10Ks

Village 2 Village 10K

Published January 30, 2013 | By Rachel

I doubt y’all will be shocked to learn that I signed up for a 10K at the last minute.

I ran a good bit with Donnie and Shannon this week, and running with them really showed me how much I have improved over this training cycle.

So, after running a total of 24 miles during the course of the week, 10 of the miles logged on Friday morning, I loaded up in the car and headed to Birmingham for the Village 2 Village 10K. It starts in Mountain Brook and runs to Crestline Village and back. It has some pretty intense hills, but since I have only ran one previous 10K, I was hoping for a PR and my ultimate, somewhat-not-really-attainable goal was for under an hour. I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to hold up after everything I had asked of them that week.

I stayed with Shannon through most of it, but she stayed a few steps ahead of me through the last two miles. I always had her in my sights, so I knew I was keeping a good pace (I’m trying not to obsess on my watch so much).

The course was beautiful.. gorgeous homes and views of the golf course. When I rounded the corner for the finish line, I saw the clock hit 1 hour and I got a little sad. But Shannon reminded me to look at my watch… 59:47. I had done it! My official time was 59:43.. a 9:38 pace. Not too shabby, y’all. That made is a 9 minute PR from my last 10K. So, I will take it and wear it proudly.

Gigi is the ultimate Spectator, y’all. She has to be on her death bed to miss a race. Even when I tell her it’s cold and to stay in her jammies. Love you, Karen!

So, with less than 3 weeks until Mercedes, this weeks training is intense and I am staying pretty exhausted. But, if it gets me a sub 2:15, I will take that as well.

Of course, all I can think about now is what I am wearing for Mercedes.. I bought a jacket, toboggan, and capris for it, but now I am wondering if it’ll be too hot for it. Typically, by Mercedes it’s pretty chilly around these parts, so it may have to be a game time decision.

Does anyone have an suggestions for me?

Posted in 10Ks, Race Reviews, Races, running fool, Village 2 Village 10K | 3 Comments

Cullman Oktoberfest 10K

Published October 10, 2011 | By Rachel

I survived my first 10K.

I know. I was shocked too.

Let me tell you something about good ol’ C-town.. it’s hilly. You don’t realize it until you start running.

I’m not going to complain-I literally signed up Friday morning for this race and refused to ride the course for fear I would drop out. I knew there was a bad hill.

Side Note: A lot of you have tweeted, e-mailed, Pinterested me to make sure I have seen this Running Skirt. Yes. I have. I own it. It made an appearance for the Oktoberfest 10K. I’m so glad that when you see houndstooth, you think of me. You don’t know how much that warms my heart.

I got lots of compliments on that and the socks. I really love that Tonia has opened my eyes to the fun of skirts and socks.

Let’s talk about 10K’s that are split off from 5K’s for a second.

Everything is all fine and dandy until you meet that split marker.. and then? Less than 50 runners ran the 10K. Spread that out over a 6 mile course and you’ll be by yourself a lot. With no police escorts or nice volunteers telling you which way to go. It’s you all by your lonesome.

Thankfully, I talked Robbie into running with me– he wasn’t sure he could do it and I assured him that he could. And then?? He sandbagged me. That’s right.. he ran off and LEFT me!

First off– the Oktoberfest 5K course is the same as the Strawberry Days 5K- which is a tough course. The 10K is terrible. It loops back on itself so much that we ran down the same street 3 times! How is that cool?? It’s not. And let’s not even talk about Scenic Drive with it’s 200 ft elevation.

Dad and Claire searching for me along this finish line.

Oh there I am. With no one around me!!

Claire ran across her first finish line and didn’t dig it. Karen said the pictures of us running across the finish line were too blurry. So sads.

Look, T! The makings of a Quad are there!!

Happy to be done.

My running buddy. The sandbagger. I mean, Robbie.

Running hills makes my eye stop working. Me, Karen, Claire, and Dad.

We wanted to wait and see the awards ceremony.. just in the hopes that I placed- I knew I wouldn’t win the age division because Ashley won the women’s part and she is in my age group.

I DID win a door prize!! A $25 gift certificate to Cummings Sporting Goods. It almost makes up for my race shirt being a size large.

The Bugermiester called me back up to the mic to talk about my tweeting habits and give me a shout out and then I requested that I be named Best Dressed on the course and he agreed. He named me “Burgermiester Best Dressed.” Holla!

Anyway.. it took 45 minutes to get through the 5K portion of winners and I had to get to the BBQ Cook Off, so I had to make like a tree and get out of there.

I placed 4th and last in my age division and 22/26 females. So. This is a slap in the far to start running outside and work on my time– OUTSIDE.

My garmin time was 1:08:41. Official time 1:08:42. First 10K. I’ll take it. Just so you know, my treadmill time for a 10K is 59 minutes.. so let this be a lesson to you to get your booty out on the road for an actual run.

Once I go through the pictures of the BBQ cook-off, I will post some. It was a super fun event that I was proud to be involved in.. even though I don’t eat BBQ. I might as well have told those people Saturday that I had 2 heads because they couldn’t have looked at me any funnier.

This week will be kind of busy– photo session, BBQ pictures, and Addison’s 5th birthday party. But I will try to be around!