Ragnar Las Vegas Recap

So....I ran the Ragnar Las Vegas Ultra last week with some friends.  And it's about time to recap it. 

I'm going to focus the most on my legs, because these girls (linked below) have already written awesome (or are in the process of writing) recaps of their own. 

Presenting Undecided 2: 
Emily - Sweat Once A Day
Sarah - Skinny Runner (Although sometimes I forget her name isn't just SR!)
Sarah - Once Upon A Lime
Kristina - The Blogless Wonder
Lauren - Health on the Run

The experience was awesome, beautiful and painful all at once.    And I cannot freaking wait to do another.   

I'm gonna have to face it I'm addicted to relays.

(Disclaimer.  All these photos are stolen from my much more diligent teammates photo dump.  You make me want to be a better blogger, y'all!  Thanks!)

The whole thing started with a long drive up to Vegas.  If you've seen my car, you know it's a small miracle it even made it.  By hour three into the drive, I was saved by caffeine in the form of a giant bottle of Mocha Frappuccino from the local truck stop.  I usually try to avoid those things because they are like 300 calories for three gulps, but I figured, F it, I'm running 31 miles tomorrow I think it'll be just fine.

I picked up Em at the airport and after making about 5 wrong turns, I finally got us to the hotel where the girls were staying and we fell asleep in 5 minutes flat.  The next day, we got the van, decorated it with some #undecided2 hashtags and went on our way.  

 Who knew the start was at a ski resort?  Also who knew there was actually snow in Las Vegas?

Not I, friends.

After a safety meeting and a massive amount of peanut butter consumption, we were off!  Emily was our number 1 leg and dude that girl killed her leg.

In fact, she went so fast (something like 12 minutes at a 6 flat pace?), I was totally counting on more time before my first leg (I was #2 runner).

 But before I knew it, Emily came charging down the hill and it was go time.  It is hard to imagine faster or better conditions than the ones I experienced in the first half of my leg.  It was ridiculously downhill (1800ft drop or so?), cool weather, and I am positive there was a tailwind as well.

Which is why I had a nice fake 10k PR during that time.  Looking down at my Garmin, mile after mile clicked off like it was an easy run in the 6:30 - 6:40 range.  I kept thinking "This is what Kara Goucher must feel like ALL the time!". 

The only problem was the peanut butter sloshing around in my stomach, so I also spent the first part of my leg deathly afraid I would get a terrible cramp.

"Breathe deep...stand up straight...arms over your head...".  Uh yeah.

I came to the first exchange and I felt amazing.  And then I was in for a rude awakening.  I turned onto a highway into a crazy headwind and saw my awesome Garmin stats go to nearly an 8 minute pace for the second half.  It was so barren, and there were no runners around.  I entertained myself by counting these white posts that lined the highway.  There are about 13.5 to each mile, if you were wondering.  Just when I was about to throw myself into the path of a charging buffalo, I saw the "one mile left" marker and handed off to the unstoppable SR.

She took off into the wind and went off to kill her miles as I jumped into the van and tried to get out of my sweaty cold clothes as quickly as possible.  

I think I finished this 11.2 mile leg in around a 7:20 average. 

Leg 2

After my first leg, I pretty much felt like crap.  The wind had taken a lot out of me, and I spent the next couple hours either huddled in the van, or about to pass out at a Subway from a lack of sugar  (or something?  I felt much better after drinking some Sierra Mist).   SR and SarahOual came in from their challenging but tough legs, and Emily was up again much sooner than I wanted her to be.

I was pretty worried about how the rest of the legs would go given how much the first leg had taken out of me.

Luckily I had these wonderful people to cheer me up and remind me that all I needed to do is just run my own race. 

So for the 11.6 or so miles coming up, I decided I would just try to relax.  It was around 11 PM or so when poor Emily came up to the handoff.  She'd climbed a billion feet up so that I could have a nice and flat leg.  Thanks for that, Emily!

As I ran off, it took me almost a mile to even get loose.  The stiffness from the last leg coupled with the cold made it hard to run at first.   The miles ticked by quickly, and I felt really peaceful.   There were a bunch of "wild donkey" crossing signs which were really awesome.    It even started to snow a little bit!  I thought "Man.  How lucky am I to be running in the middle of Nevada in the middle of the night with snow coming down?"   Soon enough, it was time to hand off, and I saw SR in the distance.  "You're gonna love this leg" I yelled and handed off to her as she took off into the night.

I think night legs are my favourite of relay legs.  I know this is not everyone's dream weekend night, but for me, it was.   Of course, I went super slow (for my expectations).   I think my average pace for this 11.5 or so leg was somewhere around 8:20 to 8:30. Don't call all at once, Olympics.

 Leg 3

The next hours after my leg are kind of a blur.  I Compexed twice, changed, and tried to get a few minutes of sleep.  Brian and Lee our saintly drivers listened to a lot of Barenaked Ladies and Tom Petty.

I was lucky in my legs in that the timing was great.  Leg three wasn't supposed to go until around 8 AM which gave me the luxury of not having to run in the middle of the night like this girl and this girl and this girl.

I was also oddly not hungry at all throughout so I was drinking a lot of sugary drinks just to get calories and liquid.  My dentist will thank me later, I'm sure.

Lauren finished up our second rotation as the sun came up, and it was time for all of us to start our third legs.  I was nervous, but relieved that I only had 8 miles to go.  Emily took off for her last leg, and I got ready like Desi.

By around 9 AM or so, it was my turn again.  I took off and couldn't get much faster than an 8:30 pace or so....DOWNHILL.  Crazy.    My legs were gone and it hurt to move them.

I told myself to focus and that the first exchange was only 3.5 miles in.  That's like nothing right?  I also was blasting Macklemore (one of his songs about battling drug addiction-I forget the title) and kept thinking "Dude however much you're hurting right now right now, it's nothing compared to what he had to go through."   I'm not an overly dramatic runner at all...

I got to the 3.5 mile mark and the exchange was nowhere in sight.  In my super tired state I started to semi-panic.  I finally saw the exchange point a mile further.  As I passed my cheering teammates I yelled something crazy like "THIS NEXT EXCHANGE BETTER NOT BE A MILE TOO LONG!"

(Turns out, I got the exchanges distances totally wrong.  Blame the lack of sleep please?)

 I felt demoralized and kept thinking things like "What if the next exchange is a mile long too?"  And then I'd think "Screw you, Margot, if it's a mile long you'll run that extra mile and you'll learn to like it".

I turned onto a bike path and tried to push through the final couple miles.  What felt like a 7 minute pace was more like a 9:30.  I saw the final exchange and my teammates and did one last handoff to SR.   And she took off and killed it like the iron-legged girl she is. 

Then I proceeded to not be able to walk normally for the rest of the day.    I have no idea what my pace was for this leg and that's probably a good thing. 

Afterward and Thoughts

SarahOual, Kristina, and Lauren finished up really well.  I want to give them an extra shoutout.  Sarah ran uphill for pretty much ALL of her legs, Kristina had a 17 mile third leg (good lord), and Lauren was the perfect anchor.  Going last is tough in any relay and in an ultra I think it's even harder.  And she still killed it.  Actually...she ran so well, we totally missed her finish.

Sorry Lauren.  Although...I'm kind of glad that if we were going to miss an exchange, at least you don't lose any time if you miss the last one!

Done.

25:58 (7:53 overall pace).  
1st Ultra.  1st Women's team.  10th Overall.

Final Thoughts:

A major thank you to ProCompression and Compex as well as our drivers Brian and Lee.

Also a thank you to the other girls who had way harder legs than I did.  There is a major difference between going uphill and going downhill, and I appreciate that.   This relay was tough for me, but I didn't find myself questioning my sanity or swearing to never do a relay again, so it's safe to say, I had things pretty easy.   

And a thank you to the Nevada landscape.  It is much more rugged and much more beautiful than I imagined. 

To all of you - In the wise words of Miley Cyrus:  "I can't wait to see you again." 

Ragar SoCal Ultra Recap - So Much Cooler Online!

Hey Guys.  So this weekend, I did this: 

6 girls, a van driver, and 203.5 miles.  

We each ran three legs ranging from 5.5 miles to 20 miles each across Southern California. 30-42 miles total.

This was a weekend I'll probably remember as the absolutely most ridiculous, painful, wonderful, heartbreaking, best-ever days I've had in a long time.  I think I finally understand why people do ultra-marathons (not that I just did one).  Apparently, there's a fine line between "worst and most painful experience" and "most uplifting experience" when it comes to running.  And that's what I felt this weekend. Here's my part of the team's story:

Pre-Race

 

Van decoration and getting ready was pretty uneventful beyond some random rent-a-cop yelling at us to get our van out of the road.  Pam cut up about 15 pounds of fruit and we had plenty of toilet paper, so we were good to go.  At 1PM, SkinnyRunner was off.  (She killed 10 miles at a nearly 7 flat pace, by the way).

1st Leg

I was the third runner in the relay, and by the time I was running, it was about 3:30 PM.  I figured since I had the shortest leg of any of the girls, it would be no big deal.

Turns out...it was a big deal.  At least to me. 

I was in a lot of pain throughout most of my first leg.  The 500 ft hill wasn't really the worst part...it was the heat, and Friday rush-hour traffic, and the constant traffic lights were awful.   There's nothing more frustrating than losing a good ten minutes just standing at stop lights. 

By the time I was almost finished with the 5.5 mile leg, I was done.  I'm a pretty overly dramatic runner in general, but I think my performance as I finished this leg took the cake.  I ran off from my teammates, cursed up a storm, and almost cried.  I felt like a shitty team member.  "If I was THAT bad at a 5 mile leg, how bad of a team member am I going to be when I run the longer legs".

As I handed off to Chiara, I yelled in the most serious tone "BE CAREFUL OUT THERE" in an attempt to convey that the heat felt dangerous.  Apparently she took my warning literally and spent the next few miles wondering if there was a murderer on the loose in Southern California. 

Pam getting ready for her first leg

The afternoon wore on and the rest of the girls clicked off their legs, gradually marching uphill into Temecula and the Inland Empire.   They were rock stars for making it through the heat and the hills.

Us pigging out on pizza that Pam's husband brought us.  THANK YOU, Rocky!

2nd Leg

Sometime around 11PM, Nicole finished our last leg in our 1st rotation, and it was time for us to all roll again.  SkinnyRunner had a 19 mile long leg, and Pacer Dave (who is pretty much a running angel) came to join her. 

Reflective Vests:  SO in for Spring.

After clicking off 19 miles, it was time for SarahOual to run.  I was pretty scared of my next legs as they totaled somewhere between 14 and 15 miles, and were pretty hilly.  Also, running at 2AM is just weird. 

Turns out...they were the best part.

The first half of my run was really downhill.  So downhill that I was afraid of wrecking my quads by taking it out too hard.  It was still pretty fun to cruise down 800 ft over 4 or so miles....

As I started the second part of my leg, a small miracle happened: Saint Brian, Ouals's Husband joined me.   He was an amazing running buddy and we pretty much we just ran together in silence.  It was great just to have someone there. 

The whole time on my run, it was very foggy and cool.  And the fun thing about running late at night when you haven't slept is that you start to hallucinate a little.  Or at least I did.  Every shadow was weird and every tree movement freaked me out.

After a little under two hours, Brian and I pulled into the next exchange point and I felt sweet relief.  2/3 of my legs were done, and maybe I could catch an hour of sleep.

All done! 

3rd Third (it all falls apart)


This is the point in the relay when I realized I'd really underestimated this beast of a relay.  I'm pretty sure my teammates would say they felt the same as well!  I was lucky and caught about an hour of sleep in the van as we drove from location to location.

I saw SR and Sarah bring in their legs, and Sarah KILLED hers, bringing in her last 7+ at 7:40 something pace.

At one of these exchanges, Chiara, Nicole, and I were walking around and ran into this super cute girl who exclaimed "Omg, it's So Much Cooler Online!".  I just stared at her, confused and disoriented.  So..if you are reading.. here is my apology for not being friendlier!  I swear we are not "So Much Bitchier In Real Life!"  =).

Soon enough, it was time for me to run again.  The weather was cool in the early morning hours of my leg, but I was in total survival mode.  I set off on my first leg...

While this elevation doesn't appear as devastating as the earlier legs, I assume you, I wanted to stab myself running this leg. I also wanted to stab myself running down the hills because at this point, my quads were done and running was very painful.  I barely even looked at my garmin, but 9:xx was the lowest I saw throughout this leg. 

At the exchange point, I saw Lisa and Mason cheering me on, and I stared at them like they'd killed a puppy.  I kept on wanting to cry, but I knew that would make it harder to run.

And then... a miracle occurred.  I ran into Dave who was spectating.  I spoke with him as I ran up Torrey Pines the hill and our conversion went something like this:

Me: "Dave!  Why do we do these dumb races?" 

Cheerful Dave comes up with some nice response

Me: "Dave!  How far am I on this hill?"

Cheerful Dave tells me I'm halfway and that I'm doing good

::I consider whether throwing myself off the hill is a good idea or a bad idea::

 Me: "I AM NEVER F'ING DOING THIS AGAIN EVER!!!"

 Dave tells me people alway say that during situations like this. 


"Yeah but I'M SERIOUS!"

 Needless to say, it will be a small miracle if Dave actually agrees to be my friend after this display, but I am forever grateful to him for being so encouraging and putting up with my antics.  What a nice dude.

 After Torrey Pines hills, it was slightly downhill from there.  I tried booking it in as much as I could, and felt pure elation when I saw the exchange site.  I handed off to Chiara and was done!

Finish

As Chiara ran, and then Pam, and then Nicole, it was amazing to see them push through their legs.  We were all toast at this point, and Nicole was battling an injury.  It was extremely humbling for all of us to see the slower paces than we're used to, but somehow awesome as well.

When Nicole got to the finish, we ran the relay in with her.  Actually...I was unable to run at that point, so I flailed around trying to get to the finish.  Next, we slammed down some delicious beers, met up with some of our awesome 12 man team, packed up, and rode back up to So Cal. 

Afterwards

You guys.....WE WON THE WOMEN'S ULTRA DIVISION!!!  We also got second women's overall group.  God that feels sweet to type.  


It's hard for me to express how great of an experience this was.  I love all the girls that I spent time in the van with and we had so much support.  To sum it up:


That was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done, but I can't wait to do it all over again.

As you know, we had a billion wonderful sponsors for our relay. It's always tough to balance giving sponsors credit without making the user experience bad for readers.   One of my best friends, Christina told me our Twitter handle was "One Big Commercial", which kind of made me laugh.  If you felt the same as her, sorry about that.

I'm going to review all of the products (and some others that I've gotten lately) in another post. But until then, a big thank you to:

ProCompression

@procompression

Click

@drinkclick

Aspaeris Pivot Shorts

@aspaerispivot

Nuun

@nuunhydration

Running Skirts 

@runningskirts

Bic Bands 

(@bicbands)

Run Pretty Far

(@runprettyfar)

Please check out some other blogs of my teammates (both ultra and 12 man).

Sarah   Once Upon a (L)ime
SarahSR   SkinnyRunner
Chacha   Chasing Imperfection
Nicole   Haute Running Mama  
Heather   365 Days of Awesome
Elisabeth   Running at the Speed of Me
Shannon  Hungry Gazelle
Sandy  BIC Bands
Becka   50 Half Marathons in 50 States
Madison   I’d Rather Be Eating
Danica   Girls That Run
Pam FineWineTakesTime 
Erica  Cajun Runner
Ashley   PrettyFittie
Linzay   Broke Runner  

Lucky. (Holiday Half Marathon Recap)

Just like this girl, this girl, this girl, this girl, and this girl, I ran the Holiday Half Marathon  on Sunday.

I drove up in my poor excuse for a car with Monica and Sarah.  Monica took pictures of me driving and Sarah played her 10th grade dance tunes.

We got to beautiful Pomona with an hour to spare and Danica showed us where bathrooms were without lines!  Well...ok...she showed Sarah and Monica where they were because I was frantically trying to find my race number.  My middle name is "prepared."   I also met Julie which was pretty sweet.


When it was about time to run, I literally jumped the fence to get in my "corral" and we got goin'.   


My fairly arbitrary goal was to keep up 7:20 miles for the race.  But...short of Fontana Days (most downhill course ever), I've never done this.   My expectations for keeping up a 7:20 on hillmageddon were slim to none.  


I tried to hold back in the first few miles.  I told myself that if miles 1-5 aren't easy, you're not running the race right.

Miles 1-5 weren't too bad.  I felt like I was trying, but not dying.  Miles 6-10 were...the time that I needed to concentrate and focus.  They were hilly, but I actually think this worked to my advantage.  I am at my worst as a runner when I'm bored, and this up and down, twisty, beautiful course definitely didn't allow for settling into a pace, cruising, and getting comfortable.

I ate a couple honey stingers at mile 6 and a Gu at mile 9.  Around this time, the SRLA kids (who had started about 15 minutes behind me) started passing me.
Holy cow, some of them are FAST!  

For the last bit of the race, I told myself to step lightly and quickly.  This was for two purposes:
1) To not waste energy and keep a quick stride
2) To try to avoid getting a stomach cramp
(It sorta worked - I only cramped up at the very end.)

At mile 12, I was still feeling good, and something amazing happened.  People started yelling at me stuff like "you're in 6th, go get the girl in front of you!".
Granted, they were counting incorrectly because I was in 10th, but, this was so cool.  
I've always wanted to be far up enough in a race so that people cheer you on as a competitor.  A contender.  I know it's silly, but in that moment, I felt like a freaking rock star.

You know what else made me feel like a rock star?
Running a time that I never truly thought I'd be capable of running.  Here are my Garmin splits:

My chip time was 1:35:50.  7:19 pace, 10th woman overall.

I finished, accidentally high-fived some guy who was really trying to high-five the person behind me, and cheered on Monica and Sarah.   We hung out, complained about the hills, and I stole sips off Sarah's delicious beer, because I forgot my dang ID.  (I'm almost 30!).  

Final Thoughts On The Race
Hold up y'all, I'm abouts to over-dramatize my hobby.  

This race was one of those magical races when I'm so happy to be a runner.  I ran this race at a pace that I never thought would be possible for me.  But...that's not all....I got to be passed by a bunch of talented high schoolers that hopefully are the future of the sport.  I got to hang out with two awesome girls who I'd never have known if I'd never read running blogs.  And I got to run in freaking Southern California in perfect weather to the backdrop of gorgeous mountains.  I am....ridiculously lucky.

Foiled again by Target. Soooo much cooler online!

Have ya heard?  Our Ragnar team has a name!!!

Introducing....

and at least in my case...it is SO TRUE :).

I found out our winning name when I went down to Carlsbad to meet up with my teammates!  I got to meet PrettyFittie and HauteRunningMama, and got to see SR, OUAL, ChaCha, and Heather.

And...now I'm pumped about this dang thing.

I considered not coming to the meetup bc I was exhausted from a ridiculously busy Saturday morning.  I ran 14 miles (4 at race pace...which by the way, was MUCH harder than I hoped it would be...no bueno...no bueno...), and spent 3 hours on a boat for a Newport Harbor birthday party (where we saw these seals...OMG is this the life or what?) and had a bit of a hike of a drive down to Carlsbad.

I was literally slapping myself in my car as I was driving as I feared I was going to fall asleep at the wheel (remember that part about me randomly falling asleep at places.  it's no bueno...no bueno...).

Anyways, a couple Aleve and blogger friend company later, I felt all better.  I don't know if it's finally knowing people who will talk about races / running with as much passion as I want to, or just having cool girlfriends to hang with, but I LOVE hanging out with bloggers!  I can't believe I'm meeting friends on the internet, but hey man, it's the 21st century and it's awesome.

After all the pizza and fun girl running talk, I headed back to the OC and went to sleep ridiculously early.

Should I be worried that these "fast finish" workouts are feeling decently hard?  If 10 moderate + 4 @ 7:15 is a challenge, how do I expect to do 13.1 at 7:15....any words of encouragement (or straight talk like "yes you have a problem"?).  

Today was a much less busy day.  It consisted of cleaning, going on a run /bike on dead legs, and buying these cuties for $20 at Target.  Yeah...totally need them....right?  =).

I am unable to walk into Target without buying twice what I intended to.   It's cheap enough for me to impulse buy, and expensive enough for me to get to the checkout and realize they got me again!!!

Any stores like that for you?

Hope ya had a good weekend, and if you're one of the billions of bloggers that PR'd or raced this weekend (ahem, Lisa, Susan, Kerrie) congrats!

Top Blog Posts. You (didn't) ask, I answered.

Along the way of my illustrious blogging career, I've been tagged by good friends like Cait, Terzah, Rachael, and other freaking awesome girls in their posts.

Usually, the posts included either a Q & A portion, or a "top blog posts" portion.  Because I bring "disorganized" to a whole new crappy standard when it comes to my blog, I never answered a dang one.

BUT NOW I'M GOING TO MAKE UP FOR IT!!!!!!!  IN ONE GLORIOUS COMBO POST!!!

Most Controversial Post:  Probably either "My Two Cents On Blogging Popularity" and one random one where I was bagging on Lululemon.   It's weird because I'm not sure how I feel about either post now.  Sometimes I take a side when I post and roll with it.  It's the internet, no one can really hold me to these opinions, right? ;-)

Most Helpful Post:  Hah!  Helpful?  Ah jeez...you're readin' the wrong blog.  Let's say the Chile Rellano recipe post because it's freaking delicious.

Post that didn't get the attention it deserved:  ALL OF MY POSTS DON'T GET THE ATTENTION THEY DESERVE!!!!

uhh...sorry.  Ego got in the way.  
Maybe the one about William and Kate's Wedding.  It was kind of funny and I spent a long time on it.

Post I am most proud of:  Either the Boston Marathon one, or my 5k PR.  Just because they were good races, and good races always make for good posts :).

For the Q and A portion, I'm kind of going to copy Sarah and AR who made up questions because no one asked them stuff.  Because no one ever asks me anything either.  However, if you have real questions about me, I would be SUPER flattered to answer, just ask (it's cool if you don't).

What's with the blog name?  
Despite the fact that she lives with my mom now, I own a mini rex rabbit named Fiver.  When I was a kid, I always wanted a rabbit.  When I graduated college, I thought "no one can tell me what to do" and I drove to a farm in Livingston, Texas, and brought one back.  And now my poor mom takes care of her.
Bottom line, I like rabbits.  If your ears were 40% the length of your body, I'd find you adorable too.







What celebrity did you have a crush on in high school? 
Rob Thomas of Matchbox20.  And every other singer in a band.

What are your running goals?  
Since I'll never be a pro, I guess I just want to have fun.  And hopefully PR my face off.   I think goal one is more achievable.
In all seriousness, I'd like to continue to improve, but I'm having a hard time balancing training with my working and personal life.   I love running though, so it's hard to ignore it and not give it a lot of time and effort.

Pie or Cake?
Pie.  The kind with a crumb topping.  Peach, Apple, or Cherry preferred.

Which Backstreet Boy Was your Favorite?
Brian Littrell.  Without question.

Ain't nothin' but a hearrtttachhheee!  


Best Piece of Running Advice?  
Listen to your body, know your limits, and keep it simple, yo.

Anything you'd like to know about me?  
Have you been asked any weird/fun /random questions on your blog (or in real life) lately? 

Next Race Steps! (Blogger Ragnar, half marathons, and duathlons)

I'm watching an ABC special on models and the dangers they deal with in their life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll at Fashion Week.  Luckily, during my stint as a 5'3" very successful model, I have managed to avoid such pressures.  Possibly because my modeling has been mostly confined to thefasterbunny.blogpost.com.  What a shame...what a shame...

Besides modeling, I've been trying to figure out what the heck is next for me on the race side...
Honestly, I don't feel like ever racing again at the moment, but I know the bug will bite soon enough, so I gotta be ready!

So here's what's on the docket.  Some other random stuff might show up too (like Houston 10 for Texas, Big Sur Marathon, and random winter 5ks).

1)  LA Rock and Roll 13.1.  October 30th.  
Goals:  Get a kickbutt pumpkin costume and run a 1:35.
I feel like a 1:35 sounds SO fast right now, just thinkin' about it!

Hey Margot...didn't you run a 1:33 at Fontana?  Why wouldn't a 1:35 be achievable?
Uhhh that 1:33 was running down a mountain.  Unfortunately I can't roll down the mountain for this one!


Anyways, I gotta get "training" for this bad boy!  Long runs?  Please suggest training plans that worked for you!

2)  San Diego Duathlon.  November 13th.  
Goals:  Finish.  Don't get a flat!  Try mah best!  I think that means running not much higher than 7 minute miles and biking around 20 mph.  Possibly overly ambitious goals?
Why:  I'm to scared to do a tri so I duathlon is a good place to start!

3) RAGNAR ULTRA FREAKING BLOGGER ULTRA!
In April!
Can you tell which race I'm most excited about?
Here's why.  My team rocks!
We've got Skinny Runner, Pam, Nicole The Haute Running Mama, Once Upon A Lime, ChaCha.

I really just blog to get friends who run :).
Plus, Hood To Coast was such a blast, this has gotta be too.

Each leg averages something like 35 miles a piece.   I am definitely claiming one of the shorter ones!  The race goes from LA to San Diego...hopefully we'll meet movie stars on the way!

But...running is not the biggest challenge.  Naming our team is!
So help a sista out and help us think of a name for our Ultra Ragnar!  

Any suggestions?  Ahem, I think there's a Skinny Runner shirt for the winning idea AND I'll send ya some Gu!  

Soooo...that's what I've got on the schedule so far...What's on your schedule?  
What races are you most excited (or nervous) about doing?  


Here's a Weekly Recap:
Thursday 2 mile beach run
Friday 6 mile "tempo" at 7:30 pace
Saturday 5 miles moderate
Sunday  9 miles easy
Monday  5 miles easy
Tuesday 4 miles easy, 2 at 6:40 pace
Wednesday 20 bike miles

32 running miles, 20 biking miles.  Ok...I know I haven't upped mileage as I said I would, but I was on vacation!  This week is for real ;-).

My Hood To Coast Experience! Time 'o life.

I've been TOTALLY procrastinating on this write up!  Probably because it was too intense of an experience to write quickly and I don't know what to leave in / leave out.  But...you've got a billion other (better) bloggers to read in HTC recaps, so I'm just gonna try mah best mmmm kay?   =)

Pre-Race
I flew into Seattle Wednesday night to spend some time with Anthony pre-Hood To Coast.  It pretty much consisted of working even though I was on vacation and watching Game Of Thrones (new HBO series!) with him.  Thursday night, Nuun hosted a pre-race dinner. My heart went pitter-patter as I met so many bloggers that I knew only from internet pictures!

I have no idea what the appropriate way to meet new bloggers is.  I usually say "heeyyyy!  You're "X blogger!". And then I feel kinda awkward because clearly I've been stalking them online. But...usually they are nice and sometimes we even quickly hug!  Because...we kinda already know each other, right?

After dinner, we stole helped ourselves to a bunch of Nuun sitting on the shelves! Let's just say I will not be running out any time soon!

Morning



Van 1 of Nuun Platuun planned to roll out of the hotel and go to Mount Hood at 6:00 AM Friday.  We met in the lobby, took some pics, and got going!  My van was Alyssa, Lisa, Kerrie, Tricia, Caitlin (Nuun), and Alex (Nuun driver).  We also had a photographer with us some of the time.

We made our way to Mount Hood and after three hours of driving and getting to know each other better, we pull into this glorious place:




OMG Mt. Hood.  

Tricia was the first up to start the race, and she was definitely nervous!  As soon as the race started though, we tailed her in the van and she was kicking some booty down the mountain!  She finished her leg, and Alyssa took the "baton" (really a slap bracelet).  Unfortunately it was getting hotter and hotter.  After Caitlin and Kerrie finished their legs, it was time for this bunny to start running.


My First Leg
Let's just say it was hot and I was sweat-tay.  But my awesome van tailed me, pouring water on me as I ran by.  I was pretty physically uncomfortable, but the pure thought of running Hood To Coast made this leg awesome, despite the heat and hills.   My performance was nothing to write home about, something like 7:40 pace for 6.1 miles.

I handed the slap bracelet onto Lisa and she brought in Van 1, handing off to Jess in Van 2.  We met up with Van 2 in the Safeway parking lot and I drank copious amounts of milk to try to recover.

It was pretty cool to finally see Van 2 since we had been separated from them since the start.

I chatted with my awesome teammates and made weird arm movements as evident in the picture on the right.

Van 2 took off, and we went for some nice R&R at a pub in suburban Portland.  I had a delicious loaded baked potato.  Before we knew it, it was time to meet up in Portland to get going on our nighttime legs!

NIGHT

The next Van exchange was really in a strange part of Portland.  It appeared to be some sort of park next to a bunch of trains.  We got to hang out with the other teammates and the girls from AfterNuun Delight and also wear some really stylish night gear (head lamp and vest).

Tricia led off our awesome van again, but ended up getting stuck behind a train for like 15 minutes!  She decided to not try to climb over the moving train, but was still awesome.  Alyssa went off on her leg and went ridiculously under her predicted pace.  We were all starting to get tired by now (after having been awake 20 hours), but it was my turn to run again.  I took a caffeine enhanced Gu, and went for it.  

Leg 2
This was honestly one of the strangest running experiences of my life.  I was running somewhere in rural Oregon down a highway that was nearly pitch black.  The only things I could see were other runners in the distance (their flashing lights) and trucks along the side of the highway.  Occasionally, a truck would honk to "say hi", which was kind of fun.  I felt like I was on a weird infinite treadmill where I had no idea where I was or how fast I was going.  Good thing, because I wasn't going all that fast.  I think I averaged around 7:40 miles for the 7.1 miles.  This isn't great because the terrain was pretty easy and flat.  I'm gonna forgive myself though.  Extenuating circumstances!
I was both bored and excited at the same time, but before I knew it, I rolled into the next exchange point and handed off to Lisa.

Complete Confusion

I'm not really good with not sleeping.  I can do it, I just start going insane.  This didn't bode well for the nighttime hours of HTC.

We pulled into a sleeping area around 2:30 AM.  I was completely disoriented, and went to go lay on the grass by myself and thought it was a great idea to not tell anyone.  After 45 minutes into my adventure, I decided to start walking around like a zombie.

I ran into Alex, our van driver.  He told me the whole van was looking for me.  I then bit him and we all turned into zombies.

uhhh..just kidding about that last part.

Anyways, we all piled into the van to try to get to the next exchange point.  Traffic was horrible. We were seriously going about 1 mile/hr and runners were passing us on the side.   There actually was a guy walking around outside that looked like a Zombie. All of this would have been fine, though.
Except for the fact, that I had recovered from my run #2 by drinking a ton of milk.  And I had to pee like a racehorse.

For about 30 minutes I tried to hold it, knowing that going in the woods is well...not allowed in HTC.  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.  At 4:30 AM, I sprinted out of the van into the unknown foggy Oregon countryside.  And behind an old abandoned house, I did what I had to do.  Rules be damned, I tried to hold it and failed.

According to my teammates, my sprinting into the fog with a roll of toilet paper was quite a sight to behold.

Sweet Sleep

We finally pulled up into the lot around 5:00 AM, and poor Alex had been driving for about 24 hours.  We put down a tarp, and got a glorious 60 minutes of sleep.  When I woke up it was light out.  The night before felt like some weird nightmare, and now that it was light, everything was ok again.

Go Time Again.  Beautiful.  

After a little getting ready and trying to be lucid, it was time for Tricia to lead us off again.  She had an adorable Camo dress (skirt shirt combo) and got ready to rumble.  We started driving into the hills in Astoria, Oregon.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but there was something breathtaking about the morning.

There was fog everywhere, and it was cool.  The land was green and hilly, and we all just had one more run to go to bring in Hood To Coast.

Even though everyone was doing a great job on their legs, I was very nervous about mine.  My last leg was a straight 3.5 mile climb and I wasn't sure if I'd be ok doing it.  I took plenty of Pepto swigs to try to be ready.

Finally, it was my turn.  And dude..it was GLORIOUS!

Handing Off to Lisa

It is hard for me to describe how beautiful the area was, or how many cheers I got running up that mountain.  The support, the scenery, and knowing I was on my last leg, made this an indescribable experience.

When I got to the top of the mountainn, I knew it was time to let it all go.  2.5 miles down, time to let it all out.  I went up the mountain at 9 minute miles, but I came down at 6:30 pace.
Every leg I ran was beautiful, but leg 29 (my third) is a reason to be the number 5 runner on its own.  Took my breath away.


The Finish
After Van 1 finished, we drove through Oregon to Seaside in a ton of traffic.  We kept getting updates about our teammates.  How Susan ran an amazing final leg.  How XLMIC, our last runner, was getting ready to run.

We made it to the finish in our van, and waited to see XLMIC bring it in.  And she finished the whole HTC under 28 hours, in 27:59.   When she finished, I told her that it is crazy to see how much she gives to each leg.  She said "I don't know any other way to run".  Amazing quote!!

Epilogue. 
I spent my time after the race primarily with Anthony as we drove to Portland.  I was pretty freaking disoriented and had to wake up in the middle of the night to throw up.  I'm telling you this not to gross you out (ok..maybe a little bit), but to say "HOLY CRAP WE PUSHED OURSELVES TO THE LIMIT!"

Now, a couple days later, I feel more recovered.
I know I will never forget this crazy weekend.  It was so cool, beautiful, challenging, and fun.

A special thank you to the companies that made this possible and so much more awesome for us: 
Nuun  (of course!)
And also....
Tommie Copper  (I am wearing your calf sleeves right now) 
Moving Comfort  (wore the Sports Bra earlier today!) 
Road ID
2Toms
Flashbrite (reflective paws)
Buildasign (van magnets)
Gu
TMB
Jackblack
Jamba Juice
Jenny Craig

Is this what it means to be an adult?

I'm back from my conference!  I learned a lot about marketing. 

(I work in marketing, this wasn't about marketing my little blog, that would be RIDICULOUS =) ).

I also learned about the food selections of San Francisco.  They are great, but I can never live San Fran because there are not enough places that sell ice cream.  

I had a great blogger meetup with Average A and Marjorie who are on my Nuun Hood To Coast Team!

   

Pics or it didn't happen?

Stolen from M's blog since I set my picture cable free in San Francisco

Dude it totally happened. 

Being at this conference also was stressful and tiring.  Is this what adulthood is?  Always being overextended?  

I'm thinking yes.  

Sometimes I feel like a 16 year old stuck in a 29 year old’s body.   Not maturity wise, but like Freaky Friday style (the version back when Lindsey Lohan was cute and sane) where I'm just waiting to be switched back. 

What is this “responsibility” you speak of? 

Billz?  Jobz?  Life?   

Responsibility sucks yo.  But it’s here to stay.   It’s not ALL bad though.   Remember all the stuff you WANTED to do as a kid but now you can?  Some of it's pretty awesome...

 -  No asking to eat junk food.  You just freaking do it.

-  You wanna go somewhere?  Sweet…just get in the car and drive.

-   Going on dates with boys is a-ok.  You can even kiss them! 

-  Coffee and booze.  'Nuff said. 

-   Cereal for Dinner.  no harassment about bad nutrition. 
-  Being able to do a 200 mile 13 person relay in Oregon just because you want to!

Some stuff just doesn’t fly anymore, and that list is a lot longer than this first one.  

Anecdote:  I remember when I was about 8 and was wearing a barrette with a bunch of tulle coming out of it.  I asked my mom if she wanted to wear it and she said she was too old to wear a poofy hair clip.  It blew my mind that anyone could ever be too old to wear such a fashionable piece. 

But now I get it.  

It doesn't fly to: 

-      Dance through the aisles.  Back in the day, I’d practice my iceskating routines through the grocery store cereal aisle nearly knocking over the fruit loops and wearing nothing but tights and the tiny skating skirts.  I think they’d call security if I pulled that stunt these days.

-      Free sample binge.  Ok ok…I’m pretty sure you’re not even supposed to do this as a kid, but I remember the glorious days of grabbing about 10 samples at a time.  Now I can only do this when they’re not looking.

-      Sibling Torment:  Sneaking up on your siblings when they aren’t looking and trying to scare the living crap out of them. 

-      Pretending to be a shark in the pool.  This one we CAN do but it’s rare.   I never cease to be amused by a bunch of random people lying by a pool and no one is actually in it or interacting with each other.  How exactly is this different from setting up a chair on your sidewalk by yourself?

Candy Bar Themed Shoes = Awesome

- Singing in the middle of a presentation if it gets boring:  I totally wanted to to this all week. 

-      Hide and Seek, Tag, and Capture the Flag.  Can we please play this at Hood To Coast?  It's "interval training". 

-      Eating 10 Candy Bars in one sitting:  When you do this as an adult, it’s a binge.  When you do it as a kid, it’s awesome.

-      Leggings and fluffy boots like Uggs.  Wait….nevermind.

What did you do when you were a kid but that doesn't fly now (without getting crazy looks)? 

Do you support my initiative to be able to make eating ridiculous amounts of candy socially acceptable again? 

OC Fair 5k Recap! Runnin' with Clownz.

Orange County 5k Race Recap:  A dream come true for me.  Please forgive the melodrama of this recap!    This PR means a lot to me.  And gosh dangit, I'm fairly proud of myself.

Woke up at 6:20 and saw it was cloudy and cool.   I do terribly in the heat, so I was pumped to race. 

I met up with Pam, who was running the race as well and we stood in a ridiculously long line to get my bib.  I think the race was a ton bigger than last year's so they weren't prepared for the crowds.  

Pam and I hung out in the starting corrals which was awesome because I tend to get a little psycho nervous before races.  Having her there to talk to definitely helped me not having a nervous breakdown.  We agreed that no matter how many races we do, we still get butterflies at the start.  SO true.  I will never stop nearly peeing on myself out of nerves in the corral.  

The race was a bit delayed due to the crappy logistics, but it didn't really bother me.  More time to procrastinate actually racing!  

Finally...we were OFF!

Start:   For the first time in the history of the world I went out at the pace I wanted to.   Possibly due to getting "unwarmedup" from standing the corral so long, but I'll take it.   

Self Talk: "Strong but relaxed...strong but relaxed..."

First Mile: 6:38. 

The course started curving in and out of random exhibits.  It was pretty cool, actually.  I felt like I was in a video game and some crazy clowns would come out of the booths and start chasing me.  

I was keeping pace with a long haired dude running barefoot.  Normally I like hippies, but this guy kept on boxing me out every time there was a curve.  No idea if it was on purpose or not (probably not), but I got frustrated at some point and muttered "seriously dude?" after trying to pass for the 1000x time.  Then I felt bad and rude.  I doubt he was trying to be a jerk, but racing sometimes brings out a weird aggressive side of me.  

Self talk:  "Relaxed...keep pushing!  No slowing down from that first mile!"

Mile 1.5:  Water station.  I take water, throw it on myself and then throw the cup on the ground.  Then I see a trash can.  For the second time in a couple minutes, I felt rude.

Mile 2: 13:20  (6:42 second mile)

Self Talk:  "You're never going to PR...I can feel you slowing down...just admit you suck at running" 

Then:  "Stop doing this to yourself, just focus...".  

Mile 2.5:  

Self Talk:  "Only about 4 more minutes to go.  You can run for 4 minutes.  That's less than 1000 meters.  You CAN run 1000 meters, can't you?"

I ridiculously started quoting Pre in my head:  "To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift, to give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift..."

Mile 3:  20:03.  "Go Go GO!!"

How I felt. 

Final Time: 20:39, 4th woman.  

So happy!  

Pam also kicked some booty coming in just a hair after me and PRing as 5th woman.  We didn't run the race together, but it was awesome having her there!  She is ridiculously nice and supportive!    

Post race, I decided to see if I won any sort of age group prize.  

After asking a couple volunteers about prizes who gave me confused looks and asked "You got a race t-shirt, right?", I figured it was a lost cause.  :). 

Last Thoughts: I don't want to over dramatize this race, because I fully realize that running a mid-20s 5k, is not really that impressive.  I didn't set any records or save any lives.  At the same time, I've been running for 14 years and have never broken 21.  And it's always bugged me.  And I finally did it.  

So this race feels almost as good as a BQ to me.    

I celebrated by getting a mini donut from Starbucks and trying on everything in the store at the local Lululemon.   It was awesome.