Celebration Half Marathon Race Recap 2016

Last weekend, I ran the Town of Celebration Half Marathon. Last year, this was my first half after having ABS, and I absolutely loved it and was excited to run it again. (Recap Here). 

I got there just in time to meet up with all the fabulous MRTT ladies from multiple chapters. Like had to jog from the car to make it in time, which actually worked out well because it was pretty chilly (like 45-50 degrees) and this warmed me up! Our picture is pretty comical since it was still so dark and you can't see anything besides some reflective strips on some of our clothing. We did get a better picture of just our local chapter at least! After I met up with them, I met up with some of my other friends too, stopped to use the bathroom and made our way to the start. Love this race, because even though it's a good 30 minute drive from home, it's relatively small compared to most halfs and that means we don't have to get up super early like Disney races to get there and wait around for hours before it starts. 

Clermont MRTT

Multi Chapter Meet Up

Action Shot

Post Race Selfie, Happy with a new PR!

My set my goal for this race at 2:10-2:15 and was thinking that 2:10 was a pretty big stretch since achieving 2:15:59 at Space Coast just 2 months before took everything out of me, so didn't think I'd really be able to shave off 6 minutes, but I was going to try and knew I'd be happy with any sort of PR, even if it was just a few seconds! They had both a 2:10 and a 2:15 pace group (well technically a 4:20 and 4:30 pace group since they were for the marathon which is the same course for first 12.5 miles) so I lined up with the 2:10 pace group, with the plan to stay between them. I started off feeling great and ended up staying ahead of the 2:10 pace group for the entire race. They got close a few times, but I picked up my pace and stayed pretty steady for me. Usually my slowest mile is towards the end of any race I run, especially half marathons, but it was actually my 1st mile. Although my 11th mile wasn't far behind it. I thought for sure I was going to slow down significantly towards the end like I did at Space Coast, but I felt great the entire race and finished in 2:08:50, beating my previous PR by 7 minutes! And for comparison purposes, last year I finished in 2:37:16 and that was a PR for me at that time. 

Another great thing about this race is the support. In addition to all the wonderful volunteers, there is a town of folks from the Town of Celebration that come out and cheer alongside the course. There are also a ton of great signs posted throughout the race, which I loved last year, and was happy to see again this year! The best support though was a huge group of MRTT Mommas came out again and now that I know them better than last year, having them cheer me on made it even more special. Every time I'd see a group of them, I'd be sure to push a little harder! 

The most incredible thing I saw was this little girl running.  I swore she couldn't have been older than 8 or 9 based on her size and she was ahead of me for most of the run and we played leapfrog for some of the race as I was running intervals and she was running straight through. She was running with a guide, so I wasn't sure what the story was but she was keeping a steady pace around 9:30 and looked like she was loving every second of it. Turns out she was 10 years old, and I believe she had a guide with her just because of her age. She also ran the entire Full Marathon, not just half, which is what I had assumed and was amazed enough thinking that. I saw her finish line picture and she looked so refreshing, not exhausted at all and had a huge smile on her face. I don't know if this was a first or what, but regardless, an incredible feat at any age and her pace was just over 10:00 overall. I couldn't even imagine doing that now, nevermind at 10 years old! 

The course was the same as last year (I believe), but I am happy to report the boardwalks were dry (thanks to no rain) and well marked and freshly pressure washed so nice and clean. I didn't see or hear of any injuries, which was refreshing after how bad it was last year.

The post race festivities never disappoint either. I waited around with some of my friends and cheered on other friends until they finished and then we went and enjoyed the post race food and drinks. They had samples from several of the local restaurants and beer too (although I never do drink the beer LOL) just for the runners and it was all yummy. 

Some water marked pictures from the race photographer, which reminds me, I need to start wearing my bib lower and work harder on getting rid of that belly pudge! 

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:08:50 (overall pace of 9:51)

Place: 548 of 1871 finishers

Place: 255 of the 1226 Women Finishers

Place: 28 of 150 in my Women’s Age Division (30-34)

10k Split: 1:01:03

15k Split: 1:31:30

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, weaving, etc.):

13.62 miles in 2:08:54 (overall pace of 9:28)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 9:51 (slowest)

Mile 2: 9:34

Mile 3: 9:22

Mile 4: 9:18

Mile 5: 9:33

Mile 6: 9:26

Mile 7: 9:30

Mile 8: 9:43

Mile 9: 9:19

Mile 10: 9:17

Mile 11: 9:46

Mile 12: 9:16

Mile 13: 9:37

.62 mile: 8:42

Space Coast Half Marathon Race Recap

I’m so far behind on anything regarding my blog, but I refer back to my race recaps often. So even though there are two other races I haven’t recapped yet, I’m going to do this one while it’s still somewhat fresh in my mind and then I’ll go back and do the others! 

Last weekend was the Space Coast Half Marathon in Cocoa, Florida.  I ran this race in 2013 and really enjoy it (recap can be found here) and was pretty bummed to miss it last year (didn’t have enough time to train after having ABS). I pretty much stuck to my training plan for this race really well, until our vacation. I did get in some good runs while on vacation, but none were that long. Since coming home, I only got in two longish runs of 6 and 8 miles, and gained about 10 lbs (on vacation) so I wasn’t in as best of shape as I was hoping to be for this race. Granted, I knew I was in much better shape than I was for my last half in February,Disney Princess Half where I PR’d at 2:35:24 and set my goal at 2:17-2:22. Training through the summer really helped since the heat helps build endurance!

Before the race, I was trying to determine what kind of intervals I was going to run. I had been experimenting with a bunch of different ones (3/1, 4/1, 3/:30, etc) throughout my training. One of my MRTT friends suggested I look at the pacing groups and I saw that there was going to be a 2:15pace group running 1:30/:30, which is essentially the same thing as my “typical” 3/1s. So I made the decision that I would start with the pace group and run my 3/1’s and keep them in my eyesight, but to stay ahead of the 2:20 pace group.

G was also running this race, although hadn’t ran in 2 months because he got sick, so wasn’t in great shape to be running at all. We got a hotel on Cocoa Beach the night before and went to bed really early and drove over to the start around 5am. Which was way better than driving the 1.5hrs the same morning! In 2013, we had local sleeping arrangements as well, and we liked how easy it was in the morning, so we decided to do that again. We met up with some friends and my local MRTT group for some pre-race pictures. By that point I had already drank 2 bottles of water and really had to pee, but the port-o-potty lines were so long (the marathon was scheduled to start 30 minutes after the half so there were still a ton of runners – and spectators – hanging around). There was no way I was going to make the start of the race if I went to the bathroom, so i held it. G and I split up to start since I was trying to PR and he wasn’t. I found a few of my MRTT friends to start with in the 2:15group and we were on our way to start. 

Since we were all running differently, we pretty much separated within the first few minutes. Since I always start way too fast (yea, I need to work on that) I passed the 2:15 pace group and got ahead to 2:10 pace group in first mile. Because I never made it to the bathroom, as mentioned above, I had to stop and pee when I saw the first set of port-o-pottys. I did the same thing last year, and complained about the same thing in that recap too. If I didn’t have to go so bad, I would have waited until the next set of port-o-pottys as those ended up with no line and the 1^st set had a line. I swear I don’t know what was taking these folks so long, but it was at LEAST a solid 2 minutes of waiting. When I got back out there, I realized I was behind the 2:20 pace group and really pushed it to get back between 2:10-2:15 pace group, which I did by mile 3 or 4. From there on, I just kept running my 3/1's (although sometimes shortening my walks if the 2:15 group was getting too close lol). I started to really get close to the 2:15 paces groups (there were two, one doing intervals and one running straight, that kept playing leap frog with each other). By mile 10 I said, ok I'll drop and run with the 2:15 pacers (1:30/:30) as it was getting annoying (and tiring) to keep cutting my walks short because they were gaining on me. I was obviously not running – or walking – as fast as I had in the beginning so they kept playing leap frog with me, which would have been fine, but both pace groups were rather large and congested so if I didn’t stay ahead of them, they got in my way. However, very quickly, by mile 11 I realized I definitely needed my full minute walk. Their 30 seconds power walks just weren’t doing it for me and so I fell a little behind them and went back to 3/1's for the remainder of the race, albeit a bit slower. I ended just about a minute behind the pacers and beat my goals and established a new Personal Record of 2:15:59! Considering I never made it past 10 miles in my training, and hardly ran the 2 weeks between getting back from vacation and the race, and still beat my goal, I was (and still am) very ecstatic with my finish time!  The best part was, my MRTT friends were volunteering and the finish line, and they got to put my medal around my sweaty neck! 

The course was the same as it was in the past and despite being a little warmer than I was hoping for, the weather felt beautiful. I think it was in the 60’s when we started. I never once used my sunglasses, and my tank and capris were perfect for the temperatures! I love how involved the residents of Cocoa are along the course. There were a ton of fuel stops and lots of volunteers passing things out and cheering us on. Running up the intercostal is always a really nice way to watch the sun rise! I definitely plan to do this race again next year and hopefully set another PR.

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:15:59 (overall pace of 10:23)

Place: 722 of 3308 finishers

Place: 363 of the 2314 Women Finishers

Place: 33 of 250 in my Women’s Age Division (30-34)

5k Split: 33:11

10k Split: 1:04:00

15k Split: not listed, must have missed the timing mat

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, run off to the bathroom, etc.):

13.44 miles in 2:16:02 (overall pace of 10:07)

Mile Splits:

Mile 1: 9:59

Mile 2: 11:46 (bathroom break)

Mile 3: 9:55

Mile 4: 9:25 (fastest mile, which ironically was my fastest mile when I ran this race in 2013)

Mile 5: 9:46

Mile 6: 9:49

Mile 7: 9:42

Mile 8: 10:05

Mile 9: 10:01

Mile 10: 10:08

Mile 11: 9:48

Mile 12: 10:26

Mile 13: 10:57

.44 mile: 9:41

Disney Princess Half Marathon Race Recap

day before race at packet pick up

Almost two weeks ago (wow I’m behind), I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon! This is the race I signed up for when I was pregnant with AB as my 1st post-baby race, and it was going to be the one I trained for. I ended up running the Celebration Half as well before it, but kept up with my training anyways. I ended up missing only 3 training runs total during the whole training cycle, which went through all the holidays. Considering I never trained successfully for any race before, that in itself was an accomplishment. Since I got my PR at Celebration, I wasn’t going into the Disney Princess with that expectation. Disney races are always so crowded/congested that your times are usually slower. Once I hit mile 10, I realized my pace was much better than I thought it was going to be and realized I could PR if I pushed myself, I decided to do just that. You can see my stats below that my last mile was my fastest, it’s usually my slowest. I definitely ended with a negative split for this race. I PR’d by almost 2 full minutes from the Celebration Half. I even stopped to use the bathroom during mile and had to wait in a decent line. I felt surprisingly good that day and the days after the race. Training really pays off!

As I’ve mentioned before, I really do have a love/hate relationship with Disney races. That 2:45 am wakeup call really sucks! I rode over to Epcot with my neighbor, and we left at 3:10am to beat the traffic. We met up with some of her Disney running friends and hung out with them until it was time to make the long trek to the starting corrals. I didn’t know anyone in my starting corral so the wait for the start wasn’t very enjoyable, especially because it was chilly out and I was wearing short sleeves and capris. Luckily I had a hand warmer that I was rubbing all over my body to keep myself as warm as possible. I didn’t want my phone to die during the race (I stream my music with Bluetooth headphones and use the GPS on my RunKeeper) so I kept it on airplane mode while I waited until the 5:30 start, so I didn’t even have that to occupy me, just lots of people watching! I was in corral I and finally crossed the start line around 6am.

Overall, I felt really good the entire run. I never really felt super tired nor did I hit any kind of wall. My pace stayed pretty consistent until I sped up during the last 5k to get my PR. And the last 5k includes running up the overpass, that's just killer during the last few miles, still shocked I was able to speed up! As usual, Disney has more than enough water stops and such great entertainment. Although, I don’t think I’ll ever be one of those people who stands in line for character pictures during the race, I cringe even watching time pass me by when I wait in line for the bathroom. I LOVE the spectators at the Disney races. There are so many people cheering you on, holding funny signs, and passing out goodies. They really do make the experience a great one! G, the girls and my FIL came to see me finish but somehow missed actually seeing me. Which doesn’t surprise me since I missed seeing them too, and I knew where they were and was looking hard! (after I finished we watched for another friend to finish and we missed her too, there is just SO many people it’s crazy!). I was just glad to see them there at the end after I was done! Next year I plan to sign up for the Glass Slipper Challenge, which is a 10k on Saturday followed by the Half on Sunday. I wanted to do it this year, but wasn't sure how I'd be after having the baby so didn't want to take on too much. Next year, I'm totally doing it! (it's the only Disney challenge I'll be doing as all the others require a full marathon, and I have no desire to do one of those!).

my favorite cheerleader

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:35:24 (overall pace of 11:52)

Place: 5242 of the 8498 Women finishers

Place: 1072 of the 3957 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

5k Split: 39:18

10k Split: 1:15:51

15k Split: 1:52:46

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging)

13.68 miles in 2:35:36 (overall pace of 11:51)

Fastest Mile: #13 at 10:53

Slowest Mile: #5 at 12:23 <- where I stopped to use the bathroom

pretty race medal

Celebration Half Marathon Race Recap

1st Race Medal of 2015

Back when I was pregnant, I made an impulsive decision to sign up for an interim half marathon during my Princess Half Marathon training. I was planning on using this more so for training, but since my training was going well, I decided to try to PR it. I’d have to say, the training really makes a difference (this is my first half that I successfully trained for) as I never felt completely spent during the run. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still sore today but definitely not as sore as I usually am after a half and I felt GREAT running the whole time, whereas in the past I always really struggled during the last few miles during a half.

 

Pre-Race Picture with Friends

The race was in the town of Celebration. I loved the course as it went through a lot of residential areas and there was a good amount of encouraging signs and people out there cheering us on. Several of the mommas from my MRTT group were out there cheering us on as well. They moved along the course as we ran so got to see them in several locations, such a great group of ladies! Can't wait to get to know them better and maybe join them for some spectating in some future races! The city had signs up and down some of the roads and I read every single one of them; some of them were very funny. My phone was in the compartment on my water bottle holder or else I would have taken pictures but some of my favorites (that I can remember) were: “ you are running better than our government”, “don’t be deflated like the other 11, be like the 12^th (referring to the NFL football drama), and  “It may not be Disney, but at least we didn’t get you up at 2am”  which was so true, I was able to leave my house at 5:15 (was about a 30 minute drive), had to park a good 3/4 mile away, wait in line to pick up my packet and still had 20 minutes to kill before race started at 7am! I found another race recap blog post and they had a picture of a few of the signs.. plus some other great pictures of the beautiful course, and much better pictures in general, check them out here!

I do have two complaints about the race itself. One is about the course itself and the portions that went over their boardwalks. There were several sections that were on the boardwalks, which are narrow and slippery, and it wasn’t even raining.  Plus, you had to jump up a curb onto the grass to get onto them which isn’t exactly the safest thing to do. I saw several people fall (not badly, but definitely slipped and tumbled) and more people just slipping in general. At one point I saw a bunch of people conjugated right before the entrance to the one section of the boardwalk and  was thinking to myself, well that’s a dumb place to be hanging out (thought they were just spectators) it’s already narrow enough there. Well, I ended up seeing one of the MRTT mommas on the course and ran a few miles with her and she filled me in that a girl had tripped on the “lip” from the pavement to the wooden boardwalk and cracked open her head and her husband who was running but is also a paramedic stopped to stay with her along with several other runners who stopped to make sure she was ok as they waited for the medics to get there. I found out later on that a 3:30 marathoner also fell in that same spot, so he was running pretty dang fast. (the half and full marathon were the same course, just two loops for the marathon). Both will need plastic surgery for their injuries. I really hope the city re-thinks this portion (and most of the boardwalk portion) of the course for next year. I’m sure there were other injuries as well but those two were definitely the most serious that I heard about.  I couldn’t stop thinking about those runners and how easily it could have been me who fell too.

My other complaint was as you approached the finish line, you came around one final corner and on one side of the street they had chairs and streamers/barriers but on the other side, it was open so people were of course lined up to cheer on the finishers, which is great.  However, since there was no barrier, people were constantly crossing and several runners were coming around that corner pretty fast (when I was watching, several placing marathoners were finishing) and had people crossing in front of them. And the people crossing were taking their time, pushing strollers, walking with toddlers, holding food, etc. At one point someone dropped a bowl of fries (which when smashed to the ground would be slippery) – what made it even worse, it was a race volunteer and she put little effort to clean it up. Finally another spectator went out there quickly and scooped them off the course. I even saw some runners just taking their time crossing the path. I was just appalled with how rude everyone was with people who were trying to finish. And it wasn’t like this was the end of the race either, there was still hours worth of finishers coming though after the point I was watching, and I imagine it only got worse as more spectators joined the crowds.  My recommendation would be to either not allow people to stand on that side of the street or put up some sort of barricade so people wouldn’t be so tempted to cross. It wasn’t even so much as to the fact people were crossing though as it was WHERE they were crossing, right as runners were coming around a corner and wouldn’t be able to see people in their way. I saw several runners have to swerve to prevent running into spectators.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the run. It was VERY cold in the beginning (40’s) but as soon as you hit mile 1-2, you are warmed up and lots of people start shedding layers. I wore a hoodie until right before the start and gave it to a non-running friend to hold for me and then just ran in pants and a long sleeve shirt and mittens (well one mitten as I lost the other somewhere between my car and walking to start line) with one of those “toasty hands” hand warmers. I also had on a headband which covered my ears. By like mile 3, I had ditched my one mitten and the hand warmer and exposed my ears and was completely comfortable the rest of the race where temps got into the high 50’s I believe. I would choose this weather over the heat any day! They had plenty of water and aid stations throughout the whole course and great post race refreshments (from a bunch of the local restaurants in Celebration). Their swag bag had a nice HeadSweats hat in it and some other goodies! I was overall really impressed with the organization and efforts put forth by the Town of Celebration!

 

Post Race Excitement!

Overall, I really enjoyed the race and plan to do it again next year! It’s limited to only 2500 runners, which makes it nice and not too crowded. The course is great, lots of spectators cheering you on and pretty flat so helps if you are trying to PR. I ran the first mile with 3 friends, one who was running her 1^st half, and then split off from them as their pace wouldn’t have gotten me a PR and I really wanted to try for it. I’m so glad I tried, because I definitely hit it! According to RunKeeper and all the zigzagging, I really beat it with an 11:49 pace but in terms of the PR, I use my official chipped time and it was 2:37:16 which is a 12:01 pace for 13.1 miles! So proud of myself for PR’ing and even more proud of the fact it was just 4 months after having a baby!

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:37:16 (overall pace of 12:01)

Place: 1126 of 1808 finishers

Place: 371 of the 1222 Women Finishers

Place: 66 of the 114 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

10k Split: 1:15:45

15k Split: 1:52:34

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging)

13.33 miles in 2:37:36 (overall pace of 11:49)

Fastest Mile: #10 at 11:02

Slowest Mile: #1 at 13:32

Slowest Mile (once I split off from my friend) #8 at 12:17)

Space Coast Half Marathon

Sunday morning was the Space Coast Marathon and Half Marathon. G and I both ran the half. (my first of my six 30 before 30 half marathons). After my last half marathon (back in 2011), I had said no more halfs. Well then the Space Coast released a new running series "The Big Bang Series" and their 3 of 5 and 5 of 5 year challenge medals. As we all know, I'm a sucker for the medals and these are seriously awesome. So once I signed up for this race back at the beginning of this year (the Dec 1st race sold out in Mid July for both half and full), I obviously took back my "no more halfs". G also loves space and all things related (his first half marathon was this one back in 2010) so he too was a sucker for a space themed race.

The race was in Cocoa FL (left from the Historic Cocoa Village) which is like an hour plus from our house, but luckily our good friends are staying in a condo out on Cocoa Beach while their condo is getting renovated and offered to let us stay there making the drive in the morning only 15 minutes, SCORE! So we left their place at 5am, got there and parked by 5:20, still had to get our packets and check our bags and by the time we made it to start line it was already 5:45 so we only had to wait for 15 minutes. Such a better experience than most other races. Only downfall was I didn't have time to use the bathroom before the start, so I started running with a full bladder. I was SO not prepared to run this race. I had barely ran all month (logged less than 35 miles, and most of those were walking) - plus other than the 10 miler in October the longest I had ran since my last half marathon (in 2011) was about 5.5 miles so I knew this was going to be rough. 

Pre-Race Sefie

G and I went our separate ways (I went ahead)  right before mile 1 and I stopped to use the bathroom between mile 1 and 2. Of course being the first bathroom stop, there was a line and it took forever. I would say a solid 4-5 minutes and since I was running with my Camelbak and my phone was in there, I didn't get to pause my RunKeeper. So all my time (both official and RunKeeper) takes into account a 4-5 minute bathroom break. After using the bathroom, I ran to catch up to G since I knew by that time he had passed me. I don't think I caught up to him until about mile 4 or 5. I definitely booked it during those miles because I was trying to make up for lost time. I wasn't trying to PR or anything since I didn't train but I knew I wanted to at least stay ahead of the 3 hr pace group. I met up with and eventually passed G and would say I enjoyed the majority of the race. There wasn't a lot of formal entertainment but running up the causeway coast in a residential area you had a bunch of residents cheering you on from their front porches and driveways. The water/aid stations were very nicely spread (since I had my Camelbak I didn't really need to stop at them - only towards the end I drank some gatorade at 2 of them because I was getting tired, but I did take note of their frequency). All of the water/aid stations were space themed and had people dressed up and cheering you on. When I crossed the 15k  mark and saw I was under 2 hrs I realized how much better I was doing than I thought I was and decided to try a little harder to maybe PR - I couldn't remember my exact PR time - I knew it was around 2:40. (I didn't end up PRing but I came pretty close considering my lack of training) At the end of the race (last .10)  they had some cool posters  and then at the finish line they greeted you with a towel and your awesome medal. I ran 3/1's the a majority of the race (probably until mile 9 or 10 before I ended some of the running intervals early. I listened to the iheartradio app "Glut Pop" station (the same one I always listen to when I run) and jammed out the entire way! 

The weather was beautiful. I started off wearing the race tech shirt (long-sleeved) because I was freezing in my tank top, but by mile one I had already taken it off and stuffed it in my Camelbak. The rest of the race I was fine, a little chilly when breezes came off the water and never once needed my sunglasses (which is nice because they always fog up and get gross). I thought the course was going to be boring because its just up and back one main road but I very much enjoyed looking at all the pretty houses and looking at the water and wildlife.

 I felt MUCH better running this race than I did running the 10 miler in October and am actually not dreading the OUC Half Marathon in 6 days. I won't lie, I'm pretty sore and getting out of the car after driving an hour plus home after the race, it hurt to walk at first. I stayed pretty active Sunday (walking around, doing things in the house, up and down the stairs multiple times) and I think that helped my muscles not tighten so much. After a full night sleep though, I woke up feeling pretty good considering how I have felt in the past after some races and didn't struggle too much during the day on Monday. I also have a massage scheduled after Saturday's race which will be very welcoming after two halfs in one week.

Runner's High!

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:43:03 (overall pace of 12:27)

Place: 1639 of 2923 finishers

Place: 1016 of the 2032 Women Finishers

Place: 105 of 179 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

5k Split: 41:45 (STUPID BATHROOM BREAK!)

10k Split: 1:17:35

15k Split: 1:56:50

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging, run off to the bathroom, etc.):

13.30 miles in 2:43:07 (overall pace of 12:16)

Fastest Mile: #4 at 10:49

Slowest Mile #2 at 16:54 (bathroom break)

REAL Slowest Mile #8 at 12:44

G’s stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:51:46 (overall pace of 13:07

Place: 1861 of 2923 finishers

Place: 677 of the 900 Men Finishers

Place: 74 of the 95 in his Men’s Age Division (30-34)

5k Split: 39:37

10k Split: 1:19:38

15k Split 2:01:50

His RunKeeper stats:

13.40 miles in 2:52:00 (overall pace of 12:50)

Fastest Mile: #1 at 12:08

Slowest Mile #9 at 13:58