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.
I had good intentions about getting in some really good runs over the long weekend. You know what that saying about good intentions? Yeah. I had hoped to run a few miles Sunday evening after the hike but it didn’t happen. There was some drama with the mother’s puppy and that made a perfect excuse. Monday was a day off from work, perfect opportunity to get in some miles, but nope, saw Godzilla instead. May has been a pretty off month for me; I am kind of nervous for my race on Saturday. I feel completely unprepared and it’s just the 10K. I am so glad I didn’t sign up for the half this time around.
blah
I did get in a few miles after work on Tuesday. But honestly, starting in 96º was not the best idea. 4 miles turned into a 5K, a slow, hot 5K. I ran at the lake so I am still walking the construction section and I was so thankful for those walk breaks. I even tried to take a picture to show how hot I was. I felt like I was panting like a dog, ugh.
poor puppyThis is how we hung out
Speaking of dogs, my mom had a banquet thing for tennis, so I hung out with the puppy for a bit after my run. She got hurt on Sunday trying to protect her yard and had to go back to the vet Tuesday. She does not like her medicine. Plus she is sad that she can’t play with her toys for a few weeks. 😦 We just chilled on the patio. She would doze off next to me, then wake up to see if I was still there. It was kind of cute. 🙂
what the hell am I doing with my hand?
I once again hit the path for a few miles tonight. 4.5 sluggish miles. The goal was a nice, easy pace of 10:00. Pace met, but it didn’t feel easy. I don’t know why running feels so hard lately. I haven’t even run over 6 miles since my last half marathon. Apparently May is synonymous with Slacker. I was very happy to see the walking sections tonight as well. But sooner rather than later, they will finish the construction and I will no longer be able to rationalize the walking so easily. Wah Wah. I really need to kick this- whatever this is.
Ok, it can no longer be called a lake
Tomorrow I hope to get to packet pickup for the race on Saturday. It’ll be tight with work but I think I can make it. Less stress for race morning then. 🙂 Is it too much to hope that this race will be the kick in the pants I need? And a cookie counts as carb loading right? Now if I can just hold myself to 1.
Back in January, it hit Facebook that our little neck of the woods was getting a Run or Dye race. I swear my Facebook feed lit up like a Christmas tree. C and I had always said that we wanted to do a fun, less based on pace race, and the fact that we didn’t have to drive far for this was perfect. I had also promised her that I would run in a tutu. When sign up time came around, there were so many locals signing up that the website actually crashed. I probably should have taken that as indicator of how may people were attending this shindig. But, Team Slacker (discount!) was able to register fairly quickly so I put it out of my mind.
R, me, NikeC, C
When I picked up my packet, I found out that 8000 people registered. What?! That didn’t even seem possible. Friday night before the race, I was texting C back and forth about where we were going to meet up, texting NikeC about what time I was picking her up and texting ME- ok, every time I type that I feel narcissistic, so from now on ME will be ML- about where we could meet up with her group as well. The race was taking place in a park/ golf course across from a community college. Parking was in a few a of the college lots. It wasn’t enough.
Blurry but I love this
After picking up NikeC nice and early in the morning, I decided to take the back way there. It’s the same rural highway I drive to work everyday, actually. I had mentioned it to ML the night before and she thought it would be slower, plus everyone seems to hate this highway. Not me! Halfway there, ML starts texting me about traffic and C is calling tell me that the left hand turn lane is backed up for literally miles. Another plus about the back way- I got to make a right hand turn onto campus with no traffic! Woo hoo!! We were directed to a lot where we parked. Then it was the walk to the actually event. If you add in the walk to and from the park, we probably did 5 miles overall that morning 🙂
Me and NikeCMe and C
The crowds were ridiculous. The highway patrol was out directing traffic so everyone could cross the highway safely. I had hoped that the majority of people would still need to check in and get packets but judging by the sea of white shirts in front me, most everyone picked up early. We finally tracked down C and her husband, from now on called C-Hub, R and T. We could not find ML and her crew. We were looking for them when we were just absorbed into the crowd and wound up at the starting line; which turned into a mini dance party and the first throwing of dye. Part of packet pickup included a packet of dye, which everyone opened and started to throw around.
Just a little pink
That stuff is cold! I don’t know what I was expecting but it felt cold when it hit you. There was a countdown and we were off! Well kind of, even with a wave start it was crowded. There was never really a time when there wasn’t a crowd on the course. That was partially aided by the course being in a golf course, so we running the path. A very incline-y path at that. We did a lot of walking with some sprinting in between for the whole course. Let’s call it fartlek training! We lost R and T fairly quickly, so then it was just the four of us. The first dye station was pink and not too bad. Ran through it and continued on. The stations after that were more aggressive. One purple station was so cloudy, I couldn’t see the ground or my feet.
purple haze
I love running with C and her husband. They crack me up, plus C-Hub has great drill sergeant moments. 🙂 Then we hit a blue station. They were hardcore! It seriously all went right down my bra, blech! It was starting to get a little sweaty too. About a mile in, I was also feeling pretty stinky. Which is weird because my mother insists that I don’t smell even after my half marathons. I mentioned it to NikeC and she felt the same way. Maybe it was something about the way the corn starch reacted with your skin? Who knows? All I know is that C mentioned it later too.
Mid race photo op
We kept trucking along, it really was great getting to run with everyone. I got in some sprinting while trying to run away for C Hub, he didn’t think there was enough dye in my hair yet. 🙂 Walking up a little hill we saw turkeys!!!! Don’t know why they were there but we had to try and get pictures of them. I had my phone in a plastic bag so please enjoy the filter de plastic 🙂 It works pretty well, just kind of blurry sometimes.
Turkeys!!!
By the time we went through the later dye zones, I was walking like a mummy, hehe. My arms were at my sides, eyes closed and mouth squeezed shut. It was fun and all but I had kind of had enough corn starch. 🙂 The last pink station was so backed up that we came to a stop while waiting to get through it. C thought about skipping it, but C Hub wouldn’t let her.
tutus rock
There was one last color station after that and then we were running through a campground to get to the finish. It ended up being after a single track stretch of trail and a little wooden bridge. We also met back up with T and R right before the finish line. The finish line was seriously anticlimactic. We crossed the bridge and that was it. No one was cheering as you came across and people were just milling about. There was the color party going on in the middle of the field and some booths selling stuff to the right. That was kind of a bummer. 😦 NikeC and I stayed on the outskirts of the party while the others waded their way into the middle. They had the crowd pleasing moment of everyone throwing their remaining dye packs in the air. I tried to get a pic but was a little late-
Throw your hands in the air!
Then it was photo time!!!
We got a little goofy-1and 2!
C, NikeC, me, T, R, C Hub
I texted ML, wondering where they were at on the course but they had already left 😦 We started the long trek back to the cars thinking about lunch. I couldn’t handle the blue boobs anymore so I took off my white tank. I was wearing tanks which might be why I was so warm but I took that white one off while we were walking and shoved it down my bra. So classy, right? But I felt so much better after that. The shirt actually worked pretty well at cleaning myself off as we walked back to the college. NikeC and I managed to get pretty clean by the time we made it to lunch. 🙂
Mid run selfieso very, very blue
It was around 10:30 when we were walking out and we could see about 1000 or more people still coming as well as a long line of cars still trying to park. The pre-race info has said that the last wave was at 11:00 so I hope all those people had the chance to run. I don’t think they were adequately prepared for the amount of people who signed up. Another beef- strollers. There were so many parents with the kids and babies in strollers going through the course. Not only was the path not that wide, did you really want your poor kid breathing all that in and getting it in their faces?
Lunch was awesome. We hit Firestone in SLO because they have outdoor seating. Yeah we were not the only people from Run or Dye to think of that. It was packed! The food was amazing though. We had to laugh because we notice that us girls all ordered burgers and both guys were eating giant salads. 🙂 Then we all headed home where we were met with the task of trying to get clean. It actually came out of my hair fairly easily which I had been worried about. It did not come off skin quite so easily. C and I texted each other later that our underarms still had a blue tinge no matter how hard we scrubbed.
Overall it was a good run. It needed to be in a bigger location and a little better organized but it was the chance to run with everyone that made it great. Would I do it again? Ask me again when I am sure that there’s no lingering dye anywhere. 🙂
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 