The Big Chill: A Race Report

Come one, Come All to Sunny Southern California for an Ocean Front Run in the Warm California weather.

SCRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEETTTTTTCHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Oh Snap... wait a minute. It's flippin' 47 degrees and RAINING and WINDY!

I wake up to my phone ringing at about 5:30 am. It's my boss. She was running the full marathon. She calls to tell me that it looks like a cyclone down at the starting line and she's going home. The half marathon started an hour later (that's why I was still in bed).

So I sit up and look at the Captain. Should I run it? Shouldn't I? Should I? Shouldn't I? Of course, he wouldn't give me an answer, except to say that I will be regretting it all day if I don't try. (Dang, that man knows me well) So I decide to to just drive down to the starting line and see how it looks.

We arrive at Main St in Huntington Beach and I see all kinds of runners milling around in their ponchos and trash bags. That's when it hit me - THESE ARE MY PEOPLE. I am running this MO FO.

So the Captain got as close as possible to the starting line and dropped me off. I hovered under a building awning try to stay dry (didn't work so well with the wind). Then I realized that I was at the starting point for the 5k so I had to walk about 4 blocks to the Half Marathon Starting Point. There, we had to get in our corrals with no coverage from the rain. This is when the doubt kicked in. Standing there just getting pelted by rain from all directions, soaked through, freezing my tootsies off, I thought "Well, this was a mistake." If I could just start running, I would be better. But I had to wait for about 30 minutes. ARGH.

Then FINALLY - we're off. I was in the 3rd corral. I took off like a bat out of hell. (Where the heck did that saying come from?) I don't remember much except that my hands were so cold, I could barely change the songs on my iPod. I looked at my watch (didn't bring Big G) around mile 3 and realized that I was running about a 9 min/mile. That's way faster than normal. That's when it hit me - maybe, just MAYBE I could get the same time I did last year.

I kept that pace all the way until about mile 8 - where we did a turn around. BAM - the wind strikes again. This time it was blowing off the ocean (to the side) AND from the South. So my paced slowed a bit. I popped a caffeine shot block and kept going.

Mile 11 - I looked at my watch and realized I had 2 miles left and only 16 minutes if I wanted to beat my time. Was I going to give up? Oh hell no - I started picking people infront of me to pass up - skinny blond bitch was my first victim, then skinny tangled hair was my 2nd. That's when "Stronger" by Kanye West came on my iPod (that was my marathon song). I knew I had a chance. The last quarter mile, I cracked as fast as I could. I could do this!

Final Time: 2:03

I DID IT! (last year was 2:04). I have NO idea how, but I did it.

After the race, I grabbed my medal and kept running - straight to The Captains' car - where I jumped in to big dry towels and a warm cozy sweatshirt (oh, and a seat warmer pre-warmed up). He was so proud of me. He said "wow, you even beat a bunch of guys." For some reason, that is what he thinks is the cool - that I can run faster than some guys. ha ha.

Hopefully the Brightroom photos came out because there isn't one photo from that day! Stay tuned for those!

The Race is ON....

As most of you know, I'm running the Surf City Half Marathon this weekend. I ran this race last year (my first big race) and I finished in 2:04.

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Now, I know there is no way in heck-a-roo that I will beat that time for a few reasons:

1. I'm not as fit as I was last year.

2. I am running alone (my girlfriend last year really pushed me to pick up my pace).

3. I am slightly to moderately UNDERTRAINED.

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So taking these lame excuses into play, here are my race goals:

1. Have fun

2. Finish Strong - at least at 2:10

3. Make the Captain proud

4. Eat a crapload of food afterwards

Good luck to everyone else running this weekend.

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Song of the Day: Beware of the Boys by Panjabi MC (you gotta love the Night Rider theme music in the background)

Truth in Numbers

Being borderline obsessive/compulsive, I have steered clear of the scale lately. To be exact, I have managed to avoid the scale for 16 weeks. When I decided to train for the marathon, I thought it better that I paid attention to being healthy and eating properly for training, instead of trying to cut calories, etc. So, now that they marathon is over and ALL MY PANTS ARE TOO TIGHT, I think it’s time to step on the scale again. I don’t have one at my house, so I am going to use the gym scale.

I’m freaking out. I’m scared of what I will see.

Let’s talk real numbers here people. This is very hard to do because WE ALL LIE about our weight. I have lied on my driver’s license about my weight since I was 16. But I’m going to be honest today. My highest weight was 168. Ouch. That was not pretty. I’m a tall girl, but not tall enough for 168. That was 2 years ago. I got down to 134. I was very happy there. I can wear a size 4 at 134. I think I have a lot of muscle, because my goal was 130 and I just could not get that low.

So the scale thing happens tonight.

I have taken the following preliminary action to deal with what I see on the scale tonight:

***I HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THE SURF CITY HALF MARATHON IN FEB '08***

Half marathon training is perfect for weight loss for me because the mileage is low enough where I don’t want to eat everything in site. I have created a great training program that I am very excited about it. It starts Oct. 28th. That’s this Sunday.

Local friends - Anyone want to join? PT Friend, Booch, Shevon, Saaaaaaarah??? anyone? anyone? There is also a 5K if you don't want to commit to a half!

New Goals:
* Weigh 134 again – before race in Feb.
* Half Marathon in Feb – run it under 2 hours (prev time was 2:04)
* Incorporate Core Training & Strength Training twice a week

Song of the day: Maniac from Flashdance Soundtrack