Sunday, March 28, 2010

Oakland Running Festival


I just completed my 9th half marathon, and what an experience it was. Oakland is such a colorful and vibrant city, and running through it was so much fun. I had been rehabilitating my bum knee all week, so I did not know how this race was going to play out. Fortunately, my knee healed in time and I finished the race at 2:34:49. Not bad for not training the whole week! The other thing that made this race special is the fact that Luis, Christine, and newbie Marr-Goyle (the co-worker whom I convinced to do this) ran the race too. I am proud of these guys for sticking with it. I was also able to meet up with some of my Shadow Chaser friends from Modesto and The Walking Diva herself, Yolanda Holder. Yolanda will be in the Guinness Book of World Record at the end of this year for walking 100 marathons!



Sunday, March 21, 2010

Surgical Artistry Modesto Half Marathon


This past year has been been pretty amazing for me with all this running, and it all started in this little town called Modesto. I ran my first 5k there, and then my first 10k. It's only fitting that I run the Surgical Artistry Modesto Half Marathon. I had to. There's definitely a soft spot in my heart for Modesto, and this race, my 8th half marathon, was definitely special. I had such a huge support system who ran the race with me, and I really needed it. I had a tough time, as my left knee started to act up the night before, but I jog/walked the 13.1 miles and finished in 2:39:19.5 at a 12:10 pace. I'm in a lot of pain right now. I hope this pain goes away in the next few days. I'll be honest and say the runner's high only lasted about 12 minutes this time around. The pain canceled out the endorphins. Hopefully, I will recover and heal soon.


Sunday, March 14, 2010

Dallas Rock & Roll Half Marathon

Got Half Marathon #7 under my big lone star belt buckle.


Yeeee-HA!

I love you Dallas! Another 13.1 miler completed. My finish time at the Dallas Rock & Roll Half Marathon was 2:26:21. Out of the 7 races I've run, this is my 6th best time, or 2nd worse depending on how you look at it. At first I didn't know why because I felt good, I had no mental melt downs, and my body never cramped up. Why then did it take me this long? I figured it out on the plane: I was having too much fun. I slowed down to soak in the atmosphere, I took plenty of pictures, I schmoozed with the volunteers giving out Cytomax. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. So my question is, should I really push hard to earn a PR, or should I continue to have fun at these races? I do what I do because I want to be healthy, and that goal has been accomplished. I have nothing to prove to anyone, so I'm going to get out there and have fun!!!


Sunday, March 7, 2010

Embarcadero 10K

Another 10k under my belt. 6.2 miles in 62 minutes. I may not be the fastest in the pack, but I always finish every race I run. Woo Hoo!