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Posts from the ‘Races’ Category

Apr 28

Lottery luck

Sometimes I get lucky. Just plain lucky. I owe some great career moves to luck really. I have two great internships out of state because of, what I think, is luck. I have a good job because of luck. I’m lucky in a lot of ways.

Running has never been one of those fields I’m lucky in. Despite giving it everything I have,  haven’t been able to gain speed or do better than a 2:27-ish half marathon. I bust my butt and still, it’s a constant struggle.

Last year, I signed up for a group ID and registered for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco. I waited, lost sleep and kept checking my credit card statement.

I watched the Facebook page all day long. And finally, a day after they started announcing that they were selecting entries, I as notified I hadn’t won a coveted spot.

I was crushed. I couldn’t believe that the one half marathon I’d wanted to do since I started running was now off limits. I was so upset I didn’t really let reality sink in. That’s probably why, months later, I was still looking for entry. And, as I started this blog right before I ran that race, I think it’s now known that I found a way in as part of a sponsored team.

Four weeks ago, I applied to run this year’s half marathon. Yesterday, I got in. I was greeted at 6 a.m. when I woke up with an email in my inbox that said the following:

Whether it’s your first or fiftieth race, there really is no other feeling quite like standing at the starting line.

We’re so glad that in 2012, you’ll be sharing that moment with us.

That’s right, you read that correctly. You’ve officially been selected to run in the 2012 Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. Congratulations!

I’ll admit it: I did a happy dance.

Why? I love, love, love this race. I love to run in San Francisco. I love my Nikes too. I’m thrilled to be running it again. So thrilled.

But with luck also comes disappointment. On a whim, I also applied to run the New York City Marathon. Because I’m crazy? Because I really needed to off and fly 3,000-plus miles away for a marathon?

Actually it’s because after my visit to New York City last summer on vacation, I kind of fell in love with Central Park and Staten Island. (Two very different places, yes.)

I actually imagined going for a run in Central Park. But we stayed on Staten Island in a not so view friendly part of town (I did see the tip of the Bayonne Bride from my window, though). I thought it would be thrilling to run New York.

But it wasn’t to be.

Instead, after all the Wednesday fanfare and realizing that my credit card hadn’t been charged (these days a tell-tale sign of “getting in”), I knew it wasn’t happening for me.

Only today (seriously two days later) did I receive the email notifying me that I didn’t make the cut.

Well snap.

After last year’s Nike rejection, I kind of felt as if I’d been in that place before. I didn’t hurt as deep. I didn’t feel betrayed. And I shouldn’t have really.

A race is a race.

Many big races nowadays use lotteries because they are so in demand. (I wonder how many people opted NOT to sign up for the Nike event in San Francisco, though, because the company is now going a half next spring in Washington, D.C.)

To be fair, though, I’m still a little shocked I got into Nike via the lottery this year. I had planned to take quite a bit of time off from long-distance running this summer/fall and into the winter. My goal was to reclaim my diet and cut back on mileage.

Now I’ll be training into the fall.

So I’m considering doing the Big Sur Half Marathon again. I’m also considering running the California International Marathon for a second year. Wow. I never thought I’d write that sentence.

But then I’d be in a perpetual state of marathon training for more than a year. Big deal? Maybe. I’m not quite ready to take the plunge and sign up yet.

I may after I get through this weekend, though. We head to the Big Sur/Monterey area tomorrow morning for the Big Sur 21-miler on Highway 1. I’m excited, but very, very nervous. I have a nice time limit, but the hills, I hear, are kind of killer.

And I haven’t had enough outdoor running lately. Nervous. Tense. Scared. All of those things. I’ll get through this weekend before I make any huge plans for the rest of the year.

 

Apr 22

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3.47 miles of mud and fun

I figured I’d start out this post by putting up the photo that best represents what I know people are going to want to know about this mud race: “How muddy do you really get?”

The answer: Covered. Head to toe. In your ears. In your hair. The mud is everywhere. My husband had to hose me down when I came home. And I had already gotten a bunch of the mud off me. You are covered, literally, within the first couple minutes.

And it just keeps packing on throughout the 3.47 mile run.

The before picture is when my husband was waiting for my wave to begin. I actually ended up in an earlier way. Only by 15 minutes, but still earlier than I thought. There was no one patrolling the start line. People just kind of kicked back and wait for it to begin. Of course there were those crazy types who hit the ground running immediately. I wasn’t one of them.

I consider myself more of a middle packer.

And so I was off at 2 p.m. We climbed a hill, which I was able to run up completely, and went down into the first pit. Then through some bungee wires. Then we ran for a good while before hitting a slide. I didn’t get far with the slide, literally only a couple feet before I had to get up and walk. then I ran, at an average pace, for a good while before coming to the 4X4 planks to cross over a ditch.

It was kind of one thing after another with about .25 to .50 of a mile in between.

The most terrifying initially was the walls to go over. I did that fine. I did rip off my number, though. I had to fumble for a minute or two to put it back on and tie my shoe.

Then over a 20+ foot cargo net, which, yes, was scary. I’m afraid of heights. I had to take a moment to compose myself at the top of the stack. Then slowly work my way back down.

After those obstacles, I made my way to the water station. The volunteers were awesome at handing out water quickly. But the water was warm. I just happened to be running at the hottest part of the day too. Meh. It was unpleasant.

Then, on to the trench. This had to be the most difficult of all the obstacles. I literally had to take sow, deliberate steps to get my way out. My shoes almost came off numerous times. I keep hitting the muddy walls.

I literally have scratches all over my body now, particularly on my knees.

That’s more than four hours after the fact. Pretty gnarly. And it hurts really bad too. I think I’m going to put some antibiotics on both knees before bed. I have a feeling this could get bad if I don’t do something about it.

So, back to the race. It was hot. And I was covered in mud past the trench. The mud literally went up to my thighs. I walked for a good while before hitting the monkey bars. My arms, at that point, were not having it.

It didn’t help that people were going out on one, dropping down and running.

We hit a nice 3/4 mile area where we ran back into the main area at Dell’Osso Family Farm and hit a cargo net. It’s there the waiting for things began. I waited to get a good spot on the net (which still wasn’t that good). Then I waited to get over the hay bails.

Then up and down stairs twice. Stairs? Did I say stairs? Oh yes. They were part of the mud run. After the first obstacle, you’re like “really, stairs, I can do stairs.” By the time you actually get to them, you’re like “WTF STAIRS! NO! NO STAIRS! DIE STAIRS!”

Or maybe it’s just me.

Then runners/mudders hit a grand finale area where you cross over large cylinders, or go under. I went over and fell hands first into the mud three times. Then over a muddy mountain. Then through tubes that were about twenty feet long.

Too bad I had no one running with me to push me through the tube initially. I needed a push. I literally waited in front of a tube for more than 3 minutes waiting for someone to push me. Finally a guy did. I love that guy. I felt helpless. These are runs you really shouldn’t do alone. That guy saved me. I was ready to give up.

The only problem was I went on my back and had to propel my way through like a snake or something.

Then, with uneasy feet I headed to the finish line. My bib was hanging on by one safety pin. No one could see my number. I was thirsty and tired. A guy with a nice smile handed me a banana. Another opened a bottle of water. And, as I was drinking, a volunteer gave me a medal, inside a little baggy.

The medal, sans baggy, after I cleaned up and finally got a look at it. That’s a nice medal, definitely.

I wandered around for a good minute before Thomas found me. I’ve never been more glad to run without Gertrude the Garmin or my phone. I was caked in mud. And the finish line was an array of crazy.

That’s my butt covered in mud to the right. I know, it’s hot to see me carry my extra shorts that fell off in one of the pits. (Thanks random chick for handing them back to me!)

My final time: 54:18

For a first time mud runner and, after acknowledging my time probably would have been better if I wasn’t so patient with people, I think that’s pretty good.

I decided, after seeing the ridiculously long lines for the showers, to bypass one and just pop in the car for the less than 20 minute ride home. (Seriously, I’m so glad this race was in Lathrop. Anywhere else and I probably wouldn’t have done it.)

As we walked through the parking lot, we saw the remnants of runners past.

Thomas took these photos. I didn’t want to risk touching the new iPhone with muddy hands. And I was caked. Just caked.

By the way, you know your husband loves you when he hoses you down in the backyard when you’re wearing only a sports bra and underwear. And that’s exactly what he did.

After that, he let me go in the house.

I showered to get all the nasties out of my hair.

After the hosing, before the shower. And this is as close to naked as I’ll ever, hopefully, be seen on the Internet. (And I know you envy my husband’s awesome Budweiser towel.)

After all of that, I officially survived. I even have a shirt to prove it.

And overall, I enjoyed myself.

The good: Organized start. Decently challenging obstacles. Nice flow. Water station in the middle. Nice medals. Fun field. Lots of variety.

The bad: Waiting at the obstacles. The weather (I know it’s not something that can be controlled, but it was hot.) Warm mud. Getting kicked in the head. Nearly losing my shoes.

In the end, you end up looking a little gnarly with mud on your teeth, but it’s worth it.

By the way, it pays to be friends with a professional photographer. My buddy Craig was shooting the event for the newspaper and he snapped this picture of me. I might frame it, I love it so much. I look so happy. That’s so rare.

At the end of it, I came home, helped my husband move some rocks to the backyard and then ate a champion dinner from The Squeeze Inn.

It looked a little like Heaven.

Seven hours after my wave began, I’m tired and my knees and killing me. Would I do it again? I’m not too sure. But I definitely enjoyed myself.

For those wondering, my essential gear worked good. The shoes stayed put, as they were tied tightly, and the top and sports bra stayed in place. The extra shorts did not. I’d avoid those next time, if I go again. Those are the shorts that actually slid off. The “sports bra” and “booty shorts” actually stayed in place very well.

And now, next week, I have a 21-miler along the California coast on Highway 1. I’m a little tired today after this one, so I’m hoping for an equally good experience next week.

Apr 21

Gearing up for a muddy run

Do you know how many times I’ve Googled “what to wear to a mud run?” this week? It’s not even funny how many. I did it at school. At work during my Weight Watchers lunch break. At home in the evening. Even this morning.

You know what I found? Little to nothing. Lots of reviews. Nothing tell me what I should wear outside of “not something you love because it will likely be stained.” Well, yes. I figured as much.

The shoes, above, were easy.

That specific pair of Nike Equalon’s have been sitting in my garage for more than a year. I wore them during the Brazen Mount Diablo 10K in March 2011 because it was a wet, rainy day, which kind of turned it into a mud run in itself. I actually lost one of the shoes in a ravine and had to chase after it for a good while.

I had phased this pair out four weeks before. The week after I was running my first half marathon. So they were essentially “retired” when I last wore them. And they are still covered in mud. Perfect, I figure. No problem on the shoes. (Though I do need to track down some innersoles for them since I don’t want to wear my nice ones.)

But what else?

I asked my running club this week. I was told a sports bra and “booty shorts.” Ha. I couldn’t pull that look off it I tried on one of my skinniest days. I did enjoy the conversation that ensued on Facebook with the club, though.

I started going through my clothes last week and suddenly realized I faced a challenge: I had nothing to wear.

Why? Because here’s the point in which I sound pretentious. I have nice running clothes. After the first 10 months I ran in cotton, I decided to invest in some seriously nice clothes. Now my cheapest pair of capris is a $55 pair of Nike Relay pants. My most expensive? Lululemon Run: In the Sun capris.

So I stopped by Target (I love Target. I hate how you can walk in there for one thing and leave with 10, but I love the low prices and good quality) and picked up some new, inexpensive clothes, which can be used again if I can get the mud out.

A new Champion shirt for $15. I’m 100 percent sure I can wear this again too because it’s black and the material is slicker than most shirts. I don’t think it was absorb any of the mud/dirt.

And some colorful shorts. These were a steal for $10. I wanted something, anything with color. The best part is these are reversible. So the blue will likely get destroyed, but the black side will be good for gardening and other housework I usually do now in my Nike running shorts. So, really, I can wear both of these things again for the money.

I’m wearing a pair of my Nike socks too, but only because they have holes in the big toes and I’m about ready to throw them away. Too bad too, because they are still good, but I can’t exactly fix the hole. I tried on another pair and the seam just rubbed my toes the wrong way.

I actually decided to wear a pair of compression shorts underneath the blue shorts too. I’m hoping it prevents mud from getting up in places I don’t want it.

Even better, this week I got a new special edition of Runner’s World Magazine.

And, if you look closely, you can see why I was more than a little excited.

The magazine had a really good article about how mud runs are growing in popularity. Want proof? The one I’m running in today launches 300 runners every 15 minutes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. My way isn’t until 2:15 p.m., which is why I’m sitting at home writing a blog post instead of out running. I did do four easy on the treadmill this morning just to warm my legs up.

And I figured it would be OK to run because this afternoon is more endurance, slow run and fun than it is a real run. (Is that bad to say? Mud runs aren’t runs? I don’t know yet. I haven’t done one. This is my first today.)

I finally had a chance to read it and loved the little primer on mud runs and how to prepare.

This has basically answered many of the questions I’ve had about what to expect and what the experience will be like. This is why I love Runner’s World. I swear, the magazine is great for both experienced and new runners. And it seems to answer my questions before I even know I have them.

So what else am I taking to the mud run? Nothing. Maybe some cash, but otherwise absolutely nothing. Not even my phone. (I literally just got a new phone two days ago because my Android X decided to finally cut out on me. What did I get? An iPhone 4S. I’m a big girl now, really.)

Because the mud run is midday for me, I decided just to throw on my clothes after my four mile run and shower this morning.

Look! I have bathroom vanity doors again! To be fair, I’ve always had them. I finally decided to finish them. Half hearted, because they didn’t turn out as well as I want, but still. And that’s my dog Beau. He likes to photobomb. It’s how he rolls. Even better, this photo doesn’t show the tire in my abdomen I’ve been carrying around for the past couple months.

I’m also planning on wearing contacts and slathering on the sun screen.

My husband asked me why I was wearing black, particularly because for the first time this season it’s supposed to hit 90 degrees in the valley. I wouldn’t be so upset about the heat if we had actually had a winter. We didn’t, for real. I had about 10 days where I had to wear my Nike thermal compression shirts underneath my clothes, but that’s it.

We didn’t even have a lot of rain until a couple weeks ago. So summer temperatures this early? Not cool.

I’m hoping the mud isn’t too warm today.

But I’m outfitted for this run. Am I ready? Maybe not.

I mentioned that last night and was told that I’m making other people nervous. But really, I don’t know what to expect. Besides mud. I expect mud. But what else? Can I really climb a wall? Can I handle the monkey bars? Will my thumb continue to be a problem?

I only have a couple hours before I find out. The clock is ticking…

Apr 20

Getting mud run ready

It’s time.

After months of not training for the mud run that I’m doing tomorrow, it’s happening.

I have to say, my training lately has been sub par. And I’m supposed to run a tough 21-miler in Big Sur next weekend. Yikes.

I have an inkling of what to expect on Saturday.

I even bought some new clothes as to not have to destroy my Lululemon or Nike gear. I found some seriously cheap clothes to get dirty which, hopefully, will clean up well after.

Now I’m scared.

The number I was assigned doesn’t help.

I’ve read reviews about the toughness of the course, despite it only being 3.47 miles. I’ve read that, in one area, runners can experience some claustrophobia. That kind of scares me a little. The whole getting dirty part also does too.

And I’ve been freaking out all week about what I’m going to wear. I’ll write a more extensive post about the conundrum of that tomorrow. I just finished an eight-mile run on the treadmill. Now I’m whipped. And ready for bed.

And so glad my wave of the mud run doesn’t happen until 2:15 tomorrow.

I’m sure I won’t sleep well, though. I think I’m more nervous about this race than I’ve been at any lately.

Hopefully the nerves translate into a cool start at the race tomorrow when the temperature is high (it’s expected to me in the 90s in Lathrop).

Ugh. I hate nerves.

Mar 25

Finding my stride and consistency

I’ve written a lot about my lack of consistency lately. I start a run and then trail off. I get weaker as I go through. I can’t maintain a solid pace. My mile numbers are all over the place.

I’m struggling as a runner. I know it. I have a lot of reasons for it. Two jobs don’t help. Lack of a good night’s sleep isn’t either. I’m stressed. It’s impacting my running on every level.

I had no business running the Pasadena Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon last month. None. At. All.

Since the Pasadena fiasco, I’ve tried to gain a little more perspective on my running. I’ve limited my caloric intake too. I’ve made some changes. It’s not a complete answer, but so far I think I’m making progress.

So my goal for the Oakland Half Marathon today was to strive for consistency.

I needed that.

And I wanted to do better than last year. (Even though it’s a new course.)

I’m proud to say I accomplished both.

The Oakland Half Marathon starts at 9:15 a.m. which is a little late in the running world. But it meant we could wake up at a decent hour and head to the new start location, Snow Park, which had a fairly good turnout of people.

I scoped out the finish line.

Not much to see there. The 5K, which until this year was held on Saturday night, happened before the start of the half marathon.

The portable toilet stock was pretty good too for a race with 4,000 people. I’m not kidding, there was a whole stock of portable toilets. I’m kind of sad I didn’t get a photo of it. There were also some location on a side street which was just as nice, especially when we found people were using the other ones more. A morning positive! No bathroom lines!

We also wandered around a little bit. The merchandise tent looked better at the expo. People were buying stuff. I did all that the day before at the expo.

We stopped at the bathrooms. And then we heard the announcement telling the half marathon runners to line up. I made my way into the 11 minute corral. I set my Garmin for an 11:30 average pace. It beeps when I’m not meeting that. And, I’m happy to say, for the first time ever, I met that pace overall for the race.

We crossed the starting mats after three minutes.

And…then we began.

I struggled for the first four miles. I think it was combination of fatigue (this has been a rough week at work) and hunger. I had eaten so long before that I was a little hungry at the start.

Mile 3 was a real struggle. That’s when I decided enough was enough. I needed a Gu. So I downed a Vanilla Bean one. That’s what propelled me through mile 4. You can see my struggle at the end. I let what I had going slip a little bit, otherwise I probably would have finished at 2:30.

My husband, though, was standing waiting for me at around mile 13.

“Two and a half?” he yelled.

I nodded back. He knows my average time on these things. And he knew, then, that this was a better run for me.

I knew too.

Why was it a better run? I listened to my body. When my heart started pounding, I slowed down. When I needed to walk, I walked. Then I picked up the pace and ran my heart out. I ran my heart out the entire race.

When I wanted to stop. I kept going. I just kept at it.

I finished with an official time of 2:32:27. My third best half marathon to date. Better than the 2:35:36 of last year too.

And I looked better than after my finish last year as well.

I did sit down. Because I was tired and, as you can see, red in the face. I have a slight sunburn. The move from Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland to Snow Park was a good one. There was more space. It was closer to a nice view of Lake Merritt. People got to lounge around.

Yes, I take pictures of random people lounging around because I refuse to pull out my camera and take photos while I’m running. I’m not that kind of blogger.

It was Sam’s first time running the Oakland Half. I think this may become her race too. It’s already mine. It’s the only one I knew last year I was 100 percent sure I’d come back to. I hella love Oakland. And this half marathon. And maybe someday, I’ll run the full, giant hill and all.

That said, the last .1 mile of this half was all uphill. That burned. I was so tired at the end.

But I did it. I found my stride. I kept hitting it. I stayed consistent. I slowed when I needed to. And I kept going.

Last year, I had beer tickets at the end I didn’t use. This year, the Barefoot Wine booth was mixing up mimosas. It was close to noon, but yes, I wanted a mimosa in a small cup.

I got Thomas one too. I had two tickets after all.

Then we ventured back to Livermore, after a really urgent bathroom stop at a shady bathroom off the freeway in Oakland. We ate and drank at First Street Alehouse. Finally it was back home. Into the bath tub and then into bed. I was tired. My alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. I decided not to try to go back to sleep.

That was my day. All 13.1 miles of it.

Check out my second expo shirt. I decided on a whim to buy it. I love it because it looks a little more hardcore than my other two shirts. It also was one of the only dark gray shirts at the expo.

Plus, this is on the backside.

That’s exactly what I did today. Am I happy? Yes. Today was a good day. My run was a solid one. I’m proud of what I accomplished out there.

Can I do better? Always.

I’m going to keep working on it. As always.

Mar 24

A sort of runniversary

A year ago, I was scared. This time last year was the eve of my first half marathon. It was one I signed up for with hardly any training. But after a January full of running nine and 10 mile training runs, I figured, why not?

Thomas and I ventured to Oakland on a rainy day in late March 2011 to pick up my race packet. I was nervous. I’m glad we spent the rest of the day looking for new furniture for our family room.

Today was a similar type of day as we ventured back to Oakland to go through the same process all over again.

We went early, to avoid traffic and lines more than anything. And we were in and out in about an hour.

The Oakland Running Festival doesn’t have a huge expo. It’s only in the third year. Last year went well. The run wasn’t overcrowded or too exhausting. But at mile 10, my body nearly decided to give out. I wasn’t running nearly as much as I am now. I’m hoping tomorrow will be better than last year.

But I finished.

And it was my first half marathon.

I couldn’t have been more proud of myself.

Tomorrow, the Oakland Running Festival Half Marathon will be my ninth half marathon. It will be the first one I’ve repeated.

The expo was held at the Oakland Marriott. We arrived around 10 a.m. The line was short. I already had my eConfirmation printed out with a bar code on it. Funny, though, no one asked me to scan in or anything like that.

I grabbed a bag for the items I’d be picking up. I walked over to the bib table where there were no lines.

There were tons of race guides out on tables. I grabbed only one, as opposed to last year when I took a handful because I thought I’d figure out a way to preserve them forever. (That hasn’t happened.)

I then went and grabbed my race premium. People get really up in arms about race shirts. I have so many that I always wonder why. If you don’t like it, don’t wear it. It’s that easy. But more often that not, especially with the growth of social media, people complain about race shirts.

This is the 2012 half marathon shirt:

In the middle is a script-type font that says “half marathon.” I’ll be honest, I’m not in love with this shirt. Since I saw the race organization post it, I thought it wasn’t too attractive. Last year the designs were simple. It was just a vertical block with the race information. I still consider my blue premium from 2011 one of my favorite race shirts.

So I likely won’t wear this much. It’s a shame too, because very few race organizations go the full-sleeve shirt route. I appreciate Oakland for that, but am just not that into this one. The 5K had Cal colors, which I liked more. The marathon race premium I wasn’t digging too much either. It seemed as if the race organizer was trying to pull colors from local teams, in the half marathon case the Oakland Raiders, for each shirt without considering consistency.

But the shirt doesn’t really matter.

We walked around the expo, but outside of a couple booths, there wasn’t much to buy. Let’s face it, I was just starting to buy good running clothes this time last year. I think I only owned one pair of Nike capri running pants. You don’t want to see my closest now.

Once upon a time, I would have been tempted by cool socks and craziness like this:

Now, not so much. I buy for function (hello Lululemon obsession), and not because something is one color or anything. And really, would anyone wear cheetah socks to run? Not unless you really wanted to stand out.

The longest part of the entire expo? Waiting in line for “official merchandise” because there were only two people taking payment. And the woman I went with seemed to just want to get me through as fast as possible, no hello or anything.

I bought a great green shirt with a tree (for Oakland) and names of the streets run. We don’t run all of the streets in the half marathon, but we run a lot of them.

Then, not so suddenly, we were at the end of the expo. There was nothing left even though we hadn’t been there all too long.

I picked up a couple more couples, particularly for restaurants tomorrow, and we headed back out. Quick in and out trip to Oakland from Tracy. That was it.

Thomas and I had talked about a new burger place in Tracy for a couple weeks now. The Squeeze Inn opened sometime earlier this month. We’ve heard all about it, but had yet to partake.

So we stopped by and ordered two hamburgers, an order or regular and an order of sweet potato fries. It took awhile and we literally had to “squeeze in” because at a point there were a ton of people.

About half way through my meal, my burger wasn’t even all that broken in.

Now I’m home doing laundry and some cleaning. I don’t really have an projections for my race tomorrow. I’d like to do well, or at least better than I have lately. But I also know this is a new route. That means I can’t compare it to last year in terms of time. I also saw a mileage chart that registered the distance now at 13.4 miles.

So I’m not sure where I stand.

But I’m getting ready for my runniversary. And I’m glad that, a year after my first, I’m still at it.

Mar 17

A not so lucky St. Patrick’s Day race

I haven’t had much luck with races lately. The Pasadena half marathon didn’t turn out as I had planned. I haven’t been running as much lately. And my time of the treadmill was fairly seriously compromised because of a weird blood sugar/body aching like it’s on fire thing, that happened earlier this week and basically kept me away from work for two days.

So.

I was hoping for a good run and finish at today’s Brazen Racing Badger Cove 10K.

It’s a new course for Brazen. When I looked at the elevation chart for the 10K initially I said no. Not only no, but hell no.

The climb? 934 feet. With switchbacks.

Yeah. It looked scary. My husband tried to calm my nerves today and basically told me no way it would be hard. There wasn’t all that much climbing involved. He didn’t run it, though.

And I signed up specifically because Brazen has never had a race within 20-miles of my home. I’ve usually had to drive into the East Bay, more than an hour or so, and venture somewhere distant.

I got to sleep in a little extra with this race. Big plus. And the Mountain House Running Club were showing up in force (more on that later).

The course stayed pretty calm the first couple miles. Not bad.

I stopped twice to tie my shoes. This was my first race wearing my Brooks PureGrit. It was a nice break-in run. But I’m still getting used to the shoes in general.

I wasn’t expecting having to tie my shoes. Lame. My Nike’s for street running never do that.

But the PureGrit’s were essential today, for many reasons.

First, everything was wet.

Lots and lots of puddles. Everywhere.

And second, there was a lot of mud, especially on the downhills.

The race was delayed until 8:30 a.m., which made getting there a little easier. By the time we showed up, the half marathon was already starting. I quickly got in line for my bib. Big surprise, the bibs today had our names on them.

Wow. Brazen is getting fancy. I was so impressed with this new addition to the regular Brazen star treatment. Really. I’ve been feeling not so great all week and this kind of made it for me.

Everything was moving along quickly as we lined up. Corey from the Mountain House Running Club found me. We had a nice chat before we took off.

I paced out pretty well. Outside of the shoe tying, things were going pretty well. Until the hills began. Then my body, which already felt slightly weak, really started hurting.

I was hitting under 11-minute miles until the climb.

Then things went downhill as I went uphill.

That mile three was brutal. It was switchback after switchback all uphill. I was ready to call it a day. I was lagging. People were passing. I was walking.

Then I hear someone behind me: “Tara, if I pass you, I’m putting it on my blog!”

That tidbit of motivation came from Corey. I dig Corey. He’s got a great personality. He’s sarcastic too, which makes talking to him all the better. Plus, he’s pretty accepting in general. (Let’s face it, I don’t live in Mountain House, but they let me claim their club. That’s nice, honestly. I don’t have a running club here in Tracy. The Mountain House Running Club is the only group that accepts all ages, genders, etc. around my area, but they are a cautious bunch who doesn’t just let anyone in. But I run in Mountain House frequently, so I kind of feel like it’s part of my routine.)

So…I decided to pick it up. Not really because I didn’t want Corey to pass me, but because his words served as motivation.

I kept looking back to see if he’d chide me again.

And, let’s face it, I didn’t want to be called out for the entire blogosphere.

So I pushed. When I wanted to quit, I kept pushing.

All the way to the end.

My official time: 1:26:41

Corey came in not long after me. Matt from the running club greeted me at the finish. He placed third in his age group (because he’s a lot faster than me). Soon after, Greg and Drew from the club came in. Chris was there before I came in too.

Here’s a group shot of those of us who were around at that time:

Of note: I’m really starting to look a little pudgy. Need to work on that. You’ll notice the mud on the ground. Yeah, it was kind of like that everywhere.

I grabbed something to eat, said my goodbyes and Thomas and I were off. Back to Tracy via Patterson Pass Road. (Why not? It was a nice drive.)

As for the PureGrits, the pair stood up to the test. I had better stability on the trail. I have no pain after. I did notice a little spring in my step. The elastic that crosses over the lace area actually kept my feet from slipping out. I didn’t feel as if every step would be the one that made me slip. I’m kind of in love with them.

Was it a bad race? No. But it still wasn’t my best. My race luck hasn’t returned yet. I’m still in a slump.

But the bling was awesome after. The shirts were green for St. Patrick’s Day. The medals were bigger than the one I got last month for running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in Pasadena.

And now? On to the next one. I’m planning a treadmill run for Sunday. It’s pouring outside again. I’m kind of done with the mud for today. I have a week until the Oakland Half Marathon.

I’m just hoping for better luck at that one.

Mar 13

Still training

I hitting a two races in two weekend time of month starting this Saturday.

I have a trail 10K with a nasty elevation climb on Saturday. On March 25, I’m running the Oakland Half Marathon.

I ran two eight-mile runs on the treadmill this weekend.

I was supposed to run outside tonight, but that didn’t happen. I wish it did.

Now I’m staring down this forecast:

Yikes.

Earlier today it said rain through Sunday.

That kind of makes my 10K, with its already scary terrain, a little more so. Wet weather. Mud.

Oh boy.

This should be fun.

I’m running a six-miler on Wednesday. Then taper until Saturday morning.

All next week is taper for the half marathon.

Then, officially, I start marathon training again. I want to be stronger for the June marathon. But I also know my limitations for training. I’m not 100 percent sure I can do it. I’m not 100 percent sure of my training plan, which includes 18 and 21 mile races.  No more half marathons until July, though.

I’m hoping to push hard at Oakland.

But I need to get through the wet weather of this week. And weekend.

Feb 21

Rockin’ through Pasadena: Part II

I figured I’d be out incredibly quick on Saturday night. I’d worked an 11.5 day before and fell fast asleep on Friday only to have to wake up early to get ready for Sam to pick me up. I stayed awake for the trip. I can’t exactly sleep on the road.

And I had a headache by the time I went to bed. So I took an Ibuprofen hoping I wouldn’t wake up with a nasty one the next morning.

That wouldn’t be the problem. No. I couldn’t even get to sleep.

When I finally opened my eyes for real at 4:53 a.m. I knew that it wasn’t going to the best day for running. My whole body was dragging.

Too much work and no sleep kind of does that. But we got dressed and ventured out.

We made our way to the Rose Bowl and only got stuck behind about 10-minutes worth of traffic getting into the parking lot. It wasn’t a bad parking situation actually. We made our way quickly from the car to the staging area. The portable toilets were plenty. I’m not kidding, there were enough toilets that it didn’t seem like there were any people waiting.

Nice. That was good because my stomach was turning knots. One after another. My stomach was killing me.

I’m not even going to pretend to do a recap. Every mile was painful. Every mile was hard.

And this is what it looked like:

OK. I didn’t hit the 13-minute average range. But still. This was a bad run. I did a Gu on mile four and mile eight.

That propelled me through a little bit. But it wasn’t enough. I just never picked up pace. At mile 10, though, I felt as if I could run awhile longer. I did. Then my butt started hurting, as if I pulled a muscle or something.

Then I slowed again.

Along the way were beautiful sites, including the Colorado Blvd. bridge, and Old Pasadena.

There was a ton of cheering. This was my second Rock ‘n’ Roll event, and I have to say I enjoyed it just as much as the first in terms of fun, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I was tired.

Too tired.

And by the time I reached the end at 2:48:19 I knew I’d given it all I could.

I pushed myself a little farther, passed the finish line and was handed my medal by a nice volunteer who gave me some strong encouragement.

I snapped this photo as I saw a member of the Half Fanatics group as for a second medal for his sister, he said. And, more shocking, the volunteer actually gave him one. Really? Wow.

I loved the medal. I actually held it nearly the entire way home because it’s so awesome and I really felt like I’d earned it for the five or six times I felt like quitting during this one.

When I got to the finish, I waited for Sam as they tried to kick me multiple times out of the area. I actually stood in one place for about 10 minutes before being asked to move. And yet a lot of people were around that weren’t being asked to move. I think I was just annoyed, which made this all feel so much worse.

Ugh. Double ugh. Triple ugh.

Then Sam crossed the finish line:

She’s somewhere in all that. She grabbed her medal and we headed off into the rest of the finisher’s area, which wasn’t nearly as packed as it was in San Jose during the October event.

I grabbed a Gatorade and some water. A volunteer gave me a heatsheet, even though it seemed a little warm and, by then, I’d already put on long-sleeve shirt.

And I was done.

The one good thing about this half was that the band that played at the end was Sugar Ray. I was really looking forward to seeing them, especially since I should have been finishing around the time they started playing.

By the time we finally got to the finish, after picking up our bags from bag check and getting some food, Sugar Ray was in the last half hour of the concert.

But they rocked.

I have some great video of Mark McGrath rocking the cowbell which I’ll post another time. Overall it was an excellent concert. When it was over, we headed to the merchandise tent where I picked up the gray shirt photographed above. And we headed to the car. It was a quick ride back to the hotel room where we cleaned up and packed within an hour.

And then, it was back on the road, our whirlwind trip to Pasadena ending.

Four and a half hours after we hit the road, we were home. I was tired. I fell asleep quickly on Sunday night, which was great because of the Monday holiday.

And now, as I reflect on it, I think part of me knows it was the result of fatigue. But I also know I’ve gained some weight recently that hasn’t helped.

I run the Oakland Half in a month or so. I want to be more prepared for it than I was for this. I thought I was prepared for this. Nope.

Now I’m taking a look at my diet and training plan to see where I went wrong. I know bad runs happen, but they also make a runner reflect on what he or she did wrong and right. That’s where I am right now.

So did I really rock through Pasadena? No. Was it still a good time? Of course. And I’m glad I did it, despite the pain and discomfort of all 13.22 miles.

Feb 20

Rockin’ through Pasadena: Part I

My car breaking down on Thursday should have been the first indication that things for our quick overnight trip to Pasadena weren’t going to go as planned.

At 70 miles per hour, my throttle body went out. I drove it to the dealership. The damage? $1,650. Even worse, I don’t get it back until sometime Wednesday or Thursday of this week because of the long holiday.

I’m hoping this doesn’t turn into a repeat of last year when it was gone for two weeks. Still crossing my fingers on that one.

In any case, our plans for me to drive changed fairly quickly. Sam, last year, mentioned wanting to do more of the Rock ‘n’ Roll runs because they reward runners with some awesome swag if you do more than one. (Heavy medals anyone?)

So we signed up for Pasadena, the first California Rock ‘n’ Roll Half during 2012. It was also an inaugural event for the series.

We knew it was going to be a quick trip, basically there and back all within a less than 48-hour period. But it turned out to be a bit more strange than we were anticipating.

We left at 9:30 a.m. from Tracy and headed down Interstate 5 toward Pasadena. The trip was, basically, uneventful. Except there were a lot of idiots who didn’t feel the need to move over when they weren’t going the speed limit in the fast lane. Of note: I was tired. I ended up working an 11.5 hour day because my car broke down and I needed to take it to the dealership Friday morning. More on that later.

We stopped and ate in Buttonwillow, about 20 minutes from the beginning of the Grapevine, the stretch of Interstate 5 that weaves into the Los Angeles basin.

There was never a point where we weren’t going to make it before 5 p.m. but I think we kind of rushed down hoping for an expo to the degree of the San Jose one last October. That wasn’t what we came to.

The front of the pickup line was empty.

Sam and I had little trouble walking up to get our numbers. Next came the shirt booth.

The shirts for this half were actually fitted. Much better than last time in San Jose when Sam and I both got medium sized shirts only to have them basically be dresses on both of us. I opted for a Brooks large, which gives me a little extra room. This shirt has a nice back/front design. The front is above.

This is the back:

We also got our swag bags which serve as gear-check bags too. The Rock ‘n’ Roll series and the San Francisco Marathon, where I did the second half last year, are the only other races that I’ve been given a gear-check bag that’s actually a decent reusable bag. Nike gave me a heavy plastic bag, but not the same quality.

It’s good because I didn’t bring something for bag check and we ended up actually using it since we were there alone, without anyone picking us up.

We made our way through the Brooks area where they sale merchandise. I ended up buying a shirt.

Then we checked out the booths. There weren’t many. We did get some awesome samples of organic cake. That was a plus. We got some Snicker Marathon bar samples too.

It was a beautiful day outside the expo.

And inside we got to see the beautiful medal we’d be getting after finishing.

But there wasn’t much there. We did get $15 off for signing up for the Oct. 7 Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose half marathon. We also got a free shirt for the inaugural Pasadena event since they didn’t have any San Jose shirts. Had I of know we’d be scoring those awesome shirts, I probably wouldn’t have bought another one. A day later and I’m wearing the teal-colored T-shirt at home.

After only 45 minutes, we were done. I don’t even think I spent that little time at my first half marathon expo.

We did score a pair each of CEP compression sleeves. Sam opted for black for her first pair ever. I went a little wild with pink.

They look at little something like this:

I actually wore them during the race and they were incredibly comfortable. And I love the color.

So we headed to our hotel, which was a Travelodge on a main street through Pasadena. It was quaint, and OK for the price we paid. But we had a problem: We had about five hours to kill and nothing to do.

Sam started looking at places we could potentially go. We ended up heading to the Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles. Sam needed a water bottle. Despite our best efforts, we didn’t find out. We did find shoes. Lots of shoes. Well, only one pair for me, but lots of shoes for her.

She ended up with four pairs on an amazing sale. And then we decided we needed food. I had a bit of a headache. We opted for a restaurant literally right down the street from the place we were staying. We should have tried something else.

To say it was the worst experience I’ve had eating out might be an understatement. We waited nearly an hour between the time we sat down and the time we ate.

I didn’t tip. The waiter refused to even acknowledge us most the night. (Did I mention we had some crazy experienced on the 110 freeway in Pasadena? Wow, it was nuts. We saw two nearly overturned cars in two places this weekend. Seriously, it was amazing.)

We then headed back to the hotel to settle down. Sam seemed to fall asleep immediately. Not me.

About an hour after I went to bed and I still wasn’t asleep someone checked into the room above us. It must have been a group with girls. They laughed for hours until they went to bed. I couldn’t sleep. I turned on the fan on the window cooler for white noise. Still no sleep.

I finally got t sleep only to awake twice in the night.

I knew when I finally woke up for good at 4:53 a.m. that I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. We had to be at the Rose Bowl before 6:30 to be assured a parking space (which we paid $10 for). It was dark. We looked for a Walgreens too. Nothing.

When we finally made our way to the Rose Bowl it actually wasn’t a bad parking arrangement. We got in and out of the car pretty quickly.

And we had an hour or so to go before race time. Good thing, too, because my stomach was feeling a little bad.

I should have known that was a sign of something bad. But I didn’t realize my run would be one of my worst yet.

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