Hesse Bear Stomp Recap

When we went to Savannah to visit my sister, I decided to just look and see if there were any races that weekend.  There was one, and it ended up being the first annual 5K to raise money for the athletic program at an elementary school.  I have to say, they really did a good job organizing this, especially for it being the first year for this race.

The weather in Savannah was just awesome.  I've been used to bundling up but I was able to run in just a t-shirt and shorts, so amazing in February.  (I know, it's not amazing for that area but it was for me, even if our winter has been super mild.)

My sister and I ran this 5K together.  I was really happy we got to do something like this together.  We are very different from each other and who would have ever thought we would actually go running together.

Megan picked me up bright and early at our hotel, which was actually fairly close to the start of the race.  (As we were driving there, Dave pointed out that if I was doing real training for the half marathon I could have run to the race and back.  Except that would have been further than I've gone so far and not in my plan.  Good thought, but not yet.)

I couldn't figure out what to wear so I ended up just putting on a pair of capris and a t-shirt.  Dave (great guy that he is) agreed to come along to take pictures so I knew I could hand him a sweatshirt if I kept that on for a little bit.

For the first time putting on a race, this one, like I said, was really organized.  There were several people standing on intersections to point racers to the parking lot and there were even two people actually in the parking lot directing cars to the spots.  It might have been a little too much (it wasn't a very big lot) but wow they definitely get an A for effort and careful planning.

We walked across their track to get to the school where the race started.  Too bad I don't have a picture of the t-shirt we got- it was green with a bear on it and stuff.  And they had coffee, which I haven't really seen at any other races.  It definitely looked like some people appreciated that.  (I don't drink coffee, though, plus  I try to not drink too much before a race so I don't have to go to the bathroom during.  Don't ask me what I'll do for the longer ones!)

Showing our Steelers gear

The start and finish line

They did a fun run for the kids first (it was not where we were and we wanted to make sure we didn't miss the start of the race so we stuck around the start line).  Then some of those kids came back to run the actual 5K.  I guess a number of parents ran with their kids for the first time.  It was a really nice family atmosphere and fairly small.  They were hoping to get 75-100 and they had over 200.

We took off and we started out pretty fast.  In other recaps, I've said before that I have a tendency to start too fast and I can't maintain it.  So I was pretty nervous.  And Megan, who has always been a better athlete than me (by far) was ahead of me by a step or two.  Which is amazing in itself because we have stories about her walking slowly on family vacations and stuff.  But wow, when she decides to run, she runs!  I whined at least a few times during the first half of the race.  I admit, I lectured a little as well.  I know that made her a little cranky.  (For example I tried to explain negative splits which she already knew about and of course I was a bit condescending there... but I really was just trying to say that I didn't know if I could personally maintain the pace the entire time.)

The first mile was 9:43.  Which is pretty good for me, but did worry me.  I really wanted to try to run the whole thing.  But apparently Megan is the perfect motivator for me and she didn't mind staying a bit slower so I wouldn't actually die.  She says that was a good pace for her, but let me tell you.  There were a few times I told her to slow down so I could breathe and the entire race she could talk just like we were walking on the beach.  Just like it was super easy, haha!

The support during the race was really good as well.  They had two water stops and at each turn there were people there to point which direction to go.  At one point, two of the people actually set up pinecones as a blockade to make sure you didn't turn the wrong way.  And some of the students were handing out water and cheering people on, which I thought was REALLY nice.  Everyone was also really friendly, cheering everyone on and stuff.

Megan kept telling me to pass people.  Colleen uses this trick as well.  And it's something I sort of used when I got a PR last June (PR = personal record).  So we kept trying.  When I realized how small it was, I also started to wonder if there was any way we might be able to place in the age group.  So when I saw someone who was female and could be around our age, that really motivated me.  And our 2nd mile sped up a little bit- we completed it in 9:32.

By that time, though, I was tiring.  Meanwhile, Megan was still always a step or two ahead, pushing along.  At one point I told her (whined) that if she didn't slow down I was going to walk.  But she was good- when I said I needed to catch my breath or whatever, she did slow down.  And let me be the one to start to pick it back up (although she still was about a step ahead of me even when we slowed down).  What a good pacer buddy!

Look how in sync we are, running.  (Click on the picture to see it bigger)

I'm so glad she ran this race with me.  We actually kept speeding up and our 3rd mile was 8:55!  I have not run a mile under 9:00 yet.  And we sped it up a little bit more at the end, even though I had told her I wouldn't have enough energy to sprint it out.  Just at the very end she let me pass her up so I came in one place in front of her.  We finished 59 and 60 out of 230 with a time of 29:23 and 29:24.  It's not a technical PR for me but I think it actually was.  The garmin said the course was longer (or maybe we didn't cut corners enough) and the 3 times I've run in under 30 minutes, I'm pretty sure it was less than 3.1 miles.  We hit 3 miles at 28:11, which has to be my best 3 mile time yet. (And it was definitely longer than 3 miles- we were running at less than a 9:00 pace but didn't get to the finish line until 29:13 which is more around a 10:00 pace for .1 miles.)

I'm dying and there she is, smiling away!

Proof that she dropped back to let me go ahead even if she won't admit it. :)
(I did speed up but I know she had the energy to speed up as well.)

I wasn't crazy about the timing system but it worked.  They handed cards to the runners in order as they finished.  Then you walked back to a table and wrote down your name, age, gender, etc.  But I was so sweaty and stuff my handwriting was just atrocious.  The lady who took the card had to re-write my last name because she couldn't read it.  Also, because of that, I couldn't see official times for anyone or if there was any chance we might have placed.  Megan had a birthday party to go to, so she needed to get out of there, but I insisted we stayed just in case we did place- I wanted that trophy!  But, unfortunately, we didn't place. Oh well.  I know it wasn't a great time overall, I mean as far as being competitive, but you never know with a race of that size.

Filling out our timing cards

When I did see the official results, we actually came in 4th and 5th for our age group (out of 31 total).  And the person who came in 58th (right before us) was the 3rd place for our age group.  Doh!  It will be pretty rare until I can get even faster for me to be able to place in my age group.  But I'm going to keep trying at these smaller races!  (The 2nd place time was 29:03 and the 3rd place time was 29:11, so if we had been just 30 seconds faster we both would have placed.)

I would definitely run a race with my sister again, although I do think that if she had run on her own she probably would have placed in our age group.

After the race, waiting for awards

I should also point out- Megan wears sweatshirts to prepare for the summer running when it's ridiculously hot and humid.  And next time I would wear shorts instead of capris.  I think when we left the hotel it was less than 50 out but by the time the race started it was warmer than that.