Alamo 13.1 race report…

   Is this the nicest finisher’s medal for a half or what?

Getting his hands on a 5×5…

  All the cubes…

San Antonio was nice for spring break, except for a ton of other people had the same idea.   I won’t rehash the travel other than we hit the children’s museum and discovered they’d just opened an exhibit on Rubik’s cubes.   Jasper collects them and it was heaven to him.  It was a nice bonus to the trip.

So the Alamo 13.1…..I had a great pre race ramen dinner at a little Japanese counter place.   I didn’t have to get up too early since the race was close to my hotel.  The cold front meant long sleeves….it was 40, which is really cold for Texas in March. Pet peeve here…..the race started late for no apparent reason, and the website said there would be corrals and there weren’t so lining up was a free for all.  I got out pretty quick though and my plan was try and stay on 8:15 pace.   The course went through a ton of San Antonio landmarks so that was fun.   It was a full tour all on foot.   About halfway through the course wove through the zoo on some nearby bike paths, it was pretty but did slow the pacing….lots of twists and turns.   The last few miles went on the river walk, which was really neat but not fast running.   I ended up with 8:20 average pace (1:49 finish) which I was pleased with given the multiple turns and cobblestone parts.   I would say this is a good race to do if it’s accessible, but I wouldn’t make a special trip for it.  The shirt was nice, and the medal was one of the best I’ve ever gotten for any race.  The course was well marked, but it was a slow course and not spectator friendly.   The post race food wasn’t my thing, but they made a nice effort.   Local micro brew, donuts, and baked potatoes, and the one thing I did get was a nice fresh fruit cup.   Other the the late start, and a horrible packet pick up location, the race was well done.   Maybe a good one for a girls weekend or something.    For a fast one stick to the 3M here in Austin.  I felt like it was really good for me to race a half though.   If I can throw in an occasional race I think my marathon will really benefit.   Up next in two weeks the Austin 10 miler!

And now back to reality…..I just had 5 days off but did kid stuff continuously.  So maybe work won’t be so bad tomorrow…..

1/2 Spring break!

  Skatepark for 2 hours on Wednesday!!!

Happy spring break.   This year I did what I always have wanted to do , but never seem to….take days off and leave!   I only worked the first half of the week and then tried to do some fun things with Jasp so he didn’t spend the whole break in child care.   

I ran on the treadmill a lot and yesterday I had a podiatrist appt that Jasp didn’t want to go to so he did a few hours of childcare while I did a few errands and threw in a yoga class.  It was the best kind, that was challenging but not to the point where I am sore for days.  Which is good since I am racing Sunday!   I have no idea what to expect.  I haven’t raced a half marathon in about three years.  Weather should be a little cold…..I swear we get a cold front every spring break.  I can’t say I tapered either other than taking tomorrow completely off anything.   The half marathon is honestly my best distance and if I were smart I’d focus on it and not marathons, but I love the training for marathons.   I tell myself that one year I won’t do any marathons except Austin, and focus on a few halves.    I can probably hit 40 total lifetime marathons in 2016, so maybe 2017.  Anyhow, I’d like to keep an 8:15-8:30 pace.  Dream pace is dip into low 8:00s.     We’ll see…..this half is mixed with a fun trip so I anticipate lots of good food and a beer or two.   I’m excited to run in San Antonio…it is much more historic than Austin with this race course going through mostly historical, nice areas, and I’m a sucker for a cool course without boring strip malls!

Update…..didn’t finish this post yesterday.  Slept in until 5:30 this morning and now I’m slamming coffee on the couch before a dog walk….about to be outta here!

Peachy…

   
 We saw James and the Giant Peach at the local theater over the weekend.  I was super impressed with the quality of the production.   And we had great seats!

After a rainy week with outside running, this is a beautiful week with treadmill running.  Go figure.  I did get out Saturday for my longest run since the Austin marathon, 15 miles at brushy creek.  My friend, Dawn, joined me and it was a really nice run.   I just love running out there so much and it is such a recharge after the work week.    We just ran easy.  I’ve been doing my speed day during the week, and this weekend I’ll see if it did any good at the Alamo half marathon.

Spent my whole lunch break on marathonguide.com.  Crazy, but spring is when fall marathon plans get made.  I also realize I have a bucket list item to do one international marathon.  50 marathons and at least one of them not in the US before I retire from marathoning.   Dream international races:  Reykjavik, Lisbon, or London.   Also US dream marathon is Chicago.  Sounds like the big experience without the awful logistics of New York or Boston.  This is why smart phones and free time are dangerous.  If I’d had a margarita with lunch, I probably would have signed up for something today.  Good thing we don’t have margaritas at the hospital I work at.  😁🍸

800s!

   Cotton candy….$3 for about one bite

 Retail therapy….fancy running clothes for KC trip
 Kite festival.

Busy, busy week last week.   Jaspy seemed pretty unscathed from his cliff diving.  He was a little clingy for a few days and by the weekend was back to normal.  All that resulted from the fall is a small scar behind his ear that’s  not very noticeable.   Very lucky.  

I ran on the treadmill all week and did my second week of Yasso 800s.   For the uninitiated, you run an 800 in your marathon goal time in minutes.   So if you’re marathon time is 4 hours, you run a 4 minute 800, then jog 800.   Repeat as needed.    I like it because it’s speedwork, but very controlled.   The first couple don’t feel bad and the last couple feel awful.    The goal is to work up to 10 of them, but that’s over several months.   

We had the pacer party Saturday and I took Jaspy with me to spare him an evening of childcare.  I feel bad sticking him in childcare on weekends since he’s in all week.  He was really good and I ended up winning a Rogue running giftcard, which was promptly spend the next day after we hit up the kite festival.  The weather was fantastic last week, which was sorta a bummer since I ran inside all week.  This week is rainy but I’ve managed to get out the last two mornings before the bulk of the rain hit.  More Yassos today on the roads.   Ouch.

Looking forward to a long outdoor run this weekend. …..then racing next week.  

Nice weekend miles and the little trauma patient…

  
The weekend started out great….a beautiful 13 mile run, monthly massage appointment (yes, I am spoiled), a girls night out which I do hardly ever…..Sunday started good with a tempo run, yoga and then Jaspy and I went hiking while Mike headed out of town.  We went to an area with cliffs, and even though he was in front of me and I was watching him, suddenly Jasper fell off.  

No need for a punchline…..he’s ok.   I guesstimate it to be about an 8-10 foot fall and my initial thought was he’d grab something but then I watched in complete horror as his head hit a ledge and he hit the bottom.   There was a couple playing with their dog and immediately rushed over and I figured I pretty much traumatized them since I was screaming.  It happened so fast, I just remember the guy lifting Jasper up and he was crying and moving everything so I knew he was at least mostly ok.  I must have thanked the couple a million times.   We weren’t far in at all so somehow got back to the car and took DaVinci home. ( who was sorta freaked out) and went to the ER.   

The end result was some lacerated ear cartilage dermabonded back together and a pressure dressing to prevent the ear from ending up looking like a boxer’s, and a few scrapes.   I still feel like it was a small miracle that was all to come of it, as it was about the worst fall I ever care to witness.  So we’ve opted to keep our excitement level low the rest of the week and have sworn off ever hiking at Bull Creek again.   And I already bought tickets for Zootopia and splurged for 3D for this weekend.  Hopefully no popcorn or 3D glasses related injuries will occur….