Winans to Winans Half Marathon 2016

Race Goodies

Winans to Winans is my half marathon in so many ways and it's hard to believe I almost skipped out on it 3 years ago.

I love the Winans to Winans Half Marathon for so many reasons, but very few of them will convince someone else to run the race.  First, I love it because it is local.  There isn't an inch of this course that I haven't run at least a dozen times, not including the races themselves.  I know the tangents so well that the course is always about a tenth of a mile short for me.  Every time I come to the hill near the end of the race I push even harder and tell myself that I need to show these other runners that I am a local runner and that this hill doesn't phase me.  Second, all my friends run this race.  Before and after the race I can't turn around without running into a friend.  Along the course I usually have at least 1 of my running buddies near me at all times, even if it isn't the same running buddy.  I pass some of my friends, some of my friends pass me, and we all cheer for each other at the finish line.  Even friends who don't run the race come out to cheer us on and take pictures.  I'm running with my friends while my friends cheer, there's nothing better.  I also know most of the groups involved with the race.  My son's scout troop volunteers at a water stop, I get my water from Mark (and so do my friends).  The local running store does the timing for the race so I chat with them at the start and finish.  Two water stops are run by the local cross country teams who train on the same routes that we run.  It's just a lot of family along the entire course.

Year 1 finisher medal, 2 years later
it still has the ribbon attached.
Not very useful to me.

The third reason I love this race is because I have run the race every year.  The race started in 2014 out of the group that met at the Troy Winans to run on Saturdays.  I used to run with this group when I started running.  When they announced the race that first year, I had no intention of running it.  The finisher medal was a mug... a mug.... with free coffee (I don't like coffee and do not consume caffeine).  It did not sound like it was worth the money.  I was training for my first full marathon and didn't want to mess with my plan but I had built in 3 extra weeks to adjust for potential illness so I had the flexibility to add the race.  My running buddy, also training for her first marathon, was already signed up for the race and I didn't want to do a long run without her.  So I signed for the race during packet pickup, on impulse.  It was my first impulsive half marathon.  That year, it also became my PR.  The next year, I set another PR at Winans.  Now, I would never miss it.  Another reason I keep coming back is the bonus goody.  Runners who have run the race every year have gotten a pint glass stating that we have completed 26.2 miles last year and 39.3 miles this year.

This year was a bit different for me.  I went into this race knowing that my marathon was in a short 2 weeks.  I couldn't kill myself trying to go fast or else my legs would be dead for the marathon.  I also wanted to run a decent time.  I really didn't want to run too easy, I wanted to test my training before my big race.

Greg and I, 2 Half Fanatics

The weather was great!  After suffering through a tremendously hot summer we started the race with temperatures in the mid 50s.  The sky was clear, it was cool, humidity was minimal, and I was enjoying being a little cold.  This year they had an early start for walkers an hour before the runners started.  It worried me a little, that we might be tripping over walkers, but it was no problem.  I got to the race start early enough to see the walkers start so I cheered them on.  Now I was just waiting for my friends to arrive to warm up together.  Little by little so many of my friends arrived at the start of the race.  I took pictures with a few, talked to others, chatted in the port-a-pot line, and wandered around.  Once my main buddies showed up we went for our warm up, Kendra, Rhonda, Judy, and Kendra's Sister-in-law all an with me.  This race was just another group run for us.  We got to the start ready to go.

2016's race happened to fall on 9/11 so team RWB and first responders were there to honor the day and be honored by the runners.  The race held a wonderful ceremony with a moment of silence before the race.  Then we were off.  I had told Kendra that I would stay with her and pace her to a near 2 hour finish.  I was taking an easy pace for a 2 hour finish at first but before we even covered a mile Kendra told me that this was not an easy pace.  By the time we reached a 1.5 miles I had left her behind and I had started to pass people.  I have learned to love starting near the back.  There are some runners who love to be swept up with the fast runners, it makes them go faster.  I like starting slow then passing a lot of people, it helps me set goals.  That's how the rest of my race was, I passed people.  Even when I caught up to the walkers who started early they stayed to the right and I had no problem sliding ahead of them.  It was less of a hassle than the group of cyclists who were on the course last year who nearly ran us over.  The bike path may not be very busy most Sunday mornings so closing it doesn't seem necessary for the race, but notifying local athletes would have helped.

Kendra and I at the finish.  We were
both happy with how we did.

I kept a very steady pace, though a bit slower than the 2 hours I was trying to make.  I kept trying to make up the seconds, I had a running total in my head (10 seconds behind, 14 seconds now, down to 9 seconds keep it up, darn 30 seconds behind now).  I walked through the water stops and fueled as I needed to fuel.  I could tell that my training was not as good as last year.  It was a real struggle to push my pace in the last half, where the course goes from flat and sunny to hilly and shady, but I kept pushing and hoping that I could get close to that 2 hour mark.  I felt bad for another runner.  I passed her right around mile 12, this happened to be right before the footbridge.  The course between Piqua and Troy is beautiful and fairly kind to runners, but the footbridge sucks.  During the race it starts with about 5 narrows, short steps.  Yes, steps on a half marathon course.  This is what angers most out of town runners.  The bridge itself is a single lane metal bridge that shakes when anyone runs on it.  It goes over the Great Miami River and there are times I think it wants to take me swimming.  When I got ahead of this other woman I knew I had to stay ahead of her.  It would just be mean to drop my speed across the bridge, right when she can't pass me, so I pushed my speed so that she wouldn't have to slow down unless she wanted to push.  I still felt bad because I essentially blocked her for any energy surge she might have had.  The footbridge ends with a steep down ramp, which I was flying on.  I came to the end when my left leg landed with the thunk, the type of landing that makes you feel like that leg isn't going to move for a while.  This happened to be my son's water stop so I could slow a little to get some from him.  The person in front of me took Mark's water, but I still had to get it from him so I waited for Mark to grab another one.  I felt better after that tiny slow down so I picked up my pace again.  I came to the final loop of the course knowing that I couldn't make up the time but I saw my youngest son and my husband cheering for me while ringing cowbells and knew I had to push to finish the best that I could.  I kept pushing to the end finishing in 2:02:14.

My youngest enjoying the post-race

It wasn't a PR, about 6 minutes slower, but it was a PR for 2016.  Since I've been recovering from my plantar faciatis since October of last year I knew I wasn't going to be as fast.  I am still healing and it will take a bit more time for me to recover my speed.  My husband and youngest met me at the finish line, my husband was taking race photos of me and some friends.  My GPS had about 13.05 miles so I had to add that extra distance so it would count as a half marathon.  I got Enzo to join me for that last jog.  Then he took my portion of the post-race snacks, except the free drinks.  He had a banana, some cookies, and some chocolate.  Hey, he was out there cheering, it was hard (according to him).  While he enjoyed the goodies I caught up with friends who finished before me and cheered on friends who finished behind me.  Everyone was having a wonderful race day.  Kendra came in about 15 minutes behind me, then Rhonda came in behind her.  Rhonda and I enjoyed the free Physical Therapy provided by Xcel Sports Medicine even though our therapists were pulled away to get their age group awards from the race during our therapy.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I love this race.  I still love this race and will continue to complete it as long as my legs will cover 13.1 miles.  It was a wonderful race, with wonderful friends, on a wonderful day.

Rhonda and I

Cruel Summer

After the Detroit run I focused on my training.  There were many speed workouts, tempo runs, and long runs to get in before my marathon.  I still had to run a race each month so my coach could adjust my plan accordingly.  I decided to stick with the 5 Dollar 5k in July a my race since I wanted the points and it was cheap.

It turns out that July would not be a kind month.  The heat and humidity started to skyrocket.  A drought began despite the fact that the air seemed to be made of water.  Some of our speed work had to be cut short, tempo runs were broken into smaller pieces, and even running before dawn resulted in being drenched afterwards.  I still tried to stick with my plan the best I could.  My foot was doing well and I figured that training in the heat would make a cool fall marathon much easier.

5 Dollar 5k Logo

The day of the 5k arrived.  Just like all the other 5ks in the 5 Dollar series, this race was held at 6pm on a Thursday night.  Unlike the other races in the series we had a heat index near 100 degrees with a heat advisory and the course was on the edge of a soccer field and through trails.  I don't like trails...  Trails eat my energy and make me feel like I'm going to trip, constantly.

I ran my warm up, 2 miles before the race started, and afterwards I was already soaked and stinky.  That was not a good sign.  Another problem was that another member of my age group, who tends to be faster than me, decided to run this race.  I see her as a bit of a rival, she doesn't care, but if it helps me she doesn't mind me seeing her that way.  This meant points would not be easy at this race.

We started the race and I kept up with my rival, in fact she kept encouraging me to keep up with her, through about the first mile.  Thankfully the trail was a bit cooler than the outside area where I warmed up.  Usually shaded areas are cooler, but more humid.  Apparently the humidity was so high it couldn't get any higher inside the woods so we just got the benefit of the shade.  Despite losing my rival early on I kept pushing myself.  I wanted to do well for my coach and my plan.  The course was a double loop and I really wanted to stop for the water at the finish line.  Luckily I wasn't lapped by any runners but I really didn't want to run that second loop.  I kept going and finished 2nd in my age group with a trail run PR of 28:56.  It didn't really help my training but I completed the race strong.  It did start raining, just after everyone finished the race.

Rhonda and I finishing Tawawa Park 5k Scholarship Run

The next race I ran wasn't planned.  The last two years I had training buddies who were about my pace and training for the same distance race at about the same time.  This was great because we could do all our long runs together.  We had safety in numbers and could help each other though the tough spots.  This year I didn't have anyone like that.  I kept floating from running buddy to running buddy trying to find people to cover large chunks of my long runs with me.  One Saturday I ran with my friends Tammy and Nancy with their Sidney group in Tawawa Park.  All of us were covering different distances but we could have company for a lot of our miles.  After the first loop we lost 1 runner, she was done, so we went from 6 ladies to 5.  The next loop finish signaled the end for 2 more runners.  Nancy needed to go soon so we ran a partial loop together, which she had to cut short.  The last runner and I finished that loop together.  That left me with 11.7 miles out of 18.  When I found myself alone I came across a 5k that was about to start in the park.  I figured, why not join the race.  It would make the miles more entertaining and I could run with Rhonda, whom I hadn't seen since June.  So I joined the race.  I ran with Rhonda, not worrying about time and I kept a good pace.  It turns out that the time we kept was good enough for 3rd in my age group.  I stuck around for the medal then finished the rest of my 18 miles.  The weather was great and even though I had to do that loop 5 times, I found a way to enjoy it and I came home with a medal.

The last race of my summer was during the 1st week back to school.  I needed a 10k for my plan so, with the guidance of my coach, I decided to run the Germanfest Picnic 10k.  This was another evening race and it was the first week of August, I should have known better.  We had another heat advisory with extreme humidity.  It was so bad that the school cross country team had to cancel practice.  I also forgot to bring extra food to school.  All I had to eat for a day of teaching and a race was oatmeal, a Lean Cuisine Pizza, and some Rice-a-Roni.  This was going to be a tough one.

Door Prizes are nice

There were 40 people running the 10k and many more running the 5k.  This race had a very unique start.  Both the 5k and 10k started at the same starting line, but the 10k started by heading East while the 5k started heading West.  The 10k was on the bike path along the road and the 5k started on the road and moved to the bike path.  The 10k turned around after 1 mile, went past the start and out another 2 miles.  It made for an interesting race.  I started the race slowly, knowing the heat would drain me quickly.  Many runners passed me in the first mile but after that, I started passing them.  It seemed that everyone had to take walking breaks because once I passed quite a few people, I wasn't being passed even when talking a walk break.  The course did not have much shade and the cross country boys running one of the water stations were throwing it at each other rather than serving it to us.  I used my best teacher voice to scold them due to the heat.  When I got to the 2nd water stop I told those boys, who were much more helpful, about the group at the 1st station and they sent someone to help them clean up their act.  By the time I made it back to that water stop one of the boys met me with a glass of ice water.  It was very nice water.  I finished the race the best that I could but it was one of my worst finish times, 1:00:47.  I went back out for my cool down and I could barely keep moving.  On my way back in a runner finishing the 10k caught up with me.  I decided that I was going to run her in.  We could keep each other motivated and moving.  I cheered for her, stayed along side of her, and helped her cross the finish line.  We were both grateful for the company and motivation.

Germanfest Picnic Medal, it's a silver stein

I went to the medal ceremony without expecting much.  This was tough for everyone but I was also tough on myself.  I didn't know where I was going so I asked another runner.  We walked together and it turns out that she is the mother of one of the students I coached in track 5 years ago.  We had a great conversation and we both placed 2nd in our age groups.  I also won a door prize, 2 tickets to a Dayton Flyers game.

While these summer months were not conducive for PRs I had some interesting race experiences and I got to collect a few more medals.  I don't know that I would run Germanfest Picnic or the Tawawa Scholarship run again but they were enjoyable for many different reasons and helped me meet goals when I needed to meet goals.  I do think my boys would enjoy the picnic though, lots of yummy treats.