Running Therapy

PNC Turkey Trot: Five miles for food! Or something.

- Mel

The 2013 Turkey Trot was the first 5K I was able to run in full without stopping (and gasping and generally dying from running). It was also the first Thanksgiving I stayed “home” for nearly my entire adult life. It was also a proud (and awful!) moment. And here I am, a year later, running a full five miles. No stopping, no gasping. No dying! WHO AM I?!

WOWS and runners! (and me in my Browns hat again)
WOWS and runners!

I’m glad my friend and neighbor snapped this, as I didn’t take any pictures this race.

I really enjoyed this course, except for that last mile loop up-and-back around Heinz field. It felt the longest, and there are a lot of people (and cars, wtf) darting between two lanes of runners and just resonated as chaos in my brain. I hated knowing the runners on the other side were almost finished, and I had no idea where the turn around point was (even though I looked at the map before the race, my brain was not processing the length). Not to mention, the course ran long (again!). I wasn’t really sure where my point would be to quicken for the finish line either.

I have pacing problems though. I seriously could not believe my pace time at my first mile (I use MapMyRun for mile updates on pace, splits, etc.). But once I was in the 9:30 zone, I was not slowing up until I finished (or my body gave up). A race is when you are supposed to challenge and push yourself a little, right? Or a lot. Overall though, my body felt good, and a couple days later, I’m ready for another couple miles.

Finished: 48:59
69th in my age group

I don’t have anything else planned for November, but that’s 4 races completed in one month!
East Nash Dash (4 miles)
EQT 10-miler (10 miles, duh)
Hot Chocolate 15k
and Turkey Trot (5 miles)
Total mileage for November: (lots of race mileage, and not a lot of training… yikes) 35.01 miles

I don’t anticipate my training changing much until January (when half-marathon training starts), since December is a cluster-you-know-what.

Next up: Christmas Story Virtual 10k on December 6.

Hot Chocolate 15K: To Columbus, with marshmallows

- Mel

Has this turned into a running blog? Well, that’s about all that I’m doing right now, so… join me in my therapy. And for the record, running is still terrible. Kinda.

THIS was the race I was, ahem, “training” for over the last 8 weeks. A group of friends talked me into running it with them, and a 15K seemed like the perfect post-derby season challenge. Plus: hot chocolate stations and marshmallow stops seemed like a good incentive. See also: a sweet finishers medal. I’ve run for less.
Ahem, apple crisp.

hot chocolate 15k

Downtown Columbus was a mad house for the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K. I was already feeling anxious-excited, and my race day room service breakfast was late (but then, free), and we got lost trying to find the start corrals (this, after somehow realizing we were at a Mile 2 water station… uhhhh)… AND bubble guts. I got assigned to the J group with a bulk of people running/walking the 5K and was grateful for all my lateral training and avoidance of hits from derby. I did step on the back of someone’s shoe trying to side-step the walkers (whoops). It was smooth sailing, err running, after the course split at about 2.5 miles — which was marked and VERY obvious for the runners, thank the… weather gods? Oh, the weather (thanks, Ohio!). EFFIN’ FREEZING. My fleece-lined pants are good for cold 5Ks, but I need something a little warmer for these long distances.

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I had no real goal other than thinking I should probably run the 15K faster than my 10-miler (duh). I also wanted to keep my pace around 10:30. That first 5K though… it took me a long while to warm up. But I basically ran the whole thing (save for the water station pass-throughs), of which I am ultimately proud. I didn’t get that overwhelming hunger at Mile 8, but boy, did I experience the WHY THE HELL AM I DOING THIS?! Especially when my left thigh started cramping up. But then… I felt something that made me feel as though I might be enjoying this whole running thing.

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Splits
5K: 33:29 (pace 10:47)
10K: 1:05:37 (pace 10:34)
Finish: 1:38:38 (pace 10:35)

So long, and thanks for all the fondue!

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Five miles of STEPS: Fineview Stepathon

- Mel

On October 18, I completed my first 5-mile race: the Fineview Stepathon. Again, I signed up the day before because I’m some sort of torture artist. It also technically wasn’t a five-mile race as much as it was a five-mile adventure course, but I was completely on board with the challenge. I’m just happy that it didn’t rain!

Extra bonus: I could walk to the start line/home from the finish.

I like steps, I like mud, I like trail running — and the Fineview Step-a-thon brought it all (and some hills, natch). The course was somewhat confusing for this newb. I ran with the map and had to pull it out of my belt for the last mile because a group of us were SO lost. At another point, I was also lost, alone, in the woods and couldn’t find the right colored paint marks. Thankfully, I had someone running up from behind me to lead the way.

fineview steps pittsburgh race running
In my mind, this read: FFS.

The steps though. OH BOY, THOSE STEPS. What, like, 371 of them? 300 of them seemed like they were in the last mile. As strong as my legs are, I maintained a good pace running up for a little while (even got some congrats from a runner I passed), but overwhelmingly lost steam not even half way. I am not shamed to say that I walked for a good bit of the course.

fineview steps challenge

Regardless, this was a fun one to cross off the “runner’s bucket list.”
Finish 1:09.36
12th of 37 female
36th of 72 overall

view from the top fineview
Fine view from atop Fineview finish line.

EQT 10-miler: aka, my first 10 miles ever.

- Mel

You know those crazy thoughts that start out something like: hey, I have to run 7-8 miles this weekend, why not SIGN UP FOR A 10-MILE RACE?

And this is how you end up registering for Pittsburgh’s EQT 10-miler.

I’ll put it out there completely: I have never run 10 miles. At least since adulthood, but probably forever. Was I prepared for this race? HELL. NO. Did I finish? Yep. And you know what? I’m really proud of my finish! And there was a medal, so…

The first five miles felt really good. Something happened to me both mentally and physically though going up the small-ish incline of Canal Street approaching Mile 6. I WANTED TO STOP. But then I talked myself into going a little further because I recognized the water station a few feet ahead (and I would walk with my water). The feeling when I started walking was overwhelming: if I keep walking, I am NEVER going to start running again. Aaaaaand there’s still four whole miles left.

If you can believe it (and if you’ve ever run a long race for the first time with not-enough training, you know what I’m talking about), I felt even worse by Mile 8. Also, I was SUPER hungry. I ate a handful of Sport Beans to relieve the hunger, but it only averted the crisis for another half mile or so. At this point, I just want to get the race over with (and about this time I realized that next week I would be DONE with the 15k). I cannot thank the Steel City Road Runners group enough for having amazing pacers. At just the right time, the 11:00 pacers passed me, and I dug deep to keep up with them until the finish.

10 mile race pittsburgh

Finish time: 1:48.35
P.S.: there was gluten-free snacks at the finish line!!!

I have to do this again next weekend? FML.

East Nash Dash: 4 (cold) miles in Nashville

- Mel

Still in 15k training mode! So, while on vacation, I ran the East Nash Dash — a 4-mile run from Five Points through downtown Nashville and back again. I found the race last minute, so online registration had ended; signing up and paying on-site was super easy.

east nash dash race nashville
Great view from mile two!

The temperature was about 27 degrees (uh, brrrrrr). How happy I was to have the premonition to pack a winter hat at the last moment!!!

finish line nashville 4 mile run

Look at that finishing stride: all heel strikes. Sigh, need to work on that. Also need to stop super-sprinting to the finish line. Overall, it was a really fun race, with a sparse crowd of runners (not sure if it had anything to do with weather). Water stations and port-a-johns at every mile, with a nice bridge climb that passes the Titans stadium just at the halfway point. There was a little weird loop going downtown for the return two where runners were criss-crossing one another, but it didn’t cause any stoppage. I felt good for most of the race, and looking back I probably could have picked up my pace a bit (aka: famous last words).

Alas, I placed 9th in my 30-something age group (!!!), 60th overall (out of 113), and finished in less than 40 minutes (39:54).