F Yeah Friday, Boston Edition!

Holla and happy Friday!  I haven't done an F yeah Friday in a while, but I'm bringing it back!  It's a collection of all things awesome in the week.   Here are mine.

1) Feeling like your feet move ok. 
After a couple weeks of a very odd workout schedule and little effort, I have decided I'd ease back into working out.  My running confidence has been super low lately, and I've been feeling...at the lack of more elegant words: "chubs and slow", so I figured I'd go to the track and see what a 1:35 half marathon pace even feels like.

Turn out, half marathon goal pace doesn't feel bad, if you run it for 5 miles.  It's probably a lot harder if you...you know...run longer...
3.5 miles in warmup and cooldown.  5 miles on track at 7:12, 7:13, 7:13, 7:12, 7:06 (oopsy...little quick on that last one...I think my brain decided to want to run under 36) = 35:56.  This was a little bit of a confidence booster simply because I know this would have felt hard in the past but it doesn't anymore.

2)  Poorly Written Popular Literature
I'm off to San Francisco this weekend!  I can no longer call it "San Fran" as Roserunner informed me that it's "way not cool" to call it that.   I'm pretty excited.  And I'm actually excited to get on a plane too.  Mostly because I want to continue reading the Hunger Games on my Kindle.  
I know someone's not going to appreciate this, but The Hunger Games remind me of Twilight only with less "omg Edward":  Poorly written but I can't stop turning the page.

Team Jacob, yo.  Taylor Lautner's got it goin' on. 

3)  Boston Registration
It looks like the registration is going smoothly and lots of my blogger friends are gettin' in.  Honestly, I was expecting much more of a drama show of the registration.  I'm really excited for everyone who is going to run it.
I gotta admit, as someone who thought I would only run Boston once, making Boston harder to get into...makes me want to do it...mostly because I probably won't be allowed!

You cannn't always gettt whatcha wannnttt. 

My "BQ" is the 3:35:16 I ran in Boston this last year.  So I'm in the general pool.  And it'll probably be full before I could register.  But that's cool.

Groucho Marx said it best (and I'm paraphrasing):  "I would never want to be a member of a club that would accept me as a member".  

hehe.

But anyways, congrats to all that were accepted into Boston, and I hope that some in the "BQ but not by more than 5 minutes" are able to register.  It was an amazing experience, and I would recommend it to anyone crazy enough to want to run a marathon and qualify.

What was awesome about your week?  

Did you register for Boston (or are you planning to)??

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 ;-).

The travelers guide to running (and food!)

First things first: Whole Foods is doing a $10 for $20 Living Social Deal.  Get it !

If there's one thing I spend my money and time on these days, it's travel (not running unfortunately!).    With a BF in Seattle, one brother and mom on the east coast, and friends all over the freaking place (who are all getting married), it's just gotta happen.

Plus I might just be a little bit restless by nature.
Introducing....

The Traveling Runners Guide To:
Keepin' yo bags:  If you're switching airlines and traveling internationally, I give your bags about a 50% chance of getting lost.  At least those have been my odds. So try to stay on the same airline, if possible.

Packing:  Sadly, not everyone in the world is as addicted to running as I am (#3rdworldproblems), so if your stuff gets lost, it can be hard to replace things, depending on where you're going.  Pack shoes and sports bras (or any woman specific stuff) in your carry on.   I know it's kind of gross, but if you're running out of space, stuff the sports bra / socks / shirt in your shoes.

Random Countries / Cities:  This is one of my favorite parts of running.  You can experience the world so much differently while running and I think it's a cool way to see a new area. Just remember, if the area looks sketchy, it is probably not worth risking it.  Or at least ditch the headphones.  That way no one will steal your ipod.

Chillaxing:  I'm pretty anal about working out.  If you're reading this blog and don't know me in real life, you probably are too.   Chances are, you're not going to have the worlds best workout week while traveling due to weird food / bad sleep / different weather.  Have a kick-butt week of working out before you travel and use the travel time as a "step back" week.

Scheduling Working Out While On Vacation: I know everyone says "get up early and workout", but honestly, that's the last thing I want to do while on vacation.  I wanna sleep in, yo.   So if you're like me, just be open to running at weird times of day.  If everyone decides to watch tv mid-afternoon, that's your chance to go do your thing.

Caring What Other People Think:  I've run in Buenos Aires (where no one runs for fun that I could find), in my socks in a park (because I had no shoes), and done stair stepping on an offshore Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico.   I'm sure everyone thought I was insane.  And I'm cool with that.   I think you gotta be.


The Traveling Eaters Guide to....
Water:  The TSA doesn't want you to bring more than 3 oz of fluid through security.  Bring an empty water bottle through security.  Refill when you're through.  If you're constantly thirsty like me, it saves $$ in bottled water.

Drinks on the Flight:  I hate to advocate being a pain in the butt for any service person, but I'm going to.  Ask for the whole can if you want.  Ask for two drinks when they come by.  Whatever, it's your party.  Just be polite.

Schedule layovers in the south:  If you love Mexican food and fried stuff like me.  I know it sounds ridiculous to do this, but since it doesn't snow as much there will be fewer chances of delays too.  Favorite airports for food:  Austin and Memphis.  Relatively small airports with breakfast tacos, cobbler, and BBQ galore.

Snacks:  Just bring a few.  Nuts, apples, dried fruit, Clif Bars, whatever that doesn't melt.  Your super hungry self will thank you.

Airlines:  Jet Blue still gives free snacks.  Virgin America has a pretty good selection but you gotta pay.  IMO the newer the airline, the better the food!

Any travel tips you wanna share? 

Oooh Mexico. (It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low.)

Greetings, amigos!  I am back from the land of the palm trees, green-blue water, and humidity.   

This was our view from the deck at Tulum.  Beaut-i-ful.

Tulum's claim to fame is having Mayan ruins on the ocean.  The history geek in me loves this.  

The iguanas love it as well (they were everywhere!).













The first night Anthony and I were in Mexico, we cabbed into Tulum and got some Mexican food.  The food was delicious, but downtown was pretty sketchy with lots of police patrolling with lights on and automatic weapons.  Do not fear, we were able to consume tortillas safely.   Delicious delicious tortillas.  Totally worth it.

This smoothie on the right is possibly the most delicious combination of mango, cranberry, and yogurt possible.  En Serio.

After Tulum, we were excited to get into an air conditioned hotel (So Cal has left me with no heat tolerance) and rode the 2 hours back to Cancun.

We went Jet Skiing and Snorkeling.  This was the coolest part of the vacation, but I have no pictures.  Yeah, I am an awesome blogger, I know.   I've never been snorkeling before though and seeing all the gorgeous fish swimming in the ocean was amazing!  I kept trying to dive to the bottom to catch them, but sadly the fish were faster than me and did not want to play :).

And then...the wedding....

Hard to see in this picture, but her dress was perrrrfect!

As was the view from the reception:

And another modelesque couple....

Due to a surprise wind gust, I ended up catching the garter during the reception.   Yeah..not the bouquet, the garter. 

Apparently, I am a single man ready for marriage!  

I did manage to run a bit while in Mexico.  My most notable run was when I ran down the Cancun strip about an hour before the wedding.  I was cutting it close already, got lost, and ended up sprinting the last two miles down the strip.  It was sweat-tastic for sure.  Humidity, you schooled me.  

And here I am, back in So Cal, mosquito bitten, (semi-)tanned, and relaxed.   Vacation, you were wonderful, but I'd like to spend more time with you.  Don't be a stranger, ya hear? 

Way down here...you need a reason to move...

I might end up somewhere in Mexicoooo...

For this blog entry, I was all excited to post a recipe.  Because I haven't posted one in eons.  My lack of posting is not because I'm not cookin'. Girl's gotta eat.  It's because everything I make is either too simple or doesn't taste good enough to post.

Tonight was an attempt at being the (half) Greek girl I am.  I wanted to make Dolmades! (Stuffed Grape Leaves).  

After hunting down a can of grape leaves, buying herbs like fresh mint, and calling my brother for advice, I was ready to go.  Unfortunately, this recipe posting will have to wait.  

What it should look like: 

What mine looked like:

Uhhh yeah.  I'm gonna have to take a rain check on posting that recipe.  Clearly rolling a grape leaf ain't as easy as it looks.  

Instead, I'm gonna tell you what's next.  And why my posts might be less frequent (but more awesome!) this week.  

I'M GOING TO CANCUN!!!!!!!!!

SPRING BREAK 2011!!!!!!!!

Ant'nee and I are taking a little vacation which includes a good friend from college's destination wedding on Saturday.  

It's gonna be a lot like this:

Or possibly not.  We're spending our first day / night in Tulum, Mexico, which is a smaller beach town with Mayan ruins.   Then we'll go to an all inclusive in Cancun where we can hang out with other Americans, pay American prices, and feel exactly like we never left the states!  

Jokin' aside, I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and sitting around the beautiful beach.  While I tend to like more out of the way and active vacations, I think drinking a Mojito on the beach is just what the doctor ordered for this Bunny and her hardworkin' dude.  

I'm sure this place has a fitness center so I'll be trying to build mileage as promised!  No idea if that will work or not!  I didn't set up any guest bloggers because I am lazy, but I will try to write you unless we get kidnapped.   If you don't see a blog entry for 10 days, contact your local congressman. 

And remember, in Cancun, you can be whoever you want to be and what happens there stays there (and on the blog).  For this week, I'm a 21 year old college cheerleader named Tina.   I'll letcha know how that all goes ;).  

To entertain you in the meantime, the lovely SkinnyRunner is back from her long time away!   I'm pumped - my morning reading is back!
If she isn't providing you with enough celeb goss., check out this US Weekly Subscription $30 deal l! 

Here's my weekly recap (more like 10 days).  
Saturday:  7.1 and 6.2 mile hilly relay legs at HTC, 1 mile "cooldown"
Sunday:  Completely Off
Monday:  4 miles easy
Tuesday:  11x200 at 41 seconds, 200m rest.  3 miles of warmup and cooldown
Wednesday:  15 mile bike ride
Thursday:  5 miles easy
Friday:  50 minutes on boring fitness equipment (elliptical!)
Saturday:  Attempted 5k race.  Failure.  ran about 9 miles total.
Sunday :  30 mile group bike ride.
Monday:  10 miles easy with friend in LA.

Total For 10 Days:  48 miles running, 45 miles biking.  Sort of a random mix.  Will return from Mexico with focus!

Hasta La Vista!  

The anatomy of a 5k DNF. Run More Run Faster?

Happy Labor Day weekend!  The days go by slow but the weeks go by fast.

I really went big or went home running-wise this weekend.
Well...I went home that is.  

I DNF'd a 5k on Saturday.
Uhh...how is it possible to DNF a 3 mile race?  It's possible.  Here's the story.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 6 AM, ready for the 5k that I'd signed up for a few weeks back.  I was exhausted from the week, other random life stuff (whine whine), but I figured, time to run this and just see what I could do.

Turns out not much.

My friend Laura and I got to the park in Irvine where the 5k was and I warmed up a bit.  The race was taking place in some giant asphalt field.  Sort of like an airport runway.   I didn't feel great..didn't feel terrible either.  I figured shooting for sub 20 was a little ambitious, but that I would go out and try.  As we were on the line, the race director announced that the race was more like 2.95 miles...or 2.90...eh..who really knows.

This baffled me.  If you're organizing a 5k in a park with plenty of space and you know the course is short, why not just make it a little longer.

Also, the course wasn't chip timed but had prize money for the winners.  Weird stuff.

Before I knew it we were off.  I remember looking at my watch about 4:30 into the race and thinking "man...I feel like I've run at least over a mile".   As we approached the mile mark, I saw the clock tick to 6:42 for the first split.  Some dude pushing a stroller passed me, and I was already way off goal pace.  Right around then, I just didn't feel like running anymore.

I quit a race and wasn't even hurt.   I just felt slow.  My feet felt heavy and pushing through 13 more minutes was not my idea of fun.

Logically I could excuse this in saying that since my body was physically pretty broken down from little sleep and the relay last week, and there was no need to push through.  But really, I was just being lazy and a tad prideful in not wanting to finish a "bad" 5k.   I don't feel that bad about it though.  Stuff happens and sometimes you're just not up for life's challenges.

After deciding to leave the race, I pulled off the course, and jogged back to the start of the race just in time to see the first racers finish.  I saw the first woman.  She was on the heels of a couple really fast dudes.  Graceful and long legged with a ridiculously fast stride, she finished around 16:00.  Daannnggg.   

Watching her, I felt jealousy.  I wished I could be that girl, right up there with the fast dudes, kicking butt, looking great.  And I know I'll never be at her level.  Which sometimes makes me think..."why even bother?".   Which is a dumb thought.  If you don't do something because you can't be the best, no one would ever do anything.

Then I thought, how can we realize our full potential?  What are we capable of, running-wise?

To improve, maybe I need to just run more in addition to my increased intensity workouts.  My 25-30 miles a week I put in is pretty ridiculously low.  And probably the reason I take forever to recover from races.  That night, I spent some time Googling terms like "Does running more mileage help you get faster?".

And honestly, I don't know.  I've never run more than about 40 miles a week.   It seems counter-intuitive to me that putting some more 9 minute miles would really benefit anything besides being able to eat more cookies and not gain weight.   But maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe there is a real benefit to just getting out there and putting in the time needed to excel.  And where do you get the time to put in those miles?  Sigh.

So...I think I may give up this 5k chasing for a bit and start building more of a base.   More time to run long and relaxed outside and get my body more used to running.   Less time to beat myself up over short distance races.    The sub 20 5k dream isn't over, just on the back burner for a bit.

What works for you, running-wise?  More miles?  More intensity?   Have you ever DNF'd a race? 

When you're not ready for a race. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

Times they are a changing....

Wherever you are, you're probably seeing the first signs of fall.  Cooler nights, kids going back to school, etc.

Or if you live in Southern California, you might be seeing advertisements for fall clothes that will allow us to pretend things are changing here too.  The So. Cal. wardrobe consists of shorts and a hoodie year round.   The times I realize the most that weather actually exists in the rest of the country is when I watch the Today Show and Al Roker is all bundled up, broadcasting from New York.  Today Show weather man, you are my season indicator.

Something else indicates Fall and it involves these fine young men.

Oh hai football.  I've missed you!  

It is too bad Matt Saracen, Tim Riggins, and Vince Howard aren't coming back for another season.

Friday Night Lights may not be real (sadly), but who doesn't like a little college football (starting tomorrow!) on a Saturday mornin?

While these men are scrambling on the field tomorrow, I'll be running a 5k.  

I think....

I signed up for this 5k tomorrow as part of an active.com Schwaggle and it was like 12 bucks.  But I'm feeling mentally and physically off.  I think my offness is excusable since I ran a long relay / had major sleep deprivation from exhaustionville last week.  

I'm tempted to not show up.  Or at least to give myself permission to not finish if my time starts sucking.  Maybe if I go through the 2-mile in over 13:30 I can stop?  I hate posting sub-par times.  Give me permission to quit, damnit. 

I think my dreams of breaking 20 are all but impossible this week.

I know this is no way to approach a race.   "If you don't feel like finishing you don't have to...just allow yourself to suck!".  But...unless I get a deathly illness between now and tonight, I'll be gutting through this thing.  

What do you do when you're not feeling mentally or physically ready to race?  Do you scratch and not even show up?  Do you take it easier?  Do you do your best to prepare and run all-out anyways?

I know what Matt Saracen would do.   He'd give it his all, and then continue being completely awesome in every aspect of his life.

I'll let-cha know if I end up being able to run my race up to Friday Night Lights standards.  Hopefully, I can make coach proud.