Believe & Achieve 5K/10K Trail Race Report

I was excited to race again this year at the Believe & Achieve 5/10K trail run. The race is put on by Zach Johnson of Outrun (a super nice guy) to benefit Girls With Sole (one of my favorite local charities). Seeing Liz and the girls run is always a heart warmer because what she does for the girls is so wonderful! My husband Steve designed the logo for the shirts and facebook page, which were super cute!

enjoying a little grassy downhill action on the course

This race is located at Penitentiary Glen in Kirtland, which is conveniently located about 5-10 minutes from home. With the start time being a little later at 8:30 Steve and I were able to sleep in til 7! After a quick breakfast and getting dressed we headed out around 7:30, arriving around 7:45. We had plenty of time to do a one mile easy warm up and relax before the start. Since I had run 13 the day before with my friend Amy in preparation for the upcoming Northern Ohio Marathon 1/2, my legs were a little tired and I opted to run the 5K again this year. Steve signed up for the 10K this time around.

I lined up in the front of the pack and at 8:30 we were off. The 5 & 10 K runners go out together since the course is basically a double loop. The lead guys including Steve were booking and I was a little behind them for maybe the first 1/2 mile or so and then started to slow the pace a bit. I knew I was just doing the 5K but even the 5K on this course is a challenge to run fast with some of the elevation, stream crossings and technical footing.

My goal was to hit around an 8-minute pace and try to place in the top 3 females with this being a smaller race (last year I had placed 2nd). I hoped my time would be a little better this year as I hit the straightaway of grass toward the finish. I was surprised to see a young girl that I had passed in front of me again at the finish as I had not seen her get by me. I guess I must have been in the zone or she missed a turn somewhere and went off course. Either way I was happy to place 3rd on these tired legs with a 26:02 (average of 8:23) and 6th overall in the 5K. Not quite as speedy as I had planned but there were some good hills on the course that slowed me down a little bit.

Post race with hubby and our awards!

Steve also had a great race in the 10k, tying for 3rd place with a speedy time of 46:57 (7:34 pace). After the race it was nice catching up with some fellow runners and triathletes that had came out that day.

Thanks to Zack and Liz and everyone that came out to make it a great race!

Turkey Trots, Jingle Bells and New Years Resolutions

It’s been a while since I last updated the blog. I know…I’m a slacker. Some people may wonder if I fell off the face of the earth. Nope, I’ve been doing stuff – just not blogging about it. After this post you’ll be up to speed and I’ll vow to write more frequently!

After the Rev3 Cedar Point Half in September, I started to enjoy the off season. And by “off” I mean working out because I love it not because I am competing. That entailed some biking, trail running, yoga and even a couple races for fun. It also includes some formalized swim training with local triathlon pro A.J. Baucco.

Post race at Believe & Achieve Race

The week after Rev3 Cedar Point in September we ran the Girl's With Sole Believe & Achieve Trail 5K. Steve won first overall and I placed 2nd overall female. We had a blast and it is beautiful running at Penitentiary Glenn!

Post race at Twinsburg Turkey Trot

In November Steve and I ran the Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5-miler, which is a pretty challenging race mixed with roads and trail. We both did decent. Steve won 2^nd in his age group and I was third in my age group. Not long after we followed that up with a Thanksgiving Day race at the Painesville Turkey Trot 5K. It was a chilly but clear day and a fast course. Again we both did well. Steve placed 3^rd in his age group and I just missed placing 4^th out of 80. 

In December I started doing yoga consistently again and have been loving that as well as winter trail running. I can be spotted at Girdled Rd Reservation almost any weekend now. On New Years Eve I took a very good yoga class at Harmony Yoga in Concord and on New Years Day Steve and I did a trail run at Girdled to welcome the New Year!

Some of my New Years resolutions are to stick with yoga every week, run more trails, continue to work on my swim and most of all remember to have fun and appreciate the gift of being healthy and active.