18th Annual Chester County Race Against Violence 5k Recap

This race was awesome! It totally made up for the not-so-awesome-first-5k experience last weekend and I'm so thrilled about it. First we had to do some obligatory pre-race pics, complete with grouchy grammy photo bomb...

This was our "team;" we got a slightly cheaper registration fee if we got five people to make a team, so Joe's sister rounded up two of her friends to complete our group. The race was organized by and benefited the Crime Victims' Center of Chester County.

We started almost exactly on time (8:30am), which was pretty great since we didn't have to stand around waiting for too long. We also walked to the starting point (the courthouse in West Chester), so that was a great warm up and we didn't have to worry about parking. The weather was absolutely perfect; it was around 50 degrees and sunny when we started and I didn't spend the entire first mile shivering like I did last weekend.

The course itself was perfect too. We ran on either paved streets or sidewalks the entire time and there were minimal hills. It was marked really well for the most part, although at one point a small group ended up going the wrong way and coming up a bit short on distance at the end.

I used my Map My Run app to make sure that I ran the complete distance this time and it ended up coming out to 3.14 miles in 30:49. That's a PR! I wish I had paid closer attention to the time on my app though because I definitely could have came in under 30 minutes if I had, but now I have a goal for next weekend!

When we had all finished, we headed over to the food tables for some bananas and water and decided to head home to shower. We went back out to walk around West Chester in the afternoon and it just so happened that there was a running store next to the froyo place! ;) I found the perfect race fuel there...

Overall, I had a great weekend and would definitely love to run this race again! I can't believe that I ran almost an entire minute faster than my training paces. I'm so excited to run again this coming weekend and I've already decided to add in some consistent PulseTread training (great app!) with my regular runs during the week.

Run for a Rescue 5k Recap

It's done! I ran my first 5k this morning and it was certainly an experience. It was a lot of fun but there were some things that I definitely would have changed if I could; first and foremost, I would have made it about 20 degrees warmer and less windy. ;) Joe and I got up around 6am and ate breakfast and got my brothers up and ready to go. We wanted to leave around 7:15 to get there by 7:45, but we ended up leaving a little bit later and got there a little before 8.

The website for the race said that runners should arrive at 8, but it didn't say anything about a start time, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to sign in and everything. It turned out that the race didn't actually start until 8:30, so got our bibs on and went back to sit in the warm car until the start time. I think there were probably around 50 runners maybe?

I've been to McDade Park before, but I think I was in maybe 4th grade, so I don't really remember it all too well. The course was really beautiful, but I was not prepared for it at all. I was expecting mostly paved roads and maybe some hills and man, I was in for a rude awakening. Within five minutes of starting, my socks and shoes were soaked from running through swampy fields (we got rain yesterday). This wouldn't have been a big deal to me if it had been 70 degrees outside, but it wasn't too great in the 45-ish degrees.

 

There were also two gigantic hills that we needed to climb as part of the course; one had a set of steps and the other was just grass. Again, wouldn't have been too big of a deal if I had been prepared for it, but they totally caught me off guard. I had really wanted to run the entire thing, but I had to start walking halfway up both hills. My last and most important complaint though is that the course was really badly marked. Joe was ahead of me the entire time, but at one point, he came up behind me and passed me, so I had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. I'm honestly not convinced that I even ran the entire 5k, which is really disappointing but what can you do when no one really knows where they are supposed to be running? I talked to a couple other runners during and after the race and they all seemed to feel the same way.

 

So, in the confusion of trying to figure out where everyone finished, I ended up apparently finishing as the 3rd woman. Seth finished first out of everyone! I was super excited about the medal obviously, but I was more excited to get my jacket and sweats out of the car!

I don't know what my time was; I forgot to wear my watch and they weren't announcing it at the finish line or anything. I guess I'm just going to chalk this one up to a fun learning experience and hope that my next race is a bit more organized. We are heading down to West Chester next weekend and running a 5k on Saturday morning, so we'll see how that goes!

The Run Down

Okay, so a little about me... I'm a soon-to-be college graduate who has just recently realized her love of running and I'm starting this blog to keep track of all my progress, races, training, etc. I'm running my very first race (a 5k) on Saturday and thought it would be nice to keep a diary of sorts chronicling my achievements.

I've got some big goals and some small goals for both short and long term. Ultimately, I would love to be able to compete in a marathon and I'm hoping if I train hard enough that I will be able to run the Steamtown Marathon in 2014. For now, my fiancé and I are focusing on shorter races to get in the swing of things and hopefully will be running a couple of half marathons in the fall. I'm not about speed at all right now, although I'm hoping that I will become a much faster runner over time.

The blog's name came from my love of Disney movies and the fact that I eventually want to run the Princess Half Marathon in Walt Disney World. :P