Race Report: Cleveland Half Marathon

Without further ado, here is the "long awaited" race report for the Cleveland Half Marathon that I ran in mid-May. This was a last minute addition to my race calendar. I was planning to visit my family in Ohio so I thought it would be fun to run this while there as I've always wanted to do a big hometown race.

Training

OK, let me just confess upfront: This is NOT how anyone should train for a half marathon. In fact, I use the term "train" very loosely here. After the three consecutive weekends of running and biking events (Mermaid 10K, Big Sur Mud Run, Cinderella Classic), I had about two weeks of doing nothing. I mean, I was doing stuff (traveling home for Easter one weekend, being a bridesmaid in a wedding the following weekend) but any kind of training definitely came to a halt.

Eventually, I had about four weeks to squeeze in some runs. I knew this wasn't enough to really do much but at the same time I wasn't planning to shoot for a PR or anything. I just didn't want to die out there.

So first week of training went well but then I got sick. And then went to Yosemite. And then went to Vegas. Basically, I averaged about 2 runs/week with my longest running being a 10 mile run two weeks before the race that was actually two 5 mile runs with a 3 hour break on my couch in between. (It made sense at the time...)

As a result, I wasn't expecting much come race day (well, other than a new personal worst.)

Expo

The nice thing about doing a hometown race is really being able to milk the parental support. The expo was in downtown Cleveland at the Convention Center. I had no problems with going there on my own but for some reason, my mom insisted that she drive me there, drop me off, and wait for me to get my stuff. How nice is that!

The expo was pretty decent sized and some of the race gear was actually pretty cute but I didn't get anything. I did pick up some things that I had forgotten at home (a wristband to wipe the sweat off my face and some sports beans which I didn't end up using). The goody bag had some nice freebies as shown below. (But did we really need a dozen packets of Splenda?)



Race Day

Once again, my parents were awesome support on race day and dropped me off at the race start. I thought they would go home and come back for the finish but they ended up staying for the whole entire morning. Luckily they dressed warm as it was pretty chilly that morning - but perfect weather for running!

The race was actually pretty small even with both the full and half marathoners starting together (there was also a 10K that started a bit later). It only took me about 4 minutes to cross the start line. We set off toward the water listening to the city's anthem "Cleveland Rocks". The weather was awesome and even though I wasn't ready for this race, I knew it would at least be fun.

I tried to stay with the 4:30 marathon group for a 2:15 finish but as usual, I couldn't keep up with them. So far, I've yet to keep up with a pace group - haha.

The course took us west closer to my hometown and then looped back to the start. The nice thing was that my parents saw me off and then my sister and her 2 year old son were waiting to cheer me on around the halfway point at a park. Luckily she found me otherwise I would have definitely passed by them. I loved seeing them out there as it really kept me going for the first part of the race. The funny thing is that my adorable nephew was totally unaware that there was a race going on. I think in his mind, he just thought he was having a nice day in the park with his mommy and that his auntie just suddenly appeared.

Anyway, the race so far had been going well. I wasn't trying to push it but felt comfortable with maintaining around a 10:00 min/mi pace for the first half of the race. And for me, that's pretty good. But then around mile 8, it all started to change. My body was finally starting to realize, hey, we're not used to doing this! And soon each step became more and more difficult. By mile 11, I literally felt like I had two dead weights hanging off my legs. This coincided with the part of the course that had a slight but long incline. Greeaaaaattttttt. I took a few more stops, walked a little bit, and then finally just told myself to get my butt in gear and get to that finish line.

It helped me once we got to the mile 12 marker as we were seeing more spectators and you could feel the energy of getting closer and closer to the finish.

I liked that when I turned the last corner, the finish line was pretty much right there and I sprinted as fast as I could. I managed to hear my dad cheer for me so I waved to him. A little bit later, I heard my mom and waved to her. My mom was actually able to take these two pics as well:





I'm so glad she did because believe it or not, this just might be my first race where I had no official race pics taken! Granted, I don't even remember seeing any photographers on the course but at the same time I wasn't looking for them. Mostly because I was primarily focused on staying in the game and getting my dead legs across that finish line.

And amazingly, I did OK! Official time: 2:16:59. Totally due to the cool running weather and relatively flat course.

Here's what Garmin spit out... my early splits were actually better than I thought:

1: 10:02
2: 9:50
3: 9:55
4: 9:59
5: 9:56
6: 9:47
7: 10:24
8: 10:12
9: 10:39
10: 10:26
11: 11:57
12: 11:35
13: 10:19
0.23: 9:05 pace

13.23 mi
2:17:02
Avg pace: 10:22 min/mi
Avg hr: 173bpm


Official Results

Chip Time: 2:16:59
Pace: 10:27 min/mi
Overall Place: 2924 / 3900
Gender Place: 1440 / 2394
Division Place: 262 / 367

It seems like 2:17 is the magic number for me these days when it comes to half marathons. How freakish is this?

• 2:17:20 - 8/31/08 Disneyland Half Marathon
  
• 2:17:08 - 10/5/08 San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
  
• 2:17:03 - 10/19/08 Nike Women's Half Marathon
  
• 2:16:59 - 5/17/09 Cleveland Half Marathon

All with varying course elevations and weather. Weird. Too bad 2:17 is practically 10 minutes slower than my current PR. I'll get there... someday!


Me after the race:


I was so excited to see this offered in the finish chute:


My bling and race shirt, which I like alot. It's an ASICS technical shirt and we all got different colors. Men got maroon for the full and white for the half. Women got lime green for the full and light blue for the half. A lot of people wore them on race day so it was fun for me to know which events people in front of me were doing.


Back of the shirt (very groovy!):


Close up of the medal with the spinning guitar:


Final thoughts on the race

It was definitely nice to do a race so close to home but overall, I don't know if I would recommend it to non-local runners. There really wasn't that much for on-course entertainment especially since they make such a big deal with the whole Rock n Roll Hall of Fame association. I think there were just a handful of music stops. There was some live music as well but not much. (Although I was amused to see the marching band of my brother's old high school.) The course had a nice start with seeing the Cleveland Browns stadium, the Science Center, and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame but otherwise the half goes through a lot of residential areas and a good portion was on a highway. They did seem to have a nice post-race party setup (beer!) but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to check it out as my poor parents were tired and cold from waiting for me that whole time. (They did get to spend some time hanging out a local shopping mall while I was running, so they didn't have to stand around the whole time.)

Anyway, half marathon #9 is in the books. HM #10 will be in wine country next month.

And on a separate side note, I was once again rejected in the NYC marathon lottery this year. Still on track for 2011 :)

Happy Memorial Day

Greetings all! Hope you all enjoyed your holiday today. Normally, I just view Memorial Day as another Monday to sleep in, watch daytime TV, hang with friends, go shopping, etc, BUT this year, I am spending the holiday weekend in our nation's capital. As a result, Memorial Day is a little more special this year as I really got to spend some time to honor those that have served and are serving for us.

It's been awhile since I played tourist in DC so on Saturday, my mom and I braved the sunny heat to explore the National Mall. Holy crap - that place is huge! I mean, I knew it was BIG, but I really had no idea how friggin' long the mall is. Here's a pic for your reference (click to view the large version):



At one end is the US Capitol and at the other end is Lincoln Memorial - they are ~2 miles apart!!! We entered at the metro stop which is at about the halfway point and worked our way to old Abe.

We first stopped at the Washington Monument. It's pretty tall (ha).



Then we spent some time at the World War II Memorial which was actually quite nice because there were a lot of veterans there and a lot of people were taking the time to shake their hands and thank them for what they did.

We walked all the way past the reflecting pool (where I kept thinking about Forrest Gump yelling out to Jenny) and finally made our way to the Lincoln Memorial.



Hello Abe!



Here's a view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Far, huh?



We also viewed the Vietnam Memorial... sad to see how many names were listed.

All in all, it was a nice afternoon to remember those that we have lost and to appreciate the wonderful country that we live in.

On a running-related note (as this is a running blog, right?), I was really impressed with the number of runners I saw out there battling both the heat and the number of tourists as they ran around the mall. It was at least in the mid-80s with large sections with no shade at all! While we were walking around, I actually overheard a lady behind me complain about the runners interfering with the tourist paths. Which I thought was really funny because right before I heard her say that, I, myself, was thinking wow - what a great place to run! This is a perfect four mile loop with lots of great people watching! Ah well, obviously she wasn't a runner.

Anyway, we headed back to DC again today to watch the Memorial Day parade. And wow, that was a long-*ss parade - two hours to be exact! But it was nice because at the halfway point, we all took a moment of silence to honor those that we have lost. It was also nice because we got to honor and thank those that are currently serving. Here are some picture highlights that hopefully you will enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: Even after spending a good amount of time on Wikipedia and Google, I'm still kind of confused about all the armed forces. So if I messed up any of the titles below, please let me know and I'll correct them. Also, if anyone has a simple explanation of the difference between the army and the marines, please let me know that, too. :)

ARMY


AIR FORCE


MARINES


NAVY


Oh, and look, Gary Sinise was one of the honorary marshalls!


Well, that's all for now. Cleveland Half Marathon race report coming soon... (quick teaser: I did NOT get a personal worst. YAY FOR ME!)

Hope you all had a good holiday weekend!

Ride Report: Cinderella Classic

Well I hate having more than one race report in queue so I'm going to get this out now since I am doing half marathon #9 on Sunday.

On April 4th, I participated in the Cinderella Classic - a 65 mile, all-female bike ride that went throughout the east bay, starting and ending in Pleasanton. My friend Kirby told me about this event and I am so glad I signed up.

It was AWESOME! Definitely my longest bike ride to date and so much fun. I think the ride was limited to about 2000 riders and was sold out. Everyone got really decked out for the ride - pretty much everyone had some kind of costume on (see pics below). I kept it simple and just added a foam tiara to my helmet.

The course went through some really scenic areas. There were enough hills to keep it challenging but none that were too strenuous - I think I stayed in my big ring (is that the right word?) the whole time. As you can tell, I still consider myself a bike newbie but I think this ride is perfect for me as well as for the more advanced rider, like Kirby.

Another wonderful thing about this ride is that it was so well-supported. There were constantly SAG vehicles driving by so there were no worries if you had any bike issues. This came in especially handy for me. When I first arrived at the event, I somehow managed to break the pin off the valve of my tube when trying to inflate my tire. Sad thing - this is the *second* time I've done this. Luckily, they had a bike support crew set up at the start so I just handed it over and they took care of it for me in no time! (Side note: I have changed my tube before but that was in the comfort of my living room with a bike manual in front of me - still took me way too long.)

Here's me and Kirby at the start:



As you can see, Kirby added some fun "flare" to her helmet:



But check out the rest of the riders!



The next two were "borrowed" from the official race photographers:





Official Race Pics:


This was taken around mile 22.


I think this was around mile 37 - it was warmer then so I had taken off my jacket. Layering is really key in these kind of events - it was freezing in the morning and warm in the afternoon!

Because this was a "ride" and not a "race", I took my sweet ole time during the whole thing. There were two rest stops and one lunch stop along the way so I was out pretty much the entire day, leaving around 8:30AM and returning just before 3PM. If you take out the rest stops, I was biking for about five hours or so. The weird thing is that I totally felt fine by the end and I could have biked longer if I wanted to. I wasn't even sore the next day which really surprised me.

Even though I knew it wasn't a race, I was still a little disappointed when I finally returned to the start. I was thinking there would be a big FINISH banner or something but there wasn't anything. Kind of anti-climactic BUT they did have a nice spread of food at the end.

And instead of medals, we got this patch. I don't know what I'll do with it but I thought it was fun to get something different.



All in all, it was a really fun event and I highly recommend. I think it would be especially fun if you do it with a big group with coordinated costumes :)

One of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on TV...

So... I've been a horrible blogger and commenter. Please accept my apologies. Hopefully some of you are still following me?

I still need to post a ride report for the amazing Cinderella Classic but until then, here's some fluff that I'd been meaning to discuss for awhile. Apologies again if this has already been discussed out there in blogger land.

This post has to do with "The Real Housewives of New York City", specifically that crazy cougar / newest housewife Kelly Bensimon. (On a separate note, I don't like her but I do find her entertaining. Regardless, I'm Team Bethenny all the way!)

Earlier this month, they showed a clip highlighting Kelly's love for running.



OK, seriously - is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen? Like people just casually run in the middle of a car lane in front of a taxicab in Manhattan. PLEASE! And yes, she really did say, "The ultimate experience of being in New York is running in traffic." Maybe if you have a death wish!

(By the way, this short clip by itself was sandwiched between two commerical breaks. I've noticed Bravo do this several times and I hate it! But then again, I watch most of my TV on the DVR so I fast forward through most of the commercials but I still think it's annoying. It might also just be a one minute clip squeezed into a really long commercial break but it's still weird.)

I read that Kelly was a marathon runner and of course I was skeptical, so I had to verify this. I'm happy to report that yes, she ran the 2007 NYC Marathon for a charity in 4:54:57. Being the good stalker that I am, I even looked up the pics:



So that's pretty cool but I still think she's crazy.

In other news, I do have some other events lined up that I haven't yet mentioned here. First up is the Cleveland Half Marathon on May 17th. Training is sort of being crammed in at the moment so I'm just looking to have fun in my hometown with my family's support.

I did manage to log 20 miles last week which is pretty good for me although this week hasn't been going so great since I spent most of the time being sick (and no, I don't think it's the swine flu). I feel a little better now but unfortunately I hear rain will be coming our way this weekend - bummer...

Race Report: Big Sur Mud Run

Last weekend, I participated in the Big Sur Mud Run. It was crazy, amazing, insane fun! I was lucky enough to run this as part of Team Dirty Divas (Maritza, Tara, Julianne, and Shelly). It was awesome to join these amazing gals but woah boy, did it kick my a**.

It's a five mile course with four mud pits. I knew about all this and I was pumped. What I failed to note is the terrain and the elevation of the course. Doh! It was mostly uphill climbs on both pavement and trails (parts of it on sand!). The last time I ran any kind of hills was at the Nike half in October. So yeah - that hurt.

I think the best way to describe this race is through pictures and video (!!!) and we've got tons of awesome ones! All pictures and videos are courtesy of Julianne and Shelly and their awesome cheerleader/photgrapher/videographer crew.

Here's us at the start - note how nice and clean we look... that won't last.


Check out the cute shirts that Shelly designed for us - thanks girl!


Waiting for our wave to start... we did some jumping jacks to get warmed up


So now we're off! As I mentioned in my previous post, my teammates are awesome runners and my race pace is their easy pace. Right out of the gate, I had to pretty much sprint to sort of keep up with them. Did I mention the first mile was mostly uphill, too?

Eventually we got to the first mud put which I think was at mile 1 (no mile markers on the course). We had to tackle three consecutive short walls. They were too high to jump over so I had to hoist myself up to sit on top and then swing my legs over. This worked fine for the first two but by the third one, I may have swung my legs too forcefully because I ended up sliding right off, landing myself in the mud pit. Oh well, I knew I was going to get muddy - might as well go for it. No pics - sorry!

Then it was off to run on the trails... I'll spare you the details but between the sand sinking you in and what seemed like never ending uphills, I was huffing and puffing like a chain smoker. The girls were so nice with waiting for me at each obstacle plus cheering each other on (usually with "Come on, b*tches!" - but in a very supportive, affectionate tone *hee, hee*).

Next mud pit had us climbing over a six foot wall - we couldn't do it ourselves so these nice guys helped hoist us over.

We got some cool pics of the third mud pit... first we had to cross a beam...


... then haul ourselves over another 6 foot wall (I was able to do this one by myself this time!)...


... run through a mud pit and then do ten push ups. (Girly ones for me)


Check out the video:


And here are some funny guys with their unique approach to it:


I should also mention that they had these drill sergeant types manning the course and some where hilarious! I saw two of them take down a participant when she was trying to get over a wall. One guy kicked and splashed mud all over us in one of the mud pits. Another guy barked at me for smiling. So funny!

Another fun thing about this race - beer stop! I was hot and dying at that point so beer tasted really good. There was also a water stop a little ahead but oops, I missed that.

OK, onto the last mud pit. I'll let the pics and video speak for themselves... but basically, this time we had to crawl through the mud pit.







Afterward, we then went on to run the final portion of the course around the track. As we approached the finish, we took what just might be my favorite race photo ever!


Crossing the finish line!


Our official finish time was 1:02:23 and we finished in 11th out of a total 33 teams in the all female division.

Here's us with our well-earned medals (I don't know why I'm flexing - I have invisible biceps)


Then it was off to the showers... a very surreal experience. I felt like I was in a Backstreet Boys video (quick - which one?)


Kind of clean...


Afterward we celebrated with lunch at Bubba Gump's in Monterey right on the water - it was a beautiful afternoon!

By the way, here's our race shirt and medal:


Close-up:


Cute back design as well... "I got down and dirty at the Mud Run"


I really enjoyed running with these girls and getting to hang out with them more. Go Dirty Divas! This race was such a fun experience (even if I felt like I was dying for most of it). It was a rare occasion when I actually enjoyed random men hollering, "There goes those dirty girls!" And who knew my first wet T-shirt appearance would occur well into my 30s?

I had so much fun that I am now planning to do the Muddy Buddy Ride & Run in June! I have the perfect shoes for it...

Nike Shirt on Sale :)

OK, I'm gonna pretend to be Chic Runner here...

A lot of you commented that you liked my shirt from the Mermaid Run. Well I just looked and it's now on sale at Nike.com - woohoo! It's from the 2008 Nike Women's Marathon... I like it a lot. Maybe I'll pick one up in a different color!

Originally priced at $40, now on sale for $27.99. I have the Berry color, also comes in Powder Blue and White. Order yours here.



There's actually a ton on sale on the Nike site so you should check it out.

Happy Shopping!

Pictures from Mermaid 10K

Happy Monday!

Here are the official race pics from the Mermaid 10K:


My typical race pose (waving to the photographer)







Here I am doing my race pose again but instead I look like I'm sashaying or some other dancey dorky thing.

Next up... race report from the Big Sur Mud Run where the Dirty Divas definitely got down and dirty on Saturday. :)