Race4Taylor 10k Recap

On May 17, I headed to West Florence High School (with my husband!!!!) to run in one of the biggest races in Florence. 

This is a race that is put on in honor of Taylor Elmore, son of Belinda and Greg Elmore, who was killed in car accident at 17 years of age. We did not know Greg and Belinda and Taylor very well at the time of the accident, but since then have gotten to know their family through friends and the running community. 

This year was no different than any of the other years this race has been held. It was an absolutely wonderful day celebrating the life of Taylor! 

Me and Mom

Charlie ran the 5k! He finished with a time of 28:41, the fastest he has ever run! Whoop Whoop! (and he did some training too!) I was a proud runner wife!

 

So, this race was just ok for me as far as feel. I started out way too fast as usual and then fizzled out at the end. I hate 5k's and 10k's that start together! I always try to start out at 5k pace and it never ends up good.

 

I ended up running a 47:58 (7:44 pace). I was just ok with this, not pleased. It was good enough for 1st place in the 20-29 AG and I also got an award for "beating the pirate" that was on the course. 

 

Lisa and I with our awards!

This race will likely be my last race in my 20's. I wanted to run another race before I turn 30 in July but I don't think its going to happen. I began my running career when I was 25 so I have been in this one age category the whole time! I am a bit nervous about moving up!!! Girls in their 30's are seriously fit and competitive!!! I'm ready though, bring it on!! 

A stinky situation (Diva Half Marathon Recap)

This past weekend the husband and I headed to the beach early Saturday morning for a nice short beach weekend which was long overdue. The weekend was scheduled around the Diva Half marathon that Lauren and I had registered to run.

We got to the house around 10:00 and picked Lauren and Michael up and headed to the expo to try and beat the crowds. The expo is good sized with lots and lots of girlie running paraphernalia. I'm not real big into all that stuff so we got our packets, walked around for a few minutes, and then hit the road. We had some sun to get! 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous (it's about time!) It was mid 70's with a breeze. It was cool enough not to sweat but hot enough to get a serious burn (ouch...I regretted that decision come Sunday morning). We spent the day lounging in the sun and then headed in for a nice dinner at Bonefish Grill just down the road. Julie arrived at the house just before dinner so she joined us. After dinner we headed back to the house to relax and chat before preparing for race day.

My race morning alarm went off at 4:50am and I did not want to get up. I finally drug myself out of bed, ate my english muffin with almond butter, and got myself race ready. We were out the door by 5:30 to park and catch a bus to the start. We had no problems and were at the start with almost an hour to spare. We hit the porta-potties, chitchatted, and peoplewatched until time to line up. After lining up my stomach got queasy. I knew I was in trouble. I weaved my way back through thousands of people to get to the portas again. There were still lines a mile long. I knew I would never make it to the start in time but I had no choice. I had to wait in line. Thank goodness I hate when my stomach does not cooperate.

Luckily I made it back to where I was standing with my friends with 3-4 minutes to spare only because the race was a few minutes late getting started.

I felt pretty good in the first few miles and stayed ahead of the 8 minute pacer. I felt confident that I could stay steady throughout the race at right under an 8:00 pace. That was until I hit about mile 6. There were a some small rolling hills and it was getting really hot really fast.

It just went downhill from there and I got progressively slower. It was disappointing but i could tell my body still was just not ready to race any kind of distance.

I had one of the nastiest things happen to me ever during a race at about mile 12. A girl passed me running and I noticed she looked like she had fallen in a mud puddle. Once she got ahead me all I could smell was poop!!! Yall, she pooped herself and it was all down the back of her legs and all over shorts. I couldn't believe my eyes or my nose! What the what?!?!? I am a very competitive person but come on, that was just too much. I almost threw up. This picture below was right after she passed me. She wouldn't high five the guy because of her "stinky situation".

What do you do when you are having a bad race? Just have fun and high five everyone!! (And celebrate that the stinky situation has gotten far enough ahead so she can't be smelled anymore).

I ended up running a 1:50:14 and it was good for 8th place in the 25-29 AG.

 

 

Our cheering section...mustaches and all. 

 We took advantage of the beautiful day and hit the beach for several more hours before hitting the road back home. These last pictures are of the babies after an overnight stay in the country with the grandparents. This was also Paisley's first stay in the country. Apparently they had a little too much fun!

Divas Half Marathon Race Recap

 

Last weekend I made my way to Myrtle Beach, SC which is about an hour and 20 minutes from out home.

We spend a lot of time at the beach with friends so every opportunity to run at the beach I always jump on it. I registered for the Diva half sometime last year before the price increase. All you had to say was champagne and shirtless men at the finish and I am there!

My running has been less than stellar recently. I have not been running as much or near as fast. I think over the past 3 1/2 years I have completely worn my body down with a ton of running and no rest.

So, I have used CrossFit as an alternate workout and decreased my mileage for a while to give the body some recovery time from running.

With that being said, I didn’t train much for this race. I didn’t set any time goals or set any expectations other than I would be thrilled to be under 1:45.

We arrived at the beach house around 11:00 and met up with Michael and Lauren. They boys stayed to do yard work and we headed to the Expo.

The expo was awful. There were too many booths and too many people and space that was just too small. I don’t usually get claustrophobia, but I think I caught it in that expo. Lauren and I got our stuff, snapped a few pictures, and got the heck out of there!

After we ate lunch at McAlister’s we headed down to the beach to meet the boys. The weather was a little cool but still a beautiful afternoon to sit on the beach and enjoy being with friends. We hit the showers after that and then headed to Market Commons to eat at Travinia Italian Kitchen. We live at Market Commons when we are at the beach and surprisingly we had never been here. It was delish!

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 5:00. We had to drive to the aquatics center to park and take the bus to the starting line. There was plenty of parking, plenty of buses, and a perfectly clean restroom inside the aquatics center! Halleluja!!! I made note of that bathroom because the seat was still up from where they had cleaned it last. That would be a first for me as far as clean race day bathrooms go! Y’all know how that is!

We got to the start line about 45 minutes early and I had to hit the bathrooms several more times. I really hate when this happens to me but it ALWAYS happens to me. Everyone says it’s because I over think the bathroom thing too much and it makes me have to go. I don’t know if I believe all that!

And shortly thereafter, I lined up behind the 1:44 pace and mapped out my game plan. I wanted to stay with or right behind her the whole race. (That did not happen.)

Right before we started we bowed for a moment of silence for Boston. I shed a few more tears and thanked God for giving me the ability to race the Diva race that morning.

Then I put my gameface on and took off. Might I add I took off way too fast like I always do! I ended up way ahead of the pacer.

I started with a 7:58 mile, then a 7:51 mile, then a 7:45 mile. I knew it was come back to bite me in the butt….and it did about mile 6.

I started getting really hot and couldn’t get my breathing right. After about mile 5 I never ran another sub 8.

I ended up running an official time of 1:46:02. That was good for 68th place overall out of 3,300 people and 9th place in the 25-29 age group. I am not disappointed with this but it is nowhere near my best or what I am capable of. I think my body is still in “take a break from running for a while” mode.

Right before we turned the final corner to the finish there were volunteers passing out pink boas and crowns. I did not like the fact that I had to slow down to grab and then situate them on my head and around my neck. Although that was kind of annoying, the photo opp was too good to pass up! It is not everyday that you have a good excuse to wear a boa and tiara, so I took advantage of the opportunity!

At the finish a seriously hot shirtless hunk handed me my medal, congratulated me, and gave me a high five! That was totally worth running! I then received a rose, champagne, and some delicious cookies and water.

Overall it was a great race that was well organized! I would definitely do it again! Hopefully next year I can convince my mom and sister to do it with me. I am still working on that!

2012 Race for Taylor 10k

On Saturday, May 19, I ran the Race for Taylor 10k in my hometown. I did this race the first year they had it but missed it last year because it was on my wedding day. I was thrilled to be able to participate again this year because it is such a special race put on by a very special family in memory of their 17 year old son who was tragically killed in a car accident To read more about it, go here. 

I got up that morning bright and early to down some coffee and a cliff bar and a half a banana. The husband took me to the race because he needed my car to drive to Columbia for class and then to meet me in Aiken for a wedding.

The weather was absolutely perfect for racing, surprisingly not too warm.

I felt pretty good that morning and was eager to start the race.

There I am in the far left corner with the pink tank on! :)

I am blogging so far after the race that I don't remember my splits but I do know that my first two miles were under 7 minutes each. Whew! 

The race took us through several neighborhoods to which I forgot had a few rolling hills. It was not an easy course but a very good course!!

The only thing I did not like was that a bunch of walkers were still on the course as I was finishing and I had to weave in and out of traffic people but it was all good!

I hit the finish line with a time of.....

43:19!!!

8     343   Britton Yarborough     08:09:15   08:52:34   00:43:19   6:59

8th overall out of 57 people

1st overall female

I was very proud of this time. I knew I had gone out too fast but I didn't completely fizzle at the end like I

 thought may happen!  

 Here I am approaching the finish!

 Whew!

Hugging Belinda as she gave me a bobblehead trohpy and $25 cash prize!

I now hold the course record for the females for this race course! 

Excited and proud of how I ran this race but I am wondering if I am leaving myself 

room to get any faster?!?! I hope so!!

After the race we were off to Aiken for a wedding and then from their to Lake Lure,

NC for our anniversary weekend!

Get to the Green 5k Race Recap

This past Saturday, March 17, I ran the St. Patty's Day Get to the Green 5k race in Columbia, SC. 

This race is put on by the same event company that puts on the O-Run so I knew it would be a well organized event!

My friend Missy picked me up about 5:45 and we headed for the interstate! We got to Cola-town about 7:00, found a place to park, ran/warmed up .5 mile to get our packets, and then ran/warmed up the .5 back to our car to put our stuff up. Needless to say, I was very warm.

We got back to the start area around 7:45 and I found my grad school friends, gave them a hug, and then jumped in the porta potty line.

I made it to the start just before the race started and we were off!

It was unusually warm for March and I had on tall zebra print socks with shamrocks on them. They were so thin so I put a pair of running socks on underneath. Bad.Idea. My feet felt like they were on fire the whole time! I can tell I am not conditioned quite yet to run in warmer temps!

This race was hilly too! Overall, it was a great, well organized race!

My clock time was 23:22 but my Garmin said 23:05!





We had our hearts set on sushi afterwards but no sushi place is open at 10:00 in the morning, just a little FYI!

So, we hit up Liberty Taproom and Yoghut and then headed back to Flo-town!

This was a great race and I would definitely do it again!!