Tomorrow morning is one of the biggest races in Columbus and thousands of walkers and runners will be pushing through the miles for Nationwide Children’s Hospital champion kids.  This is an amazing race in a city we love for a cause that can’t be better!  Good luck to all participants and BIG hugs to all the patient champions and their families!

Some of us live for races, run some every month and even plan vacations around them.  Others do one or two a year.  Maybe you’re even thinking about signing up for your first race ever!  Regardless of what your racing calendar looks like, sometimes its fun to try something new. Here are some ways you can find that next race (or plan out your whole racing season!)

1.Find a local race & support your community.  Businesses, run clubs, schools and even individuals plan races right in your backyard! Ask friends for favorites or use the good old internet to search for upcoming events. Great Columbus-based races and racing companies (that help host races) are M3SSports, Columbus Running Co, and Premier Races.

2. Plan a destination race.  Some may find a favorite and visit year after year, while others may chase those bucket list goals and go somewhere new.  Run for fun with a group or find a fast, flat course and hit a new PR… the options are endless!  We usually travel for half marathons and try to plan a fun weekend around the race.  We have a personal goal to “run a half marathon in half the states” & daydream by visiting sites such as Runner’s World Bucket List: 9 Destination Halfs and NY Post’s 15 Best Half Marathons in America.  This past spring we ran the rolling countryside of “America’s Prettiest Half” in Lexington, Kentucky… planning spring 2018 very soon!

3. Join forces for a good cause. Races such as the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & St Jude Memphis Marathon as well as the recent races series organized by Rocky Fork Running Club bring awareness and raise funds for a variety of causes. Really, there’s no better reason to run. #WillRunForBlingAndCharity

4. Try a virtual race.  Maybe you’re not big on 4:55AM wake-ups on a Saturday morning for a regular race start.  Or maybe you can’t find one near you that fits your schedule.  A virtual race allows you to run (or walk) on your own time, at your own pace, at a location of your choice, while still having the support of other online friends! Many have budget-friendly entry fees and several we’ve found support charities.  Here’s a quick video blurb from GoneForARun.com if you want to know more.

5. Create your own! If you have a group of friends & some bibs or medals… its considered a “race,” right?  Our September race was canceled last minute and we needed to fit one in…. so we gathered each other, made our own bling (thanks to Brokeman’s Running Co for the inspo!), ran our hearts out & took some photos at the end!

We hope you find all the races your hearts desire as you plan your next one, two, twelve!  Keep us updated on your favorites!

What races do you love?  What’s on your race bucket list? How do you choose your races?  We’d love to hear from you!  

Its #throwbackThursday so a great time for a race recap!  The weather really put a damper on some people’s finish & overall race experience at Cap City this year, but personally I had a great race and wanted to remember it as a positive event.

The expo was held at VUE this year and I dragged little man along with me.  He was excited to tag along… so excited he fell asleep on the way there. 🙂  The first volunteer I encountered was super helpful and walked us to where we needed to go (we had to make a registration change, as I decided to drop from the half down to the quarter.) We also had VIP passes so we made the treck upstairs to get our additional swag. I’m not a huge expo junkie, so the smaller size didn’t bother me at all, although I have several running friends that missed the traditional large-scale event. We got our goods, took some pics and headed out. Good news… smaller expo = quicker in & out!

Our dear friends from out of town decided to come down for the race, so we had a fun Friday night of “catching up” and watching all the little ones play (my two and my friend Kate’s two, ranging in ages from 1-8).  We laid out our clothes ~ weather forecast was lower 60s with a strong chance of showers, meaning layers to peel off and a hat to keep the rain out of my eyes ~ set our alarms for 5:40AM, checked the weather for what seemed like the 1 millionth time and left for the Columbus Commons at 6:20AM, ponchos in tow. We met up with some other groups of friends, took some group photos, of course made a pitstop at the porta-pots and finally around 7:40 made our way to our corrals.

The weather held off and we started promptly at 8AM.  My husband and our friend, Mitch, helped pace me as I was attempting a PR finish of under an 8:52/mile.  We started with the half pace group of 8:47/mile pace and stuck with them until they veered off a little after mile two.  The first few miles were SUPER humid & sticky and shortly after, the storm began to move in.  It rained lightly for the last part of my race and helped give me the extra motivation to finish strong… I wanted to get to that dry VIP tent!

I struggled the last mile.  I was tired, wet & my lungs felt like exploding.  I honestly thought about walking at one point.  The guys kept me going though, pushing me the last stretch with an 8:10/pace and a strong finish.

As I crossed the finish line, I proudly redeemed my medal & finally got a glimpse of my overall time… a new PR!  Although my Garmin said 8:25/mile average, my eventual chip time would be an 8:29/mile, but a much improved time which gave me a big smile. 🙂 We posed for a few photos, waited for a bit at the finish line, then started to head to the Commons as the sky turned black.

In the VIP tent post-race, we enjoyed drinks and FANTASTIC refreshments catered by Cameron Mitchell including The Pearl Grilled Cheese, Marcella’s Meatball Sliders, Hudson 29 Roasted Chicken Salad, Guild House Honey Cake Bites & Buckeyes.  I’m sure I put back on most of the 784 calories that my trusty Garmin claims I burned.

After hanging out for a while, the storm really started to move in and the race was eventually black flagged.  It was sad to see all the runners get moved off the course (some of our friends had trained hard and had to stop between miles 10-12), but lightening was all around us & safety was their priority.  Around 10AM, we decided to call it a morning and make a dash for the car.

Back home, our littles greeted us with hugs, stole all our snacks (granola bars, bananas & other goodies we’d collected at the finish line) and put on our medals with giant smiles.

After the gloomy, chaotic storm-filled morning, the weather in Cbus took a turn for the better and we were able to spend our afternoon and evening wearing tank tops & playing outside.  It was a fabulous weekend with family, friends & the Columbus running community!

Note:  We know things got crazy during the storm.  A lot of feedback was provided and we are aware that not every runner had as positive of an experience as we did.  I honestly believe that M3S Sports puts on great events, values feedback and is consistently working to improve what they do.  Whether your experience was fantastic or subpar, we hope you’ll take advantage of the 50% off next year’s registration that M3S is extending to all 2017 participants.  They posted this message to their FB page last week…

“YOU “weathered the storm” last weekend and we want to CELEBRATE YOU at the 15th Anniversary of the OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon, OhioHealth Quarter Marathon and Commit to Be Fit 5k on April 28th, 2018.  The week of May 15th, we are going to email all of you who participated in 2017 a coupon code to register for 50% off the early registration fee good ONLY on May 30th and May 31st. Registration opens to the general public on June 1st at the regular price.” -Giddyup, David Babner, Race Director M3S Sports.

Watch for their email and we hope to see you at the starting line in 2018!  Better yet, meet up with us at some of the other 2017 events, we’ll be at the FORE! Miler, Emerald City and The Ohio State Four Miler for sure!

It’s been a while since our group has done a destination race!  The Living Fit Cbus run crew started in January 2014 and has done two destination races in smaller groups, including The Mini Indy and The Detroit Half Marathon.  This spring we tackled the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon in Kentucky, a hilly but gorgeous race known as “America’s Prettiest Half Marathon.”  This was also our largest road-trip group to date, with six of us making the trip down to Lexington.  We hope it is the start to a fun tradition of occasionally getting out of Cbus and seeing the roads and trails across America!

As we were training, several of us enjoyed reading blogs, reviews, etc about the race, especially since it was known to be a challenging course.  Because of this, we committed to start doing more recaps for our readers to view.  Here are some of our thoughts from running the countryside of Lexington….

Side note:  This was Teresa & Lauren’s first post-baby half! We were in it to “finish.”

Race thoughts by Teresa:

I was very excited to do my first road trip race since 2012 when my mom & I trekked down to Run Raleigh.  As a former assistant coach for LifeTime Fitness Run Club, I used to do a destination race annually, conquering many races in mostly mid-west states.  Run the Bluegrass was my first destination race with the Living Fit Cbus crew due to my constant cycle of being pregnant, having babies and/or nursing over the last five years! Now that my littles are ages four and one, I feel like I finally have time & enough nightly hours of sleep to begin pursing running goals again.  My personal bucket list includes running a half marathon in half the states and although I’ve run through Kentucky during the Flying Pig Half Marathon, this was technically my first “complete” half in the bluegrass state.

We traveled down on Friday night and got to the Expo just in time.  It was a smaller one, but it got the job done.  We ran into some people from one of our favorite local Cbus brands, Bend Active.

I was weirdly nervous going into this race.  Between not having run a half since 2014, and knowing how hilly & challenging the course was, my nerves during race week were doing cartwheels!  Even though several of us had said “we should just run it for fun” and we weren’t truly worried about pace or finish time, my heart still wanted to finish with a time I could be proud of.  And we did.

Unless you had run the race before or you did the treadmill simulator (like Lauren!), it was somewhat challenging to know how your body can perform over miles & miles of hills.  Here in Columbus, you may find a hill here and there, but let’s be honest…. its known to be a flat, fast terrain.  So I was dreaming about (rather having nightmares about) hills starting about a week prior to race day.

We always aim to have THREE race day goals.  Your “top” goal, like if all goes right and the stars in the universe align. A middle goal. And lastly an “okay, I’d at least be happy if…” goal.  This way when you cross that finish line, no matter what your “time” is, you have something to feel proud of!  Mine were to 1) Stay at a 9:30 pace  2) Stay under 10 minutes  3)  Finish the race, while ‘mostly’ running & attempting to stay under a 10:30 pace.

Several of us started in wave 2, hoping to finish under 2:15 or a 10:30/mile pace.  Christine, Lauren, Deedra and I stayed together until somewhere around mile three where we forced Christine to surge ahead – she was really holding back to stay with us and we were like “GO girl!”  For the next seven-ish miles, D, L & I embraced the hills, slowed down through the water stops and enjoyed conversation with each other.  The horse farms and countryside were as beautiful as the race website and all the bloggers had stated.  Although I personally would have preferred a bit warmer day and a little more sunshine (it was a cloudy low 40s), it was an enjoyable ten miles.

Once we hit the 10 mile mark, we discussed the “only a 5K left!” mentality and agreed to finish strong, at our own pace.  I popped my headphones in, turned on my power songs (Rise Up & Girl on Fire… repeat!) and went for it.  Deedra and I finished almost together and my chip time was 2:04:58.  Some miles were slower (those hills!) and some were faster (when I was chasing D at the end!) and averaged out to around a 9:33 pace.  Goal #1 met!  And this was almost the exact same finish time as my very first half.  Although I know there is room for improvement, a time I am happy with!

Things I liked about Run the Bluegrass:

• Although its often harder to get to a destination race expo on a Friday night, I much prefer a Saturday race.  I like to have Sunday to relax & recover before heading back into a busy workweek.  I’m not really an expo junkie like some, so getting there towards the end didn’t bother me much!  And my quads were on FIRE from all those downhills about 12 hours after the race, so I was happy to have Sunday for added R&R.
• Wow, the scenery!  Aside from the gorgeous race route, there were many great photo opps including Expo photos with the “horses” (ok, they were fake), the Keenland track itself & the nearby UK Campus.
• Having the girls there at the start, during the race, and at the finish made this one of my most memorable runs.  It is always more fun to have ‘support’ and of course, friends to take IG worthy pics with. 🙂
• The website didn’t have a ton of information, but there were pacers, which aren’t always offered at smaller races.  Pace groups can be helpful to runners trying to PR, those who need help maintaining consistent laps or solo runners that want a little group camaraderie.

Some things to consider when running this course:

• Although the course was absolutely gorgeous, the crowd support was not like some of the larger city road races… so it was nice to have buddies to chat with along the 13.1 mile course.  Unless you love serene, quiet races… bring a friend, your favorite playlist & earbuds, or maybe both!
• Hills. Man do I dislike hills.  But hey, they make you a stronger runner and help you “lift” those glutes!

Overall it was amazing and after 13 miles of hill training… I now have my sights set on breaking two hours in 2017!

Race thoughts by Lauren:

I always start my reviews on the expo because let’s be serious, the expo is just as much fun as the race. We arrived at the expo on Friday night and the place was packed! As soon as you walked into the Keeneland Entertainment Center you were able to grab your bag and bib which was super convenient BUT you had to go through the entire expo in order to receive your long sleeve hoodie at the end…very smart RTB peeps, very smart. The expo had a number of vendors but I left wanting something more. The space was on the smaller side and between the crowds and tight quarters I wanted to get through there as fast as possible which was a bummer since I normally LOVE the expos.

Friday night we stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by the Keeneland Airport which was about 10 minutes from Keeneland Racecourse. With the complementary breakfast and close proximity to the race, I highly recommend this hotel for future runners.

The race started at 9:00am Saturday morning which was wonderful. I love when races are on Saturdays and a 9am start time is even better. We were able to leave the hotel at 8:15 and make it to the start by 8:30 (I got dropped off and didn’t have to park which would have likely added more time). The temperature was a cool 44 degrees which was PERFECT in my book. We all met up in wave 2 (an approx. 2hr finish time) which was clearly marked and close to the starting line. The Yearling group went out first at 8:55 then Wave 1 was out exactly at 9am and we quickly followed.

Right out of the gate we started up an easy rolling hill and were greeted by a few horses galloping along the fence next to us, it was gorgeous and pretty surreal! There were a couple more rolling hills in the next 3 miles and then around mile 3.5 it started to get challenging. Luckily before the race I had used the treadmill simulator of the course elevation so I knew this big incline was coming. I highly recommend you take a look at the treadmill simulator on the RunTheBluegrass training page, it was helpful to know what was coming so that I could pace myself early on.

Once we got past the big hill at mile 4 we had a steady decline and we were able to catch our breath and get some momentum back before we had to climb again. The next 5 miles were hill after hill (sorry, there is no sugarcoating this race!) but with every hill came a nice decline or flat and we were able to keep our pace. It certainly helped that the course was absolutely gorgeous. There were horses everywhere and beautiful farmland, it definitely lived up to it’s reputation for the prettiest half marathon in America.

It was around mile 9 that things were starting to hurt. I felt an aching pain in my back and started to cramp (note to self- don’t use fuel chomps on race day if you haven’t been training with them, rookie mistake). I promised myself I wouldn’t start walking until mile 10 and of course right after we passed the mile 10 flag we were greeted with 2 steep hills. I’m not sure if it was because we were chatting throughout the race or if they were easier than I thought but surprisingly the hills seemed pretty manageable up until this point. The final hills between miles 10-12 were tough and steep. I walked off and on before finally getting an adrenaline boost at mile 12.5 and finished strong.

Overall it was an awesome race. If you’re someone like me who relies on a good crowd to keep you motivated while you’re running I would strongly recommend running this with a buddy or group. Since there isn’t much crowd support along the way it was crucial to have my running buddies there for support and distraction from those wicked hills!

I started in wave 2 with the group and surged ahead of the ladies between miles 3 and 4. Once I was solo, I began to focus on charging the hills and finding a comfortably challenging pace. When I reached mile 6.55 I saw that I was halfway through the race in under 1 hour. For the first time I knew I could finish in 2 hours or just under. I kept trucking and spotted the 2:00 pace leader way up the road and decided to keep him in eyesight and try to gain ground and get as close to him as possible before finishing. At about mile 10 I actually caught up to him. He gave me a run down of what to expect for the rest of the course and said I had to keep moving & he would see me at the finish. He was so encouraging, and it was such a welcome dose of motivation to carry me through that last 5K! I cruised on, found another happy runner who pushed me to sprint the final .10 with him, and finished with a PR of 1:56:26!

This was a TOUGH course, but the stars aligned for me on race day! It was a cool experience to run without headphones, through the beautiful KY roads, with nothing but my own determination and the kindness of other runners to get me to the finish. It was a great lesson in training healthy but hard, then trusting your body to do the task you set yourself up to complete.

Overall we loved the race and had a great weekend.  These iphone photos don’t do the course justice.  We all finished and two girls (Christine and Peggy whoop whoop!) even hit a PR on that challenging course.  We went for some re-fueling after and met at Pazzo’s pizza, which we’d highly recommend.  Can’t wait for our next racing road trip!