I've been quiet. Not because I stopped running, but because chickens are very time consuming creatures. Whenever I have any free time I just want to spend it staring at them while they peck around. Just look how pretty their eggs are! I am becoming more and more serious of starting a farmlittlegoat blog.
Truthfully, I think my addiction to running has turned into an addiction to chickens.
I have been running a lot though. My weekly mileage has been creeping back into the upper 30's and 40's now. In my Strava graph you can visibly see me clawing back to my usual mileage. Most of it has been on the long stretch of the bay trail. I have that trail memorized like the back of my hand by now...
I'm still following the training plans of Nark Running Strategies. We've gotten to the point where I've been gifted some speed work. Some people get bored of running, but I'm pretty sure that all they need to do is incorporate some speed workouts into their schedule, and vary it up a bit. Some of the workouts I'm designated can get a bit complicated, but luckily I've figured out how to create workouts to put into my Garmin watch, and it just spits out instructions on the fly. No more complex math problems in my head (although any math problem turns complex while running).
It turns out that my legs usually feel best after a speed workout. Adrenaline? Stretching the legs out? I'm not sure what it is, but I love it. As much slow running as I do, I really don't enjoy it that much and I'd much rather be going fast.
The first real speed test was this little 5k that I signed up for. I was convinced to do this race, since it's a tradition to do races whenever my friend comes up to the Bay Area. I call her the Purple Running Monster now, because she always wears these purple capris when she decides to stomp on the competition. She's fast.
She also happened to be wearing purple from head to toe.
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| The elusive purple running monster |
Anyone that knows me, knows that it's really atypical for me to sign up for one of the shorter distances in a race. Since I had been running on the flats, I didn't quite trust my knees yet so I wanted to play it safe. The 5k was the flattest that I found with a baby bump of an elevation profile of only about 200ft.
We got to the race bright and early. It was held in the China Camp State Park in San Rafael. It had just rained the day before, so we had some puddles to hop. The weather was bitterly cold. Jon was begging me for my down jacket, so I let him use my rain jacket shield his arms from the bitter wind.
The half marathoners were the first to go, at a very punctual 8:30. Next, at 8:40 was the 10k race. And last was the 5k, at 8:50. I had done a mile warmup, and luckily managed to get back to the start just before they sent everyone off. (they were a couple of minutes early).
The trail was great! I didn't feel totally comfortable with the grip of my Hoka Challengers. I'm sure they were totally adequate but I did not want to take a fall on a 5k.
Since there were a whopping 28 count of runners in the 5k, I made sure to scoot toward the front and try to keep my eyes on the 1st place female. We headed off into the woods, mainly on well groomed trails but veering off into some slightly rockier trails and some with small puddles to hop over.
I never did catch her, but I was only 23 seconds behind in the end with the official time of 27:42. I walked away 2nd female overall (out of 13) and 1st in my age group (out of 3 lol). I got a snazzy pint glass to go with my race shirt that was noticeably well designed and I was happy I didn't forgo the shirt for an extra $5. The pint glasses are turning into my favorite running swag, although I was very jealous of the first place winners of the half that were handsomly rewarded with entire bulk packs of fancy beers and wines. Oh, and did I mention that the first place winner overall of the 5k was a TEN YEAR OLD??? Don't worry, he was not gifted alcohol.
After the race, I kept trotting along out to some other parts of the park for my two mile cool down. It was gorgeous. I was a little concerned when I saw a ranger looking guy walking away with one of those sticks that you pick up snakes with, but thankfully I didn't see any on the trails.
I came back, got my post race snacks, stood alone like the lone wolf I am, and waited for Jon and my other friends to come in. I was worried about them since the purple running monster had a pretty serious stomach flu that she was just overcoming, and Jon also had a stomach flu earlier in the week with some pretty rocky runs. I also got it during the week which made some really awful runs...not literally (for me), but Jon definitely got it way worse than me. They all survived the race, despite the 1600 feet of elevation they dealt with, and rolled in like champs. Jon continued for another 3 miles for his long training run.
That's all, folks! The race was a success, and it was ran really smoothly by Urban Coyote Racing. Everyone seemed happy, we were all well fed (including some hot chili!) and the prices were right. $35 for the 5k, $45 for the 10k and $55 for the half. I hope to do more of their races once my knees feel good about handling some elevation. :)
Here's a rainbow pic from one of my weekly runs to end the post.
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