The Neverending Finish Line

We are 11 days into 2013, and so far, I have worked out for 7 of the 11 days. Today, I finally get to take a day off from the workouts. I need to rest my legs, because we are scheduled for a 20 miler tomorrow morning. I haven't done a 20 miler since last October, when I was training for the NYC Marathon. Hopefully tomorrow we can both hang in there, although Dave's leg has been bothering him since the New Year's Race.

When it comes to healthy eating, my main enemy comes in the form of sugary sweet goodness. I love dessert, and I usually indulge when a craving hits. Obviously, its sort of a problem for me since I am trying to lose weight. So finding substitutes for my sugar cravings helps with this problem.

One of my friends posted a recipe for Almond Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding on her blog yesterday. The recipe caught my eye because I already had all of the ingredients, and it looked simple to make. Was it ever! I threw the ingredients in a container last night, mixed em up, and tasted it this morning. So delicious! And it's healthy, but its a dessert too! I am seriously so happy that Katie posted this recipe, and I've definitely found an easy go-to dessert to make and eat when a sugar craving hits.

I am going to make a concerted effort to post more frequently. Ideally, posting about my workouts and nutrition will keep me on track and accountable for my actions, whether good or bad.

It is January 9th today, and so far, I have worked out for 5 of the 9 days of 2013, not including my workout planned for tonight. So far, so good. I've been starting off my workouts with a run of 3-4 miles, or a Pop Physique class, followed by an hour of boot camp. I have been pretty sore the last couple of days, but I think my body is settling into the soreness and I can move pretty well now. Last night's boot camp class focused on arms, and I thought I was going to be unable to move my upper body today, but I woke up with just a little soreness ----nothing unbearable.

On the menu for tonight's workout

Pop Physique class at 5:45pm

Boot camp class at 8pm

I am 10 pounds heavier than I was in June of 2012. I am working to get those 10 pounds off by June of 2013, and get back to or improve upon the body fat percentage I was down to (about 18%).

We ran the New Years Race on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 9pm in Downtown Los Angeles. It being the Inaugural Race, we weren't sure of what to expect, but with a 9pm start time in the middle of DTLA, we decided to check it out and make it our first race of 2013. Since we are currently training for the LA Marathon in March, we decided to just use this as a training run and run at aero pace and not worry about our time. I was worried about the weather and running in the cold, so I came prepared with a long sleeved tech shirt and a running jacket, but at the last minute decided not to use my jacket. Thank goodness! I warmed up pretty much right away, and the cold (for California) didn't bother me much at all. The race started off fine (despite a delay of the 9pm start) at 7th Street and Grand Avenue, and made its way toward Chinatown. The race also had a 5K distance, with the runners all starting at the same time. During that first mile, I saw Sean Astin (Frodo!) run by. I've actually read that he's a runner, but I think he was just doing the 5K.

The course made its way towards Olvera Street and Chinatown, and that's where it started to get hilly. I understand that hills are an important part of training, but I don't think I was prepared for the elevation climb of this race, despite reading the elevation chart! We went through Chinatown and made the climb up to Dodger Stadium, which was the worst and best part of the race. Worst part? About 4 miles of this half marathon course went in and around the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Just not a very nice run, and it was very hilly too. Best part? Being able to run into Dodger Stadium. Since we weren't worried about time, we made more than a couple of stops inside the stadium to take pictures.

By the time we started making our way out of Dodger Stadium, Dave's calf had started cramping up, so we made the slow trek to the end. It wasn't a great race for us, or a great course, but it still made the headlines. Apparently Thomas Gibson, an actor on Criminal Minds, tried to drive onto a part of the closed off course sometime during the night and was charged with a DUI.

Other than that, the race medal was pretty cool, we received a nice race hoodie, and we got our celebration beer at the end. I was glad we spent the first Saturday night of the new year exercising, since this holiday season was full of too much unhealthy food!

The NYRR finally made a decision regarding the cancellation of the 2012 marathon. All registered runners who didn't opt out of the race prior to the cancellation can either:

1) Get a refund, but no guaranteed entry into next year's race.

2) Get guaranteed entry into the 2013, 2014, or 2015 race, but have to pay the registration fee again at the 2012 price.

3) Get guaranteed entry into the NYC 2013 Half but also pay the registration fee.

Not to state the obvious, but I haven't posted in a while. I still have to update this blog on all that went down in NY with the marathon that didn't happen and what we ended up doing in NY instead. Needless to say, I took some time off from training, running, and working out in general. It took its toll. I've gained a few pounds, so I need to get back in the swing of things. I signed up to run the LA Marathon in March, but before that, I am starting off the year with a half marathon on January 5th. The inaugural New Years Race will take place that night in Downtown LA. I'm looking forward to it, but as I haven't been running regularly in more than a month, I need to ramp it up to get back into training mode.

SUPERSTORM SANDY

She wreaked havoc on the East Coast! They're still in the process of assessing damage, but as far as I've heard, the NYC Marathon is still on. My original flight was canceled this afternoon (I was supposed to fly out early tomorrow morning) but thankfully Jet Blue was able to rebook us on a flight tomorrow out of Long Beach into JFK, just a little later in the morning. So while it cuts into our tourist time (we had originally planned attending the Halloween parade in the East Village, but it just got canceled), we are still making it to the race, and that is what is important. I hope that the East Coasters can bounce back from this devastation soon....I know that in the grand scheme of things, I am just running a race, but there are people who lost lives, and homes because of this storm.

Some hurricane/winter storm is supposed to hit the East Coast this weekend....including New York. I really, really hope that this storm blows through, leaving everything nice and calm next weekend....when I have to run a marathon. I already ran the 2011 LA Marathon in a monsoon, and I don't want to do it again. Even though it was cold and wet and miserable in LA, it was still about 50 or so degrees. I don't even know what rain on the East Coast does. I am nervous enough about running a marathon, so I don't need the added possibility of rain to make me freak out even more.

20 Miles.....DONE!

I know it says 19.38 miles, but my phone died before I finished my run. I guess the battery is not equipped to run for over 3 hours with the Runkeeper app on. 

Everything for this run came together. I started carbo loading 2 nights before (on Thursday night), I got a full night's rest on Friday night, and the weather was perfect for a run on Saturday morning. I didn't get out as early as I wanted, but I started out at around 7:20am and just went about my business. I hydrated and fueled when I was supposed to, and lo an behold, I didn't hit the wall. I think this is the first run I've ever done without hitting the wall, so I was really relieved. And I actually kept a faster pace than I thought I would. I don't want to overdo it on race day, so hopefully I can keep that exact pace. I felt ok after the run, so we actually went to South Central to view the Space Shuttle Endeavor making its way across town.

Space Shuttle Endeavour making its way down Crenshaw Blvd. towards the California Science Center

So not only did I run 20 miles in the morning, I went walking down Crenshaw Blvd. after my run to view the space shuttle, and I didn't even feel that bad! I figured it would be a worthwhile event. I don't think that a space shuttle is going to be trekked across Los Angeles again in my lifetime, and the crowds of people there to watch seemed to know that too. It was a really awesome sight to see.

And waking up on Sunday morning, I wasn't too sore either. Now that it's Monday I can say I'm not sore at all. I am glad to see that my recovery time has been really minimal after my long runs lately. I am hoping that after I run NY, I can go out that same night to enjoy the city.

The Long Beach Half was last Sunday. I did not get a PR. But I did keep a steady pace, which is the same pace I hope to keep for the 26.2 miles of the NYC Marathon. I also got a nice, big Beach Cities Challenge medal for running the Surf City, OC and Long Beach half marathons consecutively this year.

The Long Beach Marathon home page has a link to the race results that displays your race time in a pretty cool way. Hopefully the link works.

From this link, it shows that I finished the half in 2:26:47, which equates to about a 11:12 pace. Overall, about 48% of all the runners finished before me, but in terms of women, only about 37% finished before me. Not bad. I am not an elite runner, but its nice to see that I am right about in the middle of the pack. My husband ran the full marathon and finished with an 11:15 pace. That put him in at 4:54, which was a PR for him. I just want to break 5 hours for NY, so I hope that I can come in right at that pace.

I used this half as a training run for NY, and as we are about 3.5 weeks out for NY, I am really nervous that I haven't prepared enough. My longest runs have been 16 miles, although I am aiming for a 20 miler this Saturday. I just hope I can get through it. I ran 7.4 miles last night at a 10:45 pace, and felt pretty good. The weather has finally cooled down and I can actually head out for a run right after work.