Benicia Run for Education

Hmmm, it's been a month since my last post, what I have been up to you ponder. I've been sick, pretty much since January. As I look back after completing my third race for the year, I have been ill pretty much for every run I have raced this year. It all started with back to back sinus infections and was follwed by the worst case of strep throat, ever. I basically started today's race as my first run in a month.

As you can imagine, I was not looking forward to the carnage that would be my body left somewhere on the course. I'm still not 100% but I'm going with the "I have allergies" bit, because there is just no way I'm really still sick. I arrived in Benicia got my bib and t-shirt and had time to run back to the car to ditch the t-shirt. I still had not spotted Molly or Ashley and Chris. I wondered around, did some stretching and finally found Ashley and Chris. As we headed to the start line I spotted Molly (not hard to miss in her super cute Lululemon orange top) and gave her a quick "go get e'm tiger" before moving back to my start place. And after lots of announcements I couldn't hear, we were off!

Running through downtown Benicia was cool and there people on the streets cheering us on. I didn't have any expectations for the day because I thought I might have to walk the entire race. As we hit the 5k/10k split I took my first walk break, I was monitoring my heart rate and trying to keep it in a nice range, which proved to be difficult when my monitor stopped transmitting. Oh well, we'll go with my best guess. I was not prepared for the rolling hills that just seemed to keep coming and coming. There were some kids keeping the same pace as I was and I overheard one of them say "you said that was the last hill!!!" Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I continued with my run/walk pace running all of the downhills to try and make up some time and power walking as much as I could. I was paying close attention to the street signs to see how close we were, and was never so excited to see the final turn. Once we made the turn it was a little bit of a bummer because you couldn't see the start/finish line, but I knew it was there and I promised myself no more walking.

The one thing about all of the hills, it pretty much I had nothing left at the finish line. I like to have something left to sprint at the end, and I would have loved to pass the women in front of me, but I really had nothing left. As I got closer I started to hear mad cheers and on my right side this guy came booking past me as I realized he was the first 10k runner coming in, I mustered up the energy to cheer for him as he passed me.

And much love to Molly who had a big PR today and came in 2nd in our AG, for snapping photos of me as I crossed the finish line.

She taught me to always smile as you cross the finish line!

Post race happiness!

Even though today was not a great time for me, I am so pleased that I got it done. I spent all of yesterday on my feet, first volunteering at the Diablo Trails Challenge hosted by Brazen Racing and then at my pool's Annual work day. Needless to say, i was dead tired last nigh and my legs and feet hurt. Not the best plan ever, but hey, I was trying to fill my weekend with cool activities. The one big positive that came out of today, is I'm ready. I'm ready to start running again and leave behind all of this winter illness!

Next up The Mermaid Run in April. Very excited to come back for my 2nd race with the mermaids.

Bay Breeze 5k

I woke yesterday morning not feeling quite right, somehow off. Maybe it had to do with the lack of sleep the night before. It must be my race karma that the girls never sleep through the night on the eve of a race. 

I headed out to meet a friend from High School who was also running the race so we could carpool to the San Leandro Marina Park. We got there about 8:30am to check in and get our bibs and timing chips. As always Brazen Racing was well organized and we didn't have to wait in line very long. We watched the half marathoners start, I was amazed, there were so many of them - 171 as reported on the results list. As we got ready for our start it was nice that I had some other friends running as well. We're all varying levels of runners so we all started in different spots, which works well for me since I like to be a loner when running.

We were off! We ran out through the grass, which is much more challenging than it sounds, especially soggy grass. It felt much better once we hit the trail. The course was awesome, the bay was to my right and a golf course to my left, the scenery was fantastic. I found my pace and was chugging along, there were many times that I felt like walking, but I promised myself no walking until at least the aid station/turn around point.

Once I arrived at the aid station I grabbed the sports drink rather than the water because there was a back-up for the water. I didn't want to stop because getting started again requires so much more effort than just running through the aid station. I was proud of myself for running through the aid station and kept trotting along. Although I now noticed that we were running into the wind and we were running at an ever so slight incline. No wonder I felt so good on the way out. Shortly after the aid station it hit me, side cramps. Really? I never get cramps when running. The cramps caused me to walk and lower my heart rate and then I started running again. Every time I was pretty sure I had hydrated well enough the day before, I had a good breakfast. I'm blaming it on the gu or whatever the sports drink was that they had at the aid station. Note to self, stick with water at the aid station next time.

The last mile was really painful for me, filled with way more walking than I would have liked. As we neared the end there was a volunteer at the end of the gate who was directing us to the left to the finish line. Past him I could see the rear bumper of a patrol car, hmmm Highway Patrol car, I can only think of one chippy who would find the need to be parked here at Marina Park while we come running in. I waived and then saw the rear lights on the squad car go on, yep it was Scott! I got so excited I probably started running a little faster than I should have and then I remembered the grass and that I had to save some leg for the finish line. I slowed to a walk (which Scott saw and gave me grief over) and when I felt I was in safe distance started running again. I really didn't have much left to sprint to the finish line, especially given how much work it was to run through the grass. As I aprroached the finish line, I felt two woman coming up on either side about to pass me. Oh no you don't, I dug down deep and put into high gear, and so did they! I was pretty sure I beat them. Final results show one woman and I crossed at the same time and the third was behind us, I'll take that.

Overall, not my best race. I had hoped to have a nice time at this course since it was Brazen's only flat course. Oh well, you can't win them all. I have much work to do before the Benicia Run for Education next month.

I think I'll be running in the rain

It's been a difficult week for me, between the sinus infection and being sore from Pilates, for a few days I wasn't getting in the exercise I really need to be getting in. Yesterday was a gym day, but I couldn't muster the energy in the morning to get there. While I'm starting to feel better, I did have a low fever and I think my body just said enough, you need to rest. By the afternoon I was feeling better and Scott took the girls to the gym so I had some free time and decided to get out and run like I knew I needed to. Note to self: do not run the neighboprhood at 3:30pm when school is getting out. I nearly got creamed by a bus that had a stop sign but appeared she was going to California stop through it, luckily she stopped instead of hitting me. Did anyone notice that it was 75 degrees yesterday? Damn, running in warm weather is so much more difficult than running in the cold.

That brings me to the upcoming Bay Breeze 5k on Saturday. It's going to rain, so I guess I don't need to worry about how to dress. I'll be bundled up for sure. And I suppose I would rather run in the rain than in the heat.

So today is a rest day as I let my body heal from the hilly run yesterday but I did make a trip to my Chiropractor and it lokos like I'm back in shape and can go back into maintence mode, good news! Tomorrow will be a gym day but I'll be hitting the bike to make sure my running legs are in god shape for Saturday.

relief is in sight

Remember how back in January I was pretty sure I had a sinus infection, but it took so long to come to that conclusion that I was starting to feel better so I decided to ride it out with treatment? Not a good idea I guess. I've been having headaches for weeks and I went back to the chiropractor trying to get my neck and head and back into tip-top shape for the upcoming race. I woke up this morning in so much pain that I didn't even go to my shift at the hospital. I got at an appointment with my doc today and sure enough, I have a sinus infection that I have been nursing for over a month.

I am currently waiting for my lovely husband to deliver my meds and am really excited about the prospects of feeling well again.

Did I mention my abs still are sore?

One more week

My next race is in one week, Brazen's Bay Breeze. Am I ready? Probably not.

Today I spent 45 minutes on the bike followed with 30 minutes of strength training, followed by a non-fat vanilla latte, because Starbucks is part of my training, right?

Sunday I am going to try a Pilates class at the gym. I'm a little nervous because I have never taken a class. I have really been wanting to do the Yoga class at Lululemon, but since they don't have childcare... Anyway, wish me luck, lets hope it's not a total disaster.

What a Morning

You've all had those days, right? I wake up with a headache, but today is a gym day, and a run day on top of that. I take some advil and thinking I may need coffee. I don't usually have coffee prior to a workout, I normally save it as a post-workout treat. However, I was in need of some serious motivation, so I made some coffee. As I was beginning to feel like I could maybe get my butt to the gym my four year old decided it was prime time for a tantrum. Sigh, like it's not bad enough that the 1.5 year old has an ear infection and hasn't slept in days. It took quite a while to talk her down, thankfully I was already in my gym clothes, because that might have been the straw that broke the camels back. We get everyone out of the house, late of course. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm not going to run, just going to sit in the bike and read and try to decompress. Which I knew was the wrong answer, I think there was a part of me that really wanted to run, but has been discouraged by my lung capacity of late. I get to the gym and realize my i-pod is not in the diaper bag. Really? Am I really going to run without my music? Oh crap, just go run I tell myself. Much to my surprise, I ran for 20 minutes straight, with no major breathing issues. I pushed it to 6.2 at the end and even that seemed to be ok. Wow, that felt really good. What a nice surprise after weeks of disappointment.

Well, lets not get too excited here. After my strength training I wandered over to the evil stair machine. So today I only got 7 minutes in before complete and total lung anger. But I'll take it considering the nice pleasant run I got in.

Happy Monday

While I have no problem running in the rain, I don't think Kylie digs it so much. So I saved her the cold and rain and took her to the gym, she much prefers Kids Club.

Why is that when the entire row of treadmills is available people like to get n the one right next to me. This happened twice today. The second time the guy was trying to decide between the TV with ESPN or ESPN 2, so he ended up getting off the treadmill next to me and get on the treadmill next to me on the side. Sigh, a girl can't win.

I'm still in a war with my lungs. I decided to take it easy and ran at 5.5 for about 9 minutes but then the last minute of my promised 10 I couldn't help but increase to 5.8, lungs not happy. I walked for 5 minutes and decided to try one last run for 5 minutes. This time I stayed at 5.5, lungs still not happy.

Did my usual strength routine but skipped the lower body stuff since I was determined to tackle the stair machine again. I told myself I had to last 9 minutes. I'm not going to get any better unless I keep pushing myself on this damn machine. Holly hell, I did it but barely. Literally on the last 30 seconds I felt my foot reach the last stair it was about to go under, oops! Don't fall off the stair machine, that would be really embarrassing. I was dripping in sweat but I made it 9:01. Next goal is 10 minutes.