3rd Annual Hokie Half Marathon Race Report

Wow.  Just wow.  Such a good race.  But then again, I have a soft spot for the course since the trail is where I started running.  (In fact, right where they have you pick up the trail is where I would start!)  More about the course later.  Gotta start from the beginning.

I ran the inaugural Hokie 5k in 2013 while I was in training for my first half marathon (the Baltimore half marathon.)  At the time my husband and I were basically living in Christiansburg, VA and Laurel, MD (we were selling our home in Christiansburg, while my husband had a job in Laurel, MD.  We went back and forth every couple of weeks for a quick cleaning and to check on our home.)  After a couple of months of the long, drawn out move I was desperate to find things to look forward to on our trips.  I made fun picnic lunches since we got tired of fast food.  I downloaded every potentially interesting podcast to distract ourselves from the drive.  So I was happy to see the race pop up to change things up a bit!  I thought the 5k was fantastic (I've since broken that 5k PR) and it made me put the half marathon on my bucket list almost immediately after finishing.  Yet again, the timing was PERFECT because it was exactly 2 weeks after my last long distance race, the Charles Street 12.  Which also meant an additional 2 weeks of the dreaded taper.  (I'm not sure who had it worse--my husband or myself!)

The expo was pretty straight forward.  It was in the Blacksburg High School Auxiliary Gym.  It was a nice space and kind of exciting to see the new high school!  (It was built a few years ago when a particularly heavy snow made the gym roof collapse.)  You entered in one side where you got your bib, drawstring bag and safety pins, walk through some merchandise from the local running store and then grab your first shirt on the way out.  

Pre-race swag! Any hoos or hokies realize my faux pas? 

Caffeinated nuun, breakfast options, chews, lip balm, headphones,
road ID, Garmin (not pictured)...what's missing??

That night I started laying out everything I would wear and bring with me for the race the next morning.  Then I realized I had forgotten something:  My running belt!!!  (Adding to the irritation of my oversight, in my recent "Making Race Mornings Easier" post I totally neglected to mention the running belt's importance!!!)  I hate forgetting things, especially my running belt.  And this is not the first time I've done it either.  I have 2 extras in case I forget my first choice, and I forgot those too.  I'm one who likes everything a particular way, and my anxiety took over and I started freaking out.  After calming down, I just accepted the fact that I would be using safety pins in my shirt for the second time ever.  (I wore my Athleta Be Free shorts so pockets were not an issue, thankfully!)  
Then the morning of the race I started going over in my head what I could use instead of the belt.  Shoe laces?  No, I kinda need those.  Socks?  No, it's still warm so I brought one pair for the race.  Then it came to me:  The drawstring from the shoe bag that came with my B3 tote!!  I pulled that drawstring out, pinned the bib to it and tied it around my waist and ta-da--Instant running belt!!  (Or as I told my husband "Lookit, Sweetie!  I'm freaking MacGyver!"  He was less than impressed at 6am...)

Nobody will notice it's basically a drawstring, right?

Any hoos or hokies realize my faux pas NOW?
(Orange and blue are hoos/UVA colors...and I was in hokie country.)

I love small races for no other reason than I can take my sweet time getting to the starting line 30-45 minutes before the gun goes off and still use the portajohns once or twice if needed.  It took my husband and I 10 minutes to get from the hotel to the runner drop off area.  After how long it has taken to get to races lately, I was SUPER grateful!  (Okay, so it usually takes about half an hour, but parking and figuring out where to go can add a LOT of time and stress.)

Obligatory pre-race selfie

It was a pretty nice morning--in the lower 60s but humid.  I started out with my light, long-sleeved jacket but took it off right around mile 2.  At mile 3, we hopped onto the Huckleberry Trail where we stayed on it for the majority of the race.  

I took this during one of my last runs on the trail before our move.  It's one of my favorite spots on the trail, and was part of the race course.  It's basically rock that they blasted out on either side of the trail leading downhill towards the covered bridge in the center of the picture.  

With views like this, what's not to like?!

Once we hit the Huckleberry, the race became a little emotional for me.  It was like visiting an old friend, and something magical happened:  Muscle memory took over and I just FLEW!  Not too fast that I couldn't take it all in, but just enough that the first 5 miles on the trail felt easy.  It reminded me of when I could go out for a run and not have to worry about anything.  This trail was safety.  When people refer to running as meditation, this was it for me.  On this trail I didn't need to worry about anything except maybe a black rat snake (harmless unless you're a bird.)  Everyone you pass smiles or says hello, and the wildlife on the trail was fantastic.  The groundhogs always let you know in the early spring that soon the grass would be hiding their burrow, and the spring peepers were so loud that you hear them over your headphones.

Absolutely gorgeous.  It made the 5 hour drive totally worth it.

Lane Stadium and the Blue Ridge Mountains!

 The race went past part of Virginia Tech's campus, but the majority of it was surrounded by either forest or fields.  (Thankfully, no cows in the fields.  I can remember running by them and the smell was basically overwhelming, even when I thought I was used to it.)  The trail  is mostly shielded by trees, so despite the sun peeking out later on it didn't make it too hot.  The water stops were spaced out perfectly--almost every 2 miles exactly!  They also had signs alerting runners to which side had water and which was gatorade which was a little detail that helped SO much.  

The elevation map was kind of crazy.  (This is spaced out by time rather than distance, but you get the idea!)

Afterwards we were handed a finisher's shirt, our medal and the race finisher's magnet.

Post-race swag!

My unofficial finishing time was 2:37:33, about 2 minutes faster than my previous half marathon (Nike DC half) finishing time (2:39:24.)  Considering those hills, I'm pretty impressed that I beat my previous time by so much! (DC races are generally pretty flat.)

Post-race with my HUGE medal.  My MacGyvered running belt held up beautifully!

After a quick shower at the hotel came the part I was dreading most:  The drive back to Maryland.  Again, I tried to make it a little more fun and insisted we stop at one of my favorite restaurants: Thelma's Chicken and Waffles.  (Amazing, fluffy waffles with just the right amount of sweetness and perfect fried chicken.)  My stomach was set on chicken and waffles so I didn't look at the rest of the menu, but my husband did.  So when he ordered fried green tomatoes I was very excited.  (Since we've moved it's impossible to find them!) 

They really didn't last long.  This is with about half the tomatoes gone!

The main act:  Chicken and waffles!!!  (And a side of potatoes...)

Afterwards that gave me enough energy to pick the first podcast of the drive...and promptly doze off.  The race was fantastic and totally worth the trip.  I would've liked to have stayed in the area longer, but I was happy to sleep in my own bed.

A few words about Kale....

It's no secret:  Runners like to eat.  That's part of the reason why I love it.  I run and get to eat what I want (with moderation and the occasional splurge.)  While tapering (like I am right now) I make it a point to eat a little extra healthfully because the dramatic decrease in weekly mileage (along with other health factors) makes it a little easier for me to put on weight quickly.  This is also the time of year where greens start showing up in our farm share.  Greens like kale.

picture from wikipedia.org

Yes, I am on the kale bandwagon that seems to be going around lately.  And you can actually make it taste awesome.

Kale is part of the brassica family of veggies which includes a lot of the vegetables that tend to stink up your house when cooked like broccoli, mustard, cabbage and cauliflower.  And of course, kale is no exception.  There are two ways I love to cook kale:  crisp them up in the oven as chips, and for salads.  This green is kind of weird in that it tastes a lot better if you bruise it up a little bit before or during the cooking process.  So whenever I get ready to cook it, I toss it at least in a little bit of olive oil and use tongs to bruise it up.

I started cooking kale for salads after seeing this recipe pop up on the Runner's World website.  It had all my favorite things, so why not?  The first time I made it, I was hooked!  Now for a simple salad for myself I love to de-stem and cut up 8-9 leaves (or one small bunch.)  At first it looks like a lot, but don't let that fool you!  In the end it becomes about 1-2 cups of wilted kale. Then lightly wilt the leaves in a pan (while tossing it with tongs) with a vinaigrette salad dressing.  It gets just slightly warm and if done right, the bitterness goes away and you're left with a very tasty salad!  As an added bonus I'll toss in any extra veggies I have on hand and a protein (usually chicken or even cut up turkey lunchmeat.)  

What are some of your favorite recipes for kale?

Inexpensive Post-Race Pampering!

It's no big secret:  Medium to long distance races can be rough on your body.  One of my biggest pet peeves as of late is when running blogs show off ways to pamper yourself post race, but it's not really anything cost effective or stuff to genuinely make you feel better.  It's just splurges that might temporarily make you feel better, but it's more emotional like "Ooo!  I just bought a fancy candle or perfume!  This will make me feel great after a race!"  

 Yeah...right.  

My philosophy is, you don't need perfume after a race.  (It'll just make you smell like sweat and perfume!)  You really don't need anything all that fancy.  The most expensive thing that I use post race are my compression sleeves, and sometimes I wear them during the race too.  But, here are some products I like to use post-race to reward myself for my hard work.

Face wipes.  Oh man.  After the Nike Half Marathon in DC, they had simple neutrogena face wipes in one of the tents you walk through post-race.  I grabbed one and wiped my face and neck down and felt totally rejuvenated!  Afterwards I didn't feel totally gross eating brunch with my parents, while sitting on the metro, or when my husband and I decided to drop into a few open houses since we were house hunting at the time.  (Although I will admit, I also switched shirts post-race.)  Any face wipes will do to be honest.  I like the fragrance of Yes To's cucumber face wipes, but Simple's fragrance free, no frills wipe are also nice.  Both are hypoallergenic, and carry-on friendly if you have to get to a race by plane!

Trader Joe's Peppermint Tea Tree Tingle line of shower products.  This one is a little more specialized since you'll only find it at Trader Joe's grocery stores.  There's shampoo, conditioner and body wash.  All three are fantastic and have a nice, cooling tingle.  Each item in the line is $3.99 for 16oz of product.  

Heal your feet!  Your feet (okay, and your legs) just took an absolute beating.  One of my favorite things to use after a long run is J.R. Watkin's Foot Repair Salve.  (It can also be found on Birchbox's website if you have points or want the extra points for the purchase!)  It's a nice, thick salve that I really slather on my feet and put on some thick, soft socks to allow it to be absorbed without getting the floors all greasy.  (And to avoid any slipping issues on the bathroom floor!)  This also has a nice, cooling tingle, definitely helps soothe sore feet, AND helps moisturize them.  

...But what about your legs?  Here you have a couple options.  Sometimes I like to opt for the compression sleeves like I mentioned above.  Other times...I really like to use the Body Shop's Peppermint Cooling Leg Gel.  (Anything in their peppermint foot care line is great!)  It's got a cooling sensation, and also acts like a moisturizer.  This is another one where you may want to keep your legs covered, since it does feel a little tacky until it dries.

Making race morning easier...

Everybody has their own idiosyncrasies to make race morning easier.  I feel like this is true for all athletes--we're all to some extent superstitious or at the very least creatures of habit. I'm not a morning person, so I make getting up at 5am for a 7am gun time as easy as possible.  Here are some things I do before my head hits the pillow the night before a race:

• Charge my Garmin during the afternoon.  Just because I haven't used it in a week doesn't mean the charge held that long.  (I run on a treadmill quite a bit due to some anxiety issues.  I'll write more on this in another entry.  Promise.)

• Put a water bottle with caffeinated nuun in the fridge.  Sometimes I'll use a nalgene bottle, but a lot of the time I'll use a recyclable water bottle. I don't use bottled water often, but when I do it's because I don't want to worry about my nice water bottles and I don't have anybody to toss it to before the starting gun.

• Put a small bag together with everything I'll need for the race--race fuel, a light breakfast (usually a luna bar), headphones, my road ID bracelet, lip balm (this one's my latest favorite and can be purchased with birchbox points!), my driver's license (a road ID just won't work if there's post-race beer), some cash and my fully charged Garmin.  I also discovered this small bag recently and LOVE it.  The bag is still a little big for what I need on race morning, but folds up nicely and comes in lots of cute patterns so it's hard to resist.  (Their standard size shopping bags are also fantastic and stand up to a lot of abuse.)  I also put my running belt with my race bib attached next to this bag.

• Check the weather report and lay out an appropriate race day outfit.  Runner's World has a great calculator that helps you decide what to wear.  My husband also made a great point when I was getting ready for the Charles Street 12 and I was getting his opinion on what to wear:  If the area has a popular local sports team playing, don't wear their colors.  Chances are lots of other people will be too.  Originally I wanted to wear a purple tank top and black long shorts, but my husband brought up the good point that we were on the verge of football season and we were in Ravens country.  I instead opted for a turquoise tank top, black long shorts and a purple headband so my husband could easily find me in the crowd.  

• Set an alarm.  Or several.  And make sure the volume on the alarm is cranked to a reasonable level.  One morning recently I was about half an hour late to one of my volunteer jobs because I overslept due to an alarm that was wayyyy too quiet.  Cue the "Oh...I'm so well rested.  I wonder what time it is...ACK!"

What are some things you do to prepare the night before a race?

Charles Street 12 Race Review!

This past Saturday I ran the Charles Street 12 in Baltimore.  Last year I swore I wasn't going to do any long distance races.  Then seeing that this was the last race in the B3 race series and hearing so many good things about the race, I decided to sign up for it!  

First off, I was super impressed with the value of doing the whole race series.  Since I signed up for the Charles Street 12 last, all I had to do was send in an extra $25 for the extra medal and extra piece of race swag.  For the race itself, I got a long sleeve waffle knit shirt in purple and lime green with a screen printed logo for the race on the front and Charm City Run (the race store that runs the event) on the back by the lower seam.  Originally, the race series advertised that women participants would get a vest.  Once packet pickup came along though, we ended up with this bag in oxblood with the race series logo embroidered on the front.  I was a little disappointed that they changed the B3 premium, but the bag is just lovely!  How could I complain with such a nice bag that retails for $60 when I paid $25 for that AND a medal?

B3 premium above, Charles St 12 below

I ended up taking a chance on shoes.  I've worn Brooks Adrenalines basically since I started running.  The only problem was, my pair of 15's hit the 500 mile mark the week of the race.  Fortunately I had a pair of 14's new in the box sitting in my closet.  I ended up taking a chance wearing them for my shakeout run the day before, and since everything went well I decided to wear them for the race.  I got lucky and these worked out great! I don't know how well it would've worked out with the older pair, since I was already getting some aches and pains from them.  My husband had never taken a look at them until the morning of the race.  And he took one look at them and said "Are those your Pinkie Pie shoes?"  As in the My Little Pony.  For once, I didn't mind the comparison since she's one of my favorites.  (I had a blue chenille sweater once that my sister said made me look like cookie monster.  I never wore it again.)  For those of you who don't know the latest version My Little Pony, here's Pinkie Pie.

And these are my latest pair of adrenalines.

Pink and light blue...just like Pinkie Pie!

Race day started early:  5am, but my husband and I were out the door at 5:30 (I am quite slow that early in the morning.)  My husband dropped me at Power Plant Live and I hopped out of the car and onto a shuttle bus to the starting line.  I chatted with a pediatric cardiologist on the shuttle bus up, which was nice because he had done the race several times.  (He also tried to convince me to do a marathon.  It's on my bucket list, but I'm still looking for the right race.)  By this point, I had almost an hour to get mentally prepared for the race and use the bathroom a couple times.  (Added bonus:  They opened the mall so we had access to REAL bathrooms.  I still opted for the portajohns first thing, then used the sinks inside since naturally the line for the real bathroom was longer.)  I ended up participating a little bit in a warmup session by Sandra Gallagher-Mohler (a personal trainer, certified USATF coach and owner of IRunTons.)  Weather-wise, it was in the upper 60s/lower 70s and VERY humid so it didn't feel very cool.

Here's Sandra Gallagher-Mohler on a platform in the middle.

Afterwards I went to the starting area to wait the last few minutes before the race actually started.  I was a little further up than normal, but it didn't end up being a big deal.  I managed to get right next to somebody I did a course preview run with.  (I haven't run in Baltimore much other than around the harbor, so I made sure I was close to her to get back to the Charm City Run at Fort McHenry Row!)  We didn't chat much, but it was still nice to run into a semi-familiar face.

It was a nice morning, but definitely humid!

After the national anthem, we were off!  ...And the first 3-4 miles were all an incline.  Thankfully, the rest of it was generally downhill.  I got a few pictures of the major sights we ran past.

Like Towson University!

And Loyola!  (Which I had driven past before when I was lost in North Baltimore recently.)

Later in the race we ran through Baltimore proper.  I was excited to FINALLY get a close up look at the Washington Monument.  They decorate the monument with lights at Christmas and one of the things I would LOVE to do is see them light it.

The man and the legend on top of the monument!

Finally the last part of the race was completely flat.  By then, my legs were screaming so I did a lot of walking.  And there may or may not be photographic evidence of "faking it" as I "ran" past one of the photographers in a part of the harbor I've run at least a half dozen times now.

I remember thinking "Hi, work!  Hopefully I can walk when I see you again on Monday!" (I currently volunteer there.)

Soon afterwards I hit the finish line, which was a LOT closer than I was expecting--it was about 10 feet off of Pratt Street!  (At the St Patrick's Day race, it was close to a block away from Pratt!)  Once somebody was urging me on to run to the corner and that the finish was RIGHT THERE (and they weren't lying for once!) I got a last minute burst of energy and gunned it!  I finished the race in 2:22:20, with a pace of 11:52!  Definitely one of my better paces for a long distance race.  (Generally I'm between 12:00 and 12:15 for longer races, but can fluctuate anywhere between 10:30 and 11:15 for shorter distances.)  Afterwards I grabbed my medals, a bottle of water (CCR, pay attention:  Next year we need water stops in the city!) and a box lunch with an oatmeal raisin cookie, orange and a turkey wrap.  Soon after downing the cookie I caught sight of my husband who took this picture of me.

With my medals and brunch!

Totally worth it for the bling!

Overall, I thought the race was very well run.  Some of water stops weren't exactly 2 miles apart, but it worked out fine.  (If it were any hotter, it would've been questionable!)  Once we reached the city, I was totally impressed with the BPD.  They had getting people through the city down to an absolute science.  They would get the driver up as close to the race path as they could without blocking a runner's path.  Then once a gap opened up, they would let the cars shoot through until we got a little closer at which point they would hold traffic again.  (There was one police woman who managed to convince a couple semi's to slow down and let us through!  That takes much more confidence than I have, that's for sure!)

After the race I immediately got into the shower, then threw on some sweats and collapsed into bed for a nice nap.  The rest of the day was pretty laid back because I knew I would be sore (I was, but not as bad as after the Baltimore half!)  

I'm still fighting some soreness, but I'm back in training for my next race:  The Hokie Half in Blacksburg!!  I had to sign up for it.  My husband and I lived in the area for 6 years and part of the race is where I started running.  I miss that trail like crazy and I can't wait to run on it again.  I also ran the inaugural 5k in 2013 while in training for the Baltimore, and absolutely loved every second of it.  (It was my PR until the Freedom 5k this past July.)