The 2nd weekend of April meant 2 races in 1 weekend. On Saturday, April 12th I ran the Beer & Bagel Run at Jester Park and Sunday, April 13th was the DoNot Stop 5k in Altoona. It is extremely rare for me to schedule multiple races in the same weekend but this will be the 2nd time I've done it this year. These races were #7 and #8 of the year. Below are my recaps of each race.
Beer & Bagel Run
This was my first ever trail race and will openly admit that I did absolutely 0 training on trails leading into this race. I really didn't know what to expect out of myself going into this race, which wasn't helped by the fact the race route wasn't published ahead of time and didn't have a specific distance (the race just said 4ish miles). My friend, Adam, was racing as well so he picked me up and we headed out to Jester Park. It was a beautiful morning for a race. I got a short warm up jog in and then stretched out my hip. Before long the announcer called for us to line up and the National Anthem was played.
I positioned myself towards the back of the field and had decided before the race that I wasn't going to push hard, instead saving my legs for a good race on Sunday. I felt a bit sluggish out of the gate but we did start in grass and with a slight up hill. After the initial hill, the remainder of mile 1 was pretty flat and I logged a time of 13:10. As we started on mile 2, the hills showed up. They weren't really long hills but they were pretty steep and there was very few flat sections. I wasn't very conscious of my footing on the dirt trails, making sure to miss any sticks, roots, rocks, and mud and wasn't able to hit the downhills as hard as I wanted. One thing I did notice is that most of the racers around me were walking the uphill portions so I was consistently passing people throughout mile 2. Mile 2 came in a little slower at 13:12 but I was really happy that I kept my pace through the hills.
Mile 3 took us down to the sandy beaches of Saylorville Lake where we finally got some flat sections of trail before heading up the biggest hill of the race. I had no intentions to walk at all during the race but there was a large group of people that started walking in front of me without enough space to get around them so I walked a very short section at the top of the hill. Once at the top, we hit some smaller rolling hills again and I came through mile 3 with a time of 13:30. I was fading, but just kept my legs going. It was around this point that Adam, after finishing, had made his way backwards through the course to find me and run with me to the end. Before I knew it, we were coming out of the woods and onto the campground roads just below the finish line. I made my way up the last short hill and through the chute. 3.44 miles with a time of 45:30. I collected my medal, got a donut and bagel and then waited for the results. As usual, Adam made the podium in his age group and I was just as proud of him as I always am.
I'm extremely proud of myself for trying something new and I feel like I did very well for my current fitness level. I will certainly be considering more trail races in the future. If I could go back in time, the only thing I would have changed was to not wear a sweatshirt. The wind was quite cold, but by the 3rd mile I was unbearably hot and I do think it affected my performance at the end.
DoNot Stop 5k
Since Adam drove on Saturday, it was my turn to pick him up on Sunday morning. The race was earlier on Sunday, at 8:00 am, and we both needed to pick up our packets so we headed for Altoona at 6:45. The temperatures started out much more mild than Saturday and it was another beautiful morning for a race. Just like the day before, I got a warm up run in and stretched out my hip. My legs were feeling fresh and not like I had raced the day before, which was amazing. My plan for the race was to put in a decent effort the first 2 miles and then hit the last mile with everything I had left.
The race included a 5k, 10k, and Half Marathon (Adam was doing the 10k) and we all started together. This is the exact same course that we ran for the Time Travel 5k back in January, so I knew what to expect. The race starts with a large downhill, then there is a small hill before getting to the bike trail. The bike trail has a gradual down hill all the way to the turnaround. This means that it could be very easy to go out fast but then struggle on the 2nd half when you have to gain all of the elevation back. I settled in towards the back of the pack at the start line and before I knew it, we were off. I kept things very conservative on the way out but managed to come through the first mile in 11:48. For some reason, in my head, that was too fast and I started to worry about losing steam so I kept my effort consistent for mile 2 where I came through in a time of 11:53. As planned I increased my effort going into mile 3, and even with the large uphill at the end of that mile, I came through with a time of 11:51. My final time for the 5k was 37:14, more than 1:30 faster than the 38:51 I ran on the same course in January.
My time was good enough for 3rd place in my age group, so I earned another pin. Adam, crushed it again and took 2nd place overall in the 10k. While I'm happy with how I ran, after reviewing my Garmin data, I can see that I left some time and effort out on the course. I spent very little time in heart rate Z4 and almost none in Z5. I should have pushed harder on those first 2 miles, something that I will account for next race.
Speaking of my next race, I will be racing the Grand Blue Mile on Tuesday, April 22nd. 1 mile races are quite rare and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do at that distance. My adult 1 mile PR is 7:51, so I don't think I'll be touching that next week, but I am going to try to break 11 minutes.
