Blood, Sweat & Beers Relay to End the Season

It's official...the last race of 2014 is in the books! I had debated racing the last Ohio Outside trail race again as well as the Run Santa Run 5K in Mentor but decided to have some fun with things and make my last race of the season a relay! Northeast Running Club (NERC) hosts an interclub relay race at the end of the season and I've always wanted to run it so this year I got a team together for the co-ed division consisting of my speedy husband Steve and my speedy friend Jillian.

The race, which is free to run simply requires you to sign up and show up that day ready to run with your team and maybe to help make some chili for the chili cookoff. The race takes place at the West woods park in Russell Township/Newbury. It's a gorgeous park with some challenging and fun terrain.

Me, Steve and Jillian prerace

Steve and I got in a little mile warm up on what I thought was the start of the course, which was a good little climb up a hill. Fortunately the start wasn't uphill! We met up with Jillian for a quick team pic as the hubby had designed some fun shirts for us to run in.

The relay consists of an 8-mile leg, 5 mile leg and 3 mile leg for a team total of 16 miles. The starts are staggered with 3 minutes between each group so the 8-milers go first, followed by the 5 milers followed by the 3s. Steve volunteered to do the 8 mile leg, which I hear is pretty brutal! I did the 5 mile leg and Jillian did the 3 mile leg.

My race didn't go as well as I hoped but it went okay. I woke up battling GI issues and just loaded up on the pepto and tums and made the best of it. According to my Garmin I did 5.11 miles in 42:15 so about an average pace of 8:17. That's not bad for the trails but I was shooting to come in around 8 minutes flat.

Fortunately Steve and Jillian both did better! Steve came in just over 56 minutes in 2nd place for the 8 miler (fortunately for us some of the speedy men got lost!). And Jillian did around a 21:50 for the 3 miles.

post race team pic w/ our award!

Our team goal was to break 2 hours and we sure came close at 2:00:07! This was good for 2nd place in the co-ed and we won a custom award made out of wood. After the race we enjoyed some hot cocoa and chili and hung out among friends.

It was a nice way to end the season and I will definitely plan to do this again either as a co-ed relay or female relay! Thanks to NERC, especially Guy Gadomski and all the volunteers including my good friends Melanie Lynn and Christopher Miller!

Maybe Offroad 5 Milers are My Sweet Spot

For the sake of efficiency, I'm combining race reports for my last two races: The NERC Autumn Leaves 5 Miler and the Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5 Miler. Both races went well for me and I am thinking that this distance is a good sweet spot for me in terms of effort.

Race # 1 - NERC Autumn Leaves 5 Miler 

The Autumn Leaves race took place on Sunday, 11/3 at the Lake Farmpark in Kirtland. It had rained all day and night beforehand so it was a slippery, muddy mess but it was a blast. Steve and I both ran it. I felt pretty crappy on our 1 mile warm up so I wasn't sure what kind of day I would have out there. I heard the course was going to be challenging so I went into with the mindset of just wanting to finish and challenge myself. The women's field was actually pretty competitive at this race including a couple of outstanding younger girls.

Running along one of the scenic trails

The race included some gravel trail, a good bit of muddy pasture running, some horse barns, some paved asphalt trails and a very muddy and slippery corn maze! Needless to say it was NOT a boring race at all. It was very scenic with the colors of fall and just a very fun race.

I definitely pushed myself but it was not a day to PR with the conditions. I held on pretty strong for the duration of the race but did get passed by 2 ladies to finish at 39 minutes (10th overall and 2nd in my age group). Steve also did well running under 34 mins and placing 2nd in his age group as well! NERC did a nice job with the race and the awards and gave us all huge trophies for the effort. I will definitely look forward to running this one again!

Post race celebrating with Steve 

Race # 2 - Twinsburg Turkey Trot 5 Miler

Prerace with Steve

The Turkey Trot was this past Saturday, 11/9. This is always a fun fall race. It combines road and trails so it it more challenging terrain than your average 5 mile road race. Last year I had run it but didn't really have a great day. This year was another story! I just felt better this week. Again my husband raced too and we both felt pretty good on our mile warm up.

It was chilly but I opted to race in shorts with a baseball cap, long sleeve and my gloves. This turned out to be just right although it was very windy and cold for a few minutes waiting for the race start. The first mile of this race is always very fast and this year was no exception. I felt like I was going to be in trouble going out in the low 6's but luckily I was able to hold on and slow my tempo as we hit the trail for some climbing. There were a couple of younger girls who were ahead of me but I passed one before we exited the trail. The other girl and I went back and forth for maybe a mile before I passed her. At that time I thought maybe I was in second or first as I wasn't 100% if there was another woman ahead of me or not. I did my best to just hang on and push.

My first 1st place finish!

As I hit the homestretch I reached down to adjust my bib and tore my number so I was running across the finish line holding it. I could see/hear Steve cheering. I didn't see a ribbon so I assumed I was in second place. I was a little out of it but heard my name and Steve came over to see me and I asked him what place I was I was in and he said FIRST! I was excited and surprised to have been first overall female! This was the first race I've ever won first in (officially).  My time of 36:22 (7:16 pace) was not a PR for this distance but it was for this race and this course.

Post race celebrating with my #1 fan!

I won a trophy and a turkey for my hard work! Steve also had a great race placing 5th overall and 1st in his AG! I am looking forward to seeing what I can do in this race in the years to come. Thanks to Northcoast Multisport and Champ Racing for helping out with this race.

Special thanks to sponsors: Rev3 and Powerbar Team Elite for keeping me fueled and ready to go all season!

Quick & Dirty 8K Trail Race Report

One of my absolute favorite things about fall in Cleveland, Ohio is trail running! What's not to love about running through a sea of colors? Not to mention breathing in the fresh fall air and the sound of leaves crunching beneath your feet. What can I say? I am hooked!

When I realized that The Dirty Trail Series had a race in mid October right by me in Kirtland at the beautiful Chapin Forest I could not resist signing up. The race did not disappoint. I highly recommend this or any of the Dirty Series races. Race director Joe Jurczyk is a great guy and is very passionate about trail running and running in general.

Prerace:

keeping warm prerace!

With a 9am start Steve and I were able to sleep in until 7am! This is maybe one of my favorite things about shorter fall trail races. We got up and had breakfast and went through our usual routine and left the house around 7:45, arriving at the Hobart Rd entrance of Chapin Forest around 8.  We picked up our bibs and goodies, said hi to some friends and hit the trails for the usual mile warm up. I We hung out in the heated car until close to the start to stay warm. It was a chilly morning with temps in the low to mid 40s but the rain had held off, which was good!

The Race:

start of the race. steve out front I'm in the gray run tee & blue visor

We lined up about 5 minutes before the start. I had decided to just wear my arm warmers and I could take them off if I heated up. A couple quick announcements and we were off! The race started in a field and it was a little wet so as the pack took off there was definitely some water flying. The hubby was right out front leading the guys and I started in the front as well having only been passed by 2 females.

As we entered the woods the first 1/2 mile - maybe mile was on a crushed gravel trail but then we turned right and the trail quickly turned technical with tons of rocks and roots and leaves. It was darker in the woods but the brightness of the leaves was gorgeous. There were quite a few good climbs in the race including one straight up hill that pretty much everyone walked at least some of (including me). It also rained some but I enjoyed that as it made the race feel more like a fall trail race.

Heading back I tried to stay with the group of guys I had been running close to. I hadn't seen any other women pass so I figured I was still in third place. At one point I saw the woman in front of me and came close to catching her but then there was some confusion about the course. I saw a number of people including some women coming towards me in the opposite direction and I was confused so I asked them what they were doing. They had missed a loop of the course and told us to keep heading to the finish. I figure I lost a little time here maybe 20 or 30 seconds until I got back on track. My garmin then read 4.5 miles so I knew we had to be close to the finish.

Lucky #3456 and my 3rd place medal!

Once I saw the finish I sprinted and passed one of the guys running with the group and I saw Steve ahead yelling for me. I finished the course in 38:37 (8:03 pace). I was a little bummed I didn't break 8 but was happy overall with the 3rd place female finish on a tough course.  I guess with a lucky # like 3456 you have to have a good race, right?! I was awarded with a cool medal and camelback bottle for the win. Steve also had a good race finishing 1st in the masters division and 7th overall with a time of 33:45 (7:02 pace).

Postrace:

After the race it was chilly so we threw on our sweats and headed over to Pulp to treat ourselves to some postrace smoothies to celebrate. I am looking forward to more trail races this season before a couple of months off racing for the off season.