Shamrock Shuffle 2017

Somehow this brutal course has become one of my favorite races to run not sure why perhaps I like the torture challenge!  St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate, not sure why maybe because my favorite color is green but instead of drinking green beer to celebrate like in college now I go run a race.  Before the race I decided I actually wanted to set a time goal, ahhh scary I never do this I feel like I just set myself up for failure, but I wanted to keep challenging myself.  For some reason lately I've been able to push my own limits and I keep hitting times I didn't think were possible.  The weird part is I'm the heaviest I've been in a long time!  I'm talking like since I was pregnant I've never been this heavy.  I don't even know how it happened.  It really snuck up on me this off season.  I only noticed now that I'm trying to get ready for tri season.  I went back to look at my time from last year and couldn't find it so I looked up my time from the year before which was 59 min.  So I decided I wanted to try for 9 min. miles which would have put me around 56 mins.  Turns out I had decided to switch from the 10k to the 10 miler last year last minute and that's why I couldn't find my time.  It's crazy to me that I do enough running/tris that I forget what and how many races I've done each year!

So going into it I thought I was confident since I've been running faster lately. But then the day before I went skiing with my son in Santa Fe for the last hoorah of the season.  We actually went to the top for the first time but that meant I was super tired by the end of the day.  My

legs were super soar and I wore compression socks that night to try and help.  I was also very dehydrated and had a horrible headache.  Not to mention my hamstring on my left leg has been yelling at me every time I run for the last two weeks and it was grumbling again on race day.  So race morning I decided I'd go ahead and run in my compression socks and just hope for the best!  I mean at leas they fit the theme, rainbow and all.  :-)  I still wanted to go for it.  I ended up with a time of 57:20 which I was super happy with even though I fell a little short of my 9 min/mi goal I know I left it all out there.  One friend even said well you looked like you had skied all day yesterday! Yes, I was tired but I really pushed myself.  Somehow this time was good enough to get me 2nd AG this year.

My son did the 1k again and this was the first year he seemed to know what was going on and was excited for it!  It helped that he had some friends out there with him.  This time the crowd and the start horn didn't scare him and he took off as fast as he could.  We hit the little hill and he started walking and wanted to quit.  But then I reminded him that if he crossed the finish line he'd get a shiny medal.  So he kept going.  He did the whole thing and I didn't have to carry him at all like in past years.  I was super proud of him and we both left with medals! ;-)  Hopefully a family tradition we can continue for years to come.  It was great seeing friends and a beautiful day for a race and to have hills for breakfast!

Carlsbad Half Marathon

So how have you been?  I've been here all along just formulating what to say next.  It's like that person you were texting constantly and then you just dropped off and they are wondering should I be pissed off at them for ghosting me or should I be worried that they might be dead and call the police?  Well there has been a lot going on in my life and I have just been trying to find that right balance to get my act together, more on that later.  Right now I'm going to try and recap my last half marathon race that happened over MLK weekend Jan. 15

My BFF and I had decided it had been way too long since we got together for a solo girls trip (2 years ago at the Nantucket Half) I convinced her to go with me to help me celebrate my birthday even though she hasn't been able to run  lately.  Turns out I REALLY REALLY needed a vacation!  The first thing we did was rent a ridiculously bright yellow car when we flew in to San Diego then we drove to Carlsbad to check in to the hotel.  We of course had to go check out the beach and then have lunch with drinks because as mom's who's sons are only 2 days apart when the heck to we ever have a drink with lunch!?!?!!!  Ok ok maybe that one time when... no really, NEVER!  Then because we are very driven women who can't seem to manage to sit still for very long we started looking what adventures we would be signing up for that weekend of course all while having to take some work calls and emails because heaven forbid they let us forget that we do have responsibilities at home.

Of course the best way in my opinion to see a new city is always a bike tour!  But may not have been the best decision to do a 3 hour bike/walk tour the day before my half marathon.  We saw so much in that amount of time and with a cool group of people.  But I was so exhausted by the time we were done!!! 

Race morning came fast!  I checked the weather and decided to go with shorts and a t-shirt because I always regret wearing too much.  One girl in the lobby whispered to her friend "she's wearing shorts!" why yes I am and you know I can hear you!  Remember I've been running in the snow so 45 degrees in the humidity warming up to around 60 was HOT!  Turns out I was the only one not wearing long sleeved something but I didn't regret it one bit. It was hot and muggy and I almost wanted to take my t shirt off at one point and run in my sports bra but not that brave yet, working on it.  Thank goodness I stayed at a participating hotel because the race sent shuttles to get us and it was so easy.  With the road closures and over 6,000 people I don't know how I would have gotten there other wise!

As I lined up at the start in coral 3 I noticed the 2:00 pacer was next to me.  I thought, why not?  I mean I hadn't been training as much as I wanted to and I've never come close to breaking 2 hours but hey I was at sea level and I've lately found this new level of pain tolerance I didn't know I had.  So maybe this will be the day!  I got really excited with all the people around cheering and the bands.  It was a little crowded to start and lost a shoe but luckily I have stretchy laces so I just slipped it back on.  There is a debate as to whether it's a flat fast course or rolling hills.  I say there are definitely some rolling hills.  But luckily where I train there are big hills.  I just thought I may not break 2 like I thought.  But I kept up with the group until about mile 5 when I became very sore in my hamstring, quads and calves (cursing myself for that fun bike tour the day before).  I lost sight of them by about mile 6 or 7.  But at the turn around something kicked in inside of me that I can't explain.  Something woke up!  First I was angry because I thought why the heck am I out here, it's definitely not to give up or feel defeated.  I'm also away from my son and if I'm going to spend time away from him to race then I sure as hell better make it count!  I thought to myself yes I know I want it but HOW BAD DO I WANT IT?  I want it really bad!  I want to be proud of myself and break a goal I never thought possible.  I want my son to know his mom is tough and strong.  So I sucked it up and pushed past the pain and kicked it up a notch.  I kept seeing the little 2:00 sign bop up and down and I knew I could catch it!  Then at one point I saw a table offering beer and I thought why not the last time I broke a PR at a half I had drank some beer thinking I had picked up water maybe there's something behind that. :-) 

Then when I thought I still had 4 miles left and started to feel the pain again and almost lost heart this random guy comes up next to me and says "If you can give me 2 8:30 miles you'll break 2 hours.  Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath and do it!"  I was so excited that we only had 2 miles left not 4?!?!!! I hadn't worn my garmin and sometimes it was crowded enough that I missed the mile marker signs.  I was so excited I really pushed forward.  At one point I saw a guy that was about to pass out and he was pushing one of the Team Hoyt wheelchairs.  I knew I couldn't catch him by myself so luckily when I yelled 3 guys came to catch him and someone else yelled the medics are coming.  So I thought ok I can still do this!  I passed the 2:00 hour pacer in the home stretch and came in at 1:59!!!!!!  And I had a negative split for the first time in a half marathon!!!  I was so happy but had no one to share it with so I sat down and cried overwhelming tears of joy!!  I got a few weird looks but I was just so happy.  And it was like all the a bad stuff that had happened the year before just left my body in that moment and it was such a cathartic moment for me that I didn't care what anyone thought!  I felt so alive and I can't wait to see what other barriers I'm going to break this year.

I finished the weekend off with an awesome kayaking tour and saw sea lions and dolphins and swam in the ocean to test out my new wet suit in 52 degree water and it was awesome.  So if you need to get away I highly recommend grabbing your best friend and going!  I'm glad I had her along to make me laugh, even if she didn't see me race ;-) she was there in spirit!  I was happy to come home to a smiling toddler that was just as happy to have me back and he was super excited to wear my new finisher's medal.  He didn't understand my excitement about my finish time but he will one day.  They are always watching! :-)

Doggie Dash 5k 2016

It's that time of year again!  My favorite 5k for several reasons.  1) I get to run with my doggie 2) I get to support Animal Humane of New Mexico which is where my doggie was adopted from and they do great work 3) It's a flat fast course and I can usually run faster than I think I will 4) the activities and giveaways after are fun for the whole family

This year did not disappoint.  My dog being a herder feels like she has to be at the front of the pack which helps me out as we weave in and out of people trying our best to make it up there.  It's usually me that can't keep up.  I gave my son a high five as passed him at the start and apparently he took off running after us for a while!  This was the first year out of all the years I've been doing this that my dog actually POOPED on the course!! Ahhh!  Don't worry I did the right thing and stopped to scoop up the poop and threw it away in the trash.  That just make it even more amazing that I was able to do as well as I did.  Let me say the reason I'm so happy with my results is because I'm not a runner in the sense that it's not my strongest sport it's my weakest.  So anytime I do well at it I get a high that lasts for months.  I knew I had done well I could feel it but my family didn't expect me to finish that fast so no one was at the finish to cheer me in which means I didn't know my finish time.  At first they didn't have me in their system so we left without a medal.  But low and behold when I checked results they were up and I placed 3rd in my AG, 7th F and 35 OA out of 607!  Maybe this will motivate me to get out there this week and do my speed work!  WooHooo!  I could have cut off seconds if without the poop stop! :-)

Once again I had so much support from my biggest cheerleaders, my family, and am so happy that my son thinks that it's normal when he asks what we're doing this weekend and I say a race.  I was a little sad when I realized he thought he was going to do the race with us in the stroller and I had to tell him he'd just be cheering.  By the way big shout out to the mama out there on the course pushing 2 kiddos in a stroller and I had a hard time keeping up with her.  Way to go!!! 

The look on her face is priceless, some well earned treats on their way!

So Lexi another year another race, we'll keep on running!  This is when I celebrate her as much as possible she was my fur baby and "A" calls her his doggie sister and defends her if someone is mean to her he'll say "don't do that to my doggie"  The love of a dog is unwavering and I try my best to make sure she gets all the exercise and love she needs.  We are the same in that sense if we don't get our exercise we go a little nuts!!

I was so happy to have my cool gear to run in from Team LC, Accelerade to recover, Hoka shoes, Oakley glasses what more could a girl ask for?!

Happy Training!

Day of the Tread

I was a little hesitant to do this since I would be alone with my son and sometimes the logistics can be overwhelming when you're trying to handle a bike and a son that likes to try and run away from you.  But when I saw that they added a 12 mile family ride where you rode out the 12 miles then caught the train back downtown I knew my son would love that and went for it.  I had done this ride pre kiddo when they had first started doing Day of the Tread and I'm happy to say they've come a long ways.  They were a lot more organized this time around!  My son had a blast and I got a good workout in!  I could say it's the best day we've had in a while but that's probably just because the day before was a tough one and we spent most of it in a standoff of wills. 

Riding the clunky commuter bike with the heavy child's seat on the bike is becoming quite the challenge now that my son is nearing the 40lb mark.  My legs were surprisingly sore so I was happy to get a good workout in and have some fun doing it!  On the way there I was scared my little bike rack wasn't going to stay on my car as the added weight from the bike seat kept making it rise up on that side.  We made it and I realized I had forgotten our bib number, which you needed in order to get on the train on the way back, and sunscreen for my kiddo's face.  Luckily the race organizers took care of us on both!  Thank you!!!   Then we saw the 26 mile ride take off in front of us and all the costumes.  My son fell in love with the Roadrunner Mascot and it was so cute seeing him dance with him and imitate his dance moves then fall to the ground in laughter.  He was seriously giddy with him.  He was a little scared when the "devil" tried to say hi to him. 

We stopped to hear the Mariachis play around mile 2 and I had the song stuck in my head for the rest of the ride.  They had an aid station at mile 4 so we stopped for a break and ate some snacks.  We had to do a couple of potty breaks for my son and have a talk about why he has to leave his helmet on and he fell asleep around mile 8 and poor little guys head kept falling forward and hitting my back or he'd be double over with his head practically in his lap.  They helped us get our bikes on the train and we went up and road in the top car.  Once we got off the train we had police escort back to the finish.  A good day with great weather(although unseasonably warm for this time of year) and a lot of helpful volunteers and nice riders!  I'm glad I take these risks and get out there because in the end it is always worth it. 

Happy Training!