if you are a DRC member and I figured it would be super low key and fun.

Beth ended up getting some kind of stomach bug and was out of work for two days so she decided Saturday morning to sit this one out too. I don’t blame her at all. She texted me early to make sure I knew and was fine. I was nervous because I have never been to a race completely alone before. Eeek! Had to be a big girl and go alone.

Luckily as soon as I got there I saw a familiar face! Jesus, who runs a lot of the hill work with us and is a fellow NTX Runner was in the parking lot getting his stuff ready for a warm-up! While Jesus went out for a warm-up I just hung out in my car. I was way too early. I was there at 7 for an 8 o’clock race because I was worried about my bib. No need, DRC had everything out, organized, and easy to get to!

Eight o’clock sharp the race started. I had decided that I would figure out my pace after I saw how I felt. Mile one was great! Mile 2 felt the same, 3 was ehhh, and 4 was awesome. Here are my splits!

The course was super flat, except for one small area in the middle, but that was nothing compared to our hill work. The weather was awesome in Texas. The sun was fortunately still hiding behind the clouds and there was a slight breeze!

Overall results:

8th in age group

169/497 overall

Gun: Chip: Name City
0:34:29 0:33:55 Teal Perez Carrollton

Jesus snapped these pics at the end! Thanks Jesus!!  I actually felt really good, surprisingly good. I haven’t really felt that way in a long time, running lately has been hard for me, I haven’t felt like doing it, and it hasn’t seemed to be coming easy at all, so I was very happy with this race! Hope that feeling continues!

 

 

Have you ever run a 4 mile race? What is the craziest distance you have ever run before for a race?

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To PR or Not to PR, What Did We Do? [Part1]

March 27, 2012 by · 10 Comments

We ran Kacie’s run this weekend and guess what!?!?! We have a new PR!! We don’t run many 5K’s as you may have noticed so Beth has not had a chance to PR in a 5K in a long time, but this weekend she did! Beth finished Kacie’s Run in a new PR time of 25:28 winning FIRST in her age group. We really have no idea what Teal’s official time was because we broke tradition on accident [tradition being Beth always puts her chip for her] and her chip timer never made it on her shoe. Whoops! We are pretty sure if she had had her chip on she would have come in about 40-50 seconds behind Beth and made third, but who knows. And in case anyone was ever wondering, chips only work if they are on your shoe! It stayed on the bib but never registered the time. Schwoops!

Really we blame the madness of the morning on the chip problem. We ended up getting to the race an hour and a half early because they were doing bib pick up the morning of instead of pre-race. Teal thought that this might be a disaster because about 20 of her students signed up to run this race as their first ever raceand really didn’t know what to do. We got there early to pick up everything for them and meet them in the parking lot.

For Beth this is rather funny to watch. Teal’s kids are cute in that they really didn’t know what to do at all. We helped them pin bibs, get their timer chips on and listened to all the random things they ask about what to do. Most didn’t have the right shoes, wanted to run in spikes, or wondered if we would see cars on the course. They also made a point to let their teachers know they planned on beating them. They are funny and it is cool to be present during someone’s first race!

Haha! Our faces in this pic...and notice the timing chip on Teal's bib

We want to know when your first race was!! For Beth her first 5K was in 2008 at the Mardi Gras Run 5K and for Teal back in 2000 at the Susan G Komen race in Plano which was super small compared to what you see now!  So leave us a comment with when your very first race was!

Also because it is Tuesday! We wanted to again let everyone know about Girl’s Night Out we are going to tonight!  If you are going to be around the Carrollton area and would like to show some support or just see how awesome some local, business ladies are then come on out and join us from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.!  There will be door prizes that include items from the vendors there – Creative Chaos the book, a Glitzbandz, a piece of jewelry, a wine gift card to Dee Lincoln’s Restaurant, a gift card to Matador, etc.  There will be wine and treats! So come join us!  Check out the flyer below for further details!

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Trinity River Levee Run

March 5, 2012 by · 2 Comments

I woke up Friday morning with beginnings of a cold coming on. Ugh, not so perfect timing! But got to bed early for a 6 a.m. wake up call for the 10k. That seemed SO late considering how early Teal & I woke up for Princess Half!

First I should backup and say the packet pickup at Luke’s was pretty easy at Luke’s Locker especially since I heeded the advice from email to know my bib number before getting there. I walked up to the nice fireman, told him bib 962 and in under 30 seconds I was off and looking at the running clothes sale. 🙂 Kudos to this race for having firemen help with packet pickup! 🙂

I’d seen multiple things regarding driving directions to the race and I had every intention of following them until I found myself on the exact street it said to avoid. Oh, well! Quickly parked on the opposite side of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge from where the race started, but ultimately I was glad because I got to walk across it twice in addition to running across it!

After crossing the bridge I found my friends Mary, Cory, Tom and Paige pretty quickly and in no time it seemed like we were off!  Since Teal was on a field trip with her students I just assumed I’d be running this race by myself and I was totally wrong!  Tom and I ended up running pretty much the whole race together.  We chatted about anything and everything!  Talking during races and even during training runs is not something I commonly do, so it was a nice change of pace.  Tom kept me updated periodically on what our pace was.  I knew I’d want to do another 6ish mile run later in the day so I was too concerned with pushing real hard in this race.  Overall the course was fun, lots of awesome volunteers out passing out powerade and water.  I don’t frequent that area of town all that much so it was fun seeing everything around there.

(source)

Tom & I after the race - please enjoy the mess that is my hair!

The results for this race were a little tricky to find or maybe I’m just not that use to having to click on so many links to be taken to a word document containing a link that holds my results?  My chip time was 57:41, 201st female to finish and 661st person to finish overall.  The thing I was most proud of in this race was the kick I gave at the end.  When I stopped my runkeeper at the end it said I had been running at a 7:14 pace! So excited to see the difference my hill and tempo workouts have given me in a short amount of time!  Would also, like to give a shout out to Teal’s workout buddy, Cynthia I saw out there!  Wish I would have seen you after the race!

After the race was over I made sure to take a picture of one of the three murals that Shepherd Fairey recently put up on Singleton Avenue in Dallas.  Tons of people were having their picture taken with the murals so I got just this one with no one else in the picture before I headed out.

On my walk back to the car I took advantage of the time and snapped some more pictures of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge or as I’ve already heard some referring to it as #largeMarge.  I’m going to hold out and put one of my favorite pictures I took walking across the bridge to the race on Facebook only, so come find it on our Facebook page! And if you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet – why not??

Later that afternoon I headed out for a 6 mile run that I was hoping would include some hills.  I set off on a bit of a new route for me, and to be honest in the beginning I wasn’t completely feeling this run.  As I was nearing the halfway point of my run which also was the point where I was running down my soon to be monster hill to run up, I saw a police officer and contemplated asking him to give me a ride home if I wimped out on the hill.  But let’s be honest – no matter how much I wanted to wimp out I wasn’t going to.  The hill was hard, but once I did it and recovered from it I felt great!  The whole last half of my run was fabulous!  I get more of a high from running when I accomplish something hard out in the course than if it was just completely flat.  Run #2 on Saturday felt like another victory for my tempo and hill workouts!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!  There were so many people out racing and Teal & I are both excited to see your race recaps! 🙂

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