Race Report: 2012 Run for the Oaks

Lesley, Nancy, and Karen (part of the corporate team competition)

I completed C25K W1D3 with a 5K! I did the Run for the Oaks 5K in Raleigh, NC, and also competed in the corporate team challenge with a couple of Duke employees. I'd paid for the 5K a while back, but hadn't gotten motivated back then, so I decided to participate for the team (minimum of three) but walk most of this race to prevent injury.

Early on in the race, a policeman pulled up me and gave me course directions, urging me to the sidewalk. Thank goodness the print was big enough for me to see without my reading glasses, which I don't run with. For a chunk of the race, I was able to see the people in front of me, but at one point in the race, there were a number of neighborhood street turns. I missed one turn and overshot by a block. Another walker slightly behind me and I asked a man walking his dog, and got back on track. *sigh*

A little more than halfway through, I decided to start run/walk intervals of 30/120 seconds. There were times when I ran a little more. This wasn't my normal 60/90 run/walk for the C25K, but  the distance was longer than I'm accustomed to lately, so I took it easy with the intervals until the last push when the finish line was in sight.

When I got near the finish line, I couldn't see the clock, but I kept running anyway and finished. When they announced the corporate team standings, our team wasn't called, as I expected us to be, so I went back to the finish area, and found Jim, the man who owns the timing company that did the race. I asked about my time, and learned that the official timing had indeed stopped before I finished (a first for me!). He asked if I had a watch time; thank goodness I had my Garmin Forerunner on! It had recorded almost 3.3 miles (thanks to getting lost earlier in the raced), but I didn't mind at that point, as long as our team got credit! I showed Jim my Garmin time (which he wrote on his hand!). A few minutes later, he motioned Karen and me (Nancy had already left) to follow him, and he gave us the 2nd place team plaque! Yay! Okay, there were only two teams entered in the open women's division, but it's still fun getting the bling!

So, I finished 3.23 miles in 1:04:20 yesterday, last by a long shot. Having to find my own way on the course was a little stressful, but I had a lot of fun otherwise. I'm happy to have a beginning time in an official 5K race, as I begin running again. It's great motivation, really. I'm already looking at 5Ks down the road.

I took my new iPhone 4S with me, and loaded some new songs beforehand to help me through this race and training in the months ahead. I took some photos with the phone before and after the race, and they turned out pretty well! One thing I like about taking photos with the iPhone is the ease of adding them to Facebook and Flickr!

After the race, I decided to stop at Big Ed's for brunch, where I had a veggie omelet with grits. Yum!

To see all four of my photos from the 2012 Run for the Oaks, click here.

5K Registration and Progress

This morning I registered from my first 5K of 2012! I'll be run/walking the Run for the Oaks in Raleigh, NC. I'm excited about having this accomplishable goal. Although I've registered for a couple of spring half marathons, they seem a little out of reach right now. But a 5K?! Ahhhhh! I'm smiling as I type! I've run this race before, and it's a good one. The weather's usually pretty good, and it's a well-run race. A couple of years ago, I organized a team from work for the corporate team competition that coincides with this race, and we came in 3rd place in the open women's division! That was pretty darn neat! We got a plaque at the post-race awards ceremony, even! (Okay, so there were only three women's teams entered, but it was still fun!) It gets better. There's a series of spring and summer races with this corporate team event, and we ended up taking 3rd place for the whole series, along with another plaque AND a $35 check to split between us! All this happened because we showed up and had fun. So yep, we're working on doing this again!
In other news, the Get Moving Challenge at work is going well, best I can tell. Several of us have started taking walk breaks together at work, and that's been fun! My plantar fasciitis is acting up now, though, so I need to be more consistent about treating it at home.

I'm still on the Engine 2 28-Day Challenge, and have gone 2.5 days without cheese! Wow! I've lost 2.6 pounds since Monday, so that should tell me something.

Race Report: 2009 Run for the Oaks

I ran the Run for the Oaks 5K this morning! Though it didn't turn out like I'd planned or hoped, I had fun, and I'm definitely glad I did it!

1) The weather. It was raining and in the 40s--the whole race. I knew this was in the weather forecast, but when I headed out the door, it wasn't raining (yet--or again, I should say), so I was hopeful. Ha! By the time I got out of my apartment complex, there were sprinkles on my windshield, and it got a bit harder. Not gully washer, though. Still doable for the race.

2) The team. This race had a corporate team component, where female and male teams from a same employer could sign up for team award eligibility, in addition to running as an individual. I thought it would be fun to try to get a library team together, so I sent out an email blast and got five interested women! Earlier this week, it whittled down to three, the minimum number for a team, but alas, there were two of us left standing at race time this morning. Although Amy and I didn't make enough members for an official team today, she was a great sport about coming anyway (from Hillsborough to Raleigh, no less!), and it was a lot of fun to see and talk with her outside of the work arena.

3) My finishing time. Official times haven't been posted yet, but I think I finished around 41 minutes, much slower than I'd hoped, considering I've been working on my speed more lately. I'll blame it on the rain.

On a bright note, I saw several online acquaintances in person this morning, meeting some for the first time! Shout-outs to Cindy, Mary, and Margett for being out there this morning. I also caught up with Louise (from the Frozen 5K, the Run for the Roses water stop, and numberous other races) for a bit, which was fun too. Another nice surprise was running into coworker Colleen, and meeting her boyfriend and father briefly. In ACC Basketball Tournament news, the Duke t-shirt I wore for today's race garnered a couple of comments about last night's game, which Duke won by one point!

UPDATE: Chip time 40:37, Gun time 41:01

Gutting It Out

1) Rode 4.28 miles (25:01 min) on the recumbent bike
2) Walked 0.28 mile (5 min) on the treadmill
3) Ran 1.62 miles (20:01 min) on the treadmill. This segment was pretty slow going and took me a while to warm up. Had to stop for a restroom break.
4) Ran 1.75 miles (20:09 min) on the treadmill. This segment went much better. I felt perkier and was able to speed up.

I've signed up the the Run for the Oaks on March 14!