Bust Your Bells Fun Run 2016 - The Report

Jingle Bells adorn our shoes!

Runners are the toughest people I know. Bust Your Bells FunRun 2016 proves it. The morning dawned (Well, I guess it dawned. We hadn’t seen the sun in a while) breezy and cold! By race time the winds that were gusting to 22 mph the evening before had slowed to under 5 mph. The temperature? That was another story. I worried that no runners would show.

As I checked and rechecked my weather app I prayed the sub-zero temps would rise. I awaited phone calls from participants apologizing and begging off. None came. I watched the temperature climb, ever so slowly. I checked our facebook page. There were expressions of dread, but nobody was backing out. The race was on!

Food Bank Donation

This fun run is a small town event with the local foodbank as the beneficiary. Runners donate non-perishable food items as their registration fee. Commemorative shirts can be purchased, but they are not necessary for participation. However, who wouldn’t want one of these?

The starting bells jingled at 10:09am or 10:11am sharp, just like always! Hey, we were waiting for warmer temps. It was a balmy 6 degrees above zero with very little wind. The sun even attempted to break through the cold haze. Runners slipped and slid their way along a 5K, 10K, and a modified 1.34 mile course. Most of those brave souls opted for the 5K with a handful of particularly tough folks running the full 10K course. Times were slow and faces were frosty, but everyone was smiling as they slid into the finish line. Nobody froze to death and nobody was injured.

As I mentioned previously, runners are the toughest people I know!

Here are the results from Bust Your Bells 2016!

Women's 5K -

1st Place - 31.20 Lydia Stevenson

2nd Place - 39.25 Kelsey Noble

3rd Place - 39.30 Sonia Basterrechea-Maggard

Men's 5K -

1st Place - 23.38 Alex Peterson

2nd Place - 23.40 Stetson Beus

3rd Place - 28.25 Grant Stockett

10K -

1st Place - 42.13 Dennis Atkinson

2nd Place - 46.26 Britton Parker

Special thanks to Shu's Idaho Running Company for donating the timing clock and prizes.

To view more photos and stay informed about future Bust Your Bells Fun Runs, follow our facebook page.

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

- Carol aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Training time

Busted SpudmanTrophies!

It's time to start training for races.  That means sticking with prescribed mileage and timing my runs.  I've been postponing it, but next week will be twelve weeks prior to a half marathon.  It's time to get serious.  I'm preparing for the Fit for Life Half in July.  There will be a couple of 5K's thrown in there in the meantime like THIS ONE.  The half marathon is actually in preparation for two other races that I am planning for this summer. 

This will be my third year competing with my good buddy, Paulee, in the Burley Spudman Triathlon.  This one is special because I get to do it as a team with one of my longest (I don't want to say oldest anymore) friends.  It is a little bit about competing, a lot about companionship, and even more about the silly trophies.

The second race is going to be crazy!  It will be my first relay and I picked THIS ONE!  I am still trying to coerce team members into participating.  I need two more runners, but I think I have a couple in my back pocket if some don't come forth.  The Grand Teton Relay is a 12 person 180 mile race over a 24 hour period.  Did I mention the altitude?  Let's just say it's about 5000 feet higher than my current residence.  Oh, yeah.

It's all good, right?  I mean, after all, it gives me something to write about and I love that!

Will's Hill tempo run

Today’s workout was supposed to be a Tempo Run.  I’ve complained about those before.  My Smart Coach training plan said, “Tempo run including warm up, three miles at 10:06, cool down.” That adds up to 5 miles. Since I had an awesome race on Saturday at the Old Fort Boise Fun Run, I thought, “Forget about the tempo.  I did speed work on Saturday.  I will just do an easy hill workout on Will’s Hill.”  Right.

Will’s Hill is a 5 mile out and back.  Out - into a head wind.  Back – downhill most of the way! If you can do the first 2.5 miles, the next 2.5 are rewarding.  Here is how I fared.

Mile 1  – 11:00 minutes.  I was sticking with the “easy hill workout.”

Mile 2.5 – 26:23 minutes.  I had picked up the pace, uphill with a headwind no less!

Mile 4 – 40:10 minutes. That downhill-wind-at-your-back stuff is pretty nice!

Mile 5 – 50:36 minutes.  That’s a 10:07/mile average!  Five miles at 10:07 is better than three miles at 10:06 in my book. That’s pretty good for this old granny!

What have I learned?

·         Training plans really can help improve your speed.

·         If I wear a watch (and start it), I push harder.

·         My first mile is always slow.

Visit Runner’s World and try out a Smart Coach plan for yourself.  You may be glad you did!

Fun Run - It's not an oxymoron

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too, is fun.  There are many who say that running cannot be fun so there is no such thing as a “fun run.”  I would argue that this is not so. This is why:

·         To a serious runner, it is fun to run a race and win.

·         To a recreational runner, it is fun to run a race and perform better than last time.

·         To a beginner runner, it is fun to run your first race and experience  the sense of accomplishment that accompanies it.

·         To a walker (because walking is allowed at Fun Runs), it is fun to do something healthy with other walkers.

·         To everyone, it is fun to get a T-shirt that tells the world you participated in a Fun Run!

·         Prizes are fun!  Sure, the fast guys get a prize, but race registrations often go in a drawing for things like water bottles, gift certificates, and socks.  That is always fun!

·         It is fun to hear observers cheering you on along the route.

T-shirt from Old Fort Boise Days Run 2012

The next time you hear the phrase “Fun Run,” remember it isn’t that running is fun (Well, for some), it’s that participating in a run is fun.  Don’t believe me?  Why not try it?  This one is small and low key, so you really can have fun!

Running Granny Green encourages women, especially grandmothers, to gain greater fitness by providing tips and inspiration to insure long years of joyful grand-parenting. The cookie recipes are a bonus!

Happy Running!

Carol - aka Running Granny Green

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

What's in a word?

I had a conversation yesterday with a non-running friend about participating in an upcoming local 5K.  This One. Her goal is to walk the route and that is always a worthy goal.  We don't all have to run, but we should all attempt to move!  I was reminded once again how runners have our own vocabulary. 
She asked, "Now, there is a five and a three?"
"No, just a 5K,"  I answered.
"So ... a 5K is how far?"
"Three miles."  (I thought everyone knew that. Yet, I didn't know that before I began running.)
She looked at me sideways, but seemed to accept that information as fact.  I didn't include that last .1 mile.
I am sure it's all very confusing.  We measure our races in kilometers and our pace time by the mile. We use terms like tempo and tapering, throwing them at non-runners the way educators throw acronyms (AYP, LEP, SAT) at parents. 
Maybe it isn't the running that scares them off.  Maybe it is the confusing lingo.  Running is hard enough without the challenge of learning a new language!  For the non-running reader out there, here is a short glossary.

K - Kilometer or 1000 Meters.   A 5K is equal to 3.1 miles.  A 10K is 6.2, and so forth.
Carbo Load - Eating lots of carbohydrates prior to a race for race day fuel.
Race Pace - How fast can you go for at least 3 miles or 5000 meters?
Tempo Run - A workout done just under Race Pace.
Tapering - Taking it easy at the end of your training plan in an attempt to have fresh legs on race day.
PR - Personal Record. Your fastest time at a given distance.(I once had a sibling thinking I had been interviewed about my race!  Public Relations???  I'm really not that fast!)
Refueling - Just what it says. Eat up!  You earned it by racing!

This is a SHORT glossary, but it might help next time you try to communicate with a runner.  We sometimes forget that not everyone is interested enough in running to try it.  Fewer still have mastered the language!