Running "The Ave"

The marathon weather was perfect! 55F at the start and high 60's at the finish. The course was an "V" shape with the start/finish line at the bend. Cheryl lead out and back on the first leg of the "V" (13.1 miles), and I lead out and back on the second leg (13.1 miles). Our goal was to finish under 5 hours, and we finished in 4hrs 53 minutes... that's not even close to a good marathon time, but it's good for us, YAY!

Here are some pictures from our day!







Where did everybody go?





And look! We made the local paper! Can you find us in this picture from "The Lost Colony"?



And after running 26.7 miles... yes, that's .7 not .2 according to my GPS... We jumped in the car for an 11 hour drive home. We rolled in just after midnight. Today was back to work {{{ Y A W N }}}

Here's the numbers:

Joni 4:53:46
Age group: 13 / 24
Overall: 351 / 508
women: 148 / 246

Cheryl 4:53:47
Age group: 38 / 49
Overall: 352 / 508
Women: 149 / 246

Everyone was right. The first marathon is the worst. We aren't feeling to bad today. Cheryl is starving and eating everything is sight. My stomach isn't feeling right, so I haven't eaten too much today. But I think overall, I'm less sore than Cheryl is today.

Our next marathon... Kauai Marathon 2016 :oD

Never Again????

This month, two years ago, I ran my first marathon....
This month, two years ago, I said I would NEVER run another marathon....
Today, I'm running another marathon...

Wish me luck... I'm going to need it...

Brea 8k

I organized another Panasonic team for the Brea 8K. The team did AMAZING this year!



There are four people from the team missing from this picture... trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time is like herding cats!

Anyway the team finished in 9th place out of 37 teams! Our best finish yet!!!... AND we were the first non-running club to finish! The scoring woman this year was... CHERYL!!!



Cheryl ran a GREAT race, even with her foot injury. AND she managed to beat a PT from work who was also racing. There was a cup of Starbuck's at stake... and Cheryl won! She beat him by 2 minutes!

On to my score... My time was a minute slower than last year, but since I moved up an age group, I came in THIRD PLACE!



Cheryl, me and our friend Jeanne celebrating a well run race!

Whoo's in El Moro 50K

I just realized that I didn't share any pictures from Cheryl's first ULTRA race!

We arrived at Crystal Cove State Park so early in the morning that we couldn't see how to get into the parking lot.



This is Cheryl and her pacer, Steve. It's Steve's responsibility to make sure that Cheryl has a successful race. In this picture, he's helping her through some pre-race jitters.



And they're off! Ultra races are not very big... this one had about 120 people in it.



So Cheryl and Steve are gone with the 50K... it's time for me to start with the 25K group.



I met a guy during the race who was expecting to finish in 3:30. That's 30 minutes before the 4 hour cut-off, so I thought that would be good. He let me pace off of him for the race.



I finished in 3:21, 5th in my age group... which was dead LAST!

Then I waited for Cheryl and Steve...



And waited...



Here they come to the finish line!





Cheryl and Steve finished in 7:37! That's 7 hours and 37 minute of running... 23 minutes before the 8 hour cut off... 31 miles!!! Which makes this more amazing is that Cheryl hasn't run more than 18 miles in her training.



She made it! And 6th in her age group!... which is also dead LAST! Well, we have lots of room for improvement for next time! Thanks for joining me on our race recap.

Nike Women's Half-Marathon weekend

Nike Women's Half-Marathon entry is by lottery, and we got in on our first try! I took Friday off and we drove up to San Francisco.



We ground to a dead stop on the Bay Bridge:



It took us 10 hours to get to our hotel. The next morning, we walked to packet pickup:



Which was right across the street from the hotel:



Messing around in the Expo photo booth after make-overs:



After the expo we headed to the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf:



Here's a nice view from the cable car with the Bay Bridge off in the distance:



We must stop at Ghiradelli Square for chocolate!



We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Now it's back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep (and for Cheryl to finish her homework for Monday). The next morning, we had a short walk to our corral. The early morning streets of SF are rocking!



Here are some pics from the race. We ran right up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our plan was to stop there to take pictures, but it was such a foggy morning that we don't even know when we passed the Bridge.





And the results... Cheryl got plantar fasciitis in her foot last Wednesday. It was hurting her a lot, so we took it nice and easy in the race. We finished our SLOWEST half-marathon ever.



We saw Shawn Johnson (the gold medal gymnast) in Union Plaza on Saturday, and we also ran the last mile with her in the race on Sunday... we beat her. Cheryl LOVED that, since they were both in the same age group!

The results were not that great, but we had a FUN weekend! And best of all, I got to share it with my girlie!

Bulldog 25K

Cheryl ran her first 25K race this weekend! We headed out to Malibu Creek State Park at 4am, to meet the Run with Soul team doing the 50K. I hope the sun rises before race start!

We found the rest of the team! I LOVE our team shirts!!!

The 50K-ers are gone... time to get suited up for the 25K!

Heading for the starting line:

I started the race with Cheryl as her pacer ;oD What a beautiful place to run! I ran 3 miles in with her (up until the base of Bulldog hill)

Then I ran back to the car, hung out for about and hour, and started on the trail backwards.. looking for Cheryl. There she is!!! The RWS shirt makes her easy to spot, haha!

I found her about 2 miles in. She offloaded her vest and water bottle on me and we set off for the finish line...

Congrats to Cheryl on her first 25K! 3:09!

Racing for the Cure - Half Marathon

NOTE to Self: Races two weekends in a row is a bad idea. It's not that we did badly... Cheryl's goal was a little over optimistic, but we met my goal for the race. We finished in 2:05, that's a PR for Cheryl! AND we are both wiped out!

It was so nice to cross that finish line!

My Time: 2:05:33
Pace : 9:35
Age: 7/25
Overall: 178/459

Cheryl's Time: 2:05:51
Pace: 9:36
Age: 8/21
Overall: 180/459