Shape Up Montana "Virtual" 5K Fun Run Review

For the fourth consecutive year, my Montana family and I are participating in Shape Up Montana. It's a three-month fitness and nutrition program offered through Big Sky State Games. Each team member earns points for their team based on the activity they do. Teams compete against each other based on an average points-per-person comparison. This year, in addition to participating on my own team, I also helped organize and coordinate three teams at the school where I work. All of our teams are having a lot of fun getting in shape through friendly competition.

Registered Shape Up Montana participants receive a t-shirt and a printable bib to wear for the Fun Run.

Each week, Shape Up Montana issues a different Weekly Challenge. The week of March 21-27, the challenge was to participate in a Virtual 5K Run/Walk. In the past, my family team has done this together on the farm. This year, I thought it would be cool to organize a fun run on a slightly larger scale and invite anyone from any of our area teams to join. So, I organized a very informal "All-Comers 5K Fun Run/Walk," which was held this past Saturday of Easter weekend. It was a free, un-timed event for anyone to come and do, whether they are in Shape Up or not. No t-shirts, no race bibs, no swag, no post-race snacks. Just fitness and community.

With 36 people participating in Shape Up Montana on our four local teams, I thought there'd be a decent chance that some people would want to come and do it together, but I didn't really know what to expect for turnout.

Jeff and I arrived in town a little past 9:00 a.m. and marked the course with orange spray paint for the run/walk, which would start at 10:00. Around 9:15 or so, the first participants began to show up. You may recall that I'm one of the Track and Field coaches for our High School team. As coaches, we decided that the student-athletes could participate in the Fun Run as a optional track practice-- these were the first attendees to arrive. I ended up having eight High School and two Junior High tracksters participate in the Fun Run, which I thought was pretty cool.

Here's the route. We started in front of the school and went around the block once, then around "The Loop" once before finishing back in front of the school. 

We warmed up as a team in the gym, and as it began to approach 10:00 a.m., other community members, Shape Up Montana participants, family, and friends began to trickle in. I didn't count, but I'd estimate we had a turnout of 35-40 people. I consider that to be pretty successful. It was about 35 degrees outside with a little bit of wind, so I don't know whether that affected anyone's decision to come out or not, but overall, I thought that was pretty good weather for this time of year.

I gathered everyone at the start/finish line a little before 10, thanked them for coming, explained what Shape Up Montana is and described the route we'd be taking, and then we were off!

Jeff and I ran very close to the same pace, and Harvey ran with us, too. We decided this time to keep him off-leash and see how he would do. He stayed near both of us the entire race, and he had the good sense to do "his business" out in a farm field where we wouldn't have to pick it up. Harvey was a little nervous with all the people gathered around at the start of the race, but once we started running, he seemed to enjoy himself. If we continue to take him to fun runs, I'm hoping we can continue to do it off-leash. After the race, Harvey enjoyed lots of pets and scratches from the track kids and other race participants. And, he was the First Place Dog (aka only dog)- I think that sealed the deal for him having a nice time!

As far as my own "race," well, I struggled to catch my wind and the whole three mile run really felt like it took more effort than normal. I timed myself using my Strava app and I finished in 28:51, which is on the slower side for me. To be fair, I didn't really warm up adequately, and I had slept very poorly the night before, so maybe that's why I didn't run that fast. Either way, the event was more about other people having a good time than it was for me to get a PR or anything like that, so it didn't bother me too much.

Jeff was really happy with his time, which was about five seconds behind mine. He has been working really hard to bring his 5K times down, and has had a lot of success on the treadmill that hasn't translated outside. This "race" was a good confidence booster for him, and a new outdoor PR!

Jeff and I waited around the finish line for other people to reel it in. I cheered especially loud for my track athletes as they crossed the line. Our season has just begun, and many of them are not really in shape to run 3.1 miles yet, but their performances really impressed me. We even had a few throwers who came and ran and did very well. As soon as all the track kids came in, we went back in the gym to static stretch as a team and I congratulated them on a job well done.

Then, I headed back outside to watch more people finish and cheer on family members- Tom and Carol both walked it. Afterwards, Jeff and I joined them and another group of walkers at the Cafe for some post-race fueling.

All in all, I consider the event to be a great success. I organized it with minimal effort and tagged it as a Free, All-Comers Fun Run/Walk. No goody bags, no t-shirts, no bibs, no awards or prizes, no post-race snacks-- just fitness and community. I am really pleased with the turnout on a cool day with minimal advertising. All in all, the numbers were pretty good. As I said, we had 10 track athletes, plus 9 or 10 Shape Up Montana participants, and many other community members. Most of all, everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and to be glad they had come out. To me, that is the most satisfying feeling- that I helped organize an event to build community through fitness and exercises. Mission: accomplished!

Getting ready for the start of the run!

Maroon and Gold Fun Run Race Review

Saturday morning I kicked off my Fall Racing Season with a strong showing at the Maroon and Gold Fun Run in Havre! I ran the 10K distance. This post is my official review/recap of race day.

The Maroon and Gold Fun Run was in its first year this year as a fundraising event supporting the new MSU-Northern Men's and Women's Cross Country teams. I am all about growing and promoting the sport of running, so as soon as I heard about this race and knew that I'd be free on August 22, I signed up. They offered 1-Mile, 5K, and 10K events. I trained for the 10K and I wanted a new PR, so that's what I decided to do!

The other extra-cool thing about this race is that a local girl who I know fairly well, a recent North Star graduate, Alissa, is running on the new Cross Country team. I was beyond thrilled, first of all, to hear that she was running for Northern, and extra excited to run the race, knowing I'd be supporting someone I know! :)

With an 8:00 a.m. start time in Havre for the race, and an approximate 60 minute drive time for me, it was an early morning on Saturday. I got up around 5:30 to make sure I'd have enough time to get dressed and have breakfast before making the drive to Havre. I had laid my outfit out the night before so I wouldn't wake Jeff and to expedite things. The weather was cool with temps in the 40s and windy with chances of rain, so I opted for long pants and a long-sleeve shirt with my Team Beef jersey.

It's a lot of bold colors and patterns... Pretty wild!

Race Day Outfit:
KC Tights from Oiselle-- first time wearing these for a run or race!
Purple Turtleneck from Columbia
Team Beef Jersey (My Oiselle singlet should arrive in September sometime)
I also wore an earband and a hat because my ears are SUPER sensitive to cold.

Race events were staged out of the MSUN gym. It was a perfect spot-- easy to find, great parking, plenty of space to warmup in the gym or run around campus, easy access to bathrooms. And, since it was cold and kind of crummy weather, it was nice to be inside some before the race started. I arrived at around 7:20 and picked up my t-shirt and race bib. I also received an Asics training journal for being an early sign-up for the race. Then I took a 10 minute jog around campus and did some form running and dynamic stretching. With the cool weather, I wanted to make sure I was extra warmed up.

First time I have been in the gym at Northern. Not bad!

People were still arriving and registering as 8:00 a.m. rolled around, so the race started just a little bit late. I didn't mind though. I was really excited for them that they had more people than expected! They had 130 participants in all three races in the end, and 50 volunteers. Pretty great turnout for a first-time race in a small town!

I lined up with some other women near the start line who I noticed were doing the 10K and made polite pre-race conversation. People in Montana are SO nice and friendly! When the race started, I went out with a little speed and left most of them behind. This actually really surprised me and even made me a bit nervous! Was I going too fast? No, I reassured myself that I was feeling strong and it was OK to go out a bit fast and feel a little uncomfortable. Most of the first mile was down hill and I got to the first mile marker and looked at my watch--7:22!! Probably my fastest first mile in a LONG time, maybe ever.

Race routes. 10K in yellow. 

Just after that, we turned a corner and faced a long, long, long uphill. I knew I'd have to back off the pace a bit, but I didn't let myself totally lose sight of my goal, and tried to keep it somewhat steady. I ended up passing two other girls on the uphill. Somewhere in mile 3, another woman about my age ran up ahead of me and passed me. After a little bit of back and forth, she ultimately stayed ahead of me, but I stayed with her for the rest of the race. There were many more hills to climb in this run and she ended up being stronger on the uphills than I was.

Maybe half-way through the longest uphill climb ever at this point. 

There's blue-shirt gal!
This part of the course was really exposed and it was WINDY!

The race course for the 10K was really nice, even despite all the hills and exposure. It included sections of gravel/trail, asphalt bike bath, and streets. I appreciated that it ran around the outskirts of town, rather than wholly on the city streets. I really enjoyed the views of the hills on the south side of town, even as the wind whipped in my face. Plus, now I know of some great trails I can use if I ever need to run, bike, or walk the dog in Havre! A few other big plusses were that the course was very well marked with orange spray-painted arrows and volunteers were stationed at every corner to make sure people were going the right way, and to cheer us all on. I tried to say thank you to each one that I passed. They also had each mile clearly marked with signs, which is handy for those of us without GPS watches. :)

Hey! It's blue-shirt gal again! :)

As I coasted downhill in mile five or so, looking at my watch I thought I would have a really great chance to get my PR, and really tried to stay strong. My best time in a 10K was actually during a virtual run I did at home, so I don't know if it counts, but it was 54:01. My best official 10K time came at Governor's Cup back in June: 54.54.24. My very first 10K ever was just about a year ago at Kickin' Asphault and was exactly 60 minutes. Either way, I was shooting for under 54, just to be sure I nailed a new PR.

Me and Blue-Shirt Gal, finally cruising down some downhill back into town.

The hardest part of the race was running back up a steep hill to the finish line on the quad of campus. It was the steepest hill of the whole course and came right in the last .2 miles. A real challenge! I was right with the same lady I'd been behind most of the race. She had a great kick at the end, too, and we finished very close-- me just behind her crossing the line. I gritted my teeth and thought of that PR dangling in front of me, ripe for the picking, and crossed the line with a finish of 52.97! Yay! I did it! I didn't just make a new PR-- I crushed it! A full minute off the Virtual Run time and about two minutes off Governor's Cup. No question about this one!

I found the lady I had ran with the whole race and we chatted a bit afterwards.  I congratulated her on a great race and complimented her for killing it on the hills. Maybe having her there in front of me kept me going strong to get that PR? :)

Race Bib from Maroon and Gold Fun Run.
Lucky number 13?

My Race Splits:
Mile 0-1 -- 7.22 Starting FAST and downhill!
Mile 1-2 -- 9:40 (I hit my split button a little late, so this one may be closer to 9:20 or so) BIG HILL!
Mile 2-3 -- 7.56 (Again, this one's probably actually more like 8:20) Slightly downhill.
Mile 3-4 -- 9.10 More hills, and WIND!
Mile 4-5 -- 8.12 Loooong downhill! yay!
Mile 5-6 -- 8.51 Flat, but with the killer steep hill right at the end.
Last .2 -- 1.44 Trying to finish strong...
Total: 52.59
Overall pace was 8.32 per mile. I'm happy with that!

I stuck around to watch the rest of the 5K and 10K finishers come in. Being a local race, I knew several people who were competing and it's always great to cheer on people you know. I think the best part of this race was the huge grin on Maria's (Alissa's Mom) face. Every time I looked at her she seemed so happy and proud. You could tell that she was just overjoyed about her daughter running cross country, for the support of the people who ran, and for the overall success of the day. She probably thanked me for coming five times or more, at least, as did Alissa. Pretty cool. This is what it means to "Grow the Sisterhood," people. :)

Photo credit: Melissa K.
L to R: Melissa, Alissa, Shayla, and me.

There were only 23 scored participants in the 10K and I was 11th. I have no idea where I finished among the women, but I *think* I was third. The Cross Country team itself was split into two groups- a Maroon Team and a Gold Team and they also had to run the 10K, competing as teams against each other, but they weren't included in the 23 scored participants. So, overall it was probably closer to 40 runners in the 10K. In case you're wondering, the Maroon Team won, with a lower average time of it's members. :) They did prizes for the first-place male and female finishers in each age group and each distance, I think. The prizes were vintage MSUN Track and Field apparel. I definitely coveted the throwback jerseys, but alas, it wasn't in the cards for me! I'm more than satisfied with a new PR though!

This was the race t-shirt everyone got. Not bad! 

If anyone's interested, I was really happy with how my Oiselle KC Tights performed in the race. I was exactly right temperature-wise and didn't even notice the pants as I ran. They were very, very comfortable. I was worried that with no drawstring, they might slide down a bit, but they didn't-- they stayed put. They are definitely a wacky, bold design and are a bit of a departure from my normal solid-color running apparel, but I got several compliments on them and one girl came up and asked me about where I got them. It was awesome to have the chance to brag up Oiselle!

Overall, the Maroon and Gold Fun Run was a challenging but fun event supporting a great cause. It was well-organized and well-run. I'll look forward to keeping this one on my calendar to do again in the future!

Alissa and me, post race. Big smiles! She's the sweetest. :)

Thank You, Readers AND a Fitness Update

I haven't written about anything running or fitness-related in a while, so I'll do that a bit in this post.

But first, I want to say THANK YOU to all my blog readers! This past July I had the highest number of page-views EVER in the four years I've been doing this blog! I'm not about making money on the blog, but just about sharing what goes on here on the farm, in my running world, and what life is like in rural America. It means a lot to me that those of you who do read my blog keep coming back for more, and that slowly my traffic is increasing over time! It's an affirmation that the content here is good, and that hopefully people are learning more about what life is like up here on the Northern-Montana prairie. :) Kudos to all of you!

So, what's happening in running and fitness for me lately? Well, kind of a lot! Read on!! :)

I'm still participating in the #1MillionMinutes challenge through FitApproach. I pledged that I'd do 2000 minutes, and I passed that a while ago. As of today, I'm at 2520 minutes. Once I realized I'd easily surpass 2000, I increased my goal to 3000, and I am starting to think I'll hit that pretty easily, too, with only about 3 weeks left in the challenge. It's easy to rack up minutes when you're working hard on the farm. I gave myself credit for lots of activity minutes of building fence earlier this week, for example. Mostly, I get my minutes through taking Harvey for walks, running, and yoga.

Harvey the Vizsla! 

I did discover a cool yoga and workout video website through the #1MillionMinutes challenge called Grokker.com. They have free membership or paid memberships, and I signed up for the free one to give it a try. I really, really like it for their yoga videos. I've done a few now and they have been really good. They have videos on every type of yoga you can think of, or any skill you'd like to work on. They have a ton of other workout videos, too, but I haven't tried any of them yet. No yoga studios near where I live, so online yoga is a great option for me, and Grokker is definitely where it's at on that front!

In case you aren't on Instagram...
I've been working a ton on better planks lately. 

Also pertaining to the #1MillionMinutes challenge, a few weeks ago I did a silly MadLib during the Puritan's Pride week and for doing so, I won a prize. You can read that post by CLICKING HERE. Well, this prize came in the mail a few days ago, and it was not what I expected...

What do I do with these?!

I should say that I really didn't know what to expect the prize to be, and they never said, but I definitely wasn't expecting three tubs of powders! There's a meal replacer protein and vitamin powder in vanilla, a pure whey protein powder in chocolate and some sort of fancy pre-workout enhancer powder in fruit punch flavor. I'm definitely not a protein powder or supplement kind of girl, but I'll try most anything once.  Yesterday I mixed some of the vanilla powder into a fruit smoothie at lunch to try it out. Serving suggestion said two scoops per 16 ounces of liquid, which is close to what I had. The powder doesn't really taste that great, but I was full from just the smoothie until about 3 in the afternoon, when I had a snack. So there's that. I don't see myself altering my diet to eat only smoothies for breakfast or lunch, but now and then it might be fine. Or it will sit on my counter for a while and I'll eventually throw it out. We'll see. If anyone has any great smoothie or protein-powder recipes, please share! haha :)  The only requirement is that it shouldn't taste like feet.

In my running and racing world, well, not a ton has been happening. I'm just running about every other day or every third day. Mixing in lots of yoga and strength exercises, specifically focusing on keeping my core strong. No races in July. After three races, three Saturdays in a row in June, I needed a break and July is too hot to race a ton anyway. I am planning on a race on August 22 in Havre, however! It's called the Get Run'N Maroon and Gold Fun Run. Check out the race flier on this website: 1st Annual Maroon and Gold Fun Run. They're offering 1 Mile, 5K, and 10K. It's the first time they'll be doing this race and proceeds will benefit the new MSU-Northern Cross Country Teams in their VERY FIRST YEAR! Believe me, I am ALL ABOUT supporting Track and Field and Cross Country teams, and I'm definitely all about running and racing! There's actually a 2015 graduate from North Star who is going to compete on the new Northern Cross Country team, so I'm really excited that my race fee will be supporting her! Now, just to decide on 5K or 10K distance... :)


Also, let's not forget about 5k On The Farm, which is the race that Jeff and I are directing and hosting right here on our farm!!! We're offering 1-Mile, 5K, and Virtual Run options. Right now, we have 14 people signed up, with 9 of those as Virtual Run participants! The run is still six weeks away and I expect quite a few more registrations to come in as it gets closer. It has always been a dream of mine to run my own 5K and now I'm doing it! Still can't believe it. :) Proceeds from our run will be going to Montana Farmers Union Foundation, specifically earmarked to education, programming and leadership training for women in agriculture/rural women. Pretty good cause, if you ask me! If you're reading this, and you'd like to sign up for the race or the Virtual Run, just CLICK HERE to go to RunSignUp and sign up online. :)

So, that's what's going on in my fitness world! What's going on in yours? 

• Have you ever tried protein powders? If so, how do you like them?
• What races/fitness activities do you have coming up?
• Have you signed up for 5k On The Farm yet?!?! 

Coralville 4th Fest 5K Race Recap

I mentioned in my previous post that I had done a 5K while I was in Iowa. I love to schedule a race while I'm traveling because it forces me to get out and get active, especially when it may be so much easier to just lounge and laze the trip away. This time, I found the Coralville 4th Fest 5K and convinced a few family and friends to do it, too!

Long before we left for our Iowa trip, I had scouted the interwebs for possible 5Ks to run. The best place to look for Iowa road races and active events is on the Fitness Sports website: www.fitnesssports.com. Fitness Sports is a running store located in West Des Moines, where I used to buy all my running shoes back in high school and college and where I always refer my friends. They have, for a long, long time, put every road race they can get info for on their website, organized in calendar form. Super handy when planning your Iowa racing schedule or when looking for a race while traveling!

Anyway, I found the info for the Coralville 4th Fest 5K Fun Run and thought it would be the perfect chance to sneak a race in with some family and friends. Jeff and I had stayed with my friends Wade and Nicole and their sweet kids the night before the race, and they decided to join us for the run. As did my brother Ryan and my Dad. My Mom and Ryan's girlfriend Marissa were there, too, as moral support and photographers. So great to have such a big, fun group to run with!


Start time for the race, which started and ended at the Coralville Recreation Center, was 8:00 a.m. We got there in plenty of time to register on race day and use the bathroom. It appeared as though the turnout was between 100 and 150 people. Pretty small race but definitely bigger than some we've run, especially here in Montana! Signups were fairly well-organized. We got our race t-shirts when we signed up, too:

I don't really understand the design. I don't know why they didn't just use the logo that they had on their signs and on their website:

Instead, these t-shirts are about as silly as it gets for a race tee! The clock is running but it's OK because it's "Lovin' every minute of it." Does that have anything to do with the 4th Fest in Coralville? or the Rec Center? I don't know. Whatever. Add this t-shirt to the stack of other race tees that are ultimately destined to be used in a t-shirt quilt. Besides, I secretly have a fond admiration for 5K race t-shirts that are silly, absurd, tacky, or make no sense. This one definitely fits that bill!

Soon it was time to line up to start the race. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 60's but man was it HUMID! There was definitely a lot of sweating happening. The race website also stated that the course was hilly, and they weren't wrong about that. Click here to view a course map. Almost immediately after starting the race, we rounded a bend and began a long uphill climb. I had started out pretty conservatively on the race because I'd been having some knee pain and I wasn't sure how my knee was going to feel. After I started going, though, it felt mostly OK-- not great, but OK. So, when we got to the hill I really tried to power up it and I passed quite a few people on that first hill.  Most of the course was run on bike paths and neighborhood streets. It was a pleasant course to look at overall, but the hills were definitely tough.

As the race went on, I continued to pass more people here and there and was feeling OK. They didn't have their miles marked and I don't have a fancy GPS running watch (but lately I've been thinking that I'd like to get one...) so I wasn't really sure of my pace. It wasn't until we rounded the last few corners and I knew we were getting close to the finish line that I thought I'd have a chance to get my PR. I sprinted as best as I could to the finish, which was all downhill...and then I forgot to hit the "stop" button on my watch. And, the race event officials didn't time the race. So, as near as I could tell, I finished with a time somewhere between 26:30 and 27:30. I'm not really sure. So, I don't know if I got a PR, but it might have been close. Time to start thinking about getting a Garmin or Soleus or something similar.

Wade and Ryan had both finished ahead of me, and Mom and Marissa were there to greet everyone at the finish line, too. As we crossed the line, they tore off the bottom part of our bibs, ostensibly to take note of finishing order. Mom got some nice finish photos of us approaching the line. We cheered people in and milled around for a bit. Then, there was a "Kids Marathon" of 26.2 yards, which was basically a run from one end of the parking lot to the other, that Wade and Nicole's daughter Addison completed. Super, super cute! She was pretty pleased with her finishers ribbon. 

Ryan, Jeff, Me and my Dad approaching the finish of the race.

By now, we had scouted out the apparent results of the race and it looked like I had earned a 3rd place age-group prize, so we thought we'd wait around a little while longer for the awards ceremony just to be sure. We waited... and waited... an hour came and went and they still hadn't gotten to the awards. Apparently there were some disputes among runners over their finishing order and it turned out that the race officials hadn't kept the bib numbers in the correct order as people crossed the finish line, so they weren't sure of the actual finishing order. But, not to worry, because for some reason, even though they hadn't timed the race, they had someone who was video recording all the finishers crossing the line. So, their plan was to review all the video and note the bib numbers of people as they crossed the line. Then they could be absolutely sure about the finishing order and who won which prizes. They planned to do that later in the day and call the winners so they could come back and pick up their prize. So, after waiting around for quite some time, we finally dispersed and went our own ways.

This event left a bit to be desired in terms of organization, but overall the race was fun and I'm glad we did it. Most of all, I enjoyed the chance to be active outdoors with friends and family I don't get to see very often. Thanks to everyone who came along to join us!

**UPDATE: Earlier this week, on July 1, I DID get a call from the Coralville Rec Center asking when I was planning to come in to pick up my award from the Fun Run. So, I had won a plaque for being the 3rd Place Female, Age 30-39 (It's a major award, guys!) Even after explaining that I live in Montana and couldn't jaunt down there to pick it up, they were disinclined to mail it to me. My brother's promised to pick it up for me so I assume I'll see it next time I see him. :)

Dawson's Run Race Recap

Sometimes the best races are the ones with the most familiar faces. That's what Dawson's Run in Joplin, MT has become for me, Jeff, and our family. This community fun run was began four years ago to honor the memory of a local child named Dawson who had tragically passed away. Proceeds from the race each year go to a memorial scholarship in his honor and to the Joplin Memorial Park. This is the third year I have run in this race and it has been really cool to see how it has grown in the past few years. The best thing about this race is how many community members, friends, and families come together. The atmosphere is always festive, even when the weather hasn't been.

If you're a racing elitist with no sense of community, this may not be the run for you. They don't use race numbers, sign up is sort of done via Facebook just to reserve a t-shirt (then you pay and register on race day), and this year there was no timer for the event. So, if you need to have a race bib, advanced online registration and chip timing or fancy things like that, this is probably not your run. I think the absence of those things just brings it all back to making the community, the people, and Dawson, who is the REASON for the race, the stars of the show. I love this race and I hope they keep it true to its Joplin roots for as long as they want!  While it is really fun to do big races like Governor's Cup or the like, there's always going to be a place in my racing itinerary and my heart for small town gems like Dawson's Run.

This year, the Bangs contingency had a large presence: Jeff and I were there along with Tom, Carol, Josh, Katie and Brandon. Standing around before the race is always fun because it feels like a community reunion of sorts. People from up and down the Hi-Line and all around gather for Dawson's Run. It's always fun to say hello and catch up with people you haven't seen in a while. This year felt like the biggest turnout for the event that I have seen in the three years I've done it. There were a lot of people there, and everyone seemed happy and excited!  Katie and I were remarking before the race about how many people where there and just how cool of an event it is.

Josh, Katie, and Brandon were in town this year for the race and accompanying weekend festivities. 

The race itself includes your choice between running or walking either a 1 mile or 5K course. They do a great job measuring out the distance for the 5K--it is excactly 3.1 miles! Sometimes when you do a small-town run, they're close but not quite. Not so for Dawson's Run! Getting the distance correct meant they have to take the course around some silly around-the-block loops here and there, which can get confusing for some if they don't follow the arrows. I spotted a few people going the wrong direction- I met one of our family friends coming towards me and he said he had gotten confused about which way to go!  A few people later told me, too, that they were surprised at their quick times and that the race felt shorter than normal to them. In discussing the course, it turned out they missed the loop-de-loop altogether and ended up doing 2.7 instead of 3.1! No worries, though, as this event is just about getting outside and moving in memory of someone special. The course is overall very flat and fast, with mixed surface of in-town pavement and gravel and some dirt road through farm fields.

Again this year I tried to run the race with Harvey. (This meant that my hands were tied up with his leash, so I left my camera in the car... thus, not many photos in this post!) Harvey used to love running races with me but something switched for him in about the past year. He's not in love with the idea anymore. When the race began, I had to do a little bit of bribery with some string cheese to get him started. Once we got going, he did pretty good overall. After about a mile into the race when the crowd had started to thin out, Harvey showed his competitive nature. Overall, he and I kept a pretty even pace, but once we'd start getting close to someone ahead of us, Harvey would speed up and pull ahead on the leash to pass, and I'd stay with him. About as soon as we'd pass someone, he'd level pace back off again. Darn dog just has to be first! (**Harvey was the First Place Dog again this year, by virtue of being the only dog in the competition. He's not too proud to claim the victory, however! To read more about what Harvey loves, check out this post he wrote about what he's thankful for: http://www.prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2015/06/thankful-thursday-vizsla-perspective.html)

For some reason, even with the flat and fast course I'd run before and was used to, the run felt really difficult to me. I really felt like I was laboring throughout the entire 5K. Maybe it's because Harvey and I had a slow start and felt like we had to surge in the first mile to get ahead, or maybe it was the heat and sun, or maybe because my legs were still tired from the previous weeks' Governor's Cup race. Who knows. I'm still pretty happy with my time of 27:06 (timed with my trusty Timex Ironman watch). I'm only about thirty seconds away from my 5K PR and feeling really good about being able to beat my time sometime this summer or fall. Jeff said he felt like he was struggling a bit during the race, too, but he still finished right around his recent PR, with a time of 30:13. Not too shabby!

After the race we stuck around Joplin for quite a while. The race is held on the same day as Joplin's annual Art in the Park and Car Show event, so there were tons of people in town for that. We spent the rest of the morning checking out artist booths, catching up with friends, and snagging a delicious home-cooked barbecue lunch.

The weather was PERFECT on race day, too. If anything, slightly warm to run in, but overall very nice. It was about 70 or a little warmer outside, with clear, sunny skies, and NO WIND! Much better than last year when it was about 45, windy and rainy. The warm weather really brought the crowds out to run and walk and to the rest of the festivities in Joplin.

One other thing that's always great about Dawson's Run is the race tshirts. They are always a plain cotton or cotton blend t-shirt, my fave!, and always feature a really fun graphic. Here's a photo of this year's tshirt design:

Everyone has a smile on their face and a big heart on the day of Dawson's Run. The positive energy is always astounding. To me, participating in Dawson's Run, even just being there at all, feels like a celebration. It might seem odd to be celebratory at an event to honor a kid who is no longer with us, but I think it's good, and maybe even healing, for people to come together to celebrate a life and celebrate community, family, and friendship. That's what this race is all about. It's not about worrying what your time was, or how cool the tshirt is (although they're always pretty cool!), it's about people coming together to celebrate life. Special thanks to everyone who helps put on the race. It's definitely a tradition in my family! Already can't wait for next year!

Log Off, Shut Down, Go Run Virtual 10K Race Recap

Last Friday I worked my first 10K of the season into my schedule! It was the Log Off, Shut Down, Go Run Virtual 10K. It is part of the virtual run series that the website Goneforarun.com puts on, and I first heard about it from my friend and fellow Team Beef teammate, Christy's blog post. I originally wasn't sure about signing up because I'd been experiencing some pain and stiffness in my hip, but once I started getting that worked out and feeling better, I really started looking forward to the run!

My sign up fee was $30.00 and I got a bunch of cool swag-- 

I received a tank top (that fits!), race bib (not pictured), a cool race medal, and a car magnet.

They sent me a packet with a nice tank top, a car magnet, a race bib to wear for the run and a finishers medal! It was up to me to actually complete the race and feel like I earned my prizes.

Before going any further, I want to spend a paragraph or two sharing my take on the whole "virtual run" phenomenon. I've been reading on many other running blogs what other people think about virtual runs and have given it some thought myself. There's definitely a mixed bag of opinions out there!

Personally, I like the idea of virtual runs and they work well for me. I live in an EXTREMELY rural area so it is very, very difficult to find races to do that are nearby, or even within what I consider reasonable driving distance, which is admittedly a much greater radius than for most people! ha! What I like about virtual races is that I can fit the race into my schedule and run it when it's convenient for me at a place that is also convenient for me. Do I miss out on the "race experience" of having race organizers, people all around to run with/against, water stops, bathrooms, food after the race, etc? Yeah, definitely! Those are all reasons I really like doing organized road races. But it's also nice to run a no-frills race on my own terms.

I've had some people say that they think I'm stupid for signing up for a virtual race because, in their opinion, "It's just a scam by t-shirt printing companies to get you to spend money on their stuff." And they may be right in some ways, but if I am still going out there and putting in the miles, then I feel like it's money well spent. 10K especially is a distance that's a challenge for me, so I do have to train for it and spending the money on an entry fee for a virtual race is like a bet on myself that I'll get it done. I'm more likely to get in the workouts and the race itself if I've spent the money to do so, than if I just tell myself "Hey I'm going to go run a 10K for fun this weekend." If I spend $30 to train for and complete a race by myself, AND I get cool stuff for it, so much the better. (And what's it matter to you anyway how I spend my money!?)

So the day I decided was going to be Race Day arrived (Friday, April 24) and I pondered whether or not I should actually wear my race bib that they sent. I'd be literally running this "race" by myself, so no one would see or care if I wore the bib or not. If someone did just happen to drive by on the road, they might think I was silly wearing a bib while out for a jog... But since when do I care what people think of me when I'm out running?! ha! (And how often do people drive on the Minneota Road between Road 200 and the Goldstone Road? Almost never.) I also decided that I didn't want to just feel like I was out for a training jog, so if I put my bib on, it would mentally feel more like a RACE! I pinned on my bib, laced up my shoes, and got ready to take off on my run!

When I started out on my race, it was about 62 degrees, sunny, and about 15-20mph wind out of the north. I had predetermined a route that would be exactly 6.2 miles-- an out-and-back course of 3.1 miles each way from Tom and Carol's house. For those of you who know the area, it's .1 straight west from their driveway to the Minneota Road, then three miles straight north to the Goldstone Road, then turnaround and head back in reverse. So, I had somewhat of a headwind in the first half of the race.

I had looked through my records prior to beginning and saw that my previous PR in 10K was 58:30, from back at Huffing for Stuffing last fall. I had it in my mind to see how close I could get to that mark. I tried to sprint the first .1, then hold a steady, strong pace for the first mile before settling in to closer to my normal roughly 9-minute-mile pace for the "hilly" section of the route.  The first mile has a mild uphill for the first half-mile, then downhill for half a mile. First mile 8:38.5. The second mile is pretty flat-- I covered it in 8:58.66. The third mile is a long, steady uphill for most of the mile. Heading up the hill into the wind was not very fun and I knew my pace would be slower for that mile.  Third mile- 9:13.6. Slower, but not too bad. Once I got to the top of the hill and the turnaround point, I told myself I had to fly down the long downhill to make up time, so I did! Mile four was my fastest- 8:22.89.

I coasted through the flat of mile five as best as I could, then with a little over a mile to go, I really began to struggle mentally. I hadn't actually run more than about 5 miles yet this year, so I expected to struggle a little at the end of this 10K and I did. Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy... Either way, I needed a little self-motivation. I repeated a mantra in my mind that our head track coach uses to inspire and motivate our team sometimes: "Your body can do almost anything- it's your mind that sometimes needs convincing." and focused on steadying my breathing. "Find your breath, find your strength." I focused on a two-two breathing pattern-- so, inhale on two steps, exhale on two steps. Soon, I was finally nearing that last .1 and sprinted around the corner to the finish. Last two miles were 8:54.92 and 8:54.52. And... DONE!

After checking my watch, I saw that I had indeed scored a new PR! I finished in 54.01, so I cut 4:30 from my 10K time! Virtual race or not, I know I did the distance, it felt like a race to me, I pushed myself and I'm going to count it.

I snapped my post-race photo with my medal and then celebrated by eating a giant monster cookie! Perks of a virtual run are that you get to decide for yourself what your finish line food will be.

Let's take another look at just the cookie, shall we?

It's a huge cookie! Barely fits in my hand, and I have long hands!  The story behind the cookies is that our head track coach's wife bakes them for the team. Any time a kid gets a new Personal Best or All-Time Best in an event, they earn a cookie. Coach had handed out cookies at practice on Friday, and the other coaches sometimes get any extras. I knew as soon as I got mine that I'd keep it for my race and aim for a PR. There were definitely times during the 10K that I was envisioning crossing the line and devouring a cookie, and that was pretty motivating. They are so good, and definitely worth running for!  This cookie definitely inspired me to a strong finish!

Overall, this virtual race was a positive experience. To me, it was worth the money paid. I hung up my virtual race medal on the same rack whereon I keep all my other medals. Am I going to sign up for a virtual race every month? No. But I will sign up for them from time to time when they fit in my schedule or when I can't find another race or event to do nearby. Bonus if the virtual race proceeds go toward a charity of some sort, and there are a great many of them that do things that way.

Here's a recap of my splits again, for those who are interested:

.1 - 31.37

Mile One - 8:38.5

Mile Two - 8:58.66

Mile Three - 9:13.6

Mile Four - 8:22.89

Mile Five - 8:54.92

Mile Six - 8:54.52

.1 - 27.86

Total Time: 54.01, Roughly a pace of 8:43 per mile. I'll take it! 

Overall, I'm pretty happy because I've been trying to work on quickening my overall pace and times. It's difficult to do that during track season because I'm so busy, so to get a PR feels extra good. I'm at least holding steady with my normal "old" pace, if not getting slightly faster. 

Next race for me-- I'm planning to do the Buffalo Jump 10K in Ulm, MT on Sunday, May 17. I think it's a trail run, so I'm not sure if I'll shoot for besting my PR again, but I'll definitely give it all I've got!

If you're interested, Goneforarun.com is continuing their virtual race series with a Badass 5 Mile run on the last weekend of May. Same cost - $30.00, and choice of a couple different race packet options. I don't plan to do it unless I don't get the Buffalo Jump run in for some reason. Then, I might consider signing up again. We'll see! 

What are your thoughts on Virtual Runs? Do you do them? Avoid them? Are they "worth" the same as a standard road race in your opinion? 

Huffing For Stuffing Race Recap

I love a good Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. This is something that was a nice tradition with my family, before I moved to the West. Now that I'm out here, there are a lot fewer runs in general, for any time of the year, but Thanksgiving Day fun runs are catching on and getting more and more popular all the time. Yahoo!


This year, since we were in Bozeman, I participated in Huffing for Stuffing, which benefits the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. They had a goal of 5000 participants this year; Jeff and I both ran and contributed to that goal. Jeff ran the 5K and I ran the 10K.

People milling about before the start of the10K.

 This event featured a 1K kids fun run at 8:00 a.m., a 10K at 8:50, and 5K at 9:15. On the event website, they stated that they had a goal of 5000 participants. They didn't make it that far this year, but it was still the largest race either Jeff or I have done this year. For Jeff, it was his biggest race ever. They had 2763 participants in the 5K and 533 in the 10K. Also according to the website, both races were actually longer than their advertised distances. The 5K was actually 3.3 miles and the 10K was actually 6.7. More bang for your buck, I guess!

The race began and ended at the Museum of the Rockies. 

We had picked up our packets ahead of time when we rolled into town on Wednesday evening, so we didn't have to do that on race day. I have to say, that as this race has gotten bigger the race packet swag has diminished. The last time I did this race, about 5 years ago, they had actual goodies and trinkets in the packets. This time, mostly a bunch of stickers and coupons we weren't likely to use as out-of-towners. And strange fliers... The strangest was a flier for the local funeral home. Huh?! What's this in there for, anyways? In case you DIE during the race, please look up our professional interment services? What?!

The race t-shirts were pretty cool this time around, though. They are a soft, polyester blend, and I LOVE the color! My only problem with the shirts are that I ordered the wrong size, but that's my fault, not theirs. I should have ordered one size smaller. Still an awesome shirt, though, and I think I'll wear it a lot.

Ok. Now for the race itself. Jeff dropped me off in time to warm up for the 10K, then he went and tracked down some earphones so he could listen to music during the race. He got back in time to see me start. I had lined up in the 9-minute mile pace group. The race started on time, but with so many people, it took a long time for me to finally get some room to reach my actual stride and pace.

Looking over the fence from the 9-minute group starting bucket, before the race. 

 It looks like it's horribly cold in my photos, but the weather was actually pretty nice. It was about 40 degrees with minimal wind when the 10K began. I actually felt like I was just slightly overdressed at times. I wore my Moving Comfort track sweatpants, a thermal performance turtleneck from Columbia, a sparkly MSU quarterzip shirt from Under Armour, and my Team Beef jersey for the irony of promoting beef on Turkey Day. Sadly, no one commented about my beef shirt. Oh well.

 As I was saying, the beginning of the race was really crowded and I had a hard time getting into position for the first mile or so, which was also a gradual uphill climb. My first mile had me questioning my sanity-- I still had 5.7 miles to go! What was I thinking?! Once I finally hit the first mile marker after what felt like much longer than a mile, I leveled out my pace. I broke it down in my mind and thought about just one mile at a time. First mile: done. Now, let's get this next mile in faster than the first. And so on.

I took this photo looking back over my shoulder at runners silhouetted along the horizon. This was sometime in mile 2.

Even though the weather was warm, the roads we were running on were covered in a melty icy slush, so that created some tricky footing at times, too. At one point, I followed a bunch of people and ran on the sidewalk instead of the road because the sidewalk had been plowed better and was dry. I did this for about a mile, then decided I was getting too boxed into a running order and went back to the street.

You can sort of see the slush on the street in this photo.

 The course for both races were loops, with the beginning and end of each running concurrently. By close to the end of mile 4, we 10K runners found ourselves running with the 5K pack. Once again, the course was jam-packed and it was a little more difficult to jockey for space and dodge runners and walkers.  This actually made the race feel like it was going faster than it was, though, too. There was a lot to think about and look at so it made time feel like it was flying for the last few miles of my race. Eventually, I ran into Jeff along the course, too! It was so cool to see him and share a brief moment, before we each continued on at our own pace.

That's Jeff in the brown fleece!

Something else that made this race a lot of fun was that there were a lot of people cheering along the route. I snapped a blurry photo of this guy playing his banjo and singing (below) and I also saw a person in a gorilla suit giving out free high-fives. A couple houses along the route had speakers blaring music as we ran by, too. That helped the race fly by, too.

Sorry for the blurry image!
By this point in the race, I was not interested in stopping to take any photos-- so close to the finish line!

 Even though the races were both longer than an actual 5K and 10K, the race organizers were good enough to mark the exact 3.14 and 6.2 mile distances along the course, for those of us who were curious how our times would stack up. I was so glad they did this! I hit the 10K line in a time of 58.36! My new ATB in the 10K distance! It's easy to get a PR or ATB when you've only done a particular distance two times, but still awesome! The only other 10K I've done was back in September, the Kickin' Assphault 10K and Half Marathon.

Here's the breakdown of my mile splits:

Mile 0-1: 9.43.94
Mile 1-2: 9.23.59/19.07 total time
Mile 2-3: 9.11.28/28.18
Mile 3-4: 9.02.99/37.21
Mile 4-5: 10.07.15/47.28
Mile 5-6: 9.07.10/56.36
Mile 6-6.2: 2.00.22/58.36
Mile 6.2-6.7: 4.14.03/1:02.5

So, my first mile was one of my slowest, as I said, I think because of all the people and the slight uphill for the whole first mile. Then I got faster and faster for a while. Mile 4 was particularly slow because there was a very steep uphill for a little ways that really got me, and I walked for a minute or so, then it was also in that mile when we joined back with the 5K people. The rest of the race I was pretty much on pace.

Approaching the finish line!

It was so cool to see the finish line and know that I had beaten my previous 10K time, and also just to be DONE with the race felt great!

I knew Jeff wouldn't be too far behind me, so I waited near the finish line to cheer him in, and then we took a minute to catch our breath and snap a photo together. There was lots of post-race snacks-- the usual bagel pieces, orange segments, bananas, and also hot cocoa, but we opted to just get back to Katie and Josh's house and get showered so we could be ready to watch the Bears game and help prepare Thanksgiving dinner. We also knew that with so many people running the race, there was no way either of us had won any prizes or placed at all.

Since the race was chip-timed, we got our results emailed to us right away. My official chip time for the race was 1:02:31.59. I was 306 out of 533 total 10K runners, and 51 out of 97 female age 30-39 runners. I'm just happy I beat my previous 10K time when I crossed the 10K line, and finished the race. This was the longest distance I have ever run. Even when training for this event, the longest I ever did was an even six miles. It felt good, as always, to complete a race, to validate the culmination of my training and determination, and to do it with Jeff.

What's next in my racing world? Probably not a lot for a long time. I'm hoping to do a race somewhere on St. Patrick's Day, but we'll see if that works out. Otherwise, it may not be until the Icebreaker in April that I get in a race. I'm thinking pretty hard about doing a virtual race of some sort in January and/or February, just to give myself some motivation to stay in shape. There's also Shape Up Montana starting in February, which I'm sure Jeff and I will do again this year. Anyone else have any fun racing, running or fitness plans coming up? Did you do a Turkey Trot or other race over Thanksgiving? Have you ever done a Virtual Race?