Race Recap: Denver Hot Chocolate 15K

Last Sunday, I ran my first race since my injury over 4 months ago and all things considered, it went really well!  I ran the 15K distance in the Denver Hot Chocolate 5K/15K on October 5th and am happy to report that my leg didn’t flare up or give me any issues!  It was an absolutely perfect Denver day and the perfect conditions for running – I felt exhilarated the whole time to just be running.  I felt like I was finally back!

I laid out all of my gear the night before because it was going to be a pretty early morning with a 4:30 AM wake up call.

The hoodie came with the race entry and then I bought the long sleeve purple shirt at the race expo.  The hoodie is really nice and I will definitely get some good use out of that in the upcoming winter months of running.  I made a last minute decision the next morning to just wear the long sleeve shirt and leave my hoodie behind because it just wasn’t cold enough to bother with it, gear check it, etc.

I was standing at the lightrail station near my house by 5:35 AM to catch the train downtown.  For $8 and not having to deal with traffic downtown for the race, this is definitely the way to go.

I was downtown at the race site by about 6:20.  The 15K wasn’t scheduled to start until 7:50, so I definitely had plenty of time, which is better than cutting it close and barely getting there in time.  I was loving the early morning light on the urban Denver landscape and got a few really beautiful pictures.

The 5K was at 7 (I know, a lot of us were kind of scratching our heads on that one too – why the 5K first??  If anyone has any official insight on why they do that a lot of the time, I would actually be very interested in understanding), so I lined up to watch that get started and then walked over to the finish line to see the first finishers coming in just under 17 minutes!  The first two people to finish were a boy and a girl who I later found out are siblings – how cool??

I milled around a little bit more, made some small talk with people, and then got lined up in my starting corral at about 7:40.

I was in the third corral, so I didn’t cross the start line until about 7:54, but then I was off!  I haven’t run a race downtown prior to this before, so while certainly not my favorite setting, an urban run did have its charms and intrigues.

I felt really strong for the first 5K, still good overall for the 10K plus a little, but struggled a touch with the last two miles or so.  I could tell a difference from getting back into strength training, so I was encouraged by that, but this was by far the most I have run on a hard surface since my injury, and my joints were not being shy about letting me know that!  I finished strong though and my official time was 1:39:28.

The finishers medal was pretty cool and we also got a finishers mug.  I was disappointed with the mug because I thought it was going to be a real, oversized porcelain mug, but it was just a cheap plastic mug filled with junk food, ha.  I ate the banana and drank some of the hot chocolate, but ended up throwing most of it away because I didn’t feel like filling up on all of those simple processed sugars.  Kind of a disappointment, but oh well.

I hung around for a short while in Civic Center Park, just taking in the scenery, people watching, and relishing in what was just a solid run overall and a great way to come back from an injury.  I won’t jump to sign up for this race again in the future, mostly just because of the setting, but I did really enjoy the 15K distance, so that may be what tempts me again in the future.  I’m also going to seek out other races at this distance because it is the perfect challenge between the 10K and half marathon.

Gotta love these gorgeous autumn Denver days – could this be any more perfect??

Now I’m 4 weeks out from my trail half marathon and looking forward to a completely different race experience coming up with that.

Happy Saturday!

Becky

UPDATE: I have one pretty big gripe about this race that most of you probably won’t be able to relate to.  I am not on Facebook.  I have never been nor do I ever plan to be on Facebook.  Just…ech, don’t get me started.  So, when I get an email earlier this week from the race saying “your pictures are available!!!” I was excited to check them out.  Well, it led me to a FB landing page and said “Like this page to see your pictures!”.  Grr.  No, not cool.  After stewing about it for several days, I finally asked Neal if he could do it through his account so I could at least see the pics.  Well we “Liked” it (rabble rabble) and when I entered my bib number, there weren’t any results and a note that said “we were unable to tag you in any pictures”, so they’re also relying on me being on FB to “tag” me and I therefore have no official race photos from this race.  Nevermind that my bib was clearly visible so they know who I am.  No, no I have to be on FB to be tagged.  I at least got to view official photos from every other race I have run and for the cost of this race, this actually really pisses me off.  Okay, rant over.  You have been informed 🙂

Race Recap: Highlands Ranch Independence Day 5K

Happy Independence Day! Despite being injured and having to walk the race, I had a wonderful time with my mom and husband on my favorite holiday all year (Thanksgiving is a close second). The weather just couldn’t be more perfect here today and there was a parade and beer and puppies. It was awesome 🙂

We each dressed up – me and Mom in 4th of July-themed clothing and Neal sporting some Army pride:

He wants to get back into rucking for exercise (walking at a very brisk pace dressed pretty much like this with a 25-60 pound back pack / gear bag). This is a military thing and when soldiers have to haul gear from one camp location to another, you pack up, and ruck/road march for miles and miles. They don’t always travel in nice motorized vehicle convoys, so they have to be prepared to travel like that. The race today really inspired him and he wants to do another 5K together next month where he’s rucking and I’m (hopefully) running. Needless to say, he got many comments on the ensemble (don’t you dare call it an “outfit” ha ha) – especially because the “DV” is for a group called Dysfunctional Veterans and says “Leave Me Alone” in giant letters across the back! It’s basically a group/club/loose collection of guys who have served and will never be the same. The DV Facebook page lets them commiserate, tell stories, bond, be grumpy men together, etc.

The course itself was actually kind of crappy, ha. It wasn’t particularly scenic, wound through a commercial district in Highlands Ranch, had a bitch of a hill at the end (if you were running this thing, you would have to slow to a brisk hike to make it up; this was not just a “oh damn, an uphill stretch” – we hiked up a hill side). It was unnecessarily steep and just frankly not very well thought out. We walked it though and talked the whole way and just had a great time laughing, sweating, people watching, commenting on dogs, etc. At one point near the end, we were laughing about how the blood had rushed to our hands and we needed to walk with our hands up in the air to alleviate “sausage finger syndrome”. Neal added his idea of a special touch to the photo…

This was the sign after the huge hill. Had I been running, that would have royally pissed me off and would surely have blown any chance at a PR. The good thing about walking though is that I was able to take a bunch of pictures during the race. I don’t do that when I run, so that was kind of fun.

My mom very recently decided she wanted to get more active and healthy, so she has been walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes each day. She feels great and has made a lot of progress, but the 3.1 miles (with big hills!) was a challenge for her. She was particularly challenged in the last half mile and even admitted that if she were on the treadmill, she would have quit at that point. We slowed to match her pace and cheer her on to keep her spirits up. I told her it was just a head game, the finish line was just ahead, and that I was proud of her for doing this. She soldiered through and we crossed the finish line with a net time of about 52 minutes (I’ll post the official time when it’s available). I was so proud of both she and Neal! It was actually really special to share this experience with them and my mom was really excited to cross the finish line! It made me reflect on why I got into running to begin with and that every step, even if walking, makes us stronger.

Afterward we caught the parade. These were my Mom and I’s favorite parts of it:

Dogs with a wagon!

Dude rode this thing like a horse!

And these were Neal’s favorites:

And I just had to get a picture of Neal on this thing:

Then we enjoyed our free beer from Grist Brewing Co and walked around the post-race party and 4th of July carnival. We tried Grist’s Kolsch and Hefeweissen, both of which were really good. The Kolsch was a lot closer to a pilsner than what I would normally consider a true Kolsch, but it was still tasty. We will definitely be patronizing their brewery/tap room in the future.

To cap things off, the Humane Society was there with a gaggle of dogs that need good homes. I was so busy petting puppies that I didn’t get pictures of this part, but trust me, they were adorable and I wanted to take every one of them home 😀

I had so much fun with Mom and Neal I forgot for a while that I can’t run right now…

Happy 4th of July!

Becky

Race Recap – Columbine Classic 8M/4M

We awoke at 5 AM to a gorgeous first day of June here in Colorado! It was a perfect day to race and a sure sign of good things to come. Five in the morning is a bit earlier than I wake up even for work, so when my alarm first went off, I was dragging a little bit, but it only took a few minutes for the race day excitement to kick in and I was up! My brother, Will, drove down from Ft. Collins (approximately a 75 mile drive) and stayed with Neal and I last night. We had bison burgers last night and kept things really mellow, which for me was the norm, but I think Will missed a night out (he’s 23 and single, after all!). It was all good though and the boys played a little whiffle golf in the backyard to wind down the evening. This morning’s prep went well and we were all out the door by 6 (right on schedule)!

Will joked I had “demon shorts” because I didn’t realize I had a reflector on them, ha!

Neal drove us over to pick up my parents and we headed out to the Aurora Reservoir, which was about a 15-20 minute drive out east toward the plains of the Denver area. None of us had ever been there before, so we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was and this was our view at about 7:15 once we got the pop up canopy set up.

We got the tent set up, Neal, Mom, and Dad ate the breakfast burritos Neal had lovingly and artfully crafted last night (Will and I ate ours after the race), and we got a few family pics before the race started.

I got them all with their mouths full – mwah ha ha 🙂

Word to the wise, Denver peeps – this race is a hidden gem. It’s a 4mile/8mile race, so it’s less common distances, the Aurora Reservoir is a bit of a drive, and the race itself isn’t really widely advertised, so it’s pretty small at about 300 participants (I’ll get the official stats on this year’s race once they post them). The biggest one I’ve done was about 2,000 people, and I’ve done a few others that were around 1,200-1,400, so the difference was noticeable. Don’t let that fool you though! This was one of the best organized and supported races I have done! I posted on Friday night about the amazingly useful and generous goodie bag with the packet pickup, and that trend continued for the race and post-race. There were aid stations every 2 miles and the post-race food was real and plentiful! There were sandwiches and cookies from Which ‘Wich, Blue Bell ice cream, Coda Coffee, bananas, watermelon, water, and CLEAN port o’ potties! It was really easy for friends and family to be part of the whole thing, hang out at the start/finish line, the sponsors were even totally fine with giving food and coffee and stuff to non-participants. It was overall just a very family-friendly atmosphere and a truly enjoyable experience.

Will and I both ran the 8 mile race, which started at 8 AM. A woman from Yoga Trigo led us all in a quick yoga session at the start line (kinda neat!) and we were off!

Hubby and I. He’s so supportive – I sure do love this guy! 🙂

Finishing yoga

Will was pumped – it’s his first race!!

The course was well-marked and supported by plenty of volunteers. Will took off ahead of me within the first 1.5 miles and I settled in to find my breathing and happy pace. At mile marker 2, the head games got me a little bit and I felt really intimidated by the remaining distance for some reason. I pushed on though and decided to use the tactic of taking things 1 mile at a time. There weren’t 6 more miles, there was 1 until the next sign. That seemed to help for a bit.

This was surprisingly a tough route. There were a LOT of ups and downs (literal ups and downs – hills – in addition to the head space I fell into a couple of times, ha). There wasn’t much shade and at mile marker 4 I speed walked for maybe 50 yards, ate half of a GU, guzzled more water, and picked it back up. I was most definitely not the only person taking a walk break though, so I didn’t feel too bad about it. I pushed on through to mile marker 6, trying to enjoy the scenery and beautiful weather, thanking the volunteers, smiling at other reservoir patrons, etc., but when I hit 6 I took another quick walk break (those hills were killing me!). I estimate I walked about 0.2 miles and then picked it back up and promised myself I wasn’t walking again before the finish line. I kept that promise, but mile 7-8 was probably the hardest with a huge uphill push right at the end! It reminded me of my half marathon where the same thing happened and I just wanted to punch someone in the face.

About 0.3 miles before the finish line, we swept back toward the pavilion area and my mom and Neal got some great (almost) finish line photos of Will and I!

Will’s right ankle was killing him at this point – he’s a champ though!

I was lifting my arms to do a double thumbs up, but this is what was caught. Graceful 🙂

That finish line couldn’t have come at a better time, but I felt great afterward! I did make a mental note though that I simply MUST stop going on long bike rides the day before long races. I biked 20 miles yesterday and did 13 miles the day before my half marathon back in April, and now I’m pretty convinced that wears out my legs enough that they just feel heavy for the race and slow me down a bit. Ah well, live and learn!

The finish line clock said 92 minutes (1:32 total) – which I initially felt a pang of really just surprise at more than anything, but quickly shook it off since it was a pretty challenging course. However, RunKeeper tells me that the whole race was 1:28, and I started it just a couple minutes before the gun went off, so there’s a pretty big range here that my actual time falls into. I don’t know what to think and guess I will just have to wait until the official results are posted and go with that.

Will went to town on his breakfast burrito and a half sandwich afterward – well earned if I do say so!

Neal’s red marker to write my name on my burrito went through the foil – meh. Delicious!

We capped off the morning by hanging out on the beach for a while and relaxing. I honestly cant’ think of a better way to finish a race – it was so much better than just scarfing some food and having to get in your car and drive home. This was an amazing day and I’m so grateful my family was there to experience it with me and that Will ran his first race! I’m so proud of him!

Happy Sunday and first day of June, friends!

Becky

UPDATE: Official race results are in and I finished in 1:23:09 and Will finished in 1:18:13! There is a bit of a mystery around the clock at the finish line because it said 92 minutes when I crossed, which I knew based on feel, and then RunKeeper confirmed, was nowhere near correct. Turns out I was right, ha ha! Impressive performances on both our parts and the official results make it even more exciting!