Tag Archives: 10k

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?

Two Race Weekend

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Over the past weekend, I ran two races. It was a little crazy and not just because I ran races back to back but also because both were pretty hilly and I hadn’t run any hills for the previous two weeks. But I still felt like I ran strong both days.

On Saturday I ran the UCSC XC Challenge with five other women from Santa Cruz Endurance. The 4 mile trail course was the season opener to the 2012 PA USATF XC Grand Prix. We carpooled to the race start and a handful of us ran a few warm up miles before the race.

After roaming the trails and stretching a bit, we set up at the start line with 121 super speedy women. I stayed conservative in the beginning, not sure how I would do on the hills. This allowed me to have sweet negative splits (8:12, 7:59, 7:39, 7:17). The course was pretty warm, especially in the non-wooded spots. But I felt strong after running in humid, hot weather the previous two weeks. I finished with a time of 31:29 and came in 75th place (see speedy runners!). Our team came in 6th overall. After the race I ran a few cool down miles with Sho and then we headed to  breakfast.

We ate at this awesome little bakery/coffee shop, Iveta. I had never eaten there before, but it is delicious! I can’t wait to go back.

At Iveta, yum!

On Sunday, I ran Race Thru the Redwoods for the third time in a row. It is a trail 10k (6.2 miles) that climbs over 300 feet between miles 2.5 and 3.5. Last year due to some confusion I ended up parking someplace I wasn’t supposed to and received a pricey parking ticket. The race felt bad and hooked me up for this year’s race (thank you!). I picked up Laura (another SCE member who was volunteering) and we headed to Henry Cowell State Park. This year I got excellent parking and had plenty of time to run two easy warm up miles. SCE members Steve and Dan also ran this race (rocked it too, taking 3rd and 4th places respectively in their age group).

Checking in at registration

Hanging out before the race

Me, Laura, and Steve

Me and Dan

Ready to run!

I ran this race as an opportunity to see how I am feeling on trails and hills. I tried not to “race” it since I had done that the day before. But of course, once I was out there I ended up racing all the same. I started out fast. The first mile is on the road and I wanted to get ahead before I got to the hill climb (mile 1 – 6:57, whoops!). I slowed down a bunch heading up the hills and got passed by several runners. After the turn around my main goal was to pass those runners again and I did pass most of them before we hit the mile 6 marker.

I took a slight detour and might have added .o5 mile to the run but nothing crazy. I finished with a time of 52:29 (a minute and a half better than my best time on this course). I didn’t place in my age group (5th of 51 runners), but I was very happy with the race. And the best was coming up to the finish line seeing Laura and Rebecca working the timer and cheering me on!

Coming up to the finish line

After I ran a two super slow cool down miles and then hung out with Rebecca and Laura as they clocked the time for runners and we cheered them on.

Overall this was a great running weekend and a welcome return to running in Santa Cruz.

Worst Race Ever

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I have just completed what I officially consider the worst race ever (ok at least that I have participated in). Last year, I ran the same race, Go Green St. Patrick’s 10k in Los Gatos, and despite being sick I had a great time. I had looked forward to greatly improving last year’s time. I actually almost didn’t run the race because I have so much school work to complete this weekend, but I decided that I needed to run anyway so I’ll go ahead and run the race (plus I already paid for it).

Unfortunately, both packet pick-up times conflicted with my schedule and I was able to just make the end of the second day. By that time they only had large shirts. I know shirts aren’t the most important thing, but I like getting free running gear and it’s a bummer that I won’t really be able to wear this one. I was more annoyed with the response of the organizer when I questioned how this happened but this morning I decided not to taint the race with bad vibes and focus on having a good time.

Due to the time change, I had a hard time getting up and out the door on time. I worried that I would miss the race start. I got there just 5 minutes before the time my race was supposed to start (there were 3 race lengths, half marathon that started first, the 10k that I ran and started second, and the 5k that started last). Thankfully they seemed to be running late, par for the course with races. But unfortunately their loudspeakers didn’t seem to work and it was hard to determine which race was starting. But not a problem, I figured out and started with the rest of the 10kers.

The race began well, I started a little slower than normal trying to save my energy to speed up at the end. Great, I was right on pace where I wanted to be by mile 2. I started to see a few runners coming back my way and knew I was approaching a turnaround. A turnaround sign sat in the ground but unlike the previous signs did not say if it was for the 5k, 10k, or half marathon. Other runners kept going and I followed suit. But within a few minutes I started to grow concerned. Apparently another runner went too far as well (farther than me) and informed me that I needed to turn around. As we headed back to the official turnaround spot, the 10k runners let others know they needed to turn around. My time was officially going to be off and much slower runners than me had turned around much earlier. This was the first race I didn’t wait to see my official results posted.

After I finished I found that the timing chip had cut my ankle (I have a problem with these types of chips and should have put a blister pad on my ankle). My leg hurt and I was frustrated with the unclear signage. I went to a race organizer, along with some other racers (5k runners who almost ran the entire 10k!). The organizer was unsympathetic to say the least. In fact, she seemed angry with us! I know mistakes happen, that’s ok. But the worst part of the race for me was the organizers’ anger at runners for complaining. That’s just poor management.

On the positive side, my new nike running shoes felt great! Sami even posed with them yesterday :) And the race medal is quite nice. The vendors also had some good snacks for post-race fuel and the first aid tent was great (thanks for bandaging my bloody ankle). My results for this race (and my others races as well) are here.

To see other people’s experiences see the Active reviews.

Running the Trail

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Just about to cross the finish line.

This morning I ran my first trail run race. The San Lorenzo Trail Run has multiple races: 10k, Half-Marathon, Marathon, & 50k. I ran the 10k, so glad I didn’t go for the half!!

I signed up for the race last-minute. A friend posted a link on Facebook on Friday and it sounded fun, so I thought, why not? I had planned to keep working toward my goal of a 45 minute 10k, but ended up with a time of 57:34(ish). It might sound like I would be very disappointed in this time, wrong!

The first mile or so of the run went straight up (by the turn around point we had climbed 800 feet). This first part also weaved through the trees on a very small trail, leaving not much room for passing. This meant my pace relied on the mass group I found myself stuck in. And we just kept running uphill, meaning I didn’t have much chance to make up for lost time. I thought I’d make up for that time coming down, but my exhaustion and fear of tripping kept my pace slow. Combine all that with a rocky path and my klutzy self and your left with slow running.

My goal quickly changed from getting that 45 minute time to not walking during the race (which I’ve never done until today) to finishing the race. Thankfully I did finish the race and I finished well, placing 3rd in my age division. I will definitely do a trail run again, but now that I know what to expect I hope to be more prepared on my next race.

The End is In Sight!

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I know, I know… it’s been a long time since my last post. Over a month, in fact. Since then I ran another 10k (and despite not making my goal and running in the rain, still got my personal record!), went to a Padres-Giants game (Padres won!), spent some time with modern art with my of my oldest friends, went to a David Sedaris reading, and am seeing one of my current favorite bands She & Him, tonight. But mostly I’ve been reading, grading, and writing.

I had hoped this quarter would less stressful than last quarter since I didn’t have nearly as much reading assigned to me. But I didn’t take into account that I had enrolled in two research seminars (meaning I have two research papers I’m writing). I like the projects I have been working on, but have been exhausted all quarter long. But the end is in sight, the quarter (and my first year as a PhD student) ends in just two (hopefully short but productive) weeks.

Other than that, my life has been mostly consumed with running. I have been wanting to push past my current longest run (13.4 miles) and start working toward my goal of running a the Big Sur Marathon in 2011. However, my bad habit of not stretching enough has really been haunting me and my legs have been so sore lately. Today I am taking the day off, hoping to get a long run in tomorrow (if I get my school work done today). On my sidebar there is a link to dailymile. This has been a lifesaver for me! You track and log your run and other workouts, along with following others workouts. This helps me for two reasons. One, I hate not being able to post a run because I decided to take the day off and knowing that helps me push myself to run five days a week. Two, I love reading other people’s posts and running tips. It’s especially great for me since I don’t have a running partner (and Sami’s runs max at about 3 miles, although sometimes she goes a little further).

I’m looking forward to pushing myself further in both running and school work this summer. I have a convention presentation in June (look forward to a blog post about that in the future) and hope to read some of the books I’ve had to shelve during the school year. I also have another half-marathon in August. I also hope to be a better blogger over the summer!