Race Review: Lucky Leprechaun 7K

Another St. Patrick’s Day holiday has come and gone and so has the 6th Lucky Leprechaun 7K, personally the third for me. And I must say this was the best of all three so far, all thanks to the simple fact it was a sunny day! The two previous years it was temps in the 30s and rain/freezing drizzle; not ideal conditions at all. This year was still chilly temps, but so much more reasonable to deal with thanks to the sun.

The packet pickup was the day before and located at a local running store. All nice and easy there with giving my name and getting my bib and shirt. After checking out a few running shoes and other gear, I was on my way. Next up: race day the next morning.

I was running behind and parked quickly and easily on a side street near the starting point so no getting nervous about missing the start. I think that is one of the best aspects of this race; there is enough parking in the area that you don’t have to worry about being miles away and having to walk forever to get to the race. As I walked up attaching my bib with my new BibRave Bibboards, I could hear the DJ pumping out pre race music and the countdown to start being shouted out. Once to the start, I stretched all the necessary areas and moved up as the clocked ticked down. With no trains coming (the race crosses tracks right at the beginning), the gun went off and we all were off and running! I chose an easy but steady pace as I was moving around and through people. After a half mile, I found myself in a nice spot and in a nice running flow and stuck with it. The reward for doing so: passing more people and and setting myself up at a great pace. And the reward for that? Setting my 7K PR WITH this race! And a thanks to Athlinks for finding my results and letting me claim them!

And after that PR and it being St. Patrick’s Day, of course you must celebrate with a refreshing beverage…green beer!

The DJ was dropping the beats, the beer was flowing, the party of post race finishers was jumping, the coffee and hot chocolate was also being poured for all to enjoy. After the post race party, the option existed to go across the street to the main sponsor’s location, Leff’s Lucky Town. This is such a fun race, even more when the weather is cooperating for all to enjoy. And it also means you can get a post race pic with “Lucky” the fastest leprechaun!

So, all in all, it was a great race day experience this year. No injuries and no crappy weather. Winning situation all the time!

 

 

2017 Review of My Running

This has been an interesting year for me in my running world. There have been some great highs with amazing experiences to go with them, but there also have been some lows that did take away from how great this year could have been for me. I look back at everything with a slight frown because deep down I know what could have been instead of what it was and that is frustrating to say the least. What follows here will be a brief synapsis of the running adventures I had in 2017.

The first race I participated in was my annual Samson Stomp and Romp Run/Walk 5K at the Milwaukee County Zoo. I love this race and it’s how I’ve started my year off for the last 5 years. The one major reason I sign up for this race (other than getting to run through the zoo because that is awesome!) is that the cost benefits programs the zoo provides for their visitors and kids. 2017 marked one of my best ever 5K times as well in this race (I believe I run faster because typically it is so damn cold at this run) with a time of 23:05. My goal is to get a top 5 age finish so I can take home a cool trophy. (It’s a mini gorilla!)

Jumping forward to March will also jump us to when my 2017 plans changed ever so slightly. Plans for run streaks or monthly challenges kind of went away during the Lucky Leprechaun 7K race. During this race, I pushed myself (nothing crazy) but more that my legs on that day were ready. The end result was a hamstring that I guess you would have to call strained. It wasn’t a muscle pull in the way it would hurt but it also didn’t go away. It changed my daily workouts for a chunk of the year as I avoided “leg day” all the way until November when I slowly got back into some light weight lifting. But my runs suffered throughout the year. Any short runs or races I was unable to really push to hard because the hamstring would never loosen up. And on the other side, it usually took the first two to three miles in any long run for the pain to subside or at least fade into the nether regions of my mind so I could continue to push the rest of the long distance. This was the lowest point of the year, even though I didn’t really fully know it until each week turned into months into the remainder of the year.

The middle of April, and by extension due to some email tag, early May, brought me into the world of BibRave and becoming a BibRavePro. I had applied before but hadn’t heard back right way and still continued to engage in the great running conversations that take place 8pm CST on Twitter every Tuesday! I was so happy to become a Pro and be able to offer advice and represent the group at races. The first race I was able to wear my BibRave gear proudly at was the RAM Racing Bigfoot 10K/5K Trail run in Wisconsin and I had a blast. Another part of the program is being able to test out various running related products and then blog about, chat about and compare notes about via all the social media outlets available to you. It’s been such an experience to learn new techniques and ideas about running as well as new products, like the AfterShokz Trekz Titanium headphones which now allow me to listen to music while still hearing my surroundings. This was one of the products I was able to test and it truly was life altering when it came to running outside.

 

After that there were other various runs throughout the spring and summer as well as some new additions to my wardrobe. I had made a giant mistake with my running career concerning sneakers, as in the first real pair of running shoes I had I managed to run…906 total miles in. Yeah, so I wasn’t aware for some idiot reason that that was not a good thing. So the early spring brought me new sneakers as well as late summer. I don’t think I’ve ever bought four pairs of sneakers in the same year, ever. First up were some new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 17’s and a pair of Hoka Bondi’s. In the photo on the left below, the shoe with its tread showing is the 900 miler…I don’t know what I was thinking! The late summer/early fall pickups were a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 18’s and a pair of Brooks PureCadence 6’s. So far, I’d say my impression of the two new fall shoes is a good one but more testing is needed.

 

 

Most of my late summer and early fall, other than the race here or there, was for training for the biggest running event of my life: the Chicago Marathon! I was amazed I as selected and quite intimidated by the training I had to do. There were a lot of long, hard runs in some not-so-pleasant weather but who knew that I would end up helping myself. Race day came and I was prepared as best I could be, especially for the unseasonably warm/humid weather that Chicago experienced that day. My 20 mile training run consisted of 90+ degree temps and some nasty humidity that I trudged through that day. Who knew it would come back to benefit me during the race. My body was ready for it and for that I was proud of myself. I wrote a previous blog about my experience so check that out for more on the run, but I will say that running the Chicago Marathon was an amazing life experience that I’m not sure I can ever repeat. All of it was incredible.

There was a race after that weekend, a 10K, that I competed in and did well considering it was a week post first ever marathon. But that would be the end of the race circuit for me. I had a few more options I had been hemming and hawing on, but ended up not committing to them. I continued running but without purpose and that was difficult. Even when on a short vacation in a warmer climate, I ran but there was nothing there emotionally. I was running for the cardio, for the contrast to eating and drinking not so healthy foods. But with no upcoming race I wasn’t finding a competitive spirit inside…and the hamstring was still bothering me. It took a some time but on December 11, I called it. I ended my running for 2017. Pulled the plug to give the leg and hamstring a break. The pic below shows where I finished for the year in mileage. It’s an improvement over 2016 but well short of the 1,000 mile goal I had set for 2017. I am hopeful that taking these last 3+ weeks off will have helped and maybe did some healing work for my hamstring. 2018 so far has me doing my second marathon in April. I have to be ready. I have to start training in the near future. But I can only hope the leg cooperates with my plans.

So there is 2017 in a small nutshell. I hope I made the right decisions with shutting down at the end of the year. I hope I didn’t make the wrong choices to continue training and running in preparation for Chicago. The long term might be very very bad. I hope for a better 2018 and I hope to reach my goal, once again 1000 miles, this year. And if I can exceed it, well all the better. 2017 wasn’t a failure by any means. In totality, it was an amazing success with future potential all over it. I’m just harder on myself sometimes, but, hey, that’s what makes us stronger runners, right?

Happy New Year to you all!!

And happy running!!

Please comment or offer up any thoughts if you like!