June 23, 2012

Solstice 10-Miler race report

I am going to start by saying WHAT A FUN RACE!! I absolutely loved everything about it.

I woke up to the alarm going off at 4:00 a.m. Good grief, that is early. I don't know how my husband does that every day! I will not complain about the kids waking me up at 6:00 ever again. Jerry and I both got up and had a cup of coffee together. That part was pretty nice, actually.

I got dressed in my little outfit, and French-braided my hair (which took forever). Sat around waiting for a little bit. Then I met Jessica at Kroger at 5:30 so we could drive to the race together. I felt like I was still half-asleep. We picked up our shirts, which were inside of a mall--awesome, because we could use a "real" bathroom instead of porta-potties.

Ty from "this is how ty runs" sent me a text. We had talked about meeting up and running together, so I waited for her before going to the starting line. We'd never met in person, although I read her blog and she reads mine. She was with her husband (who was running the 10 Mile also) and her friend Irina (who was running the 10K). I sent her pictures of what Jessica and I were going to wear, so they picked up the same goodies from the dollar store as well. We looked very festive!
Irina, Ty, me, and Jessica (pre-race)
And apparently, we were the ONLY ones who looked this festive, because I only saw a couple of other people dressed up. We walked by a man who was filming the race, and he asked if he could film us yelling, "Welcome to the Solstice Run!" So we stopped and did that. Then there was a random guy who was running the 10-Mile who stopped us and asked if we'd get a picture with him. We were quite the attraction, which was fun ;)

The 10K'ers went first, and then we lined up to start at 7:30. I planned on running slow and easy, about an 11-minute mile pace. I was afraid of running too hard and messing up my knee again, so this was a "fun run" for us. Thankfully, the weather was actually pretty nice! It was a little hot at times, but nothing like the marathon was a month ago.

I always get cotton mouth the first mile or so of a race. I think my adrenaline just gets going full-speed and coupled with nerves, I get a dry mouth. The first few miles are always the worst for me as I find a good pace and rhythm. Jessica, Ty, and I all ran together and chatted. The skirt and seashell bra didn't bother me one bit! But the lei was really hot and sweaty on my neck. I left in on, but Jessica gave hers to a little girl who was cheering. I would have done the same with mine, but it was really sweaty and gross.

There was a monster of a hill 3/4 of a mile into the course, but we did good with it. If it had been at the end of the course, I for sure would have walked it. We walked through the water stations, but maintained a 10:40 ish pace. My knee started to bug me a little at about mile 5, but it wasn't bad. Just a little irritating. It stayed like that through the rest of the race, which bummed me out, but it never got to the point where I had to walk. It was more irritating than painful.

I was surprised at how hilly the course was! I am used to running on totally flat ground, so the hills were tough for me. My legs felt good, but it was hard to catch my breath at the top of each hill. The course was difficult in that sense, but not horribly so. It was a great course, in my opinion.
At mile 7, Ty decided Jessica and I were holding her back ;) so she took off ahead of us. I was actually feeling pretty good at that point, but Jessica had a rough couple of miles (usually she starts out strong, when I'm not doing so well, and then vice versa later in the race). We slowed our pace a little, and then the last mile was a blast.

There were tons of people around, and we ran through where a festival was set up for later. Then the last half-mile was AMAZING. I just kept saying, "I love this!" because we ran a loop around this field, where the finish line party was. There was music, and tons of people cheering, and I felt like a champion, haha. We sprinted the last little stretch to the finish.
Not last place, but pretty damn close ;)
Our splits
The finish line had Panera bagels (yum!) so I grabbed a whole grain one, which is my favorite kind. I drank a bottle of water and we found Ty and Irina, who tried to convince us to dance with the "real" hula dancers on stage. Um, no thanks. I am waaaay to shy for that! Jessica danced a little, and then a woman asked if she could borrow my grass skirt so she could do it. The real hula dancers wanted a pic with us, but I wasn't able to get my skirt back on in time before they took the picture... bummer.

Jessica and I took an "after" pic at the car before heading home...
Showing off our surf board medals
I'm not thrilled with the shirts, but the medals are cool--they are shaped like surf boards. And we also got a hat!

Notice the pink stain on the ribbon of my medal? Yeah, that's from my shirt. My skin was stained pink when I took it off! I didn't wash the shirt yesterday after buying it. After seeing the stain, I figured I'd better hand wash it for the first time so I don't stain a whole load of laundry. Look at the water!
After my shower, I had the BEST post-race lunch ever. I made smashed chick pea and avocado salad and spread it on my whole grain Panera bagel. It was heavenly. And really tempting to go get another bagel tomorrow so I can have the same thing again.
I was shaking from hunger at this point, so apparently,
I was unable to take a non-blurry picture!
I loved this race, and would totally do it again next year. It's definitely one to do with friends! And dress up for sure. The course was great, even with the hills, the volunteers were awesome, the race was very well-organized, and best of all, SO much fun!

Running races for fun rather than for time makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. I would still love to get my sub-26:00 5K and my sub 2:00:00 half-marathon, but after I do that, I would love to run races just for fun, without a time goal.

21 comments:

  1. Great race! I think I bought the same shirt you did from Wal-Mart so I will definitely wash it in the sink first!

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  2. Awesome Job!!!I am glad you guys had a fun time. Good for you guys for dressing up. I think that makes a race that much more fun! After reading about how fun it was for you both I am putting it on my race list for next year.
    Yummy after race meal. I love that salad!

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  3. The shirt matches your slash capris. :)

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  4. Sorry for leaving you!! I just had an overwhelming urge to RUN!! when I saw there were only 3 miles left. Did you rinse your medal? I had that happen with a white race tee once that I wore with a new sports bra, and the color rinsed right out. I hate that we were so close to the back. Stupid 12 min/mile cutoff took out all the slower runners and walkers. :(

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  5. I love that you used to think running was crazy and now you say "I would love to run races just for fun". I have always hated running. Probably because I've been overweight as long as I can remember. I was so glad when I didn't have to take p.e. any more. But, Katie, you have inspired me. I am doing a couch to 5k program and hope to run/walk the Wounded Warrior 5K at a naval base in Southern California (where I live) on September 15th. I hope I get to where I enjoy running as much as you.

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  6. AnonymousJune 23, 2012

    I'd take that pink staining as a badge of kick ass-dome! Gives "go red" a new meaning.

    I was wondering how you were going to cope with all that paraphernalia, good to know it was all fun and not annoying.

    "dressed in my little outfit" Such nice words to type (probably without a thought) for a girl who struggled to get where she is!

    Congrats once again. I mean it. : )

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  7. Awesome job, you guys all look so cute! And yeah, those shirts are pretty blah.

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  8. I did Solstice last year and it is always a giant party! I totally agree about the course - although I only did the 5K - it was really hilly but just enough so. Did they start the 10 mile around the race track? I loved having the first 1/2 mile on gravel. And I remember the end - looping around the park IS like being a rock star, with all those "fans" cheering. I'm so glad you had a fun time. The pics are great!

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  9. One thing shocked me while reading this.. You posted your form that had your runnng time but what got me is it showed your full name. I don't think I've ever seen you do that because you kinda want to protect yourself (which I totally get). Other than that, great job Katie!!

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  10. How fun!! I'm glad you had a great time and I really enjoyed reading the report. Love your outfits and that you were "celebrities"! ;)

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  11. I'm glad you had a great time! Just wondering why the hat says "Kona Run" and what the connection is between "Solstice Run" and hula dancing... Would LOVE to run in Hawaii!!!

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  12. What a cool run! I love the medals! That's insane how pink your shirt is. Glad it was a good run!

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  13. Sounds like a really great race. I'm doing a 5k at the toronto Zoo in September and i think it's going to be so much fun, I can't wait!

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  14. Great job! It looks like you guys had a lot of fun! So glad you were able to meet my friend Ty, too. She's a blast :)

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  15. I'm glad you posted that about your shirt. I got the same shirt over the weekend and was going to wear it today without washing it. I'll go throw it in now!

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  16. Congrats Katie! Another race where I wish I would have looked for you so I could finally meet you IRL! ;) (although I ran the 10K ;)) It was definitely HILLY! :-P Question for you - I notice in your GPS stats that you actually logged 10.23 miles for the 10M route...I ran the 10K route and my GPS calc'd it at 6.35 miles - do you know if others found the course distance to actually go over? Great job again!! :)

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    1. p.s. I saw you on the Solstice video :) - you girls were so cute and in theme! :) Here is the link - enjoy :)

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXBEdAaaJ7g

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  17. OMG I can't believe that pink water!!! Before I read the post, I thought you were going to tell us about some tie-dying you did with the boys. Ha ha. That bagel looks SO YUM. Totally checking out the recipe. Still need to make your cookie dough hummus, too! Stop giving us so many tempting things to try! joking! :)

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  18. It sounds like you had a really good time. I envy you. I really wish that I could compete in such runs but i have circulation problems in one of my legs that prevents it. Keep up the good work.

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