Tag: virtual race

Hot Chocolate 15 REcap- Virtual

Now let’s see how well my memory works as this was a week ago. But I was waiting for the swag to get here! You may be thinking- couldn’t you have written it after you ran it and just waited to post it? There’s a reason this site is not called The Logical Runner.

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I was excited to sign for Hot Chocolate 15K- Phoenix. Somehow, I have never run a Hot Chocolate race before even though I had heard great things. Obviously, I would have preferred to run it in person but 2020. I missed the crowds and I know I missed out on what I hear are amazing aid stations. And I miss Arizona- my trip last month reminded me of why we vacationed there when I was a child.

I signed up for this race back in October. I remember thinking that my goal was to be able to run/walk a decent time for the 15k. I was thinking that knowing I had a 15K race soon, I would get back to training. But, yeah life.

Race weekend dawned on Dec 12/13 and I was just starting another week of PTO. I didn’t realize how fried I was until I did nothing but sleep and eat all weekend. Oops. But that is the beauty of virtual runs, right? If race day does not work for you- pick a new race day! Also, the beauty of PTO- I could run it on Monday!

Monday dawned a little chilly but I wasn’t running until the early afternoon, so it was fine. Right? I didn’t think I was up for 15K and was considering dropping to the 5K. A choice I hope I would have been smart enough to make had we been running the race in person.

I started my run with a nice little warm up walk, i.e I got to the top of the hill to start my race. I was trying for a decent time so I stopped, stretched, restarted my run and was off!

For maybe 1/3 of a mile. My left foot started to go numb. I tried to keep running but that made things worse so I switched to walking. If you’ve been with me for a while, you might know this is not a new thing but something I thought I fixed.

The beginning of 2019, I was plagued by a numb foot or worse, numb feet. I could never figure out what caused it. It didn’t always happen and usually happened at random times. I changed shoes, I changed socks, I worked on stretches, etc. I learned that I had to walk it out and the longest it ever lasted was 3ish miles. Then it miraculously went away, yay!

Did you catch how long it could last??? Yep, 3 miles. Like a 5k. And sure enough, my left foot stayed numb for the entire 5k. Seriously?!?! So I walked it out. So, Hot Chocolate 5K- 45:31. Which isn’t the time I had hoped to eke out but it’s not horrible for a numb foot.

I thought about trying to add another 6.2 mile once my foot came back to life but knew my legs were already angry with how I changed my stride. It’s ok, I could console myself with chocolate, right?

Except, my awesome swag was lost in transit! I watched it literally circle the country according to the transit data. It was in CA a few times before leaving again, ha! It finally did arrive though and it is really awesome! The sweatshirt is top notch and I’ve already worn it. It will definitely keep me warm through the next few months. Just one ask- how about a milk chocolate cocoa mix??? I think I may be alone in that though.

Maybe my next Hot Chocolate race will be in person?? Fingers crossed!

Ever run a Hot Chocolate race?

MCM 10K (virtual) Recap

A good chunk of runners will say that their dream race is Boston.

Mine is Marine Corps Marathon. Or Leadville but that’s another story.

2020 being what it is, I decided to register for the virtual version of the MCM 10K.

Race weekend dawned and oops, I’d been super lazy. Hadn’t run in almost 2 weeks. Longest run previously was the Giants 10k over Labor Day weekend. Oh, I was totally ready for a 6 mile run. Yep. I really wanted to run it on the actual, original race weekend so I sucked it up.

Thankfully, the weather gods gifted us with some almost fall weather so I was even able to be lazy and sleep in on race morning. Yay!

I headed out in the early afternoon and told myself that I would run/walk 3 miles and walk 3 miles. I could walk as much as I wanted but I could never stop. No breaks. Those are my new “race” rules.

I headed for the river path and what used to be my long run route- in other words, an uphill start but a downhill finish. Woo hoo!

I knew that being out of shape, I would tire quickly so instead of running the first half and struggling to finish the last half, I walked the first 3 miles. So, does that mean I walked the part of the route that was uphill and ran the downhill? Yep!

I even found some crowd support!

Not gonna lie, I was feeling tired towards the end but that was really no surprise. And my shoe was coming untied but I refused to stop. Good thing I didn’t fall on that last half mile. That would have been classic.

I finished and stopped to stretch. Oh, I was going to be feeling that later.

Finish- 1:28:34

Hey, and somehow I was faster than I was for the Giants 10K! On a much hillier course. Gotta take those wins where you can find them right?

This was not the MCM of my running dreams but it did help me prove to myself that not all is lost. I just need to get out of my own way.

Giant Race San Francisco

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Giant Race- San Francisco as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

This was the year. I was finally going to run The San Francisco Giant Race. I’ve been wanting to run this race for years. I am not even a huge baseball fan but I this race has been on my to-do list for years. Maybe it’s because the stadium was such a great thing to see during my first marathon. It meant I was close to the finish. Maybe because it’s a gorgeous park, maybe it’s because I grew up playing softball.

The idea of running a race and ending in the ballpark was awesome. Getting to explore the park? Even better. Count me in! Except every year the race was the same weekend as my mother’s tennis tournament. The one where I am always a chaperone. Grrr. So in the beginning of 2020, I told her she needed to find another chaperone, I was finally running my race.

You can all see where this is going. 2020. Yeah.
I even held off on posting something as I was afraid to jinx it. But nope, it went virtual around a month ago.

I had planned my vacation around it (granted that vacation originally started with a marathon too). I signed up for the Lou Seal Challenge and was going to run the 10k and the 5k. The plan was to take the 10K easy and try to race the 5k. Previously I had only a week to recover from the marathon now I have COVID induced laziness to contend with. Ha!

The beauty of a virtual race though is the flexibility. So instead of running the races back to back, I will be running them on consecutive days. Or slogging them, as it is. Let’s be real here… even back to back running on 2 days will feel hard. Tell you all about it next week.

But the swag-