Posted May 5th, 2009 by Meg
The easiest part of this race was the running. It was everything else that made it hard. Correction: Technology made it hard. My shuffle, Shuffley, refused to turn on when the race began. This made no sense to me because I turned it on 30 minutes prior to ensure it was working and that there would be no repeats of Shuffley trouble (San Diego Half Marathon). Shuffley might be a race-ist. Or, maybe Shuffley is just race shy, because Shuffley did not work. Thus, I started the race upset. I tried to focus on the running, but I kept getting distracted and discouraged by the beautiful noises of others. For instance, the lovely woman that took deep, loud, vocal breaths; each time she exhaled, she panted out the words “oh my god.” I was too frustrated to find humor in this situation at the time and only grew more annoyed and conflicted. I couldn’t sprint ahead because that would ultimately lead me to burning out. And I couldn’t slow down because that would compromise my own time. Instead, I distracted myself with random thoughts. Like, what if that dog, that I guess was allowed to be racing, poops on the course. I would definitely be the one that stepped in it. Fortunately, the blasphemous breather disappeared in my dust, the dog never went to the bathroom, and Shuffley finally turned on around mile four. Shuffley’s resurrection significantly increased my speed and mood. I was able to recover some of the lost time and finished the race in under an hour (which means that I ran the race faster than I train). So, yay.
Now… the good stuff.
It has become tradition for my roommate and I to go out to Father’s Office II for post race celebration. After the Santa Monica Classic, I did not think tradition was going to be upheld. Instead, I took a 2 hour nap, went grocery shopping, and lounged around. That is until I got the text message from my roommate asking if I wanted to go out. Of course I did! Here are the highlights:
1. Carafe of Melville “Vernas” Pinor Noir ‘07
2. Rare Yellow Fin Tuna (a special that quickly sold out after I ordered it) - yuzu cherry tomato “ceviche”, shiso, and cilantro sprouts.
3. The Bruery Saison Rue
Posted December 13th, 2008 by Meg
Even though it started raining and was cold, today was awesome. My big dorky watch clocked me at 57:26 with an average speed of 9:18 minutes per mile. My official chip time was 56:56 with a 9:11 minute per mile pace. I am very happy with this number for several reasons. It is at least 15 minutes faster than my first 10k I ran earlier this year. I trained on a treadmill at a slower speed of 10 minutes a mile. I was a little worried that I would try to run too fast in the beginning and would not be able to maintain it or improve, especially since I was moving a little faster than normal. But, by mile 5, I was in it to win it. I am really pleased with the way it all went down. I especially enjoyed this event because there is no other time in my life where I can blatantly ignore red lights and stop signs in Los Angeles. I was also able to see parts of Venice that I have never seen before. I met some nice people at the end of the race. My ipod shuffle worked and played all the right songs at the right time (I sprinted to the finish line while listening to a song from Run Lola Run). And of course, I did it under an hour.
Mile 0-1: 9:45 minutes / mile
Mile 1-2: 9:38 minutes / mile
Mile 2-3: 9:34 minutes / mile
Mile 3-4: 9:22 minutes / mile
Mile 4-5: 9:11 minutes / mile
Mile 5-6: 8:48 minutes / mile
Mile 6-6.2: 6:43 minutes / mile
Who wants to get a beer?
Posted August 20th, 2008 by Meg
Sunday, August 17th, the race day had finally come. For months, I have been training for America’s Finest City Half Marathon. I had invested many hours, running upward of 25 miles a week. The training required a combination of physical discipline and social sacrifice to accomplish the long distance runs that prepared me for the race. Although I followed my training by the book, I was still nervous about the race.
I slept so lightly the night before the race that when 5am came along I practically jumped out of bed. I ate breakfast, put on my big dorky watch, pinned on my bib number, grabbed Shuffley (my iPod Shuffle) and headed out the door. I sat down on board the freezing shuttle bus, wishing I had stopped at the Starbucks for coffee. A woman in her 40’s sat down next to me and as if we had been awake for hours and known each other for years, we immediately started up a conversation. I found myself more outgoing and talkative than I usually am, especially towards a stranger, to distract my thoughts from the race. We were dropped off at the starting point, Cabrillo National Monument at around 6am. My new friend and I hung out for the hour that remained before the race started. At this point, it started to feel surreal to me; the many months of training alone had made running become a personal outlet for me, but now I was surrounded by hundreds of people, all in it together with the same purpose and goal.
At 7am, the runners began to slowly move forward meaning the race had begun. I said my final words to my new friend, put on my headphones, and went on my merry way. The merriness quickly came to a halt when I realized Shuffley would not turn on. Months of training and preparation to the sound of music, only to have the next 13.1 miles without a song or a beat. Within a few strides, I realized that being upset about it was useless and nothing could be done. I had no place to store the headphones, so I kept them on, secretly hoping that maybe Shuffley would start working throughout the race. In the meantime, I listened to sneakers hitting the pavement, conversations, and cheers from the sidelines. I was surprised by the number of people who stood outside their homes in their pajamas, with a cup of coffee in their hand, cheering everyone on with words of encouragement.
I ran across the finish line to Coldplay’s Viva La Vida playing on the speakers, a song I never thought would become so important to me. My finish time was 2:21:04, which means I was running at a 10:46mins/mile pace. My overall place was 4169 out of 6474. In comparison to all females, I was was placed at 1787 out of 3335. And finally in comparison to all females between the ages of 20-24, I placed 185 out of 303. As you can see with these results, I am not a very fast runner. However, the race for me was not about speed and competition, but instead more to do with finishing. Although very tempting, I never stopped and walked, but only pushed myself through to the finish line.
In the end, I enjoyed San Diego and it’s half marathon; it certainly is a fine city. I love running and I have come a long way with it, which makes me happy. I definitely plan on doing another half marathon again, along with hopefully someday completing a full marathon. However, I am in no immediate rush right now to start training again for long distances, but will continue running regularly.
Note: Shuffley started working again while driving to the hotel on the shuttle bus (!)
Posted August 7th, 2008 by Meg
For the past few months I have been training for the American’s Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego. In effort to help me train, I purchased a GPS Fitness Trainer, the Garmin Forerunner 205. At first glance, it looks like a big nerdy watch. If you continue looking at it though, you realize that it IS a big nerdy watch. The GPS satellites calculates speed, distance, and pace information. It is perfect for my training because I have to go on long distance runs, but don’t want to always have to google map out my trek beforehand. The 205 allows me to just look down at my watch to show my distance (and it also reminds me how slow I run!). I love it and find it incredibly helpful, even though it gives me quite an embarrassing tan and sometimes hurts my wrist.
This past weekend I had my final big run before the actual event, 13 miles. Sadly, during the run the battery went dead. I had to guesstimate the distance necessary to finish. Since the watch was only a few months old, I knew that I could probably get it replaced or fixed. I bought the watch at REI in Santa Monica and called them up to see if they could help. We went through different methods to resuscitate it, but nothing worked. The next step was for me to come into the store. I was hesitant about coming in, because I no longer had the receipt, but then I recalled that I had purchased it under an REI membership number. Ultimately, this is what saved me because when I went into the store, they looked me up on their database to confirm the purchase and then replaced the watch with a new one. Simple. Also, since the time I purchased the watch, the price is now lower, so they refunded me the amount in which the total cost had gone down. I was pleasantly surprised! REI has the nicest and most knowledgeable workers; leading me to believe that the company trains and treats everyone well (I hope I am right). Yay, REI!
I have not charged the new watch, now that I am tapering, but I am hoping it will be a better big nerdy watch than it’s predecessor and that we will have many hours and miles together.
