My first half marathon was more than I hoped it could be.  I came into it with a huge smile on my face and left with a huge smile on my face.  I accomplished something that was only a dream for so long…something I never would have imagined myself accomplishing two years ago. 

The Santa to the Sea Half Marathon is a fundraiser to give toys to needy children.  Every runner brought a toy to give.  After taking a photo with Santa, I placed my gift (two kid’s books) on the gigantic pile! 

The gigantic Santa actually has a cool story behind it: http://www.santatothesea.com/Santatotheseaweb2/sttsvid.html

It’s been around for a looonnng time, and used to be up in Carpinteria on Santa Claus Lane before it got moved down to Oxnard.  Anyone who lives near here can tell you where it is, because you can see it from the highway.

Before I lined up, I stood in line for about 15 minutes to use the port-a-pottie!  Glad I did that though.    Then I stretched out, slapped on a lil sunscreen, queued up my Ipod, kissed my sweet husband goodbye, and lined up!  Soon enough, we were off!  Kev stood in a good spot to snap some photos at the beginning. 

Many people were dressed up for the race, and it was so much fun seeing the different creative costumes.  This one, caught by Kev (I never saw him), was BY FAR the best!  I hope he won first place for best costume.

I first saw Kevin at about mile 3.5.  I was feeling great due to my kick butt playlist (more on that later), but it perked me up even more when I saw him. 

The race was full of smiling, cheering volunteers, and that made me so happy!  From the moment my feet hit the pavement, I knew it was going to be a good run, and I can’t tell you how thrilling that was.  How lucky!  I love racing because I feel fueled by the runners around me.  There’s something in the air that just empowers me and pushes me forward.  I wasn’t too worried about my pace throughout the race…I just ran comfortably fast.    Almost each time I looked down, my pace was around 5.5 miles/hour. 

Kev caught me again at the halfway point…he was so sweet to keep getting photos of me!  I loved the energy of the halfway point.  There was a couple live bands, lots and lots of food (including cinnamon rolls and brownies, but I didn’t take any), tons of people (this was the relay stopping point), and decorations in the park. 

Here’s me at around mile 8.  It was pretty hot out, but I still felt great.  My playlist was pushing me!

When mile 10 hit, I got chills, because I knew that this was the farthest I’d ever ran in my entire life!  My hip had been a little sore since mile 6, but it was not really hurting me.  The last three miles of the race, though, were super super hot.  Luckily, they did have water/Gatorade stations.  Even though I had my Camelbak (thank goodness!!), I walked through some water stations for Gatorade and to dump water on my head.  It felt amazing.

It was really hard to push myself through that last mile.  I’m not gonna lie – it hurt.  I through the idea of sprinting the last half mile out the window…I just wanted to make it!  And I did.  I saw the finish line, and I pushed.  I took out my earbuds to hear the shouts of encouragement from others, and heard them call my name (how cool!) as I ran through the finish.  I spotted Kevin and could not take the smile off my face!! 

I love this photo (above), because it displays the feeling of sheer victory I had.  It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

I hobbled over to Kevin and hugged him, and shed a few short tears.  My body felt good, even though it was difficult to walk!  We found a spot in the shade, and I chugged a coconut water and some pretzels they gave out at the finish.  I gently stretched it out and spilled all the details of the race to Kevin. 

Check out that salt that soaked through my pants!  Yeah, I definitely sweated a lot!

I was so thankful to Kev for being so supportive during the race.  He was perfect! 

I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.  I built it up in my head as a day that would be a huge milestone for me, and it totally fulfilled that expectation.  For some reason, 10 miles, TEN MILES, is so much more than nine miles. 

When I mapped out my original training plan, I arranged for three runs per week, including one long run.  My long runs increased a half mile or a mile per week, and I made sure not to increase my mileage by more than 15% each week.  Despite my meticulous planning, I noticed my right hip was starting to feel sore at about mile six on my long runs.  Figuring that perhaps my hip was simply not strong enough, I started doing more strength training and also stretched more each time.  However, when I attempted my first 10-mile run for the first time in early November, I had to stop at mile eight and walk the rest of the way.  I was feeling sharp pain and was worried I was going to seriously injure myself.  I took off a few days and made an appointment with physical therapist.

The physical therapist was very thorough in her assessment and concluded that my entire right side is tighter and stiffer than my left.  She stretched me out a ton, and told me to stretch for a long time before and after each run.  To my surprise and delight, this actually seemed to work!  I did lose some long runs in there, though, and I’ve had to build back up.  Now, my half marathon is only a week and a day away, and the longest I’ve ever run is 10 miles (as of today!). 

In the past, my hip has been sore even on a 3 mile run.  But today, I felt little soreness until late in the run, and no sharp pain!  At the end of the run, my whole lower half felt sore, but not injury sore, just flat-out sore.  I’m so happy!

Often when I’m on a long run, I can just feel that it’s going to be a great run.  Today was one of those days.  Even though I haven’t made an epic running playlist like I’ve wanted to, I was still feeling the old songs and my legs were light and carrying me.  It was overcast with a gentle cool breeze from the ocean.  Basically your perfect running conditions. 

The miles just ticked by.  I didn’t even have to constantly check the Garmin or talk myself through any of it, until mile 8 or so.  What’s more, I went faster than ever before on a long run. 

Here are my official stats:

Total time: 1:50:43
Average Pace: 11:04/mi

Mile 1 – 9:58
Mile 2 – 10:42
Mile 3 – 10:23 
Mile 4 – 11:56 –> .05 walk, stretched, ate 1/2 shot blok
Mile 5 – 10:28
Mile 6 – 12:23 –> .05 walk, stretched, ate 1/2 shot blok
Mile 7 – 10:32
Mile 8 – 12:07 –> .05 walk, stretched, ate 1 shot blok
Mile 9 – 10:51
Mile 10 – 11:17

I love it when you’re at the end of a run, and the perfect song comes along and just pushes you right through the end.  This time, that song was “Top of the World” by the Dixie Chicks.  It’s a relatively slow song, but has an incredibly powerful end. 

I finished strong, with a small sprint at the end, and the bliss flowed through me.  There’s nothing like the pride that comes with accomplishing something you never thought you could.

I always find myself looking up at the sky during the sprint, with the purest of JOY pulsing through my body.  I am so grateful that I started running.  That I got over the initial fears or thoughts of “I’m not built like a runner” or that “I’ve never been an athlete”.  As I grew up, I had a picture in my mind of who I was, and I was not good at sports.  This just proves that all you have to do is put your mind to it and you can change anything.

So many bloggers have posed in this somewhat dorky, trying-not-to-look-like-jazz-hands way, and I have to admit, I was super excited to do it too.

Please forgive the crappy photo quality.  That would be my old camera and self timer action combined. 

I believe the next few photos document my happiness…

And maybe also my sheer surprise…10 miles?!  Whaaa?

And the happy dance…

My first ten-miler also marks the debut of a little friend named Chase chafe.  Oh, how nice to meet you.

Like I said, running ten miles is a huge milestone for me.  And at the end, panting and smiling, all I could think was… I can’t wait until I run 11. 

I love that about running…there’s always something to reach for.  And believe me, I’ll be reaching. 

I took a lot of photos over the past couple of months, always saying that I couldn’t wait to blog about whatever it was that was happening, like the Avocado festival and my trip to Colorado to see my family.  And it’s true that I’ve had the best intentions of blogging.  I just didn’t.  What really made me stop was when I realized I had double-booked myself on two things that were very important to me.

One thing was attending this year’s Foodbuzz Blogger Festival.  I wrote it on my calendar and was excited to make the drive up to San Francisco to meet all my fellow food bloggers, including many people I admire and including the people who inspired me to run…people who have changed my life and I have never even met them.

However, I then bought a ticket for my mom to come out and visit me, something that I was also really looking forward to, the same weekend of the festival.  I guess I just didn’t look at the calendar.  I assumed nothing was going on.

When I realized it, I was somewhat heartbroken, but I shrugged it off my shoulders and told myself it wasn’t meant to be.

With that shrug I guess I also shrugged off my inspiration to blog. 

I think for awhile I compared my blog to other blogs.  On days when my blog was my focus, I fixated on getting my own domain name, making my blog look more appealing, getting more readers, etc.  When I realized I wasn’t going to the festival, I guess I kind of felt like – and I know this sounds silly – but I felt like I wasn’t a real food blogger. 

Despite my lack of inspiration to write again, my passion for creative writing has crept up on me again.  More than “being a food blogger”, I want to write again.  I want my blog to be a true reflection of who I am.  I want to get back to the real reasons I started Delicious Wellness…to blogging about WELLNESS…physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  To cultivate happiness and share it with the world.

Right now, I am wiping the slate clean of all expectations that I have for this blog.  Unless I choose to, I don’t have to blog three times a day, actively try to get readers, or change anything about the blog.  There are no requirements.  The only requirement is for me to be true to myself. 

Are you ready?  I am.

With that being said,

Where the heck have I been?

Well, my friends, I have been great places.  I have eaten many a delicious food. I’ve gone on many a run, including running 7, 8, 9 miles for the first time in my LIFE!!! Here are some of the snapshots of my life…

For our game night party, I made Jenna’s Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes, which are pretty darn gourmet and also amazingly delicious.  I don’t think I’ve ever had frosting that was so light.  It was so light and fluffy it was almost as if you weren’t eating it at all.  But you were, yes you were.

And because we had buttermilk left, Kevin felt the urge to make buttermilk biscuits (we also had buttermilk pancakes at some point – gotta use up the fridge!)…

I made Angela’s Gingerbread Pumpkin Vegan Overnight Oat Parfait, and yes, it was amazingly delicious.  Dessert for breakfast?  Yes please.

Homemade pizza was had, with an egg on top.  Yummylish!

BLUEberry pancakes…

Lots of egg sandwiches, upon discovering the fantastic taste of eggs from the Farmer’s Market.  Will never buy eggs at the store again.

And then, one of my favorite events of the year, The Avocado Festival!!!

We perused all the little shops, and I bought a flattened wine bottle called “The Middle Sister”.  I had to because I AM THE MIDDLE SISTER!! 

We also bought a few of the famous Calibowls!  They work SO well for salsa and dips, and even oatmeal!

Despite an overcast day, the Avocado Festival was swimming with people. 

I was happy to see this…

We ate award-winning guacamole…

Posed cheesily with the giant avocado…

And wrapped our hands around the biggest avocado of the year!  It was heavy…

There was kids’ artwork of avocados…

And a display of every type of avocado grown in California…all delightfully delicious…

And to top it all off, avocado ice cream.  Can you taste the avocado?  Yes!  In a good way. 

Over the last two months, I went on many long runs, including running nine miles for the first time EVER!  Here I am pre-run, decked out and pumped up.

With my beloved Camelbak, which I could NOT do without.  I usually drink the whole thing on a long run!  I also have been eating Cliff Shot Bloks, which are so tasty, and work so well.  I usually eat one square every 2 miles (3 squares have 200 calories).  That works out to be the perfect amount of fuel!

As you can see, the Big Girl Camera and I are still getting to know each other.  She has now seen my goofy side, and, well, so have you.

If you think those are goofy, you haven’t seen the video of my sister doing a cowboy in slow motion.  You want to see it?  We’ll see.

I love the season of fall.  Yes, I suppose it could be partly because fall features my favorite colors (deep reds, oranges, and golds!), but it’s also just a snuggly time of year.  I love lighting candles and setting our table in the fall theme…

Whipping out the box of Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations…

(quilted by my wonderful mother-in-law!)

I also absolutely love fall foods.  I dusted off the crockpot to make a butternut squash soup, which turned out lovely.  I need to get a vegetarian slowcooker cookbook!  I love using the slow cooker.

Kev and I have spent many nights making dinner and playing our favorite game, Dominion.  Yes, we are nerds. 

I’ve fallen in love with Justin’s Chocolate Peanut Butter (Vegan, too!) and Artisana’s Coconut Butter (also vegan)…both on top of a delicious bowl of (vegan) banana oats.  YUM.

The last week in October, I visited my family in Colorado.

I was delighted that Colorado had not yet frosted, so I could really enjoy fall colors!!  That is definitely something I miss (though I don’t miss it when I’m running on the beach in 70 degree weather in the middle of November, though!!!).  It was a fantastic trip!!

I spent a lot of time cracking up with my hilarious sisters, particularly ABBEY.  While preparing dinner, we were all crying with laughter at her dancing around like this:

Yeah, that’s kale.  No, that did not go on the pan with the rest of the kale.   

I love my family.  We are all such goofballs and whenever there’s a family dinner, I know I’m going to end up crying tears of laughter.  I love it. 

Here’s my mom, making vegan walnut apple salad.

My little sister Audrey, doing….something…

First round of “ohhhhhh yeeaahhhh.”  My sister does this thing…it’s hard to describe…it’s like a slow motion cowboy.  When I go home for Thanksgiving, I will get a video.  You will die laughing.  For sure.  For now you can gaze at these pictures and wish you were there.

Laughter ensued.

OH what a night!

I spent a lot of time at my sister and her husband’s cute little cottage.  I got a few shots of Abbey’s new Fall Collection.  If you didn’t know already, Abbey is a very talented artist and creates all sorts of unique and precious things in her shop, Love’s Garden.  Right now she has a whole line of fall hair accessories that are SO CUTE!!  I bought this one, and I LOVE IT!  I have gotten so many compliments!  I snapped some photos of her little studio in their cottage.

Flower hair accessories…

Gorgeous headbands…

My photos don’t even compare, however, to the artistic stylings of my brother-in-law, Preston, who takes all of Abbey’s photos for her shop and also has a website of his own.

If you looked at Abbey’s shop, you know she’s creative.  Not only is she creative in her shop, but she has the sweetest cozy cottage full of little “vignettes” as she calls them.  I had to snap a few photos…

Vegan cookbooks (Ab and Pres are vegan-tacular)…

And, let’s not forget their little bitchy sassy cat Spoofer.  Just kidding, she can be super sweet, but that cat also has some ‘tude!  Yes, tude. 

Abbey and Preston live in Cheyenne Canon, one of the most (if not THE most) beautiful places to live in Colorado Springs.  We took a couple hikes in the open space there – a protected area filled with hiking trails.  I love hiking!

Hand-written on one of the trail signs was “Ute Tree”.  Abbey explained what a Ute Tree is.  It is a sacred tree used for prayer by the Ute Indians.  I found this quote on this website.

“These are Prayer Trees used for ceremony.  On the way from Crystal Peak to Pikes Peak, the people had to stop and pray four times.  A young sapling was selected at this point and bent parallel to the ground where it was tied with a yucca rope.  Then everyone circled the tree and prayed, for they knew the tree would live and hold their prayers for 800 years and each breeze would give their prayers new breath.”

How beautiful to have such an old, sacred tree in our presence.  And the tree is holding the prayers of many Indians, and now our prayers of love as well.

What an incredible day…

The night before I left, we had another family dinner, and EVERYONE came!  From the left, Nancy, my dad Bill, my sister Abbey, my sister Audrey, my bro-in-law Preston, my mom Cathy, and her partner Scott.  YAY! 

And one with me. 

We had delicious chili, cornbread, and a blueberry crisp with ice cream (all vegan of course).

After dinner, the laughing ensued with Abbey’s complete hilarity doing the slow-motion cowboy.  It’s official.  I will be posting a video after Thanksgiving week.  It’s too funny not to share. 

Then, we all carved pumpkins!  Mine is the one with the giant phallic shape nose and round things eyes attached.  Thanks to Preston for the nice photo!  He used his shweet tripod.

I was sad to leave, but luckily, I’m going back after Thanksgiving (I get to spend Thanksgiving day with Kev’s fam)!  And then three weeks after that, Christmas!  I’m so thrilled to able to spend so much time with family this holiday season.

Kev and I have since made some delicious treats, like pumpkin muffins…

We had a quiet Halloween, deciding not to dress up, mostly because of time and lack of parties to attend.  We got a handful or two of trick-or-treaters, and enjoyed a nice meal while watching my FAVORITE scary movie, “The Shining”. 

Check out our cute Frankenstein, quilted by my cute mother-in-law, Marcia.

Yummy squatternut bosh butternut squash with onions…

and tofu with a tasty sweet and spicy sauce…

So there you have it, if you’ve made it this far.  Some joyful moments in my life over the past couple of months.  And what comes next, you ask? 

Well, hm…

I want this blog to really reflect who I am.  So that means…

Things might get a lil silly…

There will definitely be cooking and baking involved…

and of course I will document my training and accomplishing my goals (running 10 miles is next).

I know that my journey to discover Delicious Wellness will not always be easy, as nothing hugely important is.  Sometimes I might get a little angry,

or a tad confused,

or even sometimes scared…

…but in the end, I’ll remember my truth.

I’ll jump for joy,

and do a lil dance,

…and remember My Truth.  That nothing can take Love away from me.  That loving myself is the most powerful step.

As I said on January 20, 2010 when I first started this blog,

The sun is setting on the shame that I’ve felt when I feel that I’m not good enough.  I know that is not in any way true.  The sun is setting on my lack of self-confidence.  I know I can do this.   The rain is washing away all the parts of me that want to criticize myself, that doubt my abilities, and the sun is breaking through and shining on my Highest Self.

And so I begin again.  I am so excited to share this journey with you.  Will you join me? 

My poor blog hasn’t seen much love lately, for a number of reasons.  Mostly, I was preparing for an interview for a few days straight (didn’t get the job though) and then I got sick for a couple days.

BUT, I declare that I will be back! 

Hopefully tomorrow or the next I’ll begin blogging regularly again.  I miss it!

Soon!

He took us around his farm, showing us the various vegetables, picking them, dusting them off, and giving them to us to taste.  There’s nothing quite like picking veggies right off the plant and eating, without having to worry about chemicals.  It was almost magical.  His wife (“the cook”) was also there, picking and talking about their whole process.  Check out the photos of their awesome farm.

Peppers…

Steve was so nice.  If he saw you looked interested in a certain plant, he would pick off a bunch and just hand it to you!   

The veggies tasted so good.  I could have eaten a whole plate-full!

We spotted a little frog!

I loved listening to Steve talk about farming.  You can tell he absolutely loves it.  I’m happy there are successful, small organic farms…it gives me hope for the future.

After the fantastic tour, we went over to the restaurant to eat!  The Farmer and the Cook is a mostly vegetarian, fresh fresh fresh restaurant, market, and CSA.  I wish I lived in Ojai so I could take part in their CSA (and shop at the market), but Kev and I are looking into the Ventura CSA.  The atmosphere was so laid back and personal.  Kevin and I heard rave reviews of the veggie burger, so we tried that, along with the “Vegano” (vegan) pizza with cashew cheese.  HOLY SMOKES the food was amazing.  The veggie burger had the biggest, sweetest slice of tomato on it that really made it amazing.  And the cashew cheese was crumbly and yummy on the fantastic pizza dough.  Couldn’t have asked for anything more.

We will definitely be back for more!  I can’t believe we haven’t been there yet. 

If you’re interested, both the farmer AND the cook have blogs!  I checked them out briefly.  The cook’s blog features different recipes (yumm!) and the farmer’s blog discusses issues in organic farming.  Here are the links:

The Farmer’s Blog

The Cook’s Blog

Now that I’m caught up with the big events of last weekend, I’ll hopefully be blogging my daily eats and workouts, starting tomorrow!

I’m starting a challenge for myself – no sugar for 30 days.  I’ll explain it tomorrow!  Bonne soiree!

The room was FILLED with people and the catered food was incredible!  The vibe was awesome – I love being surrounded by like-minded people who are all pushing for local, organic, sustainable food.

Check out this real food!

(that’s lavender lemonade…yummmm)

My bowl of deliciousness…

My favorite part was the squash flower!  It was filled with a tiny bit of goat cheese and herbed cherry tomatoes.  INCREDIBLE!

Some chocolate mousse made with local, cage-free eggs…

All AMAZING food, and even a glass of wine!

The film was really good.  It was similar to Food, Inc. but more focused on supporting local farms and less on animal welfare.  One good take-away that I’ve also heard elsewhere is about kids eating veggies.  Studies show that if children grow their own vegetables, they are more likely to eat them.  This makes me want to start a garden when I have my classroom, and of course, with my own kids someday. 

The imagery was also very captivating, with children running through fields, eating blackberries as they go…lush farms…families coming home from the Farmer’s Market…I had tears in my eyes multiple times.  That, coupled with this song, brought me back to my roots and made me want to spread the word about how important it is to support nutritious food by buying from local farmers. 

Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree that’s old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed its knees
By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world

May we not forget to cherish the ground beneath us and grow food that nourishes us and makes us strong and energized.  For there is nothing that compares to seeing a sprout break through and helping it to grow and grow and grow until it is ready to be eaten with joy!

Stuffed mushrooms and egg-scrambled green beans.

Green beans were eh but stuffed mushrooms were epic.  I used this recipe.

French toast with peaches (no that is not my serving)…

Once again, everything I buy from the Farmer’s Market tastes better. 

For lunch, I ate a gigantic SIAB.  It may have been the BEST EVER.

In the mix (with calories):

2 cups frozen cherries –200

¼ C frozen blueberries – 25

1.5 scoops protein powder – 200

½ C pomegranate juice – 140

Handful mixed greens – 7

Toppings:

¼ C granola – 120

1 tbsp coconut butter – 93

1 tbsp choc hazelnut butter – 85

The butters on top totally made it.  Total calories? A lot.  But it totally filled me up until DINNER.  Epic.

The past couple evenings have been jam-packed with blogable activities.

Thursday evening, Kevin and I attended a showing of the documentary “Ingredients”, which included discussion and amazing catered food.

Tonight (Friday evening), Kevin and I toured a local farm and then ate dinner at the farm’s restaurant, “The Farmer and the Cook.”  We met both the farmer (husband) and his wife (the cook), learned a lot about organic farming, and then proceeded to eat some of the best vegan food I’ve ever had.  Why have we not gone there before tonight?  I have no flipping clue.  But I do know that I will be back. 

Before I go on and on and rave about it some more, I’m going to work on a post about it. 

Let me end by saying I feel so lucky to live in a place where there is a large amount of people interested in and/or dedicated to sustainable organic growing and eating.  Blessed!

Well, sort of.  I did want to share with you some delightful photos of the gigantic (and positively amazingly delicious) artichoke that I bought from the farmer’s market.  It was huge, and I wanted to demonstrate the size.

It looked so good I just ate it raw.

Just kidding.

By the way, can I just say that everything from the Farmer’s Market just tastes better? Including the eggs.  I’ve been wanting to buy eggs from the Farmer’s Market for ages and I finally did.  They are amazing.  And it makes me happy knowing I’m buying local, cage-free eggs.

Anyway, on to breakfast.

Kev whipped up some oats with currants and cinnamon and I topped mine with my newest love, Coconut butter.  It’s been floating around the blogosphere and I figured it was time to try it out!  It tastes like nut butter with a coconut aftertaste.  It is super melty when you heat it up or put it on something hot.

I also enjoyed hot coffee with agave and soy milk in my mug that my Mama made me for my 19th birthday. 

Did anyone watch The Biggest Loser last night? It is one of my favorite shows of all time, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that it makes me cry (if not sob) nearly every episode.  The season is jam-packed with people who have suffered terrible tragedies in their lives, so I’m sure the tears will flow.  It really gets me how physical exertion is used as a tool for healing.  Amazing.

Of course, one of the reasons I love the show is that it inspires me like no other.  If these people can work so hard and lose hundreds of pounds, I can lose the nagging 10-15 pounds I’ve always wanted to.

I know I work out enough (almost every single day), but it’s time for me to take a good look at what I’m eating and decide what needs to be tweaked in order for me to meet my goals.

That being said, you might see some calorie-counting on the blog.  I know that calorie counting is an effective way to lose weight, despite how tedious or time-consuming it may be.  I’m not saying I’m going to always count calories, but I think doing it a few days in a row or every few days will be eye-opening.

SO.

Breakfast:

• 1/2 C oats – 100
• 1/2 C soy milk – 40
• 1 tbsp agave – 60
• 1/2 tbsp Artisana Organic Coconut butter – 47
• 1/4 oz. dried currants – 20

Looking back, 270 calories doesn’t seem like enough breakfast.  Perhaps I’ll have breakfast part two later this morning?

We’ll see how it goes.

This morning I’m going to the gym for a spin class.  It’s been awhile…I just hope the instructor rocks!

Traditional French galettes (French crepes)…

…with cidre (hard apple cider)…

French toast with muesli on the outside, and jam/Greek yogurt on the inside…

Trip to our local Farmer’s market…

Whole wheat linguine with “meat”balls and avocado topping…

With an amazing loaf of break from the local bakery (sooo much better than grocery store kind…)

That’s all for now!  I will be back soon with more amazing food! 

Hello, blogworld!  I’m finally getting around to updating you on the results of the 10k I ran 2 weeks ago.  It was a fantastic day! 

First of all, I’d like to thank my champ of a husband for waking up with me at 5am on a Saturday just to come down to Santa Monica (an hour and 20 minute drive!) and take photos.  What a guy!

He also made me pre-race oatmeal. 

The race was set near the Santa Monica beach, which was actually really beautiful, and I’m sure it would be an excellent place to hang out on a bright sunny day.  But was our morning bright and sunny?  Nope.  It was cloudy and foggy and actually quite cold – the PERFECT weather for racing. 

I was one happy camper runner getting all ready. 

I got my race number, and was pleased to see there was another number 24 (albeit backwards) on there…

I almost ran the race in my white pullover, but decided against it, which ended up being a good decision. 

This race was PACKED, but they had signs with average paces so you’d know about where to line up.  I really liked that, and happily lined up with the 10:00  minute milers.

Kevin went ahead to try and snap some photos, but he lost me in the crowd.  He did get some epic photos of the elite runners, however.

I’d only run one full-lengthed training run, and I ran it in about 1:05:00.  I was expecting to be a little faster, but as I ran, I realized much of the race was slightly uphill.  I pushed through, but I was so tired. 

After the first couple miles, though, I got into the groove and my mental talk was more positive than negative.  Especially when I saw someone who was really inspiring!  During the biggest uphill stretch of the course, I saw a man with a stroller up ahead of me.  He got off the course for a second and then went right back on and continued running.  As I approached him, I noticed he was hunched over, and I hoped he was ok.  But as I ran next to him, I realized he was running while feeding his infant baby with a bottle.  The baby looked so content and relaxed, like nothing different was happening.  I was so impressed with this guy!  And get this: later, on the downhill portion, he passed me while still feeding the baby.  Oh.My.  If I can someday be like this when I have a little one, that would make me very happy!   

The rest of the race was pretty awesome…I did love that the downhill portion was near the end, but then I had about a mile left of just pure flatness.  That last mile really got to me, but I ran FAST.  I knew I was breaking my PR, and I just wanted to break it even more!

I looked for Kev at the finish line, but didn’t see him snapping photos…or else I’m sure I would’ve smiled.  Instead, you get to see how my body felt right at that moment! haha

I was so. wiped.  My one complaint of this race is that they didn’t supply enough water.  If I’d known there would only be a few water stations, I would have worn my Camelbak.  I was so dehydrated at the end, and they were out of water bottles.  I found Kevin, who forgot to bring my water bottle to the finish line, and I almost broke down.  It was the first time after a race that I  haven’t felt euphoria…instead I felt like crying.  Extreme physical exertion has a way of bringing out all sorts of emotions.  I begged Kevin to “find me water” in a cackley old witch voice, and being the amazing husband he is, he sprinted a mile just to find me a damn water bottle.  Thanks, Kevie! 

As I sipped, I watched the times, with the other runners…

My official chip time: 1:02:14!  That’s 3 minutes under my PR.  Yay!  It’s an after pace of 10:02.  It’s amazing to think that this time last year a 10-minute mile was a sprint for me.  That’s how far I’ve come!

I placed 30th out of 47 20-24 year old women, and 834th out of 1247 people racing (including elite runners!).

I am very proud of my time and look forward to being under an hour in my next 10k! 

Once I got water and calmed down, I was super happy.

We walked over to the pier, where there was an after-party, but I was disappointed to find out they were out of goodie bags.  But then I sneaked over to the back of the elite tent and grabbed one from them!  I’m so bad.  hehe

There was a gigantic line for pancakes and you only got one (lame!), but the highlight was the free physical therapy I got on my calves.  It was short, but I enjoyed it. 

Kev and I ducked out to go find a better breakfast, and we found the CUTEST little place called The Novel Cafe.  We forgot the camera in the car, but I had epic banana walnut pancakes with real maple syrup and VEGGIE sausage.  I’ve never had veggie sausage at a restaurant, and it made me so happy.  Way to go, Novel Cafe!

Overall, I was really happy with the race, and I can’t wait to run another one!  I’m training for my first half marathon in December, but in the meantime I think I’ll run another 10k and maybe a 5k.  Nothing beats the feeling you get from running.  It’s a sense of accomplishment that nothing really compares to.  I’m just glad I found it.