Category Archives: Running

Sometimes You Fall Down

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Ok, sometimes I fall down. (And not just on my blogging responsibilities!)

What a week of tumbles for my running/cycling friends! This past Saturday my friend Leslie called me to tell me she’d be missing our group run because her husband had been in a bike accident. While he had to got the ER, he is ok. Then the next day, my good friend Elise took a little spill on her bike coming down a steep hill. Yikes! 

And then this morning. On our hills repeats, I joked that I was due for a fall since it been two years since my last one (they seem to come every couple of years, that’s not just me right?). So the girls told me not to jinx myself and we continued our climb. After we had finished the hills, I needed a couple more miles so I headed out solo. It was light out and a nice morning, what’s a few miles anyway? And down I went! Just a few scratches, no big deal but man did I bring it upon myself! There were a couple of women out for their walk who saw me fall and all I could do was laugh when they asked if I was ok. What a dummy am I? Thankfully I was near a bathroom so I could rinse off my bloody knuckles (other than that just a little scratch on my knee). And headed back home.

 

Thankfully this wasn't what my hills looked like this morning!

Thankfully this wasn’t what my hills looked like this morning!

 

So, have you even taken a spill on a run? Have strangers helped you out? 

 

PS… who’s ready for the SF Marathon? I know I am!

 

 

Fun at the Big Sur 5k

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I know, this has been a sorry excuse for a blogging week. But such is life. However, hopefully my race recap will make up for that. As many of you know, I decided to downgrade from the Big Sur Marathon on April 28 to the 5k. And it was a good decision, even though I do want to run the full again one year.

The weekend began after I finished teaching my Women in American History course on Friday and headed down to the expo in Monterey. When I got to the Monterey Conference Center, I quickly picked up the bibs and t-shirts for Leslie and myself. Then I headed over to the San Francisco Marathon booth where I would work the rest of the afternoon with fellow SFM Ambassadors Elise and Chris. As I expected I had a great time hanging out with these two, even though Elise had to take off pretty soon after I arrived. Following the expo, I returned to Santa Cruz where Kevin and I had dinner with Elise and another SFM ambassador, Daniela. Such an SFM weekend!photo 1

 

Sunday morning rolled around and I headed to Leslie’s house. Since Leslie was bringing her German Pointer, Rosie, she had volunteered to drive. Before we knew it, Elise, Leslie, Rosie, and I were in Carmel. We found parking pretty quickly and headed toward the race area. I had a slightly odd plan for the day as my coach wanted me to use this race as an assessment of where I am and also get my long mileage in for the week. This meant a warm up of 2-3 miles, the race (3.1 miles) and a cool down of 3-4 miles. I planned to run two miles, pick up Leslie for her one mile warm up and then start the race. However, Leslie was worried the start would be packed and headed to the start line before I was done with my two miles (she was the smart one). I ran another half mile and then headed to the start. It wasn’t packed but the race ended up starting about 5 minutes early. I barely had stopped from the warm up when I was beginning the race and weaving through all the runners/walkers trying to get closer to the front.

I did not plan this race out well. The coach suggested I aim for my 10k PR pace (7:18-7:20) for the first two miles and then “race” the last 1.1 mile. Well, I started off good. Ok I was a little quick, but I was trying to get away from the pack. But within a few hundred feet (or so) we were climbing. I didn’t even both to check the course elevation – what was I thinking! The first mile was practically all up hill with a 7:26 pace. Hmm… not what I wanted but ok considering that climb. After that we dropped down to sea level on a short downhill and ran on a dirt path. It’s too bad it was foggy because it would have been a stunning view! But I couldn’t appreciate it because I  knew we’d have to climb back out of sea level and sure enough, heading into mile 3 that’s just what we did! I finished mile 2 at 7:33 and mile 3 at 7:34. Neither mile was a pace I wanted to run. I probably could have pushed more, especially in that last mile but I didn’t have it mentally. I crossed the finish line at 23:40.

Coming up to the finish

Coming up to the finish

Leslie and I handed off our medals to Elise, who happily traded them for Rosie, and we took off for our cool down. We ran part of it on the course and since we had such a pretty dog with us, everyone wanted to say hello. I ended up running a little over three miles for my cool down and it was time for coffee. Leslie had awesomely come in as the 2nd woman so after picking up our Starbucks we headed over to the awards. I thought I’d check to see how I did and found out I placed 2nd in my age group. We had missed our names being called but were able to pick up our additional medals. (Leslie also placed 1st in her age group!) We hung around for a bit and enjoyed a nice Shock Top from the Beer Tent.

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My 2 medals, one for finishing and one for AG placing

 

Shock Top!

Shock Top!

Overall, it was a fun morning and let’s face it, anytime I get to hang out with Elise and Leslie is good times in general. Big Sur always puts on a good event and while the course was harder than I expected, it was still a fun race!

Next up will be the relay at the Capitola Half Marathon (another assessment run and not real race).

My Boston Strong Weekend

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Wow! What a whirlwind weekend!

Friday I was glued to media coverage of the manhunt and was so relieved when the second suspect was apprehended alive. This was great news as I headed into the Padres-Giants game at AT&T with the hubs and a few friends. When I was a kid I was a Giants fan but later embraced my hometown San Diego Padres. So Padres-Giants games are always fun for because I’m happy no matter who wins (Kevin, the die-hard Padres fan, does not embrace this same attitude :) ). However, at this game, the best part  was when the whole ballpark sang “Sweet Caroline” together with such celebration!


Saturday morning my running group, Santa Cruz Endurance, gathered a few runners together (about 20) for a long run dedicated to Boston. We broke the run into two halves letting runners run distances best suited to them and their training. We had a great turn out with lots of non-members joining us.

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I am so proud to be a part of this running community and after this long hard week, I’m so proud to be a runner! We are Boston!

Thoughts on Boston Today

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The Boston Marathon.

Every runner knows that it is our holy grail of races. For the past year, my running energy has been focused on qualifying so that I might be able to run in 2014. Even though I wasn’t running in today’s race, I had been looking forward to it for the past week. I downloaded the free app so I could track my friends and feel like I was there in person, cheering them as they raced to the finish.

Not long after the last of my friends crossed the finish line, a friend sent me a FB message that something happened in Boston. And then I started to see the news. My first priority was to make sure friends and their families were safe (thankfully they all are). But all day long this has been sinking in – the loss of 3 lives, the injuries of many, many more. This should have been a day of joy, celebration, goals achieved, dreams realized. But the day has been marred by tragedy.

My friend Chris put it well in his blog today: “Right now I feel like someone attacked my family. That is because someone has. They have attacked my running family. Runners and supporters I do not know personally, but you do not need to know people personally to recognize that this is a tragic moment for people there and family and friends waiting to hear from those in Boston.”

Running is a family, a community. This attack hurts all of us and touches something we find sacred. I am sad. I am angry. I am sickened. My heart breaks for Boston. But as I watch the reactions to this horrific event, I am a proud to be among such a wonderful group of people. Runners who had been running 26.2 miles gave blood, they rushed to help spectators. They showed resilience. Not one complained, they came together.

And Boston will remain a dream of mine and other runners, the reward of hard work, dedication, and endurance. But now it also carries another meaning with it. And as Dave Zirin reminds us in his post on The Nation’s website today, this marathon is so much more.

“In 1967, Boston Marathon gave us all a glimpse of the possible. Today we saw not of the world we’d aspire to live in, but the one we actually inhabit. Instead of the triumph of the individual amidst the powerful throngs and inspiration of the collective, we have tragedy, disarray, panic, and fear. Like a scar, it now marks us: the loss of security among the mass. But like a scar, we may need to wear it proudly. We will run next year because the alternative is too awful to contemplate.”

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The Changing Plans Continue

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The changes just keep coming in my training/running schedule.

I had originally planned to run the Big Sur Marathon on April 28. This was assuming that I did well at LA and then could run Big Sur easy (well relatively speaking of course). Big Sur holds a special place in my heart because it was my first marathon. I had been especially looking forward to running it again because the year I ran the race was the year that part of Highway 1 collapsed and so rather than being a point-to-point course it was an out and back. So I was eagerly looking to running the full, original course.

But … I had to change all of that. For the 2nd race of 2013, I have dropped out of a race. Well, unlike the Santa Cruz Half Marathon and I am changing my registration for Big Sur. I have officially downgraded from the marathon (all 26.2 miles of it) to the 5k (all 3.1 miles!). I could have run the full but I was starting to worry that would erase all of the recovery work I have been doing. As I reassess the rest of my running goals for 2013, I didn’t want to throw any possibilities away because I ran Big Sur. While it’s a bummer to not run the marathon, I am excited to run the 5k because I get to run with two of my favorite running/training partners and SCE teammates, Elise and Leslie. The full marathon will just have to wait for another year (perhaps a Boston 2 Big Sur year? A girl can dream!)

When have you had to change your running/training plans? Have you had to drop a race?