Beat The Heat 5k

Hey everyone!  It’s been a while since I have written a blog.  I apologize for this race not having a video blog for it but with storms and rain at the race I kind of forgot to get video footage at the start and then when I did remember at the award ceremony, it was pouring down rain and I didn’t really feel like getting my camera wet.  So I’m writing this one instead, hope you like it. J  

            Last Saturday, July 21^st;  my dad, brother, sister, and I went up to Winston Salem, NC so I could run the Beat the Heat 5k, which I could run the North Carolina USATF 5k road championships.  There were quite a few Charlotte runners at the race, which was awesome to get to meet up with them.  Among them were Stephanie “Pezz” Pezzullo, Caitlin Chrisman, Caleb Boyd, and Bill Shires.  As soon as I got to the race I got my bib number, 14, and my race t-shirt, which is a bright neon orange by the way, totally awesome!  Soon my grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 3 cousins came rolling in to cheer me on, talk about an amazing support crew, gotta love family! J

            Come race time I was all excited and ready for my first race of the new training cycle.  However at the moment right before the siren to start the race sounded, is when the nerves settled in right at the pit of my stomach.  Not a very pleasant feeling if you ask me, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on the feeling because the race had started.  As I had jogged the first mile of the race during my warm up that mile seemed to go by very quickly as I tried to get right into pace.  Before I knew it I was at the mile point in 5:20, right where I wanted to be.  However I knew the race was already a third of the way done and I could feel myself starting to get tired.  The next mile would be very difficult as it was an uphill mile, so as Caitlin and Caleb passed me and my dad yelling encouraging words, I decided to latch on and not let those two get away from me.  Now I’m just going to go ahead and put it out there and say, that the second mile absolutely sucked!  But, I pushed anyways and never let Caitlin and Caleb get ahead of me by much, in my head that just wasn’t an option to let them get away.  This was a good thought though, because I was starting to get that competitive feeling going. 

            That last mile I definitely enjoyed the down hills and used them to my advantage.  As we turned a corner into a long downhill stretch a man on the side of the road yelled “half a mile left”, man was I happy to hear that.  I used that knowledge and accelerated off the turn into the downhill.  Soon, towards the end of the road I noticed it curved and realized just how close to the three mile point I was.  Caitlin seemed to notice too and put in a burst of speed, so we were neck and neck at the three mile marker.  That was when it came down to all out racing, we might have been helping each other push and stay together during the race, but now it was every woman for herself, and neither one of us wanted to lose to the other.  We both took off towards the finish and I am proud to say that I definitely all out sprinted to the finish of that race, and if you don’t believe me just ask my calves as they were sore after the race!

            I am very happy about my race and excited about how the Charlotte women finished.  In the North Carolina USATF 5k road championship Pezz won, 16:22, I was 2^nd, 17:03, and Caitlin was 3^rd, 17:04.  What an amazing clean sweep for the Charlotte Running Club and my dad who coaches all 3 of us!  That race might not of been my best time, but it didn’t matter, for the first time I felt truly competitive in a 5k race and that is exactly what I want as I prepare for Footlocker XC later this fall.        

A New PR For Me!

Last Saturday, March 26^th, I ran a 5K on the track at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC.  The Charlotte Running Club (CRC) was trying to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 by 5K relay.  I was lucky enough to run a leg of the relay, because who would not want to break a world record.  When I arrived it was raining and cold, I wasn’t happy about this.  The past 3 weekends had been beautiful, what happened, why did it have to rain this weekend, why not next weekend? As I stepped out of the car I could see the tents set up for timing and hanging out in.  After I said hi to my dad, who had come out earlier to support all of his runners, I went to the press box to keep warm and dry.  I got to chat with Caitlin, Aaron, and John and watch a few of the runners complete their legs of the relay.  Then my dad came up to let me know it was time to warm up.  As I did my warm up, I just kept getting more and more excited.  As I did my drills and got ready to go to the starting line felt pumped.  I was not nervous at all!

Once I grabbed the baton, I took off.  The adrenaline I felt over took me the first lap and ran too fast (74 – Yikes!).  But who wouldn’t be super excited?  After the first lap was able to get back on pace, I enjoyed having people cheering for me every 200 meters as well as Megan, Jordan, and Catlin cheering from the infield.  It really helped me keep going when I would get tired.   About halfway through I started to feel that first lap and started feeling tired.  Mike Kahn was able to help me keep pushing through the pain when he ran across the field with a boom box blasting; the sudden noise scared me and I jumped out of my skin which gave me a jolt to keep going.  As the laps continued to click off, I could feel myself slowing down slightly, so I intentionally pushed harder as the rain kept coming down.  With 600 to go I gave another big push, kicking up water as I when making my butt and back wetter than it already was.  With one lap left I heard the bell and everyone cheering, I sprinted hard to the finish and handed off the baton.  I was so glad I did not drop the baton.  When my dad told me I had gotten a PR, I was ecstatic.  I thought if I could run 17:08 (17:09.1 officially) on an asphalt track by myself and in the pouring rain, just think what I could run on a good day with competition.  They race got me wanting to run a race on the track to see if maybe I could break 17:00 for a 5K in my next race.