Sundays for me alternate between track days and Slacker Sundays. And despite my best intentions to have yesterday be a track day, the Slacker in me won over. The time came to go run and well, a nap really sounded like a good idea at the time. I can’t even say that vacation brain kicked in because it was just me.
Today was the first real day of my vacation, and I admit I slept in, late. It was kind of awesome. I had plans to go to lunch with my mom, run some errands and hit the gym in the afternoon. Those plans were derailed in the cutest of ways.
How cute is she?!?
My parents have been fencing their yard in preparation of getting a dog. It’s almost done but not quite so some thought the dog would be the beginning of next year. Surprise!!!! My dad was totally not prepared for us to show up with a dog. Neither, really was my mother, there was nothing for the puppy yet.
So the afternoon was spent taking care of this adorable fur ball (so hard I know 🙂 ) and running around getting stuff for her. She now has a collar and a leash, a bed and some toys, a squeaker frog! What she does not have is a name. The whole family is in on it now, but no one agrees. I said Marathon, my brother said Ammo, my dad said “not thought out”. My mother has shot everything down, I am currently calling her Misfire, but my mom hates that and it is her dog.
Every time she would bring up getting a dog, I would tell her that it had to be able to run. That way I could “borrow” her and train her to run with me. I have always wanted to run with a dog, instead of being attacked by them. She is an Aussie/ Lab mix and the lady said that she could totally be a runner. We would just have to start her early and slowly and she could do shorter runs. Woo hoo!
Even after I chased her around the yard all afternoon I knew I should get a run in. According to my Nike fuelband, chasing a puppy does not earn you many points. 😦 It was getting dark and I did not feel like going to the gym. So I changed into whatever was on the top of my running drawer and went for a quick run. Good lord, I was obnoxious.
Damn, that’s bright!
But, racing the darkness, I completed 3.8 miles. If I could have seen my phone to know how close I was to 4 I would have run more. But that’s for another day.
First off, thanks to everyone and the well wishes. It was a great way to go into a race!
Today I took part in the first annual Operation Run, an 8 mile run put on by Amazing Surf Adventures and their Operation Surf. I thought I had seen this run advertised last year, but I guess I made that up in my head, oops! First time races normally make me a little leery but there were no fears here. Check in was quick as no bibs were handed out. Turns out the county has restrictions on “races” that may not apply to “fun runs”. Who knew? The start finish line was in a Gymnastics center parking lot. There was also a huge American Flag on display-
The announcer was amusing with the right touch of snark. Love it! He was with Operation Surf and he handed the mike over to another man, wearing a Boston jacket from 2012! ( nerd moment). He described the course, basically an 8 mile rectangle, watch out for traffic as no roads were closed. He also mentioned that end of the race would involve zig-zagging though the parking lot? Why, because he knew that if us runners showed up for an 8 mile race, we would be very upset if it came in under 8. So true! There were 2 aid stations along the course and Grizzlies monitoring every intersection. Shirts and medals were handed out after crossing the finish line. Official race times are supposed be online soon. All in all, it was a very smoothly run race, especially considering it was the first year! And the race shirt was great, even if it ran a little small-
and the shirt…
It was 34 degrees when I left my house this morning so I dressed in capris and a long sleeve shirt. I also had my gloves and an ear warmer. I had a bottle with Gatorade and a few candy corns for fuel. This would be my first 8 mile race, so I was trying to be prepared. It never hurts to be a little extra prepared. I got Mr. Nike going and then paused it for the National Anthem and the short walk to the start line. And then we were off! The guy in front of me and I almost plowed right into a photographer who thought it would be a good idea to take pictures from inside the crowd. No!!!
Miles 1-2.5 were a long slow incline. I was hot about .5 miles in, oops. Coming up on mile 1, I was sucker punched by Mr. Nike. His voice comes and says “mile 1” ok good so far, then “20:32 minutes”. Umm what?! Guess when I thought I had paused it, I didn’t. WTF. Well that is not the way that you want to start off a race. I had no idea what my first mile was and my average pace was just a guess from then on, based on the overall time. Plus the distance was slightly off due to that little walk to the start line. Ugh, every time Nike would give a status update, I just became irritated. But I ran on.
Mile 1-3 seemed pretty good, warm but good. I was tired but thought I had a decent pace. Had to lose the over shirt by mile 3 and didn’t want to walk so I managed to get it off while running, very awkward. 🙂 After mile 2 we were off the main road and running the back roads in between wineries. It was very pretty today, I should be used to it, seeing as I live in wine country, but today seemed prettier. The first aid station was run by ROTC members, nice!
I rounded the corner for mile 3 and I was tired. I felt like my crappy week had caught up to me. Mile 4.5 was uphill and I caved. I had to take a walk break. I was frustrated because I had run 10 miles of my half before needing a break. I walked to the top and told myself I was running the rest, and I was going to do it faster. I think the slight downhill had affected my judgment. But I kept running.
At mile 6, I was bummed that this wasn’t a 10K. I had 2 miles to go. I was tired and cranky but just kept pushing. Ran passed the Grizzlies with their great signs and kept going. Mile 7-8 was the longest mile ever, I hit the parking lot and really wanted to say screw it to the zig zag, I’m ok with 7.7. But somehow, I had enough in me for an actually speedy finish. I managed to pass up one of the people I had been pacing for that last 5 miles. Woo hoo!!! Even though Nike was all jacked up, I feel fairly confident in saying that I ran a negative split!!! How unlike me.
yay, I’m done!
After filling out the finishing card, I finished 52 out of ?, and picking up my shirt and medal, I tracked down the woman I had passed. I didn’t want to wait for the times to go up, I wanted some idea of my time and I figured she finished nearest to me. She came in at 1:17:11. Seriously? Hell yeah! Now I just want to see the posted times to confirm it. Also the medal and race bag were awesome.
Great Medal!
It was a tiring race, not course wise, mostly just me, but I felt like I pushed through it. Plus it was a well-organized race for a good cause, our veterans. There were some amputee runners out there today and I was inspired by their perseverance and bravery.
Where’s the food?
I completed the day with a good lunch and a little shopping. I then headed home for a last bit of Slacker-ness before work tomorrow. Shout out to mom and her race photography skills- Thanks!
As I had to work yesterday, I ended up getting off early on Friday. However this was not planned and as such I was unprepared. As I was driving past the lake path, I was cursing my lack of foresight, because I totally could have gone for a run. But all I had in my car was my old pair of Inspire’s and my belt and earphones. Think I could run in old shoes and a dress? I might have received some interesting stares. I also knew that being it was Friday I would lose the eagerness to run by the time I got home. And I did. So I ran errands and caught up on some reading instead. Slacker!
Driving to work on Saturday, the weather was perfect for a run. As evidenced by the numerous people that I saw running on the sides of the highway. My Saturday commute takes me along 2 rural highways, both with wide paved shoulders. There were quite a few people taking advantage of that that morning. I was so jealous. Even though rationally I knew that even if I didn’t have to work, I would probably be sleeping in instead, I was still jealous. Runner’s logic, right? It was interesting to see how some people were just running in shorts and shirts and others looked like they were wearing a parka. It was a lovely crisp 45 degrees. 🙂 Ha! I had the heater in my car cranked up. The fog never stays gone for long though and rolled in by 11:30 so I got to drive home in the fog, oh boy!
I did make it to the track for a good run though. I did 4 miles with an average pace of 10:07. Usually my track times are a little faster than this, but I was brilliant and ate a large lunch about an hour before running. I had been craving a hot dog as I hadn’t had one in almost a year. After yesterday, it will probably be another year before I want another hot dog. It was super yummy but it did not make my run fun at all. On the plus side, I still love my new shoes!
This weekend was the Harvest Marathon in my home town. It is actually the combo of what in previous years was 2 races: the Harvest Marathon and the Wine Vine Run. I had participated in both events in the 5K in years past. I really wanted to run the half marathon this year but since it was so close to the City to the Sea half marathon I was planning on extremely late registration. I figured I would to see how I felt. I felt great but my pocket book did not. It came down to shoes or the race and shoes won. Plus my left foot has been making itself known to me. It still doesn’t hurt, but something is not right. 😦
However, I did participate in a way. The race works as a fundraiser for the local high school’s athletic department. My mother is head tennis coach there and all sports teams had to volunteer. So I was up at 5AM to head out and help her and the team work a water table. We had station #4 which was at mile 8.7 of the marathon. The half marathoners had a different course. We had the table up and ready to go by 7:00. We had people to hand out water, a guy for traffic control and 2 athletic trainers. We were ready to go but the race started at 7. We had 40 minutes until we would see the first runner and it was so cold. 😦 I went and sat in my car until 7:35. So very social of me.
Mother and me 🙂 So damn cold!!!
The first runner came through around 7:50. Woo hoo!!! The first 5 people were men, then finally the first girl! Actually I think she was another blogger that I just started following but not sure. This was a hometown race so the marathon only had around 60 people registered, so there was a fair amount of time between people running by. I was surprised by how much the runners were drinking though. I have worked aid stations before and people always sipped and then threw the cups. These runners were guzzling water down. We started to think that we were going to run out of cups, most runners were taking 3 each! Also half of them walked the cups to the trash bag on the opposite side of the street, even when we said they could just toss it and we would pick up after. Also we were not a station that provided Gatorade but so many people wanted it. I felt horrible every time we said that we didn’t have it!
The runners and the course 🙂
In between the first pack and the second, the boys decided to play with branches they found on the side of the road. Really? I could see the runners coming so I told them to put the sticks down, that we didn’t need to have the approaching runners think we were going to pull a Tonya Harding on them. Every single teenager just stared at me. They had no idea what I was talking about. Am I really that old?!?!
Good group but man I feel old now 🙂
The last runner passed at around 9:00 and we were done! We packed up our stuff and headed out.
While I felt lazy that I did not run the half marathon this morning, I was also not inspired to run a marathon. They all looked so damn tired when they ran through and they still had 17 miles to go. Do I like that at mile 8 when I run half’s? No wonder people think runners are slightly crazy. Still it was rewarding to work the other side this morning and it’s probably not the last time I will do it. I may even put this race on the schedule for next year, but I may try for Nike in SF instead. 🙂
I did make it to the track like planned on Sunday. Headed out around 10:00 hoping to avoid the heat. My legs felt tired before I even started so I set Mr. Nike for a timed run of 45 minutes. Figured that sounded like a good amount of time for the day and I would just do as many laps as I could at a steady pace. By the end of my 45 minutes I had done a little over 4.5 miles. I maintained pace and by mile 3, my legs felt a little better. So I walked a short cool down and stretched out. I have no idea what the football players use this thing for, but I love stretching with it-
What the heck is this?
After my run, I headed home for a lazy day of eating way too much. Seriously, I ran a half marathon not Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim. But I still gave myself license to eat way too much last week. The amount of times I ate pizza was just ridiculous. Amazingly tasty but ridiculous. Plus for work, we are having a candy crush October. I have most of the treats for the crew in my drawer and have been snacking on them way too much. Bad!!! They are not for me!!! Plus my skin has decided to tell me that it is not happy with the unending string of junk food either. Ugh.
Yep, that’s true
Yesterday I was pumped to get in a run after work at the lake. I figured with the looming time change, this would be one of my last chances. Getting out of work was a little delayed due a waiting for a big announcement that was supposed to come down the pipeline. There’s always a moment when your stomach sinks hearing that but no need, it’s all good. We’re expanding!! That was a good thing to hear! But it did put me a little behind schedule. I changed and started the drive towards the lake path. The sun was behind the hill a little more than I planned when I got there but I still set out for a good run.
What was not cool was the creepy guy walking two dogs that was totally weirding me out. Granted it could have been the border collie he was walking that was giving me the willies. I love all dogs but not border collies, sketchy devils. But the way he kept looking back and staring, not cool. It may have even been someone behind that he was staring at but, ew. I passed him quickly and tried to settle into a decent pace. My legs did not like me so much last night. I felt like I was mincing my steps. I kept looking down at my form and it felt ok, but my legs were off. I just felt funky. Clocked mile 1 at 10:25, ok then. The sun was even lower but I pushed on for another lap. My legs still felt funny. 😦
Coming through the park section of the path again, I swear I saw creepy guy sitting on a bench staring at the path. But without the dogs… ummm what?! I wasn’t sure if I was more skeeved out by him or the fact that there may be a border collie on the loose. They’re the reason I carry pepper spray. Yeah I was done. I finished the lap coming in at just under 2.5 miles. I stretched really quick and jumped in my car to leave. Best way to get a negative split? Run from something creepy.
Creepy!!!!!
The bottom of my left foot felt funny today. Not painful, just kind of odd. I had no problems at volleyball though, so who knows. We won!!!!! Well, 1 of the 2 matches, but woo hoo! Both matches went to 3 games and now I feel a little bruised but it was fun. Could have done without the second team of the night deciding to intentionally aim everything at me but I said bring it 🙂 Not sure what I did to them but oh well, women can be so bitchy. (myself included). They were pretty vocal about it too. Maybe the fact that we took the first game spooked them, there are the first place team right now.
Now I am relaxing in the Comfy Chair, watching The Biggest Loser and eating potato chips. Wait, what? Oops. Why does this show make me want to snack? 😦
Anyone else have any sketchy encounters while running?
I managed to get in a run on Thursday before heading to school for my exam. Oops, sorry mixer!!! I’ll go next month- it’ll be too dark to run then 😦
I wanted to take it a little easy, so I set Mr. Nike for a 3 mile run. I love the distance mode. He comes on and tells you at the halfway point, great way when to know to turn around. Otherwise I get distracted and just keep running. Which if it wasn’t my first run after my half or if I didn’t have an exam that I should have been studying for, that wouldn’t have been a bad thing. 🙂
The halfway point is just inside the state park, I barely get to breathe in the Eucalyptus before I had to head back. I take a slight detour on the way back just to see this-
So Pretty!!!!I can see clearly now!
Bonus, the weather was amazing! 70 and shining sun! Usually by this time of evening the marine layer rolls in and it’s just gray. All in all, finished a nice 5k when I made it back to my car. And I averaged a 9:46 pace, fine by me.
Since I work 3 of the upcoming 4 Saturdays, I admit to a little whining. But I have an awesome boss, so I got a few extra hours to sleep in on Friday. I have been so tired; I just wanted some time with a few less alarms. Yeah, I set 5 daily. Usually sleep through the first 2 and snooze the rest repeatedly. While a better person may have snuck in a Friday morning run, I am a Slacker. I chose to sleep. It was so nice. Then I headed into work, picking up a birthday cake along the way for the afore mentioned awesome boss. I really need to stop eating junk. This has been a very indulgent week.
Cuter before cropped, but yummy!
This morning’s commute actually wasn’t that foggy! As I drove into town, I tried to take a few pictures. This town has an annual Scarecrow festival that I never knew about. Last time I worked there, the fog was so heavy and zombie like, then creatures were just popping out the mist. WTF? The first 2 scared the crap out of me before I figured it out. This time, I was prepared and snapped a few pictures along the way. Yes, I should have gotten out of the car, but I am lazy.
The bottom two were the creepiest!!!
I really did plan to run today but the Slacker in me finally beat out the twitchy feet. After work and lunch and errands, I was tired and lazy. No lies, I was just a Slacker. Tomorrow, I get back on track. Literally- track Sunday!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I love the track. It’s supposed to be over 90, but hey, soon I will be complaining that it will too cold, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Today wasn’t totally running free, I did finish my scrapbook page for my City to the Sea bib. Yes, I keep a scrapbook of all my bibs. Cheesy but I love it. Wish they made better embellishments though.
To anyone who ran or raced today, you’re awesome!!!!
Anyone’s towns have any interesting Harvest traditions?
Slacker Runner 