Author: Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Week 5- Fiasco

  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (more to come)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 5-4 Wildflower (Thanks BibRave)  Canceled
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

Honestly, fiasco is the nicest way to describe last week. If there was something that could go wrong or screwball it did. I feel like I unintentionally dared fate to come at me. I take it back! I don’t know what it was but I take it back!

Monday and Tuesday weren’t bad or if they were the rest of the week overshadows them. My foot was aching again so I knew I was likely only going to get in one run before Surf City on Sunday. That run was Wednesday and I really needed to run off some stress and clear my head. I ran the work route directly after work and made sure I had all my lights but I really needed that sunset view. And I got it. I had a pretty decent run and was feeling better when I arrived back at my car. Where I proceeded to stretch a bit and then promptly lock my key in the DAMN CAR!

It was completely dark and it was getting cold. I stared at the Knuckle Light, pepper spray and phone still in my hands like I could will them to turn into my keys but no luck. You idiot! I may have mentioned work’s proximity to the police station in town before but it is only one door down. So off I went to use the after hours phone to ask if they could help me. Nope. Told me call a locksmith. Grrrrr. So I called my parents who as it happens were just sitting down to dinner. Crap. My dad knew what I had done the second I said I had done something stupid. He was able to get my spare and bring it to me but work town is 45 minutes from home town. I was still stuck sitting on a curb. Again, my own stupid fault. I had texted a coworker just so I could tell someone of stupidity and she was nice enough to come back and let me hang in her car while I waited for my pops to arrive. Some people are awesome. I now belong to AAA.

Then Friday rolls around and I head to Penney’s after work to pick up a quilt I had ordered to finish off the room re-do. The parking lot was dark, wet and mostly empty but there was a man working on his car. I thought that was weird as there was a parts store and Wal-Mart at the other end of plaza that would have made more sense. He sort of followed me into the store which also made me a little paranoid. Once inside, there was a one man being helped by the cashier and another shopping. The man behind me spoke with the man shopping. See Fallon, no reason to be paranoid. I asked the other cashier for my catalog order while the shopping man kept piling clothes on the counter. The employee helping me went to the back to get my order and the one helping the other guy took him over to the dress shirts. Meanwhile the other man still looks like he is browsing clothes and his friend had left. All of sudden I hear rapid foot steps and he is running past me carrying all of the clothes from the counter and a few more. What the hell? Is this really happening? He barrels out the front door and I just stood there in shock. The employee comes back with my order and I was like “dude, you just got robbed!”. She just sighed and said it happens more often than you would think. Wait, what?!

Then, Saturday arrived and it was time to head down to Huntington Beach for Surf City! Except while most of the country has been dealing with mountains of snow, California’s been blasted by heavy rain. Which is great as we are drought ridden and the water is needed but also bad because fires. The fires leave burn scars that can’t handle that much water and we flood or worse- mudslides. We were about 20 miles outside of Santa Barbara when we got the alert that the 101 was flooded out and would be closed indefinitely. Ummm, crap. There’s really no way around or if there is it was likely flooded too. So we turned around and backtracked an hour to pick up a rural highway that heads east to the I5. The I5 though open was a mess. It was pouring rain, visibility was nil and we passed so many wrecks and bad ones at that.

I missed the expo, what should have been an 5 hour drive turned into 8ish. Thankfully, Surf City allowed other people to pick up your bibs as long as they had your QR code and a photo of your driver’s license. The other BibRave Pro’s were already there and Christine offered to get my bib and shirt for me. Lifesaver. I was able to meet her at her hotel and pick up the items. Then it was off to my hotel to check in then find dinner and try to decompress from the stress of the day.

Sunday- Surf City Half Marathon
Recap to come.

16.3 miles for the week. Slowly going in the right direction.

How was your week?

Rain or Shine? Run

Disclaimer: I received an entry to Oakland Running Festival as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Wait, it’s February? How did that happen?

That means 2 things- Super Bowl and Surf City. Now I could care less about the Super Bowl but Surf City is always the same day so I just pretend the excitement is for the race not the game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am no where near race ready. When I toe the line on Sunday I will be fully prepared to take it easy and take my time. I have run/walk intervals set on my watch and ready to go. But I am looking forward to revisiting the race that started me down the path of (longer) distance running. The crowds are awesome, the beach view is great, I get to (hopefully) see a bunch of other BibRave Pros.

I posted this 3 years ago at my second Surf City

Now if the weather will cooperate. Granted, it is absolutely nothing compared to what is happening in most of the country but a rain filled Saturday and Sunday wasn’t exactly what I was looking forward to. I can roll with it though and have just changed most of everything I was going to pack and wear.

So, fingers crossed for a fun filled weekend that’s only slightly wet.

Week 4- Not Too Bright

  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (more to come)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 5-4 Wildflower (Thanks BibRave)  Canceled
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

You know what they say about best laid plans?

I had my week planned -when I was going to workout, how I was going to eat healthier, be less of a Slacker, yada yada. And well… yeah.

Cold wind kept me indoors on Monday which is silly as I hate wasting a non work day. But I also really hate a really cold wind. Then my stomach turned into an asshat on Tuesday and that lingered for a few days. That’s what I get for thinking I was having a good spell. Then there’s the random tiredness. Which actually isn’t so random. This was week 2 without soda and my new migraine medication can make me groggy. Not the greatest combo… or maybe it is, who knows. I did manage to finally clean my car this weekend so that in itself should make this week a win. Ha!

Monday- Transform 20
Well, I started the week slightly according to plan. Then it was off to that doctor’s appointment I made a month ago when I was so sick. Which didn’t really get me anywhere.

Saturday- 8.4 miles
Long run Saturday. Despite the opinion of my Garmin, I actually felt pretty good this run. I kept things slow and easy and started with run/walk intervals but was able to ditch them around mile 4 and only walk occasionally. Which I thought was great considering how little running I’ve been doing but my Garmin judged me and told me I needed 3 days to recover post run. How rude!

Sunday-4 miles
I headed out for some nice and easy recovery miles. I won’t lie- even though I kept the pace slower than Saturday’s long run, there were parts that were the very opposite of easy. I kept pace and ran all but one of the hills though. Still, I wish it had felt a little better.

12.4 miles for the week and only 1 Transform 20 workout. Which means I will be restarting week 2 come Monday as I was barely hanging on as it was. I am hoping to get in 2 short-ish runs before race days so fingers crossed!

How was your week?

Week 3- Shock

  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (more to come)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 5-4 Wildflower (Thanks BibRave)  Canceled
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

In some ways I was my Slacker self last week and in others I was not.

The week was busy at work and when it wasn’t I spent the time rearranging my desk and getting used to all the new changes with my computer at work. I think I am going to love it but woah it’s different. I am not the tallest and I joke I need a trampoline to keep an eye on everything now.

The room refresh is coming along too, or was until a shelving unit I was waiting for didn’t arrive on Friday. Now we have had crazy rain storms so the delay was understandable; I am just tired of being disorganized. Fingers crossed it arrives on Monday. But the cats approve of the new chair.

And of all things I learned that even though I swear I drink water all day long, according to my blood work, I am very dehydrated. Say what?! So a change in my migraine meds was prescribed.

So did I do anything active last week or just repeatedly move furniture around?

Monday- Transform 20
I am so not coordinated. Throw in a step and it’s almost hazardous. I am glad I am doing this by myself because it’s probably hilarious.

Tuesday- Nada
Tuesday was weird. I somehow even forgot it was Tuesday and missed #bibchat. Oops.

Wednesday- Transform 20
More un-coordination for the win. And what took me so long to put in a ceiling fan?

Thursday- Lazy
I had an morning work meeting which meant I had a longer lunch so I planned on attempting another runch but somehow I totally forgot. Oops.

Friday-Ditto
I told myself I was going work out all day. Right up until 11PM. I never did.

Saturday- 6 miles
I ran! And it was more than 2 miles! I knew it was going to be hard and it was. It was the longest run I had done since Holiday Half in December. I stayed pretty consistent for most of it but it was tiring. Not as much as Garmin thought though. It told me I needed 53 hours to recover. What?

Sunday- 4 miles/ 2 Transform 20 workouts
I was feeling industrious… or guilty that I slacked on the Transform workouts throughout the week. I headed out for 4 easy miles in the afternoon and treated them like recovery miles. Kept it about a minute slower than the day before, partly because I was trying to be smart and partly because I doubted I could run faster, haha. I did manage to power up
2 hills though so I am calling it a win.

10 miles for the week and 4/6 Transform 20 workouts. Not much but compared to last week (and the weeks before) it’s an awesome improvement.

How was your week?

Rambling On 49

Happy Friday!

Ooof, this week was…ooof. I am all messed up.

Last week, I upgraded to the dual monitors at work. This week, a Varidesk was installed.
I also replaced my recliner with a chair and ottoman at home, started Transform 20, quit soda and haven’t run in a week.
In short, my body has no idea what is happening right now.

The weather has been crazy rain this week, so the timing for resting my foot might not have been so bad. At least that is what I tell myself.

A 3 day weekend is ahead and I am looking forward to finishing up the room redesign. I still have no idea where half my stuff is, though I do now have an overhead light back so yay! I also need to do some serious running. Although, let’s be real, it will be some slow running. Why are 90% of the trails closed? Grrrr.

What are you up to this weekend?