I Run Monterey Bay

Sam told me that the Big Sur Half Marathon might have to be an annual thing I do to give us an excuse to come back to Monterey.  I agree.

All the pretty.

We arrived the Friday prior to the race and went straight to In N' Out.  Carb loading, ya know?  Saturday, we walked around the expo and I picked up my bib and shirt.  We took a drive and learned a little secret about the Central Coast of California: it's most beautiful weather is during the fall.  Shh.

We were there in late July and while it was nice, it was definitely foggier and colder.  That Saturday was the kind of weather that makes you want to quit whatever thankless job you have and move there.

Anyway, that evening we stopped at the market for bagels, peanut butter, and juice.  I went to bed early and slept as well as I ever do before race day.

By 4 a.m. I was up and trying to figure out how to cut open my bagel with no knife.  Sam improvised with a stirring straw and our room key.  We would kick ass on Survivor.  Is that still on?

I got ready and we went down the street to the shuttle stop.  I met a nice woman named Maria and we chatted until it was time to get into our corrals.  I made one more pit stop at the porta-potties and then looked around.

"TWO MINUTES!"  The announcer said.

How do I get into my corral?  I thought.  I'd looked at the map of the starting area, but anyone that knows me knows I have the directional sense of a goldfish.  I couldn't see an entrance on my side so I raced to the end of the corrals and around to the other side.  Still no way in.  I got to my fenced off corral and asked a girl who said she didn't know.  Some helpful guy told me to jump the fence.  Because with my luck, I definitely would not fall and I most certainly would not hurt myself.

At this point, I was fully prepared to run along the outside of the fence and hop in at the last minute.  I jogged up to the front of my corral and asked a married couple how to get in.  The man told me to jump the fence.  I was debating the mechanics of that when the woman told me that the fences snap together.  "Here," she said, and unsnapped the fence.  Success!

My adrenaline was going and I was finally in my corral.  The announcer started our countdown and everyone started clapping.  My nerves evaporated.  Oh, that's right, I do this because I enjoy it!

Cannery Row, pre-race

Sam was at Cannery Row when I got there.  He took pictures and ran alongside me for a few yards.  A woman said we were cute.

For the first five miles, I felt great.  I saw the elites coming BACK when I wasn't even quite halfway.  We cheered for them and everyone around me was having a good time.

Somewhere around mile five, the sun came out.  Unfortunately, when I get hot, I wither.  I made it to the turn around, but enough time had passed that the sun was still in my face going the other way.  I ran by sheer will.

Look at the pretty ocean, don't be a baby, be grateful.  Look at all the people cheering!

I'm hot.  I'm hot.  I'm hot.

I had a blister on my left foot and a side stitch which I was able to mostly ignore.  Keep running, I thought, and you'll finish faster!  That was enough to keep me going.  After that, I didn't think of anything else except being done.  But I was supposed to enjoy the scenery, that was what everyone said.

I'll enjoy it later.  In a car.

I crossed the finish line and a little girl gave me a medal.  I couldn't remember what I'd been complaining about because it didn't matter anymore.

Sam was smiling and taking pictures at the finish line.  A photographer took our picture.  Since we were still separated by a fence, we agreed to meet on one of the piers after I went through the food tent and grabbed my things.

While I was waiting on the pier, a couple with their dog came up to me.  She asked me about the race and said that she was a marathoner.  She was funny and friendly and helped me to remember to enjoy the day. She asked me if I'd ever run that race before and I said no, but that it might become an annual destination race.

I learned a lot from this race for next time.  And there will be a next time!  One, there are uphills.  They were rolling, but I hadn't been prepared for that.  Second, bring sunglasses.  Third, enjoy it.  Monterey is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  Fourth, figure out how to enter a corral.

Last, I want to give a special thank you to all the organizers and volunteers.  This was one of the most well organized races I've ever done.  Thank you to everyone that made it happen!

Here are a few more pictures from the race:

Runners be crazy

The elites rounding the corner at Cannery Row.  The winner, Jacob Chemtai, is at the front in red.

Crossing the finish line.  Actual finish time: 2:34:21.

Me in a nutshell

Nerves and Cookies

I sent my boyfriend, Sam, a text that read, "I'm kind of sick to my stomach."  And then I thought, I should probably write about this.

On Sunday, I'll be running the Big Sur Half Marathon with a few thousand kindly strangers.  I hope they're kindly (note: please be nice to me, I'm really nervous).  Also, it's my first destination race.

Monterey, CA.

Luckily, the destination is my home state of California.  The out and back course begins in Monterey, near the wharf, and winds its way through Cannery Row, into Pacific Grove and Asilomar Beach.  It's oceanfront nearly the entire way.

Cannery Row in Monterey, CA.

Sam asked me why I felt sick.  I told him that I was nervous about the race and also two chocolate chip cookies I ate that may have been a bit suspect.  Pre-race jitters are familiar to me and many other runners, but I also don't like flying, crowds (especially of strangers), or most members of airport security.  Sorry about that last one, but it's true.  Anxiety, thy name is Ashley.

I'm in shape for it after running a half marathon in July and then maintaining that level of fitness.  It will be a beautiful course in a beautiful city.  It is forecast to be perfect running weather.  The flight, hotel, and rental car are booked.  But I still feel a vague, jittery sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The excitement won't come, I know from some experience, until I toe that line on Sunday morning.  The nerves change to adrenaline and excitement and we're off.  The race will be the payoff.

Until then, I'll be making list after list of everything I don't want to forget because it's my process.

Also, no more cookies.

Running on the Fly

Do you have one of those runner friends that can talk about running all day?  Is that person possibly me?  I promise when I'm talking about knee anatomy and injury prevention, I'm not trying to be a smarty pants.  But if you ask a question, I can and will ramble on forever.

When I was a newbie to the sport, I had a lot of questions and I Googled a lot of things.  I asked the kind people at The Runner's Edge here in Missoula and the very limited number of people I knew that also ran.

And now I know some stuff and I want to share a bit of the running dictionary I've pulled together along the way.

Running on the Fly Part Two: Terms that make you go, huh?

5K - Any race that equals 3.1 miles.  K stands for kilometer, which is 1,000 meters.

10K - Any race that equals 6.2 miles.

Bonk - Basically, it's when you feel like you're gonna die if you go any further.  It happens when your body has run out of glycogen to burn.  Instead, it looks to fat and protein, but converting that to energy takes longer and gives you that I'm-going-to-fall-down feeling.  Carbs are a runner's friend!

Chip time vs gun time - Your chip is a little timing device set with your specific info.  You attach it to your shoe and it records the time you cross the starting and finishing line.  The gun time is the time the race starts.  If you've ever done a race with a lot of people, you know that you don't necessarily cross the starting line in the same second the gun goes off.  Chip time can be a few seconds to a few minutes faster than your gun time.

Fartlek - A form of training where you mix slow running with fast bursts of speed for any distance you'd like.  And yes, it's pronounced the way it looks.

Half marathon - Any race that equals 13.1 miles.

Lactic acid - You know how sometimes the day after hard exercise, you don't want to move because it hurts so bad?  It's because of lactic acid.  It builds up in your muscles when there is an incomplete breakdown of glucose during exercise.

LSD - Not the drug.  It means long, slow distance.  It's where you do a long run/race at a slower pace, can be helpful for endurance.

Marathon - Any race that equals 26.2 miles.

PR - Personal record.

Shin splints - Pain in the length of your shin, can be caused by running on hard surfaces.  Rest and/or cross training for a few days is usually a good idea if you have shin splints.  If the pain is severe or doesn't go away, see a doctor!

Split time - How long it takes you to run a certain distance over the course of a longer run.  For example, my last split at mile three of a five mile run was 25 minutes.

Ultra - Any race that is longer than a marathon.

VO2 max - The maximum amount of oxygen your body can take in and use.

I feel like I should be wearing my glasses.  Anyway, I hope that was helpful and I swear I didn't make anything up!

The Race I Trained For

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." 

- A.A. Milne

I started training for the Missoula Half Marathon in March.  I always use a spreadsheet when I'm training because I get a little obsessive and also, I like to cross off each day's workout with a different colored marker.  

Code that only partially makes sense.

The carb loading began about three days before the race, or if I'm being honest it started about ten years ago.  I got a good nights rest two days before the race and tried to sleep the night before.  Side note: Does anyone else have weird dreams the night before a big race?  I dreamed that I was in this huge crowd and the race was over; I didn't know my time or anything.  I'd run, but totally missed the experience.  Telling, no?

I woke up at 3 a.m. and made breakfast.  I can't even describe how much thought went into a bagel with peanut butter, an apple, and a smoothie.  Sam came over (he slept elsewhere because I live in a studio apartment and was going to bed at 7pm on a Saturday) and helped me with my chip and bib.

Sam drove me to the shuttle stop downtown and we said goodbye before I joined the several hundred runners already in line.  I chatted with a woman with princess stickers on her hat and saw the shortest pair of shorts I've ever seen on a man, even as a runner.

Heard on the shuttle: "Welcome to the south Missoula refugee camp."

Thirty minutes before the start I got in the giant line for the port-o-potties, peeled off my jacket, stretched, and had a gel.  Then it was time to line up.

We had a moment of silence to remember Boston, to remember why we run and who we run for.  

After another minute, we were off.

I started slow, but strong, and stayed that way.  I let the fast starters go ahead of me instead of trying to keep up with them and bonking later.  I kept a mostly straight line instead of weaving around people.  I listened to the pounding of feet, my own breathing, and the conversations (woman to her husband at mile one: "I can already tell I'm going to have to pee." Husband: "There's lots of trees off to your left, just go.")

It's all smiles when you're only six minutes in!

A short way past the mile three marker, I realized I'd run a 5K without slowing down.  At mile five, I had half a gel and had the same realization.  At mile nine, I had the last half of my gel.  It was the longest distance I'd ever run without having to slow to walk once.  In retrospect, it kind of made me think of that part in Forrest Gump where he talks about running and how he might as well keep on going.

I surprised myself.  This past year I've been wrapped up in my struggle for speed and I never stopped to think about strength.  Every mile marker I ran past surprised me.  How was I still running at this pace?  How have I not had to walk?  How have I kept going all this time?

It's a heady thing to know, not to believe but to actually know, that you are stronger than you think you are.  It made all the training, the injuries, the time spent alone on the trails at 6 a.m. worth it.  I worked damn hard and every minute of it was worth it.

Law enforcement running to commemorate a fallen officer.

I had a few little goals for this race: to run the second half faster than the first, to not have to stop to pee (I had to stop last year and it has irritated me to no end ever since), and to enjoy it.  I had no time goal; I just wanted to run strong.  I ran the second half of the race 9 seconds faster per mile than the first half and ran right by every single port-o-potty!

Ultimately, I ran 5 minutes slower than I did last year, but didn't care.  I loved the experience and knowing that I'm stronger than I was last year.

Goals accomplished and on to the Big Sur Half Marathon in November!

And now a few more pictures from marathon weekend:

Goodies from the expo.

Half marathon finishers flyin'.

Top men's finisher in the marathon, Jason Delaney.

Finishing strong.

Run like a girl!

Ticks and Training Updates

I'm officially registered for two half marathons this year, the Missoula Marathon/Half Marathon and the Big Sur Half Marathon (which I've been flirting with for months now).  The Big Sur half is in my home state of California, in a city I may very well be moving to in the next year.

Monterey, CA.  Oh, the pretty prettiness.

My next race is the YMCA Riverbank Run on May 11th.  I'm running the 5K and I don't want to say that I'm going for a PR, but I know I can run it faster than I ran Run For the Luck of It last month.

Since that race, my training has been going really well - nothing motivates quite like a couple of halfs in the pipeline.  I think (hope) I've rebounded at a good pace since my little (ahem: 5 month) training hiatus.  I did my first six mile run on Monday after work and, despite being tired and grouchy, I felt great afterward.  Because running does that.

My boyfriend, Sam, and I have also been hiking Waterworks Hill, Mt. Sentinel, and Mt. Jumbo (all Missoula based hiking trails) a couple of times a week and doing core work together.  Neither of us can stand to be indoors when the weather is nice; I think we're solar powered.

Hiking on Waterworks Hill

Anyway, what I didn't know was that spring is tick season.  Warning: having a tick fall out of your hair and onto your neck in the grocery store may cause nuclear meltdown.  Please take universal precautions.  Also, can humans use Frontline?  No?  What about Advantix?

I washed and combed through my hair like I was looking for lice (or greys), and then did the same to Sam (the combing, not the hair washing).  That night, nightmares about ticks on my pillow had me waking up every couple of hours to check.  Do I know how to make things into an event, or what?

Lesson: stay off Mt. Sentinel for the time being.  Also, don't use tick medication meant for your pets.

The Athletic Evolution of Ashley

I signed up for my first race of 2013, Run for the Luck of It, a very fun, very green, St. Patrick's Day 5K.  I like to use it as a base time because it coincides nicely with the beginning of my half marathon training.  I do another 5K in late April and I love seeing the seconds or minutes shaved off that base time as my training progresses.

Anyway, the first time I ever ran the St. Pat's race, I didn't run, I walked.  It took something like 45 minutes.  I ran the last 50'ish yards to make it look like I wasn't taking an early spring stroll through the course.

I wanted to be a runner, but I felt like an imposter.  I would go out and try a mile or two and I couldn't catch my breath, my legs were stiff and my sides cramped.  Other runners, better runners, blurred by in their tights and shirts from marathons they completed while I stood, hacking and coughing in heavy sweats.

My Wii Fit (I type this with no irony whatsoever) told me I was overweight in its high pitched little robot voice.  I'd sigh and think, yeah, I'm freaking aware of the situation.  I wasn't hugely overweight, but I was bigger than I'd ever been and unhappy.

 

That's me on the right with the glasses.  I was the funny, smart one.  I felt like the one the guys walked past to get to my beautiful best friends.

Run for the Luck of It 2011

Not long after the race I walked instead of ran, my life changed.  I started living alone for the first time in my life and I was lonely.  I'd lost friends to distance and the end of a long term relationship.

What I did have were an old pair of running shoes and slightly flooded running pants.  I had nothing to do, so I ran.  I mapped out a 3 mile loop and pushed myself through it.  It hurt, so the next day I did it again.

I started running two or three times a week at that distance.  It started to hurt less, or maybe it hurt the same but I started to like it.  I mapped out a 5 mile loop and started doing that too. 

In a small burst of body confidence, I bought running tights, a proper sports bra, and a running shirt.  But I didn't really care about my weight or how I looked in the new clothes.  In fact, that whole year I was weighed three times, twice by doctors and once by myself to make sure the doctors were right.

I started using terms like cross training and negative split times.  I did yoga in my apartment on Sunday mornings.  I started feeling strong.

Run for the Luck of It 2012, with Jim.  He's faster than everyone.

In 2012, I ran Run for the Luck of It in 28 minutes, 14 seconds. A month later, I ran another 5K in 27 minutes, 30 seconds, a PR for me.

I started hiking and running on trails when the weather was nice.  I kept a promise to myself and signed up for my first half marathon.  It made me nervous, terrified actually.  I started thinking those imposter thoughts again.  I didn't set any time goals, I just wanted to finish.  I set up a training schedule and stuck to it, mostly out of fear of what would happen if I didn't.

Hiking in Missoula, MT 2012.  Two months before my first half marathon.

My longs runs got longer.  One afternoon, I ran 10 miles in the pouring rain and it occurred to me - I'm a runner because I run.  People weren't looking at me and saying, hey, what are you doing out here with us?  The other runners were nice, most of them smiled and waved hello.  I realized there was a lot of camaraderie to be had in a sport that was solitary by nature.

We runners are a strange bunch.  Unless we're one of the select few with major sponsors, we actually pay to do this.  We pay for the shoes and the races, the watches and sometimes, the trips to the physical therapist.

I don't know about everyone else, but I run because I have to.  I've learned more about myself by running than I have by doing anything else.  I learned that pushing forward starts with your mind, I learned to like the pain, to breathe.  I learned that bad days can be erased by great runs.  I learned that the silence on a good trail has a feel.  I learned what the words "dig deep" really mean and that this, this small part of my life so far, matters because it matters to me.

Missoula Marathon/Half Marathon 2012

Goodbye, Old Friends

I ran my first race in Converse sneakers.  It was the La Jolla Shores 5k in 2002 and all I really remember was that it was gorgeous and there was free food at the end.  I ran it again the next year in a pair of Nike's that I'd already owned for several years and just replaced less than a week ago.

Seriously though, I need a moment of silence for these shoes.  I had 13 good years in them (and way over the maximum 500 miles experts recommend before replacement).

The first time I went out in them, after a long hiatus from running, I could barely do a mile before feeling like I was really and truly going to die.  I ran because I was living alone for the first time and a little lonely and hey, I still have these?!  It became a daily thing that very quickly, I couldn't live without.  I had no money, few friends, but I had my running shoes.

And then I entered a race.  And then another one.  And then I registered for the Missoula Half Marathon.  My old Nike's got me through 400 miles of training and didn't miss a beat.

I'm planning on eight or nine races in 2013 (two of which are half marathons) so I decided, finally, to retire my shoes.  I bought new ones a few days ago at The Runner's Edge (seriously, if you're in Missoula - go there).  I took them on an inaugural run and I love them.  Also, they're already dirty, which is good.  If they're going to be my shoes, they have to be tough.  Just ask the Nike's.

Run for the Luck of It 2012 in Missoula, MT