Halloween Pumpkin Fun Run

Some of my running friends and I headed to the Fleet Feet running store in Annapolis for their Halloween Pumpkin 5k Fun Run. The store hides 3 pumpkins along the race route and your supposed to look for them while you run. I think they gave out special prizes for those who found them - none of us were able to find one.
This was a great little run through the city of Annapolis at night time. I had a blast. I got to run with my friend Tabitha (one of her first real runs since having Oriana earlier this year). I went as Little Red Running Hood and Tabitha was Bat Woman.

My good running friends Heather and Michele were also there. We did manage to snag a group shot before the run.

I think we completed the run in about 38 minutes (that's what my dailymile tracker says anyway - I really need to get better at writing these up after I finish a run and not a couple months later). I enjoy fun runs! You're surrounded by other runners with no pressure to do your best - just get out there and have fun running.

Grace Pointe 5k

This may very well be the only blog post I've ever done (and probably ever will do) without any photos. I don't know why, but I do not have ANY photos from the Grace Pointe for Missions Trail 5k that I ran with my running friend Holly. I know I snagged one of her before the run, but I don't know where that one is either. The race was hosted by a the church she used to attend and it was run entirely on their property - it was mostly on grass and through trees. It was quite frankly, horrible. We kept falling and stumbling and we just weren't ready for that type of race. I don't even remember our time anymore, in fact, I don't even think I took my Garmin. They had every kilometer marked and it was really throwing us off. I remember saying there is no way that's 2 miles already, we were a bit slow to figure out it wasn't miles - hahaha. I can honestly say this was my very least favorite race of any I have done so far.

Hershey Half Marathon

It's amazing the people we reconnect with in our life. I went to high school with Kelly, but had lost touch with her over the years. Facebook brought us back together again. This was a big year of change for Kelly. She started on her weight loss journey and got hooked on running. Her cousin was supposed to run her first half marathon (the Hershey half) with her, but ended up not being able to, so Kelly asked if any of her friends would want to run it with her. I told her I would - even though I had just ran the DIVA 4 weeks prior, the Ragnar 2 weeks prior, and the Baltimore half the week before - I still said yes. I think I was feeling a tad half-crazy at the time!
Chris wanted to come along, so we got the kids up super early on race morning and drove the 2 hours up to Hershey from Ft Meade. They had a really good time!

I had a pretty great time too!! Kelly told me several times I should leave her, but I told her I didn't drive all the way up there to run the race by myself, I was running it with her. She did amazing!!

Her husband snagged this shot of us!

 

Kelly pulling me in for a hug as we crossed the finish line...

All smiles! The clock behind us wasn't that far off. Kelly's goal was to finish under 3 hours. I got her across the finish line in 2:30. So proud of her!!! She's planning a full for 2014...I really think the running bug has bitten her pretty good.

Our goodie bags had giant cookies, and they were super delicious. This race as a whole was pretty great. Lots of course support, beautiful scenery, free chocolate mini bars around mile 10 or 11...just a ton of fun. I would highly recommend this half marathon to any of my running friends.

We could not leave Hershey without taking the kids through Chocolate World, and of course they loved it!!

Then on the way home they both passed out. I think they had a pretty exciting morning. Chris said they spent the entire time on the grass at the finish just playing and dancing.

 

 

And of course, my race bling (Stephanie is Kelly's cousin). It was a pretty cute medal too!

Baltimore Running Festival - Half Marathon

If you count the Ragnar Relay as a half marathon (which I do since the distance for it was one for me), then the Baltimore was my 5th half marathon. I ran it with my good running friend Heather (she ran my very first half with me) and we ran half of it with my new running friend Laura. It was a nice race. The start was a little confusing, but the rest of the course was great. They say this is a hilly race, but after running the DIVA and then the Ragnar, I really didn't think it was that bad.

I don't have any race photos from this race. I think the camera guy only got me once and it wasn't a very good shot (are race photos ever really that good?!?)
Here we are after the race with all our our goodies! We finished in 2:28 (a minute faster then our first half together).

And showing off my extra bling. My beautiful MD Double medal that I got for completing the Frederick Half and the Baltimore Half in the same year.

 

Arm Warmers: I absolutely loved my arm warmers for the first few times that I wore them, and now I'm not so sure. The last two races I wore them in they have chaffed me right up at my underarms. If I race in them again I need to remember to put some type of body glide on it to see if it helps.

Half Marathons: My absolute favorite race distance is the half. It's a great distance for me. My biggest fear is that I won't enjoy it when I have to run it solo. I've made so many wonderful running friends in MD and have loved running with all of them. It's scary to be moving to FL and having to start all over again. 

** I still have NO plans for signing up for a marathon. That is just such a huge jump in miles and time commitment. It will take some serious persuasion powers to get me to run that far especially just for fun or a medal. HA! **

DC Ragnar Relay

I completed the DC Ragnar Relay on a whim. Someone posted in the Team RWB group that they needed an extra runner. I thought, why not. It was an AMAZING experience!! With the right people it's so much fun. I was in a van with a really good group of people (I hadn't met any of them before catching a ride to the campsite Friday night).
Our team name was, Rolling Hills My A$$. We were a team of 12 (6 in each van). I was in Van #1, runner #5. Rachel was runner #1, Monica was #2, Dan was #3, Angela #4, me, and then Brandon was our 6th runner. Most of them were friends from work (they worked with the Navy and some of them were Navy which is how they found me on Team RWB). A few of them have done this race several times so they had a lot of the necessities down - like getting these cabins the night before it started (it was about a 2.5 hour drive from DC). The cabins were great!

 This van was going to be my home for the next two days...

 Inside of the cabins...

 My view when I woke up in the morning...

It was beautiful at the start of the race...it was right along the lake. I wished I had leg one because they got to run 4 miles around it. So pretty and peaceful!

 

Rachel getting ready to start her leg!

And they are off!

 Monica getting ready to roll...

 Still smiling even after her hills...

 Dan's turn. He had the toughest leg of the entire race which earned him a fancy belt buckle. Leg 3, 7.8 very hard miles (1,194 ft elevation gain!! He literally ran up a mountain).

 

Angela and Brandon waiting for Dan to get to the top (about his half way point)

 Here he comes...

 and there he goes...

 Angela waiting on Dan...

 Exchange point

Waiting for Angela. I was super nervous. Everyone had been running super fast and really well - I didn't want to let anyone down. I told them my pace was 10:30 so I felt a lot of pressure to do better then that...

 And I'm off...

 

 

Climbing my hill. It was a beast. Leg 5, 4.1 very hard miles. Seriously steep climb followed by a very curvy downhill on a sandy road. My legs felt like they were out of control when I was going down.

Leg 5 Overview: 4.1 miles, 42 minutes. Mile 1: 8:46, Mile 2: 11:24, Mile 3: 13:10, Mile 4: 8:39. Average: 10:14 pace. 
They were playing with my camera while I was running - Angela marking off her kills. If you pass another runner on your leg it's called a "kill."

 I didn't get any exchange photos with Brandon, so here he is running towards the exchange with Van #2.

Van #2 is off, and now we have a nice little break.

We drove to the next exchange point (which was an elementary school) and had dinner and just tried to relax. Our next run was supposed to be a few hours away, and would start in the middle of the night. I had never ran at night before, so I wasn't sure what to expect - we wore LOTS of reflective gear!!

 Rachel getting ready to roll...

 Monica was ready to roll.

Dan eagerly waiting his turn.

And Angela was ready to go for her nightly run.

No night time shots of myself or Brandon. My leg was #17, 7.3 hard miles. I believe the reason it was hard was because I ran it around 1am. It was a nice course. I tried really, REALLY hard not to talk myself into being scared. It was in the countryside and NO ONE was around me. I had maybe 2 runners pass me and that's all I saw on my entire run. It was peaceful, in an eerie kind of way.
Leg #17 Overview: 7.3 miles, 1:15. Average: 10:16 pace.
After our night run we went to the next exchange point and waited for Van #2. This is where we all pretty much zonked out. I think I got a nice 3-4 hour cat nap. It was crazy busy at this exchange area. I was hoping that would mean we'd see a lot more runners on the next legs.
Killing time waiting for the last runner of Van #2...

 

Why yes, Brandon is holding a Starbuck's!

 

The engaged couple! Monica was in Van #1 and Eric was in Van #2. They were the ones that organized the whole group. Two super nice people. Van #2 was short a runner so they had to run some extra miles (I think Eric ran most of them).

And here comes Vic (he's a CMC in the Navy - really nice guy). He got lost and the guys had to go and get him. Rachel wasn't feeling so great so we had to switch up the runners in our van. Monica took her spot and then Brandon did leg #26 and #30.

 Brandon's turn...

 Dan getting ready for his last run...

 Angela heading off on her last leg...

Coming in from my last leg. Leg #29, 3.7 easy miles. There was nothing 'easy' about those miles. I was beyond exhausted. It was the hardest 3.7 miles I have ever ran. I was so happy to be done!!

My exchange photo - hahahaha

Leg #29 Overview: 3.7 miles, 38 minutes. Mile 1: 8:25, Mile 2: 10:01, Mile 3: 11:59, Mile 4: 8:19. Average pace: 10:16.
And we are done with our legs. Nothing left to do now but head to the finish line to wait for van #2 to get this thing done!

Heading to the finish line...it's safe to say we were pretty tired.

 

 

How did we finish? As a group of course. I'm in there, I'm just in the very back with my kids who wanted to finish with me!

 

Oh yea, it was hard to stand up - hahahaha

I thought the Ragnar race was a ton of fun and I would definitely do one again if I had the opportunity to. The people you run it with really make the experience good or bad. I had a pretty great group. My only complaint was the feeling to do better with every run. I was constantly worried that I wasn't running fast enough, that I didn't have any kills, and that I would let the whole team down. I told them my average pace was 10:30, and in the end I had completed 15.1 miles at a 10:15 pace. I was pretty proud of myself!! It was definitely one of my favorite races of the year.