Mt. Charleston Race Recap–> My New Key to Success.

If you missed out last week—>  The top 3 most viewed posts were:

*Do Your Races Do This, the Cycle & Monday Matters

*10 Reasons Runners Are Dramatic.  2 Years & Did Something Right.

*What I DO Race Week + Let’s Catch up on the Last Two Days + Help my Brother!

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My first race after having Skye is done and done.  I’m so excited to kind of know where I’m at now and to have a better idea of what I need to work on mentally and physically for my next race.

Let’s rewind to Friday’s run first—>  My four miles with 4 x 15 seconds fast (overall average pace of 8:48 for the entire run) felt like heck.  I refused to let myself think that the race was going to feel like that because this same thing has happened too many times in the past.  I actually have started to take a really crappy run before a race as a good sign for race day because that usually happens for me before a good race.

Skye slept for pretty much the entire ride down to Vegas on Friday so she was ready to party all night long that night.  We usually just share a room with her when we travel but at about 11:30 I peaced out and went to the downstairs coach to get some sleep.  Thanks to Andrew for taking over kid duty completely because he was up a good chunk of the night with her.

I got up at 3:40 a.m. and started pumping right away and then got ready for the race.  Candice and her husband picked me up at 4:15 and then we drove ten minutes to the start.  Then we sat in the car for a few minutes and talked until we got out and jumped in line for the buses.  The line went by pretty quickly and I was excited to see that we would get the nice buses (way more comfortable than the school buses that a lot of races that I do use).

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Candice and I have spent many race mornings together and I foresee MANY more to come.  I love it because I don’t even have time to worry about the race with her because we are too busy talking about everything else.

I made sure to wear my good luck sweatshirt… I use this sweatshirt pretty much every race morning.  I hope I never lose it because heaven forbid I use something different.

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On the bus I ate a bagel from Einstein’s with jam and half of a banana.  I also brought my pump on the bus and managed to pump a few more ounces.  I did not want to feel full while running so that definitely helped to bring it with me in the bus.  I definitely took a gamble with bringing my pump (I should have just brought a hand pump but I didn’t decide to bring a pump until that morning) but luckily it was totally okay (I have the one in this post—>  it is very small for a pump) and survived the race ha.  I also drank two water bottles on the bus because I woke up feeling really thirsty so I knew I needed to get in a good amount of water before I started running.

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We made it to the start at about 5:30 and then got in line for the porta potty.

The sunrise was pretty gorgeous.

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I applied a THICK layer of lipgloss on my lips because dry lips is the absolute worst in my opinion and then I made sure to double knot my shoes (shoes coming untied during a race = I get angry).

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The race gave us these blankets and gloves to use at the start because I think it is normally much colder at the beginning of this race than it was on Saturday at the start.  When I took off my jacket and blanket to drop off my bag it actually wasn’t cold at all… I felt bad for the marathoners because they started at the same time that we did but they were out in the sun for double the miles.  There definitely isn’t very much shade during this race so if I do it again, a visor will be a must (along with my sunglasses).

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Let’s talk about the most exciting part of the day first.  My brother.  PS don’t we look alike?  I think we do.

This was his first half-marathon and he absolutely rocked it.  His goal was to do it in 2 hours and he finished in 1:54!  He has been working so hard with his training and figuring out what works best for him (gear/fuel/clothing etc).  I saw him before the race and then right before the finish line and he looked SO strong.   I hope he catches the racing bug because I would love to keep coaching him and seeing him do so well!

He is writing up some thoughts about his race that I’ll post tomorrow morning.

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This is a photo that I took on accident but let’s just go ahead and use it.  As you can tell I had a lot of lip gloss on and my eyelashes are very fake but I think I look ready for that starting line;)

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We actually missed the starting gun going off because of the porta potty lines and then getting from the gear drop-off to the starting line was probably about a .25 mile walk so we were late.  Once we got to the starting line it was about 6-7 minutes after the gun went off so we started then.  I’ve never started a race late that I can remember so that was a little bit different than usual for me but maybe it helped me to avoid going out way too fast thinking I could keep up with the faster girls.  It definitely helped me to run my own race and just focus on what effort I needed to do for me vs what everyone around me was doing.

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This course is fast, especially those first few miles!   At mile 2 I thought, ‘oh no… my quads are already sore.’   I felt a little out of control with my body those first few miles because I didn’t want to put on my brakes and lean back on the downhill but I also felt like my body was doing paces that they were not used to normally.  Downhill running can be so tricky.

My splits looked like this:   6:42, 6:47, 6:49, 6:51, 6:53, 6:55, 6:49, 6:54, 6:56, 7:04, 7:30, 7:12, 6:41 & 5:57 pace for the last .1.

Miles 1-7: Pretty uneventful and I just tried to let my body go downhill without getting too crazy.  I listened to music, tried to take in the scenery and searched for turtles.  At the expo they had you sign a paper saying that you wouldn’t touch any turtles if you saw them so that made me really want to see one. The miles ticked by fast and I felt good but a little nervous that my muscles were already feeling pretty tired.  I always get excited when I get to 6.55 miles on my watch because it is half-way.  I tried to focus on keeping a quick cadence to avoid overstriding during the downhills.  I started to feel pretty warm at around mile 6 and questioned why I wore black and sleeves.

Mile 8:  We were back to main roads and that is when the headwind started which actually felt really nice and cooled me down because I started to feel hot.

Miles: 9ish-11ish (I think): There were some small uphills (that felt like I was crawling up a mountain after going down) during those 7:xx miles.  I feel like I kind of pulled back mentally during those miles so I need to work on not slowing down when things get tough but overall I feel like I gave my best effort for the day. I started counting palm trees at this point when I was feeling really tired because we went down a street with a bunch of them lining the middle of the street.  Usually I count steps but counting palm trees was more fun yesterday and kept me distracted.  Oh and during mile 10 I wanted to quit SO bad and kept tempting myself with the idea to stop but I just kept telling myself my brain was giving up, not my body so I couldn’t quit because my body wanted to keep going.

Mile 12-end:  JUST KEEP GOING… I kept thinking about the fact that I was just minutes away from seeing Andrew and the girls.  Josse was at mile 12 (thanks for the picture) and she PUMPED me up big time and got me to move faster again.  There is a short little u-turn type turn right before the finish line.  Seeing Andrew and the girls right before the finish line was awesome.  They made me feel like a rockstar ha and I love when they get to see me doing something I love to do so much.

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I love doing new races but I also love doing races that I’ve already done before too.  I love doing a new course because it keeps me guessing what’s next but I also love doing a race I’ve already done before because then I do know what is next and what to expect.  I think I’m a little better at pacing myself when I do a course that I’ve done in the past but time goes by faster when I’m seeing a new area.  So, I guess it is a win-win situation whether or not to do a new race or one I’ve already done before.

The thing that I am most proud about as far as my race went on Saturday was my fueling.  I am really happy that I am figuring this out finally.  I took 2 huma gels (apple cinnamon) during the race and water at every aid station along with some Powerade at 3 of the aid stations.  I somehow managed to get the before mentioned Powerade everywhere from my head down to my ankles while drinking it though… I need to do a better job funneling the cup to drink it easier.    Also, someone was handing out otter pops at mile 12ish which I thought was really nice.   My stomach felt really good and I felt like I was able to keep up on my energy with the gels and take them easily.  I took one at mile 4 and one at around mile 9.

Oh and I am also proud of my last mile being my fastest mile.

I took a tip from Deena’s book that I think is my new key to running happy and I think you should try it if you need to do this too:

Word replacement.

When a negative word/thought popped up I tried to replace it with a more positive word as quickly as possible.  The word tired became grateful, hard became challenging, quit became push etc.  Taking the negative word and using something positive instead changed how I felt at the moment big time.  I’m sure you already do something similar to this but those negative words we use during a run can so easily be replaced.

Also, when I was tired I kept thinking about my brother and that helped me to feel better.  Thinking about how hard he was working to go the farthest he has ever gone gave me energy.

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This was the most beautiful thing to see at the end after I finished.  Freezing cold towels.  I grabbed one of these right away!

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The final results.  At first my results said 1:37 because my chip didn’t work in the beginning but they can look you up on their camera to see what time you started to verify your time.  They were super helpful getting it fixed for me.

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You could not pay me enough money (yes, I’m being dramatic) to do a squat after this race.. my quads were spent!  I’m looking forward to a week of very easy running.   Brooke was pretty thrilled that they handed out cowbells for everyone

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Thanks Josse for getting me moving for that last mile and I can’t wait for us to start racing together again soon.

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Kim absolutely CRUSHED IT.  She is such a supportive person that is constantly cheering on everyone around her.

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All I wanted after the race was ice and then a banana once I got to the car.  Food sounded awful but this ice tasted like heaven.  The hunger came about an hour after we got home so we got some Cafe Rio:)

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The race had lots of pie and pizza for everyone afterwards.  My cute nephew was pretty happy about it.  My brother said he wished that they had a diet mountain dew machine at the end and I agree, for some reason soda always sounds SO good after a race.  A diet coke and apple fritter were my go-to race reward for many years.

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Picking up my gear after the race was so easy.  A volunteer near the gear check came over to me and saw my number and went to get my bag and then bring it out to me.  The race was very organized and ran very smoothly.  At each mile they had huge mile markers which I love because I really want to see if my Garmin is on at each mile ha.

I think Skye was happy to experience her first race and be involved in all of the excitement.

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We went to the park right by the finish line so that Brooke could run around and play while we relaxed on the bench.

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My sweet sister-in-law is a great cheerleader (and I want her shirt—>  she got it at Target)!

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Pretty sweet finisher’s medal.

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If you do run this race (which I think you should if you get the chance), I would recommend a few things:

1.  Train downhill.  Do at least a few of your long runs downhill.  I personally don’t love doing too much downhill training because I think it ups my chance of injury BUT a few runs going downhill leading up to this race would have helped me out big time.  I would have understood better how my body does on the downhill and built up some downhill muscle.

2.  WEAR SUNGLASSES.  I almost didn’t bring mine but when Candice told me she was bringing hers, I brought mine too.  For the majority of the race, the sun is right in your face.  I would have died without my sunglasses and if I do it again I’ll wear a visor.

3.  Train in some warm weather if you can (or on the treadmill in a hot room ha).  My body was not used to 75 degrees for those last few miles after training through the winter/spring in Utah.  I think if I do this race again I’ll try to run during the warmest parts of the day a bit to get used to running in warmer temps (ps I am a wuss with running in the heat so 98% of you can just disregard this information).

I can’t wait to see where I go from here.  The thing I love about running the most—>  seeing improvements and working towards them!  Now I know where I’m at and we can build from here.  PS I am VERY happy with using Mary as a coach.  She has been fabulous.  She called me the day before the race and gave me an excellent pep talk too, I can’t wait to keep training with her.

Thanks for reading my novel and I hope your Monday is an amazing one!

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Do you prefer new to you race courses or the ones that you’ve already done before?

What usually sounds best to you (food/drink) after a race?

What was the best part of your weekend?

What is one of the most annoying things that has happened to you during a race?

-For my first marathon I put my lip gloss in my sports bra (terrible idea) and the chafing that occurred because of that was terrible.  I also get really annoyed when my shoes come untied during a race, my lips are chapped or when I get sticky Gatorade/Powerade all over my hands.  

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49 comments

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Way to go! That’s a really awesome time for getting started a little late. The starting line jitters is one thing that pumps me up a little.

I always feel like racing a new course makes I’d go faster, but we will see how I feel after something besides a 5k.

I always want oranges after a race! It’s a little unfortunate because some races have really great food after but I want oranges. After a few of those I’m usually ready to eat more though.

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Thank you so much Jenny! In August you are going to love doing the Hobblecreek course! I am going to have to agree with you, oranges always sound great after a race. Have a beautiful day girl!

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Sounds like a great experience!!! Do you have advice for being a faster runner? I am SLOW. Like, embarrassingly slow. Think just under 12 minute miles – ran a 10K Saturday and it was just ROUGH. The positive word placement for sure would have helped me so I’ll remember that for future runs. Congrats on a great job on your race!!

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Beth… YOU. ARE. DOING. AMAZING! Seriously. Congrats on your 10k! But I get it, we are all wanting to progress so I hope you know you are doing an awesome job. For me, I see my biggest progress in speed when I use a running coach. I love their outsiders perspective on my training. They help me stay injury free and give me the workouts and recovery needed to get faster. It’s great motivation too to have someone seeing all of your workouts:) HILLS are huge for me too. The more hills I do (start small on these and gradually add more in) the faster I am. This post here includes some more stuff that helped me:
https://hungryrunnergirl.com/2017/01/three-things-that-i-think-helped-me-to-get-faster-and-i-dont-think-it-is-ever-going-to-stop-snowing.html
And this one does too:
https://hungryrunnergirl.com/2017/11/15-ways-to-be-a-faster-runner.html

Good luck and keep me updated along the way!

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AWESOME race, Janae!! So proud of you, my friend! And congrats to your bro, too!I had to laugh a little about the Powerade thing because I ran one half marathon that was really hot, and I poured clear Powerade over my head, thinking it was water, and I was sticky for the rest of the race. It was awful—haha!!

Popsicles and Otter Pops always sound so good after a race! It usually takes me a few hours to want real food, but water and high-fructose corn syrup seem to hit the spot.

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Thank you Natalie! NO WAY…. over your head!? That would drive me nuts! I totally agree on the popsicles! Have an amazing day Natalie!

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Congrats Janae!
I like courses I have already run. I am a creature of habit, and I also like knowing where I am on the course. It’s much easier for me to think “just get to that landmark” vs. “SIX MORE MILES!?”

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Hey Kelly!! Oh I totally agree about races that you’ve already done… I love that it makes me feel more confident that I know I’ve done it before so clearly I can do it again:) Thanks so much and I hope your Monday is a great one!

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THRILLED for you!!!!!! Thank you for the honest recap, too—about how at certain times you DID want to quit, but you DIDN’T, and you shared what worked with you to KEEP GOING! Love it. I ordered Deena’s book just yesterday, and I cannot wait to dive into it as soon as it comes!!!!!!!!!

You know, I just ran a half last weekend, and I hated the course. 3/4 of it was gravel–way more than I expected, and I’m worried that running the Key West half so many times now has just ruined every other half marathon for me. ha ha It’s flat, so scenic, and I always know what’s coming next–that seems to help me mentally. I need to bring some of that smiling and tenacity to my races on new courses though.

Best part of my weekend. Hmmmmmmm. Probably spending some girl time with just my youngest daughter at Target and our time in the car together chatting :)

Hope your recovery from the race goes super, Janae!!!!!

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Thank you so much Jen! Okay, I can’t imagine doing 9+ miles on GRAVEL! That would have driven me crazy and I probably would have tripped! Hahaha yeah, I bet that race makes all the others seem not so beautiful:) I want to come one year and do it with you! So glad you had a great time with your youngest daughter, sounds perfect. I hope your monday is a great one.

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Congratulations on a great race! Training after baby is not easy – but it’s definitely rewarding – so go you!! Missing the start gun would mess with my mind but sounds like it worked in your favor. My husband and I almost missed the gun once – we could see the pack taking off and he and I were literally the last people across the starting line. We still laugh about it – it was kind of funny. And we got to pass a ton of people too!

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Thank you SO much Carly! Oh my goodness haha… thanks for sharing that! PS I love that you and your husband do races together:) Have an amazing day!

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Yes another diet mt dew fan after a long run. I get it hungry runner brother.

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I no joke thought about you when he said that. HE LOVES it! Have an amazing day Erica!

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One of the most annoying (and surprising) things to happen during a race: Two weeks ago, a few miles into the Boston Marathon, my shorts started slipping down several inches. I pulled them back up and they soon started slipping again. It felt like they would fall down to my ankles. Definitely had the thought: This can’t be happening! The slipping down/pulling up cycle repeated at least a dozen times, then miraculously stopped. I’m not sure what caused it…I lost a pound or two before the race–maybe that was it. Or maybe the shorts getting semi-soaked in the rain. Was extremely grateful they stopped slipping and that my race went well overall!

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W.H.A.T.?!?!? Okay, that would have driven me crazy! Tam, I am so sorry about that! I am so glad that it stopped but that would have been stressful. Huge congrats on running Boston this year… you are amazing! Have a great day!

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Oh my goodness. There are so many good things about this post :)

1) Your brother looks like someone I’ve never seen before. Ha! I feel like you’ve posted all your relatives and family photos but he looks so young and different from any pictures you’ve shown. That is a great picture of you two together.

2) His son is adorable!

3) I really appreciated your note about how during mile 10 you thought about quitting. I really never thought that YOU would have that thought, especially so late in the race. I think we all put you on a pedestal :) and to know that even faster people have thoughts of wanting to STOP made me feel comforted that WHEN (ha!) this happens to me, I will think “Janae kept going!” because she had to tell us about it :) Not that I wanted you to feel badly enough to want to stop but thanks for taking one for the team so that we can use you as a great example to KEEP GOING!

4) Your sister-in-law is adorable. What is MOST fantastic is her button fly jeans!! She is rocking them. Please make those come back in style – I guess they are if she is wearing them! I was born in 1978 and my sister is 7 years older so I experienced a lot of the fun 80’s fashion.

5) You’ve inspired me to just sign up for a darn race. Your point about loving running to see what we can do next/how we can improve is spot on for me too on why I love this. My old PRs are in the VERY distant past. And I’m excited to see where I am at NOW and go from there.

Great post – thanks for the time you put into it and sharing all your thoughts!

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Congrats on such an awesome race!! Thank you for such a detailed recap. I specifically like reading about your fueling since that’s an “area of opportunity” for me. Have a happy day!! :)

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Congrats, Janae!!

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You do look like your brother! And he beat me by a minute from my half yesterday, good job both of you!!

The half I had yesterday was a new course and it kept my mind busy guessing what was next and made the miles go by fast.
I took my gels at 4&8 and drank at almost every stop I missed 2 of them but I felt great too. So important getting those carbs in for me.
Great races to you both!

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Way to go Janae and HRG Bro!! What an exciting weekend! I had several friends running the same race. I think everyone enjoyed this one :)
I have a few races I like to do every year. I love comparing my times with previous years and it is nice knowing exactly where you are and when you are almost finished.
The best part of my weekend was racing, running and hanging out with friends.
My running pet peeve is when a course is off. I ran a 5k Sat and we were sent the wrong direction and ended up with 3.5 miles!! UGHHHH!!!

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CONGRATULATIONS and excellent work!! So happy for you!!
Just a quick “nothing sounds good” after a race, but that turns to “everything sounds good” a few hours later!
Be proud and stay happy!

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This one is my absolute favorite race and race series! Saturday was my third time running this one and it was the warmest yet. The last two years were FREEZING at the start. Being from San Diego, the heat at the later part of the race got me too. But I hope you come back because really, Revel is a class act and if they could control the weather, they would! And congrats on a great race!

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Congrats on your race! You are amazing. I ran my half yesterday and it was hilly – nothing too bad, I run hills all the time because it’s the only option when your city is built on a bluff near a river. But wow – my legs are BEAT UP today! I feel like someone just whacked me with a bat or something. My time isn’t nearly as fast as yours but considering I had a week and a half bout of the flu and two different injuries this training cycle, I will take my 2:05 finish and be pleased with it! I never walked, even on the hill that is right at mile 12, and I finished strong – I even negative split! I definitely kept thinking “be like Janae, PUMP YOUR ARMS!” so thank you for being my inspiration! :)
This was a new race, new course, so it was kind of fun to be exploring a new area. I honestly really enjoyed myself during the race, even when it got really hard, I still was so grateful that I have the ability to do it. Also, I have come to the conclusion that gu no longer works for me. I had 1 gu at mile 5 and that was all I took in during the race (and I was too nervous to eat before the race so all I had was a banana and half a piece of toast…). It made me feel terribly nauseous.
Most annoying thing – actually happened at my race yesterday. Everything was SO well done until the end – after the finish line, I’m used to people handing you your medal, water, chocolate milk, etc. NOPE. I had to STAND in a line and wait for my medal – I stood for maybe 10-15 min (with no water, gatorade, NOTHING) and my legs cramped up like you wouldn’t believe. I’m going to chalk that up to being a new race, because it was terrible. I think that’s partially why I am so sore today!

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CONGRATS to your brother AND YOU on a job well done!

BIGGEST FAIL in racing: Shoes getting untied. Although I suppose all of what happened in BM this year was a failure and inadequate preparation on my part. HOWEVER, in typical races, shoes getting untied is my number 1 and only happened once to me.
Mile 8 in a half-marathon; while at first trying to find a place to stop and tie ’em real quick, I just kept letting the miles peel away. (I am NOT a stopper. .. Except when my body is shutting down, so I suppose I am one now, after BM ’18 [which I wasn’t going to run bc I knew I was unprepared for the weather. Long story.])
ANYWAY, I ended up realizing or believing(!) it was just a physics problem!
My cadence is pretty high, so I knew if I was going race pace for halfs, i.e. 6:15s to 6:00s, maybe I could outrun the shoe laces. They were wet, so it was probably more dangerous I don’t know, but there was drag on them too from the rain, and I don’t know I made it the whole way!! Definitely passed those miles thinking of that math problem :p :p :p.

ANYWAY just wanted to leave this here (again, sorry I’m late to the celebration, given what happened to me).
https://twitter.com/catydidski/status/986590424524558336

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p.s.
I admit that clip makes me tear up :'(!! What an incredible performance and run– what a day for USA, and for Shalane and Molly and all of them! What a year! NYCM’17 && BM’18<33

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This sounds like such a great day! Good for you. :)

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You ran such an incredible race! Seriously so proud of you!
I love running new to me races…and I prefer loop or point to point courses instead of out and back.
Ice water always sounds good! I usually have trouble eating right after finishing a race.
Best part of my weekend was the fabulous spring weather! And realizing that we only have 19 days of school left!
Worst thing that happened to me in a race: I forgot my running shoes and didn’t realize it until we were half way there (the race was an hour away), we had to turn around and ended up getting there right as the race was starting…no time to warm up/bathroom/anything!! So stressful!

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best part of my weekend was meeting a cute Barista boy At the local cafe! I hope I see him again soon.

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Congratulations to you and your brother on awesome races!! What a fun day! I absolutely LOVE your detailed race recaps!

I love running courses that I’ve run before. I think the familiarity lets me relax more.

The best part of my weekend was being outside and going to the zoo with my husband and daughter! Spring has finally arrived in our neck of the woods!

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Wow you rocked your race girly!!! I am doing the Silo District Half (Fixer Upper) up in Waco this coming Sunday and am excited! Cannot wait to tell you about it :) This weekend was one of the worst weekends every me (hate to be a downer), but on Friday we had to put my 17 year old cat (Kolby) down. He has been by my side for so long I am at a loss…….I’m so sad :( He slept with me every night and laid by me every night on the couch and also cuddled me on the couch. I miss him so much. I know it was the right thing to do as I do not want him to suffer and he was getting sicker (Thyroid Disease and going into Kidney and Liver failure and stopped eating and drinking), but it was the hardest thing to do. I will just run even harder for him at my race. Sorry to vent. I need to figure out how to get faster times like you. I have continued to get faster this past year but with this course being one I have never run it could be a good thing or a bad thing……we shall see. Either way I wanted to do this one no matter what – it will be great fun either way. Love reading about you and your beautiful family xoxox

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Peggie I’m so so sorry for your loss. Pets become family! Praying for you.

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Peggi, my heart is absolutely broken for you. I am so so so sorry about what you have felt today and the last few days. You absolutely did the right thing and kolby sounds like he was the best cat ever. I’ll be thinking about you and you are in my prayers. Please email me if you want to talk more, I’m here! You are going to do amazing and I wish I could come run with you this weekend! Xoxox

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So to be clear….have baby and a few months later run 1:30 half marathon….amazing. I don’t think it will work for me (I’m a guy). But this slow race for you is still something like 35 minutes faster than my Half PR. So way to go Hungryrunnermama,

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I prefer to run races that I’ve done before simply because I have slight new course anxiety. It isn’t as bad with road races as it was in high school and college cross country but I just like to know what to expect.

I usually crave chocolate milk and a banana after a race (after lots of water). Some races I’m starving after I finish and others the thought of food doesn’t sound good for hours.

The most annoying thing during a race for me is getting cotton mouth. I usually chew gum during runs but if I end up spitting it out or just forget to chew some, a dry mouth is miserable!

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The most annoying thing that has ever happened to me at a race – Disney Princess Half Marathon we were waiting in the parking lot to get into our corrals. I was about to eat my banana and as I was unpeeling, it feel out of my hand and landed in the gravel! Because I only had the one banana, I had to pick it up and dust it off and eat it. Gross!

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CONGRATULATIONS! So speedy.

I prefer courses I know, because there is the confidence that I have done it before. However, I have set my PR’s in the half marathon both times when the course was new or changed from a previous year, so maybe new courses are lucky for me?

At the end of hot races I want water, soda (mello yello or mountain dew…….used to do diet but switched to regular, guess I would rather have the calories and sugar occasionally than the fake sugar. And zero calories always tempted me to drink WAY too much soda.) Other races in the cold, I prefer water and more substantial things, like a slice of pizza or some pretzels or a banana.

This weekend was chilly so running suffered a bit, but it’s getting in the 80’s this week and I can’t wait for summer time running and sports bra tans and the smell of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen! I have an 8 miler after work today, then dinner and movies tonight……..kicking off my weekend (Tues and Wed) in style! Ha!

The most annoying thing was at my half in November……..I underestimated the course because I train on those trails a lot but the hills got me. And for some reason I had awful toe cramps toward the end……….the kind where you have to stretch out your feet. I had to walk .25 miles toward the end which sucked and slowed my time down. Also, my favorite tank chafed me BIG TIME. It never did it on training runs, but on race day it got me. I still had an amazing time and loved that race, and I still wear the tank, just with lots of vaseline under my arm!

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Great job!! You crushed it!

I tend to do better on courses that I’ve already ran before, but I also love the new scenery from a new course :)

I am not a red meat person, but In N Out almost always sounds good after a race!

The best part of my weekend was running a 1/2 with a bunch of my friends :) I decided to just have fun with it, and it ended up being a fantastic race and I got a decent time.

Most annoying thing during a race is not having enough porta potties or there being a line at them :)

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Wow, Janae, you did amazing!! That 1:30 time a few months post baby is killer! So happy for you!
I definitely see you break 3 hours in the near future.
Enjoy an easy week of running. You deserve it!
Post race, I always want to have lots of yummy food but my stomach usually says no! So i have to stick to simple foods…
Have an amazing week!

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I have nothing else to say expect. . . YOU ARE A ROCK STAR for pumping on the bus!!!! I LOVE that!!!!!!!
Awesome race!!!!!!!!!!

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Congrats you did amazing!

i like both new courses and courses that i know – i don’t prefer one over the other

banana after a race seems like a must for me…!

best part of the weekend was an awesome hike we did! plus reading a great book.

during a race, going to the bathroom was totally annoying

hope your Monday is a good one!

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Congrats Janae. You really rocked it and are as they said above a superstar Mom. Pumping on the bus on the way to a marathon. AMAZING. Have a great week Janae.

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Holy Moly that is fantastic!!! Congratulations on a SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE finishing time! Isn’t it funny that no matter how many races you run, you always have a list of things you’d do differently next time? That’s one of the things I love most about running — that you don’t ever hit a point when you aren’t learning anymore.

You’ve inspired me to sign up for another race!

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Congratulations, Janae! Nice race!

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Great job, Janae! I’m especially impressed with all the pre-race pumping that happened, but I do remember how necessary that was back when I was nursing babies.

Maybe you thought of this, but I would suggest not wearing a black t-shirt on such a warm day! I definitely notice feeling warmer in the sun when I have darker clothing on.

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You are awesome Jane! Congratulations. Nursing babies and running races are no small task. Most of the people will give up.
Keep it up and keep inspiring us :-)

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girlfriend! you absolutely KILLED IT!!! very proud of you and way to go! seriously awesome job. enjoy a few days of rest :)

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Great Article. Please keep writing.

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Congrats! I actually ran a half yesterday and unfortunately after 10 strong miles I could feel my right calf cramping up….same thing happened last year on the same course. FRUSTRATING! I wish I knew why this happens sometimes. Not sure if it was all the hills and the fact I hadn’t run that distance at race pace for a while. I averaged 8:19 my first half but slower the second because of cramping. Anyhow, I was on pace for a bout a 1:50 ish which for a 56 year old isn’t too bad….but finished 1:57 since I had to slow my pace to stop the cramps. I still finished 4th out of 31 but it was very disappointing. Trying to learn from it and go forward though. I know I should be pleased since 4th our of 31 isn’t bad at all but wish I would have been to for go the cramps:-(

Did you wear your pureflows for your race? How you liking the 7’s?

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