Night Run 10k Vancouver {Recap!}

Posted by hellyontherun in 10k, Race, Running and tagged with 10K, Age Group Award, Marathon Training, Medals, Night Run, Night Run Vancouver, Recap, Runcation, Running September 28, 2015

So happy to be home!!!

It was a tad nippy in Canada, totally not what I was used to, lol, and I actually looked forward to my Arizona temps! Anyway, I arrived to Canada Thursday evening and we immediately went to dinner. It was absolutely amazing–steak and salmon for the win!

The race was on Friday night, and earlier in the day we toured the city–I musta walked like 5 miles! We had amazing lunch at this place called Joe Fortes (to die, seriously!) and we were back at the hotel around 3 for an afternoon siesta.

When I awoke, I got dressed and ready and we walked the about a mile walk to the race site. I was hoping I’d get my usual pre-race jitters (i.e. need to use the restroom) but I didn’t have to go. This was a little disconcerting considering I had two big meals still in the stomach.

Anyway, what was nice about the race was that it was at beautiful Stanley Park

Surrounded by water the entire way 🙂

and there was a building at the race start where runners could hang out in–this was GREAT for me because I was freezing. They were playing music, there was a photo op place, FREE McCafe, and even a no-line bathroom! (Except I still didn’t have to go 😦 )

Freeeeee!!!

It wasn’t long before it was time for the 10Kers to line up. The 5k runners had just left and there was about a 10-15 minute wait before our turn.

There were no corrals but “fast” runners were told to head to the front (this is where my husband left me, lol!)

The countdown started and we were off! The beginning portion was a downhill and really, I should have kept this in mind for later–I didn’t.

I was gunning for an 8:45 average pace and when the first mile beeped 8:45 I was THRILLED. I had this guy in front of me who was running a good pace so I stuck with him.

The view were uh-mazing. This was Stanley Park after all. The sun was setting and the colors on the water were so beautiful. We had the city lights behind us and the green trees next to us; it was awesome.

On one side, water….

on the other, city….so beautiful! (pictures are pre-race, lol!)

The second mile beeped 8:35 and I was happy that I was still feeling pretty good. I kept it going with my “pacer” to mile 3 and that beeped at 8:45!

And then my pacer slowed down 😦 I wanted to yell at him, “Keep it going!! I need you!!” lol, but of course I didn’t and I told myself to put my big girl panties on and do it myself.

Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.

Almost immediately after crossing the 5k mark, I begin to falter.

And maybe that guy knew the uphill was coming or something, but I didn’t. I felt like I was still going my pace but mile 4 beeped away at 9:04 and I was buuuuummed.

I tried to get it together and at least keep it under 9 minutes which I barely managed to when mile 5 beeped 8:58.

Mile 6, 8:53.

I was so happy to only have .2 left. SO happy.

And then the goddamn hill. Yes, the one that when I started, took me on a nice swift decline.

I had been trying so hard to get sub 9 miles that I felt I had nothing left to give on that effing uphill–I practically crawled up it and the last .28 took me 2 minutes and 50 seconds (a 10 minute pace). Seriously, Helly.

I crossed the finish line in 55:49 missing my sub 54 goal by a minute and 50. Ugh.

On a positive note, I was pleased my overall pace was under 9 at an 8:53 pace, so YAY to that!! 😀

On an even more positive note, my husband finished 10th overall!!!

The post-race was super cool–they fed us a burrito, fries, and a beer–and they had a DJ playing music. We were inside a building, nice and warm too so it was definitely comfortable and fun.

The DJ announced he’d be awarding top overall male and females so we hung out to see the speedsters. The top 3 men and top 3 women were awarded their medals and then the DJ went back to his music right afterward.

Aaaaand this is when things went awry. About 30 minutes later, my husband and I decided to head back to the hotel. It was late, about 10 o’clock, and we didn’t want to be out in the streets at dark. As soon as we got to the hotel, we checked our results again but this time online. My husband said he’d gotten 1st in his age group!!! Woohoo!!!

Seriously, not about 5 minutes later, I posted our Instagram pic with the hashtag #NightRunVancouver and #RunVan and when I searched both tags, I saw a guy showing off his Age Group medal! Whaaat??? How in the world did we miss that??? We had been inside the ENTIRE time and not once did they announce Age Group awards! I messaged the guy and he told me that he had seen a table with medals and that was how he had gotten his. Whaaaat???? No announcement? No sign? Nada???

We decided we’d head to the running store the next day where packet pick-up for the race was. My husband ran the mile to the store Saturday morning only to be told by the employees there that they had no idea what he was talking about.

My husband returned bummed but over it–it was just a medal.

But I was upset! I don’t know why, maybe the Type A organizer in me, but c’mon! So I e-mailed the race director who responded the next day, Sunday, the day we were leaving, that he’d drop off the medal at the running store my husband had been to the day before, lol!

That e-mail was sent right before we got on the plane to come home, so of course there was no going back to the store.

Bummer, no medal (and again, my husband did not care, lol!) but it peeved me a little that there had been NO announcement whatsoever post-race and I made sure to let the race director know that that was an area which needed improvement–because besides that, it had been a great race. And during my Instagram search, I had found another girl who experienced the same thing.

Not how we wanted to end the race but we decided to solely focus on the positive (or really, my husband kept telling me to focus on the positive, lol!!). The race had amazing views the entire way, it was a single loop which for 10k’s I’ve run is rare, and it had great pre and post race festivities. If I was to eliminate the medal fiasco, this would definitely be a race I’d recommend. Thanks for making it this far and sorry for my long-winded vent, lol!

I’ll be re-capping the rest of my amazing trip later this week–I hope everyone had a great weekend!! ❤ , helly

–Have you ran a race and missed the medal?

–Ever ran a race with super cool pre and post race parties??

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!

Marathon Training Recap Week 14 and Esprit de She 10k

Posted by hellyontherun in 10k, Race, Running and tagged with 10K, Esprit de She, Long Run, Marathon Training, Race Recap, Running, Taper October 7, 2014

Taper, taper, bo baper, fee fi, fo faper…taaaaaper!!!!!

I’m in good spirits and let me tell you why…

I DID MY 20 MILER THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Remember, I cried about how I wasn’t going to be able to and that I was worried I’d have to do it 2 weeks out? Crisis averted.

So my husband’s away on business and I’ve been solo-parenting. This was why I wasn’t going to be able to squeeze it in. But, my mother-in-law pulled through and spent the weekend with us, thus allowing me to long run on Sunday. Yay!!!

And it wasn’t just about being able to do it, I was able to do it and be happy with the results. SUPER yay!!!

Yes, please direct your eyes to the last four miles. I finished so strong and that made me so freaking happy.

I started off with a slower pace than usual but I didn’t mind as I really wanted to last the entire way. The beginning pace was around the 10:45/mile range. That was about the first 7 miles.

Mile 10 I pulled a 10:10 from out of nowhere and then miles 13 on, my pace was steady around 10:30. Right where I wanted.

And I don’t know what the heck happened the last four miles lol! I might’ve wanted the run to be over with jajaja!!

So that was my long run 😀

The previous Thursday I ran the Esprit de She 10k. I had been looking forward to this race because it’s an all women’s race known for it’s awesome post-race festivities. But, because my husband was out of town, I wasn’t going to be able to partake in them 😦 It really did look like a lot of fun too as they had chili for post race yumminess and a bubbly bar (where you’d get a free wine cup/glass)!

Anyway, the race was a double 5k loop (boo!!!) on pavement with a brief stint on grass (boo!!!). It was also a short course with my watch stopping at 5.79 (boo!!!)

It was also a horribly run race on my part (super boo!!!)

One of the things I’ve been working on throughout this training are consistent splits and I’d been doing really good at getting them how I’d like, even sometimes negative splitting.

But holy shit, did I royally eff this one up.

First thing I did wrong? Thinking I could keep up with a girl in my run club. She’s someone who I’ve always “shadowed”, someone who is juuuust faster than me, enough that I can somewhat keep up with extra effort. (Although lately she’s been killing her training and is become almost impossible to shadow.)

Yeeeeah, so she pretty much blew me away.

The first mile beeped 7:3o-something and I was done after that. Talk about a perfect way of burning out.

My goal had been to maintain an 8:30 pace then entire way and hope to finish strong. What the hell was I thinking starting out so fast? I wasn’t thinking. Clearly.

I was able to hit 8:30 the next two miles but then the second 5k was just an inconsistent hot mess.

You ~~live~~ run and you learn.

On a super cool bright note, this was my high school BRF’s first 10k and she pulled out a 4th place overall finish! Badass status!

Prior to Thursday, I had run on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 miles respectively

which brought my total mileage for last week (Monday-Sunday) to: 35.8

Soda count: I lost count 😦

–Anyone else excited it’s Oc-freaking-tober??!!

–How’s your running going? Who’s got fall races?

–P.S. Salt‘s back! ❤