I was definitely leaning one way but Monday was rougher than I let on in my last post. I knew that if I chose Pozo I would probably push harder than I should right now. Between the flat course and fast crowd plus my own desire to beat my last official PR (27:54) I may have had troubles reigning it in like I should. I’m not saying that I’m still not going to try to push it but now I have some hills to temper my inner (wannabe) speed demon. Ha! Plus I have a half marathon next Saturday that I want to try and be as ready for as possible. Did I mention it’s on my birthday? 33 and 13 miles.
Yesterday, NikeC and I met up at the gym again to workout. After 3 miles on the treadmill, it was time for the circuit room again. I feel like I was more consistent this time around. Well except for the step things, I still can’t remember step aerobics. 🙂 Turns out the 90 I thought NikeC was lifting (pushing?) on the first machine last week was 110. I’m so weak! I had to drop it back to 50. We weren’t able to complete the whole circuit because once again people had troubles following 1-20. Come on people!
Then we moved on to the hip abduction things. I learned that those machines can turn pretty creepy when there is an older, leering man dressed in street clothes using one. Ewww. Luckily he left fairly quickly. But I will say that I am glad there are no mirrors in that little area. Those motions are a little awkward in public. 🙂 After that I goofed around on ab coaster. They are harder than they look! Plus kind of fun in a silly way. NikeC tried one too. And holy crap, my abs feel sore today!
Can you tell what distance I am running?
I picked up my race packet tonight on my way home. It was simple and easy at the gym. It has the weirdest bunch of food samples in it. Even a pancake mix. Also, there was a map of the course and I realized that it’s a bit hillier than I would have liked, dang. Oh well, it should be fun. I am looking forward to racing tomorrow. I am aiming to maintain my recent times around 28:00. Yes a PR would be awesome, but we’ll see. 🙂
Before we move on to the main event, this happened on Thursday and I almost missed it!
If you want to read my very first newbie post, you can here.
I am a person who likes to register as close to race date as possible. That way I know that I am going to follow though and not just throw my money away. Yes, 90% of the races I run benefit some form of charity but still I like to actually run them. This time I have left it even later than normal so I am calling on you to help me out. 🙂
I have 2 options for a 5k on July 4th-
**Neither race offers finisher medals and I have left it so late that I doubt I will get a shirt either, but both do benefit a charity.
Touted as a flat and picturesque out and back course, this is its 22nd year. It also has the steeper price and farthest drive. Small field about 200 runners. It offers raffles prizes and breakfast. Packets have to be picked up on race day. It benefits a local charity that helps family with sick or injured children.
I had originally planned on trying for a PR at this race but I don’t feel like I am in the shape to do so. According to last years race results, the slowest time was 40 minutes. Slowest. Fastest was 14 minutes. Well crap, I don’t want to embarrass myself. Yes, that’s my ego talking.
Somewhat flat and only 15 minutes away. Less expensive but not by much. Again, small field. This race benefits the local zoo. Which I run past every time I run at the lake path. Added bonus- part of this race is on the lake path so I am familiar with it. This offers packet pick up the day before, which is nice.
Downside to this is that is put on by a local gym. Why does this make me nervous? I have run 2 races put on by them in years past and was less than impressed with the organization. However that was years ago and a different location. They could be better now. I feel like this is more my speed right now but feel like I am wimping out of the other. In a completely girly, unimportant way, I have the perfect shirt to wear for this race. 🙂
So help me choose! I have to register by tomorrow for Pozo but have a little time for the Wild Run.
This morning was the 2nd annual Bands on the Run. I passed on it last year, for some reason that I cannot remember, so I was looking forward to it this year. The premise is a 5K/10K/half marathon run mostly on the beach with music along the way. I had originally planned on running the half but made the smart decision to run the 10K. I was tired when I made the decision a few weeks ago and May truly kicked my butt. As I mentioned in my last post, I felt completely unprepared for today’s race. To compound matters, I broke one of my own rules last night and ate pizza for dinner and I mean I ate pizza. Bad move! Never before a race!
I picked up my packet yesterday and other than not being sure where to go, it was a breeze. They had everything ready to go and packaged, even the safety pins. As I got ready this morning, I felt predictably a little ill- my own fault- but I was trying to pump myself up. So out came the bright green and pink compression socks. The shorts I had wanted to wear were dirty-oops- so I randomly chose another pair. I was flying solo this race, so I had an available passenger seat. They make a great staging area. Please tell me someone else has done this?
Did I think I was running a marathon?
After I arrived and parked, I was using the extra time to apply a little body glide. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and a runner was getting something out of his passenger seat right next to me. A little awkward but we’re all runners right? He then sat on the curb to work on his feet and asked which race I was doing. Me, being my usual smart ass self said that I was lazy and running the 10k. Then he told me he was running the 10K, too. Open mouth, insert foot. 😦 I then slunk off to the starting line in shame. Fail!
no talent for an action shot during the race but how about one while I walk?
I knew that the chances of this being a PR race were slim to nil but I went in with 2 goals. Of course the first, the impossible goal was to PR. That would have meant 55:00 and below. The second more realistic goal was to finish under an hour. There were the usual pre-race announcements and a little music played and then it was go time. The 10K and the half started at 8:30. Somehow, I found myself near the front of the pack. Oops.
The race course started in the football stadium of a nearby high school before heading out to the beach. We crossed the starting line and ran about a 1/3 of the track before heading towards the parking lot. From there it was onto a side path that turned into a trail through a tunnel of cypress trees. 3/4 of a mile in, we hit the first band- the high school drum line. I admit I love drum lines so it was cool running through them. Then was the first patch of soft sand. Ugh. It was only about 150 yards so I ran slowly through it. However to get to the beach, you had to go through the dunes. I tried to run, I really did but I just kept sinking, so finally I starting walking and tried to flat foot it across. I had so much sand in shoes. After finally making it to the hard pack, we had 2 miles out and 2 miles back. This is also where the 5K runners went right and the 10K and half runners went left. As we split up we were serenaded by hula dancers. That’s not the right word, but what would it be?
I love running on the hard pack, but I just could not seem to pick up the pace. I was getting frustrated with myself. Mile 2 ran us past 2 guys with guitars. Coming up on mile 3, I still hadn’t seen the leaders pass me on the way back so I was trying to tell myself I could pick up the pace. Then they passed. I think there was a band of some sort at the turn around but I can’t remember. 😦 Turning around I was still kind of cranky but soon had to snap out of it. This was the friendliest race I have run. Everyone was smiling and waving to each other and shouting out props as the runners ran back to the start. How can you be cranky with that? Plus there was this-
I was tiring on the way back and I knew I still had the dunes to go across again. Dune sand sucks. Literally and figuratively. It pulls your feet down and leaves you with sand in shoes as a parting gift. Once again, I walked most of it. I felt goal B slipping away around mile 5 and I became irritated with myself again. I pushed on back through the cypress tunnel and the side path and I was finally back at the school. I took a short walk break before rounding the corner to the football field and running the last 2/3 of the track to the finish line. I honestly hadn’t been paying attention to my watch other than mile splits, so when I rounded the track to the finish line I saw that the clock said 59:00. Seriously?! Run!!! I hauled butt down to the line. Official time- 59:28.
Can you see me?
I walked a bit of the track cooling down before heading to the grass to stretch out. I also wanted to lose the 5 pounds of sand in my shoes. While I was dumping the shoe sand into the trash, a guy came up and asked what time I had finished in. Apparently he had used me to pace himself through the race. Really? That’s a first. I think my socks made me easy to spot. 🙂 I was thinking about my time while stretching and I think this is my second slowest 10K. 🙂 I headed over to check the race stats just to see before heading home. Ummm, what? I placed 2nd in my age group. Sweet! I hung around a little longer before heading home. The wind was picking up and I was a little chilled.
A few things I loved about this race- the volunteers all wore shirts that said “I’m with the Band”. Any spot in the trail sections that might trip you up, a branch, a root, a rock, etc. was spray painted fluorescent orange. Thanks for looking out! The drum line- seriously, I got to run through it twice. The start was well organized and the volunteers very helpful. The giant timing clock rocked-
There was an official clock too.
I’ve had time to think about it and I could have run faster. I know I said I felt like I couldn’t but I felt fine after the race, a little too fine. There was more left in the tank, I just need to utilize it better. The difference between me and the woman who placed first in our age group was less than 2 minutes. It is ok to get a little winded in a race, I think I forgot about that.
Overall, goal 2 was accomplished and it was a good race. The weather was great and the course amazing. It will definitely be on my list of races to run again.
The course was amazingly pretty. The sun was shining and I really wished I had a better camera than my iPhone in a plastic bag. There was one spot where the hills and roads lined up perfectly enough that I could see almost 2 miles of road- full of runners. I tried to get a picture but its hard to snap while running. 🙂
Mile 4 ish?
There were plenty of water stations stocked with water and sports drink. Miles 1-10 were all street and miles 10-12 were on a paved bike path running along the railroad tracks before returning to the street. A little before mile 7, there was even a Cliff Shot zone. There was a big inflatable and tables lined with numerous kinds of Cliff Shots. The only bummer was that I had forgotten about the shot zone on the map so when I could see the inflatable in the distance, I thought it was half marathon turn around. Oops. There was a “cheer zone” filled with people, and live local bands scattered around the course. Around mile 12.5, we ran passed some type of conga drum line which was really cool.
The home stretch
The road leading to the finish line was lined with people and flags with plenty of cheering and cowbells. After being given our medals, we were able to pose for Finisher pictures. The recovery food consisted of bananas, a protein bar, English muffin, small bag of pretzels and a small Jamba Juice. I took one of everything but the bananas (blech) but only managed to eat a small part of the muffin and the Jamba Juice. There was a recovery tent with rollers and ice, and results could be checked in the TekCafe. The awards ceremony started at 10:00 for the elites. Crap, they are fast. About 1:55 into my half, the guy leading the marathon comes ripping past me. It almost looked like his bike escort was having a tough time keeping up with him. There were also awards for the challenged athletes, the military division, and age group awards.
Elite MalesElite Females
With all that being said, today was not my day. I slept so poorly last night. I tossed and turned, felt like my sheets were itchy and was warring between having a headache because I didn’t think I had hydrated enough and having to run to the bathroom every hour because I had drank too much. My alarm went off and before getting up I checked the Twitter feed for the race. The people that had to be bussed to the starting line were already getting on their buses and I was just waking up. You’d think I’d feel better with that extra sleep, but nope. If anything I felt super nauseous. I skipped the antibiotics this morning because I didn’t want to aggravate that. Loaded up the car and my mom and I were on the way. She was able to drop me off about 3 blocks from the start line just as the marathoners were starting.
Once getting to the start line, I met up with another SLO Ambassador-Heather- and we chatted while waiting to line up in the corrals. I was about 5 people behind the 2:00 pacer as we walked to the starting line. And then we were off.
I lost the 2:00 pacer before the first turn. Well crap. My first mile was a 9:00 mile and I still could not see them. I just kept pushing. I started to get hot so I ripped off my ear warmer headband. I thought about tossing it but ending up running with it in my hand for the rest of the way. There was a small incline up to mile 2 but nothing much, leading up to 3 is where the real hills started. I drove it yesterday so I knew it was coming, I told myself I was running the whole thing. As I was getting to the top, I was thinking that it seemed so much easier than I had thought. Yeah, I wasn’t at the top, it was just like a staircase with landings, I was only 1/3 of the way up. But I managed to run the whole damn hill. Then we were leaving the city streets for the rural area. And more hills. But the view was amazing!
Plastic bags make interesting filters
I was somehow managing to not pay too much attention to my watch and was running on effort. That may have been a bad idea. Rounding a corner, it was time to run through the cheer zone before once more going up. I really needed that; I was tired. I ran up until just before mile 7 when I had to take a walk break going up a hill. I told myself one was fine but I was fading. Hit the turn around 7.5 miles. Which meant I was almost at 8. I love mile 8. To me, mile 8 means that no matter what I am finishing that race and there are more miles behind me than in front of me. I checked my watch- 8 miles in 1:20. 6 minutes slower than mile 8 at my last half. I felt like I was pushing so much harder than that, I got a little emotional. Or a lot, I sent a whiny text to my mom about how I was so not breaking 2.
From then on it was like my brain had to admit what my body had been unsuccessfully trying to tell me. It was like it was saying-” I let you run 7 miles straight, but you’re tired and on antibiotics, so slow your roll, you were supposed to take it easy”. Waah. I lost count of how many walk breaks I took over the next 5 miles. I just kept plugging along. Coming up towards mile 12 was a little surprise. If my brain had been processing a little better I should have taken a picture. We had to cross a footbridge to get across the train tracks. But the bridge was built like a parking garage, with 3 levels from the ground to the top, it actually looked really cool with runners on it. I ran the levels going up but had to slow down on the actual bridge. When I did I almost thought I was going to fall; at first I thought I was either more tired than I thought or we were having an earthquake. Then the woman next to me squealed. No earthquake just an extremely bouncy concrete bridge. Concrete should not move like that. We both booked it across after that.
Hills
I walked a lot of mile 12. This is also where the speedy marathoners were starting to streak by. Then I was in the home stretch, just under the freeway overpass and up a little baby hill, then it was down hill to the finish. Yeah, I walked right up to the top of that little hill. According to my Garmin, I still had shot to come in under 2:10 so I flew down that finish line. Well I tried to at least. This was also the most crowded finish line I have run across. I crossed the line and stopped the Garmin. I collected my medal, took my finisher shot and then looked at my watch- 2:10:14. So much for flying. I was still hopeful that my chip time would be a little faster. I then tried to find my mom. It was crowded!
We finally met up and I munched on a bit of the recovery food. She took a few pictures as well. I waited to see Heather who was coming out of the food tent. She ran an awesome race and PR’d today. The wind was picking up so we headed back to the car to get my jacket and drop off some of my stuff. On the way there, I realized that the headband I had run almost 10 miles holding was nowhere to be seen. I don’t recall ever dropping it but I can’t remember when I last had it! It was the only all black one I had. 😦
I swear I was trying to smile not smirk
After getting my jacket, we hung out a bit longer. Saw Lisa from Runner in Training cross the finish line- another PR! Watched most of the awards ceremony. I almost had a meltdown when I checked my time in the tech cafe. There were screens set up in the cafe that showed 2 tagboard websites and multiple laptops where you could type in your bib number and get your results. My results showed 2:11:14?!!? While I was spazzing about that waiting to see Lisa finish, her husband pointed out that that could be the gun time and the more official results would be posted later. Oh yeah, gun time, where was my brain?
So warm and comfy
After a quick lunch at Chipotle, we headed home. It was barely 12:00 but both my mother and I were exhausted. I was a little cold so I made myself comfortable on their deck in a chaise. Feet up, compression socks, a bottle of Nuun and my iPad and I was good. By then my phone had died but I still wanted to post some things. Great plan but I fell asleep instead. It was a nice little siesta. 🙂 I awoke to find that I had given myself a new interesting runners tan/ burn and check the official results. Once I figured out how to read it, it was little better. This is the first time that I have ever had an official time that is slower than what my Garmin says. Has that happened to anyone else?
This was a tough one. There were a lot of hills. That also seemed to a be a popular theme in everyone’s social media posts. Thanks tagboard.com (#raceslo), you made me feel better. Even with it feeling hard, there was never a moment that I felt I wasn’t going to finish. I knew I was crossing that line, it was just going to be slower than hoped for. I managed to keep my average pace under 10:00 so I’ll take it! And I finished in the first 1000 runners!!! This race was hard but amazing and I can’t wait to run it again next year. Those hills don’t get the last word!
Firehouse 5K offers packet pickup at the firehouse the night before and it was a breeze. My only hesitation came when I saw the sign for an Easter Eggstravaganza being held in the nearby park on the same day. I asked what time that started because I was concerned that it would affect parking. It didn’t start until 10 so no worries there!
Right after this pic, the truck behind me pulled out with lights flashing!
I had laid everything out the night before but right before leaving the house in the morning, I grabbed a long sleeve layer. It was foggy and a little bit cold but I was hoping it would warm up. The plan was to head out with my mom and the puppy. Since it was so close, my dad and brother were thinking about following later. Once we arrived it was still foggy and I figured that since my lungs have become babies who don’t like weather below 50, I put on my long sleeve layer. I also used the inhaler again before heading to the start line. I have had 3 rough races this year for a variety of reasons and I didn’t want this one to be the same.
Fellow Ambassador!!!
I managed to snag the same parking spot as last year so it was about a block and 1/2 to the start line. As we were walking up, I heard my name being called. Huh? Looking to my right, I saw a couple walking up. It was another SLO Marathon Ambassador! It was Lisa from Runner In Training! Both she and her husband were running too. It was great getting to meet another ambassador 🙂
Can you see the singer all way up there?
The start time had been pushed back to 8:45 for some reason but there was a group warm-up put on by a local sports therapy group. Then the usual pre-race announcements, followed by the national anthem. I love how they display the flag at this race, and the singer gets to sing the anthem from the top of the big truck! I’m kind of jealous. With a blare of the truck horn, we were off!
A little under 1/2 a mile is on streets up to the trail, then it’s about 200 yards until we start climbing. This is where it gets tricky. All of the trail section is single track. 2 miles of the race is trail, which means 2 miles is single track. Which for the last mile is ok because the crowd had thinned out. However, the initial, biggest climb was a crawl. At one point, I was stuck behind 6 people walking. The short length of the switchbacks made it hard to try and pass people. I managed to get past a few but not all. We were so on top of each other that I could have smacked the firefighter in front of me on the backside. ( I didn’t!)
so close to finish!!!
After finally getting to the top, I was able to get around some people. It also leveled out briefly so I picked up the pace a bit. Then we hit our first downhill. We went down a different way than we came up, so the downhill was shorter than the uphill. The trail is shale-like, with some bigger rocks and divets, so you had to watch where you were putting your feet. I tend to have kamikaze tendencies when running downhill on trails, and I have fallen before. I skidded out once but managed to reign it in. Then there was another uphill. This one was small but I was already tired from the mountain. It also bottle necked again. Then it was down hill back to the street. Kamikaze me came back and I a hit a 6 minute pace for the entire downhill. Then it was back to the street and across the bridge to the finish line. I crossed the line and stopped my watch. Final time- 32:59. Really? Yes, it was faster than last year but only by 32 seconds.
I really felt like I was running faster than that. The only thing I can think is that I probably walked close to a mile of it, between the climb and the bottleneck. And even me running downhill like a crazy person couldn’t make that time back up. It was hard to go off my Garmin because it never matched up with their mile markers. All I really used it for was current pace. I have to admit that maybe it’s just that this race kicks my ass.
The brother
This is a smaller race, only 3 years old, but it has been impressively organized each time I have run it. The course is well marked and any time there was a trail split, there was always a volunteer directing which way to go. There was only one water station but that more due to land constraints than poor planning. There is also a small health fair. The crowd was smaller than last year but there was a conflicting race in a nearby town that accounted for that. The other race is a very popular 10k that draws thousands every year. It really was too bad that they both fell on the same day.
She’s in front of the camera!
My family was at the finish line which was cool. We took advantage of some photo opportunities. And in keeping with last year’s failed selfie, I have a new one to add to the collection. I tried to get a photo with my brother and he ducked. So my dad photo bombed again-
selfie fail!
Today my legs are feeling the results of my crazy down hill running. That probably wasn’t the best idea the week before a half marathon, but it was a fun race. Maybe I will try again next year. 🙂 Running another 5 miles yesterday didn’t help either. 🙂 But the pizza reward for lunch was amazing!
Slacker Runner 