Everyone has good and bad runs. Most of us talk about our good runs, and kind of brush the bad ones under the rug. Not today!

Modesto was a bad one. Really embarrassing actually; kind of devastating. So, my friends, here is my race report for your amusement. If you have had any awful races, feel free to share in the comments section so we can all have a little laugh...

I was really anxious for this race. I had trained really hard for it, and wanted to finally get back under 4 hours and possibly sneak under 3:50. Everything in training had gone really well, my legs were feeling strong (for once uninjured), and in a way it made me more nervous since I wanted it to go well.

Jon and I left on Saturday afternoon on the long drive to Modesto. Traffic was light; I got to see a lot of open fields and wind farms, and my entire right side started to roast under the sun.

We arrived in Modesto, and it was hot. I was immediately worried about the race temps since I was not prepared for this kind of heat. Good thing the race started at 7am.

The expo was downtown and we meandered through the aisles after grabbing our bibs, shirts and fancy arm sleeves. The arm sleeves are really cool but even their smallest size were pretty large on me, and I would consider my arms to be borderline beefy for a girl (good luck squeezing them into a Hollister shirt). The shirt was great and had a drawn on cape on the back so it looked like everyone was walking around with capes. I ordered an XS and it fit really well.

There wasn't much to write home about at the expo, but they did have a lot of cheap Modesto Marathon branded items for sale. I was tempted to get a black Forever 21 jacket with the marathon logo embroidered in the back corner.

We walked away empty handed and made a bee line to grab our free bottles of wine (a red blend). So many perks with this race!

Jon and I drove around the block only to re-park in the same exact spot since we realized our hotel was visible from the expo. We stayed at the Doubletree Inn. It was a little bit pricey but worth it considering it's proximity to the start line. And free warm cookies!

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant that I found on Open Table, Verona's Cucina Italiana. It was surprisingly good but the Spaghetti Bolognese was pretty creamy so I ended up leaving a lot of it on the plate since I'm lactose intolerant.

Staying true to my typical pre-marathon behavior, we went to the Sprouts grocery store adjacent to the restaurant and loaded up on an absurd number of snacks and Odwalla's to nurse anxiously before bed. A box of berries, cookies, 4 Odwallas...it's safe to say I'm not doing the whole low carb thing anymore. We headed back to the hotel and I neatly arranged my running gear for the next morning.

I was up at 5:30 to brew some coffee, get dressed and be sure to hit the bathroom about three times to make sure I had nothing in my bladder (or intestines haha). I ate a couple pieces of bread that I had packed, and filled my pack bottles with some Tailwind. I was super mad at the Platypus hydration bladder I had just bought. Not only did it barely fit in my pack, but something was wrong with the straw and it was like trying to drink a thick milkshake through a coffee straw just to get anything out. Reading through the reviews, it looks like this is a common issue. I decided to ditch it, and just carry the bottles. I'll be returning the bladder this week.

It took us about five minutes to walk to the race starting line. I was shocked at how few people there were, I was expecting the turnout to be in the thousands. I settled somewhere between the 3:42 pacer and the 3:52. I was disappointed that there wasn't a 3:45 pacer, but the times were very specific to Boston Qualifying times, since this race prides itself in its fast and flat course. Incredibly, I turned around and immediately spotted a friend that I had only ever talked to on FB. It was great to finally meet her!

Photo courtesy of Jenny Iskander

I was off and as usual had a fast start. I was averaging somewhere between 8:15 and 8:25, focusing more on running the tangents since there were a lot of turns in the first bit, and then we settled on a more flat and straight road cutting through almond tree fields. Despite peeing about 3 times before the race, I still had to go and ended up going around mile five. Such a bummer to lose that extra thirty seconds!

Around mile 8 I noticed a fork where the half marathoners go one way and the marathoners go the other. I was trying to keep my eye on the 3:42 pacer but with this turn he kind of vanished. I continued...focusing on consistently hitting around an 8:30 pace.

one of the free race photos

There was this chick that was being unusually competitive with me and I didn't understand why since it was so early in the race. She was constantly yo-yoing from falling behind me to running ahead. I can't stand these types of people! I just wanted her to go away and was annoyed by her labored breathing and competitive glares.

And then came the point when I overheard some spectators shout "You're almost there! Only a half mile to go!". I panicked and spun around to look at other peoples bibs. I realized I was in a pool of orange bibbed half marathoners and dread started to sink in. I had taken the wrong turn in the fork.

I pulled over to talk to the volunteers. They all kind of stared at me in horror when they realized my mistake, and we all tried to brainstorm how I could get back on track. There was no way. I was way too far at this point, and there was no going back. I accepted my fate to be a half marathon finisher and stormed angrily to the finish.

saddest finish photo ever...

"Ooh's" and "wow's" were audible as I crossed the finish line at a 6 min mile. I was ushered in, and didn't really understand why until I realized everyone thought I had actually WON the marathon. The horror. That is when I looked into their awe-inspired eyes and then burst into tears. I'm sorry, you poor volunteers. But seriously, a sub 2 hour marathon? lol...

I finished in just over 1:56. I think I spent at least 5 minutes in the last mile trying to talk to the volunteers into driving me back to mile 8.

They still handed me a marathon medal even though I was close to just tossing it into the trash or throwing it on the train tracks. I spent a good couple of minutes weeping in a corner before forcing myself to do a couple extra miles around Modesto. I did manage to find the famous "arch" which was listed under Modesto's "Things to do".

I made it back in time to dry my eyes and watch Jon finish his marathon. He finished around 3:35 which was chopping over 25 minutes off his marathon time. It was incredible!

It turns out that my friend at the marathon made the same exact mistake but realized the mistake much earlier than me and still had hope to turn around and only tack on an extra mile. I can only blame myself for what I did, but some things that I think could help for the future would be to have separate colored signs (both were orange and in the same exact font), and volunteers at the forks kind of separating the runners, and potentially a different race start time so that not everyone is going at the same time. The entire way to that point were the same large orange signs telling traffic to stay on right and marathoners to stay on the left. So when the fork came, the marathoners actually were supposed to go right but my brain was kind of in autopilot to stay on the left.

Oh well, water under the bridge. I was really embarrassed and I still don't want to hang my medal. It's a race I'd rather just forget about. I signed up for the Pony Express Marathon in Sacramento on May 1st to hopefully redeem myself.

In other news, I also forgot that I had signed up for the SF Rock N Roll half marathon next weekend, so I'll be doing that. I am not sure how hard I want to go. It's a pretty hilly course and my legs aren't used to that anymore.

I also got the new Hoka One One Claytons! I'm super excited about them, and actually am going to write a post about them but will keep it separate so we don't take the spotlight away from my crappy race.

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My Modesto Misfortune

HeatherIhn 3

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Excuse me if this post comes across as haphazard...feeling a bit tired from today's activities!

I just wanted to show you guys my fancy new shoes. Yes, it's another pair of shoes. Yes, I have a lot of shoes. No, I did not neeeeeed them, but I wanted some fresh foam under the ol' feet for the race. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'm sold on these.

So what did I get? The Odyssey 2! I actually really wanted the Odyssey 1 again (why mess with a good thing?) but I couldn't find them for sale in my size anywhere. :( Jon is also a huge Odyssey fan and really enjoys the new ones. He thinks they are the best Hoka's to date.

First of all, I grabbed these for $130 at Running Warehouse. I couldn't decide between the ELECTRIC BLINDING PINK or the SHOCKING NEON BLUE, and unfortunately the classy dark gray ones didn't have my size in stock. Since all of my current shoes are blue I reluctantly reached for the pink. No, I don't have anything against pink but these shoes are just soooo pink.

The Odyssey runs true to size. For reference, my street shoe size is 6.5, my flat size is 6 and my running shoe size is 7. For running noobs, you generally want to size up since your feet have a tendency to swell a little during exercise.

They are probably most comparable to the Clifton2 since they have very similar heights. The offset for the Odyssey 2 is 5mm, and is 23mm in the forefoot and 28mm in the back, whereas the Clifton2 is also a 5mm offset with 24mm in the forefoot and 29mm in the back. Both are neutral but the Odyssey2 is supposed to be more responsive and weighs a little more at 7.3oz for a women's size 9, vs the 6.6 oz of the Clifton2. I would have gotten the Clifton2 but I heard a lot of mixed reviews on it, particularly that they narrowed the toe box even more which is one of my biggest issues with Hoka shoes in the first place.

Out of the box they were pretty comfortable. I was disappointed with the tongue. While I like the fact that it's not just the papery flap like the old one, this one is thick and very stiff. The plastic material on the top is difficult to bend.

I also didn't like the laces as much as the first ones. They were pretty short and I don't know how much confidence I have in them to stay tied.

It LOOKED like the forefoot was wider, but when I measured them they ended up being exactly the same as the 1's. The height seems about the same, and the only really noticeable difference in the structure was that the heel tapers in and hugs the foot more. This is one feature that I liked since the Odyssey 1's were a little loose in the heel. I can't say that it ever bothered me but there's no sense in having the extra material.

The bottom of the shoe looks quite different. It seems like they added a little more of the harder rubber.

Side note, did you notice my fancy new socks? They are from Stance. I love the socks that I got from them for free at an event, and I really wanted to try their knee high ones out. They are a little too long for my stubby short-person legs, but they're fun and were my race treat to pump me up for Modesto.

What better way to test a shoe than to run 20 miles in them from the box? I've gotten away with this kind of shenanagins with almost every pair of Hoka's I've owned. I've even been so daring as to wear brand new ones for a race the next day.

Not that I would suggest such an outrageous and impulsive thing.

I am not sure, but I feel like these run a little bit stiffer than the 1's. They didn't feel as plush as the 1's, and I had a hard time getting into a good rhythm. This could be because of the additional firmer rubber at the bottom. I also noticed on the left side of my foot that I could feel the tongue kind of digging into my ankle. Such a weird issue to have! It eventually went away and didn't leave a mark but did annoy me.

Ten miles in and I started to feel a blister brewing in the usual spot for Hoka shoes. For me, this spot is on the inside of the fattest part of my forefoot by my big toe. It was abnormally warm, so I wasn't really surprised, but I almost turned back to the comforting embrace of my old blue ones. I didn't though, because I really didn't want to stop. Another thing that I don't really recommend doing. And yeah, there's a blister there now. :(

In the end, I think I'm going to keep hunting for another pair of the Odyssey 1's and return the 2's. They were okay and did the trick but I did come away with a blister and didn't have the same feel as the first ones that I really liked. The hunt continues!!!

In other news, I have been running a lot lately! I've got a couple of interesting speed runs under my belt that I want to talk about, but I'll save that for another day. :D For the rest of this week and next...it's TAPER TIME!

UPDATE!!! GOOD NEWS! I found the Odyssey 1's (I guess I didn't search very hard at first) for a super low price at sports chalet. With their current coupon code they come to a whopping total of $69.91 (including taxes and free shipping)!

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New Shoes! Comparing my Hoka One One Odyssey 1 to the Odyssey 2's

HeatherIhn 0

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I can't remember the last time I ran a half marathon with an attempt to race hard. I guess that's why I was nervous this week since I knew the Victory Half Marathon would be a leg killer. My goal was a 1:50 half, and considering that most of my runs have been between a 9-10 minute mile, I wasn't sure if I could sustain the required 8:24 pace for that long.

MAF training has really slowed me down. I don't regret doing it, and I practice some of it still and believe in the method. However, I don't think it's for everyone. I find a moderate approach of mostly easy and recovery runs with some mixed hard and medium efforts is doing well for me. I'm not sure if this is normal, but my legs often feel best after a tough work out from opening my strides up. It feels great to go fast!!! It becomes a problem is when you don't do the rest of your runs slow enough and injury becomes a more common visitor.

Let's skip to the race talk. I signed up for Brazen Racing's Victory Half Marathon since it was part of a challenge called the Breeze to Victory. If you did both the Bay Breeze race and the Victory race, you were given a connecting medal piece and it became one giant epic piece. Brazen has a couple of these throughout the year, and they're fun to do. You don't need to do the half distances, you could do two 10k's if you wanted. 

This year's Victory race was the Inaugural race, and had a 5k, 10k and a half marathon distance. The cost was $54 for the 5k, $61 for the 10k and $77 for the Half Marathon and includes a race shirt, goodie bag, and a lot of really great post race food. It was in Richmond, CA along the bay and started at the Richmond Marina. This is where 142 Victory ships were built for part of World War II and you can still see the Red Oak Victory ship. There is a lot of history in this area, and I definitely want to go back to check out some of the museums. 

A shot of the sunrise from the marina. You can see the victory ship over to the right.

The race started at 8:00 for the half marathoners, so Jon and I rolled out of bed at 5:30am to get to the race at 7:00am so we had time to grab our bibs and do our two mile warm up. It's still hard to get up that early...but it's always nice to greet the sun. 

Our lazy dog wondering what we are doing up so early

headed over the bay bridge for the sunrise

There seemed to be ample parking, and people really started rolling in closer to 7:30. I made a quick stop at the porta-potties and noted that there weren't a lot of them, maybe 8 or so? Since I had a 2 miler warm up scheduled, I ended up going at a bathroom a half mile away that was off the course by the Marina when it was closer to the starting time. Good thing too, since there was a lengthy line by that time.

We met up with some of our friends that registered when we lined up at the starting line, and I cozied up to the 1:50 half marathon pacer since that was my goal. The snapped a pic of me in line...I had no idea my sunglasses were that crooked.

I love it when races have pacers and I find that "chasing the rabbit" is much easier for me and I can kind of mentally tune out and let someone else do all the thinking. Of course it doesn't always work that way, and you're putting a lot of faith into a stranger. This race had SO many pacers going in five minute increments. 

I'm perfectly shadowing the 1:50 pacer...but you can see Jon!

The race started out fast and I was really surprised to see that our first mile was at an 8:05 pace. It felt unusually easy for me (it felt like a 9:00 min mile) and I wanted to push ahead. I knew better though, and did not want to go too hard at the beginning. The pacer seemed strong and confident, and her quick and easy strides were mentally comforting. It seemed effortless for her, and probably was, considering that she said her half marathon PR was something like 1:31. 

Clearly this is early on in the race when everyone is still happy

A quick blurb about our excellent pacer, Kiyoko. When you aren't completely distracted by her gigantic and obviously powerful calves, you'd realize she was super sweet and kept a steady conversation with Jon the entire time. She's part of the Tri Valley Running Club, and they were the official pacers at the race. While the pace seemed fast at times, ranging from 8:05-8:24, she paced a near perfect race coming in just under 1:50. A giant thank you for her for your time! Also, I should note that I just found out that she paced basically a PERFECT race just 4 seconds under the 1:50 time. AMAZING.

Thanks Kiyoko!

The course was super flat and easy to run on. It was mostly pavement. The hardest part for me was the sun exposure. It was only in the 60's, but I don't do well with sun. It really elevates my heart rate, and true to the majority of the bay trail, there were NO TREES. There was also a small stretch that was mildly unpleasant since it was literally right next to the freeway. 

I felt really strong until the turn around at mile 7. There was a small loop that had you veer off onto a dirt trail that went up this small grassy hill onto uneven dirt. It really wasn't much, but it was so drastically different and unexpected from the rest of the course, so it tired me out. Our pacer rolled through that section without missing a beat, and I was really pushing to keep up with her 8:15/8:10 pace on that hill.

Since this was supposed to be a hard effort race, I really wanted to use most of the energy that I had in me. I decided to break away from the pace group halfway through mile 10. I assigned Jon the task of keeping me at a faster than comfortable pace, and to push me toward the end. Thanks, my love!

In miles 11 and 12 I progressed to an 8:05 min mile, and lastly an 8:01 min mile. He did a great job at pulling me along, and I really appreciate him sticking with me the entire way even though the pace was slightly faster than he was hoping since he had to do another 9 miles after for a total of 24 miles. 

We finished strong, and I was able to open up the legs and sprint through the giant brazen sign at the end. My official time was 1:49:08, which I am pretty thrilled with. My Garmin says that I went 13.25 miles total for an average of 8:15 pace. I was left wondering if I maybe could have gone faster since the first part felt so easy to me, but I really think the strategy worked out for me this time. I snagged the 3rd place medal for my age group, W30-34 - just narrowly beating the 4th by FOUR seconds. I placed 12th for women's overall, and 52nd for the runners and there were 282 runner's total for the half.

Reluctantly, I headed back out for another 5 miles to get my complete 20 miler done for the day. It was really...really difficult. I didn't see a lot of runners trickling in like the Bay Breeze race so I guess there were a lot of fast runners at this race.

Once I got back, I came through and attacked the finish line food station. Let's see...I had a plate full of fruit, a bagel with cream cheese, a cup of goldfish, a cup of cherry pie, two rice krispie treats, and then I grabbed this packaged brownie which I proceeded to smash into a pulp for the rest of the day due to having no pockets. They had other food too though, most notable were the It's-It's ice cream sandwiches which I couldn't partake since lactose isn't my friend. 

So much fooood

Then I remembered we have access into the Employee Mountain Hardwear store that was just next door to the start/finish line. This store is pretty exclusive, and has really great deals. Everyone with a Victory Race bib was allowed access, and Jon and I walked away with a few goodies. Another backpack that I probably don't need. I have this thing for backpacks...

Overall, it was another really great run from Brazen! I did overhear that they ran out of connector medals which I imagine would be a disappointment if you ran both courses. I'm sure they are handling it, but I didn't see them checking for names when handing them out. Luckily we were able to grab ours. I'd definitely be back to do this one again!

The Medals!

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Victory Half Marathon Race Recap

HeatherIhn 1

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I was perfectly content with my running schedule for the rest of this season. I knew that I had a couple of long runs planned with some sprinklings of speed work, but I hadn't intended on doing any more races.

Then my friend Audrey asked if I wanted to do some 5k race in Palo Alto on the 27th. I told her that I think I would need to do a longer distance race, so she told me to check out the Victory Half Marathon which was going on the same day. THENN the gears started turning...and I fell into a bit of a rabbit hole. I discovered Brazen Racing had this awesome triple medal going on since the Bay Breeze Race and the Victory Race combined to one ultra medal called Breeze to Victory. For the record, Brazen has some of the best medals, and some of the most impressive art of any race organization. The triple piece medals are our favorites...

I assume there are a lot of runners like me, but I'm kind of a sucker for medals. I don't even know why, I just hang them all on top of each other like an elaborately colored and sparkly sandwich. This was only before Jon made me a medal rack since my friend told me it was terrible luck for me to stash them in my bottom drawer like I used to. 

I looked at the date of the Bay Breeze race...it was Saturday 2/13...the very next day (I looked it up on on Friday 2/12). It was so close that they even closed the online registration and we could only sign up race day. Luckily, I have a couple of equally spontaneous and medal loving friends, and a very sweet fiance. Did I mention that this day is also our fifth anniversary? Kind of a big deal. 

My plan was to do the half marathon as part of my scheduled 20 mile long run. Nice and easy, not pushing the pace. I'm going to attempt to get some speed on the Victory race in two more weeks, so a hard effort would be poor training. I don't have a problem doing races just for fun. I like the energy and it's nice to have a little bit of nutritional support along the way as well. 

Jon and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and we both wondered why we were doing this again. We had a quick drive over to San Leandro which is on the East Bay, just a skip and a hop over the 92 bridge.

The morning was unusually foggy, and we even witnessed a car accident on the bridge right in front of us because of it. We made it to the race in one piece, but the thick fog remained through most of the race. 

There was no line for the race day registration, and parking was ample although it was just about a half mile away. I was really surprised at how many runners were attending! It was a pretty major race with pacers and everything! I'm used to Brazen Racing's smaller trail runs, but this one was really bustling. 

The registration for the half marathon was $70. In return, I received a small goody bag with a couple of weird foods. A bag of sriracha cashews, some probiotic prunes, and a corn cake. Nonetheless, the shirt was really cool! I opt for the cotton tees instead of the tech ones, because I find I wear them more often. Additionally, were tons of porta-potties there, and I had no problem going in 15 minutes before and coming back out with plenty of time before the start. That is always a HUGE perk in a race for me. They also had a gear check station and supplied garbage bags with our bib numbers written on them.

At 8:00 the 413 half marathoners took off across a bumpy grass patch before hitting the asphalt trails. There was also a 10k that left at 8:15 and a 5k that ran at 8:30. For half marathon "Hikers", they were allowed to start at 7:30.

I kept my pace pretty easy, never breathing hard. The weather was PERFECT, not too cold or hot with a nice blanket of fog between my skin and the sun. The trails were flat and easy, although I wasn't too keen on the gravel. Up until about mile 2.5 it was paved, but then it was mostly gravel until the turn around. It wasn't bad at all but if you're looking for speed it's something to think about.

There were several pacers, and I tried to stick between the 2:00 pacers and the 2:10 pacers. 

I wore my pack since I wasn't sure what kind of nutrition they'd have there. My stomach really isn't too fond of Cytomax, so I like to have my Tailwind just in case. I didn't stop at any of the aid stations, but there were three of them. One at mile 1, mile 3, and mile 5. 

I finished the race in 2 hours and 2 minutes, snagging 174th place and averaging a nice 9:18 min/mi. I was awfully tempted to squeak in under 2 hours but didn't want to anger my coach since I'm sure he wasn't too pleased about me hopping into a last minute race. Jon waited at the finish and snapped some quick pictures. 

The super cheery volunteers happily handed me this gigantic medal.

I made a quick pitstop at the finish to drop off my pack, and then headed back out for another 7 miles. Jon also had his long run scheduled, so he went off for an additional 9. People looked at us like we were crazy, and we got a lot of "wrong way" jokes. When I finished, I stopped through to see if there was any food left over, but it was mostly picked through at that point. I grabbed some extra bagels, rice krispy treats, and skittles (definitely not doing the low carb thing now), and hobbled back to the car.

Overall it was a surprisingly good day. My run was easy, effortless, and the 20 miles went so much faster breaking it up into a half + 7 miles. Everyone was really friendly and supportive, and the race was executed very smoothly with a ton of really kind volunteers. It was a great way to do our long run together on our super special 5th anniversary. I can't wait for the Victory half in two more weeks!

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Bay Breeze Half Marathon Recap - Brazen Racing

HeatherIhn 0

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I've been quiet. Not because I stopped running, but because chickens are very time consuming creatures. Whenever I have any free time I just want to spend it staring at them while they peck around. Just look how pretty their eggs are! I am becoming more and more serious of starting a farmlittlegoat blog. 

Truthfully, I think my addiction to running has turned into an addiction to chickens. 

I have been running a lot though. My weekly mileage has been creeping back into the upper 30's and 40's now. In my Strava graph you can visibly see me clawing back to my usual mileage. Most of it has been on the long stretch of the bay trail. I have that trail memorized like the back of my hand by now...

I'm still following the training plans of Nark Running Strategies. We've gotten to the point where I've been gifted some speed work. Some people get bored of running, but I'm pretty sure that all they need to do is incorporate some speed workouts into their schedule, and vary it up a bit. Some of the workouts I'm designated can get a bit complicated, but luckily I've figured out how to create workouts to put into my Garmin watch, and it just spits out instructions on the fly. No more complex math problems in my head (although any math problem turns complex while running). 

It turns out that my legs usually feel best after a speed workout. Adrenaline? Stretching the legs out? I'm not sure what it is, but I love it. As much slow running as I do, I really don't enjoy it that much and I'd much rather be going fast.

The first real speed test was this little 5k that I signed up for. I was convinced to do this race, since it's a tradition to do races whenever my friend comes up to the Bay Area. I call her the Purple Running Monster now, because she always wears these purple capris when she decides to stomp on the competition. She's fast. 

She also happened to be wearing purple from head to toe.

The elusive purple running monster

Anyone that knows me, knows that it's really atypical for me to sign up for one of the shorter distances in a race. Since I had been running on the flats, I didn't quite trust my knees yet so I wanted to play it safe. The 5k was the flattest that I found with a baby bump of an elevation profile of only about 200ft. 

We got to the race bright and early. It was held in the China Camp State Park in San Rafael. It had just rained the day before, so we had some puddles to hop. The weather was bitterly cold. Jon was begging me for my down jacket, so I let him use my rain jacket shield his arms from the bitter wind.

The half marathoners were the first to go, at a very punctual 8:30. Next, at 8:40 was the 10k race. And last was the 5k, at 8:50. I had done a mile warmup, and luckily managed to get back to the start just before they sent everyone off. (they were a couple of minutes early). 

The trail was great! I didn't feel totally comfortable with the grip of my Hoka Challengers. I'm sure they were totally adequate but I did not want to take a fall on a 5k. 

Since there were a whopping 28 count of runners in the 5k, I made sure to scoot toward the front and try to keep my eyes on the 1st place female. We headed off into the woods, mainly on well groomed trails but veering off into some slightly rockier trails and some with small puddles to hop over.

I never did catch her, but I was only 23 seconds behind in the end with the official time of 27:42. I walked away 2nd female overall (out of 13) and 1st in my age group (out of 3 lol). I got a snazzy pint glass to go with my race shirt that was noticeably well designed and I was happy I didn't forgo the shirt for an extra $5. The pint glasses are turning into my favorite running swag, although I was very jealous of the first place winners of the half that were handsomly rewarded with entire bulk packs of fancy beers and wines. Oh, and did I mention that the first place winner overall of the 5k was a TEN YEAR OLD??? Don't worry, he was not gifted alcohol.

After the race, I kept trotting along out to some other parts of the park for my two mile cool down. It was gorgeous. I was a little concerned when I saw a ranger looking guy walking away with one of those sticks that you pick up snakes with, but thankfully I didn't see any on the trails.

I came back, got my post race snacks, stood alone like the lone wolf I am, and waited for Jon and my other friends to come in. I was worried about them since the purple running monster had a pretty serious stomach flu that she was just overcoming, and Jon also had a stomach flu earlier in the week with some pretty rocky runs. I also got it during the week which made some really awful runs...not literally (for me), but Jon definitely got it way worse than me. They all survived the race, despite the 1600 feet of elevation they dealt with, and rolled in like champs. Jon continued for another 3 miles for his long training run.

That's all, folks! The race was a success, and it was ran really smoothly by Urban Coyote Racing. Everyone seemed happy, we were all well fed (including some hot chili!) and the prices were right. $35 for the 5k, $45 for the 10k and $55 for the half. I hope to do more of their races once my knees feel good about handling some elevation. :)

Here's a rainbow pic from one of my weekly runs to end the post.

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China Camp 5k - Urban Coyote Racing

HeatherIhn 0

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