2015 Race for Roofs 5K = A New PR!

Springtime in Indiana

The 2015 Englewood Race for Roofs was another cold one, but at least the sun was out.  22 with a wind chill of 16 at 9am.  Might be time to think about moving this race back to June?  It didn't seem like there were as many people there as in the past, which is too bad because it really is a great local race.

You know you want one

Proceeds from the race go into a housing scholarship fund which benefits neighbors who need short term help with the cost of housing, so that's already awesome.  Then add in some great SWAG, including really yummy homemade granola bars, and a long-sleeved tech shirt.  If you are so jealous that you want a shirt now too, they did have some extras which they are selling for $15.  Send me an email if you want one (tphazel (at) anderson.edu) and I will get you in touch with the person handling those sales.

My 1st AG Win!

 My training plan for the Carmel Marathon had me running for 4 hours on Saturday, so I considered running the 5K easy and then going on with my long run.  I also considered running hard and doing my long run on Sunday.  But with rain in the Sunday forecast, I decided to fit it all in Sunday.  I felt really good so I ended up running the race pretty fast for me.  I would never go out that fast for the first 3 miles of a long race, so I hope I didn't mess up my training.  But it paid off, as I ended up with a new 5K PR!  My previous PR was 34:04.  I beat that by 17 seconds, finishing in 33:47 AND winning my age group!  First Place Female 40-54.  I know I said in my blog post last week that I was going for the AG win, but I was actually kidding.  I didn't really expect to win.  Maybe the cold worked in my favor & kept the faster old ladies at home.  


Following the race, snacks, and awards; I headed out to finish my long run.  I ran into downtown and all around on the Cultural Trail, with a few side trips where it connects with the Pleasant Run Trail and the White River Trail.  Even with the sunshine, it never really got warm.  If I was running on a street where the wind was blocked by buildings, it wasn't too bad.  But then when I would turn a corner and get hit by that wind, I got all cold again.  Still, I felt better than I have on my last couple of long runs.  I have been doing some reading on what to do about feet swelling up while running, and based on what I read I went back to regular socks instead of compression ones, and I loosened my shoelaces to give my feet room to swell.  They didn't hurt as much this way as before, when I was trying to keep them from swelling.  So this is what I will stick with.

It was a source of some frustration to me post-run that my GPS watch said I'd done 13.3 miles, and the Moves app on my phone said 17.8.  They are never exactly the same, but usually pretty close.  I spent way too much time looking at the maps on the two sites and comparing them, even downloaded a map of the Cultural Trail and tried to estimate it from there too.  Since the time I ran was 3 hours, I have to believe the watch is more accurate, but I really wanted the Moves app to be right.  Either way, the long runs are done and it's time to taper.  Sunday I woke up feeling exhausted both physically and mentally, and a little overwhelmed as well.  I'm kind of glad it's time to taper, and I'm trying to decide if I want to cut anything besides the long training runs out of my schedule for the next few weeks to make sure I get enough rest.  Today, though, I feel better, and I was back at my 6am Core & More class at the Legacy Center.

Lake Junaluska at sunset, pic by Guy Teague

Coming Up

My next race is the Carmel Marathon on April 18.  You can sign up to track me at  Carmel Marathon Tracking.  And if you are in WNC, don't forget about the Friends of the Lake 5K in beautiful Lake Junaluska on April 4.  Laura and Mark will be there, and hope to see many of you there too!  Click here to sign up.