5K

I ran my second sub-20 5K in Cape May, New Jersey

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On October 15, 2022, I broke 20 minutes in the 5K for the first time. 

On October 15, 2023, I broke 20 minutes in the 5K for the second time. 

Should I try to find a 5K to run on October 15, 2024? 

My time at Good Day for a Run’s Down the Shore 5K at the Cape May Winery just barely broke the 20-minute barrier– my official time was 19:59. I don’t care– I can still claim to have run a sub-20! 

That was a huge confidence boost going into my goal race of the fall running season. 

The race was a really long time coming. Back in 2020 when the pandemic was still raging, my girlfriends and I took a weekend trip to Cape May, New Jersey. Staci and I had run Good Day for a Run’s Red, White and Blue 5K near her house the summer before, and she saw that they had a 5K scheduled to take place at the Cape May Winery in September 2020. I can’t remember if we signed up before COVID hit or after, but Good Day for a Run was holding socially distant races in some places if certain guidelines were met, so we were optimistic that we’d be able to run the race. Well, it ended up being canceled at almost the last minute. I think there were restrictions on how many people could be in the winery. (Glad those days are over!!) 

Anyway, we made plans for another Cape May trip in September 2021 and talked about running the race then, but COVID struck again! Staci’s daughter came down with it and we had to postpone the trip to November. And then none of our schedules worked to accommodate a Cape May 2022 trip. 

This year, only Staci and I could go to Cape May, and we decided to finally run the race! My goal was sub-20. I didn’t think I’d beat my PR of 19:37, but I wanted to beat 20 minutes. 

The weather on the day of the race was pretty good – in the low 50s and no rain (it had rained most of the day before.) It was windy, but not as bad as I thought it would be (quite honestly, after the Philly Marathon last year, it’s going to take a lot for me to be fazed by the wind.) Staci and I got there around 8 am for a 9 am start, which gave us plenty of time to find parking, use the bathroom, and warm up. Just before 9, I lined up at the very front of the pack and before I knew it, we were off. 

What happened next was basically a blur, as all 5Ks are. The course was very simple and flat – the best kind of 5K course! We left the winery, ran a mile and a half down the road, then turned around. Easy! Well… not easy. It was a 5K, so I entered the pain cave within the first half mile, ha! I passed one woman very early in the race, probably in the first tenth of a mile, and just stayed in the lead. Once I made the turnaround and headed back to the finish, a lot of runners started calling out to me that I was the first female. That always pumps me up! 

While the race was primarily on the road, the last quarter mile of it was on a gravel path that wound through the vineyard. This part of the race made me nervous because I was obviously running hard and fast and by that point I was totally gassed, so I was afraid of tripping and hurting myself. Because of that, I don’t think I ran as fast as I could have on this section. 

I made the final turn and then saw the finisher’s clock and it said 19:55. I’ve never had much of a kick at the end of races, but I sprinted like hell and made it across the finish – but did I actually break 20? Or did I run 20 minutes on the nose? 

The race announcer called me out as the first female finisher (I was 5th finisher overall) and then said, “And did she get in under 20? She did! 19:59!” I threw my hands in the air and screamed, I was so excited. And then I grabbed a bottle of water and sat down for about 5 minutes and waited for Staci to finish. She PR’d with a time of 33 minutes! 

I won a medal and a bottle of wine from the Cape May Winery – a great prize! It was delicious. 

This Saturday, I tackle my goal race, the Ocean City Half Marathon at the Ocean City Running Festival. My goal all along has been sub-90, but the weather forecast is not in my favor. It has been unseasonably warm all week and this Saturday is expected to be around 80 degrees all over the region – and the half marathon doesn’t start until 9:15! Yikes. It is what it is, though. I am also signed up for the Richmond Half in two weeks and then Rehoboth the first weekend of December. I am still optimistic about Ocean City and I think I have a good shot at a PR – which would be sub-1:33:19. Bring it on!  

The heat was on at the Tracksmith Twilight 5000 in Washington, D.C.

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When I saw the running clothing company Tracksmith was putting on a 5K track race, called the Twilight 5000, in Washington, D.C. on my 43rd birthday, I knew I had to sign up. 

Never mind that I always say I hate 5Ks. Never mind that I’d never raced on a track before. Never mind that my birthday is on July 28 and that it would inevitably be extremely hot in D.C. 

I still couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday! 

While I had lofty aspirations of running my second sub-20 5K, it was not to be – I finished in an official time of 20:36. But I still feel like I gave it my everything, especially because I could barely speak coherently for a good two minutes after I crossed the finish line. Ha! 

Here’s my recap of the Twilight 5000 in Washington, D.C.! 

She was lightning, before the thunder

Obviously, I knew it was going to be hot and humid – but as luck would have it, the race took place on the hottest day of the summer. Temperatures during the day were close to 100 degrees, with a real feel temperature of about 108 degrees. The race was scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm, but we were divided into 9 heats based on our estimated finish times. Heat 1 was the slowest and Heat 9 was the fastest. I registered with a goal time of 20:00 and was placed in Heat 4, which was supposed to go off at 7:58 pm. I crossed my fingers that the weather would cool off at least a little bit by the time I was going to run. 

Micah and I got to the track at Cardoza High School early, right around the time the first wave was going off, so we got to cheer on the earlier runners. I met an Instagram friend, Meghan, in person for the first time, and that was fun! The wind was starting to pick up and the heat didn’t seem *too* oppressive, so I was hopeful it would stay that way. About a half hour before the start of my race, I went down to the field and warmed up until the organizers called us to line up. 

For the previous hour, we could hear thunder and see lightning in the distance, but it seemed to be far enough away that no one was panicking. But then! About five minutes before we were supposed to run, there was a loud crack of thunder and race officials suddenly halted the race, ordering us to take shelter under the bleachers. (Which yeah, were made of metal, but we huddled under a concrete overhang. I suppose that was safer!) 

We stayed there for about 45 minutes while it poured and I was starting to wonder if the race would be canceled all together. But then they announced that they were starting up again and were combining heats, since the event was supposed to be over by 10 pm. Heats 4 and 5 would run together, then Heats 6 and 7, then Heats 8 and 9.

They gave those of us in 4 and 5 12 minutes to warm up again, and we finally lined up just before 9 pm. 

Did the storm cool things off, you ask? 

No. No, it did not. 

A 5K on a track is 12.5 laps around, which others had warned me is mentally tough. But I don’t think that’s what was hardest for me. If there is one thing I excel at, it’s doing the same thing over and over again (I eat, like, the same five foods every week.) The weather was what really killed me. It felt like running through soup and like heat was just emanating from the track. After the first mile, i.e. the first four laps, I knew sub-20 was out the window, but that if I just stuck with the pack of runners who were going about my pace, I could be around 20:30. 

So I basically just locked in with them and stayed focused. I actually really liked running with a pack. The race officials and volunteers kept calling out “work together, work together! You’ve got this!” and I do think the teamwork helped!

Micah was hanging out near the finish trying to take pictures of me and so I got to see him again and again, which was a nice boost. There were also volunteers handing out cold cups of water and so I started grabbing one at every lap and just dumping it on my head. At lap 7, I just started counting down the laps and before I knew it, I had one left. I did my best to give it one last kick and crossed the finish line in 20:36, 6:38 average pace. No, it wasn’t sub-20, but it was what I had to give and I was happy with that.

I sat down for a few minutes, collected myself and then walked to the top of the bleachers where Micah was standing – yes, he made me walk up all these steps after a tough 5K, LOL! We went to the race after party at nearby Franklin Hall, but I wasn’t that hungry (normal for me when I push hard in the heat) and was mostly interested in drinking a summer shandy slushy. 

Would I do it again? 

Yeah! It was fun – a painful kind of fun, but fun nonetheless! I loved the atmosphere. Tracksmith did a great job with the soundtrack – loved the music that played all night long – and the volunteers were so fun and energetic. I’d love to do this again when it’s about 45 degrees outside. As far as my original sub-20 goal, I probably haven’t been running enough this summer to accomplish that. My highest weekly mileage since Boston was 40 miles during the first week of July. Most weeks were in the 33-37 mile range. When I ran my only other sub-20, that was coming off of Chicago Marathon training when I was running 60-70 miles per week. High mileage isn’t everything, but it can help. 

There is actually a second Twilight 5000 in D.C. on Aug. 25, and I thought for a hot second about running that. But it’s two days before my favorite race, the Annapolis Ten Mile Run, and given how dead my legs felt when I went out to run an easy 10 miles two days after this race – I decided that wasn’t smart!      

There weren’t any awards given out, but per the results I actually placed first in my age group. There are Twilight 5000 races that have already happened in cities all over North America and London, and so far I am 19th among women ages 40-44. That is pretty cool! It’ll likely change as more Twilight 5000 events happen, but I’m proud of that. 

Summer 2023 running recap!

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When I signed up for the Tracksmith 5000 in DC, scheduled for the evening of my birthday on July 28, I had lofty goals of going sub-20, something I’ve only been able to accomplish once before. The race will be held on a track, and we’ll be lead by pacers and seeded by goal time. Under perfect conditions, I could even be looking at a PR! 

Except it’s July 28 in DC, when the weather is normally gross and swampy. And this year, July 28 is expected to be the hottest day of the year, with the highs reaching into the upper 90s and a real feel of 108 degrees or something ridiculous. 

My heat (literally!) doesn’t go off until 7:58 pm, but it’ll still feel like running in hell. I think I’ll be lucky to break 21 minutes and my main goal is not to die! 

But it’ll be a fun adventure to cap off the last few months of lower mileage as I head into half marathon training this fall. Here’s what I have been up to this summer!

Arbutus Firecracker 10K, Arbutus, MD, 45:25

I’d been hearing about this annual July 4 race in Arbutus, Maryland for years, but had never run it before. I knew it would be hot and humid (duh, July 4 in Maryland) and hilly. So I didn’t have any real expectations of my finish time, but I was a little disappointed when I crossed the finish line (feeling practically dead, I might add!) and saw 45:xx on the clock. That was my slowest 10K in about two years. But as I said, the weather was not ideal and the course was challenging! There was a particularly cruel hill around mile 5.5, though there was a downhill finish. Ha. That said, I had fun. I saw a lot of friends there and the people of Arbutus really came out for this race. So many people had sprinkler systems set up for the runners. One resident even had an inflatable shaped like a rainbow and clouds that had water coming out of it for us to run through!

My time was also good enough for first in my age group and I won $50 cash – can’t be sad about that!

Beebe Health Heroes 5K, Lewes, DE, 20:35

Four days after the Firecracker 10K, I ran this flat and fast 5K in Lewes, Delaware. We were staying in nearby Rehoboth Beach for the week and I saw this was happening so I signed both myself and my husband up. (He hadn’t run since Thanksgiving at the Turkey Trot and was just happy to finish!) It was also very hot and humid, but there is not a hill to be seen in Lewes. I was really happy with how this race went, especially as someone who tends to fly and die in 5Ks. I finished in 20:35 and felt strong – splits were 6:40, 6:30, 6:35. I finished top Master female and third overall female, behind two teenage girls, so I was happy about that! Micah finished in around a half hour, which is great considering he never runs anymore! We also enjoyed all the drinks and food provided by the restaurant Irish Eyes at the after party. The Seashore Striders organized this race, which benefited Beebe Health’s foundation. I’ve done a bunch of their races at the beach before and they are always a good time!

Looking ahead to fall! 

I’ve been running 30-40 miles per week since early June, with speedwork once or twice a week to get ready for these shorter races. I start training for my fall half marathons on Aug. 6 and am following a plan that will peak at 63 miles per week. That’s more or less in line with my peak mileage from marathon training over the last year; the real difference is I’ll be doing more half marathon pace specific work and my longest long runs will be 16 miles. I’m excited to take on a new challenge and work to break 90 minutes this fall, hopefully at the Ocean City Half on Oct. 28! 

What races are you looking forward to this fall? Any big goals?

Shippin’ up to Boston for the 3rd time: Getting ready for the 2023 Boston Marathon

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I’m less than a week out from running my 3rd Boston Marathon! 

How am I feeling? Excited. Like I’m surprised how excited I am. It’s my third time, after all. I figured the novelty would have worn off by now – but it hasn’t. I just feel so lucky that I get to do this! 

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but I had a busy March in terms of racing. Here’s a brief recap of what I’ve been up to! 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup “4 Miler” 

3rd overall female, 24:20/6:40 pace

Why the quotes? Because a bunch of us at the front of the pack missed a turnoff after the wind blew over a directional sign and accidentally cut the course. 

This race in PA was more than 2 hours from my house, but it sounded fun – grilled cheese and tomato soup after, hello! – and the race director Pat is great. He’s the one who organized the Chasing the Unicorn marathon in 2020 and did everything in his power to make that a safe and fun event at the height of the pandemic. So I signed up, hoping to be able to run 4 miles in 26 minutes or so to test my speed.

The race was held in a municipal park and it was windy AF, a common theme of pretty much all of my runs this training cycle. In fact, it was windy enough that one of the directional signs after the mile 3 mark blew over, and so a bunch of us missed a turn and accidentally ran 3.65 miles! Pat didn’t DQ us, I guess because so many people effed it up, and I was awarded the 3rd overall female prize – a nice blanket! I had fun and pushed hard.

Annapolis Running Festival 10K

3rd overall female, 42:44/6:53 pace

I said to friends a few times I wasn’t planning on the Annapolis Running Festival – I’ve done so many races on that course over the last decade that I just wasn’t excited about it. But then I saw I had 10Kish worth of speedwork on my plan the week of the race and I’d rather do that in a race than on my own! Plus, my friend Shannon was running it, too. 

The weather pretty much sucked – it was once again super windy and I tried my best to draft off other, taller runners! My shoelace also came untied right before mile 3, costing me precious time. I didn’t really have a time goal, but I thought 41-42 miles was doable. I also had no expectations of placing and it was really hard to gauge where I was in the race since there was also a 5K and a half marathon and we were all mixed together at various parts of the race. So I was pleasantly surprised when I crossed the finish line and the volunteer handed me a card that said I was 3rd female. 

I’m glad I ended up doing it – just wish we’d had better weather! The after party was a lot of fun, and the band playing was awesome, but it was just so cold and windy. That’s March in Maryland for you – you could get 20 degrees or 80 degrees. 

Barlowe Bolt 5K

1st overall female, 21:28/6:42 pace  

Well, this one was a cluster. 

A little background about me and the Bolt – I am not new to this race. In fact, this was the fifth time I’d run it – I ran in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. I even won it in 2020 and 2022 and was hoping to win it again this year. (It’s a pretty small race.)

But!! Even though I had run it multiple times in the past, I couldn’t remember the course, so I made a wrong turn about three-tenths of a mile into the race. I was running up at the front with two teenage boys, so I led them astray – sorry! When I realized my mistake after we literally ran into a dead end, I was so annoyed with myself. 

We turned around and I hauled ass to get back in first place, which I paid for dearly with a huge positive split in the end. I did manage to still win and in the end I added about a tenth of a mile onto my race, so it could have been worse. I mean, I ….could have cut the course again.

My mileage hasn’t been as high as it was last fall when training for Chicago, but I’ve averaged between 55-60 miles per week, peaking at 62 miles. Basically, I took Pfitzinger’s 12/55 plan from Advanced Marathoning and modified it to add a few more miles each week. Thinking about doing 12/70 this fall again for Richmond, but that is a heavy training load and I don’t think I can mentally (or physically) handle it every marathon training cycle.

The plan included two 20-milers, the second of which I ran during the B&A Marathon last month. I didn’t register for the race, but the trail was open to the public and I knew so many people running either the half or the full that I thought it would be fun to run alongside them. I ended up running mostly with a fast friend of mine and averaged 7:29 pace for 20 miles. That is obviously WAY faster than I would normally ever do a 20 miler, but I also ran the Charm City Run 20 Miler three weeks before Chicago last fall at a 7:25 pace and it didn’t hurt me in the marathon.

When your training run coincides with a race, you show up in the pictures!

Goals/plans for Boston

I don’t know! LOL. Enjoy myself and get another BQ.

My Garmin thinks I’m running a 3:03, but it’s clearly full of crap. That would be a 15-minute PR and I do not think I am in PR shape – that 3:18 I ran last fall is really solid, plus I ran it on a flat course in damn near perfect weather. The Boston Marathon is a tough course and the weather is looking warm and wet. Not the worst, but not the best either. I do think a 3:2x is doable and I should be able to BQ (3:40:00 or faster) unless things really go to hell. 

Other than that, no major goals. Sometimes it’s more fun that way anyway!

I ran a 5K in 2 degree weather: The Christmas Eve 5K in Allison Park, PA

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I’ll be the first to tell you I like running in the cold. Give me 25 degrees over 85 degrees any day of the week. At least for running. I always say there is drinking margs outside weather and running weather, and those two types of weather are not the same. 

However. Running in single digits, with a wind chill in the negative teens, is just a little too cold even for me. 

The beyond frigid temps didn’t stop me on Christmas Eve, though, when I ran the coldest race of my life in Pittsburgh (Allison Park, to be specific. It’s like it was meant to be!) 

It was one of my slowest 5Ks in quite a while, but the entire course was covered in snow and the temperature was 3 degrees when I finished. So I was more than fine with that. My time of 23:51 got me 2nd place female and I won a sweet campfire mug! 

And I drank out of it all day at my grandma’s Christmas Eve party! 

Why a Christmas Eve race? 

With Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday this year, it dawned on me that just maybe there would be a local race happening. We were planning to travel to Pittsburgh for the holiday, so I started looking around to see what was going on. And sure enough, the week before Christmas, I found a 5K scheduled to take place in North Park in the suburb of Allison Park, about 15 minutes from my sister’s house. 

The weather didn’t look great. Meteorologists were calling for much of the country to be in a deep freeze, and at the time, the predicted race day temperature was 10 or 11 degrees. Brrr. I decided to sign up anyway. 

As Christmas weekend drew closer, the forecast got more and more brutal. The predicted high dropped to 6 degrees. Then 5 degrees. The wind chill looked like it was going to be positively cruel. My mom said the race would probably get canceled, and I thought it might as well. On Dec. 21, the race directors sent out an email saying they would still hold a live race, but also offered participants the option to run the race virtually any time the week after Christmas, once the weather warmed up. But I was committed to running the live race if it was going to happen. First, I’d already paid for a live race. Second, I ran enough virtual races during 2020. I’m over them! I kept checking social media and my email, expecting the race to get canceled anyway, but as of Dec. 23, it was still on. 

On Christmas Eve morning, I woke up and it was 0 degrees. I think the wind chill was around -15 (it got all the way down to -35 the night before!) I put on two pairs of running tights, two pairs of socks with toe warmers, two shirts, my Boston 2019 jacket, a running vest, two pairs of gloves with Hot Hands hand warmers, a hat, and a ski mask. I wasn’t going to wear sunglasses, but Micah was concerned about my eye protection and convinced me to wear his. He and my brother-in-law Justin drove me to North Park, where they waited in the warm car while I did my thing. Packet pickup was inside the North Park Boat House, and there was some drama going on with a fire alarm going off in the men’s bathroom and frozen water all over the steps – a few people slid and fell. But I was happy to have an actual bathroom to use before the race, rather than a port-a-potty! 

After getting my bib and race shirt, I did a quick warmup (LOL, “warmup”) outside. I realized quickly that the sunglasses were going to fog up, and that the Alpha Flys were a poor choice. There were several inches of snow on the ground and I stupidly assumed – you know what they say about assuming – that the roads would be clear. Oh well. 

More than 800 people had signed up for the race, and only a little over a hundred showed up for it in person. We were the crazy ones! The race kicked off right at 10 am when the temperature had risen to a balmy 2 degrees. Honestly, though, I never felt cold and the race was in an area that was wooded enough that the trees were blocking most of the wind. But two things made this race really difficult almost immediately. 1. The damn ski mask. I’ve run in it before on cold days, though it’s been a while and I’ve never worn it during a race when I’m trying to run at race pace. It was hard to breathe in this thing. And then there was the issue of the sunglasses fogging up! 2. The snow-covered roads. It was really hard to get a momentum going and again, the Alpha Flys were just not it. I knew within the first mile it was going to be a struggle and my whole goal was just to finish in one piece.

The course wasn’t very hilly, especially considering we were in western PA, but we did go up and down one long stretch of road in the second mile, with a turnaround right at the 1.5 mile mark. That’s when I slipped and fell on the snow. At least the snow made the surface feel a little softer, and I wasn’t hurt at all. I got back up and kept going. 

At around mile 2.5, I stopped to walk for a few seconds. Yes, in a 5K. It happens! A man who was running near me asked if I was OK and I assured him I was fine, just having a hard time breathing in the mask. I actually ended up finishing before him! 

When I stopped my watch after crossing the finish line, I saw I had just barely cleared 24 minutes. More than 3 minutes slower than my last 5K, the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, and more than 4 minutes off my PR, just set last October. But as I said, I was on the struggle bus immediately and just wanted to finish. 

I had read online that there was going to be an awards ceremony for overall winners and age group winners at 11 am, but when I went inside the volunteers told me they weren’t having it due to the weather and people wanting to get to their Christmas celebrations. One of them told me he was pretty sure I had at least won an age group award and to feel free to take a mug – so I did. I was happy to see later that I had placed second! 

My dad wasn’t happy at all that I did the race and told me later he was very concerned about my skin being exposed. But I felt that I dressed appropriately and was safe. Do I want to run in these conditions again? Not particularly. And I probably won’t. This sure made for a good story, though!   

A look back at three 5Ks in three weeks

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If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that 5Ks are my running kryptonite. I think they are, hands down, the hardest distance. If you truly push yourself to your limit, nothing hurts more, in my opinion. Not even the marathon. 

At least they’re over quickly? 

And every time I run a 5K, I say to myself – that’s it. I am DONE with this distance. And yet. I keep registering for them, mainly because other people ask me to do them and I have a hard time saying no! 

But this time, I might REALLY be done with 5Ks until 2023, because I just ran three 5Ks in three weeks. Surely, I have met my quota for the year! 

Here’s a look back at my personal 5K series! 

Father’s Day 5K Farm Festival: 23:38 

My friend Josh, who is also a Rip It Events ambassador, told me about this one and encouraged me to sign up. (He actually loves 5Ks and says it’s his favorite distance. Wild!) I agreed to run and true to form, did zero research about the course or anything. So imagine my surprise when the race organizer sent an email to participants the day before and casually mentioned that it would be 99% on grass. The hell? I never ran cross country or anything in high school, and I barely do any trail running (too prone to falling!) This should be interesting! I thought. I already knew I wasn’t in 5K PR shape, but I really had no idea what to expect. My main goal was not to trip and fall, or twist my ankle on the grass. 

The race, held at the Baltimore County Ag Center, actually reminded me of the hellish Red, White and Blue Mountain 5K that Staci and I have run twice together, and she ran for the third time this year. And it was definitely one of the slowest 5Ks I’ve run in recent years. Not only was the course almost all on the grass, but it was HILLY and I went out way, way too fast. Once I finished the first mile, I felt like I was already bonking, and the next two miles were torture. I had to stop and walk a few times, which always sucks in a 5K. At least the weather was good – high 60s at the start (almost unheard of for June in Maryland!), though it was pretty windy. 

Overall, I actually did pretty well. I came in third place female with a 23:38 (7:37 pace) – the second place female passed me just before we hit mile 3 – and won my age group, and I received a $25 gift card that’s good for some Baltimore restaurants. And we got pizza and beer after the race, always a plus! I can’t say I was disappointed in my time since I had no real expectations, and I got to try something new, so that’s a win in my book! 

Dewey Beach Patrol 5K: 20:33

OK, so this 5K I signed up for without any peer pressure, so I have no one to blame but myself. 🙂 When I found out my family vacation to Rehoboth was happening on June 25, I immediately started looking for a local race and found this annual 5K. (Four years ago, I ran the 10K version of the race – the 10K appears to have been discontinued.) When I woke up this morning of the race, I told my husband, “I wish this was a 10 miler!” It’s true! But I got ready and ran into Dewey for the race. It started at the northbeach bar, about two miles from the beach house my family rented, so that was a nice warmup. Dewey and Rehoboth are flat as can be, so I knew it would be a fast course.

And it went well! The course went from northbeach into the residential neighborhoods of Dewey and then back to northbeach. Not a hill to be seen. I focused on pushing hard and trying not to look at my watch too much. I had seen ahead of time that the first place Masters female would win a $25 gift card, so I was hoping I could maybe win that. 

And I did! At the turnaround around mile 1.5, some other runners started calling out to me that I was in second place. (The first place female was a 16-year-old girl who finished in a blistering 18:08. Her 15-year-old brother came in first place male with a 16:40! Fast family!) I felt the way I always do halfway through a 5K – like death. I just kept telling myself it would be over soon. I ended up finishing in 20:33 (6:37 pace) – four seconds off my PR! – and was thrilled with that. 

I won a wine glass that I sadly left at the beach house – it’s OK because I have a bunch of them from previous beach races – and a $25 gift card that was good for several of the bars in Dewey. Of course, I almost missed the awards ceremony altogether because I was drinking a beer at the after party. Typical. 

Race4TheWorld 5K: 17:35

OK, don’t get too excited! I did not run a 17:35 5K. The course was a half mile short!

This race happened on Fourth of July, and Race4TheWorld reached out to me on Instagram to ask me if I would be interested in running it. The race benefitted Luminus, a Howard County-based nonprofit that helps immigrants. Full disclosure, they offered me a free race entry as well as some extra comp codes! The race took place at Merriweather Post Pavilion and at the start of the race, the company that was handling the timing said they had had to unexpectedly shorten the course. No idea why. I wasn’t too bummed about it, though. I’d just run a really strong 5K a week before, and I wasn’t going for a PR. Also, as I just said, I always feel like death when I’m halfway through a 5K. Cut the race a little short? No problem! 

The race was in and around Merriweather, and it was quite hilly, as all races in Columbia are. We started right there in front of the concert stage, and immediately went up a short but steep hill, then circled the area and ran on the tree-lined paths around the venue. I was behind one other woman for about the first half mile, then was able to pass her and held onto the first place spot (among females) until the end. My average pace was 6:48, and I think I could have held onto that had it been a true 5K. I still felt completely gassed at the end. I won a $25 gift certificate to The Common Kitchen, a food emporium in Clarksville, so I am looking forward to checking that out. 

Thanks again to Race4TheWorld for inviting me to run the race! You can learn more about all the great work Luminis does here. 

What’s Next? 

I actually don’t have any more races planned until Aug. 28, when I run the Annapolis Ten Mile Run – my very favorite race! It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, and I am so happy it’s back! That kicks off a BUSY few months of racing. I think I am racing something like every weekend in September. 

And then I run the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 9 and the Philly Marathon on Nov. 20! I start training in earnest on July 18, but I’ve been running upwards of 40 miles a week the last few weeks so I’m already kind of in training mode. The plan I am about to start following is intense and I want to make sure I have a good base in place before I really start hammering it hard. 

I can’t wait!  

A big and unexpected PR at the Barlowe Bolt 5K

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Yesterday, I ran my first LIVE race in seven months, the Barlowe Bolt 5K in Millersville. And I had a PR that I truly never saw coming, running a 20:29 (6:36 pace!) I was also the first female finisher. To say I was thrilled is an understatement.

I had set my previous PR, a 20:49, almost exactly four years earlier on Oct. 2, 2016, as part of a relay team at the Waterman’s sprint triathlon on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. That was the only time I’d ever managed to sneak in under 21 minutes, and it wasn’t even at a stand-alone 5K. I figured it was a fluke and that I’d never beat it. I often struggle in 5Ks and have a hard time breaking 22 minutes consistently.

But then 2020 happened. All of the races after early March were canceled and many were replaced by virtual races. I kept on running and training, with hopes of running a fall marathon (as of today, that hope is still alive!) This past summer was the hottest, most humid and most disgusting summer I can recall in recent years. But I kept grinding and I think it all paid off on a crisp fall morning when the temperature was only in the mid-40s.

This annual race, which raises money to build a natural play space at Barlowe Field in Millersville, Maryland, always happens in March. The organizers postponed it until October this year, and I am so glad they were able to have a live event! Everyone was required to wear masks when not running and asked to keep social distance. The race size was also limited to 50 people. I think they handled the COVID restrictions well, and I felt safe.

Team 5 Peaks!

A bunch of my friends from 5 Peaks came out to race, and several won age group awards! We were all just so pumped for a real, in-person race. I’m grateful for all the virtual opportunities we had in this bizarro year, but nothing beats an in-person race.

The morning of the race actually got off to a terrible start. After not sleeping so great anyway, I awoke at 4:30 and my cat immediately started whining to go outside. She’s an indoor cat, but we let her outside often because she knows not to leave our yard. Well, that morning she decided to wander into our neighbor’s yard (I think she may have climbed into a small tree) and I couldn’t find her. She wouldn’t come when I called her, and it was dark. I frantically woke my husband up and finally, she came running in our direction. But I really thought I would be missing the race to look for my lost cat. Maybe all that early morning adrenaline helped me?!

The race started right on time at 7 am, and I started off running with a group of young kids (high school age) and an older gentleman in a Howard County Racing Team singlet. He ended up pulling ahead of me at the end of the first mile, and I was never able to catch up. He ended up winning the race, finishing 10 seconds ahead of me. We chatted for a little bit after the race, and I learned he is 63 years old. Talk about goals!

At the end of the first mile, my watch beeped and told me I ran a 6:20. Yikes. This is usually the time in a 5K where I realize I went out wayyyy too fast and then I’m ready to die. But this never really happened for me in the race. I felt really good. I did slow down in miles 2 and 3 (to 6:53 and 6:57, respectively), but kept my pace under 7 minutes! The Barlowe Bolt course isn’t pancake flat, either— it’s a lot of rolling hills. But none of them are particularly long or steep, and my neighborhood has similar terrain. So I had an advantage, since I run around my neighborhood so much. I’ve also run this race twice before, and I knew what to expect.

At about the halfway mark, I saw my friend Matt, who had provided all of the finisher medals and trophies for the winners. I also passed him again just before the final right turn to the finish, and he yelled out, “You’re going to be under 20:30!” I hadn’t really been looking at my watch for most of the race, instead just concentrating on running as fast as I could, so while I knew I was having a strong race …. I didn’t think I was going to PR. But when I looked at the clock and saw the time began with a 20, I started sprinting as fast as I could. When I crossed the line, I yelled out, “Holy shit, I PRed!” right in front of a bunch of kids, so that was nice. My apologies to their parents.

In addition to a nice little trophy, I won a $50 gift card to Giant — always appreciated! But I think I’m most excited about the fact that I PR’d my first official race as a 40-year-old, and in a distance I always say I love to hate!

How did I manage to do it? I think there are a couple of reasons why I ran so well. I’ve always heard the joke that humidity is the poor runner’s altitude training. Well, I think there is something to that. Again, this summer was absolutely brutal and running felt so. damn. hard. Lately, it’s felt a lot easier … and I know my body loves the fall weather.

But more importantly, I think, I’ve also just been running more. As far as marathon runners go, I’ve always been a relatively low mileage runner, often peaking with mileage in the high 30s. I did bump up my weekly mileage back in 2017, the last time I trained for a Boston qualifier … but I’m running even more now. Two weeks ago I ran 53 miles. This week, a cutback week, I ran 41 miles. This coming week will be around 53 again. I’ve been adding a Wednesday medium-long run (8-10 miles) into my schedule, and running before kickboxing class twice a week. So for the last few weeks, I’ve been running six days a week. Again, nothing for a lot of marathoners. But still more than I usually run. I’ve been feeling great and my body has responded well to the increased mileage, so I’m going to keep rolling with it and hope that my rescheduled marathon is able to occur in 27 days!

Other races on my calendar

I completed a few more virtual races over the last few weeks. At the end of August, I did the virtual Quantico Duathlon, which was a 5K run, a 20.4K bike ride and a 5K run. It took me around an hour and 48 minutes, and I ran the first 5K in 21:37 (which I was excited about, and about what I was expecting for the Barlowe Bolt!) Ran the second 5K in 23:32, which I thought was pretty decent after one 5K and a 12.67 mile bike ride. It was lot of fun. I would still like to race more duathlons in the future, when I am not busy marathon training.

Then, in September, I raced the virtual Market Street Mile and ran a 6:11 — exactly what I ran last year, when the race happened in person. I ran it on my lunch break — yay for working from home for the foreseeable future — and was hoping to squeak under six minutes, since I somehow ran a 5:56 mile earlier this year. This run burned like hell and I have no idea how I could have run it 15 seconds faster. But I’m happy with that effort. According to the online results, I was the second female overall. The first place female was a 46-year-old who ran a 5:46! Fast!!

In two weeks, I am also running the virtual Baltimore Running Festival half marathon. I am probably not going to race it, since it’s two weeks out from my marathon. That said, I did race a half marathon two weeks before my BQ race in 2017. (And raced a 10K the day after that. This was a stupid decision — don’t do it.) That half marathon went badly, but then I crushed my marathon. So, who knows?

I also registered for Rip It Events’ Day of the Dead 5K, back when I thought I was running a marathon on Sept. 13, not Halloween. I am supposed to run that between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. I certainly am not going to race a 5K right before a goal marathon …. nor do I want to race one after having just run 26.2 miles! I may just run it as an easy shakeout run the day before the marathon.

Speaking of Rip It Events, we have the Greenbrier Trail 5 & 10 Miler coming up on Oct. 25. I’m not a great trail runner and definitely would not want to risk running a trail race the week before a marathon — but it sounds fun and the race organizers have done everything they can to make it a safe event in this era of COVID-19! If you are interested, use SAUNTRY2020 for 10 percent off.

A 5K on 4th of July weekend: Another virtual race in the books

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I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about racing Rip It Events’ 5 on the 4th Virtual 5K when I woke up this past Friday morning.

Classes have resumed at my kickboxing school, so I went Thursday night and got absolutely destroyed when we had to do about a zillion and one weighted squats — I knew my legs would be feeling that workout for days. Plus, I knew it would be hot (because July 3) and since I had the day off work, I planned to sleep in a little (not too late, but later than I would normally be up for a race). My “A” goal for 5Ks is always to be in the 21s (it rarely happens) and my “B” goal is to be in the 22s (which happens pretty often.) I figured I’d be lucky to clock somewhere in the 23-minute range. 

But I actually ran this virtual 5K three seconds faster than last month’s Donut Worry. Be Happy. Virtual 5K, finishing in 22:15. Just goes to show you how unpredictable racing is! There were times when I wanted to stop so bad, but told myself to just keep pushing and that it would be over before I knew it. I did actually stop once, because my phone was ringing. I let it go to voicemail, but it caught me completely off guard so I did stop for a few seconds. Wish I hadn’t, but whatever. 

I’ve been really happy with my recent 5K times. Especially because they were during virtual races. It’s undoubtedly a lot harder, at least for me, to push myself to run my 5K race pace when I am all by myself. I’m pretty curious to see what I can do when real races resume. I actually have gotten a few emails recently about some smaller 5Ks, but none have been very close to me, and I don’t love the distance enough to drive an hour-plus to run it.  

This was Rip It’s third and final virtual 5K, at least for now. I ran the same course around my neighborhood for each one, which makes comparing my times easy. The 5K loop I run has some rolling hills, so it never feels like a PR course. But then I run it all the time, which gives me an advantage. 

Although this was a 4th of July race, I ran it on July 3 because we had plans to go hiking in Shenandoah National Park on the actual holiday. I also ran a one-mile warmup and a 1.9-mile cooldown to make it an even six miles, per my marathon training plan. 

 And then on July 5, I did a long run of 13 miles in 87-degree weather (the heat index was well into the 90s.) Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of the weekend and was happy to spend Sunday afternoon at my neighbor’s pool and Sunday night on my couch binge-watching The Babysitters Club reboot on Netflix. (Calling all my fellow children of the ‘80s and ‘90s — it’s fantastic!) 

Though there are no more 5Ks on Rip It’s virtual race calendar, there is the Run Dirty Virtual Trail Challenge, which runs, no pun intended, through the end of September. Participants can choose to run either 25, 50, 100 or 150 miles on local trails. It’s not a virtual ultra — the runs aren’t meant to be completed in one day. You can learn more and register here. I’m not doing it, only because I am marathon training and I am not sure-footed enough to run very fast on trails. In other words, I am klutzy. But it sounds fun! 

The Clyde’s 10K, originally scheduled for April and postponed until September, has now also gone virtual due to COVID-19 and the sudden closing of Clyde’s Restaurant of Columbia. I would do this one, but I am supposed to be running the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon on Sept. 13, if it still happens. Learn more and register here. 

As a Rip It Events ambassador, I receive free entries to all of their races, including their virtual races. 

A solid performance at the Cinco De Mayo Virtual 5K

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I surprised myself with my performance in Rip It Events’ Cinco De Mayo Virtual 5K earlier this week! My 21:35 was one of my strongest 5Ks ever, especially when I thought I’d be lucky to be in the 22s. 

There were a few reasons why I didn’t think I’d run that great. First of all, I had raced the second of five virtual duathlons in Rip It’s V5 Duathlon series on Saturday, then turned around and did the virtual Get Pumped For Pets 15K the next day. I ran an easy three miles Monday evening, then Tuesday was Cinco De Mayo, so I wasn’t sure how recovered I was. 

Second, I always say 5Ks are my nemesis, and try as I might, I almost always end up going out way too fast and the last mile feels like a death march. 

Third, it was still a virtual race, and without the race atmosphere, it can be hard to really push. 

So why DID I run well? Again, a few reasons. First, the weather was freaking fantastic Tuesday morning — high 40s and little wind. Ideal running weather. Second, I ran a 3.1 mile loop in my neighborhood that I run allllll the time, so I knew my course really, really well. 

Third, much like with Get Pumped For Pets, I treated it like a real race. I went to bed early the night before and set out my race clothes before falling asleep. This time, I didn’t have to make my own bib — Rip It made one for me!

 I woke up early to eat my breakfast (peanut butter and banana on an English muffin, not a bagel …. I find a bagel is just too heavy for a shorter distance like a 5K) and do the race before work. I could have waited until after work, but that makes fueling effectively more challenging. 

I’m thrilled that I actually negative split the race, running the first mile in 7:09, the second in 7:00 flat and the third in 6:46. (I didn’t look to see what my pace was for the final 0.1.) That almost never happens for me, especially in 5Ks! 

I started my race around 6:40 am, so actually earlier than most race start times, but like I said I wanted to knock it out before I started my day of work (from home). There were a few people out walking and running, too, and I don’t know if anyone noticed I was wearing a bib, but one woman called out “nice pace!” as I ran past.     

5Ks hurt, there is no doubt about that, but I had a lot of fun doing this. I shouldn’t have discounted virtual races as much as I did, because I am loving the V5 Duathlon series and I was legitimately excited to wake up and race Get Pumped For Pets and the Cinco De Mayo 5K. These events are really giving me something fun to look forward to in very challenging times. 

That’s probably been my biggest struggle through this pandemic — I haven’t had anything to look forward to, and it’s been hard for me to get excited about much. I know this makes me very privileged in the grand scheme of things, but that’s how I’ve been feeling. So I am very grateful to these virtual races for giving me some of my enthusiasm back! 

My next virtual race is Rip It’s Donut Worry. Be Happy. Virtual 5K on June 5, which is also National Donut Day. It’s on a Friday, so again I plan to be up early before work (I’m assuming at this point I’ll still be WFH) and I’ll run the same course I did this week. It’s likely to be much warmer then, so we’ll see how it goes! 

Have you signed up for any virtual races this spring? 

As a Rip It Events ambassador, I receive free entries to all of their races, including their virtual races. The Donut Worry 5K is sold out, but you can register for the V5 Duathlon series here!

Maybe virtual races aren’t such a bad thing after all

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I have zero interest in virtual races. Why would I pay money for that? What’s the point when I would just be by myself and unable to enjoy the race atmosphere? Can’t I just go on a regular old training run? 

I may have *slightly* changed my tune. I don’t see myself running a virtual marathon any time soon (or ever), but maybe I’m down with virtual versions of smaller races after all. 

My change of heart started when Rip It Events announced a Cinco de Mayo virtual 5K. I’ve been a proud ambassador for Rip It for several years, and I’m so sad to see their spring race season just disappear due to COVID-19. First they had to postpone the Clyde’s 10K, then cancel both the Bear Triathlon and the Columbia Association Triathlon. (That last one really stings, personally. Last year’s Columbia Association Tri was my first and only tri, and I was really looking forward to doing the super sprint again. Next year, I will be there!) 

So to make up for these postponements and cancellations, Rip It owners Danny and Suzy decided to organize the Cinco de Mayo virtual run. It sold out so quickly that they pulled together a second virtual 5K, the Donut Worry Be Happy Virtual 5K Run to coincide with National Doughnut Day in June. 

I registered for both, because as an ambassador I want to show my support. I figured that was probably it for me for virtual races. 

But then I got an email from Get Pumped For Pets, a race that I was supposed to be running on May 3 on Kent Island. The original race had been scheduled for March 29, but when coronavirus started blowing up, the Seashore Striders optimistically rescheduled it for May 3. I figured they would end up either rescheduling it again or canceling it all together, and earlier this week, they decided to do the latter. They also decided to convert everyone to a virtual race and mail out finisher medals and T-shirts (which apparently have a special quarantine-themed logo on them, LOL) afterwards. 

So, I’m already getting all the swag associated with that race, including a medal. I hate the idea of hanging up a medal (yes, I display every medal for every race I do) for a race I never ran. Therefore, I decided that I am going to race a virtual 15K on May 3. That way, I’ll feel like I have actually earned the medal and the shirt! 

And honestly? I’ve been struggling with feeling like I have nothing to look forward to. I’m normally a pretty upbeat person, but this is a challenging time for everyone, no matter your life circumstances. All of my races are canceled through at least the month of June. I can’t go anywhere. Who knows if I’ll be able to take my planned summer vacation. At least virtual races will give me something fun to plan for.

I doubt I’ll be seeking out virtual races to sign up for, unless they are Rip It races (update as of April 27: I’m now also registered for Rip It’s V5 Virtual Duathlon series! Check it out and sign up for one of four different distances), or unless my favorite A10 goes virtual this year. But I think if a race I’m signed up for automatically converts my registration to a virtual one, I might as well do it. If there’s a deferment option, I’ll take that instead, but if not — why not do the virtual race? This is our life for the foreseeable future.  

Might as well make the best of it.

As a Rip It ambassador, I received free entry to these races and other Rip It races.