Bold in the cold 15K Race Report

Let me just start off by saying - I was not mentally prepared for this run.

 

I signed up for the Bold in the Cold 15K put on by the Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers Association a few weeks ago as a part of my goal to race 12 events in 12 months to achieve the Run For The Bling Of It challenge.

 

I received my schedule from coach last week and it called for a six mile run on Sunday - we manipulated the schedule to have the run (9.3 miles) on Saturday and the long bike on Sunday.  No biggie....switch it up for a weekend.

 

Friday night I should have known things were going to change.  I had posted this post about how it felt like everything was going my way - then I get home from work and the DirectTv guy had STILL not shown up (he was scheduled from 8am - 12pm) - Bill had been sitting there all day waiting for him.  He didn't show up until nearly 5:15pm.  (Bill switched to DirectTV because they have 3D programming and we recently got a new 3D TV)

 

We had plans to go to a friends house for a low key evening watching the Aggies play LSU - with the late arrival of the DirectTV technician those plans were scrapped.  I was getting increasingly irritated (and hungry) as the minutes ticked on.  Let's just say I was grumpy.

 

I left at around 8pm to go get pizza.  I was done waiting for the guy to finish - Bill was ready for me to eat too - and for my attitude to subside.  We ate pizza - I continued to fuss that the technician was STILL there - and finally, around 9:45pm, he left.

 

I headed upstairs to lay out my gear for the next morning.  I realized I was not at all prepared for this.  The temperature was set to be around 38 degrees (or something like that) at gun time.  I found my ear warmer, jacket, etc and laid it all out.  I headed to bed.

 

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:15am....jumped in the shower and got dressed.  I KT Taped my right shin and headed downstairs for breakfast.

 

I had no breakfast.  (Did I mention I was not prepared for this race?)

 

I started the car to warm it up - ran back inside, grabbed my headphones, kissed Bill goodbye, and headed out the door.

 

I stopped at QT for a powerbar, an orange, and a bottle of water.  Breakfast of champions I tell ya.

 

As I was driving to the race I realized I forgot my gloves.  I never passed a Walmart so I continued to drive (past the race site) and found a CVS - score - they had gloves for $3.99. Score!

 

Jason had texted me that he was already there and picking up his chip - I parked and picked up mine as well.  We were both freezing and headed out for about a mile warm up jog.  (sweet Jason went my pace)

 

We lined up at the start (15K went one direction, 5K went the other), the gun went off and I hollered at Jason to have a great race.

 

I realized that my garmin wasn't giving me accurate information - for about a 1/2 mile I fumbled with it - it was on biking.  FML...

 

I switched it over to running and set in.  I wanted to run around 10:00 - 10:30 mile for the duration.  Although I've been working on speed with my tempo runs they have been shorter distances and I knew I couldn't hold faster than about a 10:15 for any long distance.

 

Friday night I ran to CVS and picked up some compression knee-high socks.  Now these aren't the cutie CEP/Zensah/etc compression socks...these are designed for old people.  But I wanted to wear them considering I was having significant trouble with my calf/shins over the last week.

 

They ended up doing double duty - compressing the shin splints and helping with pain but they also kept my lower leg warm. (I couldn't find my long under-armour pants on Friday.....see I was such a mess...blame the blonde hair)

 

Miles 1 - 5 went by pretty quick.  The course was hilly for what I'm used to.  I guess I need to run more in Grapevine to get used to that.  Where I run is typically pancake flat, supposedly NOLA is a flat course, thank God.

 

At the 6 mile marker my right calf balled up into a knot - I stopped and stretched for a good 2-3 minutes.  Then started running again - it continued to cramp - so I run/walked for a good mile to mile and half.  After it felt better I picked up the pace and was ready for the run to be D-O-N-E.

 

At the 9 mile marker Jason was waiting for me.  He ran with me until right before the finish and cheered me in.  I kicked it into gear and finished sprinting.

 

Official time: 1:42 - 10:48/mile

 

Not my best AT ALL - but I finished and that's what counts I guess.  Another 9.3 (10.3 with the warm up) under my belt.

After the race Jason intro'd me too Shannon, we decided we were separated at birth.  (Check out her race report) and stretched for a bit.  Jason ended up placing in his AG and got some pretty cool bling of his own!
Shannon's mom placed in her 5K AG!

Lessons learned:

1. I don't like running hills
2. I don't like running in the cold
3. Mentally prepare for any run - whether it's 1 mile or 100 miles
4. Make sure you have an adequate breakfast (I knew this already)
5. Prepare all the way around.... Overly prepare actually 

 



Shannon, Jason and Me after the run

 

After the race - feeling a little blah

 

No medal bling but I did get a sweet long sleeve dri fit shirt



The back



My car this morning - we got snow yesterday and over night - don't mind that my front headlight is out.