My First 5K of the Year

5:00am came way too early. I really would have rather hit the snooze button indefinitely, but I forced myself out of bed. It's been a while since I've had to get up that early. So glad that I laid everything out the night before so I could pretty much just roll out of bed and put on my race clothes.

The race started at 6:45am which is really early for a 5K. Generally they are more around 8/9am. But my friends and I made it there without a morning coffee. This race, the Hot Chocolate 5K, sold out with 7,500 people. When we lined up, you couldn't even see the start line.

Start line is around the corner and up the hill

Making our way up to the start

I have to say, the workouts that I have been doing the last 30 days or so, seemed to have helped with this race. Though my face was completely flushed at the end, I survived. The course was filled with hills. I definitely didn't expect that. Though I shouldn't be completely surprised; it is downtown with some crazy hills.

Beautiful San Diego morning (downhill)

I did beat my 5K walking time by 3 minutes. It's not a lot, but it's an improvement since my injury last year. Once I'm given the OK to run again, I plan to work on getting a 5K PR from running. Last time I tried running a 5K, I think I finished in 44min. I've been working out now, so I know that I can do better. I can't wait for that day to come. But until then, I'm walking.

2011 Iron Girl 5K time: 55:26
2012 Hot Chocolate 5K time: 52:58
2012 Iron Girl 5K time: TBA in October

Thanks to my girls, Cristal and April for walking with me. They could have run, but instead chose to walk with me. That's my support system. They are awesome. And after the race, we indulged in some Ghirardelli hot chocolate and fondue breakfast.

In line for our finishers breakfast

Breakfast of champions

Me and the girls

The rest of the day I plan to relax. Take a nap and veg out.

Workouts begin again tomorrow morning.

A Slow Process

 

I know it's only the 3rd week into my new weightloss/exercise plan, but it's even more clear to me now how tough this journey is going to be. I've been working out around 5 days each week for at least 30-60min, which is awesome for me, but results so far are barely there. I became so complacent as a couch potato, granted a lot of it had to do with my health, but now that I'm back to 100% I can't stay at this weight. I need my muscles back. I know results will come later, but it's hard to see where you want to be right now and you can't snap your fingers to make it happen.

If only I had my own personal genie...

• I'd have my own personal trainer
• I would make the time to workout a couple hours a day
• I would have a personal chef to make sure I eat all the right foods
• My ankles would be good as new and I'd be able to run again

What would you do if you had a genie?

Results

Ok, so I'm a dork. I totally forgot to update my blog like 2 months ago to give you all the results from the race. I think the excitement of it all, totally just made me space out, though you wouldn't think it would. Duh.

Anyways, so let me tell you:
Saturday Morning, December 5, 2009
5:45am - Meet at the airport - UGH! Sooo early!!
8:30am - Arrived in VEGAS!!


December in Las Vegas is COLD!! Seriously. It was like 30* out and it totally rained, but luckily not on race day.
So we stayed at the MGM Grand, but check in took FOREVER. Ugh. I think we waited for our room for like 3 hours. The coaches wanted to do a group run to the race expo after everyone checked in. I totally didn't do that run. I walked. While most people changed into their running gear, I and a few others, just changed into our running shoes and we walked over with the group. I found some neat stuff over there. I bought a thermal long sleeve shirt with the Las Vegas RnR logo on it. Got a bag full of samples and free stuff. Can't go wrong with that, right?! :)
Once we got back to the hotel, we hoped our room would be ready. But we were wrong. It took probably another hour or so before that happened. But in the meantime, I was able to meet up with my friend, Sara, and her mom. Sara was gonna share the room with me and Caitlyn and Jessica.
We had our TC Pasta/Inspiration dinner. All of us mentors went down early to line up so that when our mentees came down to the ballroom, they'd have to walk through a pathway full of mentors, coaches, and endurance managers from all over the US. It was so neat. My parents met up with me for the dinner. That was nice. They stayed across the way at their time share place. I was excited to have my mom there as she's the reason that I was running this race.
After dinner, we had a group meeting with all the last minute details before the race. Everyone was anxious about the race. Even after already completing one half marathon, I was still anxious about this one. But excited.


Sunday, December 6, 2009
3:30am - Wake Up for Race!! - sooo early, I don't even know how I functioned.
We met our team down in the lobby of the hotel. There were HUNDREDS of people dressed in their orange Team Challenge jerseys. We were like a blob of orange. It was awesome. We all walked over to the Mandalay Bay together. It was freezing out! Next time, I might actually wear long pants instead of capris. Or at least search earlier for leg warmers. I checked in my "after race" bag at the bag drop and peed and then met up with the group for a warm up. We took pre-race pictures and before we knew it, we heard the gun shots for the start of the race. It seemed a little unorganized as to where to go. Everyone was pushing each other to try and get into the corrals. 
I paired up with Tiffany since we were in the same corral, #28 out of 29. HA! But last year my race time was over 3:30, so the slowest are always in the back. I went searching for my parents because I knew they were looking for me. Found them - they took pictures and Tiffany and I took off. It took about 45min before we even reached the start line. 
They were filming the race and had it playing on the jumbo screens outside some of the hotels. It was crazy. Just as we were finally getting out there on the race course, a few of the racers were almost done!! OMG. It was nuts. Those were some serious racers. I think the first person to finish, crossed that finish line in just over 1 hour! To be able to run that fast would be AMAZING!! 
Tiffany and I kept a slow, steady pace. I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to keep her pace since I was trying to keep my breathing under control. I was determined to NOT have any asthma attacks this year. I decided to do any early bathroom break in the course. I found some bathrooms that didn't have a long line (like the ones I ended up at last year). And that was a good decision. The ones further down, had the line, which totally made the early break justifiable. *And I didn't need one for the rest of the race!!*
We past Tiffany's boyfriend first. Then I found my parents, who took some motion shots. And then I got into super focus mode. I worked on my breathing, kept a good pace and was able to stay with Tiffany for about 1 hour and 45 minutes until I started to feel my asthma kicking in. I slowed down, she kept going. But I'm really proud of myself. I was able to run for 6.5 miles without stopping!! That's a record for me! I've NEVER done that before. Though my body wanted me to slow down and walk, my legs didn't. I tried walking but they wanted to run. It was wierd. Finally I overpowered them and made them walk. 
I saw some guy working at a bar pass out beer to some of the runners/walkers. That was funny. I passed some of the brides and grooms who got married at the Paris Hotel. That's a neat idea. Get married while running a marathon. Who would have thought?
I passed some local HS cheerleaders, Team Challenge supporters/cheerleaders, and some random people on the sidelines in their lounge chairs watching all of us crazy people run or walk in the 30* weather. 
The weather was insane. I never truly felt like I warmed up. I got warm enough to toss my jacket on the side somewhere along the course, and eventually my gloves, but even with my long sleeve shirt and TC jersey, I was still cold. Yes, definitely long pants next time.


Finally about mile 10, Michelle Layton, one of the TC honorees, found me and ran the last 3.1 miles with me. She kept me motivated and inspired. Jess Johnson found me too, and her words of inspiration always get to me, and I could feel that emotional asthma attack coming, but luckily I kept it in check. Yay me!
Those last three miles were the worst. Actually, no. Scratch that. The worst was the last mile. It's like I knew I was almost done but my energy level was on empty. I kept telling myself, "you're almost there!" and then I saw my parents. And I pushed it harder. Not walking, but not running either. Somewhere in between. Michelle was there by my side. And once I saw that finish line, I pushed it hard! And crossed it. And almost collapsed. I got all teary-eyed. But I did it! All 13.1 miles. AND, I beat last year's time by 20 minutes. I finished in 3:21. How awesome is that?!! 20 minutes! Amazing!


Now I have a goal to shave off another 20 minutes. If I could do a half in 3 hours or less, I would be soooo happy! So it's something to work at.


The rest of my trip was great. After the race, I hung out with my parents and my boyfriend. We ate, I got a massage, and waited for Sara to finish her marathon. Yes, she did the marathon. And did it in about 5 hours or so. I don't remember her time. But that's awesome. Go Sara!


We partied that night with friend and teammates. Monday morning I walked to the buses with everyone and said bye. Then went to meet up with Arnon at Excalibur and spend the rest of my time in Vegas with him. We had a great time. 


Thanks to everyone who donated. I raised a total or $3,873.60! I couldn't have done it without your support.


So, now I have completed my 2nd half marathon. Still not brave enough to do a full, though Sara really wants me to do one with her. Maybe later. 

Silver Strand

Racing in the 5K was so much fun! Regardless of the fact that I had to wake up at 4:30am, it was still a blast. It was cool driving down to Imperial Beach so early in the morning. Just in time for the sunrise. Though I didn't make it there in time to watch it, but I saw a little from the car. 
It was pretty cold this morning. My car temperature gauge read 51 degrees. Brrrr! And I know that it's going to be colder in Las Vegas! But I had my jacket, so I was okay. It was tolerable. I think for Vegas, I need to find like an Under Armour shirt to wear under my jersey so I don't have to worry about a jacket and still stay warm. 
There was only a handful of us this morning. I'd say maybe 8-10 people. It was a nice size group. My plan was to try and stay the same pace as Tiffany, but unfortunately my asthma wouldn't let me. Now I don't want to blame everything on it, but I have a feeling it's because it was so cold outside. My lungs were tight and hadn't warmed up so it was harder to take in the air. I have to figure out something. I really want to be able to run a mile without this feeling of gasping for air and I don't know what to do. The 2 different inhalers that I have which the doctor prescribed me last year just don't seem to work. Though I will have one with me during the race just in case. 
It's interesting. I was able to run for 20 min straight on Wed night, but this morning, I could barely run a mile without problems. I have only about 3 more weeks or so before the race to figure something out. Coach Dave wants to try something for our big long run next weekend. 5 min walk/1 min run for about 2 to 3 miles. Test it out and see if that will help warm up the lungs and get me going. I'm willing to try it. I've noticed that my running has been improving but usually at night and I'm thinking it's because of the time of day and air temperature. 


But on the plus side, I did run the race faster than I thought I would. I had it in my head that I would probably finish the race in about 45 minutes. I clocked in at 41:39 (I think). And I think I was only about 5 minutes slower than Tiffany. Not too shabby. I was running between a 12:35-14:00 mile. At least Coach Dave clocked the first mile I ran at about 12:35. It's an improvement and I'm happy. 


I don't know how I had so much energy today. After the race, I went down to St Vincent De Paul to feed the homeless as I do pretty much every Sunday. It was awesome. I was in a great mood. But once those doors closed and we stopped, I could feel the energy start to decrease. I got home, showered and have been just resting and eating all day. Seriously. Why have I been eating ALL day?! I feel sick. I'm done. I brushed my teeth so no more food for me. Just water. I'm done til tomorrow.

Seeing Results

I have to say that I'm finally seeing some really awesome results from my training of the last 12 weeks. If you remember back when I started writing my blog, I could barely run for a few minutes. I was always out of breath, mostly walking during trainings, and kind of settling on the fact that I'll probably be walking most of the race.
I am happy to tell you that yesterday during training, I was able to continually do the 20 minute warm up at a slow running pace AND was able to run the fartleks part for 10 minutes! Fartleks are the repeated intervals of alternating fast and slow. I am SUPER excited!! It felt really good to be able to keep up with the slower runners or shall I say, runner. Tiffany is one of my teammates who sticks to running every training, but slowly like at a jog. She mentioned it was nice to finally have someone to run with. :)
This Sunday is the Silver Strand 5K and so I'm hoping to keep up the same pace as during training yesterday. Tiffany is running it too, so maybe we can push each other. We'll see.

I was just really excited about that and wanted to tell you all! :)

Fundraising is going well. I'm only $1,547 away from my $5000 goal! Please tell all your friends and family know about this wonderful cause and encourage them to donate.