Race recap: Fineview Step Challenge

October 24, 2015 - Mel

The Fineview Step Challenge, pka: Fineview Step-a-thon, takes place in the same-named North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Appropriately named for it’s “fine view” of the city. Puns aside, those steps always gets the last laugh. This was my second year running this race.

Registration and Cost: It was only $20 for this race (plus a couple bucks for online registration fees). All proceeds benefit the Fineview Citizen’s Council and their efforts to beautify the Fineview neighborhood.

Packet Pick-up: This is a two-parter — you get a timing chip for your shoe before the race and a goodie bag after the race.

Bag Check: No bag check

Weather: PERFECT CHILL and my first run this year in some of my cold weather layers.

Course: Described as an “urban trail challenge,” it starts line at North Avenue and Howard Street and the finish line ends at the Catoma Overlook. This course doesn’t hesitate to remind me about how it enjoys kicking my ass! Though part of it is because it’s really not marked well enough. Sure enough, at a point of a “merging in the woods,’ there were three different roads to take. Well, if there’s no marking, you go straight, right? Although, neither direction really went straight. So a few times we had to back-track or loop back around, which isn’t terrible because it adds to the adventure quality. But seriously.

It felt mostly the same as last year — we were routed differently around the baseball fields and I remember it going more through woods… but maybe that’s why I got lost last year. There is no way that I would be able to replicate this course.

Looking up and looking down Rising Main! — Only halfway up Rising Main!

Fans and Experience: I really missed the families on Rising Main who gave high fives and cheers from their porch while you climb the steps and they’re just out drinking coffee and reading the paper. Given the state of the homes in this area and surrounding property debris (and piles of mail on the porch), it looks largely abandoned now. And it’s really depressing to see.

Otherwise, the course is mostly empty of fans.

Finish Line: The finish line game of this race is strong — and always sneaks up on me! It’s a fast finish downhill. And that view!

Medals and Swag: No medals for this one unless you’re the top overall male and female. At the finish line, there is a bag for all those who pre-registered that included a t-shirt, coupon for free Pamela’s pancakes, and a little glass photo coaster (which I thought was a magnet, and it crashed off my fridge and right into my foot!).

Bonus: Shuttle rides back to the start line, since this one ends up on the Overlook.

Random Bullshit: There weren’t any maps this year, and the lack of communication before and after the race leaves me a little miffed. Certainly the fun outweighs the bullshit, but other smaller community races have done much better in this regard.

After Party: No hot chocolate this year as part of post-race goodies but there was hot coffee, which was much-welcome for my cold mile-ish walk back home.

OVERALL
The Great: The definitive highlight of this race is the views of the city. I live on the north side and rarely get to see from this vantage point.
The Good: I can walk to the start line!
The Bad: Loose pitbull on the walk back from the finish line. Yeahhhhhhh.
The Ugly: Someone (non-runner, I assume) being taken down on the course. We ran into an incident midway as a volunteer (volunteers?) was subduing someone on the road. I’m assuming the police were called, but that’s some scary shit for an adventure race.

Once again, this race reinvigorated a desire to try out some trail racing. Aside from the 370+ steps you climb (up and down!), this course also includes some sharp road inclines and declines. I also enjoy running the pedestrian bridge over 279. The many different elements of this course will bring me back again.

Results: Beat last year’s time by 36 seconds! 1:09:00 even for me.
27th overall of 69 participants

Race Recap: Akron Marathon Relay

September 28, 2015 - Mel

I’m so happy that I was asked to join a relay team for the Akron Marathon. This was my first relay — and one of my favorite races so far. I’ll likely plan to do the half next year because I had such a great experience. Thanks again to my teammates Chelsea, Lauren, Joe and Sarah!

Thanks to Pittsburgh City Girl for this group shot!

Registration and Cost: Individual cost for 5-person relay team was $40 each. Registration page currently shows a cost of $48/per person, so the price must go up at certain intervals as the race approaches (which is typical). Akron Marathon reps were giving out discount codes during the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo, which were not redeemable for the relay portion, but good to look out for if you’re interested in running this next year.

Expo and Packet Pick-Up: The Expo was definitely not as large as Pittsburgh, but easy to navigate with what seemed to be many of the usual expo vendors. I was a little confused about packet pick-up, and ended up at the t-shirt table first… then had to re-route back to the escalators to get my bib. THEN go back and get my shirt. Directional flow just wasn’t intuitive to me, despite there being a blue line right from the escalator to the packet pick-up. DUH. (I know, I know, that’s ALL on me.)

Bag Check: I didn’t do bag check for this race. But on the way to my relay exchange spot, there was a woman who walked along with me and couldn’t find where the drop-off was for Leg 2. Because I wasn’t on that leg, I had zero clue how to help. She was super anxious though.

Weather: BEAUTIFUL, and on the cooler side, especially since the race started in the dark (no thank you, 7am start time). Sitting around waiting for the relay was an interesting experience — and a little cold, to be honest. But I made some start line friends and settled in with my coffee and snacks. I didn’t anticipate building up so much nervous energy while waiting… I just wanted to run!

Course: I really loved my leg of the course — I had one of the steady climbs of the race (there was certainly a worse hill though on Leg 5), which I didn’t mind. This part of the relay leg also took me right by my sister’s house, so I was able to see her and my niece cheering from the tree lawn (or, “devil’s strip” if you’re *that* kind of Ohioan). My leg was 5.5 miles, which started downtown and proceeded out of the city up (!!) W. Market and onto Merriman, continuing onto Portage Path and through the (gorgeous!) Stan Hywet grounds. My exchange ended at Firestone High School.

Heartrate Hill was TOUGH (not part of my relay leg, but part of my run)

I needed to get some extra mileage in, so I ended up looping into the fifth relay leg of the course on the opposite side of Firestone (sidewalks and off the course when I could to not actually be “participating”) to get myself back into the city. Which is really easy to do when there’s a blue line to follow! Some of the spectators were hilarious, commenting “You didn’t run enough?” and “Over achiever!” as I passed through. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to complete the full 18 miles that were on my training schedule, as we had plans in the afternoon with the family.

Fans and Experience: At Pittsburgh, I felt really overwhelmed by the crowds; Akron, I felt just the opposite. They invigorated me — I was giving high fives and thanking everyone, talking to other runners. I didn’t run with my headphones for my entire leg. Music, food (people with oranges are the best!), Swedish fish… probably mimosas, had I asked — everyone was so freaking fun and excited to be cheering us on.

AK-Rowdy lives up to its name, even when celebrating the marathon. I was positively inspired to be one of these kinds of spectators at Pittsburgh next year to experience the opposite side (side note: I’ve decided that I don’t want to run Pittsburgh next year).

"Blue Line badasses this way" -- in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race). — “Blue Line badasses this way” — in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race).

Finish Line: I didn’t finish off the fifth leg, so after my extra 5.8 miles, I looped around the stadium to check out the finishers festival and meet up with my relay teammates.

Chocolate Milk in my hand, and I am happy from a good run.

CHOCOLATE MILK! That always makes my day. I knew that I would basically be left out of the post-race noms, considering they were a) beer, b) pizza, and c) a power bar with gluten in it; so having chocolate milk canceled out any ill feelings.

Bonus: It was really nice to have water, port o potties and silver blankets available at the end of the relay exchange. Again, this was my first relay, so I’m sure this is probably customary. There were also shuttles available to take runners back to the finishers festival (I opted to run back).

Medals and Swag: Another SUPER bright t-shirt, which I’m pumped about. The medal reminds me a lot of the Runner of Steel medal from Pittsburgh. The race sent out a virtual “race bag” email with discounts and such, but there was a nice physical bag given out with packet pick-up.

Since I ran miles 20-26, I got to see a bunch of different marathoners perspectives and personalities: some looked like they were dying, others smiling and talking to their running mates, another was seemingly video recording her experience by way of the cyclist who kept riding along with her at several places. This one poor girl though was breathing SO HARD at Mile 22 it took everything in me to not tell her to stop and slow down for a minute. But… #notmyrace.

OVERALL
The Great: It totally made my day to see my sister and niece cheering.
The Good: Since I was waiting around for my relay start, we got to watch the front of the marathon pack and WOOO BOY was it amazing to see them.
The Bad: I seriously don’t have anything bad to say about this race! I had a wonderful experience, despite being super nervous and totally Type A about doing my first relay (yes, I printed out the 22-page info booklet).
The Ugly: Oh man, the finishers had to CLIMB UP STEPS to get out of the stadium… and that was rather ugly to watch. I also watched someone run to puke, so… great visuals to bring with me when I run my first marathon in a few weeks.

Splits: 10:12 (1) / 9:50 (2) / 9:56 (3) / 9:31 (4) / 10:03 (5) {and the extra 6:08}

Results: Our official team finish time was 4:43:44.
My watch showed a total of 5.63 miles for an average 9:53 pace; total time: 55:40.9

Race recap: Movie Madness Half Marathon

September 15, 2015 - Mel

After mentally and physically having a rough couple weeks of training, I needed to have some accountability for this past week’s long run. I have also been dealing with weird stomach nervousness and anxiety before I leave for my runs. Since I was traveling to Ohio for graduation, I searched for — and found — a half marathon for early Saturday morning: the Movie Madness Half Marathon in Lewis Center (about 30 minutes from downtown Columbus). My training run called for a total 16 miles, so I planned to do the race at an easy pace then add another three miles to it. But… well, there was a plot twist.

Race Day Selfie. Plot twist was not that dreary sky.

Registration and Cost: Registration was easy and online through Active.com. Since I made my decision a couple days before race day, it cost $59 (plus fees).

Expo and Packet Pick-up: No expo, as this was a super small race. There was race day packet pick, which started an hour before race time. I planned for about half hour before race time and there was no wait. I even had some extra time to relax in the car beforehand.

Bag Check: No bag check, but the state park had PLENTY of available and close parking near the start line.

Weather: When we left the hotel it was about 55 degrees and RAINING. Thankfully (smartly), I packed my rain jacket — so I ran back up to the hotel room to get it. The weather apps all said that the rain would move out of the area by race time (8 a.m.), AND THANK THE WEATHER GODS, it ended up being a beautiful, cool fall-like morning. LOVE.

Course: This “all right turns” course took the scenic route around Alum Creek State Park and its lake.

Map

I liked the course (there were water/snack/Gatorade stops at Mile 3.5-ish, 6, 9, and 11), and there was a relentless climb after Mile 10 as you can see in the elevation below; however, the roads were NOT closed off, so we basically ran in pace lines on the shoulder of all the streets. Mile 10-ish also was the area where the dam is, which I’ve never seen. It was really neat.

Fans and Experience: No fans, and the course was quiet and peaceful (save for passing traffic). I did run with my earbuds and music for the duration of the race. I honestly felt like I was having some sort of spiritual awakening on this run. It was beautiful.

Random Bullshit: Running on the side of the roads, you see the amount of litter that people disgustingly toss out of their cars. I passed at least three dirty diapers. People are just gross. There was also, um… roadkill. I legit had to jump over the carcass of a possum at one point.

Finish Line: There was music playing at the finish line approach, and I sincerely loved hearing my name and time called out when I finished. I played a serious game of mental skill for that last mile. And somehow, my mile 13 split was only 9:37.

Medals and Swag: I like my new pink short-sleeved tech shirt! It’s not race-specific, but has the US Road Running logo on the front. The finisher’s medal is pretty sweet too.

Bonus: Because this was a “Movie Madness” theme, there were several runners dressed in costume. The best of which (and the costume winner) was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He was hilarious (and said that he bought the costume the night before and never trained in it).

Double Bonus: Well… I couldn’t run my extra three miles because I GOT A TROPHY AND PLACED 3RD IN MY AGE GROUP!

OVERALL
The Great: The realization that I really, REALLY like the half marathon distance. Also, small races are awesome!
The Good: I had a pace friend for most of the race, which was awesome. I chatted with her a bit after the race and it seemed like we both needed/used one another. Kinda cool experience.
The Bad: I started going into disaster scenario solution mode when Mile 3 didn’t have a water stop (it was about .6 miles after that). But OMG could you imagine?! I was planning in my head the logistics of my boyfriend tossing bottles of water out of the car at random course points for me. LOL
The Ugly: Car drivers. I mean, COME ON. If you obviously see a pace line of runners on the side of the road and there is traffic in both directions, SLOW DOWN — don’t speed up just to pass more quickly. I kept my left ear bud out for portions of the race because I was nervous about getting run off the road at a few points.

Splits: 11:08 (1) / 10:58 (2) / 10:57 (3) / 10:41 (4) / 10:33 (5) / 10:43 (6) / 10:23 (7) / 10:19 (8) / 10:38 (9) / 10:09 (10) / 10:11 (11) / 10:38 (12) / 9:37(!!!) (13)

Results
Official time 2:18:36 – a new PR by two minutes!
3rd (!!!) in my 30-39 age group

Heartland Transplant

race recap

Race recap: Fineview Step Challenge

Race Recap: Akron Marathon Relay

Race recap: Movie Madness Half Marathon