If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead



Thanks for all your support everyone!! I got home from MD/VA this morning on a very early flight and feel exhausted. I am so happy with how the race went and I want to give a big thanks to @TeeterTots for being my pacer/cheerleader :cheer2:


Here is how the weekend unfolded:

I flew in late Friday night with DD3. We stayed at my parents and Saturday afternoon I packed up and headed to meet up with @TeeterTots. She let me follow her to the expo since I had never been to the Frederick fairgrounds, where the expo was being held. When we got there we picked up our bibs and then saw a booth for Race Dots. Since we had heard so many good reviews on the Disboards about them we both decided to try them out. Funny enough they are a Frederick based company and neither one of us had known that. Then we walked to the other building where we got our race premiums. This year it was this awesome jacket with the MD flag on both sides.

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The expo was maybe 10 booths and took only a couple minutes to get through. I ended up with a Maryland flag headband and Jen got a pair of shorts. After that we decided to ask about the headphone rule just to make sure we could wear them. When we asked we were told if we wore headphones we couldn't place, which we understood, but then they told us if we were caught with headphones then they could also give us a DQ and couldn't use the time for any POT. I haven't heard that one before. She even suggested they would look back at the pictures to see if you had them. Right there I decided the headphones were being left at home. Then Jen and I parted ways so we could go rest up and meet back up in the morning.

I headed for my cousin's house that was about 20 minutes away. It was nice to see her and hang out since we don't get to do that often. Before going to bed I set out all my clothes and used the Race Dots to pin my bib to my shirt.(loved the race dots BTW) I ended up going to bed much later than I wanted to, something like 11:00pm. The weather was going to be much colder than I had originally thought so I tossed and turned all night about what to wear.

I woke up at 5:15am, before the alarm even had a chance to go off. I changed my mind on what I wore, instead of my yellow sparkle skirt I went with black capris with my flip belt and I put a black tech shirt under my Run Maryland Tank Top. I was out the door at 5:45 and on my way back to the fairgrounds. At that time it was overcast with some spotty rain showers. I knew it would be cold and cloudy but was surprised by the rain. I parked about 10 minutes before Jen, when she got there we met up for a sec before I went off to warm up. Trying to remember my warm up instructions I headed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the starting line. At 1/2 mile I turned around and headed back. I met back up with Jen in the warmth of the building where they were doing last minute bib pick up but we were eventually kicked out. So we headed to the building where they were doing gear check. We stayed there until 5 minutes before the start time.

We lined up at the start and took some quick selfies. (I seriously need a new phone sweat has ruined mine) I am sure @TeeterTots has a much better picture than mine and she could post if she wanted :D

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They counted down and we were off. I am going to be totally honest I don't remember much of the course because we chatted the entire 13.1 miles so I am going to try to do the best I can. The goal for the race was to start at a 12:45 pace and then after 3-5 miles start to increase the speed.

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Here is the course map from last year but I am pretty sure it was the same as this year.

The course was pretty crowded at the start but it quickly spread out. The crowd support was awesome, from the beginning there were people out cheering and handing out candy, beer etc. Mile 1 felt good, we were finding our groove and trying to hold back from going out too fast. Garmin said 12:57. A little slower than I wanted to be at so we upped it for the next mile. Mile 2 -12:47 much better but still on the slow side. I took water at each stop to make sure I was getting enough for my fuel. After mile 2 we rounded the turn and headed north up hill. Mile 3- 12:34 doing great. We ran the downtown area of Frederick which was Market Street. I loved the rowhouses and all the people out ringing bells and cheering. I didn't take any picture but I found this one online

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We made the turn at the top of Market St. and headed back south. Right before mile 4 the water stop was sponsored by Dunkin Donuts and they had signs up that said munchkin mile. We didn't grab anything but water. After that it was time to fuel. I had brought Clif Shot Bloks this time, I like them because I can eat them one block at a time over the course of a mile. Mile 4- 12:36 still looking good. Then we turned by Baker Park (another picture I found)

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I didn't even know that beautiful park was in Frederick! By this time the rain had pretty much stopped and the sun looked like it was trying to come out for a minute but it didn't. Mile 5- 12:39. We turned and headed through a beautiful neighborhood. The kind where every house is different. Not like the neighborhoods now days where all the houses look the same (did that make me sound old?)

Mile 6- 12:18. Looking good, I think this one was all down hill. On this course you were pretty much either going up a hill or down a hill. I accidentally missed the water station. I blinked and it was over and I decided I would just keep going instead of turning around. Mile 7- 12:13 yes! this is where I wanted to be. We were over halfway!! I was still feeling good. We headed into Hood College and passed the relay switch off point. This was the first timing mat we crossed at mile 7.64. I got the tracking text that I was averaging 12:11/ mile. I knew that wasn't right. I mean I wanted it to be right because that would have been amazing but there was just no way.

I took water at that next water stop and we kept on. It was almost time to fuel again. The time was flying. We even saw a dog balancing on a fire hydrant that people were stopping to take pictures with. Mile 8- 12:56. What the what?! How did that sneak in there. My shoulders started to ache and I was starting to doubt keeping the pace. Jen told me I was doing great. The whole race we traded off telling each other @DopeyBadger's advice he gives you with his training plans, like chin up, look forward etc. I also fueled again and mile 9 was feeling much better. Mile 9- 12:43 heading back in the right direction.

I grabbed water before mile 10. Mile 10- 12:29 even better. I crossed the mat and the official text came in with a pace of 12:45. Ok only a 5k left. I wanted to run the last 5k at my 5k pace so we turned it up. The course went onto a more major road and they coned off one lane for us. By this time there was more walkers and it was proving difficult to get around them. Mile 11- 12:06, I was getting there. There was a small out and back that when we saw we groaned. It is so small on the course map that I didn't even notice it. We passed the 11.1 timing mat almost at the turn around and I got the text 12:43 average pace. I tried to do some running math and see how close we were going to be to 2:45. I kept getting 2:46 in my head and I was starting to get disappointed but Jen reminded me no running math. I put it out of my head and kept going.

After the out and back was the biggest hill of the course. I was determined not to let it slow us down so we pushed up it. Long hill + mile 11.5 + people + one lane = no fun. We did so much weaving on that hill, trying to not get hit but pass people walking. It slowed us down some but we made it. Mile 12- 12:21. ALMOST THERE!!! I didn't stop for the last water stop it was too close to the end.

Then we approached the fairgrounds, the wind was picking up and I could see people with their medals!! I had 5 minutes to make my goal as we approached the track where the finish was. Jen was egging me on, telling me to go for it. I took off sprinting. I felt like I was going so slow and the finish was so far. I kept looking at my watch and I knew I was so close to 2:45. Mile 13- 11:56 only .1 left! Jen yells to me you got this girl and I dug even deeper, using all the strength I had left. I crossed the finish mat and stopped my watch. 2:45:14. I was kind of in disbelief that I had actually done it!!


I know I am crazy but I was a little disappointed by the 14 seconds. After taking 10:52 off my last PR I should have been ecstatic but I didn't know if Disney cared about 14 seconds since that is why I choose the goal of 2:45. I wanted to be able to submit a POT. (I looked it up and I can official submit a POT for halfs now:banana:)

Then a text came through with a time of 2:45:15. It was so cold and so windy by this point that we just wanted out of there. Jen and I grabbed some snacks and a mylar blanket and headed for the door. We ended up stopping for a couple other little things like a tiny DD coconut cream coffee :coffee: and headed to her car to rehash what just happened. I think we were both happy with the results. Not only did I get my time but we also had fun doing it. I feel like those two things don't usually go hand and hand for me at races.

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After a while Jen and I said goodbye and headed our separate ways. I had to get back to DD3 and she had a bday party to go to.

Overall it was a great race! I liked the course despite the hills and I hope to be back in the future. And I almost forgot a little while after I finished I got an email with my result that read:​

Melanie,

Congratulations on finishing the Frederick Running Festival 1/2 Marathon on May 07, 2017. The weather at 7 AM was cloudy with light drizzle, 50 degrees F, WSW wind 10 mph

Your overall finish time was 2:45:14.31. You finished 319 out of 385 in the
Female 30 to 34 age group and 3257 out of 3829 in the race.

Results by segment:
7.64 Mile - Rank - 3437 Segment Time - 1:37:28.05 Pace - 12:45/mile
10 Mile - Rank - 3361 Segment Time - 2:07:32.74 Pace - 12:45/mile
11 Mile - Rank - 3323 Segment Time - 2:19:49.98 Pace - 12:43/mile
Finish - Rank - 3257 Time - 2:45:14.31 Pace - 12:37/mile

For a full listing of results please visit http://www.frederickrunfest.com/.

Age group awards will be mailed in one month after results are final and official.

We hope to see you again next year.

Team Mettle

So it was 2:45:14!! Hey every second counts :) and here is a screenshot of the elevation which might not seem that big of a deal to some but to this Floridian whose elevation graph normally looks like a straight line I'm pretty proud of it!

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So proud of you! Awesome recap and that's really cool that you raced together. And you chomped a lot of people at every mat which is cool.
Dancing bananas for you!:banana::banana::banana:
 


I loved reading this recap- you did a great job writing it!

The course looks really beautiful and the race had great "swag"... sounds like a perfect race to me!

There are so many things I loved about reading this recap... the "no math" (I love math, so I do it all of the time running), the balance dog on the hydrant, and most of all, NEW FRIENDS! Yay!! :D
 
And you chomped a lot of people at every mat which is cool.
Thanks!! And I didn't even notice how many people we had passed that is pretty awesome :cool2:

What a great day, a great race and so much fun with a new friend!!!
I know!! I just wish the weather at the finish would have been better :(

I loved reading this recap- you did a great job writing it!
Thanks! I think I was able to remember more than I thought.

The course looks really beautiful and the race had great "swag"... sounds like a perfect race to me!
YES to both the course and the swag!! I love the jacket because I do not need another race shirt. The only downside is it getting too hot wear it now.

Great recap and it sounds like a great race. I'm so glad that you met your goal!!
Thank you :) next stop marathon POT!!

Awesome job, loved your recap! So awesome that you ran with @TeeterTots!!
Thanks! Jen was so awesome for running with me, I have asked her to be my official pacer and follow me to all my races :rotfl2:
 
YES to both the course and the swag!! I love the jacket because I do not need another race shirt. The only downside is it getting too hot wear it now.

Your recap was fabulous, and you've totally convinced me to do this one next year. That swag is ridiculous! Congrats again on crushing your race, I really enjoyed reading about it!
 

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