Three Reasons Why November is Going to be Really Exciting!

1. I feel like I am kind of pushing it here in terms of races but how do you pass up a great opportunity to run with a friend on a team that is sponsored by two great companies (Nuun and Pro Compression?) I will answer that for you...YOU DON'T! My friend Caroline asked me if I would be interested in running Ragnar Las Vegas with her and I didn't have to think twice about it! The only problem is that we will be flying out of town on my wedding anniversary so I kind of had to ask for permission! My other half gave me his blessing and the rest is history! So on November 7th, I will be leaving on a plane to Las Vegas with Caroline since we are practically neighbors! We will be in Van #1 together so I am excited about that too. I am also excited to meet some other ladies who I know from their blogs but have never met in person. I guess I will be overdosing on Watermelon Nuun and losing sleep in Sin City in just a few weeks!

2. About a week after Ragnar Las Vegas, on November 17th, I will be running the Surfer's Point Half Marathon with my other half. This will be "our first half marathon" as a team. It will be his first and #14 for me. I am really excited about it. I love running in Ventura and I am excited to see him take on this challenge. As of now we have no goals for this race. He doesn't care about time and just wants to finish the race and take it all in. 

3. I will start training for the LA Marathon the week of the Surfer's Point Marathon. I will be using this half marathon as my first long run of my training. I think I am going to use the LA Marathon as a trial run for a BQ to see how close I can come to a qualifying time of 3:45! Just the thought of it makes me nervous but I think it will give me a good idea of where I stand and what my chances of a BQ race in May might be. I can never be confident enough when it comes to the marathon because it is such a humbling experience.

Anything exciting happening for you in November? Please Share!

4/19-4/20/13: Ragnar So Cal Relay (Runner's High)

What a non-stop crazy, exciting and fun experience I had over a 31-hour period! I had a blast and I am already looking forward to doing it again. We were not in it to win it and just wanted to have fun. We met at 4:30am on Friday morning at a location which was 10 minutes from my house which was great for me. We loaded up our bags, took a few pictures in our team shirts, decorated our vans a little bit and then headed out to the start in Huntington Beach. 

 

Our vans were overstocked stocked with lots of water, Nuun, snacks, pillows, sleeping bags and everything you can possibly imagine. 

Our driver (Van 2) is an IT Director so he had the whole techy setup going on in our van. We had no problems with charging our phones and he brought a laptop, an iPad, Wifi connection walkie talkies, and all that techy stuff. He also suggested that we use the app "Find My Friends" to track all of our runners so we could see their location at all times. This app was very useful and gave us a good idea as to when our runners would be coming into the exchanges and it was great for safety reasons too.

I was Runner 10 in Van 2 and the oldest member on the team. I earned the name "Grandma" and that is pretty much what they called me the entire time. The youngest runners on our team were 17 years old. They are fast and tackled some of the hilliest legs with 6:XX minute miles. There were times when these two almost beat the van to the exchange! 

Our team started at 7:00am and we all met at the start to see our first runner off. This sweet girl drove down from Arizona the night before to join our team since we had a runner who was injured and could not run for us. She was awesome!

My first leg started in Corona around noon when it was 85+ degree and seriously horrible! It was my hardest leg, not only I was nervous about getting lost but I ran out of water around mile 4 of a 5.7 mile distance. I kept the pace easy because I didn’t want to die out there but I think I was dying anyway. I met lots of nice people out there so I had some company to suffer with! Thank God I wore my Garmin because there were no mile markers out there with the exception of the "One Mile to Go" signs. I needed to know how much longer I would be suffering for. My average pace for this leg was 9:23.

 

My second leg was 2.2 miles  in San Marcos and I ran it around 1:00am in the darkness. Thank God it was flat and easy. It was 50 degrees and I got it done pretty quickly considering that I was dead tired and knew that sleep was not going to happen anytime soon. I ran into my friend Danica, who ran an Ultra with Team Sparkle, and we ran part of this leg together. I am glad that I ran into her because talking with her kept me awake for the first mile. I was really worried about getting lost at night but if you follow all of the flashing lights and headlamps from the other runners then it is pretty impossible to get lost. My average pace for this leg was 7:57.

My final leg was around 12:00pm in San Diego the next day. It was my best run of all. It was 4.1 miles, downhill at the start and flat all the way to the finish. I passed lots of runners on this leg and was out there by myself praying that I wasn't alone because I missed a turn! It was 75 degrees but there was a nice ocean breeze for most of the way. Although I was having a blast, I was glad to be finished due to lack of sleep and feeling hungry. My average pace for this leg was 8:17.

I did not experience a smelly van because our team reserved a really nice two bedroom villa at Exchange 18. We stayed at the Lawrence Welk Resort in San Diego which slept six and had everything we needed. We were able to eat dinner, shower and rest for a while we waited for Van 1 to complete their second legs. Once they were done we traded off so they were able to shower and rest as well. We even had time to return to the hotel after our second legs and shower again. I have never been so happy to see a shower and this was probably one of the most refreshing showers that I have ever taken in my whole life! It was also nice to use a "normal toilet" versus a porta potty!

Most of us were first timers so we learned a lot and we will be ready for our next relay. We had some great volunteers and our drivers were awesome too!  They never complained of being tired and did their best to get us to the exchanges on time.

Our drivers definitely gave us some serious lessons on how to drive vans and how to make the most creative illegal u-turns! We learned all about van tagging and our driver was pretty into it. He was tagging moving vans and even returned some items that were left on our van in much worse condition then we received them in!

 

Someone even tagged our van to laugh at me "Grandma."

We laughed a lot and the energy in our van was great! I did not sleep at all but I did catch some of our runners in the act! 
 
Our team captain finished off the last leg around 2:00pm and crossed the finish as a team which was pretty exciting. 

Then we headed home to have our team dinner at BJ's. It was nice to eat something other than pizza, pretzel chips, Pringles, granola bars and peanut butter!

The team had such a great time that they are already talking about doing it again next year or even Ragnar Las Vegas in November.  

Our team placed 89th out out of 371 Open Mixed Teams with a time of 31 hours and 7 minutes. Not too bad for some first timers!

Marathon Training: Week Seven

With all of the chaos and tragedy in Boston, running just did not feel the same to me this week. I did not focus on pace or really care about how fast or slow I was moving. I just felt grateful to be able to run and needed to get out to process everything that has taken place. My mind was so preoccupied with the events in Boston that I just ran. I ran with a free spirit and just got lost in thought about how many lives have been changed as a result of the senseless acts of violence. Boston is my ultimate running goal and I just wish that this memory did not have to be a part of it. I know that I cannot let the actions of this person/group of people change my feelings about running but it just makes me beyond sad that this has affected something that I love so much.  

Week 7 was pretty much dedicated to Boston and this is what I did for Boston this week.

Run #1: 7.00 Miles @8:38. The first 4.09 miles of my run were dedicated to Boston. The 4:09 miles symbolize the time on the race clock when the first explosion occurred. 

Run #2: 4.25 Miles @9:22. Boston was still heavy on my mind and heart so I thought a lot about it on this night run. I feel so badly for the victims who lost their lives and were severely injured. WHY?

So Cal Ragnar Relay Legs 10, 22, and 34! (Ragnar Relay) 12 miles: I will do a separate post to talk about my adventures as a Ragnarian which took the place of my long run this week.

TOTAL MILES: 23.25

I will get things back on track this week so I have to start mentally preparing for it. Tonight after work I  plan on joining a group of other runners for a Tribute Run for Boston.

Happy Earth Day!

I'm a Ragnarian!

I am an official Ragnarian! I had a blast! The heat was brutal but we survived!

I will have the recap up once I get caught up on my sleep!

What is in my Ragnar Bag and Plans for team "Runners High."

I don't mind packing my bags to go on a trip but I have to admit that I really dislike unpacking! Having said that, I promised myself that I would not over pack. I also had to keep in mind that I am sharing a van with five other people and they need some space too! I looked at a lot of packing lists for Ragnar that are floating around and I think I have everything I need. I also have water and snacks that I will be bringing with me and I might bring my pillow too. 

We were lucky enough to have two great companies sponsor our team. Our team captain was able to get her husband's employer to cover the costs of both of our vans and the fuel! Lucky us! We are also blessed that one of our team members is employed by BJ's Brewhouse and was able to get a donation from them as well. We plan on using the money to eat and celebrate as a team once we finish the relay. I plan to sleep on the way home, since we will have a long drive back from San Diego, and then be in full celebration mode when we return home. I am going to miss my boys since they will not be able to come and cheer me on.

 

I don't think we are dressing up but we did order custom shirts with our team name (Runners High) and team member and volunteer names on them. Our team reserved a hotel at one of the major exchanges so we will be able to rest and shower while Van#1 runs their second legs. Based on the average pace of the team, my second leg, which is only 2.2 miles, will happen sometime around 12:30am. I am a little nervous about the night run but since it is short it should not take me very long to complete. In addition to my reflective vest, safety light and headlamp, I bought these socks to keep me more than visible at night! Can you tell that I am a little nervous about the night running part?

 

It's been pretty crazy these past couple of days trying to get the last minute details in place. We also lost two of our runners at the last minute and had to replace them ASAP. One of them is injured and the other one never showed up for the team meetings or responded to any of the team captain's email, texts or phone calls for some reason or another. We do know that this person is okay so I am not sure why there was no response. 

I am feeling really nervous and excited about my first relay and I can't wait for the fun the begin! We are meeting up at 4:30am to take some pictures and head down to Huntington Beach. Our team starts at 7:00am so be watching for my tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram posts. I will be using the hashtags #socalragnar2013 and #teamrunnershigh to keep you updated on our progress. 

Anybody else going to be out there running So Cal Ragnar? Good Luck!

A Visit With Grandpa

The weekend seemed to come and go so quickly! My weekend was pretty busy and I got a lot of things done. I got my long run out of the way on Saturday then got my hair cut later that day. I did not cut it all off yet but one day soon I am hoping to get brave enough to do it! 

My grandpa's grave marker was finally finished and placed a couple of weeks ago so I took my grandma to see it on Sunday. We spent some time cleaning the marker and decorated it really nicely for him. I am sure he would have loved it. We just found out today that the cemetery changed the schedule for removal of the flowers and decorations so they will remove all of this on Tuesday. Bummer!

After the visit, we took Grandma to In N Out to eat a burger. She loves their burgers and she seemed really happy to be surrounded by family. My Sunday was a rest and recovery day so that is pretty much all that I did with the exception of about four loads of laundry! 

I also bought some snacks for my Ragnar Relay this weekend and started packing my bags. I also bought a pair of CEP reflective night running socks so I hope they arrive in time for Ragnar. I am a little bit nervous about running in the middle of the night but I only have to run 2.2 miles so I will be treating my second leg of the relay as speed work! I am trying not to over pack but sometimes I get carried away. This is what I have packed so far and I need to get busy since I don't have much time left!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything special?

Talk Ragnar to Me

What a work week it has been! It has been crazy busy week at work and it seems like I come in, sit at my desk, and then it is time to go home. I actually enjoy staying busy because if you are bored at work you just watch the clock and the time never passes!

My work schedule requires me to work one Friday a month and this month there are five Fridays in March which means I will work two Fridays this month. Thank God that I love my job or else I would be a mess! I am truly blessed to hold the position that I do so I can't really complain.

I went to visit the captain of my Ragnar Team last night to talk about our upcoming Ragnar Relay and she always makes dinner for us. This is one of the biggest perks of having meetings at her house instead of Starbucks!

She made pasta with grilled chicken and served me way too much but of course I ate it.This lady really knows how to cook. It was that good that I stuffed myself and went home and crashed.

We are finalizing the details of our Ragnar Team, AKA "Runner's High," and I think we have finally secured a team of 12 people that are committed to doing this. Our captain also forced asked her husband's employer to sponsor out team and they agreed!  They are paying for our two vans and all of the gas to go in them too! Sweet! We had a few people drop off the team for personal reasons which was probably a smart decision since they were doing zero training which would have resulted in injury. We have since replaced them with some new runners who seem really motivated and excited to be a part of the team. We have a mix of men and women on the team and everyone is at different levels with their running. We even have a 17-year old boy on our team who runs 5-6 minute miles so we have old people (like me) and young people too.

I am Runner 10. I have a fairly simple job of running a total of 11.9 miles.

Leg 10: 5.6 Miles (Hard)

Leg 22: 2.2 Miles (Easy) This is the leg which I will probably have to run in the middle of the night so I plan on running like a bat out of hell because I am afraid!

Leg 34: 4.1 Miles (Moderate)

I was originally signed up to run a much harder set of legs but decided to take it easy since I have Mountains 2 Beach right around the corner and didn't want to risk an injury at the last minute. I was really close to leaving the team because it seemed like things were not coming together and I was starting to get stressed about it. I tend to stress out when I feel like things are not organized or progressing at the rate that I think they should be. I didn't want my first relay experience to be stressful by any means so the change has done me some good. The team is doing this relay just for fun so I am just going to enjoy the experience and have a good time!

Anybody else doing Ragnar this year? 

Do you tend to stress out when you don't have control over a situation and things are not going as you think they should be?
Does that make me a control freak?  

Ragnar So.Cal 2013!!

After following all of the Ragnar Relay teams this past April and reading all of the blog posts, I decided that I really wanted to do this because it looked like a lot of fun! I recently added Ragnar So. Cal to my Running Bucket List and then I got an invitation to be part of a team a couple of weeks ago. I immediately accepted and I am really excited about it. I really want to be part of this team to have fun and for the experience and I don't really care if we win or what place the team comes in. 

The 12 member team met for the first time on Saturday. Most of us do not know each other so it gave us the opportunity to meet and get to know a little bit about each other. Everyone seems really excited and enthusiastic about it.  If everyone stays committed, we have a team of 9 women and 3 men and want to register by the end of the month. I think I am the oldest woman on the team by a few years but I think I can hang with the younger ones! The youngest member of our team is 16 years old and runs 5:30-6:00 minute miles!  He is pretty speedy!! Right before our meeting he ran 10 miles at 6:30!

Everyone came to the meeting with an idea of what Runner they wanted to be and I am going to be Runner 3.  I will run Legs 3, 15 and 27 for a total of 19 miles.  Two of the legs are in the class of  "Moderate" and one is classified as "Very Hard." I think I can handle it :)

Most of the girls on the team are running the Long Beach Half Marathon as preparation for Ragnar. I have this race on my radar as well but I am not decided on whether I will run the half or the full. I really want to run the full but I am not sure if I will be ready for it this October! I am still working on getting my mileage back up and will not be able to train like I really need to.

I am excited but nervous all at the same time. I am looking for any good information to help my team be "RAGNAR READY!"  Only one member of the team has ran the Ragnar Relay in the past and the rest of us are first timers!!

Any Ragnar Relay veterans out there? Any advise or tips you would like to share with a team of virgin Ragnar Runners?