Monday, February 15, 2010

A Weekend of Running

Saturday morning was the Oakdale Library Run 5K and 1 mile. I haven't run this race in several years but I needed some speed work so I registered. We arrived early to help set up the finish line and registration tables. Roos and Connor also came along to help. I worked the pre-registration check in until 5 minutes before the race began, then we lined up and the count down began. I was secretly hoping to run under 20 minutes but this was doubtful since my legs didn't feel recovered from the previous weekends marathon.
We took off and began into what felt like a ridiculously fast pace. I backed off and got into a uncomfortable but tolerable pace. I have a tendency in the shorter races to start slow the first mile and pick up the pace as the miles progress. At mile one my watch said 6:47. The course has changed since the last time I ran. It headed west, through a housing division. It felt like there were many turns. I hit the turn around point and could see their were two girls in front of me. At mile two my watch said 6:48. A young girl was in front of me and I began reeling her in. I came up right beside her and said, Go Sierra, push it. I had remembered her from check in. She told us she is a cross country runner from Downey High. I think this was a great boost for her (or she was scared shitless because I knew her name) because she picked up the pace. Both of the females were now within view and I really pushed the last mile to close the gap. My watch read 6:43 for the third mile and I crossed the finish line in 20:38, 3rd female overall. The first and second females finished in 20:24 and 20:34. Ok, the females were 15 YEARS OLD!! both of them.....
The best part of the day was when Connor asked if we could go home yet. I said, we have to wait for the awards because I'm getting a medal. He said, don't you have enough of those!

Sunday, Roos, Connor and I joined in for another 5K in Riverbank.



The run was being put on my a high school senior for her senior project. The run was to benefit the earthquake ruined Haiti. It was a very low key event in the beautiful Jacob Myers Park. The course was 3 1/2 loops. The were many ShadowChase members out to enjoy the day.


We took off and of course, Mike Boyer was out of the chute like a jack rabbit and right behind him was Nile Sousa. I settled into a pace just behind Adrian Crane. The course was surprisingly hilly. On the second loop as Adrian and I climbed the little hill, and as I was pulling up next to him, he said, isn't it time for your walk break? Silly goose.. I passed him and continued on to come in 1st female. Of course, there were maybe only 20 participants for the whole race. My time was 21:56.
I ran on to catch up with Connor and we finished together. Roos finished in 37 minutes and Connor in 40 minutes. After the little awards ceremony, they had a raffle. Roos won a bag of Ghiradelli Chocolate, and Connor and I each won a $30 gift certificate to a salon in Riverbank. Does it get any better than that? Almost everyone won that showed up won a raffle prize so that was pretty cool.
They had an AWESOME playground at the park and Connor and I had a blast playing on the equipment.
The Stanislaus River runs right next to the park.




It was a perfect way to start Valentines Day.

Run fun....



Saturday, February 13, 2010

Surf City

On Sunday, for the second year in a row I ran the Surf City Marathon and Roos ran the half marathon. We didn't bring Connor this year. He stayed home with Carisah (which he loved!!)
On Friday, we headed to Huntington Beach to the expo. It was pouring rain. We got there early and had lunch at the Long Board Cafe which included several beers!
We hit the expo, picked up our bibs and did a little surfing.


On Saturday, we spent the day at Downtown Disney, just looking around and shopping. It was pouring rain again and I was worried Sunday would bring the same. We found a fireplace at the Grand Californian hotel and sat and had a few drinks. (Is there a theme here?)
We woke up early Sunday morning and drove to Huntington Beach. No rain!! It actually was a beautiful morning. I started at 6:30 a. so I made my way to the corral where I could see the 3:30 pace group sign sticking up from the crowd. I have really been trying to run under 3:30 so I thought I would stick with the group and give it a try. I know your not supposed to do anything different on race day, it's the #1 cardinal rule but what the heck....
We were off and I started into a comfortable pace. The miles ticked by. We hit the 13.1 mile mark at 1:45:10. By mile 17, I was needing to get some supplies from my fanny pack so I stopped to walk. I refilled my water bottle at the next aid station and looked up and saw Roos running towards me from across the highway. He, Christe and Keith were just at the 3 mile mark.
I could no longer see the pace group sign so I just settled in to running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute, which is my usual routine. I was running strong and my legs felt pretty good and I was passing lots of runners which is always a mental boost.
At mile 24, you come up from the boardwalk and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Last year this was a killer but this year, I felt good and pushed it. I crossed the finish line in 3:33:35. I had a positive split on the back half but I'm okay with that.
I waited for Roos to finish. He had a PR for the day with a 3:08. He is now determined to take 8 minutes off his time in Oakland on March 28th.
I took second in my age group (45-49) which is always nice. Here is how I officially finished:
Chip time: 3:33:35 (average of 8:09 per mile)
Gun time: 3:34:14
236 out of 2353 overall
36 out of 963 in women
2 out of 130 for women 45-49
72.09% age grade

The weather was great, I couldn't have asked for a better day!






Run fun...