Yukon Days 3 Miler

I should have known by the event logo that this race was going to be completely ridiculous and an outright horrible idea.  Seriously, what is that thing?  

Yukon Days involves a 1 mile run, 3 mile run, and a 3 mile snowshoe race which all take place ON White Bear Lake in good ole Minnesota, in February!  If you're not from the northern part of the Midwest, February is pretty much the absolute worst month of the year to be doing anything outside.  Sign number 2 this was a bad idea.

Looking at last year's times when I was considering signing up for the 3 mile race, it didn't seem like it would be that bad: the winner of the 3 miler ran it at about 6 min mile pace, and I took a quick glance at the pictures and it seemed like people were having fun, even if they looked like they were freezing their butts off.

For whatever reason, I decided to sign up, and since my mom had recently gotten into snowshoeing, I thought it would be fun to sign her up for the snowshoe race as a Christmas present.  So Saturday morning we woke up, hopped in the car, and drove the few miles to the race.  I was originally planning on running to the race, but with my leg being injured I didn't want to push it - and I can sincerely say I was happy to be injured at that point, because it was frigid out there!

We got our numbers, timing chips, and hoodies.  I'm used to getting nice, fancy tech shirts for running events...but this was a hoodie, and it was definitely NOT fancy, or cute!  Hopefully you won't see me wearing it outside of my apartment.  Again, bad sign.

I stood with about 100 other people on the frozen lake waiting for the race to start...freezing to death.  The race director FINALLY announced that the 3 miler would be starting in a few minutes.  Everyone lined up near the two cones marking the starting line, and moments later we heard this huge CRACK! that you could hear propagate over a good few seconds.  It's normal to hear this kind of cracking on a lake, and I wasn't worried about falling into the water or anything, but it was definitely startling and I just wanted to get going.  Another sign this was a bad, bad idea.  I also noticed everyone around me had on yaktraks...and realized that probably would've been a good purchase.  Fail.

The race finally started, and I was off.  I started at about 8 min mile pace thinking I could finish this bad boy in under 24 minutes.  My sub 24 min dream came to an abrupt end upon nearly falling on my face 5 steps into the race.  I immediately realized running on ice covered in 3-4 inches of fresh snow was insanely difficult.  It was like running on a sandy beach, but way more slippery.  My pace soon plummeted to around 11-12 minute miles except for a few spots where cars had driven and packed the snow down, and I could run around 9:30 min pace.  Ankles were rolling, yaktraks weren't helping (suckas!), and everyone appeared to be tiring quickly.  The way everyone looked running, you'd think they pounded a few drinks beforehand.

And as if the ice and snow weren't enough to deal with, we had to run the 2nd mile through a popular ice fishing area.  I had finally just figured out how to awkwardly run with tiny strides to reduce the slippage, and then we had old ice fishing holes!  It was like running through a mine field only instead of mines you had old ice fishing holes buried in snow to deal with.  Any method I thought I developed to conquer the snow and ice no longer worked.  Gah!  Can this race just be over already?

By mile two I was abnormally exhausted and just wanted to be done.  I picked out this guy running in shorts (umm hello, it's 20 degrees out!) about 1/4 of a mile in front of me and decided I was going to pass him before we finished.  I booked it as fast and safely as I could and passed him with about a half mile left and before I knew it I was done.  I saw my mom waiting in the crowd to start the snowshoe race, said good luck, and took shelter in the warm car until she finished.

I finished in 33:44 - a PW!  I later learned the winner of the race, a girl who has been known to run sub 3:15 marathons, finished in 24-some minutes.  Now, I don't feel so bad!  (last year's times were so speedy because it hadn't just snowed - tricky!) I also learned running on such a terrain is probably one of the worst things you can do with an injured calf/achilles, but it actually felt pretty good afterwards and has been improving ever since - hooray!

And BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:  I finally did the impossible and took a cute race picture!

All of the freezing to near death, ankle rolling, slipping, tripping on old ice fishing holes, and acquired wind burn on my face was all worth it in the end!  It was also fun getting my mom to do a race - she finished in under an hour and wasn't last! :-)

Marathon Training!

I made it through my entire first week of marathon training - without skipping a beat!  If you haven't noticed, I suck at sticking to a training plan, so this is a big accomplishment for me (yes, I know it's only been a week).

FINALLY, I'm extremely excited and motivated to run and train for this race - I attribute this mostly to having music again, and my sub 2 hour half marathon last weekend - or maybe 2010 is just my year, who knows! This whole week I've just felt like running, and haven't given in to the TV (even with my recently developed Dexter obsession) or let feeling a little tired get in the way.  Running hasn't felt like a chore; it's been a blast and I don't want to stop!

For my long run on Saturday, I even got myself out of bed at 4am to do a 10 mile TRAIL run with Jeff - woah, woah, woah!  Although this was really hard for me since I never run hills and we did about 1000 ft of climbing (yep, I walked a fair amount), it was a great change of scenery, and I had a ton of fun experiencing some trails...butt, you will thank me later.  Jeff also made sure to tell me I did well, and I'm not as scared for my hilly half marathon on Catalina in about a month.  And, I was done with my long run by 7:30 in the morning - NICE!

Anyway, I'm really excited that training for my first marathon is starting off on a nice, positive note!  I have some jitters about my first marathon so good vibes like this are definitely welcome.  I want this to be a fun first experience; not one that will make me hate the marathon.

If you're interested in the training plan I worked up - you can check out my mess of a spreadsheet here.

My plan is not set in stone since I have no idea what will and won't work for me quite yet.  For my first go at this marathon thing, I don't want to work on my speed or worry about being fast, or too slow - I really just want to finish, so my main focus is just to build up my mileage.  I do have a goal time hanging out in the very back of my head...but that's where it's going to stay.  I don't want to be unhappy or disappointed in myself if I don't reach that time; instead I want to be happy and proud for having run an entire 26.2 miles, no matter how long it takes.  I still have at least a good 10 years or so to worry about getting fast!

If I don't want to work on speed, why do I have 5 mile track workouts every other week?  I just really miss track, and think it'll be a good way to break up doing lots of long, slow runs all the time.  I hope to make these workouts fun and relatively easy - nothing to wear myself out or make me puke!  In high school track and cross-country we would do push-ups and crunches for time after each workout, so I implementing that into my training as well.  I hate doing core workouts and I don't see myself making time to do any sort of lifting, so this is a quick way to get some of those muscles moving as well - better than nothing!

I really hope this excitement and drive I've had over the past week doesn't fade anytime soon - or at all!  I really want my first marathon to be a success, but for that to happen, I definitely need to love what I'm doing!

Here's to 15 more weeks of training!  And special thanks in advance tweeps for your daily ecouragement ;-)

SoCal Half Recap + PR!

I PR'd by 9 minutes!!!

I'm really surprised by this PR, since once again I did not train very well for this race.  I noticed the number of runs I've completed before each of my half marathons has been about the same (not many), but the distances I'm running have increased.  I ran a few 8-10 milers, and even a 13.1 mile run before this half...I guess the increased mileage is helping!

I really wasn't nervous for this race at all, and felt at ease when I lined up in the crowd at the start.  I recently got a new iPod for Christmas, so I made a fun playlist the night before and was excited to listen to it - running with music helps me SO much, and I realized a few days before the half that music was what I had been missing - once again, I was excited and motivated to run!

Anyway, I lined up at the starting line, and almost immediately became a stand-out in a crowd of a bunch of kids.  What?  I was thinking to myself, these little people (around 8-12 yr old) can't possibly be running an entire half marathon...at least not very fast.  I learned later these kids were all part of Students Run LA, and not only would they be running this half marathon, but they were gearing up to run the LA Marathon in March.  Wow.  I really hope I can run a whole marathon if they can!  And kind of makes me wish I had done something like that when I was younger.

Soon, we were off.  The first mile went by super fast.  I remember looking down at my garmin a couple times and noticed I was running around 8:30 pace, so I slowed down a bit, but not a lot.

I felt really good, so I kept running around 8:45-9 min pace...and was still cruising along at this pace by mile 5.  The goal I set for this race about two months ago was to break 2 hours - and I knew I needed to run around 9:10 min miles to do so.  But by the end of [inadequate] training, I definitely didn't think I could do it because running 5 miles just a little faster than that was difficult for me.  But I had just ran 5 miles in about 44 min - ah! That was faster than my 5 mile race PR!  I kept telling myself I really needed to slow down or I was going to totally burn out...but I couldn't.  I kept finding people to pass ahead of me (usually little kids), and still felt pretty dang good.  I was just going to hang on to my pace for as long as I could.

Mile 8 came along and I finally started to feel it.  This is also when I realized that even if I did slow down some, I had a good chance of breaking 2 hours and I got really excited.  This is also when I started to drive myself crazy thinking things like "ok...if I hold on to this pace till mile 10, I can then run 10 min miles and still  break 2 hours."  I must've done these annoying calculations about 20 times before the end of the race...especially once I got to mile 10 and I really just wanted to walk.  Everything hurt at this point.  I've obviously been in pain in my other 2 half marathons, but nothing like that - guess I finally learned how it feels to race.  This also makes me wonder how much harder I could push myself, and what kind of pain tolerance I have - assuming I'll find out before or during my first marathon in May!

So at mile 10 I definitely slowed down some.  A few of the kids started passing me too, which was annoying.  I started looking at my garmin a ridiculous amount (I did this the entire race and it started to annoy the crap out of me), and continued calculating what pace I needed to maintain - which is probably why when I got to mile 11 I thought I was at mile 10.  Despite driving myself nuts, that was a nice surprise.

I hate mile 11 tho, and it was a huge struggle.  It's always the point in the race where I'm tired and in pain and there's nothing exciting about it like mile 10 where you realize you only have a 5k left, and mile 12 when you realize you only have a mile left and before you know it you're at the finish line.  Mile 11 just sucks, for me anyway.  I tuned into my iPod and just focused on getting to mile 12.

I was in some sort of zone at this point (didn't even look at my garmin) and before I knew it I saw Pete, Jeff, and Jeff's son Thunderclap sitting on a curb - I was almost to the finish!  I rounded the corner they were sitting at and ran the last 0.1 miles as fast as I could.  The race clock said 1:59:40, so I knew I had broken 2 hours - holy crap!  Did that really just happen?  Then I started walking towards my "fans," and already in pain, realized yes, yes that did happen.

This picture makes me laugh.

I finished with an official time of 1:58:57 -  just the kick-start I needed for my first week of marathon training: maybe I don't totally suck at running afterall!


Also, congrats to Pete on getting his PR in the 5k that day, and getting closer to his goal to qualifying for Boston :-)

Race Splits:

Mile 1 - 9:03
Mile 2 - 8:53
Mile 3 - 8:50
Mile 4 - 9:04
Mile 5 - 8:45
Mile 6 - 9:00
Mile 7 - 8:50
Mile 8 - 9:08
Mile 9 - 9:07
Mile 10 - 9:17 - yep, definitely started getting tired :-)
Mile 11 - 9:31
Mile 12 - 9:26
Mile 13 - 9:21
Mile 0.13 - 0:47

Carless Inconvenience

It's been 7 months since I sold my beloved 1995 Saturn SC-1, and I want him back.

My dad purchased my Saturn my senior year of high school after a not-so-tragic, person-less accident that resulted in my 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage getting totaled by a truck - happiest day of my life!  We received $800 for the $2k of damage done to my Mirage (that was MAYBE worth $200, so I couldn't stand making the poor guy pay $2k just because he forgot to use his e-brake when he parked on a hill), sold it to my step-bro for $100, and purchased the Saturn for $1500.  Not too shabby.

Five years, 80k miles (long distance relationships can be a b*tch), a few repairs, and a weird noise or two later...I sold my Saturn for a measly $300.  I was about to graduate, get an awesome new bike, and move across the country, so I just wanted to get rid of it - it definitely wasn't going to make the 1500-some mile commute from Madison to Huntington Beach, anyway!


When I moved here, I decided I didn't want to buy a car - looking back, I think I just got really sick of deciding anything having to do with a car, and the idea of another loan was definitely a major turn-off.  So for the past 7 months I've gotten by with biking, utilizing public transportation, and borrowing Pete's truck more often than he'd like.  Frankly, I'm sick of it.  I want my Saturn back.


Since I'm one of the world's worst decision makers when it comes to this sort of thing, I took the usual route and made a quick list of pros and cons to help me along.


Why I like being carless (pros):
- Gives me the ability to save a lot of money and pay off student loans


Ta-Da!  Honestly, this is the only real reason I like not having a car.  Yes, there are many other reasons, like how I get good exercise from biking everywhere and can appreciate sights and sounds people miss out on when driving...but what makes me think if I had a car, I couldn't experience these things, too?  Seems to work for lots of other people.  The environmentalist side of me pats myself on the back for not having a car, but I truthfully don't care enough for that burden to outweigh the proceeding cons.  I can be environmentally conscious in other ways, and me not having a car isn't going to make the world better (unfortunately).


Why I don't like being carless (cons):
- Commuting to work via bike or bus uses up an entire hour of my morning, and evening...every day.
- Unless I want to spend hours commuting, I'm limited to activities within a ~10 mile radius of HB.
- I have to plan to go everywhere - hard to be spontaneous when you have to work around a bus or train schedule, or allow yourself lots of time to bike.
- Since helmets are a necessity - MY HAIR IS NEVER, EVER CUTE...not that I'm the kind of girl who really cares that much, but it eventually gets old.  And, I can't pull off the look nearly as well as PunkRockRunner :)
- I don't like being cold, wet or cold and wet.  I'm not about to complain about SoCal weather, but the mornings get cold, and the few days a year it does rain are unwanted and I bug Pete for his truck...which leads to the next con...
- I hate bothering Pete for his truck.  Even if I wash it, fill it with gas, change the oil, etc...I still feel guilty asking to borrow it, and I'm not entirely convinced he truly likes letting me...


So, it's pretty obvious there are more cons than pros.  Even though the one pro I do have is a pretty big deal to me, I think it's time to give in and settle for convenience.  I don't know how long I'll be living in this SoCal heaven...so I want to be able to explore, venture out of Orange County, and truly experience California while it lasts - and look cute doing it! :)


I've learned to love biking enough that I know I won't give it up if I get a car...in fact, I might appreciate it even more knowing I don't HAVE to do it all the time - it's nice to have options.  


Currently seeking a reliable car for $5k or less (aka no loan! where did I get the idea I had to buy something shiny and new, anyway?) 


Suggestions?  Also, I'd prefer not to have to mow it...

23 years; 23 proud memories

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday, and as part of my birthday celebration, Pete and I went on a nice bike ride down the coast from Huntington Beach to Solana Beach.  It was an absolutely AMAZING day outside, and although I love my home state, I am SO glad I didn't have to spend my birthday cooped up inside because of -15F temperatures.  I hadn't done any biking for a couple weeks so I was a tad timid about this 75 mile ride (longest ever by about 4 miles)...but I made it!  And, I had a great birthday :)

So in honor of my birthday accomplishment, I thought I'd share 23 things I've accomplished or learned over the past 23 years that I'm proud of or are at least worthy enough to mention.

In no particular order of recollection (hello, randomness)...

1. Biking 75 miles in one stretch
2. Running 2 half marathons
3. Completing a 9-day, 400-some mile bike tour
4. Moving outside of my comfort zone: almost 2000 miles away from home (still not sure why they needed an 18-wheeler for my small room full of stuff)

5. Graduating from UW-Madison with a BS in Materials Science & Engineering
6. Making the Dean's list all 4 years
7. Summiting Mt. Baldy while totally out of shape

8. Winning a coloring contest in 2nd grade
9. Being the high-scorer in a high school basketball game (14 points)

10. Graduating from high school
11. Getting 1st place in the 800m at a high school track meet
12. Being a big sister

13. Getting accepted into UW-Madison, and then into the engineering program
14. Being front row, center in a few of my many dance recitals
15. Learning how to fall in and out of love
16. Getting rid of my car
17. Running a 5:40 min first mile in a cross-country race (and then freaking out and slowing down for the remaining 1.5 :-P)

18. Getting a poem published in a book in 5th grade
19. Learning to play the guitar and clarinet
20. Completing an 18 mile hike while going from Two Harbors to Avalon

21. Learning to appreciate traveling
22. Having research results published in a journal
23. Making life-long friends

And many more...but my memory isn't that great.  Through all it's ups and downs, I love my life! :)

Top Tres of 2009

About this time last year I was sitting around a table in Chicago with Pete and a couple of his friends, Rooster and Tuna.  Rooster asked us to tell our "top 3 of the year."

As everyone started reflecting on their accomplishments and adventures over the past 365 days, I was sitting there thoughtless.  Moving from person to person, I was hearing crazy stories about traveling to Africa and summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, running ridiculous ultra marathon distances that were unimaginable to me, and finishing some sort of seemingly freakish adventure race.  I was no longer thoughtless - I was thinking, "I guess I am  4-5 years younger than all these people, but is my life really that lame?!"  Still being half-way through my last year of college, the sort of "accomplishments" that started to run through my head were how I won 10 games in a row of beer pong, didn't fall off any bleachers and break a leg while "jumping around," and did such a great job cramming for finals (in between the parties) that I pulled off an awesome GPA.  When it came down to it, I think I said my top 3 were running a race with my dad, and summiting Mt. Baldy and San Gorgonio Mountain - decent accomplishments for someone who had been almost completely inactive for 3 years, if you ask me.  But I still felt like a total lame-o in comparison.

This year, my top 3 (and more) came to me right away, and they're way less lame!  Watch out, Pete Posse, I'm almost as cool as you :)  Drum roll please...

Graduating from College
Although going to college seems like something almost everyone does these days, I'm proud of myself.  I worked hard to get into a great school, and worked even harder to graduate with great grades, make (and keep) great friends, and gain great experiences.

The four years I spent in Madison were some of the best I've had.  I was definitely sad to leave, but it makes me happy to be able to reflect on all I've accomplished and all of the memories I've made.


Half Marathons
As I've said before, I ran my first two half marathons this year after ending my 3 year hiatus towards the end of 2008.  I'm definitely not fast (yet!), but slowly getting into running again this year has allowed me to meet some great new people, accomplish running distances I never had before, set goals I never thought I'd be setting a year ago, and obviously stay healthy!  I felt accomplished after running 13.1 miles twice this year, the longest distance I've gone...but can't wait to go further in '010!

Becoming a Biker Babe

With plans to get rid of my car and do lots of bike commuting once I moved to California, I received a brand new Surly LHT from my mom and dad for a graduation present.  I had never done much biking before - just an occasional, leisurely ride on a bike trail, around the lake near my house, or back and forth to classes on an old bike similar to what you'd find at Target.  I was excited to start biking around, but it was definitely unfamiliar territory.  I remember asking Pete to explain the correct way to shift and how fast or slow I should be pedaling.  And, I had to have my step-dad show me how to step into and get out of my pedals without crashing.  Then there was buying a rear rack, fenders, water bottle cages, a seat, lights, a helmet, shorts, jerseys, panniers...umm, yeah sure, that one looks good!  Total n00b, but hey, it turned out pretty sweet!

By July, I was biking to work and taking the bus back a few days a week - 12 miles in the morning was enough to tire me out, and trying to bike 12 miles home again into the wind was too difficult.  Soon, I found myself biking to an Angels game, the grocery store, Newport, etc., and was able to start making the commute to AND from work.  Come October, I managed to ride both ways for an entire week and I was actually starting to really enjoy biking.  Then in November, I completed my first bike tour with Pete!  Something I did not expect to accomplish as soon as I did.

Since I got my bike in June, I've come a really long way and I'm really proud of what I've been able to do and where I've been able to go through biking.

So, there you have it - my top 3 of 2009.  I've had an incredible year, and thanks to some great people, I was able to accomplish some very un-lame things (and, it was hard to pick just 3!) - be on the lookout 2010, I'm on a roll!

Epic Plans for '010

Since it's almost the end of the year, it's time for holiday mayhem and setting New Years resolutions.  I don't really know why I set resolutions every year because I hardly ever keep them for more than a few weeks anyway.  I don't even remember what my resolutions were last year or any other year for that matter...so this time, I'm changing things up.  I want to actually accomplish something, and remember it!  I decided the best way to go about doing this, is to do something running-related since I'm finally back into the running groove, sort of.

Half way through 2008 I started running again - a few miles here and there - and ran my first race since high school!  A seemingly difficult 5 miles with my dad.

In 2009, I ran another 5 mile race in Madison in a friggin massive thunderstorm (proof), a 5 mile trail run, my first and second half marathons, a repeat of my first 5 miler the year before, an absolutely ridiculous "10k," and completed a pretty epic bike tour!  Side note: just realized 5 miles is my favorite distance :)

I definitely need to do something totally epic to top 2009.  So, I give you my New Years resolution for 2010:  Run at least 1 race every month!  Including 3 marathons!  I'm really excited about this, but nervous at the same time - mostly about the 3 marathons.  All the other races will pretty much just be a way to make sure I get off my butt and do my long training runs.  My first marathon will be in May, and I have no idea how it will go.  Right now, I can't even fathom running 26.2 miles since just running 13.1 is a daunting task.  So why 3 marathons?  If I (worst case) hate my experience at the first one, it'll force me to give the marathon another chance - and if you've talked to Chic Runner, you'd know second chances can be amazing!  And if I love it, then duh, I'll have 2 more to run!  Also, I'd like to do 3 over just 2 because I already have two I know I want to do, so throwing a 3rd in there will make things interesting :)

I have my race schedule for the first half of the year almost all planned out!  It's going to be challenging, but fun.  I'm signed up for two TRAIL half marathons (I don't do trails), a 3 mile race on a frozen, snowy, lake which I plan to run to from my house since it's only 4-5 miles away - not a lot of people can say they've RAN to their race!  And finally, my first full marathon!  Here's the line-up so far:

January - Southern California Half Marathon
February - Yukon Day 3 Mile Run and Catalina Buffalo Run Half Marathon
March - Chesebro Half Marathon
April - TBD
May - OC Marathon!
....
October - Chicago Marathon - 10/10/10!


I hope I can afford to keep this resolution :) Can't wait for '010!