Saturday morning, I went to the park for the usual early morning run. There were a ton of people there. I thought there must be some other group meeting up too, but nope, it was all gym members there to get points for the challenge. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people at the Saturday morning run before!
Not pictured: Kathy, who ran off to find a bathroom before the rest of us got started, and Milad, who took the picture.
I ran with Shawn and Kathy, 6.2 miles at an 8:58/mile average.
Later Saturday, Clark and I went to Oceanside to buy… more plants! We got a couple small ones to put on the new shelves in the bathrooms.
Philodendron in the master bath. I need to get a frame for that print, which is one of an oil painting my former boss made.
Sunday morning, I went to Torrey Pines to run some more hills. I’ve never done the La Jolla Half Marathon, but I decided to run the middle miles of the course, between Del Mar and La Jolla, because it has the biggest hill of the whole route.
I didn’t leave the house as early as I’d planned, and that wound up biting me in the ass. I greatly underestimated how many other people — bikers, walkers and a few other runners — would be on a large part of the route.
I parked in a residential part of Del Mar and ran down to the race route, which led me to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. There, I ran through the parking lot (big advantage of being on foot — you don’t have to pay to enter) and followed Torrey Pines Road, which went up, up, up.
I was dodging large groups of walkers along the edge of the road, which had traffic on it too. It wasn’t a lot of fun.
Near the top, I climbed up to an overlook.
You can see some of the other people walking along the road below.
I passed a lot of other trailheads on the way out. Then I ran past Torrey Pines Golf Course. At that point, I had about 1.5 miles until I’d make it to five, where I was going to turn around. That part was pretty boring, just along a sidewalk past some hospitals and other large buildings going into La Jolla. As soon as my Garmin hit five miles, I ate a gel and turned around.
On the way back, I decided to venture down one more trail. This turned out to be a mistake.
I took a trail to Razor Point, a rocky overlook near the ocean. I made it up just fine and took a couple pictures.
The view from Razor Point.
But then I had to get back down. There were some steps carved out of the rock. My right foot hit one and shot out from under me like it was covered in ice. I think it was loose sand that did it. Whatever it was, I landed hard on my right butt cheek and right forearm before I even knew what was happening.
Of course, there were about a dozen people still on the overlook who got to see the whole wipeout. I bounced right back up and high tailed it out of there like nothing had happened before anyone could say anything haha. But I could feel how hard a hit I’d taken on my butt with every step, and when I glanced at my arm, I had some pretty bad road rash.
Nothing I could do about it there though, so I kept going until I was back to the car. I wound up covering 10 miles at a 10:29/mile average, with 817 feet of climbing. Felt like more though!
Back down to sea level.
Sitting on the car seat hurt. Then I kept scraping my arm on my water bottle in the cup holder every time I shifted. I was really dreading getting home and addressing the damage.
I got right in the shower when I got home to clean up my wounds. It stung like hell! My butt didn’t look that bad because my shorts had prevented direct contact between the rock and my skin, but I was wearing short sleeves, so my arm didn’t get off so lucky. I did, however, immediately grow a knot in my butt cheek that feels like there’s a baseball lodged in it.
I took a picture of my arm after the shower:
So overall, I wasn’t very thrilled with my run. It was crowded and slow and now it hurts to sit down or wear long sleeves. 0/10, would not recommend.
I will say though, I’m grateful I fell to one side instead of straight down onto my tailbone. I did that as a kid, when I was trying to ice skate, and it hurts way worse.
When I talked to my mom later, she was very sympathetic. “That’s just what happens when you’re almost 41!” haha.
Clark and I watched the NASCAR race from Atlanta, which ended with a three-way photo finish and the third-closest finish in NASCAR history — Daniel Suarez beat Ryan Blaney by .003 seconds and Kyle Busch by .007!
Only two finishes have ever been closer, and I was there to see one of them live, when Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch by .002 seconds in the 2003 spring race in Darlington.
Today, I’m going for a short easy run after I finish up work.
Monday, I never went for a run. By the time the Daytona 500 ended (under caution, yawn), it was a little too late, so that was that.
Tuesday, I ran in the rain before work, 4 miles at a 9:01/mile average. The middle two miles were 8:39 and 8:24, the first mile splits that started with an 8 I’d seen in a while.
I’m trying to get back into strength training on a regular-ish basis again, without physically going to a gym, so I’m trying out the Peloton app. There’s a 60-day free trial, and then it’s only $13 a month for a version of the app that’s just group classes like strength training, yoga, meditation and stretching that don’t require a spin bike or treadmill. So that evening, I did a 10-minute ab class and a 20-minute full body strength class. I don’t know how much longer I’ve got on the free trial, and I missed a lot of it when I got a cold and then ran the 50K, but so far I’ve liked all the classes I’ve tried. And it’s a lot cheaper and more convenient than paying for and driving to a gym.
Wednesday morning, I ran again, 3.1 miles at a a 9:19/mile pace, and then in the evening, I met the run club in Vista.
I ran another 3.3 miles with Shawn at a 9:22/mile average.
Thursday, I ran 4 miles at an 8:48/mile average, a little later in the morning. All the rain recently has some wildflowers blooming along the coast.
When I got home, a guy was there to install two shelves, one in each bathroom, made from the same material as the vanities and mirror frames. They’re floating shelves, so they can’t hold a lot of weight, but they look really nice. Now to find something decorative to put on both.
A painter also stopped by to touch up some smears in the paint in both bathrooms, and repaint where they had to repair some stucco on the outside of the house. There are still a few minor things that need to be done but we’re slowly but surely getting closer to completely finished!
That afternoon, I took my car to a mechanic to replace the fog light bulbs, which had both burned out. I bought the bulbs months ago when the first one burned out, but they are such a pain in the ass to get to, Clark and I decided to just pay someone who has the tools already to do it. So Carlsbad Auto Service took care of them for me. It cost almost $180 just for the two hours of labor, and of course they found some other “minor issues” that could be fixed for another $1,400 ha (I didn’t get any of those done yesterday.) But I’ve got working fog lights again!
While they were working on that, I went for a walk down to the beach. All the storms recently have also caused a lot of erosion to the sand, and dumped even more rocks than usual.
This is usually a pretty sandy stretch, and there isn’t usually a shelf there on the left.
I’m sure they’ll get all that fixed before the summer.
Today, I did some more strength training with the Peloton app.
This weekend, I’m meeting the run club tomorrow morning, and then Sunday, I want to get in another long-ish run.
I got in some miles this weekend, but they weren’t particularly fast.
Saturday morning, most of the run club met at Lake Calavera for a hike, but I went to the park as usual to run with Kathy. Melissa and Mike showed up too so we took a picture.
Kathy and I ran 6 miles at 9:29/mile pace. Around mile 5, I was wondering why the pace felt so hard but then I remembered I’d just donated blood two days earlier and I’m old now ha.
The rest of Saturday was pretty quiet. Clark and I hung around the house until the evening, when we went to Vista to meet Kris for a couple beers.
Sunday morning, I booked a hotel for the Big Sur Marathon in April, which reminded me I’m going to need to get in some hill training — I’m signed up for the 21-miler, since I didn’t get picked in the lottery for the full distance, but there’s still more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain on that course. So I ran my “favorite” hilly loop, with an extra loop through another hilly neighborhood thrown in for a little more distance.
I wound up running a total of 8.4 miles. It wasn’t fast, at a 10:23/mile average, but it had plenty of uphill — about 950 feet.
That afternoon, I had a meeting with my book club to discuss our latest selection, “Beach Read” by Emily Henry. It was fine. Not one I’d read again.
I didn’t have to worry about missing the Daytona 500 because they’d already postponed it to today because of rain.
Today, I still might go for a short run, but right now I’m watching the 500.
I successfully completed the eighth Algonquin 50K!
The mug collection has grown again.
Going back to last Friday. Clark and I went to Fruitland for packet pickup at a hotel. I remembered I’d paid for some ALQ earrings made by one of the other runners when I registered, so I picked those up too to wear in the race the next morning.
The rest of the swag — a waterproof bag, buff, socks and magnet, plus my bib.
I picked up a small pizza at Delmar Pizza, and then Clark dropped me off at Kelly’s house. I hung out with her and Corey and their kids until it was time for them to put the kids to bed.
Their older kid, Reese, is in a truck phase right now, and he had a couple big bins of toy trucks in his play room, where Kelly had set me up to sleep. The MBNA logo on the rear quarter panel of one caught my eye — they used to sponsor Bobby Labonte. Isn’t that Interstate Batteries green too? I pulled out the whole truck:
A Bobby Labonte dually truck die cast collectible! That kid has good taste in trucks ha.
I slept fine. The next morning, Susan picked me up and we got to the Milburn Landing Area of Pocomoke State Forest about a half hour before the 7:30 a.m. start. For some reason, the volunteer directing parking sent us to the closest lot to the start, which is supposed to be for DUC runners (who run another 50K the night before the race in addition to the one Saturday) and race volunteers only. We told them we didn’t run DUC but we also didn’t argue when he sent us to the close lot!
The weather was amazing, shorts and T-shirts temperatures! I’d brought arm warmers just in case it was a little chilly at the start, but that was not an issue.
When we were in line for a port-o-potty, we ran into Stephanie, another local runner Susan has done some runs with. She’s done several marathons, but this was her first ultra. We decided we’d all run together.
Start line. Photo by Jason Swanson.
At 7:30 on the dot, we were off!
The first four-mile section is always bumper to bumper as the whole crowd snakes through some single track. We ran in the 11- and 12-minute range through it. We passed up the first aid station because it only had water and Tailwind and we all still had plenty of fluids in our water bottles. I ate a gel as we ran down the paved and then dirt road past it.
From there, it was about six miles to the next aid station, mostly along wide grassy trails, then along a bit of a paved road and finally through the woods. We were in the 10- to 11-minute range through these miles. We all made a pit stop in the woods at one point. I felt better after that but also like that wasn’t the last one I’d need to make.
Around the 15K (mile 9.3) mark. Joe Andrews photo.
Then we came to the second aid station at the Furnace Town Historic Site. This was the first one with Smith Island cake!
Coconut or classic (yellow cake with chocolate frosting.)
The next section was everyone’s favorite, Algonquin Beach — a full mile, mostly uphill, in loose sand. I had to run off into the woods to use the bathroom for the second time.
Then we came up on the tiki bar!
Craig Young photo.
They had a dog! And beer! We enjoyed both.
I take running very seriously. Craig Young photo.
We kept chugging along. It was actually a little too warm with the sun out. We don’t usually have to worry about that in February there.
Around mile 15.5, Sasquatch was welcoming everyone to the next aid station.
I grabbed some more Smith Island cake and got my water bottle topped off with more Tailwind, and then we tackled the out and back. I had to stop in the woods for bathroom break No. 3. It’s about two miles each way, with a U-turn near a creek. That’s where the trail markers turn from pink flags (out) to blue (back.)
All three of us approaching where the flags turn from pink to blue. Jennifer Cork Labesky photo.
It was somewhere on the way back from the turnaround that Stephanie said we’d been running for a longer time than she ever had before. She was starting to slow, but we kept her moving.
At the mile 19-point-something aid station (which is also the mile 15.5 station), we saw Melissa! She said we looked great and I said something about only having a half marathon left to go. Stephanie looked VERY upset by that realization haha.
I drank some Coke and had some more Smith Island cake, along with something salty, maybe a roasted potato. As we started running again, I suddenly felt a weird stomach bubble — the kind you shouldn’t trust ha. So I ran in the woods a fourth time.
When I came back out, Stephanie gave me a salt cap. I used to use those regularly on long runs and races, after I’d gotten bad calf cramps in the longer training runs leading up to my first marathon and then in the race itself. I stopped getting the cramps but I thought it was more due to just getting used to the distance.
I have to say though, I didn’t have any more stomach issues the rest of the way. It probably helped that it clouded over and seemed to cool off, but I might need to start using salt caps again!
Anyway, we kept trucking along, still in the 11- to 12-minute range.
The next aid station was a mile 24.5 — the party station, run by Mike and Melissa Lahey! Always a blast! I had more Smith Island cake, Coke and potatoes.
Equestrian course sweepers waiting to pick up the last runners through the aid station.
After leaving that aid station, we had about seven miles to go. Stephanie was really starting to hurt. We assured her we had so much time before the course cutoff, we could walk the rest of the way and still easily make it. The miles started to slow even further into the 14- to 16-minute range.
Forward is a pace in an ultra though! Susan and I tried to keep talking to keep Stephanie’s mind off how bad things were hurting.
Susan taking a break on one of the benches along the Algonquin trail ha.
We passed my least favorite sign on the course:
And then we arrived at the last aid station, which had been the first one on the way out. More Coke and Smith Island cake, the fuel of champions.
Just a few more miles to go, but this last section always feels the hardest, even the parts we had run on the way out at the beginning! There’s a lot of roots in the section after it splits off from the trail we’d run on the way out. That slowed us down even more. Stephanie started insisting we take off and finish faster, but we’d come that far, we were going to finish together.
Then we popped out of the woods for the last time, ran up the road back to the start area and crossed under the finish arch. We all tied at 6:50:12. My watch was at 31.7 miles. That placed me 45th of 97 women to finish and 115th of 212 total.
The race dictator, Trent Swanson, greeting us before giving us our hard earned mugs. Craig Young photo.
I think Stephanie left immediately. But the after party is the best part of this race! Susan and I got some Dewey Beer Co. beers poured into our news mugs and hung out with Clark, who’d gotten there before we finished. It’d started to rain right when we were finishing, but that felt pretty good at first.
Might be my favorite mug yet! I always think that though.
It started raining harder and then I got cold. I changed into dry clothes in Susan’s car and we stayed a little longer. My stomach wasn’t quite settled but I did get down the last of the Maryland crab soup.
We were there to cheer in the last official runner — she finished in 7:59:59, one second to spare!
Afterwards, Clark and I went back to Preston. When I got in the shower, I found out I had some gnarly chafing on my upper stomach. I’d Body Glided up where my sports bra band usually hits, but the bra I’d worn had a band that went down further than most of my others. That did not feel good!
Clark and I then went to Cambridge with my brother, sister and her husband. We all had dinner at a barbecue place, and then Dave, Clark and I went to RAR for a few beers. We were on our way back to Hurlock when Dave suggested stopping at Johnny’s. I was falling asleep on my feet in there ha. We eventually left there, dropped off Dave and made it back to Aunt Helen’s, where I crashed hard.
We slept in pretty late Sunday. Eventually, Clark and I went to his grandmother’s house to see her new car. She had a 2005 Lincoln Town Car that had been running great until the battery started draining for no apparent reason, and the local dealership couldn’t figure out the issue. So she traded it for a 2024 Buick Envista. It’s a nice looking compact CUV with a lot of new tech she hasn’t wanted to figure out yet ha.
I’d have liked to have gone and seen my parents after that, but it turned out they’d both tested positive for COVID. Neither were super sick at least, but that was a bummer that COVID ruined another visit.
Clark and I had a late lunch at Suicide, and then we went to my sister’s house to watch the Super Bowl. We had such a great time there, we slept right through our alarms the next morning and didn’t wake up in time to make our original flight! We should’ve been back in San Diego by 9 a.m. PT, but instead, we didn’t even leave Baltimore until 4:10 p.m. ET, and then we had to change planes in Dallas. It was 10:30 p.m. PT by the time we got back to Carlsbad.
Tuesday, I just went to the office, and that evening, Clark and I went to a trivia game with our team.
Wednesday, I felt up to running again. I did 4 miles before work, at a 9:07/mile average.
That evening, we met the run club in Vista. There’s a challenge going on at the gym right now, and the participants can get points for doing the runs, so we had a larger turnout than we had in a while.
Wore my ALQ race shirt from the year it was on Valentine’s Day weekend and set my vest light to red for the holiday.
I ran with Clark, Shawn and another runner, Jessica, who is in the challenge. We did 3 hilly miles at a 9:50/mile pace.
We hung out for a beer after, and then Clark and I went home and made a surf and turf dinner for Valentine’s Day.
Thursday, I didn’t get up to run before I had to start working, and then I donated blood in the afternoon, so I didn’t run. I did watch the Duels to set the field for the Daytona 500 though!
And finally, today, I didn’t run because of the donation, but I did go into the village for lunch at Pizza Port, because they tapped their one keg of Pliny the Younger, a triple IPA only released once a year in very limited quantities.
I couldn’t stay much past that, because I had a work call this afternoon, but Clark stayed until the keg was kicked.
So, the next races I have coming up are a 10K in Encinitas on St. Patrick’s Day, the running leg for a relay team in the Oceanside 70.3 and the Carlsbad 5000 back to back on the first weekend of April, and the Big Sur 21-Miler at the end of April. This weekend, I’m planning on meeting Kathy tomorrow morning for our usual run, and then I’d like to run something Sunday before the DAYTONA 500!
I got in a few short easy runs amongst all the rain this week in Carlsbad, and now I’m in sunny, dry, relatively warm Maryland for the eighth Algonquin 50K tomorrow!
Because of the rain, I didn’t take my phone on any runs, so I didn’t get any pictures. But Tuesday morning, I ran 4 miles at a 9:34/mile average; Wednesday morning, I ran 3.1 at a 9:23/mile average; and that evening, I met the run club and ran with Shawn, 3.3 hilly miles at a 9:36/mile average. I took off yesterday and today from running.
Clark and I flew to Maryland yesterday.
Point Loma.
We got to Aunt Helen’s house in Preston before 2 a.m., which is early for us. I tried to go straight to bed but I just could not get to sleep, even though it was 11 p.m. our time, which is already late for me.
I got up early-ish this morning and got some work done. Then Clark and I picked up my younger sister and went to Rise Up in Easton for breakfast. Now I’m getting some more work done. Later, we’ll go to Fruitland to pick up my race packet, and then Clark’s dropping me off at Kelly’s to stay the night there.
Tomorrow is race day! I get to run with Susan again. I don’t have a time goal. The weather should be really nice — dry, mid 50s to 60s and cloudy — but I don’t know what kind of shape the trails are in. It’s been dry in Pocomoke for a couple weeks now, but they got a ton of rain in January. I guess we’ll find out soon enough!
I’m finally completely over my cold and back to my regular running schedule, just in time for the Algonquin 50K this coming Saturday.
I ran last Tuesday morning, 4 miles at a 9:10/mile average. My Garmin said I was still “detraining.”
Wednesday, I ran in the morning before work again, 4 miles at an 8:55/mile pace. We had a really pretty sunrise and my Garmin said I had graduated back to my usual state of “unproductive.”
Sky over our house when I was leaving.
View from the jetty along the coast.
That evening, I met the run club in Vista and ran a hilly 3-mile loop with Shawn at a 9:24/mile average.
That also finished up January, so here is a monthly summary.
Mileage:
Week 1 (Jan. 1-6): 23.7 miles
Week 2 (Jan. 7-13): 38.6
Week 3 (Jan. 14-20): 36.7
Week 4 (Jan. 21-27): 9.2
Week 5 (Jan. 28-31): 11
Total: 119.2 miles
Things were going pretty well in the first half of the month. I got up to a 15.5-mile long run and then I ran a solid race in the Carlsbad Half Marathon. But then I got a bad cold and my training fell off a cliff.
Moving onto February! The first day of the month, Thursday, we got the first of two “atmospheric rivers.” It poured for much of the day. I never ran.
Friday, the rain had moved out, and I meant to get up and run before working, but I didn’t. Then the guy who does the marketing for the contractor who remodeled our bathrooms stopped by to get some pictures and video of the finished project, plus some footage of Clark and me “living the quintessential Southern California lifestyle” — riding our beach cruisers, picking lemons off the tree in our front yard, etc. He took us to Pizza Port for lunch, to discuss the longer video he wants to make of us being interviewed by the contractor, for a new YouTube channel he’s trying to start. I never ran Friday either.
Saturday, I got up and met the run club.
Two of my favorite dogs, Sierra AND Teddy, were there!
I felt way better on this run than I had the week before. I got in 6.2 miles with Shawn and Kathy at a 9:10/mile average.
I got home in time to see the tape-delayed broadcast of the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. We saw that race live in L.A. in 2016 and I’ve watched it on TV both times since. The U.S. picks its Olympic representatives by holding one race, and whoever finishes in the top three for the men and women are in. So if you can qualify for the race (2:37 marathon for women, 2:18 for men), you have a shot at the Olympic team. A lot of other countries have a selection committee that considers athletes on paper to decide who they’re sending. Anyway, it makes for a dramatic event here and this year’s did not disappoint! Both the men’s and women’s races were inspiring to watch. The track and field trials are in June and I’m looking forward to watching those too.
Later, I watched most of the new “NASCAR: Full Speed” series Netflix filmed during last year’s playoffs. It was all very interesting, but my favorite part was Ryan Blaney’s dog, Malibu.
THAT FACE.
Sunday morning, I did one last double-digit run before the 50K. I wish I hadn’t had to skip the two longest runs I’d planned, but it happens.
It was another pretty, breezy day. I ran to Oceanside and back, 11.1 miles at a 9:18/mile average.
Later, Clark and I went to a couple plant stores and got three more plants, two for the master bath and another for his office. We don’t have a very good track record with plants in this house, but hope springs eternal apparently, because I keep trying.
The peace lily in the corner is supposed to be low light. The one on the counter is the same variety as one in the guest bath that has done really well.
Good luck to these plants!
Today, the second storm has moved in. The brunt of it is much farther north of us; we’ve just got steady rain and light breezes here. As usual, our family on the east coast is watching the national news, which seems to be really hyping this up, much like the “hurricane” last summer. Clark and I have both been getting texts from very concerned family members — his aunt told him if we “lose everything” we’ll always have a place to stay with her in Maryland. Gee, thanks! I still think it’s funny the only earthquake tremor I’ve ever felt was in Maryland, back in 2011.
A Simple Running Log 