The Firecracker Fast 5k is truly a race that lives up to its name! The first time I ran it in 2013 I had no idea what to expect and it did not disappoint. It’s a fast point to point race with a lot of downhill in the first 2 miles. I love downhill racing but unfortunately there are not many races like this around here. The first time I ran this course I finished in 17:52- my first sub…
Racing the day after a long road trip is not ideal. Last year I tried to race a 5k after a day long car ride home from Disney and 5 hours of sleep. The key word there was tried. I felt decent for about one mile and it was pure torture after that. It went from 5k pace to marathon pace to just finish. We arrived home shortly after midnight Thursday night and fortunately had all day Friday to recover….
This past Saturday was the third time I raced the Breakaway 10k but I’ve probably run this course over a hundred times. No exaggeration. I helped design the course a few years ago and it’s one of my go-to routes. This race holds my current 10k PR- 37:51 from 2016. When I decided to add in the Midsouth Half Marathon at the beginning of November I knew I couldn’t really plan on Breakaway being an A race. I wanted to…
The 5k has always been my favorite racing distance followed closely by the marathon. I have no idea how many I’ve raced over the years- there’s just been way too many to count. It was my go-to racing distance in high school when my family would pick a race to run on the weekend. In college I raced mostly 5ks and I think my usual strategy was start fast and finish dead. I have enjoyed this distance much more post…
What do you do when two races you want to run are on the same day at different times? Why not register for both! On Saturday I ran in the Moix 5k in Conway at 8 am and the Arkansas 10 Miler in Little Rock at 5:00 pm. Race #1- Abi and I arrived in Conway a little after 7 am. I had plenty of time to get my packet and warm-up. Temps were in the upper 50’s and it…
Sometimes opportunities present themselves at very unexpected times and if you want it you just need to go for it. This explains how I got caught up running in a relay from Los Angeles to Las Vegas with 9 other strangers! When I first found out that Strava was putting together a team I was very interested but I had to make sure the timing would work with my big goal spring marathon. When I saw the Speed Project was…
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to relax and enjoy some quiet time with friends and family. This week has flown by and I’ve enjoyed every bit of downtime we’ve had! It’s actually been peak mileage training week and I cannot think of a better week for it than Thanksgiving. Extra time to run and plenty of delicious food to eat- it’s ideal! I could probably write an entire post on training lately so maybe I’ll…
Not every year is going to be a good running year and that’s the way 2011 was for me. My sweet Ashton was born that year and I learned a lot about priorities and starting over again. A couple months after my son was born I suffered a sacral stress fracture from trying to do too much too soon. My body wasn’t ready to jump into marathon training. When I finally started running again it took months to build up…
This Saturday marked the 8th consecutive weekend I had a race. Yes, this is now my (unintentional) record but I promise the racing streak ends here! Of all 8 races I probably had the lowest expectations for this one and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. For the first time in many months I negative split a race and finished strong. Definitely a good way to end the racing streak! Saturday morning my friend Ann met Natalie and…
Yes, it’s time for my annual year of running review. It’s really hard to sum up an entire year of running in one post but that’s what we do at the end of December, right? I like to break down the good and the bad in one post. Don’t worry- not every race performance is mentioned. That would be a really long post. While much of the year was dominated by plantar fasciitis I still managed to get in an…