Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos - 26 and 27 June

[Big Vic]

Saturday, 26 June

26 - Sarah Rose (Sarah) RnR Seattle Half Marathon
26 - J3nn78 (Jenn) No Name 5k, Fitchburg, MA
26 - wellesleyprincess (Jennifer) Helen Keller Festival 5 mile Race Florence, AL

Sunday, 27 June

27 - thndrmatt's DW (Cheryl) Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs
27 - Pungodingy (Angie), Tiger Lily 03 (Lily) Boston 13.1, Boston, MA


GO! WISH Team GO!

 

[jmasgat]

Go WISHers! Hope you all survive the heat and race well.

And go Carrie.....hope the tri goes great!

Maura

 

[FireDancer]

Good luck everyone, especially Sarah and baby.

I have a 4 miler tonight and a 10K on Sunday.

 

[suzannews]

Good luck everyone!!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Good luck all. I have two 5 milers, on tomorrow, one Sunday.

 

[mytripsandraces]

Good luck all. I have two 5 milers, on tomorrow, one Sunday.

Pride and Achilles? Did you run Wall Street last night? It was a nightmare!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Pride and Achilles? Did you run Wall Street last night? It was a nightmare!

Yes, yes, and yes. And wow, yes. Nightmare would be a nice word for it. Between the congestion and the heat, by the time I was done, the first words out of my mouth to my boyfriend were "never again".

Looking forward to getting back in the park tomorrow.

 

[thndrmatt]

Expect mass Facebook explosion on my page with updates about Cheryl... She's trained, healthy, and uninjured, so we're looking forward to a great race. Now I just have to learn this whole spectating thing...

Edit: Predicted high temperature tomorrow - 97 degrees

 

[mytripsandraces]

Yes, yes, and yes. And wow, yes. Nightmare would be a nice word for it. Between the congestion and the heat, by the time I was done, the first words out of my mouth to my boyfriend were "never again".

Looking forward to getting back in the park tomorrow.

How did it go? I stuck to the treadmill this morning and will again tomorrow. Good luck!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

How did it go? I stuck to the treadmill this morning and will again tomorrow. Good luck!

Not bad, thanks. Automatic PR of 55:50 (SLOW for me, but I did a lot of walking after mile 4 because I couldn't cool myself down). Going to try a different strategy with hydrating tomorrow, hopefully I'll PR again.

 

[mytripsandraces]

Not bad, thanks. Automatic PR of 55:50 (SLOW for me, but I did a lot of walking after mile 4 because I couldn't cool myself down). Going to try a different strategy with hydrating tomorrow, hopefully I'll PR again.

Yuck! I hope the new strategy works. I hate running in summer!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Hey everyone!

In the end, I did make the decision to go out and try the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle half marathon and I am SO GLAD that I made that decision. I walked the entire thing and finished in 3:46, but the worst I could complain about was my poor sore swollen feet and an IT band issue that didn't pop up until after the car ride home.

The absolute high point of the race was getting to walk with the "back of the pack-ers". Everyone was so friendly and chatty and cracking jokes as we went - I knew I liked this group of racers, but I had no idea HOW MUCH! There was just so much great support out there and I had such a good time. I even got to chat with a couple other pregnant women who were doing the race. One had a "Baby's First Half Marathon" t-shirt that was so cute! I did get a lot of comments from spectators and other runners, and (with the exception of one comment from a person who was walking near the course near the finish line) they were all very positive. The one negative about being near the back is that all the water stops were packing up by the time we got there - there was always something, but quite often the volunteers were more concerned with breaking down tables than actually handing out water. They were also very nearly out of Gu by the time I got to the Gu station at mile 7 - I imagine they probably did run out not far behind me.

The day itself ended up being pretty near perfect, weather-wise. Temps were in the low 60's, and it was mostly cloudy all morning (although the sun is out, now!). That meant that it was a bit chilly in the corrals in the morning, but that once we got out there moving, it was the perfect temperature. The course runs for about 4 miles along Lake Washington and there was a nice breeze along the lake - no bald eagles out this year, though. One area where the organizers really did fail this year was in port-a-potties - and I don't just say this as a pregnant woman! The line ups before the race were like nothing I've ever seen and many people missed their starting wave while in line. Along the course, there were always lines of 5-10 minutes at almost every port-a-potty stop. They just needed more of them out there more often, and a lot of people were really annoyed about it. You couldn't use a port-a-potty before the race start, and then if you did need to stop, you waited 10 minutes! I had to stop twice during the race and I was a bit worried that I would fall over 4 hours, because of those stops.

Anyway, all of my worrying about have early labor symptoms during the race were totally unfounded. I actually had a much easier time during the half today than I did during my 5K last weekend! I mostly attribute this to me being much more aware of my hydration; I knew that being properly hydrated during the race would make it much more unlikely that I would have any problems, and so I put a lot of effort into making sure that I was very well-hydrated before the start, and drinking something at every aid station. I did have one instance around mile 11 where I was feeling pain and wasn't quite sure where it was coming from (I was tired at that point and general hip and back pain was making it hard to pinpoint exact details on what my body was doing) so I stopped to wait in line for a port-a-potty. By the time I was back on the course, I knew that I was just feeling my stomach ligaments stretching (which is totally normal and harmless and normally something that I would have been able to identify easily) and that I was fine to continue. My only real complaint during the race was that my hands and feet got quite swollen - I always have swollen hands during long runs, but this was at a new level. My knuckles even started turning a bit purple and I had to make an effort to keep my hands above my head so the swelling would go down. It also means that my shoes were fitting a bit tighter than I would have liked and so I have some uncomfortable rubbing spots. Walking the entire race was also a great plan - I even walked across the start line while my entire corral of walkers was jogging. It was tough, but I knew it was for the best!

Well, that's it! I am incredibly glad that I made the decision to go out and do it. At no time did I feel the need to stop, but I knew the entire time that I could have done so with no regrets. I'm very proud to have accomplished what I did - I found this half marathon to be physically tougher than the Goofy, but I knew I was always in control of what was going on. It was so wonderful to finally get to the finish line and see my DH and my wonderful Joints in Motion teammates cheering me on.

Baby is celebrating by sticking his/her bum in my ribs and hiccuping. I had one comment from another runner near the end that, "your baby is already faster than I am!"

 

[J3nn78]

Wow, Sarah- that is incredible!

My 5K was fun. No PR for me, as I was keeping the pace of my best friend I ran with. Visiting her for the weekend. It was also really hot and the course was 75% uphill despite the course description being "mostly flat with a few slight inclines"

 

[mytripsandraces]

Congratulations, Sarah! That's a great accomplishment! We have major issues with water and nutrition in our races, too. At one half marathon, they ran out of water at the 10th-mile water station and the "volunteer" told us that we didn't want to drink it anyway, because it was from the hydrant. Well, I can tell you that we all DID want to drink it! Also, I was in the 25th percentile, so a full quarter of the participants behind me did not get water at that point.

How does it feel to be beaten in the half by your baby? Of course, s/he did have a head start . . .

Well done!

 

[kareneast]

I did the 13.1 Marathon Series Boston Race:

This is not a race I will ever do again & at this point it is highly unlikely I will ever do another from the 13.1 Series. This was an inaugural race for Boston but was not the first race for the 13.1 Series. There were too many things that just should not have happened.

First, no expo (which was not a problem), just go to a running store to pick up bib & wicking shirt. Get the shirts, they are a cool Wish green. Open the package to see the shirt, they are a generic 13.1 Marathon Series shirt that they can use at all of their races. WTH! The front says 13.1 Marathon Series, 2010 & an American Flag, all in black. The back shows an outline of the USA with the cities they hold races. If you wanted a shirt that said Boston on it you could purchase one for $19.99.

Next up….Race Morning. They had on-site parking & then overflow satellite parking which had shuttles back to the start. We got there early enough to park on-site. It was an old horse racing facility. They had you park in the inside field of the track. They did not mow the grass. In spots it was knee deep. Thankfully the grass was only damp in a few spots. We made our way across the track to the pre-race area. There did not look to be nearly enough port-o-potty’s. Since we were there early we used the facilities before there were lines. Then I kept an eye on them & as soon as there were a few people lined up, John & I jumped back on the line. By the time we were done the lines were really long & now going into the checked bag staging/holding area for the bags. People were stepping over checked bags trying to get through to other lines. Race start was out on the street. We walked towards the street but there was a big rock wall that ran parallel to the street. Some people were jumping up & climbing over. We opted for walking around. Get to the end of the wall & there now is a fence that runs in along the entrance road. We climbed the fence with everyone else while someone was trying to take down a section of the fence. This was only about 15 min before race start.

On to the race. National Anthem & we’re off. We were told the course was rolling hills. I guess that is a relative term as to what you are used to & the area you are in….to me it was rolling mountains. LOL It was a tough course. Very few level areas. Pretty much when you got to the top of a hill, you went down and when you got to the bottom you then went up again. The road was also pitched in a lot of the areas which was hard on the legs/knees. It was a pretty course in that it was mostly trees/woods and along a reservoir. You did get to see one view of Boston from the top of a hill (that you got to see twice since was on an out& back) Do to all the trees most of the course was in the shade, which was great since it was so hot. The worst hill started somewhere between mile 10 & 10.5 and didn’t end until mile 11. It just seemed to never end. By the time we got to the second water stop (at approx mile 4) they were almost out of cups. This was on an out & back and the stop served both sides. On the way back there were no cups. We had our own bottles so had them refill us. They had run out of cups at all the water stops. People were just sharing the gallon water containers taking sips. They did manage to get more cups out on the course but they missed way too many people who should have had water especially on such a hot day. The last water stop had apparently ran out of water along with the cups. They ended up getting small bottles of water that they were handing out. Running out of cups & water should not have happened, but on a positive, at least they made an effort to correct the problem. There was also no powerade/Gatorade on the course. There website said there would be. I don’t drink/use it, but if you were expecting it & needed it in the heat, you were in trouble. The worst is as we were entering the finish shoot, the clock was coming up on 3:28 & garmins were coming up on 3:27, they were pulling up the timing mats & they pulled one of the side fences across about 10 feet in front of us. We ran around the section of fence & crossed the finish line without timing mats. We weren’t sure if we would end up with a finish time. Others behind us were doing the same. This was soooo wrong. There was a 3:30 time limit from when the last person crossed the start and clock time hadn’t even gotten to 3:30. John has a photo of them taking the clock down with the clock saying 3:29.  This was completely inexcusable!!!

Post Race. There were no medals at the finish. Didn’t even see a medical tent. We had to walk back to the now removed section of fence (where we could help ourselves to a bottle of water) and make our way back across the field almost to the track to pick up our medal from someone that was standing at a table handing them out. There were no signs or anyone to tell you where to go. John had to ask another racer that was wearing their medal where they got it from. Anyone could have just walked up & gotten a medal. Not sure if they were even checking to see if you were wearing a bib. Then walked over to the food tent which was not spectacular but I guess adequate. Bagels, big muffins, granola bars, oranges & bananas. No powerade or salty snacks.

We did get to meet Maria's (Wofiedoodles) husband & Angie (Pungodingy) pre-race & got to wave to them/cheer them on, on the 2 out & backs. We saw Angie again post race and also Katie (K80K). We also had someone yell go Wish to Lily & I on one of the out & backs that wasn’t wearing a Wish shirt. Now know that was Megan (Poppinspal).

 

[kareneast]

Congratulations Sarah!!!! WTG!!!!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Congratulations to all participants this weekend.

Matt, Thanks for keeping us FB posted on Cheryl. Sorry you had connection issues though.

Karen, I don't have much more to add to your report on the 13.1 Half - Boston. I will include my comment from the Boston thread.

I must say that I still have that feeling of being used and abused and still cannot bring myself to even think about the mess. I am certainly happy that we had such fun visiting with friends and playing with WISH Team members. THIS is what the weekend was all about anyway. It really was nice to get to see WISHers at this event. I'm sorry that it was not more of a pleasant experience.

There is little I can add. It still greatly upsets me that this happened. Their FB page is certainly a battle ground right now. I thought the front participants would feel little effect with what happened to us at the back. Seems they have their own issues. Parking in the lot and having to wait until the end of the event without being told of this earlier is another inexcusable problem. It would have been easy enough to add one sentence to the Web info "For those parking in this lot you will be required to remain for the ENTIRE event. And, that would be AFTER Lily, Karen and several other back of the pack people crossed. Go cheer them as they do so!" Ya know.

Anyway, there were promises via statements on the Web and therefore basic expectations that were not met and not any logical thought about the seriousness of staging an event. It's like all of the participants had no value except for the dollars spent to the event via registration. I even support Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and was excited to run one of these events. Sad and upsetting on so many levels.