my first time as an official pacer, group runs and more 1L life

this past week has been hectic! With 4 weeks left of class before 2 weeks of finals (yikes!) I’ve been studying a ton and working in study groups, as well as outlining. Last week I started to feel a teensy weensy bit burned out, so I was lucky to have some fun events to look forward to at the end of the week!

Thursday was the law school Halloween party, which I totally wasn’t planning to go to, but was glad my friend Amanda convinced me!

Amanda, me & Ameena

Rambo got stung by a honey bee 😉

No more pictures…. and it’s probably best that way 🙂

Since I was not planning to go to any Halloween parties, I bought my costume the night before and got 30% off-score! I also planned to double it as a race outfit, which was perfect because I had a race planned for the following (this past) Sunday. Geez was that a confusing sentence.

It was fun to just relax and hang out with my classmates, as well as meet some upper level class mates, who assured me that once you get through the first year it gets wayyyy better. Don’t get me wrong, I love school…. but the whole one final dictates your entire grade (for the most part) is utterly terrifying. I will be relieved once I feel like I finally have a solid hang of it!

On Saturday, I went to a group run at Running Fit, where Saucony was offering runners test shoes to try out their line. I rode with Sherri and we met Katie there.

at the store

soooo many shoes…. which one will I choose?!

I wear Mizuno Waveriders (LOVE) and they are neutral, so when the Saucony rep gave me the choice of the equivalent neutral or something a little more lighter, I initially picked the lighter shoe. I’d love to get into racing shorter distances with a really light shoe, I think it would help increase speed. But this shoe literally felt like I had nothing on, and we were planning to run 6 miles, so I decided to go back to the neutral. One day I may switch, but I didn’t want to be so abrupt. I used to wear the Saucony Rides before I started training for Bayshore, so it was nice to try out the newest version. They have definitely made some improvements.

Ready to run Saucony style!

When we started off, it was still dark outside…. and COLD. Luckily Running Fit was very organized. They had staff members on all routes (there were different distances) and they kept hanging back to make sure the last person knew where to go. They also had cones with arrows set up so you wouldn’t get lost. It was a nice touch

About 4 miles in!

Katie battled a knee injury after Bayshore, and was finally cleared for running a little over a month ago (yay!) so it was nice for her to join us on a run. We kept the pace pretty easy and chatted the whole way. IT was like happy hour with endorphins instead of drinks (my kinda happy hour!)

starting out

Even though I used to live in the neighborhood that Running Fit was in, I was not familiar with this route so it was really nice. We ran through some cool residential streets with pretty houses and the trees are the perfect colors right now.

taken while running, hence the blurry-ness

It was a lot of fun, and they even had breakfast for us when we got back! Eggs and bacon, cider & donuts (guess which course I opted for?)

A lot of people hung out after and chatted about race stories… I hung out for awhile but had to get going for a hair appointment. All in all, a great time and I definitely plan to join in on more group runs!

Then on Sunday, Sherri and I headed to the Wicked 5k. Josh contacted me about being a pacer for the 5k, and when I found out they needed more help I got Sherri involved (free race and getting to help people meet their goal? Sign me up!)

I was originally supposed to pace a 9min 5k, but when I got there, the sign was already taken. The race director told me I could hold the “First Time 5k” sign and run whatever pace I wanted. He said I could join him in running a 20-21 minute 5k- haha! I can’t do that time…. yet 😉 Basically he said I could just run however I felt and cheer people on throughout the course…… sounds like a plan to me!

with our signs

I started out WAYYY too fast (why do I do that to myself) and was averaging 6:50 the first half mile. I was using Sherri’s husband’s Garmin (someone buy me one for Christmas, I’ll love you forever) so luckily I caught it and slowed down…. but my first mile was 7:29. I was having a ton of fun, running and complimenting people on their costumes, their pace, etc. I stayed pretty close to that pace the whole time and ended up finishing just under 23 minutes…. SO close to my PR (22:51). It was kind of funny because I was holding a first time 5k sign….

probably should’ve said 5k cheerleader lol

All in all, I had a ton of fun and would love to pace an actual time to help people get to their PR. I had so much fun when I paced Sherri at the Super 5k. I love helping people realize they can do it, even when it seems like they can’t (and vice versa 😉 )

I also notice how I’ve been really close to PR’ing at my last 2 5k’s and realize that if I actually incorporated speed work into my training, I probably would PR quickly. So, I probably should get on that.

Talk to me!

Do you love Halloween races too? What is your favorite race costume?
Ever been a pacer/cheerleader?

Love group runs or rather be solo?

‘shore part deux

Picking up from where I left off, PR high in full force, I met Nate at the finisher’s area after running the Bayshore 10k. There were plenty of goodies for all the runners, including cookies, muffins, GU Chomps, bananas, orange slices, energy drink and ice cream! Mooner’s, a TC local favorite, was giving out ice cream to all the runners. I think I may have just fallen in love with a race sponsor.

I didn’t get any pictures of the ice cream (for some reason, it disappeared really fast… ), but I did get some freebies for future training runs:

After I stretched and walked it out a bit, we headed back to the hotel so I could wash my hair & shower. How many of us plan our long runs around when we have to wash our hair next? Just me?

We checked out and  headed into the downtown area, to the Green Cafe, where I ordered a breakfast fit for a runner who’d just PR’d:

breakfast of a running god wannabe

This amazing concoction is called an eggs neptune– it’s like an eggs benedict but over crab cakes instead of Canadian bacon (most of you know I don’t eat pork, so this was perfect for me). What’s funny is that I normally don’t like hollandaise (too fatty and I’m not a big heavy/white/creamy sauce kinda person), but I absolutely devoured this meal. It was amazeballs, in a word. If you’ve never had one before, please order it now. You’ll thank me later.

After my stellar breakfast and slamming several glasses on NUUN filled water, we drove the 30 minutes to Nate’s family cottage, where I got some quality time in with this special girl:

I didn’t feel sore at all, but a little tired.  This picture pretty much describes the rest of my evening activity-

add a couple Oberon’s and that was my night in a nutshell

Except I didn’t sleep out there (although I could have, sans mosquitoes.) We actually ended up staying at a cabin a couple miles away from Nate’s family cottage. I was a little apprehensive at first (I’ve never gone camping or anything) because of how Nate described it- “2 bunks and no bathroom”. But it turned out to be quite quaint.

(ps. there was a bathroom about 20 ft away)

I think my favorite part about sleeping here was that I got to have a new sleeping companion:

We usually crate the girls at night, but with Kenna at my aunt’s and Rylee ‘on vacation’, we decided to spoil her a little. Looks like she had no trouble adjusting.

I didn’t mind the ‘camp out’ experience, but I think I’m more apt to camp this way in the future:

seen on Pinterest

The next day, we headed back to TC once I heard there was a huge sale at Running Fit. Everything in the store (except Bayshore material) was 20% off. They also had pictures of people from the race all over the store that were free for the taking. I didn’t see any from the 10k which was kind of disappointing, but I guess they got a little caught up with the half & full marathon pictures (priorities….)

Of course I didn’t walk out empty handed:

tried & true flavor, and a couple newbs

and since I recently hit in the 300’s (!!!!) on my Pegasus’ it was time for some new shoes:

Saucony Ride 5

I’ve been having a little bit of toe pain in my left foot, and think the wider toe box will be exactly what I need! I’ve ran in them 3 times and absolutely love them.

I was so glad I got to experience Bayshore, and also met some more cool Tweeps of mine the day before- Matt & Janet! I’ve Tweeted with them a zillion times and may or may not have made Matt my unofficial running coach (shhh) so it was really cool to meet them IRL. Janet ran the half and Matt did his first full, both had awesome times! Just sad I didn’t think to get a picture with them or see them at the actual race!

My whole experience at Bayshore was really positive- in fact, the more I think/talk about Bayshore, the more I absolutely love/d this race. The course was beautiful (is there really anything better than a lakefront course?), there was great crowd support, and the finisher’s area was amazing. Everything was also really well organized. Traverse City Track Club puts on the race every year, this year being the 30th anniversary, and let’s just say it’s kinda a big deal: the race attracts over 7,000 runners and brought an estimated $5 million in revenue to the Traverse City area.  This was definitely the biggest race I’ve ever done.

So, if you’re ever looking for a fun and scenic race with a flat course and lots of good organization, definitely check out Bayshore. So glad I got to do it!

Talk to me:

What’s the best breakfast you’ve ever had?

What’s your favorite race currently?

Are you big into camping?