Theta Breakers Race Recap

This past Sunday I ran the Theta Breakers Run for the Children at Stanford University. I didn't have to specify when I registered whether I would be running the 5K or the 10K, but just assumed I would do the 10.

Then, I started thinking about how little I have run lately and how much my knee has bothered me on runs longer than 4 miles.

And then I saw that it was supposed to rain all day Sunday.

So I decided to do the 5K instead because I am a wimp. :)

Sure enough, it was wet and gloomy on Sunday. The race was scheduled to begin at 9 and it drizzled the entire drive there.

It was a super-small race (less than 300 runners total between the 5K and 10K) put on by the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at Stanford. I lined up in the rain with about 150 other 5K runners and took off at 9am.

It was cold and my lungs struggled for a bit. There was some confusion amongst sorority girls regarding the actual course, so when my Nike+ told me there were only 400 yards to go, I turned on the juice, only to realize that I had another 1/2 mile to run! My knee didn't bother me, but I took it easy anyway. Here are the results:

• Total Mileage: 3.3mi (we got an apology email on Monday!)
• Total Time: 30:30
• Average Pace: 9:49 min/mi
  
• Overall Place: 75/151
• Female 20-35 Place: 10/23

I don't usually run 5Ks, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I felt a little pressure to run faster than normal because the course was so short and really only felt like I was just getting warmed up by the time I crossed the finish line. I still prefer the 10K distance for racing, but this was a nice change. I need to get back on the trail though because I have a 10K on November 13!

Moonlight 10K Recap

Happy Saturday!
B and I just finished our Saturday AM tradition of watching Project Runway - we were so excited to see Mondo win (and to see Ivy go home)!

[Source]

Did you know that B and I have not had a TV since we moved into together right before we got married last summer? We made the decision based on advice from the couple that did our premarital counseling and have really loved it! We spend a lot more time doing fun things together and, obviously, watch way less junk TV because we actually have to make an effort to find what we want to watch on Netflix, Hulu, network sites, etc. We also save a lot of money not paying a massive cable bill!

We have been sitting around all morning resting our weary legs from our race last night! I am much more sore than usual after a 10K (I think I am almost as sore as I was after the half!), but I think it is because we both came home and immediately fell into bed and slept for almost 10 hours! I was very stiff when I woke up this morning.

Recap!

When B and I left at 6:45 to drive to the race, it was 82 degrees outside still! Last year, I got pretty cold, so I had planned to wear long sleeves and capris this year. I ditched the long sleeves for short sleeves, but still wore capris. I totally could have worn shorts! It was humid and warm, even when the race started at 8:15 (and it was still only 75 degrees when we finished!).

Over 2,000 people were competing (half for the 10K and half for the 5K)! Even though the 5K runners started before us and the 5K walkers started after us, it was still really crowded. B and I ran together for the first four miles, and then he took off ahead of me for the final two. We were stuck in the middle of a huge group for the first two miles and it slowed us down a lot. For the rest of the race, I intentionally kept a slightly slower pace than usual since my knee wasn't hurting and I didn't want it to start!

Both the 5K and 10K courses cross the Palo Alto Baylands levee (which is actually really pretty when you aren't running in the dark) and run through the marshlands by the light of the Harvest Moon. The trails are narrow in some spots (and with so many runners, that can be frustrating) and you do have to be careful where you step since it is dark - the only light is from the moon! Some runners wear headlamps, but I find that to be really disorienting with the light bouncing around in front of you. There were tons of families and kids (I even saw a few of my students!).

The 2009 Moonlight 10K was my first official race (not counting some 5Ks I ran in college as a Running Buddy with Girls on the Run), so it was fun to come out and do it again after training all summer for a half marathon. I wanted to finish in under an hour, but due to the crowds and narrow trails, I got slowed down a bit. Even B finished later than I expected him to - he usually finishes a good 10 minutes ahead of me, but his finishing time was only 3 minutes faster than mine!

• Clock Time: 1:05
• Nike+ Time: 1:03
• Place (total): 775/1037
• Place (female 20-29): 76/108

Now I'm off to get my hair cut and then heading to SF for Cupcake Wars! Have a super weekend!

Dirt Inspires Women's Trail Half Marathon Race Recap

It's a long one, so strap yourselves in!

Pre-Race
My pre-race prep started around 5pm on Saturday night when I laid out all the stuff I would need for the race...

...and then packed it up to take to my in-laws'. I went back and forth for weeks about sleeping in my own bed on Saturday night and waking up early to drive over the hill to Santa Cruz on Sunday morning, or sleeping in a strange bed on Saturday night but being able to have a more leisurely Sunday morning before the race. I went with strange bed/leisurely morning in the end.

The race was scheduled to start at 8:30 and I needed to pick up my bib number and timing chip, so I set my alarm for 6am. When I woke up, I immediately drank two glasses of water and had my normal pre-run breakfast of 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with almond butter and banana and half a cup of coffee.

At around 7:40 Brian drove me to Aptos Park where I picked up my race packet and milled around feeling nervous!

Fortunately, it wasn't a very big race (only about 300 runners) and everyone was SUPER friendly. There were a lot of A) first-time 1/2 marathon runners or B) first-time trail runners. I was both! I'm an overachiever.

Race
They postponed the start a few minutes because the line for the port-o-potties was super long. When we finally got going,  everyone cheered and the announcer kept saying (rather ominously!) "13.1 miles! 13.1 miles!"

I didn't wear my Nike+ for this run because I knew it would distract me, so what follows is a rough estimate of how the race went for me.

Miles 0-2
The first two miles were pretty standard. We immediately climbed a huge hill out of Aptos Park to get into the state park, but then the elevation flattened out. The weather was perfect - a little chilly, but not uncomfortable. I settled into around a 9:30min/mi pace. I did not go into this race with any sort of goal for my time, but figured I could probably run 13 miles in 2 hours (since my last 10-mile run clocked in at about 1 hour, 30 mins).

Miles 3-5
Mile 3 was relatively unremarkable. First of several creek crossings, which was fun. At mile 4 I stopped for a minute and ate a few Honey Stingers and we crossed another creek. I was feeling great! One volunteer said, "You signed up for this because you can do this!" as we ran by her, which was encouraging and energizing!

And then we started climbing... And climbing... And climbing... Around mile 5, I realized that there was no way I was going to finish under 2 hours. There were some sections that were so steep it was almost impossible to run and other sections so narrow that even if you wanted to run, you couldn't pass the woman in front of you. I had a hard time breathing for a while in here, because my pace was so irregular and I could just never catch my breath. And we just kept going up, and up, and up...

Miles 6-8
Still.... climbing.... And then suddenly, around maybe 6.5 or 7 miles, a HUGE downhill section, so steep in some parts that you had to walk or you would tumble down head over heels. It felt great to not be huffing and puffing up the hill, but it did not feel great to be pounding down the hill on my sore knee.

When we got to the end of the downhill, another very friendly volunteer informed us we were over halfway done! Normally, this would thrill me. Instead, I almost started crying because I could not imagine running another 6.5 miles with my knee hurting so badly. I readjusted my knee brace and soldiered on.

Miles 9 -13
One word: Brutal. My knee was killing me. I had a few more Honey Stingers at mile 9. At mile 10 I stopped to adjust my knee brace again and a volunteer asked if I was OK. She said that she had planned to do this run, but begged out at the last minute due to her own knee injury. I sort of laughed and said, "Well, this is my first half, so I didn't want to wimp out!" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Wow. My first half was much flatter than this! This is a really tough course!"

No kidding.

Usually when I have a mile or two left in a long run, I just suck it up and run it out. No point in walking, you're almost done! Not this time. I wanted to run so badly but literally had a hard time doing so (and I tend to run through a lot of pain). I did a lot of run-walk-run in the last two miles, praying all the while that I hadn't done any serious damage to my knee.

As I came out of the state park and headed back down the hill into Aptos Park, I picked up the pace and passed a few runners (I was determined to beat somebody! And it feels great to finish strong, even if you've had a tough run). I heard Brian call my name as I entered the chute and then I was done!

• Final Time: 2:47:30
• Overall Place: 186/273
• Age Group (20-29): 34/48

The first place runner finished the course in 1:42:16. She was 40! There was also a 78-year-old woman who ran the course! Pretty incredible.

Post-Race
They had a really celebration in Aptos Park after the race, with lots of yummy snacks from Whole Foods. I had a banana and a muffin and about half of this surprisingly yummy local organic energy drink. It was fizzy!

All in all, this was a really fun race (even though it was super hard). I really liked that it was small and women-only - no one was crazy-competitive or pushy out on the trail and everyone was really encouraging and nice. It was also a Go Green race, and the race organizers did a really great job finding as many ways as possible to reduce waste, encourage carpooling, and promote buying local.

As I was struggling through my last mile, all I could think about (to distract myself from thinking about my knee) was a glass of chocolate milk and a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with avocado. So that's what I ate when I got back to my in-laws' house (after I sat in a bathtub of cold water for a while - I'm not hardcore enough for a real ice bath yet).

So, in conclusion: Was this the easiest way to do my first half marathon? No. Am I confident that I could run a regular (flat) half marathon if I train in a similar way? Yes. Am I planning to? Yes. Once I can walk without a limp again (and yes, I'm going to the doctor).

Vibha Dream Mile 10K

I just woke up from a nap after getting some sun in my parents' backyard - what a life! Here are the stats from my race this morning:

Total Mileage: 10.5K (6.52mi)
Total Time: 1 hour, 2 min
Average Pace: 9.38min/mi

The distance marked at the race was off from the distance on my iPod the entire way. I'm not sure if the race was marked incorrectly or if my iPod needs to be re-calibrated. I'll have to look into that. I checked the time when my iPod hit the 10K mark and my time was 1 hour even. I didn't quite hit my goal, but Brian reminded me that coming in under 55 minutes would have required shaving almost 15 minutes off my previous time and, even on an easier race, that would be been pretty difficult.

Edit 6/30: They finally posted the results! 

39/147 - Women Overall

21/78 - Women 21-29 

This was a really well-organized race, definitely the most organized race I've done this summer. We picked up our race packets on Friday, so all we had to do was show up and run! I did this event with my mom and three other teachers from her school. They walked together while I ran. Here is the race map through Shoreline Park:

It was a pretty, scenic run with plenty of aid stations, but I wore my water belt just to be safe! My run was not as strong as I would have hoped - I had to stop and walk more times than I would have liked to. I attribute this to a couple of things:

1. The length of time since my last long run (over 1.5 weeks due to travel). I was scheduled to do 8 miles today, but 6.2 was all I had in me! 
2. It stank! The tide was out and mud was exposed - sludgy, rancid, algea-infest mud. Shoreline also used to be a landfill. Blech! I had a hard time breathing at some points and never really found my breathing rhythm.
3. The last 2K were super crowded! The 5K course intersected with the 10K course, which also doubled back on itself at the end. At this point in the race, I wanted to surge forward, but got bottle-necked with the 5K runners as well as the 10K walkers who were way behind.

There were some pretty impressive runners out there today. The race winner completed the 10K course in 35 minutes! There was also this woman pushing a huge double jog stroller who completely smoked me on the trail! I want to be able to run like that!

After the race, we stopped at the Lakeside Cafe for fruit salad, zucchini bread, and coffee. We sat on the outdoor patio - it was beautiful outside!

Brian is at an AP Physics convention in Monterey this week, so I'm spending today and most of tomorrow with my parents. We are having steak for dinner with fruit salad and spinach salad (my parents own a grocery store - more on that later) and then I'm going to teach my mom how to make banana soft serve. I'll try to remember to take pictures!