Reindeer Run – Race Recap

This past Saturday I ran the Reindeer Run 5K. I originally was going to go it alone, but as luck would have it, I ran into a friend just as the race started. Christine and I met through mutual friends many an event ago. I was so glad to run into her because we pretty much run the same race pace, so it was nice to have a buddy to keep me moving along.

Here’s our official time {I couldn’t find hers on the website, but we finished within seconds of each other}:

Now I was much happier with this race result chip time…I feel like it was much more accurate than my chip times have been in past races. Here are my RunKeeper stats for comparison. Again, my time started a tad earlier than when I first crossed the start line:

After the race was a blast. We enjoyed free post-race beers at the Southend Brewery and were just being goofy girls dancing to the live band playing. It felt good to get out and let loose – it has been a while for me!

I was definitely sore with a headache later in the day, but it was worth it.

Turkey Day Run: Race Recap

Ok…so I have to officially say I hate the chip timing system. Hate.

I feel like my time is never logged right in the end. {Let’s not forget last month’s Race for the Cure when my time chip apparently didn’t even log my actual!}

So let’s hash this out…the race officially started at 9am. I was in the second wave which started at 9:03. So the clock had been running 3 minutes before I was able to start. When I hit the end of the race, I remember looking up at the time and seeing 34:54…then of course, due to bottlenecking, was unable to get my timer under the finish line until sometime after 35 min, apparently 35:09, because my time on the website says this:

BUT, if I go to my RunKeeper app, I show that I ran FURTHER than 3.1 miles {not by much} and know that my app had been running for at least two minutes before I actually started moving:

I suppose this chip time was close, but due to the bottlenecking at the start and at the end of the race, I’d estimate my actual time to be right at about 30:30 – 31:00 minutes. So pretty much the same as last month’s Race for the Cure. My next run is the Reindeer Run, hopefully I can really push it then! I’d so love to see a time UNDER 30 minutes.

Going to trudge through with my half marathon training this week!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am likely off running in our local Turkey Day 5K as you’re reading this. I look forward to this 5K every year. It is one of my favorites. The weather is usually ideal for running and it’s just a fun event afterward with the free beer in the park and all. {Hey, I can be a little bad, right?} Is there a Thanksgiving race in your town?

I’d like to take a moment to be thankful for my health. Not everyone out there is able to even run a race. The fact that I can breathe easy, complete tasks without ailment and am disease-free is a very big blessing. I thank God for the ability to do the things I want to do…that my body is strong and able…I try never to take that for granted…that is why fitness is very important to me.

I have a favorite quote that I use at the bottom of my work email signature…and I believe it is very fitting for today…

Steve Prefontaine was a great American runner that lost his life in a car accident at the young age of 24 – in his prime. He never once wasted his God-given ability in the years he had. My advice to you always with fitness is to take today and take it now. Do your absolute best with the time you have.

We’ve not a lot planned today as far as Thanksgiving dinner goes – my family is 3,000 miles away and Jake’s family left town to visit his dad’s side in Illinois. It is actually also our 5th wedding anniversary today, so we plan on cooking up a few smaller portions of our favorite Thanksgiving foods and having a picnic at Breach Inlet, Sullivan’s Island where we were married. The boys in tow too, of course. {And hey, less Thanksgiving calories for me this year!}

Hope you are enjoying this holiday with loved ones. xoxo.

Color Me Rad 5K

I am super-duper excited right now.

I just found out the my local city – Charleston, SC – is finally getting a Color Me Rad 5K!

via

I have been dying to participate in one of these races. I mean, how insanely fun and awesome does this look?

via

The race is going to be on 3.23.13. Consider me registered.

SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!

Check out their website to see if they have one near you! Another race option that is the exact same as this is The Color Run. Check out their website too.

Race For The Cure – Recap

This past Saturday, I participated in Race for the Cure. It had been a while since I had run a 5K race, I believe the last one was for St. Patty’s Day and then a couple weeks after that I did the Cooper River Bridge 10K Run. However, I’ve been training to run a half marathon that is coming up in January, so I thankfully haven’t been inactive as far as running goes. I ran 7 5Ks last year and Race for the Cure is always one I participate in.

I set out with the goal to beat my best 5K time to date. It’s nothing extraordinary, but that time was 33 minutes and some change. Well, I am proud to say that I beat that time by at least 2 minutes. However, when I went to check the final race results on the website, I was very displeased to see this:

1070

5000

MORGAN SMITH

0:33:07

0:33:07

10:41

29

F

CHAS

SC

The highlighted time is supposed to be my actual chip time. The time to the left of that is the time the clock read when I crossed the finish line, otherwise known as the gun time. How could my time be EXACTLY the same when I didn’t start the race at the start line? Thankfully, I did keep my own record with my RunKeeper app on my iPhone:

Based on the app, I ran a total of 3.38 miles in 33:50. So there’s definitely a couple minutes to be shaved off that to get my total time for 3.1 miles. {I have already emailed the chip timer company…haha!} I averaged a 10:02 minute mile in the end on my RunKeeper, so the actual chip time should be around 31 minutes. I was so proud of myself…there were times after the first mile and a half that I wanted to walk, but I didn’t. I pushed through.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures during the race…and I also ran this race solo. I always love to get friends involved when I can, but some of my friends are not comfortable running races. Plus, you really have to find someone that runs about the same pace you do, which can prove difficult at times.

I did get some pics of myself being a dork in the bathroom mirror pre-race…I like to go with the pink theme for Race for the Cure:

So the next 5K on the list is the Turkey Day Run in downtown Charleston. November 11th is World Run Day…hoping to log some good miles for that as well. I will still be pressing on with my half marathon training, so I hope to definitely beat this 5K time on Thanksgiving {also my 5th wedding anniversary!}…maybe even break into the 20s? I can’t believe the turn for the better my running has taken since I started really putting my mind to training for something bigger than I’ve ever done…it’s amazing to know you really can do what you put your mind to.

Have you done any race events lately?

Race for the Cure

I’ve got my first 5K since, OMG, I think since I ran the Cooper River Bridge 10K Run in the spring, tomorrow. Wow, it’s been too long since I’ve participated in a race event! There’s been a lot going on and a lot of weekends I’ve had to work…but I’ve got plenty of these race events planned over the next few months!

So tomorrow is the big Race for the Cure event on Daniel Island. I love this race and participate every year. Who doesn’t love pink?

Is there a Race for the Cure event in your locale? Do you participate?

This year I am running for my aunt, who found out she had breast cancer early last year. She almost immediately went in for a mastectomy. They scanned her afterward and found no cancer, but suggested she do chemotherapy anyway just to be sure that it was all gone. She lost her hair…I saw her for the first time since 2007 in August and she was doing her last treatment. She’s been doing well…and has returned to work for the FBI. I pray that she stays well and never battles cancer again.

From Left: My Grandma, My Mom, Me, My Aunt Diane {August 2012}

I will be posting my race stats soon…my goal is a 30 min 5K…and I know I can push through without walking any of it because I ran that entire 10K for my first ever one last spring. xoxo