Tag Archives: races

Griffith Park Trail 10k & Hollywood Rock Star Challenge

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6.2 miles
Sore, Sorer, Sorest Strides

On Sunday I partook in the 2nd half of the Griffith Park Trail Series Rock Star Challenge by completing the Griffith Park Trail 10k.  You can complete the half marathon and/or 10k, but to be a true Hollywood Rock Star, you do both races with about 20 or so hours in between, no big deal.

I can think of some other things that result in the same amount of pain like – hanging by my toenails, sticking thumbtacks in my abdomen or walking on fire.  I’m mostly kidding.  Yes I’m so stinking sore – as sore as finishing a marathon – but it was also worth every minute.

The Summary (read here if you are intimidated by words):
I ran fast.  My legs felt like lead.  I questioned my sanity in doing back to back races like this.  I finished 5th woman overall and 1st woman who did both races.

They gave mugs to the top 10 overall finishers.

The Overview 
I’ve got a race recap of the half marathon coming up on Tuesday or Wednesday, but let me just say I can echo most of the same information – well run, started exactly on time, great food, great swag, great course support.  #winning

Pre-Race:  
I got there a bit early since I couldn’t sleep.  I tried to vlog, maybe some day I’ll show it, but mostly you’d just run in fear.

You know you’re early when they are setting up the finish line.

I got there about an hour before race time, grabbed my bib, went to my car and was generally crabby since I had slept about 2-3 interrupted hours.  #sociallyawkwardrunner

The Race:
The first thing I asked Keira (the race director) when I saw her was how hilly – she said one major hill and then mostly rolling hills.   I think our definitions of “rolling” are a little different, but not too much.  Right at the midway point there was a decent incline that was brutal, but the rest was mostly doable.

I saw a few really fast looking runners at the start line who said they were going to go about 6 minute miles.  I told them we could meet up and run sometime…like never.  Okay I didn’t say it, but did throw up a little thinking about running a 10k at a 6 minute/mile pace on muddy trails with big hills.

I went from 3rd place to 4th, then 5th and watched a woman pass me near the end at 6th place.  About 150 yards from the finish line I decided I wanted 5th and literally sprinted past her at the end.  Don’t worry I literally apologized as I passed her.  It’s rude to not apologize for passing, right?

Start/Finish Line

Post Race:
In the end I got my overall 5th place finish, I didn’t wear a watch or anything so I have no idea how fast I ran.  One guy pointed out that since I was the top female finisher who completed both races I was the ultimate Chick Hollywood Rock Star.

UPDATE:  Turns out I was the first person to complete both races.  Wahoo.

Me and my bling. The yellow medal was for finishing both races.

There was also some serious grub…egg and cheese sandwiches, Naked Juice stuff, etc.  I honestly could hardly walk and felt so sick to my stomach I really didn’t care too much.  My favorite was the volunteer who walked around with a giant box of powdered donuts asking runners if they wanted a post-race carbo load.  I was just happy to be done with the weekend of racing and started to waddle back to my car after eating a few bites of my sandwich.

But the weekend wouldn’t be replete without a picture with the race director Keira, who has built these races from the ground up and done an amazing job.  The races went so smoothly and literally foresaw any runner’s need.  I am so beyond impressed with this race series.

Keira and I

For a day that started with my legs feeling like bricks and ended with them hardly moving, the weekend was a massive racing success.  Apparently I’m not the snail I thought I was, and I learned a valuable lesson about really digging deep even when I don’t think I have it in me…even if I have to walk up hills from time to time.

Twas the Night Before Race Day

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My non-running friends never understand why I want to go to bed at 4:30pm the day before a race and then complain about how little sleep I actually got.

‘Cause let’s face it, we’ve all been there before!  

Have you seen my sleepz? I can’t seem to find it…

‘Twas the night before race day, and I’m lying in bed
With all that could go wrong, running through my head.
My mind wouldn’t stop, Did I forget a shoe?
Where is my sports bra?  Will I be able to poo?

While other slumber easily, into restful sleep,
I lie awake wistfully hoping they won’t make a peep.
If they wake me up, I’ll curse and I’ll holler!
For this here said race cost me a pretty dollar.

I check my alarm for the fifty-eighth time,
As my thoughts drift back to the nasty 9th mile climb.
Did I train hard enough?  Did I run enough miles?
What crazies partake in running lifestyles?

Will it be windy?  Will it be cold? Will it be hot? Will it rain?
Will there be traffic?  Can I park?  I’m going insane!
What if trained for months and months at the wrong pace?
Is there a free beer tent at the end of the race?

And I know my race pics will look like crap,
But then I’ll finish and can just take a nap.
To make up for sleep I lost here tonight.
So happy race day to all and to all a good post-race night!

The Game Plan

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50 minutes on the bike
Spinning Strides

As per my commitment – no running today.  I did get about 3 miles of walking in on Monday and then got a good solid 50 minute workout on the bike at my hotel yesterday.

Can I be a little honest (because clearly I hold back often)?

I’m super duper über nervous  about this weekend’s races.

On Saturday I’m tackling the Griffith Park Trails Half Marathon of which the course would best be described as gut wrenching brutal the most masochistic thing I’ve done in a long time.

See how much fun that looks?

In order to make this even MORE fun, I wake up on Sunday to run the Griffith Park 10k.

The Plan:

Saturday:  Training Run. period. This is a training run, not a race for me.  Since there are only about 400 runners doing this, I just want to take the time to enjoy a small race, check out the scenery and check out this bad boy:

Yep, part of the trails duck near the iconic Hollywood sign, overlooks the LA skyline, and Runyon Canyon – some of my favorite LA views.  In all likelihood, this will be the slowest half I’ve ever run.  And that’s okay.

Sunday:  Sunday Fun Day?  Depending on how much my legs hate me, I’ll likely push the 10k a little harder.  I say that now, and the truth is I’ll probably end up crawling all 7 miles. I have no idea how many runners or how fast that race should go, but I’m more comfortable pushing it on the shorter run.  I mean, who doesn’t feel more comfortable running faster on shorter runs.  There’s some serious logic, eh?

How would you handle back to back races?
Is my plan race smart or race stupid?

Holly Jolly Half Marathon

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If you’ve been lurking around Striding Mom then you know I’m in the middle of my 12 half/full marathons in 12 months.  

Between the holidays and the 12 days leading up to Christmas involving the birthdays of 4 people I’m close to, December is a tough month to find a race.  I ended up with literally one morning available to make it happen and lo and behold it turns out there’s a race that works.

The Holly Jolly Half Marathon in Camarillo, CA on Sunday, December 16th.

Check out the super cute medals!

I emailed Bill the fabulous race director who connected me with a bib and I’m thrilled to participate in the race.  It’s a smaller local race run on a looped course (2 loops) which I’ve never done before, so I’m excited to check it out.  Plus as an added bonus, the start line is about 2 miles from a dear friend’s house, so I can drive up the night before

In addition, the race supports Toys for Tots which means you can’t go wrong.  Races and happy kids.  I’m excited for my bambinos to bring toys to the finish line!

It sounds like there’s a costume contest involved in the race as well.  I’ve never raced in costume, but let’s see if I will pony up and order some red compression socks to be festive or something like that.

Want to join me?  Check out Holly Jolly Half.

What races do you have coming up?
Have you ever dressed up for a race?

True Confession Thursday: Go To Your Happy Place

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40 Minutes on the Elliptical
Swishy Swishy Strides

After Tuesday’s ankle fiasco, I opted to take it easy and hit the elliptical on Wednesday.

Have I ever mentioned what bad luck I have choosing machines at the gym?  I step onto one and it’s making a ca-thunk, ca-thunk sound.  Annoyed, I choose another machine.

Squeeeeaakk, Squeeeeakk with every step.

By this point I’m chuckling because everyone probably thinks I’m crazy (half true) and I find a 3rd machine.  Like Goldilocks, the third one was just right.

I hate the elliptical.  So I kept trying to channel my inner Happy Gilmore and go to my happy place.

Which got me thinking…what is my happy place?  I mean, I can often think of my little buttheads…

How can these faces not make anyone happy?

Honestly, the happiest place I found today came from this little note Vanilla colored and snuck up on the bulletin board in my room this morning.  He never told me about it, I just happened to find it when I printed something off for work and I know for certain it wasn’t there last night.  (Why yes I don’t know what day of the week it is, but I do know what is on my bulletin board.  This is normal, yes?)

Yes he can write his name, and no I cannot gracefully edit it out with my less than stellar paintbrush skills.

No matter how your slice or dice it, someone must have spiked my pre-race banana with happy pills on Sunday.  After last year’s bad picture debacle at Long Beach, there was nothing but smiles for miles on Sunday.

Who is that chick? I don’t seem to recognize her….
Photos from Brightroom.

In typical runnerd fashion, I actually noticed my near heel strike in the first photo before I realized I was actually smiling as I crossed the finish line.  And yes, photo #3 was at mile 8ish or so, and I was smiling then too.  But that’s probably because I was doing my best flamingo impression mid-race. I knew I should have worn my green shirt instead of pink.

What’s your happy place?

Long Beach Half Marathon Recap: Full of Surprises

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13.1 miles
Surprising Strides

Long Beach 2012 has come and gone, but will not be forgotten.  Especially since my legs are sore enough to remind me that the race went a little quicker than I anticipated.

First off, let me tell you a story on how NOT to prepare for a race.  Saturday was a day of heat, sun and soccer.  I was not very good about eating (unless you count cupcakes and butternut squash ravioli with a salad) or hydrating.

Such a pretty sunset should have yielded a pretty night. Notsomuch.

My evening was uber stressful as somehow my children managed to break 2 glass plates and a full 1-liter bottle of balsamic vinegar on the kitchen floor.  And of course, they couldn’t happen at the same time, so instead of cooking and eating dinner, I spent 1.5 hours cleaning up glass and mopping up balsamic vinegar off walls, the carpet, garbage can, fridge, etc.

Words were exchanged (mostly me apologizing for totally losing my patience) and we all ended up in a pile of tears on the floor.  And I literally mean every last one of us sobbing in a puddle of emotion. I ate a craptastic “dinner”, couldn’t find my running stuff so I threw whatever I could find in a bag and figured the race would be what it was.

What time is it? Way the truck too early.

I stayed awake from midnight to 2am worrying about work and realized that I was going to have to do this with 2.5 hours of sleep.

Luckily I met up with some fab ladies at 5am.  Sarah, Kristina and I carpooled up to Long Beach listening to the aptly named “Wake the Shizzle Up” playlist.

After waiting in line for the bathrooms repeatedly (not kidding I went 3 times) we happened to bump into this little lady.  That super sneaky Monica was doing a surprise marathon.  She looked a little nervous, but totally killed it and got a new PR.

We eventually hopped the fence into the first corral and took super awkward photos.    I’m sure no one was annoyed at all by us doing either of those things.

Sarah and I. I’m pretty sure I took a better picture than this after giving birth.

I took off with the intentions of running 8-8:15 minute miles.  After the first 7:40ish I realized I need to pull back, but apparently didn’t.  I don’t know.  Remember when I said I couldn’t find anything.  That meant my watch.

 I had no idea how idea how fast I was really running most of the race.  I just followed my body’s lead and around mile 8 I was feeling like hot stuff and turned up the heat.  Around mile 9.75 I met up with Sarah and we kicked it for a few miles.

At mile 11 I realized I could pull a PR out of my butt if I ran 7:30 miles for the last two.  Turns out, that I could run one 7:30 minute mile and I coasted through the last one finishing with a time of 1:41:01.  1 second slower than my previous PR.  You can imagine how happy I am about that 1 second.  I’m still pretty surprised by the pace – I was really expecting that “listening to my body” would put me around a 1:50ish pace.

1st tapped keg PR!  Between that and the ProCompression socks we were well on our way to recovering.

Kristina ran her 2nd fastest race ever with a super speedy 1:34 something and Sarah busted out a 1:41:41 shattering her PR.

After the race Sarah and I found out we both reached a new type of PR when we went to the beer area and got beer from the first tapped keg.  I mean, if you run fast enough to get your beverage out of the first keg then, hey, you know you must’ve hauled it.  This the PR that matters.

Speaking of beer, kids, let’s learn a little lesson here…don’t mix yogurt and beer.  Why I thought this was a good idea post-race is beyond me.  My stomach hated me for the rest of the day.

Fun times.

As I’ve said before, Long Beach is my favorite local race.  I just love the course.  From miles 2-4 I couldn’t hear anyone talk, but was surrounded by the sound of pounding feet like a herd of angry elephants taking the Port of Long Beach by storm.  It was darned near breath taking.

A well staffed, stocked and supported course along the beach is just fine by me :)

Tell me about your races this weekend.
Any PRs?

Pretty Not Required

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4.25 Miles
Speedy, Hilly Strides

On Sunday I’m running my favorite local half marathon course:  Long Beach.

The course runs along the beach and through Long Beach harbor and is just stunning.  Plus when your day starts out looking like this and you get cush parking, you know it’s just going to be a great race day.

Walking to the start line on race day last year.

Last year I finally broke the 1:50 barrier I had been stuck at for what felt like forever and pulled a 1:45 out of my behind.

Honestly, it was a life goal to run a 1:45…ever.

Naturally I thought I looked like a total badass killing my PR, but it turns out…notsomuch.

Did I just pee myself?  Whew!  Good thing I’m wearing black pants.  Hopefully no one will see.

Notice the 9-year old casually checking his watch behind me as he crosses the finish line without breaking a sweat while I, by the looks of it, appear to be 9 cm dilated and ready to start pushing.

Plus, I think the Long Beach Marathon has the best hardware.  It’s my second favorite medal of all time.

This year, I’m going in with absolutely ZERO expectations.  My foot’s been a little angry with me since the Disney incident and I haven’t done any legit speedwork in about 6 months which means that I’m pretty much expecting to cruise in at my old pace.

I will literally run what feels right which is so very hard for me since I like to pass people.  A LOT.  But with Boston 6 months out, I’m just happy to be running and it’s not worth pushing it unless my body says yes.

Anyone else running Long Beach?
What’s your favorite race course you’ve ever run?

5 Shades of Gray

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5 miles
Hilly Silly Strides

Wait, were you hoping for a dirty post?   Read further…you’ll see :)

I don’t know how you see the world, but I spent a better part of my life living in black and white- avoiding every and all shades of gray.  Being afraid of uncertainty drove me to see everything from one radical perspective or another.   Luckily, I have a much healthier perspective on things but it leaves me with lots of questions.  So here are 5 shades of gray I’m wrestling with right now

Saturday’s Race – To run or not to run - I’m signed up to run the SheRuns half marathon on a “very challenging” (their words) course.  I decided to test out my preparedness by running 5 miles of hills in the 89 degree weather today.  Ankle seems okay, but I was dragging at an 8:30ish pace. This could likely be my first 2 hour + half marathon since 2003 when I ran a 2:01 in Chicago.  Can someone say “personal worst”?

Pic from the trail race on Saturday. I’m all Dory from Finding Nemo – “soooo pretty”…. Source

I’m feeling about as prepared to run this as I am to sing the national anthem at a Monday Night football game, so going into a race a physical and mental mess is asking for trouble.  Normally I’d be all “small race, let’s take the age group!” about this, but here I am hoping to avoid a DNF and not take longer than 2.5 hours to run the darn thing.

Running Shirtless – To wear or not to wear – At what age and temperature is it not appropriate to run in just your sports bra anymore?  Somehow I think I’m starting to fall into that category and need some sort of formula for this.

For the love of the land Heather said it best – we’re in a So Cal heatpocalypse right now…and I’m constantly torn between trying to cool off and having to put Body Glide under my chin to prevent chaffing from my post-baby stomach skin rubbing on my chin with each stride.

Boston – To run or not to run – I’m a mom on a budget and somehow dropping $1,000 for a weekend of racing is hard to justify.  I’m starting to feel like it’s going to be, “Hey kids, sorry you’re eating canned beans 3 meals a day for the next 4 months, but Mommy really wants to check this off her bucket list.”  Somehow doesn’t seem right.

Can you put a price on this? Honestly, I need to know… Source

White Sports Bras – To buy or not to buy - Are they even worth purchasing?  It seems like one run through the wash and mine are 3 shades of gray already.  I looked like a dirty athletic hippy trying to get dressed this morning.  I told you this post was going to be dirty ;)

Silly Chili – To cook or not to cook – NFL season started and I was sent home from my aunt’s with some leftover tri-tip and a BUNCH of fresh tomatoes.  If that doesn’t cry – “Make chili”, I don’t know what does.  My children are still confused as to why we were eating piping hot chili when it was 92 degrees out but whatever, let’s just pretend it’s fall.

I hope this post lived up to it’s title – I did talk about being shirtless and got down and dirty after all.

Do you have any advice for me on these categories?
Is Boston worth the dinero?
Will I ever pass go and collect $200?

I Came, I Tried, I Won – Huh?

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Saturday 3 generations hit the OC Roads to dabble with our first triathlon!  The iTryathlon in Irvine was actually a pretty fun, small local race.  There were about 500 people who participated and the mix was women and youth.  It made for an interesting dynamic, but the race was super organized (as most Renegade Races are), incredibly family friendly and a wee bit hot at the end!   Even with all my nerves and “where to go when?” jitters, it was seamless thanks to the Renegade staff.

Myself, Strawberry and Mumsie Poo all post-race

And a special shoutout to them because they made accommodations to help me meet my mumsie to finish her out.  The transition area manager saw me come through for my swim and was waiting by my bike when I returned and got me set on my way to find her.  Monster bonus points for that unique accommodation!

Showing off the goods!

And I’d say it was mostly a success!  I posted Saturday morning about my concerns (wedgies, falls, etc.) it turned out that none of my fears came true.  And for the record I forewent the garbage bag & duct tape swimwear.

5k:  21:16
Transition 1:  55 seconds
Bike (9 miles): 34:23
Transition 2 & Swim – Not recorded :( Boo!
Total Time:  1:03:35
1st place in Division, 8th woman overall

5K was okay – got a positive split so I went out too fast :(   It’s also very humbling in a women & youth race when you’re getting your behind kicked by 13 year-old prepubescent boys and watching 15  & 17 year old girls hang out front.  Man, I felt old.
Mile 1- 6:30
Mile 2- 7:46 (all uphill)
Mile 3- 7

Bike:  I have no idea on my bike splits, but I was a hurting puppy on the mile 2 & 5.5 respectively uphill stint.

Swim:  I have no idea what happened…I pulled a Michael Phelps and ended up with one lens of my goggles full of water and the other half full.  I’d take a peak out of my right eye every 30 seconds or so to see where I was.  Rumor has it I passed one person.  I have no clue though!

Highlights

1:  Dashing out of the pool, running back to my bike and meeting up with my mom for the last 2 miles of the bike and then swimming her to the finish.

Mumsie poo & I!

2:  Watching Strawberry kill it in his race (3rd place Division finish).  The half mile race was half uphill.  I may or may not have stood there yelling, “Hills make men!” to him repeatedly.

Hills make men. I may have said that to a running group of all men recently too.  I’m shocked they invited me back to run with them again.

3:  Literally biking next of groups of women singing, “I want to ride my bicycle…let’s hear it ladies…I want to ride my – ____” and made them fill in bike.  If they wouldn’t I’d tell them that yelling or singing bike would make them go faster.  That said, I just might have done a wee bit better if I didn’t spend 2 miles uphill trying to get people to sing.  Whoops.

4:  Super fun awards ceremony afterward.  They had one pro participate who was there signing medals for the kids (and some adults!) and they gave out tons of awards for small age groups which is rare in a small race.  Since it was targeted at newbies in the tri-world this was a GREAT way to get people motivated.  Showed Renegade’s commitment to encouraging people in the sport.  Monster kudos to you!

Kiddos spent the rest of the day at the pool and I literally sat in my swimsuit from the race with compression socks on (it’s a super awesome look, OC approved) until it was time to take Grandma Honey back to the airport.

I found this driving home:

Apparently being a cheerleader is VERY exhausting!

Coronado Low Tide Ride & Stride

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Subtitle:  I hate losing.

8.2 Miles
1:01:39 (7:31)
Low Tide Strides

I was supposed to wake up at 4:40 this morning to get my booty out the door to head to San Diego for the Coronado Low Tide Ride & Stride.

Whoops.  I woke up at 5:02 thanks to some super strange dreams. I flew out the door pretty much forgetting most of what I needed but had the essentials:  shoes, clothes (no nekked running today) and a check to pay.

This race is one I’ve been wanting to do for a while – it’s running the length of the Silver Strand from just north of the border at Imperial Beach to Sunset Park in Coronado.  Parts of the beach are never open due to being part of the military base (which they kindly open for the race) and the need for a SUPER low tide to provide a firm, but bouncy running surface.

If you remember, I’m recovering from my groin injury.  And I’ve pretty much not run 8 miles in…oh…say a month.  The longest I’ve done is 6, slow interrupted miles two weeks ago.  I had very little expectations going into this 8.2 mile race except to finish.  I convinced myself that I didn’t care how things went as long as I ran close to 8 minute miles.

Getting prepped for the race. Bikers take off 10 minutes before the runners

Ha.

Rah ha ha ha ha haha.

Toeing the line

Some of the participants were a little crabby at the line.

I forgot one really important thing:  I HATE LOSING.

I started out running a 7:15 – whoops.

Around mile 2 Hank and I (my new running BFF) started running together and talked about how long the race felt and how we didn’t really have goals – except we did.  Around mile 5.5 I started really struggling and told Hank to go on.

Did I mention Hank is about 30 years my senior.   Spectacular way to feel super unawesome.

I took 1 mile to recover a bit (probably slowing down closer to 8 min/mile) then saw the finish line – which is a total optical illusion.  Since you’re running down a singular stretch of beach you see the finish line for about….oh 2 miles.

There were two women ahead of me (White Tankop Girl and Black Tanktop Woman), so with what I thought was the right amount of time to pass them I cranked it up to high gear.  Except that the finish line was much further away than I anticipated.

Whoops.

I kept ahead of BTW, but WTG gave me a run for my money with 100 yard left.

Did I mention I hate losing.

The two of us ridiculously sprinted to the finish.  Everyone was watching and I wasn’t going to let her beat me.

She got 9th place, I got 8th.

1:01:39. 8th in my division-  I hate this large division, since I was pretty much competing against a group of college runners.  As much as I may have the sense of humor of a teenage boy, my body is not the same as it was over a decade ago.  Whoops.

Post-race lounging

Overall – a pretty competitive race for such a small crowd (several hundred runners) but AMAZING views.  There were shells, sand dollars, crabs, dolphins and a well-organized crew.  They had everything down from the shuttle buses to food afterward.  I was impressed.

What to do? What to do?

On the way home from the big SD I remembered I had to hit up the Carlsbad outlet mall to grab some underwear at the Gap Outlet (priorities).

Anywho…I had a difficult decision to make.  I smell disgusting and am rocking my running clothes and compression sleeves.  Do I go in wearing my race bib so people realize that I am not normally this rancid (at least most of the time) or does that make me look like a freaky weirdo.

I took it off and opted to go with the smelly freak option and made minimal eye contact with people around me.

I’m really glad I have a lot of work to do this afternoon/evening to get ahead of the week so I have a great excuse to just ice and hang.

Any fun races this weekend? 
Would you wear your bib in or just go all smelly style on a post-race errand?