Race Preview: 2nd Annual Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k #giveaway

Back in April, I ran my first women's only half marathon and I was HOOKED.  I was working as an ambassador for Another Mother Runner at the Gazelle Girl Half Marathon here in Grand Rapids, MI.  I met so many first time half-marathoners at the Expotique that I knew I absolutely had to be a part of running in this environment.  I signed up for the race at the expo and ran with only a 7 mile long run under my belt (do as I say, not as I do - I've run lots of halfs and had a plan to cover the distance).  Seeing women I'd met at the Expotique while out on the course and the camaraderie and encouragement everyone was giving was infectious.

Fast forward a few months.  I have been given the opportunity to again partner with Another Mother Runner as their AMR Ambassador at the Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k September 20 and 21, 2014!  In addition to rep'ing AMR at the Expotique on September 20th (please come see me at the AMR booth!!!), the wonderful women behind the Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k have partnered with me as one of their featured bloggers.

The Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k was a huge success in their inaugural year last year and they have even more planned for 2014. Having outgrown their space, they are planning a bigger and better Expotique at Cobo Hall with tons of fun exhibitors, an incredible swag packet, pampering, and a shake-out run hosted by Fellow Flowers!  The Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k have chosen Go Red for Women, an initiative designed to empower women to take charge of their heart health, as their charity partner.  They are profiling women Heart Heroes on their website because they are so passionate about women's heart health.  In addition to telling their story, women selected as Heart Heroes receive complementary entry to the race of their choice.  If you would like to apply to be a Heart Hero, please visit the Heart Hero page for more information.

I'm so excited to run the half marathon on beautiful Belle Isle, which is now a Michigan State Park, as a tune-up race to the Detroit International Marathon!  But what if you can't make it to Detroit the weekend of September 20 and 21?  In addition to the race on Belle Isle, this year women can register to run the Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k as a virtual race!  All virtual racers will receive the same "swag" as race day participants, including a super soft t-shirt, bib number, virtual swag bag, and the coolest medal in the D!

Bling sneak peak! IT SPARKLES!

What does this mean to you?  It means one of my lucky readers is going to get to run the Detroit Women's Half Marathon or 5k too!  They have offered one race entry for me to give away to one of you.  Are you SQUEEEING yet???  You will have your choice of the half marathon or 5k.  (If you are not within a reasonable distance, I can make this a virtual race entry but would STRONGLY encourage you to run the race with me on Belle Isle.  The winner will be responsible for any transportation or lodging needs.)

So how do you get to be a part of Women Run the D?  Just enter the handy-dandy Rafflecopter contest below!  I hope to see you in Detroit!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest will run from Tuesday, July 15, 2014 to Monday, July 21, 2014 and is open to anyone.  Winner will be announced by July 23rd and will have until the 26th to confirm or I will select another winner.

The legal mumbo jumbo: I was provided with a complimentary entry to the Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k as well as a second entry to give away.  Winner is responsible for any and all costs related to getting to the race and lodging.  If you choose to use the winnings as a virtual race, please let me know.  The Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k, myself, and Live Laugh Run Breathe are trusting you to train and run responsibly.  No claims may be made against us for injuries that may occur during the event.  You know what you are getting yourself into when you sign up to run.  You'll be signing the waiver when you register and all that stuff applies here too.

Fitness Friday: Race Bling Excitement!

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The bling whore is happy!  I'm earning this medal tomorrow in the 25k Relay.

Then I opened up my email this morning and saw THIS from Rock N Roll Chicago!

Is that not the coolest medal EVER???? I love the Bean :)

Any upcoming races this weekend?

Training Tuesday: when you can't say "no"

I've said it before and I'll say it again. My name is Bari and I'm a bling whore. Now, there's nothing wrong with running for bling. It's really quite rewarding to cross that finish line and have someone hang a shiny medal around your neck.

But what happens when that bling love goes too far? Signing up for too many races in a season puts you at greater risk for injury.

I've become the poster child for this little phenomenon.

Last winter, I decided the Bayshore Half Marathon would be my goal race for the year. I would train to run a 2:15 and knock 12 minutes off my half PR - a very good goal coming off of the stress reaction that put me in a boot during the previous spring.

Then I found some other races, not short races mind you, but other half marathons and a 25k. I told myself I would run each of them "as a training run". That "my schedule says 10 miles so I might as well run 13.1" and "hey look, I have 14 on the schedule so I might as well run 15.5 and earn some bling." Then, I didn't exactly stop racing after Bayshore either.  I PR'd the crap out of a 10k and 8k, plus finished my first 200 mile relay this summer.  *insert head smack here*

I learned something very important about myself this year. I am incapable of running a race as a training run. There. I said it. I cannot NOT race. My first half marathon "training run"?  I ran a 2:10.  I completely crushed my goal race time nearly 8 weeks before my goal race. I am too competitive (even though I'm not fast enough to have any hope of placing much less winning). I see people and I want to turn them to road kill. I see numbers on my Garmin and I want to smash them. I want to set PR after PR after PR.

Now I'm doing this:


Yes, that would be a taped up foot because my heel/achilles are PISSED and an ice bath because my hip and knee are also fraked up.  I have a half marathon scheduled this Sunday that I signed up for as part of a big girls weekend.  I knew this was only 2 weeks after the relay but I couldn't say "no".

I'll be honest.  I'm dreading the running aspect of the race.  I'm nursing aches and pains that wouldn't have developed if I was training properly.  Sh*t is hurting that has never hurt before.  The course is hilly and that's going to aggravate the injuries I already have.  I'm completely undertrained to run 13.1 miles because I'm pushing the limits on some potentially serious injuries and haven't taken enough time off between races to heal up.  I'm telling myself that my pace doesn't matter and I'm only running this for fun...but we can see how THAT usually goes for me.

So, please let this be a lesson to all of you.  Don't be like me and think you can race every two weeks for months on end because you want to fill up your medal hanger.  Don't tell yourself "it's only a training run" when you know you're going to go out and try to crush it.  Stick to your training plan and listen to your body.  Take time off between races.  I'm going to try very hard to follow my own advice from now on.  No more long races in the middle of training cycles.  If I want to race something, I'll look for a nice 5k or 10k. I want to be a runner for life, not just a runner for 2013.   I want the same for all of you.

So tell me, have you ever found yourself in this situation?  Do you have as much trouble as I do NOT racing during a race?

Motivation Monday: Bling!

To a self-professed bling-whore, sometimes the shiny things are what keep you training.

Paraphrasing Wayne Campbell from Wayne's World...She will be mine...oh yes...she will be mine :)

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And because I completed the Tinker Bell Half Marathon back in January, when I finish Wine and Dine, I'll earn one of these too - the Disney Coast to Coast medal for finishing races at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the same calendar year :)

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So...make me feel better - I'm not the only one running for bling, right? What's your favorite race medal?

Milford Labor Day 10k - a stealthy race

This past Friday, I posted some goals for my Saturday "long run".  What I didn't tell y'all was that I was planning to run a 10k race over on the other side of the state as my training run for the day.  Right around the day I decided to bag the idea of another triathlon this season (since I really wasn't ready for the one I wanted to do) I received info in my email about the Labor Day 30k race series over in Milford, not too far from where good friends of ours live.  Now, obviously I wasn't going to consider the 30k (that's about 18.6 miles for you non-metric folks and there were running and mountain biking events), but I saw there was a 10k race and wouldn't you know it - I needed to run 6 miles this past weekend.  It seemed like fate. A relatively inexpensive race, the distance I needed to run, and a place to stay the night before! Even so, I waited until the week of the race to register.

Friday afternoon, we loaded up the family in the van and headed to the world's smallest race expo.  There really wasn't anything there except for some drawings to enter, so we just grabbed out packets and headed out to meet our friends for dinner. I ate a amazing pasta with mushroom sauce, which I would later regret when I couldn't get to sleep because it was tearing up my stomach.  I really need to ask what's in stuff that I'm going to eat the night before a long run. After dinner we all headed back to Fabulous Ferndale where we enjoyed some MSU football and Tigers baseball.  Since it was also the night of the Blue Moon - I had to enjoy a beer too.

Saturday morning I was awake around 5 to get ready. This was a race, but my full intention was to run it slow & easy like a Saturday long run. I knew from some info I'd found online that this would be a very tough, hilly, 1/2 dirt road course. If you know me at all, you know I don't train hills and I don't train on dirt roads.


The race was very small & informal, but also had the perks of chip timing & a great post-race party. We got there early because the 30/30 challenge (where you bike 30k and then run 30k) and both 30k races started before the 10k. I didn't want caught in closed roads. We (hubs also ran but we didn't run together) lined up at the start and the announcer just counted down and said "GO!"


Mile 1: (split 10:59 with a best pace of 10:01) The race started on the road and up a bit of an incline. Not a true hill but I could feel it. I had to work very hard to keep my pace slow I still couldn't stay over an 11 minute/mile pace. The road was closed for the first 1.5 miles or so which made it easier to spread out a little.   M passed me about .4 in and it took everything I had not to close the gap. This first mile was pretty flat and there was a water station around mile 1.5 where I grabbed a cup of water.  (I did not carry water with me for this race - I will in the future.)

Mile 2: (split 10:40 with a best pace of 9:24) Most of the 2nd mile was flat with a downhill at the end.  I felt like I was in a pretty good groove and even passed a few people.  Remember I wasn't trying to race, but this pace felt really natural.  My shin/injury site wasn't bothering me at all and my calves even felt pretty loose.

Mile 3: (split 11:27 with a best pace of 9:16) Holy Mary Mother of Hills.  About half way into the 3rd mile we hit our first hill.  I really had it in my head to run this entire race without walking, but this first hill basically slapped me across the face.  I made it about 1/2 way up the hill and walked for a few seconds, then kept plugging along.  There was a couple pushing a jogger stroller - I'd have died. At the 5k mark, I was right around 34 minutes which is close to my 5k PR (33:40).  I started thinking I could maybe pull a 10k PR out of this race if I continued to run smart.  Well, "smart" is a relative word.

Mile 4: (split 11:38 with a best pace of 9:45) The dirt road started at about the 5k mark and I knew I was in trouble.  This mile started with a steep climb & then leveled off but the dirt road was really rutted & uneven. The dirt was packed hard here though but I still slowed way down. I was also wishing I had my water bottles & inhaler. I think I walked again on this hill.  I was really bummed that I didn't hit my "run without stopping" goal.

Mile 5: (split 10:42 with a best pace of 9:03) There was another steep but short climb at the beginning of the 5th mile, then a really steep downhill. There was a woman run/walking who I walked with for a few seconds here and then passed when I started running again.  On the downhill I think this is where my knee started to hurt. Have you noticed all those "best pace" times in the 9s?  I'm sure ALL of them were on downhill sections.  When people tell you that downhills will tear you up more than uphills they are 150% correct.  My quads couldn't take the pounding.  I was definitely running too fast and probably a little out of control on those downhills.

Mile 6: (split 10:47 with a best pace of 8:52) The last mile was mostly flat but then had another steep downhill at the end. The dirt here changed to sand & gravel & was really hard to run in. My knee was hurting and I was pretty sure I was going to not PR. I walked again here I think, trying to get my knee to cooperate, but I realized it hurt whether I ran or walked and I just wanted to be done at this point. There were 2 more aid stations on this last road (in miles 4 and 5) but I skipped them. With about 1/2 a mile to go, we were back on the main road & it wasn't closed. Cars coming up behind me at 50 mph with just some cones between me & certain death was not fun.

Mile 6.2 (split 2:11 an 8:39 pace with a best pace of 7:50!!!!) There was a tall, young blond girl who had passed me at some point & I caught & passed her at the 6 mile mark. She sped up too but never caught me :) I sprinted most of that last 1/2 mile and definitely the last 1/4 mile. The final .25 came in at an 8:39 pace with a top pace of 7:50. I don't think I've EVER run a 7:50 pace before, and certainly not after having run 6 miles of hills.  I crossed the finish line and I literally could not breathe. I left it all out there. My family was there with "good jobs" and "are you ok?" but mostly I just was fighting the urge to throw up.  I've never felt that close to puking at the end of a race before.  After I got some water and my bling, I had to look up what my previous PR was because my brain wasn't working and I knew I was close. I couldn't believe it when I realized I'd beat my previous PR by over a minute and a half! My breathing returned to normal pretty quickly and I really felt good other than my knee feeling a little sore.


As you can see from my runmeter app, the elevation changes were crazy for this runner who prefers nice, flat courses :)  My pace was all over the place, too.  I need to get MUCH better at tackling the uphills and controlling the downhills.

Even so, in the end I finished with a shiny new 10k PR on one of the hardest courses I've ever run, after suffering a pretty severe injury this past spring. I'm pretty freaking proud of myself for that.


There was even a great after party, with burgers & Fat Tire beer! I might have had a beer (or two).

This was a small race.  Only 175 finishers in the 10k run Overall, I finished in 1:08:19 (11:01 pace) which was good enough to tie for 5th out of 9 in my age group and 54/87 women and 135/175 overall. It definitely could have been better, but I'll take it.  This bling whore is pretty happy with her medal too.


In hindsight I probably ran this race/training run too fast.  I really didn't intend to go for the PR - it just happened, but pushing at the end and not having control of my pace on the downhills is definitely causing some pain now.  It's a learning experience though.  I KNOW I need more hill training and I need to figure out what's going on with my knee.  I still have some lofty goals for my half in November and it's only 10 weeks away. (Which makes me both SQUEEE and say OH SHIT!)

Have you ever decided at the last minute to run a race or used a race as a training run? How did that work out for you?  Were you able to keep it slow and easy or run it like I did and almost blow up?

Fitness Friday: Bling Whore

How ironic is it that this self-proclaimed Bling Whore waited until the week I was diagnosed with a stress fracture to hang up my race medals?

I am in big puffy heart love with my running display from Allied Medal Displays.  The ability to customize it was so fun, it was a breeze to hang (well, for M to hang), and the price wasn't out of this world.  When my girl, Megan, over at Running Toward the Prize got one and did a review, I knew I needed to get one too.  (She even had a discount code on her blog that's good for the entire year, so go visit her - you'll just have to dig to find the post.)

I may be down for the count, but I will definitely be adding more bling in the future!

Are you a "bling whore"?  How do you display your swag?

(FYI-I bought this display with my own cash and the opinions are all mine. Just saying.)