Giving this another go

Writing down my thoughts has never been my forte. I instead have inner monologues about my running and goals and everything in life. But I think I am ready to give this another shot. I have a goal, like many runners, to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In order to qualify, I need to maintain an 8:12 minute per mile pace for 26.2 miles. That is just about 3:35 for total time. This would just qualify me, I really need under a 3:30 to run Boston as entries are given out based on how much you are under the qualifying time. This is bringing me back to my swimming days where the faster you were the higher qualifying group you were in. I have an idea of when I want to qualify (in 2017) and now I am just formulating my plan to get me there. I am bringing you along for the ride and hope it will be an interesting one. I am also hoping that by writing it down, I become accountable and not just a dreamer. So, here I am toeing the start line and I am ready for the start gun to go off.

Back At It

I have taken a nice couple of weeks off from training to try and enjoy my weekends and sleeping in. It was fun, but now I am bored so back to training I go.

As of right now my next race isn't until August, so I am going to spend some time improving my time and speed. To do this I did some research on speed workouts, bugged all my running friends and enlisted my sister to come up with a training plan. Right now the plan is eight weeks, just to get my toes wet, and then we will see if my race calendar has changed at all.

While I will follow my sisters plan, I am also enlisting some help from Beachbody. I purchased the T25 DVDs and started them leisurely two weeks ago. So far I like them better than Insanity and plan to keep with it. So I will run in the AM and T25 in the PM. I am very excited to see how I improve over this next year and hopefully I will be bikini ready for summer!

Dumbo Double Dare Challenge

It is finally official and live... I am running for the first time with a charity team. The Special Olympics SoCal team to be exact.

I ran ten half marathons in 2013 and while that was fun, I wanted to do more. I have been involved with an organization, twelve, for the past few years and since moving out to California, I haven't been able to be as involved. So I decided that 2014 would be my first time doing a charity team and I knew doing a Disney race would be fun. I began researching what charities have participated in the past and asking my running friends about their experiences with various organizations.

I could have registered when the race opened, but I am over the mad rush associated with Disney race registration and just wanted to relax. Instead I contacted the Special Olympics in mid-January asking if they were having a team and how I could join.

General and early registration came and went, and as expected it sold out within a few hours. I was so relieved that I didn't have to deal with that.

Last week we got our emails that accounts were ready to be set up and today my link went live!

We have been asked to raise $800 for the Dumbo Double Dare, so I hope I can do that by the deadline of July 1st.

Wish me Luck!

If you would like to donate, you can so here

*Sidenote, this is the race where I am aiming for a 2 hour half marathon which will be a 40 minute time drop from my fastest half marathon to date.

Surf City Half Marathon Recap

Surfs Up! Dubbed "Surf City USA" Huntington Beach, CA provides the perfect setting for a race that gives out surfboard medals. The course runs along the ocean on Pacific Coast Highway for the majority of the half marathon and both the highway and beach path for the marathon. This is my second year and I still enjoy this event the most out of the three that make us the "Beach Cities Challenge". The weather is usually great and the race occurs on Super Bowl Sunday. So I totally justify the wings I will be eating by running that morning. This year I skipped the EXPO and had a friend pick up my packet. Don't get me wrong, I love Expo's but I had other plans and wasn't going to make it down in time. Surf City does offer an option to have your packet mailed to you, but I missed the cutoff this year. It usually runs about $25 for them to mail it and with registration for me at over $100 I just didn't think I needed it. I was fortunate enough to have found the Pasadena Pacers () last year and now I have a great support group at races year round. We usually have a couple of car pools and pre race stretching, which I love, and the best part is that they are FREE! My coach Hilda offered to drive a group of us so I set me alarm for a 3:30am wake up and got some rest Saturday night. Last year the temps were cold to begin with, but rose fast. This year we were all prepared for colder temps and a possibility of rain. Since we had to be there early, I had some time to kill before the race. Hilda let us stay in her car to keep warm, so for an hour I waited for the sun to rise and tried to rest.

Yep that was me after seeing it was still frigid outside. I was definitely happy I choose my capris to run in. The marathon kicked off at 6:30 with the half at 7:30, but with the sheer number of runners (over 20,000) my wave was to start a little after 8. Just look at the crowd.

Because by 7:50 we hadn't moved, my running friend Maria and I decided to go take some photos we missed and use the restrooms.

By 8:15 we still hadn't started and we were getting antsy. Our wave was suppose to be at 8:11. Finally at 8:30 we made it to the start line and saw our favorite announcer Rudy!

Side note - I see him at almost every race and am working on "The Rudy Tour" for 2015. Once we took off it was smooth sailing. I wasn't looking for a PR at all, I am coming off three races in January already so I just wanted to enjoy. I decided to try for a 2:45 (5 mins slower than my PR) and see how it felt. I used 2:2 intervals and was feeling good. Maria decided to run with me, and running with someone is always more fun when you are lacking energy. The first three miles are along PCH which was nice, lots of crowds and some girl scout cookies! Then we turn to do two miles in the residential area. This is where there are a few slight hills and the supporters start to thin. We did see our Pasadena Pacers though and that was great! Mile 6 finds us coming back onto PCH where we will stay for the duration. We run to a turn around point and then head back to the start line for the last five miles. It was fun but some of those miles lack course cheering and can be tough. I did spot a few volunteers getting bored standing around and having water fights, but hopefully they didn't run out of water for the other runners. We realized after a bathroom break that we were behind pace by 3 minutes around mile 6 and tried to get back on track. Maria may have hated me around mile 10 when I made us kick it up a notch and keep pushing through. I know she really wanted to push me in the ocean during the last mile because I made us run the last .6. But guess what, we made it under 2:45 and it was a new PR for her! Overall I really enjoy the race and will probably be back next year. I do wish though they would add cell towers because using your phone afterwards is not easy.

KOWABUNGA!!!!

January Timed Mile

I did a times mile today just to see where I was. 

Boom! I was pretty surprised by myself. I maintained about a 10:15 pace for half of it and then cranked it up to 9:45. I am hoping to add half a mile at this pace every week. But I want to do a timed mile once a month to see where I am.

Who knows maybe I will drop more than an hour off my marathon time by next year!

Redemption

After a disapointing showing at the 2013 marathon, I was more determined to make this my redemption year. See last year I attempted the goofy challenge (half on Saturday, full on Sunday). I did everything wrong and got swept at mile 14 of the full. They gave me a medal but it does not hang with my others, it's sits in a box to remind me not to give up.

So in May my sister and I starting talking about doing the marathon again and I enlisted her to help make me a training plan. 

Training began in September and I tried to keep to it but by November I started slacking. Luckily my running friends rallied behind me and kept me motivated. With training complete I headed to Orlando this past weekend and finished with no pain might I add, almost an hour faster than in 2012.

Ok I lied about the pain, I did get some chaffing from my tank top and skirt but it isn't bad and I was able to do the parks the next day. 

I will be posting a recap in another post because it deserves that. This was the best experience I could have asked for and I will never forget it. I mean I put three hours of work into a playlist I barely listened too and I did math while running to keep on pace! 

WDW Minnie Mouse 10k

Well my first Disney race of 2014 is under my belt. I am happy it was the inaugur(u)al Minnie Mouse 10k (spelling is in honor of our bibs misspelling). I got on the first bus at Old Key West and started tweeting my friends in anticipation of seeing everyone! 

We got to Epcot just after 4 and I had to book it to meet up with my #TeamRunDisney group. Something new is a security check before you enter the area. They check every bag including hydration and running belts. Don't worry the lines move fast and hopefully that trend will continue.

Once I met up with our group it was time to head to our Corral. Four of us headed to E and planned to take it slow. Two are doing the Dopey Challenge (four races four days) and I didn't want to push myself and be tired for my marathon.

My only complaint is that they had five corrals for 10,000 people and each start was 10 minutes apart. This was a long time to stand around for us in E and made the course congested for the first two miles.

Once we started, our group weaves in and out and tried to stay around a 13:30 pace. The first three miles are on the highway and there wasn't much entertainment, just one character stop, some music and video screen.

By mile 4 we were in Epcot and the characters were a plenty and the vibe was fun. We entered the world showcase and then left to go do a lap around the boardwalk. Mile 5 took us back into the park and the ending which didn't have many spectators.

We finished roughly around 1:25 with a 13:25 pace. Overall it was a fun race and flat course but it was very humid which made parts slippery. I would definitely encourage people to try this race out or sign up your tween kids who think the 5k is to easy.