Weekly Workout Recap Roundup #25

June 19 - 25

I swear that as I get deeper into summer, it's harder and harder to get these posts done on Sundays! I promise I'm working on it, but for now, you get this today which just means I'm going to keep being lazy on my actual race recap from Seattle. But you can check my Emerald City fun here if you want in the meanwhile!

Sunday

I got in from Seattle and home about 8:30 on Saturday night, so not too bad, but I slept in all I could on Sunday and took my time. Laundry, catching up on life and things with the fiance (I still love saying that so much) <3 that eventually, I headed out for a easy little recovery 5K on Sunday afternoon. It was still quite warm but manageable, and it actually felt just dang good to stretch out my legs.

3.11 miles 

Monday 
Monday morning was a different story though. I had broken out in hives or a terrible rash or reaction to something, so instead of a morning run, I bolted straight to Urgent Care to get looked at. I've never had an allergic reaction to anything so it was a) uncomfortable, b) annoying and c) kinda trippy. Not a fan - and I hope that never happens again! A lot of folks suggested it might be heat rash, but ugh! No bueno. By the time I was headed home from work, the fires in Azusa were full-on and there was ash and smoke everywhere, so I hopped on the treadmill for a few quick miles to get it in for the day.

2.25 miles

Tuesday
I was feeling extra motivated  on Tuesday and did a double day - which I had hoped to do a few times this week to pick up some extra miles to try and catch up to the girls who are kicking our run streak butt! 4.26 miles in the morning and 3 more to wrap up the day - what a high! This is the feeling I'd been missing. Yes.

7.26  miles

Wednesday 
I think I ran so hard and slept so hard on Tuesday night, I popped up Wednesday morning for more miles and was ready to go. I went up to the PET, our trail, which I've not been on in what felt like forever for a morning run.

I stayed later than I'd planned at work, just trying to catch up on things and simultaneously get ahead, and found myself scrambling to leave and uncertain if I'd actually make it to work on time. Thankfully, I bolted home, changed and got to have a much-needed deep breathing session with the fabulous Veronica. Aaaah. 

4.25 miles + 60 minutes yoga 

Thursday 
Three treadmill miles. This was the point in the week where I was finally feeling that it got hard - treadmill miles at the end of the day were just tough. But I was itching to get more than just one mile in, so ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

3 miles 

Friday
Doug left for Vegas on Friday morning and I spent the entire day running errands, trying on dresses (!), and trying to get ish done. Molly and I headed out for an easy run-walk to end the evening. Easy is even an understatement, as that seemed tough at some point, too, but miles in the bank and easy ones to save my legs a little for Saturday morning!

3.30 miles 

Saturday 

I finally got to head out to the run club - I haven't been in close to two months - and run with two of my favorite girls, Arlene and Monica. It was an amazing 90 minutes of catch up time on Arlene's new job, moving adventures, boy drama, wedding planning and all kinds of fun.

And naturally, when it's a billion degrees, 10 miles gets followed by all the watermelon you can eat. Mmmm .

10 miles 

Total for the week: 33.17. Booyah.

How was your week? Make sure you link up below!

Emerald City Fun

 It was during Rock ‘n Roll San Diego that Linz and I discovered we were actually on the same flight up to Seattle. Convenient, yes? Yes. Since I was picking up my dad the night before at SNA, and we were flying out of Long Beach, I stayed in Chino, and got picked up at o’dark thirty for our 9 am flight up to Seattle! (Big thanks to Jet Blue for my airline ticket! Through my ambassadorship with Run Racing for the Holiday Half, I was able to earn a free flight on Jet Blue! Hello racecation!)

We were up in Seattle by 11:30 and quickly met up with Briana, Libby and Libby’s friend Lindsey – this weekend can begin! We knew Friday would be a whirlwind and with all of 30ish hours in the Emerald City, we needed to hit the ground running (pun intended) - we were all staying in different places, so Linz and Paul took off and we knew we'd catch up with them at the We Run Social later in the day anyhow. Briana hopped off the Link and Libby, Lindsey and I made our way to our score of a hotel (Paramount Hotel near the Space Needle. We super lucked out). 

After checking in and getting situated and our phones charged a bit, we headed back down to Pioneer Square to meet up with Briana and Andrew for lunch. Briana called dibs on Tat's Deli and holy wow - delicious. A must-eat if you're back up in Seattle any time soon! Half the crew had Tat's noteworthy pastrami, and I devoured a massive meatball sub, because you can never go wrong with meatballs!

  

Finish line going up near Century Link! See you tomorrow, finish line! 

After lunch, we hopped back on the Link to make our way down to CenturyLink field to get our bibs and packet pick up done before the meet up. Easy peasy - the expo had started Thursday, so Friday afternoon was just quiet enough to get in through bibs, shirts, and the front store pretty quickly.

 Briana's #poseoftheday: group tree pose!

And then meet up fun! Linz, Carlee and I got to host the WRS meet up in conjunction with the super fab folks at ProCompression. New friends, reconnecting with old friends, putting faces to Instagram handles - SO. MUCH. FUN. Thank you to everyone that joined us and we hope you a) had a blast b) won some socks or hats or visors and c) will come back again soon! I had a blast meeting you all!

Thank you everyone! <3

PC love. 

Rock 'n Bloggers. 

Me, Linz & Carlee. Love these two!

  After the meet up, we took some time to wander through the entire expo itself, including playing on Brooks riding shoes, trying to win some free shoes, filling in for Sparkly Soul just a little bit, and then getting on with the rest of the fun! And by then... we were beat. It was nearly 5:30 already! And we had a city to go see! Both Libby and Shelby hadn't been to Seattle before, and while I had, it'd been a solid 15 years since I had, so I still wanted to poke around a little bit too!

In keeping up with my run streak though, I still had a mile to get in. Libby and I deeply contemplated taking the monorail to the Space Needle (and then we could run a mile back), or do we just do the treadmill in the hotel? We eventually settled on the 'mill and busted out a quick mile so we could get on with dinner and on with our short touristing time! We were literally a mile from the Needle, so we took the monorail up and spent our evening playing around the famed landmark. 

Despite some slight rain earlier, the sky had broken up a bit and our trip to the top of the Space Needle totally lucked out: pretty clear, gorgeous evening, sunset in progress. It couldn't have gotten any better.

We also purchased a combo ticket to get into the Chihuly Gardens & Glass exhibit which I'd been dying to go through. Gorgeous, breathtaking and to think... it's all glass. I was totally and completly blown away! 

Could. Not. Get enough! 

Clearly.

Me, Libby, & Lindsey!

After nearly three hours up in the park, we decided it was a much needed end to our day - grabbed dinner, ate back in our room, got race day ready and hit the hay about 11 for our early wake up. Thankfully, since we were so close to the start, we didn't have to head out super duper early - especially with that rain forecast, we were a little uncertain about what the morning would actually have in store for us!

Hoping #FlatMegan would be enough - please don't rain!

Race day recap coming soon - but  I can't wait to share how much fun I had! 

What are other must-sees or dos in Seattle for next time I'm there?

Weekly Workout Recap Roundup #24

June 12 - June 18

I'm so grateful for the #RWrunstreak. At the same time, I hate that I'm so stubborn that I won't quit even though the last few days, even running one mile has been hard. But whatever, we're on Day 15 now and that's just shy of halfway through, so why quit now? I'm in fourth place amongst our challengers, but hopefully I can jump back up with some decent runs (and #RnRSEA on Saturday!).

Sunday

I don't even remember what Sunday was. Wait! I think it was finally getting to sleep in, enjoy the morning in bed, and do a lot of nothing. Doug and I went down to my parents' house to take care of the yards (they've been in Ireland for two and a half weeks), then stopped by his family's house to see our niece, and other random errands. This mile literally was me hopping out of the car at the red light at the freeway offramp and running home. Literally one mile from the freeway to our front door - win!

1.01 miles, 9:45 pace

Monday 
After work, I headed out to get groceries because you know, it's halfway through the month and I hadn't yet. Got home, unpacked, started making the lasagna for dinner, went to the gym, ran enough to feel statisfied (because finally more than just one mile!) and got home to put the lasagna together and get it in the oven so it'd be ready when Doug was home. Success.

1.63 miles 

Tuesday
Quick miles after work. Nothing to write home about. :)

1.25 miles

Wednesday 
Because I went to bed semi-early on Tuesday and despite waking up at midnight for an hour, I popped out of bed at 5:30 am with my alarm and figured I'd get started on my day. I had already scheduled a continuation of trail Wednesdays with Jacky, but why not get some more in?

After work, I bolted home, changed, and bolted out to Claremont to meet Jacky for our trail run before yoga. Maybe I do too much on Wednesdays... at any rate, Jacky and I trekked through our favorite 5 mile loop, got it done in just under an hour, and then we both bolted over to Fleet Feet for yoga. THAT hurt. Whew! I could tell I hadn't really practiced in three weeks. Yowch. Looking forward to a session this week and hopefully a little at-home practice time. Aaaaaah.

3.26 miles, treadmill
5.00 miles, trail at Claremont Loop

Thursday 
Thursday ws crazy. I needed to sleep past my alarm, so I allowed myself to. Got up, packed for Seattle (because there's nothing like waiting until the last minute!), worked, bolted home, grabbed the pup and headed down to Orange County to pick up my dad from the airport! Woo! Molly was real excited to have him home. :) After I got back home with him, I ran a quick sprint-like mile around the block before calling it a day. Success.

1 mile 

Friday
My flight to Seattle was at 9 am out of Long Beach (an hour away, at least, on any given Friday morning that early) so I intended to be up at the crack of dawn... but we all know how that works out. So, instead, after a full day of travel and traipsing around Seattle, Libby and I actually made it to our hotel's treadmills before dinner and bolted out one, quick mile before making our way here:

We played at the Space Needle and the Chihuly Gardens & Glass exhibits before calling it a night - with nearly 9 miles on the day, it was time to call it done!

Saturday 

Yesterday I got to run the super fabulous, super fun Rock 'n Roll Seattle. Washington is officially half marathon state #10 done on my list. I had an awesome 36 hours up in the PNW - race recap coming Monday, pending that I can get unpacked, get laundry done and still breathe some today! Coming home from a race-cation (no matter how short!) is exhausting!

I can't recommend RnR Seattle enough, but more on that this week! I had a great day and a half playing in the city, running a gorgeous course and even enjoying a little rain! Aaaaah. What a relief.

How was your week? Make sure you link up below!

Friday Favorites #21: Seattle Bound!

It's FRIIIIIIIIIIDAYYYYYYYYY! And this is one special post -- all about my next two days' worth of shenanigans.

Which also means that I'm on a plane (with Linz no less!) and Seattle bound for Rock 'n Roll Seattle! I haven't been to Seattle in like 15 years, so though I'm only up in the PNW for something like 37 hours, I am pumped to see some more #RocknBlog friends, chill in the 70 degree weather (versus the forecasted 100 here in So Cal) this weekend, run and just have a blast. Views don't hurt either, so excited to run through another new city and take it all in!

I'm staying with a fellow Sparkly Soul ambassador, Libby, and her sorority sister who's in for some fun! I finally got to meet Libby in person in San Diego, so yay for a weekend to hang out too! After Sharpie and I land, we're teaming up with Carlee host to the #WeRunSocial meet up with Pro Compression. My first time hosting and it's going to be a BALL. Be there. You won't regret it.

This blue beauty will be mine tomorrow morning and I'm stoked to say that I will be then crossing off Washington and state #10 on my quest to run a half marathon in all 50 states. Boom.

A little more post-race fun, including a finish line concert with the New Pornographers, and then... it all comes to a crashing halt tomorrow evening when I come back to So Cal and some searing, toasty 100-degree weather! Womp.

Who's headed to Seattle this weekend?

Weekly Workout Recap Roundup #23

June 5 - June 11 

I'm so grateful for the #RWrunstreak. At the same time, I hate that I'm so stubborn that I won't quit even though the last few days, even running one mile has been hard. But whatever, we're on Day 15 now and that's just shy of halfway through, so why quit now? I'm in fourth place amongst our challengers, but hopefully I can jump back up with some decent runs (and #RnRSEA on Saturday!).

Sunday | Rock 'n Roll San Diego 

I ran a half mile to the start line. And then ran a terrible race day, but had a fun day overall. You can read that here. Or, if you don't want to, know that I crushed my personal worst time and ran (errr... walked) to a 2:58 finish. So there's that. But lots of fun with these two, who truly made it an experience about fun versus finish times.

Here's to hoping that Seattle is WAY better - but just as much fun!

14.2 miles (yeahhh Garmin ran really long!), 2:58:46 for the race

Monday 
I honestly remember nothing about this run. Treadmill mile, probably, after work just to get out and say I did it. Fun?

1.11 miles 

Tuesday
Morning miles with Molly to start a Tuesday. I had to get this one in in the morning because that evening, after work, I headed down to my parents' city council meeting because they won the city's home beautification award for June! They're out in Ireland, so my aunt, uncle and I accepted it on their behalf. So silly, but so fun!

1.3 miles 

Wednesday 
Trail days are back! My girls (the BABs) and I are doing the Griffith Park Trail Relay Marathon+ in July, so it's time to get on the trail and get to work. This particular day was ridiculously hot, and Jacky and brought the pups, so we took it easy on the way up and then bolted back down. Success - Molly was passed out in the front seat before we were even a block away!

5.10 miles 

Thursday 
Meh?

1.11 miles

Friday | 1.25 miles 
More Molly miles! Seriously, this girl is going to get back in shape with me. She likes it, I promise!

Saturday | 1 mile 

Saturday was another 12 hour day at work with another round of new student orientation. With that, I know I need to save every little bit I've got for being on my feet for 6+ miles and 13 hours. 1 mile, one and done. Saturday after work I finally to get out with my girls too - we haven't all seen each other together in SO FREAKING LOT and we had a LOT to celebrate! Engagement, babies, BQs and PRs and so much to catch up on! It was a fabulous girls' night out - love them all so much and love what they've added to my life!

Still working on this apparently comeback. I mean, I am running another half marathon on Saturday morning. Doesn't mean I'm in shape, but I can do it! I've got work to do, as I'm starting Long Beach training next week! (Crap.)

How was your week? Make sure you link up below!

Race Report: Rock 'n Roll San Diego Half Marathon

Rock 'n Roll San Diego Half Marathon

June 5, 2016 | San Diego, CA

A few days later, and this is still kind of a rough pill to swallow. The short version? I ran my personal worst half marathon ever. I can't even use the word ran. I walked. I walked my personal worst half ever. And better yet, I crushed my personal worst time! 

Let's start with Saturday. While in the middle of a 13-hour day on campus (yay orientation season!), I started seeing tweets and Insta updates from lots of folks (namely the #Fontana2SD crew) about the Temecula fire that had I-15 closed for a number of hours. What should have been a 2 hour drive turned into 8 for some of these people! It was at that point, that I seriously contemplated not making the drive, backing out of Sunday's race, and just calling it a day. I told Doug this when I got home at 7 pm, but he kindly reminded me that I'd be pissed at myself later if I didn't go - so at 8:30 pm, I made my way down to San Diego. Though the 15 was half open, that still doesn't do a lot of good on that freeway, so I took a detour and made my way to the 5 and down from there - still a 2 hour drive - and crashed on Jessica's couch about 10:30 pm. What a day. 

Because I didn't make it to the expo on Saturday (duh), I needed to be up & at it extra early on Sunday to get to Solutions and get to my bib. I was up and out of Jess' place about 5:20 to jog the half mile to the start line, and the extra quarter-mile to the Solutions table (which was the furthest table from the start line out of all of them. What the hekc?!). On the way I ran into Michael - many thanks to the freakin' awesome Neon Waves. Lemme tell you, they stand out.

Post-Solutions, I ran my way back to the start line for the epicness to begin: pre-race photos with the Pro crew (heyyyyy, nice socks!), We Run Social crew, all the blogger friends I've been dying to meet - all in one place! Best ever.

All the socks! These Neon Waves POP, don't they?

Best crew ever.

So originally my race day plan was to run with Ashley and we were gonna push ourselves and run a nice sub-2. She pulled her hamstring, however, on Saturday during the 5K and wasn't certain about her abilities on Sunday (spoiler: she didn't even end up running!). :( This also contributed to my almost-decision to not even drive down for the race - I needed a new race day plan! After such a long day on Saturday, I wasn't even sure that a sub-2 was do-able, let alone on untrained legs lately.

Rock 'n Roll introduced a new course this year that was a lot gentler compared to last year's rolling hills. 

.

I actually REALLY enjoyed this new course - many of the killer hills we ran UP last year were ones we ran down this year, but you still got some of the great neighorhoods - the tequila shots and donuts in North Park, the drag cheerleaders, and tons of local high school cheer squads all along the way. 

I started the race with a few of the WRS / Rock n Blog crew, but ended up running a mile or so with David (sweetest family ever!). We caught up to Linzie and Sarah, who was struggling with some dehydration from Fontana the day before, so they were kinda run walking at this point. David took off (byeeee) and I hung around with Linz and Sarah. Good decision. We ran, we walked, we talked  a lot. We had donuts, drank some champagne... all in good fun.

Whatcha doin' there, Sarah?

Give me all the donuts, please.

And then, just before mile 5, it happened. Linzie and Sarah were just steps ahead of me, and mid-stride, I felt my whole body go in a circle and just said "Whoaaa" out loud. They both turned around and said that I had gone ghost-white, and I just felt dizzy. We walked back to the beer stand we had just passed in some guy's yard, asked if they had water. I took a few sips and sat down for a few, when Smitha had caught up to us and hung out for a few. I started feeling a little better, so we got up and kept moving - still a walk (mostly), but kept going.

At this point, I knew this race was going to be a whatever kind of day. Thank goodness I didn't have any real goals on the line. The new course is definitely PR-friendly in my eyes, but it just wasn't one of those kind of days. We joked about mile 6 that we could totally run a personal worst, if we were going to have goals at all (Sarah's was 2:46, mine 2:48). While we didn't want to aim for such a time, it was still totally do-able. 

And then we just kept going. Ran strides a block or so long, ran down hills, but walked and had fun. Truthfully, I would have been a mess if it weren't for Linz and Sarah, and I am grateful they were there to relish in the craptastic race it had become.

Lots of photos, lots of Snaps, lots of fun. Lots of laughing at the sheer disbelief about what the day had turned into. At least those two had run Fontana the day before - while I'd been on my feet 13 hours the day before, I didn't feel tired. After all, I had done the same thing last year (worked on Saturday, ran on Sunday) and felt fine. When I told my boss this on Monday morning, he said "Well, yeah, you were younger last year!" Thanks dude. Just a reminder that I'm getting old! 

New personal worst: check. 

And then we finished. The last three miles or so were the same as last year's, but instead of turning down to Petco Park, you run into downtown, up a slight hill and finish on Ash Street. The finish line funnel was a TOTAL cluster, and I immediately hated the new finish line area. Waterfront Park is great, but cannot sufficiently hold the size of the race that San Diego is. Sarah and I hung around, chatted with friends, found new friends, watched Gavin DeGraw for a song or two and then made our way to the We Run Social meet up: our crew!

I only got to hang out at the social for a bit, as I had stuff waiting for me at home, but I loved getting to see soooo many blends this year! Last year, I was pretty much in for the race and back out again, and hated that I missed so many people. This year was just lots of selfies, lots of photos and lots of FUN! Despite a terrible personal race day, this was a day that confirmed what the running community is all about. 

So there it is. A terrible personal race day experience. Awesome new course (minus the finish line). Awesome city - America's Finest City for a reason. But lots of fun - truly. I was definitely feeling the dehydration (what I've deemed the cause of my dizzyness) on Monday, and Monday was tough. Ya live, ya learn, right? 

On to the next one! I'm running Seattle in a week and  a half and determined to make that a slightly better race day!

Did you rock and roll through San Diego? What'd you think of the new course?

PST! You can get in on a limited pre-sale for next year's races. The half marathon is only $50 and the full is only $59. Act fast, it's closing soon! Race weekend is June 3-4, 2017.