Friends and Running

Anita and I went out to Rock Springs Road 2 weekends ago for some hill training.  Rock Springs road is out in the country.  It is partly dirt and partly a paved windy, hilly, narrow road.  
Anita is pictured above after our muddy drive.  We had almost as much fun, slip sliding 4 wheelin' as we did running!!
Last weekend our running club did our "run of the month".  We decided to stay local and run the canals.  We started at Mr. T's (my favorite place!) and ran to Ripon and back.  The best part of the run is the donuts at Mr. T's when your done.  Fortunately, the rain held out and it turned out to be a fun, friend filled day of running....

Run fun....

running shoes

Just ordered some new running shoes from Brooks.  Ran 10 miles today in my adrenalines and love them.

Run fun.......

Jed Smith

With Coyote Two Moon quickly approaching, I needed to get some miles under my belt.  I haven't done anything long since October so I decided to run Jed Smith 50 mile on February 7th.  This run is located at Gibson Ranch in Sacramento and is put on by the Buffalo Chips running club.  I have never done this run before but Barb Elia has run it many times and encouraged me to sign up.  The course is a 3.3 mile figure 8 loop with paved and dirt paths.  I went online to ShadowChase.org to the pace calculator early in the week and figured out if I ran 10 minute miles I could finish in 8:20.  This was my goal (which I wrote in my log book, to make it official).

I also choose not to wear my garmin so I wouldn't be a slave to the pace portion of my watch.

I went up with Barb Elia and Linda McFadden.  Linda and I were both doing the 50 miles while Barb ran the 50K.

Here I am at the start.  We brought our stuff (change of clothes in case it rained, ice chest, food and a chair) and placed it across from the aid station.  The event was very low key and at 8:00a. a small group started.  The speedsters took off.  I fell into a nice rhythm.  I was running what felt like a fast pace, which usually means I am running slow!  The 50 mile consisted of 15 loops, I know 15!!  The first loop went pretty fast because I had know idea what the course was like.  My thought on this is, ignorance is bliss!  I liked the course, it had hills placed at the right time to change up the pounding on the legs.  The aid stations were nicely spaced and they had this wonderfully nice man encouraging us at the Y before the loop.  I figured each loop should take about 33 minutes.  Well, I started running and each time I passed the clock I was on the half hour so I figured it was all good.  My plan was to run 10 minutes and walk for 1 minute for the first 10 loops. 

Photo taken by Anthony Brantley.  

All during the day, I was trying to focus on hydration and nutrition.  My goal was to consume 20 oz. in an hour and eat something each loop.  As the day warmed up, I switched to plain water and started taking one bottle per loop.  I have a tendency to drop off on the hydration as the day progresses.  Overall, I was happy with the hydration portion.  I could have eaten more.  I wished I had brought some GU.  I don't know why I didn't.   On loop 11 I left the aid station walking and drinking soup broth.  I continued with the 10 and 1, but threw in a few more walks.  I limited myself to walking 50 steps then back to running.  When I came in from what I thought was loop 12, I was informed it was loop 13.  Only 2 more laps.  Wow, I was glad to have miscounted.  The clock said 6:39.  Loop 14 was deadly, my legs felt like lead but I had a good energy level.  I started my last loop at 7:17.  Loop 14 turned out to be the slowest lap.  Barb and Linda were yelling at me to get moving to make in under 8 hours.  I headed out for the last loop.  I thanked the nice man and the Y intersection for his kind words of encouragement all day! 

 I rounded the second to the last turn and there was Barb.  I really wanted to walk a bit but she kept yelling, run, run.  I really had no choice.  I crossed the finish line in 7:52:52, first woman in the 50 miler. Wow, I was glad to be done.  It was a nice PR for me.   

Here is a photo of the three of us at the finish (Linda, Barb and myself)

Linda finished behind me in 8:53.  Overall, it was a great day.  My legs didn't feel all that bad in the following days.   

The first place man, Todd Braje won the race in 5:30 (a 6:37 pace).  That just seems so incredibly fast.  He lapped me to many times to count!!

I will be heading out to the hilly trails in the next few weeks to get some hill training.  I will definitely need it for CTM.

Run fun....

Surf City

On Friday, January 30th, we drove to Huntington Beach for the Surf City Marathon and Half Marathon.  We arrived late Friday but awoke early Saturday to head to the expo and check out Huntington beach.  Here we are pictured above at a restaurant enjoying lunch.  We celebrated Roos' birthday with a cold one!

The expo was small but nice.  We got our stuff and just walked around town.  Of course, we went to the beach.  Connor had a great time playing in the sand and water.

We stayed in Costa Mesa, not far from Huntington beach and we arrived early so we could park fairly close.  I was running the marathon and Roos and Connor were running the half.  I started at 6:50a and they didn't start until 8 a.  It wasn't very cold at the start which was nice.  There is nothing like running the first few miles with feet that feel like blocks because they are frozen!  Shortly after we started a low fog rolled in but the weather remained warm.  Later in the run, the sun came out and it was beautiful  I think the high was in the low 70's.  I guess we lucked out because last year, it was windy and the rain was blowing sideways.

The marathon starts on the Pacific Coast highway near the pier and then cuts inland.  We ran by some beautiful homes and then into Huntington beach park.  For a brief time, I mean brief, we hit a dirt path near the lake and then back on to the path that runs around the park.  By the time we hit the road to head back towards the ocean, the speedy half marathoners were coming in the opposite direction.  When you get back to the Pacific Coast highway you run north, turn, run south, turn, run north, turn, run south and finish up near the pier.  There are alot of turn arounds but it was okay.  At one point, I thought we were at mile 15 but no.... mile 17 - that was a pleasant surprise.

Mile 23 and 24 were tough.  Overall, I was happy with my time.  I had told a few girls I was running with the week before that my goal was between 3:30 and 3:45.  The bad thing about actually verbalizing your goals is you have to come through.  I finished up at 3:36, so within my goal time.  I felt great afterward.  I sat on the grass and waited for Roos and Connor to finish.  

I looked for them out on the course but never saw them.

This was Connor's second half marathon.  His first was Avenue of the Vines in Lodi last May.  He finished up in 3:48 ( it was 105 degrees that day).  

Roos and Connor finished up at 3:18!  They finished looking good.  Connor took 30 minutes off his time.  I am very proud of both of them.  The medal was cool.  This is really the reason we did this event, Roos wanted the surf board medal!

Of course, Connor played on the beach for awhile while we chilled.  We drove home that night.  It was a long drive.

We plan on doing this event next year with my oldest son and daughter in law.  It was a great weekend with beautiful weather.  Who doesn't like running next to the ocean??

Run fun......