The Little Things
June 9, 2015

Last week I did Nuun’s National Running Day Virtual Run, which was a 5k. What made it unique is that it was powered by Motigo, which is an app that you can download and use while racing. The app allows people to record “cheers” for you, and the app will play the cheers over your music or whatever else you’re listening to on the run!

Let me rewind a bit. I’m still not used to summer running, so I left for my run around 9 am, which I can’t do in the summer! It was in the upper 60s/low 70s while running, but the humidity was about 94% so it was especially tough for me.

The first mile was somewhat slow going, although only about 25ish seconds slower than normal pace. Right when I hit the first mile I got my first cheer, which surprised me but was really fun. Another half mile in and I was really regretting not getting out earlier. I started adding about 15 seconds to my walk breaks (I do 3:1 run:walk) and my heart rate was picking up faster and faster. With POTS running in the heat is extra difficult, and I could tell that POTS symptoms were kicking in a bit. I did the only thing I could do if I wanted to finish the race- WALK a lot more.

I hit mile 2 and got some cheers from some Bibrave friends which was lots of fun! At this point I was more than thankful that I had brought my handheld. In cooler weather I don’t even think about drinking during a 5k, but today I downed a huge amount of Nuun (maybe 10 ounces- huge for a 5k!). Today I went with the TriBerry Flavor, and absolutely loved it!

By the time I hit about 2.5 miles I was down to a 1:1 run:walk ratio, so while I was going slower than I almost ever do on a run, I was still moving and hadn’t passed out, so I counted that as a win! Suddenly I hit a long stretch of road that was in the shade, and it was instant relief! I picked up my pace and duration of run segments, and fell into a good grove.

I stopped to take a picture of my garmin at mile 3.1:

5k run

Maybe my slowest 5k “race” ever? Oh well. I ended the run at mile 3.5, and was happy that I had finished it despite the hot weather. Summer weather is just tough to get used to.

For other races, check out my race recaps page.

Now it’s your turn to share! Are you still struggling to get used to exercising in the heat this summer? 

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2 responses to “Nuun National Running Day Virtual Run”

  1. Abby @ BackAtSquareZero says:
    June 9, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    How fun that you get cheers. I have never heard of anything like that.

    • littlethingscaroline@gmail.com says:
      June 9, 2015 at 8:47 pm

      It’s a pretty cool idea! There’s no way my phone battery could’ve handled it for anything longer than a 5k because my battery is so bad, but I bet it would be lots of fun to get cheers throughout a half marathon!