Santa Rosa (1/2) Marathon: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered

As some of you may know, I'm not too happy with my time, and it also confuses me. I actually added time to my previous race, with a finish time of 3:04:46. My last race? Sweatshirt, gloves, poncho, run/walking hunched over to avoid the freezing rain being blown off the ocean on the Great Highway. Perhaps I was motivated to go faster by the cold. So I was certain that I'd knock a good amount of time off of that one, but I let go of my LaLa Land goal of 2.5 hrs at the 7 mile point, when I realized that I wasn't going to magically pull under 10-minute miles out of my hat.

What confuses me is that so much of this race was great. My 4, 5, & 6-mile times were my fastest ever. I'm new to using my heart monitor thingy (this would make 3 times), so I obeyed that and actually consistently ran more than I ever have. In many ways, this race was a great success. In the past, I mostly walk, then run when I'm feeling it, when a song that moved me came on. This time I kept up my splits pretty consistently throughout the whole race. I learned more about my body and that I really need to not push it. It was difficult to jog slowly when I really wanted to go faster, but I knew that pushing my heart rate up would only make recovery time that much longer.

My heart rate was great. In fact, towards the end of the race, my monitor kept beeping at me to go faster, but my feet were quite unhappy with that. Around mile 11, I started fading, but being so close to the finish made me go ahead and run even more.

So, I ran more than ever, and I felt very strong the whole time. I can definitely tell that I'm in a much better place than a year and a half ago. I shall take what I learned and keep working, and I know that my next race will be better. That should be the Kaiser Marathon in February, which I've done a couple times. I also think that I'm going to try harder to get into Nike next fall. That was my first race, and it is so much fun.

The latest. The dealio. What's up.

Things have been pretty good lately, other than the glimpse I just caught of myself in my sunglasses and I looked super fat. Whatever.

The last couple weeks have been really good. I'm sort of laying off the pressure on myself a bit to be uber-fitness & running girl. That is for other people. I want to be faster at my races, but I also just want to be active & skinnier. And I've been doing alright. Last Thursday was the only day that I didn't exercise at all, basically because I got in the car at 6:30am & wasn't done with my day until 6:30pm. Too pooped to party!

Basically, I've been out walking, bike riding, hiking, etc. every day. And I've been really happy. Friday, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to work out, so I took a sweaty, geeky walk during our lunch break from the Leadership Summit. I slapped sunscreen on my tattoo, put my running shoes on with my skirt, and headed out into the neighborhood behind the church. I say again that I am very grateful to not live in the Sacramento valley. Too hot! Then I ended up going to Reno to visit a friend where we danced and walked around the casinos a lot. So, I got more exercise, which was great. I really love dancing and so rarely get to do it. Of course, it was a little difficult dancing in heels and tipsy, both of which were firsts. I just stopped drinking and started hydrating because my leg muscles were feeling weird.

Saturday, we went hiking up near the summit of Mt. Rose (8000', near Tahoe) and it was so wonderful. I actually clapped a few times because I was just so happy to be out in the woods and hiking! I have felt like summer has just been flying by and I've barely gotten to stop and enjoy it, so I was very grateful to be out in nature, working my tail off. We probably did about 4 miles, and it was more hilly than expected, but great. The elevation didn't kick my butt too much. We then went down to the beach and, after pizza, lay in the hot sand (mmmmm....almost fell asleep!) and walked in the water a bit before heading home.

This week, I've been walking, riding a bit, had a successful 45 minutes on the elliptical,& did some spot toning videos. I still haven't gotten in a lot of miles, which I would like to get in before my race on the 30th. I want to get in at least 8-10 miles twice, just to warn my butt & feet. As I've said before, I know that I can do 13.1 miles. It's my 4th half coming up; it's all a matter of preparing my body before hand so I won't be quite so sore after. I want this one to be strong with no walking like an old lady afterwords! It's been a little difficult to run this week, though, because it's been near 100 all week, and I am NOT a "get up early in the morning and go walk/run for 3 hours" kind of gal.

But I'll be fine. I really want to go down to Pt. Reyes and do the 8.2 miles out & back to the ocean. I loooooove that trail- it's so beautiful and just the right softness for flat-out running bursts. Of course, that doesn't really help me prepare for a half-marathon on paved surfaces. But it's fun!