Tag: Oakland Marathon

Week 11-Bump in the Road

Otherwise known as sickness, heat wave and ouch-oh my.

  • 2019 Race Schedule (so far):
  • 3/24 Oakland Running Festival (Thanks BibRave)
  • 4/28 SLO Half Marathon
  • 8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

Last week was rough. I had long days at work due to early morning conference calls. I ended up getting sick and then even when I felt better I was so damn tired. Like tired enough I slept through 3 of my alarms and had to get ready in 20 minutes on Friday. A similar story to Sunday when I set an alarm for an early morning run and instead dozed right through to 10AM. What?? That came back to bite me in the ass. Figuratively and damn near literally.

Monday- 3.1 miles
Starting the week out on a good note- I love the time change. I made it all the way to hometown before my run with plenty of light in the sky. I wasn’t sure if I was running 3 or 4 but settled on 3.1 so I could meet my mom for a late dinner. There were so many people out enjoying the extra daylight. My run was pretty decent- it actually ended up being a very short progression and the last mile was speedy for me these days.

Tuesday/ Wednesday- sick
I felt fine when I woke up on Tuesday but took a sharp decline mid morning. I was not ok, sick to my stomach, watering eyes and feeling feverish. I ended up leaving work early on Tuesday and barely made it through Wednesday.

Thursday- 3.5 miles
I was still feeling off and bordered on cranky. My new plan called for intervals but I didn’t think there was any way that was happening. I headed to the lake path after figuring it was easier to bail if I wasn’t feeling it. For some random reason, I pushed play on the interval workout. The first running interval almost killed me, ha! However I was able to increase the pace on each interval after that so yay? Granted, I am way off from the days when I ran paces of low 7’s, high 6’s for 1/4 repeats. I was struggling to hold a 9 minute pace but you have to start somewhere, right? Not cool was the numb left foot… again.

Friday/ Saturday- ???
Work was super long but I was abnormally hyper. It’s not the first time this has happened but it usually means I am still not feeling well. So no running but I randomly decided to rearrange all the furniture in the bedroom and closet. Moving dressers and beds is not exactly restive. Oh and I did push the limits of my lunch break on Friday and made it the Running Warehouse and back to pick up a new pair of shoes.

Sunday- 7.25 miles
Holy heat wave, Batman. It was almost 80*, I was so not prepared for that much of a jump. I had planned on running 10 miles for my last long run before Oakland but knew by mile 3 that wasn’t going to happen. I was so hot I was taking walk breaks more than occasionally. My pace actually wasn’t too horrible but I knew it wasn’t going to get any better. Good news is that there weren’t any issues with the new shoes. Bad news is that being hot wasn’t the worst- this turned out to be a chafe-tastic run. Ouch!

Just shy of 14 miles for the week but no cross- training. Unless you count sleep, haha. Not what I was hoping for when the week started but better than it could have been.

How was your week?


Shipping Up to 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!

What’s up Oakland? I’m on my way!

Ok, not yet, the race isn’t until March but time does fly these days. Even though I races planned in the months to come, I was only officially registered for one in August after Wildflower was canceled. I was feeling a little adrift. I really want to get back to loving all the races and running all the races this year.

Enter Oakland Running Festival. This race first came to my attention earlier in the year via a race email but my March is potentially super busy so I held off. Then when the opportunity opened with BibRave last week, I jumped on it.

What first drew my eye for the Oakland Running Festival was the course- you get to run across the Bay Bridge! I may be slightly afraid of bridges but suddenly I wanted to run across that. However, the Bay Bridge is only part of the marathon course. I may be doing a lot in March but a marathon will not be one of those things. Boo.

That’s ok, the half marathon still looks awesome! It starts and ends at Lake Merritt and then takes you around town. The finish line festival sounds like it’s going to be hopping to. Seriously, the pictures they are posting on Instagram are making me hungry.

The one thing that makes me a little nervous is the start time- 9:30 AM. That’s late! I mean I love that I can sleep in a little but I usually consider 8AM a late start (although you’ll likely hear me complaining about the 6:30 start I have in April). The late start has a purpose though.

Enter the Run This Town Challenge. Run the 5K at 7:30 and the half marathon at 9:30 and earn a special bib and an extra medal. Am I crazy enough to do that? Hmmmm.

The race also offers a team relay for the marathon. Well, I should say offered- it’s already sold out.

Anyone want to join me? Use code OAKLANDRAVE19 to save $10.00.
How are you with bridges?