Different options

I had hoped to run a race while in Fresno. Today’s half marathon seemed to be my only option. But I was deterred by the 7 a.m. start clear across town, the hefty registration fee (the price of new pair of running shoes), nagging lower back pain and a stiff knee, a lack of distance training; and did I mention the 7 a.m. start? Maybe I was also afraid I wouldn’t do well. Instead of competing, I tested my fitness this morning by running 12K at half marathon pace on an empty stomach and with no mid-run rehydrating. I was feeling pretty good about that, and enjoyed the bonus of watching hot air balloons take off from the Clovis fair grounds. Then about a mile before getting back home, I saw runners with bibs coming toward me! They were running a 5K! Had I only known I could have included the race in my long run. Judging by the field, I would even have done quite well. To bad the race wasn’t publicized anywhere.

Gotta run…

On the run in Paducah

I’m currently in Paducah, Kentucky, visiting Brother and have been fortunate enough to attend all three of his kids extracurricular activities while here. It was exciting to see Nephew run his first cross country meet Saturday morning.

That afternoon Brother, Nephew and I entered the Paint me RAD 5K. We found out that this was NOT an actual Color Run as we had first thought, but a fundraiser for the radiology students at the local college. There was a big turnout; 500 people according to the Paducah Sun. We were told to line up, runners in the front and walkers in the back. We ran at a leisurely pace because Brother has a bad knee and, hey, this was a fun run. After the first color station my t-shirt was still white, and I had little to show for going through the second color station. Finally I actually stopped in order to get hit, but the volunteers didn’t really have their technique down. Oh well. A few hundred yards from the finish, Brother inexplicably started sprinting. I thought, ok, and followed. After crossing the invisible finish line I stepped in front of a runner to join Brother and Nephew. Said runner, who Brother dubbed Spandex Girl, immediately confronted me for not respecting the finishing order. She really had her spandex in a wad! How was I to know anyone was keeping track of who beat whom?! Later Brother explained his sudden motivation to sprint: SG had no business beating us!

Gotta run…

Bussigny 2013

Last Saturday was my second time to run the Foulée de Bussigny 11.5K. While waiting for the race to start I found a spot in the shade and visited with friends I hadn’t seen all summer. With only about 150 runners, there was very little pushing and shoving as we took off. Since the 3-lap course wasn’t the same as last year I didn’t quite know what to expect. First we wound through the village, then up a long hill in the fields. Everyone had hit their pace by then and I found myself behind a group of four or five men who powered up the hill ahead of me. At the top, we turned into the woods and started back down. I passed the group of men and was enjoying the cool shade and downhill running. But soon we left the woods and got back on the road into the village with the sun beating down on us again. I grabbed a sponge at the aid station and squeezed all the water on my head. I also downed a sports drink before starting the second lap. I ran the second lap a minute slower, but still yo-yoed with the same group of men. On the third lap the men never did pass me and I even caught sight of T. R. She is a much better runner than I am, so I felt pretty good about finishing only 20 seconds behind her. All in all it was a good race, even though I hope next year we can go back to running the whole course in the woods.

Gotta run...

La Sarraz 2013

For me, this Wednesday’s leg of the Tour du Pays de Vaud was the toughest and most disappointing. I knew that because of the heat I was likely to run a slower pace and get left behind by the two women I unexpectedly beat in Penthaz. That’s exactly what happened. G. L. passed me at the end of the killer hill halfway through the course. I valiantly hung on for about a kilometer, but that’s all I had in me and she slowly pulled away. Less than a kilometer from the finish line, S. M. passed me too and I didn’t even care enough to try to keep up. To add insult to injury, another women zipped past me right on the line. I thought maybe she wasn’t in my age group, but when the results were posted later I saw that she was.

That’s it for me. Since I’m not running the last leg of the Tour next week, I won’t be ranked and G. L. and S. M. can duke it out in Saint-Prex for second place in our age group!

Gotta run…

6-month recap

Just because I was silent from January to July doesn’t mean I was idle. In those six months I ran almost 1000 kilometers and entered 7 races. Here are a few photos from Vidy, Chavannes, Cheseaux, Jouxtens, Sauvabelin, Savigny and Romanel to prove it. 

 

Chavornay 2013

Last week during our vacation in the mountains we hiked or ran between 10 and 15 kilometers a day, climbing anywhere from 400 to 1500 meters. So I thought it would be interesting to see if that was better race preparation than the meringues and double cream of the two previous weeks! But several factors made Wednesday evening’s Chavornay race, the third leg of this year’s Tour du Pays de Vaud,  difficult to compare to the Penthaz race. Even though the distance was the same (8.5K), there was twice as much climbing in Chavornay and instead of paved roads, we ran mostly on gravel or dirt paths. Besides that I was in pain the whole second half of the race. I don’t know if it was the not-so-ripe banana I ate a half and hour before the start, or the few gulps of water I downed at the aid station, but a side stitch slowed me down considerably. Even so, my pace was only a few seconds slower than in Penthaz. So, not bad all in all. It's also impossible to compare Wednesday's race to my previous Chavornay runs because, unbeknownst to me, the course had been changed since I last ran it three years ago. We'll see next week if anything has changed in La Sarraz.

Gotta run…

Penthaz 2013

Earlier this month I spent the better part of two weeks eating meringues and double cream for breakfast, sitting at a desk all day, and indulging in heavy restaurant meals every evening. After that regime, I didn’t have high expectations for the first leg of the Tour du Pays de Vaud in Penthaz. But a few kilometers into the race I was surprised to find myself running alongside, then leaving behind, a woman whose back I recognize well. I figured I would lose steam and fall behind on the end of the hilly 8.5K course, but my pace remained steady. I was very pleasantly surprised to hear the announcer say how well I placed as I crossed the finish line. It was my best ranking ever in this series of races! If only I had brought home more meringues and double cream!

Gotta run...