tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24492000237753625422024-02-20T00:29:40.664-05:00movingdogwardDogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.comBlogger300125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-62109117764111890092013-01-04T12:41:00.002-05:002013-01-04T12:41:25.146-05:00My City By the BayYes yes yes, it has been a long time since I've posted. Now I'm back with a race report.<br />
2012 was a year I focused on high points and less on running/racing, other than to get into shape for Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier. We had bad weather on both and summited neither. Both were great experiences and I learned a lot, but I was left with a pang of disappointment from having to turn around twice. Over Christmas, we did manage to salvage the high pointing year by getting to the high point of MS.<br />
Since Rainer in Sept, I ran a few trail races which went fairly well. Mid Oct. I did a trail half where I was out run in the last 200m and took 3rd in my AG. I did a Halloween race on Halloween which was fun, but in the dark. I got off course and ran about 2 extra miles which cost me a few places in the standings. Oh well.<br />
Early Dec. I ran the Coyote Ridge 20 miler. I had wanted to run this last year but didn't feel I was ready so I ran the 10. It's a challenging but beautiful course. I set a sub 4 hour goal which I met with a 3:51:23, good enough for 3rd in my AG, 7th woman. Totally happy with that.<br />
Coyote was a test for the New Years Day 6 hour run. Last year, Loren and I volunteered and had a lot of fun. I got the idea in my head that perhaps I'd try it. I've never had much interest in running ultras (FYI, I still don't) but I thought a timed event would be an interesting challenge. No pressure on distance, if things suck, you just stop. I wanted to see how things went on the 20 miler before signing up. I signed up shortly after.<br />
I had been training as if I was going to do it and I used a modified Pfitz 12/55 plan (for those not familiar, it's a 12 week plan peaking at a 55 mile week). I cut out almost all the speed work and my peak milage was around 48 miles. I've trained for several marathons using this plan before and it's worked well for me. My longest run was still going to be 20 miles, which I did twice. Although I didn't do speed work, I did hills. Lots of hills. I don't have much of a choice where I live but I've come to really like them and I think they've made me very strong.<br />
The New Year's One Day is put on by <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/">Coast Trail Runs</a>. All of the trail racing I've done here in CA has been put on by them. They do great events. There are 3 events of the 1 day: 24 hours, 12 hours, 6 hours. When people tell me I'm crazy for the 6 hours, I point out the 12 and 24 hour options. I look totally sane. The format is complete as many laps of the 1.061 mile loop as you can in the time given. You must complete the whole loop for it to count.<br />
Based on last year's race, I set a goal of 30 miles which is 29 laps (every 16 laps gives you another miles with the .061). Loren thought I'd do 32 miles.<br />
Up until race day, the longest I'd run was 26.2 miles, a marathon. I've done that over a dozen times but as anyone who's every run one knows, things get interesting after 20 miles. I wasn't sure how I'd be after 26 miles. Of course, no pressure to even make it that far if I wasn't feeling it.<br />
Loren and my running sisterwife Barb came to volunteer at the event and both offered to run some with me. A few things I was keeping in mind before starting was how to fuel and not to go out too fast. I didn't want to have 6 hours of gels so Loren made some risotto balls with cheese and balsamic vinegar. They were awesome.<br />
The 6 hour folks lined up at 6pm, there were about 60 of us, the largest of the 3 races. The 12 and 24 hour people were already out on the course.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5r0WJCJCvqudLKMqHWICDkI0kuFOh_yYNf4LIhy03IHo7bLSLcNSWmV0B78AzXpvhXPf854KAVHKEj1DHtG9OdBatWdoTXWDFjRxS7UMSWDTIVLV0qutOdLZvShLZ_NEFv7Pe-UJCth4/s1600/darkrun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5r0WJCJCvqudLKMqHWICDkI0kuFOh_yYNf4LIhy03IHo7bLSLcNSWmV0B78AzXpvhXPf854KAVHKEj1DHtG9OdBatWdoTXWDFjRxS7UMSWDTIVLV0qutOdLZvShLZ_NEFv7Pe-UJCth4/s320/darkrun.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just as the gun went off for the 6 hour.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the start/finish area, there's a huge clock, timing mat, and monitor. Each time I crossed the mat, my name, lap, lap time would pop up on the monitor. Very helpful since after 10 laps I was loosing count. I wore a watch and had the timer just running which did get helpful later in the race as I got tired. I would stop into the rest area every 3-4 laps. I never stopped for very long, usually I would let Loren know I'd be coming in the next lap and what I wanted and I would grab and go or stop very briefly. After about 2-2.5 hours, I put my ipod on for a while. Normally, I never race with music. This is a bit of an exception. It's laps. In the dark. It's not like I'm missing any great nature or scenery. The music helped, it gave me a little giddy up.<br />
<div>
Not to say there weren't some beautiful things to be seen. The Golden Gate bridge is always beautiful. It was a little cloudy when we started but as the night went on, it cleared up. The moon came up in very dramatic fashion. It was low and huge for a long time over the Bay and was stunning. A short time later, someone launched flaming lanterns over the Bay. It was very surreal in my getting more tired by the lap stage. They looked like giant fire flies, one thing I miss from the East Coast. They lifted up into the sky and just burned out.</div>
<div>
As I came around on my 19th lap (mile 20) I was feeling low. My hips hurt from all the flat and the turns. 20 miles is the traditional wall and I was feeling it. I had had 2-3 rice balls, 1-2 gels, 2 small cups of soda, some sports drink, and water up to this point. When I came into the aid station Loren said I looked very sad. I was just having a bit of a moment. I hadn't done any walking and she suggested I walk a bit to break things up. I asked Barb to join me on my next lap around. </div>
<div>
Lap 20 and Barb jumped in. I was taking walk breaks for short stretches after the start/finish area. I picked a street sign to walk to then started running again. I'd say it was less than a quarter mile. I'd have some laps where I'd run the whole way through. I got over the wall and was feeling better.</div>
<div>
Before the race started, I had a couple of things in mind. 1. I wanted to run 30 miles. 2. If I came around the staging area and there was 20 minutes or so to go in the allotted time, I would go another lap. Of course, these are easy deals to make before the race even starts.</div>
<div>
As the laps ticked off, I started doing math (all runners know this is never a good idea late in a long race). I was pretty sure I had enough time to get my 29 laps in. </div>
<div>
When I came around on lap 26 or so, my name popped up in red. Somewhere I got the idea this meant I was in the lead (it didn't, it meant my timing transponder was weak) but I started running like I was in the lead. With so many people on the course doing different times and the darkness, it's pretty impossible to know who's in my division or what lap people are on. </div>
<div>
I debated my 29 lap idea. </div>
<div>
Barb asked about the red and when I realized I wasn't (for sure) in the lead and really had know idea where I stood, I then decided yup, I can get 29 laps in and then I'm finished. I don't care how much time is on the clock or where I am or anything like that. 29 and done.</div>
<div>
I felt good about that, my 30 mile goal complete.</div>
<div>
When I finished lap 29, there was about 16 minutes left. I went through the timing map and over to the aid station and told Loren I had hit 29 laps and I was done. She looked at me like I had just sprouted another head. </div>
<div>
She was like, oh come on. One more. You have plenty of time. One more. </div>
<div>
Damn it. </div>
<div>
Off for one more I went. And Barb came with me. </div>
<div>
When I finished my 30th lap, my watch said 5:55. Five minutes to spare. </div>
<div>
30 laps, 31.83 miles. I think Loren wanted me to do that last lap so she could be right about me running 32 miles. </div>
<div>
I was tired. My legs weighed at least 200lbs each. And I felt great. </div>
<div>
We hung around for the awards, the 12 hour folks finished with us at midnight, and the 24 hour folks were still out there. </div>
<div>
I was 2nd woman (winner did 32 laps) 11th over all (out of 62) and won my age group. Not bad, not bad at all.<br />
But I'm sticking to shorter races thank you very much.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJ4QfbdK7_65Chw9dyLkod8fXRdA7bs6rJOpYpLmO8d6mpMJvAre6am-VqLjDHnzBnVET_i10sm_k9Ncir2-9pohBNO6aIJaL2fD5qWe_x8KNUD2QIF8Yl19qZr7sS-RftmSajBufPAQ/s1600/splits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJ4QfbdK7_65Chw9dyLkod8fXRdA7bs6rJOpYpLmO8d6mpMJvAre6am-VqLjDHnzBnVET_i10sm_k9Ncir2-9pohBNO6aIJaL2fD5qWe_x8KNUD2QIF8Yl19qZr7sS-RftmSajBufPAQ/s320/splits.jpg" width="85" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lap splits. Each lap=1.061 miles.</td></tr>
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DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-14543944094819591492012-06-14T13:08:00.000-04:002012-06-14T15:17:12.189-04:00Some will fall in love with life and drink it from a fountain That is pouring like an avalanche, coming down the mountainA different kind of report folks! Here is the story of my no summit of Mt Hood, the highest point of OR. We planned this trip a few years ago when the <a href="http://highpointers.org/">High Pointers </a> were having their annual convention. We had never been to a convention and figured we'd be able to hook up with other people wanting to climb. One member, Dave, took charge of organizing people who wanted to climb and evaluating fitness and skills and pairing people up. He deemed us both fit and since Loren has experience climbing mountains like this, pretty good to go. I opted to take a deep snow class since climbing on glaciers is new to me.<br />
We arrived in Portland on Tues. and spent a few days relaxing and seeing old friends. The weather in Portland was awesome. On Thurs. morning, the day we headed to the mountain, it started raining. It was snowing at Hood. We got their very early for my 8AM snow class. The lodge was full of kids there for ski camp and climbers who had just come down looking weary. It was wet and cold and the wind was blowing.<br />
Just before 8, Dave found me and introduced himself. Our plan was initially going to be take class, ride ski lift to the top, camp, go for summit in the wee hours of Friday morning. With the weather conditions, that got scratched. Dave managed to get a 3AM sno-cat for Sunday morning. We were game. Since no one really got to climb all week, seats on the cat were at a premium. This was going to be the first real break in the weather. Of course it was also right after the convention dinner but none of us really cared about that.<br />
At 8, I met John, the guide who would be teaching my snow class. The class is usually about 4 hours long. Since no one was climbing that night, he kept us out for 6 hours. 6 hours in the snow, rain, wind, cold. It was pretty awesome. We worked on footwork, lots of footwork. Believe it or not, there are specific ways to walk in the snow, esp. when you're wearing big<a href="http://www.koflach.com/shared/i/prodotti/4.png"> mountaineering boots</a>. Then we worked on using crampons, ice axes, harnesses, roping up, going up roped, coming down roped, how to fall and stop yourself with your ax, how to do that upside down, backwards, left handed, right handed, all kinds of things.<br />
Since we had to change our climbing plans, we had to change a lot of plans. We now had a few days to spend at the mountain. Oh and no place to stay the night we were to camp. We got a couple of bunks in the <a href="http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C184">Mazama Lodge</a> and spent a lot of time lingering at the host hotel, swapping stories, looking at the weather, and planning. We spent one free afternoon driving out to <a href="http://www.bagbyhotsprings.org/">Bagby Hotsprings</a> (BYOweed/guitar). We went to the club happy hour and hung out with Mark and Melissa, Mark would be our rope leader on the climb. We went to a BBQ Mazamas hosted for the club. Well, the BBQ actually got snowed out so it was more like dinner with everyone packed into the lodge, swapping stories. Then Saturday evening we went to the banquet at the Timberline Lodge. We knew we wouldn't be staying for the whole thing as we had a 1:45AM wake up call.<br />
There were about 75 people who came hoping to climb that week. By the time of the banquet, 5 had summited. Hood is not known to be a hard mountain, as far as this kind of climbing goes, but there are somethings you can't do anything about and weather is one of them. The guy sitting in front of me got 150 FEET from the summit and had to turn around.<br />
During the banquet, one of the speakers spoke about how many people came to climb and how few had success on this trip. He commented about watching everyone huddle together to plan, change plans, watch the weather, talk about options. He said this is what makes people mountaineers, these details. That stuck with me. With marathoning, there's always (for me) obsessive weather watching. Same for this, though the difference is with running, 99% of the time I'm still going to go out and run no matter what the weather says. That doesn't hold true for climbing. It's just not possible. I've been asked several times if that's disappointing. It's not really. There might be a small pang but the danger level is just too high. Most of those days, for my skill level, it's just not even a possibility and there is absolutely nothing I can do about that.<br />
Dave then stood up and announced there were 24 people attempting that night. A huge cheer went up across the room. These people get it. Most of them have gone up that mountain. There was a very high number of people who have completed 48/49/50 states. Around 8:45PM, Loren and I snuck out to get some sleep. As we tip toed out of the room, whispers of "good luck!" came our way.<br />
We had spent the afternoon getting all our gear sorted so we could go right to bed and get up all ready to go. Alarms were set for 1:45, we would pick up gave and his nephew and head up to the mountain for our 3AM start.<br />
When we got to the mountain, it was cold and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We all geared up, signed in, and headed toward the Cat. A group had just come down who had gone up around midnight, they said conditions were bad even pretty low, around 9000'. We were going up anyway. We knew there was a good chance of no summit but if nothing else, this would be good experience. <br />
Our group of 12 climbed into the Cat and rode up the hill. It was pitch black and very windy. I was a bit nervous not knowing what to expect. After about 30 minutes, the cat stopped. We all poured out. The wind was howling and it was cold and dark. Everyone made last minutes adjustments and off we went. All I could see was the foot steps directly in front of me, and barely. The wind was doing a good job of blowing snow over them quickly. There were no hints of the 40 or so people who had gone up before us.<br />
After about an hour and a half, the sky started getting light from the sunrise. This was the first time all week we had seen Mt. Hood, and we were climbing up it. It was beautiful. Moments when the wind stopped were peaceful and quiet. Then it would howl and again and I would just hunker down, leaning on my trekking poles and brace myself until it stopped.<br />
We started meeting groups who were coming down. No one summited. At a steep section higher up, the snow was unstable and ripe for an avalanche, people were turning around. We kept going up, knowing we were most likely going to turn around.<br />
At about 10200' we stopped to discuss options. No one we had met that day had summited. Some groups went about 400' or so feet higher before turning around. This is the point in the climb where crampons go on and rope is used. Some people stayed for the experience, most of us turned around. I don't regret turning around (I might be singing a different tune if people hit the summit). I had a great morning, it was a lovely day, and I gained some good experience. The walk down the mountain was nice.<br />
We passed one more big group going up and passed on information we had to them. I think they went a little higher than I did and then also turned around.<br />
Once back at the Lodge, we went inside to watch people climbing. 2 very experienced guys did summit, but they were in a serious different league.<br />
All in all, I had a really good time and look forward to doing it again. Hood has a very short climbing season so it won't be until next year. Right now Loren and I are formulating our plans to climb Rainier in August. Stay tuned!<br />
<br />
EDIT: I want to add this <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2012/06/man_dies_climbing_hogsback_are.html">link</a>. A solo climber fell 1000' and died on Hood early this morning. He was very close to where we turned around. It is very sobering. I knew it was the right decision to turn around when we did. I hate reading stories like this. It does, however, drive home the point that this is not to be taken lightly.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-37880664463567254142012-05-21T15:36:00.001-04:002012-05-21T15:36:04.006-04:00Her dirty paws and furry coat, She ran down the forest slope.This should really be called what not to do when you're not in shape to run a half marathon (on trails no less) and have a turned ankle that just won't get better.<br />
Loren and I (and Barb!) signed up for <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/hl_horseshoe_lake.html">Horseshoe Lake </a>months ago. Since then, Barb came down with a stress fracture, I tripped over a street sign in front of my house badly turning my ankle, and Loren stuck with her usual training plan: running with the dog, going long when I tell her to, and riding the 40+ miles to work once a week. In short, not good training conditions for anyone.<br />
I really hemmed and hawed in my head about even running. While my ankle did not hurt to run on, it would ache after, all up my leg. So I would tape it, and wear a sleeve, and try off and on running with a brace. Most of my runs were short, 3-5 miles. This, of course, is not enough to run a half on.<br />
Last week I figured I should try and go longer than that, but I didn't want to do it in my hilly neighborhood. I went and ran 8 flat on the Embarcadero. For this run, I KT taped by ankle ( using the method for peroneal tendonitis), wore an ankle brace, and a compression sleeve. This is ridiculous. I miss my NYC physical therapist. I had no pain running and a wee bit of soreness post run but I figured this was a green light. It feels the best when I run with that silly ankle brace, so there you have it: run with the brace for now.<br />
Still, I spent the week lamenting. My biggest concern really is not running, it's being able to climb Mount Hood in early June. Loren and I are heading up there for a summit attempt with <a href="http://highpointers.org/">Highpointers</a>. This coincides with the annual convention (or as they say konvention). Yes, there is a club. Yes they have a convention. Yes this is terribly nerdy, to the point where Loren is almost embarrassed. I think it's kinda cool. We're gonna meet some crazy ass people who, like it or not, are kinda like us. Plus, we're going to climb Hood! This will be my first glacial peak so I'm really excited and don't want to risk hurting myself. My mind the last few weeks has been very much like it is when marathon tapering. Um. Yea.<br />
Part of the reason we've been running all these trail runs is to stay in shape for the climb. It's also a ton of fun. As you can see, the last month or so has been a bit of a mess, so I went in to this with low expectations. Very low. Like, finish, maybe, most importantly, not get hurt.<br />
The field was kept very small due to lots of single track on the course. There was a 5 miler (different course) half, full, and 50K. I'd say less than 200 for all distances with the half being the largest. As far as elevation, it gained 1800' which considering some of the other Coastal races we've done, it's not bad. (Click <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/hl_13_profile.jpg">here</a> for elevation chart).<br />
There was one point on the out portion that was simply not runnable. It was like a straight up wall. The rest, not so bad. The bummer for me was my being cautious on the downs. I'm usually a really good, aggressive downhiller. I wanted to be careful not to turn or twist anything so I backed off. That was the smart thing to do but a little frustrating, esp. in the last few miles as I was stalking a woman very close in front of me who I just could not catch.<br />
The wall we had to run up was no picnic coming back down either. Lots of roots and rocks and oh so steep.<br />
My legs started getting heavy and tired by mile 8. Ooops.<br />
I was trading places with a couple who was running the full and we were chatting. I said I was doing the half but was really only in shape for about 8. The guy said well, I'm doing the full and am really only in shape for a half.<br />
Close behind them were 2 women running together who I really didn't want to catch me. I could see they had gained a lot on me since the turn around. I just didn't have a lot in the tank to try and pull away from them. They did pass me, but one of them was struggling so I was able to pass back and stay ahead. That got me through to the end. I was never able to pass the woman who was close ahead of me, but I was able to hold them off for good.<br />
As I approached the finish, the couple doing the full were on their way back and there were high fives all around.<br />
I ran through the finish to see Loren, Barb, and Pete all waiting. I didn't feel terrible, I didn't hurt myself, and no one soiled themselves so I'd say it was a success.<br />
Stats:<br />
Finish time: 2:10:56<br />
Over all: 17/97<br />
Women: 7/56<br />
Age Group 2/6<br />
Loren was 7th OA, 2nd woman, and 1st AG.<br />
No more big runs until post Hood! I of course will update about that when we get back!DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-19578371973740168312012-04-09T13:31:00.005-04:002012-04-09T14:21:29.524-04:00I'm swimming, I'm flying, I'm dyingWelcome to another installment of Audra Learns the Trails of the Bay Area by Running Trail Races. On this week's adventure, we take on the Berkeley Hills by running the <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/gp_grizzly_peak.html">Grizzly Peak Trail Half</a>. Your distance may vary, it was actually 12.8 miles which proved to me more than enough. Let's start with the course profile shall we?<br /><a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/gp_13_profile.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 805px; height: 190px;" src="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/gp_13_profile.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />There were 5 distance for this race: 10k, half, 30k, marathon, 50k. Usually with so many distances, there will be different start times. The field for this race was kept pretty small (and sold out) so we all started together.<br />I thought the first mile would be pretty bad but it wasn't. I'm still learning how to pace myself at the start of these races. I'd say almost all of them start with an uphill and I don't do any warm up. Ok, this time I did: a sprint from the bathroom to the starting line, but that doesn't really count. I'm trying to just ease myself into a comfortable pace to start, as comfortable as one can be while gaining 600' in the first mile.<br />I'm had some butt/high hamstring twinginess the past few weeks so I told myself I wasn't going to run hard this week. Good luck with that! Well, the course certainly helped slow me down. For 1, there's a lot of up and down, it was tough to find any kind of rhythm. It was also rocky, like East Coast rocky so watching your footing was key. I was cruising down hill on a very gutted, rocky section and just kept thinking someone is going to seriously eat it here (I've seen 1 bloody photo and heard reports of 1 dislocated finger). We've also had some rain in the last week or so so there were muddy sections. It's funny to see people try and tip toe around mud and puddles. I try to pick the best line so I don't get stuck but I don't really worry about getting dirty, I'll run right through if that's the best way. A real down side to this mud is the mud drying, leaving fossils of foot prints, hoof prints, bike tire tracks and who knows what else to navigate. I imagine if the trail had been in better conditions I would have been a few minutes faster. But that's what you get with trails, you just never know how things are going to be out there and it has a huge impact on the outcome. <br />For most of this race, I did have others around me. I wasn't sure who was running what distance and of course, even when I say I'm not going to "race" I start keeping track of the women around me. On the very steep down hill, I lost 3 of them. Only 1 came back to me (though in the last mile, 2 would come FLYING by me, though only 1 of them was racing my distance). Some of these folks out there doing the longer distance stuff are no joke: they really MOVE.<br />At about the half way point, we were rewarded for suffering up the steep inclines with the most amazing view. We came to a clearing and there in front of us was the Bay Bridge, all of San Francisco, the Golden Gate, Marin, and Mt Tam. I'm so glad it was a clear day, it's an amazing sight. The guy in front of me peeled off to take a picture.<br />After a lovely almost 2 miles of downhill came what I was calling in my head The March to the Gulag. We had run down this steep rocky section. It didn't realize I'd be running back up it (mile 8.5-9.5). It really wasn't runnable, too steep and so rocky. There was just a line of us walking up it. The silver lining to this is I know it's the last real hill, and the rest of the course is downhill. I can't recall the last time I had such a slow mile. It took me over 18 minutes (my fastest mile of the race was just about 8 minutes). Trail running=coming to terms with sometimes having to walk.<br />So before I get to the end of this tail, I'm going to take a time of you tell you about one of my co-competitors. This is the 2nd time I've encountered a guy like this in a race. I passed him around mile 10 (he did pass me back). I took one look at him and winced at the thought of what it was going to feel like when he took a shower. He was wearing cotton underwear under nylon shorts, cotton socks, Vans (hey props to you dude if you can run 13 miles in Vans), no shirt, and was carrying one of those cheap backpacks with strings for straps. Sir, that is a one way ticket to Chafe City.<br />Now back to our regularly scheduled misery:<br />I hit the last water station and know there's about 1.7 miles to go. I can hear a couple of women coming up behind me and peak back, I don't want to be passed this late. Well, 2 come FLYING by me. I catch a number of 1, she's not in my race so I'm not worried. The other one is and there is no way I'm catching her. Then I notice my shoe coming untied. I'm not stopping to tie it and just hope I don't trip in the last half mile. Stupid laces.<br />I don't trip and no one else comes around me.<br />I finished in 2:22:38 ( a blistering 11:09 pace)<br />Loren is at the finish with Barb who couldn't run. I ask Loren how she did and she hold up her first over all medal, her 2nd win of the year (she was also 6th over all and will just say a woman doing the marathon was ahead of her as well as someone who was a bandit but she was still first in the half).<br />I was 2nd in my age group (behind Loren of course), 9th woman (out of 45), and 26th over all (out of 89).<br />Steep Ravine is still the hardest one of these races I've done, but I'd put this at 2nd for sure.<br />Yesterday I wasn't too sore. My butt/hammy feel fine. I have some quad soreness and some soreness along the outside of my left calf. I rolled my ankle a bit during the race which is what's causing it, but it's just sore. As is my big toe, ouch.<br />Coast Trail Runs who puts on these races does something called the Trail Blazer awards, it's a points standing for their races over the course of the year. As of mid March, Loren was leading in the half distance as well as in our age group, I'm 3rd in our age group. I think I'm 23rd or something over all. All of this is of course based on who shows up!<br />Next race is in Palo Alto in Mid May. Stay tuned!DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-68925361719971214282012-03-04T22:52:00.003-05:002012-03-05T00:11:12.513-05:00There's a feeling I get when I look to the WestThank you for tuning in for another installment of trail racing reports. This week is brought to you by <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/mm_montara_mountain.html">Coastal Trail Run's Montara Mountain Half Marathon.</a> A beautiful course covering 13.1 miles and climbing <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/mm_13_profile.jpg">2900</a>' in the lovely coastal town of Pacifica, CA (that link will take you to the elevation profile, take a look!).<br />A few things since January's Steep Ravine race:<br />First, that race beat me up. Man that was hard. It make me realize I have some work to do and not just with my running. I have some weak spots. In early Feb. Loren and I started on a strength routine based on the<a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0%2C7120%2Cs6-238-263-266-14177-0%2C00.html"> Iron Strength</a> work out. It really focuses on getting a stronger ass, something runners tend to lack. Now, this thing starts out with like 5 minute intervals of things. Um. No. We cut everything do like 2 minutes, and ya know what? I was still sore as hell the next day. It's getting better and I'm upping the times of the intervals but it's still a workout. In this transition to strength training, I've cut down on my milage. Not that it was high to begin with but I just don't want to over do it. I figured this would really help with my trail running and hills and in the long run, my goals for the year: climbing Mt Hood and Mt Rainier. <br />It didn't take long to see an improvement. <br />Last weekend we went out to check out the course, while we didn't run the whole thing, we ran 10 miles and did the first 2 climbs. I could tell the difference, I felt like I had more power going up those climbs (the first one was 3 miles and gains about 1600"). I really like having an idea of what the course is like. <br /><br />Race day: beautiful morning. Temps in the high 40s and clear clear skies. The RD said the trails were in the best condition he had ever seen them and the weather was just picture perfect. There were 4 distance: 10k (2nd half of the half so we never ran with them) half, full, and 50k. I'd say less than 200 people total for all races. <br />The first couple of miles were narrow single track. I wanted to be up frontish as to not be blocked out and lost in the bottle neck, but I didn't want to be so far up that I was going out too fast and causing those behind me to have to wait. I feel like I positioned myself well, we all moved like a snake up the switch backs with some passing here in there but no major issues. <br />I'm glad I had run up this hill the week before. After about 2 miles, we hit a service road up to the summit. <br />Not before long, the leaders started coming down. First a spate of guys, then 1 woman doing the marathon, and next was Loren. She was 2nd woman in the field, but first woman in the half. <br />I hit the top, grabbed my orange rubber band that indicated I made it to the top and started bombing down the 3 mile decent. By then the field had thinned out and there was no problems going down the narrow trail. There would be the occasional hiker but they were aware there was a race happening and were all considerate. <br />After that, there was a short flat with the aid station. I grabbed a 2nd gel, since my spare fell out of my pocket at the start, and some clif drink and headed for the 2nd climb. <br />The 2nd climb wasn't bad, about a mile long and not too steep. The thing I didn't like about this climb was coming back down. It was a narrow trail with a gash down the middle of most of it, perfect to ankle busting. I didn't get to go down as fast as I'd have liked to, not wanting to break my ass. Another small flat patch, maybe a half mile, then up to the 3rd climb: 2 miles of fun.<br />I wish we had run this one too. Not knowing what was coming and going up hill for 2 miles at mile 9 was tough. There were lots of switchbacks, some really steep sections, and lots of trees so I couldn't see where the path was leading me and I couldn't see anyone behind me or in front of me. It was a tough climb. I dug in and just kept going up up and up. <br />FINALLY, a clearing and the down hill started. The footing here was much better so I could really move. I was getting into the mid 7s going down, I knew I was almost done. I could hear them announcing winners and I was pretty sure I heard them announce Loren as the first woman in the half.<br />Once I hit the bottom of the hill, just a couple of turns through a flat parking lot to the finish.<br />My goal for this race was sub 2:20, I finished in 2:17:37, almost 10 minutes faster than Steep Ravine. It's not really fair to compare races. While it's the same distance the courses and terrain are very very different. <br />Results:<br />3/14 in age group<br />7/39 women<br />23/89 over all.<br />I'm happy with that.<br /><br />Now a note about Loren. Yup, she won. She also set a course record (I will add this because she keeps adding it: the woman who won the marathon was a few minutes ahead of her at her halfway point. She also flat out won the marathon, first over all, but anyhooo) Loren finished in 2:03:59. At mile 8, Loren dropped her only remaining gel and stepped on it, hearing that lovely pop that a gel exploding under a foot makes. Because she is hardcore (and may have bonked otherwise) she picked up said popped gel and carried it with her, licking the gel off her hand and spitting out the gravel for then next 5 miles. I'm just glad she didn't lick it off her shoe. She ended with mocha gel on her hand, leg, shoe, and face. Sexxxy proof <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/103930586076431759932/2012MontaraMountainTrailRun?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite&gsessionid=98A7WlTQ5yDnMeT2H3-QDQ#5716114060734325698">here</a>.<br />Yup. That's my girl!DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-88482773695653884402012-01-30T14:49:00.002-05:002012-01-30T15:23:07.954-05:00Like you were just a wish that could turn out wellIt's been quiet over here at Dog Pound enterprises. I haven't been training for any big goal race or anything like that. I've been keeping steady low weekly milage and trying my hand at some local trail running. It's fun to mix it up and try something different. No pressure since every race has new challenges and all the CA trails are pretty new to me.<br />Saturday was <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/sr_steep_ravine.html">Steep Ravine</a>. This is a pretty well known hiking trail. The race also hooks up with the Dipsea trail which is known in running lore for the <a href="http://www.dipsea.org/">The Dipsea</a>, the oldest trail race in the states. It started in 1905. Anyway, I mentioned on RWOL that I was running Steep Ravine and someone said, wait, I've hiked that trail, isn't there a step ladder? Why yes. Yes there is a step ladder. It's interesting to climb a step ladder while running a race.<br />You can see the course map <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/sr_course_map.gif">here</a> and the elevation chart is so lovely to look at:<div><br /><a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/sr_13_profile.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 852px; height: 201px;" src="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/sr_13_profile.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I didn't have much of a plan going into this. Usually, I look over last year's results and try to figure out where I should be placement wise. This was new territory for me since I've never run a trail half and they had changed the course from last year. The course is now much more challenging. </div><br />When we got going I felt like every one had really bolted out. The field wasn't that big, less than 200 people. I tried to settle in, obviously, we go straight up from the get go. Oh and for the next 4 miles. I tried to just settle in and be mindful of my foot falls. This trail is much rockier and rootier than other trails I've run on out here. Not to mention the step ladder, ducking under fallen trees and some tiny streams. <br />The trail splits from pink to a yellow loop right after the aid station/check point. There was some confusion on which direction to go to the check point. After some discussion with the pack I found myself in, we decided to go right, which did lead us to the aid station. I know there can be some lingering at aid stations on trail runs but I like to just keep at it so I gulped down some sports drink and split. I was now with just 1 other guy bombing the down hill section. It is so much fun to go from 13-15 minute miles to 7-8 minute miles. <br />For a while, I wasn't sure I was going the right way. I could see the trail markings and I was going counter clockwise as we had been instructed but I didn't see anyone else. There were 5 races going on with variations on route so there were people all over the place just no one near me. Then some guys come flying by the other way and tell me I'm going the wrong way. I was pretty sure I wasn't and had already decided if I was, it was just going to loop back to where I needed to be and I wasn't turning around. <br />After a couple of miles I saw Loren. She was with a pack and said "hi, we're going the wrong way, you're going the right way so keep going". <br />There were a lot of confused people out there in them woods. Some poor 7 mile folks ended up doing 10 miles, some 12. I'm not really sure how they got so turned around. <br />I got confused again when it came to getting back to the aid station. At this point, I was with 2 other people, a man and a woman. The woman was like, ok, he's really fast, let's send him ahead to make sure this is right. He called back to us and we were going in the right direction. <br />Once I got back to the aid station/check point I was surprised to find Loren there. She decided since she went the wrong way and cut the course she would wait for me at the aid station so we could run the last 3 miles together and she'd DQ herself at the end. <br />A lot of people went off course. After the fact, the RD went back to check the course and saw that the directional arrows were no longer there, causing the confusion. He counted everyone and gave everyone race credit (there's a points competition that goes on through out the year) and adjusted times for the short course. <br />I am pleased with my results. While it took me a lot longer than I had expected, I set a half marathon personal worst and a trail half marathon person best with a time of 2:36:52<br />Stats: <br />Overall 47 out of 172<br />women 8 out of 78<br />AG 2 out of 21<br />Even though Loren asked not to be counted she finished right behind me for 3rd in AG. That may never happen again. I'm sure if she hadn't waited for me she would have been 2nd woman. She gave herself a nice 15 minute handicap waiting for me at the aid station.<br />It was a tough run but I had a lot of fun. I'm enjoying this for now. I'm sure at some point I'll start setting different goals and go back to more road racing. After all these years of running, I just need to mix it up a bit. <br />In other news, our other trail running partner in crime Barb aged up for this race and nabbed 3rd in her age group in her debut race. Way to go Barb!DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-34834846753719058862012-01-03T13:35:00.003-05:002012-01-03T13:57:59.858-05:00Laying low and wasting timeIT LIVES!!!!<div>I have not updated in a while. Not that there's been much to update, but I have been internet running related laying low. I figured I would do the old year end/new year wrap up.</div><div>In 2011, I ran 1264 miles. Not setting any records there, but it was 200 miles more than 2010. </div><div>I PRed in the half, but missed my goals of breaking 1:40 in the half and 3:40 in the full. I felt like I had a lot of solid running. With moving across the country, it's taken me some time to get my running routine together. I'm still working on that. I've set no solid running goals for 2012. No marathons, no halfs, nothing really planned other than some trail races. I feel like after years of chasing Boston, I need a break for serious goal chasing. I don't think I'm done, I know there are faster times in me. I'm just going to focus on some other things. </div><div>Since moving, I've been doing more trail running. I love it. It's a nice change from road running. Time is less important. It's very mental. It's also very beautiful. It's also making me stronger which is awesome. </div><div>My biggest goals for 2012 are high points. I have 32 done. In 2011, I did 4. HI, FL, AZ, and AL. It's getting tougher to get a lot done in 1 year and several done in 1 trip. We should be able to get 3-4 in a trip to the midwest. IL is tough because it's on private property that is only open 4 weekends a year. Another challenge is the high points themselves. A sample of what's left:</div><div>Mt Rainier: 14, 410' glaciated peak. </div><div>Mt Hood 11, 239' glaciated peak</div><div>Granite Peak 12,799', 22 miles round trip, plus technical climbing</div><div>Gannett Peak 13, 804' 40 miles round trip, plus technical climbing</div><div>Denali the name says it all.</div><div>This year, we're planning on Hood and Rainier.<a href="http://highpointers.org/"> The High Pointers club</a> is having the yearly convention in OR so Loren and I have been in touch with people about planning a climb. An old friend of Loren's is a former professional guide and has agreed to do Rainier with us. I'm really excited about both of these trip.</div><div>This weekend, we're running <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/cs_wntr_crystal_springs.html">Crystal Springs</a> (the 11 mile course). We went out last week to check out the course. Should be lots of fun! As I said, I'm digging these trail runs.</div><div>I'll sign off with a picture of us at the AL high point, which was also Bea's 8th.</div><div><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrKxDqkg7oX1YVbGWdrUpnPv5MsIqaAje5bY27tAPTOvqbzIkF05KG-kr6STgLZX1gSUm9x2cw4526_99wQlBLX6HihDzMUNMqn2eMrKhDCFm2CM_BOgvEBW_ec5TrJIrKFsPIcGDVXw/s1600/feet.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrKxDqkg7oX1YVbGWdrUpnPv5MsIqaAje5bY27tAPTOvqbzIkF05KG-kr6STgLZX1gSUm9x2cw4526_99wQlBLX6HihDzMUNMqn2eMrKhDCFm2CM_BOgvEBW_ec5TrJIrKFsPIcGDVXw/s200/feet.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693481631041238450" /></a>DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-60196499529458642862011-11-01T14:06:00.003-04:002011-11-01T14:48:21.003-04:00I really f*cked it up this time, didn't I my dearI'm 40 years old. I started running track when I was about 9 and continued to do so off, but mostly on since then. And apparently that's not long enough to learn not to do stupid things. This weekend I am chalking up to another f*cking growth opportunity (this is my post of profanity). I wasn't even going to write about this, but I'm actually glad it happened because I did learn a few things and I'm glad for that, even if I had a sucky race.<div>On Sunday, I ran the Zombie Runner half marathon. After my terrible run at San Jose, I wanted to try again. This race was put on by <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/">Coastal Trail Runs</a>. They also put on the Diablo race I did last month. They really do put on great events. They're small and mostly train runs. This course was very flat and a variety of not very technical surfaces, dirt, some gravel, road. There were 4 aid stations on the course and I figured that would be enough and I wouldn't have to carry my own water. This would come back to bite me right in the ass.</div><div>From looking at past events on this course, I figured I could start close to the front. The half marathon and the full started together. Based on previous women's times, I figured I'd be in the top 5ish. Since it was the day before halloween, there were a lot of people in costumes which was fun. Personally, I don't think I could race dressed up, but it was fun to see others.</div><div>I started out feeling great. I fell into a nice rhythm and didn't get sucked into the faster pace of the guys ahead of me. The first aid station was at about 2.5 miles. When I went by, they really weren't set up or I didn't slow down/stop to really see, but I didn't see any cups out as I went by so I kept going. </div><div>I fell in with 2 guys, 1 doing the full and 1 doing the half. I knew there were 3 women ahead of me. Far ahead of me. As we came up on mile 6, I took a gel knowing there'd be another aid station soon. I could see the tent and as I came up on it I grabbed a cup as I was running by.</div><div>It was empty.</div><div>@&*^*%^!!!!</div><div>I'm now 6+ miles in, I've got gel mouth, and no water. I was not happy. I was, however, still on 1:40 pace but knew this was going to get tough. The next aid station wasn't until 8.5 miles.</div><div>In the distance, I could see 3rd place woman coming back to me. I kept my eyes on her and made it a goal to pass her. Once I did, I dropped her like a bad habit. I think she may have gone out a bit fast. I knew not far behind her was Loren who had a sore hamstring and was just running easy. </div><div>By mile 8, I was slooooowing down. I was so pissed. Dude I had been running with earlier came up on me with encouraging words. Before the next aid station , I took another gel, which hit my stomach hard. When I hit the tent, I gulped 2 cups of water but I knew it was too late. From the way the course snaked around, I could see Loren was gaining on me, or rather I was slowing so much I was going to fall behind her.</div><div>For the last 2.5 miles or so, there was an out and back and another aid station at mile 11ish. I took more water and Loren was really close to me. I was running like 8:15 pace and couldn't go any faster. Ugh.</div><div>While I was feeling like complete ass, it was fun to see all the other folks on the out and back in costume and being very encouraging, that did help even though the last mile was total hell. With about a half mile to go, Loren passed me and said not to worry she had no kick. I was like please, no kick? I go no nothin. This is it for me. The finish could not come soon enough.</div><div>So in the grand scheme of things...I ran a 1:45:25. Slower than San Jose by about 20 seconds. Continuing with the them for the year, I was 4th woman (22nd over all) and I won my age group. Little consolation, as I said to my pal <a href="http://www.girlinmotion.com/">Flo</a>, I'd rather have a good race than an AG win. Loren was 3rd woman and won her AG. Since her birthday is soon, this is the last time in a while we won't be in the same AG. </div><div>There are 2 big things I came away with:</div><div>1. Water. Carry it. If there isn't aids stations at like every mile from now on, I'm carrying water. Clearly that was a huge mistake on my part.</div><div>2. I'm not in shape to run as fast as I'd like. After these 2 races, I've put a lot of thought into this. ALL my PRs have come when I'm marathon training. When I'm marathon training, I'm running higher milage. This was the first time I trained just for a half. Clearly, I'm not running enough. This is something that can be easily fixed.</div><div>Another part of this is I'm still adjusting to a new city. I have some running routes mapped out that I do but it's not the same comfort level I had in NYC. </div><div>So I know what I need to do. I'm not in any hurry to get out and race another half, I want to put in some more milage, do some more trail running and set this goal on the back burner for a few months until I feel more ready for it. </div>DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-34036464950294949392011-10-02T16:52:00.003-04:002011-10-02T19:26:40.596-04:00What you had, And what you lostI ran the San Jose half today. This race has been on the calender for a while. I decided to take a break from marathons for a while so I set my sights on actually training for a half and FINALLY breaking 1:40. I set up a training plan and enlisted Loren to run as well. Best laid plans and all of that, turns out she had to go to HI for work. Rough, I know.<br />My training cycle went well. I felt really good about this race going into. I did until Friday anyway, but I'll get to that in a minute.<br />2 guys from the CA forum on Runner's World offered to run with me since they had similar goals of running under 1:40. Very sweet of them and I took them up on it. It lasted about 5 miles. I just did not have it today. My legs felt heavy, I tried to rally and it just wasn't happening. Actually, it really went down hill after 10k (I was pretty on pace until that point). I phoned it around mile 7 and just ran to finish. Not like I could have run any faster if I wanted to. I finished in 1:44:01. No, it's not a bad time. Yes it's way off my goal. I can deal with that. I'll pick another race and give it another shot.<br /><br /><br />I know what's partially responsible for my poor run today, though as I was running I told myself I was not going to use this as an excuse.<br /><br />As I was getting ready to leave the house on Friday morning, I was reading Facebook when some horrible news came across my feed. Yes, this is how we find things out these days. My old friend from my HS days posted that his sister, someone I was also friends with and who I went to HS with, passed away while giving birth. Her son also did not make it.<br />This news is beyond horrifying and I instantly burst into tears.<br />Even now...it's totally surreal. The last few days have been a sea of sorrow and reconnecting with people from the past.<br />My high school experience was not the best. I very much looked forward to the day when it would be over. I had a great extended group of freakish friends from out side of school, a very John Hughesesque group of kids. Gia and her brother were both a big part of that crowd. Going to see Rocky Horror, trips into Philly for all age punk shows, and nights dancing at Revival. Scott is a year older than me and went to a different school, Gia a year younger. It was great to have Gia at school during the day, an ally in otherness. <br />We had kept in touch over the years, though college and when she came to NYC for grad school we'd hang out.<br />Like most people these days, we had connected again on Facebook. It was great to be back in touch, see how her family had grown to include her husband Charlie and their twin boys, Charlie and Nate.<br />She was so excited about being pregnant again and sharing all the changes and how her boys were adjusting to a new one coming along. I was excited for her and looked forward to her updates. She was always supportive of my adventures.<br />As I was running today, my mantra became "sorrow into strength" but honesly, there was none of that. I haven't slept well the last few nights. My mind is constantly thinking about this huge loss.<br />I'm sure I could go on and on but I'm not going to, there just aren't the right words for this.<br />Gia was an amazing person. Smart and beautiful and full of talent. The loss is immense for all those who knew her and most certainly for her family.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x_WfrEFHdzXlbQztPfCwaHVa3-kN_qVGlnO21xQZ5lPvo2vGxTa3BYZjjsI6k_ebnm0inLcu353yTzACxE9l0cP6HoTIa0MWV_ETiJ73e39ETGyVaAPiBGijtQNntA-G_VjRfASc7UM/s1600/gia.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x_WfrEFHdzXlbQztPfCwaHVa3-kN_qVGlnO21xQZ5lPvo2vGxTa3BYZjjsI6k_ebnm0inLcu353yTzACxE9l0cP6HoTIa0MWV_ETiJ73e39ETGyVaAPiBGijtQNntA-G_VjRfASc7UM/s200/gia.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659039344054223042" /></a><br />If you're the praying type, please keep her husband, her boys, her brother and mom in your prayers. If you're not the praying type, please keep them in your thoughts.<br /><div>xoxoxo</div>DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-4253100747484491262011-09-18T16:00:00.004-04:002011-09-18T16:48:57.664-04:00The Devil InsideThis week was a very sold training week, I was tired from our trip to AZ, but things went well:<br />Tues 6.4 miles with 5x1k<br />Wed: 3.6 easy<br />Thurs 13.1<br />Sat 3 easy, 4 mile race<br />Sun 3.25<br />I went into the week tired and was pretty much running tired all week, but ran everything as planned.<br /><br />Last month, my ol' training pal Claudia (we've been running together since the late 90s and have done 2 Ironmans together) told me her and her GF would be in SF for a few days, they planned on doing the <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/d_diablo.html">Diablo Trail Run</a>. The race has several options: 4 miles, 10 miles, 12 miles, marathon, and 50k. They all have a significant elevation gain. Since I have my sights set on San Jose in a few weeks, I said I'd do the 4. They were doing the 10 and surprisingly, Loren said she'd do the 10 as well. That's a real role reversal, I usually run the longer stuff.<br />According to the race website:" The 4 mile course is relatively flat and fast within Mitchell Canyon" The key word there is <span style="font-style:italic;">RELATIVELY</span>. The elevation gain for the 4 is 400', the elevation for the 10 is 2420', the half is 3420', and on from there. In other worse, none of it is flat or fast. <br />Here's the profile for the 4 miler<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/d_4_profile.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 809px; height: 191px;" src="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/images/d_4_profile.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />My plan for this race was run fast. I didn't really know what to expect, this being the 2 year of the event and me having never run on the course. I warmed up for .75 of a mile on the course. Ok, not bad, gradual uphill but I can handle it. Back down I noted where the half mile to go was so I had a good idea of when I should try and kick.<br />For the start, I wanted to be up front since I knew the 4 mile group wasn't too big (and oddly, mostly women. 44 out of 58 runners) and the folks running longer would not go out fast.<br />First mile and I felt a little off. It was harder than the warm up! And I noticed I was weezing. Dust. It is a trail after all. There are about 5 guys ahead of me and a few women passed me. I could tell by number who was running what race. I just tried to hold steady. I have done races before that go straight up then straight down. I have to say, they're a little odd. <br />The 2nd mile, I had gotten into a rhythm though I wasn't flying. Another woman caught me and we together for a bit. <br />Then I saw the turn around cone and was ready to blow down these 2 miles. This should be fun. From the looks of it, I averaged 8:47 going up. I figured if I ran 7:15s going down, I'd be happy. <br />As I turned around I looked over my should and there was a woman close behind me and I heard "hey!" Guess who? Flowy shorts! Small world! Ok, now I had to really move, I know Shorts has a kick and I didn't want her catching me. <br />Ah down hill. I was FLYING. At one point, I looked at my Garmin. It said I was running about 6:30 pace, yet my heart rate was 147, which is low (in fairness, it topped out over 180 for the day). I was running as fast as I could, my legs couldn't go any faster but my heart wasn't working hard at all. Weird!<br />After the turn around, I saw Loren, she told me I was 4th woman. My theme for the year and really for this race. Then I saw Claudia and Evelyn as well. Claudia is recovering from a broken elbow so she wasn't running hard. <br />I was coming up on the heels of woman #3. I didn't want to pass her too soon only to have her pass me back, so I let her pace me for a while. Well the point of passing her became moot because she took it into a gear I just didn't have and dropped me. <br />I got to the half mile to go point, which also had a nice little uphill. My legs were so confused: run hard up hill, run hard down hill, up, now down!<br />I didn't know where shorts was but I wasn't taking any chances, I pushed. I came in @ 31:30 for 8:05 pace (the official course distance is 3.9)<br />Wow. That was hard and fun! I then cooled down for 1.5 miles and waited for the girls to finish. Loren came in 2 woman (4th over all) and won her AG in 1:37:41. Today, she's sore. She said it feels like someone turned her upside down and hit the bottom of her feet with a hammer.<br />my stats:<br />4th woman out of 44 women , 4th AG (the 40-49s were FAST yesterday!) There's a real 4 theme here. I was 6th over all out of 58. <br />Mile 1 8:24<br />Mile 2 9:17<br />Mile 3 6:37 (!!!)<br />Mile 4 6:54<br /><br />Me finishing:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACvcbCy4NpGqQF5WZT85sWc-Tfsvulo7kPcSebU1z_W6bY9pt-_W1WYer6s8Z5TkCChl4JcNFf0bFTnICXuDoJbwp9onNALRYb-GVTwi5myuFcS58CydIxF6CkaXa7yX7SwDv9Wa-Zko/s1600/DSC_0084.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACvcbCy4NpGqQF5WZT85sWc-Tfsvulo7kPcSebU1z_W6bY9pt-_W1WYer6s8Z5TkCChl4JcNFf0bFTnICXuDoJbwp9onNALRYb-GVTwi5myuFcS58CydIxF6CkaXa7yX7SwDv9Wa-Zko/s200/DSC_0084.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653800448670923938" /></a><br />Loren finishing (she says she looks like she doesn't know where her legs are going to land):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPZeXYe8VmSAY6S6-8cwtlILsnaGkDtgSSF4C5Zge_NnA4-mHr9l6-m5hnuA0OMzxZ4h4G60ybd_QqZDuB4ItJNdwcTXoplaW15hRZQ6qXdXlybt5fQFXKd6sUyZGpDzRNK_Jd34uNt0/s1600/DSC_0185.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPZeXYe8VmSAY6S6-8cwtlILsnaGkDtgSSF4C5Zge_NnA4-mHr9l6-m5hnuA0OMzxZ4h4G60ybd_QqZDuB4ItJNdwcTXoplaW15hRZQ6qXdXlybt5fQFXKd6sUyZGpDzRNK_Jd34uNt0/s200/DSC_0185.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653800618488467506" /></a><br /><br />This run was put on by <a href="http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/">Costal Trail Runs</a>. I gotta say, these guys do an awesome job. They have trail races all year and every event has different distance so there really is something for everyone. I'm looking forward to doing more of their events.<br /><br />Loren and I capped our day with a party at <a href="http://www.clifbarfamilywinery.com/">Clif Family Winery and Farm</a> (yup, the Clif Bar people). It was a great event on their farm/vineyard. Lots of food, of which we ate tons. Even though my race was short, it felt like an effort for something along the lines of a 10 miler. A really cool event. They have a garden that grows enough food for a small CSA and are starting to grow olives for oil as well as making wine. Man can not live on clif shot alone!! Ew, that would be gross. <br /><br />2 weeks left until San Jose, I'm excited and feeling really ready.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-63426150454470081842011-09-13T13:10:00.002-04:002011-09-13T14:00:23.717-04:00In every moment there's a reason to carry onAfter last week's less than great tempo run, I was hoping to have a better one. I did. 4 miles at 7:30 pace. Right on the money. I love how a good work out can make up for a bad one. I felt really good.<br /><br />As I said last time, I knew my training for the week would be thrown off with a high pointing trip. At this point, I'm more willing to scrap long runs than speed sessions, which is more my weak point. <br /><br />On Friday, Loren and I left for Arizona for what I like to now refer to as my Annual Mid-September Media Blackout™ (how could I possibly ever forget when I am constantly reminded?). We landed in Phoenix in the late morning and headed up to Flagstaff. Right out of Flagstaff, we got hit by a crazy ass storm. Off in the distance, we could see the very dark clouds and amazing bolts of lightning. Within about 15 minutes, it was right over us and raining hard. The big heavy drops quickly turned to quarter-sized hail and pinged and bounced off of everything, causing traffic to come to a literal stop. It was amazing and over within about 8 minutes or so. The emergency broadcast system broke into the radio station AFTER we had driven through the storm.<br />We made it to Flagstaff and hung out in the cute little town, got some food, checked the weather, and headed towards Arizona Snow Bowl, where Humphrey's Peak, the AZ high point, is located. <br />There was a chance of rain over night and a chance the next day. Thunderstorms gather very quickly up on this mountain and serious weather, like that hail and even snow, can blow in with little notice. On top of a 12,000' mountain is not where I want to be when there's hail and or lightning. We decided on a sunrise hike. <br />Can I just say the National Forest service is really cool? On the way up to the mountain there is a dispersed camping area, meaning there are camp site with no services, but nice spots for tents and fire pits and totally free. Awesome. Loren and I found a nice spot, pitched out tent, set an alarm for 5 AM and lights were out by 9. <br />We had planned to be on the trail by 6AM but due to a road closure for construction, we were slightly delayed. By 6:40, we were on the trail along with 4 other people. We went back and forth with them for most of the hike up. A few miles in, we were passed by a woman just FLYING up the trail. Granted Loren and I weren't going slow, but we're also not acclimated to the altitude (the trail starts at 9500'). While we were taking a water snack break, she passed us again headed back down. I was like like wow, you got up there fast! She said, no, I have limited time today so I set an alarm on my watch to turn around. I'd say she' got within a mile or so of the summit and did so very fast. I was impressed. <br />Around 9:30, we hit the top. The 4 people we left with got there right before us. We hung out, took some pictures, had a snack, and watched the clouds gather around. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvO76jMyEOrJJj9M4tyKgq11HbJu7Gr4xGyQc-BkAqRUN0uh4uZRyITsErmqQ_ablo_CK5Wc2HD7yqjDwiAL9groe3Yi9NXZNts4b7ECMUVBqEivWjkZbULjVriy1_IBvSeM3SbYTrJY/s1600/top.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvO76jMyEOrJJj9M4tyKgq11HbJu7Gr4xGyQc-BkAqRUN0uh4uZRyITsErmqQ_ablo_CK5Wc2HD7yqjDwiAL9groe3Yi9NXZNts4b7ECMUVBqEivWjkZbULjVriy1_IBvSeM3SbYTrJY/s200/top.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651900841990653682" /></a><br />This is #31 for me and #33 for Loren. Here's a lovely piece of trivia: I have worn that hat on most of my high points. It's a 1998 Yankees World Series hat. Loren has also worn her Blue Buffalo hat on most high points. It use to be dark blue and she almost lost it when it blew out the window of the car somewhere in OK last year. <br />I can't tell you how glad I am that we went up early. It was a parade of people headed up as we headed down. I'd say at least 50 others. This is a popular and accessible trail, I just haven't seen that many people headed to a high point in a while. We were down by about 12:30.<br /><br />We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Flagstaff, eating. That night we headed toward Sedona where we rented a cute little cabin for 2 nights. While Sedona is beautiful, the landscape and all that, I could really do without the super tourist aspect of things. Luckily, it only takes hiking a mile or so to really get away from it. <br />The night of our hike, we had dinner at <a href="http://www.elotecafe.com/">Elote</a> which is a pretty hyped up place but I'd say it lives up to it. The food was really good.<br />The next day and a half we spent exploring some trails and hikes in Sedona, including a run on Soldier's trail which was pretty awesome. I'm posting this picture of Loren running because I love it. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAw56DVToTU615us4ASNIIHW4sPZ5BKHNClxnI4THMaiW_8pzxL3U_3A9ucU8Z1eKJqc93Pk23uf6gZPcwGp1tgJQYC4Bl1Jj4ziqj7ck3sLUUI6M6-OW6ZbD5DbxkLAYYVDltMsbADa4/s1600/run.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAw56DVToTU615us4ASNIIHW4sPZ5BKHNClxnI4THMaiW_8pzxL3U_3A9ucU8Z1eKJqc93Pk23uf6gZPcwGp1tgJQYC4Bl1Jj4ziqj7ck3sLUUI6M6-OW6ZbD5DbxkLAYYVDltMsbADa4/s200/run.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651903516269123570" /></a><br />People look at us like we're nuts when they come across us running on hiking trails. It's a great away to get a run in and see everything. Plus, when we got the trail head, it was closing in an hour so we didn't have a lot of time!<br />Monday morning we got up early again to get 1 last hike in before catching our flight. We headed to Cathedral Rock. It was nice to be there early before the heat and once again before most people. It's a short steep climb up to a really beautiful view. A great way to end the trip. It also reminded me how far I've come in the last few years in my hiking. Not long ago scurrying up rocks like this would have made me pretty nervous. Not that I'm not careful still, I just don't see it as big of a deal as I use to.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLaZVHLNBqfgt1qxDbycQvvYpcTy7IJ3bBSJZ6oAdKL7c6hkNJMnxw8WFg-PLmL0XSUGUlsTXFs8HiXZB9ydille5Mfy7arCc60x5ghvQOC_OKWmI9uyQi0NsRpHKoRgROG-pY4eLBPM/s1600/cliff.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLaZVHLNBqfgt1qxDbycQvvYpcTy7IJ3bBSJZ6oAdKL7c6hkNJMnxw8WFg-PLmL0XSUGUlsTXFs8HiXZB9ydille5Mfy7arCc60x5ghvQOC_OKWmI9uyQi0NsRpHKoRgROG-pY4eLBPM/s200/cliff.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651904830595161970" /></a>DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-1730750745924736602011-09-05T16:43:00.002-04:002011-09-05T17:01:26.731-04:00The grabbing hands grab all they canWith the summer racing series over, I've switched to my own speed workouts. This was an interesting week for that. Neither work out was awesome. To start, I did the first one wrong. Planned was 5x3 minutes @10k pace. I did 5x5 mins. Ooops. I had a feeling this wasn't right sometime into my 2nd one. I was like, oh well, I just do this. It ended up being 10 minutes of faster running than planned and it was a little slower than planned.<br />Next up was a tempo run. 4 miles. Now, hmmm, I started out with a few strikes:1. lady time. 2. Sore ass from doing some squats. Seriously, not a lot and with no weight, I was like WTF. Again, the milage was done, but the speed was off. It's frustrating. I'm not concerned really since I know from the Thurs. night races I can hit the paces. It was just 2 off workouts in a row.<br />All my other runs have been totally fine.<br />Today's speed session was 4x800. I haven't run on a track in ages. Generally when I have a workout like this, I just do them where every I happen to be running. Since I'm still figuring out where to run by my house that's not too hilly, I decided to take this one to the track. Plus Loren is off today so we did it together.<br />This workout made up for the 2 boob moves from last week. My intervals went like this: 3:34, 3:28, 3:29, 3:24. I felt really good. We followed it up with some strides and drills in the field barefoot. <br /><br />This coming weekend, Loren and I are headed to AZ to hit the hight point. I need to shuffle some workouts around. The hike will be 9 miles and gain 3500' up to 12,633'. I think I will keep my speed workouts, I need to focus on that more than distance, and scrap the 13 miler my long run for the week. With the hike, it will be a similar effort. <br /><br />I also signed up for a 4 mile trail race the following weekend, some East coast friends will be out for a tougher 10 mile race. I'm taking the easier route with the 4. Loren's going for the 10. This should be interesting....DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-61679198768321582612011-08-26T11:47:00.003-04:002011-08-26T12:50:44.191-04:00You better be good to meSo far, this has been a pretty fun week.
<br />On Wed. nights, I usually run with a group from <a href="http://www.sportsbasement.com/">Sports Basement</a>. It's a fun diverse group of runners and while I really enjoy running alone, it's nice to have some company from time to time. After this week's run, there was a Fit Fest, which had about a dozen vendors and snacks and raffles. Raffles are always fun! There were also people there from Rock Tape taping people and people doing ART so I got my hip/leg worked on post run. And who doesn't love snacks?
<br />And free socks?
<br />I did win a raffle, it was a gift bag with a rather interesting array of items, including:
<br />Asics running hat
<br />Saucony tshirt
<br />kid's teko socks (I really wish they fit me)
<br />Rock tape
<br />water bottle
<br />tiny travel locks
<br />comprehensive guide to marine first aid (total odd ball in the bag)
<br />and the crown jewel: a gift certificate for a pair of UGG sneakers.
<br />Now what I REALLY wanted (not that these things weren't awesome) was the <a href="http://www.steripen.com/">steripen water purifier</a>. Anyone who reads my blog knows Loren and I do a lot of hiking and backpacking so this would really come in handy. Well, I didn't win that. I sized up the couple that did win it to see if I could negotiate. I went up to them and asked what they likelyhood was that they would use it. The guy was like probably and the woman was like, why, whatcha got? I said GC for a pair of UGGS. The words weren't even totally out of my mouth and she was like DONE!
<br />SCORE! I was pretty excited about this swap.
<br />
<br />Last night was the end of the 12 week race series put on by <a href="http://www.dserunners.com/">DSE Runners</a>. It's been a great 12 weeks of running. I've done 10 of the 12 races and have had a blast. Simple, no nonsense running, gotta love it.
<br />Last night was a big turn out, most of the characters were there and a whole new team of HS runners. All I had to do to win my age group for the series was finish.
<br />Last week, I actually had a conversation with Flowy Shorts (I now know her name!). This week, I talked to big legs, she was actually very chatty and had just run the Pike's Peak Marathon.
<br />Before hand, I warmed up for a mile and a half and felt pretty good.
<br />This weeks route was counter-clockwise which is the hillier direction. And the hills come at about 2.5 miles so late into the 4.5 mile loop. I don't like this direction. I had no expectations of PRing. Since missing last week by 1 second, I was bummed we weren't going the faster way.
<br />Shorts and I line up together and ran pretty much the whole race side by side or trading the lead by a few feet. Around mile 2, tattoo guy from last week joined us.
<br />When we got to the hills, the 3 of us were in a nice little pack. I think this really helped me. I'm a good hill runner and often pass people at this point in the race but the 3 of us working together pushed us all along.
<br />With about a quarter mile to go, Shorts gapped me a bit. I had decided I was going to let her go if she went, but I wasn't too far behind. I also gapped Tattoo dude. I knew from last week he didn't have the gear to come get me.
<br />I took peak at my watch and couldn't believe it.
<br />I had a real shot at a PR. I really didn't think it would happen in this direction. I pushed.
<br />While I was a few feet behind Shorts at the finish, I hit my watch at 33:06, a 9 second PR!
<br />I felt slightly like I wanted to throw up but otherwise felt great. HIgh fives all around from Shorts and Tattooed dude.
<br />I'm pretty sure there was a new woman in my AG ahead of me and I was prob. at least 4th. I did, however, pass Legs at mile 2, first time I beat her. Though, come on, she just ran that marathon.
<br />With that, I locked up my age group for the series. I got a very generic medal that says first place, which I love. I love the low keyness of the entire thing.
<br />Now on to the San Jose half in 5 weeks. I may do 1 more race before then to see where I am. It's a flat course, I think sub 1:40 is possible. This is also the LAST Rock n Roll event I do. They're overpriced and no same day # pick up which is a real pain in the ass.
<br />
<br />Unless you live under a rock, no doubt you've seen the news of good ol' Irene heading for the East Coast. Even though I'm not there, I've been following news and weather. Be safe over there East Coasters. Batten down NYers, this could be a big one. And for the love of the running gods, stop complaining about the Bronx Half being cancelled and not getting a refund. It's minor in the grand scheme of things. Run now while it's still nice out.
<br />DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-17668759030016179742011-08-19T14:28:00.003-04:002011-08-19T14:46:58.033-04:00After the boys of summer have goneThings are coming to an end at Thursday Night at the Races. Here in SF, school has started again. Last night the fast redhead was gone, her cross country practice has probably started again (or she has 15 AP classes to study for). The HS boy's team was no there either. It's just back to the grown ups. There's 1 week of racing left.
<br />There was, however, a new character. Rubber Band Man. He's an older gentleman. He was wearing earbud headphones, and to keep them in place, he has a rubber band wrapped around his head. I can not make this stuff up. Runners are total freaks.
<br />I finally got to see WHO the faster woman in my AG was. I started behind her and she was clearly taking it easy since she wasn't very far ahead of me for most of the race. Flowy shorts was also there.
<br />As we started I knew I just didn't feel like running very hard to I started off easy. I let fast chick go, I didn't try to stay with shorts.
<br />Since this was my 9th week running here, I've gotten to know the course in both directions pretty well. This week was the direction I like, I think it's faster.
<br />Just before mile 3. a guy passed me. A real macho guy. He was in board shorts and a cotton tank top. His arms were covered to the wrist with tattoos and I could see they covered most of his back and chest. I caught him and he would not let me pass, to the point of stepping over so I couldn't pass. I was like, ok, whatever dude and just stayed with him. Right before my garmin hit 4 miles, I did pass him. I knew when I did it would be for good. With a half mile to go I picked up the pace. I didn't want him out sprinting me just on principle. I looked down at my garmin. As I've noted before, I'm old school. Races I care about, the garmin stays at home and I run with a watch. It's just easier for my brain to deal with just the time and hitting lap. For these runs, I wear my garmin, mostly because there are no mile markers, though by now I have a good sense of the course and where I am. I knew that the best I had run this course was the first week, 7:24 pace. My garmin was telling me that's what I was averaging. I didn't know my exact time off the top of my head from that first week. I hit STOP at 33:16. When I got home and looked up my time from week 1, it was 33:15. So close. We'll see what the official time was in a few days.
<br />Tattoo man came in behind me and I gave him a high five. He told me he wanted to stay with me at the end but just couldn't. Mwahahaha.
<br />After the race, I actually talked to flowy shorts and speedy woman. Funny, big legs has not been there for the last 2 weeks.
<br />I'm surprised by my time last night, I did not expect or plan to run as well as I did. This is a good sign, things are coming along. I'm happy about that, I thought I was just stagnating for a while but this seems to be a mini break.
<br />On the first week, I was given #17, I've reused the same number every week. Man, I wish it was 4 since I think I've come in 4th woman more than any other place.
<br />1 more week to go. I'm still leading my age group. This has been a fun series. DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-88374778884871281302011-08-15T12:55:00.003-04:002011-08-15T13:21:41.615-04:00We'll get higher and higher Straight up we'll climbUpdate on the lost day hikers from last week: Ok, I don't have one. I'm sure they got out, I'm just waiting for them to mail me back my stuff.
<br />My training week the week of the hike was thrown off a bit because well, we were in the woods. I had done my long run before leaving and I was surprisingly sore when I got back. It threw a wrench in the start of last week. Though I figure 15+ miles of strenuous backpacking counts for something. Seriously, my calfs were oddly sore. I expected my hips to be sore, I haven't carried a pack in a while, but the calf soreness was a surprise. It left me shuffling my week around.
<br />I blew off my planned Monday speedwork and took the day off from running. Tues. I did a recovery run. I was on the fence about Thurs. night's race. I was thinking about doing a 10k on Sat, mostly because it's called The Big Gay 10k. Since I wasn't feeling like I could really race it well, I decided to skip it. I did race on Thurs. I wasn't out there giving the effort I usually do but was surprised I finished in about the same time. I also wore my HR monitor, which I usually don't do. I averaged 175, which is a tick higher than I would be for a tempo run so that's all good.
<br />This week I was 4th and 1st in my AG. The girl who has won ever week she's run is 16. I swear she shows up 2 minutes before the start, no warm up and churns out 6:30s. By the time I'm done she's gone. I imagine her mom waiting for her in the car, waiting to whisk her off to her next activity.
<br />The last few weeks a group of HS boys have been showing up as well. It's very cute to watch them do all their drills together before the race. It's also very satisfying to pass most of them by mile 3 since they go out way too fast.
<br />2 weeks of racing left!
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<br />In other news, Loren and I are plotting out more high points. Our plan this summer was to do Rainier (which Loren's done a few times already). We're lucky that Loren has a friend who is a professional guide and could walk up that mountain in her sleep. She has offered to take us up. With the move and everything, time is getting short for this season. We decided to put it off to next summer. I'm bummed but this will give me lots of time to get in shape specifically for that. We're also planning on doing Hood next summer with the <a href=http://highpointers.org/>High Pointers</a> when they have their annual convention which will be in OR. (yes there is a club, yes we are members, yes Loren is mildly embarrassed by this). We still have some serious peaks to hit. WY and MT are very serious multi-day treks/climbs. ID has something called Chicken Out Ridge that has turned around more than a few very serious hikers, to say nothing of AK. We're hoping to take a weekend in Sept. to do either AZ or ID, both are day hikes. We are planning a Mid-Western trifecta this fall, going or MN, MI, and WI. So Midwesterners, be warned! We may be heading your way!
<br />DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-70796906692930679712011-08-08T11:38:00.003-04:002011-08-08T12:39:20.884-04:00They'll have to make the best of things, It's an uphill climb
<br />No Thursday night race report for last Thurs. Loren and I had tickets for the Giants/Phillies game so no racing for me. I checked the overall standings for the series and I have a thin lead for my age group. 3 weeks to go! It's been a fun series.
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<br />This weekend, we went on our first backpacking adventure since moving. This would be <a href="http://www.facebook.com/StingLikeABea?ref=ts">Bea's</a>, our dog, first backpacking trip. We've gone car camping and hiking with her but this was new.
<br />Friday afternoon, we headed up to the Snow Mountain area of <a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6BdkOyoCAPkATlA!/?ss=110508&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003853&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Mendocino%20National%20Forest-%20Home">Medocino National Forest</a> for the weekend. We started out with some less than wonderful google map directions to get to the ranger station for a more detailed map. We hit the trail head at 4:30, later than expected.
<br />Friday evening was our day of dumb. Nothing terrible happened, things just didn't go as planned. We hiked a bit further than expected up a really really steep trail with lots of switch backs. Bea was game. The ranger we spoke to hadn't really had a trail report for where we were going for about a month. There was less water than expected. Less being almost none. We took a trail in a different direction than our overall plan to get water. We still had about a liter, but for 2 people and a dog. more would have been better.
<br />We found a very nice camping area at another trail head. It was clear no one had been here for months. Apparently the road leading up to this trail head isn't passable, leaving it unused. It's really too bad, it's an awesome camping area. We followed the map to where a spring should have been. It was a bit of a hunt. Then, there in a field, was a bathtub. No really. LIke an old clawfoot tub someone dragged up there. There was a hose coming out of it but no water. I guess in the spring, when the snow is melting of the mountain, there is a lot of water. For now, there was a trickle running down hill. It wasn't great, but it was enough for the night.
<br />While it was clear no one had been up here in a while, a ranger did stop to talk to us as we were getting ready to hike in. He told us to be on the look out for growers (people go up into the forrest to grow weed). He said they wouldn't look like hikers, they would usually be alone and not carrying anything. I find it hard to believe people would hump all the way out there empty handed but I guess they have some nice set ups deep in the woods. I can understand why people would grow up there, everything grows up there. During our conversation, he said he didn't mind the growing so much as the pesticides which were killing other plants and trees and starting to kill the wild life. I said they could really use the organic label as a marketing tool if they stopped using pesticides. He chuckled, shook his head and said "yea, I really can't say anything about that".
<br />By the time we got camp set up and ate, we were in the dark and pretty pooped. Even though Bea had been camping once before, she got a little freaked out if one of us went off to do some sorta chore that require breaking the pack up. For the first night and most the next day, we did everything together which could get to be a pain.
<br />Once in the tent, we came up with a plan for the next day. We knew there was water where we were, but it sucked. We would hit the next trail split, and decide if we should ditch our packs, day hike for a while, then hike out or bring our packs and find a nice camping area along the trail. We ended up with option 2.
<br />The trail we were on was 2 miles long then would split into a few different trails. At the juncture, there was an awesome spring. We refilled all our bottles, ditched our big packs, packed up a day pack, and went for a few more miles up the trail.
<br />It was beautiful, lots of wild flowers and huge trees, old burnt out trees from a 1987 fire. It was getting warm and we were at about 6500'.
<br />As the day went on, it was clear Bea was hot. She started running from shady patch to shady patch, sitting down every once in a while. We'd let her sit in a shaded area for a while then move on. This was a lot for her.
<br />We got back to the site where we dropped our stuff, set up the tent, which bea could not wait to get in, and spend the afternoon lounging about, playing cards, snacking. The dog pretty much slept.
<br />After a few hours, we went to scout a better campsite for the night.
<br />In the back country, there really aren't campgrounds. Where we were for the afternoon was clearly a set camp, but other areas campers aren't suppose leave fire rings or make it seem like people have been there. But they do, which is ok by me, it makes it easier when the next person shows up as long as the area isn't trashed. At this point, we hadn't seen another person since we got on the trail.
<br />We found an awesome spot. Tucked in behind some big trees off the trail, it had a fire ring, a cozy little spot shaded by some trees for our tent, and an AMAZING view.
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6Uhsy7qvbg93Kj1_Zp1Ba-gBv2YNfWpvcibM0dXvrQwwBZHr9f04U1CwtWyttHOKhKv8BA86ub5_-aS5N3OcitEX0etEI8VWbWu_r_Sht9AZdKOVtESh1c_1M5AFj4e8GoMjf4txcqs/s1600/IMGP2630.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6Uhsy7qvbg93Kj1_Zp1Ba-gBv2YNfWpvcibM0dXvrQwwBZHr9f04U1CwtWyttHOKhKv8BA86ub5_-aS5N3OcitEX0etEI8VWbWu_r_Sht9AZdKOVtESh1c_1M5AFj4e8GoMjf4txcqs/s200/IMGP2630.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638518353535244402" /></a>
<br />Before we could even set up the tent, Bea wanted to be in it. She was so tired she was giving up on caring if one of us went off.
<br />I decided to go fetch water as Loren finished up setting up camp, this way it would be done and we wouldn't have to back track on the way out the next day.
<br />I'm walking down to the creak having a hippie moment in nature, enjoying the few minutes alone, the quiet, thinking about how I haven't seen anyone else.
<br />And then
<br />I see someone else.
<br />A few someones actually, a youngish man and woman and their dog. They're right by the trail junction where the water is. I know just by looking at them they're lost. They're both in shorts, t-shirts, and sneakers.
<br />I had looked at the map pretty closely and several times, I knew where all the trails in the area were. Loren and I had been hanging out in the same area for hours, we would have seen them had they come this way. There was another trail head much further north. I quickly figured that's where they came from. They were WAY off from where they wanted to be.
<br />This isn't like a national park where rangers are patrolling the trails. National forests are more like, ok, here's a trail, here's a mark on a map where there's water, there are some established campground out there but you're not going to find much. HAVE FUN! And it is fun, until you're lost and have no idea where you should be going and it's 6:30PM. This can and does happen as demonstrated by the couple I just ran into.
<br />We talked for a few minutes to try and determine where they were and where they went wrong, but they didn't have a map. I brought them back to our camp. Loren and Bea were both surprised to see other people. Bea was very surprised and not too happy to see another dog.
<br />We figured out where they missed their turn around point, which was several miles away. Which was several miles away from the trail head where they parked. I gave them our map of the area, as we would be hiking out the way we came in in the morning and we were pretty familiar with where we were going. There was only 1 turn off to our trail and we had already passed it 3 times. We also gave them a headlamp since they had a dying flashlight, some food, and the space blanket out of our first aid kit. They had about 7 miles of hiking to go and about 2.5 hours of day light at most. I think they'd make it out, it just wasn't going to be a whole lotta fun.
<br />My public service announcement for the day: if you go out hiking someplace unfamiliar, bring a map, bring water, bring snacks, something warms, a light, and let someone know where you're going and when you expect to be back. It really doesn't take much to go from, oh lovely walk in the woods, to oh crap I'm stuck and drinking my own pee.
<br />After our new friends were on our way, we settled in for the night, falling asleep before it was even totally dark. I wanted to get up early and head out before the heat of the day.
<br />We all fell right to sleep. Some point during the night, I woke up to coyotes singing somewhere out in the woods. Such a cool cool sound.
<br />The next morning we were on the trail by 7:20AM. It was a lovely morning and the hike out was mostly downhill. I hadn't realized just how steep those switchbacks were until we went down them.
<br />Half way down the trail, we had our 2nd human interaction. We ran into a young guy with a big pack, he was headed out for 5-6 days. We gave him the lowdown on the water situation and good camping areas and we were all on our way.
<br />Bea got some of her energy back for the hike out. There were squirrels and chippies all over making her totally crazy.
<br />Once we hit our car though, she was in the back seat and sound asleep. She slept the whole way home. This trip took a lot out of her! I think it'll be a couple of days before she's back up to her normal energy levels.
<br />On our way out, we stopped by the ranger station to tell them about the folks we saw, just it case. I didn't think to give them my # so we'd know if they got out. The ranger thanked us and said, well, this is more information than we usually have. Last time someone got lost out there they just sat on a rock until we found them. Im pretty sure they made it out ok.
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<br />I was due to do a speed workout today. But ya know what? My ass is sore and my calves are killing me which I'm a little surprised by. I'll either do a short recovery run or take the day off. Taking the day off is really winning in my head at the moment. DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-51385570308110406062011-08-01T11:47:00.003-04:002011-08-01T12:09:13.303-04:00These are the people in your neighborhoodAfter 22 years of living in NYC and many of them as a runner, I got to know some real characters. NYC is a huge huge HUGE running city. Central Park is like the world's biggest track. I miss it more than anything in NYC. There were people I'd see all the time. Like this woman who had such a strangle gait, like every step was a struggle. I do think she has a muscular or nerve problem. I would see her everywhere, no matter what time of day or where I was running. Then there's the time I was running with my friend Ishii who is friendly to everyone. We ran pass a guy and Ishii smiled and said hi, he smiled and said hi in return. She says to me "he looks familiar, I think maybe I met him at the club". Me: "Ishii, he looks familiar because he's Anthony Edwards". So yes, there are celebrity runner sightings as well. <br />Then there's the local hall of fame of characters. NYers, I'm sure you'll recognize some of these favorites: Old Asian man with bells, Crazy old tattoo lady (who I think may also be known as the dinosaur), Ginny (those not familiar with her by that name may also know her as shitty pants), and one of my personal faves, the older black woman who more shuffles than runs. She's in her 70s I'm sure. A few years ago, I was working at a XC race the week after the marathon. There she was brining up the rear, running with her marathon medal on. I always made a point of saying hello to her when I saw her in the park. She would always say hello back and tell me I was looking strong or running beautifully. Good for the ego for sure. <br />Now I'm in a new city. So far my running has been more spread out and I haven't gotten to know all the characters yet. Doing the Thursday night race series I am coming up with a few. My new cast of characters include: The redhead (really fast HS girl, wins all the time) Mr 200 (ran his 200th marathon yesterday) Flowy shorts (we go neck and neck a lot) Crutches (the guy who was doing the races on crutches for the first few weeks. Who ran sub 3 yesterday). And my biggest character of all who goes by many names. My mom called her Blonde Pony tail when she was here visiting. I call her Big Legs. From her build I thought she was a triathlete but it turns out she's a body builder. She's always just ahead of me every week and she has never spoken to me. She's one of those women, one of those women who make me want to bang my head against a wall. I see her talk to all the men, and rarely any women, unless they are a lot slower than her. What is that all about? I think the next race I'm just going to go introduce myself to her, mostly because I think it will be unsettling for her. <br />Anyway this last week's race brought me 4th woman and 1st age group. Oddly, I was the only one in my age group. The turn out was smaller than usual due to the SF marathon being on Sunday.<br />Speaking of the SF marathon, I went and cheered at mile 22 with the folks from Sports Basement. I run with them on Wed. evenings and they're a fun crowd. There were about 7 people I knew from NYC running so it was a good spot to try and see everyone (I caught about 5 of them). I also saw some of my new SF characters: Mr. 200, crutches (I was really amazed how fast he was running), another fast woman from Thursday night. She was a pace leader. For the 3:10 group. That's impressive. <br />A shout out to Cenk, who graciously tried to pace me in the Brooklyn Half, PRed on this hilly course. So congrats to you my friend! And no tears this time! None that I saw anyway. <br />I am ramping up my training for the San Jose half and that is going well. I'm about to head out for a nice tempoish run, though my ass feels like a cinder block from cheering for 4 hours yesterday. Cheering is hard work I tell ya!DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-78798144724782419852011-07-22T13:38:00.002-04:002011-07-22T14:17:35.888-04:00So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grassHoly July. I know most of the US is dealing with a horrible heat wave. I do not miss that. Not at all. July is also causing me to be on a total sports bender. First, the Women's World Cup. Now the Tour de France. With the time difference, I've been getting up pretty early to watch live. It's really hard to not see what happened (thanks interwebs) if I wait to watch a replay. Oh yea, and throw in some World Series of Poker (no really, I watched for hours) and by the end of the month I'm going to have a huge sports hangover. <br /><br />In my own little sports world, I'm continuing with my Thursday night races. As I've stated, these are low key hand timed races so I usually don't know the actual results until several days after. Last week, the fast girls took the week off. It was also what I think is the harder direction, which I like less. I was 5th over all and first in my AG with a time of 34:10 (4.5 miles). <br />This week, I think I may have been 5th or 6th and I'm not sure if super fast 40 something was there, so AG unclear. 33:35. <br />I did, however, run what I thought was a smart race. This direction starts with a slight downhill. I know I've gone out too fast in the past. Sure enough I looked at my Garmin (which I generally don't race with but since these are really tempoish runs with no mile markers, I use it) and it said 6:44 pace. I don't run that fast so I slowed myself down. I took note of the women around me, a few high schoolers were off the front and 1 or 2 I thought would blow up (1 did). I was very close to a women who's bested me before so I know she's generally a bit faster, I decided not to stay with her. Just before mile 2, my friend Anna caught me. We we were both close to the other woman (who Anna has named flowy shorts). For a while we were all in a little pack. I decided to keep the pace steady and not react if shorts was going to go. We ran side by side for at least a mile. Then, she tucked in behind me. And I mean RIGHT behind me. I couldn't see her at all but I knew she was there. I was like, ok, I'll pace you for now. It's very difficult to try and be subtle about peaking back when someone is running behind you like this. With a mile to go I noticed she was drifting off a bit. I peaked back to see where her and Anna were. A little day light between all of us but I didn't want to take any chances. I didn't want either of them sneaking up on me. I keep the pace steady and decided at a half mile, which is a gradual incline, I'd go. <br />No more looking back if they were going to catch me, not much I could do about it at this point. I figured I had enough of a gap on them. I did have a funny moment when I was closing in on the guy in front of me with about 100m to go. He turned back, saw me, and of course not wanting to be chicked at the end, took off. <br />I crossed the line very satisfied in my tactics. Not a PR, but a smartly run race. <br />As far as over all standings for the series, I'm holding on to first in my AG. Though I missed 1 race and know I will miss 1 more. THere's a woman who's run all of them so she is just lurking behind me in points. <br /><br />Since moving, I've obviously had to learn new running routes. I haven't really found any right out the door that I'm totally in love with. Where I live in SF is very hilly and there's lots of concrete. My body is not loving this. I'm developing a bit of a shin ache. It's not pain, it doesn't hurt when I run, it aches a bit after. I would like to not have this please. I'm icing and stretching (not as much as I should) where a dorky compression sleeve, and will throw a new pair of shoes into the rotation. I'm going to look at softer surfaces to run on and less hills, both a challenge as the trails near my house are hills. I hate crap like this. <br /><br />This weekend is Ironman Lake Placid. Ya know, the Ironman I signed up for. I have moments of wishing I was there but the reality is, I'm glad I'm not. It's going to be hotter than satan's gstring and who wants that? Plus, I also would have had to, oh, get in shape. And fly across the country. And do the Ironman. So best of luck to my friends who are racing. If it's really hot, please be careful. That Lake Placid weather is crazy. All my other friends running and racing in the pits of hell, please do be careful. Hydrate, slow down, run on the dreadmill or take a few days off.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-50589011873419628932011-07-11T12:58:00.004-04:002011-07-11T13:29:25.982-04:00Loves got the world in motionThat last few weeks have been HUGE sports weeks. For those who know me, I am a huge sports fan. As we speak, the Tour de France and the Women's World Cup are happening. Both odd, not hugely followed sports in the States, but both so exciting to watch. For me, the World Cup is really exciting. I grew up playing soccer and it will always be my first love.<br />Yesterday, the US women beat Brazil in a game that will go down as one of the best ever played. There is a long history between these 2 teams and you could not have made up the way this match went down. Due to a red card, the US played a player down for more than half the game (if someone gets a red card, they must leave the game and can not be replaced). This resulted in Brazil taking and scoring on a penalty kick (I'm giving a very brief summary of what actually happened) Brazil scored in extra time to go ahead 2-1. Then in the 122nd minute of play, extra time in extra time (there are no time outs so when a player gets injured or there's a delay, the ref adds time on) this happened:<br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JOAJn8h6VAI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />This sent the game to penalty kicks and the US won. This happening 12 years to the day after this happened:<br /><iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HbTiiAtLXnE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />A moment I remember as if it was yesterday and a moment I think truly changed women's sports, and the sports bra, forever. I heard a stat yesterday that after the women won the World Cup in 1999, the number of girls playing soccer quadrupled. How amazing is that? Now the US takes on France on Wed. in the semifinals. SO EXCITING!<br /><br />And now on to slower, older, less amazing chicks in sports, namely me. I missed Thursday night at the races the week before last because Loren, Bea and myself we off exploring beaches. Tough work, I know. I returned this past week with my friend and fellow NY transplant Anna. Anna tends to call me speedy, but she's full of crap and she was either 2 steps behind me or 2 steps in front of me for the entire race. <br />As the series has gone on, the group has gotten faster. A few weeks ago we saw the addition of some high school girls out there running 6:40 pace. They've been coming back and battling it out with each other. I'd love to see this but, um, I'm a bit far behind them. The margin this week was 2 seconds. In my absence last week, someone else in my age group joined the mix. She was back again this week and bringing her 6:45 pace. So yea, there goes my AG wins! I know it's all about who shows up and she's showing up and I can't even see the back of her head in the race. That's all fine and good. I'm still holding on to the over all AG lead for the series (for now). <br />As for how I actually ran, I was 2nd in my AG, 7th woman with a time of 33:49. Anna was right behind me in 8th, also 2nd in her AG. I've been running this race consistently and getting in a speed workout which is what my intention is so success. <br />I'm starting to look ahead to the San Jose half which Loren and I are running in Oct so I hope to get my running into a more serious gear. I admit it's been tough with the move and all that to really focus on running seriously. Having something on the calender helps, but I am also enjoying having some pressure free time to get to know my new home.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-15853560602333855422011-06-27T13:45:00.003-04:002011-06-27T14:01:48.364-04:00I keep up with the racing ratsWelcome to my new training plan: run almost not at all and race my way into semi-shape. I'll let you know how that works out for me. Anyway, here's an update:<br />Last week at the races, I thought I was 4th. I was actually 3rd.<br />This week at Thursday's race, all the fun and games came to an end. School is out and the high school girls have come to put us old ladies in our place. I wasn't planning on running fast on Thurs. since I was running the <a href="http://www.sfpriderun.org/">SF Pride Run</a> on Sat. The girl who won is 16 and ran 6:48 pace. #2 wasn't far behind @6:49 pace (and 18 years old). I can kiss my top 3s good bye if these girls show up every week. I'm fine with that. Even not racing I was 7th and 1st in my age group.<br />Now on to Saturday's race. The Pride Run here is a much different affair than in NYC which had over 5000 runners this year. SF gets a couple of hundred and does a 5k and a 10k. Loren and I did the 10k, my mom who is here visiting walked the 5k. The 2 loop 10k course was hillier than expected but with my new stellar training plan, I did ok. 47:23 won me my age group and I was 8th woman. Loren was about a minute ahead and was 5th woman. <br />I know moving to SF I've coming to a much smaller pond of runners. I've never placed so high so often in races. <br />The Pride Run also brought out all kinds of NYC expats. Here are a transplanted crew of New York Front Runners representing.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTdgvyr9hnSw_owDN-j0UWauTBh025G2b9CLbVQ1qnM0q5YEMfF_cbFpsbzbwBYBtfjU9H3Muh8DGATtW0VvbLN_LKcHDkYGBy_quP1zEXBxmXPAs7rxCwbCvCH8xVL8EzgAtsJUP8b8/s1600/priderun.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 146px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSTdgvyr9hnSw_owDN-j0UWauTBh025G2b9CLbVQ1qnM0q5YEMfF_cbFpsbzbwBYBtfjU9H3Muh8DGATtW0VvbLN_LKcHDkYGBy_quP1zEXBxmXPAs7rxCwbCvCH8xVL8EzgAtsJUP8b8/s200/priderun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622960220211020770" /></a><br />I admit to being a bit homesick this weekend. We watched the NY state senate pass marriage equality online Friday night, long time coming. For years I lived on Christopher St right where the Pride March ended, that kept me from going to Pride for a long time. It's not that much fun when it ends in front of your house. This year was different however, I do wish I had been there to celebrate. Oh well. I will be here in CA when Prop 8 is thrown out the window for good. In the mean time, I'll continue to work to destroy the marriages of straight people :PDogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-72321149096070395132011-06-17T19:55:00.002-04:002011-06-17T20:12:13.884-04:00it's all business in the left hand laneUpdate from last week's race:<br />I did in fact come in 4th (women) and won my age group. Of course all I get for that is to say I was 4th and won my AG, there aren't any prizes. I think at the end of the 12 week series they give awards, I'm not sure how that works other than you have to do at least 6 races. <br />Fast forward to this weeks race: same distance, opposite direction of last week, just to keep things interesting. I found this direction harder than last week. It was also a bit windier. Once again, I was running 4 or 5. I was trading places with one woman for a good part of the race. At mile 1 she said to me nice pace. I replied with we'll see in a few miles. She led me for a good mile and a half after that. Once we came around the turn on the lake, I passed her but not by much. I figured I'd just hold my pace and see what happens. Every once in a while I'd peak back to see where she was. She was fading. There's a long hill in this direction and figured I'd keep her away on the hill and I did. <br />Loren, running the other direction, passed me with a little more than a mile to go and told me I was 4th. Again. <br />With a half mile to go, I could tell I was far enough ahead that #5 wasn't going to catch me.<br />I finished in 33:58, 43 seconds slower than last week. 7:33 pace. I'm pretty sure I won my AG again. The woman who won last week was 3rd. <br />I'll go again next week but run it easy since on Sunday I'll running the <a href="http://www.sfpriderun.org/">San Francisco Pride Run</a> and really want to race that. Loren's running it as well and since my mom is here visiting, she'll be walking the 5k.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-55659008249139989282011-06-10T00:09:00.002-04:002011-06-10T00:35:49.330-04:00How’s your engine runningOne of the few things I knew I'd miss about NYC is the <a href="http://www.vctc.org/">Van Cortlandt Track Club's</a> summer cross country series. A fun, low key series with muffins and carrot cake. Though with the heat wave NYC is having now... not too sad about missing tonight's.<br />Out here in SF where it was a balmy 65 today, I found another summer racing series put on by <a href="http://www.dserunners.com/">Dolphin South End Runners</a>. Every Thurs. evening for 12 weeks, $1 a race. You can't beat that. The 4.5 mile course goes around Lake Merced and is fairly flat. Now, I am in no way shape or form in racing shape. It's my intention to use these has fastish tempo runs. <br />Now a moment from our sponsors at It's A Small World...as I was getting my number, a woman said she thought I knew who I was. I was like, oh I don't think, I just moved here. She said she knew me from my blog, which she found from<a href="http://www.girlinmotion.com/"> flo's</a> blog. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, though I'm usually surprised when it does since I certainly don't feel like the masses are out there reading about lil ol' me.<br />Anyway, off to the races.<br />This is a 4.5 mile loop around a lake. It's fairly flat, there are some gentle rollers but nothing like the hills I'm getting run by our new place. There were maybe 75 people or so in the race. I started sorta near the front, but ya know, not really a big field. <br />Since I was going tempo-ish, I figured anything under 8s would be good. <br />From what I could tell coming to mile 1 I was about the 5th woman. THan at mile 1, I saw the woman who was leading just stop and start walking back. I didn't see her again at the finish so I don't know what that was about.<br />At mile 3, the woman who was <span style="font-style:italic;">just</span> ahead of me stopped at a water fountain (????). I passed her and she never passed me back, so now I was from what I could tell, 4th. <br />Around 3.5, I made a tactical error. I was coming up on the next woman. I could see she had headphones on and I passed her. I should have waited. She couldn't hear me so she didn't know I was there. I could have just let her pace us in and out kicked her. Instead, she had the from behind advantage, and I knew it as soon as I made the move. With about a quarter mile to go, she made the move and I couldn't answer. Oh well. Live and learn.<br />From what I could tell, I think I was 4th woman. Results will be up in a few days.<br />Splits:<br />1 7:18<br />2 7:20<br />3 7:36<br />4 7:24<br />.5 3:35<br />total 33:15 7:24 pace<br />Must faster than I expected though I didn't feel like I was killing myself.<br />I feel really good about this, on my way over I was thinking I'm in a bit of a funk. Since the move my training has been all over the place. Perhaps this is the little jump start I needed.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-9804585490792286902011-06-02T17:44:00.003-04:002011-06-02T18:14:19.721-04:00Shine on you crazy diamondAmazing how lazy I've become since canned my Ironman. I haven't gone swimming, I've only ridden my bike to get around town. I have, of course, run since that requires almost zero planning. My May milage for every thing was not at all stellar:<br />Running 72.4<br />Biking about 180 miles<br />swimming 6 miles<br />I've been fending off calls from the Guinness book of world records all day.<br />I feel good about this however, there's not this huge thing looming over me. Of course, I can never just sit still so I signed up for a half marathon (though it's not until Oct). I just feel like I need something in the future.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6hB0_fq0owZZGYqxya1w2-A5tQgY4Rp46QDF65jp7oGmirXAoAXsEMaVaAKmzMyCHb5PgqEYBgGM0JbKDdiWjgce79Rfqavvz1wgAevsbrhGDYkqJRqhl8FUQzzBKOysxkb9oSO4NxA/s1600/brantanna.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6hB0_fq0owZZGYqxya1w2-A5tQgY4Rp46QDF65jp7oGmirXAoAXsEMaVaAKmzMyCHb5PgqEYBgGM0JbKDdiWjgce79Rfqavvz1wgAevsbrhGDYkqJRqhl8FUQzzBKOysxkb9oSO4NxA/s200/brantanna.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613744210848509970" /></a><br />In other news, I want to take a moment to mention the passing of a really awesome guy, my pal Brantley.<br />I knew Brantley from NYC biking circles. He worked check points at a few women's alleycats I put on, I'd see him at other events, we hung out on a close knit cycling message board. Brantley's been on a once in a life time 'round the world trip, having all kinds of crazy adventures. You can read about them on his <a href="http://brantleyarcher.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>.<br />He posted that picture of himself on May 8 at the base of Anaapurna (I happen to be reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Annapurna-Maurice-Herzog/dp/1558215492">this</a> book now).<br />I sent him a note saying how awesome his trip looked and we had an exchange about adventures and high pointing and the stuff we love.<br />It's weird to wrap my head around, emailing, facebooking, across the world, sharing these awesome adventures almost in real time. We see everything instantly.<br />His last Facebook update reads "Shot through zim, now in Zambia, and loving it. Stories soon..." <br />I know I'm not alone when I say I wish I could hear those stories.<br />RIP Brantley, you'll be missed. I hope to have half the adventures you did.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-88171562249110012382011-05-30T11:40:00.004-04:002011-05-30T11:56:27.113-04:00If I'm wrong I am right, no need to look no further.After 3 trips back and forth form the East coast to the West coast, I am happy to announce the entire Farrooney clan is finally in CA. Bea was the last one to make the trip after 6 weeks at Nanny's. I knew the whole trip back for be exhausting: running the Brooklyn half, trying to see as many people as I could, sleeping on the floor of my former apartment (don't ask), going to Philly, and finally, shoving my 20lb dog into a bag and under the seat in front of me on the plane. It didn't help that the flight was delayed and we had turbulence for the duration. Bea was high so she didn't care so much. By hour 4 of the flight, my ass was killing me. <br />That's pretty much when I decided to change the course of my summer. <br />I'm not going to do the Ironman in July.<br />There are several reasons for this decision, which because I'm me, took me a while to finalize. <br />First, I can not deal with flying across the country again (I've done it 3 times since mid march). On top of the flying, there's then the driving to Lake Placid, which is close to no where. Dealing with getting my bike there, covering the 140.2 mile race, then doing all that traveling again. <br />Ugh.<br />I was really looking forward to doing this as a celebration of doing my first one with 2 very long time and dear friends of mine but the reality is, my heart isn't in it. I've done 3 other Ironmans, I know what it takes. When I told my friend Claudia who I was going to do this with, she understood and said "your heart needs to be in it or it's just a long painfu day without much of a silver lining".<br />Yup. It's a long painful day even if you're heart is in it. No getting around that. I have nothing to prove. This is the right decision for me now.<br />When I talked to Loren about this, she was a little relieved. We live in a new place with new adventures. While she would be totally supportive of me in this, she did say in the back of her mind she wasn't really looking forward to weekends where I couldn't do something because I have to go ride 80 miles. After that, all I kept hearing was "ride 80 miles...ride 80 miles..." who the hell wants to go ride 80 miles? Ok, I love cycling. I'd love to ride 80 miles. If that's all it was. I'm sure there's be a 15 mile run the day before or a 10 mile run right after. No thanks. <br />With that, I withdrew. And I am relieved.<br />This of course does not mean I will be totally sitting on my ass. Oh no. <br />We're planning on going up Rainier this summer (we were planning that anyway) and my focus has shifted to what I need to do to get ready for that.<br />Oh yea, and there's that sub 1:40 half I'm chasing. I'm looking for a race in the fall/winter. A race that does not require flying! So I'm taking suggestions.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2449200023775362542.post-2188268166258231702011-05-22T22:19:00.003-04:002011-05-22T22:45:32.661-04:00Ahh Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me inAhhh The Brooklyn Half. I was curious how may times I've run this race so looked on the NYRR site, this was my 8th time. I think there are few races I've run as many times.<br />Since just missing hitting sub 1:40 in Asbury Park I figured I'm try again in Brooklyn. Well a lot has happened since that NJ race. For one, I moved across the country. Ok, that's enough of a distraction. I also ran Boston, which shouldn't be that big of a deal, I've come of off Boston and run great halfs. Truth is, the move was (obviously) huge. I have been running, but done no speed work and nothing over 9 miles. I knew it was a long shot but figured I was still going to try. Why not? <br />My friend Cenk also offered to pace me. I admit I was a little worried about that because I didn't want to go out too fast and was concerned I was biting off more than I could chew.<br />The morning of the race, it was 55 degrees. Perfect right? Sure, if the humidity wasn't 98%. The first almost 7 miles of this race is in Prospect Park. That weather made it like a rain forrest.<br />Cenk found me in my corral and I said I wanted to start conservatively. He was cool with that and then pick it open once we got out on to Ocean Parkway.<br />Well....<br />I pretty much knew right away this was not going to be my day. I've done several races in this park, I have a pretty good idea how I should feel at different parts of the park. I did not feel good. <br />At mile 4, I told Cenk to go. He said no, it was too soon to make the call. I said, no, I know. Not happening. So he ran with me for a few more minutes and went. <br />Going up the hill for the 2nd time, my friend HIlary caught me. I though, oh good, I'll run with Hilary, we run together all the time. She went passed me on the uphill and I caught her on the down hill. Well that didn't last. After that, I decided to phone it in and just get the milage in. <br />I will admit, it kinda sucked. I wasn't disappointed that I wasn't hitting my goal, it just sucked. It was humid. My ITB hurt outa nowhere and I just wanted to be done. 1:48 later, I was.<br />Oh well. <br />We all know we have sucky days.<br />It did make me seriously think about buckling down this fall and, oh, actually TRAINING for just a half. None of this half during marathon training, running them half assed. I want to run a really good half.<br />CA people, I'm taking suggestions for races.DogPoundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16327526459418951405noreply@blogger.com3