Green Jewel 50K 3/6/2010 Race Report

Hi everyone!
I did it! I officially completed my very first ultra race! The Green Jewel 50K is a spectacular and beginner friendly course. I say it's beginner friendly for many reasons: 1) its a low key race with lots of support and aid stations every 5 miles! 2) the entire course is on all purpose trails (so it's really a paved trail)  3) great markers, just follow the green lines! no worries about getting lost

Mr. TLRBM and I met up on friday night in Brecksville, Ohio. It's about 20-30mins away from Cleveland, abt a 3 min drive from our hotel (Holiday Inn Express)

The course started in Scenic Park in Rocky River, OH and ended at Oak Grove in Brecksville, OH. The weather couldn't even be more perfect!

0- 4.9 miles--> 40mins. I felt good, wanted to run faster but didn't want to go out too fast. Saw some guy running barefoot. I had hat, gloves, wind breaker jacket plus 2 layers of long sleeves with tights. Didn't stop at aid station. water? checked. gu? i had 2 packets in my pocket. checked.

5-10miles--> 1:23. It went by fast. I just sipped on water the whole way. Didn't see that many Honey Buckets, so I laid low on the agua. No stops at aid station. gu? checked. water? checked. By now, I have removed my gloves and hat. Ate one gu, had one more left in pocket. **note to self: frozen gu hard to squeeze out with frozen fingers.

10-15 miles--> no official time. i think it was like 2 hrs. I got hungry and ate Justin's Almond butter. Totally thought i bought peanut butter but was happy with the taste of almond butter. I think i just nibbled at it for a good 3-5 miles.

15-20---> found park bathroom and relieved myself.  ate another gu. praying that I dont get hungry before the next aid stations. ** note to self, bring 2 packets of nut butter instead of just 1

20-25--> so this was the aid station i was going to stop. according to hal higdon's training schedule, i'm really suppose to run just 9 miles on sat and 12 miles on sun. I felt good so I decided to keep running. I picked up Hammer Head rasberry gel. Met Athena, young chic who had a ton of energy! we ran together for a bit and she was just chatting away! great positive energy and i knew she wanted to go faster, so i told her to go ahead. I didn't see her until the end of the race. legs were tired and hip flexors were tight. Stopped a few times to stretch.

25-31--> oh man..... took me a lot longer to finish this last section. Thank goodness for that hammer gel. I was hungry and tired, but still moving along quite well. this part of the course was all on roads, not my favorite, but glad that it was the last part. I was so excited to see the sign "Brecksville Reservation", because I knew I was about a mile away from the finish. All downhill, killed my quads.Crossed finish line at 4:51:04!!

Jason gave me a big hug and kept apologizing bc he thought it was take me a lot longer. woohoo! i'm proud of myself!

Race goal: to finish with no injuries; or DNF at 3 aid station
race goal accomplished with great time!!

After race, I was sore and tight and sleepy!! I managed to stay awake and checked out 2 places: 1) Vertical Runner, a running store. Awesome service and great selection. anyone in the Hudson, Cleveland, OH area must visit! I"ve been to many many running stores and was very surprised by their expertise! 2) Great Lakes Brewing Co-- awesome eatery and beer! I got the Eliot Ness Amber Lager, which was good. It was a bit light for Jason, but just perfect for me with perfect hopiness. Jason got the IPA and Stout. We loved the beer so much we brought back a case of different Great lakes beer selection.

This was a great weekend! Any questions about Green Jewel please send them my way!

two for tuesdays!

Tonight I successfully did my 2 for tuesdays! I've been wanting to do 2 workouts a day for awhile but today, finally........
I ran 6.07 miles in 47:54 (ave pace 7:58!) with the tuesday night running group. Instead of staying for food, I went to yoga. Yoga was short but I was glad bc i was getting tired and a bit hungry.

Did I tell you Mr. TLVBM and I signed up for Green Jewel 50K this wkend? I have no plans of finishing, I just want to run about 20ish miles. But I'm not going to lie, if I'm feeling good, I will attempt to finish it. Cleveland (where is race sorta around) is about half way btw me and tlvbm. these 4.5 hr drives to ann arbor is tiring. SO I suggested that we do this race and we only have to drive half the time! On Hal Higdon's marathon intermediate plan i'm suppose to run 9 on sat and 12 on sun. I modified my wk day training to a lighter schedule. Absolute rest day on friday with 3ish mile run on thursday. I might just do some cross training on wed.  anyhoo, i'm excited for the wkend!

I'm going to rant abt tlvbm so ear muffs please if you want to avoid listening to a whiny girl whining about how her "fiance" is too busy for her. Here it goes.....
on days he's on hospital call, it sucks. because I dont get to talk to him all day. Last week he was on call 3 days and i think i talked to him about 3-4 times last week. 3-4 times (abt 20mins) in one week?!

same thing happens this week. except now he's also working on his research paper when he's not on call. I'm just frustrated because his work precedes everything..................  is this someone who I really can spend the rest of my life with?

happy wkend

hiii guys
I had a surprisingly awesome weekend. Spent some time with my co-residents skiing at Snowshoe Ski resort in West Virginia. The drive there was very eventful because we drove through a snow blizzard and then we got stuck so ended up pushing the car for a good bit. anyhoo, i'll admit that skiing isn't my favorite sport. my toes and shin were bruised from the boots and i was scared sh**tless going down bunny slopes.. i think im scared of falling up and hitting a tree. this makes me a bit worried bc TLVBM and I are going to whistler end of march for a week of skiing..... but I cant complain about a wkend of good company, good eats, and lots of good drinking!

To make the wkend even better, got home from trip around 3ish. headed out for a 17mile run and it felt really good! estimated time was 2:35, avg 9:11 pace. this has been the longest training run!

my tummy is now filled with a warm bowl of noodles and veggies, i got sweats on, and i'm ready for bed after some tv.

hope everyone that a greaat wkend!
crusty

me sleepy...

not going to lie guys..... i'm skipping my run tonight. been skimping on sleep lately and i keep telling myself i'm going to go to bed early. so tonight is when i'm sleeping early. munch on some chocolate, granola, and carrots. tummy happy. me sleepy. good night guys.

and i'm gonna wake up early tmr morning to make up my run. I'm going to Snowshoe Ski Resort this wkend for resident retreat. I dont know how i'm going to incorporate my wkend long runs in.... does any one have any suggestions as to incorporating long runs while travelling?

 

** can't wait for summer to come.... it's still snowing in pittsburgh. this is a pic from a few years ago taken at Half Dome in Yosemite. Missing west coast~

Happy blogging

Hello!
Wednesday blues? nah... wednesday is good bc you're half way through the week! great day at work today. busy and challenging, but awesome. I had 2 kids with autism today in clinic accompanied by their social workers. man, they should be called miracle workers sometimes. Let's just say not everyone can do what they do. My cousin also has autism and he shares a lot of the behavior i saw today. Thank you social workers! What you stand for is amazing to me!

Training update: oh yeah, I'm training for the Pittsburgh marathon. My goal is to qualify for the Boston marathon. For my age group, the lucky number is 3:40. It seems like the entire city is prepping for this race and I can definitely feel the spirit! Uneventful treadmill run today at the hosp gym. For some reason, I always feel slower (and actually i do run slower) on a treadmill. Running a 9:00 pace is hard for me on treadmill but it's doable for me on roads..... Does anyone feel the same?

I've been thinking about adding a "two a day" workouts to my week. two for tuesday sounds good and possibly some thursdays when I have late starts. I keep planning for these (just like tonight) but hasn't happened yet. Any suggestions for motivation?

Before I sign off, I just want to mention a few blogs that I really enjoy reading. These are all amazing women and they inspire me everyday.
Ms. Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point
Ms. Kelly at Healthy living with Kelly
Ms. Sonja at gosonja!
Ms. Jessica at How sweet it is

Thank you!

Dear Bloggie,
sorry it's been so long since I wrote here.... I have to admit, i got lazy, got caught up reading other people's blog, and never got to you. Sorry. Let's start new okay? My goal is to update regularly (4 times a week). I'll write about food stuff, training for Pittsburgh marathon, and life in general.
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So let me update whats been going on since my last post.... okay, let me just skip to the most exciting news that happened since the invention of chocolate.

TLRBM and I got engaged! in Maui!! I'll spare the family drama details (from his side, cough cough). But nonetheless, I'm so excited! It was the best surprise ever!!! We were almost 2/3 done with our 14 mile trail run up in some national park in Kapalua. At this really awesome lookout pt, he asked me to pose to pretend that i'm enjoying the scenery. All this time, he was getting the black box and setting up the camera. He came from behind and put the black box in front of me. I was so shocked and surprise that i forgot to say yes and open the box. Just kidding! I said "yes" like a thousand times and jumped all over the place. (by the way, I love love love my ring. the ring is so "me")

so excited because i'm marrying one of the most awesomest person that I know in this world (besides my mom and his dad). He inspires me every day and he keeps me true to myself =)

** secret: what does TLRBM mean? hehehe..... tender loving very buff man (thats he jokingly calls himself)

check it out!

Time of reflection

This quote is just an awesome quote. I have breakdowns every day. But I guess, you can't have a breakthrough if you dont have breakdowns. I doubt myself a lot and the person in the picture, is someone who I love and truly inspired by. His endless love and patience is everything to me. This is actually a preview of my Christmas present to him this year. I hope he likes it!

And from Sonja's blog (gosonja.com), I am sharing my goals for next year with all of you.
1) attempt to qualify for Boston marathon with Pittsburgh marathon in May 2010
2) finish my first ultramarathon, the JFK 50 miler
3) *** shhh.... Sonja, doesn't know this yet. Person in picture above and I are planning on doing either the Arrowhead 135 mile race in Minnesota "aka the race in snow" or the Brazil 135 mile (aka, a race on the mountains" in year 2011.
4) participate in 50k in  2010--- race not determined yet due to scheduling


so what are your challenges for next year? Another great blog is by http://www.howsweeteats.com/fit-bites/
-- she has daily workouts posted and she's hilarious!

- christy