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Baltimore 10 Miler – Humid, Hilly, and Hellish

The ten miler is an interesting distance because its long enough to require a deliberate pace, but short enough to push yourself and run uncomfortably the entire time. I also love races that are marked off in plain and simple miles. I know the metric system is the way of the world, but when it comes to running we pace in miles and nobody likes that little extra .1 or .2 to add at the end of a race. Not to mention, a ten miler is long enough to use as an excuse to eat a giant brunch, and I find myself becoming a bigger and bigger fan. Today’s post is a race recap for the Baltimore 10 miler, ran yesterday June 4th 2016.

This was my fourth ten miler. The first two were Army ten milers, one in Afghanistan and one in DC. The most recent was the Reston 10 miler in March. Coming into this race I did a terrible job of scoping out the course and elevation. I just assumed nothing could be as hilly as the Reston 10 miler and I ran that at a 6:47 pace, so being June in Baltimore I set a 7:00 mile pace goal. I went through my normal fuel and hydration routine; a cup of coffee, Nuun water, and toast with peanut butter a few hours before the race. 16 oz of water and some Jelly Belly Sports Beans an hour prior. My mistake was not drinking additional water right before the start due to the humidity. It was at 85% at the start of the race. I tried to shake that off because it was a cool 72 F with a slight breeze, and it bit me later in the race. I cannot stress enough the importance of proper hydration based on temperature and humidity.

We stepped to the start line at 7:30 am after a salute to fallen heroes, as we had the legendary Sid Busch running with the American Flag in honor of an Army CPT who was KIA in 2006. The gun went off and I was overzealous, again not knowing the course, and starting with a downhill I settled in at a 6:00-6:15 pace for the first two miles. Right around mile two with the first big uphills, weird feelings started to set in. I felt fatigued and thirsty, abnormal for me that early in a race, and was struggling to keep my pace running uphill. I don’t train on enough hills in DC, but have always had decent hill strength in general. I slowed it down to a 7:00 pace, my original goal anyway, and did a decent job of maintaing that for the next three miles where the course stayed fairly flat and went around Lake Montibello. I actually saw my friend Courtney as I was coming off the lake and she going going onto it. That was a boost for me but I realized a few minutes later our contact had hit the stop button on my GPS watch and I lost my timing! Haha I decided that may be a blessing because I was starting to feel like s**t, continuing to slow down and feeling overheated, and I needed to focus on surviving the race.

A few mins later, I did restart the watch and my pace just kept dropping. I saw the watch fluctuate between 7:30-8:30 on some hill sections. I tried to take a gel to help myself out and couldn’t even wash half of it down because I didn’t have water. Two miles without a water point and it took a little toll on my stomach. You’ve gotta have water with a carb gel. I threw it to the ground around mile 8. One by one people were passing me and I passed virtually no one. The miles seemed so slow and everything seemed like an uphill. I was gasping for air like I have never experienced and cursing the course. I actually wanted to quit, or maybe wait for Courtney and run with her, but something deep down wouldn’t let me.

The final mile was true hell, as you can see on the course and elevation map, since its an intense incline. I saw my friend Karen with half a mile to go and she captured this lovely photo.

I told her “Karen, I am f**king dying.” To which she replied “No you look great!” and I said “No I don’t, I am f**king miserable.” It is bad when I am cursing out loud on a course.

I mustered what I could to pick it up and was able to get down to 7:20 for the final half mile. I wanted to scowl at the camera at the finish line but forced myself to keep just a simply pained look on my face as I crossed in 1:11:34, a 7:10 overall pace. That actually surprised me but it was my decent first five miles balancing out with my crappy second five miles. All I could think about was water, liquid, anything thirst quenching and watery that I could get in my body. I stumbled through the chute, got my medal, grabbed water, an orange, water melon, downed gatorade, and saw my husband waiting for me at the end of the chute. He had finished 7 minutes earlier.

We reflected on how much we hated the course and the weather, and then I got negative. I was beating myself up over letting myself get passed, starting too fast, and things that didn’t matter because the race was over. He “yelled” at me for being so upset with my time and hard on myself, and told me to get my proverbial head out of my ass. Instead of sulking, I should accept that if I want a different outcome next time I fix my prep mistakes and train hills better. AND understand that sometimes, regardless of preparation, humidity and other conditions may just slow me down. (Despite my time, I finished 18th overall female and 5th in the 25-29 age group). When he said that, I got my sh*t together and moved on with a smile remembering that I was also running the race because its FUN and I LOVE it. We went to cheer on Courtney to her finish and focused on enjoying the post-race party, which at this race, is actually pretty sweet!

Swerving away from my race misery, the finish medal was adorable with penguins on it in honor of the nearby zoo. In addition, with registration to the Baltimore 10 miler you get a sweet long sleeve race premium pull-over. Its sweat wicking material and has a zip pocket in the back to hold gels or whatever.

You also get two beer tickets and this wasn’t Michelob Ultra, it was ice cold craft beer. A grapefruit ale and a wheat beer. Both actually delicious and they hit the spot! I managed to get free bottles of sunscreen and doggy bags from Channel 2 news and other vendors were there with samples and giveaways. John’s Hopkins Physical Therapy had free ice packs and Subaru had drawstring bags. Lastly, there was a live band! For a 10 miler it was good swag and a good time!

The race is a great value if you register early considering the quality of the shirt, the free beer, the post race party, and the Chrono tracking options. The race sends you an email, same day, with your final pace and breakdown for each five miles. There is a finish line video available already, and there will be photos posted shortly. See the example for mine HERE, where you can see how much my pace fell apart in the second half! Parking is close because of the zoo lots near Druid Hill park and its not too terrible getting out after the race. We drove up from DC and made it in an hour so you don’t have to get a hotel if you don’t want. Its good for DMVers and gives you a chance to run outside the city and NoVA.

Overall the course is tough. Regardless of humidity the hills and elevation changes are nearly constant. I would prefer to run a course like this in March or late fall because heat and humidity just kill people during the second half of the race. My only complaint that can actually be improved upon was the location of the water points. They are front-loaded and back-loaded so around 7-8 miles when you could really use some water to help with, say, a Gu gel, they just aren’t there. Simple solution – carry your own handheld water bottle. I don’t know if I will run the race again, but if I decide to try to redeem myself, I will carry a small water bottle.

I do recommend it if you don’t mind hills and won’t beat yourself up over a PR. This was my slowest 10 miler time yet and I had to accept that. You can have a ton of fun after collecting freebies and celebrating the accomplishment with friends, music, food, and beer. Then you can spend the day exploring Baltimore! Like we did 🙂

-Shaina

In honor of Global Running Day

I am sharing a belated recap of the European Union (EU) Embassy Run. It happened May 13, before I started the blog, so I guess that is a fair excuse. You may have heard of it from the May Runner’s World article (that’s how I did!) and you may have never heard of it at all. Its a small group by race terms, about 150 this year, that takes on the challenge of running from embassy to embassy during the EU embassy open house in Washington, DC. Running a specific route from embassy to embassy enables the group to cover far more embassies than anyone could by just walking. For example, we covered over 13 miles and hit 12 embassies in my group. The other group covered 10 miles and 12 embassies! The other perk? We get to jump to the head of the line! This is the real life saver as these lines wrap around the block at most of the embassies, even Slovenia and “less popular” EU countries. Each embassy offers food, drinks, performances, etc. Some for purchase and some pre-arranged by the Embassy run crew. It is a TON of fun and teaches you a good lesson about actively eating and drinking alcoholic beverages in between stretches of running!

To avoid boring you and because you can look at the route at the Embassy Run website I’ll let you know where we went and highlight the favorites! I was part of Group A and we covered the following embassies in the order listed (single asterisks denote notables, double asterisks denote favorites):

Austria, Slovakia, Netherlands**, Hungary**, Czech Republic**, Spain**, Greece, Romania, Slovenia*, Italy*, Denmark, Germany**

Netherlands

My favorite embassy, by far. This was our third stop and after going through a full security scan we were welcomed with free stroop waffles (like Dutch honey stinger waffles), Dutch cheese, mini-pancakes with powdered sugar, and a Heineken on draft. There was a DJ playing techno music. The embassy staff was extremely welcoming and we had great conversations with some Dutch military members. We even got our photo taken with giant wooden shoes and tulips!

Hungary and Czech Republic

We rotated between these two since they are a steep hill apart right next to Rock Creek Park. I am Hungarian so I guess it had a special place in my heart already, BUT, what made Hungary amazing was the Viszla party! Out on the embassy lawn was a group of 15+ Viszlas running around and playing. They had food and drinks for sale too but the puppies overshadowed anything else!

Czech Republic is also special to my husband and I because we lived an hour from the Czech border in Germany and made frequent trips to Prague and Pilsen. We were able to get Pilsner Urquell (only the best Pilsner I have ever tasted) on tap AND goulash soup. This one was all about the food and drink! And the polka band 😉

Spain

This was the longest distance yet between embassies and we were so happy to arrive after a long uphill climb. We didn’t actually go to the Spanish embassy, their event was held at the Spanish Cultural Center, but it was spectacular. The building is beautiful and they had everything from Flamenco dancers to interactive displays to sangria, paella, and empanadas for sale. We were greeted with enthusiasm and a Spanish flag painted on our cheeks. We indulged in the Sangria to “hydrate” before the next stretch down to Greece and Romania.

Slovenia

I just had to give a shout out to the Slovenian ambassador because he was personally walking around serving walnut rolls to visitors. How humble of him! Jeremy insisted on a photo with him. I also really liked their “sLOVEnia” slogan but that might just be the marketer in me. Either way it looked like an appealing place to visit!

Italy

The Italian embassy is a gigantic building and the highlights of the trip were the ballet performance and Nutella. They had brick ovens baking fresh pizza, an espresso machine, and served Italian wine. The lines for those were crazy but if you had the time to spend, probably worth a wait. There was also a Lamborghini outside, officially the closest we’ve ever been to one! Ballers!

Germany

Fitting that our last stop was our beloved Germany. Granted we ran three miles in what became a torrential downpour to get there, but it was so worth it. The German embassy grounds are GORGEOUS and after meandering along their walkways picking up goodie bags and Haribo gummies, we made our way to a biergarten where a bratwurst with sauerkraut and glass of Franziskaner really hit the spot. It didn’t necessarily sit well for the final two mile run to our post-race party (yeah it ends with a party in Georgetown!) but embodied many wonderful memories of German fests.

At the end of the day we were soaked, muddy (thanks to our group leader’s “shortcut” on a wooded path), exhausted, cold, and HAPPY. It was such a great experience and we met so many people from our community. There is nothing like a shared experience based on navigating with a crappy map through rain and sunshine while covering 13 miles and visiting 12 countries all while in Washington, DC. Plus, you get a sweet t-shirt and we know that all runners love the race shirt! Join us next year, I know I’ll be back! Happy Global Running Day!

Why I run

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Have you ever thought about the reason WHY something you love so much is so important to you? Why you have an emotional, psychological, and physical attachment to it? That is how I often think about running. Half the time, it brings me more physical pain than pleasure. Yet, the idea of not running brings me far more emotional and psychological pain. It is an idea I quickly abolish anytime it manifests. As I pondered and reflected on this, I thought ‘why not inaugurate a blog half focused on running by taking a look at WHY running is so important in my life.’ It will help you get to know me, get some stuff out of the way early because I believe honesty and candidness early on only lead to better relationships, and maybe something I say will connect with you. That is the best I can hope for!

I’ll dive right in. Running is important to me because it has become a source of peace, motivation, inspiration, and healing over the last 10 years of my life. I started running because I was fairly good at it and it was a great source of exercise (more on my humble run-ginnings in an upcoming post), especially starting college at Xavier University when I no longer played team sports and was in ROTC where running in formation made me cherish running freely on my own so much more.

Then, I met my first serious boyfriend, Mike, while training for a marathon the summer after my freshman year, and we fell in love over the course of long runs around Cincinnati as we bonded. Fast forward two years, July 21, 2010, and this man who was my best friend and boyfriend, and an Army First Lieutenant, was killed by an IED in Iraq. He was 24 years old. I was entering my senior year of college. It was at this point while I struggled to find any sort of peace or solace, or even see a future beyond my grief, that I realized what running meant to me. Running became my safety net and my source of strength when I was emotionally drained but could test my physical limits. It was a time to release some of the chaos of my life. My anger and pain were translated to my journal and mileage. It was time alone when I could be with my thoughts, summon positive memories, or clear my mind and focus on nothing but the pavement in front of me. I continued to run and my love deepened as I capped off my senior year running a 3:23 marathon, the Cincinnati Flying Pig, in honor of Mike.

After college, I commissioned as an Army lieutenant and was stationed in Germany. There I continued to run, and to heal. Running connected me with my now husband, Jeremy, as we were training for the same half-marathon on our Army base in Vilseck, Germany. Running evolved to be not only a source of strength and healing but a means to explore (now the blog title will begin to make more sense). As we traveled European countries we always brought our running shoes and went out to see the less traveled parts of cities in the early morning light. After Jeremy had to leave Germany to move to a new duty station, and a long distance relationship commenced, running kept me sane while the 6 time zones and Atlantic Ocean between us threatened my sanity.

I then deployed to Afghanistan in June 2013 to a miserable stinky airfield in Kandahar Province. I braved the air pollution and continued to run to stay fit and maintain a sense of normalcy in an environment that was anything but normal. I also convinced five of my female co-workers to run a marathon in Prague, a first for all of them, while we were deployed. I developed their training plan and coached them through a 16-week plan, 11 weeks while deployed and 5 weeks once back in Germany. This was one of the greatest running experiences I have ever had as I witnessed the joy of sharing a love of running with others and pushing friends to do something they never thought they could. Every single one of them finished that marathon and several have run additional since!

That experience was part of my inspiration to leave the Army and pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Health so I can continue to share the joy and positive effects of running and living a healthy lifestyle with young people on a larger scale. Running is intertwined in my life, relationships, career goals, and happiness. It is not just a verb or an activity, running is part of my passion and my purpose.