Mississippi 10 Mile

I keep forgetting to write this recap. Which is kind of sad since it's probably the best race I've done in years.

First off you couldn't have asked for better weather. For once it wasn't snowing, or raining, or windy, or fill in the blank with whatever nasty weather we've had lately. It was overcast and about 55 degrees.

I've been having some hamstring strain issues so I've been taking it really easy, just running a few days a week and trying not to push it too much. I definitely felt it the whole race but it was just annoying, nothing that made me slow down any.

Time : 1:27.44 for an official PR by just under 5 minutes!!! I was pretty pumped. The last 5 km was a bitch, and it hurt really bad. But let me back up a minute.....

Right around the 3 or 4 mile mark I found myself running with these two guys that knew each other. Jeff and Pat were both coaches in Burnsville. Jeff was the head coach for track and cross country, and I believe Pat was a volunteer coach for him. Really nice guys, we ran and chatted with each other the rest of the way to the finish. Every mile split we were hitting like clockwork, 8:54, 9:02, 8:46, 8:47, 8:50, 8:50, 8:54, 8:36, 8:30, and 7:48. By the way I love my Garmin! I have never really cared much about pacing in past, I just go on feel. But it really is nice to see my pace every mile. I'm not one to look at it much more than just every mile, so I was happy to keep such a steady pace without even really having to work at it.
So those last 3 miles I really tried to push the pace, I was pretty tired by that point but I just focused and tried to stay mentally tough. I really don't think I could have done it without Jeff and Pat. We ended up getting ahead of Pat a little bit but Jeff was my hero that day. That last mile felt so long and all I wanted to do was slow down but Jeff kept push me to stay at his side. He kept telling me to focus on the next person in front of us, and to keep breathing, and to stay at his side, etc. I just kept thinking this guy is a coach, he knows what he's saying, and don't let him down. I was able to stay with him and ended up out sprinting another girl to the finish. It was awesome! I can't say enough nice things about those two strangers that treated me like a friend. I owe every bit of that PR to Jeff and Pat. I really wanted to hug them both after the race but I thought they might think I was weird, so I just kept thanking them over and over.
It was a great day!
So with that race my MDRA Spring Series is over and I ended up getting 3rd place overall (women) which means I get $50!! Which means I basically spent $5 to run 6 races, join the MDRA, and get a tech shirt! Awesome, I'd say I got my moneys worth! :)

So tomorrow I'm racing a Half Ironman distance triathlon relay. I'm the running leg which means I get to race a half marathon. Can't wait! Hoping for another PR. Which shouldn't be too hard since I'm technically only race 2 half marathons (other than during a marathon.)

Mom's Day 5 km

On May 10th I ran my 5th MDRA spring series event, the Mom's Day 5 km. At least there wasn't rain or snow, but there was some brutal winds, 40 mph gusts! And it wasn't exactly warm, 40 degrees. But it was sunny, and a beautiful location on the U of MN campus by the river.
Going into the race I really wanted to run under 25 minutes. My final time ended up being 24:31 for 34th out of 125, and 9th women overall. I was really happy with that, I look forward to running another 5 km towards the end of summer to see if I can improve on that. I need to start throwing some more speed work and intervals into my workouts, I'm so used to just running without really much purpose other than to enjoy the run and get some miles under my belt. But now I'd really like to start PRing more.
I'm running a half marathon on June 8th as a part of a triathlon relay team and I'd really like to do well for the team, as well as myself. So it's time to start serious training with a purpose!

Ragnar Relay with some BAMRs

My favorite mother runners over at Another Mother Runner have a contest going for a Ragnar Relay event in Washington DC over my birthday weekend. I'll be turning 32 on October 3rd and I can't really think of anything I'd rather do than spend a full day running with them and the other winners of the contest.
I wanted to list 32 reasons why I should win but to limit the word count I'll just list 21. Because we all know how awesome it is to turn 21. Hello, legal! Alcohol!

1. I love to run!
2. I've been running for as long as I can remember, my love has gone up and down over the years but today it's as strong as it's ever been. 
3. I've been a tomboy my whole life, only in the last two years have I embraced running skirts, sparkle skirts, and hot pink. Now you can rarely find me out there running without a skirt on. So I'd really rock a tutu on race day!
4. I love mother runners! I never really had many girl friends growing up. It took having children for me to really understand the definitely of a best girl friend, and to realize how important they are. 
5. The ragnar relay is on my bucket list. I've accomplished a lot of running type goals in the last few years, triathlon, duathlon, tough mudder, but I have yet to do a long distance relay. 
6. I have two beautiful girls that I could talk your ear off about. What better place to rave about your children than with other mothers!
7. I'm a professional drinker. Well, ok, not really. But I am the president of our homebrew club and I am a certified beer judge. I can teach you all about beer in the middle of the night. 
8. I've never been to DC and would love to see it!
9. I give great hugs!
10. I also give great ass slaps...
11. My nickname is Tapper, in college they would call me Ass Tap, because of the above reason. 
12. I love a good challenge. 
13. I love to eat, the best part of running so much is you can pretty much eat whatever and whenever you want. 
14. Train Like a Mother is my go to training plan, it helped me break 4 hours at the TC Marathon in 2012. 
15. Run Like a Mother helped me find new motivation when I was in a serious slump. 
16. I want to hear all about Dimity's soon to be Ironman accomplishments. Another bucket list item of mine. 
17. I am passionate about all I do. What's the point of doing something if you're not going to give it your all?
18. I once got lost on a run, 12 miles into a run I realized I was still 12 miles from home, I had to borrow bus money from a guy at a church. 
19. Someday I want to be on survivor, I could really rock those challenges!
20. I strive to be as dedicated to a training plan as Sarah!
21. I'm a badass mother runner that is hardcore, awesome, and fun!

And really the #1 reason why I should win. Because it's my birthday!!
So come on, Sarah and Dimity, could you give me my birthday wish!?!

Cinco du Mayo race report

Last Saturday I raced in the long course of the Cinco du Mayo Duathlon. It was a 5k, 20 mile bike, and a 5k run. I was NERVOUS!
The running was no problem, but I literally pulled my bike down for the hooks in the garage, filled the tires, and raced. Not really an ideal situation when you actually want to do well at something. Oh well I guess, not much I could do about that. I really really need a road bike. My poor bike is about 12 years old, still works, but it wasn't great.
I just signed myself up for the TriFitness triathlon club which meant I got to have my bike in the tri clubs designed area. It was nice to chat with a few members that I'll hopefully get to train with over the summer. It definitely calmed my nerves to hang out and talk before the race.
The first 5k went really well, I ran just over 8 minute mile pace, which felt pretty hard, the course was hilly! The 20 mile bike was very hilly and hard! I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, I probably should have checked out the courses elevation. It was pretty brutal, I wished for bike shoes and a road bike about 50 times while I was out there. You basically bike a 10 mile square around a lake twice, The second half of that 10 miles was WINDY. I felt like a sail. I was slow, I felt like I was going as fast as I could but I just didn't have the equipment or the skill to do any better. It was a bit frustrating. I just kept reminding myself that I'm lucky to be able to just hop on a bike and ride for 20 miles because a lot of people aren't able to do that. I believe I was the second slowest 20 mile biker out there. Oh well, at least I know next time I can improve.
The final run wasn't stellar, I forget how hard it is to get your legs back after biking for an hour and a half. It took till about the 1.5 mile turn around till I felt like I was running again. My right foot was completely numb for 2 miles, it was really annoying and weird. My second 5k ended up being about 9 min per mile pace. Not stellar but I was able to pass a few people so I was happy with that.
Overall it wasn't an awesome race, but I'm happy I did it, it can only go up from here!
My final time was 2:25.57.

The season thus far

I really do suck at this blogging thing.
Instead of fretting about I'm just going to move on. Here's a brief synopsis of the last few races I have done.


Birkie ~ Feb 23, 2013. 3:59.39.1
This race went surprisingly well for the lack of training I did. I started off training well in Dec, and then, do to lack of snow in January, I rarely skied. Then I managed to get out a half dozen times in Feb before the race. It was a very slow year due to about 5-8 inches of free snow over night. I opted to get my skis waxed by Gear West and they were crazy fast! I was flying by people all over. I will be getting my skis waxed by them in the future.
I felt great throughout, although I was cramping really bad pretty much from 25k till the end. And I FINALLY get to move up a wave! Wave 4 here I come! I beat the cut off by about a minute, the last few years I've missed moving up by about the same time so I'm very happy! Maybe 2014 will be the year I can get my act together and train seriously enough to get in wave 2. We shall see.
Another funny note, my TC marathon time (3.59.36) is almost exactly the same as my Birkie time.

Lake Johanna 4 mile ~ March 23, 2013. 33:01
After the Birkie I decided to sign up for the MDRA Spring Series races. This was a series of 6 races between March and May. This was all before mother nature decided that Minnesota wasn't getting a spring this year. Oh well, c'est la vie. Luckily my friend donated us their treadmill since it rarely got any use at their house. It got plenty of use between March and today, let me tell you. Without it I would have been screwed.
So anyways, I hadn't done any running outside or any speed work so I wasn't really sure how this race would go. I just wanted to go out and run fast and have fun. It was a cold day (30s) but no snow on the road and sunny. I actually felt awesome and ran faster than I've run in awhile. Just over 8 minute mile pace. I was pumped!
The second spring series race was suppose to be the MDRA 7 mile the next weekend but I skipped it. The week before we were all really sick and both the girls had strep throat, it was pouring when I woke up to get ready for the race so I opted to stay in bed. I'm happy about that decision!

Fred Kurz 10 mile ~ April 13, 2013. 1:39.29
3rd race in the series. Winter still isn't over. It snowed 5 inches a few days before this race. And since it's run on the Luce Line trail in Wayzata which isn't plowed it was going to be a slow and snowy day. It was 30s and overcast for the race. Which isn't horrible but not ideal. I actually felt pretty good considering this was my longest run this year. I probably could have gone even faster but it was really hard to get good footing, there was a trampled down snow path on the trail but that also meant that it was pretty much ice. I wish I had cleats! I really wanted to look around at all the ponds and beautiful houses along the trail but had to only focus on my feet which was kind of sad. I'm glad I did it, I had fun!

MDRA Mudball (SNOWBALL) Classic 4 mile ~ April 21, 2013. 38:34
Again mother nature is relentless. It snowed another 4-6 inches a few days before the race. This race is on the trails in Theodore Wirth park. Which usually means mud in April, well this year it meant SNOW, mud, cold water, ice, etc. Awesome, thanks. They shortened the course because apparently parts of the original course was under water. So it ended up being about 3.5 miles. From my time you can see that it was SLOW. I felt like I was running as hard as I could but it's a hilly course and near impossible to get your footing. I'd love to run this race another year when there isn't snow covering the whole course. It was a cold morning (27)  but at least it didn't rain as expected. I had a blast though.

I'm really enjoying these MDRA races and I'm happy I signed up for the spring series to try some new races and to get myself motivated to train.

What's up next?
Cinco du Mayo Duathlon May 4
Moms Day 5 km May 11
Mississippi 10 mile May 26
Liberty Tri running relay team member half marathon June 8
Tough Mudder July 21
Skirt Sports 5 km July 28 

I need to pick one or two tris to do as well. I'm running out of weekends in the summer though.

Limbo

I feel like I'm stuck, this in between seasons thing is taking a tough toll on me. I'm having a really hard time finding the motivation to wake up at 5 AM to go run, when it's cold and dark, and I'm really not training for anything at the moment. I have ski races coming up in February and hopefully before that as well, and I know I need to keep my endurance up. I'm just having issues getting my butt out there. 

I have been doing a lot of strength training and crossfit type workouts, so I feel strong but I MUST start running and rollerskiing. Starting this weekend!

If anyone wants to buy me a new or used treadmill I'd love you forever. As much as I hate running on the treadmill at least I could be in my nice warm basement watching DVRed shows and cranking out a few miles!

TC Marathon Race Recap

4 days post marathon and I feel almost back to normal! Getting antsy to start training again. Gonna start some crossfit workouts next week and hopefully throw in some rollerskiing and running as well. Gotta start birkie and xc ski training!
Best marathon time since 2003. When I was a lot younger and without children. I still believe I can beat my PR but it wasn't in the cards for Sunday. I felt great though out the whole race, had some minor aches and pains but nothing that made me slow down too much. I held a pretty consistent per mile pace around 8:45-9:30 throughout the whole race.
It was really nice to have someone to sit and chat with pre-race in the Metrodome, which definitely kept the jitters at bay, so thanks for that Shelley! You kicked butt and I'm so happy you were there to start with me! I started far in the back which was a little annoying because I was dodging people left and right, but it was also  probably a good thing to keep my pace in check. I have a tendency to start out too fast.
I ended up catching up to another friends around mile 11 and stayed with her till around 18 where she stopped to use the bathroom, I was hoping she'd catch back up so we could help each other finish this thing but I knew I couldn't slow up because I was already cutting my time goal pretty close. Thank you Kristie for helping me along on my least favorite miles, 13-20! I kept trucking along, I was so happy to see the bridge crossing into St Paul! As much as I was happy to be on my home turf I still was dreading the long gradual uphills and Summit Ave, which after running 20 some miles seems to last FOREVER!
I felt really strong on those hills though, I was passing people left and right, and the streets were lined with people cheering. It was amazing. Last time I ran this race in 2008 it poured rain for the first half of the race, and I was amazing with how many people were out cheering that day, but it was nothing compared to yesterday. I love the spectators, the signs, the kids! I hope you all know how great you all are and how much we all needed you! Thank you! Especially thanks to all my friends that made it out to cheer, I didn't get to see you all but I appreciate you all so much.
I passed mile 23 with 30 minutes to spare to break 4 hours. So I pushed the pace as much as I could, I just kept telling myself that my mind is stronger than my body, and that all the pain was in my head. And that 3 miles is nothing! My legs kept protesting but I blocked it out as much as I could, I topped the hill near the cathedral and could see the finish line and I just tried to fly down the hill as fast as I could. With .2 miles left I looked at my watch and had 2 minutes to go. I kicked it into another gear and hoped for the best. I stopped my watch at 3.59.36 and almost started crying, I DID IT! Finally after almost a decade I broke 4 hours again!
Someday I'll break my PR too!
But now it's on to training for the Birkie, and hopefully breaking some other goals along the way.
I just turned 31 and feel amazing, life is good!

Down the hill to the finish! 

Flying towards the finish. 

Post race war wound.

All done and Happy!