Tag: Saturday

Firehouse 5K -Recap

I met my goal, but just barely.

Firehouse 5K offers packet pickup at the firehouse the night before and it was a breeze. My only hesitation came when I saw the sign for an Easter Eggstravaganza being held in the nearby park on the same day. I asked what time that started because I was concerned that it would affect parking. It didn’t start until 10 so no worries there!

Right after this pic, the truck behind me pulled out with lights flashing!

I had laid everything out the night before but right before leaving the house in the morning, I grabbed a long sleeve layer. It was foggy and a little bit cold but I was hoping it would warm up. The plan was to head out with my mom and the puppy. Since it was so close, my dad and brother were thinking about following later. Once we arrived it was still foggy and I figured that since my lungs have become babies who don’t like weather below 50, I put on my long sleeve layer. I also used the inhaler again before heading to the start line. I have had 3 rough races this year for a variety of reasons and I didn’t want this one to be the same.

I managed to snag the same parking spot as last year so it was about a block and 1/2 to the start line. As we were walking up, I heard my name being called. Huh? Looking to my right, I saw a couple walking up. It was another SLO Marathon Ambassador! It was Lisa from Runner In Training! Both she and her husband were running too. It was great getting to meet another ambassador 🙂

Can you see the singer all way up there?

The start time had been pushed back to 8:45 for some reason but there was a group warm-up put on by a local sports therapy group. Then the usual pre-race announcements, followed by the national anthem. I love how they display the flag at this race, and the singer gets to sing the anthem from the top of the big truck! I’m kind of jealous. With a blare of the truck horn, we were off!

A little under 1/2 a mile is on streets up to the trail, then it’s about 200 yards until we start climbing. This is where it gets tricky. All of the trail section is single track. 2 miles of the race is trail, which means 2 miles is single track. Which for the last mile is ok because the crowd had thinned out. However, the initial, biggest climb was a crawl. At one point, I was stuck behind 6 people walking. The short length of the switchbacks made it hard to try and pass people. I managed to get past a few but not all. We were so on top of each other that I could have smacked the firefighter in front of me on the backside. ( I didn’t!)

After finally getting to the top, I was able to get around some people. It also leveled out briefly so I picked up the pace a bit. Then we hit our first downhill. We went down a different way than we came up, so the downhill was shorter than the uphill. The trail is shale-like, with some bigger rocks and divets, so you had to watch where you were putting your feet. I tend to have kamikaze tendencies when running downhill on trails, and I have fallen before. I skidded out once but managed to reign it in. Then there was another uphill. This one was small but I was already tired from the mountain. It also bottle necked again. Then it was down hill back to the street. Kamikaze me came back and I a hit a 6 minute pace for the entire downhill. Then it was back to the street and across the bridge to the finish line. I crossed the line and stopped my watch. Final time- 32:59. Really? Yes, it was faster than last year but only by 32 seconds.

I really felt like I was running faster than that. The only thing I can think is that I probably walked close to a mile of it, between the climb and the bottleneck. And even me running downhill like a crazy person couldn’t make that time back up. It was hard to go off my Garmin because it never matched up with their mile markers. All I really used it for was current pace. I have to admit that maybe it’s just that this race kicks my ass.

This is a smaller race, only 3 years old, but it has been impressively organized each time I have run it. The course is well marked and any time there was a trail split, there was always a volunteer directing which way to go. There was only one water station but that more due to land constraints than poor planning. There is also a small health fair. The crowd was smaller than last year but there was a conflicting race in a nearby town that accounted for that. The other race is a very popular 10k that draws thousands every year. It really was too bad that they both fell on the same day.

She's in front of the camera! — She’s in front of the camera!

My family was at the finish line which was cool. We took advantage of some photo opportunities. And in keeping with last year’s failed selfie, I have a new one to add to the collection. I tried to get a photo with my brother and he ducked. So my dad photo bombed again-

Today my legs are feeling the results of my crazy down hill running. That probably wasn’t the best idea the week before a half marathon, but it was a fun race. Maybe I will try again next year. 🙂 Running another 5 miles yesterday didn’t help either. 🙂 But the pizza reward for lunch was amazing!

How was your weekend?

Happy Easter!

The Week that Was

You know that quote?

Yeah that’s the one. This week definitely ran me. While Tuesday was a planned rest day, it turned decidedly less so shortly after my last post. Food poisoning, yippy!!!! I was up most of the night feeling horrid. I hated the sound of my alarm more than usual on Wednesday morning. I drug myself out of bed and made myself presentable. Well, I tried to, I realized on the way to work that I had forgotten mascara. I have never even run without mascara. Luckily I had one stashed at work. I don’t wear a lot to begin with but I felt naked without mascara. 🙂

Thankfully, Wednesday was the last day of our inspection. I put on a smiley face and mustered on. Not gonna lie, it took 2 Diet cokes (big ones) and a cup of coffee to do it. I had a hot flash before the exit interview and one after. It could have been due to the stress or the lingering sickness from the night before. I really wanted to run after; I had my clothes and everything, but I was completely whipped. Just the thought of having to change my clothes sounded exhausting. I left my running gear at work for the next day and just headed home. Which turned out to be the smart choice because I was sick again. 😦

Thursday I was still super tired, but everything else felt better. Work was so nice without Mr. inspector looming around. Plus my replacement Fuelband finally arrived!!! 3 in 13 months but more on that later. 🙂 I have a busy Saturday this week, so I was shooting for getting in my long run after work that night. I figured I could get 8 miles in around the lake before twilight set in. Work was done, I changed, hit the car and headed for the lake. Then the phone rang.

My mother had Zoey spayed on Wednesday and she (the puppy) was having a rough go. My mother was out of town for a tennis match so the pup was with my pops. He wasn’t dealing so well with an under the weather puppy and kept calling my mom telling her the dog was “freaking out”. She wanted to know if I could go to the pet store and find one of those cone things for Zoey and then go check on her. Ok, no more long run. 😦 I figured I could at least get in 3 laps of the lake.

I hurried there and set out running. Halfway through mile 1, I decided that if I couldn’t run long, then I would run hard. I mean hard (hard for me), I was aiming for race pace. I figured my last 5K race was 27:54, I wanted to hit that. The weather was good, the park was full of people. Actually very full, apparently Thursdays are popular. I kept pushing; I was breaking one of my own rules, I was huffing and puffing on a training run. But it felt good, really good. End result – 3.1 miles -26:35. Hell yeah!!!!

Under 27, I was pumped!!!!! I walked a cool down and then went to stretch. My usual stretching bar was occupied so I used the railing around the observation part of the path. I also attempted a selfie or 2. I should just give up, they never turn out. The only reason I am smiling in this one is because I had just realized that behind where I was stretching and taking crappy pictures was a class full of people line dancing. Oops! Cue embarrassed laughter.

I went to Petco and picked up a cone and some new toys for the pup and then headed that way. She ran right up to me when I got there. She had been hanging with my pops in the garage. He again expressed the opinion that she was going psycho but I don’t think she was that bad. I wrestled the cone onto her head and we played with her new toys until my mom got home.

Today was pretty good but I wish I had managed to get a run in. This week has turned into an accidental taper. It’s leaving me a little stumped about how to proceed next week during actual taper time. Plus I drank too much soda, ate too much sugar and too many chips getting through it. Stress bites. I am getting new tires on my car tomorrow and I have a work thing in the afternoon, so I am trying to figure when to fit in an 8 miler. Hmmm, can this Slacker pull it off?

How have your week’s been?

Anyone racing this weekend?

Heart & Soles 2014 Race Recap

I was originally planning on running the Buzz 1/2 marathon today but scaled back to a 10K in SLO for a few reasons. Now, I am completely bummed because I just saw that Run Eat Repeat ran it and I could have tried to track her down, except I am slow, hehe.

Anyways, on to the race. After my great run on Wednesday, I was super pumped but I also knew I had pushed harder than planned, so I ended up taking Thursday and Friday as rest days. Friday was also a vacation day for me, so woo hoo! I made sure to spend some time stretching and working with my foam roller yesterday so this morning I felt pretty good and ready to go.

Heart and Soles is a series of races put on by the Cal Poly Triathlon team. It works as a fundraiser for them and the local food bank. The race takes place entirely on the college campus. They offer a 5K, 10K, and 15K and a kids race. I was a little concerned about hills as the campus is pretty much on the side of a big hill, but there weren’t any big ones thankfully. I really wanted to do the 15K but thought the 10K was a smarter choice. 😦 This turned out to be a good choice, because I would not have finished a 15K, at least not running. Maybe crawling.

The race had 9:00 AM start so I didn’t have to leave until after 7:30. My race photographer (thanks mom!) and I headed out. Getting there was easy, finding parking was a little trickier, luckily runners tend to move in herds! Check in was fairly quick, picked up the bib and goody bag and headed back to the car since it was a bit cold. While not required, a Valentine’s themed costume contest was suggested. My mother had fun laughing at some of them, including the pace bikers. The 2 males were dressed in diapers and wings…and that’s it. Just like Cupid. One thing about a college race, I felt old. I won’t deny stalking last years race results to make sure I wasn’t the oldest one. As it was I was running solo in a couples race. Luckily it was mostly other solos as well. 🙂

All 3 races started at the same time so the start line was a little congested. A guy stopped to play with his girlfriends iPod, I went left to avoid them, and 2 people behind me ran into me and I into the first couple. Oops! Maybe that was when the problem started or I just hadn’t noticed because I just started running. A quarter mile into the race, my left lower calf was so damn tight it was painful. I figured I would run it out around mile 1. No such luck. I actually considered turning around at the 5K mark. But I kept going. I was so happy to hit the first 10K turnaround. The course had two out and backs. I kept running but the pain was turning into my couples partner for the race. I told myself if the pain ever got above a 4 to take a walk break. The first came at just shy of 3 miles. Mile 4 was the roughest, not only did I take a walk break, I stopped completely and tried to stretch it out. The end of this out and back had a little loop on a dirt path and my leg felt better there. After that if I could run on dirt by the side of the road I did. While we were in the Ag section this was possible but once we were back in the center of the school, it was all roads and sidewalk. 😦

I felt like mile 6 had the steepest section of road but my Garmin disagrees. It was a little past mile 5.5 that my leg finally loosened up. Seriously? Now? But there was no way I was sprinting to the finish, I was just trying to maintain. I hadn’t really been paying attention to my time because I was more focused on breathing through the pain. All in all, I took 4 walk moments plus that stretch. I was so thankful to see that finish line. I was done. Apparently it showed too, because my mom said I looked gimpy coming up to the line.

Once I caught my breath, I let my mother know how close I was to texting her that I was chucking it and walking the damn thing. Then I checked my Garmin, 55:44. I’m sorry, what?!!? I flippin’ PR’d on what may or may not have been my worst feeling race?! I checked Nike to verify (Yeah I used both), and it agreed. I was a little shocked. Once I processed that, I was super stoked, still hurting but excited!! I was brought a little back down to earth by the first 15K finisher crossing the finish line 4 minutes later.

Other than my stupid leg, it was a good race. With all three races starting at the same time, I was concerned that it might be easy to be confused by the route. But they had people at every corner and turn around who made things very clear. The finish line was clearly marked as well. All in all, I would run it again, maybe the 15 next year?

I stretched as best as I could before leaving the campus. After changing and eating a yummy lunch, we did a little shopping around town. I kept my compression socks on and hoped that the walking would help ease the tightness. It helped a little but most of the evening has been spent RICE’ing. Tomorrow will probably be a day off as well, I have to see how it feels in the morning. I am not sure what set it off, if it was tennis practice yesterday or maybe the fact that I sat cross-legged on the floor for most of last night. I just want it to go away.

And as per usual, I was unable to leave SLO without purchasing some new running gear, now if only my legs weren’t so pale!

How is everyone’s weekend so far?

Who else raced?

Oh, the fresh air!!

I made it to work on Friday, woo hoo! Man, that was tiring. My first phone call left me in a coughing fit. Apparently I hadn’t said that many words together in a few days, ha! 🙂 By the time work was over, I was done. I made the drive home and was off to try and sleep more before work this morning.

Yesterday, I received a smile in the office mail. I haven’t been able to see one of my friends since before Christmas as we haven’t been able to make our schedules work. 😦 Her Christmas present has been in my car for the last 4 weeks. She sent mine on Friday. Such an awesome surprise on a tiring day!! Every runner’s dream, right?

Or one of them at least . Now I just have to decide which race to use it on. 🙂

Today was my Saturday to work so I was up early heading out the door. Normally, this time of year the drive would be green and pretty. Today was just shades of brown. Seriously where is the rain?!!?!?! And I know I will complain when it actually does happen but where is the cold? It was 80 something when I left work and mid seventies when I got home.

After hitting Target and stocking up for the next week, it was time for a run. I had to have a little conversation with myself about it. I could use one more rest day right? No. I was cold, even though if it was warm outside. Wear layers. What if I started coughing? Take water. It’s gonna be hard. Take walk breaks. The floor looks perfect for a nap. Move it, lazy!!! Plus, running today was about more than just me- #megsmiles.

I changed into my brightest clothing and went out for a run. After a week of absolutely zero exercise and 4 days being sick, it was harder than I would have liked but I told myself I could walk anytime the going got tough. And by that I mean my breathing, if I started huffing and puffing, slow down!!!! Especially considering I am still slightly congested. But then when am I not, stupid deviated septum.

It felt good to be outside and moving. My legs were a little stiff but that was to be expected. I initially planned for 3 but added in an extra loop. Overall I think I took 4 walking breaks and was running slower than usual, but it was not the run I had been dreading. Even just putting on my running clothes perked me up. That’s not to say I wasn’t tired. As shown by my complete lack of drive to fully complete 4 miles.

Hmmm, so close to 4, but I was not doing that driveway again, nope, not happening. For today, 3.92 was just fine. I made sure to stretch really well after my run as I hadn’t done much moving lately. Hopefully I can get in a few miles tomorrow as well, plus I still haven’t tested out my new shoes! I’m such a Slacker! I feel like they are taunting me from the box.

Who ran today?

Good luck to all those racing tomorrow!

My Happy Place

It rained!!!!! Only for a bit and it was more of a mist but it rained! It happened while I was working Saturday, I tried to take a picture but it just looks gray. We’re in the middle of a drought so any rain is exciting. Granted I wasn’t in my home town and it turns out it didn’t get any rain. Driving home in the rain and fog was less exciting. I was behind a car going 40 in a 60, but that was actually ok as I could hardly see the car itself due to the fog.

I arrived home to find new toys in the mail! My new belt had arrived. I had searched numerous web sites and asked fellow bloggers opinions as I was super frustrated by my current hydration belt. After checking things out, RunningFromitAll (awesome blog) recommended iFitness. Duh! They made my basic running belt that I really liked aside from it being too small for longer races. I had forgotten about them. So I checked out their website, turns out they changed their name to Fitletic. After mulling things over, I ordered myself a new belt.

Now this is not a hydration belt. I can order the add on’s for that but I think I am going to try it without. There are 5 water stations in my next half marathon, so I figure between those and a little handheld with Gatorade, I will be ok. At least that is the plan. We’ll see how it works out after the race. It has 2 pockets and some straps for gels, as well as race bib holders. I probably won’t use the bib holders, I tend to wear my belt really low on my hips. My phone does fit much better in this belt as well.

I was torn between the track and the gym for my run, but I really wanted to test out my new belt. The track won. Which is more than fine by me, the track is my “happy place”. I was aiming for between 4-5 miles and was thinking about trying some 800’s. I felt pretty good after my first mile, so I decided to just try and maintain pace as long as I could. I had a larger bottle of water to carry but it was driving me bonkers so I left it on a table by the track.

I hit mile 4 and still felt good, so I kept going. My mother had come with me for this workout and I noticed then that she was doing her sprints. She does those when she nears the end of her workout. I rounded the south curve and hit mile 5, and she was sitting on the table waiting. It was too good of run to quit so I pushed through to a full 10K. Mile 6 was my best mile out of the 6, 9:38 🙂 My overall pace was better than my previous run on the treadmill. But I also love the track now, like I said, it’s a happy place. I hated it in high school, but then I hated running too. I have always been a slacker. I was actually asked a couple times if I wanted to run track back then and I was like “why the heck would I do that?”. I ran the required amount for tennis and softball and that was it. Not a foot more. Now I wish I had maybe given it a shot then, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard now.

Today was a designated Slacker day. I spent the day shopping. Prior to getting healthier and losing weight, I use to say that window shopping was exercise, all that walking up and down the street right? My Nike Fuelband quickly put that theory to rest. Shopping days are actually some of my laziest days. I earn more fuel points at work, and I sit at a desk a lot. Today, I discovered that trying on clothes is a work out, haha! I went to Dick’s to look for a new pair of running capris. I tried on 9 pairs, that was just ridiculous. I ended up going with the Nike Filament Capri, which was funny because they were the pair I liked the least on the rack and based on fabric. Once on, though, they felt awesome. Now to see if they run awesome.

I also picked up some new work clothes for a steal 🙂 and ate some yummy food. I picked up a few things to finish the mini room makeover, but still haven’t been able to get the headboard to work. All in all, a very good Slacker Sunday.

So yummy, I snacked a bit first :) — So yummy, I snacked a bit first 🙂

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and kicked ass in any races 🙂