Just a quick post for now, but here's my contribution to Take It and Run Thursday: Running Quotes and Sayings:
"I eat hills for breakfast."
I read this on Frayed Laces and it always cracked me up. I don't think that really applies to me, but I'm going to be using this as my mantra as I tackle the Nike Women's Half Marathon this weekend! :)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Race Report: San Jose Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon
So two Sundays ago, I ran the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon. It was my first time running any of the Rock 'n' Roll events and it was a lot of fun. Here is my review in bullet form:
- Course: It was a loop throughout San Jose which I like since that means no shuttles were involved. The portion through downtown San Jose was fun, but for the most part, the course is not too scenic. Also, it was nice and flat with a few exceptions for underpasses and what not - no major hills, though.
- Entertainment: Bands at every mile of course! Wide variety of music, too, so that was fun.
- Weather: The forecast said high 50's which made me very excited. I neglected to note that it also said "Sunny" which ended up draining a lot of energy from me.
- Amenities: Water and Cytomax at every aid station. They also gave Power Shots (I think?) at one of the stops. After the finish, they had cold water towels which I loved!!!
- Expo: Pretty decent for a half marathon. And I was amazed by the wide selection of race gear they had - more than Nike! They had all sorts of different styles and a lot of them were pretty cute, too. I guess since it's part of the RnR "chain", it's easy for them to have a wide selection.
- Size: I think there were almost 10,000 runners total? Including those crazy elite runners that run at 5:xx paces!
- Good for out-of-towners?: Definitely! The expo and the race start/finish are both conveniently located within walking distance of the downtown SJ hotels. There is stuff to do in that area but you're also only an hour from SF and a couple of hours from Monterey.
- Post-race entertainment: Very fun! Runners get a free beer and there is live entertainment at the finish. However, I left right before the headliner (Credence Clearwater Revisited).
- Post-race food: Tons! More than my little arms could hold. I should have stolen an empty box like other runners. Sadly, no cookies, though.
- Chip timing: Yep, they used the D-tag system.
- Medal: Very cute and colorful (see below)
- Race shirt: Bleh. Short sleeve, white cotton T.
Expo
I headed to the expo on Saturday afternoon. We had to sign a form that was mailed to us ahead of time which I didn't open until I went to pick up my bib. I was in for a big shocker - do you know what was listed as my predicted finish time???
2:00:00
Did I really enter that? What the heck was I thinking? Well, it turns out that way back in February, when I first registered for this race, I had it in my mind that I could shoot for a new half marathon PR (by 8+ minutes, no less!). Oops. I kind of forgot about that. I guess I was too busy squeezing in two half marathons and a duathlon in the month leading up to it. Oh well, maybe next year!
Anyway, while there, I finally got to meet Julianne! Luckily, she had a camera with her since I kind of forgot to bring the battery that comes with mine (doh).
Don't we look all nice and clean? :)
Race Day
I loved having the race so close to my home and with a start time of 8AM. That means I got to wake up at 6AM instead of 5AM, what a luxury!
I got to the race about an hour ahead of time. Wow - they had tons of port-o-potty's! I don't think any line had more than three people. I did a bit of a warm up jog and then found my corral. Off we went!
The weather felt nice and cool. I was hoping it would stay cold for most of the race, however, I'd say within the first mile we came into a stretch where the sun was out and I knew that it would not be a cold one.
I was pretty consistent with my splits for the first 5 miles or so but eventually, I could not pick up the pace. It wasn't necessarily hot, but there was a lot of sun on the course and I think it really did a number on me. I drank water more often but I couldn't really push my pace too much. Especially in the last mile where I really wanted to try to pick it up but I noticed my heart rate was getting to 185 (extremely high for me!) so I just kept running at what felt comfortable.
I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 2:17:08, about the same time as the Disneyland Half.
After we finished, we all got a water bottle and a nice cold water towel. I was so happy to have both as I wasn't feeling so hot at the end. I had sprinted the last stretch of the race and I was still breathing hard when I finished. I think the sun was getting to me, too. There were these long lines at the finish to get your pic taken (mine is below), and while standing there under the sun, I felt really weak. I ate the rest of the luna moons that I had in my back pocket. Also, everything seemed really bright, like white-bright, if that makes sense. One person accidentally bumped into me, and I felt like I could have easily just toppled over. I ran into an old TNT friend and chatted with her a bit, but while talking, I could sense that my breathing was still off, like I had to take mini-gasps of air or something. Overall, it was just weird and I was really glad that I asked my friend and her fiance to come meet me at the finish.
Official Results
Chip Time: 2:17:08
Pace: 10:28
Overall: 5047/9563
Gender: 2079/5375
Division: 376/901
Afterward, I found my friends and they were awesome with helping to take care of me afterward. Such cuties. Also, GC tried to take pics of me crossing the finish line and they were so hilarious. I'll see if she still has them... in one, you could only see my orange hat and possibly a hand, another one was just feet (maybe mine, who knows) and another one was a guy that jumped in front of her camera. The one photo she did get of me was after I finished and it might quite possibly be the most unattractive photo I've ever seen of me. So yeah, you won't be seeing that.
Once I felt better, we got some beers and found a spot on the lawn with the blanket they had brought. It was so nice to be out there - the sun feels great when you're not running, haha!
Here is the back of the T-shirt we all received with the medal.
Cute medal!
And for The Office fans, I saw someone running with the shirt from the Fun Run for Rabies 5K! You know, this one:
I need to get one of these!
Anyway, it was a fun race and depending on the schedule, I'd probably sign up again. (Too many fun fall races!) It would be great to get some of my friends to do it, too.
Other race reports:
Aron
Julianne
RoadBunner
Don't we look all nice and clean? :)
Race Day
I loved having the race so close to my home and with a start time of 8AM. That means I got to wake up at 6AM instead of 5AM, what a luxury!
I got to the race about an hour ahead of time. Wow - they had tons of port-o-potty's! I don't think any line had more than three people. I did a bit of a warm up jog and then found my corral. Off we went!
The weather felt nice and cool. I was hoping it would stay cold for most of the race, however, I'd say within the first mile we came into a stretch where the sun was out and I knew that it would not be a cold one.
I was pretty consistent with my splits for the first 5 miles or so but eventually, I could not pick up the pace. It wasn't necessarily hot, but there was a lot of sun on the course and I think it really did a number on me. I drank water more often but I couldn't really push my pace too much. Especially in the last mile where I really wanted to try to pick it up but I noticed my heart rate was getting to 185 (extremely high for me!) so I just kept running at what felt comfortable.
I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 2:17:08, about the same time as the Disneyland Half.
After we finished, we all got a water bottle and a nice cold water towel. I was so happy to have both as I wasn't feeling so hot at the end. I had sprinted the last stretch of the race and I was still breathing hard when I finished. I think the sun was getting to me, too. There were these long lines at the finish to get your pic taken (mine is below), and while standing there under the sun, I felt really weak. I ate the rest of the luna moons that I had in my back pocket. Also, everything seemed really bright, like white-bright, if that makes sense. One person accidentally bumped into me, and I felt like I could have easily just toppled over. I ran into an old TNT friend and chatted with her a bit, but while talking, I could sense that my breathing was still off, like I had to take mini-gasps of air or something. Overall, it was just weird and I was really glad that I asked my friend and her fiance to come meet me at the finish.
Official Results
Chip Time: 2:17:08
Pace: 10:28
Overall: 5047/9563
Gender: 2079/5375
Division: 376/901
Afterward, I found my friends and they were awesome with helping to take care of me afterward. Such cuties. Also, GC tried to take pics of me crossing the finish line and they were so hilarious. I'll see if she still has them... in one, you could only see my orange hat and possibly a hand, another one was just feet (maybe mine, who knows) and another one was a guy that jumped in front of her camera. The one photo she did get of me was after I finished and it might quite possibly be the most unattractive photo I've ever seen of me. So yeah, you won't be seeing that.
Once I felt better, we got some beers and found a spot on the lawn with the blanket they had brought. It was so nice to be out there - the sun feels great when you're not running, haha!
Here is the back of the T-shirt we all received with the medal.
Cute medal!
And for The Office fans, I saw someone running with the shirt from the Fun Run for Rabies 5K! You know, this one:
I need to get one of these!
Anyway, it was a fun race and depending on the schedule, I'd probably sign up again. (Too many fun fall races!) It would be great to get some of my friends to do it, too.
Other race reports:
Aron
Julianne
RoadBunner
Monday, October 13, 2008
Pictures from the Mermaid Duathlon
I finally got pics from the Mermaid Duathlon. I was excited to see they got a pic of me on my bike. Road bikes really are amazingly thin - I'm actually surprised I don't just fall right off the thing!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Tagged (My 150th Post!)
Thanks, Aron, for tagging me! It's my first time being tagged so I am very excited. :) Also, I just realized this is my 150th post so I figure this is a good time to share useless information about me - haha.
6 random things about me...
1. I've only met two "bloggers" so far - Leana at the Minnie 15K in May and Julianne at the SJ RnR half last weekend. It's always fun to meet people with common interests - hopefully, I'll meet more of you at upcoming races!
2. I'm a huge TV junkie - I watch it all! I know, I know... it's a horrible habit but I can't help it! I actually started a TV blog (before this one) just to have a place to voice my random comments since most of my friends don't watch the shows that I do. So if you're ever bored - feel free to check it out! That one, Pop Culture Addict, only has about three readers (no joke).
3. I never did any kind of physical activity growing up. Nothing. In fact, I never really did any kind of regular exercise until I was in my late 20's and realized I was getting more huggable than I would like. But it wasn't running that helped me lose weight - it was hip hop dancing! (Oh - and a healthier diet, too) I never studied dance but I enjoyed it so I found a studio that offered classes for adults and went several times a week, eventually joining a performing crew (strictly amateur) and that was my main source of exercise for about three years ... and then I got into running!
4. I have 33 first cousins - 26 on my mom's side, and 7 on my dad's side. (What can I say? I come from a Catholic family!) I'd say about half of them are in the US and half are in the Philippines.
5. I have a huge sweet tooth. I love all kinds of baked goods, but especially COOKIES. (yum... cookies...) By the way, if you need a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, here's one that I stole from my friend which ALWAYS gets good reviews.
6. My running "career" almost lasted just a few months! I ran my first 5K in 2002 but I guess it just didn't really stick for me back then. I found the email I sent to my running friends about it - here it is, my debut race report, for your amusement:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just wanted to share my good news with you. I am
very proud to announce that I just completed my very
first 5K yesterday! I know, I know, that's "kid
stuff" to you seasoned runners, but it was a huge
accomplishment for me. I've never been able to run
for any long period of time but two months ago I
decided to give it a try. Mainly because the weather
has been so nice and I was looking for something to do
outside. So I started with the run/walk thing and I
could only run for like a minute and then I'd have to
stop and walk because I would get bad cramps or what
is referred to as "side stitches" by you runners
according to the various websites I've read. :) By
the way, I use the term "run" very loosely, I'm still
at such a slow pace that it's more of a "jog", just
slightly faster than my walking pace - hahaha!
So anyway, I set my personal goal to do a 5K, and jog
the whole time and not chump out and walk any part of
it. Well halfway through the run, I got those d*&^
cramps again, but I toughed it out - with the help of
some breathing tips I learned :)!
Anyway, I think I was at a 12 min/mi pace which I know
is lame but I just think it was cool that I was
actually able to do something aerobic for 37 minutes
straight! Who knew!
But alas, I don't think I'll continue - it's kind of
boring! I mean, I kept up with it b/c I wanted to
meet my 5K goal and I am signed up for a 6 mi run at
the end of the month (definitely one that I'll
run/walk), but I don't know ... it doesn't seem to be
my thing. I don't know how you guys were able to do a
whole marathon - geesh!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know, I can't believe I wrote those words either. I finally picked up running again a few years later. And as you know, it stuck this time.
So now I am tagging the following (although I'm sure most of them have already been tagged by now):
Absolut(ly) Fit
Delusions of Other People's Grandeur
Excuse #1 I'm Not Fit to Run
Feet Meet Street
joyRuN
Out for a Walk
Running and Some Sauce on Top
Running Knitter
The Running Laminator
Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!
6 random things about me...
1. I've only met two "bloggers" so far - Leana at the Minnie 15K in May and Julianne at the SJ RnR half last weekend. It's always fun to meet people with common interests - hopefully, I'll meet more of you at upcoming races!
2. I'm a huge TV junkie - I watch it all! I know, I know... it's a horrible habit but I can't help it! I actually started a TV blog (before this one) just to have a place to voice my random comments since most of my friends don't watch the shows that I do. So if you're ever bored - feel free to check it out! That one, Pop Culture Addict, only has about three readers (no joke).
3. I never did any kind of physical activity growing up. Nothing. In fact, I never really did any kind of regular exercise until I was in my late 20's and realized I was getting more huggable than I would like. But it wasn't running that helped me lose weight - it was hip hop dancing! (Oh - and a healthier diet, too) I never studied dance but I enjoyed it so I found a studio that offered classes for adults and went several times a week, eventually joining a performing crew (strictly amateur) and that was my main source of exercise for about three years ... and then I got into running!4. I have 33 first cousins - 26 on my mom's side, and 7 on my dad's side. (What can I say? I come from a Catholic family!) I'd say about half of them are in the US and half are in the Philippines.
5. I have a huge sweet tooth. I love all kinds of baked goods, but especially COOKIES. (yum... cookies...) By the way, if you need a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, here's one that I stole from my friend which ALWAYS gets good reviews.
6. My running "career" almost lasted just a few months! I ran my first 5K in 2002 but I guess it just didn't really stick for me back then. I found the email I sent to my running friends about it - here it is, my debut race report, for your amusement:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just wanted to share my good news with you. I am
very proud to announce that I just completed my very
first 5K yesterday! I know, I know, that's "kid
stuff" to you seasoned runners, but it was a huge
accomplishment for me. I've never been able to run
for any long period of time but two months ago I
decided to give it a try. Mainly because the weather
has been so nice and I was looking for something to do
outside. So I started with the run/walk thing and I
could only run for like a minute and then I'd have to
stop and walk because I would get bad cramps or what
is referred to as "side stitches" by you runners
according to the various websites I've read. :) By
the way, I use the term "run" very loosely, I'm still
at such a slow pace that it's more of a "jog", just
slightly faster than my walking pace - hahaha!
So anyway, I set my personal goal to do a 5K, and jog
the whole time and not chump out and walk any part of
it. Well halfway through the run, I got those d*&^
cramps again, but I toughed it out - with the help of
some breathing tips I learned :)!
Anyway, I think I was at a 12 min/mi pace which I know
is lame but I just think it was cool that I was
actually able to do something aerobic for 37 minutes
straight! Who knew!
But alas, I don't think I'll continue - it's kind of
boring! I mean, I kept up with it b/c I wanted to
meet my 5K goal and I am signed up for a 6 mi run at
the end of the month (definitely one that I'll
run/walk), but I don't know ... it doesn't seem to be
my thing. I don't know how you guys were able to do a
whole marathon - geesh!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know, I can't believe I wrote those words either. I finally picked up running again a few years later. And as you know, it stuck this time.
So now I am tagging the following (although I'm sure most of them have already been tagged by now):
Absolut(ly) Fit
Delusions of Other People's Grandeur
Excuse #1 I'm Not Fit to Run
Feet Meet Street
joyRuN
Out for a Walk
Running and Some Sauce on Top
Running Knitter
The Running Laminator
Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Race Report: Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon
[NOTE: This is the much-delayed race report for the half marathon I ran three Sundays ago.]
So back to my earlier post, I hate to disappoint all of you but here are my REAL results from the Chicago Half Marathon.
Once again, I was able to "beat" my personal worst time for a half marathon. No worries - the fact that I just finished this darn thing was a big enough accomplishment for me.
I had been planning a visit to Chicago to catch up with friends and for some crazy reason, I thought it would be fun to combine it with a half marathon. Never again! I am, however, intrigued by their Shamrock Shuffle in March (you go drinking afterward!), but not races that take me over two hours to complete.
The weekend before the half, I chatted with my friend PH (who was also running the half) and she told me they had been having perfect running weather in Chicago. So I was pretty excited since the Disneyland Half two weeks earlier had been a little warm and sticky for me.
I flew in Friday afternoon and it was raining. Light rain, but it was present all day long. It rained when we headed to Navy Pier for the packet pick up and it rained as we bar-hopped on Southport that night. Rain, rain, rain.
On Saturday, I woke up to more rain... it was POURING. It was ridiculous. People couldn't even leave town because the nearby highways were flooded. Apparently, Chicago had a record amount of rainfall in a single day that day. It was that kind of weather when you look out the window and immediately think, "Yeah, I'm not going out there". So I didn't! PH was an awesome hostess (with the cutest pup ever!) so we spent all day indoors nice and dry. We watched college football and The Devil Wears Prada, played Scrabble, explored facebook, etc etc. We checked the race site for the latest status and the race was still on - rain or shine!
Later that night, my friend, JL, came over to PH's place and we all indulged in some amazing Chicago deep dish pizza. Carb-loading at its best! Yum, yum.
RACE DAY
Still raining.
The fun part of this race was the company. Besides PH (who I've been friends with since first grade!), our friend from high school, CH, was also running as was her husband. They brought a friend of theirs, as well, so we had a good sized group headed to the race that morning.
The race started in the south side of Chicago at Jackson Park. Our race started early as we had to sprint to catch the Metra train to get there. We barely made it!
Once we got to the park, it was still raining. Even worse, we had to cross the park to get to the start line - a park that had now turned into a bunch of mud pits! Not fun. The gals all had to visit the port-o-potty so we actually joined in with the race after it already started - maybe 10 minutes later? Good thing we had chip timing!
I ran with PH and CH for the beginning of the race, who both run a lot faster than me. It seemed fine but probably not a good way for me to start a half marathon - according to Garmin, the first three miles were around a 9:30 pace which would be OK for a 10K for me, but not a half.
Eventually, we let PH run ahead but CH was nice enough to stick around with me. It was her first half and she didn't seem to care when she finished. So I ran most of the race with her which was fun because we got to catch up a bit more and stuff. But I'm sure the talking slowed my pace. I tried to let CH run ahead but she was so nice to stick around with me. The first half of the race was so funny - the rain was right in our face. I wanted a towel to wipe my face! We were completely drenched. And every now and then, we'd step into a big puddle. You know that feeling... squishy ickiness!
Every now and then, I'd glance at my Garmin and we'd be at a 10:45 pace... so I knew we were going slow but oh well. I just couldn't push myself to go faster. I remember feeling really fatigued though. Toward the end, maybe around mile 10?, CH stopped to walk a bit. I kept on running because I knew she would easily be able to catch up with me at the pace I was going. I stopped for water at the next stop and tried to find CH but I couldn't spot her. I waited for a bit, too, but then just kept on going. So I ended up doing the last part of the race on my own.
Around mile 12, I heard someone cheer my name but assumed it was just a friendly spectator since our names were printed on our bibs. Turns out it was another friend from high school and her BF. I couldn't believe they came out to stand in the rain to cheer us on - what sweeties.
They had signs marking off "3/4 mi to go", "1/2 mi to go", "1/4 mi to go", etc. That last quarter mile seemed to last forever! Finally, I crossed the finish line and I was so happy to be done. Mainly because I wanted to get out of the rain and get indoors.
After finishing, I went to the meeting spot and found the rest of the gang who were all huddled underneath the Tylenol tent (along with a bunch of other runners.) I felt so bad because some of them had been waiting for almost 40 minutes until I got there! Funny moment: I was standing at the edge of the tent and one of them offered to let me take their spot under the tent (it was *that* crowded) and I said that's OK since I'm already drenched anyway. At that exact moment, a bunch of water that had collected at the edge of the "roof" of the tent decided to completely unload right on top of me. It was like being on "You Can't Do That on Television"! That cracked me up.
Anyway, we headed back to the Metra - the train ride back was one of my favorite parts of the day. We had one of the cars pretty much to ourselves so we had plenty of room to just chill and talk and stuff. Once we got back to the station, we all got some Starbucks treats.
It was probably around two hours from the time I finished the race to the time we finally arrived back at PH's place. My hands and feet were still wrinkled like prunes. That post-race shower was probably the best shower ever!!!
My one regret is that I didn't stretch enough after the race. I think I was too concerned with getting the heck out of there! So I ended up being really sore and limping like an old lady for a few days after the race. I really felt the pain with my IT band, too. I've had a couple of massages since then that seems to have helped.
Here's the medal and the T-shirt that we received:
Final thoughts... runners really are nuts. I mean, the weather was horrible and still over 10,000 runners showed up for this race. As I was running down Lake Shore drive with rain dripping down my face, I looked around and just thought, we are one crazy, sick bunch.
I probably won't be running this half again... the course wasn't that interesting and there wasn't much for entertainment. Plus, it was difficult to get to/from the race and the expo.
BUT I had fun that I got to experience it with friends since I usually do my races solo. And I loved the looks on people's faces at the Metra station when hundreds of us soaking wet runners walked in.
I did it all for the cookie.
So back to my earlier post, I hate to disappoint all of you but here are my REAL results from the Chicago Half Marathon.
Once again, I was able to "beat" my personal worst time for a half marathon. No worries - the fact that I just finished this darn thing was a big enough accomplishment for me.
I had been planning a visit to Chicago to catch up with friends and for some crazy reason, I thought it would be fun to combine it with a half marathon. Never again! I am, however, intrigued by their Shamrock Shuffle in March (you go drinking afterward!), but not races that take me over two hours to complete.
The weekend before the half, I chatted with my friend PH (who was also running the half) and she told me they had been having perfect running weather in Chicago. So I was pretty excited since the Disneyland Half two weeks earlier had been a little warm and sticky for me.
I flew in Friday afternoon and it was raining. Light rain, but it was present all day long. It rained when we headed to Navy Pier for the packet pick up and it rained as we bar-hopped on Southport that night. Rain, rain, rain.
On Saturday, I woke up to more rain... it was POURING. It was ridiculous. People couldn't even leave town because the nearby highways were flooded. Apparently, Chicago had a record amount of rainfall in a single day that day. It was that kind of weather when you look out the window and immediately think, "Yeah, I'm not going out there". So I didn't! PH was an awesome hostess (with the cutest pup ever!) so we spent all day indoors nice and dry. We watched college football and The Devil Wears Prada, played Scrabble, explored facebook, etc etc. We checked the race site for the latest status and the race was still on - rain or shine!
Later that night, my friend, JL, came over to PH's place and we all indulged in some amazing Chicago deep dish pizza. Carb-loading at its best! Yum, yum.
RACE DAY
Still raining.
The fun part of this race was the company. Besides PH (who I've been friends with since first grade!), our friend from high school, CH, was also running as was her husband. They brought a friend of theirs, as well, so we had a good sized group headed to the race that morning.
The race started in the south side of Chicago at Jackson Park. Our race started early as we had to sprint to catch the Metra train to get there. We barely made it!
Once we got to the park, it was still raining. Even worse, we had to cross the park to get to the start line - a park that had now turned into a bunch of mud pits! Not fun. The gals all had to visit the port-o-potty so we actually joined in with the race after it already started - maybe 10 minutes later? Good thing we had chip timing!
I ran with PH and CH for the beginning of the race, who both run a lot faster than me. It seemed fine but probably not a good way for me to start a half marathon - according to Garmin, the first three miles were around a 9:30 pace which would be OK for a 10K for me, but not a half.
Eventually, we let PH run ahead but CH was nice enough to stick around with me. It was her first half and she didn't seem to care when she finished. So I ran most of the race with her which was fun because we got to catch up a bit more and stuff. But I'm sure the talking slowed my pace. I tried to let CH run ahead but she was so nice to stick around with me. The first half of the race was so funny - the rain was right in our face. I wanted a towel to wipe my face! We were completely drenched. And every now and then, we'd step into a big puddle. You know that feeling... squishy ickiness!
Every now and then, I'd glance at my Garmin and we'd be at a 10:45 pace... so I knew we were going slow but oh well. I just couldn't push myself to go faster. I remember feeling really fatigued though. Toward the end, maybe around mile 10?, CH stopped to walk a bit. I kept on running because I knew she would easily be able to catch up with me at the pace I was going. I stopped for water at the next stop and tried to find CH but I couldn't spot her. I waited for a bit, too, but then just kept on going. So I ended up doing the last part of the race on my own.
Around mile 12, I heard someone cheer my name but assumed it was just a friendly spectator since our names were printed on our bibs. Turns out it was another friend from high school and her BF. I couldn't believe they came out to stand in the rain to cheer us on - what sweeties.
They had signs marking off "3/4 mi to go", "1/2 mi to go", "1/4 mi to go", etc. That last quarter mile seemed to last forever! Finally, I crossed the finish line and I was so happy to be done. Mainly because I wanted to get out of the rain and get indoors.
After finishing, I went to the meeting spot and found the rest of the gang who were all huddled underneath the Tylenol tent (along with a bunch of other runners.) I felt so bad because some of them had been waiting for almost 40 minutes until I got there! Funny moment: I was standing at the edge of the tent and one of them offered to let me take their spot under the tent (it was *that* crowded) and I said that's OK since I'm already drenched anyway. At that exact moment, a bunch of water that had collected at the edge of the "roof" of the tent decided to completely unload right on top of me. It was like being on "You Can't Do That on Television"! That cracked me up.
Anyway, we headed back to the Metra - the train ride back was one of my favorite parts of the day. We had one of the cars pretty much to ourselves so we had plenty of room to just chill and talk and stuff. Once we got back to the station, we all got some Starbucks treats.
It was probably around two hours from the time I finished the race to the time we finally arrived back at PH's place. My hands and feet were still wrinkled like prunes. That post-race shower was probably the best shower ever!!!
My one regret is that I didn't stretch enough after the race. I think I was too concerned with getting the heck out of there! So I ended up being really sore and limping like an old lady for a few days after the race. I really felt the pain with my IT band, too. I've had a couple of massages since then that seems to have helped.
Here's the medal and the T-shirt that we received:
Final thoughts... runners really are nuts. I mean, the weather was horrible and still over 10,000 runners showed up for this race. As I was running down Lake Shore drive with rain dripping down my face, I looked around and just thought, we are one crazy, sick bunch.
I probably won't be running this half again... the course wasn't that interesting and there wasn't much for entertainment. Plus, it was difficult to get to/from the race and the expo.
BUT I had fun that I got to experience it with friends since I usually do my races solo. And I loved the looks on people's faces at the Metra station when hundreds of us soaking wet runners walked in.
I did it all for the cookie.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Race Report: Mermaid Duathlon - Santa Cruz
Well, race mania continues in full force over in this neck of the woods. Yesterday, I participated in my very first duathlon and it was a blast! It was the Mermaid Triathlon/Duathlon in Santa Cruz. I signed up right after I got Gigi because 1) it sounded fun and 2) I wanted to make sure I was motivated to use my new four-figure purchase and not have it collecting dust in my apartment.
There's a whole series of Mermaid events in this area that are tailored for women and are very newbie-friendly. So this duathlon was perfect for me! It was a pretty manageable distance as well: 1.5 mile run, 11 mile bike, 2.5 mile run. I had done 10 miles on my jenbike (the mountain bike I had inherited from my friend Jen) before I had Gigi so I knew I could handle the bike distance.
I had two main goals for the race:
1. Don't fall off my bike during the dismount
2. Don't resort to walking my bike up any hills
A co-worker had laughed at me for setting my expectations low, but considering both of those things happened last weekend, I thought they were actually pretty reasonable goals! And c'mon, I've never done anything other than running events, so I didn't even know what to expect!
Pre-race
I went down to Santa Cruz the day before to pick up my race packet. I got a bib for me, a sticker for my helmet, and a tag for my bike. Very exciting! Afterward, I drove the bike course because I wanted to know exactly what kind of hills I would be tackling. The online course map showed two steep hills. Yep, I easily could tell they would be granny gear hills. However, there were lots of other hills throughout the course - more like rolling hills but still, it was pretty challenging! So now I'm starting to get nervous... what am I doing? I think I could count the number of bike rides I've had to date on my two hands and now this? Eeyikes... I was also really nervous about the whole transition thing but everyone assured me that there would be plenty of volunteers and race staff to direct us.
I probably left Santa Cruz around 5:30PM Saturday evening. You would think I would have then gone home to rest up for the big race. But no, I then headed over to meet up with friends for the Journey concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater. It was awesome! And their new singer (who's filipino - pinoy power! haha) sounds just like Steve Perry. It's so weird... Heart opened for them and they were awesome as well!
Race Day
OK, now on to race morning. My wave start was at 7:50AM. I decided to get there extra early so I would have plenty of time to figure out the transition area and get settled and stuff. So I left my apt at around 5:50AM and then headed out. As a side comment, driving down 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz in the dark is kinda creepy. You basically are driving through the mountains and it's a lot of twists and turns on a narrow highway surrounded by super tall trees on both sides. The only lights are from the cars so if you look in your rear view mirror - it's pitch black. That part wasn't so fun.
Anyway, I finally get to the state park. Everything was really convenient as the parking lot was right next to the transition area. I followed another lady and we started chit chatting and I discovered this was her first tri. That seemed to be a common theme - so many of us were new and had no idea what was going on!
I entered the transition area and the confusion must have been all over my face because a volunteer immediately offered to help me out. She directed me to the racks for the duathlon athletes. I kind of looked around to see what everyone else was doing and then I went to set up my stuff.
Gigi at her first race:
The rest of the transition area:
I definitely had a lot of time to kill before my wave started. I got body marked, looked at the course map, wandered around, people watched, etc. I also had a lot of people coming up to me asking questions about the race which I thought was pretty funny - probably because I looked bored or something.
RACE TIME!
Eventually it was time for us to go! I forgot to mention that the race was at Seacliff State Beach. Everyone had their first leg at the beach - obviously the swimmers for the tri, but even the duathletes had their first leg down by the water along the beach path. All the duathletes started together so we headed down the wooden stairs from the transition area to the beach. We were chip timed but there was no start mat for us - our start line was drawn in chalk right when we got there. For our first leg we would run to the end of the beach path, turn around, and then run back and then UP the stairs to the transition area.
Ugh.
Here are the stairs:
Talk about a buzz kill! Anyway, we counted down and then off we went. I definitely started out too fast because eventually lots of people were passing me. No worries - I don't know what my pace was but I could tell I was pushing it to where I needed to be. Running a mile is tough - it's an all out sprint! And then we got to the stairs. There was no running then, my heart rate was already sky high. After we finally got to the top, my natural instinct would be to stop and catch my breath but oh no... I just hit my first transition and with all the people cheering you on, it was just go, go, go! So I ran to my bike and tried to catch my breath a bit while getting my gear on. I changed shoes, replaced my Nike hat with my helmet, slipped on my gloves and off I went. Transition was actually pretty straightforward - I walked my bike to the mount line and was able to take off with no problems.
I'll be honest - I really enjoyed the bike part. It was my kind of biking. We had wide open roads and all these lovely volunteers and police officers monitoring traffic so that we didn't have to worry about silly little stop signs and stuff. The first hill was definitely a toughie. I dropped to my lowest gear and just pedaled away. I was pretty pleased to see that I was climbing the hill at about the same pace as everyone around me. Yay - I don't really suck that bad at hills! (I've only done two serious bike rides prior to this and they were both with hard-core bikers ... so this was quite refreshing!) Once I got a little more comfortable, I remembered, oh yeah - this is a race. So when I could, I tried to add more gear and push myself a little more to pass a few people here and there. That was kind of fun. But for the most part, I kept with the people around me.
The second super steep hill was right at the end of the bike course. Cruel, right? So I knew I had to save some energy for that. Holy crap was that exhausting. But I succeeded - I did not have to walk my bike at all! (However, on my way back, I did see several other bikers walking up their bike on the first steep hill - it was a hard one!)
Finally, we were arriving at the transition area and the volunteers were directing us on where to dismount. Immediately, I'm starting to get nervous... uh oh... stop and dismount... in front of all these spectators??? But again, it was one of those cases of "don't think, just do it!" and so I did! No problem!!! I had this big smile of relief as I entered the transition area which was mostly due to the fact that I didn't make an a** of myself in front of all these cheering strangers.
So I racked up Gigi and replaced all my bike gear with my running gear. I took a big swig of Gatorade and then took off for the last leg - 2.5 mi run.
Um. WOW. My legs felt like Jell-o when I was coming out of that transition area. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How do people manage such great runs at this point? Seriously, my legs felt like two dead weights underneath me. Luckily, the first part was downhill which helped a bit (but you know what that means...) and then we ran along the same beach path like the other run. I seriously felt like I was running an 11:00 pace but every time I glanced at my Garmin, it said 9 something so that shocked the heck out of me. I was seriously huffing and puffing at this point, no conversational pace for me! After a couple of turn-around points, I finally was back at the hill. I so wanted to walk it but the finish line was literally at the top of the hill so I just pushed myself through. I raced for that finish line and the clock read 1:43. I didn't even know what that meant so I thought, OK, sounds good to me!
After they took my timing chip, they gave me a little gift bag that had a mermaid necklace inside. Sure it's no Tiffany necklace, but it was still cute!
The post-race stuff was also pretty good considering it was a small race. I was able to get a 5 minute massage with hardly any wait, got some Luna bar samples, some 20% off Sports Basement coupons (love those!), and even a pancake breakfast! Yum yum!
It was while I was wandering around that I noticed Garmin had actually recorded a 1:23 finish time. I forgot that there were other waves ahead of me.
So here are the *official* results:
Run 1: 9:14
T1: 2:34
Bike: 46:39
T2: 1:34
Run 2: 23:12
Total time: 1:23:13
Overall Place: 41/131
Divisional Place: 6/22
(Top third!!! Woohoo for me!)
If you are really observant, you may have noticed that some of these times seem messed up. Well, you would be correct because there's no way I can run 1.5 miles in 9:14. So for your reference, here are the Garmin times. It also had my T1 and T2 times but for some reason, Garmin decided to chew up that data.
11:49 for 1.01 mi (11:42 pace) - stoopid stairs
48:11 for 11.10 mi (13.8 mph)
23:14 for 2.39 mi (9:44 pace)
My mermaid loot:
The official race T was a ladies cut ring T but it was super skinny and super long so I decided to get the more basic T shirt style.
Close-up of the necklace:
Overall, I had so much fun at this race and would love to do it again next year. Except next time, I would try to make it more of a focused race and not one I squeezed into a calendar full of half marathons.
These multi-sport kind of events are pretty fun. It's quite the change of pace from running races. There's so much activity going that it really mixes things up, you know, makes them a little more exciting.
It's also interesting to see the different skill sets during a race. For example, there was a lady I had chatted with at the start of the race - she was wicked fast and totally flew past me during the first run. Somehow in the second half of the bike race, I passed her. And then toward the end of the second run, she passed me and I ended up finishing right after her. There was also this girl that I tried to keep up with on the bike part but eventually lost her toward the end - I ended up passing her during the run.
Also, these kind of races are perfect for spectators! I'm kinda bummed that I was too chicken to invite my friends to watch. You can stay in one spot and are guaranteed to see your favorite racer multiple times. Going in and out of transitions were pretty fun because of all the people cheering. A lot of times I was kind of by myself and they still cheered for you - my favorite was "I like your shirt!"
Some people had asked if I was going to go for a triathlon. And unfortunately the answer is no. I tried swimming, I really did! I even took a handful of private swimming lessons a year or two ago, but I just can't get the hang of the breathing. I suppose if I just focus on practicing that, I might improve, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
On another random note, I bought two things in preparation for the duathlon:
1. Yankz! (Although I'm still not sure I have them on right)
2. Garmin quick release kit
Both work great - however in all my rush, I forgot to actually move the Garmin from my wrist to the bike during the race. Oh well - here's how it looks in case you are curious.
That's it for now... still have one more race report to write. And can you believe I have another half marathon on Saturday???
I did not plan this season very well. But I am having a lot of fun!
There's a whole series of Mermaid events in this area that are tailored for women and are very newbie-friendly. So this duathlon was perfect for me! It was a pretty manageable distance as well: 1.5 mile run, 11 mile bike, 2.5 mile run. I had done 10 miles on my jenbike (the mountain bike I had inherited from my friend Jen) before I had Gigi so I knew I could handle the bike distance.
I had two main goals for the race:
1. Don't fall off my bike during the dismount
2. Don't resort to walking my bike up any hills
A co-worker had laughed at me for setting my expectations low, but considering both of those things happened last weekend, I thought they were actually pretty reasonable goals! And c'mon, I've never done anything other than running events, so I didn't even know what to expect!
Pre-race
I went down to Santa Cruz the day before to pick up my race packet. I got a bib for me, a sticker for my helmet, and a tag for my bike. Very exciting! Afterward, I drove the bike course because I wanted to know exactly what kind of hills I would be tackling. The online course map showed two steep hills. Yep, I easily could tell they would be granny gear hills. However, there were lots of other hills throughout the course - more like rolling hills but still, it was pretty challenging! So now I'm starting to get nervous... what am I doing? I think I could count the number of bike rides I've had to date on my two hands and now this? Eeyikes... I was also really nervous about the whole transition thing but everyone assured me that there would be plenty of volunteers and race staff to direct us.
I probably left Santa Cruz around 5:30PM Saturday evening. You would think I would have then gone home to rest up for the big race. But no, I then headed over to meet up with friends for the Journey concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater. It was awesome! And their new singer (who's filipino - pinoy power! haha) sounds just like Steve Perry. It's so weird... Heart opened for them and they were awesome as well!
Race Day
OK, now on to race morning. My wave start was at 7:50AM. I decided to get there extra early so I would have plenty of time to figure out the transition area and get settled and stuff. So I left my apt at around 5:50AM and then headed out. As a side comment, driving down 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz in the dark is kinda creepy. You basically are driving through the mountains and it's a lot of twists and turns on a narrow highway surrounded by super tall trees on both sides. The only lights are from the cars so if you look in your rear view mirror - it's pitch black. That part wasn't so fun.
Anyway, I finally get to the state park. Everything was really convenient as the parking lot was right next to the transition area. I followed another lady and we started chit chatting and I discovered this was her first tri. That seemed to be a common theme - so many of us were new and had no idea what was going on!
I entered the transition area and the confusion must have been all over my face because a volunteer immediately offered to help me out. She directed me to the racks for the duathlon athletes. I kind of looked around to see what everyone else was doing and then I went to set up my stuff.
Gigi at her first race:
The rest of the transition area:
I definitely had a lot of time to kill before my wave started. I got body marked, looked at the course map, wandered around, people watched, etc. I also had a lot of people coming up to me asking questions about the race which I thought was pretty funny - probably because I looked bored or something.
RACE TIME!
Eventually it was time for us to go! I forgot to mention that the race was at Seacliff State Beach. Everyone had their first leg at the beach - obviously the swimmers for the tri, but even the duathletes had their first leg down by the water along the beach path. All the duathletes started together so we headed down the wooden stairs from the transition area to the beach. We were chip timed but there was no start mat for us - our start line was drawn in chalk right when we got there. For our first leg we would run to the end of the beach path, turn around, and then run back and then UP the stairs to the transition area.
Ugh.
Here are the stairs:
Talk about a buzz kill! Anyway, we counted down and then off we went. I definitely started out too fast because eventually lots of people were passing me. No worries - I don't know what my pace was but I could tell I was pushing it to where I needed to be. Running a mile is tough - it's an all out sprint! And then we got to the stairs. There was no running then, my heart rate was already sky high. After we finally got to the top, my natural instinct would be to stop and catch my breath but oh no... I just hit my first transition and with all the people cheering you on, it was just go, go, go! So I ran to my bike and tried to catch my breath a bit while getting my gear on. I changed shoes, replaced my Nike hat with my helmet, slipped on my gloves and off I went. Transition was actually pretty straightforward - I walked my bike to the mount line and was able to take off with no problems.
I'll be honest - I really enjoyed the bike part. It was my kind of biking. We had wide open roads and all these lovely volunteers and police officers monitoring traffic so that we didn't have to worry about silly little stop signs and stuff. The first hill was definitely a toughie. I dropped to my lowest gear and just pedaled away. I was pretty pleased to see that I was climbing the hill at about the same pace as everyone around me. Yay - I don't really suck that bad at hills! (I've only done two serious bike rides prior to this and they were both with hard-core bikers ... so this was quite refreshing!) Once I got a little more comfortable, I remembered, oh yeah - this is a race. So when I could, I tried to add more gear and push myself a little more to pass a few people here and there. That was kind of fun. But for the most part, I kept with the people around me.
The second super steep hill was right at the end of the bike course. Cruel, right? So I knew I had to save some energy for that. Holy crap was that exhausting. But I succeeded - I did not have to walk my bike at all! (However, on my way back, I did see several other bikers walking up their bike on the first steep hill - it was a hard one!)
Finally, we were arriving at the transition area and the volunteers were directing us on where to dismount. Immediately, I'm starting to get nervous... uh oh... stop and dismount... in front of all these spectators??? But again, it was one of those cases of "don't think, just do it!" and so I did! No problem!!! I had this big smile of relief as I entered the transition area which was mostly due to the fact that I didn't make an a** of myself in front of all these cheering strangers.
So I racked up Gigi and replaced all my bike gear with my running gear. I took a big swig of Gatorade and then took off for the last leg - 2.5 mi run.
Um. WOW. My legs felt like Jell-o when I was coming out of that transition area. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How do people manage such great runs at this point? Seriously, my legs felt like two dead weights underneath me. Luckily, the first part was downhill which helped a bit (but you know what that means...) and then we ran along the same beach path like the other run. I seriously felt like I was running an 11:00 pace but every time I glanced at my Garmin, it said 9 something so that shocked the heck out of me. I was seriously huffing and puffing at this point, no conversational pace for me! After a couple of turn-around points, I finally was back at the hill. I so wanted to walk it but the finish line was literally at the top of the hill so I just pushed myself through. I raced for that finish line and the clock read 1:43. I didn't even know what that meant so I thought, OK, sounds good to me!
After they took my timing chip, they gave me a little gift bag that had a mermaid necklace inside. Sure it's no Tiffany necklace, but it was still cute!
The post-race stuff was also pretty good considering it was a small race. I was able to get a 5 minute massage with hardly any wait, got some Luna bar samples, some 20% off Sports Basement coupons (love those!), and even a pancake breakfast! Yum yum!
It was while I was wandering around that I noticed Garmin had actually recorded a 1:23 finish time. I forgot that there were other waves ahead of me.
So here are the *official* results:
Run 1: 9:14
T1: 2:34
Bike: 46:39
T2: 1:34
Run 2: 23:12
Total time: 1:23:13
Overall Place: 41/131
Divisional Place: 6/22
(Top third!!! Woohoo for me!)
If you are really observant, you may have noticed that some of these times seem messed up. Well, you would be correct because there's no way I can run 1.5 miles in 9:14. So for your reference, here are the Garmin times. It also had my T1 and T2 times but for some reason, Garmin decided to chew up that data.
11:49 for 1.01 mi (11:42 pace) - stoopid stairs
48:11 for 11.10 mi (13.8 mph)
23:14 for 2.39 mi (9:44 pace)
My mermaid loot:
The official race T was a ladies cut ring T but it was super skinny and super long so I decided to get the more basic T shirt style.
Close-up of the necklace:
Overall, I had so much fun at this race and would love to do it again next year. Except next time, I would try to make it more of a focused race and not one I squeezed into a calendar full of half marathons.
These multi-sport kind of events are pretty fun. It's quite the change of pace from running races. There's so much activity going that it really mixes things up, you know, makes them a little more exciting.
It's also interesting to see the different skill sets during a race. For example, there was a lady I had chatted with at the start of the race - she was wicked fast and totally flew past me during the first run. Somehow in the second half of the bike race, I passed her. And then toward the end of the second run, she passed me and I ended up finishing right after her. There was also this girl that I tried to keep up with on the bike part but eventually lost her toward the end - I ended up passing her during the run.
Also, these kind of races are perfect for spectators! I'm kinda bummed that I was too chicken to invite my friends to watch. You can stay in one spot and are guaranteed to see your favorite racer multiple times. Going in and out of transitions were pretty fun because of all the people cheering. A lot of times I was kind of by myself and they still cheered for you - my favorite was "I like your shirt!"
Some people had asked if I was going to go for a triathlon. And unfortunately the answer is no. I tried swimming, I really did! I even took a handful of private swimming lessons a year or two ago, but I just can't get the hang of the breathing. I suppose if I just focus on practicing that, I might improve, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
On another random note, I bought two things in preparation for the duathlon:
1. Yankz! (Although I'm still not sure I have them on right)
2. Garmin quick release kit
Both work great - however in all my rush, I forgot to actually move the Garmin from my wrist to the bike during the race. Oh well - here's how it looks in case you are curious.
That's it for now... still have one more race report to write. And can you believe I have another half marathon on Saturday???
I did not plan this season very well. But I am having a lot of fun!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
