Tag Archives: 2012

Running in 2012 :: A Fun Q&A

Posted by Melissa on December 24, 2012 13 comments

I came across this 2012 running recap Q&A on Ashley’s blog last night, which was actually started by Amanda, and couldn’t resist joining in! This year certainly had its ups and downs on the running front but I think in the end I came out on the other side with a more positive attitude. Let’s take a look…

1. Best Race Experience: 3M 1/2 Marathon. I was absolutely blown away by my race performance at 3M. I thought I had no business running that pace during the first few miles, but as I hung on right through the finish – it was clear that running is {obviously} just as much mental as it is physical. I told myself I could do it, pushed through the discomfort, and came out on top with a PR that I didn’t think was possible.

2. Best Run: A small, local 5K run with Brad. This was the beginning of Brad’s foray into running and it made me SO happy! Little did I know only a few short months later he’d agree to participate in the Austin Distance Challenge with me. I never thought the day would come where I’d run a half marathon with him, let alone 3 in 3 months!

3. Best new piece of gear: Pro Compression socks. I had a few pairs of socks and sleeves from other various brands, but Pro Compression swooped in and won me over this year! Their products and customer service are seriously TOP NOTCH.

I’m all for supporting smaller companies and I’m pretty sure I’ve done that this year since I now own every single color marathon sock they make!

4. Best piece of running advice you received:

“Don’t make excuses! Don’t call yourself slow. Just work hard, if that’s something you want, at getting faster. Don’t have huge goals – have mini goals, that won’t bring you down. Mentally its too much pressure.”

Sometimes you need advice, HONEST advice, to kick yourself back into gear. I’m very thankful to have Ashley to put me in my place when I need it

5. Most Inspirational Runner(s):

Jocelyn from Enthusiastic Runner. I started reading her blog about a year and a half ago, and it’s amazing how far she’s come in such a short time. She’s slashed over an hour off of her marathon PR and I can’t wait to see her crush Eugene in April 2013. {Read her Philly recap – hilarious!}
Lora from LV Runs NYC. She was plagued with injury during her recent BQ-attempt and is now making her comeback to running. Definitely another one to track at Eugene – girl is FAST! Also hands-down one of the most well-written blogs in my reader.
Lauren from Health on the Run. Another incredibly well-written blog, SPEEDY runner coming back from injury. 2013 has big things in store for her, like Operation #goodbye318. I don’t doubt she’ll smash that goal next year at VCM!

6. If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?

Humbling. Amazing. Fast. FUN!

I’m looking forward to cranking out the miles in 2013 and pushing outside of my comfort zone. And as I said in my Philly recap…

I’m ready to put in the work. I’m ready to push hard. I’m ready to dig deep and run strong.

Texas Spartan Sprint 2012 Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on May 26, 2012 7 comments

Back in March I took advantage of a sweet deal on the Texas Spartan Sprint at Reveille Peak Ranch out in Burnet, Texas. Last weekend, the race pushed both Brad and I to our physical and mental limits.

Parking was in a huge dirt field and a “shuttle” took you out to the race site:

The race let a group of 300 Spartan-to-bes go in 30 minute increments, starting at 9am. Our heat wasn’t until 2:30pm so by the time we arrived at packet pickup, the event was in full swing.

We dropped our bag off at bag check and then posted up at the barbed wire / finish line gladiators to see what exactly we were up against.

It was just over 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The weather was perfect for say, a few beers by the pool or a day out on the boat on Lake Travis. It was not, however, perfect for the journey we were about to embark on.

Around quarter after two we headed to the starting line, where a crowd of people were already waiting. Although I had marked my forehead (and arm, calf, and both hands) with my bib number, I decided to cover it up with a bandana to keep the sweat and my hair out of my face.

The announcer told us to keep our eyes peeled for tarantulas and rattlesnakes, both of which were spotted on the race course on Friday. Um, what? (We didn’t end up seeing any, but heard rustling in the high grass along the dirt trail pretty much the whole time).

After an “I am Spartan” chant, our adventure began! The way the course was set up near the finish, we were under the impression we would run the 3 miles, and then hit all of the obstacles leading up to the finish. This was not the case.

Side note: when we registered for the race, it was being advertised as 3+ miles. When the Participant Guide came out during race week, it was advertised as 4+ miles. Per one of the race officials, the final official mileage was 5.8 miles. Just a heads up…

We started off climbing a steep hill on the trail and after our hearts were pumping hard and we were drenched in sweat, the obstacles appeared. The first one was a set of walls “under the first, over the next, under the next, etc” which were fairly easy. This was the only set of walls I was able to conquer on my own because of the height. Thank god for Brad, who I was able to use as a stepstool and/or personal launcher over the walls, especially the final few which were 8 feet tall.

Most of the obstacles throughout the first few miles were climbing walls and beams:

We also hit monkey bars (which I fell off of, resulting in the need to do 30 burpees. oy), ten stumps of different heights which you had to walk across without falling, a cargo net

cinderblock hauling (which I carried on my shoulder, as did Brad)

crawling under barbed wire

and through a PVC pipe a couple hundred yards long

cinderblock lifting

wading through countless creeks

including one where we had to climb over a set of buoys, under another set, and over the final set. There was someone helping people over the final set and he let me know there was a rock to step on after I made it over. Unfortunately my foot missed the rock, but my lower leg became best friends with it – resulting in a golfball sized lump and a beautiful bruise on my shin.

It’s worth noting that after we hit the first set of obstacles, we pretty much stopped running. It was hot and we decided it would be best to keep it slow and steady in order to finish in one piece. By the time we hit the final obstacles, we were SO happy with our decision. If we had hit it hard, we would have been totally gassed.

This wall (well, the one on the race course – this particular one was at the start for people to practice on) crushed me:

Basically you started at one end and make your way to the other side without falling off. Well, when you have T-Rex arms like me, it’s very difficult. My midget legs weren’t much help either. I ended up using the top of the wall instead of the pegs until about halfway when I couldn’t reach my foot to the next peg and called it quits. And by quits I mean I went off to the side to knock out my 30 burpees for missing an obstacle. Ugh. This wall also tore up my hands, blessing me with glorious blisters that would hinder my progress in all rope obstacles to come.

We then had to carry a sandbag uphill about a hundred yards and back. It felt like a mile at this point. I alternated between carrying it on my shoulder and my head. Following the sandbag carry (or maybe before? memory is a little hazy) were 5 muddy, slippery hills, with 3-ft mud pits in between each one. Basically scale up the hill, slide down the other side into the pool, scale up the hill, slide down, etc. This wasn’t too terrible, mainly because the mud bath was oddly refreshing due to the sun beating down on us. Gross but true.

We were FINALLY in the home stretch! It was time for the tractor tire flip. Each tire was on a peg, and you needed to flip it twice (off the peg, on the peg, off, on). Then another mud hill, followed by a mud bath, and then a rope climb.

I tried wrapping the bandana around my blistered hand but it kept slipping off. I couldn’t get a firm grip on the rope, so I (yet again) headed over to the side for another set of wonderful burpees.

Once Brad finished the rope climb and I finished my burpees, we ran over to tackle the fire jump.

Next we needed to walk across the river on a balance beam, which was easier than I thought it would be, especially that late in the race.

Then was the spear toss. One shot, and if your spear didn’t stick? 30 burpees.

Brad and I both missed, so burpees it was.

Once we were done we took off running through waist deep muddy water towards one of the final obstacles.

A combination of my ripped up hands and the inability to keep my weight in my arms helped me lose the battle with this obstacle. My feet slipped out from under me more times than I can count and eventually I accepted defeat. Burpees. Again. AGAIN!! Brutal.

It was time to assume the horizontal position and roll through 100+ yards of barbed wire.

Then we had one last obstacle to bust through – the gladiators:

Oooh, gut shot. My face says it hurt. Also I was completely regretting ditching the bandana at this point – my hair was allll up in my face.

My bib was desperately holding on by only two safety pins by that point.

Spartan Sprint Success!

This race was TOUGH, but so much fun! I’m still a little achy and have plenty of bruises, scratches, and calluses. Would we do it again? Absolutely. But definitely earlier in the day, and we’d train a little better next time. Next time as in May 13, 2013 – we’re already signed up for the 9:30am heat. What?! It was only 30 bucks!

We’ll see ya next year, Texas Spartan Sprint.

New Jersey Marathon Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on May 21, 2012 12 comments

Here we are two weeks post-race, and I’m just getting around to writing up the recap. There’s a reason. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know how this race played out. If not, here’s the short version: the New Jersey Marathon was my first DNF.

Race morning began with my alarm blaring at the ungodly hour of 3:15am. I think I slept about 30 minutes the night before, and 12 hours total between Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I was up pretty late and my nerves were out of control. Ashley was picking me up at 5am so I wanted to have enough time to eat something, get ready, and spend a bit of time freaking out with my fellow racers on Twitter.

I was having the same feeling I had prior to the Austin 10/20. I wasn’t really in the mood to race. In the weeks leading up to the marathon I went back and forth on switching to the half no less than 800 times. My training hadn’t been geared towards New Jersey; I was focused more on the many half marathons and shorter races. My longest training run had been 17 miles. But I was convinced since I had conquered the 26.2 in the past, mentally I’d be able to latch on to that fact and power through.

Ashley picked me up and we went back to her house for a little bit. It took me nearly 30 minutes to choke down half a bagel with peanut butter. We piled into the car with two of her friends, and picked up another two girls on the way to the start in Oceanport. Everyone in the car with the exception of Ashley and I were running the half. I was a bit jealous when they all ran to the start. A half marathon sounded much more feasible at the time. I should have taken that as a sign.

We checked in all of the half marathoners bags for them and then jumped in line for the portapotties. At this point we were surrounded only by marathoners and I started to get pumped up a bit. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. We met up with Ashley’s friend Sky – the two were attempting their first sub-4 marathon. Spoiler alert: they succeeded!!

I ran into my family and Brad on my way to meet up with Libby, who I’d be starting the race with. It’s amazing to be surrounded by such a great support system. It really gives you something to look forward to you and keep you moving along the course. I appreciate it so, so much!

Once I found Libby and Eva, we headed into our corral. We heard the National Anthem and then it was time to get the show on the road. No turning back now!

Libby and I had decided to start the race together since we’d be shooting for a similar pace but if either of us decided to hang back or speed up, no problem. No commitment. Eva stuck to her intervals and was always a little behind or a little ahead of us. It was awesome running with Libby. We chatted the whole way and kept a decent (faster than we had planned on) pace. The weather was cool and clouds kept the sun at bay. It was a perfect day for running.

Around mile 7 or 8 I needed a walk break because of a side stitch, and this was where things started to unravel a bit for me. Once I took that first walk break, I knew I’d need to take them regularly after. This worked out fine until around mile 11. Libby decided to keep on going. We wished each other good luck and parted ways. (Libby ended up with a PR on her 3rd marathon in 3 weeks. Such a rockstar!) I clicked my iPod on and tried to zone out until mile 12 when I knew I’d see my support crew. Somehow we missed each other and Brad ended up having to break into an all-out sprint to catch up with me. He had desperately been yelling my name but Luke Bryan was singing in my ears and I couldn’t hear him.

I stopped with him at a nearby water station while he caught his breath and ate a few of the Shotbloks he handed to me. My family arrived shortly after and we chatted a bit.

After a few minutes I said my goodbyes and continued running. My iPod went back on and I tried to just focus on the music and the scenery around me.

Side note: after I left, Brad needed to lie down on the sidewalk and recover from his sprint session. I’ll turn him into a runner someday! They just happened to be near a hospital at the time and my sister took full advantage of the photo op:

I passed the split for the half and full marathoners and it was hard not to sail into the finish and call it a day. My walk breaks became longer and more frequent. The negative thoughts started creeping in. If I’m walking this much, what are the chances I’ll still come in under the time limit? I didn’t run anything over 17 miles – how can I finish 26.2? I’m exhausted, haven’t slept well in days, legs feel like lead. So on and so forth.

We began the long out-and-back (my favorite! ::sarcasm::) portion of the course. At mile 13, the full marathoners coming at you in the opposite direction were at mile 24. I had nearly 10 more miles before I hit that point, and would have to watch all of the faster runners run closer to the finish line for the next 6 miles before the turnaround in Ocean Grove. It was disheartening.

I tried to draw in some positivity, repeat motivating mantras, pump myself up – halfway done! But nothing was working. I was drained both physically & emotionally, my pace slowing dramatically. I felt defeated. I knew my heart wasn’t in it and didn’t want to push it. I wasn’t ready for the race and my mental game was off too. It was time to make the decision I’d been prolonging

Just past the mile 14 marker I texted Brad “I’m going to stop. It’s not my day. Will you think less of me if I quit?” He replied, “Absolutely not. Where can we meet you?”

I immediately felt as if a huge weight was lifted. No more pressure to finish. But at the same time I was overwhelmed with disappointment. It was my 2012 goal marathon race. And now it was over.

I removed my bib, folded it up, and carried it with me as I made the walk of shame towards the boardwalk where my family and Brad were waiting. I saw Ashley and Sky killing it, well on pace for a sub-4 and looking STRONG!

Photo Credit

In hindsight, I probably would have fared better switching from the full to the half at the expo. I should have swallowed my pride and chose the distance I was better prepared for – not the one I was registered for. My DNF was incredibly humbling but thankfully I learned a lot from this race. At least the walk to meet up with my family was scenic.

One thing is for sure – there will be sweet, sweet marathon redemption in my future.

0 for 2

Posted by Melissa on April 29, 2012 9 comments

So last Tuesday Nuun announced the lucky women chosen to run Hood to Coast 2012 on their team.

Sadly, I didn’t make the cut. But I wasn’t completely surprised. The field was uber competitive and the odds were not stacked in my favor, with my not-over-the-top-creative application and lack of a huge blog following.

On Wednesday, the lottery results for the ING NYC Marathon were revealed. After refreshing my bank account 4589764 times and desperately stalking the NYRR website for hours on end, the results were in: Not Accepted.

So now what? After my rejection from NYC, I was on the prowl for a rebound marathon. Or a fall race longer than a 10K, for that matter. I had planned on giving See Jane Run another shot but an email received late last week informed us they wouldn’t be back until maybe 2013. So much for that idea.

There’s not a chance in hell I’d run the 26.2 in San Antonio in November, especially with the steamy temps Texas has been experiencing during our fall/winter months. The same goes for the Chosen Marathon in New Braunfels in October. Heat & humidity – no thank you.

After a quick Twitter consultation and a Google search, I found two marathons I deemed worthy of suffering through another training cycle during the 100+ degree summer:

My next potential victim will either be Long Beach on October 6th or the Philly Marathon on November 18th. The price increase hits May 1st for Philly so I’ll be making a decision REAL soon.

Have you run either Long Beach or Philly? Thoughts on which I should choose? Wanna run with me?

Big week. HUGE.

Posted by Melissa on April 23, 2012 4 comments

Today marks the beginning of what could quite possibly be the best week ever.

Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for:

Nuun will FINALLY be announcing the three teams picked to run the Mother of all Relays, Hood to Coast, this August! The anticipation for this announcement has been building with each passing day and the SUSPENSE. IS. KILLING. ME!! I’ve been reading race recaps from both of the 2011 teams and let me tell you – those ladies had a BLAST! Nuun is such an incredible product and as an avid supporter, the opportunity to secure a spot on one of their relay teams would be absolutely AMAZING.

The competition is stiff, that’s for sure. There are roughly 70 applications floating around out there, and an unknown amount submitted via email. If you click through the entries, you’ll find countless creative videos and many inspiring women longing to run Hood to Coast. Nuun has their work cut out for them!

Another big event this week is on Wednesday: Marathon Opening Day!

Oddly enough, I don’t have a fall race on my schedule yet. I don’t think I’ll be able to do a destination race next fall due to other travel plans, so if there’s any time to do one – it’s this year. After going back and forth about a hundred million times, I decided to enter the lottery for NYC. I know my chances of getting in are VERY slim, but hey, it’s worth a shot! If I didn’t enter this year, I wouldn’t be able to again until 2014. So far away! Here’s hoping that 2012 is my lucky year.

So, that’s the big HUGE week. Nuun announcement on Tuesday, NYC lottery on Wednesday. Wish me luck!

You can check out my official Nuun Hood to Coast Relay Application 2012 here. And if you’re so inclined, feel free to tweet @nuunhydration and let them know why you think they should choose me {@melissalicia512} for a spot on their 2012 Hood to Coast relay team!

Inaugural Austin 10/20 Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on April 19, 2012 2 comments

Friday on my lunch break I headed downtown to Luke’s Locker for the Austin 10/20 packet pickup.

One thing I really appreciated about this race was they provided six different dates for packet pickup: Friday & Saturday the weekend before the race and Wednesday through Saturday of race week. This made it super convenient to make it to packet pickup on whichever day worked best for you.

Packet pickup was very efficient and I was on my way in less than 5 minutes. Under Armour was a race sponsor so both the bag and tech tee were furnished by them. Packet contents were nothing to write home about, but when are they ever? I did, however, enjoy the personalized bib and race program.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the forecast was less than desirable for race morning. It only became worse once Sunday morning rolled around.

When the alarm went off at 5am I was overwhelmed with “I don’t want to run today” feelings. I was tired, thirsty (um, never good the morning of a race), and just plain cranky. I listened for thunder or even just rain hitting the roof. Nothing. Deep down I was hoping the race would be cancelled so I could head back to bed. But it was dry as a bone outside and the Austin 10/20 Facebook page mentioned nothing about cancelling or postponing.

I left the house nice and early at 6:20. Yes, the race started at 8am, but I’ll be damned if I’m one of those people whining about sitting in traffic because I left the house late. I was one of the first cars parked in the garage at the Domain and killed some time by tweeting and inhaling a Honey Stinger waffle. Or two. It’s hard to say.

I drank a glass of banana Nuun before I left the house, drank a water bottle of lemon-lime Nuun in the car, and was STILL thirsty. I had citrus fruit Nuun in my handheld as well, and a backup tablet in the zipper pouch for a refill. It was going to be hot, and I was determined to be prepared.

At quarter after 7 I made my way to the starting area and did a warmup mile. It was at this point I realized my headphones were shot. I could hear music but the lyrics were missing. This infuriated me beyond belief – I know, first world problems. I thought my kickass playlist would have helped me snap out of my cranky non-racing mood but nope. Not a chance.

The race started just after 8am and roughly 7,000 runners took to the streets of Austin. I slowed down for my first walk break at the Mile 1 marker. I was angry. I thought about how close I still was to my car. I could run back, head home and get back into bed. Pretend this whole morning never happened.

But I trudged on.

I zoned out for the next mile but when I came up on Mile 3? The rage returned. I just did NOT want to be running. I was taking far too many walk breaks and it was clear my heart just wasn’t in it. I made a command decision to throw all time goals out the window and just FINISH. Oh and maybe you’re wondering about that additional 10 miles I was supposed to run that day. Yeah. They didn’t happen.

I ran when I wanted to and walked a ton. I bumped into a few friends out on the course and chatted it up with them. This helped make the time go by a little faster. It never rained. Well it did, but I was already on my way home at that point. In the end, I’ve ran a half marathon faster than I ran/walked those ten miles on Sunday. It happens. Not all races can be great ones. I FINISHED and that was all that mattered.

Aside from my little temper tantrum, the Austin 10/20 was a phenomenal race. Dare I say better than any Rock n Roll race I’ve done? Yes. Absolutely, 100%. The course wasn’t very exciting but with two bands rocking out on each mile, they kept everyone’s spirits up. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t expect much. It was an inaugural race and 9 times out of 10 anything that can go wrong, will. With the exception of the long BBQ & Beer lines at the finish (and possibly running out of bananas? I saw that on the Facebook page) I really didn’t see any major problems. Here’s what I posted on their Facebook wall post-race:

Incredible race this morning. I was beyond impressed with how everything came together logistically, especially for an inaugural race. Bands were great, volunteers were plentiful, tons of water stops to keep us hydrated, cool towels during the race AND at the finish, awesome presence on FB keeping everyone updated – the list goes on. I’ve run races that have been put on for years and couldn’t come close to the race you delivered this morning. I will 100% be back next year. THANK YOU!!

Austin 10/20, I will be back for redemption next year.

Nuun Hood to Coast Relay Application 2012

Posted by Melissa on April 5, 2012 24 comments

I’m somewhat of a procrastinator. Okay, fine, I can procrastinate with the best of ‘em. My best work is done under pressure. Every paper I wrote in college was done at the last possible minute, with the exception of one. All of my last minute made-it-by-the-skin-of-my-teeth papers received A’s. And that one paper, which I wrote ahead of time? Yeah, I beautiful C- on that one. There’s a method to my madness. I had every intention of waiting until Sunday night to submit my application (for good luck!) until I saw this tweet:

So without further ado, here is my official entry…

Hi, my name is Melissa and I’m a Nuun-aholic. I wasn’t always this way. I spent the beginning of marathon training last year carrying a well-known sports drink in my handheld on every run.

I carried powdered sports drink packets to mix up at the water fountain for a refill. You know what happens when you try to rip one of these packets open with sweaty hands? It’s a nearly IMPOSSIBLE feat. Forget trying to rip it open with your teeth; once your saliva hits the powder, your done for. Don’t expect to be able to empty that packet out into your water bottle. Game over.

On one particular thirteen mile training run last summer with my friend Tricia, she was giving me the lowdown on her training for Hood to Coast with several lady bloggers. Her hydration method of choice: Nuun. Packed with the electrolytes you need without the sugar you don’t, and only six calories? I was intrigued. What did it taste like? Where could I buy some? It wasn’t a powder? SIGN ME UP!! That next week I popped into a local running store to pick up a couple tubes of Nuun.

I immediately fell head over heels in love with Lemon Tea. The tube was gone within a week. Then I tried the Fruit Punch. Oooh, this stuff is good. Soon I owned Citrus Fruit and Tangerine Ginger. When I was at the Marine Corps Marathon expo I picked up Lemon-Lime and Tri-Berry.

At Rock n Roll San Antonio I added Tropical and Orange to my collection. At the Austin Marathon I grabbed Kona Cola, Orange, Banana, and another Citrus Fruit.

At the Capitol 10K I stocked up again. And in between race expos? I bought enough Nuun to keep my gym bag, purse, desk at work, and my house fully stocked at all times.

I quickly went from Nuun-Newbie to a Nuun-aholic. God forbid I run low – no one wants to be in a dehydration situation!

My motto: there’s no such thing as too much Nuun!

While a majority of my life is consumed by running and Nuun-ing, I also have other priorities:

WINE. This particular bottle fully supports my stellar procrastination abilities. I love wine. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet – love ‘em all. I don’t discriminate.

Now, the problem with wine is that whole hangover/dehydration/miserable aftermath thing. Luckily, Nuun is just as great for rehydrating after a night of over-indulging as it is for helping you perform on a tough run.

Circle of Life

Problem solved.

Running hasn’t always been a part of my life. I ran my very first mile in May of 2010 and haven’t stopped since. In just under two years I’ve run a full marathon, nine half marathons, five 10Ks, five 5Ks, and an Urban Dare. The only thing missing from my running resume is a relay race. I would absolutely LOVE to run Hood to Coast 2012 with Team Nuun!!

In the beginning of January I was blessed to be chosen as a mentor and ambassador for the ZOOMA Texas Women’s Race Series.

Spending the last three months with such a strong, inspiring group of women was an incredible experience. I was so proud of each and every one of them as they crossed the finish line and smashed their goals. The bond you form with fellow runners is like no other. To be on a Nuun relay team would be absolutely AMAZING. Spending time in a van with like-minded female running bloggers while participating in the most awesome relay in the world and excitedly discussing running & favorite Nuun flavors sounds like a dream come true!

I love to run: morning, nuun, or night.

Pre-race hydration the night
before Rock n Roll San Antonio

And if you haven’t quite caught on yet, I kinda-sorta-maybe love Nuun.

Dear Nuun,

Running for Team Nuun at the 2012 Hood to Coast Relay is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would be incredibly honored if selected to fill one of the coveted spots. Nuun is a phenomenal company and I would love to represent you as I run my heart out in the Pacific Northwest. Please choose ME to shout your praises from the mountaintops, literally!

Stay Hydrated,

Melissa @ melissaruns.com

Statesman Capitol 10K Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on April 2, 2012 3 comments

Last weekend was the 35th Annual Statesman Capitol 10,000, also known as the Cap 10K.

Leslie and I registered for this one last minute, deciding to use it as our final training run for ZOOMA. The training plan called for an 8 mile run, so we parked a little over two miles from the start to hit our mileage for the day.

I played tourist as we hit the streets of UT:

and before we knew it, we were downtown on Congress Avenue. It was so nice to have the streets all to ourselves.

We then ventured down onto the trail to finish our run:

The official runner count for the race was just over 23,000 and the Congress Bridge was PACKED!

We ran into a few other members of the HEB ZOOMA Texas Girlfriends Program while we were making our way to Corral D. Photo op!

The temps were creeping up to a range I was hoping not to see until the end of April and the city was covered with a thick blanket of humidity, both characteristic for 95% of Austin-area races.

The course for Cap 10K was nearly identical to the Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot, with the exception of the bridge we started on: north on Congress, east on 11th, north on San Antonio, west on 15th/Enfield (cue dramatic music), south on Atlanta, back east on Cesar Chavez to the Congress Bridge, and then west on Riverside to the finish:

Now that you have the turn-by-turn course, here’s a photo tour of the race:

FINISHED!

The Cap 10K was a great race! It was a bit crowded (as can be expected with 20,000+ runners) but went off without a hitch logistically. Water stops were plentiful and volunteers encouraging. HEB provided post-race snacks: bananas, granola bars, water, and energy drinks.

Overall I was very impressed with the race and provided I’m in town next year I will definitely be registering for it again.

Urban Dare Austin Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on March 5, 2012 11 comments

A few weeks ago I hit the jackpot yet again on Schwaggle, scoring a $90 race registration for the Urban Dare Austin on March 3, 2012 for only $31.50.

From the Urban Dare website:

Urban Dare is the race where smarts can beat speed. Teams of two solve clues to find checkpoints, where they must take photos or perform dares. It’s like a one-day Amazing Race. Take the dare!

We checked in around 11:30 and received the shirts we needed to wear throughout the race.

Next up, judging for the costume contest:

After the contest wrapped up (the fairies won), clue sheets were distributed and the race was officially under way!

Our strategy was to solve each clue, map it out, and figure out which would be the most efficient route. Once we were finished, we took off out of Duncan Park heading towards 5th & Lamar. On our way, we noticed a couple holding hands who would be PERFECT for part one of clue #9: PHOTO HUNT: Get a picture of 2 people not in the race reenacting the famous WWII photo by Alfred Eisenstandt.

They happily obliged, even though they had just performed the same move for another team only minutes earlier.

Clue #8 stated: This law changed collegiate sports big time and gave women opportunities they never had before. Oddly enough, the bill never mentions the word sports. Get your picture in front of the shop that goes by the name of this bill.

Just around the corner was the answer to clue #3: Natalie Portman won an Oscar for best actress in this movie. Get your picture in front of the yoga studio that goes by this name.

Now, this is where we lost quite a bit of time. One of the clues Brad solved was #6: Macchiavelli’s famous book, the Prince, was dedicated to this man. Get your picture in front of his cafe.

He found the name of the café, went to the website, and grabbed the address off of the site. The address on the website was actually pretty far west, and probably halfway out to the location I asked “Are you sure this is right?”

Brad whipped out his phone and Googled the name of the café, scrolled down the list of results, and then he realized: there were 3 locations in Austin. And this one (A) was by far the furthest out of the way.

We made a quick u-turn and headed back east as he apologized profusely for not realizing it the first time around.

10-15 minutes later we came upon clue #7: ROMAN MATH TIME – Get your picture in front of District (VII TIMES XLIII)

And our photographer didn’t waste any time volunteering when we asked her to help us out with part two of clue #9: Get a picture of someone Angelina-ing.

Next we headed to 3rd Street for clue #2: Cujo was this breed. Get your picture in front of the store that goes by this name.

Then a little bit further south to Cesar Chavez for clue #5: This tower was named for an Austin fireman who died in the line of duty in 1972 while attempting a rescue. Go there for a 3 legged dare. Once we arrived at the Buford Tower, our legs were tied together while we participated in a 3 legged race. This is especially interesting when the person you’re paired with is over a foot taller than you.

At this point we were right around the corner from the café we were looking for earlier:

From 2nd & Congress we headed northeast to 718 Red River Street for clue #1: Dawn Zimmer is this city’s first female mayor. She recently rejected a permit to film in her city for Snooki and JWoww. Get your picture in front of the pizza place which goes by this city name.

We headed back west on 8th Street to Colorado, for clue #11: The state capitol burned down in 1881, so they built a temporary one while today’s capitol was being built. Go to the site of the temporary state capitol which was used until 1888 for your Scrabble Stick Dare. Using the scrabble sticks we provide, you must find the Scrabble value of the word on your passport.

And this was where I messed up. This clue was mine, and when we arrived – an Urban Dare official was nowhere to be found. We did a lap around the building, still nothing. We encountered two other teams looking at the same building, for the same clue. We were stumped.

I pulled out my phone and Googled again. This time it told me the temporary state capitol was located at 11th & Congress, and we took off running.

There were stakes in the ground with letters on them, and a corresponding number, just like a Scrabble piece. The word on our passport was ENVIRONMENTAL. Once we found the value for each letter, we were to add it up and submit to the onsite Urban Dare official. The letter ‘N’ gave us a bit of a trouble but we found it, had our passport stamped, and were on our way in about 5 minutes.

Once we were nearing the Capitol, all of the hydrating I had been doing since 5:30am was finally catching up to me. Oh, did I forget to mention I did a 10 mile run with my training group that morning? Yeah. I never said I was the smartest girl. The giant bottle of Gatorade I consumed during the first half of the race probably didn’t help either. We made a quick pitstop at the restroom in the Capitol building and then headed to the other side of the Capitol grounds where clue #4 was located: Get your picture with the memorial to those that survived the attack on the date will live in infamy.

We only had one clue left and then we were in the homestretch! Unfortunately the last clue was on the UT campus and Saturday was also the same day as Explore UT. SO MANY DAMN PEOPLE! The campus was a zoo.

We checked the inscription on every statue we passed for clue #10: "Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore" This inscription surrounds his campus statue. Go there for your wheelbarrow dare.

Found it!

The wheelbarrow dare took about a minute, and then we were DONE! We passed a few teams entering campus on our way off-campus, so we knew we definitely weren’t going to come in last. Not that it mattered what place we came in, since this was our first Urban Dare and made a few mistakes along the way.

The trek to the finish line seemed to take FOREVER. We passed a few teams who were already leaving the bar, so that was a bit disheartening. I checked in with my sister to see if she was able to find the answer to the 10 Minute Bonus: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short played gunfighters in this movie. In the 6th Street District, get your picture in front of the sign where a local drinking hole has a special named after this trio. No such luck.

Finally we arrived at the finish, the Kung Fu Saloon!

photo credit

Our passport was reviewed, photos checked, and our first Urban Dare was officially complete!

We finished in 2:36:26, 16th out of 52 teams. Not too bad considering we got a bit turned around in the beginning. The winners came in at 1:02:42 – absolutely incredible. 2nd place finished in 1:28:55, so the winners had a HUGE lead. Probably not their first Urban Dare.

In hindsight, the best option probably would have been to take a bus (the only form of transportation permitted besides running or walking) to the UT Campus and work our way back. I think that would have shaved a considerable amount of time off of our total. Overall we covered 7.03 miles, and that was with me starting my watch late!

Time for celebratory beers:

And then I spotted something VERY exciting:

I LOVE skeeball. I could play for hours. Or until I run out of quarters. However in this case, skeeball was FREE and we couldn’t pass this up.

I missed that one. That’s my disappointed face.

I beat Brad in a mini-tournament AND scored the highest overall between the two of us. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

We both really enjoyed the Urban Dare and can’t wait to do it again next year!

LIVESTRONG Austin Half Marathon Race Recap

Posted by Melissa on February 27, 2012 14 comments

Sunday morning started with quite an early wakeup call:

Although I went into this race without any time goals, for some reason my stomach was still in knots. I could recite the course to you turn-by-turn from memory and should have had nothing to be worried about.

I picked Carly up at 5:45 and shortly after 6am we were parked in a garage downtown by the finish line. In an effort to stay warm, we stayed in the car until 6:30 and then headed to the start. We decided to hit the restrooms before jumping into our corral.

Easier said than done. There weren’t any port-o-potties visible on either side of the corrals. There seemed to be a ton of runners coming and going from a building to the left of the corrals so we headed in that direction. After we waited in line for a few minutes, a police officer came in shouting it was a public building but not open at the time and we all needed to exit the premises immediately.

I overheard the officer tell someone there were port-o-potties to the left and across the street so off we went. At this point it was 6:50am and clearly we weren’t going to make the 7am start. There were about 9-10 port-o-potties and 5 lines of 50 people each waiting. Needless to say, it took FOREVER.

As the announcer declared “if you are running the half or full marathon, you should have already crossed the starting mat. The 5K is about to start!” we were full out sprinting towards the start, crossing the mat at 7:21am.

Just like San Antonio, if there was anything we did well in this race, it was running positive splits.

We didn’t slow down nearly enough, clocking our first mile in 9:47. Not ideal for the first mile of a notoriously hilly race. We pulled in the reins a bit on miles 2 & 3 (10:10 & 10:25), but could tell it was probably too late.

Miles 4-6 (13:25, 11:25, 12:54) were a steady uphill climb so we started incorporating walk breaks. I had a massive cramp which didn’t seem to want to go away, no matter how much I focused on my breathing.

We decided to try and make up some time on the downhill stretch of South 1st Street, heading back into downtown. We ticked off miles 7 & 8 in 11:03 and 10:14, respectively.

Mile 9, the Yellow Mile, was nothing short of inspirational. Supporters lined both sides of the course and the road was covered in motivational phrases etched in chalk. Their cheers pushed us along to finish the mile in 11:58.

At this point, our legs were starting to feel fatigued. Earlier the walk breaks would leave me reenergized, able to go back to running at a pretty decent pace. After mile 9 the breaks made me want to walk more and run less. Our pace slowed considerably over the final miles (13:49, 12:48, 12:39. 12:12), which included the beast at mile 12.

Please excuse these recycled photos from last year’s recap – my running camera had a timely death the day before the race. Lucky for me, the course was exactly the same and recycling was possible.

The course rose 80 feet in less than a 1/4 mile and drained much of what was left of the strength in our legs.

Another recycled photo. Again, I’m sorry.

After this hill, we hit another (not as large) hill on San Jacinto, before making the right onto 11th Street. We started to pick up the pace, exchanged one knowing glance, and let our legs fly.

Whoa, check out that heel strike. Nice form, Melissa, nice form.

The last portion of our race was a 7:58 pace, 6:16 best pace. A tad faster than I thought I had left in those tired legs!

Official Finish Time 2:34:37, 11:48 pace

It wasn’t a PR for either of us, but not a bad time for a challenging course. We also beat our time from San Antonio, which was a much flatter course.

Another great race put on by LIVESTRONG and I can say with certainty I’ll be back for more next year. I’m thinking 2013 might be the time to conquer the full after completing the half in 2011 & 2012.

We’ll see how crazy I’m feeling come registration time!