Nike Women's Marathon & Half

We came, we ran, we conquered the Nike Women's Half-Marathon.  By we, I mean Patty,Marisol, Megan, Caryn and myself.  I think I would be safe in saying that we all had a fantastic time.  Most of us had never been in a race of this size and the energy from all the participants, not to mention the amount of estrogen, was really something to witness.  Our fears about the hills were never realized and in fact, it seemed our training prepared us well.  I guess that's one of the benefits of training in a hilly valley.  The only thing we were unprepared for was the number of people, particularly the number of walkers.  Dodging the walkers was the hardest part, other than that, it was one of the easiest races we've ever done.  Maybe it was because we didn't run it particularly fast, running for the experience and to remember the sights along the way.  But for whatever reason, I remember coming down toward the last half mile as I looked over at Patty and remarked how this was probably the best I've ever felt in a half-marathon.  She admitted feeling the same but didn't want to jinx it by saying so.

The weather also was perfect.  Although typically San Francisco wet and foggy, it also kept the weather really cool, a welcome relief from running all summer in the heat of the Santa Clarita Valley.  And of course, there's the Tiffany Necklace.  We were all so worried that we wouldn't like it, but it really is perfect.  I think we're all hoping that we'll be lucky again next year and will get picked in the lottery again.  Hopefully it wasn't just beginner's luck.

Are We There Yet?

Today's run was our last "long" run before the race. We are tapering down and attempted to do somewhere around seven miles. Depending on which GPS device we decide to go by we either exceeded our goal or fell just short. Personally I think we fell just short because the Garmin is usually pretty accurate whereas the Nike+ app on my iPhone has been very spotty. The last two times I used it, it shorted me a mile for every three I ran. Today it gave me an extra 3/4 mile. Maybe it's trying to make up for the last couple of miles it shorted me? Today, it read that we ran 7.44 miles while the Garmin read 6.61. Marisol's Garmin was about the same as mine so I think we only ran 6.6 miles. We were debating on whether to go back around the train bridge to get the additional miles, but at this point in our training, it was probably wiser to go shorter than run too far and tire out the legs close to the race. Either way, we were really moving today with an average pace of 9.3/mi.

That being said, I am getting super excited about our trip. It's weird to think that we won't see Bonnie for almost 3 weeks between our different trips. Also weird to think the next time we see Marisol will be in San Francisco at the Nike Women's Marathon.

Almost There!

We finished up our second to longest training run before our race this past Sunday and the feelings were mixed. Two of us felt great, the other two weren't feeling it. Unfortunately, Bonnie's mishap with the dog and sidewalk might have had something to do with it. All in all though, aside from the brief setback from my injury, I don't ever remember my friends and I having such an easy transition into training for a half. In fact, it's been so pleasant, I think some of us will be signing up for another one soon after. Poor Caryn missed all this fun and still doesn't know that we're signing up for another race! Marisol's GPS registered 11.7 miles and under 10 minute pace, while mine is below. Interesting how different products measure differently. We all agreed that we liked Marisol's better.

I'm back!

I purposely stayed away from posting for a while because I was quite depressed about getting injured and also rather scared that I might not get better in time to train for the Nike Half Marathon in 5 weeks.  My family and friends also noticed that I'm a lot grumpier when I can't run.  I think everyone is happy that I am back to running again.  Pool workouts at 9 PM are not fun, no matter how hot it is outside.

Today was my first day back on a real long run with all the girls and it felt great.  While the earlier start time did a number on our stomachs, it sure saved us from the heat.  I forgot my GPS watch, but I  think I actually run faster without it, because I'm not always checking it, or maybe it's the fact that we all carried water and didn't need as frequent water breaks.  It was a good thing we had two other backups with GPS.  In either case, we were blazing the trails at an average 9.5 min pace for almost 9.5 miles.  In this heat, I would say that was pretty good.

To top off the great run, I was able to celebrate another year of getting older with four amazing ladies, who are willing to brave the elements in search of a Tiffany's necklace.

Get Better Kwan!!

It's been two weeks since we all ran together, an almost 8 miler through the Heritage Trail, and the paseos behind Helmers! It was a hot day, and I remember feeling queasy afterward from the heat, but all in all it was a pleasant run. Not so for Kwan, who has been out of commission ever since:( She doesn't remember specifically injuring her ankle, but has been unable to join us on a run, because it has been sore and swollen!! Her doctor mentioned "perineal tendinitis", I truly hope that is not the diagnosis:( I am hoping she can join us for part of our run tomorrow, or at least coffee! We miss you, and need you to navigate (I have a Garmin, but am directionally challenged!) I speak for everyone, when I say "Get Better Kwan, we miss you!"

Heat Exhaustion

It had been almost two weeks since I ran due to a rather hectic schedule so I was a bit nervous about today's run. Not knowing how I would feel, I didn't know how far we were going to run. We did the same hilly long run as last time through the paseos of Northpark and Northbridge, but started instead at Peets Coffee and headed toward the train bridge. I think this route was a little closer to 9 miles. It had been so long since I ran that I got out of the habit of bringing my Garmin so we weren't totally sure about the miles, but I'm pretty sure it was further than when we started at Lowes and that was 8.8 miles. I wasn't feeling all that great during the run, but I attributed it to the lack of running the last week or so. I now think it was not drinking enough water the last couple of days, coupled with the fact that we had just come back from Vegas on Monday after several days laying in water, but not drinking it. When our run was done, I felt really terrible and nauseated. I also felt my heart rate increasing even though we had stopped. I have been feeling rather terrible today and have had a mild headache and had a nagging suspicion that it was heat exhaustion. After reading up on the symptoms, I'm now convinced. I guess even those of us who have been running a long time forget how dangerous it is to run in this heat,especially with the humidity. I have to say, this is the worst I have felt after a run in a long time. I will definitely have to prepare better for a run in the heat next time. Hopefully my friends have fared better than me today :)

Web MD Heat Exhaustion

They Liked It!

I thought we needed to start adding hills into our long runs to get ready for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October, so I thought of a route that might do the trick. I wanted to add the hills toward the mid to later part of our run, just like what we'll be facing in San Francisco. I just wasn't sure how Bonnie and Caryn were going to feel about. I have to say, when I told them this morning we were going to add hills this morning to our long run, the look on Bonnie's face was priceless. Her jaw literally dropped. We started from Lowes because I was sick of running the back side of the river trail from Peets, off of the train bridge because it is brutally hot there with no shade. We headed toward Copperhill and cut toward Cheseborough Park through the dirt trail where we hit our first set of hills. We took a quick sip of water at the park and then headed into the neighborhoods of Northpark, which gave us more hills. When we finally reached the paseos, the trail gave us alternating ups and downs until we finally came back out at Bridgeport Park. From there, we finished as usual along the Lowes trail. Caryn and Bonnie did quite well and didn't complain once and in fact were commenting on how shady the paseos were and how nice it was to run without having to dodge the cyclist. The only drawback with the paesos is the concrete. It's a little harder on the feet. All in all it was a good run and longer than I expected to get out with 8.8 miles total. Poor Patty was on the road again, but I'm sure what was waiting for her was well worth it.

Still Running

We have been busy....

The Detour

We started out earlier than usual this morning not knowing how hot it was going to be and also not knowing exactly how far we were running. Based upon our last run together at Central Park on Thursday night, we weren't very hopeful. Patty had a busy schedule so she opted out of our run. However, we think she really just ditched us to run with her hubby at the beach and who would blame her. It is promising to be a scorcher all week, but the earlier start time really kept our run rather cool and shadier along the route. We decided to start our run the same as last week from Lowes and headed towards the Iron Horse Train Bridge. We figured we would adjust our route based upon how we were feeling. After we crossed the train bridge, curiosity got the better of us so we decided to check out how far the trails goes west under the 5 freeway. There were a lot of cyclist coming from that direction that we had not passed already so we began to wonder where they were coming from. As it turns out, the paved portion of the trail stops under the freeway as before, but there is a nice leveled dirt trail that actually continues next to the water treatment plant all the way along the Old Road under shady trees up to about where the Del Taco is. The view wasn't the greatest, but it was shady and the dirt was a welcomed change. We think it goes even further, but decided to head back since we had already hit 4 miles out and didn't know how much further we wanted to venture. We needed water on the way back so we decided to head to Heritage Park before heading back to Lowes. I knew we would be close to 9 miles, but it turned out to be exactly that. I don't think any of us planned on running that far, but the detour was a nice distraction that we really didn't notice the miles.

Train Bridge Trail

We finally got to run from the Iron Horse Train Bridge Trail in the direction we wanted to without climbing any fences. When we started it was so nice and cool, the perfect running weather, but I knew it wouldn't last long. By the time we were headed back down towards Peets, the weather had warmed up and we were looking for shade along the route. Shade wasn't the only thing we were looking for on the way back. When we stopped for water at the turn around, Patty realized she was missing one of the nose pieces on her Oakleys. If one looks at the pace and sees dips in the pace, it's because we were stopping at anything that looked small and black. We even came close to picking up a dead fly. Now wouldn't that be someting if Patty actually tried to stick it on her glasses? Oh the trouble we get ourselves into! Our runs are never without some adventure.

Train Bridge Run

The Train Bridge is finally re-opened, which will save us precious minutes, standing at the gate, trying to decide whether to climb the fence, and trespass to be able to run across it!! We will just have to look back fondly at all the times we squeezed through the fence, actually jumped over, and nearly fell into the ditch underneath, ran through the brush, braving the homeless, and the coyotes who live in the riverbed, and the time we tried to get Caryn to convince the city workers to let us just run around their gigantic hole in the ground:)Today was the grand re-opening of the historic bridge, and we joined the SCR's in a run that began at the bridge and continued on the trail to Copperhill, and then back to the bridge to cross over for the finish. We decided to park at Peet's and run to the start, which gave us a mile each way, then we took the trail to Decoro and back to the bridge, which we figured gave us a total of at least 7 miles! The city had a nice ribbon cutting ceremony, which we did not stay for, but instead, ran back to Peet's for Lattes and Egg McMuffins. The new trail is very nice, and will let us legally run across the bridge without risking arrest, or worse a broken hip!! Happy Father's Day to my Dad and Hubby, and yours:)

No Regrets

I absolutely dread the thought of going to the track to do intervals.  Even while doing the interval workout, I'm cursing myself and the people running it.  So why do I continue to go?  I go because I know that when the workout is over, I will never regret going.  I have never said, "I wish I didn't do intervals tonight", but when I didn't go and had no excuse for not going, I ended up regretting it.  Tonight was especially tough with the heat and of course wouldn't you know it, mile repeats. 

We started out with the usual infield warm ups and then 12x100's with easy, fresh, easy, good.  I really don't know the difference between fresh and good though. We then did 3-mile repeats with a 200 meter recovery in between.  The only thing I skipped were the 200m recoveries.  My recovery was walking over to my water bottle and catching my breath for a bit. I then finished with a couple of cool down laps.

As the school year draws to an end, I know my friends are looking forward to running in the cooler morning air. Perhaps then, they won't mind an occasional evening interval workout at the track.

Finish Line Footage

It took me a while to find video footage of us finishing.  Unfortunately, I think the guy had to change the tape soon after I finished so I think footage of Patty, Bonnie, and Caryn is MIA.  Marisol can be seen at 1:16:20 into the tape and I can be seen at 1:21:09.  Patty was about 10 minutes behind me and the tape ends at 1:30:17, which means he was busy changing the tape when the rest of the girls were finishing.  I looked on the other videos, but I couldn't find them :(

Ojai to Ocean Half Marathon

I had trouble with my Garmin in the beginning because I couldn't quite read the smaller print with my contacts on. I don't think I started the actual GPS until around mile 1. Official results are as follows: Caryn 2:15:24 Bonnie 2:12:30 Patty 2:10:07 Kwan 1:59:58 Marisol 1:55:11

Gone in a Flash

We were all very fortunate to have this Monday off to get in a morning run. It was already hot by 7 a.m. and my friends and I were glad that we were only doing a shorter run before it heats up even more. We ran 4.2 miles at just over 10 min pace, although my friends keep telling me there's something wrong with my GPS because it feels much faster. Ya right!

As we settled down for our post run coffee and C was washing up in the restroom, the rest of us suddenly felt a "flash" of heat in Starbucks and decided it was way too hot to sit inside. The warm temperature inside was made more stifling by the fact that there was a line of people standing right next to our table.  Before you know it, the three of us pick everything up and move outside.  Unfortunately, we forgot to tell C who was still in the bathroom.  I guess when she came out, she didn't quite know what happened to us or where we went.  She did eventually figure out where we went and we were comfortably sipping our coffees outside in no time.

It was a great way to start out this Memorial Day, but let us not forget why we have the day off.

Memorial Day

Tapering Down

I really thought that tapering down our miles to get race ready would feel easy. It really didn't feel easy at all. My friends said it was because of the pace we kept. I don't know, it still felt awfully slow to me. I thought our overall pace would have been under 10 minutes. At least mile 4 was under 10 min/mi and the last mile we ran under 9 min pace. I guess I keep thinking about our previous race times and think how in the world are we going to get even close to it on our upcoming race. It's really hard to guage what our real pace is because we do stop often and that slows the overall pace down too. Oh well, I'm looking forward to an easy week of running.

Round and Round We Go

I went to the SCR interval training again tonight despite the high heat and the winds. It's rather funny seeing the map on Garmin after the fact, but during the workout, all I kept thinking was "when is he going to blow that damn whistle?" The workout started out with the same 12x100 warm up, which I missed by spending too much time in the bathroom. The rest of the workout consisted of 20 intervals of 1 minute fast/good and 1 minute recovery with no stops in between. For me that amounted to about 5 miles of back and forth. I was rather happy about this because it meant no one would be waiting for me and I could continue running at my own pace, which was rather slow. As luck would have it, when the whistle was blown to run hard, I would be running into gale force winds and then the winds would be at my back during the recovery. Why couldn't it be the other way around? Patty and Caryn were supposed to run together on the trails and hopefully they had better luck with the wind.

Almost a Half Marathon

We finished our last long run before our half marathon race on June 3rd. Next week we'll taper down to just 7 miles. Haha, I thought I'd never say "just 7 miles". As we finished, I said to my friends how glad I was done with the run and that we never have to run 13 again, but then I remembered that the race is 13.1 miles. Oh well, at least it will be a lot cooler. The legs actually felt OK, it was just the heat that got to us. Glad it's done though.

Beginner or Intermediate?

I was looking up training schedules for the half marathon ( I know, a little late) to see how we should be tapering off for the upcoming race. It seems all of these training schedules breakdown their recommendations based upon if you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced. The problem with that is that although my friends and I have been running for quite a while and this is certainly not our first half marathon, our total miles per week and our race pace technically do not qualify us as intermediate status either. So here's the key difference: Total miles 2 weeks before a race for a beginner is 12 miles, 15 miles for an intermediate. I think we'll just try for 13 miles. The weekend prior to the race, the beginner should run 6 miles, the intermediate 8 miles. I think we'll do 7 miles. The week of the race, easy 3-4 miles twice during the week. That sounds like our usual running plan :)

Intervals

Now that I have my evenings free, I went with my husband to run intervals. Intervals are never easy, but it was not as bad as I remember it. Of course it was all that hot either. Maybe our long runs have been helping. According to my husband, there have been more people showing up lately and tonight was actually a quiet night. I'm just glad I wasn't the last one. It was actually nice to see so many ladies out there running, many moms with their kids sitting and playing on the fields. Definitely more female friendly than in the past. Intervals consisted of the following: 12 x 100 alternating with easy, good, hard 2 x 800 with 200 cool down 3 x 600 with 200 cool down 4 x 400 with 200 cool down 3 laps of cool down The good part is that you end up running 5.5 miles without really realizing it.

testing

this is a test!

A Dozen or Two

Squeaking Out 12 Miles

So today was quite an adventure to say the least.  Our run started out with trespassing, climbing over two chain link fences, squeezing through two holes in chain link fences, and running across an old 1895 train bridge just to get in 12 miles.  After all that we almost didn't make it.  We were short less than a half mile and decided to walk up a driveway and back so that we can actually say we did 12 miles. 

Patty brought her iphone so that she can use the Nike + app and also as a GPS, but I thought we should have used it as a camera when we were scaling the fences.  I think it would have been a much better use of the phone capabilities.  I did finally get on the Garmin Connect, but I still cannot figure out how to post the route on this blog.  Patty's brother has to help me figure that out step by step because I spent a good hour trying to get it to post on here and still am not any closer to figuring it out. 

Two things stick out at me on our run today.  One, we are way too old to be climbing fences.  Two, I cannot believe we had only gone 6 miles when we were already coming back from Copperhill.  Oh and one more thing, I cannot believe we completely forgot that we ran up to the baseball fields last week in order to get the extra miles.

By the time we got back, it was hot, Bonnie was dizzy, Patty was nauseous, and every twig on the ground looked like a snake.

The Girls are Running!!

I am really getting excited about all the running we've been able to get in lately! It seems like we had gotten into a bit of a slump, with work, and home stress, and life in general. It seems like our enthusiasm returned after our recent race in Agoura, and prompted us to sign up for two Half Marathons. We decided to keep up with the long weekend miles, in hopes of completing a 14 miler, right before our Ojai to the Ocean Half on June 3rd! So far so good is all I can say, because we just ran 11 miles yesterday, and it felt pretty good. We finished in 1 hr and 55 min, with a couple of water stops, and despite the warmer weather it was a good day. Next week, we do 12, and plan to break out the water belts, so we don't stop quite as much. Of course, the thing that keeps me going during these long runs is the chance to catch up with the girls, and have a good cup of coffee afterwards!! On a side note, I am so proud of my pup, she RAN 3 miles, with me today at Central Park!! I took her, so we could walk, while the hubby ran, but she started out running, and just never slowed down:) She powered up the hills, which I didn't want to run, but had no choice! She even took a long drink out of the drinking fountain (sorry girls) without touching the metal!! Needless to say, she's asleep now, and I may just join her for a bit!

Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon Here We Come!

I am so excited to be a part of this race!  On this race, I don't plan on getting a PR.  I don't even plan on trying too hard.  I only plan on having fun and taking in as much of the sights as possible while running.  I think there are some races you run to actually race, but then there are others you run just to be part of something spectacular.  With the Nike Womens Marathon &1/2 Marathon, I want to enjoy all the senses the city of San Francisco has to offer.  This will undoubtedly be the largest race I have ever entered and I can only imagine the vibe at the starting line.  The experience will be made even richer because I will be joined by my running friends as we visualize the Tiffany necklaces waiting for us at the finish line.  It isn't often that we can actually wear our finisher medals around rather than have them hang somewhere collecting dust. 

A Rare Day

Today was one of those rare days when the planets align and the weather is perfect for running.  I was a little worried yesterday about our planned long run for today because it was so windy and cold , but you couldn't have asked for a better day.  To top it off, all three of us (me, Caryn, and Bonnie) were still feeling pretty good after 6.5 miles into our 9 mile run.  My friends and I always talk about how we're always chasing those rare running moments when every one's legs feel good and the conditions are perfect.  That was today.  The only thing missing of course was Patty.  Hopefully she had a nice run with her hubby the day before. Today was an encouraging sign for our upcoming races.

Fingers Crossed

Four of us have now officially registered for the random drawing of the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco.  What does that mean?  Nothing really unless our group is picked to be one of the lucky 25,000+ participants.  We're keeping our fingers crossed because there's a Tiffany's necklace waiting at the finish line with our names on it!

Influence

I knew my friends were not too thrilled about running the Ojai to the Ocean Half Marathon, particularly after they learned about the 6 a.m. start time.  Trust me, I wasn't too thrilled either and now that I have registered, I keep thinking "how in the world am I going to get myself to the start line by 6 a.m.?"  It was the completely downhill course that really had me thinking about it and finally resigned myself to register to do it without my friends.  I was okay with running it on my own because my husband said he would come along for the ride if my friends didn't run it with me. 

After completing my registration, I text messaged my friends to let them know what I had done.  I was expecting them to say "ha ha, what have you done? Have fun and we'll be thinking of you" because they really didn't seem too excited about this race at all.  In fact I thought one of them was going to sign up for the Rock N Roll half in San Diego on the same day.  Instead, I first get a text from Caryn saying she just registered, then Patty followed a couple of hours later, then the next day I hear from Marisol who was supposed to do the Rock N Roll.  The only one still unconfirmed is Bonnie.  Now, I'm not sure if I guilted my friends into signing up and not leave me high and dry all alone, but whatever the reasons, I have no shame in saying that I'm glad it worked and am thankful that my friends are real troopers and pretty much game for anything except trespassing with risk of imprisonment.

I figured if we increase our long run 1 mile each week, we should be up to 14 miles 2 weeks before the race, which is perfect timing.  So you see Bonnie, you will have enough time to get ready.  As it turns out, this race will also be a family affair with my older bro running the full marathon along with 9 or more fellow Santa Clarita Runners. I expect it to be a fun day, especially since there will be a beer garden at the finish line.  That should make the husbands happy :)

The Long and Winding Run

As I was looking for a quote today, the one I eventually posted made me laugh because that pretty much summed up our run today.  When you think about how our conversations go from trespassing to getting arrested, to homeless people, to packs of coyotes, to coyote poop, to bathrooms, to Hunger Games, and finally to oh $#*t! the water fountain isn't working, it's amazing that we even come back sane after our long runs.

It isn't uncommon for us to scale a fence or two or climb a wall to get to our desired destination when running, but today we were thwarted by too many obstacles to make it on our intended route and had to finally settle for a detour. We wanted to run from Peets to the old train bridge because it was supposed to be open at the end of March, but when we got there it was still locked up and men were working on the trail so my wiser friends decided that it wasn't worth getting arrested for so we started to head back.  Then that's where we really started to get into trouble.  We started to venture into the river thinking that there might be a way around the fences and still try to cross the river or at least bypass the fence and get on the bridge.  We made several attempts to cross, but we got a funny feeling as we headed into thicker brush.  The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up as I saw more and more coyote poop and the whistles disguised as birds.  Patty was concerned about homeless people and I was more concerned about coming across a coyote den.  We finally decided to give up and head back to Peets for another bathroom break when we came upon a gentleman with his dog.  He saw us coming out of the river bed and warned us about going in there because they had a real problem with packs of coyotes in that area.

As we left and eventually headed towards the South Fork trail, I started to think what WOULD have happened to us if we came upon a pack of coyotes.  I guess we should have used better judgement.  We thought we were in the clear and finally started into our long run and reached almost the half way point when we stopped for water and the fountain was not working.  Eight miles without water is a long way and of course I jokingly said it's like the Hunger Games.  It felt like people were messing with us and throwing in all kinds of obstacles to see if we would give up on our long run and admit defeat.  In the end, we did finish our long run completing exactly eight miles.  Those were the longest, most complicated 8 miles I have ever run.  On a positive note, the girls and I did almost 20 miles this week, which is a first in a very long time.

Carpe Diem

It has been quite a full day.  As a matter of fact, it has been a full week so far already! My friends and I are really taking advantage of spring break and trying to fit in as much running as possible.  We have been so concerned about getting more runs in that we forgot to fit in some relaxing and fun things to do too, not that running isn't fun.  So after our run this morning, we spent a good half hour trying to figure out a good day to go out to lunch and see a movie together.  This is no small feat considering that in addition to trying to fit more running in, we all scheduled a bunch of overdue appointments for various needs.  After going back and forth on when the best day would be, we finally figured out that today was the only day that would work.  We therefore decided to seize the day and go for it.  We all managed to move some appointments around and meet at Salt Creek in short time.  We had a wonderful lunch together.  Unfortunately, we have been running so much that some of us dozed for a portion of the movie, The Hunger Games.  Of course the intervals this morning didn't help either.  Our intervals consisted of two quarter mile at 85%, jog in between, then two 700m at 75-80%, resting in between and a final quarter mile at 85-90%.  With a full belly and a morning of intervals, it's no wonder all of our eyelids were quite heavy.

Spring Break

Thank goodness for Spring Break!  Spring Break means that my friends and I can all run together in the morning more than once a week and have coffee afterwards.  We developed a plan to run at least 4 times this week and I'm hoping nothing will get in the way of those plans.  Today we ran the course at Central Park with very nice Spring conditions.  I'm hoping that continues for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we are meeting where it's fairly flat so I'm planning on some modified interval training.  We'll see what the legs will hold after a day of skiing, snowshoeing and then running back to back. For my friends who read the blog, you have been forewarned of the intervals tomorrow so come prepared.

I Get It

Okay, so one of my running friends has been quite upset at her recent picture from our latest race.  I really couldn't see what the big deal was.  Besides, I thought she looked great, but she has been pretty down about it.  So today I got an email from that same race saying my photos from the event were available for viewing.  Now I get it.  After seeing my photos of me running, I am pretty disgusted with how much heavier I look.  You have this vision of what you think you look like when you are running, but then when you see the reality, it is quite a shock.  How did I gain so much weight?  Well I know the answer to that.  Too much work, too much ice cream, too much stress, and not enough running.  I am thankful that I have the afternoons off for the next 3 weeks to try to shed some of the extra pounds.  Until then, it will be a bunch of grumpy moms running together.

Showing Up

Runners have a saying that "half the battle is just showing up" and today couldn't have been more true.  After our race this weekend, Patty and I were not feeling it and we were just looking for an excuse to cancel.  It's cold, we're still too sore, we're tired, we haven't made dinner yet, etc, etc.  However, the extra pounds we are both trying to lose were nagging at us a little louder than the other excuses not to run and thankfully so.  As bad as I felt today, I think we both felt good that we were able to get in 3.5 miles.  Sure it was slow, but it was a recovery run. 

The same goes for any race we enter.  I know we are contemplating the next race and whether we are going to be in good enough shape for it, but it doesn't matter.  Let's face it, we'll never be in good enough shape and good enough shape for what?  The Olympics?  We're not going to be breaking any records so why not just show up and enjoy the journey.  The benefits come from the training and the feeling you get after finishing another race.

Race Day Memories

I was reminded today of why I like to race.  There's something about the excitement on race.  Runners are a very social group of people and they have no problem striking up conversations with complete strangers, even if it is while waiting in line to use the bathroom in Ralphs Grocery Store (Thank you Ralphs!). As I stood in line talking to various women in line and watching my friends do the same, I realized that this is what running is all about, the camaraderie among runners.  It's also about sharing joys and pains of running with your fellow friends who have struggled and celebrated with you on your various journeys to becoming a better you as a runner and as a person.  During the race, I noticed a man running in front of me with a prosthetic leg and I realized I had no excuses.  I am fortunate to be able to run with both legs so why was I so phobic about entering a race?

I am happy to say that for the most part, we were all happy with our race results, although I can't speak for the dueling Mayeda boys.  Actually I don't think there's a duel, just a healthy competition among brothers.  It was nice to see them both out and running and having them cheer for us as we came in.  As for the hills, they really weren't all that bad.  I think our training was just right for it.  As for the course, it's supposed to be a pretty course, but I really didn't look around too much.  I was just trying to stay on course and keep from tripping.  Maybe next time I'll pay attention to the scenery some more.  First we have to figure out what our next race will be.  Can't wait!

Official 10K Results:
Marisol 55:37
Kwan 58.50
Bonnie 1:02.36
Caryn 1:01.29
Patty 1:01.53
Jerry 56.59
Ben 1:03.02
Andrew 42.26
Steven 42.54

Almost Race Day

It's hard to believe we are actually going to be in a race tomorrow.  It seems like such a long time since the last race, I believe it was the Santa Clarita 5K.  That was quite an experience!  At least for tomorrow's race it will be substantially drier.  As usual, I made my pre-race dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce.  I think it's more psychological than anything else, but hey we can use all the help we can get.  The only thing I'm dreading is the time we have to meet to get there, 5:30 a.m., which means I'll have to get up around 4:30 a.m.  Really?  Why do races have to be so damn early?  Stay tuned for results.....

Spring Break

My spring break has begun, well sort of.  I have three weeks off from my afternoon teaching job, which means I will be able to put in some more miles during the next few weeks.  I'm sure my poor neglected friends will be glad too.  I am so thankful to have very patient friends who still let me run with them, even if it's only on the weekends.  I do wonder why they keep me around.  Is it because they like having an even number of runners? Three's a crowd, four is more?  I mean, is it really a team jersey if only two out of the four wear the same shirt by accident?  Would they only get to sample 3 pastries with coffee after a run rather than 4.  Besides, who will wear the GPS watch if I'm not there and share the GU?  Who will be there to crack the whip when bathroom and water breaks are beckoning?  Watch out girls, she's back, at least for three weeks :)

Hello Blog!

There is something about having your own blog versus posting on facebook.  I've neglected this site since spending more time on FB, but really a blog that's meant for a specific purpose, running in this case, really does serve an entirely different purpose.  It's a way to reflect your thoughts, but in a less intrusive way than on FB because people get annoyed at you if you post things they aren't really interested in.  I guess if you are reading this, it's because you specifically went to the site to find out what we're up to.

Which leads me to what we're up to......
I first wanted to say not much since I took on another job this year.  My poor friends' running have suffered as a result of my new work schedule; however, we have decided to not be completely defeated by my job and have registered for an upcoming 10K.  We decided to just sign up since it would give us a goal and help us train for something rather than just running aimlessly, which we seem to do a lot of.  Thankfully due to the upcoming 10K, we have been a little more focused. Regardless of how we do next weekend, the race helped us run a little better and a little stronger as a result.  Stay tuned for results next week and maybe a picture or two.  It's good to be back.