PJ 5k Recap

The PJ 5k takes place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is the only time Glittering Lights is open to foot traffic. It's 3 miles of really cool holiday lights and displays.

This was my 3rd year running this race, and it just keeps getting better!

Catch the Leprechaun 5k Recap

This past weekend I ran the Catch the Leprechaun 5k just outside of Vegas.

Pre-race. All smiles. :-)

Wow! What a completely different race experience than my previous 5k.

The before and after race were fun, but the actual race itself was TOUGH!

Dirt trails, rather than paved, will always result in a slightly slower pace. It's physics. ;-)

And most of this race was on a well groomed dirt path. Not really a trail per se, but enough to slow me down slightly.

But I can't really blame the terrain. No, my body just wasn't feeling this one. Everything felt TIRED - my legs, my feet, my mind. There were many times throughout the race that I just wanted to stop.

But my C Goal - no walking - kept me going. If I hadn't made that one of my goals for this race, I know I would have stopped to walk. Probably more than once.

Around mile 2, I got a pretty nasty side stitch that simply wouldn't go away. Still, I pressed on. I kept trying to push myself to go faster, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Around 2.75 miles, the course had to cut back over to the paved trail through the park. This part of the course wasn't nearly as well groomed. Larger rocks in the gravel. Traversing across some grass.

And a twisted ankle. :-(

Nothing too serious, though. When I hit back on the paved section to head to the finish, I was finally able to give it my all all I had left.

Official time: 28:04
Splits: 8:39, 9:07, 9:38, 0:40

Nowhere near a PR for me, but I'm still happy with my time. I did make my B Goal (sub-30), after all.

After the race, we stuck around for the awards - something we normally never do - but we're so glad we did this time! You see, my friend, George, won first in his division and walked away with this neat award/vase.

And everyone who ran got this really cool medal.

And this really cool medal also got us a free Mimosa (or champagne) at Rachel's Kitchen, so naturally, we had to go out for breakfast after the race.

I wasn't very hungry, and I mistakenly thought that pancakes would be a bit lighter. I was wrong. They were delicious, but SO FILLING! :-)

It was a pretty good start to the weekend, even if the actual race wasn't my favorite.

Did you race this weekend?
Ever have an off-race, where nothing was clicking?
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Sprinkler Sprint 5k recap

This past Saturday, Jeff and I met up with some friends for the 2nd annual Sprinkler Sprint 5k. Last year's race was on my birthday in Aug, and we had so much fun running it, that we knew we wanted to do it again in 2014.

We bought another Groupon for the 2 race entries, which meant no shirt this year, so we just wore the ones we got last year. :-)

We biked the 3+ miles to the race start to make the 5k into our own little duathlon. We hadn't ridden our bikes in forever, so we left with plenty of time to take a nice, easy ride. It was a great warm-up!

Marathon Monday: Tri-States Marathon Recap

Ok. Since I didn't get this posted yesterday, I guess there will be one more Marathon Monday. :)

On Saturday, I ran my 3rd marathon. My first in 10 years. It really was an amazing experience!

After walking around the Strip for a couple hours Friday afternoon, Katie and I headed to Mesquite, NV. We checked into our hotel, settled in, and then met up with George for a carbo-loading dinner. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan, and it was mediocre at best.

I headed to bed early - only to awaken around 11 pm with a stirring in my tummy.

**TMI alert** I had to spend some time in the bathroom; it wasn't very pretty. I was so afraid the smell would wake up Katie!

Luckily, I was able to fall back asleep, but I was nervous about the race. Would I be able to make it through the race without any more tummy issues?

My alarm was set for 5 am, and when I woke up at 4:30 I laid in bed until the alarm went off. I was excited, but I wanted as much sleep as possible. Finally I crawled out of bed, got dressed, and we headed down to breakfast. The fine folks at the Holiday Inn Express were kind enough to open their continental breakfast a couple hours early for all of us crazy marathoners. I had a bagel with cream cheese, and it was delicious!

The marathon was a point-to-point course, so we hopped on a bus around 6 am to take us to the start line.

Ready to run!

THANK YOU to everyone who offered me advice on what to wear for a cold weather marathon, but ultimately, I chose adorableness over warmth.

Adorable, right?

It was COLD, but I wasn't miserable. True, I might have appreciated another long sleeve layer and/or a turtleneck layer to cover my neck and maybe another layer covering my bum, but I definitely didn't freeze. I was more afraid of overheating, and that definitely didn't happen. :)

Besides, it was super fun to get all kinds of comments on my outfit. When you feel cute, you run cute. LOL.

As you can tell, there was snow on the ground at the start, and YES, there was the slightest of flurries falling from the sky. Combine that with the mountain in the background, and the start was absolutely gorgeous.

It looks a little dreary here, but it really was so pretty.

We did our 1st mile in 9:39. Whoo hoo!! I wasn't tired, but I decided I wanted to take a walk break. I hadn't set a timer for 10:1 intervals, so I decided I'd walk one minute at every mile. Katie had never run intervals like this before, but she decided to give it a try.

Since I had those tummy issues in the middle of the night, I didn't want to take any chances, so when I saw the first port-a-potty around mile 6, we decided to wait in line to use it. SEVEN MINUTES LATER because of the line, not because I was in there that long we were back on the road. Ugh! In all reality, I probably could have made it another 3 miles until the next port-a-potty, but once the decision had been made to wait, we decided to wait.

At least the scenery was pretty while we waited!

Just past mile 9, we crossed the state border from Utah to Arizona.

Whoo hoo!! One state down, two to go. Little did we realize that we'd really only be in state #3 for less than 1/2 mile. AZ was the bulk of our race, for sure.

Katie and I were just enjoying the course - chatting here and there, taking in the scenery, having a great time.

My first little wall came at mile 12. There was still so much more to go. I was cold. My legs were already getting tired. We weren't even halfway there yet!!

And then all of a sudden, we crossed over the 1/2 marathon start line.

Pretty classy start line, right?

It totally took me by surprise; the first half had just flown by! The time isn't exactly accurate, because I had to turn around to go back and snap the pic.

My intention had been to start my music at the 1/2 marathon mark, but around mile 11, Katie had attempted to turn on her ipod and it wouldn't come on. I didn't really need music, and I felt a little guilty turning mine on, when she didn't have the option of turning on hers, so I continued just enjoying the course.

Just after we passed the 17-mile marker, we were faced with the first huge hill.

Me: Why do most marathons have a nasty hill around mile 17 or 18? And by most, I mean the two I've done. But I do think I've heard others complain about hills at this point in other marathons, too.

We walked up most of the hill, and therefore, most of mile 18. Little did we know, that was the first of many treacherous hills to come. What?! I thought this was going to be a mostly downhill, flat course?!

At mile 20, I started to get really excited. ONLY A 10K LEFT TO GO!! I couldn't believe it! I'd exceeded my longest training run (19 miles) and still felt relatively okay. Pretty much everything below my waist was sore, but without any pain, and time was flying by!

We were getting so close to the finish, but the thought suddenly came to me around 20.5 miles that I could turn on some music without headphones that we could both listen to. Yay!!

I turned on the Fit to Fight mix that I'd downloaded from RockMyRun. This is a great mix filled with lots of run-inspired songs that get me pumped up. A few minutes in, Break My Stride started.

Me: Katie, this song is making me cry!
Katie: Why? What's it saying?
Me (singing): ♫ Ain't nothing gonna break my stride. Ain't nothing gonna slow me down. Oh no. I've got to keep on moving. ♫
Me: I ♥ running to this song. I usually belt it out loud and run as fast as I can. So. Much. Fun!!

With almost every following step and every mile marker passed, I got a little more emotional. This was really happening. I was almost a marathoner. Again.

We'd done pretty good with our race strategy up to this point - taking minute walk breaks at every mile. With a few extra walks sprinkled here and there. We gave that up after mile 22, and just walked whenever we needed.

At mile 22, there was an aid station with a very peppy volunteer. So peppy that she inadvertently (I hope) lied to all the runners. There always has to be one, doesn't there?

Her: Only 4 more miles to go! Not really a lie. This is the last long hill. Big, fat, HUGE lie!

With every hill, we not so silently cursed that volunteer.

Thankfully, Katy Perry's Roar came on to help us up one of the crazy hills.

Me: I'm going to sing it for you. ♫ YOU got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire 'Cause YOU are a champion and WE'RE gonna hear YOU roar. ♫

Kind of dorky, I know, but singing it like that to Katie, really helped motivate ME to keep on going.

Finally, we made it to the 5k start.

The end was near. So exciting!

Until we hit mile 24.

Me (screaming): WE'RE SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY!!

But seriously, no one gives up at that point, right? Even if we walked the entire rest of the marathon, we would definitely finish.

Just past mile 25, we saw the biggest hill of the marathon or so it seemed looming in front of us.

Me: Do you think we'll have to tackle that hill, too?
Katie: Yes.
Me: We're so close to the end, and it looks far enough away. I bet we turn off before it.
Katie: No, I bet we'll have to go up it.
Me: No, it's too far away. The finish would be halfway up the hill. We must turn off before it.

We watched the guy in front of us to see if he turned before the hill. Nope. He started trekking up that damn hill.

Me: Oh, I really didn't want you to be right.
Katie: I didn't want to be right, either.

So, we slugged up the hill from 25.5 to 25.9 miles. Booo. Who plans a hill that close to the finish?

We picked up the pace at mile 26, and when I saw that finish line, I gave it my all and finished strong. It felt great!

WE DID IT!!

I couldn't help it. I broke into tears after crossing that line. I had done it. I'm a marathoner again. And I'd do it again!

I paused my watch at 5:21:44.

There weren't any sensors at the start, so everyone had the same start time. Apparently, it took us 13 seconds to get to the start.

Official results:

We didn't get Katie a sub-5, but we did get her a 13-minute PR. Definitely a WIN!! You can read her recap here.

Overall, I really enjoying this race!

It was really well organized.

The aid stations were nicely placed, every 2-3 miles. They always had water, and some sort of candy - from Red Vines to M&Ms. Some of them had pretzels, and usually there were gels or Hammer Heed energy drink. There was always something that I needed right at that moment. Honestly, I probably could have easily run this without my hydration vest.

This was definitely not a marathon for spectators. It was really small, so there was no point along the course where there were crowds cheering you on. In fact, the course was on an open highway. Sometimes, the drivers at least waved as they passed by. :)

I'm mostly a solo runner. I was a little nervous to run with someone, but it turned out to be amazingly fun to run this with Katie. We ran a lot of it in silence, but it was nice knowing she was there if I ever need to talk or walk or whatever.

The course was absolutely gorgeous. Even when the sun was just peeking through the clouds far in the distance instead of shining on us, we were still surrounded by majestic mountains sprinkled in snow.

The second half of the course was tough, but it was worth it, and I'd definitely consider running this one again. Next year, it will be in November, so hopefully it will be much warmer.

Did you race this weekend?
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Great Santa Run Recap

Several weeks ago, an email appeared in my work Inbox asking that anyone interested in signing up for the Great Santa Run to contact HR. I asked a couple questions, went to the website, got super excited, and immediately contacted HR to add my name to the list.

Here's a little video about the 2011 run.


Since my work is a major sponsor, my registration was actually free. Can't beat that! When you register, you get a Santa suit to run in. The hope is to get as many Santas together in one area as possible. Last year, they won the World Santa Challenge and raised over $400,000 for individuals with disabilities! How cool is that!

There were over 8,000 Santas in 2011. The numbers weren't available yet on the website of how many were there this year, but I'm glad to have been a part of it. :)

Around 8:20, my ride arrived to pick me up. I knew that parking was going to be, um, complicated, so I asked a friend if he wanted to carpool. And yes, by carpool, I meant him pick me up. This is, I think, the 2nd race he's picked me up for, so he's kind of becoming my race chauffeur. (Thanks, Crosby!)

I'd picked up my Santa suit, race number, etc the day before (conveniently at work. yay!), but he'd registered with a team, so we needed to meet up with them to get his race packet.

He had brought his sweet girl, Maya, with him, so I didn't mind the wait at all.

I couldn't get her to look up at me, but isn't she a cutie!

Finally, the four of us were dressed as Santa and ready to go!

While we waited at what we thought was the start line, we got to see 4 skydiving Santas glide in to the starting area.

The race was supposed to start at 10am, and shortly after 10, they started announcing that all 5K participants should line up behind Santa. Um. We were ALL dressed like Santa! ;) So, we just started following the crowd and 10 minutes later, we were at the starting line. Phew!

I got my CharityMiles started on my phone just as we crossed. I ran for The Global Fund to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, since yesterday was also World AIDS Day. I didn't want to lose sight of my ride home in the sea of Santas, so I did my best to keep up with him. He's normally super fast, but I had two things in my favor yesterday. 1) There were a ton of Santas, so it was hard to run very fast anyway, and 2) He was running a marathon the next day (today!), so this was just kind of a slow warm-up, make-sure-everything-is-working-okay type of run for him.

Our final time was just shy of 32 min (31:58). Definitely no record for me, but it was fun! Weaving in and out of the throngs of Santas was exhilarating!

At the finish, we were just finished. There wasn't any food that I could see anyway. They were handing out bottles of water as you crossed the finish, but they had also handed out bottles around mile 1 in lieu of a water stop. It was kind of cool to get a whole bottle - except then you had to run with the bottle for the remaining 2.1 miles.

Also, the first 1,000 finishers were offered a shirt, but we didn't feel like standing in line. Plus, we had no idea if we were in the first 1,000, so we headed back to the car, where he completely changed out of his Santa suit before we headed back to the finish to meet up with our friends.

Ugh. I hate this picture of me. Next year, I'm wearing my own suit that will actually FIT! :)

After the race was finished, and before heading back home, I headed to the portapotty. I'd been holding it since before the race began and knew I wouldn't make it home. Now, I only mention this because instead of simply having hand sanitizer stations for disinfecting those germs, they had actually set up portable handwashing stations. This was a bad idea. I thought it seemed pretty cool, but the water didn't work very well, and there were no paper towels or anything for drying. I couldn't rinse off all the soap or try to wick it off with a paper towel, so I ended up wringing my hands continuously until the suds kind of went away. It was annoying. I'll take simple hand sanitizer any day.

All in all, it was a great way to start the Saturday! Now, if I could just figure out how to run a race in the morning and then not veg out and eat like shit the rest of the day!!

Have you, or will you, be running in a Santa race this year?
Do you ever accidentally type Satan when you mean to type Santa? oops!
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Fitness Friday: The Much Anticipated RAGNAR RECAP

Two weeks ago today (has it really been that long?), I stumbled out of bed at 3 a.m. to don my brightest tights and awesomest 80s gear to head up Mt Charleston with Van 1 of The Fanny Pack.

We got off to a late start and ended up leaving my teammate's house way later than we should have. Plus, it turned out that we didn't have the required # of LED back lights, so we had to stop at the home of our team captain (in Van 2) to grab one of their extras. And then there was the stop for gas.

Finally we were on our way. 

Now, Van 1 is supposed to check it at least one hour prior to our start time. We were supposed to start at 6:30, and I think we arrived somewhere around 6:20. Parking was full, so we had to park down the mountain a tiny bit. Then there was checking in, the safety briefing, and picking up our flags, shirts, and goodie bag. Phew!

And I cannot neglect to mention the COLD!

We all look so damn cold!

By cold, I mean 30s with some slight snow flurries. Nothing compared to winters in MN, but very traumatic for unprepared Las Vegans. :-/

After completing all our pre-race duties, we sauntered up to the start line to find hear the announcer saying:

Get ready to start in 10 ... 9 ... 8 ...

Shit! Our first runner barely had his shoes on let alone a race number and the slap bracelet. We slapped that bracelet on his wrist and he was off for his first run. 7 miles down Mt Charleston in the cold and HAIL. Yes, the snow had turned to hail at that point.

He still didn't have a number because, well, I'd forgotten about that in the flurry of getting our runner to start with the 7 a.m. wave. We were only a half hour late. Woot!

About halfway through his run, we offered him support. Ok, actually, we mostly just handed him his race number, which he put in his pocket. He did not want to slow down to pin it on. :-)

Now, I was runner #4, so I still had a little time to relax and prepare before my first leg. The chatter in the van - despite the cold and early rising, was quite positive, relaxed, and fun. Prior to this morning, I had only met one other person very briefly. I was very relieved that we all got along so well!

There was no bickering or power struggles. Just lots of fun banter.

I pretty much kept my sweats on until runner #3 was out on her first leg. My awesome 80s outfit wasn't the warmest. I also didn't put my contacts in until runner #3 was out there. It was not only COLD but WINDY! My contact flew right off my finger!! In hindsight, I probably ought to have been doing it sitting inside the van rather standing outside of it. Two teammates were standing nearby, and I had all three of us STOP, and we all started looking for it. I'd pretty much resigned myself to running with my glasses, when runner #1 suddenly bent down, picked it up, and handed it to me. THANK YOU!!! Luckily, it was not ripped or damaged. Woot!

Awesome 80s Outfit #1. I'm ready to rock.

Finally I was ready to start my first leg. Runners #1 and #2 complained about the wind but were grateful that it was at least a tailwind. I joked that it would probably turn into a head wind by the time it was my turn. Self-fulfilling prophecy?

Perhaps. The wind was relentless. AND I'D FORGOTTEN MY WATER! This was a no support leg. I was so grateful to see the water stop. Unfortunately, a girl I'd passed earlier was quickly catching up to me. It had taken me forever to pass her, so I naturally didn't want her to pass me again. As she approached the water stop, I could tell she wasn't about to stop, so I took off again just steps before her. I probably could have gone with more water, but I was determined to stay ahead of her.

I'm not sure why, but this Ragnar really brought out my competitive spirit. I was all about the kills. Kills, for the non-Ragnarian, is the term used whenever you pass another runner during your leg. It's all in good fun. I promise.

Two more runners to go until it we could stop, get out of the van, and really rest. Bonus: As we passed off to Van 2, we realized that we'd made up the time we'd lost with our 7 a.m. start time. Sweet!

I don't know what it is about me and Ragnar, but I am rarely hungry for a meal between legs. I'll snack on chips and water and other randomness in the van, but actual food? No, thank you. I think I'm a rarity. At least I was in this van.

So, after runner #6 finished his leg, we headed out for chicken and waffles. Or just waffles. Or just watching everyone else eat while trying to stomach all the smells of unwanted food. It wasn't really that bad. :)

Runner #5 lived nearby, so we headed to his house to relax, stretch, change, and maybe even nap. a little.

Awesome 80s Outfit #2. Stretching between Leg 1 & Leg 2.

Leg 2 was my nighttime run. I had a little difficulty with my headlamp, but after taking it off twice to readjust, it was fine. Not sure I would have made it otherwise. :)

Remember that competitive spirit from leg 1? Of course you do, it was just 6 paragraphs ago. :) Well, it made another appearance in leg 2. I really thought I was done getting kills after 10 or 11. There didn't seem to be many people ahead of me, but then the distance narrowed, and I squeezed out a few more - including one who had passed me earlier! I couldn't believe it!!

By now, I was TIRED. My teammates? You guessed it. HUNGRY! Runner #3 lived nearby, so the plan was to sleep at her house. They ordered pizza ahead of time, so it would be waiting for them upon arrival. I, of course, headed directly to bed. No pizza for me. I slept soundly until my alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 3 a.m. to get back out there for leg #3.

Finally the weather was starting to shape up! I'd had a feeling it was going to be my warmest leg, so I'd chosen the outfit with the most skin showing for this one. :)

Awesome 80s Outfit #3. Waiting for Runner #3 to finish.

My 3rd leg was an off-street trail and should have been my easiest leg, but I was tired and sore and my tummy didn't feel too yummy. Turned out to be my slowest leg, understandably.

It was also the leg in which my competitive spirit really rared its ugly head. :) As I approached the finish, there was a girl in a tutu ahead of me. Ooh, I just wanted to beat her to bring my kills for that leg up to 3. I don't know from whence I mustered the energy, but I kicked it up to full tilt. I could hear her teammates yelling out to her. Looking good, Ashley! Way to go, Ashley! I *almost* started to feel bad for sprinting at the end to finish in front of her. Almost.

I passed her just before crossing the street and rounding the corner to the exchange chute. Steps prior to the exchange, I saw runner #5 bent over tying his shoes. I yelled out to him and continued to the chute where I panted and panted until I was able to slap that bracelet off to him.

I. Was. Finished!

And completely exhausted. So, when runner #6 finished with his final leg, and everyone wanted to eat, I, of course, chose sleep over eating and stayed in the van to catch a little ZZZZZs.

Of course, we were parked next to a McDonald's drive-in. It took me way. too. long to figure out that was where all the voices were coming from. Oh, to be in my head sometimes. :-)

This post was long. Thank you so much to all of you who made it all the way though. It's not really the end of the recap, but I think I'll stop here for now. The ending deserves a post of its own, plus there are a few other comments to make about this Ragnar in general, so STAY TUNED!

I promise it won't be another two weeks.
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3TT #4

Here we go...

Thing 1 - Last week, I looked in the mirror and thought, "Wow. My skin appears to finally be clearing up!" Then I immediately thought, "Geez. I really shouldn't have allowed that thought to formulate." I tried to quickly knock on wood, but alas, within 24 hours, at least 5 new blemishes appeared. Ugh!

Thing 2 - Way back in mid-Feb, I made some heart shaped rice crispy treats - which left me with half a box of crisp rice cereal in my cupboard. So, I had a bowl for breakfast one morning with a spoonful of sugar added, of course. That was it. My whole breakfast. And you know what? IT FILLED ME UP and I STAYED THAT WAY FOR HOURS. Who would have guessed it would be such a filling cereal? I certainly didn't! Now, I've finished that box and nearly an entire second box. It is easily my favorite breakfast option right now.

Thing 3 - This one is going to blow your mind! I'm running the Get Lucky! Half Marathon on Saturday! heeheehee. I've only mentioned it in the past two posts. Guess I'm pretty excited about it. Here is a picture of my intended outfit except with a white sports bra and I'll likely wear my contacts.

If nothing else, it's festive, right? It might be in the 50s Saturday morning, so I'll likely be overdressed. Hopefully the shorts will make up for the sweatshirt. :-) I think this will be the most festive I've ever dressed for a race. I probably should have started with a shorter distance. The shorts and socks are obviously not running-specific attire, so hopefully they don't cause uncomfortable chafing or anything like that.

Are you running any races this weekend?