Storm the Castle and Open Cockpit

I have been running now for 7 months at various organized race events and have never entered with any type of placing in mind.  It has all been about completing the race.  Of course I enter will a goal time in mind, but never to place or finish in the top.  After completing the half marathon knowing there were two local races coming up I decided it was time to give a short distance my all.  I entered a 5K and then this Storm the Castle 10K the following weekend.  These distances were intimidating 7 months ago, but now they can be completed in less than a full workout at the gym.  I placed 3rd overall female at the 5K and second at this one and 1st in my age division with a PR of 51:14. I still feel like I could have pushed harder, but I found another Mom from the boys school and we were running together until the end when she dropped back a little.  Next time, I'll push a little harder!

With the entry of this race your bib got you free entry into the Open Cockpit event at Castle.  The race ran through the museum area early that morning which was pretty cool.  The boys love this event even though we have been several times.  There are so many airplanes that we haven't been inside them all even yet.  Garrett and Gannon made their first model airplanes and of course enjoyed the kettle corn and bounce house. 

Garrett is not a fan of climbing stairs and getting inside the compartments of the airplanes.  I do think he has a little fear of heights (outside the bounce house slide) and small spaces.  Overall, fun day!

Giants Game

The Giants game was next on our agenda for the weekend and the boys were so excited.  Dave likes to take the boys every year to a Sunday Giants game because they can run the bases after the game.  Garrett is playing on the Giants for T-Ball this year and as become a HUGE baseball fan.  We rode the bart and Muni to get to the game from Pleasanton and that was more exciting than the game to Gannon.  I thought the boys would love to play on the big Coke slide at the game and it was fun, once!  Garrett just kept asking to go back to his seat so he could watch the game.  It was cute.  Gannon was his crazy little self with his blankie and sideways hat.  The entire time his hat was on it had to be off to the side.  Don't know where that came from, but it's how he wanted it.  Garrett's favorite part of the game when we asked at the end was running the bases, Gannon's was riding the Muni!  Fun day with funny boys!

Pleasanton Half Marathon

When we planned our summer trip Dave saw that the Missoula Marathon (half for me) was taking place while we would be in Montana.  After thinking for a long time I decided that I was a little nervous for that to be my first one because of the higher elevation.  I thought I try to plan one prior to our trip. 

A friend from work is a seasoned half marathon runner and sent me the link to the Pleasanton Half Marathon hoping we would do it together.  Since spring is Dave's busy time of the year I told her it would have to be a Sunday race so he could be home with the boys.  Well, it ended up that she couldn't do this weekend after all, but it was also Dave's weekend off of judging teams prior to State Finals.  Perfect!

After contemplating, I decided to go for it!!!  We booked a hotel and thought we'd make a weekend of it.  I had a few weeks to up my miles and train for the distance.  I'd done 10 miles runs in the weeks prior so I wasn't concerned about the first 10, but was a little nervous about adding 3 more.  It should be no surprise that I'm not a "gel" person for the boost of energy during the runs, I want to do it all natural.  This too made me nervous, do I really need the gels for energy?, can I really do this?  Two weeks prior to the race I ran a great 12 mile run.  Faster pace than my normal runs and I had no idea what I did different, but whatever! The week prior to the race Dave was out of town for the entire weekend so in order to get a run in I had a babysitter come over on Sunday morning.  I didn't want to get her up too early so I didn't start running until around 8 and it was quite a warm morning that day = crappy 8 mile run! Pace still was under a 9 minute mile, but dang was it hot.  This made me more nervous for the 13.1 mile run I had signed up for. 

With lots of self talk, I told myself "whats 1.1 more miles to your run!" Actually let me back track, at a book exchange I picked up the book, "Ultramarathon Man" by Dean Karnazes.  What a motivating book! If he can run 200 miles in one race, I could surely do 13.1! 

The day prior to the race we drove over to the bay area and did some shopping.  When I had the good 12 mile run a couple weeks back I had eat some Wetzel Pretzel bites and thought maybe they were the carb load that I needed.  So I grabbed some at the mall.  For dinner I didn't feel like much so I had a baked sweet potato and a small slice of pizza. 

Race day, I got up at 5 and sat in the hotel bathroom eating my oatmeal, a few bites of banana and having my coffee.  I know in the bathroom! I didn't want to wake Dave and the boys.  Dave Sr. offered to picked me up at 6 and give me a ride so the boys could sleep in.  We got to the park a little early so he stay and hung out in the car with me for a bit. 

2,000 racers lined up in the time slots that fit their running and I seeded myself in between the 2 hour and the 2:10 pacers.  This meant I planned to finish someone between 2 hour to 2:10 race time.  Put the music and run!  I honestly couldn't even tell you who was around me or where we went, I just ran!  Spacing into la la land and every once in a while thinking of Dean Karnazes words of encouragement, "one foot in front of the other".  I had told myself I was "running" a half marathon so that meant NO walking!  There were a couple of times I wanted to walk, but the though quickly left my mind and I ran the entire race.  Dave, Dave Sr. and the boys were at the finish line to cheer me on as I finished. 

2:04:56 was my finishing time!  Under a 9 minute mile average and I was happy with that!

As soon as I finished, Garrett wanted to pretend race with me.  I couldn't run anymore!  Sorry Buddy Mom is tired!

I am so glad I did this run and after my back never hurt!  See and it would have listened to the doctor I would have never reached my goal!  Push through injuries as Dean Karnazes does and do what you do - RUN!!!

Still undecided for the Missoula Half!