Tag: race

LA Redemption

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock n Roll Los Angeles 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!

Los Angeles.

City of Angels, largest city in California.  I’ve run races from San Diego to San Francisco but some how missed Los Angeles.

That’s not say I haven’t registered for a race in Los Angeles.  In fact Rock N Roll Los Angeles.  I have unfinished business with this race as the 2016 race was home to my very first DNS.  😯  It’s time to balance the scales.

The course for 2018 hasn’t been set yet but 2017 was an out and back with some hills.  I can get behind that.  Plus I get to see the sights of a city that I haven’t toured on foot yet.

LAHashtag2018

Plus there is still all the new upgrades that Rock n Roll made for 2018 that will make the race awesome-

To name a few-

  • New corral markers that light up!
  • Clearer aid station signage
  • You can rock out to on-course mile markers!
  • You can also take a quiz to pick your Rock ‘n’ Roll Spotify BPM playlist that will help inspire you to rock your next run: http://runrocknroll.co/5eux3X

Now it’s still a ways off but I have a couple of options come race day.  If my PR attempt in San Jose fails then this could be a another chance.  If I succeed, then I could just sit back, relax and soak in the atmosphere of “the world’s largest Halloween half marathon”.  Heck, maybe I’ll wear a costume.  Maybe. No promises.  I wore a tutu for 3 miles once and that thing was riding up into places it had no business being.  🤣

Either way I have something to look forward to!

Want to join me?  Use code RNRBRP2018 to save $15.00 on the half.

Ever run in a costume?

*** Ok, so I totally thought I hit publish months ago but cleaning out some comments and drafts on my blog told me differently. Slacker!!!!

 

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 12

Last week was better… of sorts.

Mother nature decided to rain fury down upon us last week and try to make up for months of doubt.  And yes I meant to spell it like that.

The storm started Tuesday and stayed until Friday morning.   There were mudslides, rocks down, trees down, flooding, too many car accidents and just chaos.  The damn river (of the river path) rose so fast overnight Wednesday that there ended up being 10 swift water rescues on Thursday. 10!  I went to work and I went home, that was it.

I am sure I did other things last week but the rain is the only thing that sticks in my mind besides the running, ha!  So let’s just get to it.

Monday- 3.1 miles I tried to get in a few miles before the storm.   I don’t recall much about the miles but I pulled some decent paces for miles 2 and 3 looking back so it had to be a decent run, right?😜

Tuesday- Thursday- Nada– See opening above.  Unless white knuckled driving counts.

Friday- Rest The sun came out so I took my gear to work to run after we closed.  At least that was the plan.   I got something in my eye and could not get it out.   I tried eye drops, taking out my contacts, nothing worked.   I finally gave up and just went straight home.

Saturday- 3.1 miles 5K shakeout, I had lots of miles planned for Sunday and I wanted to get the legs moving after so many days off.  This run actually felt pretty dang good.  In fact at one point, I felt like I was powering up a hill impressively.  Of course I couldn’t see myself, so I have no idea if that was true or not.  🤣

Sunday- Tent City Half Marathon/ 5 miles = 18 miles total  Surprise! Half marathon #30 went down on Sunday.  At the butt crack of dawn… nope pre-dawn.  In the freakin’ cold.  Race recap to come.  😀

The plan called for 19 miles so after some food and a nap I headed out in the afternoon to complete another 6 miles.  Oh my misery.  I don’t think I am built for 2 a days anymore.  I liked them during my last marathon cycle- this time not so much.  I never found a rhythm or settled into a decent pace.  I dragged ass for 5 miles and knew adding another mile would likely do more harm than good so I just headed for home knowing I would fall short.  But 18 is nothing to frown at right??

24.4 miles for the week.   Better than the last two weeks!!!

How was your week?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 11

Never mind, can I have week 10 back?

Who knew that it would look good by comparison.  😛

This week was a step back week but I had a specific way it was going to go down.  Run Monday and Wednesday after work, 8 miles on Friday since I had the day off due to a tennis thing and then a local half marathon on Sunday.

I hit a minor stumbling block on Monday but wasn’t worried as I still had the rest of the week to catch up.   The tennis trip was canceled due to rain so I debated canceling my vacation day too but decided to keep it after Wednesday night into Thursday morning turned into pure misery.  My stomach hurt so bad, I just wanted to cry.  Thursday morning saw me sitting on the floor by my closet talking myself into getting dressed and forcing myself to go to work.   Things didn’t get much better from there.

Monday- Rest Planned on running but a sudden trip to another work location at the end of the day put a pin in those plans.   Actually I would be at this location for the next 2 days.

Tuesday- Rest Pouring rain and working in the other location kept me from running.  The drive to work was sketchy enough, I wanted to get home and off the road as soon as possible.

Wednesday- 3.30 miles Once again at the other location which meant the only running option was changing ad heading back to home town.  I hit up the river path and hoped to break in my new Altra’s.   While I had no real break in period for the Torin’s, that is not going to be true for these Intuition’s.   My calves and achilles were super tight so I kept stopping to stretch them out.  Which gave me more time to enjoy the sunset.  😊  I also made my last mile a bit speedier than my past few runs.  I think I’ve made the run/ walk intervals a crutch.  They were only supposed to be for long runs for Big Sur practice but they’ve become more of an every run thing.  Oops.

Thursday- 2.3 miles The start of the pain days.  I headed to the lake path after work hoping that a few miles would help make things better.  I figured the path was a good idea because if things went south, the car was never that far away and there are bathrooms there if needed.  It wasn’t a miserable run but it wasn’t marvelous either.  Nor did it seem to help the pain or make it worse.  Just to be on the safe side, I called it at just shy of 2 laps of the lake.

Which was probably a good idea as that night I was in so much pain, I damn near went to the ER.

Friday- Rest Less pain than the day before.   I had the day off from work due to the now canceled tennis trip but I knew I wasn’t getting in my 8 miles like planned.  In fact, I knew I was barely going to do anything.  I was also beginning to question the likelihood of me running the half marathon on Sunday.   This was further reinforced by another epic bout of pain that evening, this one my mother happened to witness and she was volunteering to drive me to the ER.

Saturday- Rest Less pain but I was still on the fence about the race.  I went to packet pickup and picked up my bib and shirt.  I’d never down graded a race before but I also didn’t think I had a DNF in me if it came to that.  If you’ve been following me for a while, then you may recall that I have a proclivity for running races when I shouldn’t or finishing them when I know I shouldn’t.   My mother was lecturing me and I was texting Kate who was trying to talk me down.  In our Squadrunner channel, James and Dorothea were also trying to talk some sense into me.   I went to bed mostly decided to drop to the 5K but still thinking about the half.  I love this half and it would be half #30.

Sunday- Wine Country Run 5K  Holy crap, I did something smart.  😛  Race recap to come but damn it was cold!

8.71 miles for the week.  Sunday evening was actually the best my stomach has felt in days so fingers crossed that stays.  The coming week has tons of rain and a 19 miler on the schedule.

As for my stomach- my gastroenterologist can’t see me until the middle of May.  So either I get lucky and snag a cancellation or I wait it out.  Otherwise another round like this week may send me to the ER before then.

So, someone tell me something good!

Hey, Hey, San Jose

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock n Roll San Jose 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!

There’s a bear, there’s a bear!

Ok, that was not how this post originally started but then it took me longer to type it than I planned and I received an email with the following image-

A bear!

I want it now!  I have a matching hat!  And dude, that’s a quick shirt reveal- the race isn’t until October 6-7.

Ok, back to what I meant to say.

Rock n Roll San Jose has been on my radar for a while now.  I almost ran it last year but it conflicted with a local race I was running.  Not this year!

Some race facts-

  • This will be the 13th year Rock n Roll has run in San Jose with more music, runner support, and community engagement every step of the way.
  • Known for being California’s fastest half marathon
  • Has one of the most spirited courses in the entire series- like all the local school cheerleaders come out and cheer you on.
  • A full weekend of running with a Half Marathon, 10K, 5K and KiDS ROCK, giving runners the chance to take on the Remix Challenge and earn three medals during the race weekend.

Ok, so it’s supposed to be fast- well that’s because it doesn’t have a ton of elevation gain.  By my standards, it looks pretty flat.   I’m not usually a fan of flat but I am going to try to be.  Why is that? Because when I registered, I put down a finishing time I haven’t come near in years.   People it’s time to kick that 2013 PR to the curb.  The last time I was even close was 2015.    It’s been way too long.

Want to join me in San Jose?  Use code RNRBRP2018 to save $15 on the half. 

Anyone else have a dated PR?

Mission 10 Miler Recap

My first 10 mile race!

This race wasn’t on my radar until I received an email from a half marathon series.   San Juan Bautista is only 2 hours up the road and this would make mission #3 for a race start.  I didn’t know I was starting a list but hey, why not!

I had a 12 mile run on the schedule that week but instead of running the half marathon available, I wanted to run the 10 miler.  I figured I would run 2 miles when I got back to to town.  Then the week of pain happened and I spent Thursday and Friday feeling a little off but I refused to say I was sick.  I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able run the race but I headed that way anyways.

Holy crap it was cold!  And picking up my bib and shirt took barely any time, so we stood around and froze for almost an hour.  Oops.  After watching the kids race- so adorable, then the half marathon start, it was time for the 10 miler.

I am toying with running Big Sur with run/walk intervals so I tested those out here.  When I was in super shape (for me)- I could have run this in the low 1:30:00 range. Yah, not so much anymore.  Since I was treating it as a long run, I was hoping for a 10:30-11:00 pace but with my recent leg issues I told my mother I wasn’t expecting to be done before 2:00 hours.  Then I put my watch on intervals of 1:15 run/ :45 walk, only had it on that screen and ran the race pace blind.

Miles 1-3- 9:38, 10:27, 10:33

I ran the entirety of the first mile, the race vibe just gets me moving.  However, I felt like I was crawling.  I was so cold, my legs didn’t feel like they were moving properly.    But looking at my Garmin later, I guess they were.  😛  I went to the intervals in mile 2 not because of the leg issue I had been worried about but only because my calves and achilles were super tight.   They were letting me know they were less than pleased with 3 miles of flat road.

Miles 4-7- 11:18, 11:19, 10:39, 9:47
Around 3.5 miles in we rounded a corner and passed a lone port-a potty and then the elevation finally started to change.  I smiled.   Yay, a hill!   I slowed going up the hill but stuck to my intervals.  The tightness in my calves eased- this is why I like hills- and I was feeling better than I thought I would.  I was sticking to the plan and treating the race like a long run- I wasn’t pushing it but I was keeping a steady effort.   The road through this section took the runners by some very pretty properties so I was also trying to enjoy the scenery.   I picked up the pace a bit when we turned around to head back towards the finish and now had the aid of the downhill.   Things were feeling good.

Miles 8-10- 11:16, 11:29, 11:17
Holy crap, what the hell???  My stomach cramped and cramped in a miserable, horrible way.   My intervals disintegrated and the wheels came off.   I ran when I could and walked when I was trying to breath through the pain and not cause any ummmm, issues.  In all 10 miles of this race, I saw 1 port-a-potty.  That didn’t help me.   Where was the finish line????

Finish- 1:48:29
Well, look at that- even with the wheels falling off in the last 3 miles, that’s not bad!

I found a jail while looking for a bathroom

 

Unfortunately, I was sick for the next 4-5 hours and fought a cold for the next 3 days so that was less fun but the race was a pretty good way to start the year.  Maybe next 10 miler, I can really race it.  😀