Race to Win: The Tale of the Ohana Holiday 5k

“How much Champagne did we drink last night?”

My sister in law and I were pulling up to the start line of a race we had decided to run the night before. It was a sparkling wine fueled plan that we had brilliantly laid out around 10PM, as we topped ourselves off with fermented grape beverages that make you do silly things like sign up for races that you haven't trained for.    

Why not drink copious amounts of alcohol and then go run a race the next morning? Um, don’t answer that.  And before you say, “It’s just a 5k," watch some videos of people properly racing 5ks. It’s a tough distance to run well. There’s no room for error. Or hangovers.

To be fair, it wasn’t completely the fault of the Champagne. The plan was hatched in part because of a certain obsession I was having with a little game called RunChatHunt. I had yet to find a race start/finish line to complete the scavenger hunt. So, the Champagne flowed and the Ohana Holiday 5k beckoned.

We had a beer afterward, to seal the plan if you will. And I managed to post this little missive in my running group's Facebook chat:

December 20, 2015 near San Diego, CA 

 Soooooo...my sister in law, and I decided about 45 minutes ago that we're racing the Ohana 5k tomorrow. We decided this after a few beverages. We are racing to win. Having one more for the road. Here's my 3D Clythie because I don't yet know what I'm wearing to race so I can't post a Flat Clythie.

A few hours of sleep later, regretting perhaps most of our decisions from the night before, we arrived at the race start and groggily approached packet pick up. We saw two lines:

1.             Registration - with a Toy

2.             Registration - without a Toy

“We’re we supposed to bring a toy?” We casually approached the table marked, Registration - Without a Toy.  

“Hi, I registered last night…”

The lady loudly asked me, “DO YOU HAVE A TOY?”

I horrifyingly whispered, “Um, no, sorry, no.”

She confirmed to everyone in the general area,  “NO TOY. 

SHE DOES NOT HAVE A TOY.” 

I slinked over to my sister in law. "I think we were supposed to bring a toy."

Smile and pretend that we weren't just humiliated for forgetting to bring a toy for a needy child.

This was to be my sister in law’s second race ever. She had previously run the Temecula Half Marathon a couple of years before, but she hadn’t raced since.  

“What’s the race plan for a 5k?” she asked. “Run like hell,” I said as if I know anything about racing 5ks.

“Ok, maybe I’ll do that. For my Half I kind of eased into it, you know, paced myself to be sure I had enough left for the end…” Claudine was thinking out loud. “RACE TO WIN!” I shouted, immediately regretting it – the loud noise hurt my foggy brain. 

The race began and we were off. The course ran along a paved path beside Mission Bay, an out and back with a sharp turn around. As I made my way there, I saw Claudine racing back toward me. I shouted to her “RUN RUN RUN! RACE TO WIN!” And immediately regretted it – the loud noise hurt my foggy brain.  

A bit later I came across the finish line, and hugged Claudine, happy to have sweated out nearly all the Champagne.

As it turned out, Claudine won her age group, and was the 8^th woman, 21^st overall. I didn’t come in anywhere near last and I beat a bunch of guys and most important of all I got my finish line picture for RunChatHunt.

Things felt a bit backward

It was time to pop the Champagne and celebrate.

The Journey

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” - Ernest Hemingway

I had several goals for 2013, some of which were met. Some were adjusted along the way. Others were not met at all. Through amazing experiences and some failures, I learned some things and hope to take all of my 2013 running (and recovering) experiences with me into 2014. Here's a look back at my 2013 Goals and how they turned out. 

2013 Goal 1/MARCH: Complete my third Half Marathon: the Reston Half Marathon. Do not come in last, PR. 

What I'm proud of: The training was perfect. I'm Hal Higdon's biggest fan. I'm proud of myself for sticking to the training plan through winter. I made an early decision to do all of my weekday runs on a treadmill for the first time ever. It ruled. Once I adjusted to the treadmill (I had very little running experience on a treadmill before this training began), I loved it. I really enjoyed being in lightweight clothing and running inside during darkness and especially on icy days.  When race day came, I felt ready to go, despite a nagging little pull in my right foot. The race was a blast. I was so happy to race with my friends Tricia  and Tora  and the vibe of the race was great. It was one of the few that my husband has been able to attend, along with my running partner Matthew, and my friend Alyson - what a cheering party! What was wonky: I did not PR. No, no, no. Reston is no Annapolis. I'm going to have to run a really flat course to beat my race at Annapolis.  What was really wonky: I did not know at the time that I was running on a broken foot. 

2013 Goal 2/SEP: Run two Half Marathons in one week, PR the first one, run in a tutu at the second one. 

What I'm proud of: I learned a couple of weeks after signing up for these races that I had a broken foot and was subsequently put in a cast for 8 weeks and I still managed to run both races. The first one was the Chicago Half and I ran it with my little brother Mike. We met in Chicago for an Epic Brother/Sister Running Weekend and we had a total blast. The race was amazing.  We also ate and drank our way though the awesome city of Chicago. The second race was Diva's Wine Country Half in Leesburg, Virginia. I met up with my friends Tricia and Tora and Shirley and met (for the first time "in real life" several other women from my virtual running group, My Running Girl Friends. If there are any female runners out there who are interested in joining this international running group, leave a comment below and I'll give you details.  I wore a costume (yes, a tutu) which was a definite first for me. I have this "thing" with costumes and running: if you're going to wear one, you had better be confident and good! These are two feelings I struggle with in my running and thus, I didn't feel "worthy" of the tutu. This is, I realize, completely ridiculous. I know that now. I joined tons of women in costumes who ran a really really tough course after a huge start delay and despite having raced 6 days before, I felt great. What was wonky: Nothing really. I didn't PR Chicago but mofo, I thought I would have to walk portions of the race because of my foot and I managed to run the whole thing with a smile on my face. That race was so so so fun. It's flat too. With a longer training period, I could have raged. I love Chicago and hope to run that race again one day. It's so huge that logistically it's a little scary, but they do a good job and running with thousands and thousands of people is such a boost.  Diva's was a total blast. There were logistical nightmares but I think because it was my second race that week, and I knew I was just there to have fun, that the start delay and the major error in course description didn't really bother me. I loved running an (almost) all female race and though it is my very very slowest Half Marathon, it was also the one during which I laughed and smiled the most. 

2013 Goal 3/OCT: Crew my running partner at the Boulder 100

What I am proud of: Mostly I'm proud of Matthew, for running a freaking hundred miles. Also: I'm proud of myself for staying up for 33 hours, for being a pretty good crew captain, and for pacing Matthew for an unexpected 26 miles. What went wonky: Not too much. There were no emergency errors and the things we forgot or could have done better were relatively minor and have been added to the crew list for the next one. At Bull Run 50, I was fastidious about recording splits. At Boulder 100, the course was a loop, and there was an official checking times at each completed loop and half loop, so I wasn't paying as much attention in the middle of the night and instead went off the "official" times. This is a story for my Boulder 100 race report, but suffice to say, it will not happen again. The race was a life changing event. To watch people run 100 miles through day and night, is shocking and beyond impressive. To have a crew of Jeff and our friends Sandy, Dayna (and her girls) and Matt made the race so much fun. Having Matthew's coach Tim  there saved us from questioning anything - his wisdom and hilarious personality combined with a lifetime of athletic experience made the race go from surreal to achievable. Having all of the support from everyone I mentioned made the race so awesome.  What went really wonky: Besides nearly murdering a race official for mis-counting Matthew's number of loops completed, I didn't realize that while pacing, I had somehow broken my foot again.      

2013 Goal 4 / NOV-DEC: Fuck the long runs, and speed up! Choose 2 5K races. Use the first for a base pace and use the second as a measurement of improvement. 

What I am proud of: I worked hard on speed and cadence. I started using a metronome. I had NO idea that my turnover was so slow. I started getting faster! I definitely respond well to speed training and feel like I'll be able to get so much faster with some more training. What went wonky: I learned shortly after the 100 that my foot was re-fractured so I went back into the boot. I missed my first race. Just about the time I started running again, I got the flu and missed my second race. So much for the 5K. Maybe it's not my distance after all?   

Weird year. Fun, for sure. I had a blast running with my running partner and friends. I learned to run faster for a short period of time. I learned to run for fun. It was a frustrating year as well. Lots of broken foot time. I learned about taking time off to heal. I learned about cross training (cycling and yoga are my new go-tos and don't bother my foot). I learned patience. I learned to stop when something feels really strange. I learned about humility. The irony is that after all the time that I diligently spent in the cast and boot, I have a feeling that I've been mis-diagnosed. That's something to figure out for 2014, after I look at races and think about distances and make a running plan. I hope we'll be able to run together next year!