Foot update and Blogger Meetup

Our fun Bay Area Bloggers Meet Up in SF for Fleet Week!!!

OK, I'm now behind THREE race reports but before I get to those, I wanted to do an update about my foot since my last blog post (in case you're not following me on Twitter or well, in real life, haha) and share some fun pics from a meet up organized by Courtney. Yes, this post is sooooooooo out of date now, it's not even funny, but oh well, I'm just gonna throw it out there.

Foot Update

After all my fussing and worrying, it turned out to be nothing. Well, it was definitely something... but nothing serious like a stress fracture or anything like that. (Thanks for freaking me out, Dad!!!) 

Immediately after Akron, my foot started hurting and I came down with a bad cold. (Forgot to take my marathoner friend's advice to double up on Vitamin C three weeks before and after the marathon.) When I finally returned home back in Cali, I took it easy and mostly rested. And started tweeting and blogging about my foot issue since what else was I going to do? Everyone was super helpful with their advice, suggesting painkillers and icing to reduce inflammation (right? I can't remember, haha) I made an appointment with a podiatrist just to make sure things were OK. Then my PT-in-training buddy, Kerry, asked more about where my foot was hurting. After I described it to her, she tweeted me this: "There are a couple nerves that from our calves, wrap around the arch. With those nerves are tendons anchoring the calf muscles. I'd take a tennis ball to the arch of my foot and calf to see if any of those tendons are pinching those nerves."

Now other people had suggested a tennis ball, too, but I didn't really understand why but after Kerry's explanation, I totally got it. I don't play tennis (no hand eye coordination) but thankfully, I received a tennis ball from Safeway last year at the Nike Women's Marathon. I immediately started rolling my foot on it and I could tell that she nailed the issue. I spent the rest of the day rolling my foot and icing it while watching TV. Good times. :P 

Within a day, I didn't notice any pain at all. I still went to the podiatrist and she did a pretty thorough examination on my foot. She applied pressure to certain areas and since I didn't feel any pain, she also thought I was in good shape. She took some X rays as well (since my other ones were um, unofficial) and everything looked good there, too. She did recommend orthotics just to be safe. I keep forgetting to check if my insurance covers it - did you know that they're around $500? For some reason, I thought they would be pretty intense but they just look like plain slip ins. I'll save that for a rainy day.

Anyway, I wish I had known that I just had some pinched nerves because I could have nipped it in the bud immediately after the race and skipped the whole freak out. But it was a good wake up call. Since then, I've acquired some new shoes with more support and have tried to do more stretching, especially with the calves.

So the key take-away is that it always pays to whine about your physical ailments on Twitter, FB, blogger, etc. (But, of course, see a professional, too, right?)

Bay Area Blogger Meetup

Earlier this month, Courtney organized a lovely blogger meet up in San Francisco. She did a fantastic job with this as she was able to enlist the support of Sports Basement (love!) to help host it during Fleet Week! This meant lots of snacks and drinks (Blue Moon, yum!!) and front row seats to the Blue Angels show.

"Make new friends, but keep the old..."

Here's the crew that came out to play that day:

Top Row: Alyssa, Jana, Cate
Bottom Row: Courtney, Teresa, Naomi, moi, Courtney, Annelies

It was a potluck so everyone brought something to share and Sports Basement supplied lots of treats, too:

It was a nice afternoon chatting with friends.

Hi Chews - whoever could have brought that???

 

And then afterward, we all headed outside to Crissy Field to watch the Blue Angels do fancy tricks for us.

Super fun day hanging out with our awesome running / blogging crew! Thanks again for organizing this, Courtney, and thanks also to Sports Basement for hosting us!

Off on the Wrong Foot!

So here's one perk of being home... I've got access to my own personal radiologist! (aka my pops)

*sigh*

Yes, there will be a marathon race report coming... Good news - I finished! Bad news - I have had an issue with my left foot since the race and it seems to be getting worse each day.

Thankfully, I didn't feel anything during the marathon. It was definitely sore later that day when I was walking around but I'm used to be a limpy person on marathon day.

The following day, it still felt off so I limped around walking with more pressure on my right foot. It was more of a dull pain in the bottom of my left foot on the front of my heel by my arch. I could get around OK but by the end of the day, I started feeling some shooting pains and I began to get really worried.

To be safe, my dad brought me to his work that evening to have some X-rays done. He didn't see any signs of anything (stress fractures, heel spurs, etc) - thank goodness! He did tell me that it could show up later, so if it doesn't improve by next week, I should have X-rays taken again.

Anyway, since then, I've just been laying low. But the pain is definitely getting worse - I couldn't walk at all this morning without sharp pains and the pain seems to have spread throughout my arch area. Painkillers definitely help but I'm worried it won't go away on its own.

I'm trying not to freak out but...

1 week to the San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon
3 weeks to the Nike Women's Half Marathon
6 weeks to the NYC MARATHON!!!

And clearly, the last item is the one I'm most concerned about.

But I'm trying not to get ahead of myself here. Maybe it's nothing! I'm just not used to feeling any kind of pain from running.

If you've ever experienced anything similar or have any suggestions, please let me know!

Expo Time at the Akron Marathon

Greetings from Ohio! Just thought I'd post some pics from today's expo...

See the blue line on the floor... there's one throughout the entire marathon course. (Learned that from Roadbunner.) Look - they're already training us to follow the blue line... this one led us to our fancy schmancy Brooks running jackets (and conveniently past each and every single exhibitor booth).

Got my pic taken at their "Social Media Lounge"... it's posted on their Facebook fan page.

Some of the official race merchandise... kinda clever, but that typo just makes you look like a dummy.

Normally I try to stay away from races with ~infamous hills but I guess it's too late for that now.

Hey, it's me and Hal Higdon! I kind of treated him like Mickey Mouse... got my pic with him and then scampered away. :P Hey Hal, if you see this, thanks for your very helpful training plans and tips that got me through my first half and full marathons!

On the way out of Akron... already spotting the blue lines of the marathon course!!! (Don't worry, I was stopped at a red light.)

Well, I'm going to try to catch some zzzzzz's and hopefully not sleep past my 4AM wake up call!

And now the anxiety begins...

I ran my 20 miler this past weekend! It went well... ran around Golden Gate Park with some jaunts along the Great Highway and into the Panhandle. It took me three hours and forty-two minutes with an average 11:08 pace.

20 miles done!!! Enjoying my post-run chocolate milk.

Afterward, I met up with the Sunday Runday crew for brunch at Q for some mac & cheesy plus a mimosa. Which, sadly, I was not able to enjoy until much later (and for the mimosa, not at all). There must be some distance threshold where you completely lose your appetite because I'm pretty sure I could have chowed all that down after a half marathon. But after 20 miles? Bleh.

It tasted just as good five hours later.

Sunday Runday crew with new friends Sarah and Renee!

It is now three weeks until the Akron Marathon. With my peak run behind me, I've finally allowed myself to start thinking about my race goals and expectations. My main goal with the marathon had always been to finish sub-5 which I finally was able to do with the 2009 CIM Marathon. And that was with really sporadic training.

To hit sub-5, I would need an 11:26 pace or better.  To get a PR, I'd have to beat 4:55, 11:15 pace. My 14 to 20 mi long runs had an average pace ranging from 10:50 to 11:10 so I seem to be in good shape. Plus this year is the first time since 2007 that I've followed a real training plan for a marathon so surely I should be able to hit sub-5 and maybe even beat my previous time, right???

Well, I don't know... and I'm not trying to be a Pessimistic Peggy or anything, I'm just trying to be honest about what I should expect.

Last night, I started reading Akron race reports, reviewing the course map, and checking out the elevation charts. Oh, the elevation charts! The thing is that I knew my two upcoming marathons were hilly. That's one of the reasons I liked Akron was because I knew it would be a good preparation for NYC. But I'm not gonna lie - I would also love to get a new PR and normally people pick fast and flat courses for PRs, right??? Every race report I've read about Akron included the word "challenging". Not that I couldn't PR on a "challenging" course, it's just not an ideal scenario.

So let's check out some elevation charts, shall we?

CIM (Ran in December 2009 in 4:54:49, 11:15 pace for a PR)

The funny thing is that this elevation chart makes it look all downhill and super easy, right? But it didn't seem that way at all when I was actually running it.  It just felt like a lot of rolling hills. The other big thing that CIM had going for it that year was that it was FREEZING! I mean, literally, it was around 32 degrees that day. And if anything is going to motivate me to keep running, it's the fear of freezing to death if I slowed down at all.


Akron Marathon (Running on September 24th)

That's a pretty big difference, right? What kind of crazy person signs up for a full marathon whose challenging uphill climbs start at mile 17??? Did I mention that I thought my legs were going to fall off at mile 17 of my 20 mi long run on Sunday? Egads. At least there are a lot of downhills as well so I can try to compensate for my uphill pace there. (But that one at mile 11 looks potentially painful if it's anything like Nike.) I've tried to add some hills in my long runs by running across the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Mason, and Golden Gate Park but I'm not sure if they were enough since the elevation climbs on those routes were never more than 200ft. Oh boy...

I will be harassing Roadbunner to give me the honest scoop on this course since she's the one that sold me on this race. (But in all fairness, the race is located less than an hour from my family so I'm sure I would have run it anyway. Maybe.  She did push it pretty hard - if you read her race report, you'd think she was on the Akron Marathon payroll.)

NYC Marathon (Running on November 6th)

Not as bad as Akron so at least the harder one is out of the way first. I think I will be on an adrenaline rush for this race with being surrounded by 45,000 other runners, the spectator support, and just the fact that I will be running through one of my all time favorite cities.

Nike Women's Marathon (Ran in October 2007 in 5:33:58, 12:44 pace)

I just added this in for comparison's sake since I consider this to be the most challenging full marathon course I've run. It looks like the Akron climbs are a lot more gradual than these so at least I know it won't be worse than this course. (Thank goodness!!! As Roadbunner always says, "Friends don't let friends run the Nike Full.")

Anyway, feel free to chime in with your thoughts. Meanwhile, I'll still be here staring at elevation charts and weather forecasts.

Race Report: The Giant Race Half Marathon

What's this? I ran an unplanned half marathon? Yep! How fun is that!

It all started with my post when I mentioned that I had an 18mi run coming up. Naomi kindly suggested that I run the Giant Race half marathon with her that weekend (as bandit) to log some of the miles. I looked up the course and it seemed like a good idea since it was just an out and back along the Embarcadero where tons of people run anyway. And even if I couldn't exactly run with her, it would still make it more fun to run with a bunch of people. So that was the plan!

And then miraculously, my two lovely friends, Aron and Alyssa, both had giveaways on their blogs for a FREE entry to this sold out race that were sponsored by the Got Milk Refuel with Chocolate Milk campaign. (BTW - we were given chocolate milks after the Cleveland Half Marathon and it was like heaven! So I fully support this.) I'm sure you know what I'm going to say next, right? I WON A FREE ENTRY!!!! Thank you, Alyssa!  I was super duper excited because now I got to be a legit runner and use the aid stations and the portapotties and finish inside the ballpark and get the medal and the T-shirt and most importantly, get the Tim Lincecum bobblehead!!!!!! Wheeeeeee :) :) :) I'm not even a baseball fan but that is some serious loot.

Race Morning

My plan was to run 5 miles before the half marathon to get my 18 mile long run in. Then I would be free to enjoy all the post race fun. The race started at 8AM so I figured if I planned to run at 6AM (but most likely a bit later - I always have to give myself buffer time, haha), I would have plenty of time to run at a comfortable pace (11-11:30min/mi) and still have time for bib pick up, potty stop, etc.

As I was driving up, I noticed a problem - it's still dark at 6AM! Ay yay yay... thankfully all the volunteers were there so I decided to go ahead and get my bib, which was a smart move because the lines were really long by 7:15ish. I tweeted for a bit and then eventually it was light enough that I felt OK to start my run.

I mapped out an out and back 5mi run south of the ballpark. Originally I didn't want to run the usual Embarcadero route because I wanted to save it for the race. Well it only took me about a half mile along my route when I realized that um, this might not be the safest option for me considering I don't know the area and nobody was around. Plus I had been watching too many Law & Orders that week and I didn't want to end up being the body that some other more fortunate runner discovered. (Yes, these are the morbid thoughts that go through my head when I run.)

So I changed course a little bit and ran up and down 3rd St and then for the last couple of miles I did do an out and back past the ballpark to more familiar territory. I ended the run at 4.9 miles.

Distance: 4.9mi
Time: 52:57
Pace: 10:48 min/mi

I was so glad I had arrived early because as I was finishing my run around 7AM, there were looooooooong lines of cars in both directions heading to Lot A and as I mentioned before, the lines at bib pickup were also long (and still long during the race start!) So if you do this race in the future, arrive early!

Gear check was pretty convenient. I normally don't use them anymore but since I was warm and they were right there, I decided to check my jacket which went into purple Fedex canvas drawstring bags. (I don't know why I get excited by these bags vs normal plastic ones, I already have plenty.)

I then got in line for my second portapotty visit and that's when I ran into Naomi, Courtney, and Aron. Here's a cute pic of us pre-race... Aron and I had both done pre-runs which is why we look a bit warmer than the other two ;)

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Eventually it was time to head to the race start which was outside the ballpark. Here's a pic of us runners getting ready to line up in our corrals. You can see the ballpark on the left of the photo.

Luckily, I found Naomi in the start corral (we got separated when she went to check in her stuff) - definitely fun to chat with her before the race!

The Race

And off we went! I tried to keep up with Naomi for a little bit at the start but once I glanced at my Garmin and saw that I was running in the 9s, I had to back off and stay with my more comfortable ~10:50 pace. Maybe if I was running just the half, I might have tried to hang on for a bit longer but I wasn't going to mess around with an 18mi training run.

Even though I am super familiar with this course, I still really enjoy it (same could not be said for say, the LG creek trail). The weather felt great so I was having a nice run.

Around mile 4 was the Fort Mason hill which is where I planned to take my Gu. I walked the whole thing like I did in my 16 miler.

A little before mile 5, I spotted a crowd of runners all taking pics with someone. He looked like a young Santa Claus with a dark beard. I didn't get why all these people were taking pics with him... I mean, it's not like he was Mickey Mouse or something.

OK I'M JUST KIDDING! It was that "Fear the Beard" guy (in Audrey speak). Or was it? I did see a runner earlier on the course that was wearing a fake Brian Wilson beard so I was immediately suspicious. But sure enough, it was him!

I briefly considering joining the mess for a pic but 1) I'm not really a baseball fan,  2) I was in my groove and didn't want to lose any momentum, and 3) I'd hate to irritate any REAL Giants fans with such a photo. I could just hear it now - "Audrey got a pic with Brian Wilson? She's not even a Giants fan!!!" It would be like someone I know being nonchalant about getting a pic with Kristen Stewart or Andy Cohen.

But I knew SOMEONE would be all over this opportunity and sure enough she was:

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Pretty cute pic, dontcha think? I think this should be her Christmas card photo this year.

And I guess if you were part of the faster crew, you actually got high fives from him!

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Now that's pretty awesome. I still can't decide if he planned to be part of The Giant Race course entertainment or if it was just a coincidence since I've been informed by others that he actually lives in the Marina. Either way, it's pretty cool because he had to have been out there for at least half an hour.

A little bit further down, I spotted my old roommate Pete on the side of the course. I guess it's not that big of a surprise since he lives in the area and his running club runs there on Saturdays but still, this is the third time I've run into him at a race. The last time was out in Castro Valley! As I shouted out a greeting to him, I yelled out, "That Wilson guy is back there!" As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately shut up and hoped no diehard Giants fan heard me... I don't think they'd appreciate him being called That Wilson guy. Haha!

Eventually we got to the turnaround at Crissy Field and headed back. At each mile marker, I reminded myself that I logged five more so it was fun to see all the miles click by. I walked up Fort Mason again and took my other Gu. Speaking of Gu, I don't recall spotting any on the course until past mile 9 when we were over the hill (literally, not figuratively). Doesn't really seem like the best spot for them in my opinion. I was already Gu'd up but I kept hearing a conversation I had with Layla in my head when we discussed that if a Gu is offered, you take it. "That's $1.25, sure I'll take one!" I ended up taking two.

Once I got to mile 10, I changed my Garmin setting to show the average pace instead of current pace.  I didn't want to have any real race goals since it was a training run but I did think it would be nice if my half pace was sub-11:00 min/mi. And not Garmin pace, but "on the record" chip time pace. And at mile 10, I was a little over 11:00 and since I knew I would be logging more miles on my Garmin compared to the race distance, I knew I would have to add some seconds on top of that.

I was 15 total miles in and I really wasn't sure if I could push harder but I tried my best.  At least I knew the course was flat for the rest of the way.

I must have really been in the back of the pack because at this point there weren't that many runners around me.  Until we got to mile 13... ay yay yay. I guess having to merge with the Kids Run at the See Jane Run half in the last mile was good practice because in the last mile at The Giant Race,  I got to dodge the 5K walkers... with strollers!

RACE DIRECTORS: PLEASE STOP MERGING WALKERS WITH RUNNERS IN THEIR FINAL STRETCH! Or at least have some volunteers to help clear the path, good grief. At least I knew to stay out of the way of the elites running in the opposite direction of the main pack of runners.

Eventually the AT&T ballpark was in my sight... so exciting! The course led us right inside the ballpark and the finish line was right there! Of course, there were still plenty of walkers taking over the whole path. Once I'm in the finish line stretch, polite (most of the time, anyway) Audrey goes out the window - I'm on a mission and nobody is getting in my way! Thankfully, I didn't have to elbow anyone but did have to bark at someone to step aside. This would have been an ideal place for race volunteers to separate the walkers from the runners. But I really didn't have it that bad. I encourage you to check out Courtney's artistic rendition of her finish line experience (just come back here when you're done, ok?).

Official Results 

Split Times:

5 Km:	33:41 Pace: 10:51
10 Km:	1:07:55 Pace: 10:56
Turn Around:	1:14:48 Pace: 11:00
10 Mi:	1:50:17 Pace: 11:02

Finish time: 2:23:41
Pace: 10:58

YAY!!! I got my sub-11 pace!!!

And if you're curious...

Garmin distance: 13.21 mi
Garmin time: 2:23:44
Garmin pace: 10:53min/mi

Post Race

There was some great energy inside as the stands had a bunch of peeps cheering on their loved ones. It was just fun being inside the ballpark - reminded me of getting to run through Anaheim Stadium during the Disneyland Half. It definitely made it easier to deal with the post-race congestion that first started with collecting the medal.

Me and my medal! Woo hoo!

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I got a text from Naomi who was still on the field so I was able to get a pic with her and our medals too.

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Now here is the part that concerned me. I read about this in the race instructions so at least I was prepared. After running the half marathon, you had to walk around the field, and then immediately go UP THE STEPS to the concourse level to get the rest of the goodies (as shown in the left of the photo below). Say what now?

Naomi is to the right of the balloon arch... do you see her? :P

Once you're on the concourse level, the congestion continues as you work away around the entire level to get your goodie bag, the race shirt, and the bobblehead. Egads.

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I got CRAZY excited when I saw the bobbleheads! For some reason, I thought they would be these little doo-dads in a plastic bag or something. But no, they were legit fancy schmancy souvenir items in a box! Wheeeee....

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FINALLY we got out of there. On our way out, we spotted the Got Milk? booth. We didn't check them out (looks like they were offering free massages) but I had to take a pic (or well, ask Naomi to take it) since technically, they did sponsor my participation in the race. Thanks Got Milk! :)

The Fed Ex gear check trucks were conveniently located right outside so after we picked up our stuff, we were free to get our lunch on! Courtney was nice enough to wait for us so we met up with her there.

We ended up having lunch at MoMo's - my first time there! That's a super nice place and I felt kind of bad for dining there in my sweaty state but it looked like it was all runners there so it seemed OK.

While we were there, I had to yank the bobblehead out of the box and check it out! Isn't it so fun?

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Naomi was kind enough to inform me that Tim Lincecum is half filipino. My mom will be happy! :P

On our way back to our cars, we passed all the peeps waiting in line for the 6PM Giants game. The bobblehead is the giveaway for the game attendees so I heard people had been waiting in line at 10AM to make sure they got theirs. Here they are around 1PM that day.

I think running a half is a more fun way to secure the giveaway :D

Here's a closeup shot of the medal. I kept the plastic wrap on until I got home. :P Not really intentionally and I actually dislike when they give us our medal still in its wrapping. Guess I was too lazy to take it off earlier.

And here's a pic of all of our loot! I stole Courtney's photo because it looked a lot nicer than the one I originally took.

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All in all, it was a super fun morning! And a FABULOUS way to log 18 miles.

Total for the day...

Distance: 18.12 mi
Time: 3:16:41
Pace: 10:51 pace

Pretty darn cool! :D

Some Fun Song Suggestions for Running

I don't know about you guys but I almost always create a new playlist for every race I run. Usually it's with the most recent songs I've downloaded but lately I've been listening to some of my old running mixes, mainly just to make my runs a little more interesting. It's been fun re-discovering some fun tunes!

Here are some that have helped me pick up my pace a little - maybe you might want to add these to your playlist!

Pink - Trouble

My old spinning teacher would play this a lot. This is a good song for speed drills because it's kind of a mellow pace but then the refrain works well for speeding up.




The next two have a nice quick tempo.

Plain White T's - Our Time Now




The Fratellis - Flathead




Prodigy - Smack My B*tch Up

Many years ago when I lived in Dallas, I used to take this fun hip hop dance class. The teacher would teach us a routine that we would then dance over and over again to different songs that would increase in tempo. We'd always do it the last time to this song and I just remember there would be lots of flailing limbs! :P




Me First and The Gimme Gimmes - Over the Rainbow

This last one I got from my friend a long time ago and I honestly forgot I had it. It popped up on shuffle during my miserable 6mi run in the sun yesterday and it somehow managed to get me from an 11+ pace to around 9:30! The song is super short though (1:30) so don't expect it to push you for too long.




What are some good songs that help you put the pedal to the metal?

Marathon Training Update - 5 weeks to Akron!

I thought this might be a good time for a little update on my marathon training that I first mentioned here. I've now completed 8 weeks of my plan with five weeks to go - EEK!!!

I'm actually pretty pleased with how it's been going so far! I've definitely seen improvements in my pace and definitely the distances. I started the year forcing myself to do 3 or 4 mile runs with sometimes a 13:xx average pace (I love walking!) to now having just completed a 16 mile run with a 10:50 pace (which I'm still so thrilled with! To the point I don't care how I do in my 18 and 20 mile runs, haha) And I don't beat myself up if my heart's not into it and it shows in the run. I've only missed a couple of runs so far but they were both during recovery weeks so no biggie.

I really like running 3x a week - I realize that's probably not enough for most people, especially since I don't do additional cross training, but it works pretty well for me. I don't dread running like I used to. My mentality has changed a lot. When I first started running again this year, my heart was not into it at all and I had no idea how I was going to log enough miles to prepare for my upcoming marathons. I won't say I absolutely love it now, but I like it a lot more - enough to actually reconsider my whole "retiring from marathons after NYC" thing. For special occasions ONLY - ones that Roadbunner and Alisa know about.

These next two weeks should be interesting. My speed workouts bump up from 4-5 miles to 6 miles. I have my 18 mile long run this weekend and 20 miles next weekend *_* I've only done a 20 mile training run ONCE for the four marathons I've run. So clearly I have no pace expectations for those two long runs, I just need to cover the distance and I will be happy.

I'm actually looking forward to running Akron now! Just bought my plane ticket this week. Okay, maybe I am more excited about seeing my niece and nephew (and the rest of my family of course) but I'm starting to feel a bit more confident about the marathon too!

Have a great week!