Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 15, 2024

 I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K last weekend, finishing in an official time of 1:10:11.

[this race report is being written very late.  That's what happens when a newly adopted kitten takes up all of your free time.]

This race was my tune-up for Houston, and a chance to check my fitness.  I prefer a half-marathon 3 weeks out from a marathon, but Houston always falls 3 weeks after Christmas/New Years, and half-marathons are hard to come by at that time of year.  Hence using this 15K 5 weeks out instead.

It's been a tough uphill climb trying to rebuild my fitness after missing 8 weeks of training this summer.  The older you get, the harder it is to come back (and to stay uninjured while coming back) and so being over 50 weighs against me.  The whole Parkinsons' thing doesn't help either.  And then there was the two weeks of reduced training while Isabella was sick.  

I had been doubting my fitness all the way up to the week before the race, when it seemed like things were possibly starting to turn around.  Hopefully the race would give me a better read on things.

***

The forecast was for temps right about freezing, with overcast skies and light wind. I debated what to wear before opting for a longsleeve and tights.  I've realized in the past year that I don't run well when I'm cold anymore - I become way too stiff.  However, given that 32 degrees used to be singlet, arm-warmers, and shorts weather for me, I've been reluctant to wear too much when racing.  A longsleeve and tights seemed like the most I could reasonably wear while racing, so I went with that.

***

I arrived at my supah-secret parking space at 7:15 am (the race started at 8:30).  I put on my racing shoes (Hoka Rocket X2) waited a few minutes and then left my car to head over to the start line.  I was wearing a throwaway sweatshirt over my racing outfit - I'd tie that around my waist if I was too hot while warming up, but plan on keeping it until right before the gun.

As it turned out, I never felt warm during my warm-up, even with the sweatshirt on.  I wished I had brought something else - a light jacket or even just a buff for my neck, but unfortunately I hadn't.  So I had to go with what I had.

***

I attempted to warm up for a bit over 3 miles, including my fartlek of 3 minutes at tempoish effort, 4x30 seconds faster, and 4x10 second strides.  After that was done, I kept jogging until it was time to jump into the corral - hoping that would keep me warm. 

This was a relatively small race (about 1000 runners) so I was able to get in the corral about 4 minutes before the start.  I placed myself conservatively, knowing that I would start slow.  With 1 minute to go, I reluctantly tossed the sweatshirt.

***

I hadn't thought about it until right before the race, but this 15K was the first time I've been in a mass race start since May.  I've raced since then, but it's all been either track stuff or races where I was in a separate para-athlete start.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well I handled the chaos of the first few minutes of an open start - all that PT is paying off.

I was definitely still stiff, though.  I worked my way through the first mile, and then the second, waiting to warm up and loosen up.  But I never did.  It was frustrating - I wasn't breathing very hard - I was just too cold and stiff to move faster.

That was pretty much the whole race.  I crossed the line feeling like I had done a moderately paced workout, not a race.  And I wasn't even sweating.

I checked my watch and noted my time - over 70 minutes and also my very low heart rate (in the 160s - I'd want to be in the 170s over this distance).  I caught up with some friends, retrieved a polarfleece I had checked at the start, and then jogged a 15 minute "cooldown" that felt way too energetic.

Splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 7:51

Mile 2: 7:35

Mile 3:7:26

Mile 4: 7:13

Mile 5: 7:20

Mile 6: 7:21

Mile 7: 7:20

Mile 8: 7:27

Mile 9: 7:17 

last .44 miles at 7:26 pace

[I used my Strava splits for this as the mile markers were not terribly accurate on this course.  The 15K is supposed to be a certified course, but the route was altered for construction.  So I'm not entirely sure whether this was an exact 15K, or longer, or shorter.  Not that it matters that much, since I was nowhere near a PR.]

So...I feel like I didn't get a good fitness check out of this race.  I guess the one good bit of news is that holding 7:26-7:30 pace for 9+ miles didn't feel very hard - that's better than having run that pace and feeling like it was a maximum effort.  But..my A goal for Houston was to break 3:20 (7:37 pace), and it seems pretty clear that I'm not that fit.  I guess I'll need another few months (and another training cycle) to get there.

Other notes:

• It ended up being 33 degrees with a light wind for the race.  So pretty good weather - I just wasn't dressed correctly.
• I wore the Hoka Rocket X2 for this race - I think this is definitely my marathon shoe, assuming it doesn't rain at Houston.
• I ended up second in the 50-54 age group, 22nd woman overall.
• As I noted above, we have a new kitten, named Karma.  I picked her up a few hours after finishing this race.  In fact, I was time crunched enough that I didn't have time to shower and change before picking her up, which means that the photo of me taking her home has me all bedraggled, with my face still shiny with vaseline.  Oh well - everyone was looking at the kitten anyway :)