Uno Carrera de los Muertos 5K 2019 (Hydraulics)

Carrera de los Muertos 5K (3.15 miles)

Let's not talk about pace this time ...

I ran this race three years ago, on it's 10th anniversary.

Three years isn't so long ... or at least, it doesn't seem like it ... until you revisit the recap photos from that year:

OMG my baby!!  How has he gotten so big?!

Just for reference, a similarly skeleton clad photo from Halloween this year:

Ah!  I miss my cute, squishy mushy baby.  But he's sure fun to hang out with now, too, when he can tell me stories and funny jokes.  Plus there's the no diapers thing.  Trade offs ...

Anyway, this is a race recap.  Not a mom post.  Moving on ...

---

As I mentioned in my previous race recap, since I enjoyed this race in 2016, I decided to use the 2019 version as a motivator to get me back into running.  Because what better than skeletons and a post Halloween trip to Chicago to get me motivated, right?!

Beyond the excellent race swag, what I remembered liking about this race held true in 2019 as well - a festive pre race atmosphere, a unique cultural immersion, and beautiful artwork on course.

New to this year (or at least, I didn't see this in 2016), a SUPER SWEET hydraulics car display.

Note: this car drove away post race honking its horn, and yes - it played La Cucaracha.

Other items to add into the plus column for this race: an on time race start, well organized race corrals (though, plenty of people thought they could "walk" a 10 minute mile, so there's that ... but race organizers can't fix stupid), and even an on site cotton candy vendor!!!

Not going to lie, I was VERY tempted to purchase a bag to bring back to the hotel for my son.  But ... Halloween literally JUST happened a little over 24 hours prior.

I think that's plenty of candy for a three year old, no?!

In addition to other positive race attributes for this 5K, there's also the AMAZING placement awards.  While I'll never likely qualify for these skulls, I can still admire them ... right?!

Ugh - I do have to say, I'm never so jealous of fast runners as I am at this race.

Oh - and what else served as a good motivator for me to get back into running shape for this race?  Getting someone else to do this with me so we're both holding each other accountable, of course!! 

Since my sister is usually game for my shenanigans, together we committed to training for this race ... though we totally spaced and didn't take any photos together to document the experience.  And even though I held back this recap about 2 weeks to allow for race day photos to be published, still no luck.  DAMN!  Oh well.

Speaking of race down sides - though the race had plenty of positives as mentioned above, there were a few negatives as well.

The biggest negative was no packet pickup in the days most immediately prior to the race.  I was very confused by this - how is an out of town runner supposed to pick up their bib and shirt when the only dates available for pickup are the Saturday, Sunday and Monday the weekend BEFORE the race?!

Other negatives for this race were a general lack of organization and communication.  Using the above as an example - notice the address for packet pickup is the same for both pre race and race day?  Yeah ... that's very wrong.  Pre race pickup was at a local run shop, but same day pickup was at the school hosting the race.  Two totally separate addresses roughly a mile apart.  I actually messaged race organizers directly about this twice before they realized the error and fixed it.  Which means that all their social media posts for the weeks prior to the race, and the e-blasts for pickup reminder ... were all wrong.  Oops.

Another example of the lack of organization paired well (or rather, poorly) with this race day packet pickup issue.  Because if you're expecting a fair percentage of your runners to pick up their shirts just prior to running ... you'd think runners might want to know where bag drop is, right?  I mean, I myself don't particularly enjoy being a pack mule ...

When I asked at check in where the bag drop tent was, I got a deer in the headlights look and a "Uh ... I don't think we have one, sorry."

Good thing I was really motivated to not run with an extra jacket, a race shirt, and a reusable bag I brought along for bag drop ... which I discovered I didn't need to bring.  After a lot of aimless wandering, I finally found the "GEAR CHECK" tent, where they were providing clear bags for drop off.  (And yes, when I found the bag drop area, I explained to them the confusion at check-in.  I was answered with a very peppy "got it!" and a girl ran off to take care of the issue for others.)

Honestly, the minor negatives of a forced race day packet pickup and a slight feeling of disorganization from event planners isn't enough for me to take issue with this race.  So, I won't get too hung up on it.

I can get hung up on the crap weather, though.  Yuck!  I forgot how nasty a cold, pre-race morning can be.  On the plus side, I'm glad I last second panic packed a run cap, a long sleeve base later, gloves, and a bag drop fleece jacket - because I needed ALL of it, and then some.  #frozentoes #wishIpackedHotHands

Me, actual race day live stream.  

After a melting pot of excitement for the morning - both good (cotton candy, hooray!) and bad (can't find the bag drop, boo!) - it was finally time to settle into our start points.  And before we could even get too uncomfortable from standing still in the cold, it was time to take off!!

Overall, the race course felt like what I remembered from 2016.  All I noticed was a minor adjustment in start and finish points, which I thought was actually a vast improvement over 2016.


2016:





2019:

Though looking at the maps for comparison now, I see there was quite a bit of difference.  But, the "essence" for this course ... at least for me ... are the murals on 16th and 18th.  Which you can see in both courses takes up the majority of the route.

Here's some photos (from current and past years) for reference:

With everything to hear, look at, or just mentally process - the first mile cruised past.  And even stopping for walk breaks with my sister, with all the local folks offering entertainment on course (mostly DJ based, but also some traditional dancers, etc) the course just flew by.

Here's a video demonstrating what I mean about the stimulus overload:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=430420604341365

At some point, I don't even know when, I saw a bichon frise dog dressed as a unicorn.

Yes, it was running with its owner.

Yes ... it was beating me to the finish.  (I'm not too proud to admit this, after all ... I have been beaten to the finish by wiener dogs in the past, so ... breed upgrade at least???)

Of course, there were a lot of other amazing things to process on course as well.  But before I could even absorb them all and think about how to express them here, a woman was yelling on the side of the course ...

"Around this corner - THIS IS IT!!!  YOU CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE!!!  YOU CAN DO THIS!!!"

And then we were there, and that was it.  My sister and I logged another race for the books.

But damn it, if I didn't omit my free churro again this year.  With a line easily 100+ people deep, and already over 10+ minutes lost trying to get my dropped bag back, I just couldn't handle the cold anymore.  So, instead - I dialed up a Lyft back to the hotel and mentally prepared for a steaming hot post race shower ... that I may or may not have had to fight my sister for first dibs on LOL!

Oh well to the churro - thanks anyway Pilsen, it was fun!!

---

And that's the story of how race bib #85 joined my collection.  Here's to another race soon ... though I doubt it will be in 2019, since I'm a bit of a wilted flower after this cold race.  What can I say?!  I live in Minnesota, yes ... but I sure hate running outside when the temps get below freezing!

Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon, 5K & 10K 2019 (Mr. T)

Minneapolis Halloween 5K (3.15 miles)

Let's not talk about pace this time ...

Good lord.  I just looked back in my blog history to try and figure out how to recap this race.  Doing so has forced me to acknowledge a sad fact: I haven't run in a timed competition since this 5K back in 2017.

Ooof.  Two years ago pretty much to the day.  No wonder why running sucks so much for me right now.  Which reminds me, I should state something before I get too far into this post: I'm not going to bother reporting my time or pace from this race.

Why?  Because I'm not running right now for speed.  I'm running for mental sanity.

In the last two years, I've dialed back my fitness routine WAAAYYY too much, and I've turned into a giant crab as a result.

No, not like the cute kind:

More like the stabby kind:

Yeah.  It hasn't been good.  And although there's other things making me generally crabby (issues at work, the stress of moving houses last year still wearing off, mom life, etc.) ... really, at the end of the day, working out less has contributed to my overall bad attitude quite a bit.

In an attempt to rectify my situation, back in August I decided to register for one of my all time favorite races with my sister.  (Side note, that's a spoiler for a future post).  While that registration did help me get back into a routine some  - I am once again holding myself accountable for 2 body pump classes a week, plus teaching my Tuesday night strength/cardio class, and have done a bit of running - I will fully admit I slacked more on the running part that I ought to have in the last two months.

Instead of faulting myself for not training enough for a casual 5K, I'm going to be positive and say: at least I got back into a fitness routine of some sort.  The rest I'll worry about improving on in the future, ok?!

In the meantime, let's talk costumes, because after all ... this IS a Halloween 5K.

Ok, yep - I skipped any kind of preamble and just spoiled it.

Let's face it.  After years of running races in pretty much any kind of costume imaginable, I've become somewhat unable to top myself.  I mean, think about it.  Here's my list (and this isn't even 100% of what I've actually done):

unicorns (yes, two different kinds as evidence here and here)
skeleton and calevera
flight attendant
mariachi
robot
Hamburgler
Statue of Liberty (with torch)
giant winged butterfly
mermaid
Wonder Woman
two different versions of a ball of flames (this and this)
ninja turtle
a rainbow with a pot of gold

Seriously!  What the hell is left BESIDES Mr. T, right?

I PITY THIS FOOL!

---


Race day.

Since I already did (a very uneventful in-store) packet pickup the Thursday prior, my only job on race day was to show up.

Oh - side note, here's what the advertised race swag was:

FYI, that the shirt is actually more of a purple/gray space died tech t.

And being a Halloween fan, I couldn't skip out on the optional (for purchase) socks:

Anyway, on race morning ... since I am woefully OUT of practice on this, I hobbled together some sort of "what's supposed to be normal?!" routine of eating a smallish breakfast and trying to poop.

Yes, I said poop.  This is a runner's recap, you shouldn't be surprised by that.

After a quick coffee and peanut butter toast (my bananas were over ripe and I was afraid to try other "untested" fruits), my partner in crime showed up and we took off.

Following the parking guidance, we ended up on the wrong side of the river for race start.  Based on the course map below, somehow the organizers though having us park near where it says 5K (in black & white) was a good idea ... ???  I don't get that at all, because there are surface lots on the proper side of the river, within 2 blocks of the start line.

Oh well, whatever.  Since the walk from the parking lot (I think it was 5th & Washington) wasn't terrible, and we had plenty of time, I didn't bother moving my car.  And actually, it was an unexpected win, because I was only charged $3 upon exit.  #NOTBAD!

My co-runner in this race had selected the option of having her bib mailed to her pre race, so that meant she needed to do shirt pickup on race morning.  After grabbing her shirt, which was a painless process, we then headed over to bag drop.  That was ... interesting, to say the least.  Leaving your bag in a giant, unmonitored pile, in a public park's race pavilion downtown Minneapolis was a ... concept ... that's for sure.  I still can't believe there was no kind of check in / check out process with the bags, and I wonder how many things got lost or stolen.  So weird.

With all our pre race needs met, we dilly-dallied around for awhile, and even managed to talk some volunteers into letting us take pictures with the official finish tape:

While we killed time waiting to run, both my friend and I remarked how boring this year's costumes seemed to be.  Less than 50% of runners were wearing anything even remotely festive - and once you factored out basic things like tutus and leggings, the amount of actual costumed runners was maybe 25%, if that.

BOO MINNEAPOLIS!  YOU CAN DO BETTER!

Eventually, it was time to line up.  Not going to lie, I had a lot of unnecessary dread building up at this point.  Knowing I was in zero shape to run, I had no idea how this run would go.  My friend and I both kept audibly telling each other that "this is just a 5K", and that it would "be just fine".

Then the announcer said go, and we were off!

Surprisingly, the first mile went better than I anticipated.  Of course, running the two (smallish) hills, didn't help my endurance much, but I was happy to know I could manage.  Even if I was at a fairly conservative pace.

Of course, people watching as we went helped.  A few of the more remarkable costumes we picked out as we plodded along included various versions of Nintendo characters (Mario Kart, Classic Mario & Luigi, Yoshi), the typical Things 1&2, various character onesies or inflatable costumes and so forth.

Being passed by the tight pants guys on the second hill was entertaining:

And somewhere in the mix was a pretty good chicken & The Colonel (he was even carrying a real KFC bucket):

Speaking of carrying accessories, I had to give this duo credit (having run as Lady Liberty more than once, I know carrying something as you run is definitely a commitment):

Around the 1.25-1.35 mile mark or so, my running partner and I slowed for a walk break.  This is where I was disappointed to discover that the 5K course had no water stop.  In fact, after a bit of consideration, I realized there was basically no course support of any kind (aside from police at intersections).  While technically a water stop on a 5K is unnecessary, since I forgot my pre-race routine of a large glass of water, I was a little desperate for a drink. 

Of course, this grated on me a bit.  I mean - I paid $35 to run this thing ... is a water stop too much to ask for?!  LOL!  #BitterOuttaShapeRunner

Trying to bury my unjustified resentment, I redirected my focus.  Time to get moving again.

Prior to the 2 mile mark, it was time to run once more.  Since I was afraid I wouldn't make another continuous mile plus stretch, and didn't want my partner to suffer because of it, I told her to not worry about my pace and just go.  Mostly, we kept up with each other, though I was a bit behind and off to her right.  However, the crowd got in between us enough that I eventually lost visual site of her until after the finish.

No matter, I had other things to look at as I carried on.

Side note - don't you hate the jerks that bid $1 more?!  I do!

The final stretch of this race followed along the Stone Arch Bridge.  Knowing the finish line couldn't be far, I decided to force commit myself to finishing strong and held my (slow) running pace.  Which means I was thrilled to hit the finish being able to say I only took one walk break. Of course, it helped that the announcer called out "And here comes Natalie ... I PITY THE FOOL!!!"

Yes!  At least one person appreciated the joke that was my costume. 

Dang millennials not knowing 80's culture.  Maybe if they got off their dang e-phones and i-kindles, they'd know a thing or two.

Despite the lack of on course amenities for the 5K, at the finish line all was redeemed.  Picking up metals, water and post race snacks was a smooth process, and in fact better than most other races I've been too.  So for that ... OK fine, maybe I'll run this race again some time.  (wink)

But ... since it was the weekend before Halloween ... we didn't stay around much longer after finishing.  With all the other Halloween events in the cities going on, how could we?!

---

And ... that's the story of how race bib #84 joined my collection.  Since it's been FAR too long since I've done this ... here's to another race soon!!

Happy Halloween!

Saying Goodbye in Fashion

In the process of moving and purging, a few months back I finally unloaded my pregnancy workout clothes that I had been meaning to re-home for ... well, over two years.

Originally I was hoping to find someone fitness-like minded like me to donate these to, since I had willed away all my other maternity wear, but no dice.  So, finally just to give them a proper home, I consigned them.

Imagine my delight when I discovered what I fashionista I was!  Instagram worthy workout wear?  Heck yes!

Thanks Bellies to Babies for the cash and the chuckle.

PS - remember those pants?  Yeah, so does TriUMah.

Terror Trot 5K 2017 (Deflating Wings)

Terror Trot 5K (3.15 miles)

41:55

Average Pace 13:30/mile

A couple of weeks prior to the Terror Trot, I received an email from Anderson Races that included a $20 registration discount code good for any of their upcoming fall races.  Being that cost to participate in the Terror Trot 5K was at $45 by then, the discount meant that even with online handling fees, I could sign up for this race (and take home a fleece and a finishers medal) for under $30.

Ok ... you know me.  And Halloween.  And costuming.  And races.

So even though I'm in terrible shape right now, I figured what the heck?!

JUST TAKE MY MONEY ALREADY!

I know in the past, I've said I'm not a tremendous fan of Anderson Races, so you might be wondering why I knowingly signed up for another one of their events.  Before I get too far in this recap, I should clarify: while they're not on my sh!t list like Team Ortho is, I do feel like Anderson Races' management style just ... leaves somethings to be desired, I guess you could say.

For example, packet pickup on Friday prior to the race was ... interesting.

When I walked into Fleet Feet Marathon Sports, two women were running check in - one who I believe to be the owner of Anderson Races (she was busy doing something with race gear, possibly sorting sizes or something), and then another woman manning the check in table itself.

The woman manning check in was technically fine, though somewhat slow.  Overall, she seemed a little confused about what was going on.  And since I was the only person there, the amount of time it took to get my fleece and so on seemed a little much.  But honestly, I couldn't care less about that part.

What I did care about was: when I was handed my fleece shirt, it looked MIGHTY SMALL.  Especially because online registration specifically said "unisex sizing" and I had paid to receive what I expected to be a men's XL.  (At point of registration, I waffled on what size to get  since I wanted room to layer my fleece and didn't want it to be too small ... but also worried my selection would leave me swimming in fleece depending on the cut.)

Imagine my confusion, then, when I held the fleece up to my chest and determined it would be on the fitted side.

I mean - really?!  Have I gained THAT much weight post baby?!

As I checked my size tag to make sure I was given the correct item, I noted that the tag said "XL WOMENS".  Wut?  That's definitely not unisex.  Well, whatever.  I actually typically prefer women's cut anyway.  And apparently these particular fleece shirts ran small.  I'm just glad I decided to order larger than I expected needing - my friend, who did packet pickup a little after me, barely fit the large fleece ... and she is maybe a women's medium on a good day!

Funny story about that, BTW - when she was trying on the fleece, both of the Anderson Races staff members were telling my friend enthusiastically that her fleece fit well.  We realized why once my friend settled on the large, because they continued on saying "good thing you like how that fits, because women's large is the smallest we have".

Already out of stock on smaller sizes at noon on day one of packet pickup?  What about anyone coming on race day?  I was pretty shocked on that one.

And then they tried to sell us on the Chocoholic Frolic race.  My friend and I both looked at each other and at them like ... um, that's next weekend and we just dropped $30 for this.  I guess kudos for Anderson Races realizing they had a captive audience to promote to but ... they didn't even have the shirt up on display or any kind of registration info out.  If you're that eager to drive participation, maybe a little pre-planning from the marketing side ... ?

So now you see what I mean regarding "leaving something to be desired".

---

Fast forward, race morning.

Despite lack of solid info regarding the race on Anderson's web page (there was no picture of the fleece, the medal, or even a course map), I knew upon arriving at Lake Harriet that the 5K run was scheduled to start at 9:05 (5 minutes after the 10K runners left).

Since it was fairly cold, and my friend drove the family mini van ... with the family in it ... we decided to stay in the van for as long as possible prior to running.  With an added benefit of having a sweet parking spot about a block away from the start, we figured there was no need to be outside freezing, especially since we already had our bibs.

About 5-10 minutes prior to gun time, we finally left the insulation of the van and headed to the start.  There, I was a bit surprised to see such low participation numbers. Typically a race held around a lake near downtown Minneapolis is packed, but if I were to guess there was maybe 300 runners there TOTAL, and that was adding the 5K and 10K together.

I can't help but wonder ... how much of the poor attendance could be attributed to Anderson Races' lack of marketing, and how much of it is due to market saturation for races available these days?  It would be interesting to know the answer to that question ...

Even though numbers were what I would consider low, I definitely wasn't complaining.  A cheap race that isn't crowded?  Sounds good to me!

Bang!  Time to run.  (And yes, it was pretty much that blunt.  We didn't even hear the race announcer try to get the crowd ramped up or anything.  All the sudden he just says 3... 2... and the gun banged.)

Ok ... let's run, I guess!

The course started at the Lake Harriet band shell and followed the trail that circles the lake there.  Since we were late to line up, my friend, her family and myself all lined up at basically the very back of the pack - but were pleasantly surprised to find that the trails were wide enough to handle the crowd and allowed for easy passing as we went.  In fact, over the entire course there was very little bottle necking.  Score!

I wish I had done this ... alas, I did not.

As we ran, my friend and I (and her daughter, who we lost around the 1/2 mile mark) hung together.  Meanwhile, my friend's husband and their son took off ahead.  Keeping a fairly conservative pace of maybe 11-12 minute miles, my friend and I chugged along, chatted, and enjoyed people watching.

One of my favorite costumes of the race was a mom in a terrific witch costume (complete with puff sleeves and ground sweeping hem line), running with two children (which I think were girls due to their longer, tinsel haired wigs ... but I didn't look that close).  The two kids were dressed as tin men in what has got to be one of the most spectacularly home made costumes I have seen in a long time. 

As I mentioned, the kids costumes started with a shoulder length blend of gray hair and silver tinsel wigs.  Then, they were clothed in gray sweat suits.  To create the "tin" look, they had wrapped silver foil chrome duct tape around their pants in bands, spaced out every 3-4".  Additionally, they had created some "circuitry" on their backs out of those new style, hard plastic 6 pack beer can holders, which were spray painted gray and with various computer motherboard parts and wires glued onto them.  I wish I would have taken a photo of them because the end result was awesome.

Of course, I couldn't resist telling them as I ran by ... "Best costume of the whole race BY FAR!"  The kids beamed.  I hope they keep that creative spirit into adulthood.

Since I was in terrible shape for race day, around the 1 mile mark we took our first walk break.  Not wanting to spend too much time walking, though, we picked back up again maybe around 1.25 or so, running to the 2 mile mark.  It was shortly around starting to run again around 2.25-2.5, however, that my Apple watch decided to be a brat ... and shut itself off.  WTF!

Here's what I have for splits on course.

Over half a mile missing.  Boo.  Well, what do you do?  At least the race was chipped timed.

Besides, it wasn't like we were in it to win it.  Not to mention, the last half mile on course was pretty uneventful anyway.  So, no big loss.

With 41 and change on the clock, we rounded the last corner of the course and scurried across the finish line.  Boom, another race (and medal) on the books!

Yes, those are my Bay to Breakers wings.  I figured I might as well put them to good use again.  Funny thing, there was just enough juice in the batteries after Bay to Breakers to make it exactly to the finish line photo.  As we walked away, I noticed my wings were starting to sag and the fan was running slow.  All the sudden, my wings were flat and the fan just wouldn't turn on.  I couldn't have timed that better if I had planned for it!

Secretly, I think the people at the snack line were just as happy that my fan shut down.  No one ever seems to enjoy working around those giant things.  Heh.

I would have gladly sacrificed my wings anyway for what I picked up at the snack table: a bottle of water, a bag of dill pickle potato chips, and some various other snacks (the usual mini candies and granola type bars).  All of this I promptly inhaled in the name of breakfast while we awaited our long lost running partner to finish the distance - my friend's daughter, who we lost at the 1/2 mile mark, wasn't terribly far behind us.

With a fun, but not record breaking, experience on the books ... that was it.  We decided to wrap it up and head for home.  Once there, I gladly bundled up in my fleece and added my new medal to the collection.

---

Well!  That's the story of how race bib #83 joined my collection.  Here's to another race soon ... but with Halloween races pretty much in the tank at this point, my guess is I won't run again until the snow melts.

Here's to 2018 and (hopefully) a stronger training season!