Tag: race

Rain or Shine? Run

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!

Wait, it’s February? How did that happen?

That means 2 things- Super Bowl and Surf City. Now I could care less about the Super Bowl but Surf City is always the same day so I just pretend the excitement is for the race not the game.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am no where near race ready. When I toe the line on Sunday I will be fully prepared to take it easy and take my time. I have run/walk intervals set on my watch and ready to go. But I am looking forward to revisiting the race that started me down the path of (longer) distance running. The crowds are awesome, the beach view is great, I get to (hopefully) see a bunch of other BibRave Pros.

I posted this 3 years ago at my second Surf City

Now if the weather will cooperate. Granted, it is absolutely nothing compared to what is happening in most of the country but a rain filled Saturday and Sunday wasn’t exactly what I was looking forward to. I can roll with it though and have just changed most of everything I was going to pack and wear.

So, fingers crossed for a fun filled weekend that’s only slightly wet.

Rambling On 48

I should be sharing my 2018 recap but typing it is taking me longer than I thought it would. I just keep slacking.

I have dual monitors at work now! It’s glorious! They are new and pretty and shiny and I love it. Only downside is that they are bigger (not the downside, that’s awesome) but I have been standing more this week and my back and feet hurt. My desk is a standup desk but it’s about 5 inches off the right height so it’s always been an issue so the adjustment curve this week has been a little steep.

Speaking of feet, my left foot still hurts. Sometimes it’s fine and other times I feel a dull ache across the bones along the top. This can happen when I am walking or sitting. Not cool. I’ve worn my comfiest flats all week. Which is kind of an oxymoron.

Which then leads me to this weekend. Castle to Coast is Saturday; 8 miles along an open highway with no real way to bail if my foot protests hard. Not to mention that I still haven’t felt well this week. I did call my doc 2 weeks ago to make an appointment but they can’t see me until the end of January. Not helpful. I am seriously leaning towards a DNS but I don’t know if my pride will let me do that.

Other than the race I am riding the fence about, I may repaint my bedroom this weekend. It’s been yellow for far too long and I need a change. Now I just need to choose a color.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

What are you up to this weekend?

Week 49

Upcoming Races
Holiday Half 12/9 (Thanks Bibrave!)

Vacation- woo hoo!!! Why am I always sick on vacation?? Seriously, is it some kind of jinx? I didn’t get in as much exercise as I originally would have liked this week. I did get some nice downtime in and finally managed to get the toy shopping for work done. Oh and both parents had birthdays. 😯🎊

Monday– Does cleaning your car count as exercise? I mean it was ridiculously dirty and I did work up a sweat for the first time in weeks. 😛

Tuesday/Wednesday– The rain came to town and I hid. Did I want to run in it? Yes. But I was still coughing and didn’t think running in the rain would be a bright idea.

Thursday-3.3 miles I ran! I headed to the gym to see if my legs still knew what they were doing. They did!! I couldn’t get anything else to work properly though. I forgot to start my Garmin, realized I never paired my headphones with my new iPhone and my footpod is out of calibration. Whatever, it was still a good run.

Friday– I wanted to run again but with the race this weekend I knew that would be more miles this week than I ran in the month of November. Yeah, you read that right. So I just spent the getting some errands done and packing for Pomona.

Saturday- Road Trip! Grrr, traffic. It felt like it took forever to get to Pomona. Once there, we checked out the race start location (not well enough) and then headed to the hotel to check in. An early dinner and then it was time to try to sleep. Ha! I think I woke up every hour on the hour. 😒

Sunday- Holiday Half Marathon– race recap to come.

16.55 miles for the week. Yes, more than I ran in November. Haha.

How was your week?

Third Try’s the Charm?

You could say that Surf City was my spring board into half marathons.

It wasn’t my first half marathon, not even close. It wasn’t even my first travel race. However it was the first time I spectated an event that didn’t involve working any water stations. Prior to Surf City 2011, I had volunteered numerous times at water stations for the local fun run and even the Master Elites didn’t inspire me to run. They also never wanted my water but that’s not the point.

I drove NikeC down to Huntington Beach to run Surf City back in 2011. I remember standing on a corner with her aunt and now uncle and watching all the runners run past feeling a little lazy. I thought to myself- I can do this. So I started training (sort of) for my first half and ran a local one a few months later.

It took me years to get myself back to Surf City. I ran it for the first time in 2015 and then again in 2016. Now, full disclosure, I love Surf City but it doesn’t love me. The course is fairly flat and the humidity runs pretty high. To some that is PR ready and the first two times I ran it, I attempted to run it fast and my lungs pitched a fit by mile 8ish. This has always colored my view of the later miles which bites because you run along PCH and the beach is right next to you!

Which is why I am looking forward to going back in 2019! Time to live it up!

So this time, I plan to have no plan. Well, that’s not true. I still remember the really good breakfast place we all went to after NikeC’s race years ago so I want to run the race leisurely, enjoy the party atmosphere, the beach and then walk all over until I find it again! #goals

Want to join me? Use code SCMBR10 to save 10%!

Ever run Surf City?

Let’s Do This Monterey

Disclaimer: I received free entry to Monterey Bay Half Marathon 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!

Race weekend has arrived.

Ya’ll I really need to get better at looking at calendars. 🤣 I am so tired.

Timehop to the rescue! I’ve wanted to run Monterey Bay again since I first ran it back in 2015 but I’ve been so tired this week post work trip. Thursday marked 3 years to the day since I last ran Monterey Bay and the memories popped up. I was reminded of everything I was looking forward to again- party tunnel, Cannery Row, ocean views and how close can I get to the elites????

Let’s do this!

That said, this is my last half of the year. And let’s be real, I haven’t had a good race all year. By good- I mean a race without some form of malady or another. So this race will be a little different.

I REALLY will have no time goals, in my previous posts I always had one in mind even when I said I didn’t; if this takes me 3 hours, so be it. I am going to take all the pictures. Thank all the volunteers. Listen to all the music available on course. Take more pictures. I’m probably going to wear something different than my more standard race outfit. I may leave the pack behind. I am doing race day packet pick up. In short, let’s embrace all things different and just enjoy a nice stroll along the bay.

This will be half #34, I mentioned that at work today and my coworkers found that to be pretty cool. Not because I’ve run 33 before this but because 34 is our office designation. I hadn’t thought about that before- that has to mean something right?

All right, Monterey Bay, let’s do this.