Well, I don’t get summer vacations anymore (well, I *take* vacations, but it’s not the same as having the whole summer off!), and my summer racing season isn’t over yet … but I’m itching to catch up since my unintentional hiatus!

So … it looks like I dropped off after May’s Columbia Triathlon. Since then I’ve been a busy runner! Mini race reports were modified from DailyMile, so if you follow me there they might sound familiar 🙂

June

6/2: Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon

I volunteered as a pacer for 2:20.  I had a friend pacing with me who was a great cheerleader, trying to rally the women around us to stay with (or pass!) us. Our mile splits weren’t as even as I would have liked, but overall we did great. Official time was 2:19:39. Not bad for my first race pacing!

06/10:  Run For The Hills Bushwhacker Race (Trail 20K)

This was an “Adventure Race” instead of your usual trail race because of an optional orienteering component. All runners were given a map, and if you knew what you were doing with that and a compass (no GPS allowed — not even my Garmin!), you could try to cut mileage in order to finish quicker. Well, even if I was capable, I was out there to run! I stayed on the well-marked trail and enjoyed a nice out-and-back run.  I placed 5th in my age group (the prize = a pint glass!). At the time, I guessed there were only five in my age group. Turns out there were seven! OK, one DNF’d, but I still beat one person 🙂

06/16: Baltimore 10 Miler

Nearly a 5-minute PR (1:27:38)! I hung with the 1:30 pacers for the first 6 miles or so. They were dead on — I hit the 5-mile split at 45:02. I commented to my friend (who I lost shortly after I left the pacers) that I didn’t think I had an even split or negative split in me — clearly I was wrong! The second half hills are harder, too. Very happy with my results!

06/17: Hebron 10k Trail Challenge

Fun trail race! Much of the course was flat and runnable … but there was a lot of climbing, too — Garmin recorded an elevation gain of 863. One big climb between miles 2 and 3, and a lot of incline in the last three miles. It started and ended on roads, with a lot of hills at the very end. Tough course! (Especially on tired legs after PRing a 10 miler the day before!)

July

7/14: Annapolis Striders Women’s Distance Festival 5K

5K PR and 3rd in my age group! 18/168 overall. This is a double-loop course with rolling hills. It was pretty tough at this pace. Splits: 8:01, 7:51, 8:01. I was hurting and knew I was slowing down, but didn’t realize it wasn’t too bad of a drop. I wasn’t expecting a PR — especially not such a big one! Chip time: 24:35. Previous best: 25:22.

7/15: MD Heat Race Trail 25K

Tough race, but tons of fun! I knew this was going to be a challenging course and it did not disappoint. I logged 16.3 miles with nearly 2,700 feet elevation gain, and it took 4:21. Yikes!  Lots of long inclines, a (shallow) river crossing as well as quite a few streams, and a little bit of rock climbing. Loved it!

August

8/5:  Annapolis Striders Dog Days Cross-Country 8K

44:01 finish time. This is a cross-country race — through fields (well, 3 loops of the same field), roads, parking lots and trails. The trails aren’t too difficult (otherwise I couldn’t have run this pace!) except for one hill I always walk. Not bad, and actually I looked up my previous times on this course and beat my best by 2 minutes! I don’t do a lot of 8Ks, but with this time I also finally beat my best road 8K from 2005.

8/19: Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon Columbia, MD

Ah, I’m finally caught up since this was today! This was my fifth year running this race, and I loved it as I always do. It was the first year I didn’t see a time improvement, but I’m not really surprised. I didn’t train with my triathlon group this summer, so I was lacking in hill training and had very few brick workouts. It doesn’t help that I was sick all last week. I thankfully was mostly recovered by race day, but still not 100%.

I was happy to take 35 seconds off my swim time from last year. I felt really great in the water today. I think the swim is becoming my favorite leg of the triathlon — this race has a pretty hilly course for both bike and run, so it’s pretty tough. At least they can’t add hills to the swim!

The bike ride went well, though the course seemed a lot more congested than I remember from previous years. I felt like there were times I could have been more aggressive, when instead I’d hang behind a slower rider longer than I should have. People were constantly riding in bunches rather than staying to the right except when passing, so it was tough to find a comfortable place. Still, I enjoyed it and it seemed to go by quickly. I was about two minutes slower than last year. Not bad for being sick!

Despite my lack of brick workouts, I actually felt pretty good on the run course. I walked a few hills as I usually do, sometimes it’s just not worth it to keep running! It wasn’t my fastest time on this course, but not bad, 31:20 for a 3.4-mile run.

Overall, this year’s 2:15:38 (swim 1000M/Bike 17.5 miles / Run 3.4 miles) was only 1:35 slower than last year, so I’m still pretty happy with that.

Well, that’s all, for now. Am I race addict?

Have you been racing a lot this summer?