Category: BibRave

Ho-Ho Holiday

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!

Just like that, it’s race weekend.

Wow, time flies when you’ve been sick. 😛 I have managed to get in a run but as you may know my training has been conspicuously absent these past 2 weeks. Oops.

So, with that being said, what am I thinking? I have run races on uglier month’s than these (looking at you Carlsbad). I realize this will not be “raced”. Likely, this will be barely run. Run/walk intervals will be used and if that doesn’t work, walking it is. I know part of the course takes runners on the Pomona raceway and I am looking forward to that.

And all the festive-ness! I get the feeling that everyone is going to be wearing their holiday finest in running wear and I can’t wait to check it out. I actually owned nothing festive so I took myself to Wal-Mart to remedy that situation. I feel like I need more though, I didn’t get very much. I still have time to look for more. Hmmm.

This is my last race of the year and I just want to have fun. And stay warm. The 8AM start time will help but I am getting there early for packet pickup. #allthelayers

What are you doing this weekend?

Jingle All the Way

I’ve been running since 2010 but somehow I’ve never run a race in December. Not even a 5K. How did that happen? It was time to change that.

Holiday Half, start your engines! I’ve actually looked into the Holiday Half in previous years but couldn’t make it fit my schedule. Well this year thanks to some vacation plans that have changed numerous times I now can!

The race offers holiday themed medals for the half as well as a larger, cooler medal for the Snowflake Challenge. The challenge nets you a third medal when you run the 5K on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. There should even be snow at the start line! Yeah, it may not be real but we don’t see it much round these parts of California.

As well as being festively themed- did you see that race shirt?-Holiday Half is in Pomona which is home to the Pomona Raceway. It’s the oldest venue on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and we get to run on the track! Woo hoo!! I grew up around racing as my dad always watched it. He and my brother still go to races, I understand none of it but it still reminds me of childhood you know?

Now, my only problem is the realization that I have zero Christmas related running gear. I don’t even own anything red. How am I going to show my holiday festive-ness? I will have to work on this.

Want to join me on December 9? Use code HHBR10 to save 10%!
Any ideas on how to be festive?

Oakland Turkey Trot

Let’s talk Turkey… trotting that is.

I love the idea of Turkey Trots but rarely make it to an actual one due to either distance or time. I was stoked to hear that the Oakland Turkey Trot offered a virtual option. Don’t get me wrong- as race day grew closer I wished I could join the party. Everything they were posting on Instagram made me wish I could drive to Oakland on Thanksgiving. The swag, the mural painting, the fun- man, I wish I could go!

My bib and swag arrived a few days before the race. Talk about swag! I’ve run much larger races and received way less. Oakland knows how to treat their runners right!

Race morning- Thanksgiving Day

The advantage to a virtual run is I could run anytime I wanted to; for me that was around 12. Woo hoo! No early wake up call and perfect temps. Actually I overdressed as I had been sick during the week before and thought it was colder than it was. Oops.

I was going to run my normal 5k route from my house but flip the beginning and the end so I could have a nice downhill finish. Since I had been sick and this was a virtual race, I treated this more like a hard push run than a race. I walked the first 5 minutes of mile 1- crazy right? But my later start meant I was already pushing it with family plans.

From then on, it was a comfortable push tempo pace, enjoying the fall colors in my neighborhood. I added in a hill in the middle to take out a hill at the end but still had around 300 ft of elevation over the 5K. I don’t live in a flat area. I walked another block or so during mile 2 due to an off leash dog. When the lady grabbed the dog in alarm, I wasn’t taking any chances so I slowed way down until I was well past them.

All in all, I finished the 5k in 33:33 which made me laugh at the perfectness of it. It also reassured me that had I actually raced it, I would have likely subbed 30. Don’t have to worry about off leash dogs during races and I usually warm up first. 😛

I still wish I could have joined the epic party up in Oakland but I was glad I got to participate in anyway.

Did you Turkey Trot?

Third Try’s the Charm?

You could say that Surf City was my spring board into half marathons.

It wasn’t my first half marathon, not even close. It wasn’t even my first travel race. However it was the first time I spectated an event that didn’t involve working any water stations. Prior to Surf City 2011, I had volunteered numerous times at water stations for the local fun run and even the Master Elites didn’t inspire me to run. They also never wanted my water but that’s not the point.

I drove NikeC down to Huntington Beach to run Surf City back in 2011. I remember standing on a corner with her aunt and now uncle and watching all the runners run past feeling a little lazy. I thought to myself- I can do this. So I started training (sort of) for my first half and ran a local one a few months later.

It took me years to get myself back to Surf City. I ran it for the first time in 2015 and then again in 2016. Now, full disclosure, I love Surf City but it doesn’t love me. The course is fairly flat and the humidity runs pretty high. To some that is PR ready and the first two times I ran it, I attempted to run it fast and my lungs pitched a fit by mile 8ish. This has always colored my view of the later miles which bites because you run along PCH and the beach is right next to you!

Which is why I am looking forward to going back in 2019! Time to live it up!

So this time, I plan to have no plan. Well, that’s not true. I still remember the really good breakfast place we all went to after NikeC’s race years ago so I want to run the race leisurely, enjoy the party atmosphere, the beach and then walk all over until I find it again! #goals

Want to join me? Use code SCMBR10 to save 10%!

Ever run Surf City?

The Unexpected- Monterey Bay Half Marathon

When I last left you, I had just received the email that had changed the course of my weekend.

If you are unaware- California is currently on fire, North and South of me; the largest of the fires currently being the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire. Thoughts and prayers to all the victims and first responders. I knew Woolsey was sending smoke our way but I admit I am bad about geography or maybe I was just naively hopeful when it came to the Camp Fire and Monterey Bay.

When the wind shifts, it shifts, which is what happened on Saturday. As a person with asthma who has been known to do stupid things (you’ve read about them here) I appreciate BSIM Events making the tough and smart decision for the safety of not only the runners but the volunteers and everyone else involved on race day.

Within an hour, I had more emails regarding the race cancellation. For those doing race day bib pick up, runners could still do so for their shirts and bibs at the predetermined location. Medals would be given out to runners at the finish line festival starting at 7 if runners in the area wanted to come pick them up. The beer tent was already up so it would start serving beer at 8AM. You couldn’t run, but you could have a little fun.

I live 2+ hours away and one of the reasons I was doing race day pickup was because I was going to have the dog with me. My mom was going to hang with her during the race but I wasn’t going to drag either of them 4+ hours just to pick up a shirt. I felt a little weird picking up a medal for miles that I hadn’t put in but I appreciated the offer.

Then I got an email this week with more post race information. I have to say that I am really impressed with how BSIM Events is handling this cancellation-

And it got better-

I loved this race before for the views, the organization and the on course support but the organizers themselves are class acts- I’ve run Monterey Bay, the Big Sur Marathon and Salinas Valley Half and loved them all.

Race day may not have gone according to anyone’s plan but I will be back one day. I waited 3 years, I can wait a little longer, it’s worth it.

Ever had your race canceled?