Category: chill out

Operation Run- Race Recap

First off, thanks to everyone and the well wishes. It was a great way to go into a race!

Today I took part in the first annual Operation Run, an 8 mile run put on by Amazing Surf Adventures and their Operation Surf. I thought I had seen this run advertised last year, but I guess I made that up in my head, oops! First time races normally make me a little leery but there were no fears here. Check in was quick as no bibs were handed out. Turns out the county has restrictions on “races” that may not apply to “fun runs”. Who knew? The start finish line was in a Gymnastics center parking lot. There was also a huge American Flag on display-

The announcer was amusing with the right touch of snark. Love it! He was with Operation Surf and he handed the mike over to another man, wearing a Boston jacket from 2012! ( nerd moment). He described the course, basically an 8 mile rectangle, watch out for traffic as no roads were closed. He also mentioned that end of the race would involve zig-zagging though the parking lot? Why, because he knew that if us runners showed up for an 8 mile race, we would be very upset if it came in under 8. So true! There were 2 aid stations along the course and Grizzlies monitoring every intersection. Shirts and medals were handed out after crossing the finish line. Official race times are supposed be online soon. All in all, it was a very smoothly run race, especially considering it was the first year! And the race shirt was great, even if it ran a little small-

It was 34 degrees when I left my house this morning so I dressed in capris and a long sleeve shirt. I also had my gloves and an ear warmer. I had a bottle with Gatorade and a few candy corns for fuel. This would be my first 8 mile race, so I was trying to be prepared. It never hurts to be a little extra prepared. I got Mr. Nike going and then paused it for the National Anthem and the short walk to the start line. And then we were off! The guy in front of me and I almost plowed right into a photographer who thought it would be a good idea to take pictures from inside the crowd. No!!!

Miles 1-2.5 were a long slow incline. I was hot about .5 miles in, oops. Coming up on mile 1, I was sucker punched by Mr. Nike. His voice comes and says “mile 1” ok good so far, then “20:32 minutes”. Umm what?! Guess when I thought I had paused it, I didn’t. WTF. Well that is not the way that you want to start off a race. I had no idea what my first mile was and my average pace was just a guess from then on, based on the overall time. Plus the distance was slightly off due to that little walk to the start line. Ugh, every time Nike would give a status update, I just became irritated. But I ran on.

Mile 1-3 seemed pretty good, warm but good. I was tired but thought I had a decent pace. Had to lose the over shirt by mile 3 and didn’t want to walk so I managed to get it off while running, very awkward. 🙂 After mile 2 we were off the main road and running the back roads in between wineries. It was very pretty today, I should be used to it, seeing as I live in wine country, but today seemed prettier. The first aid station was run by ROTC members, nice!

I rounded the corner for mile 3 and I was tired. I felt like my crappy week had caught up to me. Mile 4.5 was uphill and I caved. I had to take a walk break. I was frustrated because I had run 10 miles of my half before needing a break. I walked to the top and told myself I was running the rest, and I was going to do it faster. I think the slight downhill had affected my judgment. But I kept running.

At mile 6, I was bummed that this wasn’t a 10K. I had 2 miles to go. I was tired and cranky but just kept pushing. Ran passed the Grizzlies with their great signs and kept going. Mile 7-8 was the longest mile ever, I hit the parking lot and really wanted to say screw it to the zig zag, I’m ok with 7.7. But somehow, I had enough in me for an actually speedy finish. I managed to pass up one of the people I had been pacing for that last 5 miles. Woo hoo!!! Even though Nike was all jacked up, I feel fairly confident in saying that I ran a negative split!!! How unlike me.

After filling out the finishing card, I finished 52 out of ?, and picking up my shirt and medal, I tracked down the woman I had passed. I didn’t want to wait for the times to go up, I wanted some idea of my time and I figured she finished nearest to me. She came in at 1:17:11. Seriously? Hell yeah! Now I just want to see the posted times to confirm it. Also the medal and race bag were awesome.

It was a tiring race, not course wise, mostly just me, but I felt like I pushed through it. Plus it was a well-organized race for a good cause, our veterans. There were some amputee runners out there today and I was inspired by their perseverance and bravery.

I completed the day with a good lunch and a little shopping. I then headed home for a last bit of Slacker-ness before work tomorrow. Shout out to mom and her race photography skills- Thanks!

The race photographer and I- I suck at selfies :) — The race photographer and I-
I suck at selfies 🙂

Anyone else enjoy a three day weekend?

How are we halfway through November already?

Bad Math

Happy All Hallows Eve Eve?

I started to feel icky Sunday evening and Monday morning was no better. I had to drag myself out of bed in order to get ready for work. I still packed all my running gear though. I was so lying to myself!!! It was overcast and wet while I drove to work, but no rain. 5 hours later, the skies opened up and dumped; rain!!!!!! Nowhere near enough to affect the drought but it was awesome to see. I was also surprised at how quickly the street outside flooded. An added bonus was that I finally decided to not run. I figured rain plus feeling crappy did not make a good combo. So I drove home, made it to the comfy chair and crashed.

Tuesday morning, I was just as tired. I was not feeling like an evening of volleyball. However I knew we were down 2 players so I dragged myself there. I always wear shorts and knee socks to play volleyball, but this night, I figured I would try capris and maybe stay a little warmer. Never again! I don’t care how damn cold it is, I am wearing my shorts. My kneepads were pulling down my pants, and my pants were trying to take my damn underwear with them. I was terrified I was going to flash some poor person. Add the constant pant pulling up and my lack of enthusiasm, being down 2 people and it did not make for a good night. We lost both games. I just wanted to sleep. 😦

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN

With the time change coming on Sunday, I know that I will be unable to run outside after work next week. The roads are too narrow in the town where I work, and the lake park has just a few too many transients to feel safe running in the dark. So it will be the start of treadmill evenings for me. Boo!!!! Today I was still tired and cranky but I hit the lake path after work for a very short 2.5 miles. It had been a few days since I had run so I aimed for short and sweet. As it was, I made it back to my car in full twilight. I may have done another lap had it been lighter. My legs felt tired and stiff but the run felt good. It was colder than I planned, my ears were freezing!

I headed home so I could put some things together for tomorrow’s Halloween costume and potluck. I am finishing my evening by watching Nova’s Marathon Challenge. Hoping for some motivation to fight this lethargic-ness I have been feeling.

Anyone have any plans for Halloween?

Sun and scarecrows

I managed to get in a run on Thursday before heading to school for my exam. Oops, sorry mixer!!! I’ll go next month- it’ll be too dark to run then 😦

I wanted to take it a little easy, so I set Mr. Nike for a 3 mile run. I love the distance mode. He comes on and tells you at the halfway point, great way when to know to turn around. Otherwise I get distracted and just keep running. Which if it wasn’t my first run after my half or if I didn’t have an exam that I should have been studying for, that wouldn’t have been a bad thing. 🙂

The halfway point is just inside the state park, I barely get to breathe in the Eucalyptus before I had to head back. I take a slight detour on the way back just to see this-

Bonus, the weather was amazing! 70 and shining sun! Usually by this time of evening the marine layer rolls in and it’s just gray. All in all, finished a nice 5k when I made it back to my car. And I averaged a 9:46 pace, fine by me.

Since I work 3 of the upcoming 4 Saturdays, I admit to a little whining. But I have an awesome boss, so I got a few extra hours to sleep in on Friday. I have been so tired; I just wanted some time with a few less alarms. Yeah, I set 5 daily. Usually sleep through the first 2 and snooze the rest repeatedly. While a better person may have snuck in a Friday morning run, I am a Slacker. I chose to sleep. It was so nice. Then I headed into work, picking up a birthday cake along the way for the afore mentioned awesome boss. I really need to stop eating junk. This has been a very indulgent week.

This morning’s commute actually wasn’t that foggy! As I drove into town, I tried to take a few pictures. This town has an annual Scarecrow festival that I never knew about. Last time I worked there, the fog was so heavy and zombie like, then creatures were just popping out the mist. WTF? The first 2 scared the crap out of me before I figured it out. This time, I was prepared and snapped a few pictures along the way. Yes, I should have gotten out of the car, but I am lazy.

I really did plan to run today but the Slacker in me finally beat out the twitchy feet. After work and lunch and errands, I was tired and lazy. No lies, I was just a Slacker. Tomorrow, I get back on track. Literally- track Sunday!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I love the track. It’s supposed to be over 90, but hey, soon I will be complaining that it will too cold, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Today wasn’t totally running free, I did finish my scrapbook page for my City to the Sea bib. Yes, I keep a scrapbook of all my bibs. Cheesy but I love it. Wish they made better embellishments though.

To anyone who ran or raced today, you’re awesome!!!!

Anyone’s towns have any interesting Harvest traditions?

And another one…

A little email alert told me that City to the Sea photos were ready. Yikes!!! I was really hoping for a good one this time 😦 Below is the least scary one, well, they were all pretty bad. And what is with my damn ponytail?! It is bouncing around like a dang cheerleader in every picture.

This morning, when I checked Facebook, I saw a familiar sight. Run The Edge had posted the following picture-

Photo: No political agenda here. Just a funny sign and a shout out to all those runners who still believe that they are slow or "no good." You guys are running and that is all that matters!Poster seen on From Fat To Finish Line - the documentary

That’s my race! That is the same girl and the poster I was talking about during the race. That was the halfway point, leading up to the overpass, the bridge in the background. Not sure how it got to their attention, but woo hoo for a little local shout out! And if you have never checked out their site, you should! I am currently reading their book, too.

Didn’t get in a run today 😦 but enjoyed lots of yummy homemade Beef Stroganoff and birthday cake with the family. Happy birthday brother! Have to figure out how to run that off tomorrow!!

In the home stretch…

The final countdown has begun!!!

I am torn between being super excited and freaking out. It happens before every big race, that feeling of “oh what have I taken on?”. But I can’t wait! Due to the previously mentioned dream, I may be setting 6 alarms but I am still excited!

Judging from what I have been reading on everyone’s blogs, I am not the only one with a big race this Sunday! So it looks like October 13 is a good day to race. Good luck to everyone who is running! Bring it on! 🙂

Tuesday was volleyball night and we won! Ok, only one match, but that is better than none! I still haven’t picked up new volleyball shoes but I managed to get last season’s shoes workable. They had been turned in gardening shoes, oops! So a little water to rinse them off and a borrowed pocket knife and I had some traction; no more slipping and sliding all over the floor. We won our first match in 2 games and had a little down time before the second. The thing that frustrates me about the team is that when we lose, we aren’t being beaten. We are making unforced errors that cost us too many points. We have the skill but we just can’t seem to close. Guess that provides the justification for our team name of “Aimless”.

Today, I thought I was going to have to drop my 2^nd work school course but a last minute change yesterday meant school was back on. I do not understand why it takes me 30 minutes to go 17 miles. From one town to another and 10 of those miles are highway! And I do not drive slowly. Class ran late but that was ok as I like to space out my runs during race week. 2 days between each run, so, I ran Monday and I will get in some miles tomorrow, then race day on Sunday!!!! 🙂

I may try to do an easy 2 either on the treadmill or at the track on Saturday, but not likely. I plan to drive down and pick up my race packet and shirt and do a bit of shopping that day. I would rather spend the gas money and go down twice than have to stress about picking the packet up on race day. Plus I am kind of OCD and I like to get all my gear together the night before. This way I don’t have to think about it race morning. I can worry about other things.

Like how crappy race photos turn out! The race photographer sent an email tonight saying there will be 7 photographers on the course along with 2-3 people filming. Great, more cranky looking pictures. Like this one from the 10K I just ran-

And seriously what kind of lens does he use? Everyone looks very stout, even the tallest skinniest of people. Oh and the course? It was flat, like pancake flat-

Where did those slopes come from?
(Photos by Brian P Lawler)

So here’s to hoping this next photographer uses different filters and I get one I may actually want to pay for.

Hope everyone made it through Wednesday and is having a good week!!

Anyone else with OCD tendencies?