I have run 5 races since the last RR I did (for my first half marathon on 10/13). I don’t know why I didn’t do a RR for any of them….I wasn’t over the moon about my finishing time for any of them, truth be told, have been busy at work, ect. But here I am not allowed to work for a few days (if you don’t know why from the Dailies threads, it is at the end of this 5-for-1 RR), so I decided to let you guys know what I’ve been up to this fall race season.

First up was the Marine Corps 10K on October 27^th in Washington, DC. It was part of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. I stayed with my boyfriend in Maryland, about 30-45 minutes outside of DC. The race started in DC proper and ended in Arlington, VA. My boyfriend drove me to the start and parked there, then took the metro to where I finished, and we took the metro back to the car after the race. Temperatures were in the high 30s just before the start and low 40s by the finish, which is a good racing temperature for me. I had been attempting a sub-60 10K for some time and something always seems to happen to make me fall short, and *spoiler alert* this day was no exception.

First off, I will say that this race is a really neat race to do but they have some major organizational problems. Packet pickup the day before involved standing in line for TWO HOURS just to get your bib, and then there was another line to get into the expo where the race shirt was…..and we said screw it and I never got my shirt or got to visit the expo because it likely would have been just as long. And then I got to the race an hour before race time, which is pretty far in advance for already having my bib, and I got right in line for the porta potties and I missed the start of the race because I was still in line when the gun went off. I was almost at the front of the line, the race was chip timed and with 10,000 people I could see many people still hadn’t crossed so it wasn’t a big deal but OH MY GOD an hour and 10 minutes to wait for the porta potties?!

Anyhoo…. In my rushing to the start line almost 10 minutes after the gun, I had forgotten to have my Garmin start to locate me. It wouldn’t locate by the time I crossed so I quick flipped it into timer mode. So I had to rely on checking my elapsed time at mile markers (which we all know are never accurate) and trying to do math (not a strong suit of mine even not while running), so I only ever had a general idea of my pace. The race was really congested, I was always trying to get around people and often had to do a lot of zip zagging. There were bottlenecks and major slowdowns while going through aid stations. And, to cap it off, as I was approaching the finish (and saw 59:XX on my watch) suddenly the chase vehicle for the handcyclists came through and forced all 10K finishers all the way to the left and the winning handcyclist came through. So I had to WAIT IN LINE to cross the finish line, while watching my watch click past 60 minutes. Time was 1:00:13. GRRRR. Which meant that I actually did run sub-60 pace, and without help from the Garmin to pace myself, really only running by feel, which is great, but MAN coming that close to my goal and missing it kind sucked. I enjoyed the race all the same though.

Before:

During:

Here you can see the clusterf*ck at the finish line....we are waiting to cross the finish line here:

After:

Next up was the CityTri Prospect Park Fall Duathalon and Run 10K on November 10^th in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. This race was very poorly organized. The race organization took on too much I think. There was 4 different distance duathalons and 2 different distance running races (5K and 10K) all going on at the same time. I think this organization was not prepared to handle that. They kept changing the start time and packet pickup time and different sources stated different times (the Prospect Park website, CityTri’s facebook page, and the active.com event page at one time had 3 different start times). And then I got an email that they needed to change the distance of the 5K to 3.35 miles even though it was still called a 5K and the 10K to 6.7 miles and still call it a 10K because they couldn’t handle of having different start and finish lines for all the races, and a full loop of the park was 3.35 miles. So I was a little annoyed going into the race. And they ran out of T-shirts. Oh well, I have a lot of cotton race shirts. Temperatures were in the mid 40s. Also good racing weather for me. My boyfriend was visiting that weekend, and he drove me to the park with his doggie, saw me start, then took his doggie to offleash doggie playtime in the park, then saw me finish. He has been a champ lately with my races. I decided just to run the best race I could and see what happens. I ended up maintaining about a 9:35-9:40 pace without killing myself and hit 6.2 on my Garmin in 59:57. But since the course was a over a half mile long (was actually closer to 6.8 on my Garmin) my finish time was 1:04:03. BUT it was good enough for 3^rd place in my AG out of 14, 30th overall out of 75. First time placing in my AG! But….I received no award. Oh well.

Before:

After:

Next up was the Morris Township Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving (November 28^th) in Morris Township, NJ. Last year this was my 2^nd race ever. My first 5K was on October 13^th last year and I ran a 37:07. At this Turkey Trot last year I set a huge PR at the time at a 33:33. I was anxious to see how I could do this year. My current 5K PR is 28:16 and I was hoping to set a new one at this Turkey Trot, and had an A goal of 27:07, because I would LOVE to have taken off a full 10 minutes off my 5K time in just over a year. The race was in Morris Township, NJ, about 40 minutes from where my parents live in NJ where I would be having Thanksgiving dinner. I drove to my parents’ house the night before. My dad drove me to the race in the morning, as he did last year, this time brought their puppy Mia. This year he was hoping to run it with me, as he began running in the spring and has run 2 5Ks and a 10K with me between June and September. Unfortunately he pulled a calf and a hamstring during the 10K in September, and then stepped on a nail that badly wounded his foot in October, so all of those injuries combined has kept him from running since September . The race was COLD…. 28 degrees, 22 mile per hour winds, and a “feels like” temperature of 16 degrees. I did a decent warm-up wearing a winter coat and sweat pants over my race outfit before handing them over to my dad to hold just before I started, but my legs just felt frozen during the race and the air hurt my lungs. I ran as hard as I could, but it just wasn’t enough for a PR. I ended up with a 29:27. Not even close to a PR...meh.

Before:

After:

Then there was the Keep Calm and Fight On 5K on November 30^th in Columbia, NJ. It was only 2 days after the Turkey Trot, but this race was important to my Aunt and Uncle, so I ran it for them. My Uncle is a cancer survivor, and my aunt and uncle are VERY active in their local chapter of American Cancer Society. This was the first year their chapter of ACS was putting on a 5K fundraiser. Knowing I run, my Aunt and Uncle asked me to run this race and I of course complied. Originally my dad, and aunt and uncle were all planning on running it. My Aunt was morbidly obese but recently has made some big lifestyle changes and has been eating well and exercising. She walks 3 miles per day, but cannot yet walk 3 consecutively, she usually does a mile and a half in the morning and a mile and a half in the afternoon and just couldn’t get ready in time to walk the 5K. My uncle began a run/walk program on the treadmill but had some health issues last month that landed him in the hospital and his training had to stop. And, you already know about my dad. So, the 3 of them volunteered at the race and I ran. This race was also COLD, 24 with a “feels like” temp of 16. Really tiny race only about 30 participants I believe. I had no time goals for the race, I just ran as fast as I could. I ended up with a 29:03. I was very happy with that time considering I had ran a race just 2 days before. After the race we went to brunch with the RD, his wife, my aunt and uncle, and a few of their other ACS friends who had help organize and had volunteered at the race.

Before:

During:

After:

With my dad, aunt and uncle:

Last was the Frozen Bonsai Half Marathon on December 8^th in Central Park. This race was my 2^nd half marathon. I had never planned to race it, it was just supposed to be a training run. My training plan called for a 12 mile run on that day, so I decided if I needed to run 12 I’d rather do a fairly inexpensive local half marathon. Race temperature was 30 with a “feels like” of 24 and snow predicted, but not til after the race. I kept it easy the whole race, but felt amazing. I never felt tired the whole race, I had a ton of energy, never felt the need for a walk break (I walked briefly to take water/GU just to avoid choking but that is it). I felt happy and strong the whole race. It was rather hilly but the hills didn’t feel hard because I was letting myself run them easy. I actually never wanted the race to end I was having a great time. I finished in 2:32:13. Which is only 10 and a half minutes slower than my first half marathon on October 13^th, and I was running that one at race effort and this one at easy effort. I also got to see bluerun, who was volunteering on the course.

Before:

During:

After:

Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning with a pain in my foot so bad I couldn’t walk, and went to the podiatrist who diagnosed me with a probably stress fracture so running is done for me for awhile.

Kristin - thank you for writing these RRs. You'll be back running in no time, and as cold as New York is in the winter, it's a good time to be off.

I had no idea the Marine Corps race organization was that bad.  Good job on breaking an hour, even if it wasn't official.  Those are not happy finisher faces.  The Prospect Park one sounds almost as bad, but at least your weren't stuck in line -- you got to run.  It's great that your aunt, uncle and father have started to exercise, though I'm sorry your dad has had to deal with so many injuries.  Is your boyfriend at all interested in running?  Will your aunt and uncle's chapter continue to sponsor races, with such a low turnout?  30 people wouldn't cover costs, I expect.

Congrats on all the races!

Sorry the Marine Corps 10k was so poorly organized. You would have totally finished sub-60 if it weren't for the traffic jam at the end. I'm sure you will get it next time!

I was getting really pumped reading through your reports (I'm feeling a bit race deprived) until you side swiped us with the stress fracture news. Hopefully you will heal quickly and be able to do some cross-training in the meantime.

Thank you guys. Sorry about the stress fracture blind side lol.....maybe I should have led with that? But that is kind of how it happened IRL....never saw it coming. Never a twinge of pain in that foot.

Ginny my boyfriend has really bad knees from lots of injuries playing high school soccer and has a hard time running. He will take his dog on jogs occasionally but isn't really interested in doing more. He keeps trying to start biking regularly but is having trouble committing to it. As for the race sponsored by my aunt and uncle's chapter of ACS, they said they want to do it earlier next year. They think the frigid weather didn't help participation.

Dang it! I know that injury has to be more than annoying for you. Actually, it pisses me off as well! I always like your RRs because you always seem to have fun. I hope you heal up quickly and get back at it when you are ready.   As usual, great pictures and outfits. 

You have turned into a running machine, haha. Please get well soon. Congrats on all of your accomplishments.

Thank you everyone! You know I love my SparkleSkirts and brightly colored race outfits

Jamezilla- thank you for the stress fracture information. I am taking my soft cast off this afternoon, so I will try the tests. Not the hop test though..... I'm not supposed to be putting any weight on it and I KNOW it would hurt if I hopped on it cuz I can't even step on it without excruciating pain.

Most excellent and fun race reports!  You really find the fun in this, and that is remarkably inspiring.