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My Lackluster LA Marathon

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Warning: It’s a long post.

As the saying goes, even the best laid plans… the LA Marathon did not result in a Boston Qualifier or a new PR. It ended up being a hard and frustrating race.

I came into town Thursday evening, spent some time with my parents, and met up with my very good friend (and super talented friend) Tara. The following morning, my mom and I drove up to LA for the marathon’s expo. We missed morning traffic and made it to LA pretty quickly. After picking up my bib and goodies, I headed to the SF Marathon booth where I met Luis and Ciara. After saying hi, I picked up a few things I needed for the race and my mom and I headed back down south. We had a nice day and my mom even got me a new pair of running shorts (I needed some green for Sunday!). And Kevin got me the Jawbone Up bracelet that I have been eyeing (Kevin wasn’t able to be with me for the race weekend as was at spring training with his dad and nephew, an annual tradition that had been planned before I signed up for the race).

At the expo

At the expo

Saturday was a nice relaxing day. I had a short shakeout run with some strides but other wise laid low. We had sushi for dinner (my fave pre-race meal) and headed up to the hotel. I headed to sleep fairly early but my parents went to the bar! Talk about a role reversal, haha!

Swanky hotel room

Swanky hotel room

Laying out the race outfit. Hello new Lulu shorts :)

Laying out the race outfit. Hello new Lulu shorts :)

My alarm went off at 4am. I got dressed, ate peanut butter and a banana, and had some Energy Bits. At 5am, my dad (graciously) drove me to Dodgers Stadium where the race starts. I learned that driving in 5am on a Sunday might be the only time there is no traffic in LA! (Well until you get to the runner drop off.) I quickly met up with fellow SFM ambassador Chris and got to say hi (and meet) Lauren, Wes, and Luis. Chris and I soon headed off to our corral (B), ready to race. In the B corral we ran into the SFM ambassadors Keith and Ryan. At this point, I still felt great! I had a positive attitude and tried to remind myself that I had the training and could run a 3:35 marathon. Right before the race started, I went to turn on my ipod and found that it was dead. Oops! Oh well, I put it, with my headphones, my headband (I had been debating about wearing a running cap and decided to do so meaning I didn’t need to wear my headband), and my phone in my back pocket.

Repping SCE

Repping SCE

Marathon Gridlock

Marathon Gridlock

Dodger Stadium

Dodger Stadium

SFM Ambassadors

SFM Ambassadors

The first 6 miles of the race was perfect. For the first couple miles, the course has a lot of downhill so I just enjoyed it. My pace was right on target (a bit fast sometimes with downhill but nothing crazy). I was just ahead of the 3:35 pace group and feeling happy about my race. There was a water station after each mile marker so I knew that when I took my Sports Beans at mile 8, there would be water to take with them. Wrong! It seemed like an eternity before I came to the water station. Somewhere in mile 9 my stomach started to feel weird (likely due to not being to able to drink water after taking my beans) and I was super hot. It wasn’t particularly warm weather but the humidity was getting to me. I slowed down a bit but was still near the 3:35 group, slightly ahead and then slightly behind – back and forth for a little while. Around mile 10 or 11 I thought I should use a port o potty to try to help my stomach. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom so back to the course.

At the halfway point, everything started to fall apart. My stomach felt strange, I was hot and had to drink more water than I normally do in a race. I was even pouring it directly on my head. I lost the 3:35 group somewhere at this point but could still see them. I figured if I could just overcome this rough spot I would catch them. My legs also started to feel heavy. I’m not sure if it was due to the stomach and humidity problems, if I had overtrained and my legs were just done for, or if all that stuff in my back pocket (that I suddenly became very aware of in mile 15) had caused me to slightly change my running form affecting my legs. But regardless, I was having trouble keeping a reasonable pace and my legs were tired. I knew my parents would be at some mid-point in the course so I started to look for them, I wanted to give them the stuff in my pocket, and my hat. When I saw them at mile 18, I was so happy to relieve myself of my stuff that I couldn’t really appreciate how nice it was to have some mid course support. In hindsight, it was awesome!

Taking off my hat to give my parents

Taking off my hat to give my parents

During this time I also lost the 3:35 group and when I saw the 3:45 group, I was so mad. Sorry to anyone I offended as I swore. I swore again when the 4 hour pace group passed me.

By mile 20, I was exhausted. The weather started to cool down but I still was thirsty. I was in a bind, all the water intake was giving me side cramps but I needed to drink something. By mile 22 I had to walk A LOT because of the cramping. My miles went from an 8 minute pace in the first 10 miles, to 8:30 pace to 9 minute pace, and then some ugly 11 minute and, gasp, two 14 minute miles. There went the 4:15 group. I was so bummed I wasn’t even mad. This sucked. A few times I considered DNFing because I was just sad and tired. But I wanted to finish and I forced myself to run the last mile and half. I got my medal and my cool LA/SF Challenge medal, ran into Keith again, and headed off to find my parents. Sad but at the same proud for pushing through and finishing.

Done.

Done.

Love the medals!

Love the medals!

This race was hard. It wasn’t what I was capable of doing and it wasn’t what I planned for. I thought if anything I’d miss my goal by a few minutes, not 45. But I was so thankful to have my parents with me. They made the weekend fun and they were proud of me. And my dad even bought me a sweatshirt so I wouldn’t be cold after the race. Our post-race In n Out was the best.

My favorite post-race meal!

My favorite post-race meal!

I loved the course, there were some hills but lots of downhill. The course winded around just the right amount. Best of all was the amazing crowd support! There were spectators everywhere we went! And they cheered for all of us, strangers yelled “Go Meg!” the whole race. It made not having my iPod totally fine. This is by far the best crowd support I have ever experienced. I also knew at the various points my friends and Kevin were getting updates through the race tracking. That was a huge motivator but I knew they were wondering what went wrong as my time slowed down so much in the second half (thanks to all of you for reaching out to me after the race, it was awesome!)

Indulging in guilty pleasures for the plane trip back.

Indulging in guilty pleasures for the plane trip back.

It wasn’t my day to BQ or PR. As my friend Leslie says, the marathon is a beast. You can train and plan, but come marathon day you never know what might unfold. For this one, just finishing was an accomplishment.

{Update 3/19/2013}: I can also see that I overtrained. I took on too much and I needed better guidance. My amazing runner friends have advised me to rest and consider a coach going forward. This week I’m taking off from all exercise and next week I’ll return to cross training and maybe a little bit of running. Then I will be re-evaluating race goals and consider working with a coach.

Have you had a bad race? How do you deal with disappointed race days?

Superbowl 10k

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This past weekend I ran the local Super Bowl 10k for the 4th year in a row. This was my first race I ran after moving to Santa Cruz so it has a special place in my heart and I always look forward to it. This year was my first time running it as a member of Santa Cruz Endurance. After my recent training (see my last post), I was excited to see how I would do at the 10k distance. Well, I won’t leave you waiting… I did great and earned a new PR, 2 1/2 minutes off my previous best 10k time! Woot woot!

Fellow SCE member and SFM Ambassador, Elise, and I headed out together. We picked up our bibs and warmed up with a nice slow mile. This helped us also combat the cold weather! Brr. After that we ran into our friend Kelsey who also ran the race. We saw a few other SCE members (check out the recap here) and some other running friends and then it was go time!

Ready to go!

Ready to go!

I was ready for this race and started with a look of determination (Seriously look at my face in this photo!)
Screen Shot 2013-02-06 at 8.34.07 AMAlso, I was rocking Kevin’s 49ers beanie to send some good vibes to the team. Bummer they didn’t win.

West Cliff

who can complain with this running view??

who can complain with these running views??

Anyway, I started out a little too fast (6:38 first mile, whoops!). But I felt good and just couldn’t get myself to slow down. After that I settled into an average 7:14 pace (with my longest mile at 7:30). I felt pretty good the whole race, until about half into my 5th mile. I felt tired and my legs felt heavy.. then I looked at my Garmin and saw I was running a 6:30 pace, whoops!

Sprinting to the finish

Sprinting to the finish

I rounded the last corner and knew I was going to finish strong. The course seemed a little long by my watch (6.28 instead of 6.2) so at the 10k time (again by my watch) I was at 44:47. My finish time by my watch was 45:25 and official finish time was 45:28. This placed me as the 4th overall woman finisher and 2nd in my age group (finished 37th overall). I didn’t realize the next girl behind me was so close, she finished at 45:29. Wow I’m glad I didn’t hold back! Elise was not far behind, with a finishing time of 46:06.

Walking up to get my medal!

Walking up to get my medal!

Getting a medal is the best!

Getting a medal is the best!

2nd in my age group!

2nd in my age group!

This was a great race for our team! All of the runners took one of the top 5 spots in their age group, and two of our guys took 1st and 3rd overall!

SCE runners represent!

SCE runners represent!

Have you raced yet in 2013? How’d it go?

Streaking Through January

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Not that kind of streaking, pervert! :)

No, January was my first attempt at a solid running streak. At the end of last year, I half heartedly committed to running every day in 2013. In my mind, I thought “well I’ll just run when I can and if I can do a few weeks that would be awesome.” And here we are finished with January and moving into February and I have run every day in 2013, so far. While I had originally planned on have lots of low mileage runs to replace my “rest” days, I ended up having pretty high mileage. The first weeks added up to the high 40s each and the last two weeks were both in the high 50s. I ended January having run 241 miles! That is a record for me by over 50 miles! What!?!

So why all the miles? Why so much? Well, I have my eyes on what will be my third marathon: the Honda LA Marathon. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not exactly a fan of LA… so why would I choose to run 26.2 miles through its city limits? Well, I am still looking for the Boston Qualifying time and its a relatively flat course, plus its part of the LA/SF Challenge. And since I’m an ambassador, who am I to pass up such a great challenge? And that medal? Yes I want one! Plus I have many fellow ambassadors who are also taking on LA and so we will be supporting each other, even if not actually running next to each other.

photo-11

Along with all this running, I have added some cross training to my routine. I haven’t been back on my bike yet… it’s been cold and now I’m nervous about the clips all over again. But I will be soon. I recently became a 24 Hour Fitness member (again) and have jumped into spin classes to help me get ready to take my bike back out on the road. Additionally, I also finally got a trainer for my bike so I can “ride” it inside. I’ve only tried it out once, but I’m excited to add it to my routine (especially when I’m watching my favorite soap, don’t judge). Finally, I started going to Body Pump classes at 24 Hour. What’s Body Pump you ask? Well according to their website, a typical class will:

  • Improve your strength
  • Perform 70-100 repetitions per body part totaling up to 800 repetitions in a single workout
  • Improve your general fitness
  • Shape and tone your muscles
  • Protect your bones and joints from injury
  • Get into shape fast
  • Feel confident

And there’s music! And my friend and fellow SCE runner, Leslie, teaches it. She’s kind of an amazing instructor. Anyway, it’s definitely toning me up and I’m adding strength. I’m hoping all this will help me be more fit overall but also have less chance of injury in my running. 

And this is paying off. Yesterday, I nailed a new PR in the 10k distance in a local race (look for a recap soon). You can also read about my training at the SFM blog.

My First Duathlon!

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I wanted to post on this earlier but I have been waiting to get some photos. But I’m excited to share it with you all now!

On October 6, I participated in my first multi-sport event! This was part of the Mermaid series in Capitola (an all women, super friendly event). The event was the duathlon (for those of you unfamiliar with a duathlon its a run, bike, run). I had signed up for this event way back in June right after I bought my bike. Yep, I raced my bike after 4 short months of using it. In fact, I really didn’t train with my bike, just commuted on it, averaging 20-25 miles a week riding.

The morning started with meeting Shoshanah (another SCE member) to bike over to the transition area. We had to rack our bikes in different areas. After at first racking mine in the wrong place, I moved it to the correct place and did a quick look around for Sho. I couldn’t find her and figured she was warming up and decided to go out for my warm up run. I did a little over a mile and ended up over at the starting line on the Capitola Wharf.

Shoshanah & I after the race

I was able to see the first wave of swimmers and runners (age 35 & up) start and then lined up for my start. The first run was 1.5 miles and headed up Cliff Road, back down and under the Wharf on the sand and up Monterey Road, which is pretty steep. I felt very strong and passed all the women in my wave. Finishing time 11:56.

I entered the transition zone and quickly changed my shoes and put on my gloves and helmet. It took me 2:07, partially due to the fact I wanted my running shoes ready for the second transition. And then I headed out to cycling portion.

The bike portion was 12 miles. My plan for this portion was to ride hard but not out of my comfort zone. I passed a few women in the first couple miles and felt good. Then I saw the hill up Rio Del Mar. Yikes! It was steep! And right after a sharp turn, meaning I had lost all of my momentum. I tried not to over think it and just headed up, quickly changing my gears to their low setting. Many women walked their bikes, but not me! The rest of the course had some hills but that was definitely the hardest. I got passed a few times and I passed a few women. Finishing time for bike: 51:39. Soon I was back at the transition zone and heading out to the second run (1:48 transition time).

The second run was harder (this time a 2.5 mile run), my legs were so tired from the bike ride. I headed out and up toward Cliff Road. I wasn’t sure if I could run that hill again, but then I saw SCTC runner and friend Michelle. She was cheering me on just when I needed it! So up the hill I went and felt good. After the turn around I saw Sho, looking strong! I ran back down and on to the sand and finished at 15:39 (I think the course was a little short).

I waited to cheer on Sho as she crossed the finish line. We hung out for a bit and found out that I took 3rd in my age group and Sho took first overall in the Sprint Tri! I couldn’t believe I placed in my age group since this was my first time ever competing in this event. My final finishing time was 1:23:09.

At the awards ceremony I won 2 free personal training sessions and some other goodies. I can’t say enough good things about the Mermaids Series. It was a great event and I definitely will do it again.

Nike Women’s (Half) Marathon – Third Times the Charm

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This was my third year running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. You can read about my other times running it in 2010 and 2011. Both had their pros and cons, but this year was all good!

Leslie & I before the race

A few weeks ago, my friend & fellow SCE member, Leslie, decided to bid on a raffle entry. She won and we decided we run the race together. I was using it as a training run for CIM and she just wanted to have fun. We decided to run it as a “fun run.” We ran the Presidio Cross Country Challenge a few weeks back and the hills destroyed me. Leslie and I decided to do some hill repeats in the in between weeks and thank goodness we did! (More to come on that).

Friday afternoon we headed up to pick up our race packets and we were in and out of the expo. Then Sunday, October 14, it was race day. I had my alarm set for 3:45am (yep) and I woke up pretty easily. I had an egg and a piece of toast (my new favorite pre-race meal) and headed off to pick up Leslie. We got to the city very easily, found a great parking spot, and jumped into the Hilton for some pre-race potty breaks. Then we headed to our wave and waited for the race to start.

so … many … runners!

It was cold and dark but not too bad. We started but had a very slow first mile just navigating the crowd. 25,000 runners ran the half & full this year, so lots of dodging. After that we settled into a nice pace and just had a good time. After a quick bathroom break we were through the Embarcadero, past Pier 39, and heading up the Presidio hills. I felt great on all of them. Yay for hill repeats working! We passed lots of runners going up the hills, which made us feel great. The race was flying by!

Runners conquering the hills

Feeling strong!

Soon we were in the beautiful neighborhoods outside of the Presidio and again climbing the hills. We had both forgotten the hill in mile 9, so that was a little rough but in mile 10 you get to fly downhill. Before we knew it we were zooming down miles 9 & 10 and about to head into Golden Gate Park. This year they skipped the Chocolate mile (good, I want my chocolate but it’s not fun to hold on to it while you run). And we sped into the finishing line (final mile 7:04). I pulled out my Miles for Mokie sign (it had fallen off my back around mile 9).   I held it up as we crossed the finish line. Official finishing time: 1:48:36 (unofficial removing the potty break: 1:47:41). In fact six of our miles were under 8 minutes. This was a course PR for me and knowing that I wasn’t super pushing myself, just having fun, I was stoked!

Miles for Mokie sign I wore on my back.
It got wet from the fog & fell off, so I held it across the finish line…

Holding Mokie’s sign

Leslie & I at the finish

 

Leslie and I made our way through the finishers area, picking up our Tiffany’s necklace and a lot of other goodies (including a full bottle of Neutrogena sunscreen and a yoga mat). We jumped on a shuttle (ok we shivered in line waiting but no biggie) and headed back to Union Square. After a quick change of clothes we were off. Getting in & out of the city was super easy this year!

so many goodies!

After we picked up some breakfast and came home, I headed out for 7 more miles to complete the 20 miles on my training plan for today. Surprisingly, I also felt really good during that run, averaging just over a 8:30 mile.

Heading out for my 2nd run

So in conclusion, this was my favorite NWM experience yet. And this is definitely a race to run with friends! So much fun!! Oh, NWM you have won me back over :)