Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood 5k - November 2, 2013

I was really excited about doing this race.  I had done a race earlier this year that followed the same course.  I knew this was a flat fast course. My training had been going well and I was hoping to set a new Personal Best (PB) in this race.

Course Map

The race runs straight down Hollywood Blvd. It's an out and back course.  This was a fairly uneventful race for me.  Everything went as I had hoped.  I had a good strong race.  I was pretty spent at the end. 

Finisher's Medal

I got my PB.  I finished in 34:51.  I took 37 seconds off my previous best time for this year (35:28) and  14 seconds off my previous PB (35:05).  To be fair, my previous PB time was set at the Santa Anita Derby 5k in 2005.  The course for that race isn't a flat fast course.

None the less I was pretty happy with my effort and my final time.

Running down Hollywood Blvd.

Crossing the finish line and a new PB!

 

At home after the race.  Good grief I look tired.

L.A. Cancer Challenge 5k - October 27, 2013

This was my second year doing this race.  It's hard to pass up a Halloween themed race.  I love Halloween.

This race takes place on on Veteran's Administration's grounds in West Los Angeles.  What I remembered from last year's race was that there were a lot of hills.  I think I walked most of it last year.

The Course Map

I've been doing my training runs on the streets of El Segundo.  For those of you who aren't familiar with El Segundo, this town doesn't have a single flat residential street.  You are either going up or down some kind of hill.  Some are bigger than others, but every block has an incline or decline, or both.  With all that training under my belt I figured I was ready to tackle this race again.

I was having a good race.  Well, other than my stupid witches hat that kept blowing off my head.  I ended up carrying it for most of the race.  I was running comfortable and well. I had managed all the hills and was running at a good pace, at least for me it was a good pace.   Then I hit the last hill.  You see that circle on the course map?  That red line above it is a hill.  A pretty steep hill.  It was a nice hill going down, but a bitch coming back up.  Well by the time I reached that hill I was running out of gas.  I  gave up and walked up the hill.  Once you make it up the hill you make a left and from there it's a nice flat run to the finish. Once I crested the hill I put my damn hat back on (for pictures) and ran for the finish.  I was pleasantly surprised by my finish time. 37:11.  Not to shabby considering I walked up the hill at the end.

Finisher's Medal. 

Crossing the Finish Line.

At home after the race.

Long Beach Half Marathon - October 13, 2013

So while I was at the Disneyland Half Expo back in August I signed up for the Beach Cities Challenge.  It's a three race series of half marathons.  Do all three consecutively and you get an awesome bonus medal.  Being that I'm a total 'bling whore' that was more than I could resist.
The three races are the Long Beach Half, Surf City Half and the OC Half.

At the expo.

Beach Cities Challenge Medal

First thing was to attend the race expo on Saturday to pick-up my bib and t-shirt.  It was an okay expo.  I think I'm spoiled by the runDisney expos.  Nothing beats a runDisney expo.  I wandered around a bit checking out the vendors but nothing caught my fancy so I picked up my stuff and headed home.

As luck would have it the race shirt was a perfect match for the Sparkle Skirt I intended to wear.

Flat me before the race.

I got up early on Sunday morning and headed out to Long Beach.  Despite having just driven out there the day before I somehow managed to miss my exit.  Grrr!  I ended up taking some round about way to the race start. My little detour through Long Beach put me behind schedule. 

I parked and walked to the start line.

They had what looked to be a hundred port-a-potties but it seemed that not all of them were open. The lines for them were enormous. By the time I was able to use the restroom it was nearly time for the race to start.

The port-a-potties

The long wait in line at the port-a-potties didn't leave me any time to get properly warmed up.

My plan was to run the first 3 or 4 miles non-stop.  Then I was going to Galloway (run/walk/run intervals) it to mile 7.  After that I would run the first 5 minutes of every mile, then walk to the next mile marker. I was hoping this would allow me to finish in less than 3 hours.

The first few miles of the race were very uncomfortable. Missing my warm-up was working against me. My shins and calves were screaming at me.  By the time I reached mile 4 I was much more comfortable. For the most part I was able to stick to my plan. I readjusted some of the walking/running intervals depending on how my body felt. I was pretty worn out the last three miles but I kept to the task.

I turned the corner towards the finish line and checked my Garmin watch.  I realized I was going to finish in under 3 hours!  I nearly cried.  I sprinted to the line.  I finished in 2:56:21. Whoo hoo!  Mission accomplished.

Mid race photo.

At home after the race.

My Finisher's Medal. Bling a ding ding!