Monday: 5m 10:00/pace easy
Tuesday: Crossfit

The Women’s Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon was a great time to see a few running/blogging friends I only see a couple times a year and run the last half marathon until fall season starts. <–which i understand is sooner now than later since I’m way behind with the blog. Whoops!

The Zooma 1/2 was on Saturday, June 3rd. My recap from last year is similar to this year. I had the chance to hang out with Lauren from Breathe Deeply and Smile. I stayed at the same hotel, The O’Callaghan, ate at the same restaurant in the Loew’s Hotel and had the same race goal, run a moderately hard effort and have fun.

hotel selfie

The expo was at the Loew’s Hotel and was easy to navigate, especially toward this table. I made friends with these girls for while and got to try a ton of “samples” hehehe.

Then the Ambassadors all got together for our annual photos/be goofballs. We were trying to make the tank tops and Bondi headbands look cool. You have to wear the tanks over your shirts right? Or is that just reserved for Jordan jersey’s from the 90s? #23

photo cred: Sarah Ratzlaff

I tried to catch Lauren a little off guard, I think the only thing winning about his photo is how bad the lighting is. (don’t hate me for posting this Lauren!)

After we heard a few speakers, got our fix of wine spritzers and pictures we headed for food!

We ended up eating burgers and fries at the bar and noticed we were both wearing green shirts. Fascinating right?

I surprisingly got to sleep at a reasonable hour, slept well and ate well. Justin’s Almond Butter is pretty fantastic on bananas and the single serving helps keep my PB cravings in check. Kinda. Who am i kidding, it’s just adding to the pb insanity.

This race always takes place when I’m not in great racing shape after the end of spring when I haven’t been speed training at all. Zero. And it’s always hot and humid. The weather was far better than last year’s race. It was actually a bit cool at the start. It progressively got warmer and humid, but again, way more tolerable than last year.

Fun Fact: These Brooks shoes were on their last 13/500 miles and were the shoes I qualified for Boston in. Glad I got to race one more time in them!

I was happy I chose the half marathon until I realized most of the Zooma girls opted for the 10k, so i was alone this year running a moderate “tempo-ish” type of run.

Everything felt pretty controlled and cadence was quick until mile 9. It was early for me to start feeling gassed, but again, I knew this was the first speed day I’d had in over a month. I was asking a lot from my body and I probably started way too fast. This was the first race in a while I positive split (finishing the back half of a race slower than the first).

The best part of the race was hitting mile 12. I was basically walk/running at that point. I knew i was the 3rd overall female almost the entire race, but the girl behind me wasn’t far and I assumed she would pass me, because of the amount of walking I was doing. Once the turnaround at 12 happened, she ran beside me and said, “let’s go, let’s finish together.” My legs started moving again. I thanked her multiple times and told her that was exactly what I needed.

That’s what the Zooma Women’s Race is all about. Women helping and supporting women. I experienced it that day more than I have in any previous race.

Her name was Casey and she finished in 3rd. It was her very first half marathon and I congratulated her on her outstanding time and thanked her over and over again for helping me through a rough spot.

If you’d like to run a Zooma race check out the next ones in Cape Cod on Oct 7th or Amelia Island, FL on Oct 21st. www.zoomarun.com and use CORI2017 for 10% off.

Last Week
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: snatch skill work, 6m easy 9:05pace
Wednesday: Crossfit, 5000m row
Thursday: 6m tempo (4m @ 7:08/pace)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7m easy run, 45min shoulders
Sunday: Rest

Total Miles: 19

Do you have a pair of running shoes you had a hard time retiring?

How’s summer running going?