Run Geek Girl Run: Lakes of Love 2013

Yesterday I ran the Lakes of Love 4 miler with my Dad and my Uncle. I ran this race injured last year, so it was nice to hit the course again and even set a PR! This was also my Dad’s first race back from being injured and my Uncle’s second race since he took up running again. My Uncle and I ran Stellar Nites 5k together back in March and had a lot of fun even though it was a challenging course. I missed getting a race report up for it, so I’ll just talk about it a little.

Stellar Nites is a new Trail Series in Santa Barbara that took place every Wednesday night from mid-March to mid-April. When I say it is a challenging course, I’m not joking. The race takes place in Eling’s Park here in Santa Barbara and the park has some very hilly trails. We ran the inaugural race, so no one knew what to expect. While running it we came across a lot of people on the course that were dragging their feet and mumbling about hills and sand… yes there was sand?!? It was quite the experience, especially it being my Uncle’s first 5k. I somehow managed to talk him into running Lakes of Love! I hope to see the Stellar Nites series back next year!

Stellar Nites 5k

Lakes of Love was a little funky this year. The date was first delayed at the last minute and pushed back a month later. Their site was not updated with the new date, but I found out at the race that they have another site that is identical, just with the new date. I ended up contacting them the day before just to make sure the race was still taking place since none of my local running friends knew what was going on. Thankfully, they responded quickly and I was able to spread the word.

Race morning my Dad and Uncle drove to the park while I jogged over. I wanted to shake out my legs and test out my left foot, which has been giving me a little trouble the last few weeks. Everything was feeling good, but it wasn’t feeling like a PR day. The crowd of runners that showed up was definitely smaller than last year, there was probably around sixty of us. All the miscommunication probably led to the smaller number.

Daddio and Uncle Doug

Even with all the miscommunication, race day went off without a hitch. The race started close to on time, the course was marked clearly and volunteers were abundant. I’ve run this course many times, so I could do it in my sleep. There was a water station and the usual well manned finish line. The after race spread was awesome! They had bananas, muffins, ice cream, watermelon and more! I finished the race out of breath, but with a new four mile PR, 34:57 beating my last time by 42 seconds. It’s nice to see some progress!

I hung out about two hundred yards from the finish and cheered other runners in till my Dad and Uncle came, then I ran ahead to try to get some pictures of them at the finish. They seemed to being having a good time. I hope we can talk my Uncle into running some more races with us in the future.

Dad and Uncle Doug finishing

We decided to hang out and hear the age group winner announcements and I was pleasantly surprised to place second in my age group! I received a certificate and a cute little potted flower. So I guess that’s the trick, find really small races and I might even place ;)