Michelob Ultra Atlanta 13.1 // Recap

At the beginning of October I ran the Michelob Ultra 13.1 Atlanta race.  I had run this race when it was just Atlanta 13.1 and before Michelob Ultra and Lifetime Fitness got involved so I had really high hopes for this race, but was pretty disappointed from the very beginning.

Packet pick up was a slow slow mess.  There was one person manning the packet pickup table.  Yup, you read that right. One person to hand out race numbers, shirts, and race day bags.  The poor lady apologized to everyone for the long wait and I still cannot figure out why they would have one person handing out race numbers and what not.  But that was not even the worst.  At packet pick up, one week out from the race, the exact location of the starting line and where to park had not yet been announced. Simpler terms: no one knew where they needed to be for the race and it wasn’t posted online until about 3 days before the race. 

Race Day was not too bad.  Granted, it was a LONG walk to the start (and a long walk back) everything seemed to run pretty smoothly.  The actual course had its highs and its lows.  Truthfully, I did not think it was too bad - kinda boring, nothing too exciting about it, there was nothing that made me say, “oh that is cool”.  We did run one area twice (by the new Braves stadium) and it was a meh area.  Nothing to look at with the exception of apartments and a new baseball stadium being built.  And I don’t know if the course was missing mile markers or if it was on purpose or if I just missed them, but I messed my Garmin up from the very beginning and my miles were all off so I was kinda relying on those and they were nowhere to be seen after mile 10.  So that last 5k was pretty slow and miserable and I thought I would never find the end since mile 11 never ever came.  The course had it’s fair share of hills and the weather was off and on.  Not too hot, not too cold, rained off and on.  There was one part of the course that was on a trail next to the river and that may have been the highlight of the course for me.  Semi flat land, good scenery, allowed me to pick up the pace, serene little area tucked away in city chaos.

It was a slow and steady race for me seeing how I did not run more than 6 miles leading up to the race.  Typical Barbie training style, but I am not super young anymore so my body (read: hips) started to hurt around mile 8.  Yikes.  I think that picture was taken around mile 5 or 6 or something like that and I was still trucking along (doing better than the dude in orange behind me! HA!)… and in that picture I don’t look like death.  But trust me, there are some pictures and yikes. (Maybe I shouldn’t comment on the dude in orange. #karma)

Near the end, trucking up one of the many hills, 2 police officers mentioned that the finish was just over the hill and then it was all downhill from there.  I had to believe them since I could hear the finish line party; however, I did not believe them because I had not seen a mile marker since freaking mile 10 and at that moment, in my mind, I was running the longest 10th mile in the history of any half marathon. I finished (and that is what matters) in 2 hours and 41 minutes.   Not my best time.  But I had to start back somewhere and I got a pretty cool new piece of medal … to sit in a box in my closet with all the other medals I have collecting dust. :-)

I did not stick around for the post race party.  I had no one to party with.  And I was tired and who really wants to drink a beer post race and then get on the road to drive home.  And really Michelob Ultra, is that actually safe?!  The post race party was a little hectic and I just wanted to find a quick escape.  I got my finisher’s medal.  Had my picture taken and walked a bit.  I somehow missed the finisher’s bags so I did not grab one of those and was actually bummed about that.  (Hey Michelob Ultra, put the bags closer to the medals next time. K. Thanks!)  I grabbed a water, a banana, and some nasty dried snap pea things and headed home for an ice bath and family time.

Am I glad I got up and did it?!  Yes.  Will I do another half marathon?  Yes.  Will I train properly for that one?  Ehhhh… probably not because that is not my style, but I am running more so maybe I won’t be as old lady with hip problem like next time.

And just a shout out to the Cobb County cops - you all were awesome and great on the course. I know it is not the most exciting assignment to have on a Sunday morning, but we runners appreciate all you do to keep us safe on the course.  So. Thank You!

Tuesday Thoughts.

Since Thursday is Thanksgiving - I doubt I will get a Three Things Thursday out since that will be a family day - so I decided to do Tuesday Thoughts ... and I will not be limited to just 3 things.  I am still in total shock that we are about to be in December.  Like where has 2011 gone?  Time flies the older you get.  =/

1.  We are leaving for Northern Virginia today after work.  We = Me. Kyle. And the 2 dogs.  I am getting a little anxious about the two dogs because I will have to have them the whole time.  I am trying to make Kyle take them on Friday night - Saturday, but so far I am losing that battle. Having the 2 dogs really makes it impossible to run (really having 1 dog does this too) and there are some routes I really like back home.  I just feel REALLY bad dumping the dog(s) on my parents when I know they're more of a pain than anything.

2.  During the week I feel like I am REALLY good at hydrating myself - on the weekends I feel like I am really bad at it.  I don't know why, but I am.  So, I really really want this.  I am probably going to fall into some big amazing marketing ploy & it won't really actually work.    But it is worth a shot?  ...Or I can make a bigger effort to just drink water on the weekends?

3.  I need a December race.  If you're in Atlanta start suggesting.  I don't want to do the one in the Highlands because I predict parking will be a total nightmare and I like my pre-race activities to be stress free.

4.  The Run to the Finish - Holiday Booty Buster Challenge started this past weekend.  And I meant to run this weekend, I really did.  But then I got consumed with Football and Christmas Shopping and Christmas Movies (thanks Hallmark Channel) and dogs and super tiredness and laundry and packing to go home to VA and bathing the dogs.  HOWEVER - I got some miles in at lunch on Monday.  I was not going to let this week go by with 0 miles and 0 working out.  Those miles were not pretty, but they are done!

5.  All I want for Christmas is a new Road ID.  Seriously, especially if I am going to be running outside in the Perimeter Mall area on lunch breaks.  These stay at home moms in big SUVs are scary.  I feel like I am destined to be hit by a car (even in a crosswalk).  Therefore, I would like to have some sort of ID on me.  And I lost my old one ... and I want my new one to have my blood type on it.  And I want the one that attaches to my shoe (that way I cannot lose it).

6.  I need both Pure Barre and Blast 900 to have crazy holiday sales. I want to bring both back into my life after the 1st of the year -- especially Pure Barre, but the classes are so expensive I have a hard time justifying them.  Especially Pure Barre because I feel like you have to go a lot to see results, but I feel like Pure Barre will help the most to make me wedding dress pretty.  I wish things like that were not crazy expensive, I have bills and life to pay for.


....oh how exhausted am I. 

Hey Runners–help me out!

I got this idea from Run Courtney Run and a recent three things Thursday blog post that she did. …but for it to work and be successful I need your help!

So here we go – I want your input on all things racing.  If you’re running a race (of any distance. 5k to marathons) and want to share your surface level opinions with the world – send them to me.

Now.  I am not looking for full long winded race reports, just cliff notes versions.  What did you like?  What did you hate?  How was the water and aid stations?  Was the race a “must run” or a “yeah you can skip that one”?  Was there a big hill at the end, in the middle, or was it all downhill? …. give me the basics, the nitty gritty, what YOU would want to know if you wanted to know about a race, what would you have liked to know going into the race.

At first I thought I would keep it just to Atlanta races only, but then I thought I should share the fun with all my readers since you all are from all over.

Send your cliff notes version of a race recap and any images and of course a link to your blog to – barbara.a.vines@gmail.com and I will get them posted.

to do list.

1. I need to find a July race. a 5k preferably to run – near the end of the month would be best since I will be gone the 1st part of the month. if anyone has any suggestions, thrown them my way.

2. put together a schedule that makes sense that also lets me get in miles but lets my body recover. but includes blast and spin and I would love to work pure barre in like once a month at least.

3. stretch more. foam roll more. that is probably why my legs scream at me and hate me.

4. not gorge myself on the weekends and friday nights. monday – thursday i eat so well. friday – sunday I only eat crap and it ruins everything I do earlier in the week.

5. um. start training for atlanta 13.1 and RnR Savannah.

6. get up on saturday mornings and get out to stone mountain and run. or piedmont park. or both alternating weekends.

Three Things Thursday.

1. I feel like my blog has taken a turn away from running and has crossed over into more of a "this is my life" blog.  Which I think it is okay to share somethings, but I think I want to get back to the basics of running & working out/fitness ... which is why I started this to begin with. After all this is Barbie Runs, not Barbie Lives (though, I do live).  I do have a wedding planning blog which in less than a year can be where I keep up with the day to day happenings in our life.  So starting today *hopefully* 97% of this will be related to me and my running.

2. speaking of running - i have been doing very little of it.  i was on a roll and then i got distracted and now it is REALLY hot.  i am going to have to figure something out, because i need to be running.  can someone in Atlanta keep me accountable? please.

3.  i am looking for a 5k to do this month and then i want to get back into the 1 race per month grind that i was in last year.  if anyone has any suggestions of good ones or ones they're running, let me know! =)

AHHHH

I am really freaking stressed right now. What I could go for is a good mind clearing run right now or take a mind numbing nap, but I don't want to step too far away from my phone, so here I am telling you about an upcoming Atlanta race and watching past seasons of ABC Family Channel's Make it or Break It (thanks Wii Netflix).  I am going to leave it at that.  I will blog later about my oh so stressful day.

But since my phone is by my side and I am checking it every time it bings, I wanted to share an email / race notification that I go today.

May 1 - Perimeter Area :: Concourse to be exact :: 5k and 2k fun run/walk -- Lauren's Run -- 8:00 AM.  The 5K race and 2K fun run/walk will be hosted by CURE Childhood Cancer, an organization that supports research and education for pediatric cancer--the number one cause of death in children. Since 2002, Lauren's Run has raised over $2.5 million for pediatric cancer research.

If you're interested in participating you can go here to register.  It is only $20 for pre-race registration and $25 on race day.  I will 100% be there and on May 1 the weather should *hopefully* be gorgeous!!  And this is my 1st real organized race of the year that I have put on the calendar.  Guess I better start training.

Polar Bear 5K Run - I bailed.

So a few weeks back I signed up to run my first 5k (and first organized race of 2011) of the year.  I chose the Polar Bear Run in Marietta for 2 main reasons. (1) I wanted to see how far I had fallen as a runner after pretty much sitting on my butt since October and (2) I really want to work on my 5K this year so I needed a 2011 starting time.


For week I had planned to not set out to set a PR at this race.  I just knew that I wanted to run it in at least 35 minutes (which is 2 minutes slower than my 5K PR) and I wanted to give my nike free running shoes a race trial especially since i was kind of on the fence about them.

Well, my alarm went off at 6:30 AM on Saturday and I hit snooze. And then I hit snooze again and again and again.  I did not get out of bed and I did not run.  My body was just too tired from this past week and bowling on Friday night that it kept saying "do not do it" --- normally I can just muster through, get up, wake up, and go, but Saturday morning it was SO different.

BUT! I told myself that I was going to not let sleeping in and being a lazy bum hold me back from running 3.1 and today I ran my own little 5k on the treadmill so I could figure out how far I had fallen and figure out my 5k time and my nike frees.

Well.  I ran 3.1 in 35:25 (average pace of 11:25) which is 2 minutes slower than my PR so I guess I did not do too bad.  I felt pretty good the whole run (minus the treadmill shocking me every time I touched it) but I definitely could not go much farther than 3.1 which means I have a lot of work to do over the next few months for Ragnar in June.  But I did remember how much I miss just running and listening to the music.

The nike frees -- I just cannot decide.  I can feel my legs getting stronger but I just do not think they give my feet the support they need (or are used to).