Racing with the kids in tow

Last weekend the fam and me packed up and headed to Carlsbad for what turned out to be one of the funniest races I have done. For those of you that haven't done Carlsbad 5000 I highly recommend it. While I am not sure I agree with it being called the fastest 5k (to me a race with two 180 turns is not the fastest) it is pretty fast and SO much fun. The streets are lined with people and if you have someone there to watch you it is great. Standing in one spot my family got to see me three times, which turned out to be just what I needed!

First let me explain what it was like to travel to a race for the first time with my kids. It went something like this. Everyone was super happy at the airport riding the bus, taking escalators, eating ChickDonalds (McDonalds to those of you not in my house) and than we had to wait for our flight to take off. This started the first of many meltdowns to come over the next 6 days. Long story short we finally got to our hotel and got our room fixed in time for us to hit the bed at 2am. Not exactly the normal day of relaxing I like to do before a race. The next morning everyone woke up pretty well as they were looking forward to Legoland, but by the time we got to the race they were already wanting to know when we could leave. Once we got everything in order I went for my warm up and left Kevin, my cousin and the boys in charge of my bag and flats with the strict instructions of being back to the meeting point in exactly 24 minutes. I later learned that is pretty stressful when you are trying to lug two kids through a large crowd to Starbucks and back, but he did a great job and got me off to the race in time.

I went into the race knowing I had been hitting my workouts the last week great and could hit 16:35ish on a perfect day but as always the main objective was to better my time from last year and of course win :) At first I was pretty disappointed to not get into the elite race, I felt like getting to run in a pack of runners would definitely pull me to my best time, but I also knew I needed to suck it up and just run.

I got to the starting line and felt pretty ready to go.......the gun went off and immediately I was trapped. What the heck? The women to my right decided that they needed to make a b line to the left side of the road for the turn that was still a quarter mile away. In my typical panic mode I did a little jostling and made my way in front of the ladies as my heal was clipped. The next few seconds felt like slow motion, I thought for sure I was going down. Luckily I caught myself and settled in to my pace. About two seconds later this girl goes FLYING by me. My first thought of course is stick to her stay close. Which I did until the 400 mark when I realized we were going faster than I wanted to be going this early. So I went with plan B keep on my own pace and keep her in your sights. As she crossed mile 1 I saw she was at 5:04 and I came across right on schedule for me 5:11. Hitting my mark calmed me a little and I came to terms with the fact that the girl in front of me looked strong and I was probably going to lose. I'm not saying I gave up its more I came to terms with the fact that if I could just hold my same distance behind her she would pull me to a faster time. Unfortunately when I got to mile two I was the same distance behind her and she was slowing because I hit 5:31. So back to freak out mode! This is where I made a big mistake. There was a high school boy in my race for some reason and at mile 2 he caught up to and passed me. Looking back I should have just latched on to him and gone. I did use his energy and at a little over 2 1/2 miles I caught up to the girl in first place and pushed to the finish for a 8 second win in 16:52. I than had some mixed emotions, my time was so slow but I was able to pull myself together and get the win,it was 15 seconds faster than my time from last year and I defended my win from last year. So I am a two time Carlsbad 5000 champion, even if it is of the old lady 30-39 race :) Than I saw my kids and decided I had to be happy. Chase and Tripp have never gone to a big race with me and they were so pumped up. Chase was so excited he cam running up to the gate saying "Mommy you did so good, I didn't think you were going to win"

At Carlsbad they do the awards ceremony for each race about ten minutes after the top three cross. Chase and Tripp asked me if they could come up with me to get my award and of course I said yes. It was the cutest thing EVER. They immediately took the award from me and Tripp wouldn't put it down or get out of the picture. The photographer wasn't too happy about it but they were so cute! I wasn't about to tell them they couldn't be there. As any parent that is a runner knows, your kids and spouse have to sacrifice a lot of time with you for you to follow your dream. If being in the pictures at the awards ceremony was what they wanted I would let them have all the glory, they deserve it WAY more than I do.

Little did I know making it through the race was nothing. The next four days I spent quality time with my family in Legoland and Seaworld. And let me tell you that was way more taxing on my body than racing :)

CU 3k this weekend

So I have had a good week of training last week with a couple of good workouts. The wind is kind of getting to me! After every workout i have to say well that was a really good workout considering the wind...

I did a 9 mile threshold last week and avg. 5.30s into the wind for 8 of the 9 miles, my 9th mile was 5.28 and it was a pretty easy mile for my last mile of 9.

Then friday need some repeats at race pace so when i went to the track it was 15 mph winds again. so I put together a 3x 1k, 3-400, 2-200m. I felt very strong, very easy workout, and i was hitting 69 to 67 pace on all the reps. which is very encouraging being at 6000 ft and wind... again!

This weekend i'm racing the 3k at cu and i'm all signed up to race the 10k at Penn Relays!!!

Thanks for keeping it real with me and keep it really with our boy Banana Hands too!

Tommy OUT!

Mt. Sac--Here we come!

I've been meaning to post for awhile now but I haven't had much to say.  Since my last post in which I claimed that I was feeling better (I was in the hospital two days later) I been trying to get back to normal (pneumonia sucks!).

Though I still went to Jacksonville, I merely went in the capacity of a spectator.  It was exciting to hang with the large BRC contingent and watch you guys race so well but it was also very surreal to spectate rather than participate (although I didn't mind partaking in the post-race festivities).  It is always motivational to see a group of athletes with full-time jobs, compete with and beat a number purely full-time athletes.  I definitely had a bit more pep in my step when I got to Alamosa.

Now it's on to Mt. Sac.  I began this year with the goal of proving to myself that my fastest days aren't behind me.  Although spending a stretch in the hospital probably didn't improve my prospects, I've been feeling sharper and stronger than I have in years.  With less than a week to go, I'm fresh off of 120 miles of spring break training.  I don't know if I'll be able to PR, but I've at least proven to myself that I'm physically capable of running the workouts that I ran when I did PR.  I guess that's something, right?

For those of you who read this post who are of my ilk (about 30 with a car seat(s) and/or a mortgage) I guess we should all take heart in the fact that in many ways we cheating the system.  How many of you actually believed that you would still be "competing"in any athletic endeavor at this point of your life when you were in high school or college?  I know I certainly didn't.

Good luck to those of you running Mt. Sac.        

My last few weeks recap

Two weeks ago:

- I went to Tempe with Scott and Jesse.

- I ran an opener 3:50 1500 and the hardest and ugliest 800 I've ever run (1:55).

- We ate at Yogurtland in Tempe. It was so great. I got like 7 different kinds of yogurt.

- We ate pizza at a gas station and I farted a lot on the ride home because of it.

- We averaged 20.2 miles to the gallon on the trip

- We ate authentic El Salvadorian fare. (Pupusas. They were delicious.)

- Jesse and Scott slept in bunk beds.

- I smashed a Cadbury Egg with my bare hand.

- I listened to E-40 before my race.

- Other stuff I'm forgetting.

Last week:

- I went to Austin, Texas

- I went to the Whole Foods world headquarters and ate tacos.

- I ate pizza on 6th street and it was so much fun.

- I heard a lot of country music and it was not much fun.

- I ran at 5:30 one morning and saw probably around 100 runners out. It was wild!

- I missed my flight and had to stay in the Austin airport all day, causing me to eat horribly.

- Other stuff too.

I will be out at the Boston Marathon next weekend. If any of you are going to be out there, let me know and we can try and meet up and share a high-five.

-

Sometimes I Just want to Zumba

First off, I have to apologize for the delay. I wrote this blog a while ago, but had some technical difficulties uploading it (strictly user related). Anyhow, I think it's still relevant because we all struggle with motivation sometimes...

A few weeks ago, Colorado had some of the coldest days I have ever experienced along the front range. I have to admit that I may have become a little bit soft since my Gunnison running days (back then, I did not shy away from running outside when the mercury fell below 0 degrees Fahrenheit). After hearing the weather forecast of -7 real feel -30 the older, softer, hopefully wiser me decided that it was going to be a treadmill day. I packed up all of my stuff in the morning so I could head over to the gym directly after work. Usually I prefer to go before work but the logistics of running on the treadmill take more time, so I go after. I quite enjoy running in the morning with my husband and dog or the other ladies from the BRC team. Although it is usually colder in the morning, I find that the mornings are very peaceful and I get to see some of the most beautiful sunrises imaginable.

After putting in a satisfying day at my job that actually pays the bills, I really didn't feel like running on the treadmill. Like many other runners, I am not particularly fond of the treadmill, especially since I had also run on the treadmill the day before. After a heated conversation with myself, I finally ended in the gym parking lot and made a mad dash through the cold to the gym doors. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't the only one who didn't want to brave the cold that day and all of the treadmills were full. While waiting, I noticed that an aerobics session had ended and another was about to start. I found myself somewhat envious of the people heading into the class. Although, I have never actually been to one of those aerobic type classes, I imagine that they are loads of fun. I do go to Yoga and Pilates, but I put them in a different category.

Eventually a treadmill opened up and I found myself jogging along, not super happy to be there. I had forgotten my iPod, which meant that not only could I not listen to music, but I also couldn't use the headphones to plug into the TV sound. So, my choices were either to try to watch Wheel of Fortune, where I couldn't actually make out any of the letters, or stair at the backsides of the ever revolving group of people using the stair masters in front of me. Worst of all, I was hungry. Which, for anyone who knows me well, knows that I can be seriously grouchy when my sandwich meter is running low.

A small group of women who had come out of the aerobics class earlier were happily chatting near the treadmills next to me. They were raving about how much fun they had in the Zumba class and were making arrangements to attend the next class. I found myself daydreaming about Zumba (although I still have no idea what it actually is), thinking to myself that I am definitely going to go to the next class if this dreadfully cold weather continues. So, that kept me busy for a little while and I decided to do a time check to see how long I had been running. Four minutes and twenty two seconds. Boy, was this going to be a long run.

Exactly five minutes and five seconds later, there was a change up on the treadmill next to me. The new person appeared to be fairly fit, but more importantly must have applied Icy Hot or something similar before hopping on the treadmill. The smell of the Icy Hot and sweat brought back memories of running indoor track and the sound of my feet hitting the treadmill stride after stride vaguely reminded me of the hollow sound of the raised Mondo tracks. Indoors was always one of my favorite seasons and I found myself reminiscing. Without even thinking about it, I reached down and increased the speed on the treadmill. I looked over into one of hundreds of mirrors surrounding me and noticed that my form had straightened up and I had an extra bounce in my step. The remaining sixty minutes and thirty three seconds passed by in a blur and I stepped off the treadmill thinking well...that wasn't so bad, maybe I should run on the treadmill more often.

It's amazing what a little bit of motivation can do.

Yeah for Track!

As I packed my running bag this morning, I saw tiny black things at the bottom and thought "It must be track season". I raced at Pueblo last weekend to wake up the fast (well, faster than my slow) twitch muscles in preparation for Mt. SAC. The CSU-Pueblo track facility is amazing, but the darn turf is filled with little rubber pieces. They seem to just jump into my bag and shoes. It's amazing that there are any black rubber pieces left at any of the turf facilities with the way they like to attach themselves to everything. I should send them back so they don't have to pay for new materials. I have to admit I was a bit nervous for the 1500m race. I'm never sure if my fast gears are available and I know I'm really not a middle distance runner. The race went better than expected, although the first lap was a 78!! I was supposed to be no slower than 74, but I was sitting in the pack to prevent myself from leading from the gate. Of course when I hear the lap time I panicked and took the lead with some force. No more jogging on the track ladies...let's get this back on pace. I was successful in bringing that lap to 71 to get back on pace and then just held on tight to the finish. The lovely ladies from Adams hung on with me and on the last lap I had to dig deep to get the faster gear working. There was no true kick, more of a push to keep the lead and break anyone who thought they could out kick me. Funny enough, my time of 4:36 (10 seconds of my PR) became the stadium record. I'll take it. Since this was more of a workout day than a race day, I agreed to racing the 800m too. What was I thinking. The last time I liked this race was in high school when it was still a distance event. It sounds like Scott and I had the same race...I was in the outside alley and was gobbled up within the first 100m. I had a great first lap of chasing them down for 67s, but couldn't hold that for the 2nd lap. A great workout, but definitely not my cup of tea. It was so much fun to watch Shannon and Jay race the 5k. You guys are troopers from putting up with that wind that decided to show up in the afternoon. A big 'thank you' to Coach Chad Perry for letting us race.

Spring-time!!!

Winter has hopefully passed over Gunnison and is heading to the Southern Hemisphere. One sure sign of this change is that each afternoon I am greeted by warmer temperatures and a strong gust of wind that has brought singing birds and a glimmer of green back to the foliage around the area. This also means another thing...outdoor track! Although I do have special places in my running heart for cross-country, road races, and yes even indoor track, I have to admit that I enjoy outdoor track the most. I kicked off the outdoor season last weekend with my running mates Jesse and Paul as we headed to Tempe, AZ for the ASU Invite. As much as the warmer climates made me forget about the last 5 months of bitter temperatures, the fast pace required for the 1500 and 800 reminded me just the same. My strength currently is my strength, and so to run fast in the metric mile I needed even splits. The race went out much slower than expected and I tried my darndest to make moves but it was to no avail, I basically had one speed. So on to the 800, deciding that today would be a much needed speed session rather than a chance to lower some personal records. I was staggered to the far outside lane at the start. As fast as the gun went off, I was getting swallowed up by runners to the inside. I'm not sure if the entire field made up the first stagger by the cut in line or not, but one thing was for sure, I was basically all out! As I passed through 400 I could already feel the tingly sensation creeping on. When I heard 54 seconds as the split, it went away, probably from sympathy for what was to come. I didn't have any notches to turn it up to but I gave it all I had. I don't want to say what my closing 400 was because it wasn't pretty. But lets just say that if you are scotish, you would pernounce it sixty-free. I realize that I could have gone out slower and produced a faster overall time, but hey, it was a speed session. The bright side is that these races were just "tune-ups" for a 5k at Mt. SAC in just over two weeks...thank goodness.

What I do when I can't run...

I don't have much to write about as I haven't run in several weeks due to the injury I sustained in February. So I will write about what I have been doing. At first I tried cross training--elliptical, bike, even running in the pool, but I would end up with pain at the origin of the muscle which made me very nervous. So, I stopped all of those. Instead I have been "sleeping in" on work days (which means getting up at 6:30 instead of before 5), rock climbing, throwing the ball for my dog and catching up on yard work in the backyard (coincidently that also involves throwing the ball for the dog). Friday will end the official 3 weeks off even though I didn't run for several days before that. This likely means I will start being sleep deprived thus requiring more caffeine at work, my backyard will look worse and worse and my dog will be constantly begging for me to throw his toy. But it also means I will be running!

Let's all chase each other around an oval, 'k?

The birds are singing, a bee flew up my shorts a week ago while stretching, I have a new watch tan-line, there are 50+ mph winds *nearly* everyday, there are no more icy patches on the trails to scoot across like a granny, I'm down to 1-1.5 layer(s) on morning runs rather than the usual 2-4, and the squirrels in Monument Valley are feeling....frisky. SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!! And with the springing of springtime, track season ensues! Don't get me wrong, I would be more than thrilled if cross country season was year-round, and I would take the roads for racing any day, but I decided to branch out and do one or two track races this spring. That's right, one or two, and that's extreme. Track is more suited to the graceful little impalas rather than the shambling, awkward moose. Anyhow, I had decided to do the 10k at Mt.Sac a while back, then just recently the thought occured to me that I haven't been on a track since 2008, so maybe I should try to get the track legs back before then. So I stowed-away on the bus with the UCCS team heading to Pueblo last weekend for a meet out there to do the 5k to get a feel for being on a track again. It went pretty well although not much to write home about as far as time goes. It was a lot like I remember it; laps...several of them. Nevertheless it was fun, it felt like a solid effort in the wind, I felt great overall, it was fun to see Cassie throw down in some middle distance races, and it was good to see a crutch-less Tera. But really it was just fun to watch the events unfold throughout the meet--it's like watching a circus.

So right now training is going great and next on the docket is the 10k at Mt.Sac--hoping for a great one!
Alright, happy running to all. OUT.

Races Bad Foot Good

Just an update that all seems to be good with my foot. I have ran a couple races on it since coming back and it has held up well, in fact so well that I was able to do my first long run since coming back just yesterday, the day after a race in spikes. I won't talk about the race however because it was embarrassingly slow.

After nearly 5 months off racing and training have been very tough. I have runs where I feel like I hammered a hard workout the day before but really only went an hour easy. Then I also have days where I feel pretty good. I now have 5 solid but low mileage weeks in the 55-60 range under my belt and am trying to gear up for the Mt. Sac Relays in 2 1/2 weeks. I'll be doing the 1500 there as I'm not in any kind of shape for a longer race at this point. I'm hoping if I can keep at it I can hit some PRs in late May or early June.

All I can say is don't get an injury that puts you out for 5 months because its hard to come back from. Heck, 5 months is the longest I have taken off since I started competitive running my freshman year of high school.

In the end though I'm just happy to be running without any setbacks in my foot because the injury I had can causes chronic problems and I was pretty fearful of that.