Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Still alive.

 

Hello again!

So 2 weeks ago, I ran a 10k- my first time “racing” that distance.  My splits were wildly inconsistent, but my overall time was 53:27.  This is how I looked at the end – thanks to my friend Nicole for cheering me on near the finish and for the picture.  The cloudiness was great in that it didn’t get too hot and sunny, but bad in that it meant I didn’t need my hat and sunglasses which usually disguise my running-death-face.

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My 53:27 was a 8:36 pace.  I was 4th out of 23 in my age group; 22nd of 115 women; and 97 of 237 runners overall.  Mostly I was happy to beat the guy running in Teva sandals who ran past me somewhere around mile 1, and I was able to muster up the strength to pass a couple people in the final stretch toward finish.  First place guy ran this race in 33:15, which blows my mind.

The weekend after the 4th was a super awesome outdoorsy weekend.  Friday I ran a few miles in the morning, then Dan and I biked 11 miles.  Saturday we hiked, and Sunday I ran 11ish miles with the running group. Then I did absolutely nothing on Monday (well, I worked, but that’s it).

Back to hiking: we went with a few friends, this time about an hour away to the East Fork of the San Gabriel River.  The 11.25 mile out-and-back hike involved about 6 river crossings (each way), and lots of climbing on big rocks.  The river was still flowing which meant we could take a dip to cool off on our way back.

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There was a large “meetup” group congregating at the trailhead and we encountered them a few times on our hike.  We referred to this as Disney Land because of this massive group of people loudly making their way through.

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After climbing up this crazy hill (a poor choice due to some trail congestion ahead), we got to come back down that same scary hill.

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We saw horses and people panning for gold in the river and no rattle snakes, so I consider it a success.

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This past Friday I had the opportunity to be an extra in a movie being filmed in my town.  My running group was contacted by someone from casting for the movie, looking for people to play “marathon runners".”  After filming, Haylie Duff and her costar were nice enough to join us for our running group – group picture (I assumed it would be against the actors’ contracts or something).

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Last week I wimped out on going to track because it was still 103 degrees at 6pm and I could not talk myself into sprinting, or even slowly running, in that heat. 

However, on Thursday night, I did talk myself into running in 92 degrees + 30% humidity (rare in these parts).  A nearby college hosts a 3 mile cross country summer series every week for 7 weeks.  I hoped my humid-northeast upbringing would give me an advantage over these native Southern Californians who are used to running in dry heat. 

I ran the combination road/hilly dirt-and-sand XC path (including what has been nicknamed “killer hill”) course in 25:14, which I am told is good especially considering it was my first time on the course.  I hope to run it a couple more times in the next month (maybe on a cooler evening) to see if I can do any better.  It turns out that the beasts in this running town were not deterred by the humidity and I placed in the middle of the mix of 400+ runners that showed up.

Anyone else running in hot summer races?? 
I know summer is just getting under way and it will be HOT here, but I am already looking forward to cool fall weather running.

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on your 10k...that's awesome! And also great job on the 3-miler. Your hiking trip looks cool and being an extra in a movie?! How awesome is that? Lol no summer races for me..I'm a wuss in the heat/humidity.

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  2. Great job on the 10K! Looks like Cali is treating you well :)

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  3. WOW!!! Great job on the 10k, Amanda....that's a superb time! Keep it up!!!

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  4. Your running death face looks pretty bad ass! I love those fancy shoes too!

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    1. Ha, thanks! The shoes are the Saucony Mirage, they're pretty flashy.

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  5. nice job on the 10K!!!

    look at you going all hollywood! an extra in a movie, running with celebs... ;)

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  6. One time I had great aspirations of being like you and your husband and hiking together as a couple. It started out great on day 1, then went downhill on day 2. Question: when you hike, do you walk at a leisurely pace, as though you're checking out window displays at Christmastime, or do you try to keep up a fairly speedy pace?

    Great job on the 10k, and that's awesome that you were in a movie! I can't wait to go see it and look for you.

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    1. Hehe, I'm guessing Eric does the former and you are the latter? :) I'd say we keep up a pretty good pace-for hiking, anyway. We stop occasionally for a breather (I mean, to take in the scenery...) on steeper inclines, or I'll snap a picture quickly, but then run to catch up with Dan. Hope you are enjoying the Smokies!

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  7. Congratulation on your 10k run. Your incredible. I'm truly impress cause I can't do what you just did. I'll be catching my breath just from a short time of running. Well done.
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  8. congratulations. it's crazy to see how fast you have gotten over the past 1.5 years. oh and you are tiny, woman! i guess i've never really seen pictures of you in form fitting running clothes. okay, so i will stop typing now that i have realized how awkward this comment has become... lol.

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