Miles 1-4: just warming up and trying to settle on a pace. No sooner after I hit the start line, I suddenly remembered where my Garmin was, it was in my backpack (oops!).  Consumed 1 salt tab at Mile 3 with water.
Miles 5-6: I had to use the bathroom really bad but the lines at the portapotties were too long, decided to pop a squat at a tree in the park, I didn’t care, no time to lollygag.
Miles 7-10.5 : I think this was the start of the 163 freeway, I remember reading that if you stayed to the left of the freeway, the road isn’t cambered. I eventually found a spot on the left and stayed there. I felt the gradual incline, slowed my slow pace down a bit and conquered the 163. Which in hindsight was not that bad, I was expecting it to be worse. Or maybe it was the hills I’m used to running. Between Mile 10-11, I see one of my former TNT Coaches, Coach Al J. I give him a high five and tell him that hill was not bad!
Mile 12-14: I see a few more TNT peeps I know – which was great, it improved my spirits. Even though I was not running or had trained for this with team in training, these were the only people I recognized on course since everyone else was ahead  of me in the race. My quads and IT-band start to tighten up again, so I take some walk breaks, head to aid stations to lube up my thighs (hate chaffing and luckily I did not get any).
Miles 15-20: Cruising along Mission Bay area, taking some walk breaks here and there (for how long I don’t know), once I got into a residential area there was a family who handed out watermelon and another family down the road who had Otter Pops. I took both and they felt so good.

After Mile 20, I told myself today was not going to be the day where I hit the wall. The bottoms of my feet were aching, I could feel a blister on one of my toes but as long as I walked fast (there were a lot of people walking this portion), consumed more Cytomax and water and ran when I felt it, I would do fine.  I knew James was there at the finish waiting for me, this gave me huge motivation to keep chugging along.
Miles 20-24.5 were the longest – We ran past Sea World and onto some part of the road where there was a dirt trail. I stuck to the dirt so it would be softer impact on my feet and legs, walked a bit, enjoyed the music when I passed a band. Around mile 23, I see Gary (from TNT) and gave him a high five, he told me that Al K. (former TNT coach who helped me with Nike) was somewhere between the 24^th-26^th mile marker. That was the motivated I needed. I continued to plow on, my pace increased passing those who were fatigued. Knowing that  I was almost done, a few more miles to go and then I could stop running (I did not think I would have a sprint to the finish as that was the last thing on my mind). I found Al at mile 25 on Barnett Road, he ran with me until the gate and from there I booked it to the finish, which again sprinting to the finish was the last thing on my mind! Once I inching near mile 26, I heard the announcer call out my name, I was scanning for James and spotted him and my face lit up. He was able to snap a picture of me and I continued to sprint to the finish. Finish time, 5:13:24. I shed a few tears because I just ran 26.2 miles. Wow, I ran a marathon. If you had asked me to run a marathon or even a half marathon two years ago, I would have laughed in your face J

James and I found one another after I got a cold towel, Cytomax, water, a banana and my medal. Went to the bathroom, changed shoes and walked to his car. My post race meal was going to be In-N-Out but there was a 2 hour wait – so we opted for Wendy’s…triple cheeseburger, fries and chocolate milkshakes J A few hours later, we went to Oceanside to Joe’s Crab Shack, where I consumed a 22oz of Miller Lite (tasted so good), crab dip and Parmesean Crusted Shrimp Pasta.

Overall: The weather was a tad humid, however, it was not brutal heat wise. I’m glad there was cloud cover. I would run this marathon again, thought the organization and crowd support were great as were most of the bands. I enjoyed meeting a lot of marathoners from Runners World the night before and the weekend including the long drive home was worth it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Before the swim

After the long but fun & exhausting Saturday, I crashed around 11pm again. Sunday morning, I woke up around 7am and had a horseback lesson (the first one since January!). After I got home, james and I went to his parents house again so he could see a movie with his dad and Riley while I hung out with his mom We got home around 830p and I went to sleep somewhere around 10pm. This morning I wake up and my throat hurts, ugh…why the hell? At first I thought it could be allergies (his parents have a small dog who is shedding and 6 cats) and I felt icky this morning but it might be strep throat. Ate chicken noodle with saltines for lunch and bought a pack of Fruit Strawberry Popsicle bars (I did not get ice cream but figured these were better than that since Marathon Sunday is approaching!). So today I’ve taken two naps, have been sucking on Zinc Lozenges, drinking water & will have some Theraflu before going to bed. If I feel like crap tomorrow morning, I’m heading to a doctor since I’m prone to strep and this seems to happen during taper week (the two half marathon tapering schedules have caused me to get colds).

Friday May 8th – Rest day / Tessa’s graduation ceremony. Experienced a brief midwest thunder and lightning show before her ceremony. After the ceremony, we headed to the hotel where we stayed at for dinner. It was the dinner experience from hell. Enough said. I fell asleep close to 1030pm, with my alarm set for 415am (yikes since this was 215am in CA).

Saturday May 9th – 6am @ Clive Greenbelt Trail, Des Moines. I met up with the Des Moines TNT chapter as they had 2 groups of marathoners running 20 miles (I think there were 3 or 4 of us total running 20 – the few others that were there had 8 and 12 miles to run). This was a small team and nothing like the East Bay team The coach was riding his bike the entire time (he was the only coach) and would ride while we ran, making sure we were doing okay, our paces were fine and giving directions where to go (no chalk marks or arrows to follow). There were also water stations, however the water stations were just water coolers chained to either a park bench or light pole. I mentioned to the coach and one of the girls (who I ran with for a few miles) that my chapter is “spoiled” – we have volunteers with tables and other goodies for our water stops (water, gatorade, jelly beans, pretzels, Gu’s). They were pretty surprised. The weather was not great but not fantastic either. There was brutal wind throughout the entire run, some spots did not have wind due to the trees but other spots I felt like I was going to lose my hat. Around mile 12, I felt my left calf, hip and hamstring tighten. I took a short walk break, stretched a bit and resumed running. This tightening went on for 12-20 miles, yeah fun. I am happy to say that I finished 20 miles in 3:47. I had some of my family there at the end cheering for me as I was near the start area (totally cheesy and I appreciated their support but the last 3 miles I was in THE BITE ME ZONE). I was tired and ready to stop running by the time I saw them. After my run, did the usual stretching and consumed an Endurox recovery drink (orange flavor and super yummy). Once I got back to the hotel I took my ritual ice bath, ate a steak quesadilla & 2 beers for lunch and napped for 30 minutes before taking a shower. Had another beer and shrimp alfredo for dinner.

Sunday may 10th – 2.XX recovery jog, still sore. Had brunch and then a few hours later, took my flight back home to SFO.

This week’s workouts:
2 days of strength (Tues and Friday)
5 miles on Tuesday 5/12
4 miles on Wednesday 5/13
5.3 trail miles last night @ Shell Ridge Open Space. Encountered a small lizard and tiny snake (eeeek!), some cows, broke in my trail shoes (which rocked by the way) and was able to run up some hills and down them. I took one route called Ridge Trail, literally on one of the ridges and probably one of the toughest out there (why oh why did I think of going up this?). Finished in 1:07:xx, not really sore today, yay!

Just 3 days ago, I set out for another new distance PR of 19 miles. Phil from TNT was going to meet up with me and run a few miles (he needed to after a whole week off and the prior weekend to partying for 3 or 4 days in Coachella), okay close to 8 miles but 8 miles seems like a few when you are training for longer distances. I ran from my house again up to Heather Farms (5.4 miles one way) and we would run the TNT Trail loop through HF Park, Lime Ridge, the golf course and behind John Muir. During our 8 mile jaunt I took a few walk breaks because my stupid left calf was starting to slowly cramp. I had enough gel, shot blocks and salt tabs and was drinking fluids, I stretched my legs for a short while (after all, I might have to do this in SD next month) and we kept trotting along. After we made it back to the park, Phil ran with me to Treat Blvd near the PH BART station and I continued onward, consuming my electrolytes and water. Somewhere between mile 16.2 and 17.7 my left calf and right hip started cramping simultaneously and my stomach started growling. I tried to slowly jog it out but that did not help. I had taken a salt tab about 10 minutes prior and didn’t think I would need another until later. I stopped for a few minutes to stretch both calves out, eat part of my Clif Bar, took some deep breaths, downed more water and started walking. Sure enough, my crampy legs decided to stop teasing me and I continued on, having to stop and walk further on the trail. However, I finished my 19 mile run in 3:34:xx.

I don’t consider this my wall that I hit – I wanted to go further that’s for sure but my leg was thinking something else. I’m glad I tested out my salt tabs and although it was not hot in the least (compared to last week) I might have been low on sodium.

Once I was home, I took my legendary ice bath, consumed calories and took a nap. In case you’re wondering what I ate after running this far, here ya go:
Leftover baked ziti (healthy style)
1 Blueberry muffin from Costco (muffin on steroids since it’s huge!)
Clif Recovery drink
Half of a banana
Half a can of Amy’s Minestrone Soup
2 Skinny cow Ice Cream Sandwiches
For dinner, James and I had some

The one important thing about trail running is that you can’t look too far ahead of where you are going but rather you have to look down at what you are running over and then glance up (at least this is what I did). All was good until I tripped twice, the second time taking a spill and bruising both knees and obtaining a small scratch on my right palm. I was more worried about getting a hole in my capri’s (although the thought of not finishing this because my knees stung also popped into my head) over anything else – however I continued on. Around mile 12, I figured I could head down one of the trails that I had run on in the past. The trail down was a mix of gradual climbs and descents, several people walking their dogs, riding bikes, and a few runners. At some point on my descent down on the East Ridge Trail, I saw another path I could have taken down to the park leading me to Canyon Meadow staging area but I chose to go further and take another trail to the meadow. This wasn’t so bad, although I was very cautious on the way down as I knew my quads were getting tight. I had enough chews/gels and fluids with me however the weather was getting warmer (that and I had been on my feet for 3 hours). Luckily part of this trail was shady and finally after some more time on my feet I came to the Canyon Trail and slowly walked/ran down. This hill was tough…I witnessed two bikers struggling to make it up as I was heading down. So glad I did not fall on my ass going down! Once I saw the meadow area, relief at last!!! I finished in 3:27:xx – 15.1 miles. Am I disappointed I did not run the 17, not really since this run had alot of hills and I had run solo. There was a point where I had told myself that if I completed 13, 14 or 17 miles this was not a walk in the park. I had eaten the right foods and got the right amount of sleep prior but I needed to stop as my body was telling me to. The last thing I wanted to do was become a treat for one of the mountain lions

Up next…18 mile run, location TBD.

Back to consuming my Blue Moon Belgian White wheat ale

Also, after several sessions with my sports chiropractor, she took a look at my shoes (which the stability ones are for me to wear) but since my feet are underpronating, I’m now in Neutral shoes. I bought a pair of Asics Nimbus 10′s and will test them out tomorrow. While testing them out in the store on the treadmill and outside, I did not feel that little annoyance in my left calf that I’ve been feeling for a few weeks now. I have 60 days to return them if needed.

New shoes

Will update tomorrow after my 11 miler!