Tag: recap

2017 Livermore Half Marathon Recap

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Livermore 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!

All right, if you’ve been reading me whine for the past week you know I went into this race sick. I was questioning my sanity for running it and my ability to finish it. As was my mother. 😛

Race morning dawned after a less then stellar night of sleep but isn’t that to be expected before races? The forecast had changed to just overcast and low 40’s and while I was thankful for the lack of rain I knew that was going to feel cold to me. So I layered up. Seriously. Capri’s over compression socks, a tank with a long sleeve shirt over it, then my rain jacket. A Buff around my neck and another Buff around my head to cover my ears with my hat over that. My mom drove me to the start and dropped me off.

I made my way to the start line and suddenly panicked. I forgot my bib! Somehow I had forgotten to pin my bib on. It was still in the car. Thankfully my mother had decided that parking was a nightmare (we were in a dirt lot without specific spots which was very tricky in the dark) so she was just going to nap while I ran. I hauled butt back to the car to get my bib. Once that crisis was averted I headed back to the start line where I ended up meeting up with Laura from running4thereason.com, another Bibrave Pro. We chatted while waiting for the race to start. 10 minutes after 7 and we were off!

My plan was to run until I got tired, walk, then repeat until the finish line. I figured I would walk every hill and just do whatever my lungs wanted to do and just go from there.

Miles 1-3 10:24, 10:40, 10:22

The first 3 miles were through city streets and I was moving a hell of a lot faster than I thought I would be. Hmmm. I like low key city streets so I was enjoying the vibe and just letting my feet do what they wanted. I skipped the first aid station at mile 2 because it was just too crowded. The 5K was also running along side us for a bit so that was interesting. A couple other runners and I were cracking jokes that we were going to “get lost” and turn around with the 5K’ers. 😛 A little before mile 3 I came up behind the 2:30 pacers… um, what? I knew I was moving way faster then that so I couldn’t figure out how they had gotten that far ahead of me. Then I turned my headphones on and told myself to get over it.

The bridges moved when you ran over them!

Miles 4-6 11:11, 11:29, 11:41

I loved these miles and hated them at the same time. Just past mile 4 we went from running the streets into a paved path in a park. Heaven. I want this path in my town now. Paved blacktop with nature on both sides, a little stream running thanks to all the rain? It was awesome. A downside was that the path narrowed so it was easy to get roadblocked so there was lots of bobbing and weaving going on in these miles. I ran in the dirt along the path a lot. But again, that’s one of my favorite things so this should have been my favorite part. What made it so rough was that just past mile 4 my stomach cramped, bad. Like, I need a bathroom now, bad. And of course, the next bathroom wasn’t until the aid station at mile 6ish. 😂😂 So instead of walking because I was tired, I walked when I cramped and ran when it eased, and repeat. That kind of messed with my head. Note to self- never eat Five Guys before a race ever again.

Miles- 7-9 11:31, 11:47, 13:02

Just past mile 6 and we were out of the park and back on the street. The bathroom line was like 20+ people long and the cramping had eased so I figured as long as I went slow I would probably be ok. My lungs were starting to protest and I was super congested. I admit I did something I have never done in view of others before- I spit. I did it more than once this race. I felt so bad but I had to! I also ripped off a few choice words when a police car leading a trail of cars on the other side of the road let off a single screeching chirp. I about jumped out of my skin. 2 people next to me also had some colorful words to share. Mile 9 saw the only 2 real hills of the race. I walked them. At the top of the first was a water station that also had a paramedic and a fire truck- it was a small hill! I got jammed up the water station. I went to throw my water cup in the trash and a woman put herself in front of me to eat her Gu and a woman came up right behind me to drink water. It was like a hug with random strangers and I couldn’t move. Let me out! It took me another 30’ish seconds to get myself out of the stranger sandwich and on my way. Grrr. We were leaving the road and entering another park with a paved path. Seriously, I wanted this one in my town too. My lungs were protesting as we hit the second hill, they were so not happy.

Miles 10-12 11:00, 11:51, 11:14

We were still in the park so I was running in the dirt every chance I got. I love dirt. Plus my legs appreciated the change in terrain. They were actually feeling pretty good considering how little elevation this course had. The 2:30 pacers had caught up to me and passed me, left me in the dust really. I started to feel discouraged but told myself to get over it, I was already doing better than I thought I would, there was no sense making myself sicker just to meet some arbitrary “sick” finish time. I just told myself to enjoy the scenery and try to calm my lungs down. Mile 11 brought us back into town through a smaller park before we were back on city streets for the last mile.

Mile 13 12:16

Holy asthma city. My lungs were done. Between my cold and my asthma, I was fighting an asthma attack. I walked so much of the last mile. I was wheezing and coughing and gasping and probably looked like a hot mess. Crowd support really picked up for the last mile and so many people were cheering. I heard “come on girl in orange run! You’re so close!” Don’t you see I’m trying!?!?!?! I rounded a corner and there it was- the finish line!

Finish 2:30:15

I crossed the line and was handed my medal. I saw my mom fairly quickly outside the fence and went to say hi. She took one look at my face and said “you chose to do this”. Haha, thanks mom.😛 I then wandered down the finishers chute and collected my wine glass, chocolate milk and banana. I was also able to refill my water bottle. Once I stopped moving and was able to chill for a moment, my lungs calmed down a bit.

All in all this a great course. I liked all the scenery and the varied paths. I wish it had a few more hills. I think another hill or 2 may have helped me a bit, this course was fairly flat. So if flat is your jam, you could totally set a PR on this course. And hey I ended up hitting my arbitrary sick time anyways- who knew?!

Half marathon #23 in the books. 🙂

Carlsbad Half Marathon Recap

I put this race on my calendar back in November. Something about it just looked awesome. Then the December of flu happened and I ran a whopping 14 miles. Well crap. I took time off in November intentionally so that meant a long break with very little running. Well, crap, what now? Cue freak out. I seriously debated a DNS but I couldn’t start the year like that right? Right.

I was doing this but I was under trained, out of shape and freaking out. I had no idea how this was going to go. I was too tired to even pull off a flat runner, how about a pile? 😛 The longest run I had done in months was 7 miles. The farthest I had run in my Sayonara’s was also 7 miles. This was going to be interesting. I told my mother I was going to take awhile, how long I wasn’t sure but that she shouldn’t even start looking for me until the 2:30 mark.

Race morning dawned all too early and a little cold while standing around in the corrals. I knew it would feel good when we started running though. The race had a wave start and the announcers were upbeat and trying to keep the crowds entertained while we waited. Which I appreciated until the man introduced corral 4 as the “back of the packers”. Corral 4 contained the 2:00 hour pace group. WTH? I was in corral 5 in between the 2:20 and 2:30 pace groups. His comment did not go over well with the runners around me. Grrr.

Mile 1- 11:05

The plan was to run the first 2 miles and then go to a run/ walk of 3/1. Mile 1 had a pretty decent uphill and I was pretty proud of myself for almost running the whole thing until I remembered that I had another 12 miles to go after this and probably shouldn’t flame out after mile 1 just due to stupid pride. So I forced myself to walk that last part of the hill.

Miles 2-5- 10:30, 11:18, 10:37, 11:17

The course has 2 decent inclines (mile 1 and 7) but otherwise it’s a nice rolling course, which is kind of my jam. My plan of 3/1 was kind of thrown to the wind and I was just running when it felt good and walking when I needed to. The views of the ocean to the right were pretty awesome and the village of Carlsbad was pretty cute. Aid stations were on point and there were surprisingly more people out cheering than I thought. There were also bands playing music along the way. I was warming up too but it felt good to be running in a tank top though.

Miles 6-7- 10:49, 11:41

Well crap, I can see that hill coming, sure looks fun. At least it has a decent downhill leading up to it. I also had a moment where I mentally checked out. Not in a bad way but in a nostalgic, spiritual way. The 15th was my grandmother’s birthday and there was something about the way the sun was peaking through the clouds that gave me pause. And peace. Then it was on to the hill… and a fair amount of walking. Well, until Last Resort by Papa Roach started playing on my phone and then I randomly started bounding down the course.

Miles 8-11- 11:21, 11:22, 11:42, 11:37

Know what I forgot? Humidity. Yeah, silly, you’re running next to the ocean, it’s going to be humid. My lungs let me know they weren’t happy. Inhaler time! I was feeling surprisingly ok though. I was tiring but that was to be expected but I didn’t feel bad. I knew there weren’t any hills (by my definition, only rollers) ahead and I had a good downhill towards the finish. I had no idea what my time was, I had my watch face on my intervals. I just knew that the 2:30 pacer was still behind me. But they had also started behind me so that didn’t necessarily mean anything. My 3/1’s had never fully formed and I was still running whatever I felt like.

Miles 12-13- 11:29, 10:45

Damn, my toes were kind of hurting, boo. Well, it could be worse. I was so close! And a downhill was coming! Just as I was coming up on mile 12 I noticed the 2:30 pacer coming up on my left. No!!! I bolted. It helped that we were coming up on the downhill section even if it seemed shorted than I thought. Alright, I got this, lift and coast. Weee……Baaaaam!!! Halfway down the hill, someone came to a complete stop right in front of me. I couldn’t stop, I slammed into them. How neither of us hit the ground, I have no idea. I went pinwheeling while colorful words spilled out of my mouth. We briefly checked on each other before moving on. I kept running towards the finish. I ended up taking a walk break not too long later, I felt like I had wrenched my right leg in the collision. Boo. I tried to shake it off so I could run it in to the finish. Except I had to dodge a woman with a giant purse meandering through the course! What?! Finally around her and to the finish.

Finish- 2:27:49

Sub 2:30? Where the hell did that come from?! I mean it’s miles from my PR but it’s also a helluva a lot better than I thought I was going to pull off going into this race. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me this year but maybe this was the race I needed start the year with. 🙂😀 I can do this.

February Recap- Realizations

Well, that didn’t go according to plan.

Miles– 59.8 run
29 Miles Stationary bike

Races– Surf City 13.1- 2:28:24

Originally I was planning to ramp up training for SLO post Surf City. Speed work was going to make its first appearance this year and I was going to force myself to be a grown up and go run on the treadmill. But, my lungs had other plans. With 5 rest days leading up to Surf City and the 6 days following it, I missed out on a lot of running time. And bike time, somehow I kind of forgot about the bike. I see it on a daily basis but I only rode it 3 times. Umm, oops?

So back to those pesky lungs. I closed out February with a follow up at my doctor. My chest x-ray came back clear. So the current theory is to blame El Nino. No, seriously. The El Nino weather systems have wreaked havoc on those with seasonal allergies. So we haven’t yet seen the buckets of rain that were promised but hay fever and other assorted issues are in overdrive for everyone. So, I have a shiny new rescue inhaler and still have to use a heavy duty, daily inhaler twice a day. My thyroid is also messed up, so I have a new medication there as well. Seriously, I am beginning to think I need one of those AM/PM pill containers just to keep it all straight. Stupid stomach, whiny lungs and a lazy thyroid? Grrr.

I also had some realizations in February. I don’t remember exactly when I started running but my first race was in September of 2010. So 5+ years of running and 16 half marathons later and I only just now realized that I suck at long runs. For once I am not referring to the pace or the number of walk breaks, I mean doing the runs themselves. If you had asked me I would have sworn up and down that I did a few 10 milers each training cycle and some 11 milers. Ha!! Remember in January when I ran what I said was my slowest 10 miler ever? Something about that statistic on Smash Run made me do some research. It claimed that it was my slowest 10 miler coming in at #13. 13? That didn’t seem right. So after Sunday’s more successful 10 miler I looked into my stats on the Garmin. Then Nike+.

Holy crap, in 5 years of running I’ve only run 15 10 milers? 2 11 milers and 2 12 mile runs. And I call myself a runner? A few years ago I know I used to split my long runs up but I really doubt they would make those numbers look any better. Well, that was a wake up call. I didn’t think I was that bad of a Slacker. #facepalm Do people still do that?

So, I am chalking February up as a learning experience. Or the clearing of the fog of denial I was living in. Moving into March I would like to work on making the run a consistent occurrence. Which is necessary as I have a 16 mile run on the training plan for the beginning of April. I conveniently ignored that box on the plan during last years SLO race prep. March also brings the start of daylight savings. Which means the lake path is back in play and speed work may actually happen on a somewhat consistent basis. We’ll see how the lungs hold up. Fingers crossed!

How was your February? Any plans for March?

Am I just a huge Slacker?

Ever faced a sad running realization?

2016 Surf City Recap

Race- Surf City 13.1

Location- Huntington Beach, CA

Saturday-

After the hotel snafu of Saturday and once I accepted that I would not have a nice, leisurely race morning- after my mother and I had mapped out a long, circuitous route to the race start- I realized the even bigger mistake I had made. I hadn’t packed any water. What? How?! I had a bottle of Gatorade and my Skratch Labs but no water outside of what I had drank on the drive down. Face palm. So after a yummy dinner at Red Robin- water, lettuce wrapped burger and a few fries for me- we stopped at a Walgreen’s. Where I bought 8 bottles of water. 🙂 Then it was back to the hotel for a little downtime before I headed to bed early. And proceeded to wake up every hour on the hour. Grrr.

Race day-

Luckily, I have my pre-race ritual down, so I don’t have to get up too early. As of right now, I am still racing on an empty stomach and it has been working out. The race had a 7:45 start but I wasn’t planning on being there super early, I knew it would be a while before my corral crossed the start line. My mom was able to drop me off a few blocks from the start line a little before 7:30. Another bonus about arriving “late”? No line at the port-a-potties. Except the damn thing almost blew over with me in it!

Ok, the corrals. Serious cluster-f***. What is the point of asking a participant their projected finish time if it’s not used for corral placement? More than a few people in my corral were in a similar position. I put down a projected 2:10 finish time. The 3:30 pacers were about 2000 people ahead of me. Seriously. I considering jumping corrals but at that point it was already so late. Grrrr. My corral crossed the start line around 8:15.

Miles 1-3 10:09, 10:14, 10:09

My plan was to treat this like a well supported long run and hopefully maintain around a 10:00 min pace. Mile 1 started out ok. My legs felt good and my pace felt good. Mile 2 required more dodging. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with people walking at races- however if you are walking 6 people across in the first 2 miles of a race- we have an issue! This happened more than once. Then the first water station was a crowded mess but I had learned from last year that this was the case and just avoided it all. I also a music snafu in mile 2. I had started my playlist in the starting corrals and paused it. When I pushed start around mile 2, Christmas music started playing. What?!

Miles 4-6 10:30, 10:54, 11:08

By my standards, this course is flat, the only real hill is in mile 4. I was excited to see it as I had an ankle ache that I needed to run out. And I did but I was starting to realize that I was having troubles catching my breath. I didn’t feel like I was pushing hard but I was starting to wheeze. I took a quick walk break to try and get things under control. It didn’t really help. There was a little down hill coming up and I was hoping to make up some speed but I just kept slowing down. My inhaler wasn’t helping either. Mile 6 is where I got real. This breathing issue is not new. I have been having troubles since I was sick in January. It’s more than my usual asthma, it comes with some odd chest pain, but I was hoping that denial would make it all go away. Because that works so well, right? Yeah no. I called my mom during mile 6 and let her know I was having some issues but was going to tough out. I didn’t need her getting the real time runner alerts and wondering what the hell was going on. 🙂

Miles 7-9 11:50, 11:35, 11:37

New game plan was a run/ walk plan. 4:30 of running and 1:00 of walking. The running was slow so I was hoping that these intervals would keep me moving but not gasping for breath. I changed my watch face to just show the interval times so I had no idea what my overall time was. This was a long section of out and back so I was able to see Ashley of RatherbeRunnin’ coming back on the other side of the highway looking strong. Luckily the course is scenic so I was able to enjoy the view. I also had time to people watch. PSA here, a fabric may be black but that does not mean that it is opaque! If I can see the moles on your butt- wear underwear!! Ok, PSA over.

Mile 10- 13:04

This was a struggle. Even 4:30 seemed like way too long to run. I was wheezing and the inhaler was useless. We ran through the Cliff shot zone in mile 10 and I grabbed a citrus and a mocha one. Both have caffeine and I was hoping for a Hail Mary pass and that one would help. I walked a lot. The finish line seemed so very far away.

Miles 11-13 12:17, 11:50, 11:36

I was beginning to think this was going to be my slowest half yet. And it was getting so hot. I had been drinking water at each station but now I was dumping it down my back too. The volunteers were also having troubles keeping up with the demand for water. There were some stations out of cups. I am hoping more were on the way as there were thousands of people behind me still. I was trying to stick to my intervals but the walking sections were getting longer. It was getting more crowded on the course as well. I accidentally smacked a guy in the crotch when he came up on my right. Oops!!! Sorry! I just kept moving towards the finish line, the increased crowd support was helping. I walked the beginning of mile 13 and then ran the rest in. I crossed the finish line gasping and wheezing and promptly burst into tears.

Finish- 2:28:24

Not my slowest!!! I collected my medal and avoided all the photographers. I heard my mom and thought I was losing it but then realized she was on the other side of the fence. I made my way through the recovery stations and then out of the chute into the crowd. I met with my mom and headed to a curb to sit. My legs felt good but I was so tired from fighting my lungs for so long. It gave me time to admire my medal though- it’s huge!!!! And was fought for. But it was also a lesson in something I should already know- you can’t ignore things and hope they go away. It doesn’t work like that. Was this race I wanted? No. But every rough race is a lesson learned, right? I still got to run with thousands of other crazies like me. 🙂 And for the record- I have a doctor’s appointment next week.

They were some things I didn’t like about the race this year but overall it is a good race. The weather is gorgeous- just bare in mind that temps hit the high 70’s. Perfect beach weather post race. 🙂

The day was finished out resting in the hotel watching the Super Bowl- yay Broncos!! I needed some time off my feet—I had big plans for Monday—-Disneyland!!!!! But I’ll save those adventures for next post. 🙂

Big Sur Half Marathon Recap

Going into this race I had very few expectations and more than a few concerns. In an effort to keep things light and fun (and help my indecision) I took to Instagram with a race day outfit vote. The outfit I was leaning towards got zero votes. Oops. 😢

I only ran 2.5 very slow treadmill miles in the week leading up to the race. My left foot was bothering me and my left knee has been aching for a week or so. What I was not expecting was the sharp stabbing pain in my right ankle that I woke up with on Monday. It even hurt lying down. WTF? My left leg is the problem child never the right. Taper crazies, maybe? Who am I kidding I don’t run enough to need to taper but I was holding on to that thought all week. Better a phantom pain than a real injury. My attempt at running on Tuesday didn’t end well and I tend to run oddly on the treadmill so I just rested the rest of the week.

I was so worried about my weird aches and pains I somehow forgot about the one thing that can really mess up my running- my stomach. Saturday morning was not a good one. I was taking all the emergency medications my doctor has prescribed in hopes that I would be fine on race morning. Grr, but let’s move on. Monterey is a little over 2 hours away but the drive didn’t seem that long. We stumbled upon the expo as soon as we hit town- sweet! The expo was medium size and well-organized. I think it hit a new record for distance between bib pickup and shirt pickup though. I picked up a few things- 2 shirts, a Sweaty Band (my first!) and some Gu gummy things. I don’t know why I buy fuel when I never use while running but it’s better to be prepared right? We then wandered around Monterey on foot before checking into the hotel. Dinner was decided by proximity to the hotel and was California Pizza Kitchen. Gluten free pizza for the win! Not that I have a gluten problem but my stomach was so jacked up already I wasn’t taking any chances. Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest. I was super tired and my left foot was starting to hurt. I was in bed by 9.

Race day!

The rain they had been predicting was coming in later than they thought and that made me happy. I got to the starting line around 6 for a 6:55 start. Seriously this was the chillest start I’ve ever seen. Over 8000 runners and there was no wait for the port-a-potties. What? No one even got into the corrals until about 5 minutes to the start. I also met Heather of wholehearted wife while loitering around the start line- Hi Heather! The announcer was upbeat and very clear about the course and race directions. I had my headphones but I was going to try to run without them. There was supposed to various types of music played throughout the course so I figured I would try to go with just that.

I kind of look like I am stumbling home from a party not heading out for a race.

I was in corral D which was for a 2:00 hour finish prediction. Apparently I was feeling optimistic when I registered 6 months ago. 😉 I put myself in the very back of it. While I said my only goal was to have fun, I did have a time goal in mind. I was hoping for a 2:15 finish. If I could do that under trained and tired than maybe I have improved a little this year. I tossed my sweater to the side just as the first wave went off. My corral crossed the starting line a little after 7:00am, sooner than I had anticipated. The start was that smooth.

Miles 1-2 – 9:51, 9:36

We were running back up into the city. I noticed there were still runners walking to starting corrals. I know it’s chip timed but really? There was also a woman in front of me running barefoot. Really? Ouch. I also got the first shout out about my socks. 😃 The first course music was a keyboardist playing the Rocky theme song- sweet! Mile 2 led us into the Cannery Row tunnel. Never having run through a tunnel, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The far end of the tunnel was manned by a DJ and had a light show rigged up. It was kind of awesome. But the way Gangham Style was reverberating around the tunnel made me glad when I was out of it. I had expected my Garmin to lose signal in the tunnel but somehow it picked up distance. From there out, my Garmin was about 2/10th’s ahead of the mile marked. It stayed consistent so I am fairly comfortable with my mile splits.

Miles 3-5- 9:56, 10:30, 9:41

Ocean views, Cannery Row, dancing jelly fish outside the aquarium? This race rocks! Then there was the elementary cheerleaders and a drum line. I love drum lines. I was keeping the pace I wanted and feeling pretty good. And I was still taking pictures as I ran. Which came in handy during the first out and back section. The elites!! I noticed the course marshals and lead cyclists coming so I had my phone ready. They are so damn fast! Kara Goucher snuck up on me and she was the lead female! Sarah Kiptoo passed by a few people later- she didn’t look like she was having a good day. I was also surprised to see a man running in a loin cloth carrying a spear running the race. What?!

Miles 6-9- 10:03, 10:23, 10:47, 11:00

I was feeling a little tired but was still holding onto a 2:15 finish. Seriously the ocean views were awesome. Aid stations were well stocked and run well. Water, gatorade, Gu’s, Vaseline and sunblock. Seriously awesome. And people were loving my socks- spectators were actually shouting it out to me. 😉 More DJ stations, a blues band and a jazz band. Then a Tonga drum line. Did you know they hold a squat while drumming? Holy burning legs, batman. The turn around came at mile 7.7. Mile 8 is always my favorite mile- home stretch baby!

Mile 9.4

I was feeling pretty good and loving the race until…stupid stomach. I cramped, badly, I felt like I had been stabbed in the middle of stomach. Come on! I was so close. First walk break. I wish I could say only walk break.

Miles 10-13.1- 12:37, 11:51, 12:01, 11:40

Riding the struggle bus. It was run-cramp-walk-breathe repeat for the next 4 miles. I never felt like I needed a restroom break but it just kept hurting. To add to the pain, both quads and IT bands started protesting the walking portions. Come on legs- don’t fail me now! A woman I had been near in the starting corral came up behind me during mile 12. I was walking. She encouraged me to keep pushing and I ran it in the rest of the way. Finish line- yay!! I lost 8 minutes over those 4 miles.

Finish- 2:23:26

The otter was worth it, though. I also learned how very breakable the medals are when another runner dropped his. From there on out through the staging area, I was cradling it. 😄 I almost didn’t take one of the silver sheets since it had warmed up a lot but I was glad I did. I cooled off very quickly. The finish area was my only gripe about the race- It wound around and round and I just wanted out. I grabbed a cup of water and skipped the finisher photos. The post race food won points for the tiny bag of Fritos and pineapple juice. As I was leaving the food tent a volunteer was coming back with boxes of something. He offered one to me- chocolate milk!!! I told him that he had just made my day. I finally sat down by an ambulance while waiting for mom to find me. My knees and quads were pissed but that random ankle pain never made its presence known.

This race was awesome. It is definitely on my list of races to run again. It is a very PR friendly course, it has the right amount of flat, incline and descent for most people. The last 4 miles are some of the flatter miles so negative splits are likely. That might have been what aggravated my legs though as I am not a fan of flat. I need to work on that. Back to the race, the course is amazing and the crowd support was pretty awesome, and I’m not saying that just because they liked my outfit. 😎 Did it go like I had hoped? No but that’s not the races’ fault. That’s all on me and some things I need to work on. However, this was half marathon #6 of 2015- the most I’ve ever run in a year before. That’s something all by itself. It’s number I’m proud of. My last race of the year may have been my slowest but it was still worth it. And now I have something to beat next year. 😜