Spring Race Plans

Spring has arrived in the south (well on most days) and with that means perfect weather. Even if it's only around for a little while before the summer heat hits, I'll take it! There's just something about spring that I love...the colors, the weather, the fresh and newness of it all...it's seriously one of the best times of year! (Minus Christmas, of course.)

In the spring, races are usually in abundance around here and they taper off as soon as summer hits due to the ridiculous heat, so you gotta catch them while you can. For this spring, I've found several races I plan on running, so here's a rundown of them all!

#1 St. Patrick's Day 3 Miler

Yes, this race already took place but I'm posting it for two reasons - number 1, I need to write my recap like ASAP and number 2, it's the first race in our local "Triple Crown" series and I'm going for it again this year! (The last time I completed this series was in 2015.)

#2 HCS Warriors 5K

Last year, I ran this "first annual race" and as an alumni of the school, I placed as first female. Yes, the race was small and placing in it was totally random, but I was beyond shocked and excited! This is a race I'll continue running in the future because even though I've been gone for a while, I still love to support the school as I attended there most of my life! (It's a K-12th grade school.)

#3 Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival 10K

This one is incredibly random and 100% new to me as it's in a town about 3 hours away. It also happens to be the day after the Warrior 5K...whoops. In my fervent search for a "local" 10K to use as proof of time for Wine & Dine, I stumbled across this race. It's the only race in reasonable driving distance that is hosting a 10K before the cutoff time for proof of time submissions. I would have run a 10K last fall, but that's when I came down with the great lung plague, so yea...that went right out the window. I'm really looking forward to this one as it's completely new to me and I can't wait! Jason's also going to do the 5K with Brayden!

#4 Contraband Days 5 Miler

Although this race is taking place the day after Relay for Life again this year, I'm still looking forward to running it as part 2 of the Triple Crown series! Yes, my legs are probably going to feel like lead and I'll definitely be sleep deprived, but I think I'll make it! Although it's always hot (this race is held in May) this race is for sure a local favorite!

#5 4th of July 4 Miler

Yes, this race falls in the summer time, but it's also part 3 and the final race in the Triple Crown series. I love running this race and enjoy seeing the local running crowd that comes out for it!

That should be it for now, unless another random race pops up into there (which is completely possible)!

Do you have any fun spring time races planned? Please share! I want to hear all about them!

2019 Race Calendar

Twenty nineteen is here and that means a whole new year of opportunities! I'm super excited for all this year has to offer and can't wait to "dive in" so to speak.

After looking over my race calendar for this year, I've found several races that will work and I'm super excited to run them all. (These are definitely subject to change at any given time...cause you know, toddler...and you never know...)

Anyway, here's a synopsis of my 2019 race calendar!

February 2019

Rock n Roll New Orleans

This is a tradition for us and the 10th year of this race! We will only spend one night in New Orleans but are looking forward to lots of fun in store!

Princess Half Marathon and Fairy Tale Challenge

Princess is just around the corner! I cannot wait to return to Walt Disney World with my parents and Brayden as an (older) toddler! I know there's going to be so much magic in store!

March 2019

Athlete's Corner St. Patrick's Day 3 Miler

This is a local race I've run many times in the past and is part of the "trifecta" of local races - for running all three, you receive a triple crown medal!

May 2019 

Contraband Days 5 Miler

Yet another one local one I've run for many years - this is the second race in the triple crown series. It's always really HOT and I ran last year on dead legs from the Relay for Life the previous night.

July 2019

4th of July 4 Miler

Wanna talk about hot? This race is the hottest of all of them for sure but I always seem to enjoy it! :) This race is the 3rd in the triple crown series!

November 2019

Wine and Dine Half Marathon (Two Course Challenge, maybe?)

So I have this thing and I know it's silly, but it's how I've done Wine & Dine over the years. Back in 2010, I ran the inaugural race, then in 2014, I ran the 5 year anniversary Wine & Dine. Since 2019 is the 10th year anniversary year, we have to go back, so that's what we're doing! We are also planning on combining this trip with a 4 night Disney Cruise (like we did for the inaugural year)! This time we are planned to sail on the Disney Dream and it will be Brayden's first Disney Cruise! So exciting!!

As the year continues, I know races will be added to this list, especially local 5K's.

Have you made a race calendar for 2019 yet? Will I see you at any of the races listed?

Contraband Days 5 Miler 2018

On Saturday morning, I ran our area's annual 5 miler. This race usually falls on a weekend of our big hometown festival but due to scheduling conflicts, it didn't this year. Instead, it fell on the morning after our Relay for Life event. (Face palm) Since I'm on the event committee for our relay, that means that I was out at the event site from noon-midnight, setting up, participating, and tearing down the event.

Needless to say, when my alarm went off on Saturday morning after only 4 hours of sleep, I debated my first DNS race ever. Instead, something got ahold of my brain and I decided to drag myself out of bed and run the race anyway.

Everything about this race was totally unlike me, in a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of way. My outfit wasn't picked out the night before and I didn't even know if I was truly going to run the race until about 5 minutes before I left my house.

After arriving at the race site, I met up with my friend Mackenzie's husband and we lined up to start the race. It was not long into the first mile that I knew I could NOT keep up with him. My legs felt like concrete and it was all I could do to keep moving one foot in front of the other - my body had zero energy from all of the running around I'd done the day before in 90+ degree heat.

It wasn't long before I told him to go on ahead of me. I could tell I was holding him back and I hate that feeling!
 

His wife and her dad were waiting on us at mile 2 with the best and coldest water ever. It was heaven. I definitely appreciated the stop and took full advantage of it!

In the past, the water stops for this race have seemed few and far between (not this year, though), so it was nice to have them there as extra backup!

For the remaining miles, I ran until I hit the top of each mile, then I walked a couple of minutes, then began running again. It was all I could do to keep my heavy legs going.

When I knew the finish line was approaching, I somehow had a little bit of energy left in me, so I picked up the pace and ran hard in through the finish line. 

It's definitely not a PR for this race, but I don't think my overall time was half bad considering how horrible I felt!

After the race, I found my friends once again and took a few pictures!

Despite feeling like poo, it was great to spend the morning with my friends! 

Here's to the next one, which happens to be the 4th of July 4 miler. I plan to go into that race with a good night's rest and full of energy! 

Have you ever run a race on tired, dead legs?

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty. 

Fitness Friday - 5/18

This week...this week, y'all. It's officially Relay for Life day and boy has this week been crazy!

Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA 
• Warrior Nation 5K
• Contraband Days 5 Miler (SATURDAY!)
  

Saturday - 6 mile run
Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - Tone It Up Workout of the Day & 2 mile after dinner walk
Tuesday - Rest Day (unplanned - there were just too many things going on!)
Wednesday - 3 mile run
Thursday - Relay setup!
Friday - Relay for Life

With today being Relay for Life, everything this week has been pretty busy. On Tuesday afternoon, I hurried up to the ACS office for bank night where all of the Relay teams turn in the money they've raised so far. After that, we had dinner plans with my parents which left no time to get in a run. 

It's ok, though - my right hamstring needed the rest because it was super tight during Saturday's run and it made me nervous that it was going to misbehave. I had Jason roll it out a lot with the stick and oh my goodness...the stick. That thing is amazing!
 

So, Saturday's run went well and Brayden managed to stay put all six miles. Now that he's in full blown toddler mode, he wants to go go go all the time. Our little stroller tricks seemed to work because he did great during Saturday's run!

On Monday afternoon, I resorted to a 2 mile after dinner walk because my hamstring was still VERY tight from a workout I did last week. Jason joined along and so did Brayden's foot! (This one is for Meranda!)

On Wednesday evening, I went for a 3 mile run after dinner and that was a BAD idea. I ate too late and I felt it the entire way. Ugh. Don't be like me and do something like that!

The rest of the week consisted of a visit to the splash pad and park...

Followed by a little air time on our local news outlet to promote Relay for Life...

...a birthday celebration for my friend Melissa....

...and booking activities for our upcoming cruise!

We even managed to snag Palo brunch (and on my birthday, too)! I'm so excited!

Oh, and this picture cracks me up - so we have a local pizza joint that has a little gaming center for kids. Well, Brayden loves the crane machine because everyone wins a prize (which happens to be these balls you see him holding). Every time we go inside the game center, he wants to play the crane game because he loves to move the joystick and watch the crane drop. So, since you play until you win, we let the crane randomly drop four or five times until he finally wins a prize. He also LOVES looking at the trap door to retrieve his prize which is precious! As you can see, we've been to the pizza place three times and all three times, he's come home with a ball....which means he must carry them everywhere with him, all three at once. He cracks me up!

Anyway, tonight I have Relay for Life followed by a 5 mile race Saturday morning immediately followed by my niece's birthday party. Needless to say, I'm going to be napping on Saturday afternoon with Brayden! :)


I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Spring Running Plans

Happy first official day of Spring (I think)! The weather here has been kind of crazy with back and forth temps. We've seen highs in the 80's and lows in the 40s, so you just never know what you're going to get!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned my break from running and this crazy slump I've been in lately. Honestly I just seem to lack the motivation to run and I hate to feel this way. Running is something I love so why don't I have the desire to get up and go?

As a way to combat this, I've decided to formulate a spring running plan. Having a race to train for or a "target" has always been a motivation for me so I've decided to go for it! There are several races around here, scheduled over the next few months and I'd like to take advantage of a few.
 

Contraband 5 Miler
This race is one I ran my very first year of running and I've run it several years since. It's held on one of the Saturdays of our local "Pirate Festival" and the course is out and around by the lake. Although it's always super hot, this race is a lot of fun and always brings a good crowd!


Warrior 5K
The high school where I graduated is hosting a 5K in honor of one of its long time teachers (she was one of mine too)...and she is the mom of one of my former classmates. I'm excited about this one as it will be great to see everyone and return to the place where I spent so many years of my life! This is also where my love of running began as I joined the cross country team my junior year!


Holden's Hope Forever 5K
Don't you love 5K's for a cause? Well, this one is to help families who have babies that have spent a lot of time in the NICU as well as families who have experienced the loss of an infant. Although I'm not a NICU or L&D nurse, this one still speaks to my heart.

Orange Theory
Our location is set to open before summer time and I can't wait! This will be a huge motivation for me as well.

I'd love to add maybe one more race and I'm sure I'll find one soon, but these are the three on my radar for now. Having a plan for racing as well as Orange Theory feels so great and gives me the motivation I need to keep moving forward!

What's on your Spring racing schedule?

It's the Tuesdays On The Run Linkup with Erika, Marcia and Patty.

2015 Contraband Days 5 Miler

This past weekend, I ran the Contraband Days 5 Miler which is part 2 of our area’s Triple Crown series. It’s been a few years since I’ve run this race – first my IT Band issues popped up, then I was out of town last year. I was excited to run again because this race draws a lot of our area’s “elites”. It also happens to follow one of my favorite running routes!

What’s Contraband Days, you might ask? Well, our area holds a festival each year, to celebrate the legend of the pirate Jean Lafitte. It’s rumored that him and his “crew” hid out on the waters of the nearby Contraband Bayou and buried treasure in it’s many small islands. Therefore, we hold a festival to celebrate all things pirates! Sound like fun? Yeah, well…I don’t really go to the festival, I just run this race. :)

What does one wear to a pirate themed race when the humidity is at 100%? Normal running clothes. Arrrghhhh!

Since I haven’t run this race since 2011, I was excited to do so again. I knew that the addition of a medal for the triple crown series would draw a larger crowd this year, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for said crowd.

This line was for packets and bibs pickup and I thought it would never end. I definitely didn’t think the race would start on time! I don’t know how they did it, but they got the line down super fast and the race only started about 5 minutes late!

Packet pickup wasn’t offered before this race because there was a mishap with the bibs (they didn’t arrive in time). I can’t even image how the race directors felt (I tried to put myself in their shoes)…I heard they were scrambling to make bibs happen for this race. As it was, my handmade bib was on HP photo paper! Hah!

Ah well…most of the bibs worked! I say “most” because the ones on cardstock didn’t stay at all with the heat and humidity. I’m sure it’s a lesson learned for everyone (myself included)!

Kenzie, Melissa, and I!

Ready to run this thing but first, let’s take a group selfie!

Even Madame and Mr. Jean Lafitte himself came out to kick off the race!

What’s a pirate without a cap gun? :) Off we go!

My goal was to PR in this race – my previous time from several years ago was 46 minutes. I knew I could do it, I just had to keep around a 9 minute pace. The humidity was pretty thick, but the clouds overhead kept the sun away (thank goodness)!

My one complaint about this race is the lack of water stations. With a 5 miler in May in Southwest Louisiana, you have to stay hydrated. The first and only water/gatorade stop wasn’t until mile 2.8. It wasn’t a stop we hit twice on the course, either…it was one and only one stop.

As I approached the stop, I heard a guy yelling “Gatorade”. Well, I didn’t want gatorade, I wanted water – so I kept going to the next girl who I heard yell “water”. I said “water” as I approached her and she shuffled the cups around in her hands and I just grabbed a cup from her. As took a sip and began running again, I noticed that I didn’t have water, but I had gatorade. What the heck? That’s when I realized that water was in clear cups and gatorade was in red cups. OK that makes sense to me now, but what the heck?! I also then realized that she was holding both water and gatorade in her hands. I can’t think logically like that when I’m running – my brain is mush when I’m running and I’m only focused on finishing with a certain time. Oh well…again, lesson learned for me. Always pay closer attention. Thankfully it was only a 5 mile race and water was about 2 miles away. This is where my hydration belt would have come into play, but I despise wearing that thing. Sad but true.

Also, pretty much none of the people I was running around stopped for anything at the water stop. I mean, I can do that for 5K’s but nothing longer! I was in awe!

Anyway, the race was great despite the lack of water stops and I was able to keep a decent time.

This guy juggles during the entire race EVERY year! Now that’s talent!

There I am! The KT Pro tape didn’t start to come up until right at 4.6 miles (I know cause I checked). That’s progress, y’all!!

My goal for this race was to finish in the 42 minute time range. Even though my watch says 43:18, the official time released yesterday afternoon was 42:43 (not sure how that happened). Still a PR either way, I’ll take it!

I was also #31 out of 175 to finish this race and I came in 4th in my AG! Pretty proud of myself!

My awesome BRF Heather came out to cheer me on! So excited to have her there!! :)

After the race, we grabbed breakfast at our local favorite diner which was delicious as always.

We had a great time despite the few mishaps. I know how difficult it is to put on a race and I’m thankful for a group like Lake Area Runners who puts on so many for our area!

Can’t wait for the third part of the Triple Crown series – 4 miles on the 4th of July!

How was your weekend?
Do you carry water with you during a race?