Not too shabby!

Crossing the san rafael bridge, team taylor arrived at china camp at 8:30 am.
undaunted by the cold and overcast i hustled over to get my bib #4562.
i kept to myself jogging the perimeter of the picnic area and stretching, a nice gal approached me and we chatted abit she was running the 20k and her friend was running his 1st 10k.

the 20k's went first, the 10k's followed 10 mins later. i forgot to start my stopwatch on time so my data was off by quite a bit..too bad too, a 49 minute finish woulda been cool.

dare i say the course was easier than i expected. my training runs were alot harder than the actual race. the hills were mere bumps compared to Strawberry. the trails were in pretty decent shape considering all the rain, there were some mushy parts and one gal slipped and fell pretty early on.
i managed to stay upright the whole time.

i played it cool the first half and pushed harder on the turn around. things were going great until my shoelace came undone. i ignored it for awhile. a girl i had past shortly before commented on it and i said "yeah i know" but kept running. i wasn't stepping on it or tripping myself up, but still i stopped to retie it and that girl past me. once i stopped i lost my momentum and i never caught back up with her. she and i chatted afterwards, she had according to her time piece a 30 second lead! ( what? who me? i'm not competitive!)
man i wish i hadn't stopped.
i came so close to pulling this race off in an hour. next time for sure!
i placed 50th.

the folks at envirosports put on a fine race. gorgeous terrain, good snacks and good people.
The t-shirt rocked too!
what else do ya need?
...uuh, besides tighter shoelaces!


official time 1 hour 57 seconds woohoo!

mother nature gettin her freak on!

i just wanted to record a few details

THE NIGHT BEFORE MY FIRST 1OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a thunderstorm has just passed over berkeley headed towards hayward.

there's snow at 500' throughout the bayarea.

i think it's safe to say that i'll be getting wet tomorrow.

pre-race meal: spaghetti and gatorade (yum, i'm full=)

outfit: black tights, blue long sleeve asics shirt, white cap

hydration: camelbak w/lemonade gatorade

footwear: Montrails and smartwool sox

the weather has been bright and sunny in the morning and then overcast and rain in the evenings for the past week.

i didn't receive my race packet in the mail, despite having pre-registered 2 mos ago. i'll need to check-in early.

i'm nervous but not for the reasons i thought i'd be.

i feel really good, no hip pain or tightness.

i feel totally ready for this distance.

i just didn't factor in this crazy ass weather.

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

My 40 minute run on the BART trail turned into an hour thanks to the nice sunny weather. I covered 6 miles and then made a very brief visit to the local gym to stretch and do a little leg work. The weather is suppose to be good on saturday, (light showers the night before though). Trail races go slower, and as this is my first 10K I'm just damn happy to feel fit and prepared for it. Come what may! The 20k route was demolished by recent storms and they had to shorten the course to 10.5 miles.
Now I'm off to help M deliver Girl Scout Cookies.

Good Omen

I had the weirdest dream.early this am. I was debating on weather or not to run on the BART trail early.........still dark early, It runs to Richmond, a less savory part of the trail..next I'm on the trail and it's creeping me out......up ahead I spot a figure staggering with arms outstretched (note: I watched "Sean of the Dead" recently) yikes! Zombies up ahead.....and then I wake up. Spooked and irritated, I decide NOT to run On the BART in the dark. I log on and check out a new Blog. On it the a link to Endurance Radio.........very cool indeed, with audio tracks to inspire as I get my shit together .....this leads me to an interview w/ Gillian ? a gal who runs 100 miles for fun. she's super down to earth and and has a website called Zombierunners.com!!!!
A site totally devoted to trail and Ultra running.....Gillian spoke of why she runs and how she trains, the hi's and lows. Just what this 42 y.o wannnabe needed to hear right about now.....yay!

Maybe all this fear and doubt I've been having is related, somehow my subconscious led me to this new blog ( Susie I draft off your site all the time, thanks for being so technically fabulous!)
I think it's all related somehow. I'm in a rush and should credit DMZ for leading me toEndurance Radio.
Now, I need to drop M off and run while the rain appears to be taking a break.

Flaws and Imperfections

Sure, I have my share of them. On the physical front, I try de-emphasize the negative and accentuate the positive. However, appearances are easier to shape than character. On the inside, I'm full of doubt and fear about my limits, my age, my ability to stick with it when it gets too hard.

While I'm willing to work hard, I'm not so commited to working REAL HARD for the LONG HALL. My drive comes and goes in spurts. This race coming up has certainly motivated me to up the ante and to base build. But as soon as I introduced NEW HARD THINGS ie speed work and strength training, my commitment waivered seriously. If I'm not having fun, I tend to bail. This certainly will affect my ability to take my running to the next level, whatever that may be.

Yeah, I play my "edges" now and again, but I don't hang outside my comfort zone for too long and well I'll just admit it here and now, I have a wicked ass temper and a low frustration tolerance threshold.
Not exactly the stuff TRUE champions are made of.

"But, your a 42 y.o mid-packer w/no guts for cripes sake, what are you trying to prove, who do you think you are anyways?"
whispers that annoying little imp buzzing in my ear.

At this moment, I'm trying to muster up the courage to get my tail out the door in whipping wind and go long.......if I don't get swept up into oblivion, I'll return with a post run/windsurfing report.

Not the best place for my head to be one week before the race.

I headed over to Strawberry and after a few minutes adjusting the camelbak and then shedding of layers, I did my usual out and back. Seems like I'm moving slower these days. Except on the downhill, I really charged 'em today. NO FEAR and neatly trimmed toenails are the way to go. The wind wasn't so bad and it was a little warmer than I expected it to be. Best of all no rain! I slept well lastnight but didn't carbo-load like I usually do before a long run.

My kitchen is in limbo, with half of the counter top in place and until just an hour ago no water. Needless to say I'm not cooking much these days and had to settle for turkey potpie lastnight.

On the way back, a runner passed me on the right and scared the crap out of me. That's always happening. The getting passed isn't so bad it's when they sneak up on me that is annoying, as I startle easily. Isn't it proper etiquette to make your presence known when passing? A clearing of the throat, shuffling of the feet, something!!

Afterwards, I headed over to the downtown Y. I set up a one month membership to see if logistically, this gym will work for me. The hours are good and now that I've established an exercise routine, it shouldn't be too difficult to trek the 2 miles from home to there. We'll see.
I headed upstairs to the womens stretching area and went hog wild with all the space and cleanliness I could possibly ask for.

I'm not sure what the hell kind of point I was trying to make earlier, I think though that I do have a tendency to avoid challenging myself too much. A fear of fatigue if you will, like I'm afraid of finishing badly, I want to feel good when I run. I never want to feel like I did after that first 5K, it was AWFUL. But I learned alot as result, so WTF is the deal. I think I need some guidance when it comes to taking on new running challenges, my half-assed approach is not working. Is this when folks start to consider a coach? I read alot and learn stuff from the internet but I think a more hands-on approach is called for.

I AM looking forward to my race though, I hope the weather cooperates. I'm not too worried about running in the rain, but mud waffles will suck! I wonder if they make something like yak trax for muddy trails?

It's been 6 pounds since my last confession

Something about Lent is dredging up my twisted catholic humour........
I now weight 151 lbs....thats down six since my public disclosure awhile back. I guess the wts., long runs and better eating are paying off. I'm still battling a sore left hip, appears to my chronic condition. The massage helped and I'm stretching like mad. While the weather is completely unpridictable there are windows of opportunity to get outside runs in. Yesterday I switched it up a bit, did one 1.5 loop at the dog park then headed over to the marina, which turned out to another 1.5 out and back. Today, my first appearance at the gym in 2 wks! A 20 minute stairmaster session, followed by alot of streching, 2 x 15 crunches, girlie push-ups and leg presses.

Got my Mojo working

Got lucky again today and was able to run outside. The weather is totally messing with my BIG PLANS to check out my race route tomorrow. Oh well, when I woke up this morning it was cloudy and dry, then a little later it started to pour and then a little more later the sun starts shining. Cripes make up your mind already!
By this time I'm hussling M along to get her to school on time and me on the roads. I was thinking of going 5 miles but the idea of doing it on the "dreadmill" (i ripped that off from some blog somewhere) was not appealing cuz i don't have my little pink radio anymore and the music at the gym sucks.
The weather is still holding out, so I take a chance and get a good 30 minute run in, then made a very brief appearance at the gym:squats and leg press.
My left hip is really bugging me, as I write this my frozen bag of edamame is draped nicely around it. I guess that extra 8 minutes on sunday is taking it's toll and my left butt cheeck is sore too. Just as well I cut my run short. Tomorrow I'm getting a massage. Yeah!