A big woo hoo for Nike and Roadrunner Sports!

I had SO much fun yesterday morning. It was quite possibly the best race I have been in.... and it wasn't even a real race! Well, virtually speaking, it was real. I decided to run the Nike Human Race at our local Roadrunner Sports. They mentioned on their website that they would be hosting a group and I thought that I would have better luck at getting a good time running with a group. I honestly expected a dozen or so people there.

There were at least fifty or sixty people there! They had a table set up for signing in, t-shirts, water etc. They even had a sports massage guy giving free massages. It was like a real race. In fact, it was better than some that I have been to! Remember, unless you are running in one of the twenty "real" races, the Nike Human Race is free. So I was a little skeptical walking up to the registration table. I asked if we had to pay. Nope. She then hands me not one, but TWO shirts!!! The red Human Race shirt is an awesome lightweight Nike dri-fit. In fact, I took off the shirt I was wearing and wore it during the race. The other shirt is a nice cotton Nike dri-weave. They also gave us a Nike nylon bag and an iTunes treadmill workout to download. SCORE (have I mentioned that I love free stuff??). EDITED TO ADD: I can't believe I forgot to mention that they had raffle prizes and I WON!! I won a FREE pair of shoes from Roadrunner!!! I just purchased a spare pair of Brooks Adrenalines that are being discontinued, but the free pair doesn't expire, so I am good for a year or so!

There were no clocks. There was no gun. There was a really friendly group of runners and a dozen or so volunteers along the course. We did a 5K loop through the industrial area around Roadrunner twice. At every turn or intersection there was a volunteer. I recognized several of them as Roadrunner employees. I was so thrilled by the unexpected race atmosphere that I turned into "Chipper Kim" (to steal a term from Jenn *wink*). I said "thank you" to each volunteer and "good morning" to a couple of joggers and walkers that we passed.

I wasn't sure how well I would do during my run. Honestly, it was hard to take it seriously as a real race, so I was WAY more relaxed than any other race. In fact, Saturday night I went to the San Diego State football game (tailgating beforehand) and then met an old friend for Mexican food and margaritas. I am now wondering if my pre-race routine should consist of a couple of beers, a Patron margarita and carne asada! I ran really well!

When we started, I took off fast. There was a bit of a hill that I sort of charged up. I did my first mile in 8:35!! When I looked at my Garmin (yes, I had both the Garmin AND the Nike +) I was shocked at the split and tried to slow down a bit. I didn't slow down much. My slowest split was around 9 minutes!

It was not too hot, but the humidity was definitely up there. I was really sweating buckets. In fact, at the end of the run, I think I was the wettest I have ever been after a run. But I have to say that the Human Race shirt dried super quickly. I can't say as much for my sports bra. Ick.

I thought my Nike+ had fixed itself. As I crossed over the finish line the first time, before starting the second loop, the lady said, "half way point." Cool. Unfortunately, as I finished up the second loop, she was telling me I had 400 meters to go as I was approaching the home stretch. Since this was an online race, I decided that my finish line had to be when the Nike lady told me I had completed the 10K. I must have looked pretty funny barrelling through the finish and continuing to sprint another 200 yards or so. Luckily, I am not the only one with goofy calibration and wasn't the only person to pass the finish line. So my Nike + time and the actual time I crossed the finish line are off by a little over a minute. Either way, I am taking it as an official PR!!!

Time (from Nike+): 55:07
Pace: 8:52
Rank: 9549 out of ??? (this is likely to change since people have until tomorrow to upload their run info)
Rank for women: 1840

According to my Garmin, I ran it in 53:53. Like I said, either way, I am THRILLED. Oh, and according to both gadgets, my last mile was my fastest! I am pretty happy about having a negative split!

All in all, a great experience. I hope Nike does more things like this. I am planning on participating "virtually" in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October. I hope that Roadrunner Sports gets involved again. Did I mention they had orange slices, bagels and drinks at the end?

Another "drunk" Nike+

I enjoyed reading a post from Alien On The Run where he thought his Nike+ was drunk. Mine joined the partying today, just in time for the Nike Human Race tomorrow.

I thought I would calibrate it so that I can have some bit of accuracy for the 10K, seeing as my half marathon registered as 12.85 miles *sigh* So I went to the track. I set it to calibrate for a mile. In the past when I try to do 400 meters I run too fast, so I thought that a mile would get my true gait. After that, I ran a mile to see how it did. At a half a mile, it told me that I had run .48 miles. I know that 800 meters isn't quite a half a mile, but I am pretty sure it is more than .48. *SIGH* Let's try this again.

The second time, I used the default 400 meters. Here is when this little gadget that I have had a love/hate relationship with got all loopy. After running 400 meters and ending the calibration, it told me that I hadn't run the distance that it was set for. WTH? Didn't I tell it how far we were running?? This happened two more times. Luckily, all of this was getting me out there and running. So far I had run almost 3 miles at a decent sub-nine minute pace just calibrating this silly machine. I finally had to reset my iPod and try it one more time. This time it worked.

I decided to run one more mile. At the end, good ol' drunk buddy, Nike+ said I had run .97 miles. *yet another sigh* I ran a few more yards to make it an even mile and called it a day. Who cares, right? I have my trusty, teetotalling Garmin now. Believe it or not, I am still a fan of my little Nike+. Do you drop an old friend who isn't quite right? Who has a "drinking" problem? No. It still records all (or at least most) of my runs, records them in a pretty neat format on the website and gives me cool pep talks from people like Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods (why, you may ask, is Tiger Woods talking on a running gadget??). It is just a close approximation, which is all I need most of the time.

The good news is that I came out from under water. Running on the track got me feeling somewhat speedy again (of course, only if you consider 8:50 miles speedy). It was raining and I felt that the rain metaphorically washed away the funk I have been in for the past week or so. I am ready to get back to my regular running. Phew. It's good to be back.

Running under water

That is how I felt this morning.

Why is it that some days it feels like you are putting out the same amount of effort but running so much slower. That was today. It didn't feel like I was taking it easy on a casual jog, but you wouldn't know it by looking at my pace. I ran at a 10:47 pace and it felt no different than a 9:47 pace on any other day. WTH??

And how can a run that is a minute per mile slower than most of my runs have me end up a sweaty mess? I was also huffing and puffing quite a bit. For the first time during a short run (only 3 miles), I actually considered walking for part of it. I didn't, but I wanted to. I guess I could blame it on humidity, but that excuse is getting old.

Thank goodness that while I was trying to wake up this morning, putting off my run until I was at a point when I had to go or call it a day, I read a post on Runner's Lounge. Tom wrote about the importance of an easy run. So instead of kicking myself for running so slow, I told myself that an easy recovery run is good for my training. I suppose today was a recovery run. It was the first time I had run since the half marathon *blush*.

I have figured out that I really need to sign up for a race. With nothing on the horizon to train for, it is super hard to push myself to get through those sluggish "easy runs." I don't think I will be training for a marathon any time soon. We have so much going on, I doubt I can put in that kind of time right now. I'll probably wait to do one in the spring. I had thought about Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon, but honestly, it seems really hard. I should do it though. It's only a couple of weeks away. Hmmm... decisions, decisions.

******Btw, this is my 100th post!!! I know some people do something special to celebrate their 100th post. I decided to have a mediocre run- LOL. Maybe I should have waited until something really cool happened. But since this is a blog about running, maybe it is appropriate that this post is about a typical, sluggish, run-of-the-mill, everyday three mile run. At least I woke up early and got out there, right??
Thanks for all the support and encouragement over the past 6 months. This blog has turned out to be so much more than I thought it would be. The connections I have made with other runners is something I never expected. It is really cool to connect this way...

Shout Out to my friend, Janet!!

She is doing her first triathlon!!! I am so excited (and impressed) by her!

She started running shortly after I did. She was going to do the Nike Women's Marathon, but didn't get a lottery spot. Since then she was trying to figure out the right race to train for. In the meantime, she suffered some shin splints and IT band issues, so she hit the pool and bike for cross-training. Voila! A triathlete is born.

She is really nervous because this is her first race of any kind. I wanted to post here to give her a cyber boost (she lives several hours from me) and channel some positive energy from other runners.

I wish I could be there to cheer her on.

Usain Bolt's Celebration...

Terri, I thought of you when I saw this because of one of your posts from this past week. So this is for you *wink*

Slacker...(at least as far as running goes)

So... I haven't run all week *blush* Last Sunday was my peak race; what I was training for. It is hard to get back into the groove and I justified my laziness in the name of "recovery." I have had a case of lethargy and couldn't think of getting out of bed before 6:30.

I did go to Stroller Strides twice for some great cross-training, so I am not a complete slacker this week. Now, I know that a lot of you probably think that Stroller Strides is a stroll through the park with our strollers. Not so. It is a very good workout mixing cardio, resistance training and abs. Monday we burned out our shoulders, biceps and triceps and Thursday we did some hill repeats, a ton of step-ups and squats. We always finish with killer ab workouts.

Speaking of Stroller Strides, tomorrow (yet another runless day) and Sunday I will be attending instructor training so that I can torture unsuspecting mothers in their effort to get back in shape. I figure that I will be getting plenty of workout, so going for a run at o' dark-thirty won't be necessary. I am excited for the training. It is the first step in my goal to have fitness be the industry of my second career. The training goes into details of exercise kinesiology, anatomy and physiology. There is a lot of focus on pre- and post-natal exercise for women. Hopefully, I will also learn things that will help me in my own fitness and running goals.


Now I just need to sign up for another race to get my butt back out on the road.

For you eighties fans....

I thought this was GREAT. I just had to share.