3w races

Layton and I’s First Race – The Leap Day 5k

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I’m still trying to process what’s going with all the COVID-19 stuff. The day the schools closed and governments shut down events, my life instantly changed. I have a lot of thoughts, fears, feelings, and things to say, but I’m still trying to process them all. Yes even over a week into this thing.

In particular, the running community and outdoor/travel industry are in a state of limbo. I know there are many worse things in the world than some races being canceled or people not being able to travel, but you see, my daily life and career ARE the running world and outdoor industry and I would like to share my thoughts on that eventually.

Right now, with the inundation of news like cities shutting down, or how long the quarantine will last, and the recession… it’s just too much right now for me. Not to mention the frustration when I see climbers being rescued, people still getting together and running in groups, people still venturing into the mountains to hike or ski….ugh.

I will organize my thoughts/feelings, but until then, I’m going to share this post I have been working on from Layton and I’s first race together. 

I love running with baby Layton! I couldn’t wait for the pediatrician to give the “go-ahead” that he was strong enough for the jogging stroller. We’ve only been on a dozen or so runs together so far but I love watching him look around at all the sights with a big smile on his face while I run!

Since his birth, I have been through some ups and downs with running as I get back into it. I did a few races without him postpartum but recently I finally got to race WITH him! I was really excited about this opportunity and declined all offers of babysitting because I wanted to run with him. On Leap Day this year, Layton and I ran our first race together!

With one extra day of the year, I knew I wanted to take advantage of it. Luckily, the company I work for decided to do a Leap Day 5k and I didn’t have to work it.

The Event:
Being Leap Day and the fact that it fell on a weekend, 3W Races decided to take the chance and host a one time race. They (we) even offered free entries to anyone born on leap day and it was also filled with a ton of LEAPING activities… like leaping over hay bales on the course, the standing long leap challenge, and the high leap challenge!

It was chip timed, had great sponsors, free photos, and really cute swag (one of the other reasons I wanted to do it!). And I didn’t have to work it!

Starting

The Course:
This event was at a new park for 3W Races, Carpenter park in Thornton, CO. This small, cute little park had fantastic views, tons of parking, and was in a great location. However, even though the park was small, the course was actually pretty challenging.

About half a mile into the race, you encountered a steep, packed-gravel hill! While this would still be challenging to the everyday runner, try pushing a stroller up it! There were two other hills on course, though concrete, were still a bear to push the stroller.

 

I did like the course, even if it was difficult. It was a ballon configuration and I liked the way it wound around the park. On the “balloon” part, you ran really close to the expo area and that’s where the leaping challenge was. Once you got back to the two-way traffic, the “string” part of the balloon configuration, you had to go back down the gravel hill and finish up another hill.

Layton and I’s Race:
It had been a while since I had run (probably since the 408k virtual race), so I wasn’t expecting too much in terms of my performance. I just wanted to run as much as I could (versus walking), finish with Layton and have fun.

We got to the event pretty early because I wanted to allow for extra time if diaper changes or pre-run feedings were needed – this was our first race together after all, and I didn’t know what to expect. Once we grabbed our packet, we headed back to the car to stay warm.

About 20 minutes before race time, we got out of the car and situated the stroller. It wasn’t too cold on race day, but it was windy! Because of this, I decided to keep Layton in his car seat instead of putting him forward-facing in the stroller to keep him warmer while I was running. This meant the stroller was a lot more heavy. I did a little bit of jogging around the parking lot to loosen up and get a feel for the stroller.

Then it was race time! I got in the crowd of runners, me and Layton in the stroller. This was a whole different experience for me. I was near the middle of the crowd and my spatial awareness was way off, as I bumped into a few different people, apologizing as I went.

Once the gun went off, Layton and started into a jog and within half a mile, he was asleep. I, on the other hand, was at the first hill, a steep, gravel, windy thing. I was right next to a friend of mine and she helped push the stroller as we, what felt like, sprinted up the hill.

I had to walk at the top of the hill and after that, I switched between jogging and walking through the rest of the race. When we got to the hay bale hop challenge, I carefully steered Layton between the hay bales while I hopped over and continued on!

leap day 5k

Skills.

It was a hard race for me. Between pushing the stroller and not having run in a while, I was struggling. I finished in 36:15.

leap day 5k finish

Finishing

Afterward, I hung around the expo and chatted with some friends and then went over to the after-party for my free beer at Periodic Brewing.

Although the Leap Day 5k is the slowest 5k I’ve ever run, it’s definitely one of my most memorable.

2nd Half of August (and 1st Week of September) Updates

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It’s Football Season! Go Broncos!

Like a lot of bloggers, I do regular “updates” posts talking about what’s going on, keeping me active on the blog and general updates related to my blog (running and travel). Ideally, weekly updates posts would be relatable for people, but that’s too ambitious for me; I have tried this in the past without much success. So, I’ve been doing (roughly) twice a month. I’ll also have current likes, obsessions, books I’m reading, tv shows I’m getting into, updates with each job have, etc.

Holy crap. I need more hours in the week.  The end of August and September has been so busy between all of my jobs and house projects. I haven’t had a chance to do much blogging. I have a bunch of posts half written or ideas ready to go. Hopefully, soon I’ll finish them! You can expect to see a Fortitude 10k Recap, a couple running-related book reviews, and some gear reviews via being a BibRave Pro! Until then, here are some updates since my last updates post!

From the last weekend in August, I have had quite the packed schedule and haven’t had a day off, until today (Sunday).  I finished up August by race directing our Erie Half/5k for 3W Races and a couple of Cross Country meets. That put us into September with more cross country meets, more 3W Races work and more races to direct.

End of August
-Race Directed the Erie Half and 5k. It was a full day of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
-I did get to work a really cool event for 3W at the end of August. A local health center (UC Health) was filming a commercial that involved creating a fake 5k race. The artistic director for the commercial wanted the “race” to look real and borrowed a lot of our timing and race equipment and I was needed to go set it up and take care of it! I was so enthralled and fascinated by the whole thing; seeing a film crew and watching all that goes on behind the scenes just to make a one-minute commercial is pretty crazy. I can’t wait for the final product to come out! And no, I didn’t get to be IN the commercial! My break into stardom comes later…… (in case you didn’t get it, this is foreshadowing for something later in this post!) 😉


-August 31st: Arapahoe Invitational Cross Country Meet. This was our first real meet of the season and was a true cross country course with grass, dirt, water crossings, etc! Our kids did great, many had personal course records, and our new runners getting their feet wet (literally) in the cross country world.

September
-September 1st and 2nd were very busy!
-On Saturday the 1st, we took the cross country team up to Leadville for a great race! This super fun course at 10,000 feet elevation brought a lot of hardware home for our kiddos. Our JV and Varsity boys teams took first, our Girls Varsity took 3rd and our JV girls took second! In three of the races, we had the overall winner and in the 4th race, we had the 2nd overall winner.

The Leadville Meet

-Then I high tailed it to Denver to set up a 3W Booth at Mile High Stadium for the next day’s expo/race.
-Then I high tailed it up to Longmont for my Mom’s husband’s 60th birthday party.
-On Sunday, I woke up early to work the booth at Mile High Stadium (not my favorite thing to do for my job) and then back up to Longmont again for a family dinner with my Mom’s side of the family.
-MONDAY was fun as I ran the Fortitude 10k! I’ll do a whole race recap, but I met up with my friend Katja and we ran the 10k “together.” She’s way faster, but we hung out at all other times. I ran it in 51:56 which isn’t a 10k PR but is the fastest I have run a 10k in a REALLY long time! I also randomly got pulled to the side to be on Channel 2 News for an interview! So, now, I’m TOTALLY famous! 😉

-And Tuesday, it was back to the grind at 3W and cross country; I worked in the office at 3W HQ getting ready for the Denver 5k in the mornings and then had to jet up cross country practice in the afternoons!
-Thursday and Friday were packet pickups for the Denver 5k and truck loading.
-Saturday was the big day; The Denver 5k! I’m used to race directing half marathons and a 5k is much more fast-paced, but it helped to have four other staff members there since our lack of volunteers would have shown! (Side note: no one wants to volunteer anymore for races! What gives!?)

Enjoying a post race beer with the crew and racers

And finally, I get a day off… but alas, I have to get off the computer and help on the house… say la vie!

New/current happenings in the world of Golden Mountain Guides:
Not much new, just trying to keep up with it all between my other jobs. It’s slowing down a little bit, but every weekend has been fully booked. I just wish I, personally, had more time to work on some marketing stuff.

New/current happenings in the world of 3W:
Not much NEW. As I said earlier, yesterday was the Denver 5k and next weekend I am race directing the final of a four race series for the Prairie Dog Half Series and then the next race that I’m working is the first weekend in October when I time the K9 Canter.

New/current happenings in the world of coaching:
Cross country season is in full swing with meets every week and practices every day (except Sundays). I’ve missed a few here in there due to my other jobs, and I hate missing them because I love coaching those stinkin’ kids, but you do what you have to! Our next meet is Tuesday down in Elizabeth, CO and then next Saturday (but I can’t go due to race directing) at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

What I’m reading:
-I just finished up Kara Goucher’s “Strong” which was pretty good. It’s a little too hokey for me, but I get the main point and purpose (using the power of the mind).
-I’m now in the middle of “End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage, and Motherhood” by Jan Redford. No, I’m not pregnant, but the book is about a climber girl trying to figure out her place in the world as she deals with life and death in the mountains. So far, I’m really enjoying it even though there have been some terribly sad moments.
-You can see what I’m reading regularly on GOODREADS! Give me a follow! 

What I’m Watching:
I haven’t been watching much lately. In my last post, I told you about my Disney Movies challenge. This week, I did get to watch a few oldies like “The Watcher in the Woods” (CREEPY!) and “Herbie Goes Bananas” (Not a good one). I’m into the 1980’s!

What I’m Listening To:
I finished up all the OLD episodes on the BibRave Podcast but have a few more of the latest ones to catch up on, but I’ve been taking a break and actually listening to the radio! Weird, huh?

What I’m loving at the moment:
Coaching. Those two hours of the day that I’m coaching are the only thing getting me through the weeks. During those hours, coaching is all I’m thinking about and getting to interact with the kids and share running tidbits and advice is awesome. Plus the actual time running lets me clear my head a bit (until the next kid asks a question) and relax.

What I’m hating at the moment:
Feeling SO TIRED! Everyone knows me as the tired person and I hate that. Maybe someday in my life, people won’t see me as always being tired.

Noteworthy:
I’m signed up for the Scooby Doo Virtual Run Challenge and you should do! There are two virtual races for the challenge, one in September and one in October. They are meant to be something to do with your dog, but you don’t have to have a doggie to participate. You get a medal for each race AND a challenge medal (and so does your dog!). Plus, part of the proceeds goes to the Best Friends Animal Society!
-Sign up and join me! 🙂 Use coupon code: BIBRAVE for 10% off!

Erin Go Braugh 7.77k – Post Race Recap 2017

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2013 to 2017!

This is my 5th time running this race – I absolutely love it! I even request it off so that I can run it (or I would probably be stuck working it). I would have to say it’s my favorite 3W race.

I’m not quite sure what it is about this race that I love so much – there’s a lot of good things:

  • The course is super fun (a hilly lollipop 4.8 miles = 7.77k), dirt and concrete
  • Cute swag (green shirts with fun phrases like “Kiss me I ran 7.77k”)
  • People always seem to be happy and in a good mood.
  • Dance and costume contests!
  • ALL YOU CAN EAT LUCKY CHARMS! (In case you couldn’t tell, I love Lucky Charms. In fact, I’m eating this year’s race leftovers for dessert right now.)

Heath (a 3W friend), Me, Ben and Luke

This year was no exception and I even got to run it with Ben! #thosethatruntogetherstay together (except that I left him behind when he started to walk due to knee pain #feelingguilty). We started off together and it wasn’t until about 5.77k that Ben had to walk.

I was feeling pretty good and asked him a few times if he wanted me to stay with him. He assured me I could keep pushing the pace I was going. Before I knew it there was another runner beside me, keeping my exact pace. He was super nice and kept pushing me to keep going. If I slowed, I’d see him look over his shoulder, silently saying “come on! Hang in there!”

Wearing ALL the colors!

With just a half mile left, Chewey I learned later, was audibly speaking, “Almost done! Keep going!” We sped around the corner and over the bridge into the finish. Everything hurt but I felt very accomplished. Chewey greeted me with a high five as we waited for Ben to finish just a few minutes later. It turns out, Chewey is trying run 54 races in a year while dealing with Type 1 diabetes! The Erin Go Braugh was his 24th race and he was such a sweet person and truly inspiring.

Friends of Erin Go Braugh (Chewey is on the right)

Once Ben came across the finish line, we got our Lucky Charms and hung out with our friends. I didn’t place in my age group this year (last year I was 1st) but I was 4th! For this course, I ran my second fastest time. Next year I want to beat my Erin Go Braugh PR!

If you’re ever in Colorado in March, I highly recommend running this race. Next year, it’s even going to be on St. Patricks Day!

Race Website

Prediction Run With 3W Races

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Ok, ok, I know I said I didn’t have any racing schedule for this year! This was another random sign up.

For a second year in a row one of the owners of 3W Races, held a Prediction Run. It goes like this: You predict your time for a 5k. On race day, you run with NO timing device. No watches, no phone, no Ipods…nothing. The person that finished closes to their predicted their times WINS!

If you ever get a chance to do a race like this, I highly recommend it. It’s fun, challenging and unique. I love that fact that ANYONE can win – fast or slow, it just comes down to how well you can know your body, pace and stay steady on your run.

For this race, we had a competition with all racers and then a friendly competition between staff members as well. I’m not going to lie, I was kind of nervous! I didn’t really know what to predict. As you know, running has been the easiest for me lately. Do I predict a slower time and take my time (risking not getting close to my prediction) or do I predict fast and go all out??

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Here’s what I did: I predicted about 45 seconds slower than last weekend at the Six Pack Race given that this course was more flat. On race morning, I tried to replicate how I felt at the previous race (in terms of burn in my lungs).

I felt pretty strong on the run and tried to just run hard and hold my pace. I’m pretty psyched to have won (out of three) a free massage by being the closest of all 3W staffers to my predicted time! I predicted 25:45 and was off by 21 seconds (running  25:23). Overall I was 10th closest to my predicted time – the other runners were GREAT at predicting!

3W Races – 1 mile to half marathon races all across the CO Front Range!