Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 5K

On Thursday morning, I woke up around 7:15 to make sure to eat something small enough that it wouldn't weigh me down, but gave me enough energy to last through a 5K without feeling awful. I was doing okay, since I had delicious tacos and chocolate cake the previous night, but a 5K on fatty fuel probably wouldn't have been the best idea. I ate my normal Belvita with greek yogurt, and had some coffee to go along with it.

It was 30 degrees when I woke up, which I DON'T UNDERSTAND because isn't Texas supposed to be perpetually 20 degrees hotter than wherever you are in the US? Damn. Of course later that day it was near 60 degrees but that didn't matter - this race that morning would be cold. It had been a while since I ran in weather that cold, so I took every precaution I could to stay warm. I wore tights underneath my running pants, and had on three layers of shirts. I also had my ear warmers and gloves. That probably sounds like a lot of clothes, but I hate being cold. Ugh.

With the Peters clan

I basically just putzed around until my future in-laws picked me up at 8, and we drove downtown to where the race would start. We were cutting it pretty close, because they had a new system in place this year where they only let the timed runners into the front half of the race, where no dogs or strollers were allowed, but the corral would be closed at 8:40, 20 minutes before the race started. Of course there was traffic getting into downtown, and we waited to park in a lot but then two cars ahead of us, the teller told us it just filled up! 

Fortunately we found a lot not too far away and got out quickly. It was around 8:30, so we just jogged to the corrals and so began the waiting game. I stayed and chatted with them (there were 5 of us- JW, his parents, his sister, and me) until about 8:55 when I said bye and went to find a spot closer to the start line. 

The worst part about this 5K is that there are 40,000 people and not a lot of room to run. So, the first half of the race is typically dodging people and slowing down for walkers. I know that's the same for probably every single race in existence, but in a 5K it's much more disheartening when you're spending more than half the time dodging people and you're trying for speed.

I got up near the front, and before I knew it the countdown started and the race begun. I had set up a custom playlist that lasted for 26 minutes - my goal was under 25. I knew I had to finish once the last song came on, and I had some really upbeat ones at the beginning, with one slightly slower one in the middle in case I needed to cool down.

I really, really wanted to beat 25 minutes.

The start was crowded and I tried to start off conservatively, I had "Roar" playing and I was feeding off the song's energy. I could tell my feet were numb within about 5 minutes of running - I guess thin socks aren't the best choice when you're running in 40 degree weather?

My second song was "Thrift Shop" and that song ALWAYS increases my pace. I actually felt my body become warmer because my blood was already pumping - and I kept trying to tell myself, "Just have fun!" so I danced around to the song, made some (possibly) obscene hand gestures, made some grotesque faces, and lost myself in the song. It was kind of awesome. 

The third song was "Stockholm Syndrome" by Muse, which is my default power song. I just tried to keep up my pace because I cold tell I was slowing down a little bit. Usually I surge during this song but I thought I was doing fine, so I held back. I didn't want to look at my time yet. Somewhere during this song, I got the halfway point notification from my Nike Plus app - with an average pace of 7'20''. What!!!

Next was "Lose Yourself", which had a nice build to it and I think it helped just keep my pace. Then, "My Body" from Young the Giant, and I listened to the words: My body tells me no, but I won't quit... Running really is such a mental game. I knew I was in the second mile by this point and I just had a little bit to go. I didn't want to slow down but I kind of felt myself doing just that - but I figured if my average time was 7'20'' for the first half, then I only really needed anything near a 9 minute mile to get under 25 minutes. I was gonna achieve my goal, barring nothing terrible happening!!

My last song, "Don't Fail Me Now" by Melanie Amaro was my last song, and when I heard it, I knew the end was near and that I needed to kick it in gear to finish before the song ended. This is another one of those listen-to-the-lyrics songs - I've walked the longest road, so don't fail me now - feet, don't fail me now. Yeah, for real! Feet don't fail me now!!

I turned the corner, saw the finish line, and tried to surge. But I honestly couldn't - I was going the fastest that I could. I tried to see a clock - there wasn't any, so I figured I'd just go as fast as I could and look at it afterwards. I thought I was gonna die when I crossed that finish line - but I did it. I made it. I looked down at my watch and was AMAZED- 

23:53. BOOM. And that was only with my Nike Plus app- I wondered what my official time was!!

I can't believe those splits!! All within 7'30''! I never thought I was capable of that speed. 

:D :D :D :D - 23:31!! I can't even believe it!! That's an overall pace of 7'34''!

Finishers!

Snuggling for warmth :)

I feel so awesome about my results and the race experience was great. Not as much food as last year, but the new course was a great improvement and I enjoyed the small walk back to the finisher's area so I could slow down my heart rate. Not too crowded, and the timed runner's corral was a fantastic idea. My only complaint was that the 5K and 8 Miler splits were not marked as high as they could have been (to be seen from far away), so I was a little hesitant as I approached the split area. But that's literally the only thing!

It was a great race!!

Did you run on Thanksgiving?

Pre-Turkey Trot Shake-Out

Today started early - this morning we had our engagement pictures taken! Fortunately we only had to meet across town at 10 instead of 8:30 (it makes all the difference!) with the hopes of it being a bit warmer. It ended up still being pretty windy and cloudy. I think they'll turn out really well, and it was a lot of fun to boot! So cool to have someone follow you around with your fiancé and knowing you'll get awesome pictures out of it.

I came home and ran 2 miles with my dog while the sun peeked through the clouds (figures). It was so nice to feel the sun on my face, but it was still pretty cold outside. I was dressed like a bum in sweatpants and two t-shirts but I didn't care.

It's really nice to be back in my old running neighborhood - this is where I trained for my very first half marathon.

This will be the third year I've run the Turkey Trot 5K with my (now) future in-laws and I kind of love it.

2011 - Finished in 26:37

2012 - Finished in 25:08

I hope to get in under 25 minutes, but with my recent training I feel like that'll be a big stretch. I'll be happy to just get a workout in before I devour ALL THE FOOD for Thanksgiving.

I'm gonna sleep on it another day, but I think I'm gonna buy my wedding dress tomorrow y'all!! Eek!!

Hello from Dallas!

Helloooo blogging world! Why does it feel like, when I take just a smidgen of time off, it feels like it's been forever since I've been on here??

Oh well. I'm writing from Dallas. It's cold here.

 A lot has happened since I arrived, both positive and negative:

• We got here without a hitch (winter weather in Dallas, but no delays! Yay!)
• We met with our officiant
• My grandmother broke her hip :(
• I think I found my wedding dress??
• I've seen most of my family and had lottsssss of mexican food. Yesss.

It's been glorious, but I realized that I never posted about my run the other day- the last one before we left for Dallas.

It was hard but not too bad. I was supposed to run 8 miles on Sunday the morning that we left, but that just didn't happen. (What's new???) I feel sooo unprepared for the half on Sunday - and especially unprepared for the 5K on Thursday. Eek. I want to be fast but I know I haven't been training for it - I feel like I'm gonna go way too fast way too soon on both races and end up screwing them both.

I guess we'll just see what happens?

Some nice scenery pictures before I go - 

Taken from the plane

And finally, me and my dog, reunited again!!

<3

Tomorrow morning we're taking our engagement pictures, I'm getting my hair cut, and hopefully running 2 miles so I have some rest time before the Turkey Trot on Thursday.

After the Marathon: What's Next?

I always tend to look towards the future and think: What's next?

It's a bad habit of mine. I won't even be finished with a task and I'm already thinking ahead. I never seem to live in the moment - always thinking of after, or before. That's why I like yoga so much (more on this later), because it forces you to think in the present moment.

I've been thinking about 5Ks more often, especially after my app told me after my tempo run that I had completed my fastest 5K ever, at 24:21. Granted, they were all downhill... My official PR is 25:08. I'm feeling the itch to be faster.

I go back and forth between wanting to go fast and wanting to build endurance. My obvious goal right now should be to build endurance, as I'm training for a marathon. But my next race after the marathon will be the Turkey Trot 5K, about a month after the marathon. I don't have a specific training plan for it, and I'd be pretty embarrassed if, after all of these training runs in the 8s, I could barely finish a 5K in under 25 minutes. I foresee me taking a sizable break after the marathon, and not exactly training for the 5K, just kind of running it and seeing what happens. I don't exactly expect a sub-24 minute 5K if winging it is my plan.

There are a few things I could do to make sure I keep running and keep up my endurance and speed for the Turkey Trot. I could train specifically for it, keeping in mind that I have to recover from the Nike Women's Marathon before tackling a 5K training plan (that has to be shorter than 6 weeks, I might add). I could train for another (half or full) marathon in the far future (Spring 2014), and make one of the training runs the Turkey Trot run. Or, I could train for a marathon that's not that far in the future at all: The Seattle Marathon.

I have until October 14 to decide about the Amica Seattle Marathon before the price increases. Hal Higdon has a training plan for marathons that are 6 weeks apart, which I would potentially follow. Am I crazy for thinking of doing my first and second marathons only 6 weeks apart from each other? Should I maybe just do the half? Am I biting off more than I can chew?

The main appeal is how well I think I would do at the Turkey Trot 5K. I tried training specifically for the Hot Chocolate 5K, and I finished at 26:06. Not a fail by any means, but still not a PR, which is what I was gunning for. For me, the problem with training for 5Ks is that, unless you pick a rigorous training program, your training runs will never go very far over the 5K distance - 5 or 6 miles is usually the longest.

For me, a 5K becomes so much longer when all of my runs are under 6 miles. When I PR-ed at the Turkey Trot last year, I was training for the Amica Seattle Half Marathon, so I was used to double digit runs. A 5K seemed like a piece of cake, so I sprinted through it like it was nothing, and BOOM! I PR-ed.

The other appeal of training for another race is to keep myself in shape from mid-October through December, where I haven't decided what I want to strive towards, fitness-wise. I can then use the Turkey Trot on Thursday as one of my last small runs before whatever distance, half or full marathon, I end up racing that Sunday.

The only other snag is that I bought a 30 Days of Yoga Groupon from Get Zen Hot Yoga that expires on December 10th, (I've never done yoga for 30 days in a row!), and to be able to use it while I was in town (meaning, before Thanksgiving), I'd have to start by October 28th at the latest. Now, I could totally do yoga and running at the same time... but should I??

Would you ever consider doing two marathons, 6 weeks apart? What about a marathon, and then a half marathon? Ever done yoga every day while training for a race?