Category: Run!

2016 Rock’n Around the Pier Half Recap

I love beach races and I hate them at the same time. I have learned that I personally will never set a PR on sand. Partly due to the sand and partly due to how the humidity jacks with my lungs. Either way, I seem to be a glutton for punishment as I keep signing up for them. Plus this race tends to fall around my birthday so it’s become sort of an unofficial tradition.

This was my third year running some form of this race this year, second time running the half. I didn’t have many goals going in other than complete the first part of my last big run and maybe finish quicker than 2014’s hot mess.

Yeah, neither of those were achieved. In fact, I managed to turn in my slowest half ever! That said, this recap will be a little different than my usual ones.

The morning started off interesting as I made it all the way down my driveway before realizing that I had forgotten my Garmin. Seriously? I actually debated going on without it but in the end I went back to get it. I had hoped to run a little warm up prior to the race but my stomach was feeling iffy so I headed straight to the bathroom lines after parking. Major props to clean, well stocked real bathrooms. Once that was taken care of, I walked around the Rock parking lot and tried to shake loose. Then I headed for the starting chute. For the first time, I was actually in the chute when the race started. I can’t say that for the other years. 😛

It was clear at the start and I was hopeful it would stay that way. The first 2 miles actually felt pretty good. 9:59, 10:31. My legs were cooperating and the sand wasn’t too bad. I was naively hopeful that things were going to stay that way.

Around mile 2.5, we hit the rocks at North Point. They were no joke. We bottle necked and slowed to crawl as we all tried to figure out the best way to cross them without breaking our faces. Once that was done, it was back to the beach to run on. Around mile 2 we had started to run into the marine layer. And it was dense. But I ignored it. Until I couldn’t. 11:18, 11:18, 11:31.

I could not breathe. My lungs were so tight. I was slowing down with every mile. I seriously considered quitting at the pier. When all the 10k’ers were heading to their finish line and I had to turn around and head the other way. I almost quit. Almost. But my car was at the rock, my parents were coming to the finish and San Francisco has fog right? Besides the pier was clear so I was hoping the marine layer was burning off. Mile 6-12:29

I was wrong. Half a mile later, we were back in it. And it seemed worse. I was struggling big time. I tried running .75 miles, walking .25. Couldn’t do it. Next was running .5 miles and walking .25. Another fail. Ok, how about .4 mile run, .1 mile walk. More fail. Ok, walking was fine. Walking was moving forward right? 12:55, 12:44, 12:41

Breathing was so damn hard. My throat was on fire, my lungs and chest hurt. I was beginning to wonder if you could OD on an inhaler. But there was no where to go but forward. There was only one way off the beach.

The rock patch the second time through was sketchier- by now I was mostly by myself and there was no one to follow. Plus I was tired. But I made it and knew I had less than 3 miles to go. The fog was so dense, I was beginning to worry I was going to miss the turn off to head up the beach for the loop around the park. Someone came up behind me and passed me so I just followed them. Between the rocks and sinking in the dune sand, I had slowed to a crawl but I just kept moving. 14:33, 15:59, 14:16

I was able to pick up a bit of speed on the pavement around the park but not much of anything. I suppose I could have quit at that aid station but the finish was less than 1.5 away. So back to the beach to finish out my crawl. I was a mile from the rock but I could not even see it through the marine layer. It was getting patchier so I was keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine. Half a mile from the finish and my wish was granted. Way too late but oh well. 13:13

The advantage of crawling? I was able to spot my parents and wave to the camera as I jogged in. 😛

Finish 2:46:15 New personal worst!!!

So yeah, that was fun. I actually finished with a smile on my face though. It is what is. Was it the race I wanted? No. But I listened to my body and slowed way down. Had there been anywhere to go, I may have quit but in reality there weren’t any shortcuts after the pier so I just kept going. I do wonder now if the race is prepared for emergencies though, I only saw what looked like a course monitor once. And it could have just been a cyclist in a yellow vest- who knows?

I do however know that I cannot run 26 miles like that. So now I am hoping for a clear day in San Francisco. Fingers crossed!!!!

I still really love this race. I will be back next year… but maybe just the 10k. 😛

The SF Marathon Training Week 15

I have no witty opening for this one. That’s also assuming anything I’ve ever opened with before was witty. Hmmm, maybe that was a reach.

Like I said in my Friday post last week, I am tired. Just tired. Running wise, the week was actually pretty good. Work wise, I think my brain went into vacation mode way too early. Oops. That wasn’t great considering my boss was on vacation Thursday and Friday. I needed to be firing on all cylinders. I believe I completed most of my piles but I can’t shake the feeling that I forgot something.

Monday- 6.7 miles. 4th of July!! I met with Ashley and Heather for a very patriotic themed run down at Avila Beach. The plan was to do 8 miles but it was my third day of running in a row and my shins and knee were pissed. I ended up falling behind taking walk breaks but I eventually just sat on a bench 2 miles from the beach and waited for them to come back my way. Truthfully, I wanted to swing on the swings while I waited but they were occupied by children. Once they were back, I was able to run the whole back with them. I was fine with fewer miles. Then we went for a super yummy breakfast – churro french toast for the win! It was a great way to spend the morning.

Tuesday- Rest. Yeah, there was no way I was running a 4th day in a row. Rest was awesome. Plus work is always insane the day after a 3 day weekend so it was nice being able to just go home and crash. I think I did something else but I can’t remember.

Wednesday-2.3 miles. My legs still felt wonky. Seriously one 20 miler less than 2 weeks ago and I’m broken for days. I did 2 laps of the lake and called it. They were a slow, crawling 2 laps but that’s better than no miles right?

Thursday- 3.75 miles. Uh oh, 2 days in a row again? However, this was the day that finally felt more normal. I kept it short and sweet though as I didn’t want to push it. Not only is the marathon super close but I had a half marathon on Saturday. But I really wanted to try out my new shorts.

Friday- Rest. My boss is on vacation so it was an open to close kind of day. I did manage to sneak away for 10 minutes and grab my packet for Saturday’s race. And a Diet Coke because by that time I needed one. 😛

Saturday- 13.1 miles. Rock’n Around the Pier Half. My hope was to run the race in the morning and do another 7 in the evening to complete a disjointed 20. Yeah, that didn’t happen. The race was rough and I had some problems, but more on that next post. I did however get in a few miles of walking around SLO with some post race shopping.

Sunday- Rest. Unless miles of walking around Santa Barbara shopping count as exercise. 😛 My mom, S and I headed to Santa Barbara for a day of birthday shopping, S has hers on Monday and mine is Tuesday. It was fun but it made me realize how much I prefer SLO. However I am jealous they have a PizzaRev, that place was awesome. It was a long and tiring day and my legs/feet were fried by the end. By the time I was home I was too tired to even finish this post in time for it go up on Monday. On the upshot- I may have found my marathon outfit. Priorities right?

Overall, it was a good running week, I was just exhausted. I know that time frame wise I am at the point in training that I should be exhausted but I don’t feel like I’ve really trained enough for that. Life has been a little crazy for a few months as well but it doesn’t usually affect me like this. Maybe my upcoming birthday is just making me moody? That’s a thing right?

Going forward, this week would start a traditional taper period for the marathon. However I feel like the past few months have been a taper. So we will see. I know I still need to figure out water. My handheld is not enough and my pack is crap. Hey I rhymed! Non running life- I have 2 vacation days!! Happy dance, happy dance. 😃😃 I have nothing planned- it sounds awesome.

How as your weekend?

When was you last vacation? What did you do?

Random Roundup

I could have called this mid week musings but let’s switch it up. Oh and it’s Friday.
I have a little challenge for myself in this post- no mentioning of the “M” word. I mean I have to be driving you all nuts right? 😛

I have strong feelings about long hair- I’m not the biggest fan- long story- but I suddenly miss braids. So weird. I alternate between years of super long hair and years where it’s above my shoulders. Right now, it is still a few inches above my shoulders- too long…or too short. I can’t decide!

I am so tired. I feel like life has just been a bunch of running in circles. I have 2 vacation days coming next week and I am so excited. 4 day weekend anyone?! I know at least one of those days will involve zero alarms and I swear I may sleep until 10. Or try to.

So I shared the pic of my new running shoes a few weeks ago but that wasn’t the only I bought that day. I have a serious problem- I buy all the skirts and dresses. Seriously, I could probably go a month without wearing pants and still not have to wash clothes. My sweater collection is a little ridiculous too. 😝 Did I mention I am going shopping this weekend?

My race this weekend just got a little more interesting. I already knew I had 12+ miles of beach sand to run on but then this email came-

trailsnip

Wet rocks?! Maybe I should consider a different pair of shoes? 😖

I received my first product to test from BibRave. Ultima Replenisher. The raspberry flavor and I have become besties. Seriously. I’ll post more about it later but I’ve had it every single day since the package arrived. I’d never even heard of it before.

I’m still binge watching Lost. I am now in season 3 but I am starting to fade. 4 more seasons of this? I’m still confused 🙂 Any suggestions?

What’s your clothing addiction?

Share something random!

What are your weekend plans?

The SF Marathon Training Week 14

14. 14 down, only 4 more to go!

So yeah. Week 14. Ummmm, ouch? Week 13 was awesome- I mean, I ran 20 miles and kind of like it? What could go wrong? Ha Ha.

Monday- Rest. I felt pretty good actually, my legs- shins included- felt fine all day. Part of me wanted to run but I figured that would be silly or worse injury provoking, so I scheduled in 2 rest days.

Tuesday- Rest. Once again my legs felt pretty good but I had a plan man, and I was sticking to it. It made sense. At least I thought it did.

Wednesday- Rest. Hello freight train. Body wise I felt ok, but I was suddenly exhausted. I felt like I could sleep for days. That said, I was still planning on running after work. However my family texted and asked if I wanted to meet everyone for dinner. I first said no- I needed to run. They ended up convincing me. So instead of running, I enjoyed too much food at dinner.

Thursday-6 miles. Seriously I wish someone had filmed the first 3ish mile of this run. I want to know if it looked as hilarious as it felt. I had another half day at work so I was naively hopeful that I could get the weekends 10-12 miler in early. I don’t have a route that length in work town so I headed home. I walked my usual 5 minute warm up and then started running. Or tried to. My legs were not functioning as a team. Nothing hurt but I could not level out. I felt like one leg was going forward while the other was swinging to the side. I felt like a newborn giraffe trying to walk. Mile 1 was 98% walking, mile 2 wasn’t much better. The final 4 miles were all in the 12 minute range but I finally started to feel a little more normal by mile 6. I knew I wasn’t doing any more than that though. This run did put me over 100 miles for June though.

Friday- Rest. I should have tried to run. It would have been the smart thing to do. But, yeah, I didn’t.

Saturday- 5 miles. I wanted more but after working in the morning, running in the 80’s was kicking my ass. When did I turn into such a baby? Once again, I was running while limping. Again nothing hurt, but my stride was all over the place. Miles 4 and 5 felt better but were still so slow. I hobbled/ ran until I hit 5 miles and called it. My ankles and shins were pretty sore that night. I iced and rolled.

Sunday- 10 miles. I was aiming for 13 but knew I was also meeting Heather and Ashley the next day for a run. I wasn’t sure my legs were up to 3 days in a row so I dropped my mileage back to 10. I didn’t even think I was going to finish that. Miles 1-3 were more awkward gait running. It takes me 3-4 miles to warm up, so I just kept going. Once again, I hauled ass across the bridge and saw a 9:37 split- oops. My legs were not happy. I met up with my mother a little before mile 7. I ended up walking all of mile 7 with her. While I do take walk breaks, I don’t think I would have walked a whole mile by myself at that point. But I was tired of running weirdly. I think it helped. The last 3 miles felt the best out of everything- part of me wanted to keep running. 😛

I was sore, bordering on pain by the end of the day though. I foam rolled, stretched and iced. I also “recovered” while eating lots of popcorn watching Tarzan. 😛

There’s a reason I’ve been taking a day between each run and I just got stupid this week. Now my ice pack is my best friend again. Grrr. This is not how I was hoping to be feeling 4 weeks out from San Francisco. I choosing to stay positive and not freak out. Think happy thoughts right? Oh, did I mention I have a half marathon in 3 days? On the beach. #findtheshiny I can do it.

How was your week?

How long does it take you to warm up? I think I am realizing why all my short runs were rough all these years. I was warming up when I was stopping. Oops.

Seen any movies lately?

June Recap

Holy crap, it’s marathon month! Where did June go???

June started with ouches and whimpers as I iced and rolled and stretched and dropped my running days down to 3. I hated doing it but it’s what was needed. I switched to survival mode and focused most of my attention on my long runs. That said, my monthly mileage wasn’t too bad for a survival mode month. 😛

I did not run any races in June but did successfully complete my first 20 miler. And I liked it. Who knew? I felt pretty good after it too…at least for a few days. Now, I feel like I am learning to run all over again. I think I resemble a baby giraffe at the moment. But more on that in my week 14 training recap.

Oh, and I hit 502 miles for the year by June 30- sweet!!!

Now, it’s July. It’s marathon month. It’s also my birthday month. San Francisco will be my first race in a new age group. Truthfully, I can’t decide if I should be more alarmed at the speed that the race is coming or the reminder that I am getting older. 😛

How was your June?

Plans for July?

Happy 4th of July!!