Hot Chocolate 15K

Race #5 of 2017!

Writing these race reports this year is more fun than they ever were before. Every race I do this year means more than any race prior to 2013. It is amazing how getting sick changes your perspective of things and allows you to really be grateful for what you have and what you're able to do.

But I digress......

The Hot Chocolate 15K is a race I have been wanting to do since 2012. I couldn't do it in 2012 because the race fell on the same weekend that I host my family for Thanksgiving. There are 2 distances offered for the hot chocolate race; 5K and 15K. Last year I thought about doing the 5K because by November I was running 3 miles (slowly) pretty regularly again. I eventually decided spending the money to travel to Columbus and pay a lot for a 5K just wasn't worth it. I wanted to do the 15K and since I wasn't there yet I'd just have to wait another year.

I'm not even sure when it happened, but at some point this year I decided THIS was the year I would make this happen. I was training for the half marathon in May so I knew that by November I could do 9.3 miles (or at least I had hoped). I eventually asked my mom if she wanted to make a girls weekend of it. I suggested that she and my daughter could run the 5K and I would do the 15K. At some point during our weekly runs this summer she decided that SHE would also do the 15K! Since we were both doing the farther distance we decided not to take my daughter since I wouldn't want her alone on the course and waiting for us after.

We headed down to Columbus on Saturday and went to the expo to pick up our packets. One of the reasons I wanted to do this race is the swag always looks so nice! I was NOT disappointed. The sweatshirt is amazing. It's soft on the inside and that nice tech fabric on the outside. The best part was that you could try on other sizes and switch in case the one you ordered wasn't right. I wasn't sure because I ordered the XL and they are the dreaded women's cut. I decided to try the XXL on and decided that I was right and that one was too big!

My sister and her husband ended up coming to do the 15K as well so we met up with them at the expo and headed to Buca di Beppo for dinner.

We stayed at a hotel within walking distance to the race so it was SO nice not to have to wake up at a horribly early hour to get there. The race corrals didn't open until 7 and the race started at 7:30. We left the hotel around 6:55. I kind of liked the way they did the start,  but kind of didn't. They called it "one wave" and said everyone started at 7:30; but that wasn't really true. The first corral went at 7:30, but then they had a 3 minute wait between each corral. What was cool was that we got to be closer to the start line than I've ever been before. But what I didn't like was that it took that much longer to just get started and it ends up being a lot of just standing there. I much prefer the other races I've done where they blow the horn and you just go. When you're in the back of the pack it still takes a long time (sometimes) to get to the start line, but as least you're moving the entire time.

Anyway, we were eventually off and feeling good. Very rarely do I ever feel bad to start a race. My wrist beeped for our first mile and I was a little worried about our pace. I knew there would be no way I'd keep that pace for 9.3 miles. We finished mile 1 in 12:04. I also noticed again that my watch was alerting me about .1 or .2 before the actual mile marker. No biggie, but towards the end those .2 miles are the devil! I felt good and my mom is always faster than me so I just kept going trying to keep up with her. Mile 2 was in 12:01. I was starting to think maybe I shouldn't worry and just go with it. Mile 3 was a little slower at 12:23 and I thought that was more the pace I was wanting at the start. The pace starts to go downhill from there. Mile 4 was 12:56 - still feeling good that it's under 13 and knowing I had done miles 1 and 2 faster than anticipated I was still feeling good about my pace. I should add that I did NOT go into this race with a goal. It's an instant PR because I've never done a 15K before.

It's not a great pic, but I love it because I
look like I'm actually running fast! 

But, I always want to try to do at least as well as my training runs or do better than the last official race I did. Mile 5 was 13:10 and I was even still OK with that. Mile 6 I'm feeling like it'd be really awesome if this was a 10K. 13:42. Mile 7 I really want to take extra walk breaks, but I don't want to slow down my mom. She seems to be totally rocking it still and I am struggling. 13:36. Up to this point I'm perfectly content with my time. Yes, I'm slowing down, but I knew I would. Mile 8 I think I hit a wall. I added walk breaks. I felt guilty for slowing my mom down and I was arguing with her to go ahead. She didn't want to because I was struggling and feeling a little faint so I was making her nervous. I tried to tell her I didn't feel any worse (or even as bad as) than the 10 miler in June so I'd be fine. Finally when her Garmin showed 8.8 miles she said she was just going to go. I said GOOD! :) I HATE feeling like I'm holding someone back. (I think that's probably another blog post in and of itself). Mile 8 - 15:10. After my mom went ahead I no longer felt guilty for walking. I knew I'd finish and I was really fine with it. I walked a lot in that last mile. Mile 9 - 15:12. But then I was approaching the last corner. I knew that right around that bend was the downhill to the finish line. I started running again and finished the race out at a better pace. My Garmin has my average pace faster than my official pace since it had me going farther than 9.3. But, official results were: 2:09:03. My mom finished 2 minutes faster than me.

When comparing my results to other races this year I was faster than the half marathon in May and the 10 miler in June. My average pace was slower than the 10K or 5 miler, but those are significantly shorter distances so you really can't compare those. All in all I'm happy. I realized after this race that I have really improved this year up to about the 10K distance. That just means that now my goal is to work on getting faster up to the 10K distance and THEN add more distance.

Next up race wise? I haven't signed up for anything yet, but I am pretty certain I am going to do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. It's a 4 mile race in the town next to mine and I've done it at least 3 times before. I know I won't be beating my best time, but I'm OK with that. I'm actually not even certain I'll do better than my worst time at this race, but that's OK too. It would be race #6 on the year. The MOST races I've ever done in one year was 9 in 2012. To be at 5 or 6 this year is amazing to me. This year started with me wanting to get back to the half marathon distance (which I did) and has resulted in me absolutely making a comeback!

It's unfortunate my eyes are closed
because otherwise I really like this pic.

So even though I haven't lost a single pound since May 1st (and have gained back a few), it's not that I've given up. I am still here. I am still going. I have the exercise part down and just need to focus on the food part. The good news is that 2 days ago I really started focusing on ONE DAY AT A TIME. Each morning I am texting my friend with my goal for that day. So far this week each morning I have texted her to say my goal is to stay between 1800 and 2000 calories. That's it. Just for today. I have managed to string together 2 (and so far today) days of meeting that goal. We'll see how the rest of this day pans out and what my goal will be when I wake up tomorrow.