Tag: Giant Race

Giant Race SAn Francisco- Recap

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Giant Race- San Francisco 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!

Labor Day weekend was the San Francisco Giant Race. I was signed up for the Lou Seal Challenge- the 10K and the 5K. Had the race happened IRL, I would have been running both of those on the same day. Had the race happened IRL, I think my motivation to train might not have taken such a huge hit this year. But it did and I knew I did not have the fitness to “race” both on the same day.

One of the benefits of virtual racing is the flexibility. Can’t run them both on the same day? Then I will run them on back to back days. Well, at least that was the plan. Also, I appreciate the virtual races right now as they actually motivate me to get my butt out the door and move.

Race weekend was Labor Day Weekend and it was predicted to be a scorcher. Actually my town did break local records and hit 117 and 115 on Saturday and Sunday. So, I ran for the ocean. See what I did there?? Hehe. 🤣

I made it to the beach early for me and thankfully it wasn’t crowded. The downside was that it was high tide so that did put me closer to people that I had wanted. It also meant that the sand wasn’t as hard packed as I usually like. Oops, but still doable.

Ok, total honesty- I am really out of shape like I recently restarted Couch to 5K out of shape- so I knew there was no way this was going to be “raced”. So I told myself I had to run the 10k from start to finish without any stops- no breaks to catch my breath, no breaks to make my time look better- so in other words like a real race.

I started from the Dog beach and ran towards the pier. I was using Couch to 5K for the first 30 minutes and then just an interval timer for the rest. A 10K in week one? Why not?

I was slow which was fine, I somehow kept my heart rate the lowest it’s ever been for a 10K. So, yay?! This was also the longest I’ve run in months. I was slowing a lot by mile 5. I was also feeling like a blister was forming which has never happened on a beach run before. I walked the majority of mile 6, never paused, never stopped, just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

And then, finally, I was done. 1:29:32.

Whew, that felt like a workout. I then cooled off with nature’s ice bath.

However I was left with giant blisters. Those were one deterrent to me finishing my 5K, the biggest one arrived in the form of smoke from the fires. We haven’t seen the sun in a week. Until it the AQI drops under 100, I will not be attempting the 5K. Boo. However races can wait, the important thing is that we get these fires under control and out, this is kind of insane.

I will be running that 5K, I will. Makes me glad I have a little time before the medals arrive.

If virtual races are what gets me out of my chair, bring them on.

36-Vacation

I spent the last week sleeping in, not doing my hair, not wearing eyeliner. No alarms, no phone calls, no emails. Ok, that’s a lie, I checked my emails a few times.

I also ran/ walked more miles in the last 10 days than I did in July and August combined. That said, it was still less than I had hoped.

The original vacation plan was the 2 race weekends but COVID. The second plan was to road trip and visit some National Parks. I even ordered new trail shoes and a fancy new pack from Orange Mud. Not that I really needed an extra reason to buy those. But other things put those plans on hold. Reality was a staycation with a little shopping and a little adventuring. And a lot of melting… but we’ll get to that.

The vacation fun started with the previous weekend’s runs. I had planned on a run on Monday, but my stomach decided to remind me that it was an asshat. Boo.

Tuesday, I wanted to break in the new trail shoes but was still feeling a little off. So I headed for the lake path. I think it’s been more than a year since I ran there? I miss it but it’s no longer on my way home from work. Boo. I did 4ish laps of the lake, switching directions while testing my shoes. The lake looked good, I have to say that it had more water than I had expected. I really need to get back there more often. 4.88 miles. And yes, I could have run back and forth until I hit 5 but nah.

Wednesday, I rested in prep for Thursday’s adventure. My legs were slightly sore from almost 15 miles in 4 days. That was more than I ran in July.

Thursday was The Pinnacles! I haven’t been in years, my goal was to reach the top and not get lost. I loaded my pack, my mother prepped and we were off! We got there early in the morning but it was already hot. We’re in the middle of a heatwave here in CA, yay. We started the climb and boy it just got toastier. I was feeling pretty good actually. We got slightly turned around for a moment at the top but success! The High Peaks Trail at the Pinnacles throws all sorts of fun things at you- quasi steps in the rocks, a railing so you don’t fall, and even more tiny “steps” down. The plan was to do the High Peaks and continue on to the old trail before looping around the caves. It would have been around 10ish miles. There’s one last junction which will take you back to the parking lot around mile 3 but after that there is no shortcut. Period. My mother was having a rough time- and if she reads this, she’ll be pissed I wrote that- and I convinced her we had to take the shortcut. She was bummer but hey we got to go through a tunnel! We came out around 5 miles but I know my GPS had some issues.

Oh, Friday…. I had plans to run the 5K portion of the Giant Race Lou Seal Challenge but it was 110. Oh and the air conditioner in my house died. The Friday of the hottest weekend of the year. Oh crap.

Saturday, I was up and off to the beach for the 10K portion of the Lou Seal Challenge. I straight up ran away from the heat- we hit 117. I enjoyed lovely mild beach weather for all 6.2 miles. Yay! But more about that next post. Then it was back to heat.

Sunday, I meant to run the 5K. I mean it was the actual race day after all. However my beach run had left me with some nasty blisters. On both feet. The one on my right foot was the problem. I have never had a blister that big before. What the heck?? I wore the same shoes and socks I used for all my beach runs and never had a problem before- I even kept my feet dry until the very end. Boo. Staying in my house and being lazy wasn’t awesome- it was 93* in my house. My cats are miserable. The dog can be hosed off, they can’t. Every fan possible is running in this house.

So that brought my weekly mileage to just under 16. Not marvelous but massively better that the rest of the year. I’m not calling it a comeback yet. Will my motivation last once I return to work?

How was your week?

Giant Race San Francisco

This was the year. I was finally going to run The San Francisco Giant Race. I’ve been wanting to run this race for years. I am not even a huge baseball fan but I this race has been on my to-do list for years. Maybe it’s because the stadium was such a great thing to see during my first marathon. It meant I was close to the finish. Maybe because it’s a gorgeous park, maybe it’s because I grew up playing softball.

The idea of running a race and ending in the ballpark was awesome. Getting to explore the park? Even better. Count me in! Except every year the race was the same weekend as my mother’s tennis tournament. The one where I am always a chaperone. Grrr. So in the beginning of 2020, I told her she needed to find another chaperone, I was finally running my race.

You can all see where this is going. 2020. Yeah.
I even held off on posting something as I was afraid to jinx it. But nope, it went virtual around a month ago.

I had planned my vacation around it (granted that vacation originally started with a marathon too). I signed up for the Lou Seal Challenge and was going to run the 10k and the 5k. The plan was to take the 10K easy and try to race the 5k. Previously I had only a week to recover from the marathon now I have COVID induced laziness to contend with. Ha!

The beauty of a virtual race though is the flexibility. So instead of running the races back to back, I will be running them on consecutive days. Or slogging them, as it is. Let’s be real here… even back to back running on 2 days will feel hard. Tell you all about it next week.

But the swag-

I am not afraid to say, it’s all kind of awesome.

Looking for a virtual challenge this weekend? Join me (virtually) and use code Giants2020 for $10.00 off.

What virtual races have you done?

Giant Race- San Jose

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Giant Race- San Jose 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 was so pumped to run this race this year.

Then came COVID and with it a complete lack of motivation to run or work out on my part. Which hasn’t been helpful for me at all. But that’s not the point.

I had orginally registerd for the 5 mile but come race day, I knew I was not there. Which is sad but true. So I dropped to the 5k. I would like to think I would have done the same if the race had still taken placed as planned but we all know I don’t make the best choices.

On race day of June 6, I laced up, geared up and headed out. The advantage to a virtual race is that you can pick a good route- i.e one with a downhill finish. And if you count my warm up and cool down, I did do 5 miles.

Ok, back to the “race”. I decided to attempt to run it at a race effort. Yeah, downhill didn’t help.

11:49, 12:32, 12:12 for splits and 38:00 flat for the 5k.

Slower then my very first 5K back in 2010 and I felt like I worked much harder. However seeing it on the tiny watch screen was a little depressing.

I am looking forward to receiving my race swag in the mail soon though. Based on what I got with the Sacramento race, I know I will actually wear this race shirts again.

That said I was glad I made myself make the effort. And this marks race 2 of the Giant’s series for me- I “ran” Sacramento in April. We’ll see what happens in September with San Francisco.