Red Rock Canyon Half Marathon

Last weekend I went to Las Vegas for the annual family trip for Nascar. (But I didn't actually go to a race, only Dad and Ryan did.) Doing a little poking around on the internet beforehand I discovered that a marathon/half marathon would take place the same weekend, and it was definitely a race I wanted to do! Since I'm training for American's Toughest Road Marathon, I need to try and get lots of elevation change in my runs, and the Red Rock Canyon Half Marathon was a good fit. The course did a horseshoe loop on the road through the canyon, and had a cumulative elevation gain (according to my gps watch) of 1,525 feet. That's about half of what my marathon will have.

I arrived in Vegas Friday morning, and that evening my whole family drove out to the Suncoast Hotel and Casino so I could pick up my race packet and sign a form saying I wouldn't pet any tortoises. After dinner we all had an early night, since we'd be getting up super early! Mom volunteered right when I mentioned the race several weeks ago to come with me and watch, and it wasn't until Friday that I forced convinced Ryan to come, too. (Dad didn't come because he wanted to get to the Nascar track early, and he gets a free pass in my book because he's coming to watch my full marathon in April.)

So at 4:15am I woke up (Thanks to jet lag, it felt like 7:15 for me! Not so for my Arizona- and New Mexico-dwelling family though.) and headed next door to my parents' hotel room for my bagel, banana, and coffee. I woke Ryan up at 5:00, and by 5:40 the three of us were heading across town to the shuttle pickup at the Suncoast. They dropped me off but I had to wait ten or fifteen minutes for the next shuttle, and they followed in a shuttle for spectators about half an hour later.

According to my training schedule I was supposed to run fifteen miles that Saturday, which meant I had to run an extra two miles in addition to the half marathon. My plan was to get there early enough to do a two-mile warm up, but I only had time for 3/4 of a mile before I needed to take off my sweats, hand over my bag, make one last pit stop, and head to the start. Unfortunately the porta-potty line set me back a little, and I actually started the race about two minutes late. (Which is fine since they used chip timing, though apparently the winners were all based on the gun time.)

Okay, now for the race itself and pictures! Perhaps the best thing about this course is the scenery. Big open desert fills the center of the canyon and was always on my left, and red rocks and snow-dusted mountains surround the canyon. It had rained on Friday, but even though Saturday morning started out really overcast, it was dry. (Disclaimer: I took these pictures while running, so they may be blurry or tilted.)

Still in the visitor center parking lot, shortly after the start.

That sky looks ominous. Ryan hoped it would rain so he wouldn't have to come. It didn't.

The first 5.5 miles were mostly uphill. I was really proud of myself on the uphills, because even though I wasn't fast, I was able to keep chugging pretty well and pass people going up. I had looked at the course elevation profile ahead of time and thought the uphill would end at mile 5 though, so that last half mile uphill was sort of tortuous.

Look how pretty the mountains are!

Self portrait in motion.

After the scenery, the next best thing about this race is all the downhills! It's 5.5 miles up, but then 7.6 miles down without too steep of a grade, which made for some speedy miles for me. I still ended with my slowest half marathon time (this was my third half), but I felt really good about the whole thing and passing people on the uphills gave me more confidence about all this hill/mountain training I'm doing for my marathon. My official time: 2:00:46.99. Age group place: 8 (out of 54), gender place: 31 (out of 282), overall place: 125 (out of 496).

My mom took this as I crossed the finish line. I know the timer says 2:02 but don't forget I started late.

I was pretty beat after pushing through the last mile or so. Ryan was at the finish line and I had to grab onto him while they cut off the chip timer from my shoe.

After the race I drank some more water and ate half a banana, but then I headed out on the road to run another 1.25 miles to get me up to 15 for the day. Then we loaded onto the shuttle bus to get back to the hotel with our car. Overall I really liked this race. It was small and there wasn't a lot of crowd support due to the nature of the course, but the scenery made up for it.

Ryan complained a lot about having to get up so early to stand around at my race.

But really I think he enjoyed it. He got to hang out with Mom and later I heard he told Dad it was "beautiful" out there with snow on the mountains.

Thanks for the support family!

view halloo!

Today I drove west out of town a little ways for my twelve mile run in a rural neighborhood with farms and big estates. I had only run a mile or so when I came upon two people in fancy outfits on horseback, and just after passing them I heard a bunch of barking. "Could there be a real live fox hunt going on?" I wondered. But I didn't think much more about it and continued on my way.

Another mile or so down the dirt road, however, there was a bunch more barking. And then in the woods on my right I saw a big orange fox run by.

At this point I stopped running and started looking around at all the trees and wondering if I should try and climb one. I mean, a pack of hunting dogs was clearly headed right toward me. What if I distracted them from the fox and they came after me instead? What the heck was I doing in the middle of a fox hunt?!?

Luckily the dogs didn't pay me any attention, even though I was standing on the road maybe twenty yards away. They just kept going after that poor fox. Then the people on horses came by again, and when the man in the fancy red jacket passed I asked him if I was okay out there. He chuckled and hollered "you sure are!"

Photo taken with my phone. Wish I could have gotten a picture of the dogs too, but alas.

 That was a relief. And once I wasn't worried about being attacked by fox hunting dogs anymore, and had called my brother who informed me that they don't actually kill the foxes these days, I was able to appreciate the excitement of having just witnessed my first hunt, like in Mary Poppins! (Only there were no trumpet soundings, sadly.)

fingers crossed

A year ago today was when I injured my foot and couldn't run anymore. That was no fun. At all.

I was training for the same marathon I'm training for this time around, but this time around things are going better. For one, I started this training cycle with a stronger base, since I just trained for my November half marathon. For two, my training schedule is set by a real coach and not by something I found on the internet, and it doesn't make me increase miles every weekend. Sometimes I get a "rest week" which still involves running, just not as much or as hard. And for three, I'm pool running at least once a week, which supposedly gives me the same workout but is easier on joints and is supposed to help prevent injury.

So cross your fingers that things will continue to go well and I won't get injured again before April 20!

running firsts

Last weekend I went to Richmond to visit family, and while there I ran my ten mile long run. First I drove to the West End so I could run to the Museum District and the Fan. It was cold and even snowed a little, but nice to run in Richmond again. However, sidewalks aren't ideal for running, especially when they are uneven or brick. Makes it seem more like urban trail running. And that's what I'm going to blame my fall on. Sure it was getting dark, and sure I was tired because I was almost at the end of the ten miles, but still. That sidewalk caused me to trip. Trip and actually fall for the first time while running, which resulted in a bloody elbow, bruised shin, and frustrated emotions.

It stung more than anything. And oozed for a while.

 However, I am super grateful I didn't actually hurt my legs or ankles or anything. In fact, after sitting on the curb for a few moments to make sure I wasn't broken anywhere and to look around and make sure no one saw, I managed to jog the last quarter of a mile back to the car. And after getting back to the house and taking a long hot shower, I had my doctor grandpa there to bandage me up.

A week later I ran my longest run ever. Yesterday's seventeen miles was the first time I ever ran more than fifteen miles. Yikes. A friend joined my after two and a half miles and stuck with me for twelve, so that was fun. I warned her ahead of time I wouldn't be able to talk very much while running, but I could chat a little and she filled in the rest. I had plotted a pretty hilly route, and despite some tough hills the run felt pretty good. Good until she left me and I had about three and a half miles to go. Those last miles were rough, but I managed.

mountain run

Yesterday I went for an awesome run. My training schedule said to do fifteen miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so that's what I did. Over the 7.5 miles in I gained about 900 feet in elevation.

I arrived just after 1pm, parked outside the gate (since the Parkway is closed in winter), and took off. There was some snow, but it wasn't too bad. I bought a pair of Yaktraxs the day before just in case, but the snow wasn't deep enough to use them. The run started out pretty cloudy and it was 30 degrees, but about halfway through the sun came out. It was beautiful.

Humpback Rocks ahead, around mile 6.

Look at that ice!

After a couple miles there weren't human footprints anymore. But boy did I see a lot of other prints. Lots of prints looked like dogs, so maybe they were coyotes? Deer tracks frequently went horizontally across the road. Skittish faint lines I assumed were birds. A couple tiny prints were maybe rabits? There was a good long stretch of snow with lots of tracks that led me to believe a couple coyotes were running along the road together, occasionally crossing over each other or scuffling in the snow. I thought "hey! animals like to run on the Blue Ridge Parkway too!"

But then? Then I noticed the dog/coyote-looking paws got bigger. A lot bigger. I turned around and examined the prints next to my own, and got a little scared.

I wear size 10 shoes. Those paws are big. And creepy.

That has to be a bear, right? I thought bears were supposed to hibernate?! Sheesh. So I started to make some extra noise other than my labored breathing, singing occasional songs like "Here I come around the bend! I'm running on the Parkway! Watch out, here I come!" That seemed to keep them away. I never saw any animals, thank goodness.

Overall the run felt pretty good. I need practice going up mountains and coming down long hills to help prepare me for the marathon, and this went really well. Afterwards I stretched by the car, then drove to dinner at some friends' house, where they let me shower and fed me lots of good food.

It was a good day.

mom time

Last weekend my mom came to visit me. We hung out. It was fun.

She arrived Thursday evening in the midst of snow, but the snow didn't last long. I picked her up at the airport and then we went to the grocery store, where I bought my first big stick of brussel sprouts. Then we came back to my apartment and made this delicious dinner:

The sprouts taste better than they look. Really.

This is brussel sprouts with bacon, avocado, and lime. Who would have thought? I found the recipe here. I also made butternut squash soup with apple and sweet potato.

Friday we ran errands, which included getting me a new pair of glasses. (Which I probably won't wear much because I also got contacts!!! Now I can see when I'm running and at the gym, because I never wear my glasses for those things.) We ate a Mediterranean lunch at Aromas, and we enjoyed a happy hour beer at the C&O. That evening we made dinner at home again (pasta with broccoli and lemon) and watched a movie.

I love the atmosphere at the C&O. Lots of wood and old-timey stuff.

Saturday I went for a ten mile run, then we ate lunch at the Whiskey Jar. I had a delicious beet salad and mac & cheese. Then we walked around the downtown mall a little before heading to Richmond. In Richmond we visited with Grandpa, then went out for dinner with the rest of the family before enjoying Sunni's dance performance at school. Then we drove back to Charlottesville.

Sunday we slept in, then drove west and visited a few wineries near the Blue Ridge Mountains. We liked the wines at Cardinal Point the best, enjoyed the atmosphere (and a cheese plate) at Veritas, and felt a little "eh" about Afton Mountain, though the girl who did our tasting was nice. After all that excitement we needed a nap, and then we ate dinner at Mono Loco.

Monday I ran six miles and we ran a few more errands, then we ate lunch at Revolutionary Soup and went next door to see Silver Linings Playbook. I liked it. After that we drove back to Richmond and went out with family for pho. I love pho. We spent the night in Richmond that night, and I left the next morning to get to work in Charlottesville.

I saw mom again one more time though, because I went back to Richmond Wednesday after work. Wednesday was also pie day. That morning I woke up really early, made a pie, ran eight miles in 14-degree weather, and then went to work. There were nine dessert pies and two savory pies, and I tried some of all of them.

My pie.

When I got to Richmond I ate some leftover dinner and watched TV with mom and my aunt. The next morning there was snow, so I hung out longer than I had planned and read a book. Then mom headed off to the airport to fly home and I came back to Charlottesville.

I'm glad mom got to come hang out. It was nice.

it's official

Today I saw a notice that there are only 177 registration spots left in the marathon I want to run. "Better register soon," it said. So I panicked just a little, because I wasn't planning to actually register and cough up the $90 until I had logged a few more long runs and felt more confident about my chances of not getting injured again. But wouldn't it be the worst thing ever if I felt good about running 26.2 miles up and down mountains, only to find out they had filled up? Yes, yes it would.

So I did it. I registered for my first marathon. And it's not just any marathon. If all goes well, (and I really hope it does,) on April 20 I will run the Blue Ridge Marathon, aka "America's Toughest Road Marathon."



I even went ahead and made the hotel reservation. So look out, now there are only 176 (or so) spots left. I'm so excited.

Christmastime 2012

Like I said, I spent Christmas in Santa Fe with my family. Here are some highlights:

Friday we decorated the tree and house, since my parents waited for Ryan and me to get home. That evening we went to a great choral concert at the Cathedral downtown. Since I had been busy with school and then getting ready to leave town, I never really got in the Christmas spirit in Charlottesville, but this concert sure helped.

For Christmas Eve we did our usual family tradition, which is invite the grandparents over and eat posole and tamales. Then Dad and Ryan and I went downtown to walk Canyon Road and enjoy the farolitos. As you can see, we made some friends on our walk.

After Canyon Road we walked to the Plaza to see the lights, and then we stopped in a cozy hotel bar for warm drinks. Oh, and it was snowing lightly all evening. When we got back home all of our own farolitos were still lit! I think it was a Christmas miracle, since it was snowing. That or a neighbor relit them.

On Christmas morning the grandparents came back over for breakfast, then we opened presents. Here's our pretty tree.

Later more family came over for Christmas dinner, for a total of twelve of us. It was nice to have all of my Dad's side of the family together. Speaking of Dad, check out our Christmas coordination.

Wednesday night Ryan and I went to see Django, and Thursday night all four of us saw Les Miserables. 

Friday we all took the Santa Fe Rail Runner train to Albuquerque. While there we ate a nice meal, then took a bus to Old Town and walked around a little. Then we had a drink at a hotel before getting back on the train and heading home.

Saturday (today) I ran ten miles outside in 20-something weather on a rail trail outside of town. My Dad wanted to see me run, so he dropped me off and then met me a couple times at various cross-roads before picking me up at the end and driving me home. The temperature didn't really bother me much, but most of the trail was still covered in snow (and ice), so it was a much slower and more tiring run than usual. It was fun to get out there and do something different though. Dad said he saw a coyote on the trail while waiting for me, but I was looking where my feet were going too much to look around and didn't see one. Alas.  

After the run and a hot shower we all went out for one last New Mexican meal for Ryan and me, then visited a little more with my grandparents.

It's been a real nice trip and holiday.

recent-ish goings on

I figured before it was time to blog about Christmas I should squeeze in one more post, so here is a hodge-podge of what's been going on in my world, but not necessarily in order.

I'm on school break! I spent the semester working on my minor in the American Revolution and Early Republic, which meant I read a bunch of books and met with my professor every other week or so to talk about them. Then during finals week I wrote two ten-page papers, and I handed those in on Monday the 17th. I enjoyed the readings and learning and all that, but it's always nice to have a break.

I ran a 5k at Monticello with some friends on December 1. I haven't run very many regular flat 5ks, so I was able to set a personal record of 24:24. The run started right in front of Monticello, went around to the lawn in back, wound down by the gardens, and ended up on the parkway trail before coming back up to the Visitor Center. I run on the trail that heads up to Monticello all the time and of course I've done the Montalto Challenge, but it was fun to actually run right next to the house and gardens. Before the race started a friend got some man to take a photo of us in front of the house on her iPhone, but unfortunately the man was not so savvy with the photo-taking. So here's a finger, a glimpse of Monticello, and us runners!

I'm also training for a marathon again, in hopes that I can run the race in April I couldn't run last year when I injured myself. So hopefully this time will go better. 

My brother didn't get married in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. He thought it would be funny to change his FB status to married while he and his girlfriend spent the weekend there, and my family fell for it (for the most part). I let him know it wasn't funny though. It was just dumb. Boys, ugh.

For a potluck Christmas dinner party with my girls' small group I made a beet, pecan, and goat cheese salad. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I actually cooked stuff and did intricate preparation for a salad (like toasting the pecans on the stove and adding maple syrup, plus cooking the beets and making the dressing from scratch). I thought it was pretty good, but the problem is that not everyone likes beets, so unfortunately there was a lot of salad left over. (Which turned out to be fortunate for Josh, who ate all the leftovers.) Some people just don't know what's good.

I had a pistachio sighting again! Actually, I had two, but for the first one there were several shells lying around, and Josh (rightly) pointed out that it doesn't count when there are lots of shells, so he didn't even let me take a picture. Luckily just a few days later I found another one in the parking lot of the UVA Law School. It was right next to my car near a mysterious bone thing, which was kind of creepy. 

I'm in Santa Fe! I came here Thursday. It's nice to be here, hanging out with my parents and Ryan. I'm also running here (marathon training!), and am surprised how decent the runs have been so far considering the temperature has only been in the 20s. The first day I overdressed and pretty quickly had to shed a couple layers, but the next day was better. The sun here seems so much bigger and closer than it does in Charlottesville, so I think that has a lot to do with it.

Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving was a while ago, but I still want to tell you about it. So here goes.

My parents flew out from New Mexico to Richmond, and my brother flew out from Arizona. So we were all here! Wednesday I drove to Richmond to help get ready for Thanksgiving. Jay helped me make rolls, Ryan and Sunni tracked down some tapered candles, and several of us peeled lots of stubborn oranges for ambrosia.

Kneading some roll dough. With supervision.

That night my parents, Ryan, and I went to dinner. Ryan wanted to carb up (more on why coming up!) so we ate spaghetti at Joe's Inn. Then Ryan and I drove to Charlottesville, where we met up with Josh and went to see the No BS! Brass Band and Love Canon. It was pretty fun. And Ryan ran into someone he knew back in Santa Fe, so that was exciting.

Love Canon. They play 80s music bluegrass style. Which is awesome.

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving!) Ryan and I got up early and headed out to...get excited...Ryan's first race! We both ran in the Turkey Trot 5k at the Boar's Head Inn. It was pretty hilly, but Ryan did great. My watch said we finished in 29:something, but somehow our official time came out as 31:something. We're sticking with the under-30 minutes time.
 

Chilly (high 30s), but excited to run!

Proud finisher! (And only a little annoyed at the photographer.)

Stretching. Always important.

Cute siblings.

I was super-excited to be running with Ryan for his first race. Hopefully he'll keep it up and it won't be our last!

After the race we headed back to my place to shower and get dressed for Thanksgiving, then drove back to Richmond for the big meal.

We ate this.

Sitting at this.

After eating, family time, and cleaning up, it was time for a nap. My nuclear family napped in my parents' hotel room, then went back to my grandparents' for pie. Then Ryan and I hung out with my cousins for a while and played Taboo.

Friday we hung out with Grandma a lot and moved her into a new place. We even played  a game of Rook. She was in a good mood and funny, so it was fun. Friday evening the whole family went to the CineBistro to see Lincoln and eat dinner. I hadn't really cared about seeing the movie, but I'm glad I did. After the movie Ryan and I joined Jay and Josh for a beer at Capital Ale House.

Saturday morning Josh and I grabbed Ryan and worked out at a park. Huguenot Park has a fitness trail, so we ran around and did the exercises it told us to do. Similarly to how I felt about the run two days before, I was excited to be working out with those guys. After our workout we showered and got changed, then went with my parents to lunch at Kitchen 64. Then we visited the Chihuly exhibit at the art museum. I saw so much of his stuff back in Tacoma that I had gotten tired of him, but I enjoyed the exhibit. From there we went to the Imax theater at the science museum to watch a movie about the Canadian Pacific Railroad. That was my dad's pick (the art museum was mine), but it was actually pretty interesting. Later in the evening Ryan and Josh and Jay and I hung out at my aunt's house for a while.

Sunday I went with my dad to take Ryan to the airport, then we met up with more of the family for Chinese food for lunch. Lunch was followed by me taking a long nap on the couch. Sunday evening my parents and I watched a Sandra Dee movie with my aunt and grandpa. Then I spent the night in my parents' hotel suite. They left town on Monday and I did some work in Richmond before heading back to Charlottesville.

It was a pretty fun holiday weekend with my family.

Richmond Half Marathon 2012

On November 10th I ran a half marathon in Richmond. It was pretty fun.

Friday after work Josh and I drove to the expo in Richmond so I could pick up my race packet. We also checked out the booths and I bought a bright yellow pair of arm warmers. Afterwards we went to Joe's Inn for dinner and ate a bunch of spaghetti. Then I went to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up around 5:15 am to get moving and eat breakfast. I left my grandparents' house at 6:35 and picked up Josh on my way downtown. Unfortunately finding parking was a bit of a hassle, so eventually I hopped out to head to the starting line (well, after a long stop in the porta-potty line) while Josh parked the car.

The half marathon started at 7:30 (there was an 8k at 7 and the marathon at 8) and since the parking and bathroom break set me back a little, everyone was already in the line to start and I had to wind my way from the G wave up to the D wave. Unfortunately I didn't get my GPS watch going soon enough either, so when I crossed the starting line my watch wasn't connected to the satellite yet and I actually pulled over to the side for a few seconds so it could finally connect. That was annoying. But after all that? I was good to go.

I don't think I ever mentioned it here on the blog, but I joined a marathon/half marathon training program over the summer through a local running club. The coach wrote me out a detailed personalized training program that had me running four days a week with long runs up to 15 miles. The long runs were group runs on Saturday mornings in various rural places around the county. I made it to about 7 of those, but being out of town several times over the summer or being unable to get up and run at 6 am (tooo early), many of the runs were on my own. Anyway, my training included things I'd never done before like hill pickups and track workouts, and rather than simply getting all the miles in like I used to, I even had progressive time goals laid out for me for certain portions of runs. It was a challenging but fun way to mix up my training. And the day before the race I even chatted with the coach on how exactly to pace my 13.1 miles.

So I ran the first mile the slowest, the next two miles a little faster, miles 4-8 faster, and the last five miles even faster than that. My goal was to finish in under two hours, and I crossed the line in 1:57:31. I followed the training program, and it worked! The run took work, obviously, but I never felt like I was dying. There were even times when I made myself slow down in order to stick with my plan. I felt strong and in control the whole time, which was great. Of course afterwards, when I realized I hadn't quite beat my 2010 half marathon time, I kicked myself a little and wished I'd pushed myself harder. I know I can do better than 1:57. Next time...

Anyway, onto some pictures:

I look like I'm speed walking. But I'm not.

All done!

Josh was at the finish line waiting to get a shot of me. Our plan was for me to wave my yellow arm warmers in the air so he would know I was coming. But I never took the arm warmers off, so I didn't have them to wave. I pumped my arms in the air a few times hoping he'd see me, but unfortunately he missed my finish. That's okay. It was a downhill finish and I was probably just going too fast for him to see me. ;-)
So after I crossed the line and got my finisher's medal, I walked back up to find Josh. Luckily I did, because there was a big crowd and we didn't have a contingency meet-up plan.

Another photo opportunity to show off my arm warmers.

Stretching. It's important.

Post-race grub.

The race finished at Brown's Island, where there were tons of people and lots of excitement. I grabbed some post-race pizza and soaked in some sun, then we headed home.

Tuesday