4/4-4/5/14: Ragnar So Cal Relay (Runner's High)

This was my third Ragnar Relay. I ran both Ragnar So Cal and Ragnar Las Vegas last year and loved every moment of it.  We had five new runners of our team this year and everyone was a lot of fun. I was in Van 2 again this year and my total mileage was 12 and some change. I like to keep the mileage low because when I don't sleep since I don't enjoy running all that much when I am dead tired. I also told my team that I will be backup for anyone who gets injured or cannot run their leg for any reason. I am also glad that I didn't go for much more than I did because of the issues that I have been having with my hip. I knew that I was going to have to take it easy which is hard.

The same company, TRL Systems, that sponsored our team last year was nice enough to do it again this year. They paid for our vans and the gas which is the largest expense for a team unless you use your personal vehicles. We did have a huge scare with our two 15-passenger vans the day before the event. Enterprise called our captain and told him that due to the Chevy recall that is going on, they were not able to rent the vans to us. After explaining our situation to them, they found two SUV's for us and that is what we used this year.

 

We also had some great volunteers who also volunteered for our team last year. They are so nice to do this for us. One of the girls on our team (pictured below in the middle) finds all of our volunteers and drivers. She is awesome and saves us a lot of headaches, time and money since we would have to pay if we did not find volunteers.

 

Our driver was awesome as well. He drove Van 1 last year and this year he drove us in Van 2. He told us that it was a whole new experience driving Van 2. I guess we were a little too crazy for him. He slept whenever he could but I know the poor man was tired.

My team had a start time of 6:45 am but we ended up starting at 7:00 am since we were busy taking team photos and missed our start time. Ooops! Not a big deal because we do not run this event for time but simply for fun. This year we ran for a more important purpose. We ran in honor of my running buddy's husband who was the driver of Van 2 last year.  He took his own life last September and he is the one who started "Runner's High" so our team ran in his honor by wearing these bibs.

The weather was so much cooler this year which was a real blessing. It was in the 60-75 range which was really nice. It was so hot last year which made it pretty tough. So here is a quick summary of the three legs that I ran. 

Leg 9: 5.3 Miles (3:23 pm): Average Pace 8:02
My first leg was the longest but the easiest. I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure what to expect with my hip but it was actually pain free and I did push it a little just to see if I could run faster than a 9:00 pace which is the pace that I committed to. I really enjoyed this leg because I haven't ran an 8:XX pace in a few weeks. I think I got 16 kills on this run too!

 

Leg 21: 3.25 Miles (2:28 am): Average Pace 9:07
This leg was tough! I had not slept at all and I was running on empty. My dinner did not sit well and I was just not feeling it! I just told myself to take it easy and try to stay at a 9:00 pace if possible and forgot about the kills. I didn't want to run alone in the dark so I pretty much stayed with another girl who was out running. We came to a signal and when the it was our turn to go she looked at me and said "Happy Trails. See you at the Finish" and took off. I wasn't sure why she said that to me. It started to sprinkle and it felt really good to run in the cool weather. I eventually caught up to "Happy Trails" and ended up passing her and she was kill #10. I think she gave me the motivation I needed to get to the exchange.

Leg 33: 3.52 Miles (11:49 am): Average Pace 8:31
My last leg was probably the most enjoyable! Most of it was on a beach path and the ocean view and breeze was amazing. I had slept for about an hour at this point so I was still lagging but wanted to finish this last leg at a decent pace because I was about to be done. My goal was an 8:30-8:35 pace and I was able to accomplish that even though I was exhausted!

 

We had a lot of fun in Van 2 and from what I hear, Van 1 was very quiet. They called themselves the "Library Van." Our van was non-stop and we had a lot of fun. We provided leg support to our runners whenever possible and we also handed out bottles of water and snacks to the other runners out there. That was pretty fun and the runners really appreciated it.

We ran to the finish line as a team which was really fun. We finished in 33 hours 2 minutes and 47 seconds to be exact and placed 304th out of 510 teams in the Regular Mixed Open Division.

Adding to the Race Calendar

I was looking at my Upcoming Races and thought that it was looking pretty empty so guess what I did? I signed up for two more race! I haven't made a decision on a marathon yet but I plan to after I get a solid 20 miler in the books. I have been itching to run a 5K ever since I spectated the Pasadena 5K a couple of weeks ago. The combination of  zero speed work and the summer heat will most likely result in a non-PR but I want to do it anyway just to see where I am at in the 5K department. The course is pretty flat but I don't do well in the heat period so my expectations are pretty low. The Cypress 5K is a local race (anything that does not require a hotel stay is considered local to me) that is pretty cheap so it is hard to pass it up. They also offer bib pick up the morning of the race so I like having that option to so that I don't have to make a double trip since it is a 40 mile drive.

I also committed to running So Cal Ragnar again with the same group that I ran it with this past April.  A few of the runners were not able to commit so we are adding a few new faces to the team next year. We registered early to take advantage of the lower pricing so there is no turning back now! It will be fun and our team will again be sponsored by our captain's employer who sponsored us last year. They will be paying for the vans and the gas which is a huge help! We are very lucky and blessed!

How is your race calendar looking for the remainder of 2013?

Are you planning to add any big races to close out the year?
Another marathon is still on my mind..I just have to pick one and pull the trigger!

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!

A Ladies Weekend

This weekend was spent enjoying some time away with a few of the ladies from my Ragnar Relay Team. We did lots of eating, laughing and a little bit of running too. I rarely leave my family to take trips alone and this was the first time that I actually went away with friends so there was a little bit of guilt there. My kids never like it when I leave. My daughter still cries when I leave and she's a big girl already.

I had second thoughts about going because part of the trip included plans to run, of course! As you know, running and I have not been the best of friends lately so I didn't want to be the odd man out on the trip or be in the way. They insisted that I go anyway so I agreed and brought my running gear along with me just in case I was feeling up to it. I love running in new places and had been watching the weather forecast and when I saw that it was predicted to be in the mid 50's, I felt even worse. I haven't seen cool weather for quite a few months here in California so I was looking forward to it.

We headed out to Santa Barbara on Saturday morning and thankfully I did not have to drive! We made a quick pit stop at Starbucks and then we were on our way. I am kind of burned out with driving so that was one of the conditions for me to come along. NO DRIVING! We stayed at the Hotel Santa Barbara which is about a 135 mile drive from home. The drive was about an hour and a half but the time went by pretty quickly with all of the talking that we were doing.

The hotel was very pretty and the room was really cute but maybe a little too cozy for three females to share. The building is four stories high and we stayed on the 4th floor. Imagine how much time it takes for three women to get ready with only one bathroom....

After we settled into our room we walked down State Street and had breakfast. I had an egg white vegetable omelet and it was really good! They also served us some warm bread that was out of this world (one of my biggest weaknesses!)  

After breakfast we walked to the outdoor mall and ran into a couple of dangerous places.  I behaved myself at Lululemon and did not but anything even though I saw a few items that I would love to have! We also visited a cupcakery that had 100 calorie cupcakes but it was hardly a bite! Can you believe that I passed on the cupcakes? That is probably my biggest weakness of all!

The girls really wanted to go wine tasting but I am not much of a drinker... at all.  I have a drink every blue moon but I never ever finish it. I never developed a taste for alcohol but I went along just to see what it was all about. I told them that I would be the designated driver so they could enjoy themselves but we ended up catching the shuttle there. We went to the Santa Barbara Winery and I had a small taste one of the sweeter wines and it didn't taste like anything wonderful so I stopped there. The ladies really enjoyed it and purchased a few bottles to take home. I had never experienced what wine tasting was all about so it was a fun experience.

We had an amazing dinner at Pierre LaFond Bistro on Saturday night and since one of the girls that we met up with actually works there, she got us an amazing discount. We ordered different entrees and shared so that we could taste everything and it was all so delicious. I ordered the macaroni and cheese and some of the other dishes included meatloaf, diablo pizza which had goat cheese, veggies and soy chorizo on top, and the other dish was a risotto dish with duck. The appetizer was fried vegetables and they were so good. The veggies included kale,green beans, broccoli and squash.

The dessert, Kahlua Tiramisu, was by far my favorite. I love dessert (another one of my weakness)! 

After dinner we took a walk down State Street to burn off all of the yummy food but decided to turn in early because everyone was tired and wanted to rest up for a long run in the morning. State Street gets pretty crazy at night and that was confirmed when the Land Shark drove by with a bunch of intoxicated college students dancing to "Call Me Maybe."

The highlight of my weekend was our Sunday morning run and the weather was absolutely perfect!! It was 53 degrees at 8:00 a.m. and I enjoyed it so so much! We ran down State Street until we ended up on a bike trail by the ocean and the time flew right by because I was so busy taking everything in. After 3 miles, I told the girls that I was going to head back and told them to continue on because they wanted to run 10-12 miles and I knew that it was not a good idea for me. I felt sad turning back alone but I knew that it was a smart decision that I would not regret. It was a pain free run so I was happy about that and I am still feeling okay today considering that 6.25 miles was probably pushing it for me right now. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out downtown and probably some more eating. We also checked out the course of the upcoming Santa Barbara International Half Marathon/Marathon that is coming up in a few weeks. There is a pretty decent hill on the course that is in a pretty crazy location (Mile 10 for the half and Mile 22 of the full.) We drove up the hill which was about about a .40 mile climb and it is a pretty challenging one for me since I do not exactly love hills. I would love to run the half because I really love the perfect weather in Santa Barbara at this time of year. We headed home about 5:00 p.m and did not run into any traffic. I had a fun time but was a little home sick so I was glad to be back home with my family in my own bed on my own pillow :)

So what was the highlight of your weekend?