2/7/10 - Red Top Rumble 11.5 mile trail race: My longest trail race at this point, and hardly my shining moment, at least that's how it turned out. I felt good about it, and was over halfway through it and keeping pace with two other ladies when that powerade I'd had a couple mouthfuls of back around the 2 mile mark reared it's ugly head. Lesson learned, no powerade at any point during a race. But I finished, dead a$$ last - lol. It's a finish for me, better than a dnf! I refuse to not finish a race. All in all, this was a great race put on by the GUTS group, I look forward to improving and running more of their races.
2/13/10 - SweetH2O Sweetheart Half Marathon: Who knew Georgia would see snow and ice the day before, and yet the race was still on? It was too cool, driving out there that morning, wondering how many would actually show. A pretty respectable crowd turned out to run on that very cold morning. It was cool to see a few runners I've gotten to know over the last year and run a race with them (well, not actually "with" them, as they're far faster than I). And of course this race was put on by my home team, Douglas County Road Runners.
The cold, snow, and ice added to this challenging half, and perhaps it wasn't wise of me to do it 6 days after Red Top, but I feel this compulsory need to challenge myself once in a while. As long as I finish, right? Now I'd run out to TOTW a few times before, so I knew what was waiting for us, but it still kicked my a$$. Thankfully, I didn't wipe out anywhere, as quite a few did after the sun came up and starting melting the snow and ice, creating a wonderfully muddy mess. Reann ran this, but had fallen behind before we'd gotten to TOTW, which is where I caught up with her friend Sada. She and I stuck together the rest of the race, and finished together. Reann, well, she was one wooped kid, but I'm proud of her, she could have quit, she wanted to quite a bit, but she finished probably one of the toughest half marathons out there. That's 2 for me, and 1 for her. Go us!
2/21/10 - Resolution Rush 5K: I decided to the 5K at the last minute with Chels, instead of the 10K. Chelsea did a great job with her 1st race! Came in at 32:13 for her very first 5K. What a kid! I came in a few minutes later and was happy with it. Got to see Sally B. take the 1st female prize while we waited for Jennifer to finish the 10K.
3/6/10 - Berry 10K: Another race Reann and I did together, Chels had to bow out due to a band commitment. A good race for me, actually posted my best 10K time to date (good thing, I wanted a better time for a peachtree qualifier, and this was it!). Reann did really well also, coming in very close to her best time at the Resolution Run back in January. Also stuck around for fellow Rogues Jennifer, John, Alex and Terri who were running the half marathon. Very cool to see Alex cross the finish line for his first half, and posted a fantastic time too!
Now, I decided in February to sign up for a 50K (what?!?!?). Yeah I know, and I was really wanting to do the one in June in South Carolina. I've heard nothing but good things about Terri Hayes races, and this was her Chatooga 50K. But, after living in GA for 8 years, I've apparently developed allergies, and they responded to the HUGE amounts of pollen in the air earlier this month, and I went down for the count. As such, I scratched the 50K in June, but am still contemplating signing up for Stump Jump 50K in October. One, it's 5 months away, two, it's in the fall, three, no less than 5 Rogues have signed up for it. A Rogue trip, how fun! Or, there's Mystery Mountain Marathon, another GUTS race, also in October. Hmmmm, decisions decisions, do I focus on marathon distance for now and push the 50K off til next year?
Another great happening was the 4th annual SweetH20 50K Trail race out at Sweetwater Creek State Park on April 3rd. I really love volunteering for this event, these are the runners that inspire me to push my own goals. It was absolutely fabulous to see all the "cool kids" out there running on the first hottest day of the year. Congrats to Sally, Spurgeon, Marty, Christian, Wayne, JT, Tracy, Kena, Perry, Mark, Jason, John, Sean O., Sean B., Thomas A., Graham, and the countless others who braved the heat (and TOTW, twice!) to finish the "toughest 50K in the Southeast".
Right now, here's my pretty slim race calendar:
5/22/10 - Warrior Dash 3.2 mile run w/obstacle course
7/4/10 - 41st Annual Peachtree Road Race 10K
3/20/11 - Atlanta Marathon (this will be my first road marathon!!)
It's slim for one reason, Chelsea is graduating from high school and going off to college between the end of May and the beginning of August, ka-ching!
