Harrison Old Home Days 5K

It seems to be the time of year when there are local races to choose from every weekend, or even more often.
The great thing about the shorter distances is how often you can race/run them without getting completely overcooked. I must admit that I get used to the marathon lifestyle and the limitations on how often you can race that many miles. It's nice to get out locally this time of year, see friends and get in some quality speedwork.

Or hill work with an attempt at speed.

Hills. Very hilly.

And of course, there is the always present 86 degree weather because we wouldn't have it any other way!

Last Wednesday Eric and I drove 5 whole minutes to participate in the Harrison Old Home days run by the lake 5k.
By some stroke of luck I won this race in 2012 and haven't been back since to defend my honor.

Pre race. Not too sweaty.

I was feeling loads better than I had on Monday the 4th and I was ready to push for a better race and faster time. I wasn't going to kill myself for the podium because my speed just isn't what it used to be (and 86 degrees. and I'm lazy) but I wanted to do my best.

I made it out pre race for a 2 mile warm up which was very helpful but hot, man was it hot!
(not as hot as VCM though, so there's that.)

5K race recaps are easy:
I ran 3 miles each one faster than the one before, which seems to be my thing lately. Then I ran .1 even more super fast and then it was done, the end.

There was also a huge hill, as previously mentioned. 

I ran it in 22:19 which is a 7:12 pace, a speed that I currently think of as "super fast"

Flying! Whoot!

I didn't win but I came in 2nd!! The woman who beat me was only ahead by 10 seconds but I'm in no condition to chase people down, she had it in the bag. 10 seconds could be 10 minutes as far as I'm concerned!

I like this race, I like that I see lots of people that I know, I like that they control the traffic well and have lots of water and whoopie pies at the finish. Mmmm lots of good stuff!

The other thing that there was lots of at the finish was BARFING. Several young people blew some massive chunks like, IN the finish chute which created a dreadful mess. Gross. Running is gross!

I had a great time and Eric did too, he finished about a minute behind me and was NOT one of the finish line pukers. It was a really enjoyable evening despite the hot temps and mountain! My legs felt really good, maybe not as quick as I'd like them to be but they are really appreciating the month I spent fixing them. I like it when hard work pays off!

Post race. Much more sweaty.

So that's it for the summer race recaps at the moment. More to come soon about summer marathon training at the busiest time of the year. Fun! 

BAA 10K: the tardy edition

Since I haven't blogged in over a month I need to backtrack a bit.
June was, in a way, an uneventful month. After a fairly long stretch of training and marathoning I had decided to use June a a time to sort out a few small physical issues (nothing major- but I felt the real potential for the development of something unpleasant...)
(This really deserves a blog post of its own. In case I don't get around to it the short story is: ran Boston, was strong. In the following 6 weeks felt some discomfort develop. Used June to rest from running (80 mile month) Get fixed up (3 chiro/ART appt's) and to do a lot of strength/rebuilding. At this time, I declare success!)

So back on topic now.

Eric and I ran the BAA 10K a couple weekends ago.
Eric is running the BAA Distance Medley this year because this is the year of *all* the extra medals and new adventures! He ran the 5k prior to Boston and the 13.1 is in October.
I always enjoy a good 10k (but not B2B haha) so I jumped on board post haste.

AS IS THE NORM. The weather looked HOT. It was scheduled to be another 88 degree day! WHY.
Luckily, we were really looking forward to spending some time with my family in the Boston area and that was a good motivator to get pumped even when the weather looked gross.
Since the race had an 8AM start we also felt confident that it would be much closer to 70-75, which it was.

We did indeed have a terrific family (and excellent beer) pizza party! It was great to see everyone and most of my attending cousins and their spouses were competing in the Cohasset Tri the next morning. This prompted many amusing discussions about the merits/need for body glide, how to get out of wetsuits, how NOT to transition (by eating and showering) and poop. Normal stuff.

Beer EXCELLNCE

Sunday dawned all sunny. And hot. *sigh* We all got up and put on body glide and tried to poop and then went off to our various race destinations.

Eric and I hopped on the T which was wicked convenient and off we went.
There were other runners on the train with us, pre race cigarettes in hand, ready to go. *serious* athlete alert!

On the T. See that sun? Gorgeous but warm!

We got to the city in time to stand in a porta potty line, have Shalane Flanagan and Amy Hastings run RIGHT (as in RIGHT) by us and to try to properly self seed ourselves in an honest way. Which was dumb, because apparently everyone thinks they are faster that they are. Oh well...

You call can't be Amy, so don't try to line up with her!

We were able to watch the elites finish their warm up (it was really impressive). Old news here but Shalane went on to win and set an American Record! I am a big fan of all 3 of the women running the Olympic Marathon and it was so cool getting to see two of them up close and personal.

Front row seat!!

And then.... We were off. And as seems to be the tragic norm in any self seeding situation the going was slow for a while. I got a bit irked about this, if you can't run 6 miles at a 7:00 pace that is fine. Occasionally I can run a random mile at a 6:xx pace. One mile. Occasionally. I don't line up in the 6:00 area because I don't want to get trampled, yo. DON'T BE A DUMMY. Line up where you belong. It's OK to run a 12:00 damn mile!!!! It's ok to run a 5:00 mile!! (yikes) Go where you belong. Knock it off.

The first mile was in the shade and was bone flat, so really pleasant if I do say so. This made me feel better about the crowd (which, after running the 4 on the 4th seems more like a litttttttle traffic jam but whatever.)
I had no goal for this race other than to not vomit or feel like an asshole so that was nice. The thing about running a race, whether I have a big goal or not is that I'm going to give it my best shot within my current fitness level. That's basically what happened.

After mile one things got pretty warm because the shade vanished (boooo.) The crowd also thinned out and I more or less chugged along, grabbed a couple cups of water (which speaks to the intensity of the sun because 6 miles isn't really that far) and I watched the fast people whip by around the 3 mile mark.
The remainder of the race was similar, warm but reasonable running conditions. A continuation of a good effort. Pretty flat course and people moving at a similar speed to me. 

I ran a pretty solid effort which I think very accurately represented my level of fitness on a relatively flat course on a warm day. I pushed as hard as I could without being willing to vomit or foolishly injure myself. I certainly felt as though I was giving a 100% effort on the day. This pleased me as I have a tendency to swing hard one way or the other- being overly cautious or pushing much faster than my level of fitness permits. I worked the whole time. And I did not barf.

My finishing time was 47:37 which is a nice AG PR for me.
As soon as I was finished I felt like it was 10,000 degrees out as the sun was blazing down like a little skank.
I met a really nice lady (Anne? Was that you?) who somehow recognized me and told me that she read my blog. I felt like I needed to apologize since my blog is garbage! But thanks Anne, you are nice to read here and congrats on a good run!

Eric was right behind me all covered in sweat, as one tends to be. He had run a 49:05 and had had a good race too.

Team Bradlowski! So hot and smelly. Gross!

We stood in front of some amazing misting fans that blew the most icy mist that I have ever felt in June. It reminded me of a nasty Maine morning in March. I'm not sure how this worked because I did not investigate the inner workings of said misting fans but it was delightful.

We sat in the shade for a bit which was quite pleasant. There wasn't much humidity so once you got out of the scorching sun it wasn't a bad day!

View from the Shade

After that we got back on the train, headed back to Scituate, showered and had a wonderful lunch with the Triathletes, comparing notes on the day. Everyone seemed a bit knackered, which in my opinion is the real sign of a good race day!

And that was that. Eric and I headed back home so that I could get ready for the start of Camp season at 8AM the next day (hence, my delayed reaction to blogging. About anything!!)

Next up:
The 4 on the 4th, a horrible time
The Harrison 5K, why is it always 90?
Marathon training: it begins

BOSTON MARATHON! The longest, wordiest blog post EVER.

As usual, after the months of training and anticipation the actual marathon weekend was over in a snap. SO FAST. I've needed a couple of days to process and to attempt to come up with intelligent thoughts about my experience (don't get your hopes up.)
(and, as usual it has taken me days and days to pull this together. if I had begun to contemplate good writing it would have taken years so, there's that.)

ANYWAY.

It's interesting, over time how I have changed my view on what makes for a successful race day. It used to be ALL about hitting the goal pace, come hell or high water or sickness.
.....that was then.....
I had a couple of goals for this race.
1: A solid training cycle (DONE- best in years)
2: Weather permitting, a 3:30 (or, 3:31:30 since I refuse not to stop for 90 seconds in Newton.)
3: Be smart not dumb and run a well paced, healthy, successful race
Bottom line, it takes a bit of fortitude to make it to the start of Boston.
I know how to screw it up! I wasn't really feeling like doing that again.

Honestly. just getting here is amazing. Finishing is even better though!

I think anyone who follows the weather notice the warming trend and, while not terribly concerned I knew I had to adjust my goal time and so I did. I had a solid plan and was quite determined to stick to it! I know how it feels to go out "comfortably" in Boston just to find yourself dead on the street 15 miles later and it sucks, SUCKS. Not doing that again!
I also know that the best laid plans do not always work. The marathon is a sneaky beast who can mess up your day in any number of ways.
So basically I was like, whatever! I'm going to shoot for a 3:40 and hope for the best in the end.

Eric and I drove back to Mass on Sunday evening and had a really nice family dinner with a great collection of Aunts. Uncles and cousins. We had great food and fun, always a great way to kick off a marathon!

I awoke to some very nice race day weather and went through my normal routine of getting my food together, having a coffee, slapping on the first layer of body glide and sunscreen and praying to the GI gods to limit my porta potty time.

Eric dropped me off close to the Common just after 7:00 and the temps were already climbing. Before I even got on a bus I dropped off my most outer layers and drank most of a bottle of water. I was hoping to make friends with my bus buddy but not only did she speak zero English but then she fell asleep. GAHD.

Everyone is already overdressed

I hopped out of the bus in Hopkinton and it was 7,000 degrees so I tossed all my extra layers and prepared for a beach day.

THEN the fun part of the day began. I found my FRIENDS!

Danielle's FIRST BOSTON!!!

Danielle and I spent two hours in various porta potty lines. SO. Much. TIME. We figured out many of the world's greatest mysteries like how to use snapchat filters to make bathroom selfies more fun, and why one has little fatty armpit bits that stick out and get sunburned. (I think without them you wouldn't have a good wingspan.... who knows...)
We also snacked, drank a shit ton of water and found more friends!

Leslie is tall. I stood close because she casts a tall shadow. #stayingcool

Basically, whenever I saw people I knew, it was a photo op. You must take advantage of seeing ALL the people, and on such a nice day there is no excuse not to pull out the phone and take pics and snaps to your hearts content.

Friends. Crows. TWINS.

Athlete's village was MOST enjoyable this year and the quality of the company and weather had a lot to do with it. I was also feeling 100% not stressed out because I had a plan and it felt solid. A lot can happen in 26 miles but I felt like I could avoid many disasters by playing it safe/smart. Maybe..

After watching wave one and two run away (into the pre-long-walk corral area) it was finally our time. Other than the sunscreen walking off on us, leaving us to potentially get horrific scalp sunburns and head cancer we all were as ready as we could be. (and I was basically double fisting water and gatorade on the walk to the start.)

And a long walk to a long run begins.....

All my extra hydration, of course, meant one more disgusting porta potty and ONE MORE amazing pic!

YAY!! SO EXCITED!! And a random photo bomb.

Right at 10:50 the gun went off and obviously, I was not in my corral. There is no need to rush these things. You always get in.

The gun went off. I'm out HERE.

Per the norm the first mile was very much downhill and exciting, so many runners and happy spectators and general excitement. I put my handbrake on HARD so HARD and it was really difficult, I'm not going to lie. I was all rested up and ready to fly but I was not going to pull shit in mile 1 that would haunt me at mile 20. UGH boring adult choices.

I realized early on that it wasn't going to be a great day for steady, sensible tangents. I was trying to run in the shade as much as I could and I also picked up drinks at 22 water stops. Yes, 22 of them. I REFUSE to get dehydrated, damnit!

You got used to running on cups. Lots of cups.

So yeah, I moseyed along for the first 10k and hit it in 51:59, an 8:21 pace.
It merits mention that I did have my watch on but set on watch mode, I still do not feel any reason to look at my watch while running. At all, ever. It can't tell me anything that I don't already know.

The first 6 miles of the course were noticeably and remarkably hot. I was prepared for this and expected it to be 70 from Hopkinton to Wellesley, mid 60's into Newton and then cooling off to about 58 coming into Boston.
This was all completely factual.
What I wasn't expecting was the fierce headwind that picked up around the 10k mark. It didn't take me long to be very, very thankful for this wind! Yeah, it was kind of a bitch to run into but it was nice and cool and it dried off some of my nasty sweat. I was very #thankful!

The pesky Natick hill was still there but I was busy thinking about other things (who knows what) so it wasn't much bother this year. There were a lot of people, some bouncing on trampolines which I found very entertaining.
Of course, not long after Natick comes Wellesely which is a lovely distraction and is something that I think I enjoyed more this year. Maybe I have started to get used to VERY LOUD WOMEN!

The first of many screaming ladies.

Anyway, after all that running through 70 degree headwind and after consuming approximately 12 cups of gatorade and at least as many of water I came to the half in 1:48:42 (slight increase of pace here to 8:17)

Yes, I am predictable. No matter what race I'm running there is always a bit of time around mile 14-16 or so that I get a bit like, ughhhh I make baaaad choices whyyyyy do I run??? The mopey time was brief and I was thankful for that because nobody likes a whiner. I had a couple extra snacks around this time and planned things to do (text my Dad to tell him when I got to mile 17, then see my Dad at 18.5 then make it over the hill, then see more interesting things, take some snaps, etc, etc.)

Just running along taking all the snaps.

Indeed at mile 17 I texted my Dad that I was on my way. Then I had to run over the stupid overpass that goes over 128 and there was a green Hulk right there that I really didn't care for. He was like, a badly timed Hulk. Nope.

Finally! I got to mile 18.5 and was so excited to see my Dad and Aunt and Uncle that somehow I did not notice the literal carnage happening all around. Apparently people were being hauled off by the ambulance full after succumbing to cramps and there were stretchers and what not everywhere.
Marathon tunnel vision at its finest.
Anyway, I enjoyed my 93 second pit stop and got re-sunscreened, got a bag of cheezits, took a selfie, forced everyone to hug my sweaty body and then I ran away, whoooooo!!!

YAY MY DAD!!

 Right after that was the 30K which I hit in 2:35:49, right back on my 8:21 pace.

After the lengthy 93 second rest stop, clearly I was rejuvenated and prepared to tackle the hilliest part of the race. It was hilly, as usual but I chugged along. I was glad that it was somewhat cooler. I was GLAD that I had strictly monitored my pace in the beginning because I was still moving forward in a reasonable way and I was EXTRA glad that I had cheez-its because they are really tasty.

At the 35K I was at 3:02:15 and the hills hadn't hurt me much because I was still at an 8:22 pace.

Weirdly, with 5ish miles to go my left ankle and foot began to feel all broken. This was strange and prompted a lengthy converstion between myself and my ankle. This is the kind of crap that can only happen after one has been running for a long time.
Me: WTF ankle, this is not something normal for us
Ankle: What do you mean? This is my thing. This is what I do.
Me: SINCE. WHEN? I use you daily.
Ankle: Well. I'm broken. So kindly fuck off.

I ignored it because, seriously. That didn't mean that it went away though and I was honestly most uncomfortable for the last miles of the race. But who isn't.

Around this time I heard a voice calling my name (it was other Sarah) but I couldn't find her! She did get a pic though.
Right around then I ran through the 40K, at 3:27:56, yep, an 8:21 pace.

See me on the left? Looking right like "I hear my nameeee!"

I'd like to say that my last couple miles were a snap because of my logical pace. I certainly was not completely depleted but I was tired. Boston has a way of making you feel very unfit, I always question people who say it is an "easy" course. In what world?? I have yet to finish Boston feeling fresh as a daisy- if anyone has, please let me know what you eat for breakfast because I want some.
I did a lot of looking and listening during the last two miles. I never take running Boston for granted and you never know how many times you are going to make that turn from Hereford onto Boylston.
I really tried to take it all in, and it was amazing.
But I was also damn tired and just wanted to be DONE already so I hustle-gimped thru the finish,
In 3:39:13. DUH, an 8:21 pace.

DONE!! MEDALED! HAPPY!!!!

Right away I felt fine. Body, fine. Stupid ankle, fine. I was pleased because I thought I might have to swing through medical for some ice and I was glad that I didn't and could simply make my way through the masses.

SO crowded.

I saw a glorious big dog and basically freaked out, as one does.

Gotta add cute frames to 170 pound dog pictures.

Shockingly, I didn't cry at all or even have a particularly emotional run. I expect this was because due to the tough conditions I really put the lock down on the feelings, in order to save my energy to make it to the finish.
I did, however enjoy my race very much. Coming in slightly below my Plan B pace, only 9 minutes over my "ideal day" Plan A pace was nice and I was really happy.

Mostly, I was happy that I felt great. No puking!

I found Eric and then quickly found my family for a nice chat and race recap. It's always fun to see people at the finish and I was coherent enough to enjoy hanging out.

Post race with my wonderful husband!

I was SUPER happy that all of my running friends (Danielle, Jamie and Leslie to be specific here) finished strong races on a hot day. We were all basically within minutes of each other which is awesome. A good day for all of us Crow Maine girls!

Eric and I wrapped up the day with a burger and beer in an Irish pub. Being able to go out and about almost normally was a nice change from last year when it was too much of a monsoon to do anything!

A 26.2 Brew!

I was a bit sore but overall feeling good. I know that I can run a faster time but I was very content with my execution and enjoyment of most parts of the race. Boston is always going to be a favorite of mine, thus far I haven't seen anything that matches the excitement and crowd support and overall feeling of this race.
Is it wrong to say I'm already looking forward to next year? :-)