Tag: recap

2022-Delayed

It’s on brand for me to post a 2022 review almost 25 29 days into 2023, right?

Honestly, how am I wrapping up 2022? In my head it is still 2019. So let’s see.

January– Started decent, had 1 race planned- Castle to Coast again. Ended the month with a DNS and COVID.

February– I dragged all month still feeling tired. Postponed my planned vacation to Arizona and just tried to get back into things

March– Randomly went on on vacation to Sedona but wasn’t able to do all the hikes I had planned. Soldier’s Pass was awesome and I still owe you a post about Cathedral Rock too. I also ran-er- jogged my first race of the year- Oakland Marathon 10K. I had been registered for the half but knew I was not ready for that.

April– Sure I did something but it didn’t leave an impression. Well other than having to admit that my hair was falling out. Still not sure what caused it but over the next 8 months, I probably lost about 50% of my hair. I cut it shorter because I couldn’t put it up anymore with it pulling out on the hair tie.

May– Yosemite! I finally ran my first Vacation Races race with the Yosemite Half marathon. Also Kate flew out and we ran it together! The trip was fun and the race was great! So great, I am signed up for 2023 too. Then a week later, I was supposed to run my first timed race- 6 hours at Silver Moon Race but knew that was stupid. I still need to get better about looking at a calendar before I jump into things. So I dropped to the 10K. Which proved to be smart as it was over 90 degrees at race start. Yikes. Oh and another skin biopsy right before the races.

June– Nothing huge just a lot or hikes and trail runs.

July– I had a birthday that depressed me and accepted a promotion at work. Still question that, haha. Ran a local race- Rock to Pier 10K. Oops, still owe the race recap on that one. Ate some yummy food and hit some more trails.

August– So funny story. My brother decided to start running. His first race was going to be one with me in October. Then he got a wild hair to run the Santa Rosa half marathon with me. Then that wild hair grew again and he added a trail half up in Santa Cruz. This race was the day before Santa Rosa. Ummm, what? So we did it. I wandered the 10K while he somehow ran a 2 hour half for his first trail race. Then he threw down a 1:41 the next day at Santa Rosa. What?!??!!

September– More trails and some miles for me. Ran a race up in Berkeley- Berkeley Trail Adventure. 10K for me and 30K for the brother. 2022 was the years of trails and 10K’s for me. Also had another skin biopsy.

October– Biopsy came back bad, so I was scheduled for another surgical excision and the more of the waiting game as we waited for the results. Ran Space Rock Trail Race while I still had stitches but I needed the distraction and I think I felt best I had in years at a race. Found out the margins were clear the following week, got my stitches out and headed north for another race. This time, Oakland Hills. And yes, there were hills.

November– Deferred my registration for Joshua Tree half because I just wasn’t feeling it. The past few months had caught up to me. So I hit some more local trails, ran some miles and put my Christmas tree ridiculously early.

December– Took a staycation as my plans for Arizona were snowed out. Hit up the local Christmas light exhibit for the first time. Showed up for Woodside Ramble- 50K for my brother, my mother’s first 10K. I did the 10K too but was having some health issues so I ended up just walking it. Which was actually kind of fun because these trails were awesome. Also, never did the race recap for that one either, oops.

So yeah, 2022 was a mixed bag in all ways. Some good and some not so good. I ran more races than I thought I would and found more awesome trails to explore all over the state. I ran more miles than in 2020 and 2021- granted that wasn’t too hard to do. I thought I would have some quippy thing to say here but I can’t think of anything, ha!

Oh, yeah- I read 100 books! Not sure where how that happened.

Castle to Coast 2020

What is a runner with a slacker mentality who has a long run on a cold day but likes to be lazy? She signs up for a local race of course.

Castle to Coast is a super chill, laid back 8 miles along the coast. No bibs, no medals, just running. Actually I was surprised with the timing chips this year. Those could have been around last year too but I DNS’ed. Oops.

The morning dawned early and cold as I made my way over to the coast. Things started a little rocky as the park rangers hadn’t gotten the memo and the gates to the park were locked. In an odd way I feel it made check in go faster. Eventually the gates were unlocked and we were all able to get parked and hop in the portapotty lines. We started a few minutes late due to gate snafu but like I said it’s all chill.

We lined up and we were off. Now here’s the maybe not chill part- the roads aren’t closed and we run along the highway. Highway 1 to be exact- from Hearst State Beach to Cambria. Hearst as in Hearst Castle.

I planned to take it easy and was aiming for my current long run pace around 12:00. Or my all around pace right now, like I’ve said, I’m out of shape.

Miles 1-4 10:57, 12:18, 12:30, 12:28
Started a little too fast but nothing crazy and I felt like I settled into a nice, easy maintainable pace. Due to the running along the highway portion, the race is limited to 300 people and usually sells out. We started out in a big pack, sort of, all in the bike lane. With no room to pass, it takes a few miles to thin out even with so few people. That said I was still feeling pretty ok.

Mile 5- 13:23
I have no idea what happened. I hit the only water stop around 4 and it was like my body quit. I went from feeling fine to being done. And I mean done.

I may have made this one the wallpaper on my phone

Miles 6-8 12:55, 12:48, 13:18
Yep still done. I turned on my headphones – didn’t help. Had a gel- didn’t help. I was basically walking and sprinkling in running. People were passing me right and left. What the hell? The previous week’s long run had gone so much better. If this had been a regular run I would have quit but my ride was at the finish line. Apparently I wasn’t the only one having a bad day, I was passing people who had previously passed me. One runner told me I walked fast.

Finish 8.2 miles- 1:43:51

Only 20 minutes slower than the last time I ran this race. And I thought I was out of shape then, ha! Even days later I am trying to figure out why I ran out of steam. The humidity was high but my asthma was manageable. Or I thought so. My stomach did flare that afternoon and it lasted about 3-4 days but I don’t think pre-tired is a thing. Is it a thing?? Ha!

It was slow but I showed up.

Rear View- 2019

2019 was not what I would have expected. Nor was it what I hoped for at the beginning of the year. It is what it is, however it’s up to me to how I respond to it.

So what happened in 2019?

shiny–

Ran 8 races
Met some great running peeps in real life
Promotion at work
Transfer to a much close location
Finally made it to California Adventure
I ran.

dull-

DNS’ed 2 races- Castle to Coast in January, RnR San Jose in October
Spent January through March sick
Both parents in and out of hospital
Gained 20ish pounds (on top pf the 20 I gained in 2018)
Beachbody
Fewer miles than previous 3 years
No 1st 50K- my only real goal of the year
Not enough trail time
Nowhere near 1000 miles- yes, an arbitrary goal- actual total- 591

2018 was kind of a mess- I didn’t even write a year review, my usual Shiny and Dull. I had high hopes for 2019 but I also never even published my goals post. It’s still in my drafts folder even now.

2019, I aimed for something higher. But I didn’t really try. I don’t even know if I can say I phoned it in. Admitting it is only half a start. I need to make a change if I want 2020 to be different. Even if typing 2020 just broke my brain a bit. This is no new year, new me bit- merely me admitting that I’ve become a little comfortable being lazy. So comfortable, it’s going to be very hard to follow through. And hard. Some of the weight gain is on me (literally, ha!) and some is due to my lovely GI disorder but the docs are stumped, yay me. However I have become a little too comfortable using that as an excuse. The Slacker will find a way, haha.

So now I need to unlearn all my bad habits (ok, most of them) and stop rationalizing everything I do or eat to increase my Slacker-ness. It’s going to be an uphill battle and likely a long climb.

So here’s to a lackluster 2019 and lessons hopefully learned.

Ok, 2020, what you got?

Holiday Half Race Recap

Disclaimer: I received free entry to Holiday Half 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 start was a leisurely 8 but after a night of utterly horrible sleep, there was no need for my alarm and morning came too early. I knew I needed to get my bib before the race so we checked out first thing and headed for the Fairplex. The Pomona Raceway and Fairplex has more than enough parking but getting in was more challenging than I anticipated and took longer than I planned for. Once we finally parked, we booked it down to the race start where everything was clearly labeled and picking up my bib and race shirt was easy-peasy.

Then the clothing debate was on. I was cold so I was wearing a long sleeve with my BibRave tank over it and my black fleece vest over that. I had my beanie or trucker hat to choose from and had gloves. I still wasn’t feeling great and tend to run cold so I was thinking all the layers. My mother ended up taking the beanie and talked me out of the vest as well although I was whining about it the whole time. I ran with my old waist belt instead of my pack as well because I didn’t want anything heavy on my chest. So still feeling cold, I lined up at the start and under a dusting of fake snow, we were off!

Miles 1-3- 10:03, 11:33, 12:05
I knew this was going to be slower, I was thinking around a 12 min pace likely and figured I would pay more attention to my heart rate than my pace. First mile- oops but I was feeling ok as we wound out of the Fairplex and into the surrounding neighborhoods. I knew from the race website, it had some rolling hills so I made the early decision to walk them just because I had been sick. Then I had to forcibly remind myself of that on the first one. Mile 2, I was already tired, haha! And mile 3, I was overheating. The weatherman lied- how the hell do I get this undershirt off? I am going to melt! We also hit the actual drag strip which was cool and the main reason I slowed- I took a lot of pictures. 😛

Miles 4-8- 11:12, 11:34, 11:48, 12:12, 12:16
The track actually gave me a little bit of a second wind so I was moving a little faster than I had originally planned. Not exactly speedy but better than I had predicted. The course was winding us through neighborhoods and parks and campgrounds and I was just enjoying the view. We ran passed Raging Waters so that was kind of cool. There was a lake on our left for a good chunk of the miles so there was always something to look at. The pacers were making me mad though. At this point the 2:20 and 2:15 pacers passed me, which would have been fine, except they were running together! Ummm- that’s not how it works! Mile 8 brought us down into a park that we looped and then back out.

Miles 9-12- 11:32, 12:37, 12:27, 13:12
Things were going good until 9.5. Then my body was done. My legs and hips started talking back about the lack of miles in the last 2 months and I felt an asthma attack coming. I came to a halt and then walked. A lot, all the hills, most of the flats and only really ran the downhills. Bummer as this section leveled out and brought us back to the race track. Here another pacer ticked me off. At mile 11.75 and 2:18 in (yes, I checked my watch) the 2:40 pacer passed me- running. Wait, what? I know they started after me, what the heck are they doing??

Mile 13-11:29
This mile drove me crazy. I was trying to not have an asthma attack but I wanted to run and be done. This mile was mostly S-curving through the race track parking lot to pick up mileage as we headed back to the Fairplex and it was in full sun. Why????? I still walked portions but finally jogged it in to the finish. Where’s my snowflake? Oh wait, it’s a wreath.😛

Finish 2:36:34

I met up with my mother at the end of the finish chute and we hung out for a bit. It was a little bit of a party going on but in the end I was sore and wheezing and needed to sit so we headed back to the car.

I knew I wasn’t trained or fully healthy going into this race so I am A-Ok with my finishing time. It was even a little better than I thought it might be and still not my slowest. This was a great course though and I wonder what I could do healthy- those hills spoke to me.

Oh and the 2:40 pacer? Finished before me. 🤨

Oh- and I got a fancy finisher’s certificate from Athlinks!

SLO Ultra 5K Recap

A part of me almost upgraded to the half during the week leading up to this race. Now, I’m so glad I didn’t.

Race morning came and my stomach was being a total asshat. Not too unusual so I just got ready like normal and hit the road. While I drove, I had some ginger mints hoping to calm my stomach. I thought it helped.

The race was held in a combo of El Chorro Regional Park and Dairy Creek Golf Course, parking was across the highway at the community college. It was stressed heavily that we either had to pay for parking during registration or have cash on hand on race morning. I paid during registration. Yet on race morning there no sign of anyone to take cash, so half the runners didn’t pay. Grrr. I ended up talking about it with with a couple. I spoke with a volunteer as I left the lot, chatted with another as we waited to cross the highway. Actually, this was the most I’ve ever talked at a race and some of the friendliest people throughout.

The start was about a mile away and I arrived in time to see the delayed start of the half marathon. Turns out the inflatable arch had a little issue. The 50K had started at 6:30. I got in line to use the port-a-potties which is when I had my sad sunglasses incident. Boo. After some announcements and the National Anthem, we were off and running.

Mile 1-11:07

Oh, god, I’m nauseous, why am nauseous? Where did that come from? And I’m breathing like I’m sprinting but I’m not. What is going on?? The first mile wound up a back road away from the park towards a ranch. It was paved but in poor condition and you were dodging cow dung along the way. It was a tiny incline but all of this would have been fine had I not been feeling like I needed to find a bush to throw up in. I slowed to a walk about 3/4 a mile in and tried to walk it out. I wasn’t upchucking in public!

Mile 2-10:48

More walking. Still nauseated. The road had switched to dirt and the incline picked up a bit. Part way up the road was blocked by a gate- it wasn’t open. We had to climb over it. Single file. Surprise! I think the complete stop I came to while I waited for my turn helped a bit because I picked up the pace on the other side and ran a bit. Then walked a bit, then ran. We had a little downhill and I was able to pass a few of the people who had passed me previously. Truthfully at this point, I didn’t care.

Mile 3-10:46

I’m still not feeling right but I just want to be done. I take water at the one aid station and hustle on. The next 1/4 mile was the “trail-iest” section of the whole race. We climbed a small hill and could see the finish line a ways off- across the golf course. My watch was already at 3 miles. Grrr. I ran past a few people (even sick, I’ll take advantage of any tiny downhill) then it was sidewalk and golf course running to the finish line.

A little boy and I had been playing leap frog for 2 miles- he’d pass me every time I’d walk. We were both powering to the finish and it’s sad that instinct is telling you to win. 😂 I pulled up and let him cross first.

Finish-36.23 Garmin Pace-10:49*3.4 miles Official pace- 11:44

For once in the numerous times I’ve run races by this organization, water and snacks were easy to find at the finish. Yay! I grabbed a bag of salty chips thinking they might help with nausea. I chatted with some other runners and we helped each other take finisher pics. Then I started the trek back to the car.

*I am normally never one to say the course ran long; I know I suck at tangents. However, I really couldn’t go wrong during the first 2 miles and mile 3 was more of a follow the leader with no course markings. Plus, thanks to Strava I know that I am not the only one who measured it long. All the public users did- so I am going to call the course long. Doesn’t change the official pace though, it is what it is.

This wasn’t a bad race. I really wouldn’t call it a “trail” race, I know the other distances were. It wasn’t the great views of last year and I missed those. The organization was better than previous races and the medal is a good one. Bling makes everything better right?😀