Before I get to the race: Saturday Thing 1’s track sectionals were the focus of our day. We were there (in the rain at times) from 8:30 until 5. She PR’d her 200m and came in 2nd, missing State by less than a second, and oh my her long jump. She usually jumps high 12’s/low 13’s. She would’ve been thrilled with anything in the 13’s. First jump? She throws down a 14’3, then a 14’5 and a 14’6″, which advanced her to the final. Last year she scratched all of her jumps and left devastated. This was huge redemption for her and I am so proud.
Thing 1 has been friends with the girls on her relay team since kindergarten. Oh look! I even got a wave!
I threw in an impromptu 5k on Sunday. It benefited a local dog rescue and since I have a major soft spot for all things canine, I couldn’t resist.
I thought I was being all festive wearing my snow leopard skirt but then realized a cat skirt at a dog event might not be the best. As if dogs care.
It was already 70 degrees at 5am. I probably won’t be setting any land speed records. Skies were grey and ominous. It drizzled all the way to the race then rained harder when I got there.
Here’s my “why do I do this?” face.
When we went off though, the rain stopped. But wow, steamy humidity. I’d run this course before. Not the easiest trails ever. Lots of long inclines. Slippery wooden bridges.
The trail was very crowded and bottle necked at the first wooden bridge. An apricot poodle-ish dog except larger (I’m guessing a doodle of some kind?), was barely trotting up ahead yet he was way faster than I. What’s up with that?
Another dog gasped and choked behind me and I wondered what kind of owner would make his dog run that hard? Soon they were ahead of me too.
Since I’m all about heart rate with this tri training, I wore my Wahoo TickrX monitor and set it so it would break into my music at every mile and tell me my pace, mph, number of strides, average and max heart rate. Cool right? Except my heart rate was very close to max yet I was running pretty slow. Ugh.
The course was an out and back and on the way in, lots of oncoming runners/walkers were 3 and 4 across, completely blocking the path. I told myself to get over it. It was hot and I was tired. A lady with tattoos all over her back ran just ahead. Other than a couple of guys, nobody passed.
By the start of mile 3 I closed in on tat lady. I ran the tangents and eventually I passed her. I didn’t think she’d allow that but I never saw her again until after the finish.
I’ve raced this course before but the exact start and finish lines were different this time, which messed with my head a little. When I got to the place where the finish line had been before, there was still a good .30 to go. Blech. I plodded in with time of 28:33 which, for me, is count crapula. I was at least a minute faster here the last time I raced, but to be fair it was 30 degrees cooler.
The finish line food was great: fruit, granola bars, hot breakfast sandwiches, bagels, coffee.
When they posted the results, I wasn’t even on them. Visions of the debacle that was the Eggshell Shuffle danced in my head. Then others started saying the same thing. Turns out they posted LAST YEAR’S RESULTS. I was heading to the car when I bumped into someone I knew, with two Samoyeds in a stroller, no less. By the time we stopped yakking they were announcing the awards so I hung around.
I didn’t expect a 28 minute 5k to be worthy of an AG award, and it wasn’t. I ended up 4th/21. The tat lady I passed got 2nd in the 25-30 AG. Turns out I would’ve placed in ANY other AG except for mine. All the badass 50-54 ladies turned out to run for the dogs. How cool is that?
Overall a well done race, even though the weather wasn’t ideal and the timing had a bit of a glitch. Swag was cute: cotton tee, dog biscuits and dog toys.
Final words: I suspect there were a combination of factors that made me slow in this race. Heat and humidity I’m not acclimated to, plus my training this past couple of weeks has been pretty intense with the FPT testing, the indoor tri, mile repeats and some pretty hard cycling efforts. I think my body is telling me it’s time to ease up a touch.
What was fun for you this weekend? Did you enjoy nice weather? Did you race?
I’m linking up today with Tara’s Weekend Update…
And with Jessica, Mary Beth and Nicolasa for the Race Recap Linkup.
My splits have been really slow in this humidity. I forgot what it’s like to breath soup instead of air. Great job, Marcia! And congrats to your daughter!
Thanks Wendy!
Glad your daughter did so well in her event. Those are some great jumps! Love your doggie race story. You always put such a fun spin on things!
Nice job Marcia! And big congrats to your daughter!!
Congrats to your daughter and her friends that’s awesome! That’s a pretty good 5k time. I often look at the other age groups as well!
Welcome to my world. I think we need to grow gills. Unfortunately, I never acclimate to it. It kills me when I see I would have placed in younger age groups. Great job and congratulations to Thing 1!
Between still building up mileage after my time off and the sudden humidity, my regular paces have felt much harder than usual. Nice job in the race- I’m constantly checking to see how I would have done in other age groups:) Congrats to your daughter as well!
wow your plodding is just around my PR, LOL. I am a turtle when it comes to speed. Great job to your daughter!!! That’s awesome!
What a great cause for a 5K, Marcia! It’s tough for me to resist those, too. 😉 Wasn’t the humidity a killer this weekend? I know it was for me, anyway…whew. You did great getting through it and coming out with a competitive run; that is so exciting! Thanks so much for linking up with the blog today; hope your Monday is going well.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, will spoil a good low heart rate like the first few times you push in heat/humidity! I was amazed when I MAF trained how much of an impact it has. But kudos for a nice run–I think it would be really fun to do that one w/ all the dogs!
Humidity always puts a huge dent into my pace. It can be brutal so there’s no point in fighting it.
Congrats to your daughter! That is amazing!
And ugh, what a weekend to run a 5K! The humidity was out in FULL force! Love that the swag included a dog toy. Ha!
Congrats to Thing 1! Woohoo!!
That race also sounds awesome! I really hope I can get a puppy running buddy one day and do a race like this, though I’ll leave the humidity haha
The humidity has been brutal here too, I feel your pain. Acclimating definitely takes some patience! Congrats to your daughter!
I stepped one foot outside today and was like, nope nuh uh… and it’s only May. geesh. Sounds like a really fun 5K though!! love how dog biscuits came with the swag 🙂
Oh, super cool! Obviously, if it’s for dogs, then I’m on board. Love your snow leopard skirt, even at a canine event.
Being on a trail is probably what slowed you down.
I feel like I’m never going to place in my AG. The 35-39 ladies are beasts around here. Which is awesome, if a little discouraging. Oh, well, I keep trying 🙂
the weather makes a huge difference! humidity is a killer for me!
Congrats on 4th place in the miserable conditions and with all of the weaving (or lack thereof)! I started my 16 miler on Sunday right around noon. I think it was the warmest run I’ve done this year by about 20 degrees. Yuck. But hopefully I am acclimatizing!
Weather always makes a huge difference. You did a great job considering the conditions.
The humidity is really tough. Nice work, though – I love the “cat” skirt at a dog race. It is funny when you have a race where you would place in any age group but your own. That happened to me earlier this year at Escape fort desoto. I would have received an award in any group younger than mine.
Thanks for joining the race recap link up ! WOO HOO! I like how you were worried about your cat skirt at a dog race- you are funny! I am right behind you in the 45-49 age group and I don’t know how many small town races I have ran and I would have placed in any other age category except for that damn 50-54 groups, those broads are fast! That is why I have to step it up this year in my training cause those ladies will eat me alive next year! 🙂
Humidity is my kryptonite! It makes me SO slow. Nice work on your 5k!
I ran a half on Saturday, much slower than I had hoped, but as my boyfriend reminded me – I can’t PR at every race 🙂
I recognize that why do I do this face ha! Love the skirt.
I want to do that race!!!! Of course I’d be much slower. Sometimes Moxie coughs and hacks when we’re out just because she ate a bug or pulled too hard in to her leash (she starts out fast).
I’m running an untimed 5k in a month to benefit dogs and I’m looking for someone to lend me their dog for it. haha.
Heat and humidity is the worst for running – I always feel like I can’t breathe.
Hey! I think you did great considering last week’s indoor tri! I tend to spend a week not moving after every race/event so you even doing the 5k is amazing 😉
hey 4th in yer AG is still great. It seems for me that the 45-50 AG and the 50+ is soooo competitive. haha. I will never be getting an award since my PB for 5k is 29mins. but Running with the puppies seems like one GRAT way to start the day!
Congrats to your daughter! That is awesome!
Heat is killing me – I ran today and I swear my heart was going to beat out of my chest!
Sounds like a fun race and I love the leopard skirt! I will actually be going to my area’s state sectionals this weekend to do some recruiting for my coaching job. I don’t mind at all – I could watch track all day! Congrats to your daughter on hitting those PRs!
Congrats to your daughter! Sadly we did not have nice weather here this weekend/week. It’s been pretty gloomy/chilly. But next week is looking sunny, so I’ve got my fingers crossed 😀
Nice race, finish time, and placement! I noticed that aging up did not get me the advantage I was hoping for either! It seems many get faster with age! Yeah for 50+!! I did race this weekend, in San Francisco – it was a crazy fun one…Bay to Breakers! Have a great weekend!!!