July 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

90% humidity, but got'er done anyways. Happy to say that not feeling the 50k at all now. So can start thinking about the next plan/target soon.

Date...........Run.......Walk
07/01........00M.......3.5M
07/02........00M.......3.5M
07/03........11M.......3.5M

---MTD: 3.5 miles walking, 0 miles running, and 0KM resting

Upcoming Races
Fleet Feet Liberty Mile - August 9th
Howl at the Moon - Nighttime 5k - August 10
EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler - November 2nd

(a few more races yet to register for)

202? - Disney World Dopey! (if can raise funds)

Race report! Memphis Stars and Stripes 5k.

My primary goal for this race was to do better than I did last year, which wasn’t a big ask since we ran 38 minutes and something last year.

This race is the series finale of the M series of road races, so all the really fast local people show up. I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere near the podium, but hoped to finish in the top 10 of my age group. Well... three too many fast people showed up for that to work out for me. I ended up 13 of 56. I also hoped to finish sub 30 minutes, and didn’t quite manage that with a 31:05. BUT! It turns out the official course length was 3.23 miles, making my official pace 9:37. Since a sub 30 minute 5k is 9:40 pace, it turns out that while I didn’t finish the race in under thirty, I did technically run it at sub 30 pace! I’ll take it.

I’m also pretty content with my AG placing, since I looked at the finishers, and my good buddy / arch nemesis aka “Lady who runs faster than me on my best day” who bested me in the winter trail series was only able to manage an 8:53 pace and seventh place in this heat. She normally runs 7:30 miles or thereabouts.

Speaking of the heat! Another major goal for me was managing the heat. Last year I honestly thought I was going to faint at the end of this race, which starts at 7 pm, at which time the sun is still well up and the temperatures are near their highest. This year I was a little better adjusted to running in the heat. I also had an ice belt which is a gel pack that sits in the middle of your back. Temperature at gun time was 97 degrees. And the dewpoint was OMGBBQ 82! 82, really? The highest I had previously seen the dewpoint get in Memphis was 78. There’s no shade on the course, which starts and finishes down a gravel road through open parkland and goes down a major street before turning into a suburb briefly then emerging onto another major street. No cloud cover of course. The air just felt brutal and I was soaked and breathing hard from the heat before I even started running. I ate some frozen orange slices, put on my gel pack, and it felt great, for about the first mile, after which it was body temperature, and I had to take it off and carry it because it was making me hot. Fortunately it was pretty light and easy to roll up and hang onto.

Mile 1, felt fast and easy, little under 9 minute pace. Mile two, starting to get hot, pace dropping to 9:18. Mile three.... about halfway, I gasped to my husband, “I think I may actually die from this heat,” and he said something flippant and vaguely encouraging, I can’t remember what, and he can’t either because neither one of us had a brain that was operating at that point. Shortly after he said, “yeah I might have to stop, seriously,” and since the big annoying hill was coming up we walked it, for a tenth of a mile. Then started running again, feeling honestly not that much better but enough better not to literally stop and fall over! Which is something! Mile 3 including walk break was 10:38. The next mile marker is where the race turns onto the gravel road again. I purely despise running on gravel. And fast finishing on gravel, especially gravel full of ruts and rainwater, is for the birds. Husband pants, “Keep going it’s only a tenth,” and I said, “no it’s not,” because I remembered the distance from last year, and also I could see the finish at that point, and yeah a quarter of a mile looks a lot different from a tenth when your radiator is starting to smoke. But we made a show of picking up the pace and trotted on in, and joined the other bright red soaking wet people stumbling around in the finish area. One man we passed said, “I can’t get out of your way sorry because if I move a step I will fall right over,” and I said, “I hear ya buddy.”

So we drank water and walked in the shade of the trees until we could breathe and think again, then went back and got the misty fan thing my mom gave me, and the cooler, and went back and listened to what was really a very good cover band and ate fried chicken. This race gives out hot dogs and chips, but both hot dogs and chips are problematic for me, and according to my husband the hot dogs were soggy last year, and no one likes a soggy hot dog. So we had intelligently provided ourselves with Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, which is practically on top of the race site.

Highlights: the cover band, the Dantones, was exceptional. They played a huge range of old stuff, from Prince’s “Let’s Get Crazy” to Hall and Oats, plus new stuff like Bruno Mars and really new stuff like “Old Town Road.” Anyone who can segue from a screaming classic guitar solo to rap music has my respect. Swag at this race is thoughtful and useful. It’s supported by an eye clinic and they always give out running glasses and face towels. You can tell a runner from Memphis by their bright orange M Series face towel. And I wear the glasses from last year all the time, it’s nice to have a second color of them. My favorite not-runners, the dancing crew, were there, all wearing an assortment of patriotic clothing and dancing all the way from the first announcement to the finish line. A lot of people were wearing Stars and Stripes in various forms including one young man in a giant Uncle Sam hat. We met a nice fireman in a kilt, who was gregarious because he is in the middle of training and hadn’t gotten more than two hours sleep for the past three days. We saw a very excellent tiny baby, whose mom ran with him in a stroller. Can’t have been more than a week old. A fit muscular lady and I complimented each other a lot on looking good and being older than our actual ages. And we saw a bittern catch a goldfish, down by the lake.

We forgot to take pictures after the race started, but I have a couple from before:

02/07 2.52 miles
03/07 2.55 miles
05/07 2.55 miles - had a hen pheasant running infront of me for a few yards. They're quite scarce so nice surprise. No photo as I don't take my phone with me.



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I'm in. for the first time. I will try for 50 miles, walking or running, because I can't really guess what I can do.

Huge props to @rheddmobile for that great 5K time in those unbelievably horrible running conditions! That is brutal!

@emmamcgarity I am in north Dallas, and my daughter lives across the street from Terry Hershey Park. When I visit, I always run that trail. Have run into the group doing the park run, but have never officially participated.

11 miles this morning. Late start due to late night last night. Went to outdoor concert / fireworks. Good opening act, and good Rolling Stones tribute band. Musicians were really good, but the front-man was just ok. Bless his heart, he was just trying to hard to act like Mick Jagger, and didn't really pull it off.
Anyway, the sun still comes up at 6am, no matter what time you go to bed. Told myself to take it very slow today, as I was in no hurry to be anywhere. That lasted for about 2 miles, and I slowly picked up speed. But felt good, even though it was about 80F and 85% humidity.



Going to another outdoor concert / fireworks show tonight. Bret Michaels. Will probably sound like a wanna be Poison tribute band after all these years, but hey, it's free 😆