Midsummer's Night 5k

We ran the 2nd race of an evening race series on Saturday, July 11th. I know this recap is way late, but there were just other things I was more interested in posting about. That day my parents and I spent most of the afternoon out in the sun at the pool with Carter. I was worried about hydrating but was too tired to care and went down for a nap when Carter did. I originally had high hopes for the race but as the event neared my motivation for running and especially running hard diminished. I planned to take off at 7:20 pace and see what happened. 

The whole group: Jeremy, dad, Carter, me, mom, Ty, and Elise.

My mom and Carter listening to the National Anthem.

My dad and I lined up together at the race start and agreed we wanted to go out around 7:20 for the first mile and no faster than 7:15. We took off and my legs felt great. I looked down at my watch around the half-mile and saw I was running 6:50 pace but I didn't worry too much. I knew with the race being on a trail with lots of trees around my Garmin often struggles with determining pace and jumps around a lot. I also didn't want to run off of pace as much as off of feel. I felt really good so I went with it. I knew the race always thins out quite a bit after the first mile and I end up pretty much running alone so I often times struggle to keep pushing. I figured having a bit of a cushion with a faster first mile wouldn't be such a bad thing. My dad knew we were running faster than planned so he backed off the pace. As I noticed him pull behind me I knew I should probably slow down and stay with him but decided against it which probably hurt me in the long run. I went through the first mile in 7:16 which was only 4 seconds faster than planned, but 14 seconds faster than my first mile the week before.

Jeremy, me, and dad waiting for the race to start.

Dad and me taking off at the start.

During the first half of the race.

I could feel myself slowing down and tried not to let myself slow too much. We hit the turn around and I told myself, halfway done but I just wasn't mentally in the race. I was calculating in my head how much of a cushion I had and how much I could slow down and still run a faster time than the week before. My 2nd mile was 16 seconds slower than my first at 7:30. I told myself that wasn't bad really because it was the same as my second mile the week before but I'd let myself slow down too much and it was a slippery slope from there. My legs felt terrible. I wasn't struggling aerobically at all, it was all in my legs. They just weren't ready for races so closely spaced. I knew I was slowing down more and kept telling myself I was a sitting duck for anyone behind me, especially my dad who I knew was still close behind me. Even then I couldn't muster the strength to pick up the pace. I figured if someone came up to pass me I'd try to hold them off then. As I approached the finish line I saw the minutes were still showing 22. In my mind didn't deserve to run under 23 with how weak I'd been mentally but I kicked it in as hard as I could finishing in 22:35. I was disappointed in myself and how I ran but I was pleased that I had run a minute faster than the race on this course a month earlier.

On the return trip.

Crossing the finish line.

I watched my dad and Ty finish and then headed back onto the course to run a cool down to my mom who was walking with the kids in the stroller. I'm so glad I did because it turned out she was having a rough race. Elise was unhappy in the stroller and crying so she had pulled her out and was carrying her for quite a while. Then she took some of Elise's clothes off, took her cover off, and made sure her fan was positioned appropriately and it turned out Elise had just been too hot. When I approached them my mom was running to keep Elise happy. I took over with the stroller and we ran/walked some more. Luckily Elise was calm even when we walked. My dad had walked instead of run the way back to my mom and when he caught us Carter immediately asked to get out to run. My mom had told him he could get out to run but not until Opa got to them. This was my favorite part of the whole night, watching Carter run. He was so adorable! He loved the bags with glow sticks sitting on the path to light our way and we had a hard time getting him to go around them rather than stomping them as he ran by. He also loved running under the lit arches. Elise got hungry less than a quarter of a mile from the finish so I nursed her as we walked and got enough behind that I missed getting pictures of Carter at the finish which I was bummed about. Each race bib had a tag for an ice cream bar and Oma gave hers to Carter, much to his delight. He worked on his ice cream for a long time.

My dad finishing the race.

Ty running during the race.

My mom pushing Carter in the stroller while carrying Elise.

Elise enjoying the race from the stroller while Carter ran.

Carter is such an awesome runner!

Carter looking at a glowing bag while coming up on a lighted archway.

Carter excited about his ice cream!

We stuck around for awards. Jeremy was our fastest finisher coming in 5th out of 256 runners overall and 1st in his age group with a time of 19:57. I was next to finish in 22:35 good for 16th overall, 3rd overall female, and 1st out of 26 in my age group. Dad came in right behind me with a time of 22:55 putting him 18th overall and 2nd out of 17 in his age group. Ty finished 56th overall and 7th out of 15 in his age group with a time of 27:03. Mom ran/walked with the double stroller, mostly walking and finished 228th overall in 47:53. Another race in the series down, one more to go in August! Maybe I can shave off another minute...

Jeremy crossing the finish line.

Elise went up with me to get my medal.

Jeremy was 1st in his age group.

Dad with his 2nd place age group medal

Twilight Thriller 5k

Saturday was such an exciting day.  My mom and I went to a baby shower for one of my best friends in the morning, we found out we're having a GIRL in the afternoon, and then we ran our annual Halloween race in the evening.  We've run the race the past 4 years.  I missed out last year because one of my best friends got married in San Diego that weekend, but I've run every other year.  The first year we ran the race Ty dressed as Batman, I was Robin, and Thomas was The Joker.  At the race we realized there were costume awards and Ty decided he wanted to win the next year and he did exactly that, dressing as a gnome with a 2 foot tall hat.  The next year he decided to run with Carter in the stroller and turn the stroller into a plane with them both dressed as pilots.  We all knew there was no way he wouldn't win again and he did.  This year he went with a train for the stroller and engineers for both his and Carter's costumes.  His train costume was complete with a train whistle to blow.  There was no way anyone was going to beat him.  When it came time for the costume contest they called a guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a mustache as the male winner and I was mad.  I knew how much time and effort Ty put into his costume and everyone could see his costume was far superior.  There was no way he shouldn't have won.  I was very vocal about my disappointment and planned to complain about the injustice to the race director after all awards were passed out.  Then they announced the group costume winners and it was Ty and Carter.  Last year he won as the male costume and this year he won as a group instead.  That made more sense.  Everyone in the crowd erupted in cheers.  It was almost as though they all felt Ty had gotten gyped as well and were relieved that was not the case.

A group shot before the race in 2011.

Our group costume in 2011.

A group shot in 2012.  My best friend, Ang, also did the race.

Ty's winning gnome costume.

Group shot from last year.  I was in San Diego for one of my best friends' weddings.

Ty and Carter with the winning plane/fighter pilot costume.

Group shot from this year.  It was so awesome to have everyone there!  Each other year we were missing at least someone.

Ty and Carter in the winning train/engineers costume.

Going into the race I'd had a rough week of training.  I had a migraine that lasted for 2 days so I didn't run either of those days.  My first day back was Friday and I struggled at 11 minute pace and stopped to throw up during the run.  Things weren't looking promising for Saturday's race.  Friday evening we stayed up until 1 am and woke up with Carter at 7 am.  Then I missed my nap because Carter woke up right as I laid down.  So by the time we headed out for the race I was exhausted.  I had hoped to take off at around 7:30 pace and try to run a similar time to the 23:11 I ran at the Zoo Run when I was 13 weeks pregnant.  But by the time race day came around I was just hoping to be able to run without being completely miserable.  I took off at a decent pace and ran the first mile in 7:41.  I slowed down during the second mile and kept my pace consistent going into the last mile.  I finished in 24:03 an average of 7:45 pace, about 1 minute slower than my Zoo Run time.  That put me 5th overall female, 2nd in my age group, and 16th out of 151 overall.  The race went better than I expected.  We have another race coming up this weekend.  I have a feeling I'll be able to run a little bit better with a more restful day and my head holding out throughout the week for me.

Crossing the finish line.

Jeremy ran the race dressed as Heisenberg wearing a hat and sunglasses.  He kept both the hat and sunglasses on for the entire race, even when it got dark.  Thomas asked him how he could see once the sun went down and he said he couldn't really.  When I saw him at the turn-around he was 5th overall and ended up winning the race in 18:57!  Dad ran a post-surgery PR in 22:56, winning his age group by 5 minutes and placing 9th overall.  Thomas was 26th overall with a time of 25:21 and placed 3rd in his age group.  Ty ran an impressive 32:53 while pushing the stroller and wearing a long-sleeved shirt and overalls!  He started at the very back of the race to stay out of everyone's way since he had the stroller and passed 75 runners during the race!  He was 4th in his age group and would have placed had it not been for Thomas!  Mom started at the very back with Ty and planned to run/walk but got excited and ran the entire race, finishing in 34:26 and passing 65 competitors during the race, finishing 7th in her age group.

Jeremy finishing with sunglasses on and all!

Ty and Carter accepting their group costume award.

I Love My Bob!

One of our big decisions when we were registering was which stroller we wanted.  I planned to run with the stroller, so we knew we needed a good one.  We ended up picking the Bob Stroller Strides Fitness Stroller.  My amazing parents bought it for us, half for my birthday and half for Ty's birthday.  Every day I run with it I love it even more.   That's saying a lot because of the 391 miles I've run since Carter was born I've run all but 87 of them with the stroller, so I've logged roughly 300 miles with that bad boy!  I actually sat down and added it up today out of curiosity.

It has definitely proven how awesome it is over and over again.  The swivel wheel makes it easy to navigate, even for an upper body weakling like myself.  The all-terrain tires have gotten us through grass, over rocks, on gravel, no problem!  Last week was an especially trying week for the stroller.  We had a big storm Tuesday night which left limbs and parts of trees all over the trail we run on.  The stroller bounced over them with no problem.  Occasionally a stick would fly up and jam the front wheel, but all it did was slow me down for a moment.

Carter checking out the over-sized sun shade.

Friday was the real test.  There was a chance of rain all day long and I was hoping to get a 12 mile long run in.  I waited until later in the day because there was only a 30% chance of rain.  I took an umbrella and a bunjee cord to rig up to the stroller just in case it started raining.  We took off running with no rain so I figured I'd just stop to attach the umbrella if it started.

Then about 2 miles in it started to lightly drizzle off and on.  We got to the turn around and it started to rain a little bit harder.  By 7 miles it was full on raining.  I kept looking down at Carter and he didn't appear to be wet except for a few droplets on his feet and lower legs.  We went under a bridge and I stopped to check, sure enough his body was dry.  I dried off his feet and legs and we continued on.  Of course, I still worried about him getting wet and cold, but he was fine.

My dry baby fell asleep at 11.5 miles.  Really, all that time and you fall asleep half a mile from the finish!

It stopped raining 10 miles in and was done for the night, go figure.  When we finished I pulled Carter out half expecting his onesie to be soaked and I just couldn't see it, but nope he was totally dry!  I couldn't believe just the sun shade on the stroller had kept him dry.  When I pulled a completely dry Carter out of the stroller I fell a little bit more in love with it.  Man, I love my Bob!

I had a couple of hiccups last week which kept my weekly mileage from hitting 30.  One day I cut my run short to get home so I could transfer Carter's baby food to a friend's freezer since we lost power, more here.  Another day my run was cut short because we ran into a lost dog with a collar and rabies tag.  I was about a mile out from my car, so I caught the dog and walked it back to take it to the vet so they could find her owners.  That being said I was still pretty close.

Sweet dog we helped get home.  Notice Carter in the rearview mirror!

Last Week's Stats
Weekly Mileage: 29 miles
Long Run: 12 miles (at 9:05 pace with the stroller, my last mile was 8:28!!!)
Tempo Run: 3 miles at 7:55 pace

Linking up with Ashley for Move it Monday!