Camp Ketcha 5K

Do you ever just randomly go to some 5K that no one knows about? Some small dinky race that you've never heard about? They are a dime a dozen these days. Last Sunday morning I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and not sleeping! Urgh. Sleeping in might have nice, but no. I finally decided that I might as well get up and go do something. A normal person would just get up and make coffee. Not me, I find some little 5K and go race.

Total field ... 65 runners.

I want to take a moment to talk about the 8 year old -(Jack)- that almost beat me. At the start of the race, this little guy took off like a bat out of hell. We've all seen it. Kids that take off in a sprint only to be seen walking on the side of the road before the first mile marker. I thought to myself there is no way he'll keep up the pace. The race started at Camp Ketcha, went down Route 77, down to Higgins Beach, and then back. I chased Jack all the way down to Higgins Beach. Gaining ground but still not catching him. The guy in front of me finally caught Jack right before the turn back on to 77. I saw him slow just long enough to say something to him. I kept running and finally caught him about a 1/2 mile from the finish. The first time I passed him he sped up. Really? I stayed right beside him, said a few encouraging words, then surged ahead of him. I ran in hard and finished 7 sec ahead of him.

I want to give a big shout out to Jack ... 8 years old ... running a 21 flat 5K. That is 6:46 pace. Amazing.


A few shots from the race, courtesy of Don Penta.

The start (that's Jack to my right, facing the wrong way and wearing a wig)


The finish





I ended up winning the race (well, overall female). Of course that's not hard to do when no one shows up! Finish time 20:53. I was happy because that was my fastest 5K this year. It is so much fun to be racing again!

What do you do with all this stuff?

I was digging through the drawer with my swim stuff in it today and starting pulling out swim caps ... and kept pulling ... and kept pulling ...


Wow, I had 21 swim caps stuffed in that drawer. A few had seen their better days, which I promptly tossed in the trash. But what do I do with the rest?

That reminded me that I also have almost every bib from every race I have finished. Running, Triathlon, Duathlon, and I think just a couple Nordic Ski races.


I keep thinking that one of these days when I buy a house again I will use them to wallpaper my workout room. I know, go ahead and call me a geek but I have always thought it would be pretty cool.

I also have a box in the closet that is filled with medals, trophies, plaques, etc. that really don't mean anything to me. I do cherish some of my medals ... like both my Boston Marathon medals, the Mount Washington Road Race, my Half Ironmans, but the rest are just cheesy trophies from 5K and 10K road races. I actually tried to give these away! I called many local charities and none of them wanted them. I looked up some recycle places on-line but it would cost me a fortune just to ship the box. So, they just keep sitting in my closet.

To all my fellow running and tri friends, what do you do with all your stuff????

Tumbledown

I went hiking again. So much fun! This time it was a little more challenging though. I headed to Tumbledown and hiked up Loop Trail and down Brook Trail. I had some issues heading up Loop as it is very steep and I am afraid of heights. I realized very quickly there was NO way I could go back down that trail. I made it to the top only to almost get blown off the mountain by some really strong winds. I didn't get to spend as much time at the top as I wanted. The hike down Brook was really easy. Then I had about a 1.25 mile walk back to my car. All in all it took 3 hours.

I really want to hike this again, when it's not windy, and not by myself next time. I would love to hike up there and pitch a tent by the pond during the summer!

I didn't take as many pics as last weekend, but here they are ...

I took this because I couldn't believe how big this rock was!


It was really wet. I tried to be careful, but ... oops! Good thing my hikers are waterproof.


That's where I'm headed.


The trail was mostly rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.


Again, the views were great.


I'm so glad I didn't have to run a half marathon today!

Maine Half Race Report

Maine Marathon/Half Marathon day! It’s no secret that I love this race. I know last year I posted a history lesson on my participation in this race through the years. At the beginning of this year I had intentions of running the marathon, but my lack of training early season soon squashed that idea. I still wanted to run so I signed up for the half.

Again, coming into this race I was in no shape to actually race it, but I figured it would be a nice training run with a lot of company!

Being I wasn’t racing, I saw no harm in hiking on Saturday (see my previous post). So, Saturday morning I did a 3 hour hike. Saturday afternoon my back was getting tight and I was feeling it in my glutes and quads. Huh, that’s not ideal. I hit the ibuprofen, dug out my heating pad, and went to bed early. The heating pad did wonders for my back. Sunday morning I get up and am real tight in the quads but my back feels better. More ibuprofen.

Pre-race wasn’t really anything. I basically jogged from my car that was parked up by Sullivan Gym to the start. I then tried to stretch out my quads as best I could, but they were sore. Ugh. I try to position myself back a little at the start so I wouldn’t get caught up in the start of the race. National Anthem then we’re off. About two miles in I’m not feeling good. I’m tight and I’m sore and then the negative self talk starts. Can I quit? Yeah, I think I’ll just quit. I could just turn around and jog the two miles back to the start and be done with this. I keep having the conversation in my head and then I hit mile 3. My splits aren’t that bad. I thought I would just come out and run 8-8:15s, cover the distance, and log a nice long run. So far all my splits are sub 8.

Alright Robin, enough of the negative self talk. This is what you have been working to overcome the past two months!!!! Think positive, suck it up, and just run!!!! I tell myself right then there will be NO mile splits over 8 minutes. Not one. Here we go …

Mile 1 – 7.55
Mile 2 – 7.39
Mile 3 – 7.39
Mile 4 – 7.36
Mile 5 – 7.43
Mile 6 – 7.48
Mile 7 – 7.37
Mile 8 – 7.50
Mile 9 – 7.30
Mile 10 – 7.31
Mile 11 – 7.56 (that was cutting it a little too close!)
Mile 12 – 7.37
Mile 13 – 7.47
Last .1 - .45

Final time 1:40.59.

At the end of the day, I was very pleased with my efforts. Although I am paying for it! I hobbled around my house all afternoon and evening and my quads are still very sore this morning. BUT, the feeling of fighting through the negativity again makes it all worth it. Little by little I am fighting my way back to having that competitive mindset that I lost somewhere.

South Moat

I love to hike. The past few years I haven't hiked as much as I would have liked. I told myself this year I was going to hike more. Today, I took a nice stroll up South Moat Mountain. 2.7 miles to the top.



It was a great hike! Steep and rocky in several places.


The streams were full because of the rain, which also made the rocky sections very slippery.


But the views from the top were amazing.