When I signed up in early November to run the Frozen Booty 8K, hosted by MRTT {Moms RUN This Town}, I had no idea what to expect. I knew it would be the inaugural running of the race & it was race directed by a local runner mom—but that’s about all I knew. During the week leading up to the race, I chose to not have a tempo run, but instead, plan to run the race at tempo pace. That’s where things get tricky. What the heck is my tempo pace?!
Currently, my tempo run pace is all over the place—or maybe I am just having a hard time nailing down exactly what it should be. I think I am in between tempo “sizes”, similar to a woman in-between bra sizes, or a kid between two shoe sizes. I had completed a great tempo run about a week earlier where my tempo-paced miles were 7:40, 7:42, & 7:43. While I hoped to possibly sustain that pace for the entire 8K, I knew that’d be a tall order! I had recently PR’d the 8K distance, less than 4 weeks earlier, at the Christmas Town Dash 8K (39:15). It’s amazing for me to recall that just 6 months ago, I had one goal for the 8K distance—break 40 minutes! Now, that goal seems rather simple. Even though I felt like I had hit a plateau with the long slow miles of the marathon training, maybe I had in fact also gained some speed. Who’d a thunk it after my 5K performance in mid-December!?
On the morning of the race, I met up with my Shamrock Running Club athletes for their FIRST group run {we had others planned in the weeks prior, but this was the first day that people could actually attend!!}. About half of the group was able to attend & they rocked out anywhere from 5-7 miles at Mt. Trashmore! Gooooo team!!
Shamrock Running Club – 1st group long run on the morning of the race
After returning home from running club, I prepared a protein-packed brunch & played puzzles with my sweet boys. With the race being an afternoon race, it was awesome to still have some family time. Just after 12:30pm, I headed to Hampton for the race…. of course, not without getting lost trying to find Ft. Monroe!
After a briefing from the race director, off we went! Unlike many races, the first mile actually dragged a bit, with the rest of the race passing by pretty quickly. I wish I would have had time for a warm-up mile, but it was too late now. We reached mile 1 about mid-way over a little bridge, where I am not exactly sure how I maneuvered across, since I couldn’t see but 2 feet in front of me {side-ways misting rain!}.
Mile 1 – 7:36
About halfway through the 2nd mile, I came to an intersection with cars approaching & no stop light. Didn’t they know a small local race was going on?! After a brief pause, I proceeded across the street into a residential neighborhood. The 2nd mile dinged on my watch just after a sharp turn back towards the base, on a rather main road.
Mile 2 – 7:54
As I trotted down the road, just before mile 3 came a wrong turn, in which the lead girls were headed back towards me. After making the same U-turn they made, I headed back to follow their lead. As you can imagine, this race course was a bit confusing & honestly, not enough markings or volunteers for all of the turns we made.
Mile 3 – 7:58
Shortly after the U-turn came another turn, this time onto a bridge that ran parallel to the one we had crossed in the first mile. Another “nice” thing happened at 3.25 miles—I took over 5th place permanently. A girl & I had been trading off 5th place a few times during the run—mostly due to her shoe strings coming untied twice {I would have been so annoyed if I were her!}. But at the bridge, she must have got a side-stitch & needed a quick stretch. I lucked out & ran past. I check with her afterwards & all was well! The good thing about being in the top 5, I got a prize bag! In that prize bag was a gift card for a RoadID—something I have been meaning to get & now, I have one en route to me!
Mile 4 – 7:55
A funny thing happens when you make a wrong turn—you either over shoot or under shoot the official race distance/course. In this case, it was an under shot. We arrived back to the start with just over a half mile to go. Luckily, there was a straightaway in front of me {similar to an airplane runway}, so after passing my bib tag to the volunteer to mark my placement in the standings, I continued along so that I could achieve my full 8K distance. At this point, I was right on target for PR’ing. Well, there’s the funny part about wind… sometimes it can really slow you down! With a quarter mile to go, I turned around & headed back to the start. I ended up missing a PR by 4 seconds – something I definitely think/know I would have accomplished had it not been for all of the races’ craziness!
Final 0.97 miles to the Finish – 8:08
Final Time: 39:19 (7:54/mile avg); 5th overall
Course map – Frozen Booty
You’d think after reading this recap that the participants would be furious with all of the mishaps on race day. Quite the opposite actually! The local mother runners are SO encouraging & supportive of a fellow mother trying to achieve her fitness leader dreams. Lei, regardless of what anyone says, you put your heart & soul into the Frozen Booty 8K, & despite all of the issues, your hard work shined through! Kudos lady!
After the race, there was a lovely party, complete with food, drinks, & a plank challenge—which happened to be co-won by the winner of the 8K, my friend Sophia! Good job girl! You may recall me mentioning her in my 2014 Cherry Blossom 10-mile recap. After running the race, this mother of 2 young children held a plank for SEVEN minutes, non-stop. Whew weeee!
The after party also had prizes to be won, in which I raffled off a spot into my Shamrock Running Club—congrats Meghan! She will be joining our group after she completes the Walt Disney World “Dopey Challenge” {a 5K, 10K, ½ marathon, & full marathon!} this weekend. Good luck Meghan as you tackle the 48.6 miles, all in a 4-day period!!
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