Beach to Bay 2012

My first Beach to Bay experience was definitely a positive one. I was running the last leg and I knew I wouldn't be starting until later in the morning but for whatever reason I decided to get to my exchange point at 7:30AM. I just walked there from my house, it was close enough. I made a friend as soon as I got to the park and we hung out and talked for a good chunk of the morning. Luckily enough, he also had some sunscreen that he offered me. I slathered some on my arms and legs, apparently missing my shoulders and chest. More on that later...

The first runners came through our chute around 8:45AM. These people are fast. Like... really fast. I don't understand how it's humanly possible to sustain what I see as a sprint for 4+ miles. Then again, I'm a little overweight and I have short stubby legs so it may just be humanly impossible for me. Either way, these runners are impressive.

A handful of men came through, followed by the first female runner. Let me tell you, this girl didn't look too good. As she was coming through the chute she started walking and veering off to the right. You could tell she was having a hard time functioning physically. Her teammate grabbed the baton and the girl almost immediately just kind of collapsed. Race workers had to carry her to the first aid tent to cool down. It was a very, very hot day. Multiple runners went down from heat exhaustion. I heard teammates handing off the baton and telling the next runners to be careful of the heat. It was then that I decided I was not running for speed. I was going to take my time and enjoy the race and not end up in a first aid tent.

After about four hours of hanging out at the exchange point drinking water and watching runners coming through, I finally heard my bib number get called. So I hopped in the chute and waited for Josh. Finally I saw him, grabbed the baton, and was off!

The run was more pleasant than I expected with the heat. The water stations were plentiful. Every time I hit on, I slowed to a walk, drank a cup, then poured another cup over my head. There were also people with water guns squirting runners, which I appreciated thoroughly. Some people who live along the race course were even out front with their garden hoses spraying runners. I found that this was the only way for me to keep my body temperature down. Especially because there was little to no shade on the course for relief from the sun.

So on I went, drinking and dousing, drinking and dousing, through all 4.89 miles. Finally I saw the finish line in the distant so I pushed through. The time on the clock was 5:09 and some change. Not the best time, not the worst. After looking at the results, I'd say we were in the 3rd quartile of teams. I think a lot of what slowed us down was the fact that one of our runners accidently ran two legs. That's over eight miles of running. In the heat. And the sun. A very impressive accident, if I do say so myself.

After the race, I realized I had gotten a lot of sun. My shoulders and chest are pretty red. As I'm typing this at work, I can feel them burning. I need to buy some sport sunscreen pronto.

So there it is, Beach to Bay 2012. I think it will be an annual tradition from here on out.

Kare to Excel 8K recap

I'm pooped from getting up at 5:30AM but here's a quick recap of this morning's race.

I woke up bright and early, headed to my house to grab a quick pre-race snack, then made my way to campus. The race started promptly at 7AM. Josh left me pretty much as soon as the race started to keep his own pace, and I kept nice and steady at mine. 

It was an out and back course that was mostly along Ocean Drive. The wind wasn't horrible today, thank god. This run was pretty tough, considering that I haven't run five miles since the half marathon back in March. I managed to maintain a fairly constant pace. My first mile was definitely a little speedy, around 9:43, but I slowed down after that and my average pace was 10:02 min/mile. Excellent for me, especially maintaining it for five miles. I'm happy with the way things went. My final time was 50:27. Josh finished in about 48 minutes, so I wasn't too far behind him.

I chugged water and ate a banana while we waited for the awards and raffle give aways. They finally got to the 8K awards and did the men first. Josh got third in his age group, yeaaaaah Josh! Then they got to the women's, and the announcer totally skipped over my age group. I was like "say whaaaaat?!" So I went up to him afterward and asked him about it and it turned out he accidentally skipped over it because, well, I was the only one in my age group. So, I got first place by default! Hahahah, ain't no shame. I'm reppin' for the 20-24 year old ladies. I'm really surprised that no one else around my age was running! What gives?! 

I guess there's really not a whole lot more to say about the race. It was tough, and I missed my goal  of 50 minutes by 27 seconds, but it went well, and I got a gold medal, and now I am going to take a well deserved nap.

January goals revisited

My goals were as follows:

• complete all of my training runs I missed one training run because I was sick, but I'd say that's not too shabby. With an extra run from the beginning of the month, I still hit my 13 runs for the month.
• run the Surf N Turf 10K in less than 69 minutes (maintaing at least an 11 min/mile pace) 1:07:25! Definitely rocked this one, and got third place in my age group! SUCCESS!
• eat 6+ servings of fruits and vegetables every day I would say I did this at least 2/3 of the time, but definitely stopped keeping track after two weeks.
• get at least 7 hours of sleep every night Same as above, probably about 2/3 of the time.
• no booze, no cigarettes FAIL.