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A not-so-disappointing disappointment

A not-so-disappointing disappointment

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Life has been busy since I last wrote and included a two-week trip to Ohio, a 5k PR attempt there, the Ragnar Madison-to-Chicago 200 mile relay, potty training (!) A and finding autumn daycare for her so I can teach, and, coming up, a 15k race in Rockford, wherein I really truly hope I can best my only other 15k appearance that I had when I was about… oh, 16 weeks pregnant.

I haven’t been blogging much because, while I have still been running and have been keeping at least a thirty mile/week base, I feel at a loss for words. Right now, running is more about just pure running and not PR-chasing, despite that 5k attempt (I’ll elaborate in a second) and this upcoming weekend’s 15k. It has been refreshing to just run whenever, at whatever distance, I want, and not really mind the clock too much. I’ve also been thinking a lot about “the grand scheme of things” in life and how I spend my time–no doubt influenced by Traci’s mother’s recent passing–and how running affects me, not just in terms of performance but also in terms of… being a (better) human, I guess. That might warrant its own post.

Anyway, my 5k attempt on Memorial Day. In the month following Eugene, I had eased back into running, inching toward a 30 mpw base, entirely in the absence of speedwork. I figured I wasn’t going to lose my speed overnight, but I also didn’t want to re-introduce that high-volume, high-intensity goodness to my bodily systems so quickly post-race-of-a-lifetime, figuring that I still might have some internal “whatever” going on (scientific, I know) that necessitated taking it easy… even if I had felt fine.

Initially, in the weeks prior to the 5k, I was gung-ho about shooting for a big PR–sub 20, for the first time ever–but in the remaining days pre-race, I felt pretty certain that a sub-20 wasn’t going to be feasible: not because it’s an unreasonable goal for me, just that I can’t pull that outta thin air when I’ve got marathon fitness in me right now. However, I felt pretty certain that a regular, old-fashioned PR (20:31) would be attainable, based solely on the fact that I had set that 5k PR two weeks post-2012 marathon PR (3:34), and I figured a month after an even bigger PR in Eugene would surely mean a “significant” 5k PR was in the bag.

Funny how things work out.

I’ve had, let’s call them “interesting,” experiences with races in Ohio, with the exception of the Akron Marathon (which I highly, highly, highly recommend). Any other Ohio-based race I’ve done is idiosyncratically weird. To wit: I’ve done races there that either don’t have timing chips at all (ok, old fashioned, but ok) or even one race that gave everyone actual timing devices (the plastic tags that you affixed to your shoe and returned post-race… this was 2008) but only laid out a timing mat at the finish line, essentially making the chip worthless because your finish time would still be based on the gun/clock time. This year’s 5k didn’t have any timing devices at all, so it behooved me/any other runner wanting to get an accurate clock time to line up as close as possible to the front.

However, this 5k’s idiosyncratic factor was that it was sex-separated. In other words, when I started to race, I was surrounded by no one else but my sisters in sport, with the dudes hanging out on the sidelines, cheering, and waiting for their turn at the race (on the same course) that’d begin about 45 minutes later. I later learned that women could elect to run with the guys but that doing so would negate their possibility of securing an age-group or overall award. (And when I watched the fellas run after my race, I only spotted about 4 or 5 women in the entire men’s race. I guess most of the ladies opted to run together). I’m not quite sure what the purpose was to separate the race by sexes, but hey… whatever. I told you, Ohio is weird with its road races, in my experiences.

So my race? Well, I lined up right at the front, next to a woman I knew would be super fast (I totally sized her up… call me judgemental, but really, she had that “fast” look), and my intuition wasn’t wrong. I hung with her for about the first few strides before she took off like the RoadRunner. Out of the gate, I was third or fourth woman for about the first 800m before the lead four women separated from me and gave me no chance to catch up–my thinking was that, based on how they looked when they were running (again, sizing them up), they’d fare sub-20 easily, if not closer to low 19s/18s. I was comfortable with my fifth-place spot, and I knew that the next woman behind me was at least a few seconds away, based on where I saw her on an out-and-back around mile 1 and 1.25.

The entirety of the course wound through a residential area in Tallmadge, over some undulating, this-is-what-you-should-expect-when-you-race-in-northeast-Ohio hills (that I had forgotten about.. d’oh. Haven’t raced there since Thanksgiving!). Though the weather was perfect for racing, I was beginning to feel spent pretty early on and just tried to hang on and not go over 21 minutes; I thought I could still pull off a PR, if only by a few seconds.

Then came the hill around mile 2.25.

I wasn’t expecting this guy, even though I had looked at the course map (which really, who am I kidding? I don’t live there, how would I know from looking at an elevation-less map where significant hills are hiding?!), so when I rounded left on the corner and saw that there was a healthy incline separating me from the main road that’d get me back to the finish line, I’m pretty sure I dropped a colorful “you’ve gotta be kidding me” thought. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure I lost my PR on this hill, because once I cleared it and rode over the few undulations left between 2.5 and the finish line, I came in right at 20:40, just 9 seconds off my flat, Chicago-based PR.

Boo.

I haven’t dwelled too much on not hitting any of my goals for this 5k because I’ve changed perspectives on it. If anything, without sounding like a total ass here, that I CAN run within 9 seconds of my Chicago-based PR on a hilly Ohio course makes me feel fairly confident that I could re-run, if not reset, that Chicago 5k PR back here. My only disappointment is that I’m not planning to run another 5k this year, so this was my only chance at it. C’est la vie. I prefer the long ones, anyway 😉

At the end of the day, my 20:41 was enough to net me with a fifth place overall and an AG win, an AG which I’ll soon be leaving coming November 4, so I’ll take it while I can. I also hung around the race to pick-up my awards: a gift card for a sporting goods store in Ohio, a super sparkly headband that looks like it is laced with silver Christmas tinsel, and a gift certificate for a salon back home (that I’ve since regifted to my sister). The race swag was also pretty sweet, a lined jacket with the race logo on it that’ll be super for late fall training runs. (That’s another thing about Ohio races; though they’re weird with the timing devices, they’re usually fairly inexpensive, and the swag is often pretty good, in relation to the registration fees). After my race, I walked back to that hill that did me in so I could cheer for the guys as they ascended it, leaving me feeling like I did my good runner deed for the day 🙂

Goods from the 5k: age group awards, overall rank, AG rank
Goods from the 5k: age group awards, overall rank, AG rank

My next “real” race is this weekend’s 15k, which I’ll be doing coming fresh off running 21 miles in the Ragnar relay (separate post forthcoming). I haven’t figured out my goals yet for the 15k–only to run faster than I did 16 weeks pregnant–nor have I figured out how to pace/race it yet. My plan now?

you bet.
you bet.

What say you? What’s your spring/summer race schedule look like? Have you ever done any races that are just ‘weird,’ in comparison to what you’re used to?

Remembering

Remembering

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People get into running, or marathoning, specifically, for a host of reasons. As I’ve talked about before, I was inspired to run my first marathon because I wanted to fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and honor my DePaul friend, Traci’s, mom, Carol, who had battled non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and its consequent implications, since 2001.

LLS

In 2007, I convinced Traci that running a marathon was a good idea, and we both ran our first mary that year–Chicago (the hellaciously hot one… we were hazed into the marathoning community). The following year, Traci made it a family affair and got two of her three siblings to come to Chicago from Michigan to run, and her folks came out as well both years to support everyone, getting special shirts, scarves, you name it made.

Four of these Ackrons + family friends ran Chicago '08, and all of them came in from MI to run or support. Pretty awesome.
Four of these Ackrons + family friends ran Chicago ’08, and all of them came in from MI to run or support. Pretty awesome.

After Traci left Chicago for medical school in Washington state in 2011, she obviously had more exponentially-difficult time constraints that made training for, running, and fundraising for marathons pretty difficult, but other DePaul friends of hers continued to run and fundraise for the LLS to honor her mom as well as the entire Ackron family.

I mean, really, just read Michelle’s fundraising page for the LLS here to get a glimpse of how special Traci and her family had become to pretty much everyone they met…

Personally, I have the Ackron family to thank for my marathoning pursuit because if I hadn’t gotten involved with Team in Training back in ’07, it’s unlikely I would have done a marathon in my lifetime and continued to do them as I do. When I initially committed to Chicago ’07 in January of that year, it was a purely bucket-list thing; in fact, I remember distinct conversations I had, wherein I’d say ridiculous things like “I’m not planning to die anytime soon, but in the event that I do, I want to cross this off my list sooner rather than later. It’s probably hard to do a marathon when you’re old.”

with the Ackron familia at the '08 Chicago TNT pasta dinner
with the Ackron familia at the ’08 Chicago TNT pasta dinner
Just a handful of TNT Chicago '08 runners at the pasta dinner; can you spot Traci and me?
Just a handful of TNT Chicago ’08 runners at the pasta dinner; can you spot Traci and me?

I haven’t fundraised and trained with Team in Training since ’08 because of scheduling issues, more than anything, but some of my regular training buddies and friends (including my Saturday morning partner, Jack, my coach in ’08) I met through TNT.

My usual Saturday training partner and former TNT coach
My usual Saturday training partner and former TNT coach

Most recently, I wrote in my Eugene report that on the hardest and most surprising hill on that course, around mile 8, the spectators thickly lined the street, making that dirty SOB hill fly by, and it was on this hill that I had a “mental moment” with Traci and her mother because Team in Training coaches, signs, and spectators just lined the street purple. It was tough to read and internalize some of the signs because they were tough statistics to swallow, particularly about children and leukemia, but for at least a few strides up that hill, I thought of the Ackron family and how amazing they all are and how much of a badass Traci’s mother had been since her diagnosis with NHL and subsequent challenges that were merely implications of her disease. I was proud of the Ackron women for being so brave, and so courageous, and for not giving up.

In the past week, Traci’s mother’s health took a turn, and she somewhat unexpectedly died Thursday evening in Michigan, surrounded by just a few of the many members of humanity (her family) who thought the world of her and who were inspired by her passion for living her life every single day, no matter her illness or strength. My gaggle of DePaul girlfriends and I had been emailing fast and furious all week, trying to figure out what we could do for our girl, and ultimately, unfortunately, there was nothing we could physically do; all we could do was continue to be the friends that we are to Traci and help her celebrate her mother’s legacy.

Traci is my first friend, close to me in age, who has had a parent pass away, and to say it terrified me is damn near offensively inadequate. One of the first things Traci said to me at her mother’s service yesterday in Michigan was that she knew this would happen “sooner or later… I just thought it’d be much later,” and I couldn’t agree more. Having my own mother endure health-related issues of her own since the time I was in undergrad, between her cancer and subsequent stroke, Traci’s mother’s illness and passing has hit home in more ways than one.

Perhaps the thing that stands out most to me is that, while I didn’t know her mother personally, and had only met her a few times, the connection that I have between her mother/family and my own running and marathoning is pretty thick; after all, like I said, I probably wouldn’t be doing this stuff had I not been so closely involved with Team in Training in 2007 & 08. One of my distinct honors was meeting her mother and family at the ’08 Chicago TNT pasta dinner; that was also the year where nearly all the whole Ackron clan ran the race in toasty temperatures (and all finished). Our running the marathon to honor Traci’s mother, and to advance the science behind NHL to ensure that no one else need fall victim to its nastiness, left an indelible impression on the Ackron family to the extent that they talked about it at her mother’s services yesterday.

Being singled out at a funeral isn’t something that I had in mind when I started running marathons, but as we all know, running is powerful.

It can change your life.

And others’.

Chicago ’13 will be my fourth go at my hometown course and hopefully on a day that’s far south of 80 degrees (please… really), and aside from being another notch in my vegan marathon belt, it’ll be marathon #20 for me, which is meaningful in and of itself.

My race is for Team Ackron this year.

I don’t yet know my goals, nor will I think about them for a few more weeks, but I know why I’m running this year.

To celebrate.

And remember.

With Traci and her mother, the honoree
With Traci and her mother, the honoree