Cinco de Mayo 1/2 (Race Recap)

Race:

Cinco de Mayo 1/2- Portland Oregon

Half Marathon #33

State #28

Weather:

40s and chilly at start. Overcast and high 40s maybe low 50s most of race, intermittent sun.

Official Stats:

Time: 1:42:54- New PR*

Overall Place: 54/352

Gender Place: 37/215

Age group: 6/51

*as you'll see further down in my recap, I was stopped by a train twice on the course. Luckily I had enough sense to stop my watch because the race officials DID NOT adjust anyone's time. Depending on if you were one of the people that jumped the train or not to cross, your "official time" could range anywhere from 7-16 minutes off. Mine was on the lower end since I jumped the train. With that being said,

I'm not going to let anyone 'taint'  my PR by saying it doesn't count because at the end of the day, my watch records what I actually ran :)

Pre Race:

This was our 2nd half marathon Kim and I did for our double header weekend. Idaho recap from day before is HERE . Kim's great recap for this same race is HERE. We arrived from Boise around 4ish, went back to her house to unwind, then headed out for burgers and fries for a quick dinner. 

Race start had an odd start time of 7:45 so we left Kim's house at 6:30am. We got to downtown Portland relatively quickly with time to kill so we had to make a necessary stop---  At the start of  our double header trip I knew I had LONG flights and layovers, so I needed something good to read. I broke down and finally bought 50 Shades of Grey. I'm sure you're all familiar with the Heathman Hotel... well it was a few blocks from the race start, so I HAD to get a photo

yup, thats me holding the 2nd book 50 Shades Darker which I had to buy Saturday night since I was almost done w/ the first. 

We make our way to the main square where the bag check is and where the huge after party will be located. Luckily port o potty lines were minimal so we had a quick cycle and just kind of talked and froze ( repeat use of yesterday's throw aways) 

Trying to balance the sombrero on my head

We finally brave the cold, drop off our throwaways at bag drop, and slowly make our way to the race start. 

ignore the THO, proof how cold it was.

Start line festive arch

Since the race was not chip timed, I said goodbye to Kim and made my way closer to the start line to alleviate clusters of people. 

Actual Race:

• When the gun went off, everyone literally zoomed passed me. Although I wasn't sore from yesterday's race, I felt stiff which made me feel like I was moving in SLOW motion and I just couldn't keep up with everyone's paces around me. When we hit the first mile marker and my time was 7:34 I was SHOCKED because I felt like I was going a full minuter slower. People in Oregon can MOVE. 
• Shortly after mile 1, let's say mile 1.2ish a train went through the course- what!?!? Not that I had any goals for this race, but I was annoyed since it wasn't chip timed. After standing around for a little bit I decided to just stop my watch and start it back up when I was able to pass through.

stupid train

 More and more people starting to join in on the wait 

• After waiting around for a few minutes the train stops and there is an empty flat bed cart that stops in front of us-- probably 20-30 of us scramble to jump up on it to cross to the other side. I REALLY wanted to take a photo of this, but I was too busy trying to hoist myself up. I couldn't help but wonder how the shorter people are able to get up and over this. 
• After that excitement, the select few of us that were able to make it over before the cops stopped everyone else (Kim was with the group who couldn't cross) continued on for about half mile and got stopped AGAIN because the train track intersected ANOTHER part of the course. Not only is this just annoying, but its hard to get into a groove when you're constantly having to stop

2nd time we're stopped. Guy in green shorts ending up winning the entire race. 

• Once we got going we had maybe a mile of flat ground before the HUGE uphill began. Again I looked at the elevation profile before the race and was dreading miles 5-9, but knew the downhill would be a nice treat. 

• While running around mile 3ish we started to go uphill... the entire time. I kept thinking to myself, holy crap how much worse its going to be once mile 5 hits. Basically it was a L O N G uphill battle from miles 3-7. So the elevation chart is pretty accurate in terms of what we ran, but the mileage was off. Miles 3-7 were the uphill, 7-10ish were downhill, then it was flat the last 3 miles. 
• As we're climbing on the mountain, its consistently bending and turning and you think you're going to get a break when turning the corner, but nooooooooooo just more climbing. Aside from all the greenery ( I felt like I was in the movie Twilight) there wasn't much exciting to look at.  To be honest I'm really surprised I didn't walk. I was TIRED. What helped was the train really narrowed the field so I was consistently by the same few people and I used them as target pacers so I wouldn't slow down significantly.
• We had a true gift somewhere on that mountain with a slight downhill for 4/10 of a mile--- I took FULL advantage and really opened up my stride to gain some ground, plus it felt GREAT on my legs to work different muscles. 
• Shortly after mile 7 there was a brief turn that took you from trail to the side of the highway- thus begins the nice downhill descent. Unfortunately there were only 2 people I had my eye on at this time, a guy in front of me who I passed with ease, and this girl I had been eyeing the entire race. 
• It took  me well past mile 8 to finally get close to her--- plan of attack was to hold it easy for 10-15 sec behind her to conserve energy, then sprint past her (I just really don't like running side by side with people, especially on the highway... and with girls since we're super competitive ) 
• Happy to report I did BLOW by her but 1/2 mile later I was just minding my own business and I see her out of the corner of my eye drafting off me. She must have KICKED it into high gear to catch up to me and then was playing stupid mind games with me. I moved over several times to let her pass and nope, she didn't. I thought if I went faster she would leave me alone--- negative as well. 
• We leave the highway and are running through 'city parts' before hitting mile 10 and meeting back up to get to the finish line the same way we started. Once mile 10 hit my annoying female "friend" took OFF (easily beat me by a solid 3 minutes). By this point the course is flat so I don't really get to use the downhill, but at least I have more targets to keep me going. 
• Suddenly I see HUNDREDS of runners turning a corner to join up with half marathoners- it was the 10kers. Congestion wasn't bad because they were on left side of road and the 3-4 of us 1/2 marathoners were on the right, HOWEVER as we start getting closer to the finish line the 5kers come out of nowhere and join us. 
• You've got to be FLIPPING kidding me!! Half marathoners have yellow bibs, 10kers are green, and 5kers are red. At this point (in the last mile) I am the only half marathoner around and am having to bob and weave b/n the runners. Not to be rude, but majority of 10kers and 5kers weren't actual runners they just did the race for the after party (which was amazing) so despite keeping an even pace, I was passing people left and right- not because I'm fast, but because they were just slow. 
• I think the worst part is that because the race isn't timed as soon as you cross the finish line you were supposed to "hold your spot" so they could rip off part of your bib to determine your time. Only PROBLEM- you had to walk further down in a chute, it wasn't single file, and you were mixed in with all other race distance participants. SO annoyed at the cluster. Thank goodness for my height- some guy was specifically looking for half marathoners since we were the only ones who got medals and handed me one at the last sec. 

The After Race:

• I was stoked that I got a new PR on such a difficult course on day 2 of double weekend so I HAD to call my mom and tell her.  
• While waiting for Kim I watched the Mexican band, drank one of my 2 free beers (IPAs vs. crappy mich ultras that are served at Rock n Roll events) and chatted with some of the fellow runners (some of them were already drunk)
• Once we met up we grabbed our free burritos and chowed down while I finished my 2nd beer.

• Afterward we dropped our stuff off at the car and made our way to the infamous VooDoo Doughnuts to indulge in a sinfully delicious Oregon famous hot spot (totally worth the 20 min wait in line)

• Got our treats, headed back to Kim's place, and indulged in treating our sore muscles to her hot tub-- heaven on earth :)

Quick Thoughts on Race:

Cons:

-Zero chip timing- apparently trains run often through race courses, wouldn't be a big deal if race directors got on the ball and just chip timed their race if they have a train that intersects the route.

-No time adjustment for lengthy train stop

-Going up a mountain for 4 solid miles

-Having the 10k and 5k meet up so EVERYONE is finishing together

-No spectator support

-Ill fitting race shirt 

Pros:

-Small field size

-great running weather (love 40s and 50s for me)

-After party was GREAT

-Runners in Oregon are FAST (which helps me be fast)

-Downhills after the long 4 mile uphill climb

Mile 1: 7:34

Mile 2: 7:46

Mile 3: 7:39

Mile 4: 8:30

Mile 5: 8:11

Mile 6: 8:30

Mile 7: 8:06

Mile 8: 7:28

Mile 9: 7:30

Mile 10: 7:33

Mile 11: 7:43

Mile 12: 7:55

Mile 13: 7:58

.1          : 7:25

Lake Lowell 1/2 Recap

Race:

Lake Lowell Half Marathon- Nampa, Idaho

Half Marathon # 32

State #27

Weather:

39 and sunny at start. Windy entire first half of race (out and back) Somewhere the sun disappeared thus overcast rest of race and never really warmed up. 

Official Stats: 

1:49:42

Overall 11/117

Gender Place 2 / 70

First in age group

Pre Race:

Kim R and I planned our flights to arrive in Boise around the same time frame (within the 5:00 hour) so that we could get our rental and meet  Cynthia  for dinner at a nearby Olive Garden for some carbo loading (for sunday's race) 

Kim is making the moves on Cynthia 

Cynthia was nice enough to get our bags from packet pickup since logistically it would have been hard for us to make it work- aside from just doing that AMAZING deed for us, she also gave us a cute little goody bag since this was a smaller race

Modeling her homemade goody bag 

We each got a cliff bar, bottle of nuun, and gu chomps- so sweet. 

Race started kind of late, 9am, but that meant we got to sleep in a bit. Despite the late start, it looked like it was still going to be chilly. Luckily we had time to spare the night before and stopped at a local goodwill so I could get a sweet, soft, purple throwaway fleece. 

Cynthia came to Kim and I's hotel at 8am. Since the race was held at Lake Lowell Park, a short distance from us, we were able to get to the location, pick up our time chip, and park all by 8:30am. 

Timing chip fastened to everyone's wrist - a first for me. 

Because the race was held in a park, the only bathrooms were an actual restroom building, i.e. LONG lines. Luckily the race director's wife came by and said the race was starting in 15 min and there was a port-o-potty about .2 miles down the hill, so naturally all 3 of us ladies sprint off to be able to use restroom and get back to start line on time. 

Lake Lowell near the boating deck (on way to port o potty) 

Pre race photo outside the port o let---- keeping it classy 

We get back to the start / finish area just in time to listen to final race instructions and national anthem

no corrals, everyone (half marathoners, 5kers, 10kers) all standing around 

Matching twin towers getting ready to take off! 

Actual Race

Miles 1- turnaround point
Kim and I were writing our blogs next to eachother (and she finished WAY before me) and  said I should keep it simple and say "I am the shit, I placed 2nd overall female, 11th in the race, the end" hahaha (my time wasn't that great, it was just a small race)

So I'll try to keep it simple...

The half marathon itself only had 117 participants, however the 10k and 5k also started with us, so the first mile was probably the most crowded of the entire race. I use the term "crowded" loosely, anything is a cake walk compared to last week's nightmare of masses. 

I actually (for once) paid close attention to the elevation profile and knew we had a HUGE steep uphill in the first mile, also with several inclines after that. Taking this bit of information, I managed to take it easy, yet pace myself up the hills. Surprisingly enough, the good ol' people of Idaho don't run hills much because I was passing people left and right with ease-- woo woo 

Due to the smaller field size once the 5k and 10k split off, I kind of felt like I was running in an overnight relay ( the day part) There wasn't much to look at, there were ZERO spectators on the course, and runners were spread out far enough to where they became "Kills" everytime I passed one. 

As soon as I passed one person, I moved my sights onto the next individual. This process (which I did the entire race) seemed to work pretty well to keep me occupied, however not sure if it would work with a larger race. 

Somewhere in  mile 3 one of my "power songs" came on- right now I have 2 - Rammstein "Du Hast"  & Dragon Force "Through the Fire and Flames". My rule is when either of these 2 songs come on, I WILL pick up my pace... NO EXCEPTIONS. So I was a little nervous that it came on so early in the race, but like a good runner, I followed my rule and picked it up. (I use ipod shuffle, so songs come on when they come on and nothing I can do about it)

When my song was over, I slowed down slightly due to more hills over and over, (seriously am I just that bad at reading elevation profiles?) but it gave me the boost I needed. I was noticing as time went on that there really weren't many females in the distance that I could see so I started to think to myself that if I start picking some off, could I potentially place?

I had a few back and forths with this pink halter top girl, but I finally left her for good and didn't have any other females in sight. As we get closer to the turnaround and the return runners are passing us, I start to count the women. First place women is quite a distance in front of me. Second place lady wasn't too far behind the first placed but a considerable distance in front of myself.

Then something magical happened--- there were no more females to count, all males. Holy shit I AM the THIRD female.  Obviously since I realize this, I'm sure the girl behinds me realizes this too and suddenly I feel like there is a target on my back. Naturally I pick up the pace a little bit so I can distance myself between the 4th place girl and myself.

Turnaround to Finish

Once I get to the turnaround and start running back I had so many strangers yell to me "you're in 3rd, you're in 3rd" How absolutely MOTIVATING that was. I gave a thumbs up and HUGE smiles to both Cynthia and Kim who also shouted 3rd place!! I know, I know its a smaller race, but hey, it was a "new to me type of feeling" 

The next 2 miles were bliss- I was smiling and high fiving people on my way back and all the runners were so friendly. The bonus part was that I managed to pass 2 guys I'd been eyeing for the last several miles (2 more kills).

I started to notice that the gap between myself and the 2nd place girl was closing (she was wearing magenta leggings so it was hard to miss). Although my focus was just on maintaining my 3rd position, I spent the next mile slowly working my up to pass her.

Shortly after mile 8 there was a water stop and she made the mistake of stopping completely. I literally said under my breather "sucker" and  took advantage, zoomed by there quickly grabbing a cup of water to take my 2nd gu and was on my merry way- with her in my dust.

Once I hit mile 10 I decided to check my watch to see my time (Mile 10 is a good indicator for me on where I'll finish) Unfortunately the way I have my garmin set up is my main screen shows overall average pace, pace for the mile i'm in, and distance. If I want to see total time spent running, I have to click to the other screen. After doing so I saw a 1:21 and knew I'd be running in the 1:40s (a small goal I had this weekend). What I didn't anticipate was for my watch to freak out and start beeping incessantly at me and continually look for satellites, so I stopped it so it would shut up (or so I thought)

Once I got past mile 11, my legs celebrated and picked up the pace, all the while taking FULL advantage of any flat or downhills.  When I hit the last mile I cruised past the only other guy in my sight and was excited because I had literally caught every single person I had my eyes set on, and there was no one left to catch (within eye sight)

A little into the last mile he caught back up to me and instead of passing me, the little booger ran RIGHT next to me. I moved to the other side of the road, and so did he. I picked up my pace, so did he. (big pet peeve of mine)

Considering I had been really pushing myself the second half of the race, coupled with the beating my legs went through with all the gradual hills, I was SPENT. It didn't help that I was starting to realize the course was going to be long... like REALLY long. Eventually my "running partner" pulled away and I didn't bother trying to catch him- my pace drastically slowed down  and I made a feeble attempt to kick in in during the grass chute toward the finish line  (reminded me of high school cross country meets)

Immediately after finishing I went and got some Powerade, however, the only other after race refreshments they had was Papa John's pizza and it hadn't arrived yet so I grabbed my throwaway and started backtracking the course so I could cheer Cynthia and Kim in.

Cynthia reeling it in

I told Cynthia I was going to wait for Kim and I'd run in shortly after her and shortly after...

I ran with Kim a little bit and my calves were tightening up so I told her I would just walk over to the finish line. 

Results were up and it was official- 2nd female runner overall-- woo woo 

 Only 2nd time I've ever placed in a race!

Turns out the top 3 overall winners get gift cards to their local running store, Pulse. Mine was $15.

The 3 of us had a few pieces of pizza, and chatted with some of Cynthia's friends. Turns out my "running partner" at the end is one of her friends. She introduced us and he thanked me for pushing him to speed up at the end of the race. Bah, no problem, sorry I died on you there. 

Cynthia took us back to our hotel and we said our goodbyes. Kim and I quickly showered so we had time to grab lunch and claim get something worthy at Pulse---  I decided to be practical and stock up on gu, can't beat free gu :) 

After lunch we head back to Boise Airport in anticipation of our next half marathon the following day

2009 statue that was used at the Special Olympics which was apparently held in Idaho- now resides right outside of the airport.

Made a new friend with the Boise State Bronco

Garmin Results- again I thought my watch crapped out at mile 10, so I never stopped it crossing the finish line. It wasn't until 1 hour later I noticed it was still ticking away so I only was able to get the first 13 miles.

Mile 1- 8:21
Mile 2- 9:13 (long, gradual uphill)
Mile 3- 7:55
Mile 4- 8:11
Mile 5- 8:30
Mile 6- 8:24
Mile 7- 7:51
Mile 8- 7:44
Mile 9- 7:46
Mile 10- 7:51
Mile 11- 8:45 (long, gradual, uphill)
Mile 12- 7:56
Mile 13- 7:29
.44 ( too lazy to do math)

State #27- Nampa Idaho complete. 

Five for Friday

Five completely random things on my mind during layovers at the airport!
1. First off a BIG thank you to everyone who has commented so far on my "finding shoes you love post" here. I've researched all the ones where specific styles were given, and based on what I know I need / what I would ultimately like, I will be looking into both the brooks trance, and the ravennas. I probed one of my gfs who worked at a running store for 5 years to see what input she might have- although she said Brooks is a good shoe, it is MUCH flatter than saucony's so I may not like the transition and  Mizunos is a better transition. Hmmm decisions, decisions. I'm still open for all input as I make my way toward finding love.

2. I got a brazilian blowout about 3 weeks ago, and now that I officially have straight hair, I've  been every so slowly trying to experiment with different hairstyles. I actually have no idea what I'm doing, so I decided to start small with the sock bun. I wanted to do one on top of  my head, but my layers aren't long enough to make that happen, so I did a low to the side one. Fairly easy- my roommate said I looked like Princess Leia, however I don't think he meant that in a good way because then he erupted in laughter.

what do you think??

3. Currently sitting in the Phoenix airport on my lovely 3 hour delay so I can fly to Boise Idaho. Although I'm not excited about the spud state itself, I AM excited to be doing another double weekend. Idaho tomorrow, Oregon Sunday. Both of which I'll be running with one of my favorite "virtual turned real" friends Kim from (Just) Trying is for Little Girls. Also tonight  at dinner I'll get the opportunity to meet in person Cynthia from Run, Dream & Laugh out Loud. 2012 seems to be the year of meeting up with bloggers!

4. When I do meet up for races, me and whoever generally plan to be "matchy matchy"- case in point

This weekend's will be no exception with Kim: (taken from her blog post from today)

I swear I don't always wear skirts or plan my outfits out carefully. I can be reckless as seen below from a run earlier in the week... ignore the nappiness of my hair, weird face, hand gesture, etc. 

The bandanna wrapped around my wrist?!?! That is a summer must for me to have something to wipe off my sweat. Yay for lazy days drinking beer by the pool now that summer is here, boo for how much it sucks running!

5.  Last month when I raced in Colorado, Kim was reading "Fifty shades of Grey". Honestly, I never heard or it and was shocked when she explained what it was about. Within a week or two my facebook newsfeed was blowing up about all these ladies reading it. Wednesday I hopped on the band wagon and bought it for my trip. Started it on the plane from Nashville to Phoenix, and managed to read just over 200 pages so far. Good in a weird soft porn kind of way. Saw that Universal Studios paid roughly $5 mil for the movie rights... I can't IMAGINE this being transformed into an actual movie, and if it were, could I handle watching it?!?

Have you ever been in love?

 Back in the 2000-2002 era, aka my best running years, I was absolutely, 100% in love with my Nike Air Prestos. They fit my feet like a glove, they were light weight, and I could REALLY move in them. During that time frame, I cycled through about 3-4, all fitting exactly like its predecessor- you know, back before the manufacture randomly upgrades every 3-4 months, changing the fit and feel. (yes i'm talking to you Saucony)





I owned this exact pair--- so many memories

Once I quit my short stint of track in college, I gave up consistent running till 2010. When I ran my first debauchery of a half marathon in April 2010, I wore some type of Nikes (can't remember which) and my feet / legs / back/ knees/ everything else you can imagine HATED me. I went to fleet feet and they put me in some type of clunky sauconys as well as the berry super feet removable inserts. I HATED them both, but since I had no idea what shoes else to buy, I went with it and then just stopped using the inserts so I could feel lighter

 Fast Forward to February '11 when I developed ITBS- every runner's nightmare- went back to Fleetfeet and they told me if I had started in a stability shoe, I would have avoided ITBS altogether (gee thanks for just NOW telling me) They also recommended I start using my inserts again.  Thus begun my love / mostly hate relationship with the Saucony Progrid Guides- below is my first pair.

The relationship is love/hate because although I LOVE the fact that once I was healed, I haven't had much ITBS issues since,  I hate that they keep upgrading them and it seriously takes me a solid month for my feet to adjust. Randomly enough I don't have issues when I race, but during training runs I feel like I"m moving in S-L-O-W motion and sometimes my feet feel like they are dragging.

The other day, Rock n Roll finally updated their race photos from Saturday and I was shocked at how oblivious I am to what my feet are doing

So I thought, is this picture an actual depiction of how I always run?? Was kind of shocked when I turned over my running shoes to check

YUP!

I'm mildy freaking out about my ultra relay coming up in a few weeks, so decided I should go now to Fleet Feet to test out and break in a new pair.

Convo went a little like this:

Scott: Hi I'm Scott how can I help you today?

Me: Hi Scott, I'm Lisa- I've been in Saucony Progrid guides for a little over a year, they get the job done, and I like them, but I don't love them. I want you to make me fall in love.

Scott: <laughing> I'll see what I can do

Me: No seriously, I used to be inlove with my running shoes in high school and I haven't found a pair yet that fit me... I want that feeling again <saying joking> I want to like my shoes so much that I want to make love to them (yes I really did say that)

After going through a few pair I think I found something worth trying-  Mizuno trimphs



I love this color, but unfortunately the cut of this shoe is different and a 10.5 was a little snug (i wear a size 10 normal shoe) so we had to go up to 11- YIKES- naturally they only had one color so not as pretty.  One thing I'm not sold on is "baby got baaaaaaaaaack" (heel that is) it seems rather clunky, but its not a deal breaker yet

Scott took my inserts out to look at them and said they were pretty spent (there was some buckling and the plastic was changing color where it was bending)
I told him that I just bought replacements in January and have MAYBE ran 350 miles on them. After further inspection he pointed out that I've been using the wrong inserts this whole freaking time because it doesn't cup my heel correctly, thus causing the buckling. I thought about asking him to take a comparison photo to show ya'll, but shyness kicked in. He said the reason they probably put me in berry was because the orange is typically for guys--- I told him not only does he put me in an 11, but now I'm using a guy insert- he really knows how to make a lady feel femine haha.

HUGE difference- again more clunky?!?!

I went on a run last night--- I was still incredibly sore from bootcamp, so the run itself sucked and I can't judge fairly. This weekend I'll be using my old inserts and saucony's for racing just in case i don't like my new kicks. 

Scott said I could come back if neither the shoe or insert works for me, SO I tought I'd pose the question to ya'll

Do you have a running shoe that happens to be a stability shoe (so if you say newton's, any of the brooks pure flow, or  a minimalist shoe, that doesn't help me in my quest for love)