Archive | April, 2011

you ran 15 miles on purpose?

26 Apr

I don’t know if it’s work stress, marathon nerves or “taper madness,” but I don’t have a lot to say these days.  Perhaps it’s been too long since my last race… or maybe I’m just feeling too frazzled and fried for words.  Nonetheless, I’m embracing my inner lazy-bum and resting up for marathon #7 on Sunday.

In the meantime, here’s a little marathon humor…

La Jolla Half Marathon: Take 2

19 Apr
Yesterday, I ran my eleventh half marathon.  It was my second time running La Jolla and although I was really pushing for a PR, I’m satisfied with a PR for this course.  I was about four minutes off of my personal best for the half marathon (1:53:15), but I ran 18 minutes and 34 seconds faster than I did last year at La Jolla (2010 = 2:15:33 and 2011 = 1:56:59)!  It’s hard not to be happy about that! 
Saying this course is “tough,” feels like an understatement.  I tried to downplay the hills in my mind: “Yeah, they’re steep, but they’re short.“  The truth is, those suckers are killer!  My hammy’s were screaming climbing the hills and my quads were trashed by the steep descents.  Just like last year, the race announcer at the Start Line kept calling them: “Character-building hills,” which was almost as annoying as the half dozen spectators strategically placed along the course, shouting: “It’s all downhill from here!“ 
I wish I was stronger on hills and I really wish I could accomplish that without having to train on them… sigh…

Knowing the popularity of this race, we registered early and paid the minimum fee of $60, which isn’t too pricey for a race in Cali, but… not worth the money, if you ask me.  The expo was a super lame waste of time, the shirts we got are starchy, stiff, white, cotton tees (mine’s heading straight to Goodwill), and they didn’t have any fuel along the course, except for water and Vitalyte.  I found it pretty amusing that a boy at one of the water stations was shouting: “Vitalyte, here!  It’s just like Gatorade, just with a nasty aftertaste!“  I can’t handle electrolyte drinks during races, so all they had for me was water. 
Since it’s a point-to-point course, they provided shuttles and the option to be shuttled from the finish to the start or vice versa.  They had a 5:30am cut-off to catch a ride to the start, so Jared and I had a lovely 4:00am wake-up call on Sunday morning.  I barely slept due to race nerves, our neighbors’ Saturday night shenanigans and Jared’s and Sully’s incessant snoring (…those rascals).  I was a restless mess.
We left the house at 4:45am, parked near La Jolla Cove, then waited in line for a shuttle.  The shuttle system they had going on was absolutely stupid.  Coming from a race-aholic who genuinely couldn’t care less about blips in race organization because nothing trumps the high of racing, that is BAD.  They had a couple thousand runners waiting for shuttles to the start line, a dozen busses were lined up, ready to be loaded and sent to Del Mar, but the officials were only loading ONE bus at a time and they were doing this very, very SLOWLY.  Seriously, so stupid and I just don’t get it.  It seemed like they didn’t know what was going on.
The 13.1 mile bus ride to the Start Line took an unnervingly long time.  Jared dozed, while I tried not to pee myself.  And when we finally got off the bus, I was horrified to see the usual lonnng lines for port-a-potties.  I did the pee-pee dance while we waited for what felt like an eternity.  I kept looking at Jared and saying: “I am going to die before we even get to those hills!“  Fortunately, I made it.  We dropped off our warm-ups at the chaotic bag check as a duo sang the National Anthem and the race announcer said what he said last year: “That was the BEST National Anthem that we have ever heard at this race.”  The gun went off while I was stuffing a gel in my back pocket and ripping open a sample packet of Sport Beans and I started to relax as we made our way to the Start Line.
Between trying not to pee myself and getting ourselves to the Start Line, I hadn’t had a moment to stretch or warm-up, so I started off feeling sluggish.  My pace was well below target and I started to panic a bit inside.  It wasn’t an ideal start, but I wasn’t going to hand over my goal that easily.  I flashed Jared infinite love and gratitude and kicked it up a notch.
On the bus ride I’d taken one last look at the course map and elevation chart, noting hills at miles 1, 3, 4, 6 and 12.  Knowing that the big one was at mile 6, I set it in my mind to churn through the first half, survive mile 6, then cruise to the finish.  I clipped off one mile after another:
Mile 1: 9:12
Mile 2: 8:33
Mile 3: 8:36
Mile 4: 9:13
Mile 5: 8:14
At mile 5, I pulled out another sample packet of Sport Beans to fuel-up for the monster hill looming ahead, but as I ripped open the package, the jellybeans went flying everywhere.  Only two jellybeans made it in my mouth before we started to ascend into Torrey Pines.  Another runner yelled: “We’re coming for you, Torrey!“
I’d resolved to the run the whole hill, but it grew steeper and steeper and steeper as I realized it’d be faster to hike up the hill than to continue attempting to run it.  And so I started power walking up that monster of a hill, just like a majority of the runners around me.  My PR hopes deflated and I didn’t dare look at my Garmin as it chirped my mile time.  I knew it would be atrocious.
The cartoon elevation chart makes it look like you get to the top of the hill, then the course flattens out before descending, which isn’t accurate.  There were some rolling hills from that high point, which were tough because my hamstrings were worn out.  For the next couple miles, I struggled to pick up the pace again and reached for my Clif gel, praying it’d give me superpowers. 
Mile 6: 10:53
Mile 7: 9:27
Mile 8: 9:02
A little Clif gel magic plus a substantial descent, helped me pick up my pace.  I was happy to know there were only five miles to go and let my legs fly down the hills thinking: “Give it all now, recover later.”
Mile 9: 8:33
Mile 10: 8:44
Mile 11: 7:26
One of my goals for 2011 is to run a mile in under 7:30, which I’ve never done before.  Go figure I’d pull that off during the tenth mile of a half marathon…
Hang on, I told myself as I headed towards the last hill and another cluster of spectators shouting: “Last hill!“  A runner nearby said, “Why do they keep telling us that?!”  And I replied, “This time they’re right!  Hang on!”  As we crested the hill and descended on the Finish Line, I willed my legs to go faster and faster, but still, several runners blazed past me.
Mile 12: 8:07
Mile 13: 9:02
Last 0.28 mi: 1:50 (6:49/mile)
Garmin Results: 13.28 miles, 1:56:59 (8:48/mile)
Official Results: 13.1 miles, 1:56:59 (8:56/mile) 
The finish line party was the highlight of the race.  Without a doubt, La Jolla has one of the best beer gardens we’ve ever attended because they fence off a gorgeous grassy area right by the ocean AND the beer was unlimited.  Being a celiac (a.k.a. gluten-intolerant) girl, I can’t drink beer, so I got to stretch out in the grass and watch Jared coast his way to a “beer PR.”   

Five beers later… we wandered into La Jolla for brunch at the Coffee Cup.  It was a 30 minute wait, so we put our names on the list and wandered around the corner to Cups, where we had dessert first!  Life is short, afterall… AND we just ran 13.1 miles…
We each got two mini cupcakes, since the tiny ones are calorie-free.  Right?  I got the two gluten-free flavors of the day, which were limone ricotta and bunny love (carrot cake).  The carrot cake one was heaven!  Jarebear got a (vegan!) cookies n’ cream one and one called a brulee-J that had vanilla custard in the middle and a carmalized top… it looked amazeballs.

 
All sugared-up, we walked back to the Coffee Cup, where we finally got a table and filled our bellies with more delicious food before heading home to veg on the couch all day… at least until we were hungry enough to venture out for Chipotle and Yogurtland!

Two of my favorite things: Sully and my running goals

16 Apr
“Project Morning Person” was an epic FAIL and I bet everyone saw that coming.  HOWEVER, I did successfully log 22 miles of running between Tuesday and Friday to bring my 2011 mileage to an even 300 miles!  Radness!  Also pretty amazing is the fact that being on full-time Sully-duty means I’ve picked up at least that many of Sully’s turds…  Oh the joys of dog parenthood.  In case you were wondering, I definitely prefer the running.  And Jared (Sully’s official poop picker-upper) is home-sweet-home!!!!  Life is looking super rosy right now!
Happy Family!  Sully’s thinking he’d be happier if he had a bowlful of peanut butter

*Jared had the camera for the week, so all of these photos are old!

Anyhow, as frustrating as it is that Sully and I don’t gel as running buddies, he’s a pretty amazing buddy in general… aside from the stinky breath and gnarly poo…  

His “birthday” (the day we got him from the shelter) is the day after Christmas.
Giving us kisses before a long run.  I hope it was around Christmas…

Every day, I make our bed (and by “make it,” I mean I take two seconds to pull the comforter up to the pillows).  And every single day, I come home from work to find the comforter, sheets, and pillows in disarray.  If Sully fails to hear my car pull into the driveway and I don’t fumble with my keys like a bumbling idiot, I can bust in on him sprawled out across our bed and he’s usually on his back with his legs straight up in the air like a beetle.  Nine times out of 10, he’s on my side of the bed, with his floppy jowls or stinky tush on my pillow (… I really should change my pillowcase much MUCH more frequently).  I’ve often wondered why he prefers my side, but I just figured it’s because Sully’s madly in love with me.  Like Brian’s in love with Lois on Family Guy…

There he is, snuggled up in blankets on MY side of the bed…

Since Jared was in Chicago for the week and I was having to re-wear my stinky running clothes (TMI?), I dumped out our dirty laundry on the kitchen floor and separated all my stuff from Jared’s.  I figured I could wait and do Jared’s laundry over the weekend… Or maybe I’ll just wait to let my mom do it when she gets here on May 27th…  It melted my heart (and made me laugh out loud) to wake up Wednesday morning and find our sweetie-petey Sully had made himself a nest out of Jared’s dirty clothes and slept there for the night.  I had to take one of Jared’s socks out of his mouth when I let him outside to piddle on a tree.  Cute as heck, dude.

I’m not even joking that the highlight of my day is often when I get home from work to Sully’s frantic tail wagging at the front door.  He sniffs me up and down, lingering at my shoes, then sprints for the back door, where I let him out to relieve his super mega-bladder on a tree since he’s been cooped up inside all day, snoozing all over my side of the bed.  

best Hanukkah/Christmas present EVER

In other news, I am so, so, so super jazzed about all the news/blog coverage of Monday’s Boston Marathon!  Ohmygosh I cannot stop reading this stuff… RunnersWorld.com’s Boston Marathon 101 and MarathonGuide.com’s Boston Marathon Complete Coverage.  Not to mention the bazillion and four Boston blogs I’ve been following religiously for weeks now…

I’m also stoked that it’s FRIDAY and I’ll be eating Chipotle for dinner in about… two hours!!!!  We have ZERO plans tomorrow, except for a race expo = best day ever!!!!  AND we have a half marathon on Sunday.  As if that’s not enough excitement–AND Jared doesn’t know this yet… SURPRISE, BUBS!!!!–we are sooo going to do this One Hundred Pushups Program that I’ve been hearing about all over the place.  We’ve been running our feetsies off for a couple years now.  We need to work on our other pipes!

Having Jared out of town gave me ample opportunity to NOT turn myself into a morning person AND to totally unleash my running obsession.  In my last post I started thinking about my long term running goals and have since gone off the deep end, formulating an extensive list that will inevitably grow and evolve.  I’ll probably revisit this way too often, but too bad…
My long, long, long, long list of Running Goals…

#1) Become a “Marathon Maniac”

#2) Join a running group &/or make more running friends, so I stop boring my non-runner friends/fam to tears all the time…

#3) Own a treadmill.  I’ll give him hugs everyday, just like Janae:

#4) Run 1200 miles in 2011

#5) Run a Boston Qualifying marathon of < 3:35:00 before I turn 30

#6) Run a marathon cross a marathon finish line with my dad

  • I broke this news to my dad before posting this blog and he confessed he doesn’t think he’ll run any more marathons after he runs the Flying Pig in two weeks, which is kinda devastating to me because I so, so, so desperately wish I could be in Cinci to run with him this year.  BUT, I’ll be running the OC Marathon, 2000 miles away, as my dad crosses the Flying Pig finish line and enters “marathon retirement.”  Or so he says…  I have not-so-secret hopes that his retirement will last as long as Haile Gebrselassie’s week-long retirement from running after last year’s NYC Marathon.  BUT I’m also happy with the idea of having my dad swoop in and pace me for the second half of a marathon one day.  Not to mention the fact that we’ll undoubtedly run a bunch more half marathons and fun-size races together. 
    Dad & me crossing the finish of the Dayton RCC Half Marathon
    • On that note, I’d like to run a marathon with each and every friend or family member who wants to run with me!  Call, text, email!  Let’s do this!

    #7) Run an ultramarathon

    #8) Run as many of these marathons as possible:

    #9) Keep running well into my nineties, just like the Gladyator:

    It doesn’t get easier, you just go faster

    14 Apr
    Tonight, I ran 5 miles of progressive speedwork, running the final mile at 7.5 mph, which is a speed I was afraid to go near on the treadmill just a few weeks ago.  It wasn’t easy, but on the drive home I kept thinking: Wow, I wonder what else I can do…?
    After months of dealing with IT band issues and persistent discomfort, I gratefully settled back into my running regimen and swore all over the place that what matters most to me is running–just running.  Not speed, PRs or glory.  I just want to run and keep running and not get sidelined.
    There’s still truth in that statement, but there’s also truth in the fact that… 
    1. I do want to get faster
    2. I love running a new PR
    3. I love, love, love surprising myself, and 
    4. I’m almost too superstitious to admit it, but I DO dream of the day when I’ll soar across a marathon finish line, throw my fists in the air and scream: “I’m going to BOSTON!” as the crowds erupt with cheers and applause… 

    I can feel it.  I will qualify for Boston one day.  I have 38 minutes to whittle off my best marathon effort and 38 minutes, my friends, is A HELLUVA LOT in the marathon running world.  But I AM going to do it.  And when I decide I want something, I want it yesterday.

    I remember an old Nike ad that says: “Training is the opposite of hoping.”  I googled it but found this awesome one instead:

    With that said, my training is evolving.  I’m planning speedwork and tempo runs into my schedule, which I swore I’d never have anything to do with.  Then again, I also swore I’d never date a choir boy and somehow, I ended up marrying a professional a cappella singer, who was in glee club AND chorale in college.  Wow, I know.

    Singing for Landau Music with Celebrity Cruises

    Sometimes he even breaks out into song while we’re running, which is especially interesting during races with lots of other people around.  Nine times out of 10 it’s music from Lion King or Jesus Christ Superstar. 
    He sings ALL. THE. TIME.

    Anyhow, I suppose it’s not entirely surprising to find myself mapping out speed intervals on post-it notes during work and color coding tempo runs on my running log spreadsheet.  My runs have gotten progressively sweatier and best of all, more rewarding!  I’m afraid to jinx it, but I’m going to say it anyhow: I actually… gulp… like the speedwork!
    Honestly, I was hoping that running consistently and faithfully was all it would take, but looking back over my training logs for the past couple years, I see very subtle improvements.  And at this rate, I’ll be qualifying for Boston, oh, when I’m in my seventies.  
    Runner’s World keeps publishing articles that say completely reasonable, logical, obvious things, like: “If you want to get faster, you have to run faster” and while I’d like think I’m an exception to those statements, I’m starting to think Greg LeMond wasn’t totally full of it when he said: “It doesn’t get easier, you just go faster.” 
    Who knows, I might lose all my marbles and start running fartleks and Yasso 800s.  You just never know when I’ll change my mind, but chances are I will. 

    Project Turn-Me-Into-A-Morning-Person

    11 Apr

    Last night, we celebrated hubby’s new job and Kristy’s birthday at Beachwood:

    We’ve been dating for 6 years!!!!
    The Ping Pong champ was defeated!
    Whenever we catch a great sunset, Jared says: “I can’t believe we live here!”
    We have the same birthday!
     

    Last night was a blast, but as for running, last week was an off week for me.  Majorly off.  Exhausted, no energy, unmotivated, super blah.  I didn’t do much more than work, eat, sleep (and complain).  Saturday morning, I had 22 miles on the schedule, but I was Excuse City all week long and when my alarm went off on Saturday morning and it was raining, I hit snooze.  The halfhearted plans completely fell apart from there.  Doh.

    Do you remember how gut wrenching it was when you were a kid and did something stupid and your mom or dad said: “I’m not mad at you.  I’m just disappointed.“  That’s how I feel.  I’m just so disappointed in myself.  But then I take a step back and think: I’m disappointed in myself for not running 22 miles…???  Wow, dude, I am ridiculous!

    Regardless, disappointment paves the perfect path for a kick ass Redemption Week!

    Jared’s in Chicago for the week, so it’s just me and Furball Jr. (he’s the one on the right).  And that makes this the perfect opportunity for Project Turn-Me-Into-A-Morning-Person, since I won’t have to subject the hubby to my early morning grumpy-grumps as I reprogram myself.  Sully said he doesn’t mind if I take it out on him as long as we run everyday.  Everyday, he said.

    Hub gets back on Friday evening, so we’ll chill on Saturday, before the La Jolla half on Sunday…  Hello, hills!

    All Day 25K Race Report

    5 Apr
    Yesterday morning (or ALL DAY, rather), Jared and I were running the Carlsbad 5K over and over and over and over again.  When I first read about the All Day 25K, my reaction was: that’s bananas!  But 1) I love running and 2) I really, really, really love running races, so the opportunity to run FIVE races in ONE day was a no-brainer!  
    All I thought about was the five separate runner’s highs and the opportunity to participate in such a rare event.  What I didn’t take into consideration was the anxiety of five separate starting lines, the waiting time between events and the physical difficulty of breaking up a long run… Luckily, I managed to coax Jared into joining me for this crazy adventure with promises of a medal and a tech shirt and a beer garden and Oh, c’mon, it’s just a 5K… five times.

    But before I recap Sunday’s All Day 25K Adventure, I should share a few details about Saturday’s festivities… We had previously made plans to celebrate our buddy, Muffin’s birthday.  For some silly reason, I thought we were going on a sunset pedal boating adventure, like this happy family:

    However, we were actually signed up for a sternwheeler (a.k.a. paddle boat) “booze cruise.”  And it wasn’t at 4pm, it was 7pm until 1am.  Oops…

    No biggie.  I stuck to my two drink max and guzzled water throughout the night, but we only got a few hours of sleep before our 5:30am wake-up call on Sunday morning.

    The birthday boy & his party jacket
    The gang at Sandbar
    Me, Callie & Hooles
    That goofy guy I married…
    I think he’s disappointed we’re not partying til 4am…
    We had an awesomely fun night, but Sunday started off painfully EARLY (considering we didn’t get to bed until well after midnight).  Our multiple alarms started going off at 5:30am and after a few snoozes and lots of moaning and groaning (from me), we managed to get our feet to the floor.  We were dressed and on our way to Carlsbad by 6:00am.  We found street parking pretty easily and took off for the Start Line as I told Jared to help me remember that we were parked on “Pine Street.”  I went on to share the story of another LA Marathoner who ran in the miserable weather two weeks ago, managed to finish and find her husband despite the finish line insanity, only to spend another hour wandering around LA looking for their car.  *So there’s some blatant foreshadowing of what was in store for our day…
    The Carlsbad 5000 is so huge, they break it down into several races.  For the All Day 25K, we would be running all five of the age group races at 7:05, 8:00, 9:25, 10:30 and 11:30am. 
    We got to the Start Line shortly before 5K #1 was to start, so we made a beeline for the All Day 25K VIP area, where we dropped off our warm-ups with the nice volunteers at Gear Check.  We mashed in with the crowd for the National Anthem and BOOM! the gun went off at 7:05am and we were running.  With no time to warm-up, stretch or even go to the bathroom, I decided this first race would be a warm-up.
    With it being such a huge race, the first mile was crowded, so when I peeked at my Garmin at the first mile marker, I was surprised to see we were running sub-10:00 minute/miles.  I told Jared we could back off, but it was a beautiful course, the weather was perfectly cool and cloudy and we kept cruising along. 
    We ran south along the coastline, looped north along the coast, through Carlsbad Village and toward Levyland (where we got married last year!), before heading back to the Finish Line.  We rounded the bend for the final stretch, picked up the pace and crossed the finish line in under 30:00. 
    5K #1: 29:08 (9:23/mile)
    We paused for a photo, then headed back to the Start Line.  The best part of the All Day 25K was the VIP area.  We were able to leave our gear with volunteers and there were tables and tables of food: bananas, oranges, Pop Chips, Clif Bars, Gu, Muscle Milk, electrolyte drinks and water bottles.  We also had our own portapotties, so I waited in line while I sucked down a vanilla Gu and we lined up for 5K #2 at 8:00am.  For this one, I told Jared I was going to go faster, so after we heard the National Anthem for the second time, the gun went off and we were on our way, I turned to him and said: “Okay.  I’m going to unleash the beast.“  And I was off.  
    For the first mile I was dodging and weaving through the crowd and for the last two, I focused on picking off one runner after another.  At one point, I ran through a line of spectators and someone shouted: “What are you smiling about, girl?  Don’t you know you have to do this three more times?“  That made me laugh.  I saw Jared at both of the turnarounds, which was a huge boost and as I turned the corner and sprinted for the finish line, I knew I’d beaten my previous PR. 
    I hadn’t reset my Garmin between races, so it took me a minute (or several, let’s be honest…) to do the math and figure out that I had, indeed, beaten my previous PR of 26:51 by 1:22.  I was ecstatic!  I grabbed water and hung out until Jared came flying around the Finish Line and we posed for another photo together.
    5K #2: 25:29 (8:13/mile)
    It was a little after 8:30am and our next race wasn’t until 9:25am, so we had time to kill.  We browsed the tents of the race expo, grabbing samples of Sport Beans and vitamins and coupons for Souplantation.  Then we made our way back to the Start Line, where we watched the wheelchair racers take off, which was awesome.  There were only eight racing, but it was so inspiring to see them line up, wish each other luck and take off.  Back at our VIP area, we drank water, did a few stretches, then parked on a curb to people watch.  It was such a weird (and daunting) feeling having that time between races and knowing we still had THREE 5Ks to go. 
    9:25am finally rolled around and it was time for 5K #3.  By now, we had completely cooled down and unfortunately, my left foot had stiffened up as we sat on the curb, so I was nervously aware of the sharp pains drilling through my arch as we walked to the Start Line.  I’ve been having some intermittent plantar fasciitis pain since the LA Marathon and have been rolling my foot on a tennis ball for the past week.  It felt fine on Thursday and Friday, but I had a few twinges on Saturday night and was definitely feeling it at the start of the third race.  Jared asked what my goal was and I said: “Finish it.“  National Anthem Round #3 was followed by another gunshot and we were off. 
     
    The first mile was demoralizing.  My left foot ached, the crowds were annoying and the blazing hot sun had scared off the clouds.  I found myself plotting ways out of the last two races.  But by Mile 2, my foot had loosened up, I’d found my groove and shifted my focus to finishing in under 30:00. 
    5K #3: 29:15 (9:25/mile)
    I paced around between the third and fourth races to keep my arch from seizing up on me again, drank water and took another vanilla Gu.  I was starving, but nervous to eat too much for fear of it messing up my stomach for the final events.  We lined up for the 5K #4, listened to the National Anthem yet again and took off at 10:20am.  I told Jared I was going to go for another fast one, but I knew right away there was no chance for another PR today.  I was feeling tapped out and the sun was relentless.  Still, I was proud that I managed to hold pace under 9:00 minutes/mile and happily listened to my Garmin chirp as I racked up miles 10, 11 and 12. 
    5K #4: 27:30 (8:51/mile)
    A photographer caught me shooting 125 to Jared
    At the Finish Line, I chugged two bottles of water and stretched while I waited for Jared, who was starting to struggle at this point.  We mustered up a couple smiles for another photo and the camera lady gave us some words of encouragement: “Just one more, guys!  It’s your victory lap!”  The crew and volunteers at this event were so super awesome.
    Jared complained that he was feeling terrible and was starting to cramp up, so I encouraged him to eat some salty chips, while I chowed down on Sport Beans.  We were both totally exhausted and hid in the shade, waiting for the final race.  If our friends, Mike and Amanda, hadn’t been running that final race, we might have convinced each other to bail right then and there. 
    As we lined up for 5K #5 at 11:30am, Jared got a text from Amanda and we met them by the 10:00 minute/mile marker for good luck hugs.  Amanda just had a baby nine weeks ago (holy cats, she is A-MAZING!!!!) and this was their debut running as parents.  This final event was also significant for Jared, who hadn’t run more than a half-marathon distance since last June’s Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon. 
    We heard the National Anthem for the fifth time and finally, the last gun went off.  I laid low for the first half-mile or so, then I got it in my mind that I wanted to finish as soon as possible, so I turned to Jared and said: It’s almost over.  Smile, have fun.  I spent the last couple miles daydreaming about coffee, frozen yogurt and ice baths.  When my Garmin alerted me that I’d crossed mile 15, I was so uplifted and relieved that I managed to pick up the pace.  As I turned the corner for the final stretch, I noticed two runners dressed as Batman and Robin.  The crowds were going wild for these guys and while I think running in costume is awesome and fun, I don’t like being beaten by these fun-loving rascals, so I kicked into fourth gear and tore past them.  I heard a spectator shout: “Batman!  Robin!  You’re getting chicked!“  But I held my lead and tore across the finish line.  In my mind, I was running like The Flash (in actuality, I was probably running an 8:30/mile, maybe 8:00/mile, but after 15 miles, that was a blistering pace for me). 
    5K #5: 28:30 (9:08/mile)
    I lingered at the finish, waiting for Mike and Amanda to come in, which I missed because I was distracted by a girl who crossed the Finish Line and sprinted for a trash can where she puked her guts out.  Poor thing.  Jared and I waited in an absurdly long line for our 25K medals, took our fifth and final photo together, then made our sixth trip back to the Start Line, where our stuff waited for us at the Gear Check tent.
    Official Final Time: 2:19:41 (9:00/mile)
    Poor Jarebear has a crazy (but hilarious…) bandana tan today!
     

    We had to wait to cross Grand Avenue because the Elite races were about to start, so we stood and watched as the gun went off.  11 sinewy, superhuman runner dudes flew by, full on sprinting and somehow, making it look effortless and natural.  Later, the race announcer said the top finishers ran the first mile in 4:04-4:05 minutes (holy cats!).  Two minutes later, 13 elite women breezed by like a heard of gazelles.  Ah-mazing.

    Top 3 Men waiting for their awards
    3rd: Bobby Curtis (Pennsylvania, USA), 13:48 (4:27 min/mile)
    2nd: Eluid Kipchoge (Kenya), 13:14 (4:16 min/mile)
    1st: Dejen Gebremeskel (Ethiopia), 13:11 (4:15 min/mile)
    Top 3 Men on the podium
    The winner and his winning time of 13:11
    Top 3 Women
    3rd: Jen Rhines (California, USA), 15:37 (5:02 min/mile)
    2nd: Pauline Korikwiang (Kenya), 15:14 (4:54 min/mile)
    1st: Aheza Kiros (Ethiopia), 15:13 (4:54 min/mile)

    The winner was so super tiny!
    The 2nd place winner (whose legs are 5 miles long) gave her flowers to a little girl :)
    We headed to Naked Cafe for a late brunch with Mike, Amanda and Zoe.  We’d eaten there before, after the Strawberry Festival 5K (when Zoe was just a little poppy-seed in the oven), and we absolutely loved it.  The food is awesome, fresh, super healthy and yummy–and I don’t think it’s just that I was so hungry, I could’ve pigged out at a 7-Eleven.  It was also awesome that we got to sit out on the patio since Jared and I were all sorts of funky from our All-Day-Sweat-Fest-Adventure.  I got the “Good Karma” breakfast, which was a mountain of egg whites, brown rice and broccoli with salsa.  As a gluten-free girl, I love simple food.  I washed it all down with a couple cups of coffee and I was more than ready for a lazy, do-nothing afternoon. 
    We said goodbye to Mike, Amanda and Zoe, then took off for our car parked on Pine Street and walked and walked and walked until we got to the end of Pine Street.  What the heck?  We walked up and down one street after another, looping back around and around again, finally figuring out that Pine Street dead ended at the railroad tracks, only to pick up again a couple blocks over.  I don’t know how long it took us to find the car, but according to my Actiped, we tacked on another two miles, bringing our total run/walk mileage up to 21 miles for the day:
    We picked up The Tourist from RedBox, which Jared slept through and I thought was boring, then hit up Chipotle for free burritos with our bibs (score!) and Yogurtland for our double-digit run reward.   I’m about as obsessed with Yogurtland as I am with running and racing, and as a means of controlling myself, I made a rule that I’ll only eat it if I’ve run 10 or more miles that day.  This is a rule that I follow about 50% of the time…
    To sum up… running 25K is totally different than running five (discontinuous) 5K races.  I can’t say I’m anxious to do it all over again, but I’m definitely happy we did!  

    Carlsbad 5000 Expo randomness

    2 Apr

    This afternoon, I hit up the Carlsbad 5000/All Day 25K Expo and I didn’t take a single picture!  Whoops.  I got flustered trying to find street parking, then even more flustered when a high school boy started hitting on me at the bib pick-up (this was as embarrassing as it was good for my self-esteem since I’m randomly going through a quarter-life crisis… or something).  I made a bee-line for the race shirts, then got credit card happy…

     
    I bought some super soft tees from Tough Chik and boxes of gluten-free PR Bars in Chocolate Peanut and Iced Brownie, so I had a protein-packed snack for the traffic-y drive home.  I want to test run the bars pre/post run, but so far my review stands that these bars are better than candy!  The guy who was manning the PR Bar tent suggested keeping them in the freezer, which is a great idea and something I think I HAVE to do so I’m not tempted to scarf down their yumminess.
    And my new “running is zen” tee (I need SkinnyRunner to give me lessons on the art of the self-timer portrait, because I clearly don’t know what I’m doing.  That, and I’m a dork):
    Note Sully’s giant hairball next to my left foot… awesome…

    I got new shoes last weekend and was on the lookout for another pair on sale at the expo, but didn’t find my model.  And just like magic, my mom called to say she and dad found last year’s model on sale, so they bought me two pair.  Score!

     Check out what we found on the sidewalk during a walk earlier this week!

    It says CHUCK !!!!!  Sully’s not impressed…

    We also came across a Hawaii license plate.  Sully insisted on taking a picture for Mamaw, who loves Hawaii and answers the phone with “Aloha!” instead of hello.  She’s awesome like that.

    Aloha, mamaw!  I’m too tired to keep my tongue in my mouth!

    Blogs Coming Soon…

    • “What it’s Like to Run Five 5Ks in One Day”
    • “Chuck Learns to Twitter” (for Sarah Soon-To-Be), and
    • “Booze Cruising Mission Bay for Muffin’s Bday”

    Most runners are essentially joggers…

    2 Apr

    I just read an article declaring: “most runners are essentially joggers,” which really grinds my gears.  The author writes: “They do all of their runs at the same, steady, moderate pace.  They might go a bit slower on their longest runs than they do on their shortest ones, and a bit faster on their best days than they do on their worst days, but they make no conscious effort to vary the pace of their training.”

    Well, shoot!

    Reading that article got me all fired up to do some speedwork.  True to Fitzgerald’s description of joggers, my version of “speedwork” is simply running faster than I normally do, so I decided to do a little research to determine what a speed workout pace would be for me.  I went here, but all the numbers made me dizzy and annoyed and totally turned off.  If liking these charts is what defines a “runner,” then, dude, I AM a jogger!

    Click on the image to enlarge it, if you really care to see the numbers… Dad!

    Deciphering how to run “200m in 49.4 to 54.3″ is NOT appealing to me AT ALL, but… I DO want to get better, faster and stronger.  So I went here, instead, where Runner’s World saved the day, breaking it down in simpler terms (thank you, thank you, thank you!):

    *With this tool, I plugged in my GOAL marathon time of 03:59:00, rather than my actual best of 04:12:58, because I want to aim for the training paces of a sub-four hour marathoner.  I don’t think this is how it’s “supposed” to work, BUT all of the paces seem realistic for me, so I’m going with it.

    “Maximum Oxygen” and “Yasso 800s” lose me in the same way the McMillan chart did, so I’m ignoring them.  And voila, I have my new training paces!:
    1. Easy/Long Runs:  10:13-11:30/mile (5.2-6.0 mph on the TM)
    2. Tempo Runs:  8:32/mile (7.0 mph)
    3. Speedwork:  7:07/mile (8.5 mph)
    This same tool also shows the “Projected Finish Times” for a 03:59:00 Marathoner, which I love, because it gives me goals to strive for at various distances:
    Gosh, I’m boring myself just writing all this mumbo jumbo, but I do have a point and some new goals for myself, including four PR-race goals I’ll be gunning for in the next MONTH:

    #1) Run 1 mile in less than 7:30.  *Because I’ve never done this before…

    • I’ve never cranked up the treadmill beyond 8.0 mph (7:30/mile), which is FAST for me.  BUT according to the junk above, my speedwork pace is 7:07/mile, so my goal for April is to do a treadmill workout with sprint intervals at 8.5 mph.  *See TM Interval Workout below.  **And possibly see Chuck fly off the back of the TM! 
    • Another training goal that should help with all of my PR goals is to do one “fast” run per week, including: A) a tempo run (averaging 8:30/mile) or B) speed intervals (with 7:00-7:30/mile sprints).

    #2) Run a 5K in less than 26:51 (8:38/mile), which is my PR from 5/30/10.  I’ll be running five 5Ks tomorrow = five opportunities to PR!

    #3) Run a Half Marathon in less than 1:53:15 (8:39/mile), which is my PR from 8/15/10.  Next up is the La Jolla Half Marathon on 4/17, which won’t be easy.  It has some beastly hills in there, BUT I’m going for it, duh.

    #4) Run a Full Marathon in less than 4:12:58 (9:38/mile), which is from LA just a few weeks ago on 3/20/11.  My next marathon is the OC Marathon on 5/1, followed by Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego on 6/5.  Goal #1 is simply to PR, but I’m also gunning for that sub-four!

    *I found the following 500 Calorie Treadmill Workout, which I’ve used a few times.  I love the 3 minutes-to-1 minute intervals and plan to crank up the speed intervals from 7.0 & 8.0mph to 7.5 & 8.5mph on my next session:
    And there we have the most boring post of all time!  Now I’m off to the Carlsbad Expo for tomorrow’s All Day 25K!  Oooh buddy, I love, love, love race expos!!!!

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