Tag: Running

My First (real) Expo

I took a vacation day yesterday and it was nice. I slept in, met some friends for lunch and finally followed through on some errands. Who has time for the dry cleaners anyways? I spent most of yesterday pretty relaxed so I am not sure why I slept so crappy last night. 😦 Maybe the nerves were starting to kick in?

Lunch with the girls :) — Lunch with the girls 🙂

Once I finally managed to make myself move this morning, I got ready and headed for SLO. My mother and I were planning on lunch before heading to the expo. It was super yummy.

Carb loading right? That is a burger at the bottom corner

Parking was fairly quick and painless. From there it was just a short walk to the expo. While it may have been small by some it was the largest that I have been too. It also had the most vendor’s. The vendor’s were local shops and bakeries or other races.

Packet pick up was fairly easy, and then it was off to pick up my shirt. This was the only awkward bit, the shirts were being distributed on the other side of the tent, through the crowds of people shopping. It wasn’t a huge thing at all, just seemed awkward. The shirts varied by race. Full marathon shirts were an orange color and long sleeves. The half shirt was blue and long sleeved and the 5K was pink and short sleeved. All were technical shirts.

Really wanted to but it all... restrained myself to lower left corner — Really wanted to buy it all… restrained myself to lower left corner

Mom's favorite color — Mom’s favorite color

From there it was shopping time. I came prepared with money and plastic but didn’t really have anything I needed to buy. Famous last words. The trouble spots were the booths for LeftLane Sports and Left Coast Shirts. Leftlanesports.com is an online sports stores that offers things at pretty awesome discounts. Plus when I have ordered from them, the shipping was awesome fast. If you haven’t checked them out you should. I left that booth with a new pair of compression socks and arm sleeves. Left Coast put a serious dent in my pocket. Everything was just so cute! I could have spent much more. I picked up a shirt and sweatshirt for me and an early Mother’s Day gift for my mother. I actually left without buying myself the sweatshirt but ended up going back for it after the meet and greet.

After that all the shopping, there was still time before the scheduled meet up. So we headed to the car to leave everything there and get out of the wind a bit. This area has been having some freaky strong winds lately. My work town got up to 54 mph gusts the other day. Luckily the weather reports says that wind should be calm for the race tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

The meet and greet was great. I had the chance to meet most of the other ambassadors. It is a great group of people. We hung out and talked and met some other people. The SLO Marathon has a challenged athletes team. We also met a person who traveled all the way from Australia for the race and a former local who will be completing his 100th marathon at the race tomorrow. 100!!!! I won’t lie the jacket was pretty awesome too 🙂 The only thing that threw me was the interview. I’m horrible on tv! My voice sounds so funny. Even my mother remarked that it sounded odd after she played back what she had recorded as well.

We headed out after the meet and greet. We took some time to drive a portion of the course. Oh my, that’s a long slow climb right at the start. Mile 1-4 is all incline, maybe I should have just been surprised! It ends with a small downhill, so yay for that! I felt like we drove too far and looking at the map again tonight, we did. So woo hoo for that! Then it was time for a little carb loading before heading home.

My gear is all laid out for tomorrow and by bag is ready to go. The plan is to be dropped off about 1/4 mile from the start line. I thought about changing the planned outfit to match my new socks but chose to stick with the original.

And now it’s off to bed for me and hopefully better sleep than last night!!

How was your Saturday?

A Little Taper and SLO Strategy

For the first time, I think I am fully embracing taper week. Saturday’s race left me a little sorer than I thought I would be so taper has come at the perfect time. However that also means that the SLO Marathon-1/2 is only 4 days away. How did that happen?! Where has the time gone?

After resting on Sunday, I headed to the lake on Monday for an easy 4 miles. I completed 3.5 and they were not easy. I don’t remember being this sore after last years Firehouse 5K. I would have said that I was better trained this year but the calf tightness and overall soreness told me differently. Not cool. The first mile was rough, my legs were so not happy. Mile 2 was wonky but a little less awkward. Mile 3 involved a short walk- got a text message, it was the perfect excuse to walk a bit. 🙂 That mile actually felt the best by the end. 3.5 miles brought me back to the car and I figured it was best not to push it, so I called it and stretched before heading home.

On Tuesday, I managed to wear heeled boots all day. Sometimes I feel like heels help stretch my calves and ease them somewhat. You know what else helped? Foam roller and ice. It was a rest day from running but I did some yoga poses and stretches and spent some time with my roller. I also slept in a pair of compression socks. 🙂 And I wore a pair to work today (under my dress pants) with flats. Gotta change it up right?

Tonight I met my mom and the puppy at the lake path. She had heard me talk about it had never really seen it. It’s very dog friendly and I always thought the puppy would like it. She loved it- so much to see and smell- she was in doggy heaven. She was also very behaved. I walked a 1/2 mile warm up with them before running ahead. I felt a little lingering stiffness but was overall better. Since we were planning on doing dinner after, I figured the same 3 laps as Monday (3.5 miles) would be good. I finished up and saw them getting water at her car, so I turned off my Garmin. My mom decided the path was fun, so we ended up doing another lap of jogging/ walking. I hadn’t turned the Nike+ app off it so I let it gather mileage until 4.5 miles.

collage4-23 — Why is that visor so purple?!

Tomorrow will be another rest day, loving this taper right now, so I am heading into SLO to pick up a cake from the Madonna Inn. The Madonna Inn is also the finish line and expo location for the race. The cake is my thank you to my mom, since I have hired her as my driver all weekend. 🙂 I think that’s a promotion from race photographer to crew chief, right? I bought a bus ticket for the race on Sunday but I get antsy if I have lots of time to think. The plan is for her to drop me off as close to the start as possible. 🙂 This might mean a walk, but that’s just warming up right?

I am so excited for this race weekend to come. I’ve accepted that this is probably not going to be when I break 2 hours in a race. While the medication my doctor prescribed has helped me feel better in some ways, my system does not like it in other ways. 😦 My last dose will actually be Sunday evening. Ugh. My goal for the race is to hang out with the 2:00 pace group as long as possible. I was in front of them for 9 miles at City to the Sea, so maybe if I start slower, maybe I will get closer to the 2:00 mark. Fingers crossed!

In other news, I have vacation days coming up!!! Friday and Monday, I will be sleeping in!!!! Another thing to look forward to this weekend!!! The day off on Friday gives me time to contemplate the serious things. Like, what does one wear to a race expo where they are an Ambassador? No really, I mean it. I am looking forward to the expo, it will be the biggest one I have been to and I am excited to check everything out. I am also looking forward to meeting all of the other ambassadors.

Happy Hump day!!!

How has your week been going?

What’s the biggest expo you’ve been to?

The Liebster

Happy Friday!

I was excited about getting this post up tonight, but I discovered that my blog has gone all wonky! 😦 All of my sidebars and widgets have completely disappeared and I can’t get them to come back. Ugh. So if you can see them when you are reading this, then I was eventually victorious. If you see nothing, then help!!!

I was recently nominated for the Liebster Award by HellyontheRun. Thank you! If you’ve never read her blog, head on over and check it out! It’s great! So here are the rules-

1. You must link back to the person who nominated you. Check!
2. You must answer the 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you. Look below 🙂
3. You must pick 10 bloggers to nominate. That’s a big number…
4. You must create 10 questions for your nominees. Gotta dig deep
5. You must go to their blogs and notify them of their nomination. I admit that I am so bad about this…

And the questions provided by Helly-

1. When people ask you, “Why do you like running?” How do you respond?

I like knowing that I can and I love the feeling you get after a good run. I also admit that there is pride involved. The running community is vast and growing all the time, but there is still that look of mild disbelief mixed with a little bit of awe you get from occasionally from a non-runner. I try to talk everyone I know into running with me.
2. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

I have always wanted to visit England but I think I would pick Kauai. My grandparents used to live in Princeville and loved it. I was able to visit once when I was young and have always wanted to go back. My grandfather has passed and my grandmother is not well, so that just re-enforces my urge to go. My mother and I have a quasi plan of going the year we turn 35/55 respectively but right now it’s mostly talk.
3. Someone received an award they cheated to get. Do you notify someone or keep quiet?

I am overly honest, so I would tell someone. I tend to be a little blunt, so I might end up confronting them as well. Hmmm, that might not end so well.
4. What’s your favorite food?

It says food not meal, so that would be pineapple. I love pineapple, eat it almost every day actually. I just don’t want it on my pizza 🙂
5. Do you speak any other language besides English? If not, what language would you like to learn?

I’m sorely out of practice now but I speak Spanish. When I worked at the restaurant, I probably spoke Spanish more than English on a daily basis.
6. The Voice or American Idol? (or none)

I don’t watch either, but if I had to choose, it would be The Voice. Why? Adam Levine.
7. What is the last book you read?

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
8. If you could time travel, would you go the past or future?

Can I have both? Preferably with a mad man in a blue box that’s bigger on the inside

9. What are you most looking forward to this year?

Paying down my credit card bills, and running of course 🙂 Breaking 2:00 in the half marathon.
10. What is your favorite holiday?

Hmmmm, any holiday that the family is together and my mom made her Beef Stroganoff.

And for the nominees are-

Don’t Blink- Just Run

Pink Elephant on Parade

BayRunner Jamie

The Blonder Side of Life

The Road to Physical Fitness

I feel like I am forgetting so very many blogs right now. I will do my best to notify you all within the next day or two!

And my questions-

1. What’s is something you’ve learned about yourself from running?

2. Name that song or artist that you can’t admit you like but sing along every time you hear?

3. What’s the best movie you’ve seen lately?

4. Name the best piece of advice you’ve received about running? Or anything?

5. Now name the worst-

6. What can you absolutely not leave the house without?

7. If you won the lottery, would you keep your job?

8. What is your dream job?

9. Guilty pleasure tv show?

10. Can you play an instrument?

Thanks again to Helly for the shout out!!!

Now it’s off to bed for me, I have a race in the morning! At least Kimi approves the shirt and bag-Who has big Easter Plans?

Any races or egg hunts planned?

Slightly Unfocused

Ever have one of those runs that makes you feel crazy? Today’s run went something like this–

Yay, the sun is shining- oh more geese, but they don’t look cranky today, that’s good- wow, this feels hard, maybe I’m running too fast- check watch- oh a 10 minute mile, not so tempo-ok, let’s make this an easy run- well that’s assuming I can finish this second lap- man this kicking my butt, 3 is good right- left, right, left- take deep breathes- just keep going- ok, 3 miles done, I can do 1 more right?- this is not easy- man, it’s hot-get over it, it’s like 60, big baby- man why is this so hard- yeah Saturday was 11 miles not 8 but 3 were slow walking- did I foam roll? I can’t remember- I took Sunday off, I should be fine- it is Monday and work was busy but aren’t all Mondays?- Maybe I too much popcorn last night- did I eat enough today- I did start earlier, but I took a full lunch, so those cancel out right?-hey look, sprinklers! Can I run though them?- Water sounds really good right now, why didn’t I bring any?- Yay 4 miles! But I’m on the other side of the lake- If I keep running, I will get to my car quicker- just keep running, just keep breathing- man, I feel hot- even the nasty lake water looks inviting- on second thought, not so much- oh thank god, the parking lot- pause watch- oh wait, 4.70 miles- I can run a bit further right?- I can finish 5- oh this sucks-what was I thinking- I should have quit at 3-just keep breathing- yay the watch vibrated!- 5 and done- where’s water- I should stretch-ooh, my splits kind of look like a pyramid.

So, I was just a tad unfocused during tonight’s run. Throughout the day I was undecided about what I would run. I was torn between 4 miles of downhill-uphill in work town or a 5 mile tempo at the lake path. I had my Wave Rider’s, so I was hoping for a repeat of last week’s great speed work out and I headed to the lake. While work had been long (I started early) and crazy busy; we managed to get out on time. The sun was shining and the weather looked great, so I started my drive. I was still excited when I got to the lake, but it didn’t take long to lose that energy. After the first mile, I mentally changed from the planned tempo to an easy run but it was rough the whole way through. I should have quit at 3; I really should have. I also should have taken water. What good is my shiny new handheld if I don’t use it? As I was stretching, I figured out that it was actually in the mid 80’s. At 7:00 pm… oops. That’s not even a newbie mistake, just me being stupid.

Overall, the pace didn’t suck. I drove home remembering all the times I ran 12:00 minute miles just wishing I could break 10. This may have been a less than stellar run but overall it’s still an improvement. 🙂 I managed a long slow run of 8 miles on Saturday. 8 miles at 10:18- that used to be my 5k race pace, so that’s a plus. After those 8 miles, I headed out for another 3 with my mom and the puppy. So Saturday was an 11 mile day, yowza. Nothing to complain about there.

I took Sunday off but it wasn’t exactly restful. I headed down to SLO to browse hardwood options with my mother. Hit Dick‘s and finally chose a new gym bag. Had a yummy lunch before heading back to town to go to a friends BBQ. I got to hang out with Baby G for a bit 🙂 She has gotten so big; she walks and dances now! I went home to do some laundry, then I joined my mom at the school. They’re doing construction so she needed help moving all of her tennis stuff. (Can we count that as strength training? Ha!) That was followed by a quick dinner before going to the theater to see Captain America. Which was awesome, but I may have indulged in a little too much popcorn. It was worth it. 🙂

Please tell me I am not the only who conversations in their head while running?

Seen any good movies lately?

Slacker Reboot -Training to SLO (and beyond)

Back in February, I had a few issues with my legs not feeling so good. I figured it was caused by overuse as the training plan that I had been following was a little overeager. The mileage that it was calling for was a little intimidating. 40 mile weeks are great for some people and in theory I like them, but come on, Slacker over here. Weeks 2-5 hitting 40 was yowza! I never actually hit that mileage but I was running more than I was used too. After the ugliness that was the Heart & Soles 10K, I took a week off resting my ankle, Achilles and basically my left leg and started fresh with a new plan. A Slacker Plan. I tried using it leading up to my half in March and I am planning on continuing with it through SLO and for the beach half I want to run in May (doh!).

I thought about what worked for me before 3 days a week and then I considered the fact that I want to run more races this year and continue to improve my times ( sub 2 please?!). Plus there was my goal of hitting 750 miles this year. So I decided on 4 days a week and decided to call it 4-5-6-SLR.And either 1 long run (L), or a track workout (S) or a race (R) on the weekend. Why does it need a name? Because I like names. Why so many letters? When I figured out the SLR almost looked like Slacker, I tried really hard to come up with a word for C or K, but no luck yet. 😦 Maybe someday I can graduate to 5-7-9 🙂 Kind of random, but does anyone else remember that store?

There are no set days and I can switch of the mileage and work out when I want. Plus, with 3 different towns and a treadmill to choose from, I have a lot of flexibility. And I don’t get frustrated when I miss a Track Tuesday or hill interval Wednesday because I can do them on whatever day I feel like it. Now I don’t feel guilty for never running on Fridays. 🙂 I would like to get to the point where a weekend long run is at least 10 miles; every week. I’m not there but I’m working on it.

Wednesday morning’s commute! Double rainbow!

So with that being said, after Monday’s crazy rain and a Tuesday rest, I headed out Wednesday for a quick 4 miles. I wasn’t feeling the run for some reason so I wanted it done quickly. I was aiming for as close to 5k race pace as possible. I had missed my Wave Rider’s so I ran in them that night. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I am faster in those shoes. My first mile included a little warm up and then I was off. Miles 1-3 felt good, I hardly felt like I was pushing. When my Garmin chimed at mile 3, I saw a chance to push. If I pushed- hard- I could pull off 4 miles in what was my very first official 5K time- 35:44. So I pushed. 4 Miles- 35:35-holy crap. This left me on the backside of the lake so it gave me plenty of time to walk it out and breath after. I was super stoked.

Thursday called for 5 easy miles. The first 2 miles were pretty good, but by starting my 3rd lap, I knew I wasn’t completing 5. My ears were freezing. I can’t stand cold ears, they hurt, so I figured one more lap would bring me to 3.5 miles and I would be done for the night. Which I was ok with because there were a few border collies out for an evening walk. They looked well-behaved, but then I never expected to be attacked by one in the first place a few years ago. I admit I never took my eyes off of them when I ran past and my hand may have strayed to my pepper spray. I had a 1/4 mile left to complete when I got to add a new animal to my animal encounter list-

Yep, these guys are actually pretty scary when they charge you and then try to follow you. Great for a strong burst of speed at the end but freaky. Then I realized they were between me and my car. Boo.

My weekend looks pretty clear. No complaints, I would love to sleep in. I need to get in a long run and an easy run at some point but other than that, nothing. I can’t even begin to say how much I am looking forward to that. 🙂
Anyone else have an aggressive goose (or any animal) encounter?
How was your week? Anyone racing this weekend?