San Jose Rock n' Roll Goals Post

 So on Thursday morning, bright and early at 7:15am I will be leaving the BWI airport and making my way to San Jose, CA for the Rock n' Roll Half marathon. Poor Kiwi is really going to miss me and will be keeping a look out for my return.

I know Kiwi, I will back soon!

Overall I am pretty excited!!! This will be the first time I am really traveling for a race, plus I will get to spend the weekend with my friend Jess :)

I do however have some goals going into this half:

Originally I wanted to PR this race by breaking 1:50.  My current half marathon PR is 1:53 which I ran in March at the National Marathon with the worst knee pain in my life. I had tears running down my face for about half the race and to be honest it was probably a really stupid idea to have ran it in the first place. But somehow I still PRed by a minute?? I think I would have given up if Jess wasn't there running by my side. She ran with me the whole time and we crossed the finish life together.

Anyhow, I have been dealing with back pain again going into this half, which just sucks since it basically hurts me to walk. And ontop of the pain, I haven't really done much speed work, so I'm not sure how I except to PR?? But for some reason I still want to. The course is really flat with almost no hills so this is a major plus!!

The weather on the other hand my be the wild card for me. I basically hate running when it's hot, the colder the better. The weather forecast is calling for a high of 78 with lots of sun shine. It sounds like the perfect California weather, right?!?! But not so perfect running weather, at least to me. Whatever the case, I will deal with it and keep running.

I guess overall I really just want to have fun at this race. I don't want to kill myself and make by back worse, so I may just have to take it easy. Jessica is also trying to PR and I don't want to hold her back. If I end up running the race by myself, then I run it by myself while trying to stay positive.

I guess what I'm saying is I actually have no clue how I'm going to feel on race day and therefore I shouldn't be disappointed if the clock time isn't were I wanted it to be. This is my first half marathon of many this fall .... I still have 3 more to run, so if I don't hit my goal, I can just try again. I think the most important thing about this race is being able to run it with one of my best friends (in matching sparkle skirts at that).

I am ready to have fun in CA and run the best that I can :)

Have you ever had a race goal that had to wait for another race?

When to Swim?

I will start off saying I had a bad night yesterday.

 

I usually always swim after I finish coaching gymnastics on Monday and Thursday nights. I have not been doing so lately due to Fairland having the pool closed for a month for maintenance. I have been swimming at the eastern market pool instead, but they have wacky hours. Anyhow, I get into the pool about 8:35 yesterday to start my swim. All the kids practices are over at 8:30 so the pool is usually a lot less crowded at this time, but not empty. Yesterday it was empty when I got in with only a water aerobics class going on in the other pool. I started swimming and finished my 200 meter wu and thought this is odd all the lanes are still empty. I continued to swim and finished my 400 and still no one. Ok sweet, I'm thinking to myself: "I'm never going to have to share a lane with anyone again!" I started off for my 600 meter set and one of the lifeguards stop me at 500 meters and tell me the pool is closed!!! Wait, What?!?! Closed?!?! Why, I ask since it was only 9 o'clock? Apparently they changed their hours for this season (which is all year) to 9pm instead of 10pm.

 

NO!!! Why?!?! Que the pout fest that went for too long! I got out of the water in a huff and just rapped my towel around my waist and through on my zippy over my suit. I then proceeded to call Jason and bitch yell at him for no reason because I was so pissed about the pool changing their hours!!! I really have no clue once I start training for my half IM how I am going to fit in swimming now. Coaching twice a week from 5-8:30 really takes a good chunk of time out of my weekdays. Especially when it takes me an hour to get there and 45 minutes to get back. My whole evenings are gone and the only thing I had time for is a swim and now I can't even do that!

 

Poor Jason he really took the brunt of this. Our conversation went a little like this:

 

Jason: "Why not just swim in the morning?" he nicely asks!

Me: "Great idea, but the eastern market pool doesn't open till 6:30 and I have to be at work at 7:30, giving me only a half hour to swim again which will not work."

Jason: "Swim on Tues or Wed, since you don't have to coach those days"

Me: "No I can't do that, I have to run in the morning and bike in the evenings or vic versa."

Jason: "Drive up to Fairland during the week and swim since EM closes at 5pm?" 

Me: "Nooo... what a dumb idea, why in the world would I do that, I just said I have to bike and run on those days and it takes too long to get there, why would I drive to swim there!

Jason: "Wilson" (I think he was scared to ask because I was really yelling).

Me: No! same thing it takes to long to get there and I have to run and bike on those days.

 

Eventually, I just got off the phone because bitching talking about it wasn't helping me out.

 

Then I'm near Lincoln Park and I see a big hairy spider crawling on my wind shield! WTF!! I look closer to see if it's on the inside of my window and it is! I start to panic! I can no longer see the road and I'm just worried about the spider (I'm so scared of them). "I'll be home in 5 minutes I keep telling myself, 5 more minutes". But I couldn't do it, my car was going all over the place and I pulled over 2 blocks from my house and ran out the car. I called Jason while I had tears running down my face and asked him if he could drive the car home. I looked like a mess crying while only wearing a towel and a zip up sweat shirt walking home two big blocks. I don't know why he was still nice to me, but he was and took the extra time to find the spider, kill it, and then drive the car the rest of the way home.

 

It was one the worst evenings in a long time! I don't handle stress well and acted like the biggest baby lastnight and really blew everything out of proportion! Regardless, I still don't know what to do about the this swimming, but at least I'm thinking like a normal person today. And spiders .. please don't bother me!

 

Have you ever over reacted over your workout schedule?

Weekend Recap ~ Horses & Waterman's

My weekend started off on Friday after work by walking two miles home in the pouring rain. I wanted to swim after work, but I was stupid and skipped lunch. I was way too hungry to do anything and just wanted to get home and EAT! I changed out of my wet clothes and headed up to Ruth's Chris steak house in Dupont to meet M for dinner. Everything tasted so good! It too is one of my favorite restaurants, I guess I have a lot of favorites.

Saturday:
With my back/hip problem not getting any better my planned 8 mile run turned into a 5 mile run that then turned into no run!!! No, I was not being lazy! I only ran a total of *gasp* 5.5 miles last week! I took it really easy last week in hopes things would be feeling better on Sunday, but it still pretty much hurts to walk/lay on my side, sit, etc. So, basically my running has come to a halt. I have no idea what my game plan is for this week and for my half on sunday?

Anyhow, since I didn't run, I got ready and went to see my Aunt. It was a great visit and I always love seeing her. It's a nice breath of fresh air from the city.

The one bad thing about Sat though is I ate like crap. And when I mean like crap I really mean like crap! I had the following:

Breakfast: water and a bagel
Lunch: half a chicken salad, cheese stick, and some combos
Snack: cheeze-its, candy (I'm not sure how much?)
Another Snack: coke, more candy, more combos
Dinner: my other half of my salad
Snack: more cheese, a slim jim, and hummus.

And I wonder why I am gaining weight?!?!? Hello smart one!

Sunday:
I was too tired when the alarm went off at 7am so I went back to sleep till 8. We were out of the house by 9 on our way down to pre-view the waterman's 56 mile course. It took about an hour to get down there and we got a little lost, no biggy though.

I decided to test out my latest and the greatest navigation system to guide us along the course. Who said you need bike computers, GPSs, and Garmins to help you out?!?! This is definitely the new way to go!! I'm sure others will pick it up and I'll make lots of money off my idea!

directions on my leg = smart!

I myself am not riding in waterman's, but my M is. So the sweet loving wife that I am, I had no problem riding the course with him. The course is filled with rolling hills, with bigger hills thrown in there just for kicks.

The skies were pretty dark when we left the parking lot and it started to rain a little bit about 15 miles in. No a lot, just a little, so we kept on riding. The rain let up, then stopped. However it came back harder and we stopped at mile 30 by the church. We waited it out for about 10 minutes, but it continued to rain. We both agreed that we needed a short cut back to the car. We pulled out our map (I know I should have had a map on my leg too) and found a nice little way back that would be about 10 miles.

So, we started riding again. About 3 miles into the short cut the rain stopped! Wait, what?!?!? It was too late at this point and we just continued back to the car. It never rained again the rest of the day. It was somewhat disappointing that we didn't get to ride the entire course, but I guess 40 miles is better than no miles. Plus to be honest I was not feeling this ride at all!!! With eating all the crap I had eaten on Sat, I felt tired and slow. My body was basically hating me and I learned something new. What you eat the day before a workout really makes a difference.

What was the favorite part of your weekend? I hope everyone had a good one!

Random Friday Facts

1. I love the fresh pumpkin seeds that my mom makes. (but I hate pulling them out of the pumpkin)

 

2. Fresh apple cider is one of my favorites, however it's not that great from a grocery store.

 

3. When I was younger, my parents held an Easter egg hunt for me and all of my cousins. I have always been competitive and used to train for the hunt by laying out plastic eggs and timing myself from the front to back yard! Every second counts right?

 

4. Two of my gymnasts got new skills this week! A back hand spring on beam and a giant on bars. Coaching is going to be so exciting and fun now. I love new skills.

 

5. I somehow smell like a wet smelly towel today? Maybe picking up clothes off the floor to wear to work is not the smartest idea.

 

6. If I buy a tri bike I want to get it custom painted. If I'm going to shell out x amount of dollars then I at least want the colors I like. It seems to only be around $350 to get this done, which doesn't seem so bad to me.

 

7. When I'm day dreaming, I usually only think about three groups: housing/architecture, gymnastics, and tri-ing. How exciting am I?

 

8. I have the worst memory and will probably will not remember who I am when I'm older.

 

9. I held a baby lion when I was 12 and love, love, loved it! So cute.

 

10. I love lemonade. so good

 

11. I want a bagel right now and will probably go get one once this is posted.

 

12. I made a training plan for my half ironman yesterday.

 

13. I hate cleaning and Jason usually does everything around the house. I don't even like to cook. Guess I'm not good house wife material.

 

14. I used to practice 20-25 hours a week when I was a gymnast. I never felt like I was missing out on a normal high school life. My teammates were my best friends and I got to see them every day.

 

15. I'm not that smart and had to study my behind off to get good grades.

 

16. I started wearing glasses in 5th grade.

 

17. I love the way fresh cut grass smells.

 

18. I am so scared of bees! I will run, scream, jump ... anything to get away from them

 

19. I haven't got a hair cut in almost a year

 

20. I hate wearing socks while I'm at home.

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

A little bit of everything

Finishing the Natinal Half w/ Jess

1. So I have been dealing with this pain in my lower back that then seems to go to my hip since last week. Every year that I train for a half marathon this pain seems to sneak back up on me. I'm not sure what is wrong? As I'm a lazy person and never go to the doctors. My guess is that is from over use obviously, but I don't feel like I have been over training? Anyhow, my plan of attack so I don't kill myself (and so that I will be able to walk) is to take it easy the rest of this week and next week leading up to my half. I was going to run 8 over the weekend as my last longish/taper run, but I think I'm going to scratch that idea because I have done plenty of longer runs and know I have the distance training in to finish a half. So instead I plan on just keeping all my run between 3-4 miles with an easy pace. I hope this will get me across the finish line without too much pain. Plus I want to have fun and cross the finish line with this girl!.  

 



why do I love you so much?



2. With that being said and tri season being over for me, I haven't been working out as much as my body has been used to. The problem... I am eating the same! I lost 10 pounds during the spring time with little effort thanks to adding cycling and swimming to my schedule. I was finally feeling good about myself and could fit back into all my clothes that had laid in the waste lands of my closet. Fast forward to today and I feel horrible about myself. I'm back to feeling like a fat lump and think I look bad in just about everything I put on. Now, I have only gained 3 pounds. *I know this isn't a lot* but I still just feel bad about myself. And all I seem to want to eat is carbs because they are so yummy and mainly pizza at that. I, 1) need to either change my eating habits or 2) make sure I am not slacking too much on working out (although I do think I need a break). Somehow, some way I need to find some balance here. I plan to keep swimming twice a week, but cycling.. that one will be harder for me to stick with since I'm not fully in love with cycling. Anyhow, my weight defiantly affects my mood and in general how I feel. When I feel good about myself I am so much less cranky.

 

 

3. On the topic of carbs, I meet up with these lovely ladies for happy hour/dinner on tues night at Vapiano. It was the first time that I had eaten here and I thought it was great! Plus the company couldn't have been better.

 

 

4. And last but not least .... why oh why have I been thinking about doing an IM??? I don't know if I have gone completely crazy or I just want to put my body through the worst pain of it's life. Either way, for the past two weeks, I have been stalking IM races to register for. I still have no clue which one I would want to do?? And which one would be best to do based on what time of year I would be training?? Ahhhh... I don't know what to do??

 

5. Oh and one last thing .. I forgot my phone today!!! So no emails, twitter, or facebook for me today. What am I going to do?!?!?! This is going to be a long day at work!

 

Happy Thurs All :)

Wordless Wednesday

So everyone loves ice cream right?.... Including Kiwi!!!!

I want ice cream now!

Where is my ice cream...I meowed I wanted ice cream

Ok.. Kiwi... you can stop throwing your little temper tat and have some of the yummy stuff...

I need a spoon!

Yes a spoon!

This tastes so good!

Yumm... I love this stuff

I want more!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I hope you have a great day :)

Guest Post: Back Roads Century Tour Report

So, I am having the one and only M (aka Jason) do a guest post today on his experience at the back roads century. I would have written a tour report myself, but I was a wimp and only road 51 miles of it despite feeling like a million bucks at the end of those 51 miles! This is the first century ride that he has finished and I am so proud of him. So without further ado here is M's Tour Report:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me just say that the course was very very hilly! 4600 total foot of climbing! Not bad for my first century!



Elevation Profile UGH!



We departed bright and early at 5:30 am on our way to Berryville Virginia from Capitol hill. We packed some breakfast bars, shot blocks, gatorade, and water. For breakfast, I had some yogurt parfait, a protein bar, and a banana for some much needed fuel.

We arrived in Berryville at 730 am and parked in the Fairground parking lot and proceeded to get ready. It was very cold probably around 55 degrees and damp, so everyone was freezing. My friend Wyn forgot to wear long pants and a long sleeve jersey so he was very cold. However, myself and Sarah had bought arm warmers from Hudson Trail the day before so only our bottom halves were cold. After getting ready for about 20 minutes, we proceeded over to the High School to start the Century!

Getting Ready before the ride!

Getting our gear ready before the ride!

We started off at around 8 am that morning feeling pretty good. The weather was still cold but you warmed up as you started riding. There were over 2000 people registered for this century so the course was pretty packed at the start. The start was pretty quick, I think we were averaging 20+ miles per hour according to the Garmin. We past all sorts of Countryside scenery - cows, horses, barns, rednecks, etc! 

Beautiful Back Roads Scenery!

  As we got settled into the ride, you started to notice one overwhelming theme - HILLS! As seen above with the elevation chart, this is one hilly ride. It seemed like there was nothing but one hill after another AND no downhills just uphill. Once you got up one hill, you would see another hill taunting you and daring you to attack it!

Hills!

More Hills!

About 3 hours into the century, we looped back to the High School for our second rest stop. This was where the first loop of the figure 8 ended. We stopped to eat some nutrition and to rest. Wyn had fallen behind because his shoes weren't clipping in and his muscles were spasm-ing, so he decided to only do the first 50. Sarah decided to only to the first 50 because she has 3 half marathons to run back-to back- to back.

Sarah after finishing the first 50!

Jason at mile marker 50!

Jason and Wyn resting at the 50 mile marker!

After resting for what seemed like an eternity, which in reality was 45 minutes and probably too long, I started the second half of the century, which is even worse than the first 50 in terms of hill climbing. Prior to starting out, I noticed that my gears weren't shifting right so i took it to the mechanics over at the Spokes tent and they fixed me right up. 

Since, I was going into the second half of the ride solo, I decided to tag along with a group of riders. I choose to tag along with a group of lady's in Pink jerseys. From mile 50 to about 78, I stuck with one of the ladys in pink and we attacked the hills and participated in pace line. This definitely made the second part of the century bearable. 

I would say this part of the century was the hardest because there were hills after hills with 7% or greater ascents followed by another ascent. Right around here there was a hill that look to be vertical, so I lowered my gear to the lowest gear and got out of the saddle and barely made it up the hill. So another rider (Mister Pittsburgh) was laughing at me because he said these hills were weak. I guess he does mountain climbs in the hills around Pittsburgh. 

Around mile 78, there was a rest stop with their world famous tomato sandwiches which actually tasted pretty good. The food at the rest stops were pretty good. They had cookies, goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, orange slices, and more! After spending about 25 minutes at this rest stop, I decided to press on solo for the next 13 miles to the next rest stop.

Food at one of the rest stops!

People at one of the rest stops!

From mile 78 to 91, there were of course more hills but I got in the zone and was able to finish the hills without too much pain in my legs. Of course, I was switched to my lowest gear and out of the saddle a lot of times. I stopped at the mile 91 rest stop for about 10 minutes. I met up with two riders (one DC Tri member who posted on the forums about being ticketed at Haines Point) . We proceeded to ride into Berryville to finish the century. 

Overall it was a very well organized and well run century. The volunteers were awesome and they had plenty of rest stops. The course was well marked. I would probably do it again next year. I finished around 6 hours and 20 minutes of total riding time.

Weekend Recap ~ Running, Shopping & BRC edition

I had a scheduled long run planned for the weekend. It didn't really matter to me what day I did it, but the more I thought about it, the more I just wanted to get it out of the way on Friday! I struggled with myself to get out the door and really didn't want to do this run after work, but with some motivation from twitter and the thought of sleeping in on Saturday was motivation enough for me. The weather couldn't have been better for the run and I has happy to be out there once I started. My legs started to really hurt and mile 11 and I felt like crap. I wanted to run 13 miles, but could only push myself one more mile. 12 miles, ok I guess I'll take it. Overall, I wanted to try to run this at my race pace for my upcoming half in two weeks, but I didn't quit hit the mark. I went out to fast, which always seems to be a mistake for me. My splits were as follows:

7:49, 8:02, 8:15, 8:17, 8:25, 8:43, 8:55, 8:40, 8:41, 9:03, 8:45, and 8:43.  (P.S. I have no idea how to copy the splits from my Garmin ...help)

Hopefully I will learn from this practice run and be able to hit my goal of a sub 1:50 at San Jose.

After my run, I hurried and showered and was out the door heading towards my favorite restaurant ... Lauriol Plaza. If you haven't been there, then you need to go!! They have the best chips and salsa in my opinion! yum and some more yum. And after a long run it was the best dinner anyone could ask for.

yes I ate two baskets!

Saturday was glorious because I didn't get up until 8am!!! OMG ... sleeping in... I think I am in love! With my long run out of the way, it meant I now had a rest day! And what better way to rest than to go on a shopping spree :) Two dresses from Nordstrom, a bundle of socks, new running shoes (and a pair of normal person shoes), and arm warmers! Now my my wallet was complaining it needed a rest day too.

Asics Gel-Nimibus 13

These are hot pink... yes!

 Since I am now officially in love with all things sleep, I was in bed by 9pm and ready to wake up early for the Back Roads century. The alarm went off at 5am and we were out the door and on the road by 5:40. It was about an hour and half drive to start line and it was chilly when we got there. Hello new arm warmers! You are now my new BFF (sorry sleep). I loved the ride, absolutely loved it! the 50 miles flew by and it only felt like I had been riding 20! My legs felt great and my back didn't hurt at all!!! It was amazing! But I stuck to my plan of only riding 50 miles, even though it killed me :( Full Tour report to come tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and fun at their races!

Nation's Offical Race Pics



Just starting the run...



Yep, I'm struggling


 

Somewhere on the bike course

 

Fininally finishing




running out of t1


I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! For those of you who are racing .. Good Luck! Kick some behind out there!

3 Things Thu - Motivation, BR Century, & not tri-ing

1. I have had no motivation this week at all. Actually I have no clue how I ever even woke up in the morning to run/bike before. I think some of my low motivation is coming from the fact that something in lower back is pinching when I walk, run, swim, sit, and umm...basically do anything. I wanted to do a 5 mile tempo run yesterday, but instead I just did a super slow 5k (11 minute pace). I guess even though I am feeling lazy, I also want to be smart about this pain I'm feeling and pretty much take it easy. I plan on swimming tonight, then I have my long run of 13 miles planned for either Friday or Saturday with my ever looming century ride on Sunday.

2. Speaking of the Back Roads Century, I am still not sure what course I will be riding? I think it's going to just be a big surprise! I have not rode more than 50 miles for one reason or another and really don't feel ready/strong enough to turn out a 100 miles. The first loop of the century is 50 miles which loops back to the starting point, then it goes on to another loop of 50 miles. So my plan is to ride the 50 mile loop with M and his friend, then see how I feel. If I feel like death, I will just stop at the middle school. If I feel great, then I will continue to ride with them. The course is labeled as hilly, so I'll just have to wait and see how my legs feel. Riding a century without training... I don't know if it's a good idea?

3. I have decided not to sign up for another triathlon this season. I really wanted to register for another one to do the full Olympic distance, but both races that fit into my schedule would put me racing 4 weeks in a row! I think that might just be too much me, so I guess I will have to wait till next year :( Ugg... just writing this I am sad and not sure if this is the right decision? I am trying to PR at my upcoming half marathon and I know racing a tri the weekend before would not be a good idea.

Happy Thursday All

Wordless Wednesday

Watch out bugs... Kiwi is about to pounce on you!

Nations Tri Race Report ~ The Tri that was not

Well, as many of you know the swim was canceled due to all the rain we got during the week. I was bummed at first, but the river did look very high with lots of things floating in it. Anyhow, this race was more or less a glorified brick!

Like always I got my stuff ready the night before and was in bed by 9ish. Because the swim was canceled and I set three different alarms (Im always scared it won't go off and I'll miss the entire race) I slept pretty good. But, I still kicked poor M to the couch because he was snoring too loud! My alarm went off at 5am and we were out the door at 5:30.

M dropped me and my parents off by the Lincoln memorial. The three of us then walked over to the transition area since we could not be dropped off on Independence. M, drove and parked who know's where and rode his bike over. Once in transition I couldn't find my bike. I know it was in row 31, but it was dark and there was so many bikes. After about 10 minutes I found my bike and set up my area. The one thing I did differently this time was to bring a blue bucket. This would help my find my bike in the row easier during the race and I also used it as a seat while changing shoes since I knew it was going to be a mud pit.

Ahhh...Where is my bike?

Getting my stuff ready

I've got my bike gloves and I'm ready to go

I went to the potty and waited in my area for over an hour. I was in wave 28 and no one really knew what was going on. Some of us wore bike shoes and helmets going into T1, but I just had my bike gloves on. My group walked our way up to the timing mat and started.

T1: 1:56

Since we were not spread out from the swim everyone was rushing to the same rack and it was crowded. I think it would have been better if we were at different racks. The ground was very muddy and only got worse by the bike out area. It's not like you could run because there was actually a bottle neck getting out and I was just standing there not even moving. My dad was standing along the fence and I was happy to see him. We kind of looked at each other like oh great look at that mud pit! There is no way around it, so in I went to splash around in the mud before jumping on my bike. My shoes were covered in mud and brown, but I seemed to clip in fine and off I went.

Hello crowds

About to get my bike on!

 

Bike: 40K - 1:12:57 (20.4mph)

As I biked out I saw my mom and my M and once again I was happy to see them. I smiled and started to get my pedal on. The  course was very crowded and it was very hard to pass, at least to me because I'm not aggressive. Once about 5 miles into the ride I decided to make it my goal to keep up with this one girl. We basically took turns pacing each other the rest of the ride. It was near to impossible not to draft off other people because the road was jammed pack with cyclists. My legs felt pretty strong the entire ride and I liked the course. There was a couple not so greatly paved parts, but for the most part it was nice and we only had a small amount of 180 turns so it wasn't too technical. My big problem was forgetting to drink. Actually I didn't forget to drink, but because there was so many people on the road I never felt like there was never a good time to reach down for my water (I was scared I would crash). I did manage to get down 3/4 of a bottle filled with nuun. But that's it. I didn't eat anything while on the bike. My stomach at about mile 15 started to turn a bit. I could feel my breakfast of an english muffin with peanut butter and a banana start to come up. I was thinking to myself, this can't be good at all because if I'm burping up my breakfast on the bike, I am doomed on the run. I finished strong with my riding buddy just feet in front of me. I was happy that I was able to hang with her the entire time and was shocked that I was able to hold a 20.4!!! Even though I didn't type out any time goals in my goals post I did have them. I secretly wanted to hold a 18mph pace so I was more than happy with my bike time :)

T2: 1:58

My bike almost flipped over as I ran it over the curb onto the grass. I ran to my area fast and found my spot (thanks blue bucket) and changed into my running shoes. Once again on the way out we had to run through the mud ... oh joy!

Run 10K - 53:18 (8:36 pace)

Since I was in one of the last waves, the sun was really shining and it was pretty hot out by the time I started my run. What made it was worse is the run was down at Haines Point which meant no shade! Anyhow, my eyes were darting all over the place out of the run out looking for my family. Then I saw them and a huge smile came across my face! My dad jumped up and ran along side me for a little while M was running on the sidewalk with the camera.

Hi Dad :)

You can still see him sprinting in the green t

I told my dad that I had to slow down or else I would burn out (I was running a 7:20 pace at this point) and then he said good bye. Later I would find out he thought I said he was slowing me down so he stopped running with me. Regardless I loved having my dad out there running with me for a little bit.
 

Good bye family .. see you soon at the finish

I was already over heating at the fist water stop and drank a water and poured one over my head, which felt really good. Near the turnaround point on 15th st, I heard someone yell, "Go Sarah Karpinski"... It was my twin, Sarah! I yelled back to her "Go Sarah!". As the run continued I was getting slower and slower. Sarah caught up to me near the stop sign at Haines point and we chatted for a brief second as she is a bad ass runner and there was not a chance in hell I could keep up with her. When she passed me I was holding a 8:15 pace, but that would be the last time I would see that one my watch. I passed the 5k mark and then really started to struggle. My stomach was slushing around and I continued to taste peanut butter and bananas as I had to fight back the vomit. I really wanted to walk at mile 4, but I thought of Emily who was racing an IM and thought come on, this is only a 10k run and she has to run a marathon, I can surely run 6 miles, so I kept running (or well shuffling). Every time I tried to push it a little bit the vomit feeling returned even stronger. So my last two miles were slow...9:14 and 9:30. I couldn't even sprint to the finish line. I tired, trust me, but I knew I would puke if I did. I saw my mom and dad cheering for me on the side line and tried to smile best I could. Then it was over, I crossed the finish line! Even though it was not my best run I was still happy because I didn't walk.

This is what almost puking at the finish line looks like (aka death)

The finish line - I thought I might puke all over the place and ran to closest trash can and stuck my head in it. I didn't end up throwing up, but just dry heaved, which was just as gross. And when I looked at my Garmin, it only had me at 6 miles. So either it was off or the course was off? Either way I really didn't want to run that .2 anyhow.
 

Total: 2:10:08

I couldn't be happier with my total time. My goal with the swim was under three hours which I would have been able to do had we swam.

The Numbers:

Age Group	Gender	Overall
49/296 top 16.6%	238/1455 top 16.4%	1665/3873 top 43%

Overall

I had a pretty good time at this race! I was still bummed that we didn't swim, but it was not that end of the world that we didn't. I think the best part was seeing some of my friends out on the course and having my family there supporting me! I loved having them out there for me :)

With the best support team ... my parents

And my personal photographer and love...M

With Kristine at the end of the race

Then I bumped into Jess

Even though I did not have the best run of my life, I still made my goal which was to stay positive on the run no matter what. Around the halfway mark I felt like death, but I reminded myself that this is something that I love doing and that I can do it. The one goal that I really missed the mark on was my nutrition. Once again, my stomach was a mess on the run! Ugg.. better luck next time and more practice trying to figure out what I can eat beforehand and how much I should be taking in on the bike. But like I said before the most important thing about this race is that I had a blast :)

Happy Tues All !