Tag Archives: 5k

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).

A Few Christmas 5ks

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Well, the racing year has pretty much come to a close. But CIM wasn’t my last race of the year. The second and third weekends of the year I ran in two Christmas 5k races.

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On December 9, I ran in my third Jingle Bell Rock 5k. I love this race because its small (although growing fast!), I have done well at it consistently, and they collect Toys for Tots. This year was the first year I ran it with friends around. Elise, Michelle, and Margaret all ran the race while my SCE gals Rebecca, Leslie, and Laura (and her daughter Agnes) volunteered.

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Elise & I at the start

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Me, Elise, Laura, Michelle, & Margaret post race

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The lovely volunteers, Leslie & Rebecca, with Elise & me

Elise and I stuck together for a little over the first half. She had a little lung difficultly (she has only been back running for a few weeks), so she slowed down but I kept my pace. I ended up finishing at 22:26, not a PR but still good only a week after the marathon. I took 4th in a highly competitive age group (I hate 10 year age groups!) I messed up my watch so I don’t have my splits, boo! Elise came in quickly after and secured 2nd place in her age group.

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A week later, Elise, Leslie, Gaylia, and I drove to San Jose to run in the 1st Annual Santa Run Silicon Valley 5k. We had one goal: get Elise a new PR!

When we arrived at the start, we found ourselves in a sea of green and red. I think we were the only runners not wearing a Santa suit or a green event shirt.

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Photo compliments of Santa Run facebook page

The first two miles were very strong: 6:52 and 6:58. Gaylia pulled ahead to block Elise from the wind and Leslie and I took either side of her. Leslie is such a great cheerleader, she kept Elise focused on her goal the whole race! Around mile 2, my day’s poor eating (a 4pm race is not ideal for me!) resulted in some phlegm issues that slowed me down. I waived the ladies to keep on and I slowed down (mile 3 was a whopping 7:25 pace!). But I knew Elise would get that PR. And she did! Elise finished at 21:52, 2nd in her age group. Leslie and Gaylia came in right by her, with 2nd and 1st places, respectively, in their groups. I finished about 20 seconds later, 22:13 taking 3rd in my age group and 13th woman overall. Watching Elise secure that PR after a year that included a painful injury that prevented her from running CIM made this race such an awesome end to a great running year!

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Did you run a Christmas/holiday race this year? How did it go?

Race to the End of Summer (literally)

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Oh man, is summer really over? I’m not ready for the shorter days and a full time class load :(  Well, I ended summer with a final last minute addition to my race schedule. My friend Leslie suggested we run the 5k portion of Race to End of Summer on Sept. 9. I figured why not, can’t hurt to get a good little speed run in right?

Unfortunately, Leslie’s grandmother passed away right before the race so she had to fly home and I ended up running the race solo. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had never heard of the race but I knew I wanted to place in the overall top 3 women finishers and I was looking for a sub 21:30 finishing time. I completed one of those goals.

I arrived with plenty of time to spare and ran a nice little warm up mile. It was sunny in San Jose and getting warmer by the minute. I made my way to the start line as the 10k runners started. A few minutes later and we were off. The race started and ended in a business park. The 5k course includes a small section of trail, but the 10k and half marathon courses seemed to include much more of that section. The course was pretty flat but I just couldn’t seem to push myself. And then, right after the mile 2 marker, my shoe came untied! What! This had never happened to me in a race before. I knew I was the 3rd woman and so I hurried to tie my lace and keep my spot. I made it to the turn around and saw that I had some space between myself and the next woman. The heat bothered me (I don’t know why, it wasn’t THAT hot). But I maintained the distance between myself and the woman behind me and crossed the finish line at 22:07 by my watch (I stopped it when I tied my shoe, official finish time 22:19). Dang it, I missed that PR!

 

3rd Place!

I hung out for a bit and then ran my cool down mile and changed into some trainer shoes. When I returned results had been posted. They were organized by age group and I was 3rd in my division. But they did not have overall results posted. It seemed like I might be 3rd overall woman but I couldn’t be sure. When they started to announce the results, the name they called as first woman finisher was not the name of the woman who finished first. It seems something got a little mixed up as the records indicated the first woman finisher was actually a teenage boy! Whoops. Once that got cleared up, the correct winners were named and yep, I was 3rd!!! Woohoo!! And my prize? A gift certificate for a pair of shorts or shirt at the Lululemon showroom in Los Gatos! Awesome!

New Lulu shorts!

While I was sad about missing that PR, I was stoked with the finish and the great prize. I think this is a race that would be more fun to run with friends, running through a business park is a little hard to get excited about, but still I’m glad I ran it. After the race, I drove back to Santa Cruz so Jenn and I could cheer on Elise who was completing her first Half Ironman! What an awesome accomplishment for her!

My sign for Elise!

Here are my splits for the 5k:
Mile 1 – 6:19
Mile 2 – 7:17
Mile 3 – 7:32

 

Color Me Rad

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This past weekend I ran the Color Me Rad 5k with three awesome friends, Pat, Jenn, and Laura (Jenn and Laura from SCE). The event is fun run (no timing chips, no placing) that raised money for the Pacific Autism Center for Education. The idea is that you start the race clean and pristine…

and then as you run through color stations…

you turn into a colorful running fool!

I picked up our packets the day before that included the normal tee, some awesome Fay Bans (fake Ray Bans), and “RAD” temporary tattoos. The race was held in San Jose on a cloudy morning. We headed out from Santa Cruz, parked at a nearby strip mall, and jogged over to the event. I couldn’t believe how many people were there! Lots of people wanted some serious color!

 

We didn’t go into this like we would a normal race. We didn’t run fast and we even took a long potty break before we even hit half a mile. We stopped and took pictures and just had fun. And, as you can see, we did a little jumping too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was definitely a fun experience and I had so much fun running with my friends. If you ever have a chance to get colored rad, I say go for it!

BTW: it was super choose from all the fun photos we had from that day, Laura did an awesome job taking pictures!

Maui Honeymoon!

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A couple of days ago, Kevin and I got back from our honeymoon (yes, it was almost a year after our wedding but whatevs, right?). We went to Maui for an amazing two weeks.  We stayed on Kaanapali Beach and spent most of our days on the beach and/or the pool relaxing. But we did have a few little adventures and outings that I’m sharing here. (I apologize in advance what the long post.)

Race

Pre Race


Of course I had to find a race while I was there! Before we left, I did some searching and found an inaugural 5k the first weekend we were in Maui. I thought it would be pretty small since it was the first year and the race organizers thought the same thing. But over 600 people showed up and it got a little chaotic. Kevin and I waited in line for about half an hour to pick up my race stuff and the race organizers had to push back the start time to accommodate for everybody. By the time the race started, it was hot and the runners were ready. We had a pretty funny false start but the race itself went smoothly. I felt pretty good maintaining a 7:06 pace in the hot and humid weather. I thought I was in 3rd place for the women (I never saw the girl in 1st!) but came in 4th (just seconds after the 3rd woman) and came in 1st for my age group. We hung out for a while after the race to get my medal, but were treated to a free breakfast and shave ice as we waited. Click here to read an article about the race.

All the race photos were from a runner’s GoPro, so there’s lot of photos of me running in front of the guy, haha.

Snorkeling
When we first started planning our trip, we knew we wanted to do some snorkeling. I envisioned it to be in shallow, flat water. Then our buddy told us about a boat trip out to Molokini that included two snorkel stops, breakfast, lunch, and cocktails. I do not consider myself a strong swimmer and was terrified of this idea. But I wanted to be a good sport, so I agreed to go along. That same friend also hooked us up with snorkel gear for our entire trip (thanks Casey!). We decided before the trip I should get some practice snorkel time in at Black Rock. The first two times, I was super scared even though I had a floatie (ok its a float belt thing, but whatever). But it was beautiful! I saw at least one sea turtle every time I went out as well as a million types of fish. Finally the snorkel trip day arrived and, yep I was scared. It had been windy and the water was choppy. Too choppy in fact and our trip got changed from Molokini to Coral Gardens and another stop that neither Kevin nor I can remember the name of. But both times we saw turtles and tons of sea life. It’s amazing how clear the water is in Hawaii. And the free mai tais after we snorkeled didn’t hurt either! We snorkeled a few more times at Black Rock and the last time I saw a spotted eagle ray! I don’t have any photos from our snorkeling but believe me, it was amazing!

Luau
The first Monday we were in town we went to a luau with a couple buddies (a few guys who live in Maui and our good friend Pat who was visiting those friends during part of our trip). The luau was awesome! Good food, drinks, and entertainment! Rather than describe it, I’ll just share some of the good photos.

Buddies!

Hula Dancers

Fire Dancer!

Oh yeah, Kevin hula danced too! What a good sport.

Hana
One of the coolest things we did while in Maui was drive the Road to Hana. Hana is a small town in South Maui, but you want to take the drive not just to see the town but for the drive itself.  You weave through 68 miles with 620 curves and 59 bridges (46 of which are one lane only) hugging the coast with rainforest along the way. We stopped multiple times to hike, see waterfalls, and see the ocean for all its glory. Two of our favorite stops were the Wainapanapa Black Sand Beach and the O’heo Gulch Pools (also known as the Seven Sacred Pools, but note there are neither seven pools nor are they sacred). After we got to Hana, we kept driving around the island and took a crazy dirt road that provided amazing views and entered a lava wasteland that made us feel like we were on the moon. After an entire day of driving and hiking, we were exhausted. So we treated ourselves to one of our favorite spots, Maui Brewing Co and a pie from Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop (soooo good!). Here are just a few of my favorite photos from our Hana road trip.

Upper Waikani Falls

Inside a lava tube at the black sand beach

Self portrait by Kevin at Seven Sacred Pools

The falls at Seven Sacred Pools and the bridge we crossed to get there

Favorite Eats
We ate amazing food while we in Maui. I thought I’d list some of our favorites with links.
Aloha Mixed Plate – Real Hawaiian food, so yummy! And if they have Hula Girl as their special drink, make sure to order it!
Maui Brewing Co – Lots of yummy beers, the only ones actually brewed on the island. And the food is good too!
Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop – Chocolate Macadamia Nut Praline and Apple Crumb Pies, so good!
Lahaina Pizza Co – Deep dish pizza
We at the following places at Kaanapali Beach
Hula Grill – Ahi Sandwich is the best, order medium rare
Leilani’s – We ate here twice. The first time our waiter wasn’t great, but the second time we got amazing service and the most delicious fish (Opakapaka).
Maui Fish & Pasta - We ate here for breakfast. They have Eggs Benedict over crab cakes… yes, it’s true. So good!

Photo from the Westin

In short, our trip was amazing! And we came back relaxed and tanned. We can’t wait to go back!