Ugly Sweater Fun Run, 5k, and Beer Mile

Last year the race group who puts on the summer race series put on an Ugly Sweater 5k and Beer Mile. None of us had ever run a beer mile but we were excited to try it out. Thomas, dad, Ty, and I all ran it while drinking beer and Jeremy ran it while drinking egg nog. After the Route 66 Marathon I had planned on taking a week off but ended up taking 2 weeks off because I got strep throat the next week and didn't feel good enough to run. The third week after the marathon I started with 2 miles and ran every other day. Then the week of the race I was back to running every day. I had been dealing with serious soreness in my left glute area, not sure which muscle it was since early in December 2016. In the fall I stopped doing speed work in October and the soreness got a lot better. Then coming back after the marathon my left hamstring was sore for a few runs but I didn't feel much in my glute area. I was super excited thinking the time off finally healed it up! I hadn't taken a full 2 weeks off in a long time. But there was also this thought in the back of my mind that I hadn't done speed work since early October and I wondered if the soreness would come back when I started running fast again. So I was a little nervous for the Ugly Sweater 5k. I was expecting for it to hurt and not feel very good since I had likely lost most, if not all, of my speed. I figured I'd run somewhere around 22-22:30 for the race.

Me and Ty in our ugly Christmas sweaters.

Jeremy and Thomas in their ugly Christmas sweaters.

Mom and Dad in their ugly Christmas sweaters.

Carter was sick Thursday and still not quite up to par on Friday but we decided to go ahead and head to my parents' house for the Ugly Sweater races. I thought Carter was pretty much back to normal until we were running the fun run on Saturday morning. The race was only a half mile long so I figured he'd really rock it. He got to where he'd run the entire mile without walking during our summer race series and he'd even mostly run the 2 mile fun run we'd done in early December. So I was surprised when pretty early on in the race he wanted to walk. Then he started chatting with a girl by us and wanted to walk while talking to her. After the turn around we saw Elise with Oma. She ended up run/walking the entire race. When Carter saw her, he wanted to slow down and run with her. We walked for quite a while and he wasn't really interested in running to the finish until he saw Opa cheering for him. We ended up finishing a little under 8 minutes which was around 14:00 minute mile pace. It was funny that after not showing much interest in running during his race, Carter wanted to run back after finishing to he could run with Elise in to the finish. Elise was hilarious on the way home talking about how her arms got tired while she was running so she had to walk for a little bit.

Carter taking off at the start.

Thumbs up for Opa!

Elise and Oma ran the whole race holding hands.

Elise and Oma after the race.

After how my legs felt taking off with Carter at the start of the fun run I knew the 5k was going to be rough. I just didn't have the speed or get up and go in my legs that I normally would. I had been pleased with how my daily runs had been going. I'd gone from 9 minute pace my first run back to low 8 minute pace for all my following runs. I ran a mile warm up before the race and was feeling okay. I noticed the way the cones were set up, it looked like we were turning to the right rather than to the left like last year. I was disappointed when I saw that because the course we ran last year was super flat with just a small incline toward the end of the race. It was flat, fast, and exactly 3.1 miles. I really wanted all those positives in my favor on a day when I knew the race was going to be a struggle. I needed every advantage I could get to keep my time from being too embarrassing for me. I was a little late getting back over to the start area and quickly found Jeremy and Thomas to wait for the start. Thomas said the course was going to the right and would be different from last year. We took off at the start and I felt okay. I looked down and I was running right around 7:00 pace. I wasn't sure that was a pace I could maintain but I figured I'd just go with what felt okay and see what happened.

Thomas and me taking off at the start of the race.

Taking off at the start, likely the only time during the race when I felt like smiling.

When we turned to the right I saw there was a decent hill looming right ahead and was bummed. The last thing I needed was added difficulty to running a 5k on no training. I hit the mile mark in 6:57 and already found myself wishing we were coming up on the turn around. I told myself to just make it to the turn around point. I was feeling really rough and kept thinking, "I'm too out of shape for this. Running a 5k out of shape is so hard." There were a couple of pretty decent hills on the way out. I was relieved when I started seeing people coming back from the other direction because I knew I was nearing the turn around. My friend Sara went flying by way ahead of any other females and I cheered for her as she went by. That gave me a little pep in my step for a few strides. The turn around couldn't have been more appreciated. My watch beeped for the 2 mile mark quite a ways before the 2 mile mark on the course. Out of curiosity I looked at my Garmin when I went past the 2 mile mark on the course and it showed 2.13. I knew at that point the race was most likely going to be a bit long, not at all what you want when you are out of shape. My mile 2 split was 7:27. I started telling myself to shoot for under 7:20 for the last mile. I could see a couple of women running a ways ahead of me. I figured the had enough of a lead I wouldn't be able to catch them but I told myself to close the gap. I had counted that I was 7th overall female at the turn around.

We crossed a bridge toward the end of the race and I could see a guy running wearing a camel pack on his back. I started the mantra, "Just catch the camel pack." I caught up to him right before we turned left toward the finish line and then passed the woman closest in front of me. I could see Thomas a little bit ahead of me but wasn't going for him. I went through mile 3 in 7:16. Then the girl I had passed came sprinting around me again. The finish was uphill and into a pretty decently strong wind. When she went by I initially thought, forget it. I didn't much care whether I was 6th or 7th overall and I felt terrible so I didn't make a move to go with her. Then as she started to pull away, I changed my mind and decided I had enough left to take her. I took off sprinting and caught back up to her. As I started to pass her she kicked it into another gear and I dug deep to keep even with her. I started to pull away again and she countered me again. The whole time we were sprinting she was every so subtly veering left and cutting me off as we ran. I figured it was unintentional and she was just doing it because she was tired and was so focused on me. The unfortunate thing was that she pushed me enough to the left that I ended up running into the inflatable nutcracker to the side of the finish line which slowed me down a little. It was the first time I finished with the exact same finishing time as someone else with the other person coming out on top. I ran the last 0.3 at 6:43 pace. The course was 2/10 of a mile over because the volunteers had put the turn around cones out in the wrong place. I didn't realize as we were battling it out that I was slowly closing the gap between me and Thomas. He ended up only beating me by 3 seconds. As I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch I immediately felt depressed that I had run way slower than I'd hoped, finishing over 23 minutes. Later I realized the course was long and put my pace into a calculator which showed I would have run the 5k around 22:19 which was more what I had hoped for. I ran back to mom and dad (dad had bronchitis but his doctor encouraged him to run slowly, the cold air would help break up what was in his chest, so he ran with mom) and ran with them to the finish. They held hands as they crossed which was cute.

Last year I ate a doughnut before the beer mile so I'd have something in my stomach before the race but I just didn't feel like I'd be able to stomach it. As we lined up for the beer mile I saw that the woman who had finished 2nd overall in the 5k and had beat me by 2 minutes was racing it. I knew it wasn't likely I'd be able to win the race again this year but I knew it would be fun anyway. I still wanted to have my time for the race so I decided to go ahead and start my watch again this year even though last year I felt like that slowed me down at the start and I got the beer chugged much slower than I could have. But I did it pretty well and was one of the first people off the line. I was proud with how fast I chugged my beer. I think Thomas and maybe 2 other guys got off the start faster than I did. Last year it took me the first 2 chugging stations to get the chugging down but this year I was killing it from the start. It took the other lady until the 2nd chugging station to catch up to me and I once again out chugged her and was off faster than she was. She caught up to me about half-way to the next beer station. I was only focusing on her and wasn't paying attention to the men around me. I knew she was faster than me on this day (since I'm out of shape) but I was okay with being able to keep up with her simply because I was good at chugging beer, it was a beer mile after all! Going into the 3rd beer station she beat me into the station and I again beat her out of it. On the way to the last beer station I realized Thomas was winning and there was only one guy between us. I passed the guy between us at the same time the girl passed me again. She made it into the beer station more ahead than she had the last one, but I still beat her out of it. As I was running the last quarter mile to the finish she came sprinting by me and I had no interest in trying to go with her. As we got close to the finish I was disappointed I hadn't tried to go with her because she slowed significantly and I was really gaining on her. Had I tried to go with her when she went around me, I probably could have caught her at the finish. But with all the beer in my system I lose my fighter spirit a little bit. I stopped my watch as I finished and was excited that I had run faster than last year, in 6:09. But then I realized the course was only 0.88. I was still pleased I'd run the equivalent to a 7:00 mile with all the drinking thrown in. Ty hadn't run since September due to an ankle injury but he ended up running the entire mile.

Taking off in the beer mile.

Dad was feeling pretty good at the finish!

We stuck around for awards. It was crazy that all the top women were in my age group. I was 7th overall and 6th in my age group. The funny thing was that the girl I was duking it out with at the finish was the only woman ahead of me not in my age group. Had they taken the top 3 finishers out of age groups like they normally do or if the age group had been 30-34 like usual, I would have placed, but oh well. Jeremy finished the race in 22:38 which put him 14th out of 295 overall and 3rd of 28 in his age group. Thomas ran 23:13 which put him 17th overall and 3rd out of 13 in his age group. I finished in 23:16 which was 7:11 pace for the 3.3 miles and that put me 20th overall, 7th female, and 6th in my age group. Mom finished in 36:13, 163rd overall and 2nd of 10 in her age group. Dad finished with her but somehow recorded a time of 36:09, 161st overall and 9th of 15 in his age group. Keep in mind all those times would actually be around a minute faster when you consider the extra distance we ran. When I saw the awards for the beer mile I was really glad I had taken 2nd overall female. They gave a giant beer trophy to the overall finishers and then a bag of delicious sugar cookies from a local bakery to the next 3 finishers. I much preferred the cookies to the trophy. Thomas was pretty pumped to receive the beer trophy for being the first finisher of the beer mile. I was feeling pretty tipsy after the race. Not sure how they do it when drinking an entire beer at each station. This race only does 6 ounces of beer at each station. The beer mile was definitely way more fun than the 5k for me! That night my glute area and left hamstring was so sore it was hard for me to sleep. I've been foam rolling like crazy and doing exercises ever since. It doesn't hurt to run but I'm really sore all day and when I sit for long periods of time I'm even more sore. I'm thinking after a year of dealing with this, it's time to go to a physical therapist or doctor to get it figured out. I need to be able to do speed work to achieve my goals and these injuries just aren't letting me run anything under 8 minute pace without causing pain afterward. It's frustrating but I can't just keep ignoring it and hope it goes away!