Shamrock Shuffle 5k Recap and Allergy Update

Posted by hellyontherun in 5k, Race, Running and tagged with 5k, Allergy, Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis, Running, Shamrock Shuffle, St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2014

First, HAPPY St. Patrick’s Day!!

So, I wasn’t sure whether to run my run club’s annual Shamrock Shuffle 5k yesterday. It was noncompetitive, unclipped, and just something fun to get all of us together. I figured, why not? I knew I didn’t want to be scared away from running after what happened on Friday so I felt this was a good way to ease back in. My husband was coming along and that made me feel a lot better about my decision.

It was an absolute perfect weather day. I mean, I was in a tank and shorts. (Sorry east coasters!) I’m not a dress up person when it comes to fun runs–I just can’t deal with unneeded accessories while I run lol. I do however, go all out during school dress up days! So I was just in some Swirlgear attire that had a hint of green.

I had my SPIbelt with my new Epi Pen with me and headed out. I had no idea what pace I was going although I had started my watch. I decided to not look or worry about it and just enjoy the run as best as I could.

The first mile beeped but I kept going. I was running with a run club friend and we were chatting the entire way. It was such a leisurely run that before I knew I it, we were done.

I stopped my watch and took my first look:

32:50
10:36/mile

I was not the least bit phased or concerned. All I wanted was to run and get some of the jitters out and this was the perfect opportunity to do it.

Since my last post describing what happened this past Friday, a lot of running friends have reached out and shared their own running allergy experiences. After doing some of my own research and hearing the stories of these runners (especially my buddy For The Love of Running), I think it’s the closest thing I can explain what happened is what’s called an Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis. This is a good article describing what it it and how it happens. There are different causes, but what I think triggered mine was eating and then running immediately after. I’ve done this before (I know, bad!) so I still think it’s strange but it’s the only thing that makes sense. I did absolutely nothing different during the run, did not wear anything new, did not eat anything different. I’m simply at a loss.

I did not feel a hint of what I felt on Friday during the Shamrock Shuffle 5k.

I’ll be seeing an allergist soon to try and get some answers. In the meantime, I want to continue running and not let what happened throw me off of what I’ve got going on.

–Did you race this weekend?

–How was your running week last week?

The Next Big Thing

Posted by hellyontherun in 5k, Family, Half Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with 5k, Arizona, Grand Canyon, Half Marathon, Hiking, Madrid, Ohio, Rim to Rim, Rock n Roll Marathon, Running, Spain, Travel March 7, 2014

Well, there’s a few…

I’ve hinted at having some pretty awesome things coming up. My marathon was a big, big race but it was only the beginning 🙂

1. I’m finally going to see my family in Ohio. My mom, brother, and sister live in Ohio and it’s rare when we go visit them. Luckily, one of them manages to make it down here to Arizona–my sister not so often as she’s got her clan to travel with. My husband, Ben, was the one who suggested us making the trip up there this time and he had zero reservations from me 🙂 We’ll be heading out there in a few weeks and it just so happens to be right before my little girl’s 2nd birthday. So, she’ll be having her birthday party with her cousins; ~~I’m~~ we’re so excited!!

Of course, I thought about whether I could squeeze in a race while I was there. I found a local 5k close to my sister’s place and signed Ben and I up. My sister is a runner so it wasn’t too difficult to get her to join in as well. But guess what?? My non-running, 6’2, 280 lb brother signed up too!!!! This will be his first race and our first race all three of us have done together!! I’m so ridiculously pumped about this.

He texted me this yesterday: “3.5 mile fast walk done!”

I had the biggest smile all day from reading that.

2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid, Spain anyone?

Ben and I were looking at spring/early summer races and considering Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego in June. We looked at the website at what other RnR races there were around the time frame we wanted and we saw Madrid. What if we did something crazy like that? We are not very spontaneous people and doing things like just isn’t normal for us. But, we were in a moment and we decided to go for it! We’ll be taking a week long trip to Europe late April starting in Spain, then going to Italy, and going home from France. I don’t think it’s fully registered that we’re doing this.

3. Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim

Living in Arizona, going to the Grand Canyon is a must. I went with my family when I was 6 and don’t remember a thing 😦 It’s been on my to-do list for quite some time and when my run club told me they do a yearly hike in the canyon I jumped at the chance. There was a pretty long waiting list but after a few months of waiting, I made it!

I’d be doing it alone with my club though and hiking the canyon was something I would have loved doing with my husband. But, this was an opportunity I wasn’t sure I’d get again. The dates to hike are mid to late May and since I’ll be going back to work (more about that another time), those days are blackout days. I couldn’t pass this up.

So on May 17th I’ll be making a 23 mile hike down the canyon and then making a 25 mile return back up. Sounds like fun, right? I’m so freaking excited about this!!!

Now that my marathon is over, I’ll be doing a lot more trail running and branching out a little from my usual pavement/treadmill runs. I’m looking forward to doing different things and can’t wait for this challenge.

Source

Want more info on this? Go here to read about this awesomeness that is Rim to Rim.

So there you have it! I have other races sprinkled in between, but these are the next big things 🙂

–What’s on your race radar?

–What are some cool races you’d want to do? (I still have quite a few things on my wish list lol!)

When “fun runs” Cross the Line

Posted by hellyontherun in 5k, Mud Run, Obstacle Course and tagged with 5k, Fun Runs, Mud Run, Obstacle Course, Themed Runs January 16, 2014

Every morning with my cup of coffee I log on and check my e-mail, read the news, and check out Facebook.

As I was scrolling along Facebook, I came across something that caught my eye–not because it was interesting of nature, but because it was appalling to me as a runner.

This is what I saw:

An X-Rated 5K??!!

Seriously, at what point do fun runs cross the line?

I consider myself an old-school runner and was never into many of the fun runs when they first started coming out but I got the purpose behind them: get people moving. I promoted The Color Run because it’s a fun run that motivates people to do something they might have never done and not feel pressure about a time.

But this? I don’t know what to even call this. Call me conservative, but I have zero desire for a sexy, wild 5k filled with g-strings and honey mud tunnels. A dominatrix dungeon is just not appealing to me.

Maybe it is for some people and that’s who they’re targeting. I brought this up in my Healthy Mom’s group and while most agreed with me on its absurdity, some said that there are people this might be of interest to.

Because I think they knew people like me would question why, the website has a FAQs tab with an answer:
———-
Why Adult Themed?

Because mud runs are fun, healthy and pleasurable, and sex is fun, healthy and pleasurable, so we thought, why not join the two together? As well as having fun, our underlying message is to promote sex positivity. This is defined as:

“an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, and encourages sexual pleasure and experimentation. The sex-positive movement is a social and philosophical movement that advocates these attitudes. The sex-positive movement advocates sex education and safer sex as part of its campaign. The movement makes no moral distinctions among types of sexual activities, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference.”

———-
I guess I just feel like sending this message could be done in different ways. I feel like themed runs like this are insulting to runners who have been doing the sport for a long time, have devoted hours, months, and years to something they take very serious.

I have trouble calling something like this an actual 5K.

–Tell me what you think. Are themed runs crossing the line?

–or, am I getting too worked up over this?