Plan for the Week, and a quick race recap

Last week...
Monday - 5 mile walk/jog down Balboa Peninsula. Holy CRAP my legs were tired after a crappy 10 miles the day before. But, I felt fantastic after the shake-out.
Wednesday - Intended to do 6x400; hit 2x400, had an asthma attack, and couldn't get my breathing under control. Called it a day after 1.75 miles. The only good thing about this was it was the first time trying speed work outside (aside from the Random 10K), and both times I hit my goal time dead on, while struggling. So that was good to know, I guess.
Friday - Best concert I've ever been to (recap here, if you're into that type of thing)
Sunday - Richard Leary 6 Hour Challenge. 13.11 run, 1.09 walk.

This week...
Monday - Recovery walk posing as Trick or Treating
Tuesday - I'd like to say hills. But I am leaning towards re-doing my 400's. I like 400's more than hills.
Thursday - Mother effing tempo run. 5 miles. Hate tempo so much.
Saturday - a billion miles....
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Richard Leary 6 Hour Challenge - Recap

Full disclosure: I woke up and almost didn't go. I was crampy (yep, that crampy), just tired, I think I'm getting a cold, it was freezing outside, etc etc etc. Then I saw ChaCha's tweet that she was on her way up from a billion miles away, and I decided I would have like a giant loser if I didn't get over to the race that was 3 minutes away from my house. Loooooser. So I did.

But I wasn't pleasant about it. Sorry, ChaCha and Sarah. It was cold.

The race was a 1.09 mile loop through Mason Regional Park, and you just run until you quit. Or time runs out, if you're way more hardcore than me. Even though this park is only a few miles from my house, and it's GIANT, and beautiful, I've only ever been here once before - this was the scene of the giant PCRF meltdown back in May.

But it is pretty.

There were a LOT of birds.

A LOT. And I am not a fan of water fowl.

I think I posted previously that I was planning on 15-ish. I told The H Saturday night I wanted to get in at least 12-13. I knew I was tired, crampy, and just wanted to take it slow and easy.

In other words, this was not a race. And I wasn't going to race it.

4 minutes run, 1 minute walk, repeat times a million. 2:35 later, 13.11 miles complete.

Of note: I had to stop for a restroom break a few times (annoying). I stopped and chatted with Sam's wife in mile 12 (If you don't know about Operation Jack, click HERE and read their story). I had some weird, new-to-me dead leg feeling in my left quad around mile 10 and walked an extra walk break. It cramped up briefly, but cleared up. My stomach was all wonky, the whole time, so I didn't end up taking as many GU as I normally would.

All of that, and only 5 minutes slower than Long Beach.

Something is seriously wrong with my brain when I put on a timing chip. I don't know what happens to me, but I suddenly develop amnesia and forget that I know how to run just fine. Someday, it will sink in, and I'll race like a human being and not a zombie.

I really liked the 1 mile looped course. It sounds like it would get easy to get bored, but I didn't feel like I got bored at all - in fact, I almost quit sometime in the mile 9.5-10 range, but talked myself into "just one more" lap... and by then I was so close to a half, I had to finish it. It's just short enough that it's pretty much nothing - I can do anything for a mile, right? For me, it was a rad distance.

The weather and the course ended up being perfect - it was lovely and cool in the shade. The sun was definitely warm, but there was plenty of shade to balance that.

After I checked in, and collected my rad medal...

I walked another lap to cool down (not counted in my official mileage), and ran into ChaCha, who was finishing her laps. We hung out, watched the rest of the runners come in, and had a grand time stretching and being lazy in the sun. Also, I was told I had the best outfit of the day. So there's that.

If my brain had been working, I would have realized how close I was to 15, and just lapped a few more times. But it's like my brain shuts off, and I cannot process coherant thoughts while I'm running. Oh well. Maybe next weekend. No hurry, right?

Team So Much Cooler Online had a good showing... (stolen from Sarah)

(Normal People Kat and ChaCha, The Flamingo, The Giant

....and then.... this happened.

Bam.