Why Not Me?

It appears that I've placed in my age group for the Sue Krenn 15k this morning. That's all fine and good, but I was at work when the said race was taking place.

I wonder how fast I went?

That is all.


Saturday, February 26. 2011's Song:
Love Roller Coaster - Ohio Players, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Run DMZ

PEACE

Fifteen

I haven't been much for blogging lately, and I'm not sure why. Well, that's not completely true. I do know. I'm still getting back in the groove of things now that I'm feeling better. It could also have something to do with not having a lot of computer time, either. It's hard to write anything when there's a 6 year old hovering right behind me wanting to have his turn on line.

I've been back on track with working out and running. I'm able to put forth the effort, but I'm toast afterward. Under normal circumstances a workout or run will energize me. I'll get it back.

While I'm on the subject of running, I ran in the annual Sue Krenn 15K on Saturday. I had a very good run that morning.

• I wasn't sick
• I remembered my hydration belt and iPod.
• It wasn't raining

I did forget my Garmin, but I did have my cell phone, and I never canceled BiM, so I was able to GPS track my run that way.

SPLITS

1	9' 19
2	9' 27
3	9' 36
4	9' 43
5	9' 52
6	10' 00
7	10' 04
8	9' 54
9	10' 17
end	10' 03

BiM gave me a 9:49 minute mile pace, which sounds better to me, but I'll take my the 9:57 minute mile pace over the 10:30 minute mile pace I had last year.

I've entered that 15k time into the McMillan Running Calculator, I *should* be able to have a sub 5 hour marathon. I think McMillan is being generous with the time it gave me, but if I put forth the training and effort it could happen this time, even if it is 4:59.


I was hoping to stay in the 9 range for the entire race, but something about running on concrete, after we exited the Fiesta Island loop (which is asphalt), really throws me off.

316 IRENE M 4487 50 4/7 F San Diego 1:32:40 9:57

I came in 4th in my AG. Yeah, there were only 7 of us in my AG but I wasn't too far behind the 3rd place AG winner, who is also one of my track club buddies, Michelle, who I sometimes run with. I did shave about 5+ minutes off of last year's Sue Krenn 15k, and I felt really good about that. It's not a PR, and I still need to knock about 7+ more minutes off. It feels good to be whittling away at last year's post surgery runs.

If I keep at it, perhaps I can put a BQ back on my list of things to do.

Until then, I'll watch this a few times for inspiration:


Wednesday's Song:
Closer - Ne-Yo, Nine Inch Nails, Kings of Leon - Run DMZ, Be A Good One

PEACE

Wounded Feet

Are we awake yet??? It's worth the early wake-up time to experience such a great morning as this. This is the track club doing the post warm-up run stretch routine at Mission Bay Park before Saturday's 15K.


My thing right now is working on form and I use the pictures from the track club to figure out how much further I need to improve, however, there's no full picture of me running, at least not yet...




Well, there's the backside of me on the left side of the picture. (I don't know who the guy is, but he's super fast, because I'm probably just past the 5 mile point and this guy is running in for the finish.) I couldn't find any pictures of my husband.


I'm supposed to have a track club workout tonight but my foot is still a little twingey and I'm not recouping from the run as quickly as I normally do. I went into the GP this morning for the *just in case* scenario. My foot will be fine in a few days and my leg is just dealing with D.O.M.S. (Delayed onset muscle soreness.) I'm going to take an extra rest day and not run tonight.

Sunday's song:
Chasing Pavements - Adele - Run-DMZ

PEACE

photos from the SDTC

Chasing Pavements

Activity: Run
Date: 03/07/09 07:01 AM
Distance: 9.51 miles
Time: 1:38:19
Speed: 5.8 mph
Pace: 10' 21 min/mile
Calories: 911

Saturday morning's run was the Sue Krenn 15K. This is a track club sponsored event, so there's usually a lot of veteran track club members, but there was a pretty good showing of non-members as well. Some of my favorite bloggers were there, such as AKA Alice and Anne. I haven't run with Anne since the Balboa Park 8 mile run two years ago, so it was nice to run with her for about the first 3 miles of the race and briefly catch up on happenings. I also met another running blogger, Laura, who I have probably met before, but she's been away from running for a while. I also saw several track club friends who didn't run but volunteered at the race. My husband even saw a work colleague who ran the race as well. It was a day of reunions. I'm kicking myself for not bringing a camera.

The start of the run was a little confusing. There was no audible horn or buzzer to indicate that the race had started, at least I didn't hear anything. Everyone just started running. I'm guessing someone yelled "go." I did well when we ran on Fiesta Island, which has an asphalt road. It's when we ran along the bay path at Mission Bay park that I had some issues. It's all concrete and my legs felt heavy, but I paced myself with a young lady who was slightly in front of me, just to keep going. My right shoe dug into my ankle with about 2 miles left to run. I was running on the slanted side of the walk-way, just so I could stay out of the way of the on-coming traffic of kids from another run event that was going on at the same time at the opposite end of Mission Bay park. Amazingly, the kid traffic didn't interfere with my time too much, as I kept an even pace while following the young lady in front of me.

Around mile 4 of the race I used my iPod. I think this is the first race where I've used an iPod. I normally like to be completely aware of all the sounds around me when I run outdoors, but at the 10k back in January I was really distracted with two miles to go and I just wanted the run to be over. Having music when I needed it gave me somewhat of a mental boost, especially when my legs felt heavy. I finished the race to "Handlebars" by the Flobots.

1:39 and change was the approximate time on the race clock when I finished, but my GPS gave me 1:38:19. Final results haven't been posted yet, so it will be interesting to see those results, since it's not a chipped run and we actually ran 9.5 miles, not 9.3 miles. Several people were comparing the distances on their Garmins and other GPS devices. I'm guessing my results will be in the 1:40:00 range, just because it always seems that official results are usually higher for a non-chipped event. Regardless of time, I completed yet another goal, and that was to just finish the race.

Post race we went to the High Dive for breakfast. I felt pretty good at breakfast, but by the time we got home my ankle was swollen where the shoe dug into my foot. I'm doing the R.I.C.E thing and took an analgesic. I'm hoping the ankle will be OK soon. It just feels bruised.

My husband was having some issues with cramping and blisters during the race. He finished near the end of the pack. He' s fine now, but I think it was mostly a matter of his day-before-the-race glasses of wine and food choices... He finished at around 2 hours.

I was hoping to have pictures and official results to add to this post, but neither have been posted yet.

Wednesday's song:
Hey Muscles I Love You - Muscles

PEACE

*****EDIT*****
489 IRENE M 1936 49 16/27 F San Diego 1:37:53 10:31

For The Roses

I know I've said this before, but I really appreciate that someone from the track club is there to take pictures at every long run, including the Sue Krenn 15K event yesterday. Here I go, around the 5 mile marker. I always look so pensive when I'm in these track club photos. I figured it was time I "cheesed" one.



All the women finishers received a rose. Here's mine up close, which is a very bright, pinkish red color.



I haven't found a picture of my husband at the run yet, but I need to look carefully through the hundreds of photos from the day.

Yesterday's Song:
Move Along - All American Rejects - Run-DMZ

Peace

Move Along

Activity: Run
Date: 03/01/08 06:58 AM
Distance: 9.47 miles
Time: 1:25:11 PR
Speed: 6.7 mph
Pace: 8' 59 min/mile
Calories: 902



Today was the Sue Krenn 15K. The weather was overcast and a little drizzly. I used my BiM wireless run tracker GPS and remembered to charge it last night. I forgot to wear my stop watch, just to keep track of my minute/mile as I ran, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. This was not a chipped run, so my times are a little higher, and not so accurate, plus I turned off my GPS after I ran through the finishing chute, and that added time. The event time-keepers had me at 1:25:12, a new personal record. That still puts me over 6 minutes faster than last year. I was kind of surprised because it was cool out this morning and my legs felt like lead for the first two miles, which were actually my fastest miles of this run. The times aren't posted on the website yet, but results were posted at the event. I came in 9th out of something like 20 in my age group. There's some phenomenally speedy women in my age group. Oh, and before I forget, all the women finishers received a rose.

This event is also very grass-roots and has no corporate sponsors. They rely heavily on the kindness of volunteers. We did not receive race T-shirts today. Since the track club was already signed up for this run, we did not have the option to pre-purchase a race T. I had to order one today. This year's T shirt is red and black, which is my husband's favorite color combo. Of course, it has "No Wussies" on it.

EDIT****
I almost forgot to mention that this is the event where I met Anne last year! I swear I didn't forget and it is worth mentioning because, if it weren't for Anne, I probably would not have joined the SDTC!

My husband did OK but cramped up around mile 4. He met a bunch of guys who helped him through this cramping episode, and they all run/walk like my husband does, so he felt, for the first time, like he belonged some place in the group, and not alone in the back-of-the-pack group.

For March, my fitness goals are still the same until June, so there's not much to update there. My morning weight is stable and I hope to keep it that way until the marathon. I'm prone to weight gain while marathon training. Non-fitness goals will include getting back into the creative mode again. I'm attempting my hand at making my own athletic wear, and see if it's worth the effort. I also want to get my art-brain back. I want to feel as passionate about it as I did when I was in college.

Yesterday's song:
Thank God It's Friday - R. Kelly

PEACE

Reunited

I'm back from my self-imposed internet hiatus. Where do I start???

I had attended my 30 year high school reunion. Although it was great to see everyone who came, it also somewhat melancholy due to the knowledge that the land the high school is on will be sold and turned into another school, a condo complex or shopping center. It is truly an end of an era. There is a new campus, replacing the old one in another location, that is state-of-the-art, and by all accounts wonderful, but it does not have the same name as my old alma mater. There were several alumni who were not excited about the new name and quit donating money to the school when asked, simply because (as my brother put it) "that's not the school we went to." There are, however, walkways and courts with the "old" school name, and the school mascot is still the same. My high school graduating class was small, with about 99 graduates. We were fortunate to have about 30 attend the reunion with some spouses/significant others. We had the reunion in the old gym and we all laughed that we weren't getting busted for having alcohol on campus. One of my high school friends who I haven't seen since the 20 year reunion was there. It was as if time stood still and we had just seen each other yesterday by the lockers, well, except for having husbands, a house payment, kids, and reading glasses... Kathy twisted my arm and got me to do 3 tequila shots with her, only after one of our classmates bought a couple of bottles of Patron Silver tequila. I also had the chance to meet up with other long-lost classmates. I found out that one guy actually Q'ed for Boston a few years back but had to give up distance running because he broke his leg. Ouch!

Another classmate is a movie actor. Matthew Modine used to sit behind me in Mr. B's English class. He confirmed that he used to cheat off of my vocabulary tests in Senior year. Even though everyone was clamoring to get their photos with him, at least he did remember who I was and, yeah, I did get my photo with him and Kathy. Another classmate lives within a mile of me, and we plan to get together soon. I've exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with many. I must admit, there was only one person I didn't really care to see, but that person was the first person who I made my pleasantries with so I could go on with the reunion and chat with others. For a group of us who are pushing 50, we seemed to all be healthy and doing just fine for ourselves, at least those who attended. The nice things about reunions now is that everyone is sincerely happy to be there and see former classmates. It's nothing like the 10 year reunion, where everyone seems like they're trying to show off their success. About 9 people in my graduating class have already died. As a class, we've decided to have reunions every 5 years instead of just every 10 years. I've actually volunteered my house for the next reunion. (Yikes!) I don't know if they'll take me up on my offer but it's incentive for me to get the house really fixed up by then. One thing I must mention about my class is even though there were groups like the jocks, cheerleaders, the rich kids, band geeks, party-ers, etc, we never let those "labels" interfere with getting to know each other now. We grew up, and thank goodness had lives and life experiences after high school. As a class we became closer than other classes. It was great to be able to give all of my classmates hugs.

I'm now working more weekly hours than I had anticipated. They do have ads out for techs, and have interviewed a few candidates, made offers, but these people aren't really looking for jobs. They're looking to get raises at their current places of employment OR they don't live up to their resumes. There's time and money wasted. I'm almost back to working full time again. This is not what I wanted to be doing right now, but I must admit the extra cash is handy.

A little over a week ago I was feeling somewhat sluggish, but just thought I was tired from work. I ended up getting a bad stomach flu. I can't remember the last time I had a flu like this last one. I couldn't even hold down water but forced myself to drink it just so I could have something in my system AND to not get dehydrated. It took a good 4 to 5 days to get that barfy feeling to go away and for food to taste like food again. Nothing was palatable. NOTHING tasted good, not even chocolate, not even water! The rotten part was calling in sick to work on a day I knew they were slammed with patients. With the 4th of July holiday and expecting a house-full of people, I had to get myself well. I did get better but I'm still exhausted. I just can't figure how someone could be incapacitated in bed for several days and still be tired...

The 4th of July happened. Hubbie and I ran in the the Coronado Annual 5k-15k. I was so tempted to not go, and that would have been a first for me because I still was not feeling strong, but I had to go. My brother flew down for the holiday and wanted to join us. This was THE SLOWEST 5k I have ever run. (28:15) I felt so weak, but I ran the whole way, tempted to walk, but I reminded myself that it was only a 5k, and that I could go home and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. By the way, my brother ran the 15k and finished in about 1:13:00 and change. After a returning home and getting in that 2 hours of sleep, it was time to get in gear for our party. The party began around 5 pm. We kept it relatively simple and grilled burgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs, and all of the usual foods and beverages. It was kind of funny how just about everyone brought beer, though. We have enough beer leftover to have another party. The cool thing about where I live is that we could view several firework displays at the same time, even though a few were way off in the distance. The fireworks that we could view the best came from Sea World. Too bad the clouds rolled in, which muddled up some of the fireworks, but it was still fun to watch.

On the workout/running front, not much has happened. I've only run 3 or 4 times since the marathon, and that includes the 5k. I think I fit in 2 weight workouts before I came down with the flu. Even with the flu my weight stayed the same, and I suppose that's a good thing, but I feel like I've lost muscle tone. July will be all about get back on track and training for a half marathon scheduled for August.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. Back to blogging!

Peace

Dreamboat Annie

I was somewhat amazed, but not totally surprised that the Nike Women's Half Marathon sold out. I was hoping to have someone I know join me but I guess I'll get to know some of the 15,000 other women who are running it. The last time I checked, there were still sign-ups for the full marathon.

At the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, Anne (Run-DMZ) picked me up at my house and we made our way to the bay for the 43 Annual Sue Krenn 15K. It was fun getting to chat with Anne briefly before she went off to attend to her volunteer duties. She also introduced me to many runners, and even pointed out a few who run at about my speed. It was a little brisk out but not really all that cold, although some of my fellow San Diegan runners were chilled at the 40 degree temperatures. LOL... After stretching out and a warm up run with the San Diego Track Club, we went out to the street for our run. This is the same area where I do my weekend runs at. The course was familiar and there wasn't any thing unusual, mostly flat. I've never run a 15K timed event before, so I wasn't sure how I would fare, but had somewhat of an idea. I sort of figured I'd finish in 1 hour 45 minutes. I finished in about 1:30:50 and change, probably closer to 1:31:00, which is probably around a 9:45 minute mile. All of the women runners were given a rose at the end of the run, and a really cool tie dyed t-shirt will be sent to me. There were some incredibly fast people at this run. I run that fast in my dreams. One of my former college teachers was there. I'd seen him at a prior event but wasn't sure it was him until after. I said hello to him and, of course, he had no clue who I was, since I had him as a teacher well over 25 years ago. He said that every now and then a former student will spot him at a run event and say hello. He's in his mid 70's and almost always places in the top 3 in these runs. Oh, I also came away with a bottle of Pinot Noir. They were giving away wine in a "random" drawing to the runners... After Anne was finished with her volunteer duties, we had a nice long walk back to the car, and a wonderful chat. It's always fun to talk to someone about running and everything that goes with it, and understands it. Anne and I also had plenty in common, aside from the running. In addition, it was great to be around a group of people who get excited about running. They were all so encouraging to each other. I kept hearing "great run" or "good pace" or something positive through out the run. I'm guessing that there were about 500 people at this run. Anne brought me back home and had a little time to meet hubbie, so he could get a photo of us. Oh, that's my dog, Logan, at our feet - trying to get attention.

I'm hoping that sometimes in the near future I'll be able to run with Anne. Now I'm seriously thinking about joining the SDTC. We'll see.

Change gears, shower, dress, and had my son drive me downtown for a spa afternoon with the ladies at work -- as part of a birthday celebration/bridal shower for one of my coworkers . The timing was perfect. After a couple of pomegranate mimosas, I had a mini-facial, a salt scrub and massage -- then spent time in the sauna... Niiiiiiiice... Ahhhhhh... After a few hours at the spa, we all walked across the street to the W Hotel, for drinks at their "beach" bar at the top of the hotel. The bar is set up to look like a beach, with beach furniture, cabanas and sand. We enjoyed our drinks as we watched the sun set. I had never been to that bar before, so it was enjoyable, plus my bosses and coworkers are a fun group. Dinner and beer followed at the Karl Strauss restaurant just a block a way. One of my bosses drove me home, so I didn't have to worry about having to get someone to pick me up.

Once I was home, I was done... It was still relatively early, but I was good for a night of uninterrupted sleep, and it was great.

Peace


EDIT - OFFICIAL 15K TIME
344 IRENE 836 47 12/21 F San Diego 1:31:01 9:46