Sugar Grove Corn Boil 5k Race Review

Going into this summer, I had no intention on doing any races in July or August. I wanted to focus on running farther and running faster (not necessarily at the same time), and because of that, I thought a race would just not fit. Additionally, I’m not a fan of running in the heat, and you cannot control what the weather will be like on a race day.

That being said, I underestimated how much I would fall in love with racing. A couple weeks ago, I became desperate for another race before September so I looked around for cheap and close races. The Sugar Grove Corn Boil 5k fit perfectly. Sugar Grove is just a short drive from Aurora, and the race was only $20. The only downside was that race registration was mail-in, in person, or on race day. Luckily, I live close enough that I just drove over there and registered in person.

Packet pick-up was on race day only, and their information made it seem like the deadline for pick-up was at 7 am with the race starting at 7:30 am.  I don’t know if they did packet pick-up after 7 am, but I was not going to press my luck so I got there early. Parking was super easy, readily available, and very well marked.

The race swag included flyers announcing other 5ks (I love that because it gives me ideas for more races), band-aids, gum, fruit snacks, a Twix Bar, and Cow Tales candy. The race shirt is cotton which I don’t mind. It’ll probably be a night shirt for me…or a workout shirt. For some reason dry-fit shirts really bother me. I have no idea why. The last time I ran in a dry-fit shirt, I wanted to tear the shirt off while I was running. I guess I’m weird. Oh well. 🙂

I’ve been increasing my weekly mileage and have been doing speed work once a week. I think that’s how I can explain what happened today.

The race route here was designed as a double loop. Some people hate races that loop, and as it turns out, I’m not one of those people. I like familiarity, and so if the race course repeats itself once, I do not mind. (Of course, it needs to be a nice loop to begin with!!!) Additionally, the route had very excellent course support. The police were monitoring via bike, and race volunteers and staff were plenty. The course had 2 water stations which basically meant 4 opportunities for water. (I didn’t partake. I hydrated well yesterday and drank some water about 5 minutes before the start which seemed to be plenty for me.)

The race started on time at 7:30 am, and I took off to the sounds of Bastille’s Pompeii and the feet around me. I very quickly realized that although there were about only 300 or so people, that it was a very fast race group. I quickly found my stride, and I chose select people in front of me to match pace with at times. I also made sure that I was running the tangents which was difficult at times because of how the race route was designed.

I hit the mile 1 marker at 8:16, which was shocking. That time is probably too fast for me. I, however, felt good so I decided to ignore that time and willed myself to continue on how I was going. If I faded, it was going to be because I physically could not do rather than me thinking that I could not maintain that pace.

I passed the finish chute and glanced at the time again, and I realized that I had just run my fastest 1.5 mile time ever. That’s when I doubled down and reminded myself that I need to run the course one more time.

When I got to the second mile marker, I was a bit dismayed when I tried to auto-lap my timer. Apparently at the first mile marker, I had hit pause instead of lap, and so I didn’t actually know how fast I had run my 2nd mile. I decided to ignore that and continue on. Again, I decided to go by feel rather than by looking at my time.

I passed the mile 1 marker again, and I knew that from there I just had a 1/2 mile to go. I told myself to finish strong and treat the last half mile like the last lap of my half mile repeats speed workout.

Finish strong I did! I finished at 27:15 which is a new PR! I did indeed have some fade after that first mile, but I had an overall race pace of 8:46 min/mile. I had previously been able to maintain that pace for 2 miles during two mile training runs, but I could never maintain it for 3.1 miles.

They had a very good spread of food for finishers, but you did have to walk about two blocks to find it. Thankfully a race volunteer directed us towards there. I took a freeze pop, but it did not taste very good so I did not finish it.  Apparently most foods taste nasty to me immediately after I run.

The awards ceremony was at the same place as all the food. Because I had previously placed in my age group at other local races, I decided to stick around just to see. I knew that even if I did not place that I had won. I had cut off 1:21 from my 5k time in 6 weeks.

It was a good thing I stuck around because I won third place in my age division! I have no idea how many were in my age division. For all I know, it could have been only three people. But I am so proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish that I will absolutely celebrate this third place win for my age division!

 

 

Highest Mileage Week

During this summer, one of my goals has been to increase my weekly mileage. I am doing this slowly, and I am doing this through a modified Hal Higdon 10k plan. This past week, I ran 17.8 miles! To a lot of people who run, this mileage may not seem like a lot, but I had been consistently running between 11-12 miles a week from March until June.  Additionally, when I factor in my walking in Chicago, I had a 24.4 mile week running and walking.

This past week of training actually went really well. I did a 4.2 mile run on Wednesday, and I actually had a 9:36 min/mile pace for the run. I’m not too sure how that happened, but it makes me happy that it did. It was significantly faster than my last go at 4 miles.

I also had an intense speed workout day this week. I did not want to bother with the track, so I decided to go on my 2 mile route that I know incredibly well. Because I’ve run this route dozens of times, I know where the half mile marks are (fire hydrant, street sign, fire hydrant, house). I am still getting used to this speed workout idea, and so it was definitely hard. My second mile was slower than my first mile but not by too much. A couple of firefighters that I know waved hi to me, and as I finished my last stretch by my house, the battalion chief drove by and waved hi as well. Part of me thinks that he waved hi to me because he thought that I was potentially dying right after I finished. I was super out of breath when I finished.

On Saturday, I went out to do a 5 mile run. On mile 4, however, I decided that I wanted to do the extra 1.2 miles just to see what would happen. I changed my perspective and decided to do it. I finished my first ever 10k distance on Saturday, and I am very proud of that. I did not stop running the whole time either which was also an accomplishment. The trail that I run on for my longer runs has two major overpass bridges for runners. One goes over a 45 mile per hour hour road, and the other goes over a 55 mph 4 lane highway. I am very grateful for these overpasses, but the incline is awful for someone like me who is used to flat courses. I normally walk the uphill parts at least once while on these bridges, but on Saturday, I just decided to get through it. My overall pace was too slow for my liking, but now that I know I can do the distance, I can work on going faster.

In other news, I decided to throw in my application to be a firefighter-EMT for the Chicago Fire Department. I figure that after taking the test, I’ll end up on a hiring list and never get hired, but at least I’ll have my name out there.

Because of that, I did a backyard weight day with my dad. That got cut short. I was trying to do a 95 lb squat, something that I should have been able to do without much difficulty. Not that day. I couldn’t get myself back up, and I fell forward onto my knees. Thankfully, the weight was still very balanced so I did not hurt my back or my neck. My knees, however, were a different story. I scraped them up pretty good, and I bruised the left knee. This happened on Friday,  and I was initially concerned with how this was going to impact my running. Thankfully, it seems that the only time that they don’t bother me is when I’m running. Otherwise, the wound/scab is very tight which causes somet sharp pain when I try to move my knees (all of it external pain). I don’t know why it’s not bothering me when I run…but I’m glad it doesn’t.

I have my race on Saturday, and I went to scope out the course today. It’s in a completely residential neighborhood, two loops of it. It’s funny how much longer courses seem when you drive them. It’s not a shady course which is good to know ahead of time. I’m glad too that the high on Saturday is not too bad, and now I just hope the thunderstorm that they are forecasting holds off.

 

July 6-13 Recap

This past week, I continued with my 10k running schedule.

I planned for a 15 mile week, and a 15 mile week I achieved…just not completely how I wanted training to go.

My first three days of running (Monday-Wednesday) went very well, completely on schedule and pace with my training. I did a short 2 mile and was able to keep an 8:47 min/mile pace the whole time. After that, things started to go a bit off course.

Thursday is my speed workout day, but that did not happen until Friday.  I got suckered into helping with a police golf outing because an organization I volunteer with needed a fifth volunteer. Lies. They did not need me. They had two volunteers at my location which was plenty to deal with the event. I sat outside and helped to sell a chance to win $150 if the person golfing got their ball closest to the hole. It was very minimal work, but it was hot and without shade. I ended up staying outside for 7 hours, and it drained all of my energy. When I got home, I was too tired to do anything, and it made me grumpy that I had to unexpectedly switch my day off and speed workout day around. (Side note: I have enjoyed many volunteer activities with this group and with another group. I’m normally not so grumpy. I just get grumpy when I am told that agencies desperately need help and find out that that is clearly not the case.)

I did my track workout on Friday with my dad. We were going to do a 2 mile speed workout, doing 400 m repeats. However, during the first 400 m, my breathing felt extremely off. I had a difficult time with breathing and running, and this was scary. It was fine when I stopped running, but once I started another 400 m run, it started up again. We cut our track workout short after one mile.

After that, I took a break, and I then headed out to do a one mile run to finish my mileage for the day. Very thankfully, I had no breathing difficulties at all while running this mile so I’m hopeful that what happened on the track was just a too fast too soon fluke.

Unfortunately, later Friday night, my hip started bothering me. I have weaker hip muscles which is something that I am working on, and with my left hip, I often have to stretch it out on a normal basis. This was the first time, however, that my hip truly bothered me consistently. I did some stretching and some massaging, and I hoped it would feel better in the morning.

On Saturday, I did my long run in between the thunderstorms, and I successfully completed a 4.5 mile run. I ran past a chicken on the trail at one point. That was a first, and I had to stop to take a picture.

I walked up a bridge overpass both times I encountered it due to the hip, but other than that, after the first mile, my hip didn’t bother me. Overall, the run felt decent, and my last mile was a negative split. Woot!

Unfortunately, a couple hours after the run, my hip pain greatly intensified. At this point, I was freaking out that I had injured myself and that I would need to take significant time off from running. This fear was still present on Sunday.

Sunday is my scheduled day off from running, and this Sunday, I went into Chicago. On the train ride into Chicago, I saw so many people running, and I honestly felt jealous that they were currently running. Once I got into Chicago, I met up with my friend Jessi, and we started walking towards the Taste of Chicago. Jessi wanted to walk super fast, but I had to slow her down because my hip was bothering me. I was upset with myself because the last thing I wanted to do was injure my hip more, and here I was in Chicago where I was going to be walking everywhere.

Turns out that it may have actually helped workout my hip muscle because my hip pain is totally gone today. I even ran 2 miles today, and the hip did not bother me once. I am hoping and praying that this pain is gone…and I’m going to do be doing so many more hip strengthening exercises from now on.

My day off from running ended up being a very long walk. I mapped where we walked in Chicago yesterday, and we basically walked a 10k yesterday. We quickly grew tired of the Taste of Chicago, and so we headed off in pursuit of Chicago Fire Department firehouses. We visited two of them which is also how we ended up walking so far.

If you read my intro post, I continued pursuing fitness because I was strongly considering becoming a firefighter. Visiting Engine 98’s quarters was a great experience for me. The firefighters that I talked with were very friendly and accommodating to us visiting. They both encouraged me to pursue my dream/goal of becoming a firefighter, and they told to apply for CFD. As you can see from the above picture, they also let us into the engine, and there’s something truly appealing about being in there…especially in the lieutenant’s seat.

Shortly after we left their house, they responded to a call. I got a huge thrill out of that and fought the urge to go with them.

Even though I walked 6.5 miles yesterday, only my quads are sore so I did run today. As mentioned briefly above, I ran 2 miles and was trying for an easy pace. That easy pace ended up being 8:56 min/miles. I may indeed be getting faster after all.

Oh! Two  more things! I also officially signed up for a race on July 26th in a nearby town. I’ll be doing the Sugar Grove Corn Boil 5k which seems like a good course to try to PR IF the weather will cooperate. It’s a double loop course which is quite different than the other 5k courses I have done. I feel like there’s a strong possibility that it will help me judge my pacing better for the last half of the race.

And finally, after being in Chicago yesterday, I really want to run a race in Chicago. I just have to pick the right one for me so I can get into the city and not just in the Chicago suburbs for my road racing.

Long Runs

I mentioned in a previous post that I am training to do a 10k in September. I formatted a weekly schedule to slowly increase my mileage, and I made Saturdays my long run days. I mostly keep to my schedule, but I do sometimes switch my days around which I think is fine…as long as I still get the miles in.

Last week, I went out intending to run 3 miles and ended up running 4.4 miles instead because I felt like I could go farther. Today’s long run was scheduled for 4 miles. I knew that I could do 4 miles because after all, I had done more than that previously.

However, the moment I started running I knew that it would not be easy. I immediately struggled. My breathing felt very off, and when I first started, I couldn’t see myself finishing 1 mile, let alone 4.

I decided to run along a paved trail today and include an excursion off the main trail onto a neighborhood trail. I had no idea where I was going, and I think that actually helped me fall into my groove. When I got back and looked at my GPS data, I didn’t even get that far into that neighborhood, and in the future I want to explore more. 

Once I felt more into a groove, I headed back onto the main paved trail, and I headed towards another town. Yes, I ran to another town. Granted, the place where I was running is very close to the border between two towns, but it just felt really cool to say that I ran to another town. 

Along the path, I began to feel a slight pressure in my knee which I really didn’t like. I shook out my knee while running and hoped for the best. (This sounds really stupid, but I have been able to relieve pressure that way a lot of times before and continue on with no problems.) 

This path crosses over a major highway, and the incline to the bridge began to really get to me. I wanted to slow down to a walk for this section, but I promised myself that I would get to do that on the way back. I continued on until I figured out via GPS mileage that I could turn around.

On the way back, I was still feeling pressure in my knee. I got to the bridge, and this time, while I felt like running, I knew I needed to walk. I walked to the middle of the bridge, and then I began running again. Very thankfully, this loosened up my knee, and as I ran, I felt no pressure or pain. 

I finished without walking again, and I looked at my time. It was a pace of 10:24 min/mile which felt very eh for me. I have to keep reminding myself that with my long runs, my goal is distance and (nearly) continuous running, not speed. Speed will come later. 

Overall, it was not a bad run. Oh, and I definitely ran a little faster at the end because I really thought that I needed to go to the bathroom. Nothing quite like that to get you to run faster. 😉

Color Vibe Review

I completely forgot to blog about this!

The Color Vibe Run takes place in multiple cities throughout the U.S. each year. Last year, it came to Aurora for the first time. The run took place right after the 4th of July and was quite popular. The race started at 9 am, and it took quite the interesting route. Because of the route it took, one of the main bridges was shut down for literally hours, and overall the event caused a bit of a traffic headache.

This year, however, several changes were made. The event took place in June, used a newly designated downtown Aurora 5k route, and started at 7:50 am.

Each time that Color Vibe goes to a city, they pick a local non-profit to partner with. What most people don’t realize is how only a small percentage of the proceeds go to that non-profit and what that non-profit is responsible for on race day. The local non-profit is one that I have worked summer camps for in the past and see the work that they do in the community throughout the year. They desperately needed volunteers so I agreed to help with the condition that I helped at water stations.

Having color thrown at me while I run did not sound like my type of fun at all, and I knew as well that I would not enjoy being one of the people who throws color at people. I signed up through the non-profit to work at a water station.

I will say this. I have actually run a 5k race that was put on by this non-profit, and that seemed to run seamlessly. This, however, was almost a nightmare for me.

They instructed volunteers to arrive to help at 7:30 am. This was mistake #1. If the event starts at 7:50 am, please tell your volunteers to arrive earlier than 20 minutes before the run. Once I got there, I found where the volunteer check-in was and got the shirt they wanted me to wear. Seriously, this shirt is way more awesome than most of the race shirts I have gotten from the races I’ve run or climbed.

From there, I quickly learned that there had been very little communication between the race organizers who had solicited their own volunteers and the non-profit. Suddenly, all the organization that the non-profit had done to place the right number of volunteers into the right spots flew out the window. I finally asked someone about a water station, got two different answers, and then was finally told that volunteers had already been placed there.

I was not at all happy in that moment. I signed up for a water station, the non-profit had guaranteed me a spot there, and now it was gone. 

I was asked if I could help out with registration instead. Because I try to be a cheerful volunteer, I agreed, but I quickly realized that I didn’t know how they wanted me to handle color packet distribution. Very quickly, I got told I was doing it all wrong (thanks for the instructions), and I continued to be very grumpy inside while trying to be happy outside. 

Thankfully, I did get pulled to do the final water station at the end of the run. It was very interesting then to see all the different people who were doing the event. It attracted both serious runners and the most casual walkers. The finish line was extremely crowded, and the MC had to keep telling people to open up the finish line so people could get water. 

Also, in case you ran this and really wanted to know…you did not actually run a 5k. The race organizers wanted the event to finish immediately at the park so they took off the final running loop of the official USATF certified 5k route. 

Anyway, the people who ran seemed to have a great time. Surprisingly, it wrapped up pretty quickly. It was all over by 10 am lasting just over 2 hours when last year’s had gone on for maybe 5 hours. The atmosphere felt very off. I did not run or volunteer in last year’s event, but I was in the downtown area while it was going on. Last year just seemed more joyous and festive even in the pictures. 

My final assessment of this race: I am very glad that I did not pay to run this. I wouldn’t have enjoyed running it at all. Also, if you are a race organizer partnering with a local non-profit, make sure you actually communicate effectively across organizations especially ON the day of the race. Despite my grumpiness, I am glad that I got to help out this non-profit so that they could receive some proceeds from the race organizers. Those proceeds help children get new school supplies when their parents cannot afford to buy them.

Summer Running

First of all, this is my first post since I’ve been added to the Chicago Running Bloggers blogroll! Woot! I really enjoy reading race reports and about other people’s training so I decided to write about it myself. I hope I’m doing okay!

Yesterday was July 1st which means that half a year is already over. In the first half of the year, I completed 191 miles which is pretty good for still in my first year of running. Additionally, in January, February, and part of March, my training was focused more extensively on training for the Presidential Tower Stair Climb. There’s nothing quite like the thought of climbing 180 flights of stairs to kick training into overdrive.

Anyway, summer running is going well. I am taking some time off from races, but I may do one at the end of this month. It’s in Sugar Grove, extremely close to my house, and it’s only $20. The idea of racing honestly exhilarates me for whatever reason.

This summer, I am working on increasing my distance and on increasing my speed. I am working my way up to a 10k distance which at times seems very impossible. I am following a modified Hal Higdon plan to get to my 10k distance. Last week, I ran 4.4 miles in one go which was the longest distance I’ve ever run.

I started running last summer, and last summer, I handled the heat quite well. This summer, however, I am really struggling with running in the heat. I still have to learn how to slow down appropriately so my body can handle the heat as well as the stress I put on it. Most of my runs take place early evening outside, but I have had to do a few indoor track runs due to time of the day I could run and the heat. 

My first 10k is on September 13 in Aurora. It’s a small race, but I am hoping that it’s well run and a good opportunity for my first time. The next week, I’m running the Brookfield Zoo Run Run 5k. It was a race that I kept thinking about and really wanting to do so I decided to go for it before the price increased. After that, I may do another 5k or two before focusing again primarily on my winter sport…stair climbing.