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Archive for the ‘Marathon’ Category

Miles for Meals Virtual Marathon Recap

Posted in Marathon, Race reports, Racing, Running, tagged , , , , , , , on February 11, 2021| 1 Comment »

I learned many lessons from the virtual marathon last Saturday, February 6:

  1. Waking up at 4 a.m. for a virtual marathon felt silly and ridiculous and foolish. I had to keep reminding myself that I had chosen to proceed with a virtual race to raise funds for the food bank when the Death Valley Marathon got canceled.
  2. Fundraising is hard. It’s easy to ask people for money, but it’s a very vulnerable feeling to put yourself out there to say, “This cause is important to me. I hope to raise X amount of funds. Please support me and the cause.”
  3. People are generous and kind. Donations trickled in slowly at first, but as of today, 21 people donated for a total of $1,434.70, enough to provide over 4,300 meals to the hungry. That blows my mind. I’m still waiting for the total to update and I am leaving the fundraiser open until the end of February in case anyone else would like to contribute and/or create their own fundraising teams for the virtual Brea 8K (sign up and run any day in February!), so donate here if you want to push the total over $1,500!
  4. Running a virtual marathon is hard. Any marathon is hard of course, and I knew a virtual one would be difficult, but I didn’t know just how difficult. I had run a virtual half, and that was challenging but manageable. The full 26.2 was torture. I didn’t realize how much I would miss the support of volunteers and spectators. Thank goodness for the random people who saw me struggling and called out “Good job!” or “You got this!” The Santa Ana River Trail follows a gentle, overall downhill grade as the river runs to the Pacific Ocean, but it has several underpasses (which means a lot of mini hills along the way) and some bridges.
  5. My family is the best. My husband Mike woke up at 5 to drive me to the start, and later brought two of my girls to the finish to meet me and go for gelato to celebrate.

Here are some photos with a brief description of how it went.

Blurry photo of my supportive partner, riding next to me at dawn

Mike and I arrived at the start around 5:50, but the gas station we were counting on being open was closed. With no porta potties or gas station bathrooms in sight, we had to drive all the way to another gas station. We ended up starting at 6:30 (technically the trail is not open until 7 a.m. — shh! It was all for a good cause!)

Beautiful morning, intimidating hill coming up

It was chilly at sunrise and Mike was freezing on the bike in spite of his gloves. I warmed up quite quickly running at a 9 minute per mile pace.

Sunrise

Even after the sun came up it remained chilly. Lucky for me, not so much for Mike.

Angel Stadium on the horizon and a preview of the fog I was about to enter

Just before the 9-mile mark, Mike handed off some extra Gatorade to me and he turned back to go to the car. I felt great at this point and continued to feel good until the half marathon point. That’s when it got hard, as it usually does in any marathon. You’ve put in a lot of miles by then and still have that same distance remaining. It got harder to keep up the pace.

Perfect running conditions in the fog

I enjoyed running through the fog as I listened to podcasts. Many cyclists shared the trail with me, and I saw a few other runners and some dog walkers.

One of the bridges crossing the Santa Ana River

I love the artistry of this bridge! The trail is beautiful and there was plenty to entertain me along the way. I spied many birds — pelicans, egrets, herons, and turkey vultures!

I started to struggle around mile 18, and by mile 20 it was a full struggle-fest. While I tried to fuel properly along the way, I suspect the beginner marathon training plan I had chosen (because who wants to train harder than that during a pandemic?) simply did not put enough miles on my legs to sustain me at the pace I had attempted. My legs turned to lead, and I walked for a bit while I tried to get some more calories in.

Full sun again as I approached the beach

I managed to pick the pace back up into the 12-minute mile range when I told myself the faster I ran, the faster I would be done, haha! Plus, my family was on the way to meet me at the end and I didn’t want them to have to wait. I also reminded myself (again) of all the people who had donated to the food bank, and how I had committed to run for the cause.

The palm trees on the horizon mark the finish line!

I felt better at mile 25 than at mile 20, so that was good news! I could see the finish, and knew I was going to make it if I simply kept on trucking.

Huntington Beach – the finish line

And this was the view at the end! After 4 hours 31 minutes, I was so happy to be standing on a bridge over the river, looking at the ocean as my kids and Mike ran to hug me. They helped me walk to the car, and whisked me away to Fashion Island for gelato.

I felt really great for the rest of the afternoon. As usual it was hard to get walking after any rest (sore quads and hamstrings) but Mike said I looked better than I had after many other races. And I ended up being a lot less sore than usual (which only makes me wish I would have been able to push a little harder on the course).

So, marathon #10 is in the books! I’m glad I did it and I’m glad it’s done. I have a credit that I can apply toward the 2022 (!) Death Valley Marathon, but at this point I am not sure I want to run another marathon. I do need to get on some sort of training plan soon for another adventure — trail race, century ride, hiking trip — because it’s the training I enjoy and that keeps me sane.

One last reminder: donate to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County here!

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Miles for Meals Marathon Fundraising

Posted in Inspiration, Marathon, Miles Log, Race, Race goals, Running, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2021| 1 Comment »

Miles for Meals virtual marathon route on the Santa Ana River Trail

Just two more days until I run 26.2 miles down the Santa Ana River Trail to raise money for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County! Thank you to all who have donated to the fundraiser so far. Donations are still desperately needed though with less than 1/4 of the goal reached at $602 of $2,620. If you have the means, please consider donating here. Remember, every $1 donated provides at least three meals for those facing food insecurity during the pandemic.

Training has been going very well. It’s been four long months of five workouts per week — a speed workout, a tempo run, a long run, and some combination of biking and rowing on two other days. Here’s a peek at the last month of training leading up to Saturday’s virtual marathon:

Marathon training log from January/February

I had to shift some workouts around — even moving my 20-mile long run to a Friday instead of Saturday — but I managed to get them all done. I feel ready, although I have the usual butterflies in my stomach now that the big day is so close. I definitely am at the “what have I gotten myself into” stage! For today’s taper run, the last run in the training plan, I ran three miles at 6.6 mph pace. It’s a little crazy that on Saturday I will run 26.2 miles (8.73 times longer than today’s workout, to be exact) at that approximate pace. I am reminding myself to trust the training and remember that the magic (okay, fine, science) behind tapering will help carry me through the additional miles in the marathon.

I don’t have a particular time goal in mind, although I do want to stay around a 4-hour marathon time. We’ll just have to see how I feel and how much time it takes me to stop and refill/mix my own Gatorade bottles along the way. My husband Mike will help for the first leg, and meet me with two of my girls at the end (I’ll have to FaceTime my college daughter from the finish!) but I’ll be on my own the rest of the time.

I plan to listen to podcasts and audiobooks to entertain me. But the main thing that is going to power me through is the thought that donors generously gave money to the food bank, and I want to honor their generosity. One last plea to please donate to the Second Harvest virtual food drive here!

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Miles for Meals – Donate or Join!

Posted in Inspiration, Marathon, Running, tagged , , , , , , on January 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Miles for Meals fundraiser for Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County

It’s very bad form not to post for six months and then pop back up and ask for charitable donations. But hey, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and it’s for a worthy cause. Plus, if you’re looking for a reason to swim/bike/run/walk/paddle etc., you can form your own team and raise funds as well! Check out the Miles for Meals fundraiser for Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and read on for more details.

After the virtual Fontana Days Half Marathon last June, I kept on training and participating in virtual events such as the 1,000-mile Run Across California and the Coronado 130 team event. Starting in September, I got on a marathon training plan — a beginner one, nothing too crazy. I just like to have a plan to follow. In November, I took the bold step of signing up for the Death Valley Marathon. It would be my 10th marathon, and I wanted a small, local race in an epic place. At the beginning of November, Los Angeles County (where I live) was averaging 1,200 confirmed coronavirus cases per day. Now two months later, our average daily cases over the last week are 12 times that number! So I knew deep down that the marathon was going to get canceled, but it sure was disappointing when the cancellation email arrived this weekend. With a little over a month to go until the race date of February 6, I have done the bulk of the training. In fact, I had run 18 miles a few hours before the organizers canceled the race.

I want to run my 10th marathon, but I need a cause to get me through 26.2 miles on my own! What better cause than Miles for Meals — running to ease food insecurity during the pandemic. Every dollar donated provides at least three meals through Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County! I have done in-person volunteer work for the food bank both before and during the pandemic. I know it does amazing work and puts any funds raised to good use. Please help me by donating here. And if you cannot donate (times are tough – I get it!), please consider forming your own team and sharing your mileage and fundraising goal with family and friends. Just leave me a comment using your real email (it doesn’t display) and team name, and I’ll set up a page for you. The Miles for Meals virtual food drive runs (ha ha) through February 14, 2021, so you have plenty of time to set and meet your goals.

I also would love to hear from you all in the comments. How are you? Have you stayed well or dealt with illness? Are you training at all or has it all gone out the window as other things take priority right now? I need the miles to keep me sane, so I’m doing my best to keep moving forward.

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REVEL Big Bear Marathon 2019 Recap and Review

Posted in Marathon, Race, Race reports, Racing, Running, tagged , , , , , , , on January 7, 2020| 3 Comments »

It’s been nearly two months since I ran the REVEL Big Bear Marathon on November 9, 2019! Usually after I race I can hardly wait to summarize it and capture the memories in a blog post. This time though, I felt a need to savor the experience and keep it to myself for a while. The race felt surreal the second I finished it.

Going into the race I had the usual A, B and C goals. C was to arrive at the starting line healthy and finish uninjured. Check! B was to beat my 4:28 time from the Death Valley Marathon, which I unknowingly ran while deficient in vitamin D, B12 and iron. Yeah, I definitely did not want a repeat of that. I had the all-clear from my doctor, and check! I managed to break 4:28. My A goal was to break 4 hours. That’s never easy (for most of us anyway) and it gets harder the older I get (I’m 48 now). But check! I did it! And the best part is I even met an A+ goal — I finally negative split a marathon, on my 9th try! Three things helped me run the second half of the race faster than the first: (1) I went out slow at the start and resisted the urge to “bank” time while I had fresh legs. This time I was invested in saving my energy for the final miles, and I didn’t get carried away in the excitement of the race. A lot of people passed me in the first half of the race, and I just stuck to my plan, thinking I would pass them back in the second half (which did not turn out to be true, by the way – Big Bear is a “fast” downhill course and a lot of runners choose to run hard to go for a BQ or PR — so when people passed me I rarely saw them again! Good for them! But I’m glad I stuck to my plan of going out slower than my goal race pace). (2) I wrote out a pace band for myself using the negative split pace band feature for Big Bear from FindMyMarathon. And (3) REVEL Big Bear is a course that is set up perfectly for a negative split. I highly recommend this race. It’s well-organized, it’s a pretty course (until the last few miles) and it’s got a great course profile with some gentle rolling hills in the first half followed by an advantageous elevation decline from mile 9 on. And it’s not so downhill that it kills your quads or calves (if you’ve put in some downhill training and/or done strength training). This course replaced the old REVEL Canyon City (which I liked but it killed my calves) and I like this one better.

I had paid extra to pick up my bib on race day so I didn’t have to drive out to the expo. On race morning my husband got up early and drove me to the bus pickup. I wrote this note on the bus, which is a good thing because I don’t remember it:

2:25 up

2:30 out of bed

2:50 on road

3:40 arrive

3:50 porta potty

4 packet pick-up

4:12 on bus

It was about an hour drive to the staging area on the 38 highway south of Big Bear so I arrived about 45 minutes before the 6 a.m. start. It was cold at that elevation but not uncomfortable. Ideal really – somewhere in the 40s at the start (warming up to the low 80s by the time I finished). There were plenty of porta potties and not a long wait. I went through the line once, bagged my warm throw-away clothes, and got in place between the 3:50 and 4 hour flags. I kept my gloves and hand warmers (genius if I do say so myself). I ended up ditching them around mile 8 (mistake – I should have kept them until the half-marathon point – it was still cold at times until then!)

I had tried out UCAN for fueling during training and used it for the race. I took a scoop before the race and carried another small bottle with me for the first 6 miles or so. It worked great until about mile 11 when I felt the need for a quick boost – whether that was physical and/or mental I don’t know, but I ate a Trader Joe’s fruit strip – 80 calories, easy to carry in the pocket of my running pants, easy to open on the run, and delicious to consume.  I drank Powerade at the aid stops. I also took a Clif Shot Energy gel with a small amount of caffeine at mile 18 (hoping not to hit the wall at mile 20, and I didn’t). I ate two more fruit strips as needed toward the end of the race. It all worked out great! Those last 6.2 miles were really hard (both due to racing hard and due to the mild heat) but I stayed strong and focused and kept doing the mental math to stay on pace to come in under 4 hours. On the long straight-away at the end I saw my husband and two youngest girls. The girls ran along the side of the course as I ran down the finish chute. I was so focused on finishing strong that I forgot all about smiling for a finish line photo! So here is a photo from earlier in the race, when I was still smiling!

Screen Shot 2020-01-07 at 9.45.04 PM

It was a good thing the girls met me right away at the finish and I could lean on them for support. Crazy how you can go from running faster than 6.5 miles an hour to barely being able to walk. As we all know, the mind is a powerful thing. My mind convinced my body to run across that finishing mat and the second I crossed it, my mind said, “Okay, my work here is done.” And that’s when everything felt surreal.

Mike joined me and the girls and they helped me pick up my results: 3:57:52, for an average pace of 9:04. It wasn’t an overall PR but it was a PR for me in the 45-49 age group, and I am so pleased to have negative split the race. When I try to think of a word to sum up the race for me, the word that comes to mind is “validating.” That finishing time and negative split validated that I had trained hard and raced smart. This wasn’t an easy year for me to stick with a marathon training plan (the college application process for my oldest, and getting her settled in for her first semester, and having her living away from home — all of those put an emotional strain on me that made me extra proud that I didn’t get side-tracked from training). So, after the race I just reveled (ha ha, pun intended) in my personal, positive experience at REVEL Big Bear.

Now the big question in my mind is, do I go for marathon number 10? Marathons are hard (duh) and I don’t take the training or racing lightly. We’ll see!

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I Registered for Marathon #9

Posted in Family life, Marathon, Racing, Running, tagged , , , , , , on June 12, 2019| 5 Comments »

It’s been over two years since I ran the Death Valley Marathon, which is a lovely race on a spectacular course but was a very difficult race for me. I later discovered I had low levels of iron, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. Once those levels got back to normal, I finally felt like I wasn’t running into a constant headwind. I managed to train up for the Yosemite Half Marathon in May 2018, and climbed Mt. Whitney in August 2018. Then that fall got swallowed up by life outside of running, which included helping my oldest daughter, who decided to skip her junior year of high school and homeschool for a year while she applied early to college. I continued to run and exercise five days a week, but didn’t have the energy or desire to put a race on my calendar. I’m happy to report that my daughter got into UC Berkeley and will be heading off in August to study biology there! And now that that’s settled I finally feel ready to get another race on my calendar for the fall of 2019. In fact, I feel more than ready. I love having a race on the horizon to motivate me and give me a goal to focus on.

How did I choose which race to run for marathon #9, you ask? I ran my half marathon PR (1:41:58, for the curious) at the 2014 REVEL Canyon City Half Marathon. I liked that course so much I ran the REVEL Canyon City Full Marathon in 2015 (in 3:39:08). That was a tougher race with all of the downhill running in the first half (but I learned a lot in that race and feel better prepared to train for a downhill course). Shortly after I ran that race though, REVEL discontinued Canyon City for its Southern California race and switched to REVEL Big Bear instead! I heard great things about that race from another runner, and all the reviews I read online said it’s a gorgeous course, so that will be marathon #9 for me! I have driven the marathon route on CA-38 in a car and am really looking forward to the privilege of running it on Saturday, November 9, 2019!

Of course, on the day I hit “Register” on my computer, the temperature in Southern California jumped from the low 70s to the high 90s! Training through the summer in SoCal for a fall marathon can be a challenge. But it’s what works for my schedule and it keeps me on track (no pun intended!) during the summer heat.

Which do you enjoy more: training for a race or running the race? I’m one of the oddballs that actually enjoys the training more than the race itself. But as I said, I do like the motivation and focus that having a race on the calendar gives me.

What’s your favorite marathon course? I liked the Phoenix Marathon and Santa Rosa Marathon quite a bit. Of course the Boston Marathon is amazing for its history and spectator support, but it wasn’t my favorite course (I’m a fan of smaller races in less urban places). Death Valley Marathon (link to the 2020 race information) was the most spectacular, and I wouldn’t mind running it again someday to redeem myself on that course.

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I Survived the Death Valley Marathon

Posted in Marathon, Race, Race reports, Running, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2017| 19 Comments »

On a cool and beautiful Saturday morning in February, 87 hearty souls raced through the desert to complete the 2017 Death Valley Marathon. The course runs through spectacular Death Valley National Park along the same road traveled by the infamous Badwater 135 ultra marathon.

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View of the starting line on Highway 190.

Instead of the national anthem, the race director led us all in a more appropriate and moving rendition of America the Beautiful.

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Marathoners and their friends gathered for the 8 a.m. start. You can play “Where’s Angela” and find me in the purple top toward the front of the group.

Before the race, I worried that the out-and-back course might be a bit dull, with the same view for miles. I needn’t have worried, as the park is gorgeous and the course winds through the valley with ever-changing views of mountains to the east and west. Also, while the course boasts less than 325 feet of elevation gain, that number is deceptive. It felt to me like we were usually on a slight uphill or downhill grade on rolling hills and rarely running on just flat pavement.

The course roadway is open to park visitors, but I found the vast majority of drivers to be extremely respectful of the runners. We ran on the west shoulder at all times, and while that meant a little jockeying for position at the beginning of the race, the runners soon spread out and by the second half, I often found myself running alone through the desert. Spectators are not allowed on the course, and aid stations are only every three miles. The stations were well-stocked but I thought the Gatorade was a little too watered down (that is foreshadowing, in case you didn’t catch that).

I really enjoyed the first half of the course. The problem for me came around mile 16 when my calves started cramping. I can only speculate that I undertrained for the race or underfueled during the race, or some combination of the two. I had brought my own homemade sports drink that worked fine for me in training but obviously did not do the trick in the race, and the Gatorade on the course didn’t make up for it in the final miles. My splits went from a super-consistent 8:52.6 and 8:52.4 in miles 8-9 and 8:58.8 and 8:58.9 in miles 14-15 to 13:56 for mile 21 and 15:03 for mile 24! At one point I considered whether I wanted to drop out of the race (that might have been the time I heard the raven caw above me and wondered if that was a vulture coming for my carcass when I dropped to the ground. I might have gotten a tad bit dramatic in my suffering). I asked myself if I was going to injure myself by continuing. When the answer was no, I asked myself if I would feel better if I stopped, or better if I finished. I knew for certain that I would feel better if I finished, so I set my mind to it. I decided that I needed to take the focus off my cramping, painful calves, and concentrate on something that didn’t hurt. Somewhere after I really hit the wall in mile 20, I started counting my arm swings. My arms didn’t hurt, and I felt more powerful and in control as I counted each time my right fist punched forward. Long story short, by the time I finished the race, I had counted over 4,200 swings of my right arm. I got into a zen zone by the final miles, and brought my pace back down from 15:03 to 12:38 for mile 25 and 11:37 for mile 26! Mike brought the girls to the finish line, and they gave me a burst of energy as I ran the final 0.33 in a pace of 9:46.

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The most special moment of the race, as the girls ran with me to the finish.

I finished in 4:28:01, a full 51 minutes off my PR of 3:36:58 (recap of the Phoenix Marathon here). I had hoped to come in under 4 hours, but no such luck. My final stats:

screen-shot-2017-02-24-at-11-15-02-am

The first place male and female finishers came in at a blazing 2:49:40 and 3:21:08 respectively. Including all of the 87 finishers, the average finish time was 4:39:40.

If I had to do it over, I would train harder (though I thought I had trained well, with 3 20-milers under my belt), and carry Gatorade instead of my homemade sports drink. Or perhaps, knowing what I know now, I would have opted to do the half marathon and had more time to view the rest of the national park, which truly wowed me with how beautiful it is in the winter. [Edited to add: a couple of weeks after this race, I ended up getting some blood work done and I found out that I had iron-deficiency anemia. No wonder my race time was significantly off my best time! I’m happy to report that my running has started to get back to normal after some iron supplements prescribed by my doctor.]

I was very happy to find that the finish line fare included trail mix with nuts, raisins and M&Ms (heaven!) and a pretzel mix too. I picked up my cotton race t-shirt, which I will wear with pride. While I didn’t finish anywhere near the time I hoped, I am unusually proud of myself for finishing this race. The marathon always has something to teach me, even in my 8th one. This time I learned that the mind really can control the body. My mind carried me through 10 miles after my legs started cramping. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a pretty impressive display of sheer determination.

It’s been three weeks since the race and I’m back up to running 10 miles for my long run this weekend. I am still thinking through what I’d like to take on next. Do I choose another marathon after three particularly hard experiences (REVEL Canyon City, Boston and this one)? Or turn to a different challenge? All I know is I like having a big goal, so I’d better start planning.

What was your hardest race and why? Have you been to Death Valley? (If not, you should go — in the winter!)

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30-Day Challenge Results

Posted in Marathon, Running, Strength training, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2016| 2 Comments »

It’s about time I updated on how the 30-day push-up and abs challenges from darebee.com went for me. I completed them “successfully” in that I stuck to the plan of doing the assigned workouts every day for 30 days in a row. It wasn’t easy by any definition — it took 10-20 minutes per day and if I didn’t combine it with my run or cross-training, then I got sweaty twice a day! I liked to do the strength training in the morning because I found if I waited until the end of the day, not only did it weigh (ha ha, no pun intended) on me throughout the day, I also had a harder time doing the work because I was worn out from the day. So I’d wake up, do just enough strength training to work up a sheen of sweat, hop in the shower to rinse off, and get ready to take the kids to school.

The last day of the abs challenge called for 70 full sit-ups, 300 flutter kicks, and a 4-minute plank! That plank wasn’t pretty (picture me trembling through the last minute that felt like forever) but I did it! The push-up challenge was even harder though. I did every workout, every day, until the very last day. I was supposed to do 50 push-ups in a row on day 30, and I could “only” do 30. I finished the remaining 20 in 4 sets of 5.

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Ha ha – check out my notes on the particularly hard workouts: “tough!!” “wow” and “killer”

It’s been a month since I finished the challenges and I’ve kept up with the strength training about three days per week. I’m really pleased with the results. I still can’t do 50 push-ups in a row, but I feel stronger (mentally and physically), my body shape changed (no six-pack, but I do have more muscle tone), and I notice a difference in my endurance on runs (it feels easier to hold good form toward the end of a run). I’ve long been a believer in strength training and these challenges just affirmed the power of what a short time investment in body weight workouts can do for your overall fitness.

I’m in my third week of training for the Death Valley Marathon and there are just over 16 weeks to go until the big day on February 4. Last week I ran 38.75 miles but only because I did my 12-mile long run on a Sunday instead of Saturday and then the next 14-mile long run on the following Saturday. Usually I only run 3 days per week and cross-train on 2-3 other days. This week I did an 8-mile tempo run, in the evening, in the unrelenting heat of Southern California. That’s when I really felt like I turned a corner and got back on track (so to speak, again no pun intended) with my marathon training. And then yesterday I did 5.0 miles of hill work. I dropped my 11-year-old at ballet and drove with my 8-year-old to the park. While she played on the playground, I ran half-mile laps around the park on the grass, then ran up and down the hill that’s in the middle of the park. While I was there, the cross-country boys and girls teams from a local high school were training there too. Imagine the lithe, nimble bodies of 15-year-olds, contrasted with my 45-year-old mother-of-three body. But you know what? Instead of being humbled by them, I was proud! Go me for putting myself out there and running hard. And you know what else? One of the cross-country coaches gave me the best compliment. He asked:

What are you training for?

I just love that question/compliment. It’s the question I got when I was training for my first half marathon and someone caught up to me at a stoplight and asked me that and it finally made me feel like a “real” runner — when another runner recognized that I was training for a race.

Anyway, I told him I was training for the Death Valley Marathon, and he told me I was “looking good” and gave me a high five. Totally made my day.

Do you do strength training? Do you have any links to share to core workouts posted online? I like Core H (13 minutes) and 8-minute abs.

 

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The Big Reveal: Marathon #8 Will Be….

Posted in Family life, Marathon, Race, Race goals, Racing, Running, tagged , , , , on September 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

My seventh marathon was the Boston Marathon in April 2016. I find it pretty funny that five months later — just as people are submitting their applications for Boston 2017 — here I am signing up for my eighth marathon, and it isn’t Boston (I qualified at Revel Canyon City but I won’t be going back to Boston next year — that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me). Instead of a race with 30,000 entrants, I’ll be going for one that has just 350 entrants. Can you guess which one? Here’s a clue in the form of the book that’s on my bedside table:

Ground Afire: The Story of the Death Valley National Monument

Ground Afire: The Story of the Death Valley National Monument

Yes, I’ll be running the Death Valley Marathon on February 4, 2017! I figure it’s the closest I’ll ever get to the Badwater 135. Just like the Badwater ultramarathon, this race runs along Highway 190 through the heart of Death Valley National Park. I’ve wanted to visit the park for a long time now. It’s just 4.5 hours from my home in Southern California but I’ve never made it out there. Now I get to go for a quick weekend trip during one of the nicest times of year to visit the park.

I know this race isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. No spectators are allowed on the course aside from the volunteers. You cannot wear headphones or otherwise listen to music on the course (I never do anyway). It’s not a closed course. You get a cotton t-shirt, not a tech tee. But I hope I don’t have to spell out the appeal of the race. How awesome is it to get the privilege of running in one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world? Add in the bonuses of race day packet pickup, lodging in the park next to the race start, and practically a guarantee of an age group podium finish if I merely complete the race (only two women in the 45-49 age group ran the race last year).

So, let the countdown to marathon #8 begin! 4 months and 17 days until Death Valley Marathon 2017!

Have you ever been to Death Valley National Park? Do you have any recommendations for must-see sights or must-do activities in the park? Have you ever run the Death Valley Marathon? (If so, please tell me all about it!)

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Recovering from the Boston Marathon

Posted in Half marathon, Marathon, Running, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2016| 2 Comments »

Nearly two weeks after I ran the Boston Marathon, I feel great. Definitely back in the running groove. I took the first week completely off of running and only walked and did marathon sessions (ha ha) of housecleaning. Because I did not push the pace during the race, my recovery was surprisingly easy. Unlike after previous marathons, my quads were not so sore that I ever had to walk sideways down the stairs or brace myself before sitting down on the toilet. In fact I felt so good that I had a little stab of regret that I didn’t run the race faster. It turns out that a marathon is hard no matter how fast or slow you run it, so I might as well have pushed it a little more. I should not second guess myself though. After months of pushing myself to qualify for Boston, I made the decision to take it easier during the race in order to enjoy the experience as best I could. I learn something new every race, and this one taught me that I do not particularly enjoy being out on the course for half an hour longer than my PR time (4:05:09 compared to 3:36:58). Maybe it would have felt different if it had not been such a warm and windy day, but I cannot know the answer to that.

Exactly one week after the race, I went for my first post-marathon run. I took it easy on a 5.41 mile loop and simply enjoyed being back out on the road again. I went for three more easy runs that week, 4.07 miles, 3.52 miles, and 6 miles, for a total of 19 miles. (My husband laughs at the fact that I feel a need to document the run down to the hundredth of a mile, and that I prefer to finish an even 6.0 miles than stop at 5.94. That’s okay, I fully admit my neurotic obsession with the numbers, and I know I’m not the only runner who is the same way).

Now I’m hopping on the training plan I laid out for my husband and 14-year-old to run their first half marathon on June 4, which is five weeks from now. We’re doing the Fontana Days Run (the half marathon is sold out but there are still spots left in the 5K).

What’s the next race you have on your calendar?

Are you obsessed with the exact number of miles you run or are you more easygoing about your training plan and running log?

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Boston Marathon 2016 Race Recap Part III

Posted in Marathon, Race, Race reports, Racing, Running, Uncategorized, tagged on April 22, 2016| 16 Comments »

Continuing from Part I and Part II….

Spirits were high among the runners in wave 3, corral 5 as we trotted across the starting line timing mat at 10:50 a.m. on Monday, April 18, 2016. No one said much as we tried to navigate the pressing crowd of runners, pretty much running in lockstep and not trying to bump into anyone else. However, the spectators were already making plenty of noise to make up for our silence! The entire Boston Marathon was just a fantastic experience, and I mean FAN-tastic! The spectators could not have been more welcoming and encouraging along the entire route. The race course runs through eight cities: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston. Each community managed to extend its own unique form of hospitality. As a runner, I could tell that the spectators genuinely wanted the race to run through their town, and they not only welcomed the marathon itself but each and every runner that passed by. The spectators all along the way somehow managed to make each runner feel like a rock star, like we all mattered just as much as the elite athletes! That outpouring of support makes the experience of running the Boston Marathon a good one regardless of the runner’s finishing time.

Speaking of time, while I had said before that I had not planned to run this race for time, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to pay attention to my pace. I had run the Phoenix Marathon in a PR time of 3:36:58 with an average pace of 8:16 per mile. Every article I had read on Boston warned not to go out too quickly on the early downhill miles on the course or you would regret it around mile 20. So I planned to stay between 8:45-9:00 per mile for those early miles and I thought I might finish in a total time somewhere around 4 hours.

Miles 1-3 (8:52, 8:42, 8:44)

I certainly didn’t want to waste any energy dodging other runners so I just tucked in the crowd and maintained my pace. That became easier said than done though when I factored in walking through the aid stations. In light of the high temperatures forecast for the race, the organizers had sent out an email advising runners to pay close attention to hydration, and indeed I needed to stop at the first aid station at mile 2 along with nearly every other runner. The volunteers did a great job, but there’s just no managing that volume of runners (27,491 runners total). I couldn’t use my usual technique of speeding up a bit before the aid station to “bank” time to walk through the aid station because other runners blocked the way. It was also hard to get going again, and it was odd to run on the road completely covered in Gatorade and cups. Once the road cleared, my shoes were sticky for about another 100 yards! My advice to runners wanting to race Boston for time? Especially in the early miles, skip the aid stations on the right and go for the less crowded ones on the left. Don’t stop at the first Gatorade table — there are 4 at each station (followed by 4 of water).

Miles 4-6 (8:35, 8:50, 8:43)

In mile 4 in Ashland, don’t be alarmed when the course splits in two to go around some cement traffic islands. Volunteers make it clear you can run on either side. Running the tangents on this course is hard due to the crowds and features (spoiler: my “marathon” ended up being 26.74 miles instead of 26.2).

In rare quiet moments along the course, the runners’ footsteps sounded like the pattering of raindrops. The sheer sea of runners in front of me again reminded me of a zombie apocalypse! I kept waiting for the crowd of runners to thin, but it didn’t let up as much as I expected (I might just be a bit biased given that the other six marathons I have run have each had 1/10th the number of participants as Boston). All I know is I got elbowed by other runners right up to mile 25 and even in the finishing chute! No one was particularly aggressive, there were just a lot of people on the course.

Miles 7-9 (8:45, 8:47, 8:48)

In Framingham, the winds picked up, especially by Lake Cochituate at mile 9. At first I appreciated the cool breeze, but then there were times where I felt the need to draft off runners to protect myself from the wind (for once I was grateful for the crowded pack of runners!)

Miles 10-12 (8:49, 8:54, 8:38)

The course enters Natick and I took in the sight of yet another town common with a beautiful clock tower. There are also digital clocks at every mile marker along the race, which is helpful if you can do the math to figure out how that time compares to when you crossed the starting line.

When I entered the town of Wellesley, I kept an eye out for a Wellesley girl to kiss. As I said, I came to this race for the experience and I wasn’t going to miss out on any of it! You could hear the girls screaming before you could see them! I rounded the bend and saw a girl holding a sign that said, “Kiss me — I’m from Cali!” I knew that was my girl and dodged over to the side, pointed to my cheek and asked for a kiss. She kindly obliged, and I ran on with a smile and renewed energy. Later though I thought maybe I should have stopped for the girl whose sign said “Kiss me or I’ll vote for Trump!”

Miles 13 – 15 (8:43, 8:47, 9:12)

The half marathon point is in Wellesley and I passed the timing mat at 1:55:41. I remember my energy dipping a little at that point. I don’t know if was the relief of passing the halfway point, or if the noise of the Wellesley “scream tunnel” took a little out of me, but I felt a change in my ability to keep pace.

Miles 16-18 (8:43, 10:09, 9:41)

The course enters Newton next and the hills begin in earnest. Frankly the whole course felt like rolling hills and I had a hard time distinguishing one from the other. A lot of people on the course started suffering at this point. Talk about the zombie apocalypse — I’ve never seen so many people walking on a race course! I suspect that a lot of runners trained hard to qualify and ended up injured, or got injured in training for Boston itself, but they didn’t want to miss out on the experience running Boston so they vowed to get to the finish whether they had to walk or crawl to get there. Heck, I even saw a girl in the first mile wearing the kind of boot you need for a stress fracture! And as I passed Newton-Wellesley Hospital somewhere between the 16 and 17 mile points, I watched grimly as someone was wheeled off the course and into the hospital on a stretcher.

Miles 19-21 (9:25, 9:45, 10:33)

My family and friends were waiting for me at the mile 20 marker. You can see that I picked up the pace a bit in anticipation of seeing them! The kids made these awesome signs for me out of pipe cleaners, beads, and blue glitter.

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I grabbed some Gatorade from the aid station and then braced myself for Heartbreak Hill. The funny thing is that I didn’t even realize that particular hill was THE Heartbreak Hill until I saw a spectator holding a sign! It was just another hill, and I’d done a pretty good job of training on hills in my hilly neighborhood. I never walked (except through aid stations) and kept on trucking. My pace certainly slipped in that mile though.

Miles 22-24 (9:26, 9:31, 10:05)

Honestly in these miles through Brookline and into Boston, I was simply focused on running and keeping my legs moving. The crowd support became more important than ever. Not only their cheers, but their offers of ice, flavored ice pops, orange slices, banana slices (watch out for those peels on the course — I’m not kidding!), jelly beans, pretzels and M&Ms. I could have even had a full can of beer if I’d wanted one, and I was sorely tempted, not so much by the beer but by the idea of grabbing the can and stopping to walk along and enjoy it!

My favorite bit of course support though was when people had set up their hoses to spray the runners. While the temperatures did drop a bit the closer you got to Boston and the ocean, much of the course this year (at least for those in the later waves like me) was uncomfortably warm.

Miles 25-26.74 (9:45, 9:25, 6:39 pace for 0.74 miles)

Two things encouraged me in these final miles — the sight of the Prudential building (Boston! A building in Boston!) and the sight of the Citgo sign. I used to be able to see that sign outside the window of my on-campus apartment at MIT, so that held special significance for me even beyond the fact that it meant the final miles of the race.

I really picked up the pace when my Garmin beeped to say that I had run 26 miles. At that point I knew I had it in me to sprint and I really wanted the race to be over! So funny that I paid for the privilege to run this race, but I was just so ready to be done at that point. I sprinted for nearly 3/4 of a mile. There’s a little hill when you turn up Hereford but you are rewarded by the sight of the finish line when you turn left at the top and look down Boylston Street. Once again I could hear the absolute roar of the spectators and I felt like a rock star! Could they really be cheering that loudly for middle and back of the pack runners? It was amazing and it made my heart swell. I received a lot of support along the way, from my family, from readers of this blog, and from the race volunteers and spectators, and I was extremely grateful. I came in at 4:05:09 with my arms in the air as I finally crossed the Boston Marathon finish line.

It’s a long walk in the finishing chute. I almost didn’t grab a space blanket to keep warm because I was so heated from the race. Thank goodness I did though because by the time I reached the family meeting area and my family arrived to walk me to the T, my lips were blue! I felt really good though — sore but not injured — and just happy to have come full circle on four years of marathon training from my first marathon at Santa Barbara in 2012 to my seventh marathon at Boston in 2016!

I’ve never been particularly excited about race medals, but this one just symbolizes so much.

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