Let's just say that a 10 mile run the day before a bike race isn't the best idea ever, especially when your 10 miler was much less than stellar.
Saturday's run was doomed before it even started. First of all, it's been over 2 months since I've ran double digits. My longest runs recently have been 5ish miles - not entirely conducive to jumping right into a 10 miler. Also, I'm so out of my Friday night pre-long run routine that I did a terrible job fueling and hydrating the night before. Whoops.
I woke up not so ready to go on Saturday morning but dragged my butt to Fleet Feet to run with a pace group. I decided on the 13:00 minute group because I was just hoping that if I go slow I'd miraculously be able to bang out ten miles. Here we are all smiles at 8am:
The first mile in I knew it was going to be a struggle. My stomach was bothering me and I was already chugging my water like I was on mile 9. It was warm out and I was sweating like a beast (I'm such a lady).
By mile 3 I had drank all the water in my fuel belt and knew I was dehydrated. I was lightheaded and my stomach was off and it overall just sucked. We stopped at a convenience store to get water and Gatorade and I chugged through all 40+ ounces in like 5 miles.
There was lots of walking at this point and some real tempting times I wanted to quit. Does Triple A pick up tired and dehydrated runners? Steph stuck with me the entire time and I honestly probably would have attempted to call Triple A for a ride if she wasn't with me keeping me on track and encouraging me.
Fleet Feet saved the day with a water stop around mile 8, where I filled up my fuel belt again and chugged even more water. The crazy thing is that after all that water, I still didn't even have to pee. Hello dehydration slapping me in the face. 80+ ounces of fluid and 2+ hours later....
....we completed our 10 miles. One of the top 5 worst runs I've ever had and I only have myself to blame. Lesson learned - hydration is extra important when you're running double digits! During our two+ hours together, Steph gave me a new nickname - Camel Clancy. Unfortunately I think the name is sticking.
After the run, there was an event at Fleet Feet sponsored by Brooks that I stuck around for. There were a ton of cool things going on, and I even won a cool new pair of shades. A big win in my book.
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| sweet shades |
After pouring more liquid into my body and dressing myself in head to toe compression gear, I headed home to Syracuse to gear up for The Great Race on Sunday. The Great Race is a team triathlon that consists of a run, bike and canoe. My sisters and I did the race last year and had a blast, so we decided to make another appearance this year.
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| Team Keeping Up With The Clancy's |
We spent Saturday night scheming and tshirt making and getting pumped up for our favorite event of the year. Our goal this year was straight intimidation. Tell me we succeeded:
We all did the same legs we did last year and have our system down. Heather was our runner (5k run), I was our biker (10 mile bike) and Kelly and her boyfriend (an honorary Clancy for the day) were the canoeists (2 mile canoe).
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| start line! |
The event itself is so much fun and there are a TON of people who participate. My best friend from high school, Jennifer, does it with her family every year and would you look who I ran into at the start line:
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| jennifer! |
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| bff's. |
I was pumped for my leg this year because I wanted to crush my time from last year. Last year my ride was a straight up disaster. I was 25 pounds heavier, out of shape, riding a 10 year old bike and had no idea what the hell I was doing.
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| how chubby mollz rode a bike last year is still baffling my mind. |
I felt so legit waiting in the change-over zone for Heather to come in from the run. Not only did I look like a real cyclist in my shorts and shoes, but Heather is a speed demon (21 minute 5k, no big deal) so we looked like one of the most intimidating female teams that ever existed.
I was terrified of clipping in my pedals because how embarrassing would it be to have my first fall in front of 600 people at the Great Race? Clipped in like a pro though and I was off to show the course who's boss.
The course was comparable to Mendon with a few big hills and I was real glad I learned how to finally use my gears and get out of the saddle. There was definitely some tough hills, but overall the course was WAY easier and faster than I remembered it from last year.
My original goal was to come in under 45 minutes. Around the 7th mile I switched my Garmin screen to show the total time so I could see how I was doing and I saw that I was doing better than I anticipated. I changed my goal time to 40 minutes and booked it the last couple miles. And dun dun dun...
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| boom. |
I flew into the change-over zone and got yelled at when I forgot to slow down and accidentally almost took out the line of canoeists waiting for their handoff. It was either veer towards them or fall of my bike - no way was I succumbing to the fall.
We had a blast at the race and you better believe we cashed in our free beer tickets at the end to celebrate. Rehydrating at it's finest.
I handed off our sweaty team sweat band and it was time for Kelly and Eligh to get their canoe on. I high fived myself for an awesome ride and found Heather to go cheer on our little canoers. We kept looking for them at the finish and didn't see them until the came right up behind us. Oops, somehow we completely missed you guys.
2011 Great Race Results: 354 out of 378. Fail.
2012 Great Race Results: 255 out of 369. Total Domination.
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| Winning Clancy's |
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| Tough Clancy's |
Great Race 2013 better watch out because Keeping Up With The Clancy's are ready to crush it again next year. No one can keep up with these Clancy's. Boom.
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