Tag: miles

Oakland Hills Trail Race

4 days after getting my stitches out, I was back at another race. No one said I was smart.

I had looked at Oakland Hills for years but never run it. Since this seems to be my year of doing the Inside Trail races, this was the year. My brother was going to run the 35K and I was going to slow roll the 10K again.

His race started at 8:30 and mine 9:00. I knew I was still not 100% and also was having tummy issues all morning. I think this race takes the all time high for the number of times I used a porta potty before the race. This course is the opposite of most of my trail races. Here, runners go mostly downhill for the first half and then climb back the last half. It’s a trap.

Everything started out pretty well. I may have enjoyed the downhills a little too much, ha! It took about 2 miles for me to decide I was an idiot who overdressed and was regretting my long sleeves. Even under the shade of the Redwoods, I was heating up.

The trails were my favorite kind, hard dirt, surrounded by tall redwoods with views for days. The was the sun cut through the trees sometimes was just awesome. I think I took a couple hundred pictures while I was out there. Mile 3 started to take us through a more user friendly section of the park but it was just as pretty. However I also knew we were in for some serious uphill to come as we were fairly flat at that point.

Reader- I didn’t know. I was not prepared.

Holy hell, the last 2 miles killed me. I was taking back everything I had ever said about any other hill in a race. I stopped to take off my long sleeve because I was seriously overheating and go stuck in my shirt. It stressed me out. 1/2 mile later, I fell on my ass. One second I am trying to just keep putting one foot in front of the other without looking at how far I still have to go, the next I am on the ground. Apparently I made enough noise that the hikers I had passed about 50 yards back turned around and asked if I needed help.

People- miles 5 and 6 were 22 and 33 minutes. Strava shows my moving time was around 16 minutes for each mile, ha! Mile 5 averaged a 19% grade and mile 6 was 20%. I was freakin’ toast. I was so done. My stomach was starting make me question things as well. I was no longer enjoying the pretty trees.

I finally crossed the finish line in 2:07:11.

I’ve run a half marathon faster than I finished that 10K. I’ve never been so done in my life. Meanwhile my brother finished the 35k in 3:38:20 and took 3rd overall. Who is he?

Don’t get me wrong this was a great race, I was just so not prepared. Maybe next year?

Manic May

Whereas April felt like it was 3 years long, May was 3 seconds long. How does that even happen?

Training wise, I had my best month of the year. Granted that’s not saying much but it’s still a positive, right? I ran 2 races- Yosemite Half and Silver Moon. Granted, I dropped from the 6 hour times race to the 10k at Silver Moon but no regrets there.

I ran some roads and some trails. In fact, I finally made it out to a trail I’ve had on my list for a few years. Stuck in the middle of writing that blog post though. Oops. I also settled on a training strategy for Santa Rosa Marathon (half) in August. I say strategy because training plans and I do not get along.

Work wise, the month was a little rough. The busy months are coming and I feel ill prepared. My boss also turned in their notice in May so things are interesting. Thankfully, I really do have a great crew.

Oh, I picked up 2 new pairs of running shoes too! Granted, I ran the others into the ground and they needed to be replaced but new shoes are exciting for any reason, right? However my bank account would prefer that I don’t need to replace both pairs at the same time again, ha.

I also added a few more books to Total for the year. Somehow I’ve read over 40 books at this point in 2022. Huh??

So, yeah May was interesting.

Silver Moon Race Recap

I first heard about Silver Moon back in 2021 but it was same weekend I was running CDA Half up in Idaho. I was bummed to be missing out on a new local race, especially since most of my local races had all disappeared… and that was even before COVID.

So when it came back for 2022, I was on board. Except it was pricey. I had trouble rationalizing that kind of $$$ for a 10K. The race offered a 10k, 6-12-24 hour, and 100 mile option and a wine walk. The 6 hour was only $10 more than the 10k so I thought why not? Plus the race started at 6pm and ran until midnight which meant hours of running under the full moon. I figured I could do between 3-4 mile an hour and just have fun and enjoy a new challenge. I knew I was in no shape for any form of speed.

Race day came only 7 days after Yosemite Half. Which may have been fine except my quads were screaming from the 7ish miles of downhill and my feet were still raw from wearing the wrong damn socks on race day. #rookiemove Then a period from hell along with a migraine moved in on Thursday/ Friday. In fact, I left work early on Friday, I felt so horrible.

For the next 24 hours, I went back and forth on DNS’ing, dropping to the 10k or stupidly trying for the whole thing. Did I mention it was supposed to be in the low 90’s at go time? The slightly smarter part of me prevailed and I dropped to the 10k.

The race takes place at Cass Winery and consists of a 2 mile loop around the vineyards. Dirt road is my favorite surface and I didn’t even need my trail shoes.

The race actually started a little early and we were off on our first loop. The 10k had 3, so slightly shorter than a full 10K. It was 91 degrees. I died 1/4 mile in. I was so damn hot, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that hot before. I almost lost my lunch around mile 5, never been that nauseous at a race before. I would say I walked 99.9% of this “race”. Even walking, my heart rate was in the red for the entirety of the 6 miles. Ouch.

Finish 1:29:17

I crossed the finish line and wanted nothing more than an ice cold Coke. I found warm coke at the finish line aid but found ice cold water up in the Barrell Room at the after party for the 10K runners and the wine walkers. I also may have hid in the air conditioned room until I was less tomato red, ha!

The party was still going when I left but all I could think about was a nice cold Frappuccino from Starbucks. So I made my way there via the backroads… only to be told they closed early! I was so bummed.

The concept of this race was great and I really liked the loops around the vineyard, this was just not my day. I still hope it comes back next year, I need redemption.

Thoughts

I live in a smallish town. 10 years ago when I started running, it seemed even smaller.

While I worked for the same company then ( and actually back in the same office now) I was in a more customer facing position. I remember customers coming in and telling me they thought they saw me running. Oh crap. My question would be “oh, really, where”? Which is how learned where a lot of customers lived, ha! Luckily, my only concern was that if they ever looked out a window again and saw me, they would see me running not walking.

It sounds silly and possibly egotistical but it’s one of the those I took fewer walk breaks. Especially when a couple of those locations slightly overlapped. The main bridge in town is similar. When I first ventured to runs where I was running across town, I had to use the bridge. The only way across town is by one of the bridges and this is by far the busiest. The bridge became my unintentional sprint zone. I could usually drop the pace of that mile significantly just on the bridge. Every time.

I ran that bridge this past Sunday for the first time in years. And I think I finally realized something. I no longer commute. I’m back where I started. I am older, I put back on all the weight I lost and added some for good measure. I am back to all the old, original running haunts and I can barely run.

So instead of being concerned that people would see me walking, I am now concerned that people will see me running. Or more like struggling to run. So I walk. Well, I walk when I finally lace up the running shoes and get out the door. Which, thanks to Strava, I know I only managed that 6 times in July. 6. Out of 31. That is not even 20%.

The question is will admitting it to myself be enough to change the bad habits?

Upswing

Of course, the week after I express my concerns about my pace and where I am at fitness wise, I have a few good runs.

Not saying they were fast by any sort of scale but they didn’t suck.

For the first time in months, I actually kind of felt like a runner again. I know I am but sometimes I feel more like a farce these days.

Still working on getting back into my post work run follow through, so my first run of the week wasn’t until Wednesday. The weather was perfect- if a little windy- and I had new shoes to test out. I turned back on my run/walk intervals that I’ve been ignoring for weeks. Things felt pretty good.

Actually, I misspoke about the wind- it was stupid windy. The wind tried to take my hat multiple times, I was running with my head down more often than not. Maybe only visually seeing my route every few moments was actually helpful? I couldn’t see how much farther I had left to go, ha! 4 miles done.

I had planned on running Thursday but had to admit that I was feeling a little under the weather. Actually had been for a while but was ignoring it. It kept things pretty low key for the next few days, there may have been a few naps. And some random closet cleaning because that’s what you do when you’re feeling poorly, right?

I ventured out for my long run on Sunday, not sure how it was going to go. I had 9 on the schedule but wasn’t sure I was feeling that. I kept it at a brisk walk the first mile and a half just to see how everything felt. I once again ditched the run/walk app and decided to do my own thing. I headed for an old long run route that I haven’t seen in a long time. There weren’t any cows this time but I kept running! The wind was cuckoo again and I definitely felt like it was a long run but it felt pretty good. The only real issue with the run was the halfway point when I really needed a bathroom. The first set I tried at the nearest park had no stall doors. Ummm, no. So much for fixing that in the remodel. The second was gross and horrible but I really had to go! The way running lowers your standards. Ha! But, 9 miles done.

2 runs, both of them decent. Time to look on the bright side, right?