Another small turnout and no other runners. I did 6.1 miles at a 9:25/mile average.
We didn’t do a whole lot the rest of Saturday. We went down to Solana Beach to hang out that evening. We had a couple beers at Culture Brewing and then had a really good dinner at Rare Society.
Sunday morning, I skipped running again. Later in the morning, we went over to our friend Karen’s house to help her sort some stuff in her garage for a community yard sale this weekend, and then we called our moms for Mother’s Day.
Late Monday, I ran 4 miles at a 9:08/mile pace.
May Gray is living up to its name.
Tuesday morning, before work, I ran 4 miles at an 8:58/mile average, and in the evening, I did a 20-minute full body strength workout on the Peloton app.
Wednesday, I ran again before work, 3.1 miles at a 9:03/mile pace. I left work before lunchtime to go with Clark to the Padres game. The contractor who remodeled our bathrooms does an annual Padres game outing and invites a bunch of his subcontractors and clients. He said we were the only clients who showed up this year ha.
Unfortunately, the Padres got shut out, 8-0. The game was over pretty early, so Clark and I stayed in downtown San Diego for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Thursday, I wound up taking a rest day. Today, I’m going for a run once I’m done with work.
This Sunday morning is the Navy’s Bay Bridge Run, the 4-miler across the Coronado Bridge. This will be my third time running it. It’d be nice if I could improve on the 33:00 I ran last year, but I haven’t exactly been doing any speed work, and I’m planning to run tomorrow morning too, so I’ll just see what happens. Clark is supposedly running it too but he hasn’t signed up yet ha.
Kathy was still recovering from a dislocated rib, which she said hurts the most when she tries to run, so she walked with her husband. Shawn is only a few weeks into months of recovery from his Achilles surgery. That left me on my own. I did the usual out-and-back along the coast, 6.2 miles at an 8:59/mile average, with a stop at Starbucks after. The run club needs some more runners!
Sunday, I intended to get up and run early, but I just didn’t. Clark and I slept in and then we went to the street fair in the village to look for some art to finish off the guest bathroom. We found three photos printed on wood blocks by a local photographer. Mission accomplished.
Later, we watched about the final third of the NASCAR race in Kansas, which ended with the closest finish in NASCAR history — Kyle Larson beat Chris Beuscher by 0.001 seconds! And we thought the Kentucky Derby finish the day before was close ha.
Monday, I again didn’t get around to running, but I did do a 30-minute strength training class on the Peloton app.
Tuesday morning, I ran again before work, 4 miles at a 9:42/mile average. I had to walk a bit of the third mile to reach a port-o-potty thanks to the Thai food I’d had for dinner the night before ha.
At the turnaround halfway through the run, right before the gut pangs struck.
Wednesday, I ran again in the morning, 3.2 miles at a 9:02/mile pace.
That evening, run club decided to branch out from Vista and meet in Oceanside. Clark didn’t want to run so I walked the Strand with Jennie, 2.8 miles. It was the first time I’d been there since the abandoned restaurant at the end of the pier burned two weeks ago. They still haven’t officially said what caused it or what they’re going to do with the pier, but reportedly this was the fifth time it’s burned since it was built in the 1880s, so I’m sure they’ll rebuild.
The whole pier is closed so this was as close as we could get.
Thursday, I wound up taking a rest day.
This morning, I got up and ran before work. I did six miles total, with a four-mile progression run in the middle — 8:21, 8:17, 7:57 and 7:51. I finished all six with an 8:30/mile average.
This weekend, I am meeting the run (?) club tomorrow morning and then hopefully drumming up the willpower to go for another run Sunday. Other than that, we don’t have any big plans.
Tuesday morning, I ran before work. I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought I would two days after Big Sur. I got in my usual 4-miler at a 9:12/mile average.
That was the last day of April, so here’s a monthly summary.
Mileage:
Week 1 (April 1-6): 25.6 miles
Week 2 (April 7-13): 17
Week 3 (April 14-20): 19.1
Week 4 (April 21-27): 26.7
Week 5 (April 28-30): 25.2
Total: 113.6 miles
It was a pretty busy month. I ran three races — the run leg for a relay team at the Oceanside 70.3, the Carlsbad 5000 and the 21-miler at Big Sur — and we also went to Vegas to hang out with one of my best friends on her wedding weekend and to Carmel.
May should be calmer. I don’t have any flights planned and while I do have two races scheduled, they’re both local — the 4-miler over the Coronado Bridge on May 19 and the Vista Strawberry Festival 5K on May 26.
Moving on to May, I ran Wednesday morning before work, 3.1 miles at a 9:14/mile pace. That evening, Clark and I met the “run club” in Vista, but Clark didn’t want to run, so I walked with Jennie, 2 miles at a 16:29/mile pace. I hadn’t seen her since we went to Vegas and she and Corey went to Italy, so we had a lot to catch up on.
Thursday, I wound up taking my rest day a day earlier than I meant to, so today, I ran 5 miles at a 9:01/mile average.
It’s supposed to be May Gray but we had a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the wildflowers are blooming.
That’s a newlywed couple taking pictures farther down the trail. You can see the woman’s white wedding dress to the right.
This weekend, I’d like to get in a couple runs, with the run club tomorrow and then on my own Sunday.
Other than that, we don’t have any big plans. There’s a street fair in the village Sunday afternoon that we’ll go check out to see if we can find some art or decorative pieces to finally finish off the guest bath and possibly our bedroom.
Yesterday, Clark and I ran Big Sur — well, part of it, thanks to the course reroute due to the washout along the regular course — and it was every bit as challenging and gorgeous as expected!
First, a quick recap of last week, since I didn’t get around to posting Friday — Monday, I ran 4 miles at an 8:46/mile average, after I threw in a couple faster paces in the two middle miles. The rest of the week was all easy runs. Tuesday was 4 miles at a 9:19/mile average. Wednesday, I ran before work, 5 miles at a 9:15/mile pace, and again after work, with Clark, 3 miles at a 9:19/mile pace. Finally, Thursday, I ran 3.1 miles at a 9:16/mile pace and did a couple strength training classes on the Peloton app, 10 minutes of abs and 20 minutes of full body.
And then it was time to go run Big Sur!
We flew out early Friday morning, landing in San Jose around 9 a.m. It was a little less than a 90-minute drive to Carmel, a swanky little “seaside hamlet” on California’s Central Coast that has more fine art galleries and jewelry stores than coffee shops. We walked past a house for sale for $35 million. Clint Eastwood was the mayor there for two years in the ’80s. It’s a beautiful town, but man, you can burn through money quick there!
Carmel Magazine just happened to have Mayor Clint on the cover of the latest issue.
We stayed at the Carmel Oaks Inn. It turned out to be a very convenient and relatively affordable motel in downtown Carmel, within walking distance of all the restaurants, shops and the beach. Thanks to a new shuttle bus stop the race organizers added after the reroute, it was walking distance to that too.
We got there too early to check in, so we got some fried sand dab filets (species of flat fish) for lunch at Pangaea Grill and then had a couple beers at Alvarado Street Brewery, so we could use the WiFi to work.
After we got checked in, we walked down to the beach.
Carmel Beach is just south of Pebble Beach. You can see the golf course on the right in the background.
We had a couple drinks at Mulligan Public House and dinner at Flaherty’s. We stopped in a little place called Edwin’s for one more drink after dinner, and then finally went to bed.
Saturday morning, we were both registered for a Big Sur shakeout run hosted by Hoka. Conveniently, it started and ended just outside the expo, at the Monterey Convention Center.
There was a huge turnout — free shirts will do that! They’re nice shirts too, an actual Hoka running shirt made with tech fabric, not cotton.
They also had free GU gels to fuel up for the shakeout ha.
Before the run started, I ran into Stephanie, who I ran Algonquin with earlier this year! I remembered she said she was running the marathon, and her husband the 21-miler. We happened to be standing right next to each other in the crowd waiting to start. She said she signed up for Algonquin 2025 — just like Susan and I said she would, after she swore at mile 30 she was never running it again haha.
The run was about 2.6 miles, an out-and-back on a pedestrian and bike path along the harbor in Monterey.
That’s Stephanie in the purple fleece and her husband just to the right.
After the run, we still had about 45 minutes before the expo opened, so I got a coffee and we walked along the Monterey harbor.
I like the houseboat on the far left.
Then we hit the expo, where we got our race bibs, shuttle bus tickets and shirts. I also bought a GU Stroopwafel for the wait at the race start the next morning. Clark used to buy those by the box for triathlon training, but I got in the habit of eating them as snacks ha. They’re tasty! Same with Clif Blocks, which are like gummy candies. I can’t resist them. It’s why I stick to only buying gels now — they’re so gross, I’m not tempted to eat them any time other than running.
I also bought a packet of SaltStick Electrolyte Fast Chews. Seeing Stephanie reminded me of when I was having stomach issues for the first 20 miles of Algonquin, until she gave me a salt cap. Maybe it was pure coincidence that I didn’t need to run off into the woods to use the bathroom again after that, but I thought it’d be nice to have some with me in case my stomach started acting up again.
Back in Carmel, Clark needed a nap. I was starving, so I got a chicken salad sandwich from Bruno’s Deli and then went for a walk.
I went back down to the beach and then walked along a trail along the bluff, admiring all the houses and the view of the ocean.
A Frank Lloyd Wright house on the cliff.
There are a lot of little “fairy houses” in Carmel. This one was a lot larger than most but it still looked like something out of a Disney movie with that roof line!
The sun finally broke through.
Clark was up by this point and met me on the bluff. He didn’t want to walk too much more, since he had a marathon in the morning, so we went back to the motel to get the rental car and do a little more exploring.
We stopped by the Carmen Mission Basilica, founded in 1770. That’s pretty ancient for California.
The Stone Church was built in 1797 and still hosts several masses per week.
We drove to Jacks Peak County Park. There are some nice views of the valley and ocean, but they required a longer hike than we wanted to do. So we didn’t see too much there.
We went back to Carmel to do some pre-race carb loading, first at Brophy’s Tavern.
And then at Il Fornaio, for some more traditional carbs — pasta for me and pizza for Clark.
Then we got our race stuff together and hit the hay early, because we had a 3:45 a.m. alarm.
The next morning started with breakfast. I had a plain bagel and a banana, and a can of Starbucks cold brew.
Our shuttle bus pick-up was only a couple blocks away. Since the race now started the same place it ended, in Carmel, we didn’t have a long bus ride either.
We had about an hour to wait when we got to the start at 5:15. I’d brought a heat sheet from a past race in case one of us was cold, but I had enough layers on, I didn’t need it, and Clark didn’t want it either. It turned out to be useful for sitting on so our butts didn’t get wet in the grass. I ate my Stroopwafel and drank most of a bottle of water while we watched everyone milling around.
Finally, they announced they were going to start leading runners over to the start line by corral. There were only three corrals — A, B and C — and Clark and I were both in the last.
I stripped off my sweatshirt and beanie and handed in my gear check bag. We used the port-o-potties, and then we walked over to the start with the rest of the C corral.
A and B were sent off, and then it was our turn.
Start line!
Clark and me just before the start.
While we were waiting for our start, the race announcer said there were 20,000 people who’d applied for the marathon but didn’t get accepted! I guess that’s not that many after reading the news today that 840,000 people applied for 50,000 spots in next year’s London Marathon, but it sounded like a lot at the time. It also made me feel better that I hadn’t gotten picked and I had to “settle” for the 21-miler. Until then, I assumed it was probably me and like five other people who’d gotten left out ha.
Finally, they counted down the C corral and we were off!
This was an odd race for me. If it were the normal point-to-point course, the 21-miler would’ve started completely separate, at mile 5.2 of the marathon course. But since we were now doing an out-and-back, we started together. All the 21-milers, regardless of pace, had to start in the third corral, which was otherwise full of the marathon runners who expected to run slower times. So for the first half of my race, I was doing a lot of weaving through slower runners.
I tried to use that to my advantage and let it force me to start easier than I might have. I mean, we had a lot of hills to climb. The first five miles were 9:51, 9:20, 9:19, 9:35 and 8:49.
Around mile 5, I really had to pee. There was a short line for some port-o-potties at an aid station. I ate a gel while I was waiting. I felt a million times better after that stop.
In the next mile, we saw Michael Martinez, Big Sur’s famed Piano Man. Usually he’s at the halfway point at the top of the Bixby Bridge climb, but we didn’t get to run over that bridge this year, so he was somewhere between miles 5 and 6.
Thanks to my bathroom break, mile 6 was 11:24, but I got back on pace after on the way to the turnaround — miles 7 through 10 were 9:31, 9:30, 9:41 and 9:26.
Probably just past mile 6.
I ate one of my salt chews around mile 7 or 8. I felt like I was going to need a bathroom again soon and was hoping to head that off.
It didn’t work. I had to stop to use another port-o-potty just after mile 10. But then I was at the 21-miler turnaround! We had our names printed on our bibs, which were also color-coded by distance, and a volunteer yelled at me, “ABBY! Turn around here!” Don’t have to tell me twice!
This was when I found out how windy it was! When it was at our backs, it didn’t feel windy at all, but now that it was in my face, it sure did!
Also, turning here put me in the mix with marathon runners on pace for a 3:30 to 3:40 finish — a much faster pace than I’d been running up until that point. I went from doing the weaving to being the road block ha.
I chugged along, stopping more often to take pictures, now that I was on the side of the road near the ocean and the sun had come out.
Mile 11, with the second bathroom break, had been 10:56. After the turnaround, I managed to keep up my pace against the wind for a few more miles — 12 through 14 were all still under 10.
There is the faintest rainbow on the left side of the picture. You can barely see it against the cloud.
But the last seven miles of the race got a whole lot slower. The wind took it out of me, and the hills weren’t helping, but honestly what hurt the most were my feet.
So I got the fourth version of the New Balance Rebels several weeks ago, in the same size as every pair of the first three versions I had, but the fourth version runs small. However, I was too lazy to mail them back and get a larger pair, so I’ve just been putting up with them. I had a black nail on the second toe on both feet after the half Ironman relay, from jamming them against the front of the toe box with every step, but I still thought “meh, I’ll just put up with it.”
By mile 14 of this race, with the hills and the sloping on much of both directions of the road, my feet were absolutely crying.
Miles 15, 16 and 17 got progressively slower as I walked more to give my toes some relief — 10:44, 11:22, 12:28.
I ate my third and final gel at mile 15 (I’d eaten the second one at mile 10) and I started eating orange slices at the aid stations.
After the turnaround, the marathon mile markers were no longer accurate for my own race, but I still appreciated the mile 20 sign showing a guy “hitting the wall.”
I at least didn’t slow down any further after the 12:28 for 17. I “picked it up” in the next three miles to 12:05, 11:07 and 10:29.
Photographer got a rare shot of me running in the last seven miles.
Drummers preparing us to get up the last hill!
Looking ahead to the final climb.
After we got up the last hill, I could hear the finish line announcers. There were a few more turns and then we were right back where we started!
I was so happy to be done. Officially, I finished 21 miles in 3:37:25, a 10:21/mile average pace. My Garmin said I climbed 1,329 feet — which is about 700 feet less than the usual course has!
I got my medal, downed several cups of water and Nuun, got a pre-packed box of post-race food and then went straight to gear check. I’d packed my flip flops and I wanted them immediately.
It felt amazing to take off those shoes! My big toe on my right foot had poked a hole in the sock but other than that, nothing looked nearly as bad as it felt at least.
Since we were staying so close to the start/finish, rather than wait the whole time for Clark to finish, I took a shuttle back to downtown Carmel and went to our room to shower and put on dry clothes. I felt way better after that. The bus took me back and dropped me off near the finish line with plenty of time to see Clark finish in 5:32:41!
I’d brought his flip flops with me. I figured he’d want to get out of his running shoes as badly as I had.
We hung around long enough to get our free Fieldworks Brewing beers, and then we went back to the room so Clark could get cleaned up.
We watched the end of the NASCAR race. They were in Dover this week, and my niece Kaylee went — her first live race! Her favorite driver, Kyle Larson, didn’t quite pull off the win, but he finished second. Maybe someday I will get to go to a race with her!
By that time, Clark and I were both starving, so we hobbled back to Brophy’s for some big ol’ beers and burgers.
We went back to the room to lay down again for a bit after that. Then we went to Alvarado Street Brewing to round out the night with a couple more celebratory beers.
This morning, we got to “sleep in” compared to the day before, until 4:15, to make it back to San Jose for our flight out. We landed in San Diego before 9 and were home in Carlsbad before 10.
There’s a very strong chance we’ll go back to Big Sur next year. In July, they’re letting everyone who was signed up for one of the distances that had to be modified sign up for the 2025 marathon before the lottery opens. This is the only guaranteed entry into this race I’ll ever get. Clark wasn’t quite ready to commit to that after running yesterday, but I’m sure he’ll come around ha.
Remind me to wear properly sized shoes next year, and to get in some training runs longer than 13 miles!
Bibs, medals and my shirt from the 21-miler. The marathon version Clark got has a tree instead of a deer.
Neither of our usual photographers were there so RJ made do with a selfie.
I ran with Kathy, 8 miles at a 9:44/mile average.
Clark and I cleaned the house later in the morning, and that afternoon, I hosted our book club to discuss our latest selection, “The People You Keep” by Allison Larkin. I liked the book all the way up until the end, which seemed a little too neat.
Sunday, we slept in. I finally went out for a run late in the morning, but I didn’t feel like running far enough to need a water bottle or gels, so I just did 5 miles at an 8:56/mile pace.
I’m planning on a short easy run after I get done with work this afternoon.
Tuesday morning, I ran before work, 4 miles at an 8:55/mile pace.
We were going to move the weeknight run club meeting to that evening, because Shawn was set to go in for his Achilles surgery the next day, when we usually meet. But he said he had too much to get done before he became immobilized, so we didn’t meet after all.
Wednesday morning, I ran before work, 3.1 miles at something like a 9:15/mile pace. I screwed up my Garmin and didn’t record it correctly.
That afternoon, when I was going home for lunch, I realized my car had hit a milestone on the way into work that morning — 100,000 miles! It will already be eight years old in July. Still going strong.
That evening, I did another 30-minute full body strength training class on the Peloton app.
Thursday, I ran late enough to see the sun heading toward the horizon where I turned around:
I did 4 miles at a 9:15/mile pace.
Today, I was going to run, but then I had to go into the office to finish up the huge project we’ve been working on for the last two months. I expected it to take about an hour but it wound up taking almost all day. Now our friend Jennifer has invited us to meet her and her dog Riley in the village for a beer, and I’d really like one to celebrate not having to think about that project again… until the next one starts in June, that is.
This weekend, I’d like to get in some miles. I’m already scheduled to run an 8-miler with Kathy tomorrow morning, and Sunday, I want to get in a long run, maybe 15 miles. It’s our last weekend before Big Sur! They wound up having to reroute the courses because of the small washout along the PCH. Now all distances are an out-and-back from the finish line. On the bright side though, everyone who was registered for any distance this year will be able to sign up in July for next year’s full marathon before the lottery opens. So if we enjoy it this year, we might go back next year, in which case I’ll get to run the whole course after all.
Once again, I didn’t get around to posting Friday, so here’s everything I’ve done since last Monday.
Tuesday morning, I ran 4 miles at an 8:52/mile average, and that evening, I did a 30-minute full body strength workout on the Peloton app.
Wednesday morning, I ran 3.1 miles at a 9:20/mile average.
But I didn’t meet the run club that evening, because Wednesday night was the first bobblehead giveaway of the season at Petco Park, so we went to the Padres game.
Clark sprung for better seats than we usually get ha.
Clark’s third Manny Machado bobblehead and sixth total.
Thursday, I never got around to running. I had a pretty busy day of work and then we went to trivia night.
Friday, I ran 6.2 miles at a 9:01/mile average. Later, we flew to Las Vegas.
We drank way too much and walked around a lot. I lost $9.50 on a slot machine, the extent of my gambling. (I never have any luck so I think it’s stupid.)
Flamingos outside the Flamingo hotel, where we stayed.
Happened upon a free concert by Alien Ant Farm on Fremont Street.
A T-shirt I’d have bought for my Aunt Helen if I thought she’d wear it haha.
The conservatory in the Bellagio.
Inside Caesar’s Palace.
Julie and me.
Clark and me.
We all flew out early Sunday morning. Clark and I were home by 9 a.m. but didn’t exactly feel up to doing anything the rest of the day.
This morning was the Boston Marathon! I watched the elites race. After work, I did a 30-minute full body strength class on the Peloton app.
This was an exhausting weekend, as evidenced by the 12 solid hours of sleep I needed Saturday night ha. On Saturday, Kris, Clark and I formed a relay team to complete the IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside (I did the 13.1-mile run leg), and on Sunday, we all got up and ran the Carlsbad 5000.
Going back to last week though, since I didn’t post Friday: I wound up taking complete rest days Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, I ran 4 miles at a 9:05/mile pace in the morning, and in the evening, I met the run club in Vista and ran with Shawn, for another 3.4 miles at a 9:03/mile pace. Thursday, I ran late in the day, 5 miles at a 9:09/mile pace, and Friday, I took another rest day ahead of our two days of racing.
Wildflowers are in bloom on the cliff overlooking the beach.
The weather Friday morning and into the afternoon was pretty shitty — pouring rain, gusting winds and even a couple bouts of hail! Fortunately, by the time we could go to Oceanside to check in as a team and put Clark’s bike in the transition area, the rain had moved out, but it was still very windy.
Kris, me and Clark with non-alcoholic Athletic Brewing Co. beers after check-in.
I set my alarm for 4 a.m. Saturday. Kris picked up Clark and me around 5, and we parked in downtown Oceanside near a pick-up/drop-off station for the shuttle that was supposed to take us all to the transition area at the Oceanside harbor.
The buses were running pretty sporadically though, and the line just kept getting longer, so finally we decided I would drop off Kris and Clark at the harbor, so they could get their stuff together before the transition area closed at 6:30, then park Kris’ truck and meet them back at the harbor. We also took Amanda, another athlete we met in line.
That ultimately worked but it was a big pain in the ass. After I got the truck parked a second time, I got on a shuttle bus at 6:20 to go back to the harbor, and there were athletes on that bus too, who still needed to get to the transition area to set up. They need to get those shuttles straightened out. When Clark did this race in 2021, I was volunteering on the run course, so I just dropped him off and we didn’t have to use the shuttle. I have no idea if that was just a fluke this year or what.
Anyway… I made it back in time to see Kris off. The swim was supposed to start in the ocean and then finish in the harbor, but they decided the ocean was too choppy, so the whole swim was moved into the harbor.
The ocean at sunrise. Kris was pissed she didn’t get to swim in it!
Clark’s bike in transition.
A sea of very expensive bikes waiting to go.
It was a self-seeded rolling start at the swim. Kris started near the back, so it was about 7:30 when she got in the water. She said she figured it would take her an hour, and she finished it in 59:52, so that was a pretty good prediction.
She ran into transition and handed off the timing chip to Clark.
Kris grateful to be done ha.
Clark thought it would take him about four hours to finish the 56-mile bike course, which has three HUGE climbs in the second half. So I had a lot of time to keep waiting to start my run.
First thing was to find something to eat. I’d had some cereal before we left the house, but that was at 4:30 a.m., and I wasn’t going to start running until past noon. But there were a lot of things I didn’t want to put in my stomach before a half marathon in the middle of the day. I found a coffee shop at the harbor that had plain bagels with cream cheese, so I had one of those, then downed a water bottle full of electrolyte mix, and part of another with plain water.
I tried to sit as much as I could, but I wound up standing around or walking, with my backpack on, a lot of the time I was waiting. My watch said I’d already walked about 8,000 steps before I even started running.
It was warming up too. The morning had been cold enough I’d needed a long-sleeved T-shirt, sweatshirt and sweatpants over my running clothes, and a beanie. By noon, it was warm enough in the sun to just be in my shorts and tank top.
View from the ground in our transition area.
I went to the bathroom a couple times and felt like I was about as ready as I could be by the time Clark came in around 12:30. (His bike split was 3:57:31 so he was pretty spot-on with his prediction too.)
Finally it was my turn to take the chip and run. I was aiming for a 2:00 half marathon and figured that would be relatively easy; the last actual half marathon I raced in January, I was 10 minutes faster.
Oh man, running did NOT feel good by that time though! I’d been up for more than eight hours waiting to start this half marathon, and my body was already over before I even made it out of transition ha. I immediately felt some side stitches, like I was dehydrated (how???) and my stomach was going to act up.
The run course at Oceanside is two laps of a loop from the harbor, down the Strand, down to the south end of Oceanside and back. I do not like lap courses because everything past the first lap is old news and BORING. And I run this particular loop in training runs often enough that the first lap was already boring!
On top of that, it was extremely crowded. The majority of the other athletes were already on the run course by the time I got started. Most were doing the whole event on their own, so they were moving a lot slower than I was. (I’m sure they could tell I was on a relay team because no one would wear running shorts to do a triathlon, but I still felt bad blowing by them!) Some parts of the course, especially on the Strand, were very narrow to allow runners to go both directions while also allowing spectators, and I got caught behind slower runners a few times.
I started downing an entire cup of plain water at every aid station. They had lots of other stuff — Gatorade, Coke, orange slices, GUs, ice, etc. — but my stomach already felt wonky and I figured plain water and the two Huma gels I’d brought along was my safest bet.
By mile 2.5 or 3, I started to feel a little better. My splits were consistently in the high 8s or low 9s, so right on track for a 2:00 finish, and it felt manageable. I started to think it was going to be OK after all.
Just past mile 6, on my way back down the Strand, there was a split. The runners on their second lap got to go straight to the finish line. Most of the athletes around me went that way. But I had to turn right and go straight up a steep ramp back to Pacific Street to continue my first lap and start the second. That really took some wind out of my sails. I wanted to be done running too!
I was almost to the U-turn near the harbor to begin the second lap when a runner going the other direction held out his hand for a random high five, so I reached out and gave him one. He was a tall dude and it almost knocked me backward ha! That made me laugh, which helped.
Then I made the U-turn and I was officially on my second lap too. More than halfway done!
The second lap was harder than the first. I was hot and tired of looking at those same streets again, and the number of other runners on the course had really thinned out. (The spectators had not though — they cheered on every last one of us to the very end!) I walked through every aid station to down water, and took my two Huma gels, which was enough to get through the whole race without needing a port-o-potty at least.
Finally I was back on the Strand and headed for the finish line this time. I looked at my watch and saw it was going to be close, but I could squeeze in under two hours if I tried. I picked it up as much as I could and went for it.
Our friend Sierra was there at the beginning of the chute to the finish line and got this picture of me running past her:
I crossed the line in 1:59:04 — made it!
Kris was waiting there just past the finish line to collect me. I got our three relay finisher medals and hats and we met Clark, Sierra and her friend Ryan in the grandstands near the finish line. It was so good to be DONE.
Our team, Drunk in Public (named after our trivia team, because we were playing trivia when Kris decided to sign up a relay team for this event), finished in 7:06:19.
We all walked over to The Lab for lunch. My stomach didn’t feel up to eating a whole lot yet so I just had a poke bowl and a couple of hard-earned beers.
Cheers!
Clark, me and Kris with our medals and one of our race bibs.
Kris dropped off Clark and me at 5:30 p.m. I took a shower and laid down for a nap… which ended at 4 a.m. ha. Then I fell asleep again before my alarm went off at 6 a.m. for Race Day No. 2.
So I hadn’t stretched, drank much water or eaten anything since I’d gotten home the night before, but those 12 hours of sleep seemed to have been enough recovery, because I really didn’t feel THAT bad. I knew I wasn’t going to be setting any records in this 5K, but I thought I’d be able to hold a decent pace.
Kris and I were both in the Women’s Masters race (40 and over), which was the first one to go this year at 7 a.m. I liked getting it out of the way early. When I was still under 40, I had to wait until 10 a.m. to run.
It was a gorgeous morning for a run, and a lot cooler than the afternoon before had been! I wore a light long-sleeved top and was comfortable in that, even at race pace.
Kris met me at our house, with her bike, and we rode into the village and locked up our bikes near the course. I did a brief 0.6-mile warm up and got in the start corral near the “fit” pace signs (8-11 minutes per mile.)
The course this year moved completely to the 101, to avoid the two train track crossings of the old course, which sometimes had to stop runners on their way to the finish line. The start line was near the intersection of Grand Avenue. It ran out toward some beach volleyball courts, then made a U-turn and finished under the Carlsbad sign at the intersection of Carlsbad Village Drive.
My race was OK. I ran the first mile, which had some long gradual downhills, in 7:39, made the U-turn and finished the second in 7:44. But in the third, those downhills were now up, and I died. Mile 3 was 8:05 and I finished officially in 24:25, a 7:51/mile average. I was hoping to be able to hold it under 8:00 so I was happy with that.
At the finish under the Carlsbad sign.
Our friend Sonia, who’d volunteered the day before at IRONMAN, was also volunteering that morning in the finisher’s chute, and she gave me my medal! Later, after Kris finished, we got a picture with her.
She’d also hand made a “water” sign because everyone thought the boxed waters were chocolate milk ha.
Kris and I watched Clark go by at the beginning of the Men’s Masters race, which started next at 7:50, and then we went back to our house to get showered. Clark met us there, having run his fastest Carlsbad 5000 ever — 27:14 — and after he was showered too, we headed back to the village for the after party.
Pizza Port once again was the official beer sponsor. We had a great time downing some beers before the elites finally ran at 12:30 p.m. We got spots near the finish line to cheer them in. They were so fast!
Edwin Kurgat of Kenya won the Elite Men’s race in 13:47.
Last year’s champion, Laura Galvan of Mexico, defended her title and won the Elite Women’s race in 15:19.
That was the last event of the day. Kris, Sierra, Clark and I got lunch at Compass and then played some pool at a dive bar in the village. We finally rode our bikes back to our house and chilled out for a while, before Kris went home.
And that was our weekend! Very tiring but also a good time.
Here is all our swag:
Backpack, race shirt, bib, finisher’s medals and hats from IRONMAN Oceanside 70.3.
Race shirt, bibs and medals from the Carlsbad 5000. They switched shirt brands this year to one that runs bigger than the one they used the last two years. I wish I’d known that at registration.
This weekend was light on running but we had a good time with Clark’s parents, who were in town for the weekend, and celebrating Easter yesterday. And today is my 41st birthday!
Saturday morning, it was raining as predicted, so no one met at the park to run. I never went out on my own either. Eventually, we took Clark’s parents to Carlsbad Brewing for lunch, hung out at home a while, and then went to Campfire in the village for dinner. It was a pretty relaxing day.
Sunday, it was still raining in the morning. I went to Walmart to get a few things for Easter dinner, which we hosted. Later, the rain finally let up, and I got in a 5-miler at an 8:56/mile pace.
In the afternoon, we had our Beerster hunt, which is where we hide a bunch of beer in our backyard for some friends, they find them and then we all drink beer the rest of the day. Last year was the first year we did it, and it was so much fun, we did it again this year with a few more people. I think it’s a tradition now.
Everyone had a different style of beer to find. RJ’s were all Belgians.
Clark’s parents had to leave for the trip home around 6 p.m.
That also wrapped up March, so here’s a monthly summary:
Mileage:
Week 1 (March 1-2): 11.2 miles
Week 2 (March 3-9): 20.3
Week 3 (March 10-16): 30.5
Week 4 (March 17-23): 31.1
Week 5 (March 24-31): 27.5
Total: 120.6 miles
This month, I only ran one race, a 10K in Encinitas that wasn’t too impressive. Other than that, I just tried to get in some training miles for three races I have coming up in April: the running leg for a relay team at the Oceanside 70.3 this coming Saturday, the Carlsbad 5000 the day after that and the 21-miler at the Big Sur Marathon at the end of the month. Though we just found out today all the rain this weekend caused a “slip out” along the marathon course and they’re not sure yet how that is going to affect the race. Boo.
Anyway, today is April 1, and my birthday! For some reason, the theater at the mall near our house is showing “Dumb and Dumber” tonight only, so we got tickets to that. It’s Clark’s and my all-time favorite movie though neither of us got to see it in the theater when it came out in 1994, so I am VERY excited about it!
Tuesday morning, I didn’t feel like going out to run before work, but I did a strength training class on the Peloton app. I did run in the evening after work — 4 miles at an 8:59/mile pace.
Wednesday morning, I ran before work, 3 miles at a 9:11/mile pace.
The road closure signs are out for the Carlsbad 5000 next weekend!
In the evening, I met the run club in Vista. Shawn and I ran 4 miles at a 9:07/mile average, with a very long hill in the third mile.
Thursday, I did another Peloton strength class in the morning, and in the afternoon, I ran 5 miles at a 9:04/mile average.
This morning, we cleaned the whole house first thing, because Clark’s parents were on their way here. They got here later in the morning to spend the weekend here.
Today is beautiful, but unfortunately, we’re supposed to get hit by torrential rain and heavy wind tomorrow and into Sunday… when they’re leaving to head back home. We were going to take the ferry to Catalina Island tomorrow but that has been scrapped. Stupid weather. I don’t know what we’re going to do instead.
So I also don’t know how much running I’ll get in this weekend. The rain is supposed to start well before the run club meets on Saturday mornings, so I doubt anyone will be running tomorrow. Guess I’ll see what it looks like Sunday.
A Simple Running Log 