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....

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...

Inaugural Modesto Marathon

Modesto will be having an inaugural marathon on March 21, 2010. It will benefit Teens Run Modesto. It is based after a program called Teens Run LA. It will target at risk kids with the hope of redirecting their life in a positive direction. Here are the links for the Modesto marathon and Teens Run Modesto.

www.Modestomarathon.com

www.teensrunmodesto.org

Come on out and enjoy!

2010

I've been a bad blogger. Really not much to write about. I got into Miwok 100K in May so that will be my focus for the first half of the year. I also put in for the lottery at Way to Cool but didn't get in so I've offered to volunteer. This is what I have on the calendar for this year (so far):

February: Surf City marathon

March: Volunteering at Coyote Two Moon

Volunteering at Way to Cool

Inaugural Modesto Marathon (Volunteer coordinator)

Oakland Marathon

May: Miwok 100K

Modesto Classic (co RD)

June: Volunteering at Western States.

Not a lot! Looking forward to training though.

On January 13th I went over to Lake Chabot with some fellow ShadowChasers and had a nice 12 mile run. It was nice to see some sunshine which is a nice break from the valley fog!

The following weekend I went to run the "unofficial AR50 training run" hosted by James Barstad. It was awesome. Good weather, great people! We carpooled down to Cavitt School and ran to Auburn Dam Overlook, 21 miles in total. On Sunday, ShadowChase running club hosted a Run of the Month. It was a preview to the Modesto Marathon course. We started at 11th and M and finished up at the 14 mile mark. I ran an additional 2 miles with a gal named Melissa who is training for the Modesto Marathon. This will be her first marathon. The rain held off and it was another great running day. Connor was my training partner, you can barely see him in the photo above which was taken at mile 7. Roos also rode his bike. Run fun....

St. Jude marathon

Anita, Andy, and I flew to Memphis to participate in the St. Jude marathon on December 5, 2009. We ran for Team Chase in memory of Anita and Andy's grandson, Chase.

I flew in to Memphis and my sister in law, Siti picked me up. She was competing in the half marathon also. I stayed with her and my father in law in Eads, TN.

We went to the expo on Friday and then had the privilage of touring the St. Jude facility. Wow, what a fabulous place!

On Saturday morning, Siti and I drove to Memphis and met up with Anita and Andy. We walked to the starting line where it was a very chilly 25 degrees. After we started running, we warmed up and the course was really nice. It had lots of rolling hills which are my favorite. I finished the marathon at 3:36, 3rd in my age group. Anita finished in 4:37, Andy finished 5:18 and Siti completed the half in 3:18. We had an awesome time. Below is a video we created to thank all those who donated to our team. As a team, we raised almost $10,000 for St. Jude. It was so emotional to run through the St. Jude campus and see little ones with masks and their IV poles cheering the runner's on. Truly inspirational!!
Run fun .....

Thanksgiving

I'm so behind in my blogging but I will try to catch up.

Thanksgiving first. Connor and I drove to Indio on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We stayed at

our time share on a golf course with the mountains nestled behind us. It was beautiful. My mom and Ben were already there and the following day Matt and Sarah drove up. It was awesome.

We had a relaxing visit. On Thanksgiving morning I had signed Matt, Sarah and myself up for a local 5K turkey trot in La Quinta. It was a benefit for Martha's Village and Kitchen.

The weather had been gorgeous the previous days and Thanksgiving day followed suit. It was a little chilly at the start but by 10:00 a. the thermometer read 77 degrees.

Matt and Sarah planned on walking and my goal was to run 20 minutes or less. It was a bit crowded at the start with almost 1400 people participating. They started the "competitive" participants at 8 with "non competitive" participants at 8:10. The course was a big square with some hills in it. Nice. We finished up at a park and in the last .3 miles I passed a woman I'd been trying to catch and raced to the finish. My time was 20:36, 1st in my age group. At the finish I started talking with a woman who came in 2 seconds before me. It turns out she is an ultra runner and is in Western States this year. She invited me to run some trails in the Palm Springs area on Saturday. I was pretty excited about visiting some new trails. It turned out her husband became ill and spent the night in the hospital so she had to back out. I'm really excited to see her come through Highway 49 aid station at Western this year. This is her 4th attempt and has never completed it (I don't feel so bad now!) She is an awesome runner and has won Angeles Crest and Vermont 100 mile races a few years back.

We headed back to the condo and cooked up an awesome turkey feast. Of course, Connor had to do some swimming first!

On Saturday, we headed to Joshua Tree National Park. I had never been there before and was pretty excited. The weather had taken a turn and rain and dark clouds appeared. We drove into the park and took a scenic drive.

This is skull rock. As we got higher in elevation, it became very cold and there was even some snow on the ground.

Here is Connor and I in front of a Joshua Tree.

I would love to go back and spend some time camping and hiking at the park. It is spectacular with the contrasting desert cactus' and plants and the rocky mountains.

We returned home Sunday and back to the grind. I think we should plan this for next year!!

Run fun.....

Why do we run?

This is awesome!