Will Run For FroYo | hellyontherun

Whew! What a week last week. Before I get to my recap of my first race post injury, I’ll quickly give you the run down of last week and a surprise!

Monday: 30 minutes on the bike and the usual planks and bridges
Tuesday: Got in some good miles–5 at 8:30/mile. Felt good the entire way and was continuing to be surprised at how good being in the 8s felt. I was working, but not pushing too hard. Planks later.
Wednesday: Rest day
Thursday: 5 easy miles at 9:50/mile as I knew I had a race on Saturday. Planks later.
Friday: I was planning on doing a little shakeout run anyway but then it for sure happened so that I could test out THIS!!!

Garmin Fenix 3–Squeeee!!!

It’s so beautiful and I’ll talk more about it later 🙂

Saturday: Race Day!
Sunday: Rest day

FroYo 10k Recap

My game plan for the race was to try and maintain 8:30 miles for the first 3 and then progressively speed up for the last 3. And then gun it for the last .2.

But this is how it went.

The race was in Tempe Town Lake, a pretty area that I was familiar with. I arrived early to pick up my bib and meet up with some friends and we talked about how cold it was (for Arizona) but we knew it would quickly warm up (which it did, to like 80). I also planned on taking a pre-race pick with my Moms Run This Town group ❤

The 10k would start first at 7:45. There were no corrals but volunteers holding pace signs. I went to the front where the 8:00-9 sign was and adjusted my ear phones. Yes, I actually ran with music! Well, kinda. More on this later.

Soon enough, it was go time.

I started running and just ran. I always try to only look at my watch when the mile beeps and adjust accordingly so when the first mile beeped and I saw 8:08 I panicked a little. Too fast and not what I planned. I kept going and that’s when my earphones began to fall out. Plus, I had the I-pod in a pocket on the back of my shorts and when I ran, the volume would decrease and increase. I was reminded why I don’t like running with music. Too many unimportant/unnecessary things to worry about. I ran with one ear phone in and left the I-pod alone as I didn’t want to be struggling with trying to fix it. Some parts of the race I had music, most of it I didn’t, lol!! Mile 2, 8:12 and I felt a little better as that wasn’t as fast as the first mile had been and closer to what I had planned.

Mile 3 was the last of the loop (we’d do it again for the 10k) and it was a tough mile because there were little climbs throughout, tight turns, and changes of terrain–concrete, asphalt, and dirt. But I kept pushing through.

a fellow MRTT friend snagged this race pic — having fun doing what I love 🙂

There was a girl in front of me who looked really strong. I kept admiring her calves and her arm muscles and for a while, I was distracted. Do you do that sometimes? Stare at runners while you’re running? After a while, I was pretty close to her and I wondered if she was slowing down. I began to pass her and then wondered if I was going too fast. Isn’t it funny how we do that? Doubt ourselves and let ourselves be intimidated by runners we feel ‘look’ faster than us?

Not too long after, mile 3 chimed in at 8:04. Panic set in again as I began to feel like maybe I wasn’t focusing on my pacing. I worried about getting tired and not being able to finish strong.

But then I remembered I had done 4 miles at an 8 minute pace not too long ago and told myself, heck, I could do it if I concentrated and pushed myself. I’d already blown my plan of doing the first 3 at 8:30 so new plan it is!

Mile 4, 8:06
Mile 5, 8:04
Mile 6, 7:54

I freakin’ did it!!! And you know how I said I wanted to “gun it” the last .2?? I freakin’ did that too!!!

6 minute pace for one minute!!!

I ran through the finish line fists in the air and with a huge smile. An over 3 minute PR at 49:29!! NEVER did I think I would get a sub 50 time.

I met up with some other friends and we quickly got in line to get our celebratory yogurt.

I was on cloud nine on my drive home and was so excited to see my husband. I had texted him my race results and I knew he would be as thrilled about it as me. He was ❤

On Facebook a while later, a friend posted her official time which prompted me to check out mine. Except I couldn’t find it!! I looked and looked and rechecked my bib number but I was nowhere to be found. When I compared my time to the overall, gender, and age group I saw that I had finished 20/361, 7th female, and 3rd in my age group! I had placed!

Except it wasn’t official 😦

I immediately e-mailed the race people, and Facebooked them for good measure, but have yet to hear back. The age group placement doesn’t concern me; I’m glad I placed and all, but I just really want my time to be listed and official official, you know? I mean, it’s gotta be on my Athlinks! LOL

Overall, I just can’t believe how well I ran. That I maintained a sub 8:15 pace for 6.2 miles is just dumbfounding. It’s a huge confidence booster going into the 1/2 marathon I’m running in two weeks. I hope to PR there (sub 1:55) but really, I’m just so so glad to be running again ❤

–Do you get intimidated by the way other runners look?

–When is the last time you surprised yourself at a race??

I was given a free race entry to the FroYo 5k but because I was still not feeling 100%, I decided to let my other half run it.

So long as I ate the yogurt.

You guys know my husband also runs. He doesn’t race very often, usually because he’s on kid duty while I’m racing, but when he does, I absolutely love cheering him on.

We arrived at the race site about an hour early as the website suggested. We had our printed ticket and waiver on hand, but saw they had a waiver station in case you forgot. I thought this was a smart organizational tidbit as I’d totally be someone who’d forget.

In fact, the entire race seemed to be very well organized.

The registration station, the swag bag pick-up, the yogurt station, everything was clearly marked and spaced appropriately so that neither was crowded. I appreciate those types of little things.

Check Yoself

Race organizers had sent an e-mail a few days before informing us there’d been a hiccup with two items part of the swag–the drawstring bag the items would go in and the sunglasses. Both had some kind of misprinting issue. They assured runners the items would be available for pick-up a few days post race. I appreciated the e-mail and not a surprise come race day. The swag that was ready was pretty cool and my daughter is in love with the slap bracelet (we had already used the free yogurt coupon that was also inside 😀 )

swag.

Then my husband and I took a pre-race pic

❤

and I snagged a pic with local Moms Run This Town girls (if you haven’t heard of this women’s only group, check out the website to see if there’s a chapter near you! Stateside only.) I’m a chapter leader for my city and it has been so much fun meeting moms 🙂

MRTT!

While we waited for it to get closer to go time, race organizers had a quick zumba/warm up session, a costume contest, pre-race stretching, and giveaway sign-ups. I thought all of this was cool and a fun way to keep people busy and not just standing around.

When it got close for the runners to start, the emcee instructed everyone to walk together to the start line which was about a half a block away (the finish line was where all the party was). As we approached the main start line, I saw that they had organized the “corrals” by what you were planning on doing: walkers, strollers, runners with strollers, runners.

I thought this was thoughtful and people were pretty good about adhering to their “station”.

Everyone lined up and I gave my husband a quick smooch and soon after, they were off!

There he is!

I waited until everyone started as I was cheering on a few moms with strollers from MRTT. But then I hurried back to the finish line as I figured I had about 20 minutes til my husband would start to make his way.

The race was a good size (400 or so) but it wasn’t difficult to find a place to catch the finishers. I hoped my husband would be towards the first of the finishers and soon enough, I began to see people making their way. I saw the first place guy turn the corner. He was going and I cheered him on to first place. About 30 seconds later, the second place guy came around, and then another 30 seconds, the third. I didn’t really pay attention to him because not a few seconds after I saw the third place guy make his way, I saw my husband! He was doing so well and I began to ~~scream~~ cheer my little lungs out!

I was so proud and I wanted the whole world to know that was my husband coming in like a speedster 😀

He finished the race 4th overall and with a brand spanking new PR– 21:07!

Just to be clear, my husband didn’t just roll out of bed and run lol! People ask me that all the time–does he even train? How does he run so fast and not run? He does train but just not as often as I do. He had done about 10 days of mini training for this 5k as I had thought I’d be okay to do it until my marathon failure. I tell him that if he was to really, really train, he could have some amazing times and races. I’m looking forward to giving him his turn now that I’m done with my marathon training.

My husband used to run track in high school (I ran cross country). So we’ve learned a lot from each other continuously teaching one another. He’s given me a lot of speed work knowledge and I’ve given him advice on endurance and pacing (he was a little excited at the start of this race!). It’s one of the many ways we complement each other ❤

After the race, I headed over to the yogurt tent to get my yogurt. The race was generous with its toppings (you can choose however many you wanted) but I still went with strawberry and only gummies.

The choices.

Nom.

My husband snapped a pic of me mid bite and then we were on our way. FroYo 5k DONE!

😀

–Have you ran a food related race before? (The Hot Chocolate race series is also a good one!)

–What food would you want to have waiting for you at the end?

I received a free entry to the FroYo 5k. All opinions expressed in the blog post are honest and my own.

hellyontherun

Tag Archives: Will Run For FroYo

FroYo 10k Recap (PR!!)

FroYo 5k Recap–Spouse Edition