It's Nearly Indoor Time!

So in case you couldn't tell from the previous post, I'm pretty excited about our upcoming indoor 3,000m race this Saturday at the University of Houston. It's only going to be the fourth indoor race I've ever done (first for Jer) and the first time I've raced on an indoor track since 2009! Granted I still have yet to race on a banked track, but I'm super pumped.

They put the heat sheets up for the race last night and luckily Amy and I made into the fast heat (out of 3)! 41 girls signed up for this thing. Not bad. Half of our heat is comprised of unattached ladies, with most of them being from Rogue Elite, based out of Austin, along with the top-seeded runner, Betzy Jimenez, who used to run for UT. The collegiate athletes are primarily UT girls, who made it to DI Nationals in cross country this year, along with some Rice girls, which include recent All-American, Becky Wade. Needless to say the field will be STACKED! EEEK! I know there will be amazing times posted  just based on the number of high caliber athletes entered.

Training has also been looking pretty decent. Over the course of the last 12 days I've raced a 5k in 17:24, did an 8-mile steady run at 6:25 pace, did an alternating 400/200 workout where I basically fartleked my way to an 18:25 5k, did a 10-mile progressive run averaging 6:21 pace with the first mile being at 6:58 and the last 5:42, and lastly 10xhill sprints. I've been in the low 80's for mileage too, finally getting to a normal level again despite being sick for an entire week and random little aches before that. Woot.

Fun fact: exactly three years ago to this Saturday I raced the 3000m at the same meet and came in sixth behind a swarm of Rice girls with a 10:04. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of shape I'm in for what is arguably my favorite track distance!

The start list and results can be found HERE for all those interested! Chass and Jer are in the second of three heats for the men's 3,000m.

I leave you with some pictures from my first indoor race...

Start line!

The crazy awesome Rice pack I got to latch onto for most of the race

Olympic Trials Watching and Getting Our Race On!

Last weekend was a really exciting one for us. It was filled with lots and lots of running related activities of course. Our original plan was to head down to Houston to race the indoor mile(Em)/5k(Jer) on Friday and then watch the US Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday morning. The plans altered a little as we were still getting over our awful week long sickness that started New Year's weekend. While we were still coughing up gross mucus the week leading up to this one we figured running in a dry indoor race probably wasn't the best plan. We found out that are our teammates Rob and Caitlin were planning on running the 5k in conjunction with the Houston Half Marathon/Marathon on Sunday morning and decided to hop in that instead.

The Trials were absolutely amazing! Jer did a great job of finding the perfect spots to watch both the men's and women's race so we got to see each group roughly 7-8 times each. We had doubts about going to Houston right before we left on Friday, but I'm glad we stuck with our plan because it was sooooo much fun to watch. It was crazy knowing that girls so far back from the lead pack were still on sub 6:00min pace! In any other race they'd be much much slower, but getting to watch such a high quality race was very inspirational and of course made us look at the overall placings much differently compared to it being an ordinary race.

Hall and Keflezighi

Flanagan, Davila, and Goucher

We knew a good chunk of people racing too. A handful of D3 alums from across the nation that we had competed with in college took to the streets and did quite well. Ricky Flynn was in the South region with us and ended up finishing his FIRST marathon with a 2:13, 12th OVERALL. Lauren Philbrook, who I had the opportunity to race against quite a few times at DIII Nationals had an amazing PR and finished with a 2:39, for 39th place overall! We knew some other women racing, Wendy Terris and Melissa Rittenhouse both kicking butt and taking names!  And of course those that we've never actually met, but feel like we've known them forever since we read their running logs...the Ordway brothers.

Mr. Flynn

Josh and Jason Ordway

Lauren Philbrook

It was the perfect weather for running and watching that morning too! Afterwards Jer and I went to the convention center to sign up for the 5k. The next morning was time to race! The 5k was going off 30 minutes after the marathon, at 7:30am. We met up with Caitlin and Rob at the convention center and chilled out until it was warm-up time. The 5k ran throughout downtown. It was a super flat course, just had a bunch of turns. It was really neat getting to finish at the same line as the OT marathoners along with the Houston Marathon/Half Marathon. I was hoping to hit 17:40, but surprisingly came through in 17:24. I was happy with the time, especially with where my training was at. I didn't catch the first mile marker, but I came through 2 miles in 11:08 and mile 3 in 5:39. I ended up 2nd overall. My stomach was becoming acidic the last half mile and I ended up throwing up all of my breakfast after crossing the finish line. That was gross, but man, it felt so good to go fast again. Jer came in 3rd overall with a time of 15:40. His second fastest road 5k, just like me. Twinzies!! Rob and Caitlin also did amazing! They ran faster than where they left off the past season, so we were all pretty excited. We also ran into our collegiate coach, Lutzy, after the race, so we did a cool down and hung out around downtown Houston after that.

Post race photo with the hubs

If that wasn't enough Jer and I had enough energy to go bowling with his family after the race. It was a fun weekend. Next race up is the UH indoor 3000m on January 28th. I'm getting really excited about it too! The last and only time I raced an indoor 3000m was my senior year of college at UH in 10:03. Goal is to be under that this time around. It's also looking like there will be some really good competition!

The team post 5k!