Category: Race Recap

So I keep meaning to get back here and post about things, but the THINGS just keep happening at a rate so fast that I can’t sit down and write about them. Last week was what I affectionately started calling “hell week” about 2 days into it. We had 4 proposals due last week, 3 of them on Friday and the one that was supposed to be “easy” consumed both mine and my coworker’s time almost exclusively for 2.5 days, leaving us just pieces of Thursday and Friday to get the other two in. I worked over 50 hours last week and left the office at 2:20 on Friday. Good times.

Luckily, I had my first triathlon to look forward to! My friend Jenny is sort of my partner in crime. We egg each other on to do increasingly questionable athletic things. Wanna run do a triathlon? Sure! Wanna run a 15K? Sure! We thank each other for acting before thinking so at least we’re in this together. Thus, after my hell week, I set out with Matt and the kids in tow to the nether regions of Denver. So far East you can’t even see the mountains a lot of the time. Crazy! But what waaaaay East Denver does have is Cherry Creek State Park which contains Cherry Creek Reservoir where our triathlon was being held.

So we went stopped there first to do packet pickup, consisting of things like putting your bike in the corral, getting your timing chip, grabbing fun swag from the sponsors and generally checking things out. After packet pickup, we met the husbands and kids at Benihana and had dinner and a show.

We had elected to stay at a hotel in the area (it’s almost an hour drive from where we live to the reservoir) and it turned out great because the kids went to sleep quickly and despite nerves, I got a pretty good night sleep. I met Jenny just before 6 and we headed over to the reservoir to get close parking and make sure we had plenty of time. It was a good plan – I am always surprised how fast pre-race goes. And though we weren’t “on” until after 7:30, the hour + zipped by with waiting in line to pee (twice), getting on our wetsuits, inking our numbers on our arms, setting up our transition areas, etc.

Before I knew it, we were on the beach. We took a quick test-run through the water and then waited with everyone else as the waves were called. We were in different waves since we’re in different age groups and I got to wave my friend into the water and promptly lose sight of her in a sea of red swim caps.

My wave went 5 minutes later and right away I knew I was going to have a good swim. My practice open water swims have been a very mixed bag. If I take my inhaler, I’ve been OK, but if I haven’t, I’ve had real problems. So I swam and swam and felt awesome. The biggest problem I had was the sun in my eyes and seeing the buoys we were supposed to be swimming around, but I was surprised how soon I was at the turnaround point, and felt great coming out of the water. My swim time was around 18:00 which is my best so far.

We had to run up a ramp and a bunch of stairs back to transition. I peeled off my wetsuit. goggles and cap and put on a t’shirt, shoes, sunglasses and helmet and got out on my bike! I love the bike portion – it is easily my best part. It is what the super muscular thighs I am blessed with are made for. Most people in the race rode road bikes, but I do not own a road bike because I don’t really like riding on the road. You have to share it with cars and they are large and can kill you, so I just rode my mountain bike because I’m used to it and I didn’t have to shell out $1000 + to acquire it. However, in this application, it was frustrating. I am a fast rider and I could easily pass almost anyone on the way up hills, but I ran out of gears to push out speed on the downs and flats. I ride in almost the lowest gear possible all the time and there just wasn’t anything left, so then the same girls I’d just passed on the UPS would pass me on the flats an downhills. grrrrr I also lost some time because a SEMI TRUCK was in the park for some reason and couldn’t make a tight turn and blocked off the road!!! Still, good bike and I made about 45 min on that portion.

I headed back into transition to ditch my bike and helmet and don my running hat. I also downed a bunch of water and ate a few Shot Blocks. I should have chased them with more water because I had an icky heavy sweet taste my whole run until I got to the aid station. I also should have taken another inhaler puff because I was wheezy on my run. The run wasn’t great. It was rolling hills which I rather despise. But it was what it was so I wheezed and ran-walked my way over the 3.1 miles. I must have had a bit more in me than I thought though because once I saw Matt and the kids, I sprinted through to the finish. My run time was around 36 minutes, very disappointing because I should be right around 30 to 31 or, theoretically on that short of a distance, even faster.

All said, for the whole race, I was under 1:45, about 15 minutes faster than I’d expected! Not too shabby. The after party was nice with a catered breakfast and fun with the husbands and kids. And the experience, overall was wonderful! I really liked the sprint tri distance and I wouldn’t hesitate to do one again. The Iron Girl triathlon was particularly great – all-women races are always very fun and supportive – and this was well run and very fun.

This morning was the Golden Gallop, a race in a nearby burb that supports local schools. The course (and cause) have bumped around a lot over the past few years. The first time we ran the Gallop, it was a 10K and you did two loops of the same course (never my favorite). But now it’s changed and it’s 5.28 miles (a mile is 5280 ft) and it’s a loop course going from downtown and back.

Matt and I signed up for it a while ago. You always know that the weather in Denver in October is unpredictable at best, but you always hope for the best and really this wasn’t too bad – just COLD – but at least it wasn’t rainy like yesterday. Matt unfortunately, woke up with an upset stomach (really upset) and it didn’t calm down by the time we met up with friends at their house.

So after hmming and hawing, I decided to go ahead without him. I’m never much for hilly courses (I run a lot of treadmill and suburban streets), but this was nice for a hilly course in that it started up and finished down. A couple miles into the course, with the sun shining on me, I had to pull my sweatshirt off and carry it. Luckily my friend and his boys rode up on their bikes a mile or so before the end and took it off my hands. I could have made it but I was glad to be rid of it too. I was also glad I’d packed my inhaler in the little pack I carry my phone in – for whatever reason, I had to puff on it twice during the race. On Friday, I ran 4+ miles without a puff.

Today, my race outfit was pink. I frequently wear pink without a specific reason, but today, I wore pink in honor of my friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. Race for the Cure was today and I would have loved to have joined her team, but this had come up first, so I wore pink in her honor instead.

Today we tackled our 7th half marathon, the 10th Platte Half Marathon. I’ve been training, probably no too religiously, but training nonetheless since January. I’ve done at least 4 runs over 10 miles and two of them were even pretty great and yet, I struggled today.

The race started out well enough. It’s a nice course, pretty similar to one of my favorite training runs, along Clear Creek trail. The weather was mild enough at the start and I was feeling pretty good at the start. However, by mile 4 or 5, it was pretty clear I was not having a good day. Matt said he could hear my breath getting heavy and wheezing. He said the way I was going he thought I’d be lucky to make it to mile 6.

But I soldiered on, not feeling terrible, but not feeling really ON. I was running under 10 minute miles and I was happy with that, but by mile 8, I really couldn’t keep it up. I had to walk for 30 seconds here and there (something I try to NEVER do) just to catch my breath and I felt pretty darn terrible. It was frustrating, because my muscles and joints were perfectly fine, but my lungs just didn’t want to do their thing.

Sometime around that point, the weather turned pretty cruddy. It had clouded over and gotten a little colder and breezy, but then the wind got serious and it started raining a little. The wind was the worst though. At one point, the gust was so bad that I felt like I was running about double just to keep going forward. It was really not what I needed at that point. There is a massive hill at the end (about the last .9 miles) that is pretty soul-crushing if you’re not doing well. But happily, I managed to make it up with only a short break when I couldn’t get through a pack of people. The finish line was a welcome welcome site and my time was not terrible despite how I felt. The Platte has a great post-race-party with some good food and a fun atmosphere, but we had to skip it. The line was looooooong and the weather was freezy. I was sorry to miss it, but the warm car was very nice.

Now I have to figure out what’s going on with the lungs. My good friend, H, a nurse, has suspected for a while that I may have some issues with asthma. It’s not exactly that I didn’t believe her, but my problems have been so hit or miss that I didn’t really want to delve into things. But it seems like this is getting more frequent and worse and I need to face the possibility that I am having issues. I’m really not a fan of doctors, but I’m also not a fan of feeling like crap on long runs.

So Saturday was my first Trail race, the CMRA (Colorado Masters Running Assoc.) Stone House 8 Miler. Unbeknownst to me, I had a great preview of it a few Sundays ago when we checked out Bear Creek trail (photo above). We did nearly the same route, with a few big differences … the last time we followed the paved path since it had just snowed and we didn’t want tons of mud on our shoes or falls from muddy slipping and sliding. We also started a mile further in. We also did not have 6 water crossings – yes, you read that right – SIX water crossings.

The night before I got a txt message from my running  buddy telling me there were 3 water crossings and wondering about carrying garbage bags or whatever for our shoes. I’m not quite sure what it says about me, but this barely phased me. I just scanned some running BBs to figure out strategy and the message was clear – just run though it. Water drains out, feet dry, you move on. So I heeded their advice and brought nothing more than my normal gear to the race.

We ran through almost all trails and, yes, 3 water crossings. I think in my mind I had these as streams that were just about dry and would just get my feet wet, maybe, but I was wrong. I was up to my knees. But just like they’d said, feet got wet, water ran out, feet got dry. All three crossings were in pretty quick succession which was nice. Then we climbed. And climbed. And there was a super annoying spot where I was SURE I was done climbing … and I was wrong. We didn’t start our descent. We had a switchback. Then, happily, we did finally descend. There was about 100ft of ice I tiptoed over, but overall, my downhills were great. Luckily I’ve run trails before and I could keep a really good pace.

Since I didn’t know the course, I wasn’t positive I’d have to ford the streams again, but I did. The second time wasn’t any worse really, but it did feel colder and it fatigued me in a way I haven’t experienced before. And with that fatigue, I took a spill (no biggie – lots of leaves to break my fall, didn’t have a mark on me) and I knew I had to dial my speed back a little so I could pick up my feet more. So I did and I finished in about 90 minutes overall. For a person like me who hates hills, I felt like my pace was crazy good.

The “finish line” was a nice informal gathering … a couple of water coolers, some chex mix and little chocolate chip cookies. One corporate-type person there handing out samples of Honey Milk (yummy!) at a card table. Very chill. A really nice race. And now I think I might just have to join the CMRA.

I took Labor Day a bit too literally this year and started off the day with a 10 mile run with a couple of my girlfriends. We did the Park to Park 10 miler. We all signed up for it pretty late and it felt to me in many ways more like your average weekly long run than a race, but it was a nice course and there was good energy the whole way.

The course was nice with lots of shade and went through four downtown parks. It was a good mix of hilly and flat and none of the hills were too killer. The worst hill we went up had a great downhill afterward though as you were going down it looked like it would be another hill (possibly worse than the first) right afterward, but to my surprise it was actually flat! I can get behind that.

The after-party was good too. They had a pretty decent band and a good selection of tasty food … Panera muffins, Wahoo breakfast burritos, popcicles, even fondue from The Melting Pot and not a stale bagel in sight. Yay. And there was pretty good swag … a nice Brooks tech tee, a mini first aid kit, some Clif Bars and a collapsible reusable tote.

Best of all I had  a good race … 10 min miles the whole way which I’m very happy with considering the hilly course and a mid-run potty break. Of course it’s always super fun to run with some of my best girls. And Matty very generously drove us and put up with our craziness. He rocks.

Sunday Matt and I were supposed to run the Heart and Sole Half Marathon. This would have been our 3rd Half Marathon of this calendar year, and our 7th overall, but due to the insanely crazy lives we lead, we have not been running much. My longest recent run was an 8 miler with my GFs and it didn’t go awesome (didn’t go terribly either). So Sunday morning, we found out we could drop down to the 10K, which is the other event that Heart and Sole offers and we gladly did so.

Still at less than half the distance, I had a terrible day. I felt sluggish. I felt like I couldn’t fully bring air into my lungs. I felt like my limbs were super heavy, particularly my arms. I felt hot. I felt cranky. I couldn’t find a song I liked. It was torturous, the way 6 miles hasn’t been for a long time. My chip time was over 1:06, and I should easily have been able to run this sub 1:00 or better. That may not seem like a big deal/difference, but it was more the way it felt.

I felt inept and slow, like it was my first race. I didn’t have fun. But it did do one important thing for me: it totally motivated me to get off my arse and start running seriously again. I have never stopped working out. From July 11 thru Aug 10, I was attending BootCamp every day. I barely had strength enough left to play with the kids let alone do any more than my bare-minimum runs. But now I’ve acclimated somewhat to the intense workouts of BootCamp and I have started going just 3 days/week. That should leave me ample time to run.

And run I will. I have a new training plan, one I am not going to allow myself to get sidelined on just because I’m out of town (I am out of town for 3 of 6 long runs). My do-or-die training plan. Because if I don’t do it, Oct 9 is going to feel REALLY REALLY bad.

Damn. We really know how to pack a weekend. I am absolutely exhausted!!

Today Matt and I ran the Bolder Boulder. It’s a VERY big (3rd largest timed race in the world) very fun race. We hopped on a RTD bus this morning at around 6 AM and rode into Boulder. We had just enough time to pee and walk to our start corral before we were up! We hit the road running. I tried to keep up with Matt in the beginning and over-exerted myself, which led to crampy calves. Once I slowed down to my own pace I did just fine. The course is great … there’s hills, but they aren’t too bad, and they are all done after mile four until mile 6.1 when you head into Folsom Stadium (where the Buffs play!). There’s great crowds along the way who really get into it. We had about 5 houses with hoses out ready to spray people who wanted it (I did!). There were cupcake, bacon and beer relief stations and plenty of cheering fans (including some cheer squads!). The course goes through some great old neighborhoods and is very pretty.

The race overall was very well organized. It felt no larger than the 30K participant one we ran in Nashville, despite being almost 2x the size. The RTD buses made it so easy to come and go from Boulder and I cannot think of a reason to get ot the race any other way. Gear is top-notch and entry fees are pretty reasonable. 5 stars, highly recommended, wonderful experience.

Just about the only thing I’d do differently is my sunscreen. I wore neutrogena on my face which totally clogged up my pores ANYWAY and it ran into my eyes. OUCH. Continue reading “Our First Bolder Boulder + Memorial Day Weekend”