A few highlights

1) After I kicked the turkey's ass in the Walnut Creek 5K, I got to thinking that I might be underestimating myself. Really what I'm saying here is that I'm afraid to set goals there's a chance I can't reach. And that's stupid. Life's about taking risks, right?

This is what I was thinking when our Team Challenge coach gave his schpeal on how, "It's okay to run in a place that's uncomfortable." Right. It's not a question of what I can do and what I can't do. It's a question of comfort. The 5K showed me how much more I'm capable of if I let myself become "uncomfortable."

And this is what I was thinking when I opened up my Google Reader and saw this post on the Oh Healthy Day blog. I stopped thinking, and I decided. I'm shooting for a sub 2 hour half marathon in Las Vegas. I'm going for it. THIS SUNDAY.

2) Our Team Challenge coach also gave us a stern lecture on not wearing anything new on race day. I listened quietly, knowing full well that I plan on wearing a new shirt and two new pairs of socks. Yes, two. These socks are my next anti-blister plan of attack. I feel so rebellious.

3) My calves hurt for 4 days after the Walnut Creek Turkey Trot.

4) I did some speed work on the track on Saturday anyway. I was pretty excited to get out there during the daylight. Unfortunately all that meant was I was able to see all the puddles, mud, goose poop and random benches and tables really well. I had to jump back and forth between the track and football field. And, not surprisingly, managed to slide in the mud and fall down halfway through my first 800m. Beautiful.

5) I love 105 degree yoga in the winter. This is exactly where I wanted to be last night.

6) I went for a cold, dark 5 mile run tonight. I took a handheld flashlight. Pretty sure I looked like a strobe light running down the street. An elementary-school-aged boy out collecting the mail sprinted back into his house when he saw me coming. Intimidated by my beauty probably. Oh puberty.

7) My calves are sore again.

8) I'm pretty excited for the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon this weekend.

9) It's been ages since I got a haircut. My color is looking a little dull too. What do you think? Brown or light red?

Dark red?
Bright red?
Or blonde highlights?

Barely treading water

THANK GOD for Team Challenge! They got me out of bed Saturday morning and out for an 11 mile run. I feel like having at least this ONE solid run in the week is keeping me afloat.

I was a little worried about how it would go after sitting on my butt for a week. Also, I didn't hydrate properly the day before and dinner consisted of wine, a baked potato and a large quantity of ice cream. (Hmm...looks like running isn't the only department lacking a little motivation?)

I figured I was testing myself. How well would I run after doing everything wrong in preparation? One of teammates, however, saw the silver lining. He referred to me as "well rested." And perhaps he was right. I ended up running faster than I usually do. Not quite as fast as my last magicial 11 miler. But better than usual.

I also had an awesome breakfast afterwards with the rest of the crew. Not only that, one of the women offered to teach me how to swim! I had made a comment about a triathlon sounding like a nice idea. Only problem is I can't swim or bike. I'm not quite sure yet whether I want to take on the challenge, but it's penciled onto my list of 2011 goals. (I'll put that list to ink blogger-style sometime around New Years just in case your interested.)

And now for a picture on a un-related topic. For those of you that might not have fully appreciated our Halloween costumes.

Coins for Crohn's

Come Friday it will be one month until the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon! As a few of you may recall, I am running with TeamChallenge and raising funds for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. I'm doing this in honor of my best friend Stacey, who you can read all about here.

With just one month to go, I'm ramping up my fundraising efforts. So far I've been surprised and touched by all the donations that have come in. Thanks to the generosity of my friends, family and co-workers I have reached the required minimum and now I'm just excited to see what I can raise!

If you're interested in helping out and live in bay area, stop by the Sports Basement discount event on Sunday, 11/14/10. You get a 10% discount and another 10% goes to CCFA.

If you're interested in another way to donate, drop a few coins in my virtual piggybank. No donation is too small. You can give any amount by typing it next to 'Other', and all donations are tax deductible.


In running news I held my (more or less) first speed workout today. I say more or less because once upon a time I partook in high school track. But that was ages ago, and I can't remember if I was ever able to complete any of those speed workouts. Seriously. This is no exaggeration (please refer to my bio). But today I did, and I feel pretty good about it.

I decided to give the local high school track a try since it is both flat and a very quantifiable distance. There was a group of teenaged runners there as well that I took to be the cross country team. I was surprised at how self-conscious I was! I had to remind myself on multiple occasions that I am a mature and confident woman, with no need to impress a bunch of amateur runners. Geez Laura...pull it together!

The plan was warm up + 5 x 1K with 400m rests + cool down, for a total of 6 miles. I had just kicked it up a notch to begin my first 1K when I realized that I had only made note of my target pace. Bear in mind that I bought my running watch at Target for about $10. Needless to say, it does not tell me my pace. Although I am quite good at math (refer, again, to the bio), I'm also pretty excited about my Christmas present. (I'll let you guess what that is!!!)

My split paces were: 8:52, 8:38, 8:39, 8:35, and less than 8:39 (I forgot to stop my watch after the last repeat.) When it was all said and done I felt like I had pushed myself just the right amount. I was tired, without the descriptor of 'dead.' And my splits were pretty consistant.

The cherry on my sundae? I DID NOT lock my keys in my car! Why do I bring this up? Well, let's just say I learned a valuable lesson last Saturday at the TeamChallenge group run. House keys do not open cars.

Sports Basement Discount for Charity!

Get free lunch and 10% off your purchase at Sports Basement in Walnut Creek on Sunday, November 14 between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Another 10% (on top of your personal discount) will be donated to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation through Team Challenge.

If you're interested, shoot me an email at waldroplaura@gmail.com and I'll send you the Evite.

Running on empty

Brace yourself for some negativity. I had two eventful runs this weekend.

The first was a 3ish-miler and the first group run I've done with Team Challenge. I've been to a couple Team Challenge events now and, after hearing everyone talk about running, was worried that this would happen. What would happen? This... I'm the only "kinda" runner. Or at least the only one that was there on Saturday.

Two people took off at the start, and before I had time to dwell in my own envy they were out of eye sight. And by the time I started second guessing whether I was on the right path, I had lost the group behind me. There I was. Somewhere in between a runner and not a runner, trotting down the path by myself (on my group run).

And I will add - the wrong path. In my defense, the run was not planned well. A Team in Training group happened to be training in and around the same area, and somewhere along the line I started following their markers. In doing so I missed a turn (whoa, deja vu). Conicidentally (and thankfully) there was actually a turnaround arrow chalked on the sidewalk. And even though I hadn't seen the two front runners since they cantered off into the distance, I decided to turn around.

Long story short, I don't actually know how far I ran and irritated my hip a bit in the process. Beautiful. Sarcasm aside, I did catch a girl once I was back on track and managed to bank a few minutes of team bonding. So I guess it wasn't a total waste.

I also found some value in the nutrition and hydration clinic that followed the run. And (apparently) chose to drive the lessons home through practice...

On Sunday I met up with a co-worker in San Francisco for an 8 mile run. I was pretty nervous leading up to it. Partially because it had been about two years since I last ran 8 miles. Partially because of my hip. And largely because she's faster than me.

I'll just cut to the chase (no pun intended) and say that the run itself actually went fairly well. We ran from the panhandle to the beach through Golden Gate Park and back. The way there was tough. Despite the slight downhill, I felt like I was struggling to keep up. But I managed to maintain the pace, and even a little bit of conversation here and there.

We took a pretty serious break when we reached the ocean, which was fine with me. It gave me some time to stretch out my hip and my calves (which - side note - feel like bags of rocks these days), and learned that Katie thought I was the one setting the pace! We were both in favor of slowing it down on the way back, and I found that I felt great cardiovascularly. Despite the now slight uphill.

So there was the downhill. Then the uphill. Then the DOWNHILL.

I didn't eat anything before the run or during the run, and only had a few sips of water during our mid-run break. I ate a little and drank some water after the run and headed down to Union Square for some shopping. I don't know if it was the continued exertion (even if it was just walking) or delayed effects of the run, but I kept feeling worse and worse over the next couple hours. At 3:45 I found myself waiting for BART with a splitting headache and an overwhelming desire to lay on the couch. There was no (probably) about it.

As if that wasn't enough, something - I still don't know what - went down on the tracks in between Walnut Creek (my stop) and Lafayette (the stop right before Walnut Creek). The result? BART turned around and headed back to San Francisco. Jason had to come pick me up at the Lafayette BART station and drive me to my car at Walnut Creek. I didn't get home until 6:15. Yuck.

This run makes it official. I'm a horrific mess when it comes to fueling myself for and during long runs. I NEED YOUR HELP! What do you do? Eat? Drink? What gear do you use?

Running away from homicide can be an uphill battle

Two things happened yesterday. I completed a 5 mile run and attended the TeamChallenge kick off event at Gordon Biersch in San Francisco. Let's start from the beginning.

I headed out running around 7:30 am, which proved to be perfect timing. It was late enough that the sky was lit, but early enough to avoid the heat. In fact, it was the perfect temperature. Any earlier and the first mile or so is freezing. Pretty early on in the run, while still a bit sleepy and not yet warmed up, I took a turn off the neighborhood streets and onto a path that cuts across some open hills.

Shortly thereafter I started thinking about a book I read a few months ago about a profiler of serial killers and psychopaths. The profiler became a profiler after a 20-something woman was murdered while running in a nearby park. There was no real motive involved. She just happened to cross the isolated path of a recently dumped and distraught psychopath.

This is what I was thinking about before I noticed a scruffy looking, middle-aged man in dirty jeans and a flannel shirt slowly walking towards the path I was running on. In case you missed the subtle, underlying implication of that last sentence I will spell it out for you. This guy was not on the path. He was about 20 yards off. Just hanging out in the middle of random field first thing in the morning...creeee-pyy. Even creepier is the fact that he turned around and started walking away from the path when he saw me coming. So, I don't think I'll be running on this path again. At least not without a companion.

Needless to say, I survived and felt much better when the path spit me back out onto neighborhood streets. My next challenge was a few hills. Slightly more painful, but (all things considered) a better alternative to creepy field men. While a run up a hill is certainly no walk in the park I have to admit that I'm kind of starting to like them. Now I know what you're thinking, "Like?! Why do you use such strong words?!" And you're right. Maybe "accept" would have been a better choice.

Vocabulary aside, I feel like I'm getting better at them. If I slow down (a lot) I can make it up a hill and keep my breathing under control. And at the top of most Benician hills lies an enormous sense of accomplishment and a spectacular view.

Furthermore, I think I'm almost to the point where I can plan out a run without checking the elevation changes first. I'm also entertaining the possibility that these hill workouts will translate into faster race times! This particular 5.38 mile run was completed at an average pace of 9:58 min/mile.

Those who have read my last few posts know that I've been playing chicken with a hip (aka butt) injury. You should know that I won this round. My left (that's right, the other one) hip felt a bit sore when I finished my run. So I rolled out my yoga mat and spent some quality time stretching. I think this did the trick because they're both feeling okay today.

On to Part II! The TeamChallenge kick off event was good. I'll leave it at that. Not bad. Not amazing. As it turns out my fall calendar is so full that I'm going to miss about 75% of the weekend group runs. So I was hoping to meet a bunch of my East Bay teammates at this event. (And by teammate I mean roommate. Someone I could share a hotel room with if Jason decides not to come.) While the turnout for the event was good, most of the attendees are on the San Francisco team. I only met 5 people from East Bay and 3 of them were boys! Ewww - cooties!

What I did really enjoy was hearing everyones' reasons for participating. Almost everyone there either had Crohn's or Colitis or had an immediate family member with the disease. It was really inspiring and reminded me that all the fundraising I have to (urgh) do will make a difference in their lives.

Talking with people who have completed the fundraising before helped to. When I confessed my woes to one of the mentors and asked what his secret was he told me, "Just ask. Don't feel guilty about it. Remember that you're not doing this for yourself. You're not asking them to give YOU money." So that's what I'm going to (gulp) do.

Would you like to make a donation? You can do so here, and it's tax deductible. Only have $1? No problem. Just type your donation amount next to "Other."

Three points with an asterisk and one without

Point 1

My thoughts are consumed with fundraising. Let me clarify. I can't stop obsessing over whether I will actually be able to raise the minimum amount required. The trouble (that I didn't fully consider when I signed up for TeamChallenge) is I feel guilty asking people for money. At some level I realize that I will need to send out "that email" asking all my friends and family to donate. BUT...and I say this like a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum...I DON'T WANT TO!

But enough with the negativity. The unveiling of my race plans has brought out much love and support from my sorority sisters. Thanks and appreciaton goes out to Bonnie, Lindsey, Elsha, Sarah and Amy! And let's not forget the MOMS! (That includes both mine and Jason's.)

Stacey is also very touched by the whole ordeal and wants you to know not to be fooled by the DONATION WEBSITE. You are more than welcome to donate less than $50 by simply listing the donation YOU would like to make next to "Other." Okay, you got me. I'm actually the one that wants you to know that.

And I suppose it's a good thing that my fear of fundraising has dwarfed any fear of actually running the half, right?

Point 2

I skipped hip hop this week. You could see this coming couldn't you? I'd had enough of Mighty's boom-to-boom counting system, and Kelsea's elbow had had enough of the one-armed warm-ups. Last week we only used our right arm in the "warm-up". What's up with that?! (The quotation marks have to do with the fact that the warm-up lasts probably 30 to 45 minutes. That's half of the class. The question and exclamation marks have to do with, "What's up with that?!") We both agreed that it was a sunk cost* and went to yoga instead. After yoga Kelsea** remarked on how much better yoga is than hip hop.***

As much as I enjoyed replacing hip hop with yoga, it threw off my workout schedule this week. How else was I to cross train? Enter - the bicycle. Detailed bicycle blogging will come in the future. For now I will leave you with the expression, "It's like riding a bicycle." All my life I misunderstood its meaning. Today I realized it means scary and harder than running.

*The concept of a sunk cost may be the single most valuable lesson I learned in a college course. I have applied its principles to my own life on many occasions, and I'm a happier, more satisfied person as a result.

**Kelsea is a very smart woman with excellent taste.

***The video is coming, it's just taking awhile. I'll post a link as soon as it's up.

Point 3

In addition to being hilly, there is always wind in my neck of the woods. I find myself pushing my earbuds back in my ear every minute or two. That's way too often. It's been quite the dilemma. Then I saw a girl the other week wearing a headband covering her ears/earbuds, and I thought to myself, "What a fabulous idea!" So I ordered one from Nike and it arrived in the mail today. I'm super excited to try it out tomorrow on my long* run!

*It's really only 4 miles. But keep in mind - not too long ago I was only running 0.95 miles at a time and not too long before that I was stitting on the couch.

Point 4

This week one of my co-workers said to me, "Are you jogging again?"

Me: "Yes I am."

Co-worker: "You look smaller. Not that you looked big before. But you look noticeably smaller than you did a few weeks* ago."

A little tiny voice in my head said, "Awww shucks! Jogging! I'm a runner now!" But mostly I was pretty happy about that.

*I think he meant months.

Ode to Stacey

I have been a bit slack on the blog posts because I have been busy offline drafting my Ode* to Stacey. And after much battling with formatting / photo layout I have (alas!) arrived at a finished product. I now present to you...

The TeamChallenge Page!

*Note that if you were to replace "ode" with "dissertation" the description would likely still fit.

Marathon Inception

When I picked up my race bib for the San Francisco Marathon - 5K the other week they gave me a goodie bag. For those of you that don't know, in the racing world "goodie" is synonymous with "flyer." And one of the "goodies" in my bag was an advertisement for TeamChallenge.

TeamChallenge, in a nutshell, is an endurance training program that raises money for the Chron's and Colitis Foundation. Much like Team In Training. So I read the flyer, set it aside and forgot about it...

Or did I?

In retrospect, I think Leonardo DiCaprio must have placed that goodie in my flyer bag. The Leonardo DiCaprio recently seen in the movie Inception that is. Because the idea of TeamChallenge, however small, stuck. It camped out, stretching its limbs and making itself comfortable in the couch cushions of my subconscious. And from there it grew. It grew from after thought to curiousity. Curiousity to mild interest. Mild interest to serious consideration. And finally, serious consideration to excitement.

And excitement was my state of mind when I walked into the info meeting last night. Here I will sum up the entire info session by saying that info was distributed and jump to the end of the session. To the part where I signed up. Eeek!

That means I will officially begin training for the Rock 'N Roll Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon! Which is far less intimidating than all the fundraising I now have to do...wish me luck!