Run3rd 5k Recap

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Okay, so it’d been a while since I’d ran a race (early February? I don’t count Phoenix since I didn’t finish) and I was looking forward to running this 5k until I got sick because that meant I couldn’t properly train. That changed my goals considerably and I went into this race with a “just finish” and “have fun” mindset. Luckily, both happened 😀

There were also quite a few things I was looking forward to with this race.

1.) It benefits local public school promoting health and fitness for kids and encourages people to run for others. This was a huge appeal for me as I’m a public school teacher and am all about the kids ❤ and I’m all about running for those who can’t.

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1st I run for me.
2nd I run for my family.
3rd I run for YOU.
–from the Run3rd website

2.) Sean Astin! I’m a huge Rudy fan (if you haven’t seen this movie, DO IT!! He’s also in Goonies and Lord of the Rings). He was instrumental in getting this race set up–it was an inaugural race–and he was seriously the most humble, sweetest guy. He helped promote the race months leading up to it showing that he was serious about what and who the race was benefitting. Race day, he was everywhere. You saw him giving the kids a pep talk, talking to the people working booths, and posing for pictures with runners. I never saw or heard him say anything negative and he was in high spirits the entire time.

Pep talk!

Pep talk!

Pre-race pic! :)

Pre-race pic! 🙂

3.) Run Eat Tweet AZ –I’ve mentioned this local running group I’m a part of (they hooked me up with this race entry 🙂 ) and I absolutely love hanging out with them. In fact, I wish I could meet up with them on more events they host but between work and kids, it’s tough. When I am able to though, it’s always a guarantee blast.

Jeremy aka: King of Selfies aka: Confessions of an Amateur Athlete

Jeremy @Confessions of an Amateur Athlete (aka: King of Selfies)

#RunEatTweetAZ

@RunEatTweetAZ (Follow on twitter!)

Okay, on to the race.

My biggest struggle with shorter distance races is starting out too fast and yep, I did it again. The first mile chimed 8:09 and at the time, that felt good. I didn’t even think it was too fast. At the time.

At the start--all smiles :)

At the start–all smiles 🙂

Then my legs started to feel heavy and things were not looking good. I felt myself slow down and I saw 8:37 when I crossed the mile 2 marker. Not too bad but I knew I was struggling. My legs felt heavier and heavier with each step and I kept telling myself I had less than a mile left, finish strong. But really, I was done. Mile 3, 9:20.

The course was flat, mostly on pavement with the start and finish on a high school’s track. When I got to the track at the finish, I picked up pace to attempt whatever kick I might have, and crossed the finish line.

The face. The struggle.

I encourage you to click on this pic for a close up of my face.

The goal was sub 27 and when I looked at my watch, my first thought was “Noooo!!!!” but then I prayed the chip time gods would gift me a few seconds

and they did!

and they did!

When I saw my time on the screen, I was even more shocked to see that I had placed 3rd in my age group!! A huge shocker since I had not felt like I’d done well at all. Several of my friends had also placed so we all waited together for the award ceremony to start.

It took a while for the awards to start–a little over an hour. We were getting a little antsy but then they began. They started with the male awards and gave out all of them before beginning the female awards. I thought this was strange because usually races do male/female age groups.

Anyway, when they announced the 30-34 age group, I started walking up towards the stage until I HEARD ANOTHER NAME CALLED. Yep, someone else had place 3rd!!! I was so confused (and mortified to be honest) as I had seen my name clear as day on the time screen. My husband had seen it, my friends had seen it. We had even taken a glance at it as the male awards were called.

But when we walked back to check after I wasn’t called, there was indeed another runner’s name where mine had been earlier.

It was then that my husband remembered.

About 20 minutes after the race started, a girl had ran towards the start line–clearly late–and began the race. No one had said anything to her –but people did see her–and my husband didn’t think much of it except that it was kinda sorta a lot not fair to start so late and not have to deal with crowds.

This SAME girl was the one who bumped me!!!

I was naturally upset, not so much because I didn’t get an award (like, not at all because of that really) but because I didn’t think it was fair for runners to start waaaay after everyone else. They get an entirely different playing field. Yes, it’s the same course, but there’s no weaving around people–the course is entirely clear. I would’ve been upset for anyone who lost a place because of this happening.

Oh well. In the end, it just means I need to get faster so that it doesn’t matter if someone starts later 😀

EDIT: The race director read my recap and took time out of her busy schedule to let me know what happened!! 🙂 Check it out here.

The race overall was suuuuper fun! It was very relaxed but I appreciated the organizers taking the race seriously (despite that little aforementioned mishap). There was a virtual race option. FREE race photos. Finishers got a t-shirt AND a medal–a rarity for a 5k–AND there were age group awards. AND there were raffles galore. Your entry earned you one ticket and you could put it towards a whole bunch of things being raffled. I put mine in the autographed Rudy poster and purchased extra to increase my odds. Sadly, I did not win anything 😦 But, one of my buddies did!! He won an autographed Rudy helmet!!! Call me jealous!! 🙂

This is definitely going on my calendar as a yearly race. The entire race–pre, during, and post–was so relaxed and just an overall good experience. A total WIN!!

#Run3rd5k

#Run3rd5k

–Have you ran a race someone famous was running?

–Who have you been able to snag a pic with?

 

My 5 Fave Racing Trips {link up!}

Last year was definitely the year of race-cations. I feel like I was all over the place (because I was!) This week’s DC Trifecta link up topic is 5 Trips so I’ll share (again lol!) some of the places I visited last year (and some places I plan to visit this year 🙂 )

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Thanks for hosting Cynthia, Mar, and Courtney!

1. I still can’t believe I ran a 1/2 marathon in Madrid, Spain. Sometimes, I look at that album and seriously am shocked that that happened. But it did and it was absolutely amazing. I recapped the race here but some memorable things from the race were

-how awesome it was to be half way around the world and be able to speak the language. Both my husband and I are fluent Spanish speakers 🙂

-how plastic water bottles were given at each water station. Bottled water is so expensive in Europe that as soon as I saw a PR was nowhere near possible, I started hoarding water bottles and ran with one in each hand the entire way lol!

-how there were ZERO porta-potties. Men just pulled up to the side and did their thing but the women had to find a restaurant or shop to use the bathroom!

Madrid was our first stop in our Europe tour and we started off with a bang

One of my fave race pics -- having fun doing what I love (and in Spain!)

One of my fave race pics — having fun doing what I love (and in Spain!)

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2. When I got back from Europe, I decided to cross the Grand Canyon twice lol! Doing Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim was such an incredible experience. I had never been to the Grand Canyon and to go and do that was amazing. I recapped the double crossings here and here.

The Grand Canyon is a must see if you’re Arizona and if you’re planning on visit, why not cross the whole thing? 🙂

Day 1: South Kaibab to North Kaibab. Day 2: North Kaibab to Bright Angel.

Day 1: South Kaibab to North Kaibab. Day 2: North Kaibab to Bright Angel.

the edge of glory

the edge of glory

at the finish line of the Canyon :)

at the “finish line” of the Canyon 🙂

3. My bucket list marathon was the Marine Corps Marathon in our nation’s capitol, Washington, D.C. I’m a big history buff so running a race there would unite to of my passions: running and history. I wrote about this race and how it met ALL of my high expectations here (and a little more here). The cherry on the top of this race last October was also meeting my BRF Salt ❤ The day couldn’t have been better.

Oh just strolling by the White House--nbd.

Oh just strolling by the White House–nbd.

Best. Medal. Ever.

Best. Medal. Ever.

My BRF and sole sister--Salt <3

My BRF and sole sister–Salt

4. I mentioned just last week how I plan on going to Cincinatti, Ohio to run the Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon.

We'll be running the half! :D

So if anyone had told me my brother would run a 1/2 marathon…I would have snorted and said, “Yeah, when pigs….yeah….”

This race is special because it will by my brother’s first half and I NEVER thought he’d run a half marathon. Ever. I’m so pumped about it, I can’t even explain it lol! Just this past weekend he texted me a pic of his 7 miler. I’m so ridiculously proud of him.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this race and you bet I’ve checked out the elevation chart–I’m ready for you hills! (well not really, but yeah)

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Helloooo hills!!

5. Finally, my fall marathon this year will be in……CHICAGO!! My run club is organizing a group to run the Chicago Marathon and my husband and I have put our names in the lottery–all our fingers are crossed we get in.

I’m still gunning for a sub 4:30 and I’m hoping, hoping, hoping it happens in Chicago. If not, I plan on maybe trying ONE MORE TIME in Phoenix Spring 2016 and if it still doesn’t happen, I’m putting up my marathon running shoes for a while. Marathon training is no joke and this momma is TIE-ERD.

So, there you have it! Some places I’ve been ridiculously lucky to visit and two that I’m super pumped to check out this year.

–Where have you traveled to run? Do you have a favorite place?

–Where is your dream race-cation?

Good luck to Sue@ThisMamaRunsForCupcakes who is running a marathon in PARIS, FRANCE this weekend!!!

keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ {M80 Roller Review}

I recently got the insanely awesomest chance to try the M80 Roller because of my affiliation with Run Eat Tweet AZ and seriously, I am one lucky runner.

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Foam rollin’ has always been part of my running life. As many of you know, foam rolling can really help with recovery. I’ve always had the regular ol’ rollers you can find at your nearby Target and like. Nothing wrong with those and they’ve always worked fine. I had no idea really that there were endless options of rollers.

Until I got to try this one.

I picked the M80 up from my buddy Jeremy @ConfessionsOfAnAmateurAthlete (and creator of RETAZ) at the Phoenix Marathon expo and I kid you not, after like 5 minutes of walking around holding that thing, I was approached by TWO people asking me if what I was holding was an M80 roller. No. Joke.

My husband and I immediately looked at each other after the second stranger approached and were like, “Um, apparently this is a big deal.”

We all know what happened that Phoenix Marathon day and I didn’t get to try the roller until my first run after my DNF. It was after a trail run. The perfect circumstances as my legs were all kinds of sore from hills.

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And yeah. It’s a big deal.

The roller is firm and that has to be the biggest thing I like about it. I can feel it working my muscles and getting deep in there. I don’t have to forcefully press down like with an ordinary foam roller. In fact, I kinda have to let up a little because truth is, it hurts LOL. Good, awesome hurt, but hurt nonetheless jaja!!

There’s no slippage happening here either. My old roller would sometimes try and well, roll away from me when I’d use it, but this one stays put. It has these grooves that help prevent it from running away and those grooves are what also help get really deep into your muscles.

There are so many ridiculously awesome colors available and I know that’s not a huge deal to some but for others, it is (like you know, if you want to take pictures of you foam rollin’ and share on social media 😉 ) Mine’s pink (purple was taken) and if you take a look online, you’ll see that there are quite a few solid colors and a number of designs to choose from.

There are also different size options. There’s a travel size 6″, a regular 15″ (that’s the one I have), and a 30″.

I know at first glance the price might make you think about sticking with your oldie but goodie, but trust me (and you know you really can), this foam roller is super legit. When you try it, you’ll know why it’s become a reason to stop a random stranger and ask if that is THE M80 roller.

And guess what?

Run Eat Tweet AZ will be giving away ONE FREE M80 ROLLER every day this week!!!!!! Go (like now, seriously, go) to their Facebook page for details. You do not want to miss out on a chance to snag quite possibly the best freebie out there.

And if you don’t win? It’ll be worth every penny if you treat yourself to one. 🙂

–Do you foam roll? Like it?

–Have you heard of the M80 Roller?

I received my M80 roller via Run Eat Tweet AZ. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Thank you Run Eat Tweet AZ and M80 Roller!!