Breast Cancer Awareness 4 Miler

True life: I typed this blog out on Saturday while wearing sweat pants, armwarmers, a long sleeve shirt and warm fuzzy socks.

Because it was sleeting outside and I was rather chilly.

More True life facts…after my race, I came home sat in bed and didn’t move until Jenna came back over around 5.  Did it become winter here overnight?  I don’t know but it was 40, sleeting and hella windy. 

I ran the race in a cotton shirt because it was so cold and because it’s currently my favorite shirt.

(That I stole from my brother).  What?  You are your brother don’t share clothes?  The military is making him too buff now…as he might size up and I’m not wearing tents.  Oh well I’ll get I’ll his smalls then anyways. 

Incase you wondered the shirt says “To a run a PR you must run faster than you have ever run before.”

Both my brother and I have the same sense of humour…can you tell?

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Anyways-Race Review.  It almost sounds like I didn’t enjoy the Tempo Race when in fact I enjoyed the whole morning. 

I got up, made some plain pancakes (always prerace fuel.)  I really do have plain pancakes sometimes…but it’s only before a race.  Races that start after 9, I’ll normally make breakfast ie: pancakes.

Picked  up the partner in crime.

I ended up wearing my compression sleeves only because it was freezing and I pretended I was wearing long pants that way.

Then picked up a cross country teammate Sara.

And off we went in Lorraine (but not before stopping for some gas station coffee).

We got to the race at a secret location 10 minutes from my house.  It was secret because not once in my four years of schooling here, did I know we had a lake with a lake beach 10 minutes away.  This is no VA Beach granted but it is beautiful.   A different kind of beautiful but beautiful none the less.

All these photos credit de Sara
Jenna and I tanning on the beach.

A  good friend of mine (ie: my freshman year roommate Kirstin) lost her best friend to Breast Cancer a few weeks ago and was raising money and putting a team together.  How could I say no?

Kierstin and I..sophomore year. When I was tan.

Plus-I was in dire need a change of scenery (running in the same small 5 mile radius stinks) and needed a decent tempo run.

So that is how I rolled.  Tempo style.  My goal was to keep it at about a 7 min/mile pace with an outcome goal of 28 minutes.

It was terribly cold, winding oh and it was sleeting too.  Like legit sleet.  Jenna said one punctured her retina.

An out and back course is extremely easy to get splits.  My first two miles was done in 13:30.  I was really pleased with that. Then running back into the wind was horrible.  I thought I might pull a Mary Poppins and find an umbrella to carry me back to the starting line.

It wasn’t terrible or unreasonable though and I finished  in exactly what I wanted to do. 

27:50. 

and we won sweet arm warmers.
We are normal sometimes too don't worry.

I’m really pleased with the results and 50000 ounces of gas station coffee later warm again.  I ended up finishing 4 female overall and 2nd in my age group.  Cool beans.  Do you know who won the entire race?

Another  female in my age group that opened a can of whoop ass.   I’ve personally never seen a female win a road race before so it was pretty nifty.  You go girl.

Question for you:

  1. 1.       Are you a beach person?
  2. 2.       What is your best wind running strategy?

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23 Comments

  1. Woman power, yo. Way to show up the dudes. And props to you for meeting your goal AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNND getting 4th overall among women.

    Fact: It was freezing this weekend. I turned into an icicle waiting for my race to start and basically huddled with 4 women I’d never met before for warmth for an hour. It’s appropriate.

  2. I’m not sure if I’m a beach person or not…I’m a secluded beach person I guess. I don’t love crowds. Congrats on the race!

  3. Seriously, this weekend was winter! That sounds like a cool race though, I don’t get to the beach often because I live in the mountains, but I love it when I do. The beaches near San Francisco were my favorite. The cliffs were so gorgeous!

  4. Yooo. Running for a great cause, that’s excellent! Also, coffee, and pancakes, excellent. Pity about the slanted bib tho 😉 ps nice pace

  5. Great cause. Sleet? In October? No bueno.

    I like beaches, but only when they are sunny and above 75 degrees!! And I have lots of sunscreen and an umbrella, because I’m a granny like that.

    Love that girl one–my friend Allie won a 5K last month at seven months pregnant–she is my hero!!

  6. Can I just say that it’s just awesome of you to be running for a great cause! Well Done.
    Love the beach could sit in the sun for hours & I love playing over and under in the surf (childish pastime).

  7. Ahaha I love your brother’s shirt. I might have to use that. I also love that you won arm warmers. I could definitely use some of those, way more than I could use the medals we get. Those just end up in a box under my bed. Boo. Anywhoos, you did awesome with you goal! I’ve never ran a particularly windy race except on the track, so i just face the wind for half of the race. I’ve never devised a strategy for it though! Kind of just stay strong against it because it will help me on the other side.

  8. Wow, great run Hollie! Nice are warmers!

    I love the beach, but only beaches with waves… otherwise I get bored!

  9. I am most def a beach person. And I love the Mary Poppins reference! Nice job on the run! 🙂

  10. That’s awesome that you found a lake so close!! I cannot believe HOW cold it is up there..already. It’s still 90 degrees down here. Just think of FL when you are running your races…or something SO lame, but I used to do this when I was a kid- pretend you are a cookie baking in the oven- lol!!!! I used to do that ALL of the time when I was younger. I don’t even remember who told me to do that, but it worked 😀 ..& it made me hungry 😉
    CONGRATS on a great race & I LOVE that a woman won the whole thing!!!

  11. Umm… we went from 34 degrees… to record breaking heat at almost 80…. and now back to rain. Fantastic!

  12. BEACH! I was born at the beach! Ok, well, um, not “at the beach,” actually, it was at the hospital, but in a So Cal beach town. We moved to Suburgatory in Northern Cal when I was 11. I keep trying to figure out a way(FINANCES) to get back to beach living. One can save a lot in the clothes dept if living at the beach!

  13. Hell yeah thats such a good time go yooou! Lmao at the tanning on the beach and the arm warmers!!! My running wind strategy is try not to blow over and I love a good beach 😉

  14. I love the beach! I was born in socal.
    NICE job on that race! You are sooo speedy!
    It is so outrageously windy in my town, especially during winter. And the wind doesn’t blow just one direction… It comes from all four directions and swirls and pushes and pulls and whips at 40-50 mph. My strategy for running is… Cover my face while crying into a hood/mask with my eyes opened only a slit and think to myself at least the faster I run the warmer I’ll get and the sooner I can go inside.

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