5 Arizona Races You Should Run {link up}

Posted by hellyontherun in 10k, 5k, Half Marathon, Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with 1/2 Marathon, 10K, 5k, Araivaipa, Esprit de She, Local Race, Marathon, Pat's Run, Phoenix Marathon February 20, 2015

So I’ve been slacking on my Lost Dutchman 10k Recap–not because I did so poorly I swear!–but because I’m still sick 😦

After quite a few days of yuckiness, I’m finally starting to feel like I’m on the mend (don’t want to jinx it though!).

I absolutely love the Lost Dutchman race and have done it twice, both times running the 10k distance. Instead of recapping just the race though, I’ve decided to include it in Cynthia, Courtney, and Mar‘s Friday Five: 5 Races to Run in 2015 🙂

Now I know the race is in the past, so technically you can’t run it in 2015, BUT, it’s still a race that I super highly recommend, especially if you want a beautiful Arizona race.

1. Lost Dutchman

I love this race because you get a lot of options. There’s an 8k trail race, a 10k, a 1/2 marathon, and a full marathon to choose from. Tons of people from my run club love and swear by the half marathon raving on its stunning views and overall fun course. I have yet to do the half because this race is 2 weeks before Phoenix Marathon and I’m always scared to race race so close to a full. So I stick to the 10k.

The 10k has some small, rolling hills (and from what I’ve heard, the 1/2 and full as well). It’s an out and back and the first 3.1 miles has you running with a huuuge mountain as your scenery. It’s gorgeous.

Seriously though

The race is super family friendly with the start line for all races at an actual park. My husband took my daughter to cheer me on and they played on the playground while I ran 🙂

This year I didn’t run so well, unfortunately. In fact, I might venture to say it was my worst race 😦 I think the fatigue of training and my sickness caught up to me and I just couldn’t muster the energy to run fast. Last year I place 2nd in my age group and snagged a 10k PR so I had a lot to live up to. Wasn’t even close this year. Oh well…it was still a super fun race. One that I love because of it’s small size and homey feel. And killer views 🙂 I’ll do this race every year for sure.

and she loves it too!

My fave cheerleader

2. Esprit de She 5k/10k (and du and tri)

This is another smaller race that I really like. There are several states that this race is held in but it’s def not a super big one. It’s an all female race, which I kinda, really like. It’s basically a party with bunch of girlfriends. Wine included!

There’s a 5k and 10k option and the one in my city was a loop you circled twice (for the 10k). This was another race I didn’t do so well in (damn 10ks!) but it’s still another that I’ll do every year because of how much fun it is. The post race party is THEE best.

Me and my beautiful friend, Nadia (who placed 4th overall!)

Esprit de She also holds triathlons and duathlons. Someday, I might get crazy and attempt the du 😀

I’m an ambassador for EdS and while I don’t have a coupon code to offer for the race, you can use my track code, EDS003 It’s NOT a coupon code, it just tracks how many people I send to the race (in any city).

If you do want to do the du or tri, that I do have a code for: AMBASRD will save you 15%.

3. Phoenix Marathon

I’m kinda biased 😀 This was my first marathon and I’m so glad I chose it as my first. I love that it’s not a HUGE race ala Chicago or Marine Corps (although those are amazing) and you can’t not like the elevation chart

The race has a 10k, 1/2 marathon, and full marathon option and it’s quickly become a top marathon to run if you’re attempting a BQ. Duh right? With an elevation chart like that? The full sold out for the second year in a row.

There are a gazillion bloggers/IGers who are doing this race next weekend so you will def be seeing a lot of pics leading up to and the day of. You can also follow #ItsGoingDownAtPHX if you want to see double the fun. Seriously though, a TON of people are doing this race. Except this person who should be doing it, dammit.

4. Aravaipa Trail Race (or find a trail race near you!)

I love, love, love trail running and the trail races to do here in Arizona are put on by Aravaipa. I plan on doing more of their races in the future but the one I have done was SO FREAKING ~~HARD~~ AWESOME. It was a night 27k trail race. Yes, night. I had no idea what I was doing; it was my first trail race and my first race at night and it was def hard. But something totally cool and something I will totally do again.

Aravaipa Adrenaline 27k

Wouldn't this distract you too?? Photo Cred: B. Swanson

I ❤ the desert.

If you haven’t done any trail running, I highly recommend it. There’s something so liberating about the trails. It’s like there’s less pressure running on the trails then the roads. Less focus on time, more focus on the love of running. On the feeling of awesomeness that is running. Just do it. You’ll love it.

5. Pat’s Run

This is the race to run in Arizona. I can guarantee if you’re in a room with people someone will have run this race at some point. Maybe all of them will have.

It’s a 4.2 mile course in honor of Pat Tillman, former ASU and Cardinal football player who wore #42. He left the NFL to defend our country after the events of 9/11.

This is not a race to run if you’re super focused on time. It’s just way too crowded. There are TONS of people who run this; it sells out every. single. year. Pat’s Run also has “shadow runs” in different states where runners run the same distance, 4.2 miles. Check out the website to see if there’s a Pat’s Run in your are (those stateside).

This will be my little girl’s first race! We signed her up last year but then had to cancel when we took our impromptu trip to Spain. She’ll be doing a 42 yard dasher ❤

The race ends inside Sun Devil Stadium (Arizona State University) at the 42 yard line. So you get to run through the tunnel and enter the stadium as you finish. It’s pretty awesome.

I’ve also written more about this race here 🙂

I stayed local and that’s because there are so many awesome races here! So if you’re ever in Arizona and wanna race, make sure you let me know you’re coming though so I can run with ya! ❤

–Do you like small, local races? or larger, more well known races?

–What is the race to run where you’re from?

Thanks to the DC Trifecta ladies again for hosting!

Rock n Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Half Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with 1/2 Marathon, PR, Race, Recap, RnR AZ, RunEatTweetAZ, Running January 21, 2015

I’ve been noticing a trend with my races lately–the less I stress and the less pressure I put on myself has proven to be the best race strategy. I went into the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon last month not sure what I wanted to do and ended the race with a killer PR of 1:55:37 (beating my previous by almost 3 full minutes). On Sunday, I was debating about treating this like a legit training run or going for another sub 2 (but not at all thinking about a PR).

My husband, who was also racing, my daughter (who wasn’t racing 😉 ), and I didn’t spend too much time at the Expo itself. We got our bibs and shirts and took a few quick pics:

Checkin’ in!

My little runner ❤

After, we started making our way to a group social–I’d planned on meeting up with my #RunEatTweetAZ peeps 🙂

#RunEatTweetAZ 🙂

The meet up was so much fun! There were a bunch of giveaways and the grand prize was a free race entry from a local racing company, StartLine Racing. Guess who won? MEEEEE!!!!!

I’m a winner!!!

My daughter had had a blast at the social, even getting to meet Elsa and Anna! and then we had lunch downtown. It was such a beautiful, relaxed Saturday.

Me and 3 princesses

I carried that momentum to the next morning as I got ready. We arrived to the race early and well prepared. Prepared as in I was not cold. I know, I know, I’m in Arizona but cold for us lol! It was actually supposed to be a gorgeous day–and it was–but the morning was a bit chilly (41 degrees is COLD! lol!). I had on sweats and a sweater and was very comfortable up to the start. We gear checked our stuff and then made our way to our corrals.

I met up with with one of my running buddies and wished him luck. Along the way, I ran into another friend from my running club, Harry, who is super fast (he’s attempting a BQ time at Phoenix). I asked him what his goal time was and he said that he was just going have fun with this one and was going to help a friend pace. Their time was around what I had thought I’d like to be, 9 minute miles. I figured I’d hang out with them and see where it took me.

My husband wished me luck and he moved up to his corral. The gun went off and we were on our way!

We started off at a very good pace and I felt it was smart that I had decided to start easy and relaxed. The first mile ticked off 8:51 and I thought, this is good. So far, so good.

I could feel myself start to pick up the pace a little but still felt good and mile two went by at 8:47. It was here that Harry and I somehow lost our other friend. She had made a pit stop at the first water station unexpectedly and we couldn’t find her. Harry even went back to look and met up with me later when he couldn’t find her. We continued on our way and stayed consistently near 9:00 up to mile 9.

Mile 7 was a Gu stop and Mile 9 was a killer hill.

I was very pleased with mile 9. The entire first 3/4 of the race is an incline that culminates with a huge hill at mile 9. This is usually where I bonk (last year miles 8 and 9 were 9:26 and 9:22) so when I saw 9:09 I was so happy! It had felt like a 20 minute mile lol!

nice…steady…incline

Seeing how well I had done up to that point motivated me to continue. I ran the last 4 miles strong and the last mile with all heart. I had done the math, I was going to kill last year’s time (1:58:11)! This fact made me so incredibly happy; I had no idea that I was actually going to be close to a PR. Had I known, maybe I would have pushed it but because I was so thrilled with how I was doing up to that point, I wasn’t at all thinking about even being close to PRing. As each mile clicked away, I became more and more elated!

Yaaaay!!!

And somehow, I ended up finishing 15 seconds away from my PR (1:55:37) on a muuuuch tougher course!! I was (and still am) on cloud 9!!! 😀

There was no plan, no strategy, I just started out with what felt good and carried my momentum the rest of the way trying my best to stay consistent.

What capped off the race, how could it possibly get better you might ask, is that my husband did absolutely amazing. He way surpassed his previous year’s time at this course (1:48) and then beat his PR from last month of 1:42, finishing RnR AZ at 1:40:49. One-freaking-forty!! He’s come such a long way for his short running career; I’m so pumped for what his running future holds for him ❤

Me and my speedy ❤

Partaking in some post race celebration hydration

yaaaaay!!!

This was a race that was by no means easy; I felt like I was working the entire way. But, I wasn’t dying at the end (my race pictures show otherwise lol!) or felt like I had overworked my body. I just felt really good.

Strong. I felt strong. And that seriously is the best feeling ever 🙂

–Do you always have a race/game plan/strategy?

–How would you describe yourself (or the way you feel) at the end of a race?

Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon Recap!! YAAAY!!!

Posted by hellyontherun in Half Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with Breaking Through, Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon, Half Marathon, Personal Record, Race, Race Recap, Running December 15, 2014

I GOT A PR! I GOT A PR!

Seriously guys, I ran the race of my life on Sunday!

Okay, first, and I’m being completely real here, I did NOT think what happened would happen.

Leading up to my last race of the year, I’d been feeling tired, exhausted, and fatigued. Yes, all three mean the same thing.

I’d eaten like crap the week leading up to the race because I just wasn’t feeling actually trying. My running mojo was lost and I was….tired. I can’t really think of a better way of explaining it.

My husband and I caught Mockingjay Part I at the theatre on Friday and we binged on popcorn and nachos. Not a care in the word about having a race that Sunday.

Saturday morning we went on a short 2 and a something miler to get our legs ready but then we binged on finger foods at two holiday parties that evening.

We didn’t even go to packet pick-up and figured we’d just get it on race day; we were that unmotivated.

Sunday morning our alarms woke us up (aka: kids) and we got ready to go. My mom was a champ ready to baby sit while we went on with the race.

We got there early since we knew we had to get our bibs and I’d come prepared with a jacket and gloves–it was cold!! Like always, I have to add the “for Arizona” as I know that it’s a lot more colder in other parts.

After picking up our bibs, we hung out at my run club’s tent; there were 65 members running the race that day! Many of my friends were gunning for PRs. Fiesta Bowl has the reputation for being PR friendly. Yet, even with that knowledge, I wasn’t going into it with a PR mentality and simply hoped to sub 2–an accomplishment if I achieved it.

My husband was in the same mindset in that if he was near his PR (1:48) he’d be happy–he hadn’t trained at all for the race having been out of the country for a month.

When it came time to line up, we stood near our friends. There were no corrals so you could put yourself wherever. I was near the front but not close–actually with the crowd gunning for 1:50 and under (ha!).

I’d decided to keep my gloves on but ditched the jacket. All I had on me was a salt tablet–I’d decided to utilize the water and fuel stations, a first for me.

There was a countdown but no horn! When the announcer reached 1, nothing sounded! People continued on as, well, he’d reached 1 lol!

My husband kissed me good luck and I never saw him again til the end. I saw many of my fellow run clubbers pass me as I’d started with the speedy crowd.

I was on my own but I was fine.

The first mile chimed away 8:57 and I was pleased. I hadn’t started off fast (which I’d stupidly done in the previous half I’d run) and I also wanted to make sure I hung out as close to the 9s as I could.

I felt myself settle in and mile 2 chimed 9:11— a little too slow for my liking.

I adjusted, and miles 3 and 4 clicked away at 8:59 and 9:03. Much better.

Approaching mile 5, I took my salt tablet and saw my watch chime 9:24.

And then a mini panic set in.

I was very bothered at having seen such a bad split and was very close to throwing in the towel at that point. I felt like I was doing well and to see that mile really messed with my confidence. I worried about trying too hard to compensate in the next miles. I started blaming myself for not taking the days leading up to the race seriously. I began to really doubt my ability to sub 2 again.

Things were not looking good.

I ate half a Gu at mile 6 and saw 9:08. Better, but not as close to 9 as I’d like.

Mile 7, 9:03. I felt like I had to work reeeally hard for that one.

It was at this point that my legs felt heavy and I started making all the excuses on why it would be totally okay to not sub 2. My birthday was coming up (it’s tomorrow!), my daughter had gotten sick again the night before, my diet had sucked all week. I mean, I thought of so many “reasons” why it would be perfectly fine not to meet my goal.

Then, two members of my run club passed me and said, “Good job!” I saw them go by and I thought to myself, you’ve got two choices: You could let them go and wallow in self pity or you could join them and finish the race strong.

I don’t know what compelled me in those quick seconds to choose the latter.

Mile 8 chimed in at 8:37!

Mile 9, 8:35…
Mile 10, 8:29…
Mile 11, 8:39…
Mile 12, 8:21!

WE WERE PASSING PEOPLE. *I* was passing people!

I didn’t know what the hell was happening to me but I was running and I was running fast. My two friends probably said two words to me the entire time but they kept me going and pushing and you know what the funny thing was? I didn’t feel tired! I didn’t feel like I’d felt at mile 7 when I felt like I was working so hard. No, these last 5 miles had gone by so quick, literally, that I didn’t even have the chance to think about how I felt.

I told Stacey and Lori at mile 11 that if I crossed the finish line with them, I would seriously cry. I had done the math, I would kill my PR if I stayed at their pace.

At mile 12, we saw another one of our run club friends, and Stacey announced that we should catch him. At that point, I was just following the leader so if that’s what she wanted to do, well then by golly, that’s what I was going to do.

We reached him at about 12.5ish and he encouraged us to finish strong. We all begin turning the corner to the finish together.

I always like to (or try to anyway) end with a “kick” and it was when we turned that corner that I mustered up whatever energy I had left to cross that finish line as fast as I could.

I gunned it, passing my two friends and the third one we’d met near the end.

My last mile was 8:13.

And my official time….

1:55:37!!!! ONE FIFTY FREAKING FIVE!!!

You have no idea how happy I felt crossing that finish line. I grabbed my medal and went straight to meet up and hug the hell out of Stacey and Lori–I knew there was no way I would’ve done it without them that day.

My husband was waiting for me with a huge grin. He knew that I had blown my PR away (for me, an almost 3 minute improvement is HUGE).

I asked him his time and he’d killed his own PR at an insane 1:42:05!!! A 6 minute difference!!!

We had just run the race of our lives.

I don’t think I stopped smiling all day yesterday or thinking about the race. I’ve replayed it so many times trying to understand how it happened. I don’t know what made me decide to just go for it, to just try and give going faster a shot. I never thought I could maintain an 8:30something pace in a half marathon–or at the back end of one no less!! My husband would often tell me that I keep myself from reaching my own potential. And it’s true. I totally psych myself out. This race showed me that I can do it. That hey, maybe with more training, I can do it for an entire race!

I couldn’t think of a better way to end the year and my last race in my 20s. Tomorrow I turn 30 and all I’ve got to say is, “Bring it on, new age group!!” 😀

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Did anyone else race or long run? I hope it was awesome!!

–Do you ever psych yourself out? How do you tell/convince yourself that you can do something?