Since I returned home from California, I've had to take another break from running, visit a few different doctors to get an answer about my bad back and I had a return to running again! :)
I am in my third week of training for a Duathlon. It will be at Siesta beach in early October. It's a 2 mile run, 13 mile bike and then a 5k run. Almost all of the running is on the beach!
Other races I have planned are Bill's Beer run at the end of october and the Women's Half Marathon in November.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
California running.
Just back from a very hilly women's 5 mile race. The race took place in Nisene Marks State park in Aptos. Very small crowd, but friendly people. The weather was perfect. High 50s with a cool fog cover.
The first mile was tough. Right off the bat there was a very steep hill. We ran a bit of flat road for a while then a nice down hill. But at the bottom of the hill I discovered a very steep climb back up! All this in the first mile. I was worried about the rest of the run. I asked a women that I had been running next to if there were many more hills. I may have grown up in this area, but it's been 14 years since I've lived here. This Florida gal is not used to hills! The woman told me there was one more steep trail climb in addition to the one hill that we cover in the last mile.
The second and third miles went pretty well, just a few rolling hills. The water stop was just before the 2.5 mile turn around. At the bottom of two hills. Not steep, but I didn't really want to slow to drink, then have to start a climb. So I got water on the flipside, it wasn't to hard to get going again. Just at mile 3 we went off the road and onto a single file trail. My garmin wasn't working to great with all the tall redwood trees around, but based on time, I guess the trail part of the race was about half a mile. The first half was all up hill and the last .25 was down. Had to watch out for rocks and tree roots.
The last mile started off with a great down hill, then a steep uphill. I was very happy to have the last uphill behind me. :) A bit of flat road and then downhill to the finish. I tried to pick up my pace at the end to push past the woman who had been in front of me the last half mile, but she was thinking like me, didn't happen. Finished in 50:15. Not my best 5 mile time, but considering the hills, I am pretty happy with it.
The woman that I had asked about the hills came up to me after the race and said she had used me to pace her and that I helped her finish. Another woman came up to me after the race and said she kept my bright pink shirt in her vision and tried catching up to me. :) Happy to help.
Over all I have a great time running in California's cooler temps. Had a pretty good 8 mile run Friday along the cliffs in westside of Santa Cruz and ran 3 miles yesterday along the beach in Seacliff. Hope to get in one more run tomorrow evening before flying back to steamy, hot Florida Tuesday. :)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Me and Joan :)
It's been awhile since I have checked in. Had to take a break from running because of back pain. Still getting that worked on by a chiro, but back to running. Managed to get a 29:05 in a 5K a couple of weekends ago, which I was happy about.
Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson gave a talk at New College the other night. I went and it was pretty cool. She is so tiny! She brought a bunch of her personal photos and went through and talked about them all. She had one of her and Lance Armstrong. Nike wanted her to pace him for the NYC marathon. She had an event the sat night and told them she couldn't do it unless they flew her down from Maine. So of course, they did. She couldn't believe Nike chartered a Jet to pick her up at 11 pm sat night and fly her down to NY.
I went out for her "fun run" the next morning. I got up early and ran 5 miles at 6 am, came home and changed into dry clothes, took Aidan to school, then headed over to New College. There were about 15 people, so a small group. I got my photo taken with her. :) They said we would do about 4 miles, which was a bit long for me right now. My long run has been 8, so added to the 5 already would have been 9. We started out slow, which was good. Well slow for most of them and Joan. It was about a 10 min pace, which for me is a bit faster then I have been running.
The college girl who had arranged for her to speak was running with us. After about 1.5 miles, she fell back to a walk. Joan slowed down the ran slowly with her the rest of the way. I took a pic of them and then when they caught up (about 1.5 miles out) I said I needed to go back. Thanked her for coming down and that it was nice meeting her. She shook my hand and said it was nice meeting me too. :) So I ended up getting in 2.75 on that second morning run.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Max Bayne race report
What a race!
The morning started off rainy with thunder and lightning. We were not sure if they would cancel the race, but decided to drive up anyway. The race was at Fort Desoto park, an island out in the Tampa bay. Not a lot of protection out there, but on a good day, it’s very pretty. Got there about 7 am, picked up our shirt, bib, chip and headed back to the dry car. I was glad I had my flip flops on, because when we got out of the car, both of us put our feet in deep puddles! I decided to wear the Garmin, but leave the Ipod and waist pack in the car. We headed to the race start at about 5 minutes before 8 am. There was a light rain, so we had on our garbage bags, to try and keep dry. Both of our shoes were already full of water with just the walk across the parking lot.
Everyone was in groups on dry patches of the road. But when the race started we all merged and splashed through ankle deep water until we got out of the parking lot. Of course just as we started, the rain came down harder. The first 2 miles we ran in the rain. I kept up a good pace.
The rains stopped for about a mile, but started up very strong as the 5k runners headed home and we split from them. Then the thunder and lightning started. One strike was very near to us off to the left, which was pretty scary. But thankfully that was the only close one, it was a light rain for the next few miles. I started having my usual stomach/breathing issues by mile 6. What a drag. I wasn’t planning on a fast race because of the conditions, but I didn’t want to have to walk. Ended up taking short walking breaks during the last 4 miles. The only plus side here was that it was no longer raining.
This race had a lot of fast runners. I only had 4 runners behind me at the turn around! I was just happy to not come in last.
Time – 1:49:00. About 9 minutes slower than I had hoped. Not more racing for me until I figure out what is going on with my back pain that prevents me from breathing deeply.
The morning started off rainy with thunder and lightning. We were not sure if they would cancel the race, but decided to drive up anyway. The race was at Fort Desoto park, an island out in the Tampa bay. Not a lot of protection out there, but on a good day, it’s very pretty. Got there about 7 am, picked up our shirt, bib, chip and headed back to the dry car. I was glad I had my flip flops on, because when we got out of the car, both of us put our feet in deep puddles! I decided to wear the Garmin, but leave the Ipod and waist pack in the car. We headed to the race start at about 5 minutes before 8 am. There was a light rain, so we had on our garbage bags, to try and keep dry. Both of our shoes were already full of water with just the walk across the parking lot.
Everyone was in groups on dry patches of the road. But when the race started we all merged and splashed through ankle deep water until we got out of the parking lot. Of course just as we started, the rain came down harder. The first 2 miles we ran in the rain. I kept up a good pace.
The rains stopped for about a mile, but started up very strong as the 5k runners headed home and we split from them. Then the thunder and lightning started. One strike was very near to us off to the left, which was pretty scary. But thankfully that was the only close one, it was a light rain for the next few miles. I started having my usual stomach/breathing issues by mile 6. What a drag. I wasn’t planning on a fast race because of the conditions, but I didn’t want to have to walk. Ended up taking short walking breaks during the last 4 miles. The only plus side here was that it was no longer raining.
This race had a lot of fast runners. I only had 4 runners behind me at the turn around! I was just happy to not come in last.
Time – 1:49:00. About 9 minutes slower than I had hoped. Not more racing for me until I figure out what is going on with my back pain that prevents me from breathing deeply.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
St. Patty's 8k in Tempe, AZ
I ran the st patty's 8k this morning in Tempe, AZ. We are in Scottsdale for a week, so thought, why not! :) I did make the mistake of eating to much mexican food last night, ug. I was feeling it this morning.
Nice and cool this morning. Low 50s and very low humidity!!
This was a small race, a great change after last week's big race. I started out good. Keeping a mid 9 min. pace. Right off the bat there were some hills. At about .6 of a mile we went off road and ran on a dirt/rocky road. That lasted almost a mile. The course took us through and around this large park with a lake in the middle. Very pretty, but lots of rolling hills, which are tough for this florida gal! We had one more short section on that dirt path in the last mile. And just before the finish there was one last tough hill. Finished in 48:49. garmin showed 4.98 miles, though I thought an 8k was 4.8 oh well. :) No PR for me. Just had fun and enjoyed a new course. Loved the no humidity!
Time: 48:49, Pace: 9:50, 135 out of 203 total runners.
Nice and cool this morning. Low 50s and very low humidity!!
This was a small race, a great change after last week's big race. I started out good. Keeping a mid 9 min. pace. Right off the bat there were some hills. At about .6 of a mile we went off road and ran on a dirt/rocky road. That lasted almost a mile. The course took us through and around this large park with a lake in the middle. Very pretty, but lots of rolling hills, which are tough for this florida gal! We had one more short section on that dirt path in the last mile. And just before the finish there was one last tough hill. Finished in 48:49. garmin showed 4.98 miles, though I thought an 8k was 4.8 oh well. :) No PR for me. Just had fun and enjoyed a new course. Loved the no humidity!
Time: 48:49, Pace: 9:50, 135 out of 203 total runners.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Princess Half Marathon
I drove over to Orlando Saturday, arriving at the expo place at 2pm. Got my bib and then went to get my t-shirt. I got a large, tried it on and it was tight! So I tried to exchange it, but all they had were smalls and mediums. So I walked around and ended up buying a shirt that says "I need my beauty sleep." and on the back has the race name and date. I also got a 13.1 charm and a couple of water bottles. Headed to the hotel next, checked in, then went to the outlet mall just down the road. Went to the Nike store and got a new top and light weight dry tech running pants to wear the next day.
That night I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Once I got to sleep, around 10ish, I just kept waking up every half hour or so. Got up at 4:15, but because we lost an hour due to the time change, it felt like 3:30. I was out of there by 4:40 and made it to the parking lot at Epcot just before 5 a.m. I gave Brenda a call. She had just pulled into the parking lot too. We planned on hanging in our cars for a little bit then meeting up. Around 5:15 we met by my car, found someone to take a photo of us, then headed over to the porta potties. Got in pretty quick. I decided not to check a bag, so we walked back to my car, which wasn't far, to drop it off. We saw that people were walking to the start already, so started heading in that direction with them. It was a bit of a walk, I don't know, a quarter to half a mile. Stopped at the porta potties again then headed to our corral. We were both surprised that we were in the first one, but it was great to be so close to the start. There were 3 corrals. Any men running in the race were placed in the 2nd or 3rd area.
It was really great to have someone with me to talk to while waiting there for the hour before the race. The temps were in the mid 50s and it was dark and foggy.
The race had a very quiet start. I was surprised there were no fireworks like they have for the January race. I wished Brenda a good race, then we parted ways.
I started out good. There were a couple of hills early in the first mile, made it through those just fine. I was keeping a good pace through mile 5, but then started to feel the slow down. At this point we started running through the Magic Kingdom. That was fun. Lots of crowd support. I ran through the castle, noticed lots of photographers, but it was pretty crowded, so not sure they got a shot of me. When we got to the front of the Castle, there were a couple of photographers taking photos if you wanted to stop. So I ran over, stood for 2 seconds while they got the shot, then ran on. :)
splits, mile 1 to 5: 9:23, 9:36, 9:51, 9:53, 9:55
At this point I really wanted my sport beans and water. I didn't carry a bottle of water with me this race, so had to wait til I got to the water stop. Just after mile 6 I got there. I ate half a bag of sport beans and drank water while walking through the stop.
Splits, miles 6 to 9: 10:25, 11:30, 10:26, 11:06
I was slowing down alot, but just wanted to keep going. My toe that had a major blister on it from the marathon really hurt. At the next water stop just past mile 8, I walked for a bit and then again at mile 10. The last 2 hills were tough, and had to walk those two. At the 12 mile water stop, I looked behind me and saw Brenda not to far back. That motivated me to keep going! :)
Splits, miles 10 to 13: 11:29, 11:30, 11:59, 10:50
The last mile was the longest ever! I felt like I was going to throw up! But I made it to the finish line. Finished in 2:20:12. This is not a great time for me, but not my worst and at 3 weeks post marathon, I'll take it.
Got my very pretty finishers medal, a banana, water and poweraide, then headed on out of there. I just wanted to get back to the hotel for a shower. I was very sweaty!
I would love to run this race again next year. The water stops were great. They had about 3 different kinds of fuels at the mile 8 stop. Lots of food and drink at the finish. At the most of the water stops after mile 5 there were volunteers with vaseline and Biofreeze. The only downside was the shirt. But now I know they run very small.
That night I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Once I got to sleep, around 10ish, I just kept waking up every half hour or so. Got up at 4:15, but because we lost an hour due to the time change, it felt like 3:30. I was out of there by 4:40 and made it to the parking lot at Epcot just before 5 a.m. I gave Brenda a call. She had just pulled into the parking lot too. We planned on hanging in our cars for a little bit then meeting up. Around 5:15 we met by my car, found someone to take a photo of us, then headed over to the porta potties. Got in pretty quick. I decided not to check a bag, so we walked back to my car, which wasn't far, to drop it off. We saw that people were walking to the start already, so started heading in that direction with them. It was a bit of a walk, I don't know, a quarter to half a mile. Stopped at the porta potties again then headed to our corral. We were both surprised that we were in the first one, but it was great to be so close to the start. There were 3 corrals. Any men running in the race were placed in the 2nd or 3rd area.
It was really great to have someone with me to talk to while waiting there for the hour before the race. The temps were in the mid 50s and it was dark and foggy.
The race had a very quiet start. I was surprised there were no fireworks like they have for the January race. I wished Brenda a good race, then we parted ways.
I started out good. There were a couple of hills early in the first mile, made it through those just fine. I was keeping a good pace through mile 5, but then started to feel the slow down. At this point we started running through the Magic Kingdom. That was fun. Lots of crowd support. I ran through the castle, noticed lots of photographers, but it was pretty crowded, so not sure they got a shot of me. When we got to the front of the Castle, there were a couple of photographers taking photos if you wanted to stop. So I ran over, stood for 2 seconds while they got the shot, then ran on. :)
splits, mile 1 to 5: 9:23, 9:36, 9:51, 9:53, 9:55
At this point I really wanted my sport beans and water. I didn't carry a bottle of water with me this race, so had to wait til I got to the water stop. Just after mile 6 I got there. I ate half a bag of sport beans and drank water while walking through the stop.
Splits, miles 6 to 9: 10:25, 11:30, 10:26, 11:06
I was slowing down alot, but just wanted to keep going. My toe that had a major blister on it from the marathon really hurt. At the next water stop just past mile 8, I walked for a bit and then again at mile 10. The last 2 hills were tough, and had to walk those two. At the 12 mile water stop, I looked behind me and saw Brenda not to far back. That motivated me to keep going! :)
Splits, miles 10 to 13: 11:29, 11:30, 11:59, 10:50
The last mile was the longest ever! I felt like I was going to throw up! But I made it to the finish line. Finished in 2:20:12. This is not a great time for me, but not my worst and at 3 weeks post marathon, I'll take it.
Got my very pretty finishers medal, a banana, water and poweraide, then headed on out of there. I just wanted to get back to the hotel for a shower. I was very sweaty!
I would love to run this race again next year. The water stops were great. They had about 3 different kinds of fuels at the mile 8 stop. Lots of food and drink at the finish. At the most of the water stops after mile 5 there were volunteers with vaseline and Biofreeze. The only downside was the shirt. But now I know they run very small.
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