I had been looking forward to the Scott Coffee 8k for a month. My work helps with the race and since I’m familiar with the area, I knew how exciting the race was. Although the race was named after someone who passed (Scott Coffee), this year the race directors and family decided to make it “coffee themed”.
A coffee themed road race?
Of course I was on board. I had originally hoped to use it as a baseline to figure out my fitness but the course, heat and humidity did not allow for that.
I arrived at the race at 7:45 and the race started at 8:30. After picking up my packet, my free bag of coffee and number, I warmed up 2 miles.
I made my way to the starting area where I saw lots of friends and people I knew. The race promptly went off at 8:30. I found myself caught up in the action and many people flew right by me. I told myself the first 100 meters doesn’t indicate how you will do in an 8k. I also thought “the kid running by you in flip flops might have a bad time.” During the first half mile, it felt as if everyone was running by me.
I’ve been struggling with the first mile in races lately. I feel like I mentally take the race out too slow (which is false since I’m been running positive split races). The first mile felt like it took forever (6:23).
During the second mile, a female I knew well ran by me. We’ve gone back and forth with running races together. Not only is she an incredible runner but she is also one of the nicest and overall most fit people I know! Sometimes she has a faster race and sometimes I do…it just depends on the day. We ended up chatting through the second mile (6:28). Mentally, it made the second mile go by much quicker.
The third mile had multiple noticeable uphills. With each turn, it felt like another uphill (that I didn’t want to deal with) popped up. It began to get hotter and more humid. I tried to push through but I faded pretty quickly and ran a 6:41. We passed a few men and just focused on the finish.
For some reason crossing the third mile motivated me. I didn’t get any faster but the race was already halfway over. I just had to make it through the next two miles. I saw one of my good friends cheering but other then that nothing sticks out to me during the 4th mile. It was just focus on getting to the end (6:45). The 6k and 8k distance just remind me of 5ks with bonus rounds. We were entering the bonus round…
After crossing the fourth mile, I began focusing on the last .98. I started looking at my watch a little too much. I desperately wanted to tick off the miles. I tried to reel in a few men in front but only ended up catching one. I just kept pushing through. The end of the race finishes in front of the giant craft fair and festival. The venders were all out cheering so you have to look strong. I saw several of my coworkers and sprinted as hard as I humanly could to the end.
I finished in 32:44 and 7th woman overall (67th person). I am happy with the race because it was the general pace of the races I’ve been running. I’m injury free and healthy. The race itself was a lot fun and I obviously loved the coffee theme.
I’m beginning to learn that it is going to take a lot more time to build speed. I haven’t worked on speed in 2 years so it won’t be built in a day.
Questions for you:
What are you working on that is taking time to build?
What is the coolest themed race you’ve done?
This coffee themed race is one of the best.
Another awesome race for you! I’m so inspired by your speed, you’re incredible!
Congratulations Hollie! It sounds like this was a great race and I love that it included coffee (how appropriate for you!). Building speed is tough, and the heat makes racing in general really hard. I am also trying to build speed and running into that issue (no pun intended).
The coolest themed race here is Catch the Leprechaun. There is a leprechaun who runs around the 5K course and everyone who “catches” him, or finishes before him, gets a mug at the end of the race. He runs about a 27 min 5K at the race so it is a good goal for people!
I’m also trying to work on speed and I’m hoping that over the summer I can focus on racing shorter distances, forcing me to get out of my comfort zone. I don’t think I’ve ever done a themed race but coffee sounds pretty amazing!! Congrats on a great race!
I really like the 8K distance. I wish it was more common because 5 miles just seems like the perfect amount to race. I haven’t done any crazy theme races besides the color run, which I don’t really consider a “race.” Plus, I walked it with my roommate and her friends. So there’s that. I did do a Caribbean themed race once where I received a cookbook as my award. I’m not big on Caribbean food, but for someone who has a wider range of foods they like, I guess that’s a pretty cool theme race lol
I’m trying to build speed too, focusing on 5k/10k for this fall but the humidity makes everything so much harder!
That’s a great race! I’m trying to work on my endurance so I can hit my goal of breaking 2 hours (which probably sounds pathetic to you!). I almost got it in my race on Sunday, but still have some work to do. By the way, I absolutely love your new hair. It looks great on you!
Thank you Gretchen, that means a lot to me!
Breaking 2 hours is a huge deal and I hope you are able too soon 🙂
Coffee and chocolate races are probably in my top race “foodinations”. I really want to run in Hershey and the hot chocolate series. Hershey is on my top.
…But then there’s Disney where I can run in a tutu, eat Mickey pancakes, or pretend I am a Disney princess. Priorities.
Coffee>>>>>>yet another race t shirt.
You got a bag of coffee?! So cool! I did a hot chocolate race a few years back. They handed out mugs instead of t-shirts and served hot chocolate at the finish.
Umm free coffee with packet pick up? SIGN. ME. UP.
Love reading the frequent short race recaps and following along with your speedy summer. Can’t wait for those PRs to come flying in again!!
Totally cracking up at the kid in the flip-flops! Building speed is such a slow, gradual process. It almost feels like I keep taking two steps forward, one step back whenever I try to chip away at my times. I think that’s what makes the payoff so rewarding though. When you think about it, your fastest race takes years to run!
Congratulations on the finish! I am working at building my running base again after my layoff/injury. It is taking so much longer than I want! My tempo runs currently are what my slow recovery jogs were a few months ago. It is really putting things into perspective for me.
The coolest themed race I did was the Tough Turtle obstacle race. It was really fun!
Nicely done!!! And no, speed won’t be built in a day but you are super speedy already and, with work and time, you will be killing it. Great job Hollie!
I’m jealous that you did 2 races in one weekend! I would race both days if I could but I think my non running husband would kill me!! 🙂