All of my training runs are officially complete. The next time I run will be somewhere in southwest Utah at the start of the St. George Marathon.
This week, I did short easy runs every day — 4 miles each Monday and Tuesday, 3.1 Wednesday and 2 today — and I did two strength training classes, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday’s sunset.
Wednesday’s sunset.
That also finished off the month so here’s a monthly summary:
Mileage:
Week 1 (Sept. 1-4): 16.6 miles
Week 2 (Sept. 5-11): 23.4
Week 3 (Sept. 12-18): 16.4
Week 4 (Sept. 19-25): 33.3
Week 5 (Sept. 26-30): 13.1
Total: 102.8 miles
Not a very impressive month considering it was the last one of training for an actual marathon haha.
Well anyway, we’re leaving this afternoon to start driving in the direction of St. George. It’s about a six-hour drive total, so we’re doing most of it this evening and staying in Las Vegas. I’ve never been there, other than a brief stop at the airport, so I’m excited to see it.
Tomorrow, we’ll drive the rest of the way to St. George, pick up my race stuff at the expo and then hopefully have a restful evening, because I have to be up EARLY Saturday morning to catch the bus to the race start.
The weather looks great, but a little difficult to dress for. It should be in the 40s where the race starts, quite a bit higher than where it finishes in St. George, where it should be in the 70s by the time I get there. I’m hoping arm warmers will be enough for the first several miles until it warms up and then I’ll be fine in shorts and a tank.
Since I didn’t really follow the training plan, I don’t have a time goal. I’d like to be somewhere in the 3:45-3:55 time range but who knows.
Once the race is over, we’d love to explore the area a little bit, maybe that afternoon or Sunday before we drive home.
It’s race week! My first marathon in almost two years is in five days and I think I’m feeling pretty good. I did not stick to the training schedule like I should have but I made it without any injuries or even little niggles and that’s always the best.
Late Friday afternoon, after the thunderstorm warning passed, I did go out for a run, 5 miles at an 8:58/mile average. I finally wore my race shoes and I’m happy to report they felt good.
Saturday morning, I decided to to run my 6.6-mile hilly loop for the first time in a while. I managed one of my faster runs on that loop, a 9:41/mile pace. My Garmin always reports a different total ascent for whatever reason and this time it said I climbed 744 feet along the way. Who knows what the actual number is, but I know it’s a lot more than when I run along the coast.
That afternoon, we took the train down to San Diego to see the Padres’ next-to-last home game of the season.
Santa Fe Depot in San Diego.
By the time we left, we still had a couple hours until the late train would head back north, so we tried to get an Uber. But the drivers kept canceling the trip, I guess after they saw how far north we wanted to go. At that point I wasn’t going to make it to the last train, so we just gave up and got a hotel room there in San Diego.
The next morning, we went to our all-time favorite bar, The Waterfront, for breakfast, with a detour to Dunkin’ Donuts since we were there. Clark didn’t want to walk all that way so we rented electric scooters. They were actually pretty fun to ride, at least early in the morning when there wasn’t any traffic yet. It was hard to hold onto an iced coffee and drive one though haha.
We stayed at The Waterfront long enough to see the first half of the early football games, including the Ravens-Lions, until we left to catch a train back to Carlsbad. So I was just following it on my phone when Justin Tucker kicked the 66-yard field goal to win the game and, oh yeah, set a new NFL record for longest field goal. Crazy!
We hung out in the village in Carlsbad for a while when we got back and eventually made it back to our house, and watched the NASCAR race from Vegas.
I have not run yet today but I think I’ll go out now and do the short easy run on the schedule.
Well I still haven’t broken in those new shoes. I did my strength training class yesterday, but instead of running, I took a shower and then walked into the village to meet Clark at Pure Project for a beer.
Today, I didn’t get up in time to run before I had to start work, and then I had an appointment this morning with a mobile detailing service to clean my car inside and out.
I have never paid to have a car detailed before, but mine was covered in a lot of dried-on slobber from Pepper’s last couple of years, and I knew from trying to clean it off the interior of my old car that I’d never get it all off this one myself. So I called in a pro.
About four hours and a few hundred bucks later, my car looks and smells brand spanking new again.
I am very happy with the job this guy did!
And he beat the rain. I had no idea it was supposed to rain today, but clouds rolled in and it’s drizzling now. My shiny clean car was already safely in the garage again before it started.
However, there is a severe thunderstorm warning in the area right now so that’s holding me up from finally getting my run done now that I’m finished with work. Hopefully I can squeeze one in today.
If not, oh well. I don’t think that’ll make or break my marathon next weekend.
This weekend, I just have on the training schedule a 4- and 8-miler.
Speaking of the marathon, we got our bib numbers this week! I love finding out my number ahead of time. I’m 5408 and I start in the fourth of four waves. The first two waves are for the elites and sub-elites so I’m in the second of two waves for the average runners, which sounds better haha.
Other than that, the only plans we have for the weekend are going to one of the Padres’ last two home games of the season, since they’re not making the playoffs this year, either tomorrow or Sunday.
Tuesday after work, I did a strength training class and then ran an easy 4-miler at an 8:58/mile average.
Yesterday, also after work, I just did another easy run. Sunset is getting noticeably early these days, but that was OK with me yesterday, because it was absolutely beautiful here.
I took the long way home to see it from the other side of the climb up from the lagoon:
I do honestly miss my empty back roads back in Delaware and always thought they were pretty too, but I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the ocean views here.
Anyway, I ran 4.2 miles at a 9:15/mile average.
Today I’m signed up for another strength training class and then I’m going for a short run. I got my new shoes for St. George in the mail and it’s time to break them in!
Friday, I was going to run after I got done with work for the day, but then Clark came home at a reasonable time and we wound up just walking into the village for dinner. I wore a pair of slip-on sneakers that had never caused problems before but for some reason they gave me blisters, one on each foot in a different place.
Saturday, Clark and I did one of the whitest things we’ve ever done. We played in a beach bocce ball tournament.
When we agreed to do this, we thought it was just a little informal get-together at Del Mar Dog Beach hosted by the guy from our running group who’d invited us. Then we got there and there were thousands of people in a full-on tournament.
Shockingly, beach bocce ball is not an entry in the now-defunct blog, Stuff White People Like. It must not have been as widespread in 2010, the last time the blog was updated.
Anyway, neither of us had ever played it before, but we weren’t too bad at it. The first round was a round robin between four teams. Clark and I played three games, won one of them and lost one of the other two by only one point. If we’d won that game, we’d have advanced to the next round.
We hung out for quite a while after we got knocked out. The guy who invited us also had a VIP tent, which gave us access to free beer and a free lunch from Vigilucci’s.
The sun came out and we walked over to the Dog Beach to watch the dogs blasting all over the place in the water.
Look at this little Bassett hound!
I walked up on that cliff there in the background:
That’s the Del Mar horse racing track on the other side of the road.
Clark won a lot in the silent auction that included two foam-top surfboards, a portable rinsing station (so you can rinse off your boards or yourself before you get back in your car) and a cornhole set. We left after the auction closed and we could take them home.
We had a fun time and we’re planning on coming back for it next year!
We stopped at a brewery in Cardiff, got some meat to grill for dinner that night from Seaside Market and then went home. We watched the NASCAR race from Bristol, which was entertaining.
Sunday morning, I got up early-ish and went out for my last double-digit run before St. George. I was supposed to do 12 but I ran to the Batiquitos Lagoon trail, and I hit six miles before I even got to the lagoon. So I ran a little farther than I had to — 6.75 miles to be exact — before I stopped to eat a gel and then turn around.
I wound up running 13.5 miles with a fair amount of climbing at a 9:22/mile pace. It was a decent final long run. I wish I’d done more of them in the last month especially but there’s nothing I can do about that now.
Also, I was pretty happy with the shorts I wore for the run, Oiselle Track Star shorts. This was another pair of Oiselle shorts I tried specifically because they were on sale (extra 25% off the already marked-down price for a brief time.) These have a pocket on each leg that actually held my phone. The only weird thing was about 10 miles in, when suddenly the podcast I was listening to sped up to double speed, and when I pulled out the phone, the flashlight was on. Also I found out later my phone had sent a nonsense text to Clark and my brother. But other than that, the shorts pocket worked perfectly.
And the shorts themselves were very comfortable, did not ride up in the slightest and did not chafe. I am not throwing out all my Nike shorts, but I’m glad I finally gave Oiselles a chance.
When I got home, we made our weekly calls to our parents and watched a lot of football. We had to leave the Ravens-Chiefs game to make our dinner reservation to celebrate our 12th anniversary, so we missed the Ravens winning by a point. It was worth it though. Dinner was delicious and they even gave us a complimentary dessert for the occasion.
However, I wore a new pair of flats that made the blister on my right foot even worse, in spite of the Band-Aid I’d put on it. I guess that’s what I get for wearing anything other than running shoes or flip-flops.
So I’ll slap another Band-Aid on it later because I have a short run on the schedule.
As I mentioned earlier, I ordered a new pair of shoes for the marathon. I got the same ones I used for this training cycle, just in a different color. New Balance FuelCell Rebel v2s.
I don’t know how my shoes get so dirty running here, since it’s pretty much all roads, but this is what happens to all of my shoes now:
Yesterday evening, I did a strength training class after work. I really did not feel like going for a run after that but I did anyway, and ran 3.1 miles at an 8:54/mile average.
Today, I did not run before I had to start work for the day, and then I decided to just take a shower and call it a rest day.
We got a few cards in the mail today, from my parents, Clark’s parents and Clark’s aunt, because Sunday is our 12th wedding anniversary! We have reservations at a nice restaurant in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, the same one we went to two years ago when we were out here to sign a lease on the apartment we lived in when we moved out here.
Other than that, I’m not sure what’s going on this weekend. I do know I have a 4- and 12-miler on the schedule — the last double-digit run before St. George, which is now two weeks away.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the two days a week I have to go into my office, so I’ve been smart this week and ran before work both days.
The runs were almost identical, both easy 5-milers, one at a 9:07/mile average and the other at 9:06/mile.
Both days I also had to start running before sunrise and then when it did come up, it was too cloudy to see. I always feel cheated when I actually drag my butt out of bed before dawn for a run and then I don’t even get a pretty sunrise out of it.
Anyway, I also did a strength training class at home yesterday after work.
I seem to have just about given up on training properly for this marathon.
Saturday, I did go out and run the 10-miler on the schedule, at a 9:14/mile average.
Along the coast in Carlsbad.
But Sunday, instead of the last 20-miler, I ran… 3.3. I just did not feel like doing a long run. Or much of any running, apparently.
I did find this rock on the beach that had some kind of artwork attached to it.
And today, I didn’t even do the 5-miler I was supposed to do. We did wind up walking about 2.6 miles though, according to my phone’s tracker, to the site where they’re holding the World Surf League finals.
Pro photographers lined up.
They were going to hold the finals today, but it was too hazy this morning, I guess for the judges to be able to clearly see, so they pushed it back until tomorrow. But Clark had taken the day off, and I was working from home, so we went there this afternoon to see some practice time.
We saw one surfer who people were stopping to ask for pictures, but other than her, I don’t think any of the pros who are competing tomorrow were out there when we were there. There were some really good surfers though, possibly trying to get discovered by tour officials.
From the trail leading down to the beach.
I’m not running this evening either because the Ravens’ season opener against the Raiders is about to start.
So anyway, the St. George Marathon will definitely be one to just finish. I am registered for Shamrock again next March so hopefully by the time training starts for that I will be feeling more motivated to actually stick to the plan.
Yesterday, Clark and I made plans to ride our bikes and go for a run after work.
We went to a bike trail Clark had biked before with our gym’s group. It’s an old highway through what’s now Camp Pendleton that goes up to Trestles Beach near San Clemente, the northernmost part of San Onofre State Beach.
By the time we got the truck loaded, made it through the traffic jam caused by the big accident on the other side of the 5 near Oceanside, got parked and got the bikes ready to go, the sun was already getting noticeably low. I hate it when summer ends!
We had a bit of a headwind the whole way up to Trestles Beach, which slowed us down, but other than that it was a nice ride. At the end of the trail, we saw a big sign for the World Surf League Finals that start today.
As you can see, the light was already fading and we had to bike back about 9 miles. Fortunately we had a tailwind going back, which helped, but the last few miles got pretty dark. My bike Garmin said I rode 18.3 miles at a 16.7 mph average.
By that time, the sunlight was completely gone, so we skipped the run and just went home.
This morning, I got up before I had to start working for the day and ran along the coast, 5.3 miles at an 8:53/mile average, and I think I’ll do another strength training class later.
I finally got in some decent mileage again this weekend. Hopefully I can carry that momentum all the way through this week since it’s the last one before I start tapering ha. This marathon really came up quick!
Saturday morning, I did the long run, a 12-miler. It was a very pretty day for a run here (shocking, I know.)
Oh look, there’s the ocean! I never take pictures of that!
But it wasn’t a particularly fast day for a run, not for me anyway, and I walked whenever I felt like it, which was frequently on the way back. I also took a different route home that tacked on some extra mileage. I did 12.6 miles at an 11:03/mile average.
When I got back, Clark and I loaded up the cooler and walked back down to the beach.
Incognito drinking thanks to the can koozie.
Clark working on his sunburn haha.
We stayed until the sun had almost gone down, got dinner there in the village and walked home.
Sunday, I was supposed to do the shorter run on the schedule, a 6-miler, but man, I just didn’t feel like running that far. I only did 3.1 at a 9:25/mile average.
We spent the rest of the day in the village and then came home to watch the NASCAR race in Darlington.
Monday morning, I almost skipped our running club’s 5-mile trail run at Lake Calavera, when I woke up with a stomach that felt like I was going to have some of my digestive issues. But I started to feel better so I went.
Here’s the group before we started:
I’m near the left in the orange shorts.
Most people hiked the loop, but a few of us ran it. Or ran what we could.
I’ve run parts of the trails here before, but I’d never been on some of the ones that made up most of the first couple of miles. There were some pretty hairy hills! Especially the downhills. I wore my trail runners but they had no traction on some of the descents, as it was just a thin layer of sandy dirt on rock. I really thought I was going to eat it once but I managed to hold on until it bottomed out.
I’d been dropped by this one guy, Shawn, pretty much at the start. Then, with only about a mile left, I heard footsteps coming up from behind me — and was surprised to see Shawn run past. He’d missed a turn and tacked on about a half-mile to his loop.
Not long after that, I made a slight off-course detour of my own, but I realized my mistake a lot sooner and only added a little extra distance.
Jim, the runner who’d marked the course, had told us the loop was really only 4.75 miles and we’d have to run a little more after the finish if we’d wanted to get in a true 5-miler. But thanks to my detour, I was already at 5.05 when I made it back to the starting area, in 53:34, a 10:37/mile average. I also had 557 feet of climbing according to my Garmin.
View from the road after I went back to my car to get my flip-flops.
I was the second runner overall and first woman to finish, so I got a little gift bag of gear from the gym, a tank top, hat, some stickers and a gift card to the pizza place next door that sponsors the gym.
Oh, and I didn’t need a bathroom!
So after all that, I was really glad I’d went. It turned out to be a great run.
Not long after I got back home, it clouded up and stayed like that most of the rest of the day. We went out for a late brunch but then came back home, where we spent the rest of the day.
Today, I just did a strength training class after work.
Finally, here are some more pictures of Pepper. These are from 2017 and 2018, when he got sick with whatever never-specifically-diagnosed disease made him drop all that weight for a while.
These are two of my all-time favorite pictures of Pep. I was lying in the floor in front of the TV when I heard him licking the pillow on the couch. I always HATED the sound of him licking so I sat up and yelled at him to stop it. Which is when I got these two photos:
“Oh you want me stop licking this? That’s cute.”
“I do what I want.”
What a jerk haha!
Pepper and me at the Dogfish Head brewery.
Watching for Clark to come back from surfing in Fenwick.
When we all ran together as mustard, ketchup and a hot dog at the 2017 Sea Witch 5K in Rehoboth.
He did not want to sit on the garage floor or his dog bed.
Why does Pepper look more stylish in this lifejacket my mother-in-law bought for him than I have in anything ever?
I loved how snuggly he always was!
This was Pepper’s favorite blanket. He spent a week with Clark’s parents while we were out of town, and when we came home, my mother-in-law sent home this blanket with him. We quickly figured out why!
Summer 2017, when he was getting noticeably scrawny.
Another day, another couch nap.
He got to go out on the Party Barge a couple times. I’m pretty sure he would not be welcome now on the MasterCraft haha. It’s a little nicer.
After a short run together.
Memorial Day weekend 2018, at The Wheelhouse in Lewes. He was VERY skinny here.
Giving me the stink eye because he wanted that pizza.
A Simple Running Log 