Another month has gone by and holy smokes, it’s May! That means it’s another monthly recap. This is my probably my favorite part about the end of the month. I get to look at my calendar and see all the things I did. It makes me feel productive. 🙂 Without further adieu, my recap of the month below. Disclaimer: This month was very running focused. You have been warned!
Races – This was probably a record breaking month for me in terms of races. I kicked off April with the Carlsbad5000, in which I broke a personal record. I hadn’t PRed in the 5k distance in 3 years so this was a total shock to me and honestly, I’ll probably still be riding the PR wave for a few months. 🙂 The following weekend, I ran another 5k the Triton 5k at the university I attend. Then two weekends after, I ran my 13th half marathon at the La Jolla Half where I crushed my course PR and ran another sub 2 hour half marathon. Thats 3 sub 2 hour halfs now. Yay! Maybe I can qualify for the Boston marathon one day. A girl can dream, right?
Group Runs – I’m typically a solo runner. My schedule is just too unpredictable to schedule runs with friends, but this month, I made an effort to go out and run with others. I participated in two group runs this month and I had so much fun that you can bet I’ll be doing more in the future.
Adventure Runs, a scavenger hunt-like run held by Road Runner Sports, was the first group run I attended this month. These runs are held once a month and start at their store. At the start of the run, they unveil a map with locations you can run to in order to get raffle tickets. You have one hour to run so the faster you run, the more raffle tickets you can get. Once the hour is up, everyone returns to the start and Road Runner Sports raffles off prizes. If you’re over 21, they also have a beer garden. The best part? Everything is free. You don’t have to pay to run and the beer is free. What more could you want from a run? LOL.
My second group run was for a course preview of the San Diego Rock N Roll races that will be occurring in June. Movin’ Shoes, a local shoe store, organized this course preview and I thought it’d be a fantastic thing to try out. I’m running the half marathon in June and even though I had run it in previous years, I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to run part of the course again in preparation for the race. Plus, it would push me to get my ass out of bed early and log 9 miles before 9 am. (The full marathon course preview was 15 miles and that was just not happening for me. LOL).
I went into this run not knowing anyone and finished it with a few new friends. I also finished that run feeling like a champ and super grateful I didn’t opt for the full course preview. LOL. I also found out that Movin’ Shoes has weekly groups runs so I’ll be trying to make it out to a few more long runs in preparation for my upcoming races. Woohoo!
RnR SD course preview done and a vanilla chai latte earned!Mileage and Motivation – Last month, I missed my monthly mileage goal. This month, I hit it right on target. I logged 83 miles for April! I am still on track for 1000 miles in 2017! Hooray!I’m extremely happy at my progress this year. I was starting to struggle midway through March and was really doubting whether I could have hit all of my running goals for the year. Then, at the beginning of April, I got this pin along with a letter from a friend.
A pin with my instagram/twitter handle on itIn her letter, she thanked me for being a constant source of inspiration for her and honestly, I was shocked. When I started running, I did it for me. I still do, but I’m glad that I can also inspire my friends to reach for their goals too. 🙂
Yelp Elite Event and anotherClothing Swap – It may be hard to believe, but yes, yes, I do other things that isn’t running. Shocking, right? I have been a yelp elite member for several years now and I love going to their events. This month, I was lucky enough to get into their Flower Fields event. At the event, we got to taste delicious food and also frolick around the flower fields.
My friend Lindy and II also attended another clothing swap and got some new articles of clothing, two of which I’m wearing in the above photo. I love leggings and a cropped leather jacket suits me just fine. 🙂 Clothing swaps are the best way to donate clothes and get some new clothes in exchange AND it’s free! I mean, how awesome is that? This is especially awesome if you have a stylish friend you want to exchange clothes with. 😉
So there you have it, my jam packed April. There were other things I did, but didn’t want to bore you with the details. 🙂 How was your April? Do anything fun? What’s in store for May?
Disclaimer: I received an entry into the La Jolla Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.
That’s right. You read correctly. I just ran my 13th half marathon and it just happened to be on one of the most challenging courses I’ve ever run – oh lucky number 13. If you didn’t know, I was pretty nervous heading into the half. I pushed myself into not running too much during taper week, which I think I succeeded more or less. I logged 8.6 miles going into the race and with the race, I totaled 21.7 miles this week. Not bad at all. I will definitely have to increase my mileage starting in June when I start training for Chicago though. Ack!
Anyway, here’s my race report on the La Jolla Half marathon. *Spoiler alert* I am actually considering running this one again next year. 🙂
Expo – The Expo was held in Del Mar at the Hilton hotel right next to the start line. It was nice that it gave people from out of town an idea of where to go for the start. I dropped by Saturday afternoon and the expo was packed. I picked up my bib, my shirt, and browsed the vendors. The San Diego Craft Classic was there promoting their July race. Run for beer anyone? They even had free beer at their table. LOL. Also, got to try a phenomenal acai bowl from Sambazon. That was probably my favorite vendor of the day. Also saw vendors from Nuun, CycleBar, KT tape, and a few other companies.
I don’t really eat hills for breakfast, but you know what I mean.Night before race – You know how you tell yourself that you’re going to go to bed by a certain time and then it doesn’t happen? Yeah. I planned to head to bed at 9 pm so I could get 7 hours of sleep, but I actually went to bed closer to 11 pm, which meant that I only had 5 hours of sleep. Eek! Considering that I hadn’t been sleeping well that week, I was really nervous about how I’d do during the race. Sleep is so important the week of your race and I managed to scrape by with the bare minimum.
Set up my flat runner for the night and passed out.Morning of race – Woke up before my alarm hit 4 am. My body always seems to know when I need to wake up the morning of races. If only it did that everyday. Grabbed all of my gear and headed out the door. Got to the finish line by 5 am and took the shuttle to the start line. (They sent out emails saying that we must be in line to board a shuttle by no later than 5:30 am so I panicked and got there early). To anyone running this in the future, DO NOT GET TO THE FINISH LINE AS EARLY AS ME. I ended up on the first shuttle that actually left for the start line, which meant that I got up way too early for the race. I ended up waiting 2 hours for the actual start of the race. Sigh. Luckily, I met up with a lot of people during this time. Met some people from Twitter and had friends running it too!
My friend Nicole, who is a race guard for various races in San Diego. 🙂
My friend Amanda who is completing the Triple Crown Challenge this year! Go Amanda!
Race time – I was in wave 4, which was the same wave I was in 2 years ago. When I signed up this year, I put a pretty conservative time down for myself: 2 hours and 10 minutes. I figured I’d be right around there. I know I’ve improved since then, but since this course is super hilly, I didn’t want to chance it. Only when I got to wave 4 did I realize my mistake. I had planned on following the 2:00 pacer this race so to conserve energy, only there was no 2:00 pacer in sight. The 2:10 pacer was in wave 4 meaning that the 2:00 pacer was probably in wave 3. Oops? At that point, I figured I’d just try and keep ahead of the 2:10 pacer and I’d be happy.
Mile 1 to 4: And off we went…just in time for the sun to start coming out. LOL. I clocked my first mile in at 7:40. Oops. The adrenaline of the race definitely got to me. Pacing is something I will need to work on later. At mile 2, we headed up our first hill with an increase of 75 ft for maybe a 1/3rd of a mile. Then, we headed back down and a little before mile 4, we ran on flat pavement for a mile or so before heading up our second hill. This hill lasted a little more than a mile and was more of a pain because we were turning a lot and we couldn’t see the end of the hill. With most turns, we’d just see another hill. Looking back on it now, it definitely foreshadowed our trek up Torrey Pines hill, which has a similar path.
The elevation map for the course.Mile 5 to 8: Mile 5 is where the pep talk started for me. I started taking a lot more deep breaths and tried to conserve my energy as much as possible. At mile 5, we got our glimpse of the massive Torrey Pines hill. We ran downhill and ran by the beach and at mile 5.5, we started our trek up the hill. The highest point of the hill measures in at 445 feet. It does have dips in elevation before it gets to that point, but there are only a few. The first dip we hit was at 318 feet. Although, I didn’t run up the hill in it’s entirety, I am proud to say that I ran up 302 feet of that hill before I had to take a 10 second walking break. This is HUGE because two years ago, I struggled HARD on that hill. The balls of my feet went numb and I had to walk up a lot of that hill. This year, there was none of that and I made it out of that hill feeling like a champ. 🙂 It also helped A LOT that I actually saw the 2:00 pacer a few hundred feet away during this trek. Since the pacer started in the wave ahead of me, that meant that I was on pace to finish within the 2 hours I wanted. That kept me going.
Mile 9 to 11: Having lived in La Jolla for a good chunk of my graduate school career, this stretch felt at home to me. I’ve run around the area for years and I just imagined myself running it like it was any other day.
Mile 12: Flat. Suspiciously flat.
Mile 13: This mile contains what I heard someone describe as the “F*** you” hill. I think that’s it’s a very accurate description of that hill. The hill increases in elevation by about 150 feet and takes almost everyone by surprise because honestly, who designs a course that has a hill at the very end? LOL. The organizers of the La Jolla Half do. That’s who. Even though it was my second time running it and I knew about it, I still wasn’t well prepared for it. I took one more walking break here and once I hit the peak of that hill, I made a break for the finish line.
Finish line – As soon as I crossed that finish line, I immediately took out my phone and stopped my Strava app. And wouldn’t you know it, I finished it under 2 HOURS! Hooray! I knew I wasn’t going to PR this race, but I wanted to at least redeem myself and redeem myself, I did! 🙂 My official time was 1:59:10 meaning that I beat my course PR by 17 minutes. Holy moly, does that feel good! 😀
I definitely do run for bling.Those acai bowls were really good.I grabbed my medals, all the my goodies (banana, Tru Moo chocolate milk, coconut milk, boxed water, another acai bowl from Sambazon), picked up my gear bag to put all my stuff in, took a photo in front of the La Jolla half marathon sign, and met up with some BibRave Pros who also ran the race.
Meet fellow Bib Rave Pros Jeremy (top) from Phoenix, AZ, and Amanda (below) from San Diego, CA.Also, ran into Ted from Twitter. He’s a speedy one finishing his half in a few minutes over 1:30. So fast.The overall experience was fantastic. It was a challenging race, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I came out a stronger person for it. I wish it was a bit cooler and less humid during the race, but that’s weather for you. You can never depend on it when you need it most. LOL. Anyway, that wraps up my race report. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
Yay! I did better than expected.So about how you? Did you run this weekend? Race? How did you do?
Disclaimer: I received an entry into the La Jolla Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.
Yes, that time has come again. Tapering. Some people love it. Some people hate it. I personally LOVE it. A week where you can decrease your mileage in preparation for a race. Woohoo! My tapering strategy has changed over the years and I just wanted to say that I am in no way telling anyone how to taper. I’m still figuring it out and it’s a lot of trial and error.
When I first started out, I was doing cardio kickboxing three to four times a week with short 3 mile runs in between. My kickboxing trainer told me to start resting on Wednesdays for a Sunday half. That sounded good to me. Less running? Hell yeah. LOL. Nowadays, my taper week goes a little something like this. I run the bulk of my miles on Monday and Tuesday. This usually ranges from three to six miles depending on how I feel. On Wednesday and Thursday, I try for shorter mile runs and on Friday, I rest. On Saturday, I do a three mile run to shake out my legs and on Sunday, I’m ready to go. I usually average 21 miles a week. The week leading up to a half, I average maybe 8 to 9 miles. *Edit* I know the total taper week plus the race equals 21 or 22 miles. LOL. Maybe it’s not a taper week at all? I’m still new at this! Only three years running. I’ll figure it out soon enough. 🙂
Now my training for the La Jolla Half hasn’t been too bad. With all the races I’ve signed up for this year, I don’t really have a structured training plan for halfs. (The only structured training plans I’ll have for this year is for the Chicago marathon and for the Dopey Challenge too.) As mentioned earlier, I try to average 21 miles a week and some weeks, I go over and some weeks, I miss my target mileage by a lot. The last week of March and the first week of April wasn’t too kind to me mileage wise. I blame a lack of motivation, injury, and life. LOL.
All of that changed last week. Can you guess why?
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A strava challenge started. Haha. I’m definitely the competitor type and the Runner’s World Boston Challenge was just what I needed to kick my butt back into gear. From April 8 to 17, I had to run 26.2 miles. Here was my initial thought process:
Run 26.2 miles in 9 days? Sure. Why not? Totally doable.
*2 days later*
Hmm. When did that challenge start again?
*Looks at challenge*
Oh crap. It started 4 days ago. I’ve skipped two days of running already. Hmm, should I still try for it? You at least ran 3.1 miles on Sunday. That’s still something. You got 23.1 miles to go and 6 days to do it. That’s 4 miles a day. That’s doable…I think.
It is now April 18 and I’m proud to tell you that I finished that challenge two days ago! Woohoo!
Although I haven’t done any long runs in a month, I’m hopeful that my mileage the past few weeks will get me through the La Jolla Half Marathon this weekend. 🙂 Wish me luck!
If you still haven’t registered for the La Jolla Half marathon and would like to run it Sunday, April 23, use the code “BIBRAVE20” for $20 off their registration fee!
If you remember back in January, I posted my resolutions for the year. As expected, most of those have kind of fallen by the wayside, but that’s okay. I’m still working on more than half of them and that’s still a win in my book.
Today’s post will focus on one resolution in particular – my 100 happy day project. You may or may not have heard of it, but it’s a very simple project. For 100 days, you take a minute or two out of your day and reflect on something that made you happy that day. It can be something small. Something someone said. Someone opening the door for you or even just a sunset that made you feel at peace. The purpose of the project is to help you focus on the positive things in your life. Don’t dwell on the negatives, but reflect on the positives. That’s what will keep you going.
A few years ago, I did this project. I was going through a really bad break up at the time and was in a complete rut. I was going to therapy, taking medications, and nothing seemed to work. So when I came across someone else’s happy day project, I decided to try it. For those 100 days, I took photos and videos of food, friends, and activities that I did and posted them on social media. The project doesn’t require you to. You can keep it completely confidential if you choose to do so. I chose to post on social media to keep me accountable. With each photo and video that I took, I felt better about myself and my situation. I really believe I came out a stronger person after the project was over.
I haven’t been having the best outlook on life lately, so I decided it would be a good time to begin a new 100 happy day project. 🙂 This time around, I will be recording myself recapping things that made me happy that day. It’s not as exciting as pictures, but I find that if I say it out loud, I believe it more. I’m almost two weeks into my project and I definitely feel more appreciative of things I have in my life. I may or may not show the entire 100 clips on here since I think that would be too long, but I may post a few here and there for you to listen to.
I will end this post with pictures from my first 100 happy day project. Oh how much I’ve grown since then. 🙂
Left my comfort zone of staying on the ground and learned the art of Aerial Silks
Traveled alone and flew to New York
My first time cosplaying as Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 for Comic-Con
So tell me, have you heard of the 100 Happy Day project or done something similar? What was your take on it?
Disclaimer: I received a Road ID Wrist ID Elite to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.
Call me naive, but I never really thought about all the safety issues that came with running until recently. Sure, I’ve heard “stranger danger” and carry pepper spray with me, but I never really thought about other precautions I could take while out on my run.
First, what are Road IDs? They are a form of ID that you wear on your wrist like a bracelet. They contain whatever information you want it to contain – your address, emergency contact(s), allergies, etc.
And why do I need one? I’m a runner. I don’t carry ID with me when I run. Why would I? It’s just another thing to carry and then there’s a chance of losing it. I almost lost my ID during the NYC marathon when I was shuffling things in and out of my Flipbelt and you can bet, that would have been a nightmare to find/replace. With a RoadID, you can easily slip it on for your run and slip it off after. If have an allergy to a medication, a RoadID or other medical bracelet is SUPER important to have. If you collapse and need help, first responders will need to know what NOT to administer to you. The wrong move could be bad.
Ever notice that there’s an emergency contact form on the back of your race bib? I am SUPER guilty of not filling these out when I race. With my RoadID, I won’t have to anymore (as long as no one has ripped off my bracelet during the race). I won’t be a Jane Doe anymore. Yay! That’s definitely a plus for me.
Okay? But I’m not a runner? Even if you’re not a runner, there are a few other reasons to wear one. As stated before, if you have an allergy to medication, wearing a RoadID would definitely help you if for some reason, you were unable to speak for yourself. Also, if you have children that are too young to remember crucial information like your number, you may want to grab one of these for them. When I was younger, I would ALWAYS get lost at a supermarket. I even got lost in Vegas. LOL. With a RoadID, if someone had found me back then, they could have just called my parents (assuming they had cellphones back then).
What about the fit? You don’t have to worry about choosing the correct size because the wrist IDs come with a lengthy band that you can size yourself. All you need to do is cut CAREFULLY. I say carefully because once you cut, that’s the size. You can’t reattach it so make sure you are sizing yourself correctly.
From the picture above, you can tell that I was nervous about cutting my band. They recommend that you cut one section at a time and the closer I got to my size, the more hesitant I was about cutting it. LOL. I succeeded in the end though so not all was lost. The Wrist ID elite was pretty comfortable to wear. I think I could have left a little more wiggle room for the band, but now I know. I would recommend to anyone cutting these to leave a little wiggle room for band length and test it out on a run. You don’t want your wrist ID to cut off your circulation so trial and error is best. 🙂
What if I want to be fashionable? The great thing about these RoadIDs is that they come in all different flavors. If a bracelet isn’t your thing, they also have colors, band widths, and BADGES. Oh man. Badges are one of my favorite aspects of these IDs. Think of them as accessories. You can choose one of their designs or customize one to add to your RoadID. As you can see from my picture, I chose two badges that represent me well. Although I’ve run a marathon, I don’t quite consider myself a marathoner just yet. For now, I am Mai, half marathoner extraordinaire. 🙂 Also, telling my legs to shut up is a common occurrence nowadays.
There is one last thing. Customer service is a difficult job. I understand that. RoadID’s people skills have been nothing but phenomenal. And I’m not just saying that. They kept me informed of when my Wrist ID was shipped and the moment it arrived. Their emails are witty and a lot of the things you read from them are pretty funny. See below for example.
Okay, you got me. Where do I order one? Use this link, right here. That link will provide you with a $5 gift-card that can be used towards your RoadID purchase. The $5 gift-card will be valid for 2 weeks after you sign-up (a copy of the gift-card will be emailed to you). For $5, you can add a pretty badge to your Road ID.
For reviews on the Wrist ID from other BibRave Pros, click below and feel free to ask me any questions regarding this product.
Happy Monday lovelies! I hope you all had a great weekend. I did. This past weekend, I ran another 5k – the Triton 5k. This race is in its 21st year running and is held by the University of California, San Diego. Most participants are students or have some affiliation with the campus and dogs are welcome on this course (at least, that’s what I assumed based on all the pups I saw during the race). This was my second year running the race and again I had a pretty fun time running around a campus I’ve spent over 10 years at.
The Details
Price – For a 5k, this race is pretty affordable. If you are a student, it costs $15. Luckily, I still fall under this category, but next year, I won’t be so lucky.
Time – 9 am
Course – The race starts at the most northern part of UCSD. There is a nice loop to help corral the participants. The course takes you across the campus and loops you back to the track and field. The course, unfortunately, is nothing too scenic and I felt a little cheated to not be able to run through the more beautiful parts of the campus. I will say though, in the campus’ defense, that there is a LOT of construction going on and so there aren’t too many paths that they could have taken to make the 5k. It could also be that I’m used to running longer distances and have more chances for better views.
Swag – For the $15, I get a nice T-shirt, a reusable bag, and a piece of fruit. There is no medal, which is fine because I already have quite a few. (Don’t get me wrong. If I’m running a half, I want a medal. A half is no easy feat. LOL).
How it went down – Since this race started at 9 am, I was able to get more sleep than usual. HOORAY! My friend picked me up and off we went to the northern part of campus. I got into my corral and off we went. Despite the runners being released in waves, there was still quite a bit of bottlenecking at the beginning. With all the adrenaline I have at the beginning of a race, it’s actually kind of nice to have people physically be in your way. It makes you slow down so you don’t burn out as quickly. I also kind of like having to weave around runners. I take much shorter steps and for some reason, I always feel like an airplane avoiding collisions. The first mile sped by – 7:26 min/mile. I was running on an injured hamstring and even though I knew I should have slowed down, I just couldn’t. Something about my competitiveness kicked in and I pumped my arms and finished the second mile in 7:47. That’s when both of my legs started to give in. At that point, I decided to slow down and take deeper breaths. I was super winded, but was able to finish with a time I’m pretty proud of. When I first ran this race 3 years ago, I ran it in 24:36. This year, I ran it in 23:59. That’s only 12 seconds slower than last week. By golly, I think I’ll say it. I’m improving as a runner! YAY! 🙂
My friend Miren and I with the Triton, UCSD’s mascotNow to heal up and get ready for the La Jolla Half marathon in two weeks! Eek!
How was your weekend? Did you do any fun things? I’d love to hear about them.
Disclaimer: I received Brilliant Reflective Safety Strips to use and review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro(ambassador), and check out BibRave to review, find, and write race reviews.
I am not a morning person. The only way you can get me to wake up in the morning is if you tempt with a race and a medal and even on those days, getting up is a struggle. Because I can’t really get up early to run, you can guess that I’m primarily a night runner. Night running is very calming for me, but at the same time, it does pose some safety risks. One of the main safety issues is being seen. Neighborhoods are not always well lit and cars may not see you until it’s too late. I recently bought a dinky little red flashing light that I attach to my flipbelt on my runs, but it’s not extremely bright and sometimes, I’m not sure cars see me.
Running with the Brilliant Reflective strips has put me more at ease. I’m still really cautious running by cars (and everyone should be), but at least I know that I’m shining bright like a diamond and that cars will see me. I was able to try both their stick-on strips, which are removable, and their iron-on strips, which are permanent. These strips, when shined on, ARE EXTREMELY BRIGHT. You can see for yourself below.
Left: without flash; Right; with flashThe strips come in various colors – black, blue, red, and purple. When a bright light source like a flashlight or headlights from a car shines on the strips, the reflected light doesn’t just scatter and appear diffuse to driver. Some materials do this. These strips do not. The reflected light from these strips will shine directly back at the source. This phenomenon is called retroflection. Because light scattering isn’t occurring, the brightness is a lot stronger and will allow me to be seen from 300+ meters away. Hooray!
The purple strips blend in well with my top during the day and will shine bright when I need it to
Pros
High visibility – Like I mentioned, these strips are extremely reflective and will allow you to be seen from far away. You want to be seen if you’re running at night. If you don’t want to be seen, you’re probably a burgular. 🙂
Be Seen. Be Brilliant.
Easy to put on – Both the stick-on and iron-on strips are relatively easy to put on. For the stick-on ones, you just have to peel the material off the back and stick them on like a sticker. The iron-on strips require a little more equipment, an iron. I actually didn’t have an iron and had to borrow a friend’s to put mine on. Each strip takes 30 to 45 seconds to iron on and can be re-ironed on if the ends start to curl, which mine haven’t (yet).
Lasts long – I’ve used these strips for a few weeks and have had no problems with them. The stick-on strips, even after washing, stayed secure. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay on for, but I was definitely impressed they stayed on after a few washes. I did turn my shirt inside out when I washed so maybe that made a difference? If you’re worried about them falling off, you can always opt for their iron-on ones, which are permanent and exactly the same price. I would suggest using the stick-on strips on helmets, leashes, and other things that aren’t made of fabric and using the iron-on strips on your clothes.
Price – For a set of strips, it will cost you $9.95 (free shipping). You can probably light up two articles of clothing with one set. This is a great price if you’re worried about not being seen at night. Buying brighter colored clothes can cost a lot so why not just light up your darker clothes for $9.95?
Cons
None
If you are a night runner and need more reflective gear, this may be the way to go. If you are unsure or have more questions, feel free to join in our #BibChat on Twitter 6 pm, Tuesday, April, 11th, where we will be discussing the product and giving a free set of reflective strips. Woohoo! You can also ask me about them as well. See what other BibRave Pros have to say. Use the code BIBRAVEPRO25 for 25% off the already low price of $9.95 + free shipping! This code is valid from now until Tuesday 11:50 pm CT.
Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock N Roll’s Carlsbad5000 as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews! All opinions are my own.
It happened. I didn’t think it could, but it did. Today, I beat my personal record of 24 minutes and 36 seconds with a time of 23 minutes and 47 seconds. Yay!
I genuinely believed that I couldn’t beat my personal record going into the race. For the past few weeks, my motivation to run dramatically decreased. Remember the plan I had for last week? Yeah, I barely did any of it.
Monday – 5.5 miles
Tuesday – 4.5 miles 3 miles
Wednesday to Friday – 2 to 3 miles a day zero miles
Saturday – 2.6 miles
The plan was to get the bulk of my miles in on Monday and Tuesday. Everything went according to plan on Monday and I was feeling good. I ran out of time on Tuesday and only managed 3 miles. I had some unpleasant news drop on me Tuesday night and I was out of commission emotionally Wednesday through Friday. I guess you could call that tapering in a way. Saturday, I came to the realization that despite encouraging others to sign up for the race, I, myself, hadn’t signed up for it. Wow. I couldn’t believe it. Luckily, there was race day registration and I decided that I would just sign up the morning of and it’d be fine. I managed a 2.6 mile shake out run that day as well in hopes that I wouldn’t feel too terrible on race day.
Race Day Essentials
Race morning came. I ate an organic HoneyStinger waffle for breakfast and got myself to the race. Parking wasn’t too bad and I found a spot within a few minutes and made my way over to the registration area.Note that parking isn’t too big of an issue for the Carlsbad5000 because of the way the 5k races are spaced out. You only really need to show up an hour before your start time and by the time you get there, other runners will have already left giving you parking space. 🙂
Ran into a HoneyStinger Truck on my way to registration. Yay HoneyStinger!
Registration was a breeze. I just walked up to a computer, swiped my driver’s license, swiped my credit card, and got my bib. I have never come across an easier registration process. Because registration was a lot faster than anticipated, I still had about an hour before my start time and decided to stay and watch the race before me (Master’s Women Ages 40 and Over).
A successful jumping photo on the first try!
While I was waiting, I heard the announcer say that the fastest time achieved on this course for men was a 12 minutes and 59 seconds and the fastest time for women was a 14 minutes and 46 seconds. I kind of stood there in disbelief that there were people that fast out there. It definitely put me to shame.
Anyway, after the women ages 40 and up started their race, I ran into a friend from college. We caught up and as the sun came out, I started to feel a bit better about the race. I started to believe that maybe I could do it, but also believed that it’d be okay if I didn’t PR. The goal was to just enjoy the race and not quit.
The race itself was awesome. I’ve been really fortunate to be able to repeat a few of the races that I first ran 3 years ago. Back then, I only concentrated on finishing. That was the goal. I was so set on proving that I could do something that I forgot to “sit back” and enjoy the course. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still set on finishing each race, but I’ve found that taking in all the sights is a really a great way to see a city (and enjoy the race), even if I’ve lived in it almost all my life. We started the race by crossing some train tracks, then turned left on Carlsbad Boulevard and headed towards the infamous Carlsbad sign. I was moving my little legs as fast as I could, dodging people left and right. There was a bit of a bottleneckat the beginning, but once we were on Carlsbad Boulevard, it cleared up a bit. Mile 1 had passed easily and my strava app announced that I was running at a 7:23 min/mile. At that point, I had an “oh crap” moment. I started out way too fast. I somehow reasoned to myself that if I could just keep the pace for another mile, maybe it’d be okay. If I gassed out during the last mile, maybe it wouldn’t matter as much and I could still PR. So I kept going and pumped my arms as fast as I could. While on the course, we got to see views of the Pacific Ocean and I thought that it was a shame I didn’t visit the ocean more often. I assure you, that will change this summer. We then made a U-turn and made our way back up the street. This is when I started to gas out. I was having a hard time breathing and people were passing me, but I just told myself to give it everything I had left and ran to the finish line. At the finish line, I was greeted with this pretty medal and post-race goodies.
I was also one of the first 250 finishers. 🙂
I was so happy to get that medal that I had almost forgotten to stop my Strava tracking. When I did check my Strava data, I was in shock. I had PRed again! Hooray! Maybe it is all in my head? I don’t really know. I’m just eternally grateful for this fortunate event.
Anyway, back to the medal. If all medals were like this, I’d run all the races. It’s a smaller medal, but I don’t mind it at all. I think the size actually adds to its appeal. Post-race goodies included an orange, water, gatorade, crackers, and some other refueling items I didn’t get. After finishing, I skipped the beer garden and caught up with some friends that came to cheer me on.
The Carlsbad5000 was a great way to kick off April and with the way that March ended for me, this was something that I desperately needed. Maybe next year, I’ll be crazy enough to do the all day 20k.
How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Run any races? Or just tell me a random fact about yourself. 🙂
I hadn’t PRed in the 5k distance in 3 years so this was a total shock to me and honestly, I’ll probably still be riding the PR wave for a few months. 🙂 The following weekend, I ran another 5k the Triton 5k at the university I attend. Then two weekends after, I ran my 13th half marathon at the La Jolla Half where I crushed my course PR and ran another sub 2 hour half marathon. Thats 3 sub 2 hour halfs now. Yay! Maybe I can qualify for the Boston marathon one day. A girl can dream, right? 
I’m extremely happy at my progress this year. I was starting to struggle midway through March and was really doubting whether I could have hit all of my running goals for the year. Then, at the beginning of April, I got this pin along with a letter from a friend.
A Girl on a Search for Adventure 