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. :)

Race Report: Mermaid 10K Run

Can you believe it's been five months since my last race? Yep, I've been taking my sweet ole time in building up my running base again but I finally made my 2009 race debut at the Mermaid Run on Sunday. They offered a 5K, a 10K, and a half marathon so I picked the 10K.

It was fun getting back into the race spirit again with things like picking up my goody bag and race bib, getting my race outfit ready, lining up at the start with other anxious runners, seeing the finish line and racing toward it... then again, you also have to deal with waking up early, becoming acquainted with the dreaded port-o-potty, getting annoyed when my Garmin splits don't match the course markings, etc. Luckily, the good outweighs the bad because I really do love running races!

I had three goals:
1. Finish with a sub-10:00 pace (1:01:53, 9:59 pace)
2. Finish under an hour (59:59, 9:40 pace)
3. Secure a new PR (59:17, 9:33 pace or better)

(I love how my race goals are kind of arbitrary because they're just random numbers after all.)

Officially, I only met goal 1. Unofficially, I may have met all three but since it's unofficial, it doesn't really count in my book. But I'll get to that later.

The race was held at Shoreline park and this was my third time running a 10K there. It's nice and flat so it's a good location.

Waking up was rough as I had been out with my friends the night before to celebrate my friend's birthday. I was planning to just stop in and give her my birthday present, but I was having so much fun that I ended dancing with them way past my curfew. I may have also ended the night with a blinking tiara on my head (that did not come from my circle of friends) but whatever. I ended up setting three alarms that night - thank goodness because I may have slept through it!

As of the night before, it was suppose to rain throughout the race. Not my favorite weather condition, but I figured I could deal with it for the hour or so it would take for me to finish. Well, luckily there was no rain that morning... but it was crraaaaazzzzyyyyy windy!

The race started out fine and we had great weather - sunny but chilly. But then as we got close to the water - WIND!!! I was excited to see that my first Garmin split matched the mile 1 course marking - that would be the only time that would happen.

The wind was crazy and was present through most of the race - even though it was an out and back. A couple of times, I was worried my hat would fly off or my ear buds would come out. On the way back, there were some brief moments where the wind was in our favor and I let it push me along, but not much.

I ran strong and really pushed myself. I only stopped once for a quick water/walk break which is pretty good because lately I've been pretty generous with myself during my runs when it came to walk breaks. Anytime I felt I was slowing down, I would turn on the "mental coach" and push myself to keep up the pace (which I kept checking to make sure I was under 10:00 min/mi).

I never saw any mile markers after mile 2 but I saw the mile 11 and 12 markers for the half. Since we had the same finish, I knew the course was going to be longer than a 10K (because I belong to the church of Garmin and it only speaks the truth) which meant it would be even more tough to meet my goals.

Finally, I was coming to the final stretch - I turned a corner and far out in the distance (maybe 1/3 mile away) was the finish line. You know what else I found around the corner? The strongest winds of them all - it was like a wall of resistance blocking me from the finish! It sucked... I kept trying to push through it but based on my splits, I didn't do as well as I wished. I finished with one hour on the clock...

Official Results
Chip Time: 1:00:23
Avg pace: 9:43 min/mi
Overall rank: 86/327
Age group rank: 18/72

And here's what the Garmin reported:

6.39 mi
1:00:23
Avg pace: 9:27 min/mi
Avg hr: 178bpm

1: 9:30
2: 9:34
3: 9:34
4: 9:40 (water/walk break)
5: 9:18
6: 9:10
0.39: 3:39 (9:23 pace)

I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to finish in under an hour which I've only done once. But then when I took a closer look at my times (the Garmin times, that is) - I did really well! To run over 6 miles at a 9:27 pace, which includes my walk/water break, is pretty awesome and beats my 10K PR pace (unofficially).

Afterward, I got in line for the free pancake breakfast - yum yum. I was also able to cheer on Tara and Julianne as they finished the half marathon - great job girls! They had a much harder course than the 10K... besides the extra distance, they had to deal with running in mud and the rain that started after I finished. I also got to catch up with an old TNT buddy.

By the way, to give you an idea of how windy it was... the scaffolding at the finish line that has the clock and the finish banner literally was blown to the ground! It was right around the 1:50 mark. Craziness. I don't think anyone was hurt, thank goodness.

Here are some pics of our race goodies...

Race shirt:


Cute text on the front:


They actually gave out womens cut shirts which were cute but a little too snug for me so I opted for the unisex style so that I could work out in it. The fitted cut was cute but I personally feel a little weird wearing fitted T's with print across my chest, especially that go top to bottom. Some words are more prominent than others, some are kinda hidden... do you see where I'm going with this?

Like Nike, we got cute pendants for our medals:

Front of our "medal":


Back of "medal":


I think this is cuter (and a little bigger) than the charm we got last year.

Next up? Big Sur Mud Run on Saturday and OMG, it's going to be so crazy! It's a five mile run with mud pits, obstacles, drill instructors, push-ups and just general craziness. I am running with a really fun team. My one concern is my race pace is their easy pace so I have a feeling that this race will be *ROUGH* for me and I'm praying I don't get left in one of the mud pits. Also, I don't know how fast I can run if I'm laughing my *ss off :)