Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos - 11, 12 and 13 October

[Big Vic]

Saturday, October 11th

11 - JacobsMommy11002 (Johanna) and DH (Jason) Presidential 5K Run/Walk (Kids are doing the fun run), Kennebunkport, ME
11 - KelNottAt (Kelley) Baltimore 1/2 Marathon; Baltimore, MD
11 - Pungodingy (Angie) Survivor Stride 5k, Concord, NH
11 – thndrmatt (Matt) Cypress Gardens Triathlon, Winter Haven, FL
11 – TnTsParty (Tricia) AVDA 5K Run/Walk, Delray Beach, FL
11 – Zwoman (Alice) DN and GDN San Diego Walk on the Wild Side 5k

Sunday, October 12th

12 - escape (Susie) Arky 100k (Bike Ride), Sheridan, AR
12 – keenercam (Cam) Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k, Wilmington, DE
12 – jam217 (Jill) Steamtown Marathon, Scranton, PA

12 - Chicago Marathon
Millenium_Mickey (Lisa), runningjusme (Christine) (First Full!)

12 - lourodrigis (Lou) Long Beach Island 18 Mile Run; NJ
12 - smileyk8 (Kate) Run 10km for cancer research, Liverpool UK
12 – Tiger_Lily_03 (Lily) Towpath Half Marathon, Sagamore Hills, OH

12 - Race for the Taste 10K
AmyBWV99 (Amy) and DH (Matt), CarolA (CarolA), Dennyha (Denny) and DW Missyha (M'Lisse), EPCOTDUDE (Bob), ksoehrlein (Kim) and DH (Chuck), Lexxiefern (Becky), rKyDeX (Chester), SamSam (Sharon), thndrmatt (Matt), WDWFLgal (Angela)

Monday, October 13th

13 - wellesleyprincess () Tufts Health Plan 10k for Women, Boston, MA


:jumping1: GO! WISH Team GO! :jumping1:

[thndrmatt]

Yay RFTT! And GL everyone else! :banana:

[scoolover]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE. HAVE SOME AWESOME RACES AND REPRESENT THE SAFETY COLOR!!!:thumbsup2

[Pungodingy]

My race got cancelled, not sure why, they sent an email saying an "unforseen emergency" came up, and refunded our money...

but all the rest of you GO GO GO!

[amykab]

GL everyone! Can't wait to hear about RFTT!!

[Kristi1357]

:woohoo: Go WISHers, GO!:woohoo:


Angie - that stinks! :hug:

[hockeygirl]

Good Luck to everyone racing this weekend!!! GO WISH TEAM GO!!!!

[Honeibee]

Go Team Go! Whoooo hooo!
:yay: :woohoo: :banana: :cheer2: :yay: :banana: :cheer2: :woohoo:

[postesf]

Go WISH team!!!!

[dsnyfan21]

GO team GO
:cheer2: :cool1: :banana: :thumbsup2 :banana: :cool1: :cheer2:
WISHers Rock! GO rock the WISH colors!!

DLF>DNF>>DNS!!!

[mkymsehi]

Safe races everyone, and have fun.

Thunder Matt, do you even sleep on weekends? :lmao:

[smileyk8]

Take care and have great races everyone! I'll be thinking of you RFTT WISHers with pride :goodvibes

[BigFanOfTheWorld]

Team Sweaty Yeti will be running the Fast 5k Harvest Race in New Albany, IN. Another local 5k, but this one is being held near where we work and run on our lunch breaks. Home court advantage!

Good luck to everyone, and have fun!

Chris

[Tiger Lily 03]

Go WISH Team!

Have fun! I look forward to your reports!

[Caseydilla]

Good luck WISH team!

I don't know how Matt does it!!!

[getnthinr]

I remember doing this race several years ago and being one of the last finishers (perhaps THE last). Today this was my first race out of "recovery" for me -- the first race officially out of the boot I've been in for Achilles bursitis/tendonitis -- and I wasn't last, primarily because it was a much larger field. It is one of the races in the Second Empire Grand Prix racing series, and for a great cause, so they had a BIG turnout for a 5K.

Admittedly, this race wasn't exactly with my PT's blessings. His actual advice was to start with one mile yesterday and build up gradually. So I did one mile yesterday and "gradually increased" to today's 5K. My Achilles are a little tight, even after stretching, but no real pain and I'm quite happy with that. (Now all I have to do is get back up to marathon mileage without hurting myself again.) But I digress...

This was a very different course than I did previously, but it was quite beautiful. It went through some very pristine new neighborhoods, as well as some very well preserved old neighborhoods. Cloudy skies, loads of trees, and cool temps made it a great race for a PR for those in shape to attempt one. (Not me today!)

The only negative -- the course went RIGHT BY the Krispy Kreme -- and the "HOT doughnuts now" light was on! Arrrrrrgh! :-)

Love that Fall racing season!

Good luck -- and congrats -- to my fellow WISHers. Waiting for those reports!

[hockeygirl]

Wendy---Great job on your race! Although make sure you take it easy on that achilles tendon, you don't want to be back in that boot again.

[smileyk8]

Wendy- great run, but as has already been said look after your tendon! I'm sure pretty surroundings help :goodvibes

I did the cancer research 10km near Liverpool (UK) this morning. It was 2 laps around a lovely country park (for which the road signs were weirdly elusive!). The course was pretty flat with some gradual hills running past lakes, ponds and beautiful greens with lots of friendly supporters. Only odd thing- i finished it in 48:56mins!!!! How on earth did that happen, i usually run 9min miles at fastest?!?!? My garmin thought the course might be a teeny bit short, but it was verified so hopefully he was telling lies :rotfl: The atmosphere was great as most of the cancer runs are, altho a little upsetting reading who fellow runners were running in memory or celebration of it was also quite inspirational.

can't wait for everyone else's reports :woohoo:

[mrs_hower726]

Great job everybody for a wonderful weekend full of activity!

Cam, I was at the Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk in DE this morning, it was beautiful outside! I heard that the running total of money raised was $450,000 and had over 5,700 participants. Woohoo! :dance3:

[lourodrigis]

Well, I am glad LBI is behind me. For a lot of reasons this is a tough race but a nice test before Philly so I'll probably do it every year I can.

Finished 199 out of 700+ runners...not bad but could have done better if I pushed the last few miles. No elite runners here but most of the runners are serious weekend warriors. You have to be serious to put yourself through this race.

LBI 18-Mile RUN RACE REPORT...

The race starts at 10:30AM so the weather is a major factor here. It was about 65 degrees at the start and 75 at the finish so a lot better than last year's 85-90. The good news is I felt great for most of this race so any knee injury I had appears to be gone.

You had about 800 runners at the start and most of them are serious to semi-serious runners. I ran great for the first 6 miles which is the best part of the race because there are lots of people cheering and buildings to provide shade. The next 6 miles felt good but I noticed that more people passed me then I passed. There was a steady head wind blowing in my face for most of the race but I remember feeling it a lot during these miles.

The last 6 miles were pretty boring and I started running out of steam. Rather than trying to push it I decided to ease up because I knew I would come in more then 10 minutes faster then last year. After Mile 15 I basically put it in cruise control and took it easy.

Not much to report about this race but here are the pros and cons...

CONS
* 18 miles straight down Long Beach Blvd with the wind blowing in your face and very little shade the whole way.
* The last 6 miles are run on the shoulder of the road and were rough on the shins, especially when you have to dodge stormwater inlets every couple hundred feet.
* It's a 10:30 start so it's pretty sunny and warm the whole race.
* You only get Gatorade after Mile 9 some orange slices. You are screwed if you don't bring your own gel packs.

PROS
* 18 miles of flat, straight roadway.
* Well organized by St. Francis Church volunteers.
* Free buffet after the race for runners.
* Showers at the community center for runners.


Time.....Start time..Distance.Split time
0:07:53.....10:31 AM.....1.....7:53
0:15:55.....10:39 AM.....2.....8:02
0:23:57.....10:47 AM.....3.....8:01
0:31:57.....10:55 AM.....4.....8:00
0:40:03.....11:03 AM.....5.....8:06
0:48:12.....11:11 AM.....6.....8:08
0:56:26.....11:19 AM.....7.....8:13
1:04:49.....11:28 AM.....8.....8:23
1:13:17.....11:36 AM.....9.....8:27
1:21:47.....11:44 AM.....10....8:30
1:30:32.....11:53 AM.....11....8:44
1:39:11.....12:02 PM.....12....8:39
1:48:03.....12:10 PM.....13....8:51
1:57:01.....12:19 PM.....14....8:58
2:06:09.....12:28 PM.....15....9:08
2:15:29.....12:37 PM.....16....9:19
2:24:58.....12:47 PM.....17....9:29
2:34:25.....12:56 PM.....18....9:26

[thndrmatt]

Another week, another race report! (2 actually)

Saturday was the Cypress Gardens Tri at the theme park of the same name in Winter Haven. This was a short distance event and they catered towards first timers. Distances were 600m swim (which ended up being about 750), 10 mile bike, and then a 5k.

We stayed at the Best Western across the street so no issues getting to the site race morning. Arriving at 2am the night before and being given a key to someone elses room and opening the door into the chain while they were sleeping is another story... End result was they gave us the only thing they had left (smoking) and didn't charge us for the night. I had to get up at 6am anyway so I was more interested in the $95 freebie. The clock in the room was 10 minutes fast so even after rolling around waiting for it to turn to 6 I got up and looked at my watch and it was still 5:50. I just didn't sleep that well, maybe 2-3 hours max.

The whole race in general was pretty disorganized for a tri. They were allowing anyone to just wander into transition, and had the $10k pro bikes on the closest rack to the exit. Anyone could have just grabbed one and taken off. No rack assignments just age group labels on each one, so it was a free for all. Over on the first timer racks I saw a lot of altercations involving people moving other people's bikes so THEIRS could be on the end and things like that. Bikes of all shapes and sizes, from the pro bikes to huge fat tire bikes to mountain bikes to cruisers and everything in between. The sponsor was Publix so there was a great pre race spread of fruit and drinks and whatnot.

The swim was in the lake made famous by the Cypress Gardens waterski show which is self-proclaimed as the longest running live show on earth. It was basically counterclockwise around the jetty that protects that portion of the lake. Just eyeballing it from the start I knew it was long, and based on my time I'd guess it was about 750m or half an olympic. Temp was great and it was really flat almost like bathwater. Things got started like 15-20 min late after the officials made their way down to the water. There were going to be 6 waves or something but basically all the athletes were just standing around waiting for something to happen. They started giving instructions finally over a megaphone but kept looking out and pointing over the water while they talked about the course so the sound all went that way and no one could hear. Finally they just randomly said ok we'll start in 4 minutes. Apparently they just forgot the national anthem because eventually some spectators and athletes just randomly started singing it and soon everyone joined in. The official said "ok whenever you people are done singing we'll start" in a pretty nasty tone of voice about halfway through the song. Anyway, eventually I swam and was real comfortable but since I was in the first wave the other waves all caught me and started clobbering me as they went by. Eventually made my way to the swim finish, the highlight being just barely beating one guy who started in my same wave and swam the whole thing on his back, frog kicking, right behind me, just to give you an example of how slow my freestyle is. Lots of people apparently swam slower but keep in mind there were about that many first timers, and for the online results they included the looong run to transition which I took out here and put in my T1 time.

Swim: 23:00, 13/14 AG, 288/375 OA

T1 involved running basically halfway through Cypress Gardens, up a couple hills, and finally to transition, probably about 500 yards. Pretty smooth for me, except I discovered I had accidentally packed my wife's thorlos instead of mine, which I was barely able to get over my heel because they were so small. Doh! Time is long due to all the running which was more like shuffling barefoot.

T1: 4:05

For some reason I was already feeling pretty poor right after getting on the bike. I dropped my gel in the first 10 feet and had to go back. My quads were already tightening up a bit and I just could not catch my breath for the first few miles. I was going after it pretty hard since it was so short, but I was only hitting speeds I usually hit and maintain on olympic distances that are more than twice as far. Some various undulations kept things interesting and I took in some gatorade and then gel/water as planned. Finished strong, so strong I blew right past the dismount line which was REALLY poorly marked. Was watching people ahead of me which turned out to be people who had just come out of transition to start the course. Since it was a continuous loop I didn't realize I had already reached the end and had to double back. Was satisfied with the results though based on how everyone else did, it must have just been a deceivingly harder course. Top 50% in my AG and better yet top 16% overall whcih is fantastic.

Bike: 28:22, 21.2mph, 7/14 AG, 59/375 OA

Real quick transition for me, one guy was still trying to put his shoes on when I came in, and was still there as I was leaving which made me feel good. Life is a competition!

T2: 0:51

The run was a quick turn into the park for a mile, lots of twists and turns and little ups and downs and bridges to run over, kept things interesting I enjoyed it a lot. Reminded me of running to Splash Mountain at park opening when I was a kid... The second and third miles however were basically across the full length of the parking lot, then doubled back to the close end again, then went around the entire lot again on the furthest border before reentering the park for the last few hundred yards to the finish. I continued to not have the greatest day mentally, but I'm happy with the pace I was able to sustain. Course was apparently short by quite a bit I had it at 2.9 even with all my zigzagging through the park. Low point was the 13 year old passing me with 100 meters to go who had started in my wave. Sprinted in and started attacking the finish line food. Title sponsor was publix, so there were turkey burgers, cheese trays, vegetables, fruit, wraps, all kinds of stuff.

Run: 25:03, 8:05mpm, 12/14 AG, 120/375 OA

My results were pretty typical for me. Near the bottom on the swim, excellent on the bike, middle of the pack on the run. But my swim is so terrible that usually puts me back in the middle of the pack overall.

Finish: 1:21:19, 11/14 AG, 147/375 OA

Mentally I might have been holding back just a bit, as I knew I had the RFTT the next day. Speaking of which, it's time for that race report! :thumbsup2

[thndrmatt]

The day before RFTT started with the Cypress Gardens Tri. Eventually made it back to the room around 10am to wake up DW who had done all the driving for the 6 hours down the night before and was definitely not getting up to come to the race. We then went over to Cypress Gardens for the day which we had never been to. My entry got me in free and her in at 50% off, so $19 for the two of us was a great deal. We went on many of the rides which are very much like those you would see at a fair. For the first hour or so we were literally the only ones at the various rides, some of them including the roller coaster they would just send around again without us even asking, probably because they were so bored. There was also a water park in the back, and we'd worn our bathing suits so we had a great time cooling off on some of the flumes and inner tube rides. Took in the water ski show and her favorite the animal show, and eventually headed out to WWOS.

Packet pickup was the usual 1 booth affair, quite underwhelming if you're comparing it to the marathon's. Grabbed my stuff and headed to Coronado Springs to check in. We'd randomly grabbed a great rate a couple weeks ago since all the Value's and SoG were full, and were pleasantly surprised. Great area, real close to the Epcot resorts basically right across World Drive. Lots of hammocks, a nice main pool area with a big slide, and the good service we've come to expect staying on resort. If anything I think we saved a lot of time not staying at SoG this time, as they give you a parking pass good at all the parks, and our parking was right by our room, so we were getting from our door to theme park entrances in about 10 min every time.

About 4pm we headed in to Epcot and spent the day working clockwise from Mexico to the USA eating 1-2 items at almost every booth stuffing ourselves. Highly recommended to split the world over 2 days as we did, it allows for less painful gorging. ;) Our intent was to hit the other half after the RFTT. Also stayed for Illuminations since we had to drive home the next night and were planning to be on the road long before the night show.

After this long day starting with the 6am wakeup for the tri, two amusement parks, and an eventual 11pm sleep time at the hotel, I figured I'd sleep better that night. Sadly I rolled around a bunch again, and DW is quoted as saying I was apparently talking to myself. :confused3 5:15 came eventually but I was already up getting ready and had turned off the alarm. DW was phoning it in again as she would be doing most of the driving home later in the day, and we had discovered with my bike and all the other stuff in the back of her Suzuki there was only room for one other person. This spot was soon to be inhabited by Becky who I picked up at Boardwalk. Did the ol flash your room key because they all look the same trick and the guard let me right in to the front. We were both wearing our LIME GREEN so she was easy to spot.

Decided to park it at Epcot since it was only about 5:45 at that point and we had plenty of time to catch the buses over to WWOS. Managed to get a bus driver who didn't get lost (its happened before) and in no time at all we were at WWOS with an hour or so to the start. At that point I realized my mistake. I usually have pop tarts as my breakfast before races about an hour prior to start, and because I'd gotten up so early I just brough them in the car to eat at the site. Then I apparently left them in the car. They had no food at the start and worse yet no sports drink, so all I was able to take in was water pre-race and was working on zero calories taken in since about 9pm the nght before. Couldn't do anything about it though so I knew the last half of the race was not going to go as planned. During that hour WISHers started popping up in ones and twos and we eventually had a pretty good group of about 8 I'd say when the national anthem started playing. I'm pretty sure there were more out there, maybe not wearing shirts? We also saw another light orangish shirt maybe with our exact DNS motto and logo on the front, and nothing on the back. Maybe he'd borrowed it to make his own shirt?

With about two minutes to go I WISH'd everyone luck and started throwing elbows to get to the front (I exaggerate ;) ). Some great fireworks started us off, except the wind blew the smoke right overhead the course and everyone was coughing for the first few hundred meters. I took it out pretty hard and kept it hard, and figured I'd just see what I was capable of that day. Through two miles I was real solid, through three I was still within seconds of my 5k PR, and it went downhill from there. Could tell the majority of people were passing me instead of vice versa in the last half, and it just became harder and harder to maintain speed. I'd also forgotten this was the course where they give out ONLY water, no sports drink so I continued to take in zero calories. It was humid like crazy as always, and I could almost feel the salt and potassium and electrolytes and things I need to run just dripping out of me along the course. I could tell a PR wasn't happening and just tried to do my usual last mile kick, which amazingly enough led to my slowest mile of the day. Can't even remember but I don't think that's ever happened in a 10k, especially this one since you're running through Epcot and it's usually a boost. Sprinted it in to get my time.

Splits: 8:00, 8:01, 8:15, 8:32, 8:38, 8:45, 2:15 (.2, .32 on my Garmin)

Finish: 52:27, 33/145 Age Group, 16/44 Military, 207/1040 Male, 287/2616 Overall

Based on the tri and theme parking the day before, I'm quite pleased with how I did. I took a minute off my time from two years ago (ran last year with DW) and was within a minute of my PR. Was top 11% overall which was fantastic for me. The post race food was great, especially since a fellow WISHer gave me their band and I went through all the lines twice. :rolleyes1 Anyone notice women outnumbered men by a whole lot? 1500ish to 1000ish...

Better yet I eventaully picked up DW and we went back to Epcot to eat our way around the other half of the world. Personal favorites were the lamb in Melbourne for DW, while I liked the chicken in Morocco which was kind of an eggroll thing mainly because it was huge! When it came to bang for the buck that one took the cake. Honorable mention to the strawberry shortcake which was fantastic when they served it at the race but underwhelming in the park, which was weird.

I should also mention I was the one creating a lake beneath me dripping as I stood at the exit to Epcot cheering in all the rest of the finishers. Chester joined me a few minutes later and we had a good time helping everyone get through the finish. I know the back of the packers with two knee braces and a camelbak were suffering more than I was, and that impresses me every time that they can mentally push through it. I know everyone had places they needed to get to post-race so there wasn't a big meet up afterward, but I'm pretty sure I saw everyone from WISH finish, included a few who called out to us but weren't wearing shirts who I'm guessing were from this board as well.

Fantastic race everyone! Sadly probably my last until after this next deployment :sad2: . I'm pondering whether I can swing a trip down for marathon weekend just to scream team, since we'll also be going out to Houston that following weekend for my marathon. It will depend on when I get back from deploying in early Jan.

Until next week!

[mkymsehi]

Matt,

Excellent reports as usual.

See everyone, I predicted earlier, that Matt does not get enough sleep on weekends. :rotfl2:

Suggestion for the Thorlos. Dye Cheryl's pink, and your's blue. That way there's no confusion.

Tough going without the pop-tarts & gatorade. Gotta pack a special bag to carry with you to the start line. Ah, but you made up for it by all the post race eating around the World.

Free room. Sign us all up for that sweet deal.

Good going, and I'm sure you'll find some other race to end your hectic racing season.

[Tiger Lily 03]

Good job everyone!

Wendy, I admire your determination while working your way past the doughnut shop.

Kate, good job.Was this a PR for you then?

mrs_hower726, good job getting out there for a great cause!

Lou, good job on the event. Good report/pros/cons.

Matt, amazing, man you are amazing! Great weekend report events and fun included! Hope it works that we will see you in Jan. (selfish of me I know esp that you have an event the next weekend, but you are good at doubling up things.) Hoping to find you in the states during this time.

Sadly for me I had to scrub my event. Something going on with my heel (Achilles maybe) so I thought it best to rest it instead of stressing it.

[CarolA]

My quick RFTT report.

The night before I did Party For The Senses. LOTS of wine and good food. (Did I mention LOTS of wine LOL!) I don't think this is the carbo loading they meant. Plus the Saturday before I did my longest run ever (Yes only 11 miles, but...) My legs were still tired. (Hey, it was actually kind of neat that they got to that stage :thumbsup2 )

Got up about 5 and headed to Epcot. I was staying at the Dolphin and decided to drive to Epcot and take the Disney buses to WWOS. I would say I got to WWOS at around 5:45, but really I don't have a clue. My Garmin doesn't tell time. Met up with the group Matt discussed and headed to the start. Time passed quick since we were in a group.

If you were farther back in the pack (13 minute pace) then you did not choke on the fireworks smoke. See there are advantages to being SLOW! This was the first race where folks running near me commented on the motto on the shirt. The only other time I wore it was the Minnie and there were a LOT of us there. I really only saw about 6 other shirts at this race so we were more "unique" Got lots of great comments!

I finished the race in 1:18:51. Really right where I normally am for a 10K so I guess the LOTS of wine didn't kill me. (Maybe someday I will break 1:15:rotfl: ) Matt and Chester literally screamed team to the last finisher. I am impressed with thier spirit!

I took one look at those food lines and gave my wrist band (minus the soft drink) to Matt. (As mentioned he needed the calories!)

All in all it was a good race for me. I did my 2 jog/1 walk pace the entire time and was pretty steady. I need to start doing splits. I felt slower at the beginning, but seemed to loosen up near the end.

I arranged a late check out at the Dolphin and went back and took a three hour nap. Spent the afternoon and early evening at Epcot and then headed to the Hyatt where I spent last night. I actually got up EARLIER today then on race day. (Had a 6 AM flight!)

[Tiger Lily 03]

Carol, great job! Congratulations.

Thanks for your report.

I thought I'd link 2 reports of first time events from WISH Team members.

laughinplace199, Julie (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=28139296&posted=1#post28139296)

PooksMom, Leigh (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=28139272#post28139272)

Way to go WISH Team!

[wellesleyprincess]

Hi Everyone!

So the Tufts Health Plan 10k for Women was a marvelous experience!

It was my first 10k and I ended up running faster than my 5k pace.

This was my first large scale event nearly 7000 runners and over 5500 finishers.

I got there early got my number, t-shirt (nice new balance long sleeve tech shirts), and goody bag (including info on the Princess 1/2). I then walked around the tents and got all the free stuff.

At 10:45 they had an official warm up and then at 11:15 they started lining people up. I was seeded in the 8 minute mile group so we got lined up at about 11:30. At 12:01 PM we were off.
I found the switch from 5k to 10k remarkably easy and ended the race feeling like I could have gone another 3 miles (15k here we come; I just have to find one).
My splits were 7:50, 7:50, 7:55. I hit the 5k mark at 24:20 which is also a new PR. Then 8:20 (because of the stupid UPHILL Bridge), 8:15 (still recovering from the unexpected uphill), and 8:10 (it was the end of the race). Finish time was 50:15 for an 8:05 average pace, which means my 10k pace is faster than my official 5k pace.
I finished 533 out of over 5500 finishers, and 190 out 1250 in my age group (20-29). I impressed that I was in the top quartile in both. I also loved the camraderie of the large race and it was awesome to see elite runners. Now to go check out those Princess 1/2 postcards they put in the goody bags...

Best,
Jennifer

[Tiger Lily 03]

Great job Jennifer! You were flying!

Here is the race report link from suzannews (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1982269).

[mkymsehi]

Way to go Carol & Jennifer! :thumbsup2