The Last Time I Ran a 1:36:xx Half...

... was at the San Jose Rock N Roll is 2007. Here's the report with pictures. My coach, Pete, reminded me that the last time I ran 1:36 I followed it up two months later with a 3:19 Marathon. I have to keep that in mind. Just because I don't run my ideal this time around doesn't mean I won't run my ideal the next time around.

Speaking of San Jose Rock n Roll... I am now registered to run it this October. Cannot wait! I have some things to settle with that race from last year.

Some SF Race picture proofs

You can see my progression from feeling good to feeling the hurt!





Taken by MarathonFoto.com

A Runner and a Tourist (I even took pictures)

What a great weekend! I got to meet some friends in San Francisco Saturday night, I got to run a race in San Francisco Sunday morning and then I got to spend the day in San Franciso with my family.

Saturday night my friends and I carbo loaded at Fuzio. I had the Pad Thai with chicken & tofu. My personal favorite! I also drank a nice and tasty wheat beer while my friends partook in some serious cocktail consumption. Rock on!

I slept a few hours... too anxious for the race. Last year at the 2nd half of the San Francisco Marathon I ran my PR and finished 5th in my age group. I think I was in the top 15-20 women finishers. I'm far from the shape I was in last year. I'm heavier and slower. But I'm working on fixing those two things!

Race morning was perfect. Up 3 hours ahead of race time, ate a bagel with peanut butter, drank a cup of black coffee, drank a ton of water. Took the shuttle bus to Golden Gate Park. Was in the bus bathroom when the driver left the park. Had to finish in the bathroom quickly so I could tell the driver I needed to get back to the park. Driver laughed. I laughed. He brought me back to the park.

Warmed up about 12 minutes. Didn't feel like going 15. Did 2 striders at goal pace (whatever that was). Peed in the woods a few times during the warm up. Saw Tera Moody getting ready to win the race. (She finished 4th in the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in '08). Lined up in Wave 1 behind a lot of people. Last year I was confidently more toward the front.

The first 6 miles or so inside of Golden Gate Park are torture. Just get me out of the park! I ran strong, felt great, felt smooth. Focused on even effort because it was hilly and had lots of turns. Goal was to pick it up a bit after exiting the park. I took a GU with water sometime before leaving the park.
FIRST TIMING MAT SPLIT: 7:17/mile average

Exited the park, had to recover from a teeny tiny steep hill climb to get out of the park. Fell into a groove. I focused on each mile, stayed in the moment. Doing so helped tremendously. I took the downhills a lot slower than last year because I remembered how trashed my legs were in the last few miles because of flying down the hills.
SECOND TIMING MAT SPLIT: 7:17/mile average

Maintained a nice groove. Feeling good. Enjoying each mile, tried to pass as many women as possible. Good runners out there who shared the work and didn't mind. And then it happened... I GOT TIRED. I hit some kind of wall around mile 11. My legs just stopped turning over as fast as my mind wanted them to. My mental tricks failed so I just hung on as best I could until the finish.

As was the case last year, I was ready to walk and be done as we ran past AT&T Park. I just kept saying, "Get this shit done as soon as you can. Get it done." I felt some good calf and foot cramps in the last half mile. Felt the lactic acid set in at about the same time the cramps did. To me this indicates that I paced myself pretty well through the race because I started to feel that stuff at the very end. Was so, so happy to finish that race. Those last few minutes felt like torture.
FINAL TIMING MAT SPLIT: 7:19/mile average.

I didn't speed up like I'd wanted... but I didn't slow down too much. Kind of even splits. I was surprised. Finished 7 minutes slower than my PR with a 1:36:07, and placed 5th in the 40-49 age group. I was the 38th woman overall.

I'm pretty happy with this race because I truly left it all out there on the course! Can't wait to start building more miles in the next two months and really looking forward to Cross Country this fall. Yippeeee!

After I showered, the family and I hung out in the City because it was just too beautiful a day to pass up. I love being a tourist in San Francisco. Anyway, I'll post race pics when they come out.

Don't forget to train your brain

Billy Mills said it and many others have as well... "The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality or imagination." If your physical training is all there, then maybe it's time to add some mental training too. Here's a video interview of Billy Mills about training your mind from Nate Pennington's blog. I found it so inspirational and interesting.

It was one of those BLEH race days

Today was not my day, mentally. Physically I have no issues, no serious problems I'm battling with. Mentally I was not in the game at all. I started to fade immediately after the first mile, got really slow by mile 3, and then kind of jogged the rest of the way in. I left pretty much nothing on the course except a few drops of sweat. I had truck loads of energy when I finished. In fact, I jogged the last couple hundred meters. Lame, I know.

Seriously, I have no excuse or reason for not racing well today. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't care how I did. This was one of those "keep me in shape between races" kind of race.

The upside to my suckiness is that I got a decent 6.2 mile tempo run done. 43:31 which is an average of 7:00/mile, which is within my current tempo pace range. I also placed 1st in my age group, 40-49.

Wanna see my splits? Too bad, I'm going to post them anyway:

mile 1 -- 6:45 (felt fine, but started to not care)
mile 2 -- 6:56 (at this point I thought, "Whatever.")
Missed the 3 mile marker
mile 4 -- 14:10 (so let's just say 7:05 for miles 3 & 4 - I was kind of enjoying the mellow pace)
mile 5 -- 7:13 (I was purposely taking it easy now, no regrets)
mile 6 -- 7:04 (was thinking "just hurry up and finish already" so I picked it up).
last .2 -- 1:21 (I did not sprint at all. I did not turn on a finishing kick. I really did just jog it in).

I guess I blew this one because I didn't try and really didn't want to try. After the first mile, I was pretty much done. I should have run the 2 mile race, run fast, and call it a day.

My husband ran the 2-mile and pushed our 3 year old in the jogging stroller (it was allowed), and finished in 17:45. He said he took it easy, but I'm really surprised because I thought he and the little man would take at least 20:00. So good for my hubby!

All in all, I'm happy with my tempo run today. LOL! :p

What I'd Say to That Little Girl

I would hold her and let her cry on my shoulder and I would tell her:

I am so sorry this happened to you. I am so sorry. It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong. You are a sweet and good person and I love you. I am so sorry this happened to you and I'm so sorry I was not there to stop it. But it will never happen again. You are safe and I will protect you.

You don't have to keep it a secret anymore because it's not your fault. You don't have to protect him because what he did to you was wrong, very, very wrong. He should have never done anything like that to you and he never will again. He's out of your life now.

You can laugh and smile and play like you always wanted, and you don't have to worry. God loves you, and is sad because you are sad. Don't be afraid, you are all right. Nobody will hurt you anymore. You're a good girl and you are so loved and I'm so happy to know you.

Everything will be all right. Go ahead and cry, go ahead and talk, or go ahead and just sit. I will be here for you. I will never judge you, I will never leave you, I will never tell you to not talk about it. I love you and you are needed in this world. Stop crying or talking or being sad whenever you want to. And whenever you're ready, let's go out and play.

I'm here for you, whatever you want to do! I will always love you. I will never leave you.

HAPPY 4th and a race report from Shriners 8K

Shriners was the last spring road race of the PAUSATF series and while our Aggies men fielded complete teams in the Open and Masters divisions, our women's team was made up of just Heather, Tara and me.














To put things into perspective, Heather ran in the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials (10,000 meters) and is a standout distance runner. That's her in the photo. Tara is an 18:00 5K runner (and she just started running 2 years ago, folks). And then there's me. Hahaha. 'Nuff said. When Heather learned that it was just the 3 of us she said, "Then we have to represent."

I wanted to run this race as close to my 10K PR per-mile-average time as possible (6:38/mile), bearing in mind that I am still working my way back to the shape I was in when I ran that 10K PR last summer. But on the flip side, I said I'd be happy with a per-mile-average of 6:45s. I'm going by what my Garmin said because I crossed the start line about 6-7 seconds after the gun (it was crowded and I did not start at the front for obvious reasons, i.e.: too slow). I promise I did not look at my Garmin until I crossed the finish line, and I just hit the lap button at each mile marker. I tried to run tangents as best as possible.

Here are my splits:
Mile 1 6:50 @ 1.03 miles
Mile 2 6:46 @ 1.01 miles
Mile 3 6:50 @ 1.01 miles
I missed the last mile marker so my time for the last 2.02 miles was 13:36. (6:44/mile average for those 2 miles).
Overall distance (per Garmin) was 5.07 miles.
Overall time (" ") was 34:04.
Overall pace (" ") was 6:43/mile.
5th place in age group 35-39.

I felt really good throughout the race. When I started to feel the lactic acid take over, I backed off a little for fear of bombing in the last mile. Whenever things felt tough I told myself that everyone else was hurting, too. And when I really just wanted to jog I told myself, "This is the last race you'll run before you graduate to the 40-44 age group. Make it a good one." I felt strong and steady, but when I crossed the finish line I was definitely spent! It felt good to give it my all.

I passed 8-9 people between the first mile marker and the finish line (I counted the runners to motivate myself), but I got passed in the last mile by two Masters Men. They helped pull me in. All in all a great race, very pleased with my effort. Feels good to be feeling healthy again!

The Aggies Men (both masters and open teams) won! Heather was 2nd female finisher... but she drove all night to get to the start and got one hour of sleep. And Tara PR'd and won her age division in the 30-34 bracket. Solid!

Pete Magill, just an amazing coach, won the Masters Division and placed 10th overall... beating MANY, MANY younger men in the Open division. I actually got to meet him in person after the race, as he ran up on Tara and me while we were jogging our cool down. I am so pleased with the workouts and advice he has given me! I've said that many times before and what luck that I found him.

Next up is a local 10K on July 11. I won it last year, but I don't know if that will happen this year. Again, my goal is just to improve upon my most recent race. If I do, superb! If I don't, no big deal. There are many races to be run and I'm just thankful I can run them.

I couldn't stay away

I like having a place to write stuff. Even if it's not all that exciting. So, there.

P.S. I'm craving pizza!