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Posts tagged ‘5k’

Sep 8

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20 miles + Color Me Rad

As you guys know, running has been a bit of a chore for me lately. Two weeks ago, I talked about this big wall I am trying to run through and though I ran 5x last week, my long run capped at 14 rather than the 20 I attempted. The humidity was 90% and my body was just drained of energy.

This week, life got in the way of running. Buying/selling a house + work + a short work week meant I got 3 miles in on Monday and nothing after that. So yesterday, as some of the girls were going to run Friday morning instead of Saturday, I decided I was going to do 20. No excuses. I just had to get the full 20 miles in.

So I did. I started at 5:15am and ran 4 with Jen and Meg. Then we met Karen, Lori and Ashley for the next 10. Ashley, Karen, Lori and I ran the next 2 together and Karen kept with me for the last 4. I felt REALLY good between miles 9-15. The last four, however, were SLOW. But I did it and was so happy to get over the mental block of doing 20 miles.

completely drenched

Last spring I felt like I was doing 20 every other weekend – no big deal. But this training season, it’s become this behemoth that has stressed me out. With 4-20 milers under my belt I have one more before I start tapering for the Chicago Marathon. And at least now I know I can do it. My shoes were soaked from all the sweat and humidity. And my body just hurt. I have self-diagnosed myself with plantar fasciitis and I can feel my achilles tightening again. My hip (piriformis) hurts. My calf is tight. This body is no wonderland. But the positive of all this is that I am seeing a sports massage therapist today at 1:45! He promises to work out my calves and hammys and for a full hour! I will be sure to report on it’s success but I need something. I can’t risk achilles tendinitis again.

Fast forward to this morning….the Color Me Rad 5k! I had quite a few free passes I was able to give out (thanks, Gretchen!) and so Dana, Christi, Adam and Stacy met at the Fairgrounds to take on this rainbow adventure. The idea is to wear all white, pick up as much color as possible while running and end up colored rad.

tatted up

Christi and Dana ran 9 miles beforehand and Adam planned on 16 after. But Stacy and I were plenty happy with just 3.1 today. In fact, this was her FIRST 5k! You can read all about her fitness adventures on her blog. She wanted to run today’s race in 38 minutes and typically runs by running a minute, walking a minute. Not today…..today she rocked it!

dressed in white

Before the race began, some of the participants had purchased extra bags of color so were already getting messy. We stayed pretty clean until the first half mile when we reached the purple station. As we approached, I put on my sunglasses so I wouldn’t get the food colored corn starch in my eyes. I wanted to get blasted and blasted I got! As we ran through, a volunteer threw a huge handful at my face. It was awesome.

headed toward a cloud of purple

Adam's awesome action shot

all smiles

We all stayed together throughout the entire race and hadn’t walked once at this point. Stacy was incredible! She ran much better than I think even she thought she could! Plus her bubbly personality just made everyone around her happy. I’m guessing that’s pretty common in her world. The next station was a green blast of water which was cold and yet awesome. Although at this point I realized I needed to protect my phone just a little better from the blasts!

Stacy and I

From there, we hit the pink cloud of color and were just covered. Christi looked like a pink serpent. :)

after pink

We took a few brief walking breaks but overall kept a steady pace. And all of us just reveled in the fact that this was such a fun way to run. There were good runners and walkers. Kids. People of all ages and shapes and sizes. I didn’t see a single person NOT smiling. It was exactly what I needed to remind of why running can be fun.

As we neared the end, we were handed our own packet of color so at the finish, there was just a dense fog of dust. We shook color all over ourselves and others and crossed the finish line strong and laughing. Stacy’s boyfriend, Greg, was right there cheering us on. Even he had picked up some blue dust! We washed the color out of our teeth and then surveyed the damage. We looked absolutely ridiculous and yet awesome. This is exactly what we wanted.

Looks like we emerged from a skittles explosion!

It was immediately decided that we needed to cap off this awesome morning with a Bagel Deli breakfast so we took our blue bodies north. We definitely got some stares as we entered the restaurant but thank gosh we had strength in numbers.

I couldn’t be happier about this weekend’s running. Though the 20 miler wasn’t easy, breezy beautiful, I got through it. And this morning’s 5K gave me such a renewed sense for my love of running. Being able to share with people who had just as much fun as I did made it a perfect morning.

Jun 4

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Rainbow Run

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog. Don’t worry….I didn’t disappear. I just didn’t do a lot of running. After 3 weeks straight of racing, my body decided to reject running. No really. I don’t know how I could run a 31 mile Ultra Marathon and then 10 days later not be able to do 3 miles, but that’s exactly what happened. I told JD “I am so out of shape” after a painful 3 miler last week. His response: “You are an idiot. You ran three races. You aren’t out of shape. Your legs just haven’t recovered.” And I think he’s right. Because this weekend, Stella finally got her groove back.

It started with the Rainbow Run this past Saturday. As a kick off for Pride week, this inaugural event was a 5K where all proceeds support the IndyPride Resource Center and fund HIV education. Say no more. I wanted to be a part of this.

So a few weeks ago, I put out a request on our Perfect Strangers Facebook page to see who else I could wrangle in. Meghan, Christi and Micki all chimed in immediately. And then last week, we all decided we’d wear fun socks and bright colors to be part of this rainbow event.

Now with all the racing I have done, this was only my second 5K. Typically, if I am training for a marathon, 3.1 miles just isn’t enough distance to justify the hassle of getting to the race, picking up a packet, dealing with crowds, etc. But this one came at a perfect time. It was the perfect distance. For a cause I care deeply about. And with fun friends.

So at 7:15am, Christi picked me up. The weather was actually perfect for a race -in the low 50s but with the sun shining. So I wore a neon tank, black shorts, tall socks and then used another pair for arm warmers. With a little help from a pair of keys, I was able to cut holes for my thumbs!

thumbs up!

We grabbed our bibs and tshirts at the registration desk and waited for our friends to arrive. Though the field was only 360 strong, we found lots of people we knew and the energy was infectious. Whoever created the start/finish line playlist needs to come make one for me because all I wanted to do was dance! C and I were stoked about the tees and loved checking out people’s outfits. We were slightly disappointed that more people didn’t dress in their best Pride wear, but it was the race’s first year. I am sure next year will be even better!

race prep

Meg and Jake showed up soon after, Christi found a couple of friends, and Micki (who lives just down the street from the start line) arrived in plenty of time for some photo ops.

Meg, Christi and I

The way I am standing makes me look like a little person

Micki, me, Christi and Meghan

The race was set to start at 8:30am so we lined up without so much of a race strategy. In fact, I didn’t even bring my watch. Like I said, my body wasn’t really feeling the whole running thing as of late so I was just happy to be out there, doing a fun run with little pressure. And when the gun went off, we took off through the beautiful Herron Morton neighborhood.

we're off!

JD and I have been considering a move downtown for some time now, so this race was a perfect scouting trip for me. We ran through the exact neighborhoods I would consider so it was fun to size up the houses.

Jake took off in front of us and Christi didn’t last too long either before she ran ahead. So it was the three Ms sticking together. I don’t know what our pace was nor did I care. I felt good and was having fun chatting with these two. The only thing I didn’t love was that there were no mile markers. Though I felt good, I had no idea how far we’d gone or how much we had left. Had we at least brought a GPS watch, I think we could have kicked it up even more at the end knowing we could get to the finish line. But as we rounded that final corner, Micki’s family was cheering loudly for us as were our friends at the finish. We crossed around 29:25 which was just fine by me. And even better, we were handed the coolest medals ever. All with different color ribbon, we actually got a medal for a 5k! (Take note, Sam Costa)

We spent the next ten minutes, mingling with friends and cheering on others as they finished. I really loved this race. It was intimate and fun and with a community of people that I could have spent the entire day with.

When we all parted ways, Christi and I headed back north. We went to breakfast at Bagel Deli in Broadripple and as we ate our sandwiches and gossiped, an idea started to form in my head. I knew I couldn’t say it aloud until I had convinced myself it was a good idea. Christi isn’t someone you can throw an idea out to and then back out. But once I was sure, I said “I know this sounds a little silly. But we are in workout gear. And the Monon is right there. Wanna knock out another 3 miles?”

Of course she didn’t even hesitate. So we took off our medals and bibs. We finished our Diet Cokes and we headed to the deck. A few ladies commented on our matching socks and we told them we just ran the Rainbow Run and were tacking on a few miles. And that’s exactly what we did. Three miles on the Monon felt great. Just being out there, in my safe place, was amazing. I can’t tell you the last time I ran on a Saturday morning on the Monon but it’s been a long time. And it felt gooooooood.

We held about a 9:10-9:15/mile pace and cruised in feeling a little stomach crampy (I mean, we did just eat breakfast between our two 5Ks) but with big smiles on our face.

And yesterday I went back out and knocked out another 6 miles- the longest run I have done consistently since the Ultra. I felt great with mile 5 even coming in at a 8:25/mile pace. Like I said, Stella thinks she’s got her groove back.

Happy Pride Week, Indy! Thanks for putting on such a great race.