Wildcat Canyon

Today was a YOYO run, so Chipper Sue and I decided to meet at her house and run Wildcat Canyon, which is pretty much her backyard. Little did we know she lives on the "mountainous" portion of Wildcat Canyon, so the hills were immediate and relentless. We also were dodging little snakes here and there basking in the warmth mid trail. Despite the insane heat we pursued, that is until we ran up to Kilimanjaro 3 miles into it. It only took a second for us to look at eachother and say..."not so much, let's turn around." We ended up only doing 6 out of the eleven miles intended. So tomorrow...I finish my run in part 2. :)

Morning Track with a Serenade

This morning I really thought about not waking up at 5:15 and skipping track, but due to my recent laziness I rolled out of bed and went to track instead. I was met with a birthday serenade (where everyone realized that they didn't know my name mid song where you are supposed to say "happy birthday to -insert name-, kinda awkward), and it was really sweet. Track was disappointingly easy. I was hoping for a kick my butt workout b/c I was feeling a little lethargic. Oh well, we ran a couple of miles and stretched. That's it.

Happy Birthday to me...

So this week I decided to turn 25 and be a big slacker. After Mill Valley run last Saturday I haven't done anything up to today (wednesday!);however, I will dutifully attend track tomorrow morning after eating all the mandarin orange birthday cake my stomach could handle. This should prove to be oh so helpful at track in the morning...I'm sure. :) Oh well, the cream cheese icing was so very worth whatever discomfort may come tomorrow.

Over Half Way There!

We ran Mill Valley today. 7:15 am start time. Figures I would be the one who didn't print out a map prior to driving somewhere I had never been at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday. My navigation wasn't working, no map, no one to call (Chipper Sue wasn't answering her phone) and big surprise: I left the house late! Anyway, I arrived and couldn't find a parking spot. Turns out I had to park almost a mile away. I jumped out of my car already running. As I was running up to the large mass of people in the distance already running I started to totally panic. I WILL NOT RUN THIS ALONE! Then I see my Chipper Sue, standing out of the group looking at me and laughing. I heard her say "I kept thinking you better show up!" Whew, Chipper Sue waited. She even hung out for a sec while I stretched my legs quickly. Then we were off, beginning at a middle school soccer field, running through an office park, neighborhood, freeway underpass, big duck pond, ridiculously expensive neighborhood, sparkling tennis courts on another lake, yuppy neighborhoods some more...houses with gigantic gates, around a smelly duck pond (a different one), more neighborhood, and then around a big marina with kids soccer games in session and finally hit the 7 mile turnaround. At the turn around I ate some lime gu (same hair gel consistency, only lime-ish instead of raztastic, I guess I prefer lime?) and Fundraiser Rockstar Stacey joined us for the second half. (She gets this nickname because she raised more than her minimum before kickoff even happened...what???) She is also a cyclist and mom of baby Eli.
The run ended well. My complaints: fuel belt bruised my waist for the first time, lacking arch support for my right foot, need insoles for my new shoes. My triumphs: I ran over half my marathon, I can still walk, I succeeded at a full 10-minute ice bath afterwards.
Good day, and done with it all by 11am! :)

A little stronger this time

This morning at track we revisited circuit drills again. Team blaze and Team fired up blended the drills today. We added an extra hill on for our time, and larger # of reps for each drill. Surprisingly (although still sweating buckets the whole time)I kicked the circuit drill's butt today. Really - I actually finished feeling triumphant over the hills, lunges weren't that bad, supermans were no big deal, situps have always been pretty ok, and pushups...well they still suck when you are doing 80 of them!
Overall, I finished my 4 reps of laps/drills in 34 minutes. Not bad at all, certainly an improvement from before. Best part: only soreness leftover was pec soreness, not even my legs, yay!

Lake Merritt - Stuck on some twisted repeat

Today was a mentor led run, which means no coaches. This also means we are not supposed to push our mileage at all, just maintain. Chipper Sue and I paired up to run Lake Merritt once again, but this time we had to run the 3.2 mile course around the lake 3 TIMES to get our 9+ mileage needed. OH GOD! I already don't appreciate this like and now I had to run it 3 times over. They suggested I run the opposite direction to "mix it up a bit." Excuse my obvious pessimism, but how many ways can you mix up gray skies, goose poop in excessive amounts, the geese herds themselves, and a Faith for the Cure race going on all at the same time on a 3 mile loop. Jeez! As I mentioned previously, everyone seems to love lake merritt, I do not share this enthusiasm. Good thing Chipper Sue was there to chat with me the whole time, we both agreed the last (and third) loop around the lake was pretty redundant. Not to mention the cyclist who kept coming up behind us with a bull horn 10 feet behind our ears, screaming "RUNNERS COMING!" He wanted us to make way for the fast pace runners coming through who were participating in the 5k race going on. That's cool and all except the path is so small you can barely double up anyway. I guess if all else failed he wanted us to jump in the lake? Afterwards Nat and I got to return to Lake Merritt (after I showered of course) and attended a Carnivorous Plant Show, and of course the weather was beautiful during that visit. Not a gray sky around, figures.

Winter Team joins us - I am suddenly a "Vet"

Today I noticed at AM track that there were significantly less parking spots at 5:30 in the morning...hmm. Turns out the winter team (running the San Antonio Rock n' Roll Marathon) began their training this week and joined us, thus taking all the parking spots for ontime/almost late folks like myself. I think Coach wanted to make an example out of us. We are "team blaz (on fire)" as I mentioned early in the training, and they are "team fired up" - obviously newcommers are scared into thinking running = fire? I don't know. Anyhow, he had us run two miles at race pace around the "million dollar view" clark kerr track. Then, for fun I guess, he had only team blaze (that would be the "vets") run 3 repeats of the largest hill in history, or at least this side of the bay. To give you a good idea...my little vw golf can hardly make it up this hill WHEN DRIVING, so I park at the bottom. Coach had us sprint up three times while newbies of team fired up stood at the bottom saying "woah." Woah is right, I kicked it's butt - and then almost fell on mine when I was done.

Buddy Run, for real

Turns out my Chipper Sue works two blocks from my new apartment. Hooray for ideal situations! I get off work, walk the dogs and Sue shows up at my door ready for our buddy run. This time we forgot to bring a watch so we decided to run and chat until we felt it was time to stop. Ended up running over the outlined max of 55 minutes and finished at 70 minutes instead. We looped through all the residential streets of Berkeley around my new hood. The architecture is really interesting, mostly brown shingles and row houses, and the trees are really great for shade in the afternoon. We decided this will be our buddy run each week. Yay.

(Almost) Half Way

Twelve miles today, we ran Alameda. The reason this was significant is not because the mileage, but the course was flat for the first time in over a month. I mean TOTALLY flat. I thought I might have been dreaming it was so unbelievable. We started out at the Alameda Ferry terminal and ran through the residential areas, ended up being spit out on the Alameda beach for the last couple of miles leading up to the six mile turn around and ran it all back. I think Chipper Sue and I were flying, and I still don't think my body believes I actually ran 12 today. When I finished, I felt I could have kept going. I heart flat courses!

I fought the hills and the...wait, I WON :)

During track Coach had us combine the "hood .5 mile hill loop" with the driveway hill portion of the circuit drills. We had only ever done one side at a time. Today he said (following his 63rd birthday over the weekend) that 3 is the number he was "feeling today" so we ran three repeats. First we rand the driveway circuit (one long gradual hill, one short steep hill, and up the long steep one) and followed through from there to running through the neighborhood. (somehow, defying the wellknown laws of physics, the whole loop is uphill only. you end up where you began, but still going uphill?) Each loop was about a mile, so I completed three miles of nonstop hills. I started out intimidated, and ended feeling surprised at how strong I am feeling. [patting myself on the back]

Appreciating my new hood

I decided today would be a good excuse to explore my new neighborhood and just run from my front door. I also followed the rules today and did not use my ipod during my solo run, thought maybe the interesting sight seeing/people watching would be entertaining enough. Left my apartment, ran up college ave, ran around some of Cal Berkeley campus, took Telegraph back down and ran through street vendors, yummy smelling pizza shops (it was about dinner time) and billows of pot smoke for sure. Before I knew it I was back at my new front door, loving my new hood just a little more.

Inspiration Point aka Jennifer's going to Die!

Today was a humbling, and unecessary experience. I have learned a valuable lesson of the importance of drinking electrolytes and bringing ample amounts of water. We met at Inspiration Point today for an 11 mile run. This is the first time I had been to Tilden Park and was SUPER excited - heard amazing things about it. After driving up a full mountain (thankfully NOT running this one) I arrived at Inspiration Point. It was beautiful, ideal weather. Completely clear views...and I didn't notice yet, but not really that many trees. We stretched, chatted, enjoyed the views and used the restrooms. This was a mentor led run, meaning there were not any water/fuel stops along the way. I had coffee, dry toast, honey and a bottle of water before starting that morning. I took a bottle of water and a packet of gu. It made sense to me....

So the ran began, first mile tall trees, small rolling hills, birds chirping - great. After that, no more happy Jennifer. Thank god I had Chipper Sue with me, she is the only reason I made it. It felt like I was running in a Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing commercial. Cows grazing everywhere, cattle guards every mile to make me stop and walk over the bars, coiled snakes in the middle of the path (b/c it was desert hot out there, did I mention that???) warming their little bodies, and absolutely not even one tree in sight. Blaring sun, heat radiating up from the earth, the breeze took a vacation for the morning b/c I don't know where it was, and I ran out of water at mile 5. Also, miles 4-6 were all mini-mountains. I mean ones that cows couldn't even climb! There was a loose bull in the middle of the running trail at one point, with huge horns and looking a little possessive of his space. I thought for sure he was going to charge me as we ran past him. In the midst of my almost coma I actually bursted into full sprint as I passed him, fueled by panic alone.

So basically I began suffering from dehydration and no more electrolytes left in my body. I was light headed, dizzy, nauseaus, and 100% fatigued. I didn't know if I would make it, but I had to keep going or I would bake to death in Hidden Valley commericial. I ended up walking about a mile of it spread out through the last half. I really thought I would die, and when I finished - I drank a bottle of gatorade and I felt ready to run again. Lesson - NEVER go anywhere without gatorade, I fell in love with it that day. I <3>