I'M BACK!

Long time no see...

Where have I been?!

I know it's been a while since my last post. 7 months to be exact. There have been a lot of changes in my life that contributed to this absence, plus a lot of soul searching that got a bit in the way of blogging. 

When I finished my last blog post in April, I had finished my first ultramarathon and was at a high point personally, but a low point professionally. I was super unhappy at the company I was working for, although I loved the industry and job position I was in. It took me a long time to think through what was making me unhappy, and decided to take the plunge and change jobs. Since then, I have moved to a much happier place with Fleet Feet Sports in Menlo Park, but the transition between jobs was tougher than I imagined it would be. 

I attempted to make this job transition while also training for back to back marathons, planning my honeymoon, transitioning my run group, trying to create (2!) new companies, and creating a new outlook on life for myself. It was just too much.

Needless to say, I ended up getting a little lost in all this, a little confused, and a lot busy. This lead to me performing poorly and peaking too early in my training, gaining too much weight, and culminated in a much to be desired performance at my marathon, Bizz Johnson, as well as a downgrade from marathon to half marathon in Nike. 

I'm smiling in this picture of myself at NWM 2012, but really inside I was super disappointed in myself for not being able to complete the full.

I felt a overwhelmed and disappointed in myself after these two races, and I let all the things I was attempting to change in my life spiral out of control. My goal of getting my race directing company off the ground in 2012 didn't happen. My performance I was hoping and had been working for at my marathons didn't happen. My hard work at my previous job was ending up having to be squandered. All these negative points in my life during the last part of 2012 are the biggest reasons I haven't been blogging. I honestly just felt like nothing I was doing in my life was going anywhere, and I was incredibly disappointed in myself and a little ashamed to show that disappointment to the world.

I realize now that was probably a mistake. I should have written about it and shared it with the world. Not every race is a victory, not every run feels good, not every job turns out the way you wanted it to, and sometimes things take a little longer than you thought. I think expressing my feelings through writing might have actually helped me figure out where I was mentally with everything, but I guess that is a mistake I have hopefully learned from now. 

Where I am now!

Anyways, after Nike, I decided to take some serious time off from racing. I needed a reset. I needed to realize where I was in my new job without letting the pressure of ongoing races get in the way. I got some needed rest with my honeymoon to Kauai and I got home feeling refreshed emotionally, but still not ready to seriously get into running. When I returned, I got better adjusted to Fleet Feet and really allowed myself to become a part of that incredible environment. I also took some more time off from seriously running and decided to recommit myself to my run group which had always centered me. 

Hawaii really helped me in remembering how to be in happy in life.

These decisions really helped me to remember why I loved running. 

Everyone I work with at Fleet Feet loves what they do and helping people find that love too. Period. That kind of passion is pretty infectious, and it helped me bounce back from my jaded, negative view of the running industry and infused in me a sense of purpose at the store and in my own running. I found a new family and a new set of friends with my coworkers. They make me so happy to go to work everyday, and I had forgotten how good that feels. The most important thing is that I feel so wanted there, and like I'm truly a part of something.

How can these people not make you happy to go to work everyday?!

I also realized what a wonderful family I had in my run group, and this reinvigorated me to get more serious about being an organizer for the group. I threw myself back into organizing, relearning my love for getting people together to engage in a happy and healthy activity. I also decided to do an end of the year gathering, and it made me realize all over again how much I love organizing these weekly runs with my good friend Mike. I've realized more than ever right now how much of a sense of purpose Go Far has given me. 

Some of my favorite people ever at Go Far's 2012 End of the Year Celebration.

Throughout all this hard internal and external work at my job and my run group, I still had no desire to train or race. Then a friend of mine at my new workplace started talking to me about this amazing race in Oregon, the Gorge Waterfalls 50K. For the first time in almost 5 months, I started feeling excited about running again. So now I have a brand new goal for a new year in 2013. 

Goals for 2013

I have lots of plans for 2013. I want to perform at my peak performance for Gorge. I don't want life changes to get in the way of my major goal. I'm the heaviest I've been, well, ever in my life, and it's time to get it under control. Losing weight will help me ultimately perform my best at Gorge. I want to continue to work hard at work, but also remember my own personal goals for race directing and try to focus more on that this year. I don't want to promise myself I'll get it off the ground this year and end up being disappointed in myself if it doesn't happen. I just want to do my best and see what happens. My final goal is going to be to run fewer races in 2013, but to run those races with a high quality and high intensity. In order to do this, I'm going to try to run 2013 miles in 2013. I'm going to run way fewer races in 2013 than I did in 2012 (I ran 14 races, all at least half marathons in 2012). 

So, expect to see many more blog posts from me this year than last year. I'm excited to show you my progress in my 4 major goals for 2013:

1. Lose 28 pounds

2. Perform at my peak ability at Gorge Waterfalls

3. Do work on getting my race directing company off the ground

4. Run 2013 miles in 2013

I hope you enjoy the journey and I can't wait to share it with you. That's all for now!

Remember, keep running!

TOMORROW.

Tomorrow is the big day. 26.2 through San Francisco. I have gotten lots of sleep and eaten a lot over the past couple of days. I have been seriously stressing out all week, but today all I feel is so much excitement and happiness. My 3 miler this morning felt strong and good, and I know tomorrow I'm just going to have to remember to stay CALM and run SLOW. I have my goal set at 4:15 right now, hopefully I will be able to make that. For me, it will be challenging and I will have to stay on pace the whole time. No going out too fast and dying at the end. I have done that way too many times, and I should learn my lesson!

I am about to head out to the expo now, and I will try not to spend too much money on all the sweet gear Nike will have out there! I'll post pics/race results when I get back on Sunday!

NWM 26.2, here I come.

Friday Race Review

It's Friday, and that means the weekend is within reach! Each week on Friday, I will review a race or two coming up that weekend, ones coming up the next weekend, and then once coming up a month or so away! So, let's roll!

Muddy Buddy San Jose
This weekend's main event is undoubtedly the Muddy Buddy event in San Jose. This event is put on by the Competitor Network, which has given us such fine races as Rock 'n' Roll San Jose. The race will kick off at 8AM on October 9, 2011 at the Joseph D. Grant Regional Park. What's the deal with this one? You will run/bike 6.3 miles with a buddy through 5 obstacles.

You start out at the start line, one of you on the bike, one of you running, and then you both are off! The biker will bike to the first obstacle, complete it, leave the bike for the runner coming behind them, and then run to the next obstacle and wait for the first runner (now biker) to catch up to them. Bikes are left at a transition point at each obstacle for the buddy who is currently running to pick up and ride to the next transition point.

What is the whole deal with it being muddy? Well, at the end you have to crawl through a mud pit with your buddy in order to complete the race.

Check out the course map for the obstacles. They look pretty awesome. This race is definitely not for the faint of heart. There is no elevation map on the course map, but from the description it looks like it's going to be a hilly one.

Nike Women's Half and Full Marathon
Since I am training for it, I of course have to talk up the Nike Women's half and full marathon occurring in San Francisco next weekend. It will happen on October 16, 2011 at 7AM and will kick off  from Union Square, San Francisco. Best part? The awesome finisher's prize. Usually you get a finisher's medal, but not at this awesome event. Instead, you will get an official Tiffany & Co. necklace handed to you by San Francisco firefighters at the end. Ummm, I call that some major motivation when I start struggling around mile 15.

You may get a shiney new piece of race memorabilia, but they definitely make you work for it. There are some nice hills in this one. Check out mile 6 and 11. That's almost 300 feet of climbing they make you do. Oh, and they make you do it twice! Thank god for the hill workouts I got at Bear Creek and Ragnar. I'm biking the course next week, so I'll let you know how gnarly those hills are in person then.

Firefly 5K and Oktoberfest 5K
In case you weren't one of the lucky to get the lottery in at Nike, there are some other cool races in the Campbell area. I know a few people who are making these races a two-fer, so I will review them together.

Kick off your morning with the Campbell 4th Annual Oktoberfest 5K Run/Walk. The race begins at 9AM at Campbell park. The race route is right along the Los Gatos Creek Trail, which I have run about a million times since I have moved to Campbell. This is going to be a flat, easy one that you can definitely PR on.

Afterwards, there's lots of drinking festivities in honor of the great German Oktoberfest. There will be German beer, food, and music in downtown Campbell.

Don't drink too much though, because later on that night you should hit up the Firefly. The Firefly 5K is a night course kicking off at 7:30PM from Dana Ave. in San Jose. Since it's at night, they throw in some pretty cool, unique race swag including LED lights with reflective material and a glow in the dark participant bracelet. The course looks pretty sane, and is close to where the R'n'R took place. Hopefully those sausages you ate earlier in the day won't hinder your time for this run!

Morgan Hill Marathon & Half
Lastly, but certainly not least, is the Morgan Hill Half and Full. This is going to be one beautiful race. This is a second year race, and I have heard nothing but good things about the first year event put on last year. The race director knows what he is doing, is organized, and it definitely shows. The half and full kick off at the same time on October 23, at 8AM.

The half course looks like a challenge! You will have about a 400 feet elevation climb in the first 6 miles, but once you make it through that first half you are definitely rewarded. An almost 300 feet elevation drop from mile 6 to 7, a roughly flat course until you hit mile 10, and then a small hill leading you to a downhill roll into the finish.

The full course seems to follow about the same pattern. rolling hills always leading ever upward taking you from a starting elevation at about 400 ft to your first major peak at about 600 ft around mile 10. You get rewarded briefly with a small downhill before you climb another 200 ft between miles 14 and 16. The downhill after 16 looks pretty epic. You drop from 700 feet to below 350 in under a mile. Make sure you save your knees though, you still have some rolling hills to deal with for the rest of the course. Overall, looks like a challenging, but very do-able, full course.


Well, that's my race recap for this week. If you are running Muddy Buddy this weekend, let us know how it goes! If you are gearing up for Morgan Hill, Nike, the Firefly, or the Oktoberfest, let us know too! What's your goal time? How long have you been training? Are you planning on making it a double with the morning and night run on the 15th?

Until next time, happy running!

And so it begins!

Well, this is my first post on my blog! Full disclosure, I work for a local running store and a lot of my running experiences are tied to that. It definitely puts a weird spin on my relationship with the running community, because not only am I an avid runner, I am also a part of the business side of the activity. I am a grassroots marketer, which essentially means I have the best job ever. I get to talk to runners every day, meet local race directors, try out new and interesting stuff all the time, and I get to see the best new running products super early!

So, I found myself asking, and you may be asking as well, What is the purpose of this blog? I find myself in such a cool position, as both a consumer and seller of running EVERYTHING that I wanted to write about it and share it with the world. I will be talking about the experiences I have had as a runner, how it feels to be a woman runner in what feels like a pretty guy-filled world, what new products I have been able to test out, and what cool and exciting new running events are coming up. Hopefully, that will all be interesting to YOU, my reader! If there is anything you want me to talk about that you think I might have some insight on, shoot me an email or leave it in the comments!

So, what am I up to right now? Currently, I am training for my FIRST FULL marathon! Crazy! It will be Nike Women's Marathon, and it is happening in a couple of weeks. Boy, I am getting scared! I have heard tons of horror stories about the hills, the wind, the cold, etc. etc., but I am so excited! Have you run the Nike Women's before? What's the good? What's the bad? Any advice for first time marathoners? I know I could certainly use any and all advice!

Of course, the most important question is, what kind of shoes am I going to be wearing? They are my old standbys, the shoes I have been running in (through many different models) for the past 4 years. They are... the Asics Gel Cumulus! I have found them to be perfect for my long runs. They aren't too heavy, but they still have enough cushioning to protect me against my old nemesis plantar fasciitis (more on that later). They are a bit stiff, but I find I like that much more than a softer shoe. It gives me enough "go" power to not feel like I am slogging through sand. I'll definitely expand on this review a bit more in the future, but I think this is a long enough post for now.

Goal time for this bad boy? I don't have one! It's my first, so my major goal is finishing! Originally, I had a goal time set for sub-4, but after talking to many runners, they all recommended I take it slow on my first so I have a sweet PR to beat my next time out. I think I will take them up on that advice!

I'm off for now, but be sure to stay tuned for funny stories about running, a girl's insight into running products out there, and how my running challenges are going. Hopefully you will be able to relate and add advice for both me and other runners out there!