RACE 1: Waterfront Festival Road Race 10K/5K(Alexandria, VA)

BJ and I love races that are close to home and require little effort – it makes the unusually early morning seem not-so-bad. So, it should come as no surprise that we signed up for the Waterfront Festival 10k in Alexandria. I like 10k’s – it’s a great distance and just long enough to feel like you got a great workout. Plus, it’s the run distance of an Olympic triathlon, of which I am signed up for 5 this season, so I could use some practice.

Reasons why this race was awesome:
1. Close to home
2. Plenty of parking (3 huge parking lots within 100 yards of the start) and a metro stop (Eisenhower)
3. AMC Theater!!! Race day registration and packet pick-up were held at the AMC theater – which means that the runners had access to AMC theater, which means that there were lots of nice, clean bathrooms that we could use, which means that we didn’t have to use a port-a-potty, which means…well, you get the point. Since I have the most nervous bladder on the planet (BJ calls me “NB” on race day) and constantly have to go to the bathroom, it was soooo nice to use a clean bathroom for once!
4. Nice course and pretty flat – minus the huge hill right at the end. Just the right amount of volunteers and plenty of race/mile markers and guidance.
5. Small race, low maintenance, no frills, easy and inexpensive ($35 entry fee).

Could use some work:
1. Not enough water stops (I don’t let anyone get away with not enough water). If this would have been a typical June morning, 3 water stops would’ve been 110% unacceptable. Because of global warming and the so-much-rain-I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-myself rain, it was just barely acceptable.
2. Not enough post-race food. I was the 54th person to cross the finish line, so there were a few bananas and oranges left for me. But what about the 154th person or the 654th person – they got NOTHING, which isn’t really fair! All BJ wanted was an orange…
3. I could have done without the race t-shirt…or at least a better design. Plus, who wears 90’s cotton anymore [for a race]?! I found a local race with a brilliant idea: $5 off the race entry fee if you don’t want the t-shirt. Yes, I will! Since the proceeds of this race went to the American Red Cross offer me $1 off – I’d be happy with that!

Since this was my first 10k in a veeerrrryyyy long time (outside of a tri) I really wanted to see how fast I could run. I’ve been running a lot more recently and adding more track workouts into the mix – so I was eager to test it out. Even from the beginning of the race I felt really strong. The last half of the race, I ran side by side this guy who really pushed me. It was great motivation because I didn’t want him to beat me (and he didn’t!!). The last hill of the race was right before the finish line and it was painful to run up but once I was over, it was downhill to the finish line – and I was really able to sprint it in. If I didn’t have the tri on Sunday I probably could have run a little harder but subconsciously I didn’t want to push it too hard and be exhausted for #2. Overall I’m really happy with my run and 7:19 pace – I’m typically a 7:30 pace, so it was encouraging to know that I can run faster!

Verdict: Great race – low maintenance and easy: two things that I love in a race.
Overall score: 7.5

RACE 2: LAVAMAN Triathlon (Lavallette, NJ)

After the 10k, a nice breakfast, a shower and a quick nap, BJ and I headed to the Jersey Shore to hang with JJ. It’s a long drive and proved even longer due to the torrential downpour the e-n-t-i-r-e drive. (Once again, I’m done with the rain!) I’ve calculated that since I’ve had MNB, it has seen rain just as many times as it has seen the sun. WTF – I don’t live in Seattle or Ireland! But I digress…on to the race review:

JJ’s friend is a new USAT race director and putting on a handful of triathlons this season. I like to call LAVAMAN an enhanced sprint triathlon because it was longer than a sprint but not as long as an Olympic: 0.33 mile Swim, 14 mile Bike and 4 mile run. Just the perfect distance after a 10k run!

About 200 people came out for the race despite the terrible weather. We woke up to rain, set up transition in the rain, swam in the rain, biked in the rain, ran in the rain…. When I finished the race my transition area was a puddle of water – awesome!

But, even with the rain, it was a great race.

Swim: point to point (in the bay), really well marked and patrolled by kayakers and a police boat. The water was surprisingly warm but a little choppy, which I’m not terribly use to, but it was fun to swim in the bay and salt water. Time: 11:08
T1: Slow! I couldn’t get my wetsuit off; my bun was too high for my helmet so I had to re-do my hair; my gear was inside my Zoot bag, trying to stay dry, so I had to fumble around for my bike shoes; I couldn’t get my socks on because of wet feet…. Anyway, it was a dagger time but good learning experience and I have ideas for improvement. Time: 2:24
Bike: very flat 3 loop course but offered some confusion because most athletes (including me) didn’t know we had to repeat the course 3 times. Plus, I couldn’t get my brand-new bike computer to work, so I fumbled with it for the first 5 minutes until giving up, completely frustrated. I was really looking forward to trying it out!
T2: Not bad – left my soaking wet socks on and quickly changed into my running shoes. Time: 1:06
Run: the most glorious run of all runs – completely and utterly flat! I don’t need to say anything else about it! I ran a 7:07 (pace) mile!

Time: 1:28:23

Overall: It was a great race and great distance – I really pushed myself but didn’t feel completely exhausted. My only complaint was the cost: $90!!!!! I mean, it wasn’t in a major city (ie: Escape from Alcatraz which is $450) and only one road had to be patrolled (and it wasn’t completely shut down) – I really can’t see the $90.00 justification. Good thing JJ’s friend was running the race or else I would have spent Sunday morning sleeping in and going to church.
Verdict: 9 (it might be a 9.5 if it wasn’t for the rain)
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I had an awesome weekend! I felt like I really pushed myself and was super happy with both performances!

I kind of feel like a badass!

Our team, Nancy’s Network, rode for Nancy, BJ’s stepmom who has MS. We woke up at 4:30am on Saturday morning, exhausted but excited about the ride. When we left the house at 5:40am it was pouring. Since the bike ride didn’t start until 7am we were hopeful that the rain would pass. It didn’t – so here’s a not-so-quick timeline of events.

4:30am – wake up
5:40am – leave the house (torrential downpour)
6am – arrive at Northern Illinois University, the race Start/Finish (torrential downpour)
7am – official race start is delayed until 8am (torrential downpour)
8am – race start is delayed until 9am (torrential downpour)
9am – race start is delayed until 9:30am (torrential downpour)
9:30am – race is delayed until 10am (torrential downpour)
10am – race is delayed until 10:30am (torrential downpour)
10:30am – race is delayed until 11am (torrential downpour)
11am – RACE FINALLY STARTS (lightly raining)

So, I bet you are wondering what we did for 5 HOURS while we waited for the ride to start?!

1) nothing
2) nothing
3) took a nap on the indoor track (Hurricane Katrina style)
4) nothing
5) nothing

We started the race in ponchos and about 5 layers on top – but (thankfully) after 10 miles, it stopped raining completely!!!! Due to the rain and late start they cancelled the 100 mile and 75 mile rides – but were still able to ride, which was the whole point anyway.

Once we started to ride and got into the grove of things, the ride was great. The course rode through beautiful Illinois farmland and was so well marked that it blew my mind. There were volunteers everywhere, plenty of SAG vehicles and police/volunteers at every major intersection (there were a few minor intersections that we were on our own). I was very impressed with how organized everything was, despite the rough/rainy start!

Nancy volunteered all day (go Nance!) and our team (4 riders) raised over $4,000.00. Our goal for 2010 is: 20 riders and $20,000.00.

MS 2010 – here was come!!!

PS – the rest of the weekend was gorgeous and we went to a Cubs game on Sunday. Finger crossed that the weather is better next year!