Tag: half marathon

Rock’n Around the Pier 13.1- Recap

The one where I went into damage control at mile 3. 😦

If 2013 was the year of the PR, then 2014 is shaping up to be the year of the bonk. At least as far as half marathons are concerned. But I have to say that this is first race I ever seriously considered quitting. Even when I ran out steam at mile 7.5 at SLO, I still knew I was going to finish, it was just going to be slow.

For once, I felt like I slept really well the night before this race. I woke up on time and made it to pick up NikeC by 5:30. My stomach was being its usual self, so I did not eat prior to the race. This is typical though, so I don’t think it affected me too much. Parking was easy but time-consuming, the race was smaller than last year, it had about 200 for the half marathon and just under 1000 for the 10K, but parking was limited. Once parked, we geared up, met up with NikeC’s friend and headed to the bathroom. Which was where we were when the starting gun went off. Last year I was still running to the chute when the gun went off, oops. Thank goodness for chip timing. We made our way to the chute and were off.

Slowly as there were 100 yards of softer sand to get through at the beginning. Once on the hard pack, it was easier to run. I lost both of them fairly quickly. One moment they were to my left and then they were gone. Last year’s race was overcast, this year the sun was shining and the ocean was gorgeous. Last years 10K went so well (easy) that I had minor hopes for a birthday PR but I knew my speed was iffy thanks to my month of stomach issues. Realistically, though, I was aiming for under 2:10. So all I had to do was stay under a 10 minute mile- I got that right? Ummm…

Mile 1- 9:45 -ok, slower than I’d like but there was soft sand
Mile 2-9:45– hmmm felt way faster than that, but consistent at least. If only this stomach cramp would go away.
Mile 3- 9:51 felt like I had already run the full 13, shifted to a run/ walk method
Mile 4– 10:02 I just choked on air, walk break, take a few pictures. Now the cramp is on the other side.
Mile 5– 10:09 Wheezing, need air, where’s my inhaler? Yes nice man in front of me I see the dolphins (which now I think was awesome but then, not so much.)
Mile 6- 9:47 I refuse to hit the turnaround (10K) past the hour mark, pick it up!
6.2 mark– Turn around 59:08-Man, I wish I was doing the 10K.
Mile 7-10:18 oh, my god, why is this so hard
Mile 8– 10:24– my run .9/ walk .1 is falling apart, walking more often and longer
Mile 9– 11:09 another sudden need for my inhaler. Man the water is so much closer now.
Mile 10– 11:25 oh hell, I could take my shoes and socks off and just walk leisurely back to the finish. I’m mostly walking anyways. Oh fisherman, please don’t cast your reel at me, that would hurt.
Mile 11– 12:15 Oh, what hell is this? To make 13.1, we had to go up through the dunes to run a mile on a paved path. I could have crawled faster through the sand. Is it hot? Why am I so hot?
Mile 12- 11:57 Made it to a 9:20 pace on the pavement, soft sand on the way back to the beach brought me back down.
Mile 13– 11:15 Why is this mile so long!! I feel like I have been staring at the finish line in the distance forever. Ugh, just keep running.

Finish- 2:20:21 Ouch. Literally and figuratively. My calves were on fire. Even with running in compression socks, I was so sore by the time I crossed the finish line. My chip was cut off as I was handed my medal. It’s freakin’ awesome! That helped alleviate some of my irritation. I drank some water and chatted with my family while waiting for NikeC to finish.

Running a race with a friend was awesome. It was great at the starting line, and we passed each other twice on the course which was a great little pick-me-up. The finish line was fun too. I am looking forward to our next race. 🙂

The race course itself was amazing. Blue skies and blue ocean, and the beach, come on. Seagulls and dolphins, too. Given how close the water was on the way back, I understood the early start time more. There was plenty of water stops. They had volunteers directing where to turn around and when to turn off the beach. My only 2 slight negatives were- no on course bathrooms, and I never saw a mile marker. Now I was pretty much head down in misery from mile 3 on but I still think I would have seen at least one. As for bathrooms, I realize that it was on the beach and I have never used a bathroom during a race but it’s nice to know they are there if you need one.

For the cost of this race, 50 bucks!, the swag was amazing and I think the medal may be my new favorite. Plus there was live music and an amazing breakfast buffet at the finish line, eggs, sausage, orange juice, etc. I only wish I felt like trying some of it.

We headed out shortly after that. I was having a little shindig that evening for my birthday that I had to get ready for. Yesterday I was oddly sore in weird places. My butt and my lower back hurt, guess I ran differently on the sand this time than previous races.

Overall, this race was part of a great day. Yes, I was seriously disappointed in my performance but hey, I didn’t quit! I need to figure out what is going with my stomach so I can get back to speed work. Right now I have no idea how ever ran a 2:05 let alone trying to fathom breaking 2:00. My next half is in 8 weeks, and it’s flat and paved, so fingers crossed, my time will start heading in the right direction.

Anyone else race this weekend?

Ever run on the beach?

Cake’s a Carb, Right?

Short and sweet tonight!

So, I learned today that glass scales are made of tempered glass. They still shatter into hundreds of pieces when dropped on a tile floor; but there way fewer sharp edges. My big toe still found a sharp one. 😦

Today was fairly calm for a Friday- woo- hoo!

My coworkers bought me these beautiful flowers-As well as pizza for lunch, they know me so well.

Then there was this cake. Tomorrow’s race may just be fueled by cake. Cake’s a carb, right?I managed to sneak out for a break around 4 to pick up the race packet. That was also the first time I saw tomorrow’s new age in print, yikes! However, the swag was kind of awesome.Then it was back to work before heading home. This is when I had a wardrobe conundrum-Now, my gear is packed. A new playlist is ready (no Wrecking Ball), my Garmin is charged, and it’s off to bed for me. I have a 4:30 am wake up call. Ouch.

How was your Friday?

Anyone else racing this weekend?

Rising Moon and a Windy Run

After Friday’s race I was pumped to keep running. In fact I had hoped to run another 7 miles that day, before dinner and fireworks, to round out to 10 total. I wanted this to be my last long run before my half in 3 days. An unplanned 2 hour nap changed that, I didn’t even make it to the fireworks. 😦 While waiting for the awards to start after the race, there was very little shade and I think it affected me more than usual. When Saturday rolled around; after getting in the shopping trip that was postponed last week, I just did not want to run. Same for Sunday. So, I didn’t. I chose to treat the weekend as some needed rest. I haven’t decided if that violates the whole #noexcuses thing or if a little rest is a good thing. Instead of running, I read 4 books. That counts for something right?

After that restful few days, I was ready to run on Monday. Work wasn’t too busy, so I was able to get out of there fairly quickly. I then headed back to home town to run the path I have been running lately. My mom decided to join me, so I met up with her at the trail head. I kind of like when she does that, it forces me to take the first mile a little slower, which is a good thing because I rarely ever warm up enough. Especially on race days- bad runner! Slower is also better when it’s 90+ outside. 🙂

When I broke away from her, I felt like I settled into a good pace. At least on the way up. Coming down, I was looking forward to thelittle bit of help that a downhill brings but then there was the wind. Every single time I run this newer path the wind is ridiculous coming back down. Last week it was so bad and so loud, I could barely hear the music coming from my headphones. It wasn’t as bad on Monday, but I felt like I was running through sludge. Once I made it off the hill and around the corner, it eased up a bit. And I was rushed by 2 dogs on the trail portion again. Seriously?! Why am I dog bait? Overall, though at the end, my pace was pretty good.

The gym didn’t work out tonight so I hit the lake path to get in some miles. My left foot was a little sore the first lap around, so I wasn’t sure how many I was going to finish. I seem to have split personality feet. My right foot has a higher arch and loves heels but hates flats. My left foot has a lower arch, hates heels and loves flats. How does that work out? I haven’t found an insert that would help my left foot yet. Those things are pricey!

Luckily my foot loosened up around 2 miles in. I finished a few more laps to hit 5 miles before turning of my Garmin. I then alternated walking withbutt kicks and high knees for the mile back to my car. I felt a little silly. I was also staring at the serious lack of water in the lake. I’m kind of afraid to ask where the geese went.

Tomorrow I want to get in a few quick miles before a rest day on Friday. Then Saturday is race day!! 13 miles on sand, I can do this right? There are 5 stretches of soft sand that have me concerned. One, it slows me down, two, it weighs me down. But I get to run it with NikeC, so I am sure that it will be a blast. Plus, I am kind of excited about running a race on my actual birthday.

How has your week gone so far? We’re more than halfway through!

Anyone use inserts? Either in running shoes or regular shoes?

A Little Truth

Since I joined the blogging world almost a year ago, I’ve that there are some thematic posts out there. Like What I Ate Wednesday, which I don’t understand. I mean I get the premise behind it but most everyone posts in the morning. So is it really “What I’ve been eating lately and I saved up the pics for Wednesday”? I will probably never do this post because I pretty much eat the same thing every dang day thanks to my lovely slow stomach and there’s no need to bore anyone else with that. I’m bored with that. I do post pics of pizza though, because, well, pizza rocks. 🙂

Another theme is confessions. I feel I’m pretty open and honest about things anyways. I’ve always said own your faults. Plus I’m pretty boring… and weird. 🙂 I won’t go as far to say that I am a stick in the mud but I am very set in my ways. My mother can’t stand it. But all that leads to this-

I have 2 little facts about me to share tonight-

I have never driven farther than 45 minutes for a race, at least not one I was running in. I did drive NikeC to Huntington Beach for Surf City a a few years ago. Does that count?
I have never booked a hotel room. I can’t even remember the last time I stayed in one. I am over 30.

Why do these matter? Other than I never get out apparently? This is happening –

13.1 Here I come! source — 13.1 Here I come!
source

Ok so, this race is not super far away so hypothetically I could have driven down super early on race morning. My mother even offered to drive so I could sleep on the way. However, I am too neurotic for that. What if there was traffic? So, instead we are making a weekend of it. I am trying to talk ML into it but no luck yet.

Now, naive little me thought that I didn’t have to worry about the hotel part until later. But I was bored some night last week, so I played around online. Why are there so many booking websites? I couldn’t remember which one I was using half the time. I think I may have mentioned before that I have germophobe tendencies, so I was trying to find what looked to be the nicest hotel that wouldn’t break the bank. The first 5 I checked were all booked. Umm, what? Crap, I better get on this. After lots of searching and talking to people who “kind of” know the area, I chose one and booked. Fingers crossed it doesn’t scar me for life. I am still trying to figure out how to do Rock N Roll- Las Vegas this year. That would definitely need a hotel. Whoever said running was cheap was crazy.

A bonus for this race? It’s primarily flat. Holy crap, I may have a shot at finally breaking 2 hours! I don’t see that happening in 3 weeks with all the dune sand; not that it won’t be fun. 🙂 The Ventura Marathon actually has a few perks that I think are cool. They have the option to defer to 2015 if needed and offer race day pick up for a fee. I haven’t seen deferment in a smaller race. I felt a little more confident registering early. I am usually a last minute registrant. Now I am torn between wanting it to be September now and wanting time to slow down. How is it almost July?!

Happy hump day!

What did you think of my little truths? How weird am I?

Any interesting facts you want to share?

April Recap

April was a busy month. Not just for me but most people I think. I mean taxes and Boston in the same month, right? Or in my case, the SLO Marathon weekend. So my month brought me this-

Miles- 70.4
Races-2 – Firehouse 5K & SLO 1/2 Marathon
Money spent- quite a bit
Toenails- 1 almost gone 🙂

I actually felt pretty good after Sunday’s race even with all the hills. I took Monday off, both from running and work, planning to return to both on Tuesday. Work went great on Tuesday and I was looking forward to my run. What I did not account for was the freak heat wave we have had lately. Even work town was friggin’ hot and it rarely gets above 70 there.

I went to the lake after work hoping for an easy 4 miles. I was warm, not hot but uncomfortably warm. It was 88º when I set out. I called it after 5K and just walked back to the car. I didn’t see a need to push it. It was a bummer because my legs felt good but I need to acclimate to the coming summer heat a little better.

For some reason, I thought Wednesday was Thursday all day long. Not cool. I had planned on running after work but for the first time ever, this Slacker forgot her running shoes. How does one even do that? I do have a spare pair in my car (and socks, shorts, shirt and sports bra) but it was hot again, so I decided on another rest day. I did just run 13.1 right? Sadly it meant that my monthly mileage stalled at 70.4 and I had really wanted to get to 75. But I am still on track for my yearly goal, so yay!

Thursday, well yeah. I felt like Thursday turned into a mayday, and not the fun dancing around the May pole kind. Work bordered on insane and the town was crazy. My original plan was to run 3-4 miles in work town before heading to SLO for packet pick up for tomorrow’s race. But there is a huge car show in town this weekend and people were pouring in so I just got the heck out of dodge. I was halfway to SLO when it occurred to me that I had lost $200.00. I could not remember what I had done with it but I did not have it. That was the final straw and I burst into tears while driving down the highway. 😦 Once I made it to packet pick up (Sports Authority), I was texting all of my co-workers in a panic. No one could remember seeing it. There was nothing more that I could do about it then, so I dried my eyes as best as I could and went to get the packets. I figured I would be in and out and hardly anyone would see me, so the red eyes wouldn’t be so bad.

Wrong. This pick up was for Run or Dye. The line was wrapped around the interior of the building. I was in line for over 30 minutes. Seriously?! I am still on the fence about this race as it is. Then when I was picking up my bib and for 4 friends, the Run or Dye staff told me 8000 people registered. I’m sorry what? How do you fit that many people in a smaller park and where do they all park? I was still super cranky so I think I may have given the poor guy the look of death at that news. Sorry!

I was still so frustrated that I was torn between getting a pizza on the way home and eating it all or trying to run it out. I chose the healthy choice and took the freeway exit to run town. I was running behind on time so I was thinking 2 laps of the lake would be good. Apparently there was some function at the pavilion because I had to circle around a few times and ended up parking on the backside of the lake. Which was weird but I jumped out, walked a quick warm up and then just ran. 2 miles later, time had run out but I was feeling a little better.

I am something of a clean freak about certain things, so I am really not sure how I will handle people throwing colored dye at me as we leisurely ramble through the course tomorrow. Plus, I am wearing a tutu. I had always promised C that we run a race in tutu’s. Why, I am not sure, I always feel awkward in costumes or outfits. I am still just getting used to running in shorts. But, I did buy a bright pink tutu and I will be rocking it tomorrow. Along with all black. 🙂 I’m picking NikeC up early so we can hopefully get a good parking spot. Then it is time for a Team Slacker meetup! On the upside, I think we have a group of 10 or more running tomorrow! Plus no pre-race jitters. 🙂

And the lost money? Found today, I have awesome co-workers. 🙂

How was your week?

Ever done a Run or Dye or Color Run? Any advice?

Good luck to anyone at Wildflower this weekend!