Last Saturday was my second year running the Cinco de Miler. Last year the race was a blast with a fantastic shirt and one of my all-time favorite medals. The swag alone motivated me to sign up again this year!
On race morning, Marcia was so gracious to pick me up and drive to the race. Enroute, the weather was very sketchy - it was raining, windy, and we saw some flashes of lightning in the sky. Yikes!
We arrived on site to find everything shuttered down, and wondered if they were cancelling the event? It turns out the race organizers had sent everyone to one of the underground parking garages to take cover from the elements. A few minutes later, they gave the "all clear" and hordes of folks came streaming out.
This was the scene at the starting line. Notice the flying of both the Mexican and American flags:
Lots of folks were dressed festively for the occasion, like these two (the person on the left is wearing the awesome race shirt):
After a celebratory rendition of the Mexican and U.S. national anthems, we were off!
Marcia and I kept the pace comfortable and chatted away while we were running. It was really great to have the time to catch up with her.
The course was an out-and-back along Lake Shore Drive and the lakefront path. As the race progressed, the skies cleared up, but the wind didn't stop. On the outbound, the wind was at our backs - and as soon as we hit the return, we were met with an ENORMOUS wall of wind. Holy cow! I was super thankful to have Marcia's company, otherwise, I would have been miserable pushing through that wind. There were times it reminded me of being on a treadmill because I was exerting so much effort but felt like I was barely moving forward.
Let's go into photo-recap mode. Here is some of the gorgeous scenery along the course:
A mariachi band was playing at one of the aid stations:
It was so windy that most of the garbage bins had blown down and were lying in various states of ruin everywhere the eye could see:
Marcia and me after crossing the finish line:
The adorable donkey medal doubles as a bottle-opener:
Marcia tracked our moving time (i.e., adjusted to exclude all of our photo stops, etc), which came out to 48:14. Our unadjusted/official time was 49:41.
Here's a panoramic view of the post-race festival with a nice view of Soldier Field and the skyline in the backdrop:
The crowds swarmed the beer tents, of course:
Post-race food offerings included a tamale, chips, and salsa. I missed the horchata and churros they served last year, but still enjoyed the selection. I love refueling with salty foods.
Marcia noticed the mechanical bull rides at the post-race party had almost no line, so we popped in. While we were waiting, we noticed this woman's beautiful themed top. She told us she made it herself!
Time for me to embark on my inaugural mechanical bull ride. I didn't realize how tall the bull is! It was a lumbering struggle for me to get on.
More awkwardness:
After taking a few steps back and getting a running start, I finally managed to kind of springboard myself on. Yee-haw!!!
My triumph was extremely short-lived. Not even a half-second after the bull started moving, I took a nosedive and went SPLAT:
Thanks to Marcia for getting these action photos of me! I fully understand now why the mechanical bull is set up in the middle of a giant inflatable platform. =D Marcia had much better luck on the mechanical bull than I did, by the way. Check out her full race recap here.
And so ends my second running of the Cinco de Miler! Despite the crazy winds, I had a great time at the festivities. I might need to add mechanical bull-riding to my training plan, though, heh. Until the next time!
My next race: the Super Sunny 5K on June 4
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Linking up with Marcia, Patti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.
Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone enjoyed their celebrations and had a wonderful weekend in general. Below is a picture of my mom and me from the Lake Michigan brunch cruise we attended earlier today:
Photo credit: Adam
Here are my workouts from last week: MONDAY - Rest TUESDAY - Yoga class WEDNESDAY - Zumba class, lift 45 minutes THURSDAY - 3 miles of speedwork on the treadmill. This included a 10 minute warm-up, followed by 20 minutes of 1-minute tempo intervals at 7.6 MPH (7:53 pace) and 1-minute recovery intervals at 5.5 MPH (10:55 pace). FRIDAY - Accumulator class (45-minute ladder workout alternating cardio/strength intervals) SATURDAY - Cinco de Miler race (full recap to come) SUNDAY - Rest
A few notes from the week:
I had a great time running the Cinco de Miler yesterday with Marcia! I hope to have my recap up by Tuesday. In the meantime, here's a snapshot of Marcia and me prerace:
It is officially time to change my running focus from hillwork to speedwork. My next race is the Super Sunny 5K on June 4. My near-term race calendar also includes the MCRRC 4-Miler over Memorial Day weekend, the PAWS Run For Their Lives 5K in July, and the BTN Big 10K. Short race upon short race upon short race. As noted above, I did my first speed session last week.
Before my unplanned PR at the Ravenswood 5K, I was targeting the Super Sunny 5K as a PR attempt. I still plan on targeting it - but I realize the challenge of trying to set another 5K PR within just two months of breaking my old one. I've got four weeks to cram speedwork - let's see how much I can make it count.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I genuinely do still want to continue doing hillwork. After all the efforts I put into hill training over the past three months, I don't want to just let the impacts disappear. In an ideal world I would do both hill-training and speedwork once a week each, but in reality that is probably too aggressive for me. Maybe over the long-term I'll try to alternate them and do one of each per week?
At the very least, I'm proud of myself for even wanting to maintain hillwork. A few months ago, this concept would have made me laugh myself out of town!
One of my new goals is to start experimenting with different fitness classes. This is for a variety of reasons, most notably to shake up my usual routine and alleviate potential boredom. The Accumulator class I went to last Friday definitely achieved both! Tomorrow, I am planning on attending a new-to-me class called Power 45. Description: "Cardiovascular routines interlaced with weights and resistance work." Yes, I am bracing myself. =)
On a non-training note...Alton Brown's Eat Your Science show yesterday was a great time. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the show was very entertaining and humorous. Alton has quite the personality! He is exactly the same in person as he is on his television shows. Here's a picture:
Alton was discussing some of the changes he would make if he had the powers of a food god
As HoHo would say, that's a wrap for me! I am looking forward to another more low-key week this week. How about you, tell me about your weekend?
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Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.
I'm linking up with Coco, Deborah, and Lynda for the May edition of Coffee Talk.
This link-up asks: "If we were having [insert choice of beverage here] together, I would tell you..." I had an unnerving incident earlier this week. On Wednesday night, I made salmon for dinner. (I used this recipe less the butter, in case anyone is curious.) Adam and I were watching the Penguins game, plus I was starving. This meant I was scarfing my food down without really paying attention. All of a sudden, I got a fish bone lodged in my throat.
It didn't affect my breathing or create any life-threatening danger, but it was an awful feeling. I tried a half-dozen home remedies and nothing worked. After an uneasy overnight, I went to an urgent care facility to learn they weren't equipped to help. I was set to see an ENT doctor next. Meanwhile, I had terrifying visions of what the treatment process might entail.
My discomfort lasted a total of almost 15 hours. Then... somehow the problem miraculously resolved itself. No doctor's visit ended up being necessary. I don't know how, why, or what happened for the problem to go away, but thank God it did.
Folks, I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I now am to have an unobstructed throat. I will never again take it for granted. Lessons learned: Always chew your food thoroughly, and never eat mindlessly (for various reasons).
And now, moving on to a much more pleasant topic! One of my latest health goals is to improve my breakfast habits. In the past, I wouldn't eat any breakfast until I got to the office. Many times I get pulled into something as soon as I arrive - which means I might not eat anything until 9:30 or even 10:00. When the time came to eat, the usual breakfast was usually a banana plus either oatmeal or cereal. Then I would start getting hungry soon after. This made it difficult for me to maintain productivity, plus it was harder to keep control of my subsequent eating.
Something had to change. I've recently started trying to wake up a few minutes earlier to have a more protein-filled breakfast earlier in the morning. Usually this means making variations of an egg sandwich at home. Occasionally I've been going to the company cafeteria to get an omelette or breakfast wrap.
The heartier breakfasts have made a HUGE difference. My productivity is up at least a million percent. =) I am excited to keep this practice going and experiment with new breakfast recipes along the way.
Wanderlust is taking me by storm. I renewed my passport a few weeks ago. Now I am itching badly - very badly - to put the new passport to good use. There's no point to having a blank passport sitting around, right? All schemes abound on what the inaugural stamp might be.
That leads me to the next question of where to go?
Travel bug
Adam and I have talked about Scotland and/or the British Isles as well as Iceland. Also currently on the top of my wish-list are South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Fiji or Tahiti, and Vietnam. Closer to home, I've never been to the Dominican Republic or Jamaica.
From a North American perspective, it's been a long time since I've gone to Vancouver or Quebec City. I've never been to Ottawa, although I've always envisioned going there in the winter to skate down the canal. Domestically, while no passport is required (yet), I've never been to Santa Fe or Yellowstone, and would also like to spend more time exploring Colorado.
Now - as much fun as I have dreaming about all these fabulous destinations, in reality I'm having a tough time finding good airfare.
Talk about being jolted back to reality. It's become so difficult to book mileage flights unless you plan out super far in advance. The new passport now lies in an agonizing state of wait while the search continues.
All suggestions welcome!
Who watches or watched the Downton Abbey series? I've never seen it, but have heard very positive reviews. After sharing this with my in-laws in Pittsburgh last week, they very generously gave us the series on DVD (thank you again)!
I am preparing to dig in soon. I'm not sure if this is the type of series you'd want to binge-watch in a compressed timeframe??????
By the way, I keep wanting to call it Downtown Abbey instead of Downton. Argh!
And finally... I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, including Mother's Day! Tomorrow, Marcia and I are running the Cinco de Miler. I had a great time at the event last year, and this year's race shirt has already won me over. Here's a picture from the race website:
After much debate, I also snagged two last-minute tickets to see Alton Brown's Eat Your Science tomorrow. I used to be a huge fan of Alton's TV show Good Eats. I also liked his play-by-play analysis and color commentary on Iron Chef America. I am intrigued to see what he's got up his sleeves during a live show!
On Sunday, we'll be celebrating Mother's Day aboard a Lake Michigan brunch cruise. I always thoroughly enjoy these lakefront cruises and the weather in Chicago has finally turned springlike. It should be a really great time. I can't wait to get some sunshine and start replenishing the Vitamin D!
I never get tired of seeing the Chicago skyline in all its glory.
What about you? What would you tell me over coffee or your beverage of choice?
The 2016 Pittsburgh Half Marathon was my 27th half marathon completed!
This race ranks high on the list of races I have been happiest to complete due to the amount of work I put in to prepare for it. As I've discussed ad nauseam, this meant a lot of incline training. It also included ample strength work (squats, lunges, et al).
Ready for a ton of pictures???
The entire week leading up to the race included rain in the forecast. Therefore, part of my night-before prep included concocting my second edition of the world-reknown garbage bag dress. Accept no imitations!
On race morning, our friend Julie had graciously offered to drive us, as well as our friends Laurel and Natalie, to the race. Thank you, Julie!!! Adam and I left for Julie's place at 5:30 AM. I must also note that Adam willingly and cheerfully did this on only 4.5 hours of sleep after staying up late to watch the Penguins' big Game 2 victory over the Capitals. Huge sacrifice on his part!
Going to the race with Julie, Laurel, and Natalie made life SO much easier. Thanks to Laurel's husband, we had keycard access to one of the downtown parking lots. The ladies also knew of a hotel right by the starting corrals. We were able to use indoor restrooms and do all of our final pre-race prep inside. The whole process was a godsend for which I am extremely grateful. The locals always know best!
Here's a pre-race photo:
From L to R: Natalie, me, Julie, and Laurel
Afterwards, we split to head to our respective corrals. As I was waiting to start, the sound of Renegade, a song that the Pittsburgh Steelers have adopted as an anthem, was played over the loud speaker. It made me smile.
It began to rain as my corral crept up to the starting line. That didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, though. Here was my view as I was approaching:
The course was very crowded. Even though I had no time goals for the day, I had told Adam I thought I'd run a 10:30ish pace. Initially I tried to stay true to that.
The course wound through downtown, followed by the Strip District. I was looking all around, observing the scenery and soaking in the atmosphere as best I could. At the same time, I was trying to be careful not to bump into others or trip on anything.
I saw Adam for the first time around the 2.8 mile mark. Our spectator plan included a total of four points, and we had noted he would be on the left side for every single one. I joked with Adam that it reminded me of this Patrick Kane commercial:
Sure enough, as I saw Adam, he yelled, "HOW YOU SCORE FROM THE LEFT SIDE?" It made me burst out laughing.
Since it was raining, I didn't have my phone out. However, when we approached the first of five bridge crossings, I had to take a picture:
The 16th Street Bridge
In the past, I had been bothered by the inclines on the bridges, but today I didn't notice. YAY! I hoped this would continue on all of the other bridges, too.
The course ran briefly through the North Side before looping right back on the 9th Street Bridge. I saw Adam again around the 4.2 mile point. We then ran briefly along Fort Duquesne Blvd, which was especially mobbed with spectators. It was very energizing!
I grinned at some of the signs I saw. One sign I saw frequently had this local expression on it:
I understand this to be Pittsburghese for "You run like idiots"
Then we turned around again and crossed the Sandusky Bridge back to the North Side. I still had no issue with the bridge inclines, but there was a long, gradual hill around the Mile 5 marker that made me take notice.
The next stretch of the course took me to some areas of Pittsburgh I had never seen before. We passed by the National Aviary, which was in a beautiful park:
Then it was on to the West End Bridge, which was the fourth bridge crossing. The rain had stopped so I decided it was time to whip out my phone and take some pictures. This was the view:
The city as seen from West End Bridge
Next, the course wound through the West End. This seemed like a more residential area and there were again a lot of spectators. One guy had a giant cooler and was busily handing out full cans of beer! I giggled at some of the spectator signs. One said, "I thought this was the pierogi race!" and it reminded me how the Pirates have pierogi races during their home games.
The course turned onto Carson Street, which runs along the Monongahela River. This stretch afforded more beautiful views of the Pittsburgh skyline.
We ran by the base of the Duquesne Incline (I've never ridden any of the inclines in Pittsburgh):
I saw Adam again around Mile 9, which was in Station Square. He got this picture of me in the crowd (I'm in the turquoise with my arm raised):
Around Mile 10, we entered the South Side where we were greeted by a sign welcoming us to "the flattest mile on the course." Right on! In retrospect, I should have taken a selfie with that sign. =D I enjoyed the flatness and took my time walking through one of the aid stations. I wanted to gather some mental and physical strength for the big hills that I knew were approaching after Mile 11 (which I discussed at length here).
We crossed the Birmingham Bridge, which was the fifth and final bridge. The Mile 11 marker was on the bridge. Spectators shouted all kinds of encouragement to us about the final stretch. Several runners around me made comments about how the moment of truth was coming. I took some deep breaths and braced myself.
After the bridge, we turned onto the Blvd of Allies. I expected to see a venerable mountain ahead of me, something like this:
The actual hill was NOTHING like what I had envisioned. Jessie mentioned the elevation chart was a bit dramatic, and she was absolutely right! In all honesty, it looked no tougher than any of the other hills we'd already passed. I wondered if it was perhaps just the prelude to something else, but it wasn't. I was so relieved! It felt like an enormous weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Here are more of the stunning views from the hills near Duquesne University:
I couldn't believe it when I hit the Mile 12 marker. REALLY? Was I truly that close to the finish? I looked down at my Garmin to be certain, and sure enough my Garmin agreed. WOW! I had held myself back so much in fear of that final stretch, but in retrospect I could have pushed much harder.
Jessie had mentioned there would be a Duquesne University sign to mark the end of the final hill. When it came into view, I almost pulled off to the side to do a dance of joy. Since Adam and I had talked at length about this point being the final challenge on the course, I took this picture and texted it to him:
Then - it was time for the final, glorious, triumphant downhill stretch to the finish. I felt very strong, I was brimming with elation, and I couldn't stop smiling. Adam got this snapshot of me as I was approaching the finish line:
Obligatory race photo body spasm
My final time was 2:20:34 - and it could have been much better had I run more aggressively!
Posing with the classic post-race trinity: medal, space blanket, and an Eat N Park smiley-face cookie! =D
I am THRILLED at how much the hill-training ended up paying off for me! I actually had a tougher time with the hills at Rock N Roll DC six weeks earlier than I did in Pittsburgh. Just goes to demonstrate how training efforts manifest themselves more and more over time, yes?
All in all - I loved this race!!! The course was a stunning tour of the city, the event was very well-organized, and the spectators and volunteers were phenomenal. It meant so much to me to be able to run a hilly course with relative comfort. It also meant so much for me to get to know more about Adam's hometown the way only a runner can during a race.
