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Race Recap: The New Years Dash 5k/2.87-miler

January 8, 2012 by 5 Comments
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Okay, so the blog took a little tiny bit of a backseat this week while I was busy at work and lost sleep over the fire trauma, but I’m back in action.

First up: a New Years’ Eve Recap, or, more specifically, the New Years Dash 5K recap.

Backstory: this was going to be my first 5K as a runner. Besides one I ran in 2005 that took me 35 minutes. This year, I ran three marathons and zero 5Ks. Basically, I hate running fast and don’t know how to. So I decided I was going to run this 5K to give me a “base” 5K time to work on. My goal was to beat 25 minutes, which would mean running 8 minute miles for 3.1 miles. This would be EXTREMELY hard for me, but I was committed to redlining it and holding on as long as humanly possible. The course scared me, though—it was a mile downhill on JFK and then mile two was straight back uphill. Barf! I decided to try to do a 7:50 first mile so I could do an 8:10 second mile back up the hill. I picked #24 because I wanted a 24 in front of my time.

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The race was very casual and even had me laughing at times, super informal but it was no big deal—I was just counting on my Garmin for time. At 9:45AM we were off and started screaming down JFK. I wanted to keep Alyssa in my sight for as long as possible (i.e. not long) and tore through the first mile in 7:22. This is the fastest mile I have run this year without stopping. But then we turned around and plowed right through a wet field. Yes, you read that right. I was slipping all over the place on the wet grass, plus it was uphill—I think I saw a 9:15 pace on my Garmin! Then it was back out to the steep uphill part of the road. I felt like I was dying and mile two beeped 8:41. I had to laugh at that point (even though I didn’t really have any energy to do so). 8:41?!?! In a 5K? Oh well—I figured I could scream around Stow Lake, clock a 7:45 and still go sub-25.

I did pick manage to hold my “I feel like death” pace around Stow Lake and when I was careening down the hill out of Stow Lake I was at 7:45 pace. I had 2.75 miles on the Garmin in just over 22 minutes and I knew I was made. But then the finish line happened! After 2.87 miles! I was so confused—part of me wanted to knock out the final .23 miles but there were people standing around in my way so I just stopped.

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Turned out we weren’t supposed to go through that slip n’ slide of a meadow! The course wasn’t clearly marked and someone tore across it so everyone followed suit. So I still have no 5K time but a new 2.87 mile PR of 22:44. The great thing is that even if I had slowed a bit from the speed I had down the finish I would have finished in 24:30, thirty seconds faster than planned. So I plan to enter a new *flat* 5K and push for a sub-24. I think I can do it.

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I enjoyed the time after the run with the amazing Katie (2place), Alyssa, Cate, Alisyn, Kabri, and Renee, and got to see Jojo and Erin from SFM as well! Katie poured my mimosa. It was a GENEROUS pour aka a red cup full of champagne with a tiny bit of OJ on top. Then my friend called and said she was already on the bay bridge (she was staying with me for New Years) so I chugged it down and decided to run the two miles home. Note: running 7 miles, including 3 at 5K pace, then chugging a mimosa and running through the Haight with new years beads on and holding a party horn is a really great way to start the NYE festivities.

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I am bummed I didn’t get a 5K time but am excited for the next one I do with no huge uphill and no wet meadow. : )

Other New Years festivities included watching my beloved UCLA Bruins play an absolutely atrocious football game, finally meeting the Oscar Meijer Weinermobile, and wearing a very sparkly and very short gold dress.

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A week-belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody! This week I’ll finally post about some awesome new desserts I’ve created (very important…), my 2012 resolutions and my race recap from my first race of the year (spoiler alert: 13+ minute average pace. Watch out world.)

Courtney

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    Nike Women’s (Half…) Marathon Race Recap!

    October 17, 2011 by 33 Comments
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    Half Marathon #4 in the books and tiffany bling to boot!

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    Yesterday I woke up at 4:30AM to run the Nike Women’s Marathon. I had a fun sleepover at Alyssa’s house with RadRunner and a bunch of cute cats and when the alarm went off a bit too early we were out of bed and rarin’ to go.

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    Our outfit for the day was inspired by Audrey—makeshift LBDs (lulu running skirts for the win!), pearls, sparkly headband, sunglasses… and we totally rocked it.

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    We hopped on the 38 bus at 5:45ish to head down to Union Square (who knew it ran around the clock? Not me!) The bus was chock full of runners and we arrived downtown around 6:20…

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    To UTTER CHAOS. Words cannot describe the ridiculousness that was Union Square at 6AM on a Sunday morning. How many people were there? 25,000? 30,000? Lord knows but think mosh pit at a concert. Ohhhhh my gosh. I chose not to let my friends know that I am an extremely claustrophobic person and occasionally panic.

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    Somehow I survived but we could not even get CLOSE to the start of the race! I can say unequivocally that if I ever run this race again I will start right behind the elites. The bag check was in horrible spots so people were trying to get to those while others were trying to get to their corrals (which are self-selected and no one seems to know where they should be). We gave up and hung out in the 10 or 11 minute corral and occupied ourselves with “helping” our Garmins find signal.

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    And then we were off!

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    And by off I mean, it took us ELEVEN MINUTES to cross the start line. And THAT is how you know it might be a rough run! It was simply madness. The first few miles we were mostly running on sidewalks because there was simply no room to go. I clocked .13 over on the first mile or something like that from all the ridiculous weaving.

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    We had this goal of around 2 hours for the race. Alyssa was down for whatever (the speedster would have no prob!), Erica wanted to go for it and I was pretty ambivalent about the pace. I think we realized pretty quickly though that it wasn’t going to happen OR, more likely, a goal time would only happen at the expense of having fun. Trying to run this course fast would be a really frustrating and angering experience. Luckily, we were having a great time.

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    The course headed out of union square, along the Embarcadero, up to Ghiradelli Square, back down and over Fort Mason, and then through the Marina a la SFM. The Fort Mason hill didn’t even seem hard because we couldn’t even run it! I felt like I was in a permanent state of hot-stepping around people or wanting to play Red Rover (or maybe human bowling…) with all the walkers in front of us. Oops.

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    Finally we got to the real thing: the hill up to the base of the Golden Gate. I don’t think we walked at all on this hill, or if we did I forgot. But again, we were going super slow due to the crowds. It was still a HARD hill though!

    Around this time (about mile 6) I started getting a little dizzy. I never seem to drink enough in the first 5 miles of races (oh there’s an aid station, it’s crowded, don’t wanna stop, peace!) and then I spend the rest of the race trying to get out of dehydration. Happened here but then I started stopping at the aid stations for water or Gatorade.

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    After we got up to the top of the first big hill we got to bomb down Lincoln with a great downhill. And by bomb I mean, “run way slower than we could have because there are too many people in the way.”

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    Somewhere in there around mile 8 I got to see Katie (with poster AND cowbell!), Dennis, Page and Jess which was rad! It was something to look forward to for a few miles before that.

    Following that we had another big uphill in Seacliff, then downhill to the avenues. And then we took a right up Clement Street.

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    Oh my lord. I was so angry on this hill. Well, angry isn’t the right word. I just had no idea it was there and it was SO HARD! I couldn’t even tell when it was going to end. I vaguely remember turning to Alyssa or just nodding and whimpering, “is it almost over?” Apparently hills are not my strongest suit.

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    Soon it was and we got to run down past the Cliff House and down to the Great Highway. So close!

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    We took a left onto JFK for our last hill. I was sick of the hills at this point and my knees were tired from running downhill (haven’t done a lot of that lately). I felt pretty winded running up that one but so glad that we were almost done.

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    I felt better hydration wise considering the last few stops I was taking 2 cups of Gatorade and 2 cups of water and downing all 4 in the 30 seconds ish we were in the water stop areas. Seriously. I was SO HAPPY they served Gatorade on the course and also gave out a few chews (like fruit snacks) that were great! I had two of those gummies (30 calories each) and a bunch of Gatorade and I was fine. I got in more than enough calories with the Gatorade and didn’t need to Gu which I was happy about. I always get a side stitch when I take gels.

    Finally we turned right to make the half turnaround. I WAS SO HAPPY. I never would want to run this full marathon, I don’t think. Ow!

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    Then we had a nice downhill on MLK and soon we were back on the Great Highway and crossing the finish line in 2:10. NECKLACE TIME!

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    At which point it was time for posing for pictures and changing out of sopping wet sports bras.

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    This was an interesting race! I will say the following things about it:

    1) First and most importantly, I had a GREAT TIME. I didn’t listen to my iPod at all the whole day, the pace was slow enough that I could talk easily (except for up a few of those hills!), and the energy was awesome! Way better than any of the other races I have done. And the race went by SO FAST!!! I was hardly ever looking at my Garmin and every time I did I was surprised we were almost done.

    2) This course is no joke! Holy moly. Those hills in the Presidio and the Richmond are NOT messing around. We ran a 2:10 as a “fun” pace—not killing ourselves trying to cut people off, not being able to run at all at some points because of crowds, walking through water stops to rehydrate… but honestly, I don’t think I could sub-2 on this course!!! I have to work for my sub-2s and this course means business.

    3) This is not a race for people who don’t like crowds. The whole start, finish, and a lot of the actual race in the middle is a big cluster.

    4) This is not a runner’s race. If you show up here looking for a manageable group of fellow runners who understand course etiquette and how to behave in a race, from walking on the side to starting in correct corrals, you will HATE this race.

    5) With that being said… this race is an amazing experience in terms of just soaking in the joy of being part of something with a bajillion other people. Seeing so many people’s excitement over finishing their first half or full marathon, and especially the thousands of people who raised money for an amazing cause (Team in Training), was really inspiring to me.

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    Afterwards, I got to meet up with some fellow runners and enjoy swapping Nike war stories over a $16 veggie burger at the Beach Chalet. Good thing it was freaking delicious but damn!

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    It was great to see so many amazing runners who were also out there, especially Jana who did the full (and Karin who was very much missed). Full marathon! Amazing.

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    And I got to “meet” Ellie!

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    Sure, the crowds were stressful, sure, the organization was bad, sure, people stop walking right in front of you, etc. But I think it’s also clear to me that this is a pretty special event and despite the ridiculousness I had a great time. Thanks to A and E for being my running buddies and putting up with me, and for everyone else who I am so blessed to call a running friend Smile

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    Time for bed! Happy Monday all!

    Courtney

    What was the highlight of your weekend?

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    Weekend Roundup and Weekly Goals.

    October 9, 2011 by 14 Comments
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    Hello all! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had a great one, a highlight being a Blogger Meetup but that’s a separate post for tomorrow perhaps, once I steal some pictures. As apparently amidst organizing a blogger meetup I lost all blogger photo-taking tendencies. Oh well.

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    One of my best friends was in town this weekend, which I’d been looking forward to for awhile. I love having friends in town, because it makes you make time for fun things that often get lost during the day-to-day. We headed out for an evening of drinking and eating in the Marina district, which is usually too fratty and full of girls in ass-length skirts and ridiculous heels they can’t walk in for my taste, but it can also be somewhat fun and it was also overrun with cute marines and navy dudes in uniform, which come on, is adorable. Even if the average age is 20.

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    My eating was off all day due to the meetup and snacking but after a long night with not enough food I finally got to eat at Pizza Orgasmica, which, if you can get over the name, has pretty freaking amazing pizza.

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    I also finally stopped into American Cupcake to take one to go. Monique had recommended this to me ages ago so I was excited to pick one up to bring home. And a cupcake shop that’s open til midnight? These people are geniuses.

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    This morning I woke after not enough sleep to meet Renee for a 10-mile run in GGP. It was a lovely run and I was just happier than I have been on a run in months. It was nice to run slower at recovery pace and just talk and not be alone with my head. So nice. Renee also introduced me to Sport Beans which I found amazing. GU is so convenient with the size but I ALWAYS get side stitches, so I need to suck it up and start carrying something like this or chomps with me. Or…

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    After I was really hungry (didn’t eat enough beforehand) and grabbed a handful of candy corn to bring with me on my way out the door for brunch. I’m also considering carrying a handful of THIS on a run. Haha. I think I just respond better to solid stuff than the gel, but we’ll see. But would candy corn melt? I’m not sure. I am going to try it.

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    I met Talia and Beth at It’s Tops which is an adorable diner on the corner of Market and Octavia streets that Alyssa introduced me to after our Half Moon Bay spectator-fest. It was after noon at this point and none of us had eaten real food so we were all starving. I was also getting into the post-run calorie-deficit anger stage which needed to be remedied immediately.

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    Beth and I split a vanilla shake…

    And Talia and I ordered banana pancakes and a mushroom, bell pepper and onion omelet and split both.

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    (Butter expertly removed by Talia but I made her let me take a picture of it first. There’s something classic about pats of butter on a stack of pancakes, no?)IMG_5249

    Unsurprisingly, it was all delicious. And fueled us up for our walk into the Mission to go shopping. I bought a dress and a belt from a cute boutique, and two things I absolutely didn’t need:

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    A penguin wristlet purse thing. Come on, it’s cute.

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    And even more ridiculous… cookie-shaped key covers. Now one of my keys is a vanilla Oreo and the other a classic. Anything to make me smile a couple more times a day, right?

    And what I absolutely should have bought but did not: the hamburger purse. Seriously.

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    I am excited for this week because it’s the Nike Women’s Marathon next weekend! I am really looking forward to it. But with how exhausted I have been and how my diet has been off, I really need to set priorities for the week. (I know my blog often features my ridiculous dessert postings, I in no way pretend to be a “look at the healthy food I eat!” blog, but with that being said the majority of my meal choices are healthy—though when I get busy occasionally dinner is peanut butter pretzels so that’s what I need to work on.)

    If I want to have fun through every mile of Nike and avoid a crash like at San Jose Rock & Roll last weekend, I am aiming for the following for this week:

    • 7 hours of sleep each night. I need 8, but I’m trying to set an attainable goal here.
    • Exercise every day Monday through Friday—but don’t go overboard. I tried to run 10 days in a row right before SJRNR, which is too tiring for my legs. I will do varied and well-rounded workouts all week to stay energized.
    • Eat clean. Eat clean. Eat clean. This is the biggest one. I don’t mean “nothing unhealthy at ALL,” as I plan to get Quickly bubble tea tomorrow night and am doing a brewery tour on Friday with my office—I just mean my meals should be well rounded with carbs, protein and fruits/veggies and not haphazard.
    • Snack smart at the office. Apple and string cheese = smart. Honey Nut Cheerios = not so much.
    • De-stress. I have been too stressed lately. I will make a conscious effort this week to step back

    These are really life goals not just for this week alone, but I hope I can concentrate on them this week and I’m not hitting the teddy grahams by 2PM tomorrow. Keep me accountable, blog of mine.

    Have a wonderful start to your week everyone!

    Courtney

    what are your goals for this week?

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    Dude. Sweet. (Weekend Recap)

    September 12, 2011 by 19 Comments
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    The last weekend was pretty awesome. And today has been not that bad either—especially for a Monday! Let’s recap shall we?

    Friday night—wish I could tell you about my hot plans but that mostly involved going to the gym and then watching Notting Hill on my laptop while eating popcorn. Awesome. I’m sorry, but that “just a girl, standing in front of a boy” line gets me EVERY TIME!

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    Saturday morning I knocked out what for me was a very speedy six miles! Ignore the several short breaks I took between miles to calm my racing heart.

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    Then it was onto the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market where I met up with Beth and spent some time browsing and of course, eating. Pepples Vegan Donuts for the win! I got a Salted Caramel (classic) but also tried one of their raised donuts (made with yeast). Great! light and fluffy as compared to the dense cakey texture of the others.

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    I may have also bought a really huge bag of maple candied almonds (mistake #1) and they may have mostly disappeared (mistake #2). Never again.

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    Ironically I left the farmers market with NO produce as I went with $20 and after Blue Bottle iced coffee, vegan donuts and nuts, it was gone and there are no Wells Fargo ATMs there. Ridiculous.

    After that, Beth and I caught the “historic streetcar” with 4,298 other people down to Ghiradelli Square to meet up with Renee and Michelle, who just moved here the day before (!) from the East Coast. We wandered around…

    And then I had the great idea to make us walk up Hyde Street into Russian Hill…

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    And then we got some thai food at Lemongrass Thai (Not that great…)

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    And then maybe a margarita or two at Nick’s Crispy Tacos… And then it was home. Great time hanging out with those ladies. I spent the evening watching the UCLA football game on TiVo and then some extreme fighting at my friend’s place. Rad.

    Sunday morning I was supposed to be at the Conservatory of Flowers at 7:30a for a run and that just plumb didn’t happen. I felt so crappy when I woke up and stayed in bed for a bit. Then it was down to the Mission to watch the Steelers game at a Steelers Bar, Giordano Bros. They serve the sandwiches with the meat, the coleslaw and the french fries between two pieces of fluffy italian bread. They looked AMAZING. I got a few pierogies instead with sweet potato. One-tenth the portion for the same price. But at least I didn’t want to die after.

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    I also drank more Diet Coke than I would ever want to admit but I had to buy SOMETHING if I was taking up a stool in a packed bar for three entire hours, so I got my $1.50 worth. I have a no artificial sweetener policy 99% of the time. The other 1% is when the alternative is buying $5 beers for three hours.

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    After a depressing Steelers loss, I BART’ed back downtown to meet up with Layla, Naomi and Alyssa at the Giants game. I got there just a few minutes late and proceeded to very much enjoy a great time at the game with kettle korn, peanuts, SUN, naked girl, a Giants victory (!!!) and an awesome baked potato with some unwanted nacho sauce which was, admittedly, awesome.

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    (Note: I am choosing not to reflect on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 here because it is a very complicated and emotional issue for me and it very much deserves its own post, if I am able to talk about those feelings on here. Not to glaze over the importance of yesterday, but to merely acknowledge that it’s not something that I want to reflect on at this time and place.)

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    After that we took a nice mile walk down past the Ferry Building, carefully made our way up California Street, and ended up at Genki Ramen—the old standby! I was not very hungry due to the massive amount of baseball stadium food inhaled but the leftovers tasted even better for lunch today… minus all the ramen drips that apparently are now all over my dress. Sweet.

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    Then we headed one block north to Clement for banana hi-chews for Alyssa and a long-awaited bubble tea from Quickly for me. I love boba and I hadn’t had one since Thailand in December!

    Solid, solid weekend.

    And Monday—woke up at 5:15AM (ouch) and headed to my first bootcamp class of the week. It was dark and creepy but I ran five miles in addition to the hour bootcamp class. Nice.

    Two exciting things happened today:

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    One, I bought a plane ticket to Hawaii! On like, less than a day of planning (if you can call it planning). Alyssa and I will be there and it will be epic. Hawaiian is running a great deal if you book by Wednesday—$300 from the East Bay. I’m pumped. And guess what happens when we are there??

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    Such a coincidence, seriously. And don’t worry I am of course not planning to run the full marathon. I have mai tais to drink, thanks.

    Secondly, my landlord told me I could adopt a cat!

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    Now I do NOT know if this is going to happen because I want to weigh the financial and logistical aspects of pet ownership first especially as someone who travels for work. But it means a lot to know I have the option and this weekend getting to play with my friend Mike’s dogs and with Alyssa’s cats just clicked for me how soothing it can be to have an animal around. I am going to look into it and see if it’s something I could legitimately do.

    It’s pushing 10PM and I’ve got a 5AM wakeup so I should probably get ready for bed. Have a great night everyone!

    what was the highlight of your weekend?

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    The Giant Race Recap!

    August 27, 2011 by 28 Comments
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    So I wasn’t really sure if I was going to get a bib for The Giant Race this morning. And even if I did, when my alarm went off at 5AM, I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to go. My preparations this week consisted of a couple of normal runs and no advance planning. After 11PM last night I threw the gear together.

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    Twitter encouragement and thoughts of a Tim Lincecum Bobblehead got me out the door at 5:45 into the pitch dark and fog so thick it felt like it was raining! Three buses later and I was at Starbucks on King at 6:29a (opens at 6:30) to steal some warmth beforehand and eat breakfast. I didn’t know why I was on the bus at 5:45a and I was even more confused who the other people on the bus were—if you’re not running, why are you awake??

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    Finally meandered my way over to the start line and in succession met up with Naomi, Audrey, Aron, and Kristine in the waiting area.

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    I also got to meet up with my friend Sam from HS and her friend Kelly, who were running the 10K!

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    Check out these Giant colored shoes! I’m a stalker but couldn’t help it.

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    I lined up with Aron and Kristine and ended up running the whole thing with them! This was the best part of the whole thing. I haven’t done that before, and we just settled into an easy pace and managed to stay together despite the occasional weaving that was very necessary on the crowded parts of the course. We just chatted and the miles went by really quick, down the Embarcadero, over the Fort Mason hill (felt easy today!) and out past Chrissy Field. Brian Wilson was there! I was a few people out from the edge so I didn’t get a hi-five. #regrets

    Before I knew it we’d passed seven miles and were turning around. It felt so easy! But then around mile 8.5 my legs started feeling tingly. It wasn’t the speed—we were all running conservatively—but then my arms started feeling it too and somewhere right past mile 9 I got hit with a wave of dizziness so hard that I almost fell over right there. I realized I was dehydrated and it’s hard to work your way out of it in the last 4 miles of a 13.1! I felt dizzy and lightheaded and kept lightly bumping into Aron. I would say “sorry” only because I didn’t have the effort to say “sorry, truth is, my brain is fuzzy, I feel like I’m starting to go under and that I might eat pavement any second, but I hope the rest of the race goes well for you guys.” Ugh! Aron and Kristine were so great and easily could have left me in the dust but didn’t! I was frustrated because my legs and heart rate etc. were totally fine but I just needed more water. I sweat SO much, and was also wearing a long sleeve shirt so I was trapping in a lot of heat—I wanted to take it off, but I knew if I stopped to do so I’d lose the girls and thus any motivation to push through the rest of the miles. Good reminder that I am someone who needs to drink a LOT and I need to walk through aid stations so I actually get liquid down instead of one gulp in my mouth and the rest down my shirt Smile

    The last 1.5 miles were really hard as the 10K walkers, the 5K runners and the half-marathoners just trying to finish all converged on the Embarcadero at once. We had to weave like crazy and I more than once bumped into someone else with a bit of force in a last-ditch effort to finish alongside Aron and Kristine and redeem how crappy I was feeling there at the end!

    But before I knew it (okay, lie, it seemed like a long time when I felt like passing out) we were headed into AT&T Park! Then we get to the finish. OK. Backing up—Aron mentioned earlier in casual conversation that if we finished together we’d get a finish-line picture! This was 95% of the motivation for me to not stop and seek water at mile 11, that and the fact that I knew I’d be annoyed all day if I finished in 2:01. So we get to the finish line and…

    One, no camera. Two and more importantly… the finish line was backed up 10+ people deep! You couldn’t even get across it. So that didn’t happen, but I decided to make my own artist’s rendition of what WOULD have been our finish line picture.

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    As you can tell, I studied Art in college. We all finished together in 1:58 something. A 14-minute PR for Kristine which is AWESOME! I’ve only done one other half and ran in 1:57:51 so this was right on par with that. So technically I PW’ed and am very fine with it Smile

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    I immediately downed the bottle of Dasani and felt 598373% better. Note to self: work on hydration strategies for the next race! Then, as if the finish line congestion wasn’t bad enough, the organization in the stadium was terrible. TERRIBLE! Thousands of people were supposed to go to three different spots to get T-shirts, food, and coveted Bobbleheads. It was so congested that there would have been no way out even if I had tried! We were probably in there for 40 minutes. Finally, we got our gear, Aron took off on a couple more miles, and I hung out waiting for Naomi and Audrey, who were also caught in the mess.

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    Despite the horrendousness of an uncrossable finish line and an extremely claustrophobic and fire hazard post-race situation, I had a GREAT time at this race! The course was great, each mile was intimately familiar to me and people seemed to be having fun. And running with Aron and Krisitne was icing on the cake and made the whole thing so much better and really got me through my dizzy spell.

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    Afterwards, I went to Momo’s with Audrey, Naomi, Sam, and Kelly, and ate a very delicious side order of mac and cheese. It’s exactly what I wanted.

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    Went home with good swag and in a great mood. I really like the half marathon distance and this race. Hopefully based on feedback they’ll improve the post-race organization next year.

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    Now I’ve got a free afternoon and don’t know what to do with myself! Have a great Saturday everyone!

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    And so it grows…

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    Strawberry Balsamic Jam and FOMO

    August 19, 2011 by 18 Comments
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    I took on a new activity last night per the suggestion of my friends Julia and Talia. We decided to make jam.

    Making jam is one of those activities that sounds quaint and fun but as I haven’t cooked a full-on meal it what seems like months, I’m usually content to hand over the $2 for a jar of the sticky strawberry stuff. Not last night.

    TJC Strawberry Balsamic Jam

    Unlike various other activities I’ve attempted in the kitchen (like bagel making), this actually WAS worth the time! The ingredients were really simple too. Apparently jam is easy to make, so we just looked at a bunch of different recipes and made our own from that. We used:

    • 3 pounds organic strawberries
    • Juice of two juicy limes
    • 2 cups of sugar (a lot of recipes call for more but this was fine)
    • 3 capfuls of strawberry balsamic
    • A few grinds of black pepper at the end

    I’ve heard of a lot of jam recipes that include balsamic but we were inspired to add the pepper by this recipe. I admit to being slightly skeptical but it did add, as Julia eloquently worded, a nice “complexity” to the flavor.

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    Step one: cut the stems off and chop the berries.

    Carefully.

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    Then we mixed the berries with the two cups of sugar and put it on the heat. Start off at low heat at first because otherwise the sugar will burn! We also squeezed two limes out. It was probably half a cup of lime juice overall. Some recipes call for lemon or orange—I dug the lime.

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    After we finally (carefully) brought it up to a boil, then it had to continue to cook at a lower temp for… a LONG time. I don’t know, an hour? It definitely is a while. The reason being that this recipe does not use any thickening agents (like cornstarch, or pectin). Julia made jam once with pectin and while it thickens much quicker, it can also take some of the taste away from the fruit, so if you have the time to let the real thing set, do it. I love foods with five ingredients!

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    As it was changing textures, some foam would appear that we’d skim off, or try to. Most of it was constantly dissolving back into the jam. Delicious.

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    Once it was almost done (you could visibly see the jam thickening as we stirred it) we added some balsamic—probably a tablespoon and then some. Not much. Enough to change the color from a bright reddish color to more brown, but it tasted great! We cooked it for about ten more minutes, ground some pepper in and taste-tested. You really could taste the strawberries (primary flavor) with the hints of the lime and balsamic, and the pepper definitely added something.

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    Only sad thing was we had ten jars and this recipe made four tiny ones! It cooked down a LOT from the beginning—if I made the recipe again with friends I’d double it and use a bigger pot so the fruits of my labor would last longer. : )

    I had a really fun time making jam and will DEFINITELY consider making a bunch of these as gifts in the future!

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    I enjoyed several tastes last night and of course had to have peanut butter and jam on an English muffin for breakfast so I could eat some. Just as good as I remembered!

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    Note: this weekend is the Healthy Living Summit and I gotta say, I really wish I was there! I have really enjoyed meeting bloggers in real life and that would have been a great opportunity to meet so many of my favorites. Unfortunately, I really didn’t have the money sitting around. I looked into it when tickets were about to go on sale and I couldn’t find anything below almost $700 for the plane ticket itself. Then add in $100 for the ticket and probably $300 for the weekend… well, who knows how much hotel cost… and basically, there was no way in hell. Sure, looking back on it now, I definitely could have made it work, but it just seemed like too insurmountable. I still really want to go to a blogger conference and hopefully sometime soon.

    I really would love to go to Foodbuzz as it’s in my city (!!!) but I’m not a Featured Publisher—I will work on that. I am really passionate about blogging and food and running and want to continue to meet more people that are into it.

    Speaking of which—if you are a blogger in the bay area—email me! I’ve started trying to get some info gathered for a blogger meetup in SF and I’m really looking forward to that. Smile

    A big part of HLS and Foodbuzz and all of that is FOMO—Fear of Missing Out. I suffer from FOMO big time. Much less than I did in college (“yes I have a midterm tomorrow and a paper due I haven’t started, but, like, omg soooo many people were going out to the bars tonight!”) but I still do. And a big part of that is Zumba. (Whose logo I am allowed to use as a paying ZIN member… for now!)

    zumba

    I got certified to be a Zumba instructor towards the beginning of the year. I am not great at many things, but I AM a great dancer, and I am very good at Zumba. Years of dance team and captaining paid off! I was so excited to teach, but then, little did I know, two weeks later I moved to SF and started a full-time demanding job. No Zumba teaching for me. I could sub at some gyms, but my schedule is too unpredictable. It just can’t happen right now.

    I’ve spent over $500 into Zumba, with the course and paying for the 6-month ZIN (instructor network) membership—and I haven’t made a dime. My ZIN membership is about to expire and I need to just cancel it, because I’m literally throwing money away if I don’t. But that makes it certain: I am a Zumba instructor who will never teach Zumba, despite how awesome of a teacher I know I’d be. I’m trying to tell myself that it’s okay… I can ALWAYS take it up again later. I can. It’s fine.

    I just hate the feeling that I’m Missing Out. It’s hard for me to accept that I can’t do everything.

    I can’t.

    But I can do SOME things, and right now I need to learn to make choices. Most of which are reversible. I’m going to work on embracing where I am now and being okay with the fact that I can’t have it all. Somehow, it all works out anyway.

    Have a GREAT weekend everyone and have an amazing time at the HLS if you are there!

    Courtney

    Do you suffer from FOMO? What do you worry about missing out on?

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