She Do Run Run: 2013

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Thirteen

This morning I ran the Big Sur Half Marathon for the third time (2006, 2008, and 2013). It was my thirteenth half and the '08 race holds my PR. It was pretty much as I remembered it--a beautiful course with only one big hill, the one heading onto Lighthouse Rd, taking us through the village of Pacific Grove. It wasn't as bad a hill as I remembered and I was able to run all the way up it. The temperature was the best yet--50F at the start, with no wind. I ran in short sleeves and running skirt, with arm warmers for the first few miles.

Some girlfriends were also running this race, but I didn't see them before the start. SD dropped me off and I used the portapotty a couple of times and warmed up with some sprints and plyometrics. Then I took off my warm gear, dropped off the sweats bag and lined up in Corral I (for Incredible, I told myself ;-) )Of course, we had to wait for corrals A-H to cross the start. Twenty-two minutes later, I crossed the starting line.

At the expo the day before I had picked up a pace band for a 2:30 finish and spoke to the pace leader. In the corral I saw the 2:30 balloons on a stick. She was pretty far up from where I was but I thought I could catch up when she took the walking break. She had told me she would take a one minute walk every mile, which is what I had been doing on my training runs. I never caught up and the pace band fell off my arm somewhere. But I had my trusty Garmin!

I kept a steady pace and felt good, walking through the water stops but otherwise running. As we were leaving Pacific Grove and heading back to the shore, I saw a man running while using a walker! I said "Good Job" as I passed him and dedicated the next mile to him. "God bless him," I thought, at least he's out there. Well, this man didn't need my sympathy because we kept leapfrogging along the way! I'd pass him on the uphill and he'd pass me when I'd stop for water. At one point he passed and I told some women alongside me about dedicating a mile to him. "Now you can dedicate another one for him," said one of them. I told her he didn't need me dedicating any more miles, that he could dedicate one to me! Later I looked up his bib number; he's 70 years old and finished in 02:49:19. 'Atta boy, Charles!

The course is an out and back with the turnaround being around mile 7, so you can see the runners ahead of you as they head back. I kept an eye out for my friends and saw Sandi around Mile 8. She ran the NYC Marathon two weeks ago and was suffering from Plantar Fasciitis and looked like she was hurting. I dedicated a mile to her; she finished in around 2:22 which is pretty darn fast all things considered. Her twin sister, who also ran New York 2 short weeks ago, finished under 2 hours! These amazing women are only a few years younger than me and started running around 6 years ago. Here's a picture of us at the expo.

Mile 10 is when I started to fatigue. I had developed the attitude that a half-marathon isn't too difficult, but that's because I ran them in the middle of marathon training. This time, my longest training run had been 12 miles and I haven't raced a half marathon in 18 months. I slowed down and did some high-knees and butt kicks, just to kind of stretch while still moving forward. I dedicated that mile to my friend Nancy, who was widowed a year ago. Then just before mile 11 I texted SD so that he would know when to expect me at the finish--he wanted me to alert him so that he could take my picture crossing the finish line. I also stopped and stretched and dedicated Mile 11 to my mother.

I was able to pick up the pace in the last mile and started to pick off the runners in front of me. Somewhere along the way a stranger said, "Come on, we can do this!" We introduced ourselves and she told me her name was Therese. She was on her way to a 30 minute PR and was very happy. We pushed the pace and I stuck to her like glue. My heart rate felt like it was around 1,000,000 bpm and I started groaning. But Therese encouraged me and I continued on. "Where the hell is the finish line?" "Over there--pink house." I got an opening and went for it. "Go, Dori!," I heard Therese yell. I felt bad that she was behind me, because I wanted her to cross before me, since I was only there because of her. Then a rocket named Therese flew by and if I had any breath I would have shouted encouragement. I looked up her results: Therese Marchetti, 50, 02:35:27. My time was 02:42:37, a 12:24 pace overall.

When I crossed the finish line I felt like I would die! Therese called my name and I went and gave her a big hug and thanked her for running me in. She said I helped her, too, and that, my friends, is what running is all about.

Monday, October 07, 2013

Hills, Heat, and Headwinds

My last post mentioned that I ran a 10K, then on the run back (making it a 20K), my foot swelled up like a balloon. The swelling took a while to go down, to the point that I visited the Urgent Care. They took an x-ray and thankfully, nothing was broken. Then the following week I went to the orthopedist and he recommended that I not run for 6 weeks. What! He warned that I might re-injure myself while the foot was healing. I complied, but there went my marathon training.

Since I turned 60 a few months ago, I planned to run the Harvest Marathon in October to commemorate that milestone birthday. My schedule wouldn't allow for a marathon later this year, so I thought I would do a Century ride instead. That's a 100 mile bicycle ride. It's been on my bucket list. But when I checked training schedules, I realized I didn't have the time to train for one, so I signed up for a Metric Century instead, 100K or 62 miles.

My bicycle is an Orbea Diva, a road bike I bought 4 years ago. Lightweight and loaded, it was love at first ride. There are a lot of hills in the North County and I knew my old Sterling mountain bike (which I loved) would not be practical for this locale. I gave it to my friend's college attending daughter when I moved from Minneapolis.

So I signed up for the Templeton Wine and Roses ride, which occurred yesterday. I was supposed to ride with a couple of women friends, but they were unable to ride at the last minute, so I was on my own. It was just as well as I was undertrained, due to travel and other issues. My longest training ride was 24 miles. It should have been 50.

The Metric riders were supposed to leave at 8 but I left at 8:15 to let the weather warm up. It was 47 degrees at the start and I had on arm-warmers and a jacket. At the rest stop at Mile 17 I peeled off the arm warmers. I saw some people I knew there and we chatted. I mentioned that I was under-trained for this ride and someone said with that bike I could do it. I guess it's all about the bike.

After the rest stop the route went through the town of Creston, along Hwy 229. It was freshly paved and flat. A dream! Then it turned into a wooded, curvy, canyon. I stopped at one shady spot and took the sleeves off my jacket, converting it into a vest. I didn't really need the vest but it's a bright color and I wanted to be visible to motorists, although there were only a few. A women came up and stopped as well, also to peel off some layers, and we chatted briefly. Her name was Irene and she invited me to sit with her group at the post-ride barbecue. Here's a somewhat blurry picture of the oak studded highway.

As I continued riding, the road narrowed and winded downhill. I heard a deep honk, which sounded like a truck, and I moved to the side but continued riding. When it passed I saw that it was a fire truck with lights flashing! Oops. I would have stopped had I known it was an emergency vehicle.

It didn't take long to learn where the "fire" was--cyclist down! He was laying in the middle of the road. From what I could learn, his bike slipped and he landed on his shoulder. I'm sure he was in a lot of pain. There was a steep descent and I held my hands on the brake for the entire coast down. I could easily have gone 30 mph if I let gravity have its way but tried to keep it under 20.

At the end of 229, the course led NE on Hwy 58 for eleven miserable miles. It was hot (high 80s); it was hilly; and I was battling a headwind of 18-24 mph! It was also lonely--I never saw another cyclist. I had to dig deep to get through it. I thought about my local bicycle vendor, Scott, who was riding the Furnace Creek 509 that very day. The race starts in the mountains and finishes in the desert. I figured if he could ride over 350 some miles, I could suck it up for my little metric century. But I did wonder what sadistic person came up with that route!

It got a little better when I turned off 58 onto La Panza Road. At least I was out of the wind. There was a turn off earlier, at O'Donovan Rd., which is where the Century riders went. But it would have cut 10 miles off my route so although I desperately wanted to take it, I made myself go past. I was really getting tired by this point (38 miles) but told myself I could rest when I got to the rest stop. It's really what kept me going. I was looking forward to sitting down, taking off my shoes and massaging my burning toes.

Ten miles later, I finally made it to the rest stop just as they were dismantling it. Huh? I didn't think I was the last one on the road. This is like running a marathon: at my first marathon I found myself following the garbage trucks from water station to water station so that I could stay on the route. They pulled out some orange slices and freeze-dried pineapples and filled one water bottle. I should tell you that this course was out in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like I could pull into a mini-market and load up. I still had 14 miles to go but they were out of water so I had to make the one bottle last.

I was so tired of hills! At one point, I stopped in the shade then decided to just walk the rest of the hill. It wasn't even much of a hill--I've passed people on that hill before. But I was spent. Then finally I got to the park; five hours after I started. There was a barbecue, but all I wanted was water. I parked my bike, took off my helmet and shoes, and sat down. My face was encrusted with salt and I felt filthy.

Eventually I got some chicken, pasta salad, and garlic bread. I saw Irene and sat with her for a little while. Her friend Ann was still on the road. Then I saw some other people I knew and sat with them. After a while I just wanted to go home so I got my stuff and headed out. The "Wine and Roses" ride gives a commemorative wine glass to each participant and also a long stemmed rose to all the women cyclists. :-)

There are two things that I credit with getting me to the finish. One is training with Coach Mike, not a real coach but a guy from the Sunday ride group who was kind enough to work with me. He took me out on Tuesday's and Friday's and taught me how to climb. I used to think I had to power up them, but he taught me to spin and when to shift gears. The other thing is the personal training I've been doing twice a week for the past year. And of course, I approached it like a marathoner, which to me means you don't quit and keep moving forward.

Too many of my endurance efforts seem to unnecessarily painful due to undertraining. My hope as a sexagenarian is to finally get smart about training and put in the time before the event. I have a couple of half marathons coming up and I am registered for the L.A. Marathon on March 9. I told SD not to schedule any vacations until after then so that I can dedicate my time to training.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Run for the Buzz

OMG--I'm 60! That means a new age group. To start things off, I ran a 10K yesterday. It's been a while since I've raced that distance. Truth be told, I haven't even done much running beyond 5 miles until the last two weeks. I've only raced 5ks so far this year, so it was time to set a record for my new AG. The Brian Waterbury Memorial Rock to Pier is a point to point run on the beach, from Morro Bay to neighboring Cayucos. There's also a half marathon, which loops back to Morro Bay. Although two of my friends were running the half, I knew I wasn't in any shape to race that distance. We started out together, but they were soon ahead of me. I thought I was doing pretty well, and although I started to tire, I never stopped for a walking break. I was pretty focused and didn't do much chit-chatting along the way. I looked for people who I thought I could keep pace with, but didn't find any. I also looked for runners that I could pick off. So I was vaguely aware of my fellow runners but focused on finishing. One woman started to pass me and I spend up. As I neared the pier, which was the finish line, I heard someone say, "I'm coming in with you." I don't know who she was talking to, but my thought was, "Oh no, you're not!" I may be slow, but I'm still competitive. Mostly we ran on hard packed sand, but you had to run on soft sand to cross the finish. I was steps behind a woman, and then I realized I could cross before her so went for it. Hey, it means one number lower in the overall place. I got my comeuppance though. The results gave us the exact same time, and put her name in first! My marathon training plan called for me to run 9 miles, which means I had 3 miles to make up. So instead of taking the bus back to the start in Morro Bay, where food awaited, I decided it would be smarter to run the six miles back. I figured I'd jog 3 miles then walk the rest. Except I forgot how much I hate walking--it's so slow! I also forgot that I had run hard the first 6 miles and that maybe I should take that into consideration. It occurred to me about two miles out, but by then I didn't want to turn around. I tell you, that was the longest 6 miles I've run in awhile. I doubt that I even ran 3 miles. I was sore and tired, after having only 5 hours of sleep the night before. And I was alone. Although there were plenty of runners and walkers who were heading towards the pier, no one seemed to be running back to the rock at Morro Bay. It was brutal. Kind of like the last 10 miles of a marathon. I had re-filled my water bottles prior to turning back, which helped me wash down the 2 GUs I took. Yes, 2 gels in 6 miles. They didn't help much, except maybe psychologically. My Garmin watch is set to vibrate so I would force myself to run until I felt the watch buzz. Then I would walk. As long as I was running on the beach, I tried to appreciate where I was. Dogs were playing on the beach, young lovers were kissing passionately, and surfers were riding the waves. The race started at low tide which was good for runners but bad for sand crabs. I avoided one but I'm sure someone else behind me got it. Poor sand crabs were trampled under the hordes of running feet and I saw evidence of that as I ran back to Morro Bay. I saw a few interesting birds. Here's a sandpiper. I love their long beaks, designed for digging deep in the sand for tasty sand crabs.

And here's a pretty white egret. At least, I think that's what it is. I'm not much of a birder.

You don't have to be a birder to know a mile marker. This sign for the half marathoners meant I only had one more mile to go. Hallelujah!

After arriving at the staging area, I was rewarded with scrambled eggs, hash browns, bread and delicious strawberries from nearby Santa Maria. Then I looked up my results--1:13:40, 15th place in my age group. And to add insult to injury, my left foot is swollen and I've got it wrapped. Hopefully with a little TLC I'll be able to keep on my marathon schedule, since my next run isn't until Tuesday. I'll keep you posted.

Friday, July 05, 2013

End of a Decade

Tomorrow I turn 60. Right now I'm not too excited about that, but I'll get over it. Birthday's haven't bothered me since I turned 30, but 60 is hitting me hard. Oh, well. I started running 10 years ago, so that I could run a marathon to celebrate turning 50. I never anticipated where that would take me. Of course I have to run a marathon as a 60 year old! I once saw a woman at the Twin Cities Marathon who was in the 75-79 age group. What a pair of legs she had. She is my inspiration for continuing to run marathons. Her name is Joy and she's from Los Gatos. There was a mention about her in Runners World last fall. I've decided to run the Paso Robles Marathon, which is at the end of October. Now I just need to register, ha, ha. I started training this week. My girlfriends are running New York, which is the week after Paso, so we'll be training together. We have a three day a week plan, with cross training on three other days. The race is in 17 weeks. The highest mileage is 33 miles per week, which is low, but I'm hoping with the strength training and cycling I'll be fine. Yesterday I ran a 5K, finishing in 33:18 (Garmin time). I wasn't too thrilled with that finish, but looking back at 2005 and 2006 5Ks, I'm about 3 minutes faster. Of course, I would prefer to be running sub-30 minutes. But this was my last race in this age group. (Did I mention I'm turning 60 tomorrow?) While cleaning up the other day, I found an old receipt and realized I've been doing Personal Training for a year now. I did it to make me a better runner, but my mileage has been so low that it didn't seem to have much of an impact. Hopefully I'll see the payoff during my marathon training. Tomorrow is my first long run--8 miles. We're heading out at 6 a.m. I'm having a birthday party tomorrow night, so I'm going to have to take a nap in order to stay awake past 8 p.m.! Have a great weekend, everybody!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Plan your Run; Run your Plan

So I got a nudge from Peter the other day, asking me to return to the blogging world. I've wanted to, but just kept procrastinating. Actually, I talk to you all the time, just in my head. It's hard to get feedback that way. :-) So last year was the first year since I started running, that I didn't run a marathon. Injuries and time interfered with my training. I plan to run a marathon this year, just not sure which one. My friends are running New York and want me to try to get in. I don't have much hope of that happening, but I'll throw my hat in. However, there's a new marathon coming to Ventura in September and I'm thinking of that one. That's if I don't get in to New York. Yes, I'm still running, though my weekly mileage is less than a single long run. I'm working on fixing that. The past two Saturdays I've run 8 miles. I'm kind of wiped out by mile 6, but I finish. In addition to running 3 days a week, I go to personal twice a week. I'll call him Creeper, not because he's creepy but because his workouts seem easy but soreness "creeps in" for a couple of days afterwards. Once a week I take a spin class for an aerobic challenge and once a week I go out for an easy group ride. My racing has mostly been 5Ks and 10Ks. I ran a Valentine's 5K at Cal Poly and came in 3rd for my AG. Not bad, since it was 50-59. There were 10 runners in that category. That's been my only race this year, but last October I ran a 5K at the Paso Robles Marathon and won my age group! That's the nice thing about small-town races; you get to taste success even if you're not exceptional. :-) SD and I had a heavy travel schedule, which is why I didn't run any of the races I normally do. We're going on a cruise and when I return I intend to buckle down and race. I'm signed up for the Big Sur Half in November and am looking forward to others races up to then. And of course, I'll work on increasing my distance so that I can start training for another marathon.

In Solidarity

It's been a while since I've posted but I'm horrified by what happened at the Boston Marathon this morning. Bomb blasts at a road race? That's just crazy. Three deaths, with 144 injuries, so far. Still don't know why. I'm surprised and touched by the friends and acquaintances who were concerned for my safety, thinking I may have been there. I'm too slow to qualify for Boston. I never expect to qualify for Boston. But many people are wearing a race shirt tomorrow to show their support for the runners, volunteers, spectators, and first responders. I will be, too. Because I'm a marathoner. I'm a runner.