So Hot Right Now

I am currently in the middle of training for my 17th half marathon. I was going to run it by myself, but a friend/co-worker decided that she wanted to do it with me. This will be her first half marathon and she recently had a baby. In the five weeks that we have been running, her ability level has sky rocketed! She's amazing. We have had to train using treadmills, at the gym, because it has been 100+ degrees out. The other day, we did four miles, and this is what I looked like:

#SweatyMcSweaterson

Today, I ran on the street and boy do I miss it. It is a lot harder, now that I have adjusted to running on a treadmill. Street running all the way! Get out there and get some exercise!

The Awesome 80's Run, Year Two!

August 24th  marked the 2nd annual Awesome 80's Run at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  Another great run, put on by Superhero Events.

This year I got my friends Rachelle and Ashley to join in on the fun.

We dressed up... just a little.  I had to wear my National Lampoons Christmas Vacation shirt!

Last year I got a cassette medal and this year we were rewarded with a Darth Vader medal.  Cool!

Another fun run to add to the books!

Electric Run, San Diego

Last weekend, I was able to run the Electric Run, in San Diego.  A few friends from high school, college, and church joined in.

We had a lot of fun.  Most of us have done the Color Run before and loved it, but for some reason we just had soooo much fun doing this race.  Even though a friend lost her license on the course!

It was held at night, so that we could be seen in all of our glow stick, bracelet, necklace, and glasses glory!  It did rain a bit, but spirits were high.

It was neat, because we got to run on the actual race track at Del Mar race track. fairgrounds!

We got these bright bracelets as part of our race fee.

We got to run through some of the buildings, I think this is where live stock is kept for the fair.

Arches of glowy-ness!

The finish line!

The Palm Springs Half Marathon

Fourteen weeks ago, I started a running club at my school.  This is something I had wanted to do for a while, because I enjoy running and I thought my students would truly benefit, since we do not have sports at our school.  It is completely focused on academics.

I was the coach and I trained 10 students and seven went on to run the Palm Springs Half Marathon yesterday.

I was able to work with a non-profit organization that provided new running shoes to students that did a required amount of runs and the organization also paid their entry fee to the race.

The students really enjoyed the race and they seemed pretty excited about their accomplishment!

I am proud of all of them, because when we first started, they had a hard time even running/ walking for 20 minutes.  Now, they have gone 13.1 miles!

The World Famous Camp Pendleton Mud Run

On June 9th my friend Wendy and I ran the Camp Pendleton Mud Run for the fourth time.  It was once again a lot of fun.  The river crossing was bone dry, which was ok with me, because normally we have to swim across the river... trying not to kick or be kicked in the face.  So, having the water an inch deep instead of up to my neck, was quite a good thing.  However, it was overwhelmingly hot without that brief swim in the river (lake).

The t-shirts were almost identical to last years, which was kind of disappointing.  The colors and everything!

My friend Rebecca came along and stood in the place of my mom, who had to work.  Rebecca was awesome, she helped watch my stuff and kept my towel dry when I was in the Hog Wash.

The Hog Wash:  The coolest  and best new showers that Camp Pendleton has to offer.  There are three or four sections and each section has enough space for two lines of people.  As you walk through, you come in contact with different types of water spray.  A plate of water, a side spray, some from the ground.. etc.  It made for a fast rinse off.  You definitely still need to shower once you arrive at home.

All in all, another fun visit to the base!

I have never got anything in my eyes during this race before, but to to the excessive dryness of the day, bits of sand/ rock were being flung by shoes left and right... straight into my eyes and unfortunately, this very cute Corpsman had to rinse my eyes out.

Photos from before the run:

After the race, Rebecca and I headed to Balboa Park and we visited the San Diego Museum of Art.  A good day, a good day indeed!

Races I've Run and Run Prospects

I have been keeping a list of all of my races, since the beginnning.  I hadn't realized how many races I had finished until typing the list.


Disneyland 5k- August 31, 2008

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- October 18, 2008- 1:41:50

Run Through Redlands 5k- April 19, 2009

Yucaipa Iris Festival 10k- May 16, 2009

Lighting the Way (Redlands Fire Fighters) 10k- November 22, 2009- 1:16:13

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 12, 2010- 1:42:24

Long Beach International Half Marathon- October 17, 2010- 2:52:57

Palm Springs Half Marathon- February 13, 2011- 2:53:59


San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon- June 5, 2011- 6:46:49

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 11, 2011- 1:39:09

Providence Rhode Island Rock n' Roll Inaugural Half Marathon- August 7, 2011- 3:15:47


San Jose Rock n' Roll Half Marathon- October 2, 2011- 2:57:36


Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Half Marathon- December 4, 2011- 3:18:22


Carlsbad Half Marathon- January 22, 2012- 2:59:52 (1 of 3 for Triple Crown)

The Color Run 5k- April 22, 2012

La Jolla Half Marathon- April 29, 2012- 2:52:50 (2 of 3 for Triple Crown)


Upcoming Races:

Camp Pendleton Mud Run 10k- June 9

America's Finest City Half Marathon- August 19 (3 of 3 for Triple Crown)

The Color Run San Diego 5k- November 3

The Holiday Half- December 9 (10th in my race to 50 (Half or full marathons by 50)


Races I want to do Next Year:

San Diego Half Marathon at Petco Park

Silver Strand Half

Tinkerbell Half


... And a few others.  I am sure this small list will change significantly... like it won't be the same at all.  The next year of races is going to be wild!


Total 5k races:  3

Total 10k races:  5

Total half marathons:  7

Total full marathons:  1

La Jolla Half Marathon

Yesterday, I ran the La Jolla Half Marathon.  It was the second of three races, that I need in order to obtain the Triple Crown medal.

(Triple Crown Races:  Carlsbad 1/2, La Jolla 1/2, and in August America's Finest City 1/2)

My friend Wendy and I have been much better with running a lot before a race, so I was not concerned about this race at all in the aspect of our abilities.  However, there were rumors of a giant hill and that did freak me out quite a bit, because who likes running hills?  Not me.

I had to get up at 3:45 am in order to be to the race finish in La Jolla Cove by 5 am.  Wendy and I got to the finish on time and then we were bussed to the start line at the Del Mar racetrack.

It was a bit unorganized, which is funny since this was the 31st time they held this race.  They didn't build the start line until after 7am and the race was to start at 7:30am.  They only had two waves.

Wave 1:  8 minutes and under
Wave 2:  Everyone else

No one even made way for those who needed to get to their proper spots, so basically it was a mass of 6,000 people all trying to fit through the start line.  Argh.

The course was really pretty and the weather was fine... a bit humid though, which I did not enjoy.

The negative things about the course, were the hills, people walking/ running on the course, cars on the course, surfers and beach goers running through us in order to get to the beach and a lack of water.  At the last water spot in the race, no one handed me a cup so I grabbed one myself... but it was empty!  Ahhh!

The end of the race was chaotic.  Usually only race finishers are allowed in the area immediately after the finish line.  Here it was family and friends mixed in with racers.  I was lucky enough to be handed a cup of water after being handed my medal (still wrapped in plastic, by the way).  I looked for snacks or fruit... nothing.  There were some 'scones' but they were nearly gone and the line of racers before me were sticking their post race racing hands in the bag themselves.  Ewww.

Believe it or not, I did enjoy myself and I had a pretty good pace the entire time, but I lost any chance of a personal record on the last two hills within the last mile.

I ended up finishing at 2:52:50, which happens to be 3 seconds faster than my best time of 2:52:53 from my first 1/2... Long Beach October 2010.  So, I got a PR afterall... even if it is only by 3 seconds.

Do you see this zig zag?  When that ends, it goes up to the right for a while and then back to the left... it ... was... not... fun!

Colortastic!

Do you like color?

Let me rephrase that... do you like being doused with color?!

Then you have to find The Color Run in a city near you.  I signed up for this race about a month ago and boy am I glad that I did.

I ran the race yesterday and it was so much fun!

As you are running, you go through color stations, where cheery volunteers throw, squirt, toss, splash dyed corn starch at your face, your armpit, your ear canal, etc.  Ha ha.

As a 1/2 marathon runner, I know the pressure that comes along with running races.  Well, the pressure is off here.  This race is designed purely for the love of color and fun. I loved that there was no timing going on.  You were forced to forget about setting a record.  You simply had to run joyously through clouds of color.

Sounds great right?  Well, if you need more convincing, look at the photos below!


We started out so clean... and boring...

The best after party!

We finished as a beautiful canvas of color and joy!

(This is but a glimpse of the amazingness!)

My friend Wendy and I loved it so much, we already signed up for the San Diego run!

www.thecolorrun.com

The Color Run

Providence, Rhode Island

I would have to mark this as my first official visit to New England.  I wish I could say that I loved it...

Let me just say this as a native Californian who has lived in California for nearly 27 years, it is very difficult to find oneself in humidty.  I literally was getting sick and dehydrated from the stuff.  I had to buy gatorade twice!  If I could never to be in humidty again, I would jump at the opportunity to do so.

My mom ventured to the Ocean State with me.  We got in Thursday night and had the best cab driver ever.  He was super nice and told us where we should visit.  He was so excited that we were there to see his state and that I was there to run the Rock N' Roll Providence 1/2 Marathon.  He even gave me the section of the paper that talked about the race.  Sweet!

We stayed at the Wyndham Garden, at India Point.  You could see the Seekonk river from our room window...  I am pretty sure that section of the river was still the Seekonk.  Our lovely hotel also happened to be the furthest point from any other place we needed to be.  For example:  The Convention center, down town, the mall, the start of the race...

Needless to say we did 2 full days of walking before the race and on top of that, I made my mom join me friday night for a Haunted tour of Providence.  I am sure glad that we went, though, because our guide was really funny and animated.  It was a great way to spend the night.

I had already known that I did not want to, nor should I walk a lot before the race, but it happened.  Not only the walking back and forth/ around that was mentioned above, but my mom and I also walked 2 miles to the race... in the rain!  Yes, the rain!  It rained the entire...  I mean the entire race.  I do not mean a drop here and there... it was pouring.  It stung my skin sometimes.  I became extremely miserable by mile 6-1/2.  That is when the rain got to me and I began to walk more than run.  I just could not do it any more.

I ended up finishing and logging my worst time ever!  But, a finish is a finish and I am happy to have added the medal to my race bling collection.  I also got to put a new experience down in the books... yes, running in another state, but I got underarm chafe for the first time and let me just say it is no party!

After the race, my mom and I walked back to the hotel... yes, you guessed it, in the rain!

On the up side.  I got to see history around me every day!  Historic house and places!  Edgar Allen Poe walked the same streets during his lifetime!  That is pretty amazing.  I learned that the people of Providence are willing to volunteer for a race in the rain, which is huge, because I hardly saw anyone out during our six days in the city.

We had a really nice waitress at Johnny Rockets and this reminds me, that I still need to call in about her great service.  I discovered that Providence does not really sell postcards and if they did have them, they were $1 to $1.50 per card!  Isn't that ridiculous?!

My mom and I took a day trip to Boston two days after the race.  It was a neat way to end our east coast visit.  We took a tour bus around the city and hopped off at many of the stops.  We got to see the State House.  We did not go in, because the gates were closed... come to find out, they are always closed in the front.  You have to enter by the side gates.  The front gates are only opened twice a year.  Once when the current governor leaves office and once when the incoming governor enters office.  We saw Boston Common, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, The USS Constitution, and many more Boston greats!

Overall, I had a lovely time.  It was relaxing and enjoyable.  But, I think I'll do all of my future New England visits in the Fall... or Winter, perhaps Spring... definitely not Summer.

(I'll Post Photos later)

Running Shoes

Take a look at these bad girls!

This is my third pair of Brooks Adrenaline running shoes in 4 years.  I love them.

That blue color is really a great purple!

Medal Hangars

I have been running since the beginning of 2008, as you know.  It was not until recently that I started to run bigger races and I did this all with my best friend Stacie.  After running our first marathon in San Diego last month, we began looking for something to hang all of our race medals on... as we are expecting to gain many of them in the coming months and years.

We first became interested in hangars when at an old professors house in Colorado.  He had a bronze bust that he hung his medals off of.  Stacie and I both found this to be fantastic.  For many weeks we took a gander here and there for some sort of bust.  Let me tell you this... they cannot be found.  I have no idea where one can get a small bust.

About two months ago, our luck changed.  I found a website for steel hangars.  They are crafted to hold up to 24 medals or something crazy like that.  You can get ones that say Runner, 13.1, 26.2, runner girl, rock n' roll, etc.  However, these are around $40 dollars and then have a $10 shipping and handling fee.  I know fore sure I am not going to pay that much money for a medal hangar.  I might not be opposed to getting it for someones birthday or as a Christmas gift, though.

Getting one step closer each time.

Then last month, I came across a post from a girl who made her own.  Too me, it looked like she got all of her stuff from Michael's... but I could see that she used her cricut for the lettering.  Luckily, I believe in the talent that Stacie and I have and I knew that we could create our own.  That is just what we did!

We got our supplies at Michael's and then headed to the garage to drill some holes.  Once that was done we got really crafty.

Here are some photos of our medal hangar party:

 

I drilled all of the holes for my hangar and Stacie's as well.

I told my gramps that I would not drill into his board, because I would be cautious...

Stacie modeling peg placement.

I am beginning the process... only 13 more to go.

Stacie hard at work.

Stacie with her finished product!!

It reads:  Man imposes his own limitations, Don't set any.

I cannot recall who that is quoted from, but just know, that it is a quote.



Finishing up.

My hangar with my medals.

What do you think?  How did we do?  We spent far less than $50 and I believe they reflect each of us, which is even better.