faboo mama

Why do I look so short and fat?  I’m not that squashed, I tell ya!  But look at me run!

What a good race. Much better run than the Santa Monica Classic, they had drink stands throughout the course. The advertised expo was a nice size with lots of helpful booths. The race was chip timed, so there was no mix up with my bib. Whoever did the Brentwood Run, clearly has more experience than those who did the Santa Monica Classic.

But no matter what the page says, I think this course was a little harder than the SMC. Maybe it was the lack of adrenaline of a first time race or lack of anything interesting to look at, but even though this was a simple loop on a mostly flat course on San Vicente Blvd. it was very trying. The only thing I learned was that Brentwood has way too many coffee shops on one street. There are 2 Starbucks, 2 Coffee Beans, Coral Tree Cafe, Peets Coffee and various smaller coffee shops. All in less than a mile area.

I thought that I was going to have to leave the race before we even started. I had been doing stretches and knew my ankle was hurt, but didn’t realize how hurt until I stretched. YEEOOW!!! The heel was so tender, I started crying because the pain was so bad. 5 minutes to race time and I could barely put my foot on the ground. I popped two Aleve, I had the foresight to purchase and waited for the horn.

I did wind up running and was pleased when I hit the 1 mile marker and the timer yelled out 14:23. Whoo-hoo! I was banking on a 17 - 20 mile because of my ankle, so that made me happy. The second mile was not happy. There was a hill involved. And it was a deceptively nice hill. Me and fat ass struggled up that hill. I did try to run a bit on it, but that really hurt my foot. Right before the turnaround was a drink stand. I grabbed a cup and almost died. Grape Gatorade! Why did they hate me? It was like drinking Dimetapp. Bad, bad, bad!

Turnaround came, I started paying attention to the people around me ’cause I was bored. The coral trees aren’t the big draw Brentwood thinks they are. There was a woman who was pretty much walking most of them. Every now and then she’d run. She was there with a friend who was 1/4 of a mile ahead. Every time she got within talking distance of this friend, the friend would take off running. Somehow, her baby in the stroller disappeared and she finally caught up to the friend unencumbered. Wouldn’t you know it, the moment she finally fell in beside the friend, the friend took off. That’s fucked up.

The 2 mile marker came with the guy yelling our 29:30something…damn hill added a minute to my time. Ugh. I made it a goal not to let the 3 old guys walking in front of me to beat me, but they kept running. Assholes. Finally, ahead I saw the finish line. I didn’t think that I was ever going to make it. Limping big time, I started into another run/jog. I think I hit the line at 44:38, my watch said I finished in 44:41 and some change. When results are posted (I’m number 248) I’ll know. Oh and when photos are posted, I’ll be sure to share.

UPDATE: Times are posted and here’s mine

Place Div/Tot  No.      Time        Pace  Start    Chip Tm
===== ======== ======== =========== ===== ======== ===========
  751  53/63        248 0:44:59.69 14:31  0:43.65  0:44:16.04

14:31 pace makes me very happy indeed. My ultimate goal is to eventually get that down to 9 min. but for now, on a bum ankle? That’s pretty good.

Look for updates on Monday…I hope it’s hot enough soak in the pool

This morning, I checked my email and found I got a gift (thank you Ruth!) and now I’m able to run the Brentwood Run on May 25th. Proceeds from this race will go to the Brentwood YMCA

******

Pictures from the Santa Monica Classic are up. You can see my photos here. It’s funny to me to see that I’m smiling in all of them. I certainly don’t remember smiling that day.

Today I ran AND completed–thank you very much–my first race. I ran the Santa Monica Classic 5K/10K. I did the 5K.

First off, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong; I over slept (both alarm clocks did not go off), I couldn’t find my shirt, the kids woke up, the batteries in both cameras were dead, I waited in a long line for parking only to find my permit was for the lot a mile away…and I had to walk back that mile to the start line. The race was to start at 7:30am, I got to the start line at 7:28, and was amazed by the crush of humanity for such a small race. I…uh, didn’t get the race was starting and watched all these people move forward. Some guy told me, “Yeah, that’s the 5Kers.” OH! That’s me! Where was the gun? I wanted a gun!!!

There was no way I was running with all those people around so I started walking. Once we got onto Main St. and the major group of Runners were gone, I started on a small jog. I guess I should mention at this point that I hadn’t run or walked in almost a month because of my knee. My relationship with the gym had dropped to something closer to a booty call. I had been smoking abut a pack and half a day. I also neglected to eat anything this morning becasue I thought that there’d be time to get something before. Oops. For a moment there, I thought I was just going to have to die. Then I saw the mile marker and beamed. That wasn’t too bad. I can do this!

As we turned left onto Colorado, we can see the mass of Runners hitting the finish line. Show-offs. I kept trudging up Ocean Blvd. mainly to get away from this couple running with their two dogs (WTF!?!). As I headed back down Ocean Blvd. we saw the leaders in the 10K coming up with a police escort. Ha! I thought, I’m going to finish the 5K before the 10K people show. Whoo-hoo!

I didn’t do too bad. I was finished around 8:20, so that means I walked/ran 3.2 miles in about 50 minutes. I was banking on completing the race in 1:30, so that was very good time for me. Not bad for an out-of-shape smoker with a bum ankle.

UPDATE: My time didn’t get posted. I didn’t know that the bottom of my race bib was used to scan my results. It looked like a receipt for the t-shirt I got in the mail and I didn’t need an extra t-shirt, so I removed it before I got out of the car. So, beyond my watch (49:53) there’s no record of me even running the race, short of my photos and my aching legs. Sniff. I’m pretty upset over this now.

These are my new shoes. Like Ruth, I had to get new trainers. My experience was similar to hers. I went to A Snail’s Pace in Pasadena for my shoes. I heard they had decent prices and figured any store with a running club would have knowledgeable people on staff.  They checked my gait and had me fast walk to get an idea of my pronation, though I could have told her that I’m a severe over-pronator. I’ve known that since I was 11.

I’ve been thinking of doing a run for the past few months. I was never much of a runner, but there’s no reason not to. The training isn’t all that time consuming and it’s something I can easily do. I’m following the 8 WEEKS TO YOUR FIRST 5-K training schedule on Runner’s World website.  I’ve been studying this for the past month and there’s no reason to not start.  Spoke to my doctors who have been telling me to take up running for years, so that was out of the way.   All I needed is a sports bra, shoes and non-cotton clothes.

Now, ya’ll know a sista’s broke.  But I figured that this wasn’t an investment in a hobby, this is an investment in my life.  But damn…those shoes set me back.  So much, that I’m going to have to run in cotton clothes.  Ha!  Actually, I get rashes from sweating (allergic to my sweat) and I get rashes from lycra/spandex mixes (allergic to latex) so I wasn’t looking forward to buying a $50 t-shirt from lululemon.  Then I’m looking at another $50 for a sports bra. Gaah.  Good for me I already have a heart rate monitor and pedometer.  Though I’m am drooling over this piece of gadgetry.

Why are all the healthy things so damn expensive?  It’s bad enough that organic foods and healthy foods are priced so that the poor can not do that, but even participating in running is cost prohibitive.  I mean, sure you can just run and possibly hurt yourself with bad shoes.  But even entering in these 5K races are pretty pricey.  I’ll probably only be able to afford 4 races a year at the rate we’re going.

At any rate, I have my shoes and the DWP is just going to have to bite me regarding my late bill.  Priorities, ya know.

I must confess, my destiny’s manifest
In some Goretex and sweats I make tracks like I’m homeless

I just registered to do the Santa Monica Classic 5K to benefit Heal the Bay. I can’t believe I did it. Broke as we are, I went and registered for this thing. Eek!

So…I’m going to run/walk 5K. Me. I’m so excited it isn’t even funny. Tomorrow, I go to get my gait checked. Did you know that it matters? Hijole! Just reading about this running stuff has amused, horrified and awed me. I’m doing an 8 week training for this and then I’ll probably join the Nike Club Run LA when that ramps up.

Yeah runnin down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin on a mystery, goin wherever it leads
Im runnin down a dream

I need to get a sports bra. Now, if you’ve seen Bert and Ernie, you appreciate just how difficult this will be. Tomorrow I’m going to my specialty store to get fitted. Hopefully, they’ll have something under $50 that fits. Wish me luck on that one. I also need to get some more shoes. Lucky me, I’ve had such problems with my feet (flat arches) and bad ankle, that I’m actually an expert in finding the right trainers. I just need them to be the right price. My current trainers are good enough, but I’m thinking of getting a smaller brace to wear when I run, so I’ll need them to be a little more padded or something.

And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I ran all night and day.
I couldn’t get away.

I’m going to do this. I’ll probably bitch and moan and try to give up, but I am going to do this. I have almost no encouragement from anyone I know. I’m surrounded by doubters. I know this and I’ve always managed to ignore them and this won’t be any different.

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat’s meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can’t catch me

Wish me luck.