I had an amazing run this morning in the Surf City Half Marathon. One of the best races I’ve ever had. Full recap coming after the Superbowl. I didn’t burn 1400 calories this morning for nothing! Bring on the Buffalo Chicken Dip!
Ran my heart out! January 17, 2011
Some of the professional pictures from yesterday were just posted! I didn’t see many photographers, but they got a few good ones at the finish line!
Sprint to the finish!
Just .1 miles left to go!
Victory is sweet.
Thus completes my 13th endurance race in my quest to get 20 races done (13.1 miles or longer) before I’m 30!
The Thrill of the Race
I did it! I ran my 10th Half Marathon yesterday! It was a great race!
But first, let’s back up! The night before, Irving and I went searching for some Italian food to carbo load with. There were plenty of Mexican restaurants, but Italian was surprisingly hard to find in Phoenix! We ended up at a great place called Nello’s.
The menu was perfect. Lots of options and reasonable prices.
I went straight for the Pasta. Sometimes simple is best. I didn’t want to take any chances before race day.
It was delicious! The pasta was homemade and cooked al dente.
Washed down with a few hydrating glasses of H2O.
When we got back to the hotel, I laid all my race gear out.
GU and Shotbloks: check
Garmin and Ipod: check
Fuel Belt: check
Fuel Belt Bottles: uhhhhh…. NO CHECK!
I totally forgot my Fuel Belt Bottles…. If it wasn’t on my list, it didn’t get packed! Next time, no beer while making packing lists.
But the race must go on –with or without my liquid energy. Luckily, I knew they had Cytomax and water on the course, and that’s what I run with anyways, so of all things to forget, this was probably the best case scenario. In the past, I’ve forgotten my Garmin, and that’s the worst!
Moving on… I pinned on my race bib, and set my alarm for 5am!
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I slept fairly well, but still felt a little groggy in the morning. I knew I’d be fine once I started to get excited about the race. I wore my Boston Marathon shirt to give me a little extra confidence boost. haha I also rocked the Zensah compression socks. This will have been my first race running in those.
We parked at the golf course club house where Irving was going to play golf, and then I walked to the shuttle busses across the street. The line looked long, but I was able to get right on a bus. It took about a half hour to get to the start line, but it was so cold, I was thankful for heated transportation.
The start line was organized and spread out, so it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be.
They were giving out water bottles, which fit perfectly in my fuel belt. Score!
I met up with some Team in Training friends and we chatted for an hour or so.
I kept my sweatshirt on for as long as I could before I had to check my gear bag. It was so cold, maybe 35 or 40 degrees?
I was SO glad I had my compression socks on. At the very least, they kept my legs warm!
Then I made it to my corral and waited to start.
They assign corrals based on estimated finish time. It took 35 minutes to for us to cross the start line. I just put my ipod on, blasted the music and tried to forget how cold I was.
Once we passed the start line, I started running. At first I was annoyed that I’ve already lost 35 minutes behind the first half-marathoners before we even started, but then I realized what a great perk this was to the race. It was SO nice to be with the same group of people at the same pace for the whole run. I really appreciated that. I didn’t get trampled by fast people, or slowed down by walkers. It was just right. I was very thankful that they did this. Just one more reason why “Rock N’ Roll” marathons get it right.
And not long after that, the sun came out and the air warmed up a bit.
I hadn’t really trained properly, so I just ran when I felt like it and walked when I had to. I definitely ran more than I walked, and that was pretty much my goal. I had no real time expectations. I rocked out to my music, and muted it during the bands along the course.
Just for the heck of it, I ran through this tunnel of hula hoops. Total energy booster!!
I cruised through the first 8 miles or so. I got into a rhythm of running/walking intervals. My body was in tune with my mind, which is sometimes the hardest part to overcome.
I had been nibbling on Shot Bloks here and there every couple of miles, but I had this Chocolate Cherry GU at mile 9. It was SO GOOD! It had two shots of caffeine in it too.
For the most part, the race was a point to point course down one main road with very few deviations. It was starting to get a little boring until we finally got some glimpses of the beautiful Arizona scenery.
How funny is this giant inflatable rock and roll man?! Rock on!
My knees were starting to get crunchy around mile 11 with two miles left to go. I’d start running and my knee cap felt like it was going to fall off. But then I realized that it only hurt when I jogged, not when I was running full out strides. So I started sprinting pieces of the last two miles.
I looked down at my watch and saw that I could break 3 hours if I kept up the pace. My best time was 2:40 and my worst was 3:13. Coming in under 3 hours would put me right in between (not bad for a bad training season!)
It’s always exciting towards the end of a race when the crowds get a little thicker and you can hear the cheers getting louder.
I never saw the Mile 13 mile marker. But my watch read 13.1 miles about a half mile before the finish line!
I crossed the finish line officially at 2:56:44.
Here’s the stats:
I was really thirsty at the end (no fuel belt bottles, remember?) Don’t worry, I was drinking every few miles, but it was starting to get hot, and I was parched!
I gathered up all the post race swag: frozen yogurt, cytomax, fruit, pop chips… and headed out to find Irving. He was still playing his last hole on the golf course, so I plopped down on the nice grass on the course (the golf people didn’t seem to mind.)
Zensah Socks: huge success. My shins didn’t hurt at all during the race.
I entertained myself by taking self portraits.
The medal was huge! It was heavy duty!
I was saving my frozen yogurt for Irving, but he took too long and I got bored, so I ate it!
Soon, I was reunited with my golfer.
MY SPLITS:
Mile 1 – 11:28
Mile 2 – 11:49
Mile 3 – 12:11
Mile 4 – 12:53
Mile 5 – 12:36
Mile 6 – 13:53
Mile 7 – 14:23
Mile 8 – 14:24
Mile 9 – 14:33
Mile 10 – 11:38
Mile 11 – 15:05
Mile 12 – 13:26
Mile 13 – 12:23
Mile 13.56 – 12:15
Garmin told me that I burned 1210 calories, so I decided to make up for some of it by heading to:
I normally don’t condone eating fast food in a car (and we NEVER eat it at home…) but the prospect of a cheeseburger being delivered to me was too tempting to ignore!
Soon our waitress on skates arrived with the goods!
When we got back to our hotel, Irving went out to play another 9 holes of golf. I, on the other hand, chose to take a two hour nap.
Later that night, we went to a blogger meetup that was organized by Skinny Runner. If you don’t already read her blog, you should.
We met at Seasons 52 (which I’ve been reading so much about on some of the Florida blogs lately.
The food was fantastic. They claim that everything on the menu is under 475 calories.
It was fun to chat with so many great like-minded people. So nice to meet all of you!
Sarah, Pam, Diana and me! (Not pictured: Risa!)
After dinner, Irving and I used my ‘Buy one, get one’ coupon from the race swag bag at Mojo.
I didn’t put too much because I was pretty full from dinner. But I added some nice looking chocolate toppings.
It was as good –if not better—than Menchies! Hit the spot!
I slept like a rock last night. My body was just exhausted. I woke up with incredibly stiff legs though, and there was only cure:
LA desperately needs to get DD!
After a couple hours of reading by the pool (I’m already half-way through Meb’s book!) we grabbed lunch and began the 6 hour drive back to LA.
Arizona was a blast. What a great (long) weekend!
Just a few weeks until the Surf City Half Marathon!
Phoenix Rock N’ Roll Marathon: Expo
For me, marathon expos are half the fun of a race weekend. Sure the race itself is the highlight, and the finish areas are usually pretty great… but I still get excited about seeing the vendors and picking up my bib and swag bag. Irving dropped me off as soon as we got into Phoenix (around 1:30p or so) and I stayed there til almost 6! But it was fun and I’m glad I could take my time.
First stop, pick up bib! I’ll be starting in corral 19! I think they base it on speed, so I’m definitely towards the back. Oh well. I’ll pass all those speedy people in the last mile, you watch…. hey, it’s good motivation!
Brooks had a cool display. It was set up like a carnival with fortune tellers and games. It was cute. Everyone won a ‘prize’. I ended up with a pretty cool ski hat. holla!
There were TONS of people milling around, it was kind of hard to get around. I saw one dad pushing a double wide stroller, I felt bad for him.
But for the most part, I got to see everything I wanted. B it was kind of lonely to walk to walk through alone. I love taking pictures with my friends in front of the signs and sharing the race excitement with someone. Oh well, I made the most of it by bugging strangers to take my pictures for me.
Remember the time I ran a marathon in 2:03? hahaha
The highlight for me was definitely meeting Meb Keflezighi. He is a running legend. He won the NYC marathon in 2009 and was on the US Olympic team. I waited in line to buy his book and I told him that I ran the 2010 Boston Marathon (Meb came in 5th!) He said “Oh, so we ran Boston together!” I told him I was just a few minutes behind him. And he said “Oh, I saw you coming, so that’s why I ran a little bit faster!”
He signed his book for me, I love it!
I also saw Kara Goucher! She’s one of the best female runners in the world right now!
Her husband is also a runner and they just had a cute baby!
Later, I attended a panel with Frank Shorter, Arturo Barrios and Meb. It was fun hearing their stories about the victories and woes of professional running. They had some great advice that I’ll have to remember for the race tomorrow.
On my way out, I saw my high school friend Scott, who works at Nuun now! Hi Scott!! I love seeing hometown faces on the west coast.
On the way out, I grabbed some garlic knots (it’s all about the carbs, right?)
Off to chug some water. I’ll be back with a rull race recap soon!!
Someone stop me!! December 6, 2010
Since we did the 5K walk yesterday, I started thinking ahead to what next year’s race schedule looks like.
I’m still fueled by my The 20 Before 30!
challenge (completing 20 full or half marathons before I’m 30 in 3 years!)
Today, I registered to run the 13th endurance race in this quest:
I’ll be doing the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA on February 6th!
Bring it on!
Universal Studios Backlot 5K December 5, 2010
This morning, Irving and I got up at 6am to run walk the ‘Say No to Drugs’ 5K. This year, the race was held at the Universal Studios backlot! The route follows the Tram route and goes through all the movie sets back there! Of course we couldn’t pass up a race like this!
I declared it time to swap out my sneakers and try out my new shoes! Out with the old, in with the new!
We picked up our bibs yesterday, and were very impressed by the Goodie Bags. We all got a bib, shoe chip, T-Shirt and a bag o’ schwag!
Erica met us at our house at 6:30a and we grabbed a banana and headed out!
It was pretty cold in LA this morning!
Universal looked so empty at sunrise!
No one was in citywalk!
But it was so pretty decorated to look like Christmas!
Snow next to Palm trees?
When we got there, we walked around the expo for a little bit before the race started.
Irving was sporting the ‘Drug Free’ ribbon! The only way to be!
Races are more fun with friends!
Speaking of friends!! I love my running group, the LA Racers!
Then it was Go time!
We took our time and walked because it was just so cool to be able to walk in the backlot. We get to go back there during Halloween Horror Nights, but that’s at night and you can’t see as much! This was way cooler!
First stop: the set of Jaws!
Then we headed into Mexico!
The ‘Flash Flood’ location
Then we headed back in time to the Old West!
Then into downtown New York
Good Old Alfred Hitchcock’s offices!
We also passed some prop storage areas. Anyone need a phonebooth?
Or a mailbox?
What a cool place to run a race!
And then we headed for a jog down Wisteria Lane!
I knocked, but Gabrielle wasn’t home (jk!)
Susan’s (old) house on the lane!
And Bree’s House
And parked along the street were the prop cars (with all emblems removed). lol We think this is Susan’s car from ‘Desperate Housewives’.
Next stop: Whoville (which was decorated up for ‘Grinchmas’.
And right around the corner… The Bates Motel!
And guess who was cheering us on as we walked by? (Ok, maybe he wasn’t exactly cheering, but it was cool to see Norman!)
creepy!
And then the famous ‘War of the Worlds’ set. This is almost scarier in daylight than during Horror Nights!
Started out innocent…
Wait for it…
PHOTOBOMB!! haha!
And before we knew it, the finish line was up ahead!
When we finished, the view of Burbank and Warner Brothers was great from the top.
We did it!
What do you celebrate with after an extraneous leisurely 3.1 mile walk? Eat Pancakes!
All participants got a pancake breakfast!
It was freezing though, maybe in the 50s? So we headed back home after that. One warm shower later, and we passed out for a 2.5 hour nap!!
What a great way to spend a Sunday though. A little bit of Husband, Hollywood, Exercise and pancakes! Perfect!
The Next One… November 20, 2010
What’s that blog readers? You want to see more posts about running? I’m here to please!
The next half marathon will be:
I’ll be running my first Rock N’ Roll race on January 16th in Phoenix! I’m so excited.
Guess I better start running, huh?
This will be my 12th distance race in my quest to run 20 Races before I’m 30. The 20 Before 30!