Another 5K in the Books!

Posted in Race Recaps by Annie T

Matt and I ran another 5K this morning and it was fun!! I had two goals going into the race: #1 – Don’t walk and #2 – Finish in under 30 minutes. Not only did I run the whole thing, I finished in under 27 minutes!! I’m still surprised!

The “Fueled Up & Fired Up Pick 5 Challenge” race took place in Matt’s hometown of Wallingford, PA and was sponsored by Wilson Oil & Propane. We started at the Wallingford train station and wound around neighborhoods for two miles before tackling the hilly Smedley-Leiper Trail that parallels the Blue Route (I-476). Thankfully, the race finished with a nice downhill towards the Wilson Oil parking lot.

Matt was the 7th finisher overall with a time of 24:52 and I was the 4th female to cross the line with a 26:51. We both ended up first in our 20-29 age group which was kind of cool. Granted, there were only a few people in our age group and the entire 5K race only had 67 entries, but I was still pretty excited!

I had a very different strategy for this race than I had for the Run-A-Muck 5K we ran last month. I tackled the Run-A-Muck with no watch, no music, no iPhone… just me and nature. Because of this, I went out way too fast in that race and then mentally gave up on the hills and walked (a lot). I also took a big gulp of water at a water station during the Run-A-Muck which made me feel sick for the rest of the race. I tried to apply what I learned last month in today’s race. I used RunKeeper to track my pace, I had a nice, upbeat music playlist to listen to, and I didn’t stop for water. I’ve also been practicing running up hills in my neighborhood which helped me mentally when I got to a long uphill near the end of today’s race. All in all a big improvement! 🙂

Here’s RunKeeper’s summary of today’s race. (The finish time is a bit off because I was late hitting the stop button.) The hills in the Smedley-Leiper trail definitely hurt my pace in the 3rd mile but overall this was much faster than I was expecting.

Here’s my latest mile tally. Many of these miles were done on the elliptical due to my sore foot but it seemed that cross-training worked because my foot feels a lot better now!

Miles since last post: 69.6
Days since last post: 17
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 5.03
TOTAL MILES: 472.6

Our next 5K is next Sunday and then we’re entered in another one the following Saturday. Go big or go home, right?

Related Posts:
• Limping my Way to 400 Miles (10/3/13)
• Run-A-Muck 5K (9/22/13)
• 300 miles and a 5K in my future (9/9/13)
• 200 miles! (8/26/13)
• 100 Miles in 21 Days! (8/7/13)
• 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge: 49 Miles to Go! (7/29/13)
• The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge (7/23/13)

22Sep2013

Run-A-Muck 5K

Posted in Race Recaps by Annie T

We made it!! Matt and I successfully completed the Willistown Conservation Trust “Run-A-Muck” 5K race yesterday afternoon. The race ended up being longer than a 5k and it was SUPER hilly, but we finished!

Me at the finish

Matt at the finish

My original goal was to beat 32 minutes (i.e. run 10 minute miles) so when I came over the last hill and saw the finish line clock at 35 minutes I was a little disappointed. That is, until Matt told me that his and other runners’ GPS running apps were saying that the race was more like 3.65 miles long. That means I DID meet my pace goal, woohoo!

In addition to meeting my goal I was also the 8th female and 34th overall to cross the finish line which was pretty cool and unexpected. Granted, there were only about 105 runners AND one of the females ahead of me was an 11-year-old girl, but eh… oh well! 🙂 (By the way, I learned that little kids can be ridiculous runners! I guess they just never get tired? Crazy!)

The course was tough… it took us through beautiful horse fields, around several ponds, up what seemed like a near-vertical climb in the woods (I walked it), and along a dirt road. I started out WAY too fast (7:30-8:00 mile, eek!) and then I paid for it on every single steep uphill climb after that, but it was a good learning experience and I think this will just make future races that much easier.

Run-A-Muck Sign

Our first race numbers

Overall, the race was hard but the feeling of accomplishment after crossing the finish line made it totally worth it. I’m already looking for another local 5K to enter in October… looking forward to it! 🙂

21Sep2013

Kirkwood Preserve

Posted in Hikes by Annie T

Guess what? In 2 hours I will be running in my first distance race since 1999!!! The 5K is hosted by Willistown Conservation Trust, a local non-profit land preservation organization in Willistown Township, Pennsylvania. To prepare for the race I’ve been running like crazy on my treadmill AND, because the real world isn’t as flat and smooth as a treadmill, Matt and I have also been hiking (and sometimes jogging) in lots of local parks and preserves.

This week in honor of the upcoming race we visited Willistown Conservation Trust’s Kirkwood Preserve.

Kirkwood features 83 acres of grasslands along a stretch of the picturesque Crum Creek. The preserve has been classified as an “Important Bird Area,” meaning that you’re likely to see some endangered grassland birds on your hike. More importantly (for me, at least) this also means that dogs are strictly prohibited from all areas of the preserve.

I actually have a very personal connection to the rolling hills of Kirkwood Preserve because I grew up about 2 miles away from here. When my brother and I were kids we would walk here from our house with my mom all the time. This was back before the land was preserved (it was just a cow farm then) and we spent hours and hours of our childhoods here hiking, playing, cross-country skiing, fishing, picnicing… you name it! With all of those memories in mind it was really neat to come here with Matt and see that the land is still here and open to all. (Of course the barbed-wired cow fences are all gone and the fields are full of natural grasses now, but that’s fine with me!) Here are some photos from our walk:

Kirkwood Preserve

Sorry Bailey, no dogs allowed!

Kirkwood Preserve

Kirkwood Preserve is open daily from sunrise to sunset and has well-mowed walking trails. We did the outer loop on our visit and our total walk was just shy of 2 miles. The only access to the preserve is via the gravel parking lot on Grubbs Mill Road.

OK… time for Matt and me to start stretching and getting ready for the race! Here’s my running tally as of yesterday evening:

Miles since last post: 60.2
Days since last post: 11
Average Daily Miles since July 18th: 5.56
TOTAL MILES: 361.2

Wish us luck at 4pm…! 🙂

Kirkwood Jump

Other local hikes, parks, and preserves:

• Ridley Creek State Park (Edgmont Township, PA)
• Okehocking Preserve (Willistown Township, PA)
• Darlington Trail (Middletown Township, PA)
• Linvill Trail (Middletown Township, PA)
• Stroud Preserve, (West Chester, PA)