Three Things Thursday

1. My son failed his eye test at school so we took him to get his eyes checked and found out that he has really bad astigmatism in one eye. Apparently his right eye is doing all of the work so he has to wear glasses full time now. He is not very excited about it and today will be his first day wearing his glasses to school. I hope it goes well. If one person makes fun of him I know that he will refuse to wear his glasses. Kids can be cruel and he has ran into quite a few of them who are not so nice at times.

2. It is officially taper time and I am so nervous about my upcoming race. The ten day forecast will be available tomorrow and I am really concerned about the heat that we have been having here in So Cal. As of now it is looking like the temperatures are rising which may result in adjusting my goals for the race. Bummer! I do not run well in the heat...

3. On Father's Day I will be participating in the commencement ceremony for earning my Master's Degree. I actually finished all of my classes some time ago but since the ceremonies are held once a year, I had to wait all this time. I am not sure why they planned it on Father's Day but I am excited that my Dad will be coming and we will be able to spend the day together after the ceremonies. 

Mother's Day 2013

I had a great Mother's Day. I took the day off from running and spend the entire day with my family. We went to Lucille's BBQ for lunch and then we went to see The Great Gatsby. We enjoyed the movie but I think I am partial to the original movie. Robert Redford cannot be replaced as Jay Gatsby in my opinion.

My Grandma and my son.

My daughter and my son were very thoughtful and gave me some super nice gifts. They know me too well. They both wrote me some super nice cards that made me feel like I am doing my best to be a good mother to them. 

My daughter knows me too well!

Notes from my son...

Apparently I am a Super Mom these days!

How was your Mother's Day? Did you do anything special?

Marathon Training: Week 10 (Taper Time)

This week was a tough one because of the hot weather here in Southern California. When I say hot I am talking 90-104 degrees which can really mess with your running schedule. Not to mention that it was also Mother's Day this weekend so I had to juggle things around this week to squeeze my workouts in.

I did not have a bad week even though I missed one run. My long run is the most important run for my training. I know that I cannot miss it so this week was all about getting that last long run in.  

Here is a recap of Week 10:

Run #1: 5 Miles@9:02. I was actually sore from walking the half marathon last week so I decided that I was going to rest until the pain was completely gone in my rear end! It was not worth pushing myself and taking a chance at this point in my training. I am getting a little smarter in my old age!

Run #2: DID NOT HAPPEN! It was too hot outside and I was lacking energy. Do you want to hear anymore excuses?

Run #3:  22 Miles @8:40. The pace might look decent for 22 miles but it was actually not such a great idea. The temperature was predicted to be at 93 degrees and I was afraid of getting caught it in the heat. I pushed myself way too hard to hurry and finish but ended up being completely out of gas at the end. It was warm out there and if it had been race day, it would not have been pretty because I don't think I could have gone much further! I was glad that I got it done but not so happy with the way it was executed. My calves are a little sore but I have been icing them and foam rolling and that is helping.

Total Miles: 27 

Now it is time to taper! It is going to be another tough week since the temperatures are going to continue into the 90's and my gym is closed for renovation. There is another gym that is close to me but it is not a very nice facility so I am not too excited about going there. My longest run this week will be 10 miles and then it's race week! I am nervous as ever and I am still convincing myself that those last 6.2 miles are when the race really starts!

5/5/13: OC Half Marathon

This makes half marathon #12 for me. This race brings me back to 2012 since it is the first race I ran coming back from my hamstring injury. It just so happened that my good friend Caroline is dealing with an injury this year so I decided to give her some support out on the course. I knew what this race meant to her. I knew she was determined to finish it. I knew she needed to finish this race so she could begin to deal with her injury. I knew I needed to be there with her to help her since her family was not going to be there as they always are.  This was her race. It was not mine.

Caroline invited me to stay at a local hotel with her since the race had a start time of 6:15 a.m. We went to the expo on Saturday afternoon and then had dinner at a local mall. We went back to our room and talked, drank tea, ate some snacks, laughed and then decided to call it a night around 11 p.m knowing that we needed to wake up at 4 a.m. to catch the 5:05 a.m. shuttle to the start. 

RACE DAY:
We hopped on the shuttle in the morning and arrived at the start with little time to spare.

 

We immediately made our way to the porta potties. The lines were really long and almost all of the them were out of toilet paper. By the time we got up there they were out of seat covers too since those became the toilet paper! People were not happy! I happened to have some napkins with me so I got lucky plus I squat and never ever sit!

We made our way into corral 5 and waited for our turn to start.It was 61 degrees and windy at the start but the weather turned out to be just perfect. The sun never came out the entire time we were out on the course.

 

Caroline did not want me to stay with her and she tried to get rid of me multiple times but I knew she needed me and I wasn't about to leave her on the course alone. I finally scolded her and told her to stop looking at me and focus on her race. She was threatening to run and telling me that I was going to have a horrible time on Athlinks.com and all sorts of crazy stuff but I just ignored her and distracted her by doing things like this.

 

I think she finally stopped trying to get rid of me at mile 12 since none of her threats were working! I just could not find the heart to leave her and I knew that the right decision was to stay with her and make sure she made it to the finish line. This was decided earlier in the week when I ran my half marathon on the treadmill the Friday prior to the race. That was an experience!

I enjoyed this race because I had the opportunity to appreciate the course and to see things that I would not normally notice or pay attention to. I was able to "stop and smell the roses," and sometimes you just need to do that. I noticed how beautiful the course was, the amazing homes along the course, children waving from their windows, all of the mile marker signs, all of the cute pets that were hanging out with their humans that were supporting the runners, acting silly for the photographers and I even noticed a home that still had their Christmas tree up! I never do these things because I zone out and just focus on finishing. 

The time passed very quickly even though we were walking/jogging the course. It was over before I knew it and I left Caroline around the 13 mile mark to run to the finish. I finished in 2:57:58 with a happy heart. I did not care about my time. I wanted to see Caroline finish her race and I know she wanted a finish line photo. She finished with her hand over her heart for Boston and she didn't vomit or have dry heaves! Sorry Caroline..I had to say that.

 

Her husband was not there to take her photos so I was her substitute photographer but with my iPhone. We hugged each other at the finish and had a little moment before we headed over to pick up her Beach Cities Challenge medal. I think she was happy and I was happy for her. This picture pretty much sums up the way we were feeling out on the course.

 

I can also tell you that walking a half marathon might sound easy but it is not. I was sore in places that I have never been sore before! I am now one race away from getting my Beach Cities Challenge medal! The last race in the series is the Long Beach Half Marathon which I will run in October. I can't wait to get my hands on that medal. 

Three Things Thursday

1. RunDisney posted pictures of the medals for the Dumbo Double Dare, Disneyland Half Marathon, Disneyland 10K, and the Disneyland 5K in September. I can't wait to get mine!

2. I registered for another race. I have not ran a 10K in a while. It is a very small local race that is about 2 miles from my house. I guess I can even run to the race in the morning! I have lived in the area for a while now but was never able to register since I had school on Saturdays.

 3. The Long Beach International Marathon announced that the marathon will now start at 6:00 a.m. and the half will start at 7:30 a.m. In the past, the marathon started at 7 or 7:30 a.m. and by the time you finished the weather was really warm. I love races with early starts and I am now thinking that I might change to the full if I can survive training through the summer heat. If not, I am already registered for the half marathon. All I really want is my Beach Cities Challenge medal and this will be the last race I need to get it regardless of distance.