Browse Category: go beak go

I’m still alive!

Jesse was brave enough to take me out for my first bike ride with the clippies in this afternoon. I was pretty worried myself but it turned out to be a rather pleasant ride. We took the usual route along Barranca (in the riverbed trail) with some stops and starts. I was able to clip in and out pretty easily and had only one minor stumble. At one stop, I clipped my left foot out, couldn’t plant my foot on the ground (slipped on the clip and didn’t step down on the rubber heel) and started tilting to the right. Luckily, I was already stopped and the tilt was slow. I caught myself with my right hand and pushed myself back up to safety. Ahh… So I finished about 12 wimpy miles, I’m back home now, and most importantly, I’m still alive! Yay, me!

Almost a Half Marathon

I was rather nervous this morning but I did it. I completed 12 miles this morning. Started with my usual riverbed trail, cut up through Shady Canyon, and ran around Turtle Rock (it actually looks like a turtle!). I threw some crazy hills into the route and survived. Phew!
…
Towards the end of my run, I saw two crows flying across the street. One flew a bit too low and *Smak!* got hit by a car. His friend actually stopped to check him out before flying away.
…
By the way, just in case you don’t follow the Tour de France, it starts today!! We have OLN again this year so we’ll get to watch Lance Armstrong’s month-long journey towards a 7th consecutive win and retirement from cycling. I guess it’s time to put that yellow bracelet back on for July! LIVESTRONG, Lance!

GO SUSIE!

I was uploading my photos onto ofoto.com today and came upon a photo that I liked. It’s a photo of Susie running with the Bay Bridge in the background. How awesome is San Francisco?! Doesn’t it look like she’s having a good time? I don’t think she was but it looks like it. 🙂 According to Runner’s World Magazine, it was ranked the top running city (among major cities) in the U.S. and I agree. When I lived up there, it seemed so much easier to go out and run. It must be the view or the hundreds of people who run out there each Saturday morning. I guess the next best thing is where I live. There are some really nice trails and bike paths in Irvine that you can take without hitting a single stop light for 10 miles. There are a lot of sucky hills around here too but I’ve grown to appreciate them. On a Saturday or Sunday morning there are runners and cyclists galore! It really makes you want to get out there yourself.

Queen of the Mountain x3!

We live by a gated community that’s up the hill from us. The road that takes you to this “exclusive” community is rather steep and is accessible by foot or bike. I’ve tried to run up that hill a few times without stopping and it’s been very tough. I think there’s an elevation change from about 75 ft to 335 ft…it sucks. Well, yesterday I was feeling pretty strong and decided to try running up the hill once at the end of my workout. I ran up the hill at an unusually quick pace, got to the top and said to myself, “good…time to go home.” As I walked down the hill towards my house, I was feeling pretty good. So, I turned around and ran up again. Nice! Once again, I started walking down and decided to go one more time. I ended up running up that stupid hill 3 times!!! Boy are my legs paying for it now. I’m just happy that I finally conquered the mountain. Yay me!

I’m over the 2-digit hump

I reached an important milestone in my training. My long run this morning was 10 miles! The photo on the right is what my GPS watch recorded…I think it’s pretty neat. I labeled my house (kinda hard to read) with an line/arrow pointing to it and the pretty rainbow colors indicate elevation. I think red is highest, goes through the color spectrum, and purple is the lowest (sea level).
…
Last night, I was actually nervous about today’s run. That’s probably why I got up at 5:15 this morning without the alarm. Jes also got up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. Maybe he was nervous for me too. Since we were up, we had just enough time to eat some oatmeal, digest, and be out the door by 7:30. Jes ran the first 4 miles with me before heading home to finish a 5-mile run and then my neighbor, who will be running the San Diego Half Marathon too, joined me around the 4-mile mark. The run was slow at first…I hate the first mile. Then my legs finally woke up and the pace picked up a bit. At about Mile 8, my legs were getting tired but I took a little bite of my Balance Bar, took a swig of Gatorade, and finished the run. I finished in 1:46, which is under my 11:00/mile goal pace. Yay!

“Eh, you’re fine”

For those of you who don’t know, I passed out in the middle of brushing my teeth one night last May. Over a year later, I’m still alive, got my driving privileges back, continue to have heart palpitations on a daily basis, and recently started getting chest pains while I run. So, I decided that before I go any further in my marathon training, I should get a check-up with my cardiologist. My appointment was this morning and I told him everything that has been going on. He paused and said, “ok, let’s check you out”. I’m thinking he did that just to humor me so that I didn’t feel like seeing him was a waste of time. With the stethescope in hand, he told me to take a few deep breaths, palpated my chest and abdomen, had me sit up, and said, “eh, you’re fine.” Thanks, doc. Anyway, he decided to hooked me up to a Holter Monitor for the next 24 hours since I was getting palpitations during my runs, which I never had before. As he left the examination room, he said to me, “run hard and make your heart thump”. Haha…that’s pretty ironic.
…
Well, this Holter Monitor has become a good friend of mine this past year. We’re actually on our 3rd “date” now. I suppose it’s not that bad…aside from the sticky electrodes on my chest that make me itchy (I think I’m allergic to the adhesive), long wires that hang out from under my shirt, and a coolio walkman looking thing strapped to my waist. This afternoon, I went for my hill run and I ran hard! In fact, I managed to run 5K under 30 minutes…29:07 to be exact. That’s a 9:24/mile pace or 6.39 mph. It sounds pretty wimpy but it’s a first for me. And did I make my heart thump? Yep Yep Yep! I’ll just have to wear it until 9:15 tomorrow morning, turn it in, and wait a week for the results. I just wish I could take a shower right now…I’m not allowed to get the electrodes wet…boo…I’m stinky.