FF Race Team Ambassador Race Re-Caps - Cocoa Cup and Kiawah Half Marathon Edition

With the creation of the Fleet Feet Ambassadors which represents Fleet Feet in the community at races and events, we have an enthusiastic group of people who are happy to share their race experiences!  If you are considering running a certain race in the future, these re-caps can be great sources of info and advice!

Our first two installments are from Vy Doan, who recently ran the Cocoa Cup 5K and the Kiawah Half Marathon.  

Vy's Cocoa Cup 5 K Race Recap

The 6^th annual Cocoa Cup 5K/my fifth Cocoa Cup 5K was a blast! My husband loves doing this race as his birthday race so we sign up as soon as registration opens. My original goal was just to have a fun time being a week after my big personal record at the Kiawah Half Marathon, but I was excited and surprised to find that I got a 5 second personal record! The miles felt easy and it was helpful to have a fellow Fleet Feet training mentor, Penny, run near me after the first mile. Penny cheered me on and helped me pick up my pace all the way to the end. Once I crossed the finish line, I grabbed some water, cheered on more folks, then changed into my new soft red Cocoa Cup hoodie. My friends and I grabbed our annual picture with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, watched the costume contest and awards, and headed out for breakfast. The Cocoa Cup 5K is full of good times, hot cocoa, and holiday cheer – I can’t wait for next year!

Vy's Kiawah Island Half Marathon Race Report 

My plan for the race was to hit a personal record of around 2:05, with my last half marathon record at the Charleston Half Marathon in January and a time of 2:07:03. I had a push goal of finishing under two hours although I wasn't sure I would make that based on some of my previous race times. I'm proud to say that I made it in 1:59:05 with the support of my husband, Ryan, and the training and wisdom from Fleet Feet!

To train for the Kiawah Half Marathon, I kept up a base of around 20 miles per week and cross trained during the summer then started mentoring in the Fleet Feet training programs with extra mileage after the Saturday long runs. The summer runs were hot and difficult but I was glad I pushed through as it made the fall runs feel a lot easier! The Fleet Feet training runs consisted of Tuesday speed work and Saturday long runs. I also followed the weekly training program e-mails which consisted of cross-training, easy runs, and tempo runs. I kept the long runs very easy, around an 11:30 pace and worked hard during speed work and the tempo runs.

During the race, we were stuck in thick crowds for the first 3 miles. I was a little frustrated and discouraged after the first mile at a pace of 9:42, but quickly decided it would be better to stay positive and just run! I knew I would still hit my goal of hitting a personal record, as I trained much more this year than last. I slowly picked up the speed, and by the half way point I knew it was a real possibility to finish in under two hours if I pushed hard. After some math, I determined I needed to run around a 9 minute mile the rest of the race and asked Ryan to help me stay on track. I also instructed him to give me Sport Beans every mile starting at mile 5. By mile 10, I was ready for the race to be over at the pace I was going, but knew I had a 5K left. This was the point where the real mental games began. My watch was going off about a tenth mile before the mile markers, so I knew I would just barely make the sub-2 hour time or just barely miss it! I told myself I only had a half hour left and pushed through. When my watch showed mile 13, I emptied my tank and was ecstatic because I knew it was very likely I hit my push goal of sub 2!