ZOOMA Annapolis 2009: Director’s Race Report

June 3rd, 2009

After a pre-race sell-out (3,000 runners) and a dramatic start, the 2009 ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon & 10K finished under a clear, sunny sky.  Runners pounded the pavement, achieved their goals, strengthened friendships, drank wine, purchased goodies from women-specific vendors, indulged in chocolate, and rocked to the cool tunes of the Doug Segree Band.

 

We’re still catching our breathe after a whirlwind weekend, but I wanted to share my personal “race report” with you, as well as my thoughts on some of the helpful feedback we have received from runners through our post-race survey, emails, phone calls, and runner blogs.

 

Here’s what I think we did well:

 

Website and pre-race information.  Our new website rocks (if I do say so myself) and we have gotten pretty good at the pre-race information emails.  Generally speaking, runners are pretty well-informed before the race.

 

Packet pick up. Packet pick up seemed to run very smoothly.  Many of you have told us that you appreciated the multiple locations.  We were well staffed and organized.  At only a few points during the week did we have lines that exceeded ~5 minute-wait times.  This, along with the mailed packet option, makes packet pick up a seamless process for busy ZOOMA women.

 

Volunteers and water/aid stations.  As always, our volunteers are amazing! Water stations were adequately stocked and organized. The inspirational quotes on the course hit the mark for many of you. Mile markers were clearly visible.

 

Post-race party.  The sun was shining, blue sky abounded and a buzz was in the air! The truffles handed out as runners exited the shuttles were a huge hit.  (As a side note, it’s been a serious test of my self-discipline to NOT eat handfuls of the leftover truffles sitting in our office this week.  Next year, everyone eat more so we have fewer left-over! J)

 

The wine bar sponsored by Barefoot Wine was popular, and the Doug Segree Band did a fantastic job entertaining us all.

 

Many of you made purchases at the vendor booths and I hope you will sport your fun new apparel or gear proudly.

 

I thought the lunch was very tasty (and a definite improvement over last year’s sandwich) and many of you agree. My mother, who declares herself a chicken salad connoisseur, was very impressed, in fact.  

 

What we will work on for next year:

 

As I read through the post-race surveys (less than 24 hours after we’ve opened the survey, already over 300 of you have responded – thanks for the feedback!), a few common themes are apparent.  We can’t be everywhere at ZOOMA events, and it’s very helpful to know what you care most about.  Here are my thoughts on the most common suggestions for improvement.

 

Parking/traffic. Obviously, parking was … a total disaster.  I admit it – on race morning, our parking plan failed miserably.  The rain did not help AT ALL.  (The poor, poor parking volunteers.) We have already discussed this extensively internally and believe me when I say it will be at the TOP of the list of what to improve for next year. I hate that so many of you started late because it took an incredibly long time to get into the parking lot.  We did everything we could do on race morning to mitigate the traffic, but the plan just wasn’t prepared for so many people arriving at the same time…  Which leads to my next topic.

 

Weather.  Ok – I know there is nothing we can do about this, except work on better karma for next year.  But does anyone know where that rain storm came from?  As you might imagine, we had been monitoring the forecast, and there was no precipitation in sight as of Saturday.  Here’s my lesson learned – even where there is 0% chance of rain, be prepared for rain. That huge puddle in the middle of the start line arch was fun, right?  I bet you all didn’t know you had actually signed up for an “adventure” race… hehe. Just kidding around.  My shoes were soaked, too, and that’s not a fun way to start a half marathon or 10K race.

 

Mile markers.  A number of you commented that seeing the back of the returning mile markers was confusing.  I hear you on this one, and fortunately it’s easy to fix.  Noted for next year.

 

Course.  The B&A Trail was crowded and is not the most scenic part of Annapolis. The finish line turn was a little tricky to navigate. The point-to-point nature of the course, with shuttles returning runners to the start, is not ideal.  I hear you on all these things.  I can’t make any promises, but I will tell you that we are working diligently on a new, bigger, more scenic course for next year – that takes in more of Annapolis’ cool scenery and starts and finishes in the same place.  Designing a course that both accommodates the needs of a race and doesn’t mess up non-runners trying to get from place to place on a Sunday morning is not an easy task.  Rest assured that we are working on it!  We’ll keep you updated.  Agreed that this year’s course could not hold another single runner (hence the 3,000 person cut-off).

 

Pace Groups.  Here’s the truth – we love our pace group leaders and appreciate everything they do, but 80% of them flaked on Sunday.  Maybe it was the rain…  I’m sorry for those of you who showed up relying on a Pace Group leader to help you through the race.  We’ll think of better ways to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future.

 

Where were the cupcakes?  Our poor, poor sweet cupcake vendor… Spent all weekend baking over 3,000 mini cupcakes and was overrun with eager children and husbands on race morning!  Plenty of cupcakes were baked for all runners, but keeping hungry non-runner cupcake-lovers at bay was more difficult than anticipated. Next year, we will bring out the enforcers to make sure that all runners receive their cupcake reward. Many apologies to those of you who were disappointed…  We’ll be sure to have plenty o’ cupcakes waiting for you next year J

 

There is a long list of other details we will improve for next year. That’s just life, right?  If we don’t keep moving forward and trying to improve, then we grow stale.  Thanks again to all of you who care enough to share your experience and feedback with us.  Feel free to comment to this post with your personal race report, and we hope to see you all next year!

 

Brae

 

P.S.  Here are a few links we have come across to runners’ personal race reports.  (Feel free to comment below with links to others.)

 

Amy Reinink, DC Running Fitness Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/x-8091-DC-Running-Fitness-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Race-review-ZOOMA-Annapolis-10K

 

Running: Weekend’s ZOOMA Races Were Run Smoothly, Evan Thomas for the Annapolis Capital Gazette

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/out/2009/06/02-19/Running-Weekends-ZOOMA-races-were-run-smoothly.html

(This is actually a newspaper article…)

 

Christine, Running & Triathlon blog

http://tri-and-run.blogspot.com/2009/06/zooma-10k-race-annapolis-md-may-31-2009.html

 

Leslie Elizabeth, Jackson’s World blog

http://lovejackson.blogspot.com/2009/05/zooma-annapolis-2009-race-recap.html

 

Natalie, Health & Running

http://healthandrunning.com/running/zooma-thunder-chocolate

 

 

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3,000 Races

May 27th, 2009

We, here in the ZOOMA office, are humbled by the number of women who have signed up to run ZOOMA Annapolis this weekend. We are psyched about the race that each and every one of you will run.  Because, as runners ourselves, we are acutely aware that a race is a very personal event. We know it’s not just about the stopwatch. In fact, it may not be able the stopwatch at all.

 

In race planning, we generally talk collectively about “the race,” but we know that each woman will be out there battling her own demons, running for her own good intentions and ultimately beaming in her own heart. We do our best to address the questions and concerns of each individual woman who emails or calls us and to accommodate as many unique needs and requests on race day as we possibly can. Our honest and best intention is to make Sunday the BEST and MOST REWARDING experience it can possibly be for each and every one of you.

 

This isn’t just good customer service. We know that each of us has our own story and our own reason for running, and that is what makes running such an awesome sport.  Each one of those reasons is extremely important. It is, after all, why we do what we do.

 

Here’s mine:  I run to test myself on a daily basis… keep my muscles fresh and the air in my lungs from going stale. I run to train… not for an upcoming race, but for life.  (Isn’t running, after all, the greatest metaphor for life?)  I run because I can… I’ve been very fortunate to have no career-ending injuries or health issues, but some of my family members have not been so lucky.   

 

I’ve been honored to meet a ZOOMA Annapolis runner recently – Meg Edwards. The ZOOMA Annapolis 10K will be her first race EVER.  In fact, before January, she had never run a step in her life.  Not only has she trained to run the whole 6.2 miles, she was also a stay-at-home mom to twin 3-year-olds and a 14-month-old.  Seriously?  Oh, and did I mention she lost 27 pounds in the process?  When asked how she found the motivation to start running regularly, she had this to say – “Nobody else is going to do it for you. … That’s what I needed to do.”  For Meg, Sunday will be the culmination of five months of digging deep, sweat and aching muscles, juggling schedules, and extreme self-discipline.  At the finish line, she’ll feel nothing but pride and joy at what she has been able to do.

 

I know many of you are running to raise money towards the cure of a disease – perhaps one that has seriously affected you or someone you love. You may be running because you feel you have lost yourself and want to find her out on the race course.  Maybe you want to inspire your children, parents, husband or friends to get healthy and are leading by example.

 

In a nutshell, that is why we are psyched for every one of the 3,000 women who will be running this weekend. We wish you all God-speed and ample heart for the journey and the best of luck in accomplishing what you set out to do. See you at the finish line.

 

Brae

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Hills

April 22nd, 2009

Hills have been on my mind lately.

 

As those of you who ran or walked ZOOMA Austin know, our 2009 Bastrop course has plenty of them.  At packet pick up the week before the race, Nathalie and I talked with plenty of women who were “afraid” of the hills on the course. I could see fear in their eyes as they asked timidly, “Is the course really that hilly?”  Many of them were new runners, for whom a little apprehension was reasonable, but for the more reasoned racers, fear of hills seemed to come from someplace deeper.

 

Then last weekend, Seth (my husband) and I took our bikes to Middleburg in northern Virginia wine country. The day was perfect (70s and sunny), and the surroundings were serene and green. Old stone estates, rolling green lawns and galloping horses were the setting for the ride. The country roads in Middleburg, however, are not flat.  Hill after hill confronted me as I huffed and puffed to keep up with Seth.  In an hour and a half ride, I walked the bike up 2 or 3 huge climbs. It was a challenging work out, but the beauty of the surroundings and the perfect day made the effort worthwhile.

 

At points in my running career, I have considered hills the enemy, to be avoided at all costs.  I came by this fear honestly, growing up in north Florida where my team was forced to run over bridges for hill workouts – there were no naturally occurring hills within running distance of my high school.  This may come as a surprise to anyone that has run a ZOOMA race. The founder of ZOOMA is afraid of hills? Of course, nearly all ZOOMA courses have hills and plenty of them. The new Denver course will be flat, but Atlanta, Annapolis and Austin are all hilly.

 

True, it is more difficult to run on hills than on flat ground. But doesn’t the elevation change feel good in a weird sort of way?  Using different muscles, modifying your stride, the mental diversion of achieving a milestone (the top of the hill) in the midst of a longer challenge (the whole race)?  

 

Living in northern Virginia outside Washington, DC, I have become familiar with hills and have learned to appreciate them.  What is running without a challenge?  Why even lace up my shoes if I don’t have a chance to get outside my comfort zone just an inch?

 

I do believe all those things, but here is the real secret to my change of heart – No shame in walking.

 

I can identify with those women we met at ZOOMA Austin packet pick-up, who had real fear in their eyes and dread in their stomachs about how it would feel to run up a big hill because I have felt that way before, plenty of times.  My response to them every time was this:  “If the hill gets too hard, just walk.  There is no shame in walking.”

 

And that’s what it comes down to. If I had been truly afraid of hills, I never would have agreed to bike with Seth in Middleburg.  True. Several of the hills got the better of me, and I walked my bike up those.  But you know what?  If I had never gotten on my bike that morning because I knew the route was tough, I would have missed out on the fabulous feeling of the wind rushing by me, below a clear blue sky, and an empty country road in front of me with the most vibrant green lawns framed by old stone walls on either side of me.  

 

In the same way, if women in Austin had been afraid of the ZOOMA elevation chart, they would have missed out on the galloping horses, the Texas wildflowers, and feeling the energy of thousands of other active women putting their effort toward a common goal.  

 

Hills are not something to fear. Yes, they are hard, and sometimes I go up against a hill, and the hill wins. But why is that so scary?  These days, I think of hills as variety, a diversion, a test… and inevitable.

 

If we don’t embrace the hills, just think of what we will miss.

 

 

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ZOOMA Austin - Hooray!

April 6th, 2009

Early Saturday morning, nearly 2,000 women arrived at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Bastrop for the inaugural ZOOMA Austin Half Marathon & 5K.  The day started with overcast skies as runners lined up at the start line.  Steve Dewire, General Manager of the Hyatt, welcomed everyone to the resort. Kristin Amstrong encouraged us all to run with intention.  The starting gun fired, and runners were off!  Check out a video of the start of the race here:

After completing a challenging course, we saw lots of smiles come through the ZOOMA finish line arch.  Half marathon finishers received a silver necklace to commemorate the accomplishment.  At the After-Party Expo, all runners enjoyed live music, cupcakes, breakfast burritos and coffee, massages and wine and champagne. Good times were had by all!

Thanks for a great race, and hope to see you all next year!

Send us your feedback: info@zoomarun.com

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90 Years

March 15th, 2009

This morning I had brunch with my friend Charlotte, who turns 90 on April 10 this year.  I met her at her house; she has long since turned in her drivers’ license and sold her car.  “I turn the big 9-0 next month.  Can you believe it??” she said, voice rising in excitement with a big smile. She’s is truly proud and excited about it.

 

Over a diner breakfast, we talked about the places she’s lived and the many friends she’s accumulated and lost.  At 90, her husband and most of her friends have passed, and she’s basically homebound, relying on friends and a housekeeper for grocery shopping and errand-running.  With bad eyesight, reading books is out of the question, so she watches a lot of TV.  She says “Oh well, it won’t hurt me.” We talked about her favorite foods from Turkey, where she lived for 3 years.  I told her I am 29, and she said she remembered being 29, working in Japan.  At one point, after sharing the long list of friends coming to visit over the next month, I said, “You have many more friends than I do!” – to which she replied, laughing – “Well, I’ve had 90 years to make them!”

 

Driving home, I considered a plan to live for 90 years.  Fortunately, I come from a long line of healthy great-grandmothers and grandmothers who have thrived well into eight decades, full of spunk and vivacity. So I have genetics in my favor.  I believe in healthy eating and exercise, but I also believe in a full heart as an essential element of health.  Being passionate about… well,  something, taking risks and approaching adventure with gusto, laughing hard and often, smiling and giving freely to others, keeping unhealthy stress to a minimum.  This is how I hope to live to 90.

 

As I neared home, I considered the length of 90 years, a very full lifetime.  The idea of filling my head and my soul with 90 years worth of experiences and memories is overwhelming, but I hope I am lucky enough to do it.  Charlotte’s head must be bursting with memories of friends, and travel, and good food, and thoughtfulness.  She’s a person that has always lived by a generous code of hospitality, making the creation of comfort and enjoyment for others a priority in her life.

 

90 is a lot of years, but only if we make them count.

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Annapolis Training Kick Off

March 12th, 2009

Thanks to all ZOOMA runners and walkers who attended the Annapolis Training Kick-Off on Saturday.  We were lucky to have nice, warm weather on Saturday morning, and about 50 women kicked off training in style with a 30 minute jog through historic Annapolis.  There’s nothing like running with a bunch of other women.  I went home with a huge smile on my face!

KristenHenehan

 

Kristen Henehan, 2007 Marine Corps Marathon winner, spoke to us all about how she stays motivated and dazzled us with her sweet smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Coach Gracie gave us advice on training.  Her #1 piece of advice: STAY CONSISTENT!  Coach Gracie also demonstrated the usefulness of her patented sports bras, and many of us purchased one (including me! I bought the turqoise long tank).

trainingkickoff

Get excited!  ZOOMA Annapolis is only 12-weeks today!  Sign up for training programs on the ZOOMA website: www.zoomarun.com/training.  You can receive weekly emails with your training program information, as well as tips on recommended focus areas from Coach Gracie.

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If She Can Do It, We Can Do It

February 28th, 2009

Isn’t that how women work? We constantly compare ourselves to other women. Sometimes this can be an unhealthy way of living your life. But I believe it can also be motivation for exercise and for helping stay focused on our goals.

I am your coach, Gracie Updyke. I am 31 years old and have a 22 month old daughter, Daylin Grace. I am also 5 months pregnant and have decided to train for the ZOOMA Austin half marathon. As president of gracie’s gear, I travel around the country every 2 weeks to various races and events. Daylin has been travelling with me since she was just 10 days old and I have the most supportive husband on earth. I find the time to exercise even when I’m pregnant but lately it has been tough. I have been battling colds, travel, weather, you name it and I have used these excuses to be inconsistent in my training.

I train new runners all the time. One of my clients is a 69-year-old woman who has had 2 major heart surgeries, the most recent in May of 2008. She joined a run/walk group I was leading, finished the program, and then asked if I would train her to run. Today she kicked my rear!! In just 8 weeks she has made a complete body and fitness transformation. We completed intervals together and ran/walked over 4 miles. Her interval pace was between 8:30-9min miles…she’s just incredible.

I finished the workout with her and could not stop thinking about how amazing she is. Less than a year ago she could barely walk up the stairs but she never gave up! Look in the mirror and be proud of your training and accomplishments! There will be weeks in your training that are off or you are not as motivated, but think of this woman. Look at where she is today and the courage she has everyday to get out there and run.

I’m inspired by her and will never forget our run today!

Gracie

This is the first in a series written by Coach Gracie Updyke. An avid marathoner and trained exercise physiologist, Coach Gracie has put her experience to work developing realistic training programs and inventive products that encourage women of all ages and sizes to become active and stay active, including ZOOMA’s 12-week training program. The founder and president of gracie’s gear, Gracie is a mother of one and is currently expecting her second child.

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A Living Invitation

January 23rd, 2009

As I sit down to write a blog post this morning, my mind is racing with thoughts of ZOOMA. This is an incredibly exciting time for us. Since January 1, ZOOMA has taken on a wonderful new staff member, re-launched zoomarun.com, staged a successful training kick-off for ZOOMA Austin, initiated planning for the inaugural ZOOMA Denver, and entered discussions about a future ZOOMA San Francisco. Indeed these are exciting times. Every day at work is fast-paced, with big decisions to be made and exciting news to share with friends and husbands at the end of the day.

As the founder of ZOOMA who has been working full-time on building these women’s events for almost two years, I feel lucky to have this job and grateful to all of you who have confirmed that ZOOMA is important to you, too. Every day I am motivated by my mission to create fun events for women that inspire and challenge, and that give the opportunity to have a healthy, fun, and proud day with your friends. We receive emails daily from women affirming that ZOOMA has meant that for them, and I am urged on by the idea that there are still women out there who are desperately seeking a little “ZOOMA” in their lives.

My friend Kristin Armstrong, who is a wonderful person and, lucky for us, willing to share her uncommon gift with words, said it well. At the ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-off, she spoke to us all about the importance of running in training us to endure, live our best, and be strong for ourselves and our family and friends when they need us most. This is something I believe ZOOMA has to offer women – the power to be who you most want to be. Kristin went on (and this is my favorite part)…

“I’m telling you this but guess what? – you’re already here, you already get it. What about the women who aren’t here? The ones who haven’t already opened the gift of running, who don’t already know the fun of fit friendships, who don’t even know enough to know that they need a release, a reset, or a refill? What about them? Let’s find them, seek them out, and invite them. I encourage each of us to think of five people who might need to replenish their source, who might just try something new because we tell them we believe they can. This is what’s called being a ‘living invitation’ – calling others to be more than they perceive themselves to be.”

Ahhh.

What a wonderful concept – to be a LIVING INVITATION. We’ll keep working hard to make ZOOMA events more fun and more exciting, and I’d like to challenge all of you to use ZOOMA as an opportunity to invite beginning runner/walker friends to experience the joys of running, to be better than they thought they could be, and to deepen your own fit friendships.

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ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-Off

January 12th, 2009

We all had a lot of fun at the ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-Off on Thursday, January 8th at Rogue Equipment in east Austin. Kristin Armstrong inspired us all with great advice about the new year, and Susan McDowell of LifeWorks encouraged us to fundraise for their awesome programs. A big group of women ran en masse to the Capital, laughing and chatting all the way. Thanks to everyone for coming! See you in April…

Runners received freebies from ZOOMA sponsors like New Balance Love/Hate socks, a Women’s Running magazine, and LUNA bars.

We all piled in to hear Kristin Armstrong’s advice on the new year and Susan McDowell’s inspiring words about LifeWorks, the ZOOMA Austin Official Charity Partner.

Thanks to Rogue Equipment and Rogue Training Systems for hosting, and for all of you who came out. It was great meeting many of you, and we’ll see you in April!

*Email us at info@zoomarun.com with any questions about the training kick-off.

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Weight Loss & Love

January 6th, 2009

Yesterday, Oprah aired a show about her weight gain over the past year. Working in the fitness-and-motivation industry, I eagerly anticipated the heavily advertised confession. After seeing it last night (I DVR The Oprah Show), I realized that Oprah’s words and expressions felt very familiar. Oprah’s expression told me she felt awkward and slightly embarrassed telling the world about her failures and inadequacies.

I know how she feels. After all, who hasn’t felt pain and embarrassment about her inadequacies at some point in her life? Don’t we all wish we were better at something – more disciplined, thoughtful, patient, etc? Haven’t we all reached a point where we’ve nearly or completely fallen off the cliff to the point that drastic readjustments are required? I’m sure Oprah’s revealing words will resonate with many women as they did with me.

But to me, the most interesting part of Oprah’s show was her conclusion that it’s all about LOVE. She asks herself– What am I hungry for in life? It’s not food. Oprah is hungry for balance and love. Self-love.

I came to the conclusion years ago that no one can be happy, or make anyone else happy for that matter, if she doesn’t have unconditional love for herself. For some, that can be a controversial outlook… Women in particular are often expected to put lots of people and things above themselves, but I am a firm believer that I will never truly succeed with any relationship or job if I don’t truly love myself. That means prioritizing myself from time to time to the exclusion of others. This can come off sounding selfish, but I don’t think it is. It’s very easy to put everyone else’s success and happiness above your own, but to me, it is not always the right answer.

There are plenty of ways to love yourself. But for me, being healthy is the ultimate way. Making fitness goals and having the discipline to stick with my workout plan. Setting aside time to buy fresh food at the grocery store and to prepare healthy meals. Scheduling a mani/pedi if I need to relax and feel pampered, and cutting out of work in time to make yoga class. Spending money to sign up for a race and working hard for months so that I can experience the high of race day. These things can very easily fall off the schedule in the face of household, work and family obligations, but I try to make “loving myself” a priority, too.

My sincere hope is that ZOOMA serves as an opportunity for women to “love” themselves. By taking the time to train for races and enjoy workouts with friends, we can prioritize our health and ultimately our happiness. I am convinced that this is the best way to lose weight, be healthy and be the best we can be – to love ourselves.

Click here if you want to watch Oprah’s confession: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081030_tows_bobgreene

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