I am not looking forward to this afternoon....I have to go bathing suit shopping. Thankfully not Bikini shopping, but I need to pick up a new suit to train in. Holiday Food Baby is going on 3 months now, so it's NOT gonna be fun...baaaahhh I may be slightly freakishly scared to see myself in a big mirror in the dressing room. I don't have a full length mirror at home so.... yikes! Ok. End freak out.
Onto more positive news: this weekend was the really fun Race on the Base! I had no idea what a massive production this race is: there is a 5K, a 10K, a 10K in-line skating race, a reverse triathlon, and a kids' triathlong, all on the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.
I signed up to do both the 5K and the 10K. I figured it would be another good excuse to do a long run! I otherwise would NOT have the motivation to run that far on my own.
I showed up nice and early at 6:45am. The parking lot was already getting full! And they have a MASSIVE parking lot. It was awesome to see the National Guard guys volunteering and helping us find our way through the base. A big hats off to all those who serve the country!
Renegade Racing, the race organizers, did a FANTASTIC job with the "military theme" of the event, and they even had trucks and planes you could take photos of.
Oh just a side note; look at how pretty the sky is! Can you believe it was pouring rain a few hours ago, and the forecast was expecting a 60% chance of rain! Thank goodness I didn't have to run 9+ wet miles! Phew!
This is what the inside of the truck looks like. Pretty cool!
Although it was only 6:45am, cold, wet, and windy, the brave vendors were all already set up. 
Man.... it must have been quite miserable being a vendor! It was soooooo wet and windy!
I picked up my bibs and goodie bags. Since I signed up for two events, I got double of everything! Score! And the T-shirt and goodie bags were good, too! Photos later.
I didn't really know how to tackle the races, to be honest. Since it wasn't raining, I knew I could actually try to "race" and compete. Plus, the entire course is on the airplane landing strip, so it is flat as a pancake, making it more appealing to race. However, I had not done a long run in over a month, and I have never competed in two events in one morning before.
Do I run the 5K and race the 10K? Or race the 5K and run the 10K? Or race neither but push the pace on both? Or race both? I had a secret desire to place in my AG in at least one of the events.... but didn't know how my body would handle it.
So I did what I do best;
I just winged it :)
I can't plan, and then stick to those plans very well. I never follow training plans for this reason.
Anyways. The 5K was first, at 8:30am. I got into a fairly good position by the starting line. The gun went off, and I started running...still with no idea how I wanted to pace myself. I took it kind of conservatively for about the first half mile, and decided, "ehhh eff it. I'm pushing the pace." It's so hard NOT to get caught up in all the adrenaline and get all competitive with the other runners. I spotted this one chick who seemed like she was in my age group, so I decided to chase her down.
I would say I gave the 5K an 90-95% effort. It was a nice, flat course, plenty of water stations, and plenty of entertainment provided by some of the radio stations. The last .4 miles or so were roguh; we did a 180 turn... and went right into the wind. That did slow down my efforts to have a strong finish, but I did an OK 5K time, clocking in at 23:06. Again, not my best time, but enough for a secong place AG finish! :)
As soon as I realized I had placed in at least one event, I calmed down about the 10K. I knew I could just take it easy and not worry about getting a medal. There was about half an hour in between races so I just kinda wandered around the place to keep my legs moving.
The runners taking off for the run portion of the reverse triathlon.
The 10K started at 9:30 so I got in up near the front by the starting line and made small talk with the people around me. The announcer guy we had was really funny too; he was like
"You're on a military base. You know, we tried to make it exciting and military themed for you.
Land mines.
You're in tenth place.
BOOM!
Now you're in first."
He should be a stand up comic :)
The race started and I felt surprisingly fresh. So I decided to push my pace. The first 2 miles were a breeze; we had the wind on our backs, Lady Gaga playing, sun shining....
And then we did a 180 turn. Into the wind.
Oh my GOODNESS. THE WIND! THE WIND!
I don't think I have ever run in such severe wind before! Gahhh. 3 miles. Directly into the wind. It was brutal. I wanted to beg for mercy. Gahhh! SOOOO windy! I was getting desperate. It really put a damper on my speed and motivation.
I even pulled out some dirty tricks. I would tuck behind the runners in front of me for ten to fifteen seconds and draft. I know. Dirty. But man. You try running 3 miles into the wind! And there's no break from the wind when you're on an airplane landing strip. No trees, buildings, or structures to block the wind. I really had to dig deep for this one.
By the time I saw the finish line (into the wind, of course), I was SO READY to be done! Not so much because I was tired, but because I wanted out of the wind! As soon as I crossed the finish line, I googled the local weather website. 15 mph winds. 15~~!!!! No wonder it felt rough!
Because of the brutal conditions, I knew people were struggling. So I had a tiny glimmer of hope that somehow.... just somehow... I outran my competition. I looked at the race results....I got 3rd in my AG! Yippee!!!
So I was that dork/geek/nerd/showoff walking around with four medals around my neck. haha.
The medals are for the AG wins, and the dog tags are for all the finishers. The t-shirt is an awesome long sleeved tech shirt. I LOVE it when races give out long sleeved shirts. It's not always warm enough for a t-shirt, you know? This is only the second race I've run in giving out long sleeved shirts. Please continue doing so!
PS; this is the painting hanging in my room. I absolutely adore it. It is an original piece of artwork by James' father, who is an amazing artist. It used to be hung up in James' living room, and everyone thought that picture was of me?! Haha, I don't think I look anything like her?!
Close up of the back of the t-shirt, medal and dog tag. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the dog tag finishers received is the black one with the star on it.
Here are the goodie bags! I received two, as I participated in two races. The best part about it is that the bags came with an ENTIRE BOX of fig cookies. Not a sample box, an entire retial sized box. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! It also had toothpaste too, which I thought was a cool insert.
All in all, I thought this event was a LOT of fun. For how many different events were going on at the same time, it was INCREDIBLY well organized. I loved how there was an event for the entire family. Kids, walkers, in line skaters, runners, and triathletes. I loved it! I love seeing the tiny little 6 year old triathletes. I wish I was that cool back then. This is definitely a race I would want to do again.
On Sunday, (the day after the race), I partook in the monthly Tri Club brick workout. (36mile ride, 3mile run). I thought I was all recovered from the race, but dang! The lactic acid in my legs were talking to me the entire time. It was cold though... but I still had a lot of fun getting a lot of advice for my upcoming Half Ironman.
I am probably going to do another 10K this weekend. My weekends are disappearing after this week, so I wanted one last chance to race before all the mayhem. It's the Lakewood 5K/10K if any one is also gonna be there.
Have a good one!
No comments:
Post a Comment