Category: Run!

Tent City Half Marathon Recap

This may be the latest I’ve ever finished a race recap.

I’ve been talking about half marathon #30 since October but never made it work, finally I stopped talking and just signed up for a race the same day my training plan called for 19 miles. I figured 13 supported miles with other runners followed by 6 solo miles was better than 19 lonely miles.

Tent City is in it’s first year and that generally makes me leery of races. It offered a full, half, 10k, 5k and None run. Packet pick up was a sure sign that it was a first time, small town race- a folding table next to an open van with the shirts and numbers. Did I mention it was in front of a creepy abandoned building?😜

Ok, maybe not so abandoned. The race was a fundraiser for the Printery Foundation which is working to restore the Printery building which is over 100 years old. But until then I think it looks kind of haunted. Call the Winchester brothers. Did I mention this was also the start line? In the dark.

The race started at the crack of dawn in the cold and dark. Seriously, the sun hadn’t risen and it was 34*. Dude, what??? I had my fleece vest from the week before and debated wearing it, I mean 13 miles…I’d warm up right??? I stayed in the car until the last possible moment before heading to the start line to find a port-a-pottie. Luckily I had thought ahead and brought a Knuckle Light with me as the bathrooms were completely dark. I was so cold. Luckily, the announcer said a few words, the National Anthem was sung and we were off.

Miles 1-3 10:16, 10:46, 12:04 I wasn’t planning on racing this- it was more a training run so I was going to happy with anything around 2:24-2:30 overall. The first mile looped us around numerous downtown city blocks before heading out onto the highway out of town. I was kind of surprised when I figured out what highway we were on, we were running on the closed shoulder while the lanes were open. We crossed a bridge and I was wondering where the first mile marker was. Checked my watch and saw that we were past a mile so I figured I missed it. But I never saw mile 2 or mile 3… ok, so there are no mile markers. Ummm? I was feeling an odd tingling in my backside during mile 3- it was more that I felt like the zipper to the pocket on my pants was super cold- almost too cold but I ignored it and it went away. Probably shouldn’t have.

Miles 4-7 11:37, 10:43, 12:22, 11:52 I was slowing for no apparent reason but the reality is that I actually had no idea. I was trying not to pay attention to my watch as this was a training run. I had to look at it occasionally as the lack of mile markers was actually frustrating. I wanted some idea of where I was. Plus the course was an out and back so I knew the turn around had to come at some point but it seemed too far out. I was enjoying the scenery of the back road we were now on but once again, it wasn’t the best road for runners. We now had an entire lane to ourselves but drivers tend to treat this road like a speedway and they weren’t slowing even with the cones. They were down to one lane and buzzing around us upwards of 40mph.

Miles 8-11 11:56, 12:07, 12:20, 12:27 The turn around! Yay! And I had finally realized that I was moving slower than I thought I was. What was going on? Wait, I can’t feel my butt! Or my quads and thighs really. What the hell? How long had I been numb? Seriously? Like I smacked myself in the butt and couldn’t feel it. So I tried it again, same thing. I couldn’t really feel the effort my legs were putting in or lack thereof. 🤣 It wasn’t that cold- wth? My fleece vest had kind of frosted over though, haha. There was a person out there in a tank! Apparently I have zero tolerance for the cold these days.

Miles 12-13 11:58, 11:37 Back to the highway and my backside was finally starting to warm up. But only in patches, haha and those sections were just itching. Oh for crying out loud. As we came back into town, I could see the finish line at the park (different than the start) but instead of going straight to it we had to go around the block the long way.

Finish-2:33:51

Not horribly off my long run pace goal and I learned that I really need to practice running in cold weather. Nah. After getting my medal, it was time to join the party in the park. There was yoga, food tents, beer tents, cupcake tents, local businesses and one of those tables with computers that prints your results. I’ve never had one of those! It was barely 9AM, there was no way I was drinking a beer but I wasn’t passing up a free cupcake. 😀

For a first time race, they did a decent job, they have room for improvement but it’s a race I would run again. Just move the dang start time back. And maybe put up a few more road blocks.

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 13

Ok, I lied, you get the training recap before the race recap. Oops.

It’s coming, really! It’s never taken me this long to write a race recap before but maybe that’s because my brain checked out last week. I was so tired and just couldn’t figure out why or seem to catch up on my sleep.

I had wanted to move my 20 miler up a week to this weekend as it just fit my schedule better that way but between some leg issues and the extreme tiredness I was getting the feeling that was probably not a good idea.

Monday- 2.5 miles I planned on a few shake out, easy miles to get my legs loose from the day before. I was aiming for 3-4. My leg had felt ok during the day at work but it quickly let me know that it was not on board with a run. Not at all. I was hoping it would loosen up but instead it steadily grew worse until it felt like the pain was in the bone too which alarmed me so I called it short and just headed back to the car.

Tuesday/ Wednesday- Nada I was giving the leg a few days to see what it would do. Working at my desk makes it very, very angry. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- stand up desks are not all they are cracked up to be.

Thursday- 4.5 miles I headed to lake path as I had a feeling that the dirt path would be more forgiving than pavement or concrete. I started slow and kept it nice and easy. Because spring had suddenly made an appearance and it was 80 degrees at 6 PM, going slow was not an issue. In fact I needed a few walk breaks due to the warmth. However those breaks pointed out that my leg was ok once in motion, it really does not the stops and starts of walk breaks. Which is problematic as I know I will be walking part of this marathon.

Friday- Stupid For some reason I was so freakin’ tired this week… and it was making me stupid. And slap happy. I took a nap on my lunch but it didn’t help. I had a feeling my long run wasn’t happening on Saturday.

Saturday- 2.2 miles I was still super tired and my leg was sore but this was supposed to be longer. But we got a little lost. My mom and headed to do a trail but the one we did a few weeks ago is closed, boo. So instead, we did the Pine Mountain loop. It gains almost 500 feet in the first 1/2 mile or so but the path is fun with a couple of random off shoots. Once we made our way to the top, we took one of the random off shoots thinking it would make the path longer but instead we had climb over and under some downed trees before it deposited us almost in someones front yard and on the highway. Oops!

Sunday- 10 miles My leg was sore and I was still so tired, I pretty much knew that 20 wasn’t going to happen early and I was going to stick to the plan of 12. But when my alarm went off in the morning, my head was pounding, likely due to hormones from that TOM, so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

That had me heading out for my run in the afternoon. It was over 80. I didn’t think it would be that bad. And it wasn’t until mile 5 and then it was all downhill from there. So much walking. I was so damn warm. I had 2 bottles of water in my pack and I drank them both. I even took a few moments iny a lone shady spot to just try and cool off. But no luck. It took me so long, that I ended up only having time for 10 miles before I needed to head back for Easter Dinner.

19.23 miles for the week. Not great but not horrible considering how my leg felt on Monday.

How was your week?

Rambling On 30

Heyo…

I owe you a race recap but I have been so tired this week that my brain just hasn’t been in race recap mode. I keep trying but keep failing. It will be up before this week’s training recap next week. I think. I hope. Maybe. Ha.

Yeah, marathon tiredness has set in. Or I am fighting the bug that seems to be going around work again. Nope, don’t got time for that. Marathon training tiredness it is.

The weather flipped and 80 degrees arrived. I’m not ready but I’m not complaining!!!😎 I ran in a tank top!

It’s spring break around here and I think some people’s brains have gone on vacation. I work in a tourist town and there has been some crazy driving going on. 2 different trucks were driving around with their back trailer doors swinging open. Ummm, hello- stop!!! And stop signs mean stop. But, no do not stop in the middle of the roundabout!

Speaking of the roundabout, we can see it out the windows from work- craziness, just craziness. People get off the highway only to get confused.

I have a lot of miles on tap for the weekend but am concerned how my leg is going to hold up. I’m still having issues with that groin pull issue from a few weeks ago and it’s not making me happy.

How is it already April? How?

What are you doing this weekend?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 12

Last week was better… of sorts.

Mother nature decided to rain fury down upon us last week and try to make up for months of doubt. And yes I meant to spell it like that.

The storm started Tuesday and stayed until Friday morning. There were mudslides, rocks down, trees down, flooding, too many car accidents and just chaos. The damn river (of the river path) rose so fast overnight Wednesday that there ended up being 10 swift water rescues on Thursday. 10! I went to work and I went home, that was it.

I am sure I did other things last week but the rain is the only thing that sticks in my mind besides the running, ha! So let’s just get to it.

Monday- 3.1 miles I tried to get in a few miles before the storm. I don’t recall much about the miles but I pulled some decent paces for miles 2 and 3 looking back so it had to be a decent run, right?😜

Tuesday- Thursday- Nada– See opening above. Unless white knuckled driving counts.

Friday- Rest The sun came out so I took my gear to work to run after we closed. At least that was the plan. I got something in my eye and could not get it out. I tried eye drops, taking out my contacts, nothing worked. I finally gave up and just went straight home.

Saturday- 3.1 miles 5K shakeout, I had lots of miles planned for Sunday and I wanted to get the legs moving after so many days off. This run actually felt pretty dang good. In fact at one point, I felt like I was powering up a hill impressively. Of course I couldn’t see myself, so I have no idea if that was true or not. 🤣

Sunday- Tent City Half Marathon/ 5 miles = 18 miles total Surprise! Half marathon #30 went down on Sunday. At the butt crack of dawn… nope pre-dawn. In the freakin’ cold. Race recap to come. 😀

The plan called for 19 miles so after some food and a nap I headed out in the afternoon to complete another 6 miles. Oh my misery. I don’t think I am built for 2 a days anymore. I liked them during my last marathon cycle- this time not so much. I never found a rhythm or settled into a decent pace. I dragged ass for 5 miles and knew adding another mile would likely do more harm than good so I just headed for home knowing I would fall short. But 18 is nothing to frown at right??

24.4 miles for the week. Better than the last two weeks!!!

How was your week?

Wine Country Run 5K Recap

Having mostly decided the night before that I was actually going to do the smart thing and drop to the 5K, the temps that I saw upon waking on race morning almost made me DNS. 32 with heavy fog?? Say what? What was that all about?? On a good day, that would be rough, the morning after so many days of feeling horrible? I just wanted to burrow under the covers and hide until summer.

But I didn’t. I got up and dressed and headed to the race. I had to get to the race early enough back to bib check in and down grade from the half marathon to the 5k. Never having done that before I didn’t know how it would go- it took maybe 5 minutes. And only that long because the computer network crashed. I then went and hid in my car until the start.

I haven’t “raced” a 5K in so long I can’t even remember and I still didn’t feel good so I wasn’t holding out hope that this was going to work out so well. 😛

Mile 1-9:30 Oops, can’t hold that, least not today. Truth is, I was so damn cold, I felt like I was crawling. The first mile took us on a dirt road back through the vineyard before dumping us out on the street. I wish we could have stayed on the dirt but we were still running past vineyards and at least the roads were mostly closed.

Mile 2- 10:25 My calves/ achilles were tightening up which I kind of expected as it was cold, I was wearing my Altra’s and the miles had been pancake flat. I don’t like flat. We had turned onto a street and were running past a few houses and mini ranch’s. I use that term based more on the horses and goats and chickens than the land size. We ran past the one water station before hitting the turn around and making our way back.

Disclosure- this was taken the day before at packet pickup hence the sun

Mile 3- 10:26 Oh, the tightness. My legs felt so tight. I was surprisingly feeling ok though in both my stomach and the fact it’s been a while since I’ve run without walk breaks. Like I said in a recent post- they’ve become a crutch and that is not what I meant to happen. However I had a choice to make about my calves. My pace had slowed and was showing 11:20 something. I could run on with the tightness or I could stop and stretch it out. I stopped and stretched for 10-15 seconds. It wasn’t enough but it helped. I pushed on back towards the winery. Once I knew I was within 1/4 mile, I pushed play on my Aftershokz with a perfectly cued up song for that finish line push.

Finish- 31:12

Well, hey now, that’s actually way better than I was expecting! And I ran the whole thing! Small victories. 😀 I was nowhere near PR pace and I am fine with that. The fact that I had a finish line push after 4 days of hell is more than enough for me. Though I should probably give some of that credit to Shinedown‘s latest- Devil. It was just the kick in the pants I needed. It also turns out that stopping to stretch was also the right choice.

5K’s are kind of fun… why did I seem to forget about them???