Citrus Heritage Half Marathon - Race Review

This past Saturday, January 9, 2016, I participated in the Sixth Annual Citrus Heritage Run (third annual with the half marathon distance) in Riverside, CA. This is my third year doing this race and it is truly one of my favorites! Need evidence? You can read my race reports from 2015 and 2014 - Part I and Part II. Okay, so a couple notes about the race - there is a 5k and Half Marathon option as well as a kids fun run. It is an out-and-back course next to the Arlington Sports Park in the citrus area of the city of Riverside (Southern California/Inland Empire area). The race is put on by the Riverside Road Runners and benefits their youth scholarship fund. We had gotten a significant amount of rain the week leading up to the race, and in their last email to participants they noted that they had an alternate, all-road, course plotted out for use if needed as the regular course (USATF certified) is partially on dirt roads. Thankfully, we dried out enough that they didn't need to go to Plan B, but I was thrilled to know that they had an alternate course in place so that the race could go on rain or shine. Alright, let's talk details!

We were greeted with an amazing sunrise!

Registration

The day of registration cost for the half marathon was $90, and prior to that was $85. I registered fairly early so I think I got early bird pricing. If I remember right I think it was about $80, but don't quote me as I don't know exactly. They have a great event website that includes all the details and is very well organized. Registration and packet pick-up at the event is very easy as well. You just look up your bib number and then stop at the tent to get the bib, then get your t-shirt at a different tent. Super easy and well staffed. I don't think it took us more than 5 minutes to do the entire process and it was very clearly marked and easy to know where to go.

Expo and Venue

I absolutely love this venue for races! It is held at the same sports park that the Hometown Heroes Honor Run is held at so it offers lots of great parking, real restrooms (they also have plenty of port-a-pots too), and a playground to keep the kiddies entertained while waiting. It's also very easy to get in and out of and offers plenty of room to get a good warm-up in. The expo is very tiny, but I really don't care about that anyways. They have several booths, some food trucks, and a DJ getting the participants pumped up and ready to run. I love it just as it is because it is so easy to navigate and never feels overwhelming.

Swag

Participants get a long-sleeved technical shirt. This year the shirt is gray and has the logo on the front. Last year's shirt was prettier and had more detail, but I still really like it and gray seems to be the "it" color for race shirts right now as my friend Sally just did a race that also had gray/silver shirts. There really isn't anything else outside of the shirt, although there are other race perks that I'll talk about in post-race celebration in just a few moments. :)

Sally and I pre-race...freezing our tushies off! LOL Starting temps in the upper 30's/low 40's. Okay, I almost feel guilty saying that 30/40 is cold when I saw plenty of my friends around the country in negative degrees! HA!
But that's SoCal cold...sorry!

Course

I have made no bones before about how nice this course is! I really do love it as it has the perfect mix of gorgeous views, challenging terrain/hills, downhills, and turns to keep it interesting. Beginning at the Sports Park you immediately get a nice downhill to get you started as you run along orange groves before heading into the Historic Citrus Park. This first section has some fairly decent hills and can really kick your rear if you aren't careful. Racers pass by several real restrooms that are open for use during this section, and the citrus park has at least two aid stations. After the citrus park it is back out into the orange groves after off-roading for a little bit. Several miles wind through the orange groves and this terrain makes runners really focus on footing - which I actually like because it keeps me focusing on that instead of how tired I am! After the orange groves it is up a long gradual hill overlooking a beautiful canyon to the halfway turnaround. From there you get the downhill for a bit which is SO NICE before turning towards residential streets to run the final 5k of the race. There are a few more hills on the final stretch and they still throw me for a loop because I just don't have anything left by then. HA! There are a lot of port-a-pots along the course and they have the streets closed to traffic (THANK YOU!!!!). There are a lot of lot of aid stations well stocked with cold water and gatorade, and at the halfway they had oranges (ohemgee so delicious!!) and plenty of GU in lots of flavors to choose from. The volunteers at the aid stations are amazing and have it down to a science as they let you know if they have water or gatorade as you are coming up. Lots of great signs, cheering, and helpful volunteers out on a chilly morning! Two of my favorite things about this course is that there is a section where you pass the front of the pack runners - that is so motivating to just see them flying by; and then there is another section where you pass the 5k runners as they make their way into the citrus park...so much fun to get to "mingle" with the other runners. Plain and simple, I'll say it again, I love this course. It is my favorite half marathon course to date.

Just after the starting line! There's nothing like seeing runners for days ahead of you!! I <3 it!

Medal

The medal is amazing every single year! High quality, perfect size, pretty to look at, fabulous ribbon. Take a look:

I love their medals each year and they are some of my favorites hanging on the medal rack. They definitely get this right every single year.

Here's a picture of me holding it so you can get some size perspective. It's not huge, but it's definitely not tiny either. I would say it is Goldilocks "just right".

My Gear

I wore the following:

Skirt Sports BBF Beanie in Pink Crush (on sale for $9.99 right now and I LOVE IT!!)

Skirt Sports Don't Sweat It Long Sleeve in Razz (I wore the Ambassador top that isn't available, but they have other awesome prints available!)

Skirt Sports Jette Capri Skirt in Poparazzi

Skirt Sports socks (not currently available)

Flip Belt*

Mizuno Wave Rider 17's

Fuel was Island Boost and GU Chomps (I alternated for a total of 4 times fueling during race)

*I'm struggling with a way to carry my new iPhone 6s Plus so I had to break out my FlipBelt. It did fit, with the case on if I really stuffed it in there, but I think I'm probably one of the only people on the planet that doesn't really care for the FlipBelt. I don't know if it's just my body shape, but they say that it won't ride up and will stay where you put it...nope, not for me. I would prefer to wear it around my hips, but it always makes its way up to my waist (usually taking my shirt with it risking flashing people) and that makes it difficult to get anything out of it. That's the other part of my dislike, you have to flip it over to keep items inside, but then you can't get anything out of it without flipping it back over and then you run the risk of items falling out. I lost my body glide during my marathon and a chapstick another run. One final thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a waterproof layer so my phone case was all sweaty at the end of the run. Moisture + Phone = Bad Idea. Right? haha The only reason I'm using it right now is because I didn't have anything else that I could use for my phone. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!!

The clothes were all spot on and absolutely perfect. I have zero complaints about anything I was wearing outside of the Flip Belt. Skirt Sports is just the best. I'll have a 2016 discount code available for you very soon!

My Race

You guys - I had a really good race!! Coach Tiffany and I had decided prior to the race that this wouldn't be a PR push and would be an opportunity for me to just get out and run and see where I'm at so we can put together a great plan for my spring races. I knew I wanted to start off nice and slow so I didn't get tight legs/shins like I have in the past, I knew that I wanted to walk through the aid stations and take in some water/gatorade at each as I was not carrying any water on me this time (wanted to see how it went if I didn't carry my own since it wasn't a PR push), and I knew that I wanted to try to tackle the hills stronger than I have in the past. If I needed to walk them I would, but I would definitely try to not let them get into my head. So with those goals in mind, I started off slow, gradually geared up and didn't let the hills scare me. When we got to the first big hill I looked and it and said out loud "I LOVE HILLS!!! I'm going to totally run this thing right now! I eat hills for breakfast!" I don't know what else I said but I pretty much convinced myself up the entire thing and then I got to the top of this hill that I walked the previous two years and wanted to absolutely burst into tears that I DID IT!! I ran it and I didn't even feel like I was going to die. And the kicker? I didn't start walking at the top...I kept running right up the next hill, and right up the next one, and so on and so forth. For 10 miles I ran every single hill and I only stopped to walk through the aid stations. The mental boost from that...I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt.

Sally and I getting our groove on!

I took a brief moment of pause at the halfway point to take off my beanie and throw my hair into a ponytail as I was getting too warm. My gloves came off about 7 miles in. My sleeves rolled up about 8 miles in. haha Okay, so you know I ran strong for 10 miles but I definitely felt the fatigue really settle in at that point and I ended up taking some walk breaks during the remainder of the race. I was really feeling the fatigue in my hips and feet, so I started picking out a spot to run to, then would walk to a spot, and then start again. But I typically get tired much earlier than 10 miles, so I was thrilled. I finally headed to the finish line and kicked it into high gear to sprint to the finish line! I even got another gal to really pick it up because she could see me coming up behind her and she wasn't about to let me pass her! I told her she better get it if she didn't want me to beat her! We high-fives each other at the end of the race. LOL I just love that...the spirit of perseverance. She was a fighter and I salute that! Before I share my finish time for this race, I want to share my previous two finish times first.

2014: 2:53:20
2015: 2:59:01

And this year:
2016: 2:38:55

Guys - that's 20 minutes faster than last year and 15 minutes faster than 2014 on the exact same course!!! A 15-minute course PR!!!!!!!! Am I excited about that? HECK YEAH!!! And what's my overall half PR? 2:42 at the Tinkerbell in 2012. A flat course that I ran before my knee disaster! So not only did I get a 15-minute course PR, I also got a 4-minute half marathon PR. My work with Coach Tiffany is totally paying off. I said in my post on Instagram/Facebook that I don't do it very often as I tend to be very hard on myself, but I'm so proud of my effort on this race. I wasn't going for a PR, but I got one anyways. But more important to me than any numbers was that I ran those hills that beat me every other time. More important is that I felt great. More important is that I fueled and hydrated to plan. More important is that when my watch clicked off the miles I was shocked at how quickly it was going by. I feel like I won a mental battle on this run and that is the absolute most important. I'm gonna ride this runner's high for a while. LOL

Post-Race

The post-race amenities at this one are pretty good. They have bananas, fresh oranges, and Clif bars, full water bottles, and Gatorade along with bowls of chili from Farmer Boys (a local burger joint that is just now expanding to the Los Angeles area). They also had mylar blankets this year and had the beer garden back again. One of the best things about the beer garden? They had belly bars (those are the high tables) and bowls of pretzels on the tables. Nice touch!! (I didn't partake in the beer garden, but a nice gentleman was more than happy to put my ticket to use! hahaha)

Final Thoughts

Did you guys get the idea that I really like this race? *wink* I really do - I love this race. Gorgeous course with just enough challenge, great amenities, wonderful course support, lots of volunteers, great swag in a beautiful location at a perfect time of year. What more can you ask for? Seriously, you won't be sorry if you run this race. Hope that you'll join me in 2017 because I will definitely be back!!

Finally, I will also highlight that this is part of the Run Riverside Challenge series so I got some extra swag this one! Here's all the Run Riverside medals from 2015-16:

And here's all of them from the beginning of this series that began three years ago!

Half Marathon #7 is in the books! Run happy, or dance, or skip, or jump, or whatever, my friends!

Training Lately...

I mentioned in my Ultimate Coffee Date post that I reviewed my Believe training journal from the last year and was disappointed by how often I saw remarks like "could have done better" or "ugh, bad week in training", or even "skipped this, skipped this, and skipped this".

I also mentioned that I usually do the same thing every year - I say THIS YEAR I'm going to do a better job! THIS YEAR I'm going to train like a beast. THIS YEAR I'm going to hit all my workouts. But do I? Nope...

It's so frustrating and, honestly, I don't know how to go about breaking out of that destructive cycle. I start a training cycle fired up and ready to totally go Beast Mode all over it and halfway through I'm shortening workouts, skipping the stretching, and that's only IF I did the workout at all. By the end I'm just like Eh - whatever...I've already screwed the pooch on this one anyways. NEXT TIME I'll kill it. Ugh...

So how has my training been going lately? Let's see...

Monday 12/28: Did the 3 miles, but didn't hit the paces Coach Tiffany gave me
Tuesday 12/29: Rested (could have done a Barre workout, but I opted for total lazy instead)
Wednesday 12/30: 3 miles, but walked half of it for no real good reason
Thursday 12/31: Skipped my 3 mile timed workout
Friday 1/1: Light stretching and leg balance exercises
Saturday 1/2: Should have done 6 miles, did 3.3 instead
Sunday 1/3: Light stretching and leg balance exercises

So there's an entire week of workouts and you can see that I pretty much blew off every single one of them in one way or another AND I have a flipping half marathon in 6 days!!!! Seriously...why do I sabotage myself like this?!? I don't get it...I'm actually pretty good about getting my work job done, why can't I apply the same principles to my workouts? Or my healthy eating? I'm pretty much figuring that Coach Tiffany is totally disgusted with me or at the very least is questioning my commitment to my training...as she should be on both fronts.

But I'll keep on trying guys...I'm not going to just quit saying THIS YEAR, or THIS TRAINING CYCLE, or even THIS DAY. I'm going to keep pushing to kill it because perhaps someday I actually will!!! I will give myself credit for something - I don't quit. I keep failing and won't give up. hahaha

Seriously though - I'm all about persistence folks, even if it is persistence at telling myself to be persistent. Someday it's gotta stick, right?? ;-)

One thing I am going to do though is share my training progress a little more. I know it might be boring as hell for some and you have my permission to skip it completely if you so desire. But I need some accountability if I'm going to head into my new training cycle - heck, if I'm going to head into my planned workout tomorrow! - with the right frame of mind of totally killing it. I can do it...I can do it...I can do it. Say it with me now... :-)

Temecula Half Marathon - Race Report

Waaaaay back at the end of October I was able to participate in the Temecula Half Marathon & 5k held in Murrieta, CA - a local race for me as it is about 20 minutes from my home.

Just a couple of notes about this race before I get into the nitty gritty. I did the Half Marathon, this was my first time participating in this race, and this was the first time the race was held on this particular course. Previous years it was held in an entirely different location. My friend, Sally, ran the race the previous year and had warned me that it was one of the HARDEST races she had ever done as it was extremely hilly. Well, new course this year so I figured it was going to be a little less challenging, right?!? And maybe it was...I will never know as I hadn't done the previous course. I was doing this race to support a co-worker that was doing it as his very FIRST half marathon!! When he decided to do one, he reached out to the rest of us that he knew to be runners, and three of us said we'd be willing to jump in on the half marathon with him. His wife (Rebecca in the picture below) did the 5k along with her sister-in-law and my daughter. So with that out of the way, let's get to it, shall we?

We were greeted with an absolutely GORGEOUS sunrise!!

Registration
The cost of registration was about $80, I believe. I got in before it stepped up in price, however, this race had a registration fee that I couldn't get out off (i.e. It wasn't through Active which I have an Active Advantage membership that waives registration fees on many races). I had a discount code so it brought the total back to what it was originally before the registration fee. If I remember right...I do remember being peeved about the "fee". I really find those quite annoying especially when they are more than just a couple dollars. (Side note: race fees sure are getting EXPENSIVE, no?) The good part is they offered race-day packet pick-up so that's always great. As far as getting all checked-in at the event that was fairly easy to do. It was a little confusing to me as you don't pick up your race bag until AFTER the race, so I kind of felt like I was missing a step before I realized that you didn't get those until later.

From L-R: Me, Co-Worker Jennifer, Co-Worker Rebecca, and my daughter Michelle (the Selfie Queen operating the camera thankfully because I am truly HORRIBLE at it! LOL)

Expo and Venue
The race was held at a sports park in downtown Murrieta and was easy to get to (freeway access about a mile from venue) and had plenty of free parking nearby. They had quite a few vendors that I don't see at a lot of other local races such as Krave jerky, The Kombucha, Larabar, and others. They also had a wine garden with several different vendors. Each racer received two free tickets and more were available for purchase. They had a pretty good set-up and as far as small, local race expos go it was not too shabby. Not the best, but not the worst either.

Swag
This race doesn't automatically include a participant shirt but does offer them for a reasonable price for purchase. What you DO get is a wine glass. I am going to note that I expected the wine glass to be included in the race bag that you get after the race...kind of makes sense, right? So when the race was over and my daughter handed me my bag, I just assumed the glass was in there. Wrong. You had to actually pick up the glass when you got your drink tickets. Well, since I could care less about the drink tickets, I never even went over to that table and completely missed out on the glass. I was fairly disappointed about this. Also, during packet pick-up nothing was ever said to me or my daughter about race bags being available after the race or that wine glasses needed to be picked up at the wine garden. I know they are volunteers, but it would be helpful to provide that info to racers so we aren't left wondering where to go next or what we can expect at the end.

Course
The course, as mentioned above, was new this year. The course, as mentioned above, was known previously as being VERY challenging. The course this year? Super duper challenging in its own right!! Seriously, after doing the Avocado Half Marathon in Fallbrook back in May I didn't really want to ever run another hilly half. Well, too bad, so sad because this was NOT a flat half marathon. Now, mind you, they never billed it as being flat either. I was just wishful thinking. HA! Let's look at just a few pictures of the course:

That doesn't look so bad, right?

Almost to the top of the hill...I think my face says it all...I was not happy.

Oh yeah - that looks like *fun*. :-|

So. Many. Hills! The course began on relatively flat land and remained so for about the first mile before going into gently rolling hills that I think were there for the simple act of lulling you into a false sense of security. About three miles in is where the fun begins! The road began to climb and then turned into a dirt road that was very difficult to run on. The dirt was hard packed and highly cambered with some rockiness that you had to be careful for. In addition, the road was NOT closed so vehicles could still travel it and I really felt for the group of runners that had a truck go by on the dirt road as it kicked up a lot of dust (this is one of those times that it really paid that I was in the mid-pack of the race!). Hope nobody was asthmatic or had breathing issues because that would seriously hinder their ability to get air. The dirt eventually returned to road, and hills, and kept going. I will say that there were portions of this course that were extremely beautiful!! One of my favorite sections was through a tree-lined area that was mostly flat to boot! Check it out:

So nice through here! Take note of the gal in the red tank and skirt and the other in the orange shirt next to her...we'll talk about this some more in a moment.

After that really nice, really pretty section, we headed into a golf course for a short bit. It was also very pretty and was on a dirt trail and towards the end had a vineyard on one side, and golf course on the other. There were people out golfing as it was a Sunday morning so that was kind of a nice distraction. And then another hill came and this was one of the worst! Here's a pic from the top looking down:

Not a great picture, but you can kind of get an idea of this massive hill. Most people were walking it or doing a slow jog at the most.

We encountered a lot of traffic in this section as people were leaving and entering the golf course. They did have a police escort so it was very smooth and didn't cause any problems outside of the sheer amount of exhaust and fumes. The course eventually looped back around and met with sections we had come out on, so we got to do them in reverse. Here's the elevation profile from my Garmin activity:

You get the idea? Hills, hills and more hills...LOL

All in all, the course was challenging, but not bad as it had a lot of scenic portions and was an out-and-back so especially at the end you had a good idea of what to expect since you were on the same part as you were at the beginning. I do wish that traffic had been blocked on the dirt portion at the very least to minimize the amount of dust kicked up into the air, but the course did feel safe even though it was an open course and had traffic throughout. There were port-a-johns at several points along the course with fairly short lines, they had pacers for a variety of finish times, they had plenty of on-course water, but no electrolytes until almost the end of the race, they had some fabulous volunteers out working the aid stations, but they had minimal spectating or cheer sections. But that's okay as it wasn't something that was part of the race package.

Medal
Honestly, the medal was a bit disappointing to me. For being such a challenging race with all those hills, no race shirt, and costing $80, along with the trend for ever bigger and more impressive medals, I was expecting something a little more substantial. Take a look and let me know what you think:

The glitter was a nice touch...

Since I'm holding it you can get a little perspective.

The 5k and Half Marathon had the same size medals, the only thing that was different was the 5k had a white ribbon and the Half Marathon had a black one. Seriously, it's kinda tiny and doesn't have a year engraved on the medal design anywhere and you can see that the necklace portion is a clip on design so I'm guessing they re-use medals that are left over. I can't say for sure, but that's the only reason I can figure they do a clip on necklace (is there an actual name for that part of the medal because if there is it is escaping my brain at the moment! haha). Also, I have to say that even though the race previously was in the Temecula Wine Country, hence the wine bottle medal and grapes in the logo, this year's race had almost nothing to do with wine outside of the fact that you ran very briefly past a few grape vines, and you got a wine glass and free wine at the finish. It wasn't even evident that the race course was in Temecula AT ALL since you start and end in Murrieta. It's possible we may have been in the actual unincorporated area of Temecula for a brief moment, but I couldn't say for sure exactly. I count this race as being in Murrieta. A little misleading, but who cares really. Overall, the medal gets a D grade. They can do better.

My Race
I went into this race totally and completely unprepared (yes, that is a recurring theme in my life...*sigh*) so my plan was to just do the best I could and treat it like a training run. I stuck with the 2:45 pacer for a good portion of the early part. Remember in the picture above where I said take note of the girl in the red tank and black skirt and the girl in the orange shirt beside her? That was the pacer and the other gal that was sticking with her as well. I lost them a few times on hills when I was just dying, but would catch up to them on the downhills usually. I finally lost the pacer for good as I was coming into the golf course and hit that really killer hill. But not long after I crested the killer hill, the gal in the orange shirt (cannot remember her name...sorry!!) had stopped at a porta-pot and then caught back up to me. So we stuck together until the end. All in all, I didn't feel terrible. The weather was absolutely perfect and I ran a lot more of the hills than I did previously. If the gal in the orange shirt hadn't kept me going towards the end though I would have walked a lot more. But we would just pick out a landmark and say "we'll run to there", then we would walk to a new landmark and do the same. It got us to the end, although I will say I wanted to absolutely DIE at the end because as we were getting close to the finish line, and to what my Garmin was saying was close to 13.1 miles, we realized that we were going to run right by the finish line to do one more loop around the park! WAAAAHHHH!!! I seriously was like "this is a cruel, cruel joke you evildoers!!!" The pacer (can't remember her name either...LOL) found us on that final loop and ran us in to the finish. I do know that the course was definitely off and a mistake was made somewhere because my final based off of GPS was 13.32 miles. So just a tad extra, but enough to make a grown woman want to curl up in a ball and just throw a massive temper tantrum. I didn't, but the urge was strong. Here's the stats:

13.32 Miles
2:49:15
Average Pace: 12:42 min/mile
Best Mile: Mile 7 with 10:50 average pace
Worst Mile: Mile 12 with a 14:30 average pace

Post-Race Party
I didn't stick around per the usual so I can't tell you too much. My daughter did visit the wine garden and had a drink, but by the time I rolled back in she was pretty bored and ready to go. I touched base with my co-workers Brian (his first) and Jennifer (her second) and they both had 2:30 or less finishes! Jennifer said she won't do another half for a long time, and Brian said he is done with his running career for forever! I don't really believe that, but this very may well be his only half as he says he prefers the 10k and 5k distances much more and did deal with a lot of knee issues during training. The race did have an awards presentation that I'm sure was awesome.

What I Wore
Skirt Sports Visor in Streak
Skirt Sports 261 Kathrine Tank in Mantra
Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt in Tantrum
Saucony Bounce Trouncer Bra
Can't remember which socks I wore
Mizuno Wave Rider 17's
Nathan Intensity Hydration Vest

All the things I wore were great...I did have some chafing on my arm from the vest, but it was fairly minimal.

Parting Thoughts 
I guess the main thing to ask myself is if I would do this race again. Mayyyyybeeeee...it would have to be pretty compelling circumstances for me to do it again. It was easy for me to get to, the location was pretty good, but the course was challenging. If someone was LOOKING for a challenging half, this would be a great one for them as it definitely delivered there. But the scenic route did help offset some of the things I would have been more peeved about like the crummy medal, the wine glass snafu, and the extra added-in distance. Plus, it's just mean to make people run PAST the finish line after running 13+ miles. Just so mean. LOL It's at a great time of year though although it can still be quite warm...we just got lucky that it was perfect running weather this time around. If it had been hot, I would not be as positive about my experience. As far as race organization goes, it was pretty smooth and I don't have any major complaints. I think there is room for improvement, but really there always is. So even though I may not LOOK for this race again next year, if one of my run friends asked me to run it with them I probably would.

And there you have it! Half Marathon #6 is in the books...

FOCUS Grasshopper...

Ya'll know that I've been working with a running coach for a little bit now - Coach Tiffany with Thoroughly Thriving. And I absolutely LOVE it!! Having the guesswork taken out of the equation is so nice. And I really do feel like I push myself at least a little harder because I want to make my effort worthwhile. BUT at the same time, I know that I still slack off way more than I should. Sometimes there might be totally legitimate reasons for it, but really, 90% of the time that I slack is just because I'm losing the battle of the lazy brain. I know that. But you know how when you see some cold, hard facts it brings it all into FOCUS just a little more???

This morning I looked at my new week training report and this is what I see: Looking at October so far you've skipped about 28% of your workouts and modified 15%.

Just a bit of a gut kick on that one. I shouldn't be surprised that the hilly half marathon last weekend was so tough and I shouldn't be surprised that I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck for most of this week. Not when I look at the fact that I've totally and completely SKIPPED 28% of my assigned workouts. More than a quarter. And of the 72% that I have done, I've modified 15% of those.

So in other words, I've nailed 57% of my workouts during the month of October. Sure, sure - that's a little more than HALF that I've done. And that's not necessarily bad...BUUUUUUTTTTT, if this was a test, only a little more than half is definitely failing.

Why, thank you Dwayne - there are not truer words you could speak to me! And thank you for that dazzling smile while you're at it. ;-) haha

What it all boils down to is this. If I want to run a personal best at my goal race in January 2016, then I'd better focus and I'd better put in the effort. I can get to that finish line feeling like I got thrown down by The Rock in an epic wrestling match, or I can get to that finish line feeling like I just ran a hard race but that I just ran a race that I was totally prepared to run. And whether I meet my time goal or not - the real goal is just that - I want to KNOW that I put in the effort during training and that I really did leave everything I could on that course.

I will get there...and the effort and the focus start now!! My goal from my coach is to hit at least 90% of my workouts going forward. Okay, okay - game on, Tiffany!!

Question: How do you keep your focus on the goal?

Virtual 13er - Race Recap

This past weekend was the actual Skirt Sports 13er race in Louisville, Colorado and although I really, Really, REALLY wish I could have been there for it I could at least participate via a virtual race! I knew going into it that I really wasn't prepared for 13.1 miles even though I had done the Avocado Half just three weeks back and the Idyllwild 10k just last weekend. My training leading up to both of those races was pretty darn pathetic and just because you can run 13.1 miles, doesn't mean that you're body necessarily wants to. But I put on my game face and prepared to tackle the distance all by my lonesome.

I started out with my Mom & Sister for the loop around the neighborhood before stopping to use the facilities (that were really nice BTW - best race facilities ever considering it was my own bathroom at home! LOL) and bidding adieu to Mom & Sis and heading outside of the neighborhood. I had planned a route ahead of time, but this is going to come back into play here in a moment so just hold onto that little nugget for a moment.

Wearing my Skirt Sports Fearless Visor, Go Getter Tank, Kelly Bra, and Switzer Skirt (not shown here)

I decided that since I wasn't all that prepared that I would run 5:00/2:00 intervals and would just do my best to run when I was supposed to. This worked out pretty well for the first 7-8ish miles but I seriously ran out of steam along the way and started feeling every single ache and pain - like a twinge in my "bad" knee, the bad form that was causing my toes to catch the pavement on my right leg, the soreness on the top of my left foot. Every random ache and pain possible...but really I think it was because my brain wasn't in the right place. I knew I wasn't prepared, but I went for it anyways.

So where the pre-planned route comes back into the picture is right about the same time the wheels started falling off of my pretty red wagon...coincidence? I think not.

I had planned a route that included some new to me sections, along with some tried and true areas all within my local area. I got to run my "bridge", the hills by the high school and then an out and back on a new stretch of sidewalk that was previously un-runnable due to high traffic. Then the "plan" was to go down this section I call "the long boring" however I hadn't planned on the fact that I was out there all by myself this time and the long boring is a section that is sparsely populated and runs along the backs of houses and a large dirt field. If I was with someone else I would have felt perfectly comfortable going down that route; however, by myself it just didn't feel right. I felt like I would be isolating myself just a bit too much running that area, especially since it was early still and there were some random people out and about. So I made the decision to stick to the more populated streets, in essence removing a couple mile loop.

So as I came back towards my actual neighborhood, I ran my bridge one more time and then had the option of keeping going on the street or heading back inside the gates and finishing out inside my community. I opted for heading inside the community and that's when I totally fizzled. I had gone 10.5 miles at that point and had little aches and pains everywhere and I'll admit it...I totally gave up. Could I have done another couple miles and finished my 13.1? Yeah, probably. Would it have killed me or caused grievous injury? Probably not. But I didn't have it in me and I knew it. I was out there by myself, I was hungry, I was hot and sweaty, I was tired, and I was DONE. I knew it. So I threw in the towel and ended with 11.1 miles. If I had done that route that I originally planned, I probably would have finished the full 13.1. But the way I look at it is that it was better for me to be self-aware of my surroundings and potential dangers and make it home with 11.1 miles than to be stupid and not make it home at all. Right?

I'm still pretty upset with myself for not just finishing it. And I know that yet again, my downfall was my mental toughness. It gets me every single time. I start to get the hamster brain of doubt, pain, fatigue and I just give up. It kills me. I could have run my neighborhood loops a couple times and gotten it done safely, but the thought of running those streets by myself was extremely undesirable.

So the bad brain won again.

But I'm not completely out...I learned some things that I can use in my next training cycle and I made it home safely with 11 miles under my belt. None of those things say I'm a loser...and since I was running a virtual race, guess what - there's nobody to say I didn't finish it!!! Ha!!

Next year I'm hoping I can actually be in Colorado, but even if I'm on my own again in 2016, I know that I can implement some lessons learned and do a better job of it! So here's to 2016 and 13er redemption!

Avocado Half Marathon - Race Recap

An alternate title for this race recap could very well be "The Race That Was All Hills"...because seriously, I think it was ALL hills whether it was up a hill or down a hill...nothing but hills!!! Alright, alright...let me go back to the beginning and I'll do this The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style.

The Good:

Me & Sally back when we were happy to be running...LOL. Check out the little Mike Wazowski cheering people on - so adorable!!

• The weather was absolutely PERFECT for running! Overcast and about mid- to low-50's the entire time. 
• I was lucky enough to have my friend, Sally, (who is MUCH faster than turtle-paced me) pacing me for this race and having someone to talk to was really, really nice. I could get very used to having a race partner with me.
• I made a new friend. (see, Mom - some things never change! LOL) :-)
• My Skirt Sports outfit was absolutely flawless. I wore the Jaguar skirt, the 261 Fearless Personali-Tee, and the 261 Fearless Visor. Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about the outfit. The shirt is silky smooth, I forgot I even had a visor on, and the skirt offered perfect coverage and didn't move even an eensy-weensy bit. No slipping, no riding, no chafing. So totally worth every penny!!!
• The scenery was actually pretty nice...lots of foliage, pretty vistas, very little on city streets. So it's a beautiful course!
• There was NO CRAMPING...this is so huge for me as I had such miserable cramping in my full marathon and my last half marathon. I think I might have this one figured out...
• Tons of volunteers along the course.

Another good was this guy right here - he was up there dancing and playing music and just being SO encouraging the entire time! Total Rock Star!! Another good, the band at mile 7ish...they totally rocked it!

The Bad:

• I already knew going into this race that I was completely unprepared and that it was a challenging course. My fault and I have nobody to blame for this.
• Even though I knew it was a challenging course, it was way worse than I had even anticipated!
• No Porta-Pot until about Mile 6. Let me repeat that - NO BATHROOM FOR 6 MILES!!! I learned in training that I need to skip coffee before my long runs otherwise within the first two miles I have to pee no matter how many times I go before the race. I learned, and I ignored it anyways and had coffee that morning because I had slept terribly and wanted to pick-me-up. If I had known there wasn't a bathroom I would have gone with sleepy instead.
• Tons of volunteers along the course that didn't know any of the details like if there was a bathroom up ahead or that said "you're almost there" at mile 4 or coming back at mile 10, or that said "this is your last hill" when there was at least 500 more. 
• Waiting for the shuttle at the end of the race was grueling. 
• The HILLS...Oh the hilllllllllssssssss....

Yeah...the picture that tells the entire story!!

The Ugly:

• The Hills!!!! Take a good look at that picture up there...okay, so that was probably about mile 4. From mile 3.1 on it was a gradual climb for about a mile and then when you think, okay, I've got this...you crest the hill and you see THAT!! I wanted to cry...There were some areas of flat, but they were few and far between.
• I was carrying my own water in my trusty Nathan vest and it's a good thing I was because there was close to none out there. There were coolers of electrolytes and water, but NO CUPS. The volunteers were gamely offering to dispense by dumping directly into your mouth but as tired as I was it probably would've resulted in a major catastrophe. So no on-course water or electrolytes due to running out of supplies. Totally not cool in a race of this size especially when you should have some idea of how many runners are on course. 
• When I did finally find the porta-pot at mile 6ish they hadn't leveled it and it was like trying to go to the bathroom while riding a see-saw...sometimes it's the little details that make all the difference.

So all in all, it was a good race and I had fun for the most part. Yes, it was challenging, and yes, there were some issues that never should have happened like the water and bathroom and stuff like that. Would I do this race again? Today I say probably not, but like child birth I know I will forget how bad it really was eventually! HA! But I have to say that I really want to find a flat race for my next half marathon. LOL But if you're somebody that is looking for a real challenging course, in a beautiful location - this is a GREAT race! I understand a lot of runners use this race as a training run for San Francisco and that it is really good for that. 

Christine on the left, me in the center, and Sally on the right!

What made a difference on this one was having Sally there with me and having the volunteers cheering along the route. Many of them were very supportive and I had some fun with them. A couple girls at the beginning said they would run with us at the end, and they did when I reminded them of their earlier promise to us! It was fun and they were just adorable! And meeting and running with Christine, my new friend I mentioned up in The Good was a definite plus! She was just so cute and nice and she was struggling and didn't want to run, but we stuck it out together for the last 4ish miles and just picked a landmark and got to it before walking up another hill. Being able to encourage, and having others encourage me, is definitely one of the reasons I keep going back to participating in races. It just never fails to make me appreciate the toughness of the human spirit...that drive to keep going when everything inside of you wants to quit. I found it, Christine found it, and many others did too and that is what made it a good race!

They definitely got the medal right though!! That thing was HEAVY and HUGE!! And is engraved with 2015 finisher on the back...classy!

Oh - last thing...on the cramping. I think my problem is wearing compression socks/sleeves! I had worn compression on my marathon training runs, my marathon, and my last half marathon and experienced cramping to some degree in all of those. I wore them again during the early training for the half and experienced the same thing. I ditched the compression for the past several months and haven't had a single issue with cramping since I did!! So there you have it, for this girl, compression just doesn't benefit me and actually hinders me! Interesting, no??? 

Later this week I am hoping to talk a little bit more about my plan for success - not my usual go-to of success at failing! Stay tuned...

The Sure Way to Succeed...at Failing

So I'm going to let you in on a little secret...one that I'm working on perfecting!! It's called the Sure Way to Succeed...at FAILING and I'm getting REALLY good at it!! (Said in a very sarcastic tone of voice).

Step One: create a training plan - put a lot of time and effort into this because the other steps are somewhat dependent on this one. So spend several hours perfecting it, plugging the details into your running journal - my favorite is the Believe Training Journal by Lauren and Ro - creating the workouts in your Garmin calendar and whatever else you need to do to be ready for kickoff on Day 1 of the plan.

Step Two: Set some SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. For example you might set the following goal: Set a PR in the half marathon distance on May 23, 2015. Specific: Get a PR. Measurable: you have a time from your last race, all you have to do is come in under that one...totally measurable. Attainable: yep - just stick to the training and eating right and it should be no problem. Relevant: yes, totally relevant. Time-Bound: there's a solid date attached to this goal. This is a GREAT goal!! Should be completely manageable!!

Step Three: Tell yourself that you are going to completely NAIL this training cycle. You are going to eat right, get enough rest, stretch, foam roll, yoga your ass off, oh and don't forget cross training - you're going to ace that too!! You should also go on Pinterest and pin all kinds of happy motivation to get you jazzed up for this! Print some off, tape them to your wall, use that motivation!!

Step Four: Eat all the bad food. Slack off on all the workouts. Completely forget every goal you set. Don't pay attention to what's on the training plan. Go out and run your 13.1 miles with no more than 9 miles done in training. SUCCESS - you have now completely and totally set yourself up to succeed at failing!!! Brilliant!!! Whomp-whomp.

Seriously though, I have not done the work and I have made a plethora of excuses and I recognize that I have this really bad habit of completely and totally going into sabotage mode as I near a race. I don't know what that is or where it comes from...I could probably psychoanalyze the heck out of myself and find out that it is related to a fear of not living up to the standards I've set in my head, so if I have a bunch of "reasons" why I can't meet those standards than it isn't really my fault. Yeah...I'm guessing it's something like that. hahahaha Talk about a total mind f*&%!!! But here's the thing...I don't like it. I don't like being that person that is all fired up at the beginning just to completely fizzle out like a firework that didn't have enough oomph.

I want to know what it feels like to get to a starting line and know that I've done everything I possibly could have, within reason, to be READY to tackle the distance and the pace. I would even be okay if I didn't make my goal because I would at least know that I had done everything I could. But I haven't gotten there yet, and I'm definitely not there for this weekend's half marathon. My single goal for this one is to just finish it within the time limit so I can get my medal.

But I'm ready to turn a corner and no longer succeed at failing...I want to actually SUCCEED.

More to come on this...I've been working on setting some new goals, a new plan, and a system to support those goals and plans. I'll be sharing soon!

In the meantime, keep in mind that even though I joke about it, even failure is a building block to success because it teaches us what needs to be changed or tweaked on the next try! It's all part of the learning experience...one I'm getting pretty darn good at.

Skirt Sports 13er - It's Not Half of Anything...GIVEAWAY

I absolutely love that the Skirt Sports refuses to call their 13er a "half" marathon. I've done 4 half marathons and 1 full marathon and I can tell you right now that they are both very challenging in their own right. Just because it is "only" 13.1 miles, doesn't mean it isn't going to change you in the process of training and running one!!

This is what Skirt Sports says about it on their website: 13.1 ain’t half of anything, it’s a whole race and a big milestone we’re going to celebrate together. For those that can’t join us for our Lousiville, CO 13er, let’s all train together virtually and from mile 1 to 13.1, we’ll have a #runcelebration.

Skirt Sports is holding their 13er Race on June 13, 2015 in Louisville Colorado, or absolutely ANYWHERE with their virtual option! And guess what - you have a chance at winning a Basic Entry valued at $85! As a Skirt Sports Ambassador Captain I have been provided with a free basic entry to either the actual 13er in Colorado or the Virtual 13er for one of you lucky readers. And don't worry if you aren't up to running 13.1 miles - you can also register for the 5k or 10k options and still get all the same awesome swag!

The winner will receive the following with their race entry:

• An awesome finisher skirt! 
  
• A $50 gift certificate to Skirt Sports to be used for absolutely ANYTHING you want!! Keep in mind that on full priced items you can use discount code SSPQL20 for 20% off. (If the item is already on sale or discounted please do not use the discount code as you will be contacted to pay the difference and may delay your order processing)
• A 13er Race Bib
• Swag Bag items from the race sponsors
• Monthly training tips newsletter

And in addition to that, you get to run 13.1 miles with thousands of other awesome women (and men - you all want a skirt too, right??) across the globe! What's not to love, right?? So enter to win using the Rafflecopter form below.

BUT if you don't want to wait to see if you won, or don't want to take any chances, you can register for the race at any time and can use that same discount code (SSPQL20) for 20% off the registration price. To register for the live event in Colorado click here and for the Virtual option click here.

Some details: I have been provided the race entry at no cost to me by Skirt Sports. All opinions regarding the race are my own and have not been influenced by Skirt Sports in any way. The contest opens on 5/13/15 and will close at midnight on 5/20/15. Winners will be notified by email and by entering to win consent to provide their email address to Skirt Sports so they can receive a special congratulations from them. Skirt Sports will not sell, provide, or use the email for any other purposes. Winners have the option of upgrading their registration ($125 or $275 gift certificates upgrades available), but will be required to pay the difference above and beyond the $85 basic entry fee.

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway