Athlete Race Recap: Honor America Days 5K Parade Run & Gillie Girl Sprint Triathlon

It was a lighter weekend of racing this weekend for Full Circle Endurance athletes, but a fun and exciting one nevertheless!

• Honor America Days 5K Parade Run - Rome, New York
• Gillie Girl Sprint Triathlon - Camillus, New York

Honor America Days 5K Parade Run - Rome, New York

Amy Otero ran the Honor America Days 5K Parade Run in Rome, New York on Saturday, July 30, 2022!

You may remember that Amy raced at IRONMAN 70.3 Musselman just three short weeks ago. She rocked that race, but ultimately did have a DNF. While we were overjoyed at the gains she had made, the DNF still stung a bit for her.

After she made the decision to withdraw from IRONMAN 70.3 Musselman on the run course, Amy and I were sitting together and I gave her some advice.  I told her that I thought it would be great if she found another race or two in the coming months to do for fun and to give her a boost.

Well, Amy took that advice!  (Smart lady, if I do say so myself. ;) )  She registered for this 5K with no real objectives or expectations other than to have fun!

And HAVE FUN SHE DID!  She saw so many friends running in the race and cheering along the course.  She gave out big hugs to them along the way, and had a grand time!

Amy implemented a run/walk strategy and decided which ratio of intervals to use in the race based on how she was feeling that day. She crossed the finish line a full THREE MINUTES earlier than she expected to! Even her husband, Mike, who was waiting for her, almost missed her finish because she came in so much earlier than expected!

Amy’s day on Saturday is a wonderful example of what can happen if you relax and let a result “come to you.” She focused on listening to her body, having a fun day, and her actual time result far exceeded her expectations.

Congratulations, Amy!

Gillie Girl Sprint Triathlon - Camillus, New York

On Sunday, July 31, 2022, Lisa Crockford and Natalie Metz raced the Gillie Girl Sprint Triathlon in Camillus, New York! (It should be noted that Sunday was also Lisa’s birthday, so this was a birthday celebration race for her!)

I’m delighted to say that both Lisa and Natalie had great races! Lisa was doing this race as a C-Race/fun race; she just raced last weekend, but wanted to support this local race and see her friends on the course.

Natalie also raced earlier this month and was using this race as a fun race, but she ended up having a break-through performance. She had her fastest overall pace ever(!!!) on the bike, and executed a solid swim and run that enabled her to have an overall finish time that was significantly faster than the last time she raced a sprint triathlon! One of the things that has enhanced Natalie’s cycling recently is a proper bike fit; we set her up so she can actually reach her handlebars properly and get more power production out of her pedal stroke, and it’s not only made her more comfortable, but faster!

Lisa caught up with Natalie on the run and encouraged her to push herself for the final mile of the race. (What a great team effort! :) )

Congratulations, Natalie!  And congratulations and Happy Birthday, Lisa! :)