Tag: BibRave

2019 Rock n Roll San Diego Recap

This was my third time running Rock n Roll San Diego and I still find it to be an awesome race.

Disclaimer: I received an entry to Rock n Roll San Diego 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!

I had a horrible night of sleep so I was moving a little slowly as I got myself ready for the race. I headed out of my hotel to the shuttle stop around 5:30. Part of the reason I book this hotel is the proximity to the shuttles and the finish line. The lines seem so much longer this year but I was on a bus fairly quickly. Once dropped off I made my way to the BibRave Pro meetup.

Then I did a bad thing. I hadn’t noticed until I was preparing my flat runner the night before but my bib had my corral as 21. Wait, what? I know I’m moving slower than I used to but that didn’t make sense. Which was reinforced when I saw the 2:30 pacers in corral 14. Rock n Roll was enforcing corral assignments this time but I managed to sneak into corral 14.

Miles 1-3: 10:15, 11:07, 11:39
I love that .2 miles into the start there is a guy shouting on a bull horn. Every year. I was feeling rough from the get go. I was running but I knew it wasn’t going to last. I’ve never faded this fast before.

Miles 4-5: 11:34, 11:54
I was slowing, my pace does not show how much walking I was doing. I had nothing in the tank. The Mile 4.5 bar barely drew a smile from me. Then we entered the “Wear Blue” mile. All the signs of fallen military members and American Flags make me realize I should not be complaining. I went to pause my music so I could run the mile in silence when I noticed what was playing. The acoustic version of Papa Roach’s F.E.A.R- Face Everything And Rise. The timing of lyrics was eerie so I let it play.

Miles 6-10: 11:54, 12:41, 11:34, 11:46, 12:03
I knew I was done back in mile 3 and I stopped fighting it. My legs and body felt good, I just had zero energy. None. It was humid but not hot and while the humidity wasn’t as high as last year, my lungs were not having it. Asthma sucks. So I ran when I could and walked the rest. Miles 7 and 10? Lots of walking. A lot. I just tried to enjoy the neighborhoods I was running through, all the people who came out to cheer, and the literal cheerleaders every few miles.

Miles 11-13: 12:39, 11:06, 11:57
There was a new blowup at mile 10 instead of the guitar guy. I love the last 3 miles- there’s a good uphill, amazing downhill and a party tunnel as we head back downtown to the finish. I felt like I picked up the pace but the stats tell a different story. Ha! I had to take a walk break at the bottom of the downhill- say what? I never have to walk after downhills. So in other words- the hundred or so people I just passed now all passed me. 🙂

Finish -2:34:12

My slowest San Diego to date! I am not sure what happened out there- I went in worried about a hurt foot and instead slammed into a wall of exhaustion. I texted a friend after the race and said I had zero get up and go. None. I still love this race though and would recommend it to anyone who asks.

And that brings half #38 to a close.

Week 21- Thunder

In more ways than one.

2019 Race Schedule (so far):
6/2 RnR San Diego (Thanks BibRave)
8/11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)
7/20 Vintners 5 Mile
10/ 6 RnR San Jose (more to come)

The weather stayed gray, cold and rainy the majority of the week. Definitely not the typical May weather. A migraine came to party on Wednesday night and didn’t really let up until Saturday. That’s not abnormal though so I just had to grin and bear it the best I could. I may have relied on a little too much caffeine. And sugar. Oops. I keep promising I will make better eating choices but then I don’t. But that’s another blog for another day.

Planned vs Reality

Monday- 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles
Easy mile-ish on Monday. Nothing really to say other than I just went out and did it. I did run a different portion of streets though. I may end up with out and backs just because 1.5 miles in hard to plan.

Tuesday- 2 miles up/down, 4×800 at 5K pace/ Nada
Oops. I was not feeling a run. More than just feeling lazy or tired, I was not into the run at all. I’ve learned that when I feel like that- skip the run. The times I haven’t in the past I’ve either hurt myself, lost something or broke my phone. So instead I met my mother for some pizza.

Wednesday- 1.5 miles/ 2 miles up/down, 4×800 at 5K pace
I almost put off this run again. I realized it wasn’t programmed into my watch, it was starting to rain, yada yada yada. I finally told myself 1 mile in to just shut up and run. So I did. My 400’s came in at 9:07, 9:41, 8:57, 9:31. My range was 9:12-9:31 so I wasn’t horribly off. First let me say 800’s are long. I also was stupid and way underestimated the section of path I was going to run these on so they were run with traffic on the roads. Not the best idea. Still it was a decent run and I felt better for having done it.

Thursday- 3.5 miles w/ strides/ 3.5 miles w/ strides
2 workouts back to back are not a good idea but I knew these miles were 98% easy. That said it was a little rough in the beginning but it got better as I ran on. I almost forgot the strides until the last mile and a half. Oops but I still managed to throw them in.

Friday- 1.5 miles/ 1.5 miles
I went in very early to work and stayed until almost close. I should have been tired but I was overly caffeinated and overly sugared up. I changed and headed back towards home town. I forgot it was cruise night. Traffic and cars were stupid busy and I had chosen the wrong side of town to run. I had to circle for a parking spot and almost said screw it when I managed to find a spot to parallel in. Then I tried to bust out the mile and a half as safely as I could.

It was freakin’ cold but I overheated 🤷‍♀️

Saturday- 6 miles/ 7 miles- 1 up/down 6 at pace
I had a miserable Friday night between the migraine and my damn GI disorder, I was so tired on Saturday I almost pushed the run to Sunday. I eventually made it out the door but kissed my long run pace goodbye figuring I was going to riding the struggle bus. Except I didn’t. Even with 25mph winds pushing me back half the time. Once I got into it I felt surprisingly well and just kept trucking on. I did have to stop multiple times to reapply BodyGlide as my thunder thighs were taking exception to non compression shorts. Haha. All the chafe! I didn’t look at my watch or my paces until later in the evening so I was surprised to see I hit my long run pace or under for all 6 miles. Who knew??

Sunday- Rest day/ Rest day
I love Sunday’s.

17.6 miles for the week, only .5 miles short of where I should have been. That warm up/ cool down on my long run helped me add back some of the mileage I missed. And with that we are into race week for San Diego. Yikes!

How was your week?

Guess Who’s Back

Guess who’s back, back again?

Disclaimer: I received an entry to Rock N Roll San Diego 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!

Going back to RnR San Diego that is!

I am so excited. I love this race, really do. It was my first Rock n Roll race ever back in 2017 and I couldn’t have picked a better way to introduce myself to Rock n Roll.

The course is great, has the right amount of hills and flat. The city neighborhoods really come out for the runners. I mean, there’s a full bar at mile 4! I love the crowds and know that once I hit the Big Guitar guy in the park at mile 10, there’s a lot of downhill to the finish. And on clear days- planes!! You can see airplanes flying overhead as they a head for San Diego Airport. I still need a picture of that.

I had fun at the expo, enjoyed a few sights in San Diego and met up with some other BibRave Pro’s. I ran a pretty good race too. I went back in 2018 for another round. Same awesome course, same amazing crowd support AND I talked Kate into coming out from Texas. Downside was the crazy humidity we dealt with on race day.

I am looking forward to round 3 on June 2. Maybe with a little less humidity. I was planning on set a big goal for this race but certain things are changing for me in a big way and I am not sure how it will effect my running but more on that later.

So right now, I am just planning on enjoying the party.

Want to party with me? Use code 19RNRBRP16 to save $16 on the half or full. Or code 19RNRBRP6 for $6 off the 5K.

No Sleep til Oakland

Disclaimer: I received an entry to Oakland Running Festival 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!

It’s race week!

How did that happen? Then again the last few weeks have kind of been a blur so that explains that.🤣

Speaking of sleep, it hasn’t been going so well this week. I just tell myself that it’s all the more reason to love the Oakland Marathon start time. 9:30. Which is one of the latest times I have ever started a race.

It kind of makes me nervous- I’m going to be running until when? Haha. I am sure I will appreciate the late wake up call on Sunday but it’s odd. I’m used to 6:30 start times, 8 is late. Maybe race mornings are the reason I can’t run early? Nope, just lazy.

I am staying at the race hotel so that’s going to be new too. I feel fancy. Just kidding. I may or may not have my mother traveling with me- it’s up in the air. 🤷‍♀️

I have increased my mileage but not by much so I am treating the race as a well supported long run. And fingers crossed none of the issues from Surf City pop back up. I know I said I was cool with my slower time but it doesn’t mean I want to do it again.

The only thing I am mostly stressed about is driving to Lake Merritt on race morning, I know I am going to run into race detours but I am not sure where or how many times. The marathon on the 5K start at 7 and 7:30 respectively. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing!

Oh and what pair of shoes to wear. Can’t my feet just be happy?

Ever run in Oakland? Any shoe advice?

2019 Surf City Half Marathon Recap

After a rough day of travel Saturday, I actually slept ok for pre-race hotel sleep. I woke up once around 2AM and was stoked I had another 3 hours to sleep. Sweet! Once up, I quickly got ready with all my gear and checked out of the hotel. The weather wasn’t dumping rain like the day before and the app said it would stay clear but I didn’t trust it. I was wearing arm warmers and my rain jacket over those.

My mom was able to get me as close as she could and I jumped out of the car on a street corner. I chatted with another runner as we made our way to the starting area. We ended up going our separate ways and I messaged the other BibRave Pro’s to see if we could make a meet up work before the race. We did!

Then it was time to line up. Surf City does self seeded corrals which works about as well as you think. I knew I was going to be moving slower so I placed myself in wave 4 which was 2:25- 2:34. I was almost right, haha not really, I ended up running my second slowest half to date.

Miles 1-5 10:52, 11:13, 11:26, 12:28, 11:27
I was moving slow but wasn’t feeling the need for walk breaks which was great because I know how out of shape I am. However things got weird around mile 2. I was cautious on how my foot would feel but I was expecting pain- instead my foot went numb. I could barely feel my left foot for the next 2 miles and around 3.5 my right foot joined it. I started walking just to see if that would change things. Thankfully it did. Just as it started to rain. Ok, mostly mist but it was still wet.

But then I realized I had another problem. Mile 6- 16:00
I suddenly need the restroom, not like my stomach was upset but I really needed the restroom. There was a series of port-a-potties around mile 5.5 and even though they had a line, I jumped in the line. Well, there goes my mile time.

Miles 7-10 11:46, 12:29, 12:28, 12:35
I was feeling ok but knew I was slowing. I wasn’t really paying attention to my watch. I was just focusing on the fact that I was still running and not taking walk breaks. Woo hoo! Well until mile 9. I knew once I took the first real walk break, there would be more to come. We had hit the turn around point and were running into a breeze now. I was still cold and it was misting every now and again but the breeze felt good to me.

Miles 11-13 13:38, 12:22, 12:37
I’ve run 2 marathons and never experienced “the wall”. Welp, I think I found it. Other than cold and wet toes, my body felt ok but I was done. I walked a fair amount of mile 11. From there I was just run/ walking my way in. This is normally the part of the course with the best views and most spectators but I was just keeping my head down and trying to get to the finish line.

Finish- 2:43:06 My second slowest half ever!

Granted, the 5 minute bathroom stop didn’t help matters along. I have no shame in that finishing time, I knew I was going to be slower, my training was almost non-existent and when I did get my act together, I hurt my foot and ended up taking 11 days off in a row. I’ll have no problem adding those results to my Athlinks profile for all to see. It gives me a starting point and now I know what I need to do going forward.

I still love Surf City and all it has to offer, maybe one day I’ll run it again and run it well.