Harry's Munchkin Super Kidz Tri

Race Report: Super Kidz Tri!!!

Harry did his first tri this weekend at the ripe age of 4. I was worried about everything- he'd think people were laughing at him, he'd freak out in the pool since he'd only had 2 weeks of lessons, he had a new bike, etc.

Race morning: Got the baby to the sitter and packed up Harry and all of his stuff. He got to use all my tri gear (fancy water bottle, goggles, helmet, etc). We made it to the Y and set up his transition area. We picked up his swag bag and he got body marked. Oddly, he was mostly interested in the ruler in the bag...

Transition.

We went to the pool early just so he could check it out again. When anyone asked if he was ready, he said "oh, I'm ready!" He put on his required swim vest. We waited in the bleachers for Ted and Emma to show up. (And when they did, I laughed at the look of panic on Ted's face when he suddenly thought he'd forgotten to bring the baby.)

Harry lined up. They had all the 4 year olds go out together after explaining that this race was about completion and that they should take their time and be safe and have fun. Harry's lane was by the wall. The race starts. The boy sprints down the handicapped ramp in the water and does a giant leap. He comes up sputtering, but starts swimming. We're following along the side of the pool as everyone is cheering. The kids are all pretty close. Turns out Harry is better in the water than his mother. He makes it to the end with no problems. Ted hauls him out, and we're off to transition.

We throw on a shirt and shoes and head down the stairs to the track. (They call it a track, but it's really just a vaguely oval shaped asphalt path). I put on Harry's helmet and helped him on his bike. He hasn't done much riding since it seems to rain every afternoon, but he gets it moving. The four year olds are required to have training wheels. I keep my hand on his back and we go around the first lap. And then, as everyone from my track club is cheering at the end of the first lap, we have our first mishap. I don't understand how it could happen with training wheels, but Harry goes down hard sideways and drags the bike with him. I tossed him off the bike, picked it up, put him on, and we took off again. I would have been freaked out by such a truly spectacular fall, but all he said was "you know, that kind of hurt..."

So for the second lap, I ran holding Harry's handlebars. Ted ran over to record him, and Harry just yelled "meet me at the finish line, Dad!" Emma was cheering, which we could just hear over all the commotion. And we are back in transition- yes, off the bike and I can stand upright!

Helmet off, and we're running. It's one lap around for the run. Harry goes out at a good clip, but not a sprint. He's able to maintain his speed all the way around and doesn't walk. The last few yards Emma joins us. I let her run him in.

And now Harry has his medal (which he put with my medals- how cute is that?) He's got big plans for future races. There's a 1 mile fun run this Saturday that he really wants to do.



The thing I liked best about Harry's race was that even though he wasn't the fastest, he was just thrilled the whole time. And I learned something about my racing- worried about people laughing at him? worried about the swim and the new bike? Those fears didn't apply to Harry at all- they're my usual race day fears that I was putting on to his race... weird, huh?

So, this weekend I have the following races lined up:
1) Saturday: Duathlon- 2 mile run, 14? mile bike, 2 mile run. I haven't been on my bike in forever but I wanted to do this race to encourage local events... it's going to hurt!
2) Saturday: 1 mile fun run with Harry and maybe Emma;
3) Saturday: may run a 5k with a friend who's a newbie runner- not sure yet.
Crazy.

Future plans

I've been putting in some big miles so far this month, so provided I don't end up injured (which is a bigger "provided" than I care to acknowledge), I've got to find some race goals.

Known upcoming races:

1) Heels to Wheels Duathlon, Aug. 28. Yeah, guess I better peel off the race sticker on my bike from the Turtle Crawl tri. What? It was only 3 months ago... The duathlon is run 2 miles, bike 14, run 2. I'm thinking it won't be that hard, except for that chunk of 14 miles in the middle. And I need a new pump. Cause you know, the only thing harder than riding a bike for 14 miles is riding one with flat tires. So apparently my new bike euphoria a year ago was extremely short lived.

2) Jacksonville Marine Corps Half, October. In theory, this is the one I'm training for, but I can't seem to push the send button on active.com.

3) Peachtree City 25k, Darkside Running Club, November. Dual purpose- visit Ted's brother's family and do a race. I love when I can merge things like that- then it's not all about me! The race looks interesting. There's a 50k at the same time, so there should be a lot of people way weirder than me which will be refreshing. It's a 5 mile loop on golf cart trails with "rolling hills." I'm a little concerned about the possible disparity between my definition of rolling hills and the locals. Still, there should be lots of people moving sort of slowly (cause they've got 30+ miles altogether to go!) I wonder if they'll laugh at my Garmin and Newtons? Probably not my Garmin, definitely the Newtons. I've filled out the form but haven't taken it off my desk.

4) Jax Bank Half Marathon... or Full? In theory, this could be a good year to run a Full. I'd love to break 4 hours, and horror of horrors, a Boston Qualifying time for me would be 3:50. Ugh. The running calculators predict I could do under 3:50, but that's if I can stay injury free with perfect training and have a perfect day. I don't know if I want that kind of pressure. I could do the half- did I mention my main goal is last minute Christmas shopping in Jax and a last race before I turn 40?

5) Princess Half, Feb. 27. I'm sure I'll do it, but I need to work on my outfit.

Optionals:

Tallahassee Half or Full? Breast Cancer 26.2 with Donna Half or Full?

Gate River Run, March something. I don't really like this run (hello, bridge at end!), but if you are in the top 10% you get a cool hat. Granted I'll never wear the hat because I'll feel like a pretentious runner, but it's kind of tempting. Emma can't believe I'd run 9+ miles as fast as possible "uh, just for a hat?!" And then when I told her I probably wouldn't wear the hat, she laughed... a lot.

Ready Set Glow 5k

Ah... a midnight 5k with glowsticks! Does that sound cool or what?!

Yes, it sounded totally cool... a month before. Slightly less cool a week before... and then it just made me feel really, really old as I contemplated actually putting on my running clothes at 11:30 at night.

No, no... I'm young, I'm hip, I'm doing a 5k at midnight.

So, Ted's passed out (you know, he's a year older than me). The boys are passed out. Emma's wide awake. So I give her the remote and her phone and tell her to have a big time. It's the Friday night before school starts- I know, I know, I'm an incredibly responsible mom.

After killing a few hours that would have been better spent sleeping (and by sleeping I mean watching Chelsea Handler while eating Ritz crackers and peanut butter), I drove over to the Y. It's all of a mile away from my house.

Guess what? It's still incredibly hot. Heat index 103 hot. Great.

I pick up my packet. The t-shirt is sort of cute, but not run at midnight cute. The glowstick is a nice touch- it's a bracelet. Instead of bibs they wrote your number on your hand. I probably should tell them to go the tri route next time and do the arm. My bulging tendons made it hard for the director to write my number on my hand- note to self "hands are looking old." Nice confidence booster.

So I walk to my car with my goody bag. I just got a haircut, so I decided to leave the hat behind (and sunglasses- d'oh! this feels weird!) I try jogging a bit and realize that even with drinking water and sitting around during the day, I'm still really tired. I'm feeling more uncoordinated than usual- think it's because my body wants to be asleep.

OH, and there were tons of people with little kids in the park- so weird! There were a lot of people at the race- I guess they all liked the novelty too. I'm rather smug about the fact that I don't have my children playing on swings at midnight until I remember I left my 10 year old in charge of her two brothers. (Hey, she knew she could wake up Ted if she needed him!)

Race starts. I'm exhausted, but I charge up the big hill by the hospital- good plan! Yeah, so that hurt. I'm wheezing and I can't see my Garmin. I downloaded a new playlist for the race- yeah, Bare Naked Ladies "Who Needs Sleep?" not nearly as clever at midnight. The race was supposed to be lit. Well, you could see in the sense that you probably weren't going to trip, but the disembodied barking of invisible dogs was extremely disturbing. I assumed any dog that loud must be behind a fence or it would have already eaten someone in front of me, but I didn't like not being able to see them coming.

Mile two. Still haven't recovered from the crazy fast first mile, or the exhaustion, or the humidity. I hang on by following a guy in front of me. He doesn't know it but he's dragging me in. We pass a few people on a bit of a downhill.

I see a group of men in front of me. I pass a couple of them and then realize one in front is Ron. Ron and I always finish near each other, trading the lead. I really wanted to pass him just so I could say "hi" and annoy him, but the more I thought about it, it sounded like a whole lot of trouble- have to turn the music off, have to take the headphones out, have to run a lot faster. He could have this one. (I was also distracted by my sudden hatred of James Brown and his mocking tone- NO, I do not feel good!)

And the finish. Down a long hill. It's 26:00. I was surprised because the effort seemed the same as a faster race, but there were so many horrible variables that it was okay. Finishing sort of near Ron made me think it was a pretty good race. And I was too tired to really care. I think my card said 30th finisher. There were about 135 people in the race.


This lovely picture kind of sums up the finish.

I stuck around for the age group awards because I thought I was the 4th or 5th girl across. Hello, should always read the fine print on the registration. Awards were by DECADE and only for first. C'est la vie.

In the meantime, the humidity increased to the point that there was tons of thunder and some lightning. Emma started texting me like crazy- "I hear thunder. R U OK?" and my favorite- "baby awake! Hurry!" followed by "baby being good. ok." I gave her my shirt for being my race support.

So, that's it. I'm going to put midnight races in the same category as bridge runs or those dreadful tour things. Novelty runs that I don't really have to do again. Nothing against the race- it was well organized and attended and generally a good race, but it was at frigging midnight. Enough said.

July 3rd, Sunshine Festival

So a month later...

This race and I have a history.

It was my first real 5k in 2007. I did it in 29:59 and was thrilled. And horrified. I'd signed up for the Goofy- 39.3 miles in one weekend. That was suddenly seeming a lot harder...

In 2008, my mom and I "ran" it when I was 7 or 8 months pregnant. It marked pretty much the end of my running until the baby was born in September. It wasn't really the running that was a problem. It was the heat and the look of concern on the volunteers' faces- "Is she going to have that baby right here? I'm just handing out water and pointing the right way- I did not sign up for baby duty!" We finished in something like 43 minutes.

In 2009, I ran it in about 25:16. I had higher expectations and it basically left me utterly deflated for the rest of the summer. I didn't run again until realizing I could sign up for a tri for our Labor Day Disney trip.

So, that's the Sunshine Festival 5k- I always think I'm going to like it, but it's usually a morale-crushing, willpower-destroying disaster. I don't know why I forget that every year.

Anyway...

July 3rd comes along- my mom kindly picked up my packet the night before. I got all my stuff together that night and prepared to get up early. Worked out fine. Made it to the course with plenty of time to spare. Ran slowly a bit and did a few strides. Talked to some people I knew, and tried to ignore the creeping heat/humidity and my sudden revelation that I hate this race.

And we start- this year I lined up closer to the front. Not right by the teenage boys and the hard-core old guys without shirts, but not next to the guys in the khaki shorts. As usual, I found myself next to a stinky guy. What's up with that?! It's early in the morning and you're going to get sweaty, so I understand not taking a shower before, but if you are that stinky before the race, cut the crowd some slack. Way too early for that kind of sensory overload...

It's a flat course around parks and neighborhoods. I never can remember the course, which is crazy since I run there a lot, but I'm just following people. I go out with my new strategy of starting as fast as I can and trying to hold on. It's not sophisticated or particularly smart, but it is easy to remember. Mile 1 is under 8 minutes, mile 2 about the same. By mile 3 I'm questioning why I keep running 5ks, but I know if I blow this I'll have a complete meltdown- so I push through. Final time: 23:3x. I can't remember exactly, but it was my second fastest 5k and much hotter than the one I set my PR in. So I'm reasonably pleased. My mom met me at the finish. She said I looked pretty good and wasn't as stinky as usual. (Uh, thanks? So like, I wonder if pre-race stinky guy had peaked in his stinkiness or if he got worse?! I left him in my tracks at the start- no way I was sticking around to see what happened on the stinky scale of 1-10. Looking back on Mr. Stinky, I'm wondering if I should have told him to get to a doctor. I mean, I'm a runner who's been in a lot of stinky races and I have three children so I am no stranger to stink, but I'm still gagging a little just thinking about him. As a matter of fact, I have to end this topic now. Right now.)

We went back to get the rest of the peeps back for the awards ceremony. Not surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of action at home in terms of dressing/waking/etc. We finally headed down long after the ceremony. People were cleaning up. I found someone in charge and claimed my age group prize-- 3rd out of 39! It was a nice ocean scene print- kind of fun.

So that was it. Another year, another Sunshine Festival.

Running store!

At long last, I went to a real running store. I live well over an hour away from any "real" running stores. (Being the running snob that I am, I don't consider the mall stores "real.")

I had to pick up Emma at camp about a zillion miles away. On the way up, I took Emma and the baby through Columbus, Georgia (curse you Columbus with your "one wrong turn and you're in Alabama" lack of signs!) We went on a bit of a side trip to Calloway Gardens. Unfortunately, I only remembered how boring it is when we got there. (Okay, it may be lovely when it's not 100 degrees). We then went on a side trip to the Wild Animal Safari Park. Hello, surreal! We bought some food and hopped on the zebra bus with no windows. You hand food to the animals, unless they have "horse-like" mouths in which case they may grab a finger, so you throw it.

I'm totally digressing.

My mother and the baby and I went back a couple of weeks later to get Emma. I had a gift card from the Turtle Crawl Tri (or as I think of it, the ocean horror) for Big Peach Running Store. So, off we went. After a few map reading glitches, we found ourselves at a little store in some Atlanta suburb. Small, but packed full of tasty treats! The guy helping me was about 18 and had a very "hands off" approach. Really nice, but I almost felt like I needed to ask if I could you know, buy something. And this after I mentioned we were on a pilgrimage! Strange. He put me on a treadmill and some funny scale type thing (I don't think it weighed me- wouldn't have agreed to get on that!) Turns out I have high-normal arches and should run in a neutral shoe. He said I had a great steady gait, which was odd since all I could see in the replay of the video was my duck landing. When I pointed it out, he said something to the effect of I land like a very steady duck with very little deviation. Uh, okay. Trust me, I still look stupid.

So I tried on a bunch of shoes- I ended up with some Asics and some superfeet liners... and a new sportsbra... and some socks... and gels. I asked about Newtons, but they were a bit dismissive in a "I don't really know much about them" kind of way. And then we had to leave- my mom was growing a bit impatient (even after the high of finding new people to tell she ran a half-marathon) and the baby was starting to sprint on the little fake track they had for shoe testing.

And that was it.

Oh, and I've run twice in my Asics with the green superfeet. Did three miles on each run and was absolutely crippled. Thanks, trained shoe fitter guy! HA! It worked out in the end because they are really comfortable for walking and seem to help with my PF, but still...

Liking the sportsbra and the socks as well, and haven't run enough to try the variety of Hammer Gels I picked up. Probably should check the expiration dates. You know, now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I'm left with such a good impression of the whole running store experience. Weird.

5k benefit for Emmanuel school

So I don't even remember the name of this race, which is CRAZY, cause I won it.

You read that right.

I was overall top female... WTH??

OK, there were a lot of beginners there and the usual fast people were obviously not there. I decided to take this race more seriously and ran a real warm up. I started out in the direction of the one mile fun run. A friend's 5 year old, Patrick, was running the one mile. His grandfather was far behind him and his older brother predictably dumped him. I decided Patrick would be a good running buddy so I joined the one mile fun run. He actually was perfect- we'd sprint at a 7 minute per mile pace, and then walk at a 22 minute pace (he also caught a ride on a golf cart for the one big hill- smart kid!) It was a really good warm up- note to self: bring Patrick to every race!

The 5k started. All I really wanted to do was get past the clump of little kids who always start in front of me. I pushed hard and saw I was at a 7:30 pace, which was ridiculous. I held on though because those little kids are fast little sprinters and I couldn't see them (or hear them because I was listening to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" on some sort of horrible loop). At about 1.5 miles I caught a teenaged girl- I told her we were halfway there, and she stopped pretty much instantaneously. So then I felt like crap- I thought I was encouraging her, not taking away her will to live! Regardless, I was pretty certain I was now the first girl, so you know, to heck with her- she's young, they'll be other races... I passed a water stop- a small dog tried to get me. Hello, who brings an unleashed dog to a water stop? Oh well. And now I'm going uphill. It's feeling hard, but not impossible. Now my Garmin may be hurting my pace- I see I'm still in the 7:30s. I felt like I could go faster, but I was worried I'd literally fall down. Hmmm... oh, and I'd never moved that fast, so my actual coordination felt off, as in I wasn't sure I was swinging my arms fast enough. I distracted myself by listening to yet another round of "Don't Stop Me Now." It was making me absolutely crazy, but it worked that far and I couldn't possible jinx myself by changing it.

Finally, the finish. A guy in a tri shirt passes me with a "good race" comment. It doesn't bother me one bit because he was young and fit and he should have been in front of me way before then. I push through, hearing "first girl." Crazy. My time was 23:09. My long standing 5k PR was 24:42 so I'm pretty surprised.

I picked up my medal and went on home trying to figure out when I became a "real" runner. And then I entered my 5k results in the McMillan Running Calculator, and see a prediction for around 3:40 for a full marathon. I know it's probably optimistic and reflects proper marathon training, but I need a 3:50 to qualify for the Boston marathon... oh, the torment. Curse you, Boston dream!

Swamp Run 10k

Haven't really posted lately (that's how all my posts start). As the title says, I ran the Swamp Run 10k a couple of months ago. I really didn't even want to go, but my husband was already committed to watching the kids. Seriously, who would pass up that opportunity on a Saturday morning?!

I drove out to the Swamp Park, hopped out of the car, and realized it was freezing! I had on shorts and a light t-shirt. D'Oh. Either I didn't notice the temperature in my frenzy to get out of the house or it dropped 20 degrees in about 10 miles. Either way, I was not really happy.

I grabbed my bag, threw on the long sleeve race shirt, and wandered around doing that pre-race thing- go to the car, get the Garmin, drink water, lock car, put key in shoe pocket, freak out thinking I need something else, get key out, open car, repeat.

Finally I decided I was just going to have to be cold and left the race t-shirt behind. I was concerned that wearing the t-shirt before the race would guarantee a twisted ankle.

The race starts. I have no expectations. I started out at what felt like a slow pace. The first mile is on the road. Somewhere around mile 2 you head into the trails. (Trails are really just narrow grassy paths). It was hard to pass on the trails, and I was actually feeling like moving fast now. Got to another open road and started passing people. It felt a little risky to pass people around mile 3 and 4, but I was feeling strong. I even passed a girl who totally killed me at the Gate River Run last year (I expected her to get me back, but she didn't. Sweet!)

There's a turn-around on the roads, which was a nice distraction. There weren't that many people in front of me. Since it's an out and back course, I tried to push it some to avoid any log jams on the trail. I saw my friend Mary. She yelled some encouragement, as always. (Mary is in her late 50s, but crazy fast!) I pushed past her and headed home.

I saw two men ahead of me the last half mile. I passed both, expecting they'd catch me in the end. I never really have a final sprint. They didn't catch me! Shocking. Final time: 52:10. A new PR and good enough for 2nd in my age group and a little trophy.

I hung around with the old runner guys after the race who let me in on their trash talking- that was hilarious. Me and the 60 year old guys. They had a big pancake breakfast too. Usually I skip it, but this time I thought "hello, pancakes!"

All in all, pretty fun. Oh, and when I looked in the race results later, the two guys I passed were like 67 and 14. Yeah, I felt a little bad about that...