2011 Road Races (5 total)

2011 road races (5)....

From April 2005 to July 2011 I was a slug.  After that last race in 2005 I quit doing anything active.  I'm not sure why other than I was burned out.  I made a few attempts to be active but nothing really stuck.  In the summer of 2011 I was ready to get moving again.  I started out by taking a 30 minute walk in the morning.  Gradually I started to enjoy moving again.  By July I was ready to give running a try again.  Once again I turned to the Couch to 5k program to get me going.

Village Runner 4th of July 5k

My first race was the Village Runner 4th of July 5k (of course).  I walked more than I ran. You can see how much weight I gained in those years between races..  I think at one point I was up nearly 50 lbs from my previous running years.  I finished this race in 44:24 with a pace of 14:20.  Slow, but at least I was up and moving. No finisher's medal for this race

Next up was the absolute worst 5k I've ever done.  The Caribbean Sounds 5k.  This race was a disaster.  No official timer (it was timed by hand by volunteers with stop watches), it was at a state park and they didn't bother to get permission for the race so the roads were open to traffic, no water stops, no first aid, etc.  Horrible, horrible race that I would NEVER do again. My very unofficial time by my timer was 44:36. No finisher's medal for this race.

Caribbean Sounds 5k

OC Fair 5k

In August I did the OC Fair 5k.  This sounded like a fun race that ran through and around the Orange County Fairgrounds.  It was a bit of a drive to get out there but I'm glad I did it.  This was a fun race and it has a place on my racing calendar every year.  I was on Week 3 of Couch to 5k when I did this race.  No race photo but that had a nice finisher's medal for this race. I finished in 44:17 with a pace of 14:16.

Finisher's Medal OC Fair 5k

I was having so much fun doing the 5k's that I did one the next weekend. This time it was the Jet to Jetty 5k. Another repeat race for me, having done this race in 2004. I had meant to do Week 4 of C25k but goofed and ended up doing Week 3.   I finished in  42:26.  No finisher's medal for this race.

Jet to Jetty 5k

You'll notice I'm wearing Vibram five fingers running shoes. Sometime in July I switched from traditional running shoes to Vibrams.  I LOVE my 'toe shoes'!  It took a little time to adjust to running in them.  But I'm so glad I did. 

My last race of 2011 would be the Wet 'n Wild 5k.  Another race that sounded like fun.  It was run in and around a local water park.  The attraction of this race was that a portion of the race went through the lazy river at the water park.  This was Week 6 of C25k. My time for this 44:45 with a pace of 14:26.  This race did give a finisher's medal.  It was a cheap medal with a sticker on it. Boo!

Wet 'n Wild 5k

Finisher's Medal Wet 'n Wild 5k.

The end of the summer marked the end of my racing for the year.

Being a mom means getting up early during the school year to get my kids up and off to school.  So the weekends are the only time I get to sleep in.  It takes a really special race to drag me out of bed on a weekend Sept-June.

Even though I wasn't racing I did continue with Couch to 5k.  I completed the program and was running for 30-35 minutes three to four times a week.

I think not racing the rest of the year may have attributed to the lack of enthusiasm I was having for running by the end of 2011.  Like I said in my first blog post by the time I hurt my back in December of 2011 I was more than ready to take a break from running.