Lillywhite Running: 2013 49er Gold Rush 5k

February 2, 2013 9:00 AM Charlotte, NC

	Time	Pace	Division	Division Place	Gender Place	Overall Place	Bib #
Michael	20:44	6:41	M10-14	3/8	22/265	24/556	389
Owen	21:23	6:53	M35-39	5/28	33/265	36/556	390
Malissa	38:28	12:23	F30-34	36/41	220/282	483/556	388
Lynne	38:28	12:23	F45-49	13/16	221/282	484/556	183

Written by Malissa:

Please forgive me if this post is all over the place, it's been a few months since the last time I posted on here. First let me share a little bit of what has been going on these past few months and then I will share why we ran this race and the recap.

After Richmond I was feeling a bit burnt out so I took a break from running and focused on another passion of mine, art.

I painted this for Michael's room

I used this time to reflect on why I started running in the first place and what I was hoping to gain from running. Before running all my time and energy went into my kids and Owen and I had completely lost who I was. I was learning that in order for me to properly take care of my family, I needed to take care of myself first. So in the beginning, running was a way for me to gain my life back but as time went on I was more focused on getting faster and running race after race that I forgot my main goal, to become the healthiest me possible. I no longer was losing weight and was slowly gaining back the weight I had already lost. I was losing myself again, but this time to running.

While I was trying to figure everything out, my friend Lynne kept asking me when I was going to start running again. She really wanted to train for a 10k and wanted a running partner. It was about that time that I really started missing running so I told her I would be ready after we got back from Owen's marathon in Mississippi.

On the way home from Mississippi I remembered that I needed to get started on my training for the DC half marathon (I signed up for the race awhile back when Owen signed up for the full). I remembered that Lynne wanted to run with me so I texted her, "since you are going to be running with me do you want to train for the DC half marathon?" She wanted to look at the training schedule and give it a week to see if her body was up for the challenge. I was really excited to have a running partner and was hoping this would help me stick to a training schedule.

For my past two half marathons I was using the advanced training schedule. I was really hoping the extra mileage would help me get faster but instead I got burnt out. I decided for the DC half I wanted to go back to the basics and started using Hal Higdon's Novice 1 training guide. I knew this would be best since I hadn't ran for a few months. I knew it would take me a bit to get back to where I was before. I like this training program because he has you do cross workouts one to two times a week. We are doing kickboxing twice a week and I LOVE it. It's just enough of a break for me to be excited for run days.

I mentioned in this post that I wanted to use running to help others. I talked about helping middle school aged kids. I had a lot of fun this summer in my mother-daughter running group. During our first long run I had an ah-ha moment. I also want to help moms. I still want to train for myself and get better but I don't want that to be my focus. I want to help others find their better self too.

After that first long run I came home and was so excited. I felt something that I hadn't felt in a long time...runners high. I remember I couldn't shut up that day. In fact when I got home I hopped on the elliptical for another 30 minutes. It was probably a mistake because later I crashed BIG time but I was just so excited to feel alive again! Lynne also agreed after that race to continue training for the half marathon.

Our training programs calls for a 5k race. There aren't very many races this time of year so I was happy to see there was one at the UNC Charlotte campus the weekend we needed. The campus is right down the street from us but this was only my second time on the campus, it's really nice.

Before the race...freezing our butts off.

Crazy guy in the front took his shirt off right before the start...seriously?!

Owen (black) and Michael (blue) in the center.

Lynne's goal going into this race was to come in under 40 minutes. I am a tad faster than Lynne so going into this race everyone was asking me what my plans were. Was I going to run by myself or run with Lynne? Owen and I knew I wouldn't PR this race (I have a little more junk in the trunk right now) but Owen still thought that I should run my own race and see where I'm at. I told him I would play it by ear but I had a plan up my sleeve.

The night before the race I printed off two pace charts from Taz Running. One that would have us cross the finish line at 39:58 (Lynne's goal), and one for 39:00 (what I thought we could do). It was my goal to prove to Lynne that she could do better than she thought. I brought the pace chart that had us finish at 39:58.

Not the most flattering picture of me but here we are at the start of the race.

The week leading up to this race Lynne had extreme pain in the back of her calf and ankle. I few times during the race I asked how her leg was doing. I know by now she is so tired of me always asking how her leg is feeling but I just wanted to make sure she was ok. Side note: She had her leg checked out this week and it's just shin splints. I had never heard of shin splints in the back of your leg. Her doctor told her to wear a compression sock and stay away from hills until it feels better.

Speaking of hills, there was a huge hill at the end of the first mile and the beginning of the second mile. I took this in consideration when I made our pace charts. We were way ahead when we finished our first mile and the hill ahead was even bigger so I mentioned to Lynne if she wanted we could slow down a bit. Lynne was in the zone and didn't slow down. Our second mile was faster than our first. The last mile was downhill. A much needed break after the big hill we just ran up. I knew by this time that we were going to come in under 39 minutes, I just didn't know how much under. The last mile we also had to weave in and out of cars. In my opinion I think they could have closed down the route for at least one hour so we didn't have to share the lane with cars.

Lynne has learned that I like to pick my speed up just a little at the end and finish strong. This is something my dad taught me when we ran together a few times when I was in high school. The finish line was back on the track. As soon as we hit the track I started speeding up. Right before the picture below was taken Lynne told me she didn't have enough left in her to pick up the speed. I told her don't worry about it because we were crushing our goal time. Just about that time we heard our kids cheering for us. Next thing I know, she'd picking up her speed! It's amazing how often our mind will tell us that we can't do something but our body proves to us we can! We crushed Lynne's goal time of 39:58 and came in at 38:28!

Hearing our kids cheering for us.

It was very cold for NC but we still had a nice size cheering squad:

Mike (Lynne's husband)

Katie (Lynne's daughter)

Opa (My dad)

Neina (My step-mom)

Joana, Jeff & Julianna (neighbors and friends)

Kyle

Alicia

and by the time we finished; Michael & Owen

The sign that Julianna made for us.

After the race both Mike and Lynne said that there is no way that I'm going to run the DC race with Lynne because they feel that she is holding me back. I beg to differ. She is not holding me back at all, she is helping me grow. Through working and training with her I am becoming a better trainer and runner myself. A dream that I hope one day I will fulfill. I still plan on getting certified when things calm down with the move. In the meantime she is helping me with my "street credit". Helping her crush her goal was reassurance to me that I am on the right path. Plus, I'm having so much fun "training" Lynne for her first half marathon. She's kind of a teacher's pet... There were a few times, the first two weeks, after a run she would say that I worked her hard and she was having trouble keeping up. I kind of chuckled under my breath when she said that because I was following her lead. I learned early on in our training that she's very competitive and likes to be out front. No matter how fast I go, she runs just a little faster. There have also been some runs were she has had to slow down for me. We are a good team and I'm looking forward to running the DC half marathon right along side with her. I have no doubt that we will be pushing each other to the finish line!

Moving on to the speed racers:

Right now Michael is training for the NC half marathon that is this March. He has been craving a 5k so he was excited to hear that Lynne and I were signing up for this race and he wanted to run it too. Because of Owen's taper for the Miami marathon he was not able to properly train for this 5k but he had a great race anyways.