Race Report - Albuquerque Run for the Zoo 10k

This was my first 10k ever and it. was. amazing! I think I really liked racing that distance (not that there's much "racing" for me, but you know what I mean). The weather was confused as to what time of year it was - it was May 2 but about 35 degrees and had snowed/rained the day before. Not typical balmy May weather, and as such, most of my winter running stuff has been packed and put in storage. Luckily I had a couple of things with me and the jacket that I got from No Boundaries just a couple of weeks ago.

The race is funky little loop thing that starts right by the zoo, cuts through a very small portion of the zoo and then hits a long street...you go south on this street, turn around and go north, pass the area that you enter this street, turn around and go south, and then cut through some neighborhoods to the finish. So, in short, you can see everyone ahead of you a few times (and be reminded that you are at the back of the pack). I went into this with one goal - run the entire distance. No walk breaks. Not even for water. I've done a six mile training run without walk breaks once before, but half way through this race, I realized that I'd stopped in the middle of it to chat with a couple of friends...so this was new for me.

I paired up with my friend, D, not knowing that she had the same goal, and we took off. Things were going great - sometimes she'd pull a little ahead, sometimes I pulled ahead, but we were side by side for the most part. Until Mile 2. That's where we met the Pink Ladies. This was another running duo (obviously women wearing pink) who decided to time their walk/run intervals to us. They'd walk...we'd catch up and pass them...they'd run till they passed us by a good little distance and then walk...we'd catch up...etc. They were annoying, but not enough to make me want to scream, even though one of them punched me in the side thanks to flailing her arms about as she walked when I tried to run past her.

But then we met The Group of Doom. This was a group of three women, all of them slightly older than D and I but far more in need of a good throat punch. They'd walk, all three side by side (thus, taking up most of the road) and peek over their shoulders every few seconds. As soon as we got even to them, they'd take off as fast as they could for about 30-60 seconds, and stop to walk, again peeking over their shoulders. This annoyed me to no end. Maybe it's because we'd already been dealing with the Pink Ladies when we met The Group of Doom...maybe it's because they spread out and walked side by side, taking up the entire street and making it hard to pass through them...maybe it was the fact that they were so blatantly using us as a target. The fact of the matter is, I'm slow...I get passed all the time, so it won't hurt my feelings if you pass me and stay up there. On the other hand, I understand how it is to be in the back, but hey - someone's gotta be last and it isn't always going to be me!

Anyway, thanks to D's "relax, ignore them" comments, we finally tired them out and stayed ahead around Mile 5...at which point, D grew wings and took off. I managed to hang with her for a few minutes, but I knew that if I wanted to finish without puking, I'd have to let her go. I ended up finishing a little behind her in 1:18:43 (according to my Garmin, I haven't found official results yet). Even though this would be an instant PR thanks to the fact that it was my first 10k, this is faster than I normally do 6 mile training runs - by about 3 minutes - so I'm pretty excited.

Next up:

Laying on a beach in Belize: May 15-21

Not really sure after that...maybe Will Run for Wine 5k?

3 Lousy Little Letters, A Race Report - and 1 Amazing Thing

Being as there is so much good in my life, I'm going to focus on that first. On Thursday, April 15, 2010, at 7.13 in the morning, my amazingly beautiful nephew was born. Logan Kent weighed in at 7 pounds, 3.8 ounces and was 20.75 inches long. He is truly, without any doubt, the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on. I am so excited to have a little nephew! While I was super happy during my sister's pregnancy, I'm honestly surprised by how excited and in love I am with this little dude. Don't get me wrong - I knew I'd be happy and that I'd like the kid - but as a self-proclaimed anti-child person, I'm literally shocked by my reaction to him. I love this kid more than words can describe. So that's my one amazing thing...and he is one of the best things to happen to our family! :)

Now, a short race report for the Will Run for Margaritas 5k that was held on April 10. This race was at 1.00 on a Saturday afternoon - seems like a fabulous idea, right? You get to sleep in, go on a 3 mile jaunt and then enjoy happy hour specials at a local New Mexican restaurant chain. This was a good idea in theory only. 1.00 PM is much too late for a spring race in New Mexico. It. was. HOT. And disorganized. The course was something I can't even begin to describe, but I'll suffice it to say that we had to stop twice to get through a tiny little fence. Even though I'm complaining about this, it won't deter me from participating in the remaining two events that the same company is sponsoring - we have Will Run for Wine on May 29 (with complimentary access to the local wine festival following the race) and Will Run for Beer in June. Let's just say I believe in running for a good cause - and drinking refreshing adult beverages after a race is a fantastic cause!

And now on to my disturbing news. Last weekend - April 17 - the hubs and I participated in the Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Half Marathon. This race has been around for a while, but it was given a new name this year. I've never participated in it (there's a laundry list of reasons, but I'll sum it up to say that the shop that sponsors it makes a complete and utter mess out of their races, so I choose to stay as far away as possible). This was the hub's 2nd year doing it and he did great - 2:11 and some change. Me, on the other hand...it was one of the worst days I've had in a very long time. I didn't finish. I have never, ever, ever, EVER dropped out of a race before, but I knew from the get-go that this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. First of all, there was a good .5+ mile walk to the start - no biggie, I've done longer. But I've never walked through .5+ miles of deep, slippery mud to get to the start...and even though the hubs kept telling me that that would be part of the course, I chose to ignore him and hope that he was wrong. He wasn't. Just like the Margarita run the week before, we all stopped at a bridge that required we cross 2-3 people at a time...and then we hit the mud. For 3 miles.

I'm not sure what was wrong...I don't know if it was the fact that I slacked on my icing/stretching the week prior, or if it was the fact that I was

"gripping" the ground with my toes for both the walk to the start and

for those first 3 miles. It was probably a combination. But whatever it was, my legs felt like lead within the first couple of miles and my foot had that familiar and terrible tearing feeling by the time we got off the mud and onto the pavement. I stopped to stretch, I re-tied my shoes...nothing was working. Finally, I got to 7 miles and decided I'd had enough. I called my dad and asked him to come get me. I walked another half mile to get to a busier intersection so my dad could find me...and I stood there crying for a good 10 minutes waiting. It was humiliating. My dad was nice enough to not only take me to the finish line, but he stuck around with me and the hubs while we said our goodbyes to everyone and then drove us to our car so we wouldn't have to do that slippery mud again.

I know I made the right choice...I took all of last week off and my foot is really feeling better. I did 3 miles Saturday morning and it was perfectly fine. But it was the hardest, most heart-breaking choice I've ever made. I actually trained for this specific race - every other half marathon I've done has been a part of marathon training. Oh well. I've moved on (for the most part) and have Chicago to focus on now. And a new baby in the family. :)

Next up: Run for the Zoo 10k (my first 10k!) on May 2

Laying on a beach in Belize May 15-21

Will Run for Wine 5k on May 29

Houses, and Travel and Races - oh my!

So it's been forever since I last popped in here. Honestly, I think about it all the time, but there's just so much going on.

Our condo is under contract to be sold. As of right now, we're expected to close on April 19. We had the appraisal today, so fingers crossed it went well. We're mostly moved out and really just need to get out bedroom and kitchen packed up, which I don't think we can really do until we're about ready to leave (which will be official on the 18th). In related news, the new house is coming up great! It's actually a house now, four walls, a roof and all! We got windows, doors, plumbing throughout and ductwork in last week. This week is electrical. I can't believe how fast it's going, but I know once we move out of the condo it will seem to slooooww down.

It looks like I'll be working out of Dallas for a while too. Right now the plan is for me to go out 3 days/week and the project will last about 6 weeks. I'm not sure if I'll be out here the entire 6 weeks, but I'm here now and will be next week as well. If it wasn't such crazy timing with the house and all, I'd be way more excited. I really like Texas a lot and I enjoy my coworkers out here (even though I hardly see them) and I know I'd have a lot more fun if I wasn't so dead tired. As of right now, I've been up since 4 AM and am planning on hitting the sack as soon as I'm done with this entry.

In health news (since that's what this is supposed to be about), I have quite the race calendar over the next several weeks. I have a 5k this coming Saturday (Will Run for Margaritas 5k - seriously, how can you skip out on that?!), a half marathon and a 5k next weekend (the 17 and 18), another 5k the 25th, a 10k on May 2 and I think another 5k somewhere in there. Whew. It's going to be a busy next few weeks. Granted, I'm not actually registered for any of these races, so it'll be interesting to see which ones I have the time for (and that my bank account will be able to support).

The half is a sure thing though - I've actually trained for this one. I'm anxious to see how I do. Stay posted for race reports.

Ok, It's 7.05 out here and I'm ready for bed. Adios!

A foot follow up

Well, I went to the podiatrist again today and the good news is that nothing's wrong with my Achilles, which is what I was worried about. He's still convinced it's plantar fasciitis and that it's treatable. Since I've already gotten the custom orthotics and have done a round of anti-inflammatories, he suggested either a cortisone injection or physical therapy 3 days/week for 3 weeks (minimum). I'll be the first to say that I'm a gigantic baby when it comes to shots...I will cry and beg doctors to not give them to me. But that's the route I went. I just can't see struggling with this for at least another 3 weeks when I can take the next 5 days off and then feel better.

The injection was a bitch and I'm glad it's over. My foot's been numb all night and it's terrible to walk on, but it should feel better tomorrow (numbing-wise...it may be a little more painful than normal). I hope this is all that I need. I'm not sure I can keep going with this.

Race Report - Up and Running 5k...and a little extra

So I ran the second race in Fleet Feet Albuquerque's Gran Prix 5k series. This one was familiar but a little different. The race was on the Bosque bike trail starting at the Alameda Open Space, where I generally run since it's so close to home. This one started up on the bridge though, over the river, went down under Alameda and continued a little passed Paseo before turning around and going back...very familiar for the most part, except for the giant, steep hill around Mile 3. It's not a long hill, but it's very steep.

Overall it was a great race, complete with lots of friends. It was freezing cold with a headwind all the way through the turn around, complete with a little snow (or ice...one flake hurt when it smacked me in the lip). I finished in 41:09 and I was thrilled with it considering I haven't had time to run during the week BUT I managed to run the entire thing without stopping. This is one of my goals for the year - I really want to get better at running further without walk breaks. I still plan on taking walk breaks for Chicago, but if I can make it through a half without stopping, I'll be elated.

In other news, I had a 6 mile training run yesterday, which I was a little nervous for. Again, I haven't had the time to run as much as I should and I honestly haven't run that far since NYC. Not only did I make the 6 miles without dying, it was the fastest I've ever run that distance. I went in with a plan though. I ran the first and last miles as slow as I wanted (13:30 pace for the first mile) and then each of the middle miles faster than the one before. So, for Mile 2 I had to keep it below 13:00 pace, Mile 3 was below 12:50 pace, Mile 4 was below 12:45 pace and Mile 5 had to be below 12:40 pace...the exciting part was that I never saw my watch go above 12:20 on Mile 5. Yeah, I know that's crawling for some people, but I was blown away. Overall I finished in 1:17:25...before that my fastest was 1:20. I'm glad I set up my watch to show my current pace, so I'm going to see if I can keep this going.

Not much else is going on. Work's been nuts, but it should have calmed down over the weekend. I have an appt with the podiatrist tomorrow because my foot isn't getting any better - actually my Achilles is starting to bother me now and I'm getting a little worried about it. Maybe it wasn't PF after all. I'll update once I get some answers from the doc tomorrow. The permits have been pulled for the new house and the foundation will be started tomorrow. I can't wait to see our new home come up from the ground (literally)! I'll be back with pictures once we get some dirt moved around. :)

Talk about slacking off...

So, it's probably been about a month since I've had anything to say and it has been a CRAZY month. Not too much to report on the fitness-side of things. With my crazy work schedule lately, it's been hard to get out during the week. Luckily all that is slowing down and I should be able to get back into a good routine this week. I have a 5k tomorrow morning and I'll be doing a 2 mile "warm up" before that to make up for missing today's run...

And I missed today's run because the hubs and I are in the process of building a new house! I can't believe it! We initially bought our condo thinking we'd be here for about 2-3 years and then either move into a bigger house or possibly move out of state...4 1/2 years later we finally decided to take the plunge. It helps a lot that a couple of our best friends will be living 2 houses away from us and that we have several other friends building on the same street. We listed the condo a week ago and have had 4 showings (3 were the same couple) but no offers yet. I'm a little nervous about selling the condo before closing on the new house (yes, I realize this may be the dumbest thing I've ever done) but it'll all work out. So, we signed the contract for the new houseon Thursday and we're expected to get started the end of this coming week...closing will be the end of June to mid-July!

And this is where our new home will be (eventually):

And here's me and the hubs chillin' at the lot last weekend:

I'll be back tomorrow with a race report!

Here We Go Again

So my laziness is finally catching up to me and I've decided that I'd better re-join my running group this year if I don't want to sit around and watch my ass spread even larger. I haven't actually registered yet, thanks to 11-13 hour days at work, but I'll be there bright and early Saturday morning to register and get my 3 miles in. I've still been able to get out on the weekends, but it's the weekly runs that are hard (see above re: 11-13 hour work days). Maybe once I spend some money it'll motivate me to juggle my schedule around a bit. And one of my co-worker friends is joining too so that'll probably help.

I'm considering a gym membership too. I will not run on a treadmill - seriously, if my life depended on it, I'd probably choose death - but it'd be nice to have a yoga class and a pool available if/when I want them. I'm trying to decide between two gyms right now...a pricey, very nice gym with one location a 5 minute walk from my office and another location on my way home from work (and about a 5 minute drive from home) OR a not-so-pricey, not-so-nice gym with more convenient group class times, still on my way home from work (about a 10 minute drive from my house) and no where near my office. Ugh, the decision making process kills me. Thus, the whole plan has been tabled for at least another few days.

So yeah, not much else to add considering my laziness has taken over. Hopefully more to report on Saturday after my first No Boundaries meeting of 2010.