I’ve never been one to believe in the “taper crazies”. Hell, I love taper. An excuse to run less and eat more? Sign me up! 😝 Yes, I know that’s not how it works but let a Slacker lie to herself ok?
I wasn’t really planning on tapering for SLO. I did one speed workout this training cycle. One. Once I realized how few long runs I had actually done over the years, my focus turned to getting in the distance and time on my feet. While I have done much better since that little epiphany, it still could have been better.
My plan for SLO was to treat it more like an epic long run. Enjoy the race, enjoy my pace, take in the view, smile at the awesome crowds and maybe, just maybe take a decent race picture for once. And now?
I had my weird hip/ IT thing on Friday’s long run. That led to limping on Saturday and resting all weekend. This week’s runs have been so-so. Tuesday’s was actually pretty good. But outside of that- my shins ache at random moments. My calves feel tight. Today it hurt my big toe to drive, seriously?! There’s a tickle in my throat that feels like it wants to turn into something more. Bring on the Airborne!! I haven’t slept well in about a month.
Grrr. I love this race, I do not want to stress about it. As of right now, I honestly have no idea what my finishing time might be. I feel unprepared for the hills. My fault, I should have sought out more hills. The hill I use for hill repeats has been a construction zone for the last few months. No excuses. I should have found another one. After last year I feel like I have unfinished business with this race.
Maybe that is influencing how I am feeling this week? I have no idea. So now, I need to calm down. I need to make sure I am sleeping better (or trying to), I need to ensure I m still keeping my carb count low to moderate and I need to not stress. I have been looking forward to this weekend for months. There are so many people that I am looking forward to seeing again. I enjoy looking around the expo, and really this is my favorite finish line.
More cowbell!!
Actually, I think venting about it for a few hundred words helped. Bring it on SLO, let’s do this. Now if only I could figure out what I am wearing. 😝
Last post I shared that I was lucky enough to be offered the chance to be an Ambassador for the SLO Marathon again. Which is freakin’ awesome and I am looking forward to not only the race but all the awesome runners I get to see again. As with most ambassadorships, it comes with some challenges along the way. The first one was dropped last week- to share our resolutions/ goals for the 2016 race. Hmmm, there’s that word again.
I’ve spent some time thinking about it for the last week. How do I share a goal but stay true to my year of being goal free? Well, I am still goal free. That said, I feel like I have unfinished business with the SLO half. Let’s recap.
In 2014 I was looking forward to running a race that I had been trying to run for years but never made it happen. It was also my first ambassadorship so I was super stoked on that. I was excited on race morning but mentally I just wasn’t there. It wasn’t my fitness level, it wasn’t the hills; it was all in my head. Mentally, I blew up around mile 8. I finished the race in 2:10:32 which wasn’t bad but I felt like my legs had more in them, I just couldn’t stop the mind games. Not sure if you can tell by my smirk/smile but I was very irritated with myself post race.
I swear I was trying to smile not smirk
The Ambassadors!!!!
2015 rolled around and I was able to train with a custom McMillan training plan. The race fell in the middle of all my stomach issues so I knew breaking 2:00 was unlikely but I felt strong and ready to go. Even though I had felt sick prior to race start, I felt great for the first 5 miles. I was beginning to entertain thoughts of a new PR. Then I went down, hard. As clumsy as I am on a daily basis, I had never fallen while running before. There’s a first time for everything right? Thanks to some helpful runners I was back on my feet quickly and running on. Maybe it was a delayed reaction from the fall or just my stupid stomach but mile 7 started with my stomach cramping in a very bad way. I pretty much walked the entire mile taking deep, slow breathes. Mile 8 saw another first for me- a port a potty stop. Despite all that, I was still mentally on point. I had reassessed that a PR wasn’t going to happen but even with all that drama I knew I could still beat the previous year’s time. But my stomach fought back and miles 11-13 were all survival mode. I was also cursing that there are no porta-potties at mile 12. Cuz who needs one with only 1 mile left?! I crossed the finish line in 2:15:06 and I was damn proud of that. It may not have been the time I was hoping for but for everything that day threw at me, I stayed strong and positive the entire race.
Half smile/ half grimace
raceSLO Ambassadors!!
So while I have no plans of setting a goal for SLO 2016, I do see it as a redemption race. Both years I felt like I had more to give and I would like to see that happen this year. I love the course- hills and all- and I can’t wait to see what I can do this year. 🙂
What about you? Do you have a race that haunts you?
Maybe I should rename these mid week rambles? At least this one is actually going up mid-week and not on Thursday or Friday. 🙂
How is January almost over? Seriously I need more time!
Everyone’s posting their race schedules for the year and I’m over here like I should have bought a Powerball ticket. 😅 My race account is looking pretty sad. While I am wishing for the impossible- how about more vacation time too?
I’ve been given the opportunity to come back as a SLO Marathon ambassador for 2016! Woo hoo!!! More on that soon!
I’m not a football fan but Denver making it to the Super Bowl is making me nostalgic. Growing up we had one of those huge satellite dishes. You know the ones that had to move in order to watch a different station? Anyways, for whatever reasons we only got Denver stations. The Broncos and the Rockies were the sports teams popular in our house. Combine that with the Broncos being my grandfather’s favorite football team and I am feeling the urge to rock some blue and orange at Surf City. #nostalgicfan
Last Wednesday’s weird, sick feeling makes more sense now. My last visit with my gastro resulted in a new medication to try. New to me and him- he had never prescribed it before. I was the guinea pig. Oh boy. Other than any possible warnings about driving or sleepiness, I try to avoid reading the potential side effects of a new medication. I like to avoid any chance to think myself into a side effect and just give it a week or 2. But I have been having some issues and felt kind of off so I read all the documentation yesterday. I could check off more than a few boxes on the list. The most interesting one though? “Feeling drunk” What?! Once I made sure I read that right, some things from the last 2 weeks made a little more sense. Yeah- bye bye pills.
Last week I shared that my local pizza place knows me by name. Friday night I picked up a pizza on the way home and they told me I am their #1 customer. Ummmm, yay? I only ate pizza once last week by the way.
Another episode of Z Nation got me through a treadmill run tonight. A very slow treadmill run but it’s the miles that count right? I’ve found the only way I can run on the treadmill without any weird aches is to either run very slow or very fast. Tonight was a slow one. I felt kind of awkward watching a zombie show while running though.
Lastly, I’m sure most of you have heard about the dog that bandit-ed a half marathon but my mother made sure to share it to my Facebook feed today. With a comment that the dog is faster than me. Which is true. I still love the story though. ☺
I volunteered for a race years before I ever thought of running one. I worked a water table 3 years before I started running. Back then this race was USATF certified and sanctioned so I can say I have actually seen elite runners up close. They had no need of the water we were providing. But it was fun watching them fly while we froze. Seriously, for being September, I remember freezing the first 2 years. Year 3, my station was at a different mile marker and was in complete sun. So much nicer. It was also in front of a grocery store. I went in and bought all of us volunteers donuts. So yes, the runners had to see us eating donuts. 🙂
Then I started running. So now I was the person grabbing a cup of water from someone with cold hands. After a year of not volunteering, I shifted to working the registration/ packet pick up table the day before the race. I gained a new found respect for anyone who works one of those. Particularly when it comes to t-shirt sizes. Now I think it’s funny but that first year I thought I was going to lose my mind. I’ve done that for 3 years now and I look forward to it every year.
But I haven’t given up water tables. The last 2 years I worked a water table with my mom and her tennis team at another local race. This race hosts a marathon, half marathon and 5K and our station was on the marathon course. So it was a very dark and cold early morning. Then, I was lucky enough to be a SLO ambassador for 2 years so I was given the chance to work on my social media skills. It was fun but let’s be honest- Twitter still confuses me- I just can’t keep up! Which makes this new role a little nerve wracking.Say hello to the Harvest Marathon, owner of those early morning marathon water stations. It’s a scenic race through winding back roads with vineyards lining the way. There are some hills but what better way to train for Heartbreak Hill, right? The proceeds of the race benefit local youth athletic programs. I took these shots at last year’s water station-
What am I doing? Social media, of course. But not as Slacker Runner. As the Harvest Marathon. Eeek!!! I am torn between “muahaha” and “holy crap”. That’s a lot of responsibility. And I feel slightly odd when I (Slacker Runner) shares my (Harvest Marathon) posts. 🙂 Right now I am trying to grow their following but not post excessively. So, I am posting twice a week right now. I would like to step up to 3 but I want it to be natural. I have some plans for future posts, I just need the time to make it happen. I am trying to work on an Instagram as well.
So here are my questions. Do you follow races on social media? What types of posts do you like to see from them? What would catch your attention as a runner? Any suggestions on managing media? I now have 3 Facebook feeds and 2 Twitter feeds. Hootsuite isn’t letting me integrate the 2 profiles. Grrr. Any thoughts?
I ain’t even mad, bro.😀. Actually my new motto might be “just hang on”. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the expo real quick.
The Expo-
Expo haul- love the ambassador shirts this year!
Saturday dawned rainy and windy. Those running the 5k ran in the rain. The rain had cleared by the time I arrived to pick up my packet and attend the ambassador meet and greet. Picking up my packet was super easy and I wandered around the expo before heading out to the meet. I was there less than 10 minutes before I spent money at the Lorna Jane booth. Oops, but since that was the only thing I bought, I think I showed restraint!
raceSLO Ambassadors!!
The meet up was outside and it was so damn windy, I thought we were going to blow away. It was nice catching up with the repeat ambassadors from last year and meeting the new ones. A few of them I had been trying to meet since the Ventura half. It was so windy and cold that after chatting, getting our shirts and taking some pics, we all scattered to do our own thing. I headed home to rest a bit and figure out food. I had been having a mental struggle all week, going back and forth between following my new diet rules or following conventional running wisdom. Spoiler- I chose wrong.
Flat Slacker
The Race-
Sunday was supposed to dawn cold and windy, so I tried to prepare for that. I didn’t feel like I got enough sleep and my stomach was cranky but neither of those are new things on race morning so I didn’t pay too much attention. My mom was dropping me off so I didn’t have to catch the 4am bus to the start. I got to the start with 15 minutes to spare so I figured I would hit the port-a-potty line just to be sure. The lines were huge. By the time I got out of there, they had moved the corrals up to the start line, oops.
Miles 1-5- 9:25, 9:14, 9:20, 9:36, 8:31
The whistle blew and we were off- sort of. I ended up starting behind the 2:45 pacer. Rutro. My fault but the first mile and a half were spent bobbing and weaving. I dropped the 2:45, 2:30, and 2:15 pace groups when I decided I just needed to run my own race and not worry about catching the 2:00 pace group. In one way it was freeing not having to worry about keeping them in sight. It meant I had to pace myself and while I knew breaking 2:00 was unlikely, I was feeling strong and thought I could PR- sub 2:05.
We hit the first of the long hills and I still felt good going up. Last year at this time I was already sucking air and tiring out. Thanks to all the weaving I did at the start, my Garmin and the mile markers didn’t match so I just checked my total time at each of the course markers. I was feeling pretty good as we the flat section before turning up another long climb.
Miles 6-8- 9:36, 11:25, 9:29
About a 1/4 mile into 6, my stomach started to make itself known. I began to wonder if I was going to have an issue. But wasn’t even the biggest thing to happen that mile. Maybe it’s because I was focused intently on telling myself I was fine and not paying attention to much else, but the next thing I knew, I was airborne.
It’s still kind of blur but I remember hitting the ground and rolling. My water bottle ended up about 10 feet down the course. WTF?! About 5 different runners stopped their race to come help me. Some helped me up while one chased down my bottle. A bike medic was there in seconds. I was kind of in shock/ denial, so I honestly don’t remember if I thanked all of them. I posted a big shout out to them on my Facebook page but I feel bad if I didn’t say it right then. 😔 I assured the medic I was ok and kept running. It was few yards later that it all set in and then I was trying to talk myself out of hyperventilating myself into an asthma attack.
Eventually I calmed down and I was still on track to PR. Halfway through mile 6, my stomach let me know that I needed a bathroom and I needed it now. There were no bathrooms at that point. I had to start walking because it was either walk or embarrass myself. I walked the rest of 7 just taking deep breaths. I felt a little better by the turn around so I picked up the pace. I said goodbye to the PR hope but knew I could still beat last years course time even with the fall and the walking. At mile 8, I was 4 minutes ahead of a last year.
Miles 9-11- 13:01, 9:48, 9:54
Around 8.5, my stomach reared again. I was near an aid station so I looked for bathrooms. I finally found them off to side and back away and bolted for them. Not sure if I looked urgent or if he did this the whole race but there was a volunteer who directed me to which port-a-potty was open. Thank you!
After that snafu, I was back running but had slowed a bit. Shockingly enough I was still on track to beat last year’s time. I just had to stay under a 10:00 pace the last few miles. My legs felt strong; bruised and bleeding but strong. My mental game still felt on point as well. Despite the morning so far, I wasn’t defeated and I wasn’t giving up. We had a nice decline portion before we went from the roads to the railroad trail. I knew there was the suspension bridge and a few streets left before the finish line and I was still hopeful.
Miles 12-13.1- 10:37, 12:49, 2:17
Mile 12 slowed some towards the end thanks to my stomach again but I thought if I could a 9:00 for the last mile and sprint the .1, I could still pull this off. I shouldn’t have gotten cocky. My stomach threw a fit in the last mile. Why are there no bathrooms at mile 12.5?! Ha! There were 2 times I had to get myself completely off the road, out of the way and just stand still, focusing on deep breathing and calming my stomach. My fastest pace was now a jog but I was mostly walking.
It felt like more than 100 people passed me in that last mile. Including the 2:15 pace group. The last .25 mile is a paved path that goes around the pavilion at the Madonna Inn and I had been looking forward to sprinting it. I walked 90% of it before jogging across the finish line. Half marathon#12 done.
Finish- 2:15:07
Where I wanted to sprint
Once I crossed the finish line and got my medal- which I feel like I fought for!- I was looking for a bathroom. I had wanted a finishers picture but the line had about 50 people in it and that was just not going to happen. I also should have stopped at the medical tent but I had other priorities. Plus, my arm warmers had done a pretty good job of drying the blood.
Oops. But my socks were on point!
My mother found me fairly quickly and we headed for the back of the pavilion where the port-a-potties and UPS trucks (bag check) were. After that, I made it as far as the grass by the trucks and just tried to calm my rolling stomach. I wanted to try to find some of the ambassadors and see how they did but was just not up to moving. I had eaten nothing and had drank very little throughout the race as I knew my stomach was just not up to it. I let myself have a bit of the chocolate strawberry protein smoothie that Jamba Juice made for the finishers. It tasted like a Frosty. 🙂 We ended up leaving not long after that, I was feeling rough again and couldn’t handle another port-a-potty, so we headed to the McDonald’s down the street. Real bathrooms and I got an ice-cold Diet Coke. Oh the magical healing properties. 🙂
Half smile/ half grimace
Like I said at the beginning, I am not mad or even sad. There were quite a few times throughout the race where I could have said screw it and bailed or phoned it in (see Ventura) but I knew I was stronger than that. My legs were feeling fresh, tumble not withstanding, my head was in the game and I was determined. I think that’s one thing that came out of my McMillan training plan that I wasn’t anticipating- the confidence. I knew I could I do it, and I still honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for my stupid stomach, I would have PR’d, hills, fall, headwind and all. Yes, the wind had picked up and was pretty bad but by that point it was the least of my concerns. 🙂 So with everything that race morning threw at me, I am damn proud of that 2:15.I love this race. I love the course and the crowds. The expo is still my favorite and the volunteers and staff are amazing. Seriously, I think the bike medic was there before I stopped rolling. I am already looking forward to next year.
Ever fallen while running? This was my first time.
Slacker Runner 