Race Report: Little Rock Half Marathon

March 4th was the day I completed my 5th half marathon with another PR of 2:25:24.

This race will also be dubbed as the "My Most Enjoyable Race."

And I totally stole these pictures from Christine from Dream Big Runner.

Pre-Race:
In the morning, I easily found parking at one of many parking garages. And I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it. For whole day event parking, it was $5.

Christine graciously invited me to wait in her cosy room and let me use her clean bathroom with real flushing system! We geeked out again.

She contemplated her outfits and gadgets while I sat on the floor and stuffed myself with half a Clif bar. 

Race Size:
Marathon: Cap = 2,400 - Sold Out on Dec 14
Half Marathon: Cap=4,200 - Sold Out on Dec 30
10K: Cap=1,200 - Sold Out on Jan 3
5K: Cap=1,200 - Sold Out

On Saturday, there was a kids' race and the 5K.

On Sunday, the 10Kers, half marathoners, and marathoners took to the street. 

Waiting for the start. 

The race folks did a good job at spreading the runners out. Yes, we did a few weaving in the first mile, but it wasn't any worse than the other races I have done.

This is the course elevation. 

So you see, Little Rock isn't flat. And the second half of the race got me!

Mile 1 to 5

I was feeling strong. And according to Christine, I was going at a very good pace. 

We talked about perfect the weather was, strategized along the route, and I think we were just excited.

I informed her that I don't want to know my time (I'm in good hands) but to just let me know if we were on track to a PR or to give me a kick in the rear if I am too slow. (She is too nice to do that.)

We laughed at funny sights.

This is my favorite photo. 

You can see the excitement on our faces.

Can you spot us? 

After the first mile and approaching the bridge. 

The cool thing about having a pacer who is a blogger is she runs in front of you and ask you to keep running while she takes pictures of you. :)  

 Christine did all the thinking and calculating for me. She has the engineering degree and has taken all the fancy statistics and math classes. So, I just let her be the smart one that day. 

Mile 6-12

After we crossed the bridge back over again, we headed toward the state Capitol. 

Christine enjoyed the sights. I was still feeling pretty good up until mile 8, when I started to fizzle ever so slightly away. Christine also started to distract me with talks about the flowers blooming, about races that has cute firefighters, and she also shared her favorite quote with me, 

"Pain is Temporary. Pride is Forever."

About Mile 9ish, my toes started to cramp on my right foot and finally I had to stop and stretch. 

You know how you know some material really well and when it comes pop-quiz time, you don't remember a thing? Well, I didn't remember how to stretch my toes and Christine had to teach me that. 

After that incident with the toes, around mile 10-ish or 11-ish, I started to feel the urge to pee. 

Really bad urge.

I haven't been drinking large amount of water - just a sip or two here and there and to wash down my Chomps. But man, I was singing that ad jingle "Gotto go, gotto go, gotto go, right now" in my head.

I let Christine in on the Nature Call. 

I was looking and contemplating on peeing behind bushes, electrical boxes by the road, behind vehicles, behind someone's yard, tree trunks. I might have tinkled just a drip or two. 

Yes. I have admitted it. I tinkled! 

I was getting tired. But Christine was ever so supportive and never gave up on me. 

She pointed out to the finishing clock under the finish line and said, I have the PR in my bag. 

She might have suggested sprinting to the end, so we did it. 

I want to keep it at 2:25. 

As we finished, we went through a "checkpoint" place where the volunteers clipped the timing chip off our shoes. 

Then, we went and got some snacks and find Mike, Christine's boyfriend. 

The drinks stations weren't placed at every mile or every 1.5 mile. In the other races, most of the drink stations were right before a mile marker or right after a mile marker. But this was just here and there. 

Thank goodness Christine brought along an extra bottle for the hydration belt and filled it up with water 

for me. 

Parking was a breeze. 

And Little Rock's roads do not have that many pot holes. So it was easy and safe to run on. 

But watch for the trolley lines/rail. Someone tripped and fell earlier on in the race. 

After the race, there were many different kinds of fluids available - chocolate milk, tea, and water. 

You also get pretzels, goldfish, yogurt, bananas, those Little Debbie cake looking things. 

Your race bib also allows you to one free beer. 

There was an after-party at 4 or 5 p.m. and it goes into the night. 

They feed you BBQ and have entertainment. 

We didn't stay for that. I took Christine and Mike to the airport and was on my way home to take a good ol' much needed shower. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Little Rock Half Marathon. I think Christine helped made this experience a really fun one. It is really nice to be running with a friend. She kept me going even when the running got difficult. I cannot let her down. 

To read Christine's race report, click on the link below.

http://www.dreambigrunner.com/2012/03/race-report-little-rock-half-marathon.html

RnR Mardi Gras: Race Report, Blogger Meet Up, AND food.

Date: February 13, 2011
Time: 7 a.m.
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

This girl is ready to run her first race of 2011

It was a tad chilly in the morning (about 30s) as I hung out in my corral, waiting for the race to start. I had one of those "Hot Hands" in my hand, but try "lukewarm hands" instead.

I was in Corral #19, which was waaaaay in the back.  We finally started a little after 7:30ish a.m.

And we were off.

Mile 1 and 2: 

Splits: 11:04/mile and 11:25/mile

My toes were kinda frozen and numb. But I was feeling pumped and good. I kept my "lukewarm hands" until past Mile #2.  

Mile 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Splits: 11:21/mile, 11:06/mile, 10:40/mile, 10:47/mile, 11:05/mile
Warmed up and getting kinda hot. I contemplated taking off my half-zip but that would require me to take my race bib off and tie that half-zip around my waist. Too much trouble. Takes too much time. Even though I started getting something like a side stitch but it was more in the front of my belly, I kept a good pace. I think the entertainment (the bands) were good along this stretch. I don't know any of those bands that played though, but the music was upbeat. :) 
 

 Pretty trees provided a pretty canopy

 Probably my favorite cheerleading/spirit group throughout the entire race.

Mile 8, 9

Splits: 11:12/mile, 11:44/mile

I remember needing to stretch my belly very badly at Mile #8.  But I decided against it when I stopped to take a sip of water.

 Joan of Arc.
Give me some power.

Mile 10, 11

11:36/mile, 11:32/mile

Finally stopped at the drink station to stretch. Ahhhh! I am starting to feel tired too. But I wasn't quite ready for this to be over. Maybe I do. I don't know. Seriously love/hate relationship going on right there!

Mile 12, 13, 0.1

Splits: 11:56/mile, 11:25/mile, 9:16/mile

Still tired on Mile 12. I also realized that this is the last chance I have to get a PR. Did you notice that I didn't set a time goal for this race? The only thing I wanted was to run this for the bling. But, I have a shot at PR. So I sped up and kept going.  

What I thought about my RnR experience?

I expected a big big expo and a big big race. So, that's what I got. I would love to hang out at the expo a little longer, but the boyfriend had just dropped me off to go grab my race packet so I didn't want him to wait too long.  I got lost trying to find the exit the expo.

Race morning: The vibe was awesome! Excitement definitely filled the air. I thought to myself, this is one big party and I am part of it. I love it! There's no other party I want to be in.  

The route: It was a pancake flat route. You gotto be careful on some parts of the road because it was a little uneven/bumpy. But it's not a big deal.  You go through some nice residential area and their Mardi Gras decorations were just splendid. Love the purple, gold and green. Love the Fleur-de-lis. 

The RnR Experience: This is my first RnR race ever, so I can't exactly compare it to other RnR. Going into this race, I thought there would be enough music to carry me through the 13.1 miles.  I was a tad disappointed because it felt like there were a few stretches where there was no music at all. Maybe I was in a run-coma? I don't know.  I remembered a band playing those big band music - that was good.   I also remembered another band doing a cover of Lady Gaga's song. Other than that, I didn't know what was going on. 

Drinks: A station was out of water. Go figure. The volunteers did their best. Some were better than others. But overall, it was adequate. :) 

Bling: The bling was worth it! It's pretty! Love it! 

Will I do it again? 

I'm done with New Orleans now. Moving on to another RnR in another state? Definitely will do another RnR race just for comparison sake.  I think I would do RnR Las Vegas at some point in time because running down the Strip seems like a great idea. 

I met up with a blogger, Kelly, from Houston. She finished fabulously with a PR in 1:59:02. 

She texted me and patiently waited for me.

I am sorry I didn't get to stay longer. A combination of needing to go find a bathroom, getting back to the hotel to check-out, finding a college friend who encouraged me to registered for this race, and looking for the boyfriend kinda made it difficult for me to stay and hang out. In fact, I even forgot to take a picture with her.  ARGH! Check out her blog and congratulate her for her accomplishment! 

After a quick shower and check out, we went to Deanie's seafood restaurant in the French Quarter for lunch. Yummo! 

 Shrimp bisque. Very good flavor.
Probably made with shrimp stock. 

Not as good as Pappadeaux but still very good.

Crab meat salad with very good remoulade sauce

 

Salad with blue cheese dressing

Very good dressing. Tastes like it's made with real sour cream.

 Crawfish etouffee. It's a good standard crawfish etouffee.  

It needed some "magic" 

Half seafood platter: Fish was fresh, hot and not overcooked/dry.

Soft shell crab was good. 

Fried oysters were fresh-tasting.

The crab ball thingy was excellent!

Batter was crispy with little flavor other than cornmeal.

Deanie's is definitely worth a stop when you are in town.

*****

In case you missed it .....
What Was Ahead: Rocking and Rolling in New Orleans - The Day Before
 Coming Up: Looking Back.

Race Report: Ding Dong Days 5K Run

Race: Ding Dong Days 5K Run/Walk
Location: Dumas, Arkansas
Date: 24 July 2010
Number of Race in 2010: 3


Overview:  This was a very small local race. Packet pick-up was a breeze since there weren't a lot of participants and there were a lot of people working the race. Perfect!

Here are the goodies. My favorite? A handy-dandy Band-Aid carrier. 

The race was split into a walk-only group and a walk/run-group. Gun time was supposed to be at 7:00 (walkers) and 7:30 a.m. (runners) but we had an approximate 10-minute late start.  I haven't been running outside in the heat and humidity for a while, even though I told myself that I should do more runs outside after my last 5K. I was a little worried about being too hot and more importantly, being frustrated with feeling sticky. I warmed up the legs by jogging slowly before gun time. Nothing major. Just up and down half a block or so.

Seriously small race. I heard they have more people this year in the race than the last.  There was pretty much no crowd support. No child cheering for mom/dad. No spouse with kids cheering for their running spouse. A lady stood outside her front door after picking up her morning paper just to see what was going on.  Another lady was at her vehicle but pretty much paid no attention to what was going on. So, during the run, it felt like a regular run through the neighborhood than a race.

The course: It was through a neighborhood so there were a quite a number of turns. However, volunteers were stationed at each turn to guide the runners through the course. Apart from 1 volunteer who was more into texting on her cellphone, the others were quite diligent.  I saw a runner (with iPod) ran the wrong way and the volunteer had no idea what to do. The volunteer tried to run after the runner, but didn't manage to catch up or maybe she was just too scared to leave her station, who knows? I went the wrong way too. But it wasn't a drastic wrong way, probably about 10 or 15 steps. Probably the volunteers should actually physically direct/point to the direction where runners are supposed to be heading. But nothing major either. I think as long as the runners can hear volunteers hollering at them if they went the wrong way, it will be ok.  There was a drink station manned by one person along the halfway mark. I think it was adequate since there weren't a lot of participants. The lady manning the drink station actually ran up to runners and handed out bottles of water.  There were clear signages at every mile. Did I mention that the course was flat?

My Run: I started off kinda fast. I left my boyfriend's two tween brothers and dad behind at the start. I decided that morning when I woke up that I wanted a PR today.  I looked down at my Garmin and kept seeing a high 8:00 min/mile to mid 9:00 min/mile pace. I knew I had to slow down a little if not, I will not be able to finish it strongly. 

I did feel like stopping and walking a little to shake the stiffness out of my legs a little during the race. But I kept saying NO! to myself and kept at it. I saw a pit bullish-looking dog with a leash tied to a tree trunk as we ran past a rougher looking section of the neighborhood. The dog was barking and it didn't sound friendly.  Then, I ran past my boyfriend's teenage sister and her boyfriend (they were on the walking team). I wanted to stop but I thought that will be a bad example.  Sister has lost 15 lbs recently at a camp and is trying to incorporate activity and proper eating into her life. I don't want to give her the impression that it is OK to give up. So I kept running and put on the biggest smile I can and said "hi" to her. I probably uttered some encouraging words. Who knows? The heat and humidity fogged up my mind pretty well. 

At the 3-mile mark, a staff was using her walkie-talkie to inform her folks who's coming to the finish line. After I crossed the finish line, a lady came and took the lower portion of my bib number off. I headed to get a bottle of water. There were bananas in an ice chest for participants as well.

So, I actually came in second place, probably in my age group. It's kinda a weird age group (15-30 years old). I felt kinda silly to have mentioned that I came in second on my post right after the race. I seriously believe that probably I am the second person in that age group. What matters more to me is knowing that my running time is improving. My time, according to the Garmin, is 31:00 minutes for 3.14 miles. My last PR was 32:03 minutes. Also, I don't think they will ever post the race results or anything like that. I have no idea how to gather up that kind of information. I have been checking online for it but to no avail. :( 

I'm still working toward a sub-30 minutes 5K. What about you?   

Squire Creek Peach Festival 5K Race Report

I had a peachy good time in good ol' Ruston, LA.  Here's a recap of my grand weekend in Ruston.

Day Before 5K:

I met up with an old friend and we did our "usual" - browsing the different stores in town and eating.  Ruston, Louisiana is growing. About 8 or 9 years ago, other than a Chinese buffet restaurant, there weren't any other ethnic / international restaurants.  Now, there is a hibachi restaurant, sushi places, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants. I had some pho the night before the race. Nothing says "ahhhhh" and makes my belly happy like a steamy hot bowl of pho. 

Day Of 5K:

I couldn't get to sleep. I was excited and was ready to run that race. This is my 3rd race with my running friend from J-school - Judith, and our second race this year. I got up early and drove to Wal-mart to get some bottled water at about 5-ish in the morning. Chugged down a bottle and a half between then and race.

I rode with Judith to the race site.  There were a lot of people. It seemed like if you are a runner in Ruston, you were at this race. And a lot of them looked serious. This is a college town so, there were some young, heart-healthy, vibrant youngsters. The older folks weren't shabby either. I personally know a group of retirees or older ladies who run full marathons, bike for 20-something miles, and kayak like nobody's business. I saw a lot of ladies wearing Nike's tempo shorts and quite a lot of people have some kind of Garmin watches on their wrists.  Nothing says "I'm a runner" like some tempo shorts and Garmin watches, right?

As we were making our way to the start line, I saw one of the ladies I mentioned earlier. Ms. Sandra had ran 12 miles earlier that morning with her running group, training for St. George.  I used to be Ms. Sandra's student worker when I was in college. She and 2 other ladies in the office are marathon runners.  I guess, I probably caught the running bug then, but it laid dormant in me until just recently. Her running friend took a picture of us using a cellphone and she reminded me to turn my Garmin on. She was very encouraging. She told me how glad she was to see me run this race and that she will be cheering for me at Mile #2. I love seeing a familiar face and I sure wasn't going to disappoint her.

THE RUN:
The race didn't start on the dot at 8 a.m., maybe about 5 or so minutes later. But it was fine. I was nervous and felt the urge to go tinkle. I always have that feeling when I am nervous. It was already in the 80s that morning and I could feel the humidity. I was worried because I haven't ran outside since it got warm. I knew I was going to start at a comfortable pace so I'll have enough energy at the end. My previous PR was 33:++ minutes.  I don't remember the seconds because that was before I was competitive and before I realized that every second matters.  So, this race, I wanted to PR and if I can hit 30 minutes, I would be very thrilled.

I kept a nice pace at below 10:30/mile pace for the first mile. There was an easy incline there - nothing drastic.  I wasn't familiar with this part of town or where I was going until about 0.5 mile into it where I hit the college campus. I had ran that part of the campus before so, I was aware of any uphills for that stretch. It was a nice run. I love my college campus and I was smiling as I made my happy way around the campus.

Mile #2 was a little slower than the first.  Took water from the drink station ladies at about the 1.5 mile mark, which slowed me down a tad because as I took a sip, I snorted some into my nose. Usually I don't need water but I did today because it was kinda hot. That little bit of water felt good though.  I saw Ms. Sandra around the 2.5 mile mark. She was out there, telling the runners what a great job they are doing, offering cold bottle water. Her friend was getting the sprinkler in the yard ready to provide some cool sprinkle of water.Then, came the uphill. It was definitely an incline. Not steep like the "wall" I had to scaled when I ran my last 5K trail run. But you can definitely tell, it was a hill. Instead of focusing on the top of the hill, I looked down and told myself, one step at a time and no walking.  Aneta (my virtual running buddy) and I have been doing some hill work so, I need to just run this hill. I dedicated that incline to Aneta. I didn't walk: I just kept running. And I was so very proud of myself.

Mile 3 was quite a breeze. After the hill, I made the attempt to regulate my breathing. I kept a low 10:00 / mile - something below 10:15/mile. I passed a few males and females and was running alongside a tween boy. He was slowing down and I kinda told him to keep running and how close we are.  I kept running and quickened my pace a little more and made it to the finish line. The clock/timer thing at the finish line said 32:02 and my Garmin said the same too. I turned in my name and headed to get some water and also stood in line for some yummy peach ice cream.  Hello! I ran the Peach Fest 5K. Of course I was gonna get some peach ice cream after that.

I love it. My friend, Judith, also PRed by about 2 minutes this race (31:++ minutes) and she was stoked!

Will I run this race again? YES!

Suggestion/Improvement: Move it up to 7 a.m. to avoid the heat as much as possible.

After the run, Judith and I met up with her husband and friends to watch the Peach Festival Parade. Then, we went our separate ways, cleaned up and had a lunch reunion with our former journalism school friends. The heat index was over 100 degrees F.  But we all had a great time.