Legacy Midnight Run 10K

I was lucky to get into this race. My coach, Lora has just posted online that the registration was almost full with only a couple of spots for the 10k left.  I think my husband and I got the last couple of slots.  This race was unlike any race I'd done or heard of.  It was done at night along the Legacy Parkway.  The half marathoners started at 10 PM, 10kers at 11 PM and 5kers at 11:30, all with the goal of beating the midnight hour.  They gave you glow stick of various sizes to attached to your body while you run the race.  The trail lit up like a rave party as all the runners started the race. I was determined to beat by previous time of 52 minutes and get on the podium.

The first 3 miles went great. I felt good and was running at a pace that would get me to my goal.  At the half-way turnaround point I took some Gatorade and kept my pace. Shortly after that point though I started to feel terrible.  I've never felt that bad during a race before.  I kept running determined not to walk.  Thoughts flashed through my mind... "This is definitely going to be your last 10k race... This is awful.... never running like this again...".  Lots of people passed me.  I finished with a time of 54:27. Two and a half minutes slower than my last 10k. I ended up getting 4th place in my age group again for the 3rd time! Cameron managed to capture 3rd place in his age group. I was disappointed in myself. I started wondering if my first 10k time of 52 minutes was just a fluke.

The next day I read a post from some of my pals from the South Davis Road Runners that said they got sick during the race.  Come to find out everyone that took the Gatorade at that one aide station got sick. I didn't feel so bad for not making my goal.  Even with getting sick it was still so much fun to run at night under a full moon, my body covered in glow sticks.

South Davis Road Runners

My First Triathlon - Cache Valley Super Sprint

Ready or not the day had come! Cache Valley Super Sprint 2011.

A couple of days before the race I thought it would be a good idea to rent a hotel room the night before to save myself from waking up at 4AM to drive there.  Little did I know that this decision would actually end up with me getting less sleep than if I had just stayed home.  My daughter Olivia was 9 months old at the time.  My husband wanted to see me run the race so we decided to make it a family trip.  We drove up Friday evening.  I picked up my packet and went to our hotel.  Later that night I went to the orientation.  At the end the presenter was giving out prizes to people who could answer trivia questions.  Since this orientation was for first timers no one could answer any of the questions he was asking.  One of the questions was, "Which man holds the current record for the most Ironman Championships?". At least three people yelled out "Lance Armstrong!".  He ended up just drawing random names to give away the prizes. Too funny.

I went back to the hotel and realized that this was the first time my daughter has spent the night away from home. We'd brought along the pack n' play for her to sleep in.  At around 10 PM I turned in.  About 30 minutes later Olivia woke up and decided to stay up ALL night long.  At around 3 AM my husband Cameron took her for a car ride to get her to go to sleep.  I woke up at around 5:30 AM to get ready with a total of 3 hours of broken sleep. 

We arrived at the venue and I setup my transition area.  We lined up according to swim time and they started at around 8 AM.  I was in the middle of the line so it took at least 20 minutes before I entered the pool.  I completed the 500 meter swim in 12:39.  It was a bad swim for me.  I was so anxious I couldn't keep my face in the water and ended up doing most of the swim on my side.  Once out of the pool, I rushed to the transition area and grabbed my bike. The bike course was beautiful.  Completely flat, open fields in Cache Valley Utah. There was a block of the street that was under construction so it was a bit bumpy for a while. I did the 12.5 mile bike portion in 43:37.  I rushed back into transition again and headed out for the run.  The original run course was flooded so they ended up doing an out and back with two loops.  My legs felt like lead.  If felt like I was running a 15 minute mile pace.  I pushed myself to run faster.  I loved having every one's age marked on their calves.  I picked out 4 girls that were ahead of me in my age group and passed them.  I did the 5K run portion in 25:54.  Total time...... 1:24:34.  I felt wonderful afterwards.  I wasn't sore and wanted to keep going.  I was handed a card saying I was currently in 3rd place! But.... I was bumped to 6th place in my age group once all of the racers came in. I placed 27th out of 99 women.  What an awesome day.

I gained 50 lbs when I was pregnant with my daughter (the last 6 weeks of the pregnancy I was on bed rest). I had lost all of it within 4 months after delivery. (strict diet and exercise) I was super happy to fit into this tri gear!

In Transition 2

The finish line

Centerville Freedom 5K

I decided to run this race a couple of days before the event. I'm going to keep this review kind of short and sweet.  There were lots of runners at this race.  I felt like I was going to throw up during the first mile.  I pushed through it and completed with a time of 25:10.  I placed 4th in my age group and 25th place in women's.  This was the 2nd time I'd gotten 4th place this year in a race.  I really want that 3rd place spot!  I need to work harder!