Colon Cancer Challenge 15K Race Recap & Fit Four Gloves Winner

This morning I woke up and headed to Central Park for my very first race this year: The NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. I have a much lighter race schedule this year than last in order to try to stay healthy for the NYC Marathon this fall. I was excited for this one for several reasons 1) it was my first 2013 race 2) I ran with my sister and 3) this was the first time I ran a 15K distance (9.3 miles). Plus, the weather was beautiful and sunny.

Central Park on race morning

There were three events happening this morning: 1.7 mile walk, 4 mile run and 9.3 mile run plus a festival to increase awareness of colorecta cancer. They even had a giant inflatable colon at the festival that you could walk though. I really liked that this race was in support of this organization and helps to increase awareness.

Colon Cancer race shirt and bib

The race:

The race itself was held in Central Park and was almost two full loops of the lower loop (excluded the Harlem hills.. to my relief!). I typically am not the biggest ran of races where you repeat loops but today it didn’t bother me for some reason, although I would have preferred a route where this didn’t happen. I have also never ran a 15K distance before so this was different for me, I’m not used to stopping my runs mid-mile!

At the race start there was a bit of a bottleneck before it opened up, which is always annoying for a runner. We were basically fast walking at the start but once everyone spread out there was plenty of room on the rest of the course so it wasn’t a huge deal. There seemed to also be a good deal of people cheering on the sides which I always appreciate a bunch.

Approaching the finishline in pink and blue :) As you can tell, I’m obsessed with my blue capris, I promise I wash them in between each wear!

The hills of Central Park came out to play for sure. I haven’t run there in a while so I didn’t even think of it, but the rolling hills of the West side are, in my opinion, are always the toughest. My legs are certainly going to be sort tomorrow, the quads got a workout!

Luckily, I felt pretty good for most of the race and my breathing did settle in. My sister ran at a nice pace which pushed me to pick up mine to more than I have been running, plus I wanted someone to chat with during the race so we stayed together for most of it. I didn’t have any foot pain (yay) but my knee was a little tweaky (is that even a word?). Still, its not awful and the French toast bagels at the finishline made everything all better :)

I ended up finishing 9.3 miles in 1:25 (9:11/mile) which I’m happy with since I did it without too many body parts hurting me.

Recovering after the finish.

Pros:

• Beautiful weather: sunshine, nice temperature
• The distance. I never ran a 15K before but its a nice distance below a half marathon. Since I’ll be running the Nike Half in a two weeks, this was a nice training run
• Besides the bottleneck at the start, the runners spread out quickly for the rest of the race.
• French toast bagels at the race finish

Cons:

• The double loop course wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t horrible either.
• Short bottleneck at the start of the race.

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Lastly, the winner of the Fit Four Gloves giveaway is….

Jill Snethen

Congratulations Jill! Contact me at runlikeagrlmegan [at] gmail [dot] com within 48 hours so I can get these gloves to you!

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Also, I *may* be switching my blog over to self-hosted this week so if you get error messages or things look funny, that’s why. I’ll tweet updates if that happens!

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Did you run this weekend? How did you do?
What is your next upcoming race?

NYRR Fitness Mind, Body& Spirit 4m Race Recap: PR time!

Obviously by the title of this post, you all know I had a 4 mile PR this Saturday at the NYRR Fitness Mind, Body and Spirit 4m! It was a massive one for me, not sure what got into me: the awesome weather, the super girly outfit I wore, or the planets aligning or something. Either way, I couldn’t be happier.

There were two separate races for this event: one for men and one for women. This is the first time I ran in a women-only race and have to say I really liked it! I noticed a few things that were nice about this set-up: there were no lines for porta-potties in the morning, the women were so polite on the course, and my race bib color/number was the lowest it ever has been!

GREEN bib! This is a first for me, and probably a last.

If you are a NYRR runner you know what an awesome feeling it is to move up a corral, and I moved up all the way to the green from my usual purple/silver! The only caveat was that my number had an evil number in it (3666). Honestly thats just my luck. I finally get a low corral and I have the devil’s number on my bib! But I tried really hard not to be superstitious about it.

One really nice part of this race was the festival with free yoga classes, Fitness magazines, Pure Barre classes, and a giveaway from Birkenstock. They hosted yoga classes throughout the morning and many women participated before the race. I didn’t because I’m not a huge yoga person and also was afraid to pull a muscle or something before running!

Yoga in the park

Since it was a women-only run, I decided my outfit should be really girly. I went with my trusty Athleta top, pink Lulu running skirt, neon pink CEP Compression socks and purple/neon Saucony Kinvaras. Got some looks in the subway in the morning, but once I was with other runners I looked so much more normal!

Hard to get much more girly than this.

The race:

Before the race, I made a conscious decision to really race this one instead of focusing on finishing. I wanted a PR. If you’ve ever run in Central Park, you know its pretty hilly and this race was no exception, although we were spared the Harlem Hills (thank you NYRR!).

Mile 1 started off near Cat Hill, which I actually don’t think it too bad honestly. Mile 2 was pretty flat as we turned at the traverse and headed for the rolling hills that stretched for just about all of mile 3. Those were the toughest I think because its one hill after another, although none are as high as the “main” ones. After the hills the rest of the race was pretty flat and manageable.

The 3,000 corral at the start!

I felt really strong throughout this entire race and pushed my pace much farther than I have before. I even saw myself somewhere in the 7:XX/m pace at one point. What?! Thats not me! But I’ll take it. My official results:

8:35/mile pace!!! I just don’t run that fast, plain and simple. But I really pushed it out for this race because I was so determined for a PR that I actually did it. It is possible! I’m still riding high on these results, its such a good feeling reaching my goal. And seeing the number 8 in front of my pace isn’t too bad either :)

The verdict: Great race, loved that it was only women!

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HELP! Do you or someone you know want to join my Reach the Beach Relay team for the NJ Race on October 12-13? We are looking for one more runner, let me know ASAP if you need more info and/or are interested :)

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I want to hear about YOU! Did you run, bike, exercise this weekend? Tell me about it!
Anyone run any races lately?

NYRR Bronx 10 Miler Race Recap

This weekend I ran the NYRR Bronx 10 miler, my longest distance in months and the 6th race in my 9+1 for the 2013 NYC Marathon. I haven’t seen many 10 mile races around so I was excited to see how I would do at this distance!

The race was held up in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium, except we never saw the stadium during the course. Bummer for sure for this lifelong Yankee fan! The morning of the race I woke up at an ungodly hour to take the subway, but wasn’t quite feeling right. The night before my neighbors decided to have a crazy, college party and played techno for hours. Lucky me! Safe to say I didn’t sleep too well and I think that affected my excitement level.

It was a bit crowded at the start, but I was able to meet up with some new friends I’ve been talking to via twitter and blogging. So I met Beth, Kristine, and Annie for the first time and they are all as awesome in real life as they are on their social media sites! I’m so glad I saw them too, because they were all so positive it took me out of my funk from not sleeping the night before. Plus its always nice meeting new people, and potential running partners!

Some new friends!

After the race started, Annie and I stayed together for the first 5 miles since we were running a similar pace at the time (she ended up rocking it and finishing first out of all of us). The course was an out and back route around the Bronx so by the time we crossed the start and reached about 3 miles, the leaders were already on their way back at mile 7-8. It was really cool to see them run by and cheer for those awesome runners. They are so fast!

Annie and I at the finish! Thanks for getting me through the first 5!

I started off the race wearing a knee strap for some “Runner’s Knee“-type pain I’ve been having in the area below my kneecap. I know, my right knee is just a disaster. That was my mistake of the day. Early in the race, it started bothering me more than it helped honestly. My IT Band wasn’t feeling too great either which was weird to me since its been great lately. I realized that that strap was compressing the end of the band and causing it to rub against my knee.

So around mile 5 I decided that strap had to go. I took it off and immediately my IT Band stopped hurting. The area below my kneecap was still bothering me a bit but it was manageable. Because I had to stop to fix the strap, Annie and I split up at this point so I was on my own!

Around mile 6 something happened to me that never has before in a race: I really had to use the bathroom. As much as I tried to ignore it, by mile 7 I realized I couldn’t make it to 10 and was forced to stop to take care of business. This really really annoyed me since I followed all my normal food routines and didn’t do anything different than normal. I lost so much time and missed my goal of finishing in 1:38. Runners totally understand the frustration this caused me!

Despite these issues I ended up finishing in 1:40.22. Not my best pace by a long shot (my first half marathon pace and almost all training runs were better!) but honestly I am just so happy to be running again that I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. I’ll run it again next year for redemption!

Just happy to be running again!

The medal for this race was unexpected but totally appreciated. I love the orange and was so happy to add this to my race medal wall :) After the race we all headed out for some much-needed brunch which was just what I needed. Even though my finish time wasn’t great, I had a great time even with the two issues I had. The rest of the race was a ton of fun!

Awesome medal, I wore it all day on Sunday.

My favorite parts of the race:

• The 10 mile distance. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this because I haven’t seen many 10 mile race, but I really liked it. Its a bit shorter than a half but is still a decent distance.
• Just like any NYRR race, it was very organized and efficient.
• The weather was AMAZING. It didn’t really get much better that day, luckily for me since I really am not a fan of the heat.
• Getting a medal at the end.. totally unexpected!
• Having a running partner for almost half the race, makes such a big difference in my motivation.

What I didn’t like:

• I would have preferred a more scenic course. While we were near Yankee Stadium, we never actually saw it. I wished they incorporated that or maybe even the Zoo so I felt like I was really in the Bronx.
• The out and back course. I’m more of a loop person.
  

  Yankee stadium from the train, not from the course.

Did you run any races this weekend? Tell me about them!
Have you ever run a 10 mile race?