(copied from my race review here: https://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2016/12/race-review-ugly-sweater-run.html)

Over the weekend my parents and I ran the Ugly Sweater Run in Boston, MA! This was a fun run that clocked in just under 3 miles (2.87 miles by my watch) and was holiday themed and encouraged you to dress up in your ugliest holiday sweater! There were hundreds of runners at this race, all of which were dressed up in some way, shape, or form, which made it all the more fun!

The race was held at Suffolk Downs right outside of the city which is an old horserace track. It was perfect for an event like this. The entire race route was held within the complex so you did not have to worry about running on the road or battling traffic mid-race. The race started at 8:30AM and I arrived to the site around 8:00. I met up with my parents inside the building as it was a balmy 23 degrees outside with the windchill dropping the temp to 10 degrees. Luckily there was an indoor space to hide out before the race, and it was even decorated with inflatables to keep it festive!

When the time approached 8:30 we faced the cold and headed to the starting line! We didn't realize that they were sending everyone out in waves so we did a bit of stop-start in the starting corral before we could actually start moving. It was great to see everyone's sweaters up close while we were waiting, though, and the MC (who was rocking an ugly sweater suit) was doing a great job of keeping everyone entertained in the frosty temperatures.

The race route, as I mentioned, was all on the site of Suffolk Downs so there was no street running involved. A lot of the course was marked by tape but it was so windy that most of the marking tape was blowing everywhere and some of the route was a little confusing. I cut an entire corner without even realizing that I was doing it - I was just following the crowd! :P What was really cool, though, was that you got to run ON the sand race track! I had never done that before! The track was pretty frozen and flat so it wasn't hard to run on which was great and it was a really cool experience running on a new surface during a race.

The post-race party was really great! It was mostly outside and with the cold weather it seemed that many people decided to opt out, but those who stuck around were treated to Kahlua hot chocolate, music, carolers, photos with Santa (both human Santa and inflatable Santa), and a hot dog truck! I mean, it was only 9:40AM but we totally took advantage of the Kahlua and beef hot dogs. Breakfast of champions?

This race was a great time and very much worth the money. The entry fee was $30 and for that fee you got entry into the race, a free winter hat, access to the after party with a pass for a free drink, and a super awesome medal! A portion of all of the race fees went to One Warm Coat, a great charity that gives coats those in need, and there was a station for you to donate coats in person as well. Charity running events are always a HUGE plus in my eyes. Overall, this event is a super wonderful way to have some fun over the holidays (even if it's freezing out). This race holds events all over the US, so if you have one in your city I would HIGHLY recommend checking it out as your holiday fun run!

(copied from my blog review here: http://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2016/10/race-review-green-mountain-marathon.html)

Over the weekend Brett and I road tripped north for the Green Mountain Marathon in South Hero, Vermont! This was marathon #4 for me and US state 4 out of 50 (which I realize I've never talked about in a blog post before... details on that to come)! One of my former-student-turned-friends, Carly, is taking graduate classes at UVM in Burlington, so she graciously let us stay with her the night before the race. It was so great to see her and we even got to grab some dinner with her, her partner, and one of her friends!

We woke up bright and early Sunday to head to South Hero (which is about 25 minutes from Burlington) so I could pick up my bib and race t-shirt. South Hero is an extremely tiny town on one of the Lake Champlain islands and the start and finish were both at this very small elementary school, which was very fitting for the field of a mere 152 marathoners and 368 half-marathoners (that's 520 total runners for those of you keeping score at home - TINY)! There were plenty of facilities, parking, and places to stretch and warm up for this race which is always helpful in making race day a bit less stressful.

At 8:30am Brett and Carly wished me luck and sent me on my way and I was off on yet another marathon journey. The course itself was an out-and-back along the edge of the island, Lake Champlain never that far out of sight. The route was flat with a water stop every two miles, and the weather was cool and cloudy with some windiness coming off the lake - perfect marathon conditions! I was around many runners until the half-marathon turn around at mile 6.5. After that point the field dropped off significantly and I started to find myself more alone on the course than not for the rest of the race.

Unfortunately, right around mile 13, my legs started cramping. It was... not fun. And it continued to be not fun for ten. freaking. miles. I spent a lot of time alternating between walking and running and stopped many times to stretch. I fell waaaaay behind the pace I could have run and with each runner that passed me I felt more and more discouraged. There were multiple occasions where I questioned whether or not I would make it across the finish, but I knew that I'm not a quitter and I had already come so far that I was going to finish the race, even if it meant my legs fell off in the process.

Eventually around mile 23 my legs stopped cramping and while they were sore, it was no longer excruciatingly painful to run. I continued on my way through each remaining mile, and with the encouragement of everyone I passed and the cheers from Brett and Carly via text message I stayed motivated to reach the finish line. Brett met me at mile 26 and ran in the last .2 miles with me and Carly and Kirby were waiting and cheering for me at the finish! And finally, after getting a medal from the lovely volunteers still waiting at the finish and grabbing a water and some hugs from my awesome support crew, we hopped in the car and headed back to Carly's.

While this marathon did not go to plan, I still managed to finish the race. At 5:36:42 I was the last female marathoner to cross the finish like (54 out of 54... yikes) and third to last overall (150 out of 152), but I FINISHED and this still wasn't my slowest marathon (that still goes to the NH Marathon at 5:40:19), so WIN! I feel like I learned a lot in what I could do better to prepare for my next 26.2 and I'm hoping to have a much better race when that rolls around. But, for now, I'm going to bask in the glory of finishing another marathon and allow myself to be a little bit lazy. :P

(copied from blog review here: https://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2016/07/race-review-midnight-owl-15k-marathon.html)

Saturday night my parents and I ran the Midnight Owl 15K in North Conway, NH! This was a different kind of race called a prediction run. The idea is that you can start running at any time after 9:30PM, but you have to be one of the first to cross the finish line AFTER midnight in order to be considered one of the winners. Oh, and you're not allowed to carry any sort of timing device on you, which includes watched, phones, or ANYTHING that displays the time (which basically means you're running with your thoughts and that's pretty much it). Pretty awesome if you ask me! Because we were running at night we were required to wear

It was a really unique experience running without having any idea what time it was or what my pace was. Luckily there were mile markers so atlas I had some sort of sense of where I was along the course but other than those I was (literally and figuratively) in the dark! There weren't even clocks at the finish so I had absolutely no idea what my time was! I only knew what time I left (10:21:03pm) and I made a general guess of how long before I crossed before the alarm went off for midnight (I made a guess of 6 or 7 minutes... granted I had no idea how close we were to midnight until AFTER the alarm for midnight went off and I had already been stretching out after finishing!) but we weren't informed of what time we crossed the finish line until two days ago when the race coordinators emailed the results.

Though I finished before midnight, I'm pretty happy with my time! I did the calculations - my total time was 1:32:52, giving me a 9:59 pace! That's pretty excellent for me and I am very happy. It's always good to gauge performance in a race situation and I always forget that when I'm in training. This just proves it! I'm looking forward to race day in October even more now!

What I Loved

I really loved the whole concept of a prediction run. I've never heard of it until my dad introduced this race to me and it is so unique. I don't know if there are any more races like this in my area but I would love to do another one in the future!

I also really loved that the field size was really small. There were 93 total runners in this field which I'm pretty sure is the smallest race field I've ever participated in. Small race fields give races a really awesome sense of camaraderie that you can't really feel at a big-name-bigger-attendence-race.

Lastly, the volunteers at this race were awesome. At the start, each water stop, and the finish line they were cheering for us, chatting us up, and all around making the race environment really positive and fun. And it's awesome they could get so many volunteers to come out and wait around in the dark (and probably getting eaten by mosquitos!) while all 93 crazy people took their time crossing the finish line.

What I Didn't Love

While I know there wasn't any timing allowed at this race (as it basically defeats the purpose), I really wish there was chip timing of some kind or at least a hidden clock accessible somewhere after you cross the finish line. I was dying to know what my overall time was because I felt like I had a really great run (which I did). It's not a huge draw back, though, because they end up sending you your times via email, you just have to wait a bit longer to know what your results are.

The BIG thing that I didn't love was that there didn't seem to be anyone sweeping the course to ensure runner safety. We were (of course) running in the dark, in a fairly wooded area, and many of us were going out on the course alone or in very small groups. Also - due to the rules - you don't have a phone on you so there wouldn't really be able to contact anyone if you got hurt or lost. There definitely weren't bikes sweeping the course and it didn't seem like there was a car sweeping the course, so being super careful while I was covering several miles completely alone and in the dark was at the front of my mind. It would have made me feel a lot more at ease if I knew there would be volunteers checking on the course!

The Swag!

Race swag was a really soft cotton t-shirt and a finishers medal that doubles as a bottle opener! Definitely one of the coolest medals I've gotten so far! It would have been even better if the yellow lettering and moon on the medal glowed in the dark! Maybe next year. ;)

Overall I really loved this race. It could have been even better if we had the peace of mind of course sweepers but even without them this was definitely a really well-run race, especially for an organization that *isn't* a race company. I would absolutely love to run this race again next year and would recommend it to anyone that is looking to try something a bit different for a race!

(copied from my blog review here: https://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2015/11/race-review-colt-state-park-half.html)

Last Sunday (Nov. 8th) I ran yet another long-distance race - the Colt State Park Half Marathon in Bristol, RI! This race was put on by the same company that runs the Wolf Hollow Half Marathon which I ran last November - 3C Race Productions - and I've come to the conclusion that they do the most beautiful courses and have the most amazing medals. I definitely was not disappointed with my experience with this race.

The course itself is beautiful and right on the water for the majority of the race. The one thing that disappoints me about both of the 3C races that I've run so far is that the courses cause you to run multiple laps of the same area. I suppose that's why they choose places such beautiful scenery because you have to see the courses more than one time! This course was not an exception - you started out with two 1.5-mile laps and two 5-mile laps to make up the 13.1 miles of the race. Again, it was beautiful enough that I didn't mind all that much, but I do prefer to have a course that I don't have to see over and over again - it keeps my mind off the pain!

Speaking of pain, I was in lots of it during this race. The first two miles my chest was feeling super tight and my breathing was so out of whack that I felt like I was gasping for air which has never really happened to me before (super scary) so I took things very slowly, but once that subsided and I could finally pick up the pace, my left hip and knee started to really bother me and continued to do so until the end of the race. Needless to say, I didn't PR on this race (my final time was 2:34:46 and finished 269th out of 293... yikes) but I managed to finish through all of the pain which I am proud of myself for. I've been taking a bit of a break from running this last week and am going to try and make yoga a regularity in my life again while slowly building up my running strength again. My legs need the break!

One cool thing that did happen was I actually ended up making a friend on the course who happened to be an alum of Mount Holyoke! I was wearing an MHC Rugby shirt during the race and she approached me to ask if I was a student at MHC, and we got to talking for a solid 5 miles! It was really great to make a friend and have someone to talk to throughout the race as it took my mind off the pain in my leg.

Overall, the race was really great. Had I not been in pain, I could have enjoyed it much more, but bad races happen every now and then and it's okay! I think that 3C does a great job with their races despite being a small running company and they travel all over New England, so if you live in the northeast you'll likely be able to find a race by this company that you could participate in!

(copied from my blog review here: http://fiveleveninety.blogspot.com/2015/10/race-review-maine-marathon.html)

I was pretty nervous for this race (more nervous than I can ever remember being for any race) because my training this summer really didn't go to plan. The heat was really killing me in the migraine department, I was super exhausted from my demanding work schedule, transition to a new job, and moving to a new place, and my motivation was completely shot. Not to mention I hadn't raced any significantly long distance in almost a year (my last race was the Dean Dash 5K in April, and before that was the Wolf Hollow Half in November 2014, so it had been a while!) so in my mind, this was going to be a tough one.

The morning of the race was nice and chilly (a balmy 40 degrees) and my parents and I had the unfortunate task of waking up at 4AM to make the trek up to Portland. I'm so happy they decided to come along with me and volunteer for the race - it's rough when you're up that early by yourself! We arrived at the University of Southern Maine campus (my dad's alma mater!) around 6:20AM and met up with my friend Cassie and her friend Lauren, who were both running the half. I even got to see an former lacrosse teammate of mine - Erika (whose wedding Brett & I attended a few years ago) - before the race which was great! Cassie was kind enough to pick up my bib and swag bag the night before the race so I didn't have to worry about it on race day! Once we all pinned our bibs onto our clothes we headed over to the start.

The race itself kicked off with a bagpipe troupe and the National Anthem and at 7:45 on the dot, the horn for the start blared and all 4,000 marathoners, half-marathoners, and marathon relayers were off! The course was gorgeous and took us through Portland, Falmouth, and Yarmouth, with beautiful views of the coast nearly the entire way. There were water stops every 1.5 miles (any long-distance runner will tell you this is amazing), bands and spectators nearly the entire way, and because it was an out-and-back route, I was around other runners the whole time! I guess the third time is a charm because after a not-so-awesome first marathon and a very small second marathon, this race impressed me to no end. All of the volunteers were great, everyone running the race was super friendly, and I had a great time the whole way through.

Surprisingly, I felt great for virtually the entire race. I was nervous about how my legs and feet would feel because my training had been fairly painful throughout the entire summer. Once I upped my mileage I realized that it was my sneakers that needed an upgrade, so I bought myself a pair of Brooks Launch 2s which have been so amazing! I largely attribute these sneakers for the fact I felt so great throughout this race. It wasn't until about mile 23 that my legs really started to feel it (mostly my right quad/IT band) and I started taking a few walking breaks - though I only had to take 3 breaks in comparison to the NH Marathon where I started to take walking breaks starting at mile 18.

Once I hit mile 25, I felt great. Not so great physically, but mentally. I could feel the finish line approaching and my parents - who volunteered to help out with medals & space blankets - were waiting to cheer me on as I approached the finish line. It was so great to receive my medal from my mom and my space blanket from my dad and to get giant hugs from both of them - now definitely one of my absolute favorite moments in my racing career. :)

I ended up DESTROYING my marathon PR by 26:22. How, I have no idea. When I was around mile 10 or so I noticed that I was on track to PR but I didn't want to jinx myself, but I continued to stay on track to PR and in the later miles this was a huge motivator to keep running. By how much I would PR I wasn't entirely sure, but I kept this in the back of my mind for more than half of the race, and once I saw the time as I crossed the finish line I knew I had smashed it. This is extremely motivating to keep running marathons. Knowing that I can come across the finish line closer to 5 hours than 6 hours gets me so pumped up. I hope that next time I can run a sub-5 hour marathon and keep improving on my time from then on out!

Overall, the Maine Marathon was awesome. I'm so happy that I chose this race as my third marathon. I feel so motivated to continue to pursue my marathon goals and train for the next 26.2 on my list. More details on that to follow! ;)