PCTR's Skyline Ridge 14K

I have never signed up for the shortest distance on any PCTR event but I will definitely not be shy about doing it again. I still got to see a beautiful course and get a great workout in. And I wasn't completely trashed when I was done. It appears my water bottle may have leaked on my shirt a little but other than that, I was pretty clean. ;)

Victoria and I at the finish

I was very concerned about the weather, going into this event yesterday. Saturday was really cold and windy and I knew it would be colder over on that side of the bay. When we pulled into the parking lot it was 41 degrees! That is way too cold for me. The scenery from that ridge was breathtaking at times. Christy and I stopped to take a lot of pictures.

The shirt I was wearing has the long sleeves in them that you can fold over your hands like little mittens so that was nice, I didn't have to worry about carrying gloves.

Me and Christy

The complete course for us was 8.42 miles. It was only 1,500' elevation gain. Totally runnable for those that are in better condition than we were yesterday. There were no steep portions at all. I would say it was probably the most mellow of any PCTR course I have ever run.

There was a very nice balance of single track and fire roads. Some of it was wide open and then we'd drop into these beautifully covered trails.

We finished in a little over two hours, hung out and chatted with friends and watched others come in. The wind did start to pick up and I was happy to be back where my jacket was. I'll be seeing a few of these friends next week when they run the Firetrails 50 miler (I'll be volunteering). And also at the end of the month at the SF One Day when I volunteer there as well. I truly love this community. It was great to be in that atmosphere again. Especially when not very long ago I was grieving over my old arthritic knee and thinking my world had come to an end.

I'm very happy I signed up and ran yesterday. We didn't even try to run the uphill portions. We ran all of the downhills and the flats. And Christy and I stuck together! It reminded me of when I first started doing trail running. That's how I learned and I loved it. Doing this yesterday reminded me of why I fell in love with trail running. It was fun again. That's the way it should be, right? Right! ;)

Until later.............

Funky!

I have done diddly squat in the exercise department since my triathlon on Saturday. Blah, blah and more BLAH!

If I go back to two days after getting back from Jamaica, I can tell you I started feeling like a cold had caught me. Stuffy/runny nose, headache, sore throat, eyes watering, sneezing, coughing. Ugh. I figured it was something I picked up from the plane. Friday (the day before the triathlon) I came home early from work because I felt so crappy. I rested all afternoon and took DayQuil for my symptoms. When I went to bed Friday night, I didn't know for sure if I would be doing the triathlon. I told my husband I would wake him up if felt up to it. You already know the outcome of that, right?

Today, a full week later, my symptoms are not gone. And, not only are they NOT GONE, they aren't even BETTER. This has got me in a FUNK. I've gone from taking DayQuil to taking Tylenol Sinus something-or-other and Alka-Seltzer Cold & Flu. Nothing is helping. If you have a cure-all for my symptoms, PLEASE be kind and share it with me. I really can't stand this. I guess it could be allergies. All I know is, IT SUCKS!

The highlight of my week came on Tuesday morning. I went to Pleasanton to meet up with my friend Lisa. No, you have never heard of Lisa. I met her when I started working at REI. She just left REI in the last month. She's a very accomplished swimmer, has completed triathlons (not sure of her longest distance) and is now training for her first Ironman in Idaho next summer. She invited me to join her and her training partner, Izzie, for a ride. I jumped at the invitation. It was supposed to be 1.5 hours but only ended up being an hour. It was a beautiful ride, through many vineyards. The weather was cool and quite breezy. Some of it was along the bike course I did my triathlon on last Saturday. I was afraid to take my camera out of my pocket, for fear I would crash, so these two pictures were taken by Lisa and given to me. Thanks again Lisa, for letting me join you and for taking the pictures.

I was able to work my three days this week which I was pretty sure each morning when I got up, I wasn't going to make it through. But now I have the weekend off. Aaaaaaaaah. I have a PCTR event to run in on Sunday. It's only a 14K and I can hike the whole thing if I need to. I am signed up with Christy so that will be fun no matter what!

I hope everyone had a great week and you all have a marvelous weekend. Best of luck to those that are racing!

Until later.............

Update on the rescued woman

An email from "See Jane Run":

We have received numerous inquiries about the woman in the first wave who was rescued from the water.

We want to let everyone know she is on her way to a full recovery thanks to the amazing lifeguards and on-site paramedics.

Thank you all for your concern.

See Jane Run's Triathlon 2009 Report

This might end up being a longer report than the race actually took me. But, seeing as it was my first ever triathlon, I think that's an okay thing.

The race started at 8:00 and I wanted to be there at 6:00. We left the house in time to be there but right before we got to the freeway I realized I forgot my water bottles for my bike. We turned around, went back to the house and got the bottles out of the fridge. It set us back a little bit, we arrived at the park at 6:10ish. Participants were walking around with flashlights and headlamps, the sun was not even up yet. There were SO MANY people there already. At this point, I seriously wanted to throw up. I got so nervous.

Shadow Cliffs, Pleasanton

I got my body marked. I expected it to be a little more ceremonious for some reason. However, after that, I knew this was going to happen today and I got a little excited.



A little bit later, Aron from runner's rambles (center of photo) found me on the beach, feeling out the water. She was there to support her friend, Tara (on the right). Aron and I have been following each other's blogs for almost a year now. I have tried to get together with her and her doggies for a trail run but it just hasn't happened yet. Hopefully soon, right Aron? Thanks for coming out and cheering us on, it did mean a lot.

Before I knew it, it was time to get ready for the swim. I was in the second wave (45-49) which was supposed to start at 8:05.

The first wave, which consisted of participants under 18 years old, 50 and over, and "special needs" participants. After about 10 minutes, they announced that they were delaying our start a little bit, per the lifeguard's request. A few minutes later my daughter comes over to the fence and called me over. She was close to hysterical. She told me they had pulled a woman out of the water and she was unconscious, with no pulse. The lifeguards had brought her up on the boat and were working on her, right beside Sara and Keith. They had a ventilator on her and were performing CPR. Quite a long time later, they did load her into an ambulance and apparently she had a pulse but was still unconscious. We all clapped and cheered for the lifeguards and paramedics and I silently said a prayer for this woman. I hope she is okay today. If anybody hears or reads anything about this, please let me know.

We were stuck in our corral for almost an hour, not knowing exactly when we would be starting. Everybody that had tried to acclimate to the water had dried off. I was dying of thirst, standing in the sun. I started getting a bad headache. I thought it was due to my swim cap but in hindsight, I was getting dehydrated. Standing in the sun for over an hour with nothing to drink and not drinking anything prior can cause a problem.

HSE Lori surprised me by showing up at this time. I was so happy to see her. She came to see ME. She was supposed to go camping but her husband had to work late Friday night so they ended up not going. I ran over to the fence and gave her a HUGE hug. And asked her for some water. She found Keith and Sara and brought me a water bottle.

Anyway, the swim finally started at 8:50. I was one of the last ones to wade into the water, I didn't want to have anyone crawling over me. I swam the 400 yards in 11:02. Pretty uneventful. I started off very good, felt strong. As soon as it got bottled up and I began running into the other swimmers, I lifted my head up and then had trouble getting comfortable again doing freestyle. I ended up doing more breast and back stroke than I had planned. I was very anxious for the swim to be over when I finally climbed out.

My first transition took me around 5:10. When I set up my transition area in the morning, I set it up way over on the end of a row, on the outside. I figured I would find my stuff easier and have more room. It took quite a while for me just to GET TO my bike. My socks didn't slip on as easily as I would have liked but that was really the only issue. I have no clue why it took me over 5 minutes to get out of there, but it did.

Ellen (my bike) impressed the crap out of me on the bike leg of this race. I LOVE HER! The first part of the course takes you out of the park which is straight up hill. I had her the perfect gear because I knew this and we FLEW up that hill. It was awesome! She responded to each and every move I made. I passed a ton of people on the bike. The few hills that were on the bike course were pretty steep but Ellen and I worked together and conquered them like they were nothing. The 11 mile bike portion took me 36 minutes. Here I am coming back into the park.

The second transition was MUCH quicker - 1:58. All I did was exchange my helmet for my cap and (try to) run back out. Oh, and strap on my knee brace. Once again, Keith and Sara were there to see me off. ;)

I didn't pack a water bottle for the run because a.) it was 3 miles, and b.) there was a water stop that we would go by twice. Well, I didn't know the water stop wouldn't be until mile 2. I had the worst case of cotton mouth you can imagine. The run course was 90% dirt road which was GREAT! A few hills but nothing serious. Before the first mile marker, I see Lori walking toward me. A big smile came across my face. The only thing that would have made me happier is if she had water. HA! She and I trudged along together, yackin' it up. I think the first mile took me 13 minutes. My calves felt like they were very tight and almost cramping. I did walk a little bit. I had to pee something fierce so at one point, I walked off the trail into some bushes and peed. It is what it is. Finally we came upon the water station and I downed two cups of water and a cup of Gatorade. Because of the late start time, it was very warm by this point. Probably well above 80 degrees. We ran down through the parking lot together at the end of the race and Lori went outside the roped section and ran along the crowd, cheering my name. Thank you girlfriend, for showing up and showing such enthusiasm for me. You are a great friend!! Keith and Sara were there watching me finish too. My run time sucked, it was around 39 minutes. My final time was 1:33:??. I was hoping to finish before 1:30:00. I really can't complain with my 1:33 though. I thought it was so incredibly FUN. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Lori and I after the race

My wonderful supportive little family

I think I could have easily cut 10 minutes off my time if I had just put a little more effort into a couple of areas. I was taking it all in when I was doing everything. I was basically watching the other women and following them everywhere I went. Now I understand what to do and how to do it. I just need to practice more before my next one. WHAT? Yup, I said "next one."

Until later.............

It's triathlon time!

Tomorrow, 8:05 a.m.


I only have two fears:

1. I won't get in the water

2. I won't make it out of the water


I'll let you know how it goes.


Until later.............

Playing dress up - Jamaica post #6

If I had my choice, I would stay in my bathing suit most of the time I am in Jamaica. The restaurants require you to wear clothes though, so abide by the rules I must. Some of the restaurants even require men to wear long pants and closed toe shoes. So the result is that we get dressed up every night for dinner. I didn't get that many shots of us, but here is the few I did get.

Resort photos - Jamaica post #5

Those that know me well enough will see that this is the inspiration for the tattoo on my right ankle.
This was on the beach by watersports. It's an old life jacket on a tree with a flower stuck in it.

The main house from the pool.

Villa near ours.

Main pool.

One of the many places you can relax. Don't think for one minute that I haven't fallen asleep in one of these myself.

We walked up and down this road more times than I can count. I even ran up it, which isn't an easy task in that humidity and heat.

Okay, I think I have one more post to put up and I should be all done with Jamaica and will get back to normal blogging stuff. ;)