Celebrity stalking continues

Alas, no "Kate Hudson" was listed in the official results of the LiveStrong 5K. Yes, I literally searched her name - you never know! Katie Holmes was listed in the ING NYC marathon results, after all. (Although, I guess there is some suspicious activity there.)

I was starting to wonder if I actually saw Kate Hudson and then I noticed this photo from the event:


Yep, that is definitely who I saw at the 5K. Very cool!

Race Report: LiveStrong 5K (Kate Hudson kicked my butt)

This morning I ran the LiveStrong 5K. It's the first time to be held here in San Jose and it was pretty cool. It was also smaller than I expected with less than 3,000 participants total. It was mostly a biking event with 10, 50, 65 & 100 mile bike rides and then a 5K run/walk. It was cool because they had separate bibs for the cancer survivors. It's always inspiring to see them at races. By the way, they each received a yellow rose at the finish.

Anyway, I almost didn't make the race this morning because I completely slept through my alarm (jet lag, I guess). I wanted to leave the house by 6AM and didn't wake up until 6:40AM. Luckily, I managed to get there in time BUT not in time to pick up a timing chip so no recorded time for me. :(

I politely squeezed my way to the front so my time wouldn't be too off in case they were collecting bib tags for unofficial times at the finish (they didn't.) I think my body was still asleep as I was kind of in zombie mode when waiting for the race to start. So I was pleasantly surprised to see Lance Armstrong take the stage for welcome remarks (duh, of course he would be there!). Afterward, he got on his bike to join the other 100-mile cyclists as they were the first group to start. (Not a very big group from what I could tell.)

While we were cheering on all the other cyclists, I noticed another 5K runner pointing at someone to her friend. I followed her gaze and surprise, surprise - it was Kate Hudson! She was literally less than 10 feet away from me at the front of the 5K group. Funny thing is that I had noticed her earlier, only because she was wearing those Goody bendy barrettes that I always wear to the gym but never see on anyone else.

Anyway, I didn't want to gawk at her too much but here's what I can tell you. She totally seemed like a cool, down to earth gal. Her hair was tied up in a casual bun and she was wearing a pretty basic running outfit. She was running with a friend and I *think* she was escorted by a plain clothes San Jose cop that ran behind her. (I saw him enter a San Jose cop trailer after the race.) For the most part, she pretty much blended in with everyone else. She seemed as cute as you would expect her to be from her movies as she was smiling and dancing along with the music as we were waiting.

Finally, it was our turn to line-up. As usual, I started out way too fast. I'll admit, I was kind of running slightly behind Miss Kate as celebrity spotting does not really happen where I live. As we were running, I glanced down at my Garmin and saw I was running a 7:30 pace - oops!!! I normally target a ~9:00 pace for 5Ks so I had to give up my stalking and lower my pace instead.

The course was a loop through downtown San Jose and was nice and flat. I was also happy to see that the mile markers perfectly aligned with my Garmin which never happens. I finished the first mile in 8:33 and since I wasn't very well trained at this point, I knew I had overexerted myself and was going to have to slow down a lot more for the rest of the race. Plus the sun was out then and it was a little too warm for me. (I know, I'm such a baby when it comes to heat.) I ended up stopping for water at the halfway point which I normally never do when I run a 5K.

I tried to pick it up for the last half mile and crossed the finish in 28:22 with a 9:10 pace.

Splits:

1: 8:33
2: 9:43
3: 9:20
0.1: 8:20 pace

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my performance. I think I've run maybe twice in the last month and neither of them were that great. When I first registered, I thought I could get a new 5K PR since it was a flat course. Although that didn't happen, this was still my second best 5K time - not bad considering I took a walk/water break. Still kind of bummed that I won't have a recorded result, but oh well!

I gave it another shot...

So now that I know exactly where my running loop is, I tried giving it another shot this morning since I'm such an early bird out here. But... it didn't quite work out. Yesterday I struggled with the warm and sticky weather. This morning it was hot and sticky and as an added bonus, the sun was blazing down on me as well. I think I lasted about 20 minutes before I called it quits. Besides the fact that it was miserable, I still have a ~10hr flight later today so I didn't want to take any chances with getting dehydrated out there.

I spent the rest of the morning packing all my stuff and enjoying the "complimentary" breakfast buffet (for $300/night, I hope I get some free food!) at the "Top of the Tower" restaurant. I was also hoping to do some shopping at the stores near my hotel, but they were all closed on Saturday! Bummer. Wish I had more time so that I could have taken the train to some of the other areas in Tokyo, but I guess that will just have to wait until next time.

Running in Tokyo Part II

The one nice thing about jet lag is that I have no problems with getting up early over here. It is also nice that I don't have any meetings until 10AM this morning. Luckily, I brought my running gear so I headed out to find that running loop that I used last time. And even though I had a handy jogging map provided by the hotel, I had the hardest time finding it! Anyway, the run was so-so... I only did about 3 miles and I had to stop and walk several times for water since it's so warm and sticky over here. Regardless, it was great for me to get out there and I did my best to finish strong once I finally had my hotel back in sight. Definitely fun people watching while I was out there.

Hodgepodge of updates

1) I'm currently in Japan. This was a major last minute trip as I found out Monday evening that I would be on a Tuesday afternoon flight to Narita. But I don't mind - this trip is a breeze compared to the last one. Only two days of meetings and then I fly back on Saturday.

2) I went biking on Saturday! This is huge for me... and actually kind of amusing. The last time I regularly rode a bike was in grade school. And then I rode my friend's bike once in high school. And then there's now. I recently became the proud owner of an early 1990's mountain bike with two flat tires and one working brake. (My friend was planning to donate her old college commuter bike to Goodwill but then I claimed it instead.) I know there's that saying "just like riding a bike" but part of me worried that the rule would not actually apply to me. I made my biker (cyclist?) friend coach me through it and after swerving around the parking lot a few times, I finally got the hang of it. We took it out on the trail where I was still a bit too nervous to go faster than "coasting" speed - we even got passed by a runner... HA! But all in all, it was fun and it was neat to ride the same trail that I normally run. I'm not sure if I'm ready to shell out some $$$ for a "real" bike but I definitely see myself taking out this interim bike for another ride one of these days.

3) Half marathon training has been pretty pathetic lately. I've been doing pretty well with going to the gym for some cardio / weights and stuff but the actual running has been severely lacking. I did 3 miles last week! Yikes... I was going to pick it up this week but my Japan trip has thwarted my plans.

4) Although I haven't been training, I am still picking up more races that I am not prepared to run. I have the Disneyland half at the end of August and then the San Jose Rock n Roll one in early October. Now it looks like I will be headed to Chicago in mid September for the Chicago Half Marathon. I haven't registered yet but I think there's a good chance I'll be doing it.

Take It and Run Thursday: Running T-Shirts

Today's "Take It and Run Thursday" theme is "That is a great running T-shirt!". Per the Runner's Lounge: Do you have a great running T-shirt or have the perfect phrase for a T-shirt? Look through your closets, do some virtual window shopping on the intranet, or make up your own. Drop it off today!

Off the top of my head, one of my favorite T-shirts from the running blogs is the one that J-Money wore for the Boston Marathon this year. You can check it out here. (BTW - this blog is HILARIOUS. If it's not in your Google Reader / Bloglines / MyYahoo, etc, it definitely should be.)

And this one was so funny and so spot on that I had to buy it:


Here's a close up of the front:


Speaking of which, Laura had a funny suggestion with "I trained for four months, I paid the $100 entry fee, I ran 26.2 miles... and all I got was this lousy cotton t-shirt." That's EXACTLY what I thought when I picked up my goody bag from the Chicago Marathon. $100 for one of the World Marathon Majors and you only get a cotton tee??? Craziness.

As for me, this reminds me of a post I wrote last year when I was getting ready for my first marathon, "What to Write on My Shirt?" I definitely wanted to wear a personalized shirt with my name on the front and something silly on the back. My friends brainstormed some ideas for me... here are some of their winners:

• Are we there yet?
  
• Your feet hurt 'cause you're kicking so much ass!
  
• This is my first marathon. Let me beat you.
  
• Stop looking at my ass
  
• If you beat me, you have no chance of getting my number (umm... no)
  
• Why couldn't Pheidippides have died at mile 20?

I ended up wearing this:


The back was supposed to read "Audrey-licious Kicks Ass" but by the time I laid all the letters out, it looked like one big eye chart so I trimmed it down. My friend had a funny idea to put the "Kicks Ass" part on the back of my shorts but I decided to pass on that idea. Good thing - I wasn't kicking anyone's butt that day.

I love creative race T-shirts... especially when running a marathon because it provides some much needed entertainment to help you forget how much pain you're in! For example, I like the ones that the WISH "We’re Inspired to Stay Healthy" group (I think they're from the Disney message boards or disboards, if you will) wear:



DLF>DNF>>DNS
Dead Last Finish is better than Did Not Finish which greatly trumps Did Not Start


Hope to see more fun running shirts out there!

Three flights in three days

Oy - I'm beat. After flying back from Cleveland on Monday, I headed to Vegas on Tuesday for a quickie trade show visit and then I flew back tonight. I did pack some workout gear but who I was kidding - I was way too tired just from getting around Vegas! I spent probably an hour between the two days just waiting in line for taxis and let's not forget the conference itself! All the walking from the hotel to the convention center and then just walking around the conference itself - not too mention that I was wearing my "business duds", i.e. not so comfortable shoes.

So my whole body feels sore - even though I haven't technically worked out since Sunday. (Speaking of which, I got to experience all the heat and humidity everyone else has been suffering through when I went running in OH. My 9 mile run got shortened to 5 miles.)

On a fun note, I won around $60 on the slot machines. That's exciting for me since I'm not much of a gambler.