I raced both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Who am I?This weekend was perfect, weather-wise...for sitting in the shade on the beach.
It was a little hot for running.
Thankfully both races started early and were short. Saturday morning was my club's relay challenge which began at 8:30am. I only had to run 1600 meters. Sunday was a 10k starting at 8am. Having run a 10k before, I was much more nervous about the 1600. Running a mile on a track is hard and everyone is watching. It was okay though. Everyone was so supportive and I beat my goal at both races!
Saturday: 26x1 Relay Club Challenge
26x1 Relay Club Challenge was a relay race put on by my running club, Somerville Road Runners. In it's 11th year, this race is a competition to see who is the fastest local running club in the area. The teams consist of 26 individuals (at least 10 women per team) running 1600 meters around a track and 1 speed leg to make up the .2 of the marathon distance. A baton is passed from runner to runner at each leg. The team to finish their marathon the quickest wins.
The event was held at the outdoor track at Tufts University, our practice track. It was so fun racing in a familiar setting and having the yellow and back cheer squad right at the start/finish. I am ever grateful for this running team. All the support really fueled my run.
As with any 1600, lap 3 was a killer. I've been practicing the pacing at our Tuesday track workouts but of course the race day excitement had me go out too fast. I corrected on lap 2 and slowed a little more on lap 3. In the end, I beat my predicted time of 9 minutes to finish in 8min 49sec!
Official results are below. My club had 3 teams competing in this event. SRR Davis, SRR Porter, and SRR Union. I was on the third team, SRR Union. The top 3 teams finished within seconds of each other. Great fun! See the event page for a list of full results.
It takes many hands and hours to pull off an event like this. A special thanks to all of the race organizers and volunteers. This was truly an awesome event. The energy and graciousness of all the clubs made the competition tough but fun. I was on the clean up crew but so many people pitched in that the work went quickly. Everyone was eager to get to the post-race party at Powderhouse Pub :)
Sunday: B.A.A. 10k
This was the 6th annual running of the 10k race put on by the Boston Athletic Association. I have run this race before back in 2012. It was a hot day that year too. I signed up for this year's race before I knew what day my club's relay race would be. When I found out they were on the same weekend, I figured there would be no harm in racing them both.
The race starts on Charles St. between the Boston Commons and the Public Garden. It then runs down Commonwealth Avenue to just before Kenmore Square. It takes a right and left to get onto Beacon St. then slight right to continue up Bay State Road. At the end of Bay State, it makes its way back onto Comm. up until a sharp u-turn at Babcock St. The way back is basically all Comm all the way until the Public Garden. It finishes where it started on Charles St.
I arrived with only about 15 minutes to spare til the official start. It turned out to be plenty of time since the race was starting in waves anyway. By the time we started, it was about 19 minutes after the official start. I took a pic of this 10:00-10:59 pace sign as a sort of race prediction; thinking maybe I could avg. less than 11min/mile. I really had no idea though.
Saturday's miler gave me some confidence (an 8:49 mile was more than I expected) but with Sunday's heat I knew a sub 11 pace might be a stretch. I lined up at the back of the 11:00+ pace marker in wave 4. I had forgotten my watch at home that morning so I would have to pace by feel and I figured starting way back there would help me not go out too quickly.
Starting at the back of the last wave turned out to be a good idea. It made me start out slow. I started out at a steady pace and tried my best to continue it through out the race. Also, starting at the back made it so that I was consistently passing people throughout the race :) which gave me confidence that my pace was working.
The sun was hot. I took water and walked all of the water stops. Even still, I felt like I was over heating around mile 5. The second half of the race was tough, as we runners turn around and run back east down Comm Ave into the sun. I really started to feel the heat then. Thankfully, it was also downhill.
I finished hot and tired but really pleased when I saw the race clock at the finish. I ended up with a negative split.
26x1 Relay Club Challenge was a relay race put on by my running club, Somerville Road Runners. In it's 11th year, this race is a competition to see who is the fastest local running club in the area. The teams consist of 26 individuals (at least 10 women per team) running 1600 meters around a track and 1 speed leg to make up the .2 of the marathon distance. A baton is passed from runner to runner at each leg. The team to finish their marathon the quickest wins.
(pic of me, photo cred: Deb Downs)
The event was held at the outdoor track at Tufts University, our practice track. It was so fun racing in a familiar setting and having the yellow and back cheer squad right at the start/finish. I am ever grateful for this running team. All the support really fueled my run.
As with any 1600, lap 3 was a killer. I've been practicing the pacing at our Tuesday track workouts but of course the race day excitement had me go out too fast. I corrected on lap 2 and slowed a little more on lap 3. In the end, I beat my predicted time of 9 minutes to finish in 8min 49sec!
Official results are below. My club had 3 teams competing in this event. SRR Davis, SRR Porter, and SRR Union. I was on the third team, SRR Union. The top 3 teams finished within seconds of each other. Great fun! See the event page for a list of full results.
Team Division 1. 2:21:02 CRC Bullwinkle(4) 2. 2:21:08 HFC Striders(8) 3. 2:21:21 November Project(13) 4. 2:23:20 SRR Davis(15) 5. 2:32:13 Wicked Fast(18) 6. 2:32:58 Brighton Bangers Hotline(3) 7. 2:40:43 CRC Rocky(5) 8. 2:41:49 KBFR(10) 9. 2:45:39 Boston River Rats(1) 10. 2:49:37 Melrose RC(11) 11. 2:49:53 Informal Racing(9) 12. 2:50:48 Parkway RC(14) 13. 2:51:27 SRR Porter(16) 14. 2:51:51 Community Running(6) 15. 2:52:38 SRR Union(17) 16. 2:54:42 GFRC(7) 17. 2:56:34 Brighton Bangers Bling(2) 18. 3:07:27 Mystic Runners(12) 19. 3:37:02 Wicked Fun(19)
It takes many hands and hours to pull off an event like this. A special thanks to all of the race organizers and volunteers. This was truly an awesome event. The energy and graciousness of all the clubs made the competition tough but fun. I was on the clean up crew but so many people pitched in that the work went quickly. Everyone was eager to get to the post-race party at Powderhouse Pub :)
Sunday: B.A.A. 10k
This was the 6th annual running of the 10k race put on by the Boston Athletic Association. I have run this race before back in 2012. It was a hot day that year too. I signed up for this year's race before I knew what day my club's relay race would be. When I found out they were on the same weekend, I figured there would be no harm in racing them both.
The race starts on Charles St. between the Boston Commons and the Public Garden. It then runs down Commonwealth Avenue to just before Kenmore Square. It takes a right and left to get onto Beacon St. then slight right to continue up Bay State Road. At the end of Bay State, it makes its way back onto Comm. up until a sharp u-turn at Babcock St. The way back is basically all Comm all the way until the Public Garden. It finishes where it started on Charles St.
I arrived with only about 15 minutes to spare til the official start. It turned out to be plenty of time since the race was starting in waves anyway. By the time we started, it was about 19 minutes after the official start. I took a pic of this 10:00-10:59 pace sign as a sort of race prediction; thinking maybe I could avg. less than 11min/mile. I really had no idea though. 
Starting at the back of the last wave turned out to be a good idea. It made me start out slow. I started out at a steady pace and tried my best to continue it through out the race. Also, starting at the back made it so that I was consistently passing people throughout the race :) which gave me confidence that my pace was working.
The sun was hot. I took water and walked all of the water stops. Even still, I felt like I was over heating around mile 5. The second half of the race was tough, as we runners turn around and run back east down Comm Ave into the sun. I really started to feel the heat then. Thankfully, it was also downhill.
I finished hot and tired but really pleased when I saw the race clock at the finish. I ended up with a negative split.
 |
| Selfie with my race swag |
Overall time
| Net Time | 1:07:50 |
| Overall | 5949/7811 |
| In Gender | 2995/4430 |
| In Division | 601/874 |
| Split Time at 5K | 34:28 |
| Split Time at 8K | 54:29 |
My friend Katie also ran the race and did really well! Here is a pic of us before heading into chuch after the race. Don't worry, I took my medal off before church :)
Other race excitement
It was so much fun seeing Shalane Flanagan and Amy Craig out on the course. When I saw them, I was just coming up on the mile 1 marker and they were finishin up mile 5. Shalane was out in front looking strong and Amy was 4th at that point. Shalane looked so strong out in front and Amy was working hard to catch the third woman for the podium. Honestly, seeing them pass gave me such a boost of motivation for my own race.
Congrats on the new American record and course record, Shalane! Can't wait to see you and Amy kill it in Rio.
What's next?
This was my last scheduled race for this year. I am sill debating the possibility of another something something in August (maybe the 50k at TARC Summer classic). Running two races in one weekend wasn't that bad. With proper pacing and "saving some" for the next race, it is totally doable. Maybe I'll try it again one day. For now, I'm going to enjoy recovering and running for fun.
Other race excitement
It was so much fun seeing Shalane Flanagan and Amy Craig out on the course. When I saw them, I was just coming up on the mile 1 marker and they were finishin up mile 5. Shalane was out in front looking strong and Amy was 4th at that point. Shalane looked so strong out in front and Amy was working hard to catch the third woman for the podium. Honestly, seeing them pass gave me such a boost of motivation for my own race.
Congrats on the new American record and course record, Shalane! Can't wait to see you and Amy kill it in Rio.
What's next?
This was my last scheduled race for this year. I am sill debating the possibility of another something something in August (maybe the 50k at TARC Summer classic). Running two races in one weekend wasn't that bad. With proper pacing and "saving some" for the next race, it is totally doable. Maybe I'll try it again one day. For now, I'm going to enjoy recovering and running for fun.
What about you?
Do you like racing in the summer heat?
Have you ever run multiple events in the same weekend?
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