B&O Express 10k

This morning I ran the local 10k, the B&O Express 10k and 5k. it's an annual event that raises money to fund the building of a rail trail through our county. The trail is only 3 miles from my house so I've run on it many times and am really, really looking forward to when they can extend it.
I just ran a HM on Saturday and haven't been doing speedwork this summer. I wasn't expecting much from this race but I did, of course, want to do my best. It's been very hot this week as well so was just wanting to finish under 55 mins.
This is a newer race but the RD sent an email out saying there were over 200 runners preregistered. I figured any chance of an AG placement was out the window with a larger field.
Woke up to 60* temps and overcast skies. The start/finish was at a hospital a mile from our house. DH and I got our bibs and used the facilities. The 10k started at 8:00 and the 5k 10 mins after so we lined up and waited for the start. I checked out the crowd and looked like 2 fast girls up front and a several average looking girls around me. After the usual sponsor welcome and race info, we were off! Dh and I ran together out of the parking lot to the main road (we both run this road at least once a week so it was kinda neat to run it in a race). He gave me a quick slap on the a$$ and wished me good luck as he ran ahead.

The cooler weather feels amazing and I'm feeling equally amazing as I settle into a pace and pass some of the slower runners. Pass up the first water stop and hit mile 1 in 8:29. Soon we turn onto the Rail Trail and I settle in right behind two men who were running a steady 8:05 pace. I decide to pace behind them and see how long I can hold this. Mile 2 goes by in 8:22.

Mile 3 starts off as we exit the trail and into a neighborhood. They had to re-route us due to the National Dragster race being rescheduled this weekend due to being rained out last weekend. So instead of a nice, straight road, we're doing loops around a boring neighborhood. I pass up the men in here but they are right on my tail. Skip the water stop. 8:03 for this mile.
I expected to start feeling pretty crappy by this time but mile 4 went by really well too. I must have lost some focus because my time for mile 4 was 8:22.

We leave the neighborhood and run alittle bit before turning and joining the 5k runners. The road gets more crowded as the 5kers are running in small groups and at a slower pace. One of the men who I had been running behind starts matching me stride for stride. I was not going to be passed by him so this mile went by pretty fast - 8:07.

The guy stays with me and I stay with him so the next mile hurts some but not terrible. There were a few little rolling hills (hills in the Central Indiana flat-as-a-pancake sense) but I push up them without issue. Skip the last water stop (oh how I love cooler weather!) and turn into the hospital for the last part. I'm still running with the guy and we're passing 5kers left and right. I can't tell if there are any 10k women in front of me but I hadn't seen any since mile 2 so I figured that I couldn't pass any now anyways. I see DH at mile 6 and he yells something about get moving. Mile 6 was 8:09.
Another turn in the parking lot and theres the finish line. I give it a kick and so does my shadow-guy. We cross the finish at the exact as time. I check my watch and it says 50:02! A PR by 3 minutes!!

DH and I walk around as I cool down. We decide to stick around for awards, just in case. DH said he only noticed a few other women finish before me.
The awards start and I won my AG! I was 1st out of 10, 5/33 females, 38/94 overall, 8:05 pace.

I got a nice medal in the shape of a train and a $15 gift card to the LRS. Oh and a huge smile.
DH had a great race too, he finished 15th over all, 5th in his AG. Good morning for our house!

Indy Women's Half Marathon

Saturday was the 2nd Indy Women's HM, held in Indianapolis, my city. I was running the half while my 8 yo DD was running the 5k. She won her AG last year and was really hoping to repeat.  My mom was also run/walking the 5k.

Last year, it was so hot that they blackflagged the race at the 3 hour mark. This year, we had the remenants of Issac looming over us. Here's the Weather.com snapshot on race morning at 5:20am.


I warned DD that she's probably be running in the rain but that it wouldn't hurt her (DH was planning on running with her as well just so she wasn't by herself). I didn't care about the rain and was just hoping that we wouldn't have thunderstorms. Temp was 75* and humidity was high with the storm rolling in.

Race starts on time at 7:00. I don't have any plans to PR at this race as I haven't been training for a PR but I was hoping to finish by 1:55 and no later then 2:00. I set my Garmin pace keeper at 9:00.

Mile 1-3 8:39, 8:35, 8:43 - Started up close to the front, knowing this was going to be a popular race for first timers. Even with starting 10 feet from the start line, I had to dodge slow movers. Got settled into my pace and really tried to just enjoy running through downtown Indianapolis in the pre-dawn hours. Skipped the first water stop and walked quickly through the next one.

Mile 3-6 8:38, 8:31, 8:33 - Felt pretty good, course was still crowded but moving well. But the humidity was kicking in for me. I decided to walk the water stops from here on out, knowing they would be every mile or so. Ha. I'm running and see the neon yellow shirts of volunteers and get excited about water only to see that they have water, a table but no cups. Well, that means I'm going to at least mile 7 without water after getting water at mile 5. I start to get discouraged but decide to just keep going.

Miles 7-9 8:55, 8:42, 8:47 - Yea - water stop! And I'm not the only one who was happy to see it, nearly everyone stops and walks for a few steps here. The water was cold too so now I'm feeling refreshed. I check my watch and figure that DD is finishing her 5k by now and I'm sending her good thoughts. A guy driving a Uhaul ignores the orange cones and pulls out into our lane, about 10 feet in front of me. I pound on his window and yell "Closed road, dumba$$".

Mile 10-12 8:46, 8:31, 8:54 - Downtown buildings are now in sight. I'm thankful for the overcast weather but wishing it would just rain as the humidity was nasty. I want to be done. I'm running now on roads that I've run on for nearly every race I've done in Indianapolis and distract myself by reading the different races mile markers , start and finish lines that are spray painted on the roads and try to figure out which races they were from. I also start thinking about the post race party and deciding what type of beer I'm gonna get. I see my dad at mile 12 and he grabs a picture of me. I take my time walking through this last water stop. I can see the post race party and just want to be done.
Mile 13, 1/18th - 9:04, 1:35 Like I said, I just wanted to be done and mentally unfocused for a few seconds. I charge to the finish line and cross, happy to be done. Grab my medal, lose my breakfast off to the side (not unusual for me to puke after a sprint to the finish). My dad is there and tells me that DD did well but wasn't sure of her time. DH finds me and tells me that DD finished in 32 mins, a 10 min PR! But finished 3rd and was pretty upset about it. The first place girl for 10 and under finished in 23:20! And the second place girl beat DD by 15 seconds.
I grab a beer from the local brewery, some strawberries and pineapple and a turkey wrap. Turn around and there's DD walking towards me, with a trophy in hand but major tears. She just kept saying that she had wanted to win, that she was upset about losing. I just hugged and hugged her and told her how proud I was of her. We checked the results board and she finished 80th/414 so that helped cheer her up.




Her winnings:



My final finishing time was 1:54:51, just under what I wanted to finish at. I was pretty happy with that since my long runs and speed work have been pretty non-existent this summer. 15th in AG, 90/1414 finishers.
Mom finished in 47 mins and got 4th in her AG!  I hope she decides to push a little more with her training and try for another 5k this fall.
I love this race. I know there is controversy about women only races and "fru-fru" post race parties but there were some fast women there. The winner finished in 1:16 and won $1000. There was $4000 in prize money for the first 10 finishers and extra bonus money if you finished under 1:15. It's a well run race, nice expo, excellent post-race party, beautiful medal. And only $35 ($10 extra for a shirt, long sleeved) during early registration. I'll be back next year!

Eagle Creek Trail Marathon

Eagle Creek Trail Marathon

The EC Trail Marathon is listed in RW’s Trail Magazine as the #1 urban trail marathon.  How lucky am I that I live 15 mins from this wonderful park and do most of my long runs on their roads?   I ran the HM here last year (2:40ish finishing time) and really enjoyed it.  I knew I wanted to push myself to run the full here so I happily signed up after I finished my 3^rd road marathon in April.  After all, I have all summer to get back onto the trails and build up strength, right?  LOL

Summer came and things changed.  Two kids out of school, me working 3 days and one evening a week (last year I was only working one day a week), record breaking temps and a major drought in the Midwest all combined to send me into a major running funk.  My miles dropped, averaging just 30 miles a week and a big part of that average was my 70 mile All-Star week.  My head wasn’t in the game.  I didn’t want to be away from my family for my long runs as I was already missing out on time with them while working.  Most of my runs were early mornings, between 4-6 miles.  Two weeks before the race, my DH and I ran 15 miles with a 10:00 pace so I felt that I could do the full.  There wasn’t a time limit so I put no pressure on myself to hit any specific time goal.  I really just wanted to finish and if I could do that under 6 hours, then I would be happy.   

Race morning and I was up at 5:45.  I was tired, hadn’t slept well.  I ate my oatmeal and packed my drop bag.  Weather was good for August, humid and 74*, cloudy but heating up to low-90’s.  Decided to use my son’s lunch box as my drop bag so it wouldn’t be confused with anyone elses.  I drove to the start/finish area and got my packet.   I knew Christy from BF would be here and my dad (prof photographer) was going to try and get pics of both of us.  I found dad easily and together we found Christy.  The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 and after some brief announcements and the national anthem, we were ready to go.  The full was in two waves so I started towards the middle of the first wave.  Last year, there had been a major bottleneck when the route goes into the single track trail that lasted for the first mile so I wanted to be ahead of any possible bottleneck.   I started off strong and happy. 

The course is split into ½’s.  The first half is single track with a short part on a road, very hilly, roots for steps, holding onto small trees to climb up and get down ravines.  Then you cross the reservoir on a two lane causeway (we had a lane to ourselves) and enter the second half of the park, which is more pedestrian friendly with wide, groomed trails, some chunky gravel as well.  Then you double back to the start line and repeat for the full marathon. 

The first part of the race, miles 1-3.5 were challenging but fun.  10:44, 10:16, 11:52.  Plenty of other runners but everyone was moving well so no bottle neck.  I carried a handheld so I skipped the first 2 aid stations.  There are many, many downed trees/logs to climb or jump over.  These slowed me down because I trip easily so I’m careful.  I made it to the causeway, roughly 3.5 miles, happy and feeling strong.  The causeway is about ¾ of a mile long and flat so I do some passing here as well as was passed by some very fast HMers who started 20 mins after me.    Note to anyone who runs with music – don’t have it so loud that the person in front of you can hear all your songs, it’s really annoying.  My dad gets this cool picture of me in front of the bear sculpture. 

Mile 4-7 11:46, 12:25, 12:14, 10:25  We enter the east side of the park on a single track trail but pass another aid station and the trail opens up to the groomed, wide trail.   Dad snaps a few more pics.  There are stair wells in this area which I walk down.  The leader of the full dashes past me with a wide look in his eyes, that guy was FLYING.  About 10 mins later, another runner came past and asked how far ahead the leader was so I told him about 5 or so minutes.   We enter a man made dam that circles part of the reservoir which has large, gravel chunks as the surface.  I stop here at a picnic table to get a rock out of my shoe and then continue on.  I start running with another lady who was wearing a skirt that I admired and we talked for a minute.  I drop her and continue on to the aid station at mile 7, the ½ way point of the route.  I take my Gu and eat some trail mix here. 

Mile 8-11 10:36, 12:21, 11:31, 13:23.  I started walking just to catch my breath when the lady who I had talked to came up behind me and yelled “Come on, Skirt, get moving!” so I started running and chatting with her.  She’s run several Ultras and really enjoyed running trails.  We ran and talked for the next 2 miles or so.  She dropped me after I slowly climbed up a set of stairs.  I see Christy and her friend coming at me and I give her a “Looking good”.  The trail is much busier now as half marathoners were heading one way and I’m doubling back but it’s wide enough that it’s not a problem.  I see my dad again and let him know that Christy is a few miles behind me so he can get her picture as well.  I get to the aid station and run past it.  Hit the causeway and ran the length of it, passing a few people. 

Mile 12-13.1 – 13:35, 12:06.  I stop at this aid station and the volunteer filled up my water bottle as I drank some Coke and ate a Gu.  I refocused, knowing that the ½ point was just a few miles away but they would be the most difficult of the course.  It was trickier because it was single trail and there were still ½ marathon and ¼ marathon runners/walkers coming at me.   Most of the time, they would move to the side so that helped.   I did move aside for the leader who still looked like he wasn’t even working hard.  Up and down a few serious ravines and I can hear the announcer.  I come out into the field and see my DH and kids cheering for me.  I slow up and tell DH to go to the drop table and I’d talk to him there.  He met me there and filled up my water bottle while I greeted the kids.    I tell him that I’d see him at home and head back out.  HM split time was 2:38 (5 mins faster then last year).

Mile 14-16 15:20, 13:03, 16:38.  This part was much different.  The first mile is not the same as the last mile of the loop so I was completely on my own, no HM or FM around.  Mentally, I relaxed but slowed down too much.  Yes, it’s a challenging area but looking back, I was conservative to a fault.  I knew I was only ½ way so I wanted to take it easy but without other people around, it felt more like a training run instead of a race.  Once I saw people again, my head got back into the game.  The FM leader passes me on his way to the finish (3:30 finishing time!!) Saw Christy again as she was heading to the ½ way point.  I pass a runner who cramped up on the service road but he was being attended too so I keep going.  This is when I notice that my quads were starting to cramp as well but the cramping went away when I got back onto the trail.   I stopped at the aid station for a bite-sized potato and some Heed.  Saw Dad again and he said he had some good pics and was heading home.  He did pass me on the causeway and gave me a nice honk and thumbs up.   The clouds are gone now and the sun is beating down on me, I’m so thankful to be heading back into the woods and shade.

Mile 17-20 16:22, 14:56, 14:30, 14:46.  I’m back on the groomed trails and see all the fast FMers coming back around.  We all give each other “Good job” and “Looking goods”.  I stop at the aid station for some Coke and trail mix.   There is a girl now in front of me that I keep trying to gain on.  We’re both walking and running so I wasn’t gaining much on her.  We reach the gravel dam and she stops at a picnic table that another runner was at and just sat there.  So I pass her and continue on, making a deal with myself to run as far as I can on the flat dam.  I see another runner, a guy in gray, walking slowly a few hundred yards in front of me.  I pass him just before the aid station but I stop to use the restroom and refuel.  The aid station guy fills up my handheld with ice water.  I check my watch and my time at 20 miles is 4:30ish.

Mile 21-23 16:58, 16:06, 17:14  I push forward, walking more than running right now.  I see more FMers coming towards me and we’re all looking pretty tired.  The guy in gray appears again so I make a pack with myself to catch him.  The stairs that I took my time going down were now a painful effort to climb up.  I’m gaining on the Rabbit but he hears me, turns around, sees me and starts running.  That always drives me crazy because I don’t know if he doesn’t want to be passed or doesn’t want to be passed by a girl.  I can pass him but we’re coming to an aid station so I let up.   The aid station worker fills my bottle with ice and I refuel with another potato and Gu.  Grey guy skipped the station.    I see Christy for the last time as she enters that station as I exit it.  I get excited because I can hit my 6:00 hour mark. 

Mile 24-26  14:42, 16:04, 15:43  I hit the cause way and the heat is insane.  It’s at least 90 and sunny.  The sun is reflecting off the water and I’m not a happy camper.  But I see 2 other runners on the road, one of them is my Grey Rabbit who’s walking.  I vow to not only pass him but put some distance on him so I don’t have to see him again.  I pass the first guy and say hi as we both complain about the sun.  Then I pass the Grey Rabbit but don’t say a word.  I run and don’t stop until I have to climb the guardrail to enter the park again.  I get to this aid station and joke with the girls working about passing the guy.  I refuel and catch my breath but head back out as soon as I see the Rabbit enter the station.  My watch says 5:30, I can make 6:00 still, can’t I?   Ummm, no.  The hills suck.  My energy is zapped.  I just want to finish.  I’m completely alone.  Wait, there’s some orange. It’s a guy walking, I can pass him!  Yeah, a little emotional boost.  I pass up the last aid station and yell to them that I just want to finish.  I know I’m 1 mile out.  There is a sweet teenage volunteer who’s been sitting at the trail split all day and I thank her for being there.  She tells me I have one mile left.  Wait, a whole mile still?!  My Garmin says 25.8 and 5:52.  There goes my 6:00 finish idea.  I start to get down on myself but happened to glance at my watch again and it said 26.12 and 5:58:00.  I decide that I’m going to finish 26.2 in 6 hours so I painfully start “running” and continue until I see my watch turn 26.2 at 5:59:36.  Minor victory. 

Mile 26-26.81  15:01.  The hills are the steepest here, ravines that you have to hold onto trees to get down.  My quads are trashed, I’m really regretting not trimming my toenails as I’ll be losing a few now and somehow I have a scratch on my thigh that has bled down my leg.  I can hear the announcer and am just willing myself to keep moving forward.  I come out to the field for the last 2/10^th and see my DH and family.  The kids cheer as I cross the finish line, arms raised.  I’m done, in so many ways. 

 I get my hand-made medal and stand under the sprinkler.   DH takes off with the kids and I stay to cool down and stretch out.  I’m shocked to find 3 blisters as I didn’t notice any hot spots.  I bum a beer off a runner wearing a Mich Ultra shirt and hide in her van as a thunderstorm appears out of nowhere. Thunder and lightning but the storm seems to be fast moving so the race director keeps the race going.  I worry about Christy, knowing that she’s out there.  I finish my beer and decide to head home. 

So, there you go.  It wasn’t pretty.  I wasn’t trained well enough to handle all the up and down hills of the trail.  I’ve decided to hold off on doing an Ultra as I don’t have the time or desire right now to train properly for the one in November that I was looking at doing.  I did have a really fun time and I’m very proud of what I did though.  I would and probably will do this one again next August.  Maybe you’ll join me?

Official stats:  6:10:38, 6^th out of 10 in AG, 72/122 finishers.  Pace for first 13.1 was 12:05 and second half was 14:09.