3 Days Later: Costume Party Run

Well, I'll be the first to admit that CPR was a bust in terms of racing. I hadn't trained properly, I hadn't eaten properly, and quite frankly I'm lucky that I was able to finish that race at all. I did pay the price, however, in terms of blistering.

Three days later and I am just barely back to my normal walking capabilities. Fair warning, the rest of this post isn't for the faint-at-heart when it comes to blister pictures.

Race Recap: 2nd Annual Costume Party Half Marathon

Happy July, everyone! I'm officially back with nothing less than a HM recap. Go big or go home, right?

Before I begin retelling any tales, though, I believe it would be in storytelling's best interest to mention that it was Claudia's birthday today (on race day) and that she stayed with us Saturday night in order to make it to the start line on time on her big day.

I'm just going to go ahead and say this before anything else, fair warning. I will no longer be participating in races put on by Superhero Events, the company in charge of the Costume Party Run (CPR). I have already paid for the Awesome 80s Run in November, but Superhero will not be getting any more of my race dollars ever again.

I have already posted about the pricing issues I encountered for this race in another post, so I’m not going to rehash them here, but from Packet Pickup to the Finish Line, this entire race was the race that will make me a DNS-er forever with Superhero.

Last year, when the early bird pricing email came out for returning racers, we were explicitly told that three of our complaints would be addressed and fixed:

1.      No more trashy trucker hats. We would be getting tech tees for 2014.

2.      A better route that didn’t include 4 miles of the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot.

3.      Better route signage for all runners, particularly those running the 5K and 10K routes.

 Trusting that Superhero would make good on their written promise to us, TJ and I both signed up for a second year of crazy costumes and July heat. We figured that we’d enjoy ourselves just as much if not much more if Superhero made these small changes for us, so why not?

I'm Not Dead, I Promise!

Race Recap: 4th Annual San Diego Zoo Safari Park Half Marathon

To start things off, May 5th was my one year runiversary. Last year I ran this race as my first half marathon, so racing this course again almost exactly a year later was pretty special, but it was a very rough 13 miles.

The day started dark and quiet at 3:30am. After dressing and eating some breakfast (I had some peanut butter waffles while I fiddled with my iPod), my cousin braided both TJ's hair and mine before we left the house.

The only bit of eventfulness that happened between home and the starting line was the crazy driver tailgating us on the way down Highway 78, but luckily he didn't injure anybody and we made it safely to the starting line. I think that the race directors did a much better job this year in terms of parking. The lots were much closer to the Start pavilion this year and they had so many more bathrooms than I remember from last year. The only thing that TJ didn't like was the cold, but I thought it was great weather.

I was a little bit shocked as I looked around. I only saw one other person before the start of the race wearing her shirt from last year's race, which was a shame to me. It made me wonder if people decide to do this race once and then retire from it to go to OC (same day) or La Jolla (weekend before) instead. Did I not get the memo?

Before I forget, though, I do need to mention that the second we got out of the car there was a runner about two cars away who was representing Half Fanatics in her Diva singlet. I have to say that the HF group is one of the most active and kindhearted groups of people that I've ever encountered. When I told her that this was my qualifying group for the race she gave me a huge smile and congratulations before heading down to the starting area. It was awesome.

The race started promptly at 6:30am and we were off. Just like previous years, there were pace teams for those who wanted to follow them, but this year they had much better shirts than I remember. Between their florescent yellow tech tees and what we've affectionately come to call "their sticks," it seemed easier to keep an eye on where I was supposed to be this year timing-wise.

The course had a lot more sections of downhill than I remembered and aside from a few tiny rolling hills, the course was calm and extraordinarily scenic. The only major hills were the ones I remembered at Miles 6 and 11. The infamous Mile 6 was not as bad as I remember, but it was much more sandy than last year and my mom said that it has been getting sandier and sandier every year since she's been doing this race. If you're reading this someday to determine whether or not you might want to do this race, this hill is gnarly, but once you get to the top, you get a fantastic downhill slope for the next half to three-quarters of a mile. Your shoes, socks, and feet will be disgustingly dirty after you finish this race.

After Mile 6, things continued to go well for the next four miles. At Mile 10, I started to experience some really strange symptoms, though. My feet had been hurting for about six miles, which would have been fine, but at Mile 10 I started to really experience pain in my feet and I started to feel really off. The farther I went, the more strange I began to feel and within half a mile I started to feel very paranoid like I was being followed (duh--it's a running race!), panicky, and freezing cold--so much so that I began to shiver. The only thing keeping me from having a panic attack and a subsequent asthma attack was the fact that I knew they'd pull me from the race if I alerted the race guards to how I was feeling and I knew that if I didn't finish this race I would probably never be mentally strong enough to qualify for Half Fanatics again, so I kept trucking and slowly made my way through the last three miles of my race.

I was glad that I knew the last few miles of this course when the time came. I knew that the finish line was close, but not close enough to get my hopes up, so I slowly kept moving forward despite how ill I was feeling. I crossed the finish line at 3:13:09.7 and went directly to medical. I wasn't 100% sure that I had heat stroke, but I knew that something was very, very, very wrong with how I was feeling when I just kept running past the finish line and straight to the medical tent. You can tell by running form alone in the finish line video my mom took of me that I was screwed up. I hope that nobody ever has to see me with heat stroke again. And actually, after watching my mom's video again, the very last thing that I said was "I have-" which was "I have to go to medical now."

For the record, as I passed the medal distribution area, I didn't get a medal. I got an IOU because the medal manufacturer didn't get them shipped to the United States in time. I'll update on  that issue as I get more information, but as of May 13th, still no medal.

I would just like to say that for both year's I've run this race, I've had incredible experiences with the medical teams they've provided. The second I got into the med tent, I had two people making sure I was OK. When I told them that I was cold despite the 90° F outside--and that I on the verge of having an asthma attack--they immediately got a doctor to come assess me...and then I started having the worst asthma attack I've had in years and the first one I've had that's actually affected me during a race. The medical staff loaded me with ice bags on my groin, my neck, and (because of my own personal efforts) in my sports bra. They cleared and released me after forty minutes of heat stroke and blister care before TJ and I attempted to go find the finisher breakfast..

The breakfast tickets that we printed out the night before the race said that breakfast was at Hunte Pavilion, toward the very front of the park, so that's where we headed. When we got there, though, the area was absolutely deserted, and my mom and I began to get really frustrated. The breakfast tickets we not cheap and we were hungry. We wanted our food, so our next destination was to Guest Relations to either get a some breakfast or get a refund on the tickets because the advertised breakfast was no where to be found.

It took about ten minutes and a very inquisitive phone call, Guest Relations was able to locate the Finisher Breakfast and it was all the way back near the finish line almost half a mile into the park. If we didn't have a point to make about the whole thing, we probably would have said to hell with it, but we were so hungry and so annoyed that we walked all the way back to the breakfast area, blisters, exhaustion and all. the food was actually all right, even for me, Ms. Gluten Free, but they were so close to breaking everything down by the time we got there that the catering staff didn't even check our tickets. At least we got food, though, and for that I was thankful.

I have to admit that my favorite part of today was being able to take another picture with the "You Did It! 13.1 Miles" sign this year--with my Half Fanatics Sign, too! (Thanks, Mom, for letting me borrow your medal for pictures!) There's nothing better than runiversary pictures with the best sign in the world. Hell yeah, I did it again! And TJ, too!

Update: I received my medal in the mail a few weeks after the race with an apology note and an invitation to come back again next year. Aside from the breakfast issues, this race was another awesome one to add to my list. Next year I plan on NOT visiting Medical, though.

 

Thursday Workout: Hill Repeats

I'll be the first to admit that I really dislike running hills, but with the Safari Park Half rapidly approaching, I figured that I'd practice my hills.And SO came along with me! Each time up the hill was about 0.16 miles--not very far, but I will be the first to admit that I was feeling the burn after the first time up. In total, I went up the hill 5 times before a short half mile cool down run back to SO's house. Was it the hardest run I've ever done? No, but it was a good workout that I'll be excited to do again in the future. Here's the hill, by the way:

Viva Las Vegas! A Recap of Our Trip to Nevada

As my mom facetiously told me in the car this morning, I finally got my Spring Break for this year. A negative effect of working at one college and attending another is that their individual Spring Breaks never happen to coincide with one another. When I finally got to escape work and classes this past weekend, Mom was right. I really did finally get to have a spring vacation and it could not have been more fun.

On Friday morning, my mom TJ and I topped off the gas tank for $4.17 per gallon (OUCH!) and headed down the highway to Vegas just before 10a.m. Both the weather and the company were nice, so the ride was pretty fun and laidback.

Checking in once we got to Vegas was really simple and fun. TJ and I were staying in the Towers of the Luxor Hotel and I have to say that I was absolutely blown away with every interaction we had on the Strip. Everyone was really hospitable and giving. My only complaint was that the hotel was an absolute maze, so I had a really hard time finding my way around the facilities until after the race on Saturday. We were able to manage our way in and out of the hotel, though, to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame before dinner that evening. For those who don't know, the PHF is by far my favorite thing in Vegas and if you haven’t been before, I highly encourage you to check it out. All of the machines are playable and even though TJ didn’t think she was going to enjoy herself, she ended up having an absolute ball—pun intended.

Fast forward to race day morning. TJ and I were awake bright and early by 4am. Room service was precisely—and impressively—right on time with breakfast. I took a bit of a gamble and went for bacon, eggs, and my standard 12oz can of Diet Dr. Pepper. TJ went for a Power Bar. (Mine tasted better and I was able to save the fruit for later…)

By the time we were completely finished with race prep and dressed for our race, it was 4:30 and both of us were getting antsy to find our shuttles before the line got too crazy. We were lucky to find a fellow racer from Indianapolis who had figured out where to go and within no time we were out at the shuttles to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It felt good to be out in the cool air before we left, but in all honesty I was a bit nervous about taking the shuttle to the Speedway. Our bus driver actually had to ask where we were going, but it all turned out well and we didn't end up lost somewhere in the boonies of Nevada.

We got to the LVMS right before sunrise and after that everything went remarkably well. The race directors did a phenomenal job. They even parked the Shelby Mustang that they were giving away (and using as the pace car) right in front of the start/finish line for us to take photographs with before race time. Isn’t it an incredible car? We didn’t win it, but it still really neat that they let us look at it up close before things got going.

Around 6:35am is when things started to get fun. I ran into one of my favorite people in the world, Claudia. Neither of us was sure if we’d see each other this trip, but because of her adorable gold running skirt I was able to find her quite easily once she got to the track. We ended up racing with each other the entire 13.49 (Uh, yeah, USTAF, my booty) mile course, catching up and making pacts to race with each other again in upcoming events. The course was nice and scenic with a great view of the local mountains and even the Strip, but there was very little shade. The heat got to us around Mile 8 and we quickly went from being runners to power walkers to prevent from getting some nasty heat stroke. It was still really fun, though. By the time we finished, the asphalt had easily reached 90°F and despite all of the Gatorade and water that we’d been drinking and tossing over our heads to try and stay cool, we were still incredibly hot by the time we got our medals. And speaking of medals, look at how awesome they were! I have to give Claudia all the credit for this photograph, but look at how cool the design was. So classy!

Overall, the race was really fun, especially with friends and family there to enjoy it with us. The volunteers and race coordinators did an incredible job at keeping us safe and hydrated out in the desert. I was impressed, but the number one thing that was on our minds once we knew that we were going to finish the race was the car. We all wanted it and our odds were  pretty high, 1 in 2,400. In the end, we didn't win it, though, and that Shelby Mustang now belongs to a very happy half marathoner who lives in Texas. She was in absolute shock when they called her name and I was glad that she was so thrilled to have won. It made not driving home a $75,000 Shelby Mustang a lot easier to do.

We didn’t win, but we did get to run with old friends and meet many new ones, too. I got to meet a lot of Half Fanatic members at this race. They were so kind and encouraging toward me. It really made me feel like I would be a welcome addition to the group after my second qualifying race on May 4. And look what Claudia made for me and posted to the Half Fanatics Facebook group!

I’ve decided that woman is an angel. She is by far one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and much like me, she knows no strangers. We agreed to do the Dopey Challenge together at WDW in 2018 with TJ. I don’t know what we were thinking when we made the pact, but now that it’s all said and done, we’re signed up for another HM near my house in July and I might be headed up to Claudia’s neck of the woods for the Long Beach HM in Fall. We’re crazy, I know, but that’s what friends are for, being crazy together. And we took so many pictures! Look at all some of the memories we captured post-race. I actually got caught on camera dancing in the second image because I heard that we were finally headed back to the hotel—and lunch—before TJ and I headed to the spa for massages.What can I say? I was excited.

 

Overall, our experience in Las Vegas was a pretty special one. Claudia went back to her hotel room after the buses got back to our hotels and it wasn’t long before TJ and I had taken showers and grabbed some grub before moseying over to the spa. Our masseurs were absolutely outstanding and we were almost back to our pre-race selves by the time we headed over to Treasure Island for our 7:30pm Mystere show. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend going. I was absolutely amazed by the talent we saw. It was breathtaking, but I am really glad that we went for the 7:30 presentation and not the 9:00pm one. By the time we got back to our room at 9:30, we were ready to curl up in bed and sleep in until late the next morning...which we did.

Easter Sunday was a really quiet day for us. We ate brunch down at one of the cafes and did some souvenir shopping for people back at home before spending a large portion of our day in the spa’s whirlpool relaxing and stretching. At one point I even fell asleep curled up in the lounge area while I waited for my coffee to cool down. It was just a great day and overall an incredible way to wrap up our trip. It was worth every penny in race and resort fees. If I could do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. Vegas is a different sort of place, but it turned out to be a great location to race at for the Ford Mustang’s 50^th birthday.

 It was actually a little saddening to pack and drive home this morning. I did really miss my animals and family back home, though, so coming home was a bittersweet experience. I do wonder though, since Vegas was that spectacular, if any other race will ever be able to top it. I’m thinking WDW in 2018 might, but who knows. Something might just surprise me sooner. Until then, I've run half marathons in two states with forty-eight more to go. I wonder how long it will take me.

A Word on Integrity

I'd like to preface this post before I begin and state that while I've only been racing for about eighteen months, I did nearly twenty races last year and I've worked in customer service my entire life. Because of this, I have a very strong sense of morality when it comes to communication between organizations (in this case an endurance event company) and their customers.

In the past forty-eight hours I have received multiple emails from both Superhero Events and Gemini Timing advertising up to $25 off of race registration for Costume Party Race Half Marathon participants who register before prices increase by $5 on April 21. That's fine. I'm all for saving money on race dues. My issue is that I signed up two days after last year's event for early bird pricing at $75 per person and now, less than three months before the race starts, racers can get a price that's almost 14% cheaper than what I paid nine months ago. That just didn't sit right with me, so I contacted the Costume Party Run facebook page yesterday afternoon just to see what was going on. What happened next is what has me more frustrated than anything else.

Below are two screenshots of my "conversation" with CPR regarding the issue of pricing. My initial question was just one of curiosity and hope that they would have a decent answer for me in regard to this issue. The answer I got back was in my eyes curt, so I decided to reply back to them, but they had already deleted my post to their page before I could respond. See the little red "!" next to my post? That was because they deleted my inquiry entirely from their page before I could respond back to them. Why? My guess is because they don't necessarily have a good response for me regarding this issue, even if Active.com is in charge of this promotion. I can handle that, but companies should be very aware of how they interact with customers. Acting flat-out crusty toward an inquiry on Facebook and then deleting that same post moments later is not the best idea in terms of good PR.

I'd be foolish to think that this is an isolated event considering the mounting problems that Superhero Events has had with the Costume Party Run this year. On March 20th I received the following email through Active.com:

Hello Costume Party Run Participants! We thank all of you for your interest in the Costume Party Run Half Marathon & 5k. Unfortunately, due to updated NFL scheduling with Qualcomm stadium, the Costume Party Run date has been changed to Sunday, July 13th. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause for you. If you are unable to attend the event because of the new date, please let us know so that we may issue you a full refund. We look forward to all of you joining us on July 13th!

Personally, I was grateful for the date change, but a lot of racers have requested refunds due to this issue. This is speculation on my behalf,  but it's possible that Superhero Events is currently taking a loss on this event and is frustrated that their race's date change is negatively impacting business. I can understand that and relate to it, but it's not something that should also affect loyal customers who agreed to come back and race again just two days after the event was over. Just my two cents, but I don't know if we'll come back to race with Superhero Events in the future if we continue to have bad experiences. It's a shame, too, because they put on good events, but we're all about fairness where I come from and this is currently an unfair pricing situation with inadequate explanation as to why. I'll keep you updated if I get more information.

In Regard to Boston

I think I can speak on behalf of most--if not all--runners when I discuss the bombings at last year's Boston Marathon. With today being the one year anniversary of those events, I urge you to remember why you run and who you run for when you lace up. Tomorrow you may not have the opportunity.

Race Recap: Peace-Love-Run 2014

Yesterday was my last short distance race before heading to Las Vegas for the 50th Anniversary Mustang Half Marathon next weekend. It was a bit of a worrisome morning since I haven't been training properly, but overall, a wonderful the race turned out to be a fun event. Just like last year, this race was really fun and I met a bunch of potential running friends.

Now, I will admit, that I was a knucklehead in terms of preparing for this race. Aside from not training, the morning of the race I lost my iPod, forgot my ibuprofen, and almost walked out of the house without my cell phone (i.e. no directions to the race location). It was... interesting to say the least.

Onto the Peace-Love-Run, though! The event was a 5K/10K/HM down at Fiesta Island and the weather was pretty much perfect: not too hot, a little breezy, and overcast for the complete race. My only complaint about the event at all was that the 10K race course was too long, so pace times were affected. Everything else was great, though: the aid stations, packet pick up, the finisher medal, tee shirts and tech tees. As usual with Wiz Marketing events, everything was great. Here were my (adjusted) race results, which I have to admit are pretty much fine in my book considering that I haven't been running.

I'll post race pictures when they're released.