Hannibal Cannibal 5K Run
Remember last week when I posted my running totals on Thursday? Remember how I said that would be it for the week because playing mud volleyball would take its toll on my legs? Remember how I said I thought I struggled some on Thursday because I needed more rest after Tuesday's run? Well, I lied.
When we got to Hannibal and looked at the tournament brackets, we saw that our earliest match on Saturday would be at 9:00. The Hannibal Cannibal 5K started at 7 a.m.--plenty of time to run and still make our first match. There was a kids' fun run at 9:00, too, and Junior has been talking a lot about running with me. Feeling confident we'd win our first match on Friday and therefore not play until 11:00 on Saturday, I signed us both up.
Naturally, we lost our first match (and there'll be more on mud volleyball in the next blog post). Tears and whining from my youngest..."but I want yoooouuuuu to run with me! I want someone I really know to go with me." (This latest after my friend KB offered to take him with her stepdaughter.) Cue the Mommy Dearest moment: "Fine! I guess I spent $15 for you to get a t-shirt!!" Very frustrating because I thought he'd have fun and be proud of himself, but he's very hesitant to do anything new.
How could you get mad at this face? Turns out it's easier than you'd think!
The race's 7:00 start made for some juggling, too. We didn't want to have to get the boys up any earlier than necessary, and we wanted them to be able to have breakfast at the hotel, but my husband wanted to be at the mud pits by 8:00. We didn't have time for me to drive myself there and back without issues, so he dropped me off about 6:40. I didn't have time for breakfast at the hotel, so I got a sausage and egg biscuit on the way...that's right...breakfast of champions. Very healthy.
Unremarkable pre-race shot
I believe there were 2,000+ people participating in either the 5K walk, the 5K race, or the 10K race. Though I've only been "racing" (and by that I mean having objective proof of how slow I am in organized races) since April, this was definitely the best organized race in which I've taken part. I really liked having the signs for running speeds. Granted, I was back behind the 8-minute mile people, but I didn't have to dart around a bunch of slower people. Very nice.
Note: all future pictures were taken while running, not that they'd be very good if I was standing still.
I took a little crap from some of my teammates about running in the morning. "You aren't going to be able to play volleyball. You're going to let the team down." And while I felt fairly confident that I'd be ok in the tournament, I wasn't sure. Especially knowing that I had some hills to climb. But what is it about an official race that's so much fun? It's not as if I have any illusions of placing, even in my age group. (Yet.) I can't drag myself out of bed to run before my husband goes to work for anything. But charge me some money and give me another t-shirt that I don't need...
...and I'm there.
The first "hill" was just the lead-up to a bridge. Not bad. The next one was a fairly long, steady climb.
Running up this one was some work, but I ran the whole way up. Running down was a blast. :) Until we came to the next hill. Steep. It's up to a point called Lover's Leap. Did I mention it was a steep climb? Plus, they had some hilarious signs talking smack the whole way up. The pictures are lousy, but they give a sense of the tone of the signs AND a little of what the hill was like.
Not in my wildest dreams.
Tasty. Cannibal. Get it?
Also, note the people walking. At this point, I was still running.
I don't remember any kids passing me on this run. Which likely means they all started ahead of me.
Very encouraging. "You're not even close"
More smack talk, this time a la Jack Nicholson.
The cannibal at the top
Did I mention this hill was steep? I stopped "running" about halfway up. I think I was still passing people who'd started walking it, but I'm not sure. I thought I was just going to walk for a few seconds, but once I started walking I couldn't get the momentum to run again because it was so steep (did I mention that yet? Really steep).
On the way back down.
My friend and coworker, KB, still running AND still having the energy to smile and wave. Yeah, she rocks. :)
Here's the elevation profile as reported by the gps on my phone (thank you, trailguru):
The first long hill sucked going up, but was a blast to run down. The Lover's Leap hill sucked going up and down. It was steep enough that it made me nervous to run down it. And no, I didn't drop off a cliff at the end. We ended right back where we started. I'm not sure what happened. I'm pretty sure I stopped the app as I crossed the finish line (29:45, and I'm plenty happy with that considering the hills), but it kept on timing for another 10 minutes until I went to post the run. I'm guessing that drop at the end relates somehow to that, but we finished right where we started.
(Lack of) Speed profile:
If you'd asked me, I'd have told you that my fastest running was down that first long hill. I was really surprised to see that it was actually right before the end. Now if only I could maintain that.
Race stats:
My time: 29:45
Age group rank: 12 out of 42
Overall rank: 284 out of 771
And that puts my mileage for the week at 15 miles, which is the most yet for a week.
When we got to Hannibal and looked at the tournament brackets, we saw that our earliest match on Saturday would be at 9:00. The Hannibal Cannibal 5K started at 7 a.m.--plenty of time to run and still make our first match. There was a kids' fun run at 9:00, too, and Junior has been talking a lot about running with me. Feeling confident we'd win our first match on Friday and therefore not play until 11:00 on Saturday, I signed us both up.
Naturally, we lost our first match (and there'll be more on mud volleyball in the next blog post). Tears and whining from my youngest..."but I want yoooouuuuu to run with me! I want someone I really know to go with me." (This latest after my friend KB offered to take him with her stepdaughter.) Cue the Mommy Dearest moment: "Fine! I guess I spent $15 for you to get a t-shirt!!" Very frustrating because I thought he'd have fun and be proud of himself, but he's very hesitant to do anything new.
How could you get mad at this face? Turns out it's easier than you'd think!The race's 7:00 start made for some juggling, too. We didn't want to have to get the boys up any earlier than necessary, and we wanted them to be able to have breakfast at the hotel, but my husband wanted to be at the mud pits by 8:00. We didn't have time for me to drive myself there and back without issues, so he dropped me off about 6:40. I didn't have time for breakfast at the hotel, so I got a sausage and egg biscuit on the way...that's right...breakfast of champions. Very healthy.
Unremarkable pre-race shotI believe there were 2,000+ people participating in either the 5K walk, the 5K race, or the 10K race. Though I've only been "racing" (and by that I mean having objective proof of how slow I am in organized races) since April, this was definitely the best organized race in which I've taken part. I really liked having the signs for running speeds. Granted, I was back behind the 8-minute mile people, but I didn't have to dart around a bunch of slower people. Very nice.
Note: all future pictures were taken while running, not that they'd be very good if I was standing still.
I took a little crap from some of my teammates about running in the morning. "You aren't going to be able to play volleyball. You're going to let the team down." And while I felt fairly confident that I'd be ok in the tournament, I wasn't sure. Especially knowing that I had some hills to climb. But what is it about an official race that's so much fun? It's not as if I have any illusions of placing, even in my age group. (Yet.) I can't drag myself out of bed to run before my husband goes to work for anything. But charge me some money and give me another t-shirt that I don't need...
...and I'm there.
The first "hill" was just the lead-up to a bridge. Not bad. The next one was a fairly long, steady climb.
Running up this one was some work, but I ran the whole way up. Running down was a blast. :) Until we came to the next hill. Steep. It's up to a point called Lover's Leap. Did I mention it was a steep climb? Plus, they had some hilarious signs talking smack the whole way up. The pictures are lousy, but they give a sense of the tone of the signs AND a little of what the hill was like.
Not in my wildest dreams.Tasty. Cannibal. Get it?Also, note the people walking. At this point, I was still running.
I don't remember any kids passing me on this run. Which likely means they all started ahead of me.Very encouraging. "You're not even close"More smack talk, this time a la Jack Nicholson.The cannibal at the topDid I mention this hill was steep? I stopped "running" about halfway up. I think I was still passing people who'd started walking it, but I'm not sure. I thought I was just going to walk for a few seconds, but once I started walking I couldn't get the momentum to run again because it was so steep (did I mention that yet? Really steep).
On the way back down. My friend and coworker, KB, still running AND still having the energy to smile and wave. Yeah, she rocks. :)Here's the elevation profile as reported by the gps on my phone (thank you, trailguru):
The first long hill sucked going up, but was a blast to run down. The Lover's Leap hill sucked going up and down. It was steep enough that it made me nervous to run down it. And no, I didn't drop off a cliff at the end. We ended right back where we started. I'm not sure what happened. I'm pretty sure I stopped the app as I crossed the finish line (29:45, and I'm plenty happy with that considering the hills), but it kept on timing for another 10 minutes until I went to post the run. I'm guessing that drop at the end relates somehow to that, but we finished right where we started.
(Lack of) Speed profile:
If you'd asked me, I'd have told you that my fastest running was down that first long hill. I was really surprised to see that it was actually right before the end. Now if only I could maintain that.
Race stats:
My time: 29:45
Age group rank: 12 out of 42
Overall rank: 284 out of 771
And that puts my mileage for the week at 15 miles, which is the most yet for a week.
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