Year of Races

I ran the Guns & Hoses 5k this morning.  (UPDATED: official race results) It was at Hobgood Park in Canton, GA, so it was another nearby event.  I got up at about 6 AM, drank some coffee, ate some breakfast and left for the race a little past 7.  This event is unique because each racer picks a team – Guns or Hoses.  I chose to contribute to the Hoses’ charity efforts.  My sister, Christina, also chose the Hoses.  I’m happy to report that the Hoses defeated the Guns once again, mostly due to mine and Christina’s efforts I’m sure.

Guns & Hoses Shirt

Christina and I got our shirts and race bibs and hung out in the car up to about 15 minutes until race time.  It was really cold (30s) this morning in Canton, so I’m not ashamed to say that I stuck to my heated seat for as long as possible.  Once the race was about to start, I stripped down to shorts, but kept the Under Armour pullover on again.  I’ve worn this thing every race so far this year.  I’ll be SO happy to run one without it when the weather warms up.

I decided before the race that I was going to try to beat my P.R. which was 23:06.  I knew there were some hills to contend with, but I thought I’d give it a go.  So, I wished Christina luck and took off fast at the start.

The first mile was all downhill, so I cruised pretty comfortably and was in around 8-10th place overall I think.  By the second mile, I was definitely feeling the pain, and, sure enough, I gave out in the third as it was mostly uphill.  I finished at 23:08; a couple seconds off my best.  I was hoping for a sub-23, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  I’ve got to work harder.  Here are my stats from my Garmin Forerunner 305.  (By the way, I love this thing)  For example, here’s the elevation chart.  Yikes.  That third mile was a killer.

Guns & Hoses Elevation Chart

Christina’s goal was to beat 38 minutes and she CRUSHED it, finishing at 33:46 or so.  I’m really proud of her.  She did great and with a little more training will be running sub-30s in no time.  I enjoyed having her there at the race, and I’m looking forward to the next time someone can get out there and run with me.  By the way, she won one of the raffles and got herself a new coffee mug.

Guns & Hoses - Christina

My age group for the race was 30-39.  Usually, it’s 35-39, so I had a lot more contenders.  After finishing and filling in my card with 23:08, I noticed mine was 2nd in the basket, so I figured I had placed in my age group.  Unfortunately, they only gave away medals to the top finisher in each age group.  This was disappointing because the Active.com page said it would be top 3 finishers.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Top 3?

My next race is the Berry Half Marathon.  I’ll have something on that this week.  Stay tuned.

Resolution Rush Shirt

It was a beautiful morning here in Atlanta for the Resolution Rush 10k.  With all the miserable weekends we’ve had so far, this was definitely a needed change of pace.  I was excited about this event because it is literally 3 minutes from my front door in good old Hickory Flat, GA.  I was able to sleep in a little later than usual and still get over to the starting line in plenty of time.

The 5k runners took off at 8am while us 10k folks had to sit around until 8:30.  This was kind of a bummer, but ended up being pretty cool seeing the 5k winners come through.  I don’t usually get to see that since I’m normally in the middle of the pack somewhere.

The course was an out-and-back type that we did twice for the 10k.  Some rolling hills but nothing too steep.  I haven’t been running as much the past couple of weeks, so I knew this race would be tough for me.  I’ve had a bit of a cold and some nagging injuries that have kept me off the pavement.  I NEED to get back into the swing of things or I might actually die during the Berry Half Marathon on March 6th.

Garmin Forerunner 305

This past week I took the plunge and dropped some cash on a Garmin Forerunner 305.  This was my first run using it.  I’m soooo glad I bought this little gadget.  It was really nice knowing my pace, distance, and heart rate as I was progressing through the race.

Here are my splits courtesy of the Forerunner 305:

Resolution Rush Splits

As you can see I kept a pretty even pace throughout – about 8:15/mile.  I need to get that down to 8:00 even or just below if I want to get a sub-50 10k.  Today I finished in 50:14.  Not too bad considering my lack of miles recently.  I had to work a lot harder on this one though than I did during the Chattahoochee Challenge.  My heart rate was definitely up there in the 180s quite a bit.  I never stopped though and felt fairly decent afterwards.

Also, as a bonus, I took advantage of the smaller crowds and finished 3rd in my age group.  This was a pleasant surprise and I received a nice little medal for my effort.  I’m proud of this guy:

Resolution Rush Medal

Other interesting tidbits:

• the shirt is short-sleeve moisture wicking.  Kind of plain.  I still like the technical long-sleeve shirts best.
• plenty of post-race food – chocolate chip cookies, bananas, smoothie samples, bagles
• no chip timing this time, so the award ceremony was delayed a bit, but I’m glad I stuck around
• traffic situation was kind of sketchy as they had to let cars come down the middle of E Cherokee Dr with runners going both directions on the sides.  Wasn’t too bad, but a tad annoying.  The police officers did a great job stopping traffic at intersections for runners.
• I’ll link to the official results if they post them online. UPDATED: Here are the results.
• TrueSpeedPhoto was there again.  I’ll link to any photos they took of me.  UPDATED: Pics 1, 2, 3, 4
• Here are some reviews on active.com.

Hmmmm…  Well the road conditions here in Atlanta have caused the Marietta Mardi Gras 5k race organizers to cancel.  This is probably for the best.  No use risking injury for all the folks trying to drive in this weather.

2/13 8:54AM Race Update: We’re sad to announce that due to the extreme icy conditions on the Square, we’re being forced to cancel the race. We’re doing the raffle from 9:00AM-10:30AM on the Square in front of the Courthouse. The brunch at Marlow’s Tavern will be available to all registered runners at 11AM. Watch the web site for the T-Shirt Distribution Date.

I’m now 1 race behind in my schedule for 2010.  I’ll have to double up during a week I guess.  Time to start looking at the schedule again…

Marietta Mardi Gras 5k

This weekend I’ll be running in the inaugural Marietta Mardi Gras 5k.  Here’s the course mapped out on mapmyrun.com.

I’m pretty excited about it because my kid sister, Christina, will be joining me.  Although, she may be regretting her decision to run this event.  The Atlanta area could be hit with a couple inches of snow on Friday.  As any Atlantan knows, this pretty much shuts down the city.  So, getting to the race on Saturday morning may be a bit tricky.

A couple of other things that I’m a bit worried about:

• I tweaked something in my right Achilles area on the treadmill Monday night.  I’ve taken some days off to rest, but haven’t tested it out yet.  I might try to do an easy run on Friday.
• I came down with some sort of head cold yesterday.  Annoying, but not a game stopper.  I’ll get through it.
• My main concern though is that I feel like I’m falling behind in my half marathon training.  I don’t think I’m getting enough miles in during the week.  Hopefully, the Achilles will feel better and I can pick up the workload next week and get back on track.

Christina and I -- Bunny ears are always cool.

Chattahoochee Challenge Shirt

The Chattahoochee Challenge 10k was advertised as a flat, fast course.  I would agree with that.  I set a new PR this morning, running the race in 50:09.  I had a lot of fun as usual and hope to get a chance to run this event again next year.

I arrived at the Chattahoochee Nature Center around 6:30am.  I wanted to get there early to secure a parking spot near the Nature Center so I wouldn’t have to park a mile away.  Waking up at 5:30 this morning to make my parking dreams happen was no treat, but it worked.  I went inside, registered, and got my race bib and timing strip.  Now, I had about an hour and a half to kill until the start of the race and it was 44° and damp.  I came prepared however.  I went back to my car and read some more of the latest Dan Brown novel.

Around 7:45 I ventured out and made my way down to the starting line on Willeo Rd.  It was a well organized start with a mat to trigger my timing strip.  We all took off a bit after 8 and I noticed that they had a few pace groups running.  I’ve never run a race with pace groups, but I wanted to give it a shot.  One of the groups was running a 49:00 race.  This was ideal as I really wanted to break 50 minutes.  I spent about the first 2 miles catching up to the guy carrying the orange flag.

For most of the remainder of the race I stayed right with the pace group.  Never really laboring and actually enjoying the company.  We chit-chatted back and forth and eventually some folks dropped back.  Around mile 5 it was really just me, another woman, and the pacer.  I didn’t pay much attention to my splits, although the mile markers were clear and the digital times were presented at each marker.  I was with the pacer, so as long as I kept up with him, I was in under 50.

At mile 6, I realized that whatever device the guy was using was wrong.  We weren’t on pace for 49:00.  I decided to finish hard the last .2 miles to salvage whatever I could from what I thought was going to be a successful run.  Like I said, I finished at 50:09 and I think the pacer came in at 50:18 or so.  I’m kind of disappointed because I know I could have broken 50, but I REALLY enjoyed running with that little group.  I’m considering investing in my own GPS device so that I’ll be able to keep my own pace as well.  We’ll see.

All in all, a great, well organized event.  Probably the best one so far in 2010.

Other items of note:

• Official times were online super fast.  Huge plus in my book.
• The shirt is a short-sleeve cotton deal.  I actually prefer the technical shirts, but if they saved money on the shirts to give more to the Nature Center, then I’m definitely cool with that.
• One of the women running in our pace group beat me at the Polar Bear 5k.  Not this time, friend.
• I finished 27th out of 100 in my age group.  Not too bad.  Still wish I could have seen 49 on my time instead of 50.
• Lots of goodies handed out after the race.  I love the swag you get at these things.
• The course was really flat.  Here’s the course on mapmyrun.com.
• Didn’t see anyone puking at the race, but did see the usual number of snot rockets which are just as disgusting.
• Although it was a cold, dreary morning again, I enjoyed running by the river.  Very peaceful other than the 1000 runners, volunteers, photographers, cops, etc. 
• True Speed Photo was at the event.  I’ll update the post with any links to pictures of me that I find.  UPDATE: pic of me being a goofball
• I always enjoy reading what others thought of the race.  Here are some mixed reviews.

Next week, I’ll be in the heart of Marietta for the Mardi Gras 5k.  Anyone else running this one?

Chattahoochee Challenge 10k

For the race this weekend, I picked the Chattahoochee Challenge 10k in Roswell, GA.  It’s advertised as a fast, flat course.  I sure hope it is.  That would be nice.  My first 10k went well and I’m hoping to improve on my 53:14 mark this weekend.  The race is a Peachtree qualifier, but, then again, so was last week’s and so is the Resolution Rush 10k on 2/21.  I guess I’ll have plenty of chances to score a good qualifying time for the nation’s best 10k.

This weekend’s event raises money for the Chattahoochee Nature Center.  I have a lot of fond memories of time spent here as a kid.  My cousins and I used to go play on the playground by the river all the time.  I attended birthday parties and soccer-end-of-season parties here as well.  Great little place to bring the family and enjoy the outdoors.  I haven’t been over that way in a few years, so I’m looking forward to the race.

Weather should be in the high 30’s or low 40’s.  Doesn’t look like rain, but it is supposed to rain Friday so it may push into Saturday morning.  Let’s hope not.

This is another Run & See Georgia Grand Prix Series event, but I may have trouble cracking the top 20 in my age group.  I believe this race is a fairly popular one on the circuit.  I thought I did great last week and barely squeaked into the top 20 at 15th.

Anyone else planning on being there?  See you Saturday.  Should be fun.