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.