10 Miler + 5K = Half Marathon

10 Miler and 5K Finisher's Medals

It's been a while since 1.) I ran a double digit mileage race and 2.) ran double digit mileage at all. It's all excuses, but moving, starting a new job, going to military training in different states, and getting oriented to the hospital are all hinderances to running, training, and racing. While keeping the running streak alive during all of the changes should be satisfaction enough, it's still natural, I think, to want more. I want to run longer distances than just one milers in the morning on work days. Granted, work is fairly spaced out. We work 3-4 twelve hour shifts a week at NMCP. On those days, it's tough to get in more than the obligatory mile. I try to run longer on my off days, but usually, at least one of those off days is spent recuperating from the two or three day stretch of work.

I switch to nights starting tomorrow night. This will be my first time to work nights. My floor rotates with six weeks on days and six weeks on nights. I'm hoping that working nights will be good for my running. I'll be able to run during daylight hours in hopes that it will be the slightest bit warmer than it is when running at 4:20am. But like I said...it's all excuses.

Surf 'n' Santa 10 Miler
Finisher's Badge

Yesterday, I ran two races. The Surf 'n' Santa 10 Miler at 8:00am and the Norfolk Jingle Bell Run 5K at 1:00pm. Both races were great. Placed 8th in my age group in the 10 miler and 2nd in my age group in the 5K. I was surprised that I placed at all in the 5K because I took a wrong turn near the end and had to backtrack a little over a tenth of a mile. It still wouldn't have been a PR for me even if I would have gone the wrong way, but I might have come in first in my age group. Took home a finisher's medal from the first race and an age group medal from the 2nd race. Not too bad. Those were my 3rd and 4th races since moving to Virginia.

Here are a few neat things about the Surf 'n' Santa 10 Miler:

1.) The race medal is also a bottle opener. Apparently, J&A Racing (a local company who puts on a series of races in the Hampton Roads area) typically does bottle opener medals for all their finisher medals. Pretty unique.

2.) The race was sponsored by Sam Adams. Races are typically sponsored by beer companies. But MGD 64 just isn't the tastiest beer around. Having Sam Adams at the end of the race was much more exciting than post-race drinking has been in the past.

3.) There was vegetarian tortilla soup at the post-race shindig. It was nice that there was a vegetarian option at all, and this soup was REALLY good.

4.) The picture on the left is a finisher's badge for posting to your social media. It's a fun prize for the finisher, and I think it does an excellent job at promoting the race because it can be used on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social medium you're in to.

5.) The race shirt is a technical, long-sleeve 1/2 zip. That's some pretty good race swag.

We are hoping to volunteer for the Seashore Nature Trail 50K on the 17th of this month. Since joining the Tidewater Striders, we want to give back some more to running. Neither of us is ready to run a 50K at present, so we thought it would be a good time to do some volunteer work for the sport.

Okay...off to recover from the events of yesterday. If anyone has done any racing or training lately, tell me about it!!