DW Runners

Hello runners! After struggling with repeated short-term illnesses for the first half of the year (colds, throat infection, cystitis; as soon as I shook off one, another snuck in to take its place), I started running consistently again. Total distance for the second half of July was 25 km, and so far in August I'm on 10 km, hoping to achieve 40+ by the end of the month. I signed up to do a 10k in mid-September. My only goal is to beat last year's time.

Anyway, I'm mostly posting because I'd like to hear about other people's Parkrun experiences. My partner & I have been doing Parkrun alternately for about a year and a half now. One of us runs and the other looks after the children. We used to have to drive to a Parkrun (not ideal). On the plus side, that site has a large and well-equipped playground in it. However, a new Parkrun has just started up nearby that we can cycle to. I've started volunteering rather than running, since I tend to get my running in during the week, so Partner does Parkrun. Also, the cycle is a hilly 15 km round-trip, so I feel like I get a fair bit of exercise doing that, especially with a child on the back of the bike. So far I've only done marshaling. The course is not very well bedded in. The other Parkrun is on a paved track, while this one is just basically a rough track in a field full of sheep. At the last Parkrun, the organisers said they want to have more people trained up to do more taxing roles such as time-keeping. I kept quiet at the time since I'm still new to volunteering, but I was wondering if any other runners here have volunteered at a Parkrun, and which roles they've taken and enjoyed? Also, if you run at Parkrun, what do you like best about it?

So I walked a 5K yesterday. 56:28, and too nearly last (out of about two hundred registrants, 139 of whom were walking) for the comfort of my pride. In an effort to salvage said pride, I picked up a book for beginning runners at the library (authored by the Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia, so I figure they know what they're talking about) that has a thirteen-week program, three sessions a week of run X minutes walk Y minutes repeat Z times (and the final session is run a 10K). I'm planning to start that Tuesday. Or maybe Saturday. (Y'know. Once I'm over the ow ow ow from doing too much in the 5K and without stretching properly first. I'm not sure what I was trying to prove but I don't think I proved it.)

My question is, should I run around the neighborhood or should I run on the treadmill at the neighborhood gym? It'll be easier to track time and distance on the treadmill, and walking the three blocks to and from will serve as a warm-up and cool-down, but the scenery is...not exactly scenic. Not that my neighborhood is a particularly pretty one, but at least the view changes as I move, you know? And I'm not sure which will bug me worse, repeatedly pressing a button to change the treadmill speed (I don't know if there's a way to change the speed on these treadmills other than by increments of 0.1 mph) or repeatedly changing and resetting the timer app on my tablet.

So treadmill sounds better at first blush, but I'm wondering if there are other reasons to prefer sidewalks to treadmills.

(Wish me luck, y'all, I'ma need it if I'm actually going to get and stick with the program this time...)

Race report for my FIRST EVER 5k at my journal: Pi Mile Race Report

Time isn't final, but is probably about 46:15.

(from left to right: K, me, M, H)

This weekend, I ran the Cambridge 5k Race for Life, which raises funds for cancer research, with three of my lady friends.

Some of you may recall that I posted a few months ago asking about how to keep a group together during a race. It turns out to be fairly simple to organise - ask who wishes to be in the group first! We ended up running as 3+1, with three of us paced similarly (running continuously) while the fourth ran alone (in intervals) partly from personal preference and partly due to necessity from injury.

We arrived at Parkers Piece, where the race began, about half an hour early. I left the house feeling rather self-conscious in my kitteh outfit. We rounded a corner onto a busy road and were faced with two angels, three fairies, a bunny and a chicken. My self-consciousness evaporated.

On reaching the green, we were blinded by pink. Thousands of girls and women in pink. Seven and a half thousand, according to the official tally. We marveled at matching mothers and daughters, at tutus, at feathered head-dresses. Then we tried to place ourselves in the correct corral for the start of the race. We opted for what we thought was the "runners" corral, but ended up going through in the first pulse of 1000 participants, amongst the "serious runners". This turned out to be a stroke of good luck, as due to the congestion we had to pretty much walk the first 500 metres.

The field opened out after that and my companions H & M and I took off. We started passing people. In fact, we spent most of the race passing people. At one point, M, who has a weak ankle, took a tumble to a chorus of "Ooohs". She rolled (hello, self-defense training) and was on her feet in the next instant, to a chorus of "Yaaaays". We threaded through the crowds as one kilometre after another melted away. Spectators cheered us on. I received many compliments on my costume. Each gave me a little extra burst of energy. We kept up our banter for almost 4k. Just before the marker, we saw H's husband and son. Her husband cheered. The baby snoozed obliviously.

As we rounded onto Jesus Green for the last 500 metres, we started going faster by unspoken agreement. There was more space, so we could push ourselves harder. Chatting stopped abruptly. H, who is the fastest, silently egged us on, incrementally increasing her pace until with fists raised and adrenaline pumping, we bounced across the finish, 31:24 after we'd started.

I figure we probably could have done it in under 30 minutes if it weren't for the early congestion and a couple of bottlenecks that slowed us down. For a first attempt at keeping a group together and for what was really a fun run (no timing chips involved), I feel pretty happy about the performance. It would have been impossible for us to train together as M normally lives across an ocean. K, the friend who did intervals, finished in just over 35 minutes. I'm also pleased because I never thought that running would be a form of exercise that I would enjoy quite so much. I don't have a "natural" runner's build, as you can see from the pictures under the cut, and I'll never be a placing competitor, but the fantastic atmosphere and energy of races is well worth the training.

Also, I was pleased because my kitty ears stayed on the whole way.

I've now done a 5k adventure race and a straight 5k. The next step up for me is a 10k in October!

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x-posted to my personal journal: Apologies to those for whom this is turning up twice.

Hi everyone! I finished my first race today, a 5k obstacle course called The Spartan Race. I'm quite pleased not to have been last. I ran it in a silly costume and you can read my race report here.

In twelve days, I will be running The Spartan Race, which is my first race ever. It's a 5k, but since it also involves wading through mud, leaping hurdles, crawling under barbed wire, dodging some big dude with a stick and jumping through fire, I figured it would be a good challenge. It looked to me like a cross between Calvinball and an obstacle course, which had the right element of silliness to make it my first race.

In a fit of madness, I agreed to run the race dressed as Princess Leia if I could raise £50 for Oxfam and to wear the earmuff braids if I could raise £100. My friends, ever eager to see me make an idiot of myself, have come through. And so I am running the race in this outfit.

O dear.



( (+2, possibly NSFW) )

If anyone happens to be in Royston, UK on Sunday 19th September, feel free to come along and giggle at me in person. Also, if anyone has any tips about how to secure ridiculous headgear while running a race, please let me know.

I DID IT!!!!!

I was up at 5:30am to have my banana breakfast shake, get dressed, and hit the subway to catch the ferry to Governor's Island for the 2nd Annual World Trade Center Run to Remember.

The race started a little after 10. I did try the trick of having slightly slower stuff at the beginning of my playlist, and it helped a little...but I still ended up walking a little more than usual - though for a first real solid run outside, I'm not holding that against myself. I think I ran faster than usual when I did run. When I hit the 1 mile marker, the timer was between 12 minutes and 13 minutes, so I know I went out fast! I ended up having to jump into a porta-potty about mid-way through for a minute - they had a weird set up and had us around the starting area where there were no potties around 20 minutes ahead of gun time. I had unknowingly planned my playlist almost exactly right. When I rounded the corner and could see the finish, "Die Vampire, Die!" came on (a song about telling your inner demonic voices to STFU!), and for the last .11-ish I rounded it out with the beginning of "I Run For Life" - which are my two "power songs". I busted butt towards the finish line and crossed somewhere around 41:32. I remember seeing that number, but I'm kind of thinking it was when I turned around in that "OMG I JUST RAN A 5K!!!" haze. The official results aren't up yet.

I'm really proud of myself!! Hopefully this week I can get outside and *maybe* improve my time next week in the Komen - though since there are hills involved there, I'm not going to be mad at myself if I don't do better.

x-posted to my blog