Needham New Year’s 5K!

• 0 • NYR 2017, Race Recaps

I started off the year with the Needham New Year’s 5k, which is such a great race! It’s a low-key local race that starts at the YMCA so there are plenty of indoor spaces for those years that it’s freeeezing. This year was actually gorgeous weather, with temperatures in the fifties and a larger than normal race turn-out! (Over 600 people when last year the frigid temps meant numbers didn’t reach 300.)

I was excited to see what would happen since the New Year’s 5k reflects my fitness level going into the New Year. How well did I train all summer and fall, and how much did I lose as November and December rolled around?

I managed to finish in 28:35 for my second best 5k time, a tribute to how well my New Year’s Resolution to run 500 miles kept me running through December!

Not bad considering I had champagne and red wine to celebrate the evening before. (I mean, the race starts at 11 a.m. for a reason.)

Hope you had a wonderful start to your year, and that you’re excited for new beginnings or renewed energy for existing goals!

PS – it’s “Veganuary!” the month where many people explore more vegan meals and add recipes to their repertoire – if you’re eating some meatless meals, here’s some of my favorite things I ate this week!

  1. Beans, Greens & Grain bowl with vegan ranch dressing (from No Meat Athlete). Basically take a grain, a green, a bean and some vegetables (we did just broccoli for the greenest bowl ever) and put some dressing on it. It’s a fast, easy “recipe” for a healthy and filling meal!

2. Peanut butter stuffed dates. SO GOOD. Want something less messy? Stuff with a salted almond instead and they make a great portable snack.

3. Instant Pot eggplant baingan bharta by Vegan Richa and homemade naan from Minimalist Baker. We left out the hot pepper and optional liquid smoke for the eggplant dish and were rewarded with kids going back for seconds which was kind of unexpected and totally amazing. Greg said it was one of the best Indian dishes I’ve ever made at home. The naan is a family favorite – Greg makes it with lots of garlic and some vegan butter for a ridiculously delicious and indulgent side.

2018 Maine Half Marathon Race Recap!

• 3 • Race Recaps, Running

Greg prepared me well for my race! The Maine Half Marathon went really well. I had a great time running and put down consistent splits and ended with a strong finish. I’m so pleased with us both; with him for being generous with his time and experience and coming up with tailored workouts for me, and with myself for doing my best to complete them consistently.

I went from not running much at all in 2017 (the year of the Equinox class reviews!) to ramping up really aggressively this summer to train for this race, and was able to pull off my 3rd best half marathon time out of 9 total.

Even struggling with some return of plantar fascia issues I was able to knock out a great race. (The Strassburg sock has been working wonders.)

Some race highlights:

Greg being so excited for me to run. He got the kids up and out the door on time, saw me multiple points on the course, bought me a pair of fancy racing shoes for the big day, took tons of photos, and packed up everything from the weekend and while I recovered and showered, and got us into the car on time to get to the kids’ soccer.

Seeing the kids on the course for high fives.

Having the most delicious comfort food afterward from the Totally Awesome Vegan Food Truck.

My brother and his wife cheering me on at mile 8 (where she was waiting for her marathon relay leg to start) and then my brother packing up all three of his kids and making it down to cheer me into the finish and hang out over french fries.

My in-laws there snapping photos, cheering me on, and helping with all five kids. They come to all my big races and I love that they make the effort to be there cheering even when Greg isn’t running or TRI-ing.

Seeing my boys have extra cousin time.

Hearing my niece say “Good job Aunty Kelly” with seemingly no adult prompting whatsoever.

The views on the course and perfect running weather.

Hearing my name announced as I ran into the finish chute.

Greg strategizing in the car about when I should start training for Lowell.

Overall, a great race, and I’m excited to feel like a half-marathon runner again! In the two years of not training for running races, I had missed feeling like running long was part of who I was. It’s great to be back.

I’m sure I’ll regale you with more running adventures as I move forward on my running journey, but they’ll continue to be sparse as I devote time to the two-year novel writing program I started last week. Maybe one of my characters should be a runner?

We’ll see. I’m a bit terrified and excited. What was it I wrote Saturday? Oh, yeah. “Hope is a four letter word.” Anyone starting a novel has a great deal of hope (and maybe some other four letter words as the writing process progresses).

But like any journey, as daunting as it feels right now, I know that if I put one step in front of the other I’ll eventually end up further from where I started.

And my personal favorite:

Mend the Gap 10K in Scarborough ME

• 0 • Race Recaps

Kicked off July with my first 10K since 2013!

Greg and I both ran the Mind the Gap 10k supporting the Eastern Trail up in Maine. The Eastern Trail Alliance is working hard to close the 1.6 mile gap in the trail between Scarborough and South Portland. When they do, there will be 16 miles of continuous off-road trail for running, biking and walking! It’s a beautiful trail and a great cause (you can donate here).

It’s also Plastic Free July, a month dedicated to helping people take the challenge to refuse single-use plastics. I opted to skip the plastic cups at the race water station and ran with my reusable water belt instead. Not only was it eco-friendly, but I could also drink water every mile, a benefit in the heat and humidity.

Besides, at my pace a little extra weight from carrying my own water isn’t a big deal. I’m not breaking any records here. (Greg, on the other hand, got second place over-all!)

This was the first year of the Mend the Gap 10k, but there were hints that it might become an annual event. Around 90 runners participated, making it a low key race with easy parking, short bathroom and registration lines, and a relaxed vibe.

Running included some roads and some of the Eastern Trail, and the one street crossing had a police officer stopping cars for the runners. Volunteers at every turn made it easy to stay on course despite some turns. The turnaround point wasn’t at the halfway mark, which can be mentally tough if you’re not prepared for that, but the course was precisely 6.2 miles!

The race wasn’t chip timed and it included trail running, so it’s not the fastest 10k course out there but it’s absolutely gorgeous running the trails through the Scarborough marshes.

The race was sponsored by Mend Health & Wellness, who said at the end that they do Active Release Technique and Graston Technique which is what resolved my plantar fascia issues in 2017.

Overall, it was a great community event and fun to get out on the trails with other runners to support making it easier for everyone to exercise in a safe and beautiful off-road environment!

Needham New Year’s 5k Race Recap!

• 0 • My Running, Race Recaps
Greg and the boys showed up to surprise me and cheer me on! (I told them to stay home where it was warm, but the kids held signs up from the car while Greg got out and took this photo 🙂

Started out the year with the Needham New Year’s 5k! I ran it in 2013, 2014, and 2015 too and it’s such a great race. It’s put on by the Needham Running Club and they do a wonderful job.

Registration is at the Needham Y, so there are bathrooms and warm areas available to hang out in before the race, and the starting line is close to the building. The race is chip-timed by racewire with free finish-line photos uploaded the same day of the race.

There’s always plenty of street parking available, and they shut some of the roads down for safety. There’s a great police presence at intersections, and there are volunteers all over the place – they have someone at every turn and plenty of people answering questions, handing out water, and registering people same day. (Same day registration: $25. Advance: $20.)

So impressed by the people outside singing in the freezing temps!

They handed out hand-warmers, Needham New Year’s 5k race socks, and reusable water bottles for race swag, customized with your name if you registered by December 5th. I put the hand-warmers in the toebox of my shoes on top of my feet. It was amazing.

Despite freezing cold temperatures, 296 runners participated. It was a relatively flat course through residential areas and one main street with wide breakdown lanes and mostly stopped traffic.

I didn’t stay afterward, lured home by the promise of a hot shower and lunch. But they had free coffee and hot chocolate inside both before and after the race.

The Needham Running club has the most modest membership dues of any running club I’ve seen in the area ($15 per year) just enough to cover their race expenses, USATF fee, cones and orange vests for safety, etc. They have weekly runs on Saturday mornings with mileage options ranging from 4 all the way up to 20, and seem very welcoming of any pace or distance (they even have Couch to 5k info on their site.) Needham area runners should scroll to the bottom of their homepage to see their running routes around Needham for ideas.

This is my fourth time running the Needham New Year’s 5k, and my slowest, but I was impressed that I had a nice, steady run despite spending most of 2017 swimming and taking classes at the Equinox instead of running. I put in very few miles this year. In 2016, when I was also biking a lot and swimming a lot in preparation for Tri For a Cure, my mileage was down but I still completed the Chilly Half Marathon in November. In 2017 I dropped out of Tri For a Cure because of plantar fascia issues, and did very little running.

So I’m thrilled that I’ve resolved to run 500 miles this year, and that I was able to start out with a 5k. It might have been my slowest Needham New Year’s 5k yet, but I got up and braved a “feels like -6 degrees” temperature and ran the whole thing without having to walk.

That’s a win as far as I’m concerned!

Past Needham New Year’s 5k Times:

Needham New Year’s 5k – January 1st, 2018 – 33:20 (10:43 pace)

PR: Needham New Year’s 5k – January 1st, 2015 – 27:49 (8:58 pace)

Needham New Year’s Day 5k- January 1st, 2014 – 28:39 (9:13 pace)

Needham New Years Day 5k – January 2013 – 30:37 (9:51 pace)

I remember running that sub 28 minute 5k in 2015. That was the year I did the Run Less, Run Faster half marathon training plan. It definitely provided results. And so did taking a year off from running. 😉

Happy New Year, and HAPPY RUNNING!

(Or vinyasa-ing, or cycling, or swimming, or tabata-ing, or walking, or hiking, or tennis playing, or aqua-sporting, or whatever helps you happily live an active life!)

 

Beginner’s Guide to Taking Good Race Photos

• 1 • Race Recaps

We got to watch Greg run a half marathon and a 5k this month and it reminded me how much I love spectating races. The energy, athleticism, enthusiasm and effort are contagious. It’s an amazing place to be.

I also love it when I get a good photo of Greg running. Most of my photos aren’t great, but I’ve started to notice what makes the good ones better.

Here are the photography tips I’ve found easiest to adopt as a beginner and how they’ve improved my race-day photos.

 

Scout your spot

  • Find a place where you can see your runner coming from a distance so you have time to get in position and set up the shot.
  •  Which way is the sun facing? Try to have it at your back if possible.
  • Think about what side of the race course will offer the best angle and unobstructed shot. Is the road closed, or will there be cars possibly crossing your view of the course?
  • Consider what the background of the photo will look like
ninjac
See how different the shot is when it’s a side angle and the telephone pole isn’t in the background.

Prioritize

  • It’s hard to cheer and take a photo. Cheer while they’re in the distance or after they pass out of your camera frame. Sometimes I tell my kids it’s their job to cheer extra loud because I’ll be getting the photo. You can also recruit fellow spectators to cheer for your runner. (Seriously. They’ll do it. Give them a name and a cue and I guarantee they’ll make some noise.)
  • Pick a shot to go for – if you’re wildly trying to snap photos of them head on, side view, and their back you’ll probably end up with blurry shots. Of the bushes. Not your runner.
bushes
Three consecutive shots of the road from Greg’s most recent half marathon because I was trying to cheer and take photos.

Spotting your runner

  • Know when to look for your runner so you don’t miss them.
  • Big race? Look at the course map in advance and tell them where you plan to be so they can make their way to the correct side of the crowd and keep an eye out for you.
  • Start line photos are crowded. The further you are from the start the better chance you have of finding and capturing your runner as the field thins out. Knowing what side of the crowd they’re on will help.
IMG_6762cc
I knew when I would see Greg, he knew which side of the course to be on, and I was ready and focused.

Other considerations

  • Taking a finish line photo? Keep in mind the time on the clock might be different from their chip time and that you’ll probably be photographing their back. But it can be a great way to capture the memory if they made an “under x” time goal.
  • There with family or friends supporting the same runner? It’s amazing to have them in the photo. I’ve even crossed the road from family members to catch both Greg and the faces of family members cheering him on.
  • Have friends who are running? Getting a good photo of them (and their spectating family!) and e-mail it to them. It feels great to capture a moment and send it to someone. If you’ve got your big camera out anyway, make some use of it!
  • Consider capturing some other race-time moments like great signs, the crowds and the vibe of the venue.

racecollage

And remember, don’t let the good be the enemy of the perfect. You’re trying to capture a moving object in a crowded setting without knowing exactly when they’ll arrive.  Blurry shots are inevitable but some of those will still capture a memory and appreciate in value. And if you keep at it, one of these days you’ll capture a spectacular shot.

Want more photography tips? I learned a lot from a book my sister-in-law gave me, Mamarazzi, Every Mom’s Guide to Photographing Kids. It was accessible and helped me think more carefully about lighting and background. It’s got all the aperture stuff, too, I just haven’t gotten there yet!