Category: Run!

Kick the Dust Up

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Horizon RTT from Under Armour to review 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!”

Surprisingly enough, dirt and trails are a few of a my favorite things. I say surprisingly because in some ways I am a huge germophobe and if I’m not in running gear, odds are high that I’m in a dress and heels. Get me on a trail though and I turn into a 5 year old and run free. Sometimes a little too free but that’s another story.

When I had the chance to try the Horizon RTT’s from Under Armour, I almost jumped for joy. My current trail shoes were trashed and it had been way too long since I had run recklessly down a mountain. I needed it. Then they arrived and they were so pretty. But hopefully they wouldn’t stay that way for very long, I wanted to get them good and dirty.

Ok, let’s cover the technical details first-

Ok, first impressions.

This is a serious shoe. So much sturdier than my previous trail shoes. How was that going to feel on my feet? Ok, where’s the dirt? 😀 My first run in them was a couple laps around the lake. Not bad, nice traction, good grippy feel, I never felt like I was going to skid out in the loose dirt.

Next adventure- 3 Bridges Preserve, a new trail with a little more zig-zag up than I was expecting. 😛 The shoes felt good, kept me sure footed on the path and helped me explore a little more of what run town has to offer.

Other adventure- An unexpected illness turned a planned Bishop’s Peak hike/run into a calmer ocean trail adventure where I took the shoes over paved paths, hard packed sand, sandy dunes, boardwalk, gravel and roads. No problems at all. And something else I noticed that day? This hike was done with my mother and she had just purchased a new pair of trail shoes that day. Her shoes and socks were full of dune sand when she took them off but mine weren’t!

Overall, I wore the shoes for about 20+ miles of mixed routes and surfaces since I received them. Full disclosure, that unplanned sickness kept me from testing them in my favorite way. My favorite part of trail running is careening wildly down a mountain side in a barely controlled fashion. Yes, people usually look at me like I am crazy but I love it. I need a trail shoe that grips tight so I can run free. Being sidelined kept me from 2 planned mountains. Boo. So as soon as I can run crazily down a mountain, I’ll be back with an add on to this review. And probably a big smile on my face. 😛

That said, I do have some thoughts on the shoe. While the outsole is great for traction, I feel like it is very stiff on your foot. Now maybe I have just become used to a more cushioned shoe lately thanks to my everyday running shoes. I have a tendency for taking the wrong turn on trails and turning a 5 mile run into 9 or 10 and I think more cushion in the sole would be nice. This can also probably be corrected with a good pair of inserts, I’ve just never had any luck with those. We shall see. However I plan on putting in many more miles in these in the months to come. 😀

Want to hear more? Check out these thoughts by other Bibrave Pros-

Tedrick– Lindsey– Jessica– Casey

How do you run on trails?

Week 33- Sidelined

If there is an upside to not running, it’s the fewer loads of laundry you have to do on the weekend.

Gotta find the shiny side, right? Or try to. 😛

So yeah, thanks to the UTI from hell and me not checking about the medication first, last week was super Slacker like. But maybe I needed it? I didn’t really have time to worry about my mysterious groin pain issue as the medication issue forced me to rest anyways.

Work wise, things are a little more under control after this week. I finally managed to get my inbox to 50 ish. Which is still not great but it’s way better than it was. I treat my inbox like a to-do list so the triple digits were starting to get to me. Now if I could just get my piles of paper under control. 😛

So let’s get to the very abbreviated work out week-

Monday- 1.3 miles I felt crap all day but I was trying to ignore it. I’d been living in denial for quite some time. I headed for the lake path to get in some miles but it only took one loop to admit defeat. I had a problem and I likely needed medicine. Grrr.

Tuesday- Rest Made it to the doctor and they confirmed my suspicions and my denial. Ha! Never been so thankful for medicine…until I realized the side effects.

Wednesday- More rest.

Thursday- 3 mile walk I had an appointment with my neurologist so I was home a little earlier than normal. I figured I would try a walk. Walking is not running. I listened to a podcast to try not being so bored but I so wanted to be running.

Friday- Rest Holy crap, I was so sore. What gives- it was only a walk!! And I know I have a hip imbalance but for the most part I can ignore it during and after running. After a little walk, I felt like I was walking crooked!

Saturday/Sunday- Rest I really did think about a trying for a long walk but in the end I just didn’t. I napped a lot which seems to be my MO these days. I have to get a new bed. I just keep waking up in pain and feeling more tired than I did before. I just keep hoping to make it Labor day and hoping that there will good sales. I didn’t exactly plan for this purchase. Grrr.

4.3 miles for the week. Yes, I’m counting those walking miles, they freakin’ hurt me. 😛

Now as for this week, the medication has been completed but the effects linger so I think I am going to do some walking/jogging intervals. Fingers crossed!

How was your week?

Any good running?

Rambling On 13

Happy Friday! Who is ready for the weekend?

Anyone have long run plans?

Sorry for so many questions right away but I need to run vicariously through you guys for a bit. The doc gave me some antibiotics that combined with both my inhalers means I need to take it easy for a bit. Grrrr. My gastro knows to prescribe things that won’t mess with running but my primary doc is a little…um anti running and I was so miserable I didn’t think to ask. Stupid Slacker.

At first I figured it was just the pharmacist being overly dramatic so I mentioned it on Twitter. People responded that it actually happened to them! They had torn tendons while running while taking antibiotics. WTF? It’s real? Ok, I got it, crawling for the foreseeable future.😒

I don’t know if I have a 2 hour “long walk” in me. That just sounds… ugh.

So, perk me up… what are your weekend plans?

Week 32- Ragged

I was so glad that I didn’t have any races to worry about this week.

With all of the conversion craziness and trying to stay somewhat ready for Salinas Valley, I was beginning to feel a little run down. As much as I want to run all the miles to get my numbers back up, I also need to not break myself. And this was my thought process before the stomach flu tore it’s way through the office. So glad I’d already decided to keep things chill this week. 😛

Monday- 3.55 miles I had taken the day off as a vacation day post Salinas with the hope of getting some rest and catching up on some things I woefully behind on. Umm, not so much. But I did make it to the new trail in run town for a few miles up and down. The trail is great, the drive to the parking lot though is ridiculous.

Tuesday- Rest Sticking to any sort of post work schedule has been difficult.

Wednesday- Rest I am sure I did something but I don’t remember what it was. 😛

Thursday- 3.1 miles I had zero desire to run after work. None. The long days were catching up to me. But I changed and started driving towards home. I ended up at the River path and told myself a mile was better than nothing. I started out walking and had a hard time convincing myself to run but eventually I started. I expected the crappiest run ever however I ended up running the smoothest, most consistent miles since marathon training last year. I stopped once when I thought I heard a stray kitten. If you follow me on IG then you might know that I spent a few moments looking for it in the bushes before thinking that this might be a good way for creepers to lure people into the bushes. 😛 Ok, the exhaustion is making me delusional.

Friday- Rest Yay, it’s Friday! It was the first time I worked the late shift without opening too in months. I couldn’t remember what time to set my alarm for, ha!

Saturday- 4 miles After spending some time shopping in SLO, I hit up a path in work town that I haven’t been on since last year. I love it but there are parts that I don’t feel comfortable by myself in the evenings. This time it was the early afternoon and I took my mother along for the ride. 😛 The route is great and very scenic but about a mile from the car my left leg did that buckling in pain thing again. WTH?! I hadn’t felt it all week and I now I felt like it was going to knock me flat. Grrr.

Sunday- Rest I was still super tired and with my leg acting all wonky, I decided not to push it. There are races I would like to run in October and I can’t do that if my leg is still giving me fits. Stupid leg. Where’s my foam roller?

10.65 miles for the week. Not great but not too bad either. I stayed upright during the stomach flu epidemic and my leg didn’t start screaming until Saturday, so I was able to get in some decent short miles. Now if I could just figure out what is going on with my leg.

How was your week?

Any tips for odd leg pain in the groin area?😛

Random thoughts on the run?

Salinas Valley Half Marathon Recap

Disclaimer: I received an entry into the Salinas Valley Half Marathon 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!

The morning dawned dark and early. With the race starting at the Soledad Mission, I was up early and heading north. After getting a little turned around (all my fault- it was literally straight up the freeway) I arrived early enough to pick up my bib, debate what pack to use and use the port a potties. I had woken to a very angry stomach and had to use the facilities a few times before the race. Lovely. I headed to the start line to the beat of an ipod and an upbeat announcer. The weather had been predicted to start in the 70’s and be in the high 80’s by race end so I was very excited to see a heavy cloud cover that kept the temps about 10* cooler.

Miles 1-3- 10:01, 10:07, 11:04

The course started off nice and flat. Which I appreciated for about 1/2 a mile. My legs were already fussy so by mile 2, I was running in the dirt on the side of the road. If there’s dirt, I will find it. 🙂 My shoelaces on my right shoe came untied in mile 2 as well. I was moving surprisingly faster than I thought I was going to be though. Mile 3 saw my first walk break as well as my shoelaces coming untied again. What gives?! I was enjoying the scenery. We ran past crop fields of Cauliflower and Peas. I was taking pictures while running.

Miles 4-6- 10:44, 11:01, 10:45

Here’s my main gripe- the first water station wasn’t until mile 3.3. For a race in CA in August, I thought that was too far in. I carried a larger bottle of BeachBody with me but I still like water at each station. We started into a little rolling section of the course which was giving me slight downhills which was slightly helping my pace. This was cool because the walk breaks were becoming more regular. My legs were starting to get super stiff though. My brain may have seen the road as slightly rolling but legs were telling me it was flat. I needed a hill!

Miles 7-9- 12:47, 11:59, 10:48

A hill! My legs were thankful, the rest of me not so much. I walked all of it. No shame, I knew this was going to be a slower race so there was no point in making my heart rate go crazy. 🙂 That climb started in 7 into 8 and partly into 9. Honestly it wasn’t even a big one, I just took it easy. The sun had also come out and temp instantly jumped 10*. Yikes! Water! I was still taking in the sights of the course and enjoying the music stations along the course. Then in mile 9, I got a little downhill to enjoy.

Miles 10-12- 11:58, 11:49, 11:36

The sun was shining in full force which made the scenery awesome but did no favors for my pace. I started rocking out. Literally. We came upon a hill the race calls the “Beast of Eden” and I ran up it playing an air guitar the whole way. It was also the only hill I ran up. 😛 I then sang and played an air guitar or drums for the next 3 miles. I gave thumbs up to race photographers (which actually turned out to be a terrible picture). There was a strawberry station at mile 10.2 and while they looked amazing, my stomach was starting to cramp up and I passed on them in fear of a repeat of the morning.

Mile 13- 11:42

Ok, I was done. I felt like this mile took 20 minutes. The finish line was never getting closer. I was hot, thirsty and tired. We ran past the buses to take us back to the start and man they looked tempting. I was walking so much. We turned left but still no finish line. Just an uphill. Waah. I was walking towards the last little turn to the finish and the announcer called me out! Seriously! Just make it obvious when I start running. Thanks dude.

Finish 2:28:44

Considering how I thought this race was going to go, hell yeah! If the sun had stayed away, I think I may have been about 5 minutes speedier. It warmed up really fast once the sun came out and I wish there had been another water station or 2. I drank water at every station and had my bottle. Once across the finish line, I downed a chocolate milk and a bottle of water. Normally drinking that much that fast would have me feeling very ill but I felt fine. Like I said, it was kind of warm those last miles.

Overall, I really enjoyed the race. It was kind of nice to go into a race mostly relaxed and barely even glance at my watch. I enjoyed the backroads, and the crop signs and Steinbeck were an added touch, The only thing I would change is more water stations.

Half marathon #27 done. 😀