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in Races · July 8, 2014

Molly Murphy Memorial 5k Race Recap

On Sunday morning I participated in the Molly Murphy Memorial 5k with my family. My sister’s coworker had organized the race with her family in memory of their cousin. The race was to help raise awareness of anxiety and depression in young adults.

It was held at a high school track, which isn’t too far outside of Baltimore, but it was about 45 minutes from my parents’ house where we had all stayed for the weekend. We were on the road at 6:30 am to get there in time to pick up our bibs and warm up a little before the race started.

lisa katie prerace
mom dad katie prerace

Molly Murphy Memorial 5k

There were about 200 participates, but no chip timing. Rob and I lined up pretty close to the front so that our times wouldn’t be affected by starting late.

lisa rob prerace

The race began with 2 laps around the track. I forgot how nice it is to run on a REAL track! I ran behind Rob and he ended up pacing me for most of the race. After the 2 laps around the track  we headed down to the street for an out and back course, before finishing with another 2 laps around the track. There were small hills along the streets but nothing terrible. It was also fun doing the out and back because we got to cheer for other runners along the way!

rob lisa race

 My sister caught a picture of me chasing behind Rob, and our dad is in front of her waving.

lisa rob race 1She also got a picture of my mom on the course 

mom race

The weather was ideal for a July day- probably around 65 degrees at the start. By the end it was hot, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.

image

Official time was 21:40, 2 seconds off my PR but got me 1st place in my age group. Rob finished 5 seconds ahead of me and also got first in his age group!

lisa award
lisa rob awards

I wasn’t trying to PR, so I was really happy with this time for not giving it 100% effort.

The rest of my family did awesome as well! It was nice that we finished the last 1/2 mile on the track because I was able to get lots of action shots!

IMG_3200
katie 1
mom finishing
monika
john 2

After the awards we headed to a local diner to eat! It was definitely fun doing a smaller race with family and friends!

Molly Murphy Memorial 5k

Have you ever done a race with a group of family and/or friends?
Anyone else race over the 4th of July weekend?

You may also like:
Couch to 5k Training: How to Successfully Train for Your First Race
Chipping Away At My 5k Time
Race Preparation Guide for the 5k to the Marathon

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Previous Post: « Weekend Photos and Post 4th of July Meal Plan and Prep
Next Post: Running, Lately (Workouts 6/22-7/5) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chrissy @Pink Polish and Running Shoes says

    July 8, 2014 at 10:15 am

    That looks like fun!

  2. Runner Girl Eats says

    July 8, 2014 at 10:18 am

    Speedy! Congrats on a great race and 1st in your age group 🙂

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:35 pm

      Thanks!

  3. Susie @ SuzLyfe says

    July 8, 2014 at 10:34 am

    What a great way to spend the weekend, with family and friends and also to support a cause that is close to you. That is fantastic that for a more “informal” race they still had such a great turnout! And way to kill it out there!

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:35 pm

      Thanks! Yea it was awesome how many people came out to run or walk!

  4. Kyndal says

    July 8, 2014 at 10:45 am

    Congratulations – those small races are so fun! I ran two of them this weekend and got first in my age group for both. I was so excited.

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:36 pm

      Thanks and congrats to you, too! Two races and awards in one weekend?! That’s awesome!

  5. Kate the great says

    July 8, 2014 at 11:12 am

    I love Linda.
    Congrats!

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:37 pm

      Doesn’t she look like a pro running up that hill?

  6. Sam @ The Running Graduate says

    July 8, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Awesome job, and congrats on winning the age group!
    I did a race with a bunch of friends/classmates in April in Canton and it was a lot of fun! I finished first out of the group, so it was nice to see everyone else finish.

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:38 pm

      Thanks! Group races are so fun!

  7. Michele @ paleorunningmomma says

    July 8, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    Wow that was awesome! You are fast! Congrats on both of you winning your age group! That’s so cool that your family ran and it looks like such a fun time 🙂

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:41 pm

      Thanks! It was fun having them participate in the race! My mom even said she would like to run races like that more often!

  8. Amy says

    July 8, 2014 at 1:00 pm

    Your time is awesome! Way to go for not even giving 100%! I like doing smaller races sometimes, especially with friends and family. That is one of the main reasons I love running our local Turkey Trot. Everyone is home for the holidays, and it is so much fun.

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:42 pm

      That sounds like fun, too! I’ve been really liking the smaller races lately. Its nice to not worry about parking, lines, etc and just run!

  9. Natalie @ Never Serious Blog says

    July 8, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    I’ve done just a 5k with my husband once, but I can’t imagine how fun it would be to do a race with the whole family! That is IF I could EVER talk my family into running in the first place! Looks like such a fun weekend and congrats on the win!

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:43 pm

      Thanks! A few years ago I don’t think I could have gotten anyone in my family to run a race! They all seemed to like working towards a goal and the accomplishment on finishing the race.

  10. Alli says

    July 8, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    your family is the cutest.

    look at you two just winning races like its no big deal..

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 3:44 pm

      Ha! If you notice, we only get awards in the super small races:) But it is always exciting to place!

  11. Kristina @ Blog About Running says

    July 8, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    That’s awesome that so many people in your family ran the 5K! Congrats to you and Rob for wining first place in your age groups and basically being crowned King and Queen of the race!

    I would love to do a race with family members but unfortunately there are no other runners in my family 🙁

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 7:38 pm

      Haha thank you!
      Maybe you can work on getting your family to try a 5k! Even if they have to walk some of it, its still a fun activity and awesome accomplishment!

  12. Salt says

    July 8, 2014 at 7:03 pm

    Umm and you weren’t even trying!? That’s a fantastic time! Congrats on the AG win! You were right up the street from my house. 🙂 (I need to go take advantage of that track!)

    • [email protected] says

      July 8, 2014 at 7:32 pm

      Thanks!- I wasn’t “trying” to PR but I was definitely racing:) You’re the second person who told me they live near the high school! I used to work up there so I expected it to be way hillier than it actually was. Maybe if they have it again next year you can run it since its so convenient for you!

  13. Nicole@thegirlwhoraneverywhere says

    July 9, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    Congratulations on the AG win and that’s super speedy! I did a 4th of July race with three girlfriends last week..it was a BLAST!!!!!

    • [email protected] says

      July 9, 2014 at 5:25 pm

      Thank you! And that sounds like so much fun!

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Yesterday’s long run was not what I wanted it to Yesterday’s long run was not what I wanted it to be. The plan was to take the day off from work, head to the trail where I could run 10 uninterrupted miles at MP (16 total) and practice my race day fueling while wearing my race day shoes.

What actually happened? All week I was stressed about this run and the condition of the trail. We had lots of rain on Thursday, and Friday was forecasted to be very windy. I tried to get in the best mindset possible, reminding myself that I won’t be able to control the conditions on race day. Meanwhile, I haven’t been sleeping well thanks to my 2 year old waking up every night, and my watch has been basically telling me that I’m losing all my fitness and need a week of recovery.

While I started the run feeling pretty good, after 11 miles (7 at MP) my stomach turned and I almost got sick on the side of the trail. I just couldn’t recover from that. The best I could do was run the rest of the miles easy, and needed some walk breaks. On top of that, my shoe kept rubbing my foot on top and I stopped twice to retie it. This has never happened before and now I’m questioning what shoes I should wear for the race. The trail was also in rough condition with several trees blocking it, lots of wet leaves, and rocks/sticks that I had to look out for.

I just can’t believe how bad I felt for the last 5 miles of this run and I can’t pinpoint the cause. Am I overdoing it with the fueling and can’t handle it on harder effort runs? Was it something I ate recently? The hard part is there’s no time to really try something different before the race, as all I have left is a 10 mile easy run next weekend.

I’m trying to remember that one bad run does not take away from all the good runs this training cycle. I’m using today to reset and move on so I can make the most of my last 2 weeks of training. It’s not the way I wanted my last big long run to go, but I suppose it was good practice for pushing through even when I felt pretty awful.

Who else has had a terrible long run close to your race?

#running #marathontraining #longrun
Spent almost every step of this 21 mile run questi Spent almost every step of this 21 mile run questioning my life choices. Like waking up at 3am to run 12 miles on the treadmill and 9 outside. This was a crazy week with a kid that wasn’t sleeping great and fighting a cold and super busy days at work. My legs were just tired the whole time today. It was really hard to run outside after so many treadmill miles and my pace was much slower than inside.

I reminded myself that this is peak week. It’s supposed to feel hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. I ran 53 miles this week and am not injured. The weather is perfect. I’ve gotten in every planned run of this training cycle so far.  I get to do this. 

And I managed to finish strong with my last 3 miles the fastest of the (outside) run. I owe that to a solid fueling plan and taking all my gels even when I really didn’t want to.

3 weeks to go until race day!

#running #marathontraining #longrun
Yesterday’s long run was followed immediately by Yesterday’s long run was followed immediately by back to back kid activities, so there was no time to post about it. (I ate breakfast in the car and lunch at soccer practice- it was that kind of a day.) I was kind of nervous going in to this run, especially now that I’m getting down to last few key long runs. I had 16 miles with 4 x 2 miles on the plan, which sounded manageable but also challenging. The weather was perfect and I hit all my paces. At the end I got a little confused- thinking I was at 15 miles but I was actually at 14 🙃 Got home and realized I chafed really bad. Another long run down, and another week closer to race day.

Do you ever psych yourself out before long runs?

#running #marathontraining #longrun
1 month to go! Who else is just trying to survive 1 month to go! Who else is just trying to survive the peak weeks of marathon training? #running #marathontraining
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