Reflecting on racing in 2011

I looked back to see when my last post was and it's been a long time! - June 18th was the last race report I had posted!

There were a lot of races in 2011 - racing makes me happy as you can tell by this picture! (Either that or I need to cut back on the caffine before a race!)


July 2011 - Davis Moonlight Half Marathon - Great nighttime race with great volunteers and the upside of this one was my Brother and his family were in town so they got to see me race! My neice was at the finish line with flowers and it was so cool having them there! The nice thing about night running is when the crowd thins out you feel like you are the only one out there. it is just you and your thoughts.


August 2011 - Dirt Inspires Trail Half Marathon - The hardest race I have ever done (trails in the Santa Cruz mountains) - This raised the bar for me and introduced me to trail training and racing. A large group from our town went and stayed in a Hostel in Santa Cruz right by the boardwalk. We went to breakfast the next morning and found out the race was in the paper and this picture was there as well!
October was a month of races. I didn't plan for it to be that way - it just happened :)

First Half of October was Urban Cow - I had planned on trying for a person record (PR) and was on track to make that happen but then got calf cramps half way through (had been struggling with them for some time and hadn't figured out what was causing them) I missed my PR by 55 seconds. I had a great race though and even though I didn't make my goal I got to see lots of others PR!

My second half of October was Nike Woman's in San Francisco - This is the most amazing race and you don't just register for it. It is a lottery system so you are not guaranteed an entry. A friend of mine entered the lottery and wasn't choosen but wanted to do it SO bad! Her work had free entries and she didn't win those either. We went to a fun run with our local running store and they were giving away free entires and while her name wasn't choosen one of the ladies who was picked couldn't run the race and gave her entry to her! Before the run started we talked about how we would both win an entry and we would go together and have a BLAST. Well I left the empty handed - happy for my friend but sad I wouldn't be going. I had devised a plan though I was going to go and cheer her on! A week before the race the running store found they had one more entry to give away and they posted a contest on Faccebook. I had to go into the store and try on Nike gear (which I ended up buying a cute pair of shorts!) and you name went into a drawing. I'm pretty sure the poor guy that called me Saturday morning (a week before the race!) is now deaf in one ear! I was so excited - I couldn't wait to call my friend!
Here we are around mile 1 1/2 to 2! - She got me a Kaiser Thrive shirt to wear since they were one of the sponsors - they had a Kaiser Thrive mile and we got lots of cheers from the volunteers there!
Last half in October was Morgan Hill Half Marathon - The Hubster and I did this race last year as the full (His first - my second) we walked it and it was rainy and hilly! It was the inagural race so we have always talked about doing it every year so 5 years down the line we can say we have the medal from every year they have done it! This year we both did the half and in my mind I was still kinda mad about missing my PR by 56 seconds - but knew that PRing would be difficult because first my legs were tired from all the racing I had done the last month and secondly this course is very hilly! I decided to take it mile to mile and see how I feel! One other difference with the race was I ran without my Garmin. I had a watch so I knew how long I had been out there but if I wanted to figure out my average pace I would have to do the math. Turns out math is not something I can do in my head so I pretty much ran what felt comfortable, stuck with the intervals I was doing, power walked the uphills and took advantage of running the downhills. At mile marker 10 I realized I could possibly PR and the closer I got to the end I could tell I was definalty going to PR! I ended up beating my two year old PR by 3 minutes on a very hilly course!

My last Half Marathon was the Clarksburg Country Run in November - It was supposed to be a Half for me, I was doing the relay with a friend, but she couldn't do it so I did the half and enjoyed the scenery! It was beautiful!!

In addition to the Halves - there were 5K's, 10K's and other assorted races here and there - one in particular deserves its own post - so I will be back in the next couple of days to write that one!