Welcome Back Old Friends

As I head into the final weeks before the Carlsbad Marathon 2013, the increase distance  returns my application on my friends Vaseline, New Skin, and Powder Secret Deodorant. There has been a lot of trial, error, and loads of research with my running experiences. These products I have taken stock in and never leave home without them. These items save me from quitting non-running hobby.

 Today I, as I did my long run, I thought about a woman's post recently http://talesfromanaveragerunner.blogspot.com/ . She discusses her feeling about how she feels she's a runner, but not a marathoner. Thanks Shannon. You helped occupy my thoughts for at least a good 4 miles today. Like Shannon, I do run, but don't still consider myself as a non-runner. It's worth checking it out her blog.

I read the magazines and books. I have tried various shoes, gear, & training schedules. I still giggle when I attempt say the word Fartlek. It's the two year old coming out in me. I received a gift card to a local running store, Laces, and found these videos on their website.  As I was listening and watching the videos by a man named Dr. Jack Daniels (not the whiskey), it again made me realize I don't know jack...literally;
Part one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn38f4M_HJs&feature=youtu.be
Part two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiRtzEJLx_w&feature=youtu.be .
I have love discovering my body's ability to perform. Running is always a great conversation starter and there's always people who have lots of questions. You can guess the number one questions is "Why would you every run a marathon?" I feel I am a marathoner non-runner! I am also a woman who, on today's run, tried to our run a younger woman taking her small little dog on a run. She beat me easily. Fartlek :)~

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Final Weeks of Training for Carlsbad Marathon 2013

It's crunch time again. No time for skipping a short run, no time for injury or sickness, & no time to try new running gear or ideas. Talk about focus!
 I've read two new books during training for this marathon. The first is Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham; http://www.mipham.com/home.php .   I am still working on my daily meditation and although I would wish I have could have mastered this after my first two attempts, I found out it's going to be a life long process.  Running and meditation have a lot in common. They both require training, commitment, discipline and time. This book captured feelings of goodness and simpleness. I regurgitate a lot of information in this book as I run. Each chapter feed your brain and I found myself rereading some of the chapters just because I enjoyed the emphasis.

The second book, Performance Nutrition for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald ; http://mattfitzgerald.org/ , has really help me decipher my way through a lot of performance enhancement supplements and is chalked full of easy to understand nutritional plans.  This book explains and gives you charts of top products and illustrates the differences using a grid.   I really like the chapter on energy sources. Like the Non-Runner's Guide to Marathon Training by David Whitsett, Matt Fitzgerald goes over ATP (Adenosine-5'-triphosphate) - "the body's fundamental energy currency". This helps me work through my meal planning and I do believe this has helped me minimize my injuries.  After all I am a non-runner who trying to keep going as long as my body will allow it.

Las Vegas 2012

Training for a marathon is tough enough without the added pressure of all the Christmas stuff that needs to be done. Training, trying to shop, mail packages, wrap gifts, & plan our annual Christmas party, really took a toll on my body.
 The day after Christmas, I woke up with a severe sore throat. I think everything has finally caught up to me. I took some ibuprofen, waited for the rain to stop, and went for a 5 mile run. My husband says, "being sick is always in your mind". We were heading for Las Vegas for a few days with some friends. There was no time to be sick.
The first day of the trip, I still had a sore throat, but not as bad as the first day. My nose was running and I was beginning to sneeze. We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Hotel http://www.hilton.com/search/gv/us/nv/las_vegas?WT.srch=1  .
 It doesn't have a casino in the hotel and the suites include a full kitchen.  It also is a smokeless hotel which was refreshing to come back to after spending the nights in smokey casinos. The valet parking is very affordable and it's only a few dollar more than regular parking. The service is amazing and the amenities are high end. It's a home away from home. We loved this hotel and can't wait to return.
The first night we ate Mesa Grill in Caesar's Palace http://mesagrill.com/las-vegas-restaurant  . I ordered the Fire Roasted Veal Chop and my husband ordered the Cascabel Chile Crusted Rabbit. The veal chop was decent and probably the biggest veal chop I've seen! My husband's rabbit was dry and the crusted coating made it taste worse. One of our friends had the Grilled Chicken. It too was dry. The restaurant is pricey and the decor is modern. The drinks were good, the service mediocre, & because the food was displeasing, we will not be returning.
My husband didn't want me running on the strip no matter what time of day it was. The second day, I did do a 5 mile run on a treadmill. The fresh towels and easy sanity wipes to clean of the machine was plentiful. I am glad I came down early to complete my run, because out of the 6 or so treadmills available, there were people waiting for an unoccupied treadmill by the time I finished.  I was feeling pretty good. My sore throat had gone but I still had a stuffy nose.  I have already made up my mind, I wasn't doing a long run and would consider the weekend a wash.
That night we went to Old Las Vegas on Fremont. This place was crazy and fantastic! We gambled a lot at a place called the Golden Gate http://goldengatecasino.com/ . We loved this place because the atmosphere was welcoming with good gambling and a party atmosphere!  The cocktails are plentiful just as much as the bottle water when you wanted it. Hehehe, I have no idea what kind of cranberry cocktail they use, but it turned our mouths red like we had been drinking cherry kool aide! Our friend is photo bombing our shots! Later that night, we ate late that night at a place in the Four Queens Casino called Magnolia Veranda http://www.lasvegas.com/listing/magnolias-veranda/2132/  . My hubby and I had a thin crust pepperoni pizza. The food is cafe style. It helped us all after a night of drinking and gambling. My husband has eyes like an eagle!  From inside the restaurant, then looking through a smokey casino, he spied a large girl dressed in a pirate costume wearing a smile and tassels on her nipples on the street. She was taking photos with tourist. Sorry, I didn't pose with her or get her picture. She was charging $20 per picture.
By the Saturday, a cough had set in and I officially had to admit, I had a cold. DayQuil helped minimize my symptoms. We ate brunch at the Blueberry Hill Family Restaurant http://www.blueberryhillrestaurants.com/ . Afterwards we all took a naps, showered, and went back to Old Las Vegas.  For dinner, we ate at Binions Steakhouse http://www.binions.com/dining/steak_house.php.  It was delicious. The service was amazing, friendly, and seemed to know what I needed before I did! The atmosphere was warm and inviting. I ordered the rib eye. The chefs know how to cook a steak here! Thanks you Binion's for the best food night of our trip!

We came home Sunday and my husband began to complain of a sore throat. I still have a cough and will try to run a few miles tomorrow. Las Vegas was a blast! We had such a great time with our friends and can't wait to go back soon!

Temecula Turkey Trot 2012

My son just turn 13 years old and is now eligable to participate in races!  I entered him into the Temecula Turkey Trot, held at Cougar Winery. It's become an annual local race. The last time I did the 5k and walked with some friends of mine who were figting horrible colds. This time my son was running the 5k and I was doing the 10k .
The morning was cold but in California, as soon as the sun comes out, it gets warmer. The 10k starts first and it's a late start. The organizers wait for everyone to register before starting the race. My son will start 5k afterwards. Some friends of ours will be walking their dog in the 5k race.
The 10k is hilly, but nothing too bad. The roads are a different story. The grading on the dirt roads is bumping and uneven. It's hard to go fast in these segments and there's no flat surfaces to escape onto. My friends witnessed my son almost falling because he took his eyes off for a second to say hello to them on his way back to the finish line. If you're one of the first racers, then there was water avaiable, but heading back, there was no water available for racers or their dogs. It's about 80 degress. I heard a lot of people complaining.

My son said it was easy. He was video taping as he ran on the flatter sections and had a great time!  Everyone had the same start time.  He finished the 5k : 0.24:32 minutes, placed 4th in his age group, and 22 out of 397overall. I ran 10k 1:03:00, placed 6th in my age group, and 118 out of 201 overall.  Review of the photos show only one of me with two other guys I don't know and one of my son at the finish line. Aftewards there's a wine tasting hosted by Cougar Winery. It was a wonderful race for my son's first race. He was excited and got great experience. Thanks for a beautiful day!

Marathon Recovery November 2012

The day after Malibu International Marathon, I went for a walk with my labs, Dallas & Cowboy. I was sore but no injuries. My princesses lead a rough life.
The following week I took it easy, by running only a total of 4 miles. The weekend of November 17th, I got up to go running, began stretching and heard a ripping sound! It was my Saucony Triumph 9's. The shoes were ready to be replaced about 3 weeks before Malibu, but I wasn't going to swap shoes that close to the race.
After researching running shoes, I brought the subject up to my hubby. He's response, "Why are you changing the style of shoe when it works for you? I told him about wanting a shoe that lasted longer. He said, "Babe, I don't think you should switch." My running pal, Ann agreed with my hubby.
I went to the Road Runner in San Diego. I wanted to get a shoe that had an enforced seam along the bottom where the mesh attaches to the sole. Not listening to my hubby, I found the Brooks Ghost 5. It's a heavier shoes than my Saucony. I do get the customs inserts with my running shoes to avoid a foot problem I've had in the past.  The Brooks Ghost 5 is suppose to have more cushion. The laces are rounded and not flat.
My first run with the Brooks Ghost 5, I noticed the weight change right away. I ran slower to test them out. My feet didn't feel like they were quite inside the shoe. I wear a size 6 and always go up a half a size because of my past experience with runner's toe. With the Brooks, I had to go up to a size 7 because the toe area was smaller. Running around in the store and running outside isn't the same. There's always occasional cramping of  various muscles when I run but it goes away pretty quick. I began to experience muscle cramping in my right calf heading into the 3rd mile. It didn't go away and I stopped, stretched (for the first time in my running history). I found if I ran on the right insole of my foot the calf pain was a little less. Most of my training during the winter is at night after I get home. When I got home, I found my right shoe laces had come undone and the left shoe laces were beginning to come undone. Two days later, I double tied my shoes, removed the inserts to see if this helped the fit, and headed out.
My second run, with the Brooks shoes, I went slower. At mile 5,  my left thigh began to burn. I want to mention, I have trained carefully for my first marathon by training the required miles needed to complete a marathon and not sustain injury. I couldn't figure out why I was getting muscle strains. My only explanation was the Brooks shoes.
I woke up the next day with a right calf, left thigh, and left knee strains in one week of running in the Brooks shoes. The Brooks shoes were going back to the store!
These are the new Saucony Triumph 10's. They are light and also state they put more padding the heel. In these shoes, I wear a 6.5. My inserts are trimmed fit the new shoes. The Road Runner staff never asks why I'm returning my Brooks shoes. I wanted to tell them about my experience but the subject isn't brought up. The staff there has probably heard a thousand stories like mine.
The Sauconys shoe is amazing! There's no more pain and it's like old times again. I hate, Hate, HATE to admit it, but my husband and Ann were right! I'm back on track and training for the Carlsbad Marathon 2013 in January!  See y'all there!

Malibu International Marathon 2012

Malibu Marathon 2012, was my first full marathon.  For any non runner, who is considering training for a marathon, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to train. Your training schedule should have at 3 weeks of give to allow for anything unexpected. I would also suggest running not only an 18 mile long run, but a 20 mile long run too. I felt these critical long runs made all the difference with my completion.

Two weeks before Malibu, my running buddy Ann and I had completed a 20 mile long run. The following week was a wash & recovery with short runs. Heading into the final week before the marathon, I ran a only one 4 and 3 miler. Loading up on carbohydrates after following and consuming a diet that suites your training was harder than what I thought it would have been. The first 2 days, my stomach wouldn't cooperate. I didn't have any appetite and found myself loosing weight.  Finally on the 3rd day, my stomach felt better and I began to carb load. I'm laughing as I write this because you wouldn't think it would that difficulty to eat the right carbohydrates, but it was! Finding time to eat, get what you need was crazy and a good lesson.

Malibu International Marathon was on Veterans Day and my daughter's birthday!  The Saturday before, my running buddy Ann and I headed out to pick up our bibs and go to the expo.  The trip took us 2 & 1/2 hours to reach Malibu. The bib pick up location had changed and we ended up at the Malibu Inn aka biker bar.
There were magic marker signs pointed out directions of how to navigate this expo. At first I didn't see the yellow sign above the white one posting about FREE BEER!
The expo... it consist of table, with a large thermos of Accelerade, the electrolytes to be used during the marathon. It was help yourself :)~  The other table it was the unofficial Malibu Marathon gear. Sorry I keep giggling because it was very California and laid back. No frills and no fuss. It was relaxing. The staff was friendly. The parking to get into the inn was a little challenging, but if your training has taught you anything, you just adapt to the situation.

After picking up our gear, we decided to drive the course backwards. We had read about the large and long hills starting at mile 18. It was a little scary seeing what you were about to tackle in less than 24 hours. In the host city, Camarillo, for the starting line of  the marathon, we found a wonderful Italian restaurant Occtavio's http://www.ottavio.com/ . Thank you for the great service and delicious pasta!

We left in a carbohydrate coma and went to check into our hotel in Agoura. http://www.sheratonagourahills.com/ . The Sheraton hotel hosted this event providing buses to the start line and shuttle services from the finish line. The rest of the night we camped out in our hotel room guzzling Gatorade, eating BBQ chips, and delicious cold pasta salad made by our good friend Debbie's mommy :)~

We woke up around 4:45am to begin our prepping, eating (yes again), and packing. Down in the lobby by 5:15am, the school bus is already waiting. We choose not to wear any long sleeve shirt to discard later because eventually it will warm up once the sun came out. The school bus windows didn't close and made the ride incredibly cold. The bus took us directly to Camarillo Airport to begin the race.
The music was playing and there about 8 porta potties with long lines. The full marathon was at a different location than the half marathon. One of the directors of the marathon rode on the bus with us. He said there were about 900 full marathon runners signed up. If I had to guess, there was a little over 500 that actually started. It was small. There are always characters when running a race. I always wonder the stories behind them. The guy by the porta potties had a wrestling mask that tied in the back with matching spandex pants. Likely Nacho Libre's cousin :) !It was also the first time I saw men wearing dresses.
 The race was to start at 0700 am but 8 minutes after, the announcer states there will be a 30 minute delay to wait for more runners. It's 45 degrees and we're shivering. In hind sight, this was good, because I wasn't a bundle of nerves and not visiting the porta pottie every 10 minutes!

The race started after one of the runners volunteered to sing the national anthem, at 0738am. The first 8 miles are through flat farm land. The sun is shining and we're no longer freezing.

Around mile 8 or 9 you begin to run along the Pacific Coast Hwy. We run into the wind and but not bad.

At Point Mugu, it opens up with rolling hills and winding highways. The course is marked off with orange cones. It isn't crowded. The water stations at this point are about every 2.5 miles. I stop at every one of these. There were little Dixie cups of water. The Accelerade is offered at some of the stations. It's thick but goes down easier than GU. We have Gatorade blocks with us. Our pace from the start is no more than 10:45 to 10:30 minute pace. Occasionally we jump up to 10:00 pace but know about the hills the last 8 miles for the race.  Ann has a Garmin that works great and keeps us on track.

These are only rolling hills and not bad at all. The training I did for this marathon helped me out tremendously. At the half way is wonderful beautiful. We have to keep checking ourselves and hold off on our pace.

Beautiful all the way through miles 13 through 18. We saw dolphins!Then the hills begin.

We're getting tired at mile 20. Our cheerful banter becomes talk of what is hurting us at that moment. At mile 21, Ann tells me go keep going. She is coping with foot pain. Pushing on, I continue to stop at every water station. There are two families I have seen starting from miles 12 and on. Who ever they are supporting was running somewhere around Ann and I. We become friendly and they cheer us on! After I left Ann, I was so grateful to see them as the miles seemed to stretch forever. Who ever you are in the dark grey SUV with the small kids and the older couple passing out 'hi-fives' and candy in a red bowl, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have no words of wisdom to get anyone through the last 5 miles of a marathon. As a non runner, it meant lots of hours and hours of running so many miles, I stopped keeping track of them prior to even running a marathon. Without Ann's Garmin to keep track of my pace, I just tried to keep my wits about me. Sometimes I cursed out loud, but I believe my memory muscles took over for me. I definitely wanted to give up. In a small way, finishing didn't matter any more. I wanted to stop. Steep hills plagued my legs and slowed me down. Coming down hill was no relief because you could see the next hill which appeared to be steeper. At one point, there was a sign that pointed an arrow showing finish line to half marathon and an arrow up for full marathon. There was still another 4 miles to go. I kept no more than 11:50 minute pace if I had to guess. I swore the 5:15 pacer group probably already passed me. Coming down a hill at mile 24, I could see the tents on the beach. These tents looked like it was at least another 4 miles away. It was only suppose to be the last mile. At this point I begin to thank my family and God for supporting me. The end was close.  As I headed up the last hill, came over the top, I could see the cones lined up at the bottom of the hill turning runners to the right. I didn't believe it. As I got closer, I thought, "oh this is one of those marathons where you have another 0.9 miles to the finish line". Turning right into the beach parking lot and then a quick left, there it was , the finish line!  There were two men ahead of me. I can't really tell you what happened to me, but I started to sprint! Where the world did that come from? I saw the time on the clock reading 4:58:something as I crossed over. I had to bend over and pant. Someone put a medal around my neck as I stood up as another volunteer handed me a water bottle and beach towel. One a table at the end of the corral were fruit snack cups! OMG I was starving! Fruit cups and no spoon!  I turned around to see an elderly man we ran with during the first 10 miles.  He hugged me and congratulated me. I turned back towards to the finish like to see if Ann had come through. As I made my back, I could see Ann coming down the stretch. She crossed saying she couldn't feel her hands and I reponded, "I don't think I want to do another one"!  We worked our way out over by the beach brakers and stood around reflecting.

Thank you to Malibu Marathon team. It definately allows me to compare my next marathon to those hills. Yes, I've already signed up to do the Carlsbad Full Marathon in 2013.

Thank you to the gals who gave us a ride back to our hotel after the race. We couldn't find the shuttle buses. One of the girls placed 2nd in the 50 year olds age group and ran it in 4:08 (I was told was slow for her) and her friend came in 7th in the same age group. We were glad you found your car and can't thank you enough for helping out complete strangers. I am sorry I forgot your names.

I got up today and went for a walk with my doggies and I do feel sore, but if needed, I could run. I will do my recovery week and if my body allows it, will begin training again.
My official time was 4:56:48
overall #467 out 658 runners
Age group #28 out of 45

Final Weeks Until Malibu International Marathon 2012

Heading into the last 3 weeks of training and I'm feeling pretty good. No real injuries and only an occasional sore muscle.  Night time comes fast. My running pal got me this to carry along with me during my night runs. My husband says, "Works until you spray yourself". 
The miles have increased, leaving little time for strength training between my runs. At night before I go to be bed, I'll do squats and push ups. It's as good as it gets.
The weather is colder now making it much easier to run. Hehehehe, I never thought I would say that! My new shoes I bought at the beginning of July have torn along the seams. I don't think Saucony makes a long lasting shoe. Tomorrow, I'll go to the Road Runner store to look at Asics.
I occationally look at my watch to check my pace. I run at whatever feels good.  I'm more worried about finishing the the marathon then obtaining a personal best. I want to relax and try to take in as much of the experience as I can!
My recent Running Times magazine came in yesterday. There's a good article called "Marathon Day". The article review prerace, race morning, & warm up strategies. Funny enough it suggest how to set your goal marathon pace. It stresses to stay positive and fighting back the temptation to start out fast that could negatively effect your over all race. The article came a  perfect time.
Tomorrow's long run of 18 miles, I'll be running my comfortable pace through my hills and the last few miles think drum up this article to test some of the suggestions.