11 Miles and a Gorgeous Slew of Hills

The rains cleared, there is a light layer of sand packed on the path along the beach, the air is chilly, fallen branches decorate dirt routes, and we are out running. I have not run since Monday. The rains were enough to prevent me from going out with the expectation of completely unexpected downpours. I saw those runners in the street. One minute it's drizzling and the next there's hail. No thanks, not for me. Although my runner's dream is to be all geared up one of these day's and in ship rain running shape. Fearless, unweathered, and frankly, a little bull-headed. But today there is no rain.

Our route today takes us north along the sandy beach toward our eventual uphill climb on Temescal. Before we get there we are first tested with a couple of little hills - more like slopes in the path - but it is enough to remind us that today is a series of ups and downs - large and small - shallow and steep. There are about 20 of us today. The view along the beach here is lovely, but all eyes are on Temescal. We will kill this hill, oh yes we will. We run in two's, we run by ourselves, we run until we can't run anymore. We all make it to the top. Some think the worst is over, but it's not. We still have about 6 miles to go!

This part of the course takes us through Pacific Palisades and past some lovely homes - although we must dodge the vines and plants and flowers that want to touch us, poking us with their arms. There is also the after rain effect in the ground, in the trees, and in the air, that makes it seem that we are in Oregon, or a rain forest - except that it is not humid but cool and breezy. It's full of green, and often it is only when you are on two feet exploring a city, that you realize how lush and beautiful and pristine L.A can be.

Hills are good for us. We know this. And next time our mentors suggest we do this route again, we will cheer and beg for it.

Personally, I had one small blip toward mile 8 or 9. I bought a packet of powder to mix in my water meant for endurance athletes. Other walkers or runners use powders and I thought I would give it a try. For me and my body, it proved to be a bad idea. The mixture of the drink and my usual created a deep cramp under my upper right ribcage for a good 10 minutes. So now I know. I like my Gu and it looks like it will stay that way.

Next week, 24 miles. Flat.

Happy running!

11 Mile Run

Today was our 11 mile group run - Exactly half the distance from last Saturday. Beautiful day - Just what you would expect before a heavy rain storm. I read my Garmin booklet last night and was able to set up the interval function needed for our long runs. The only glitch was that it stopped working exactly 1 hour and 51 minutes into the run. For some reason the training regimen stopped at 37 laps even though I had it programmed for 99. In other news, I am yet to discover how to tell time on the thing. Maybe that's why some runners have 2 watches - One for training and one to know what time it actually is! Today's run was very fun, except for the faint pain emanating from my right knee cap. A runner's aches and pains never seem to go away. There were a ton of roadrunners today. Always fun to see them. It's also always fun to run 11 miles before most people wake up on a saturday morning!

Happy running!

Raising Money for the John Wayne Cancer Institute

I am raising money for the John Wayne Cancer Institute in conjunction with both the Pasadena and Los Angeles Marathons. Thank you to everyone who has already donated. I am halfway to my goal of $2000! Please consider donating in the following increments:

$13.1 - In support of half-marathon
$26.2 - In support full marathon
$52.4 - In support of both marathons

Visit my charitable website at www.firstgiving.com/nazbanoo

To learn more about the John Wayne Cancer Institute, check out their website by clicking here

Cross training fun and my Garmin is Here!

Tonight my awesome cousin and I did some spinning at Revolution and took a large dose of yoga at Yogis Anonymous, both establishments located in Santa Monica. Because it was a new moon, our yoga movements varied according. I can't tell you how exactly the new moon affected our yoga routine, but I can tell you that we did a whole lot of twisting. And yoga on a Thursday night only means one thing - Unbelievable soreness on a Saturday morning.

In other uber-exciting news, I received my Garmin Forerunner 205 in the mail today. I was debating between the 205 and 305 model and decided on the 205 because I didn't feel like I would really use the heartbeat monitor accessory that the 305 provides. And if my heart was beating really fast, couldn't I just feel it? Charging the watch for Saturday's run. Excited!

4.75 miles and a Wrong Turn

I went out for an evening run. Sometimes I'm not in the mood to run at night because, well, it gets really dark. Sure, I have a headlamp and reflective gear, but that doesn't mean I can't trip over a rock, or get attacked by a. tree b. person c. evening woodland creature. But there were more runners than usual tonight and I feel better running at night when there are other people as crazy as me out there doing it. Toward the end of my run I took an atypical turn and started on a hill loop. Funny - I was in my own neck of the woods, but everything is so different at night - The streets, the houses. Close to home but i might as well have been miles away. But the result was finding a good hill loop for future training.

Happy running!

Runner's Almanac - 22 Miles

16 miles? 18 miles? 20 miles? 22 miles? Once you get to 20 miles, is 22 really that much of a difference? Here's what I told the lady who I ran with in our Leggers training run Saturday. The first 2 and last 2 miles are the hardest. Really. It takes a while to get into a groove, and then well, you yearn to reach the destination so you can fall out of that groove. There are tough spots along the way, sure. But by then, you have already committed.

I had a good run. We started a little fast, got a little slow, and then finished with about a 12:11 pace on average. Supposedly, we should train at a slower pace than the one we intend for the marathon. I like my pace group, they are good peeps, so I had no intention of switching it up. But now that I have finished the run, I'm thinking that I should probably aim for a pace a little bit faster than a 12 minute mile. So for the Pasadena Marathon, I think I will aim for 8 minutes less than the estimated 5:15 (time for 12 minute/mile).

Something else I told the lady I was running with (so sorry forgot your name - although I do remember our discussion about you running a 50 miler in Catalina with a couple of Mountain Goats) was that although we started with about 30 people, we would probably end with 5. And guess what? We did! Everyone else came in eventually, not that far behind.

I also signed up for the Firecracker 10K the week after the Pasadena Marathon. I did the Firecracker 5K in 2008 and this is one big hill of a course. So I decided to do the 10K - More hill. Good training for LA.

Happy running!

Runner's Almanac - 11.5 miles make up run

Having been out of town for a few days, I missed my first group long run of the year so made it up today - 10 miles plus change. I did do some running while in Las Vegas on the treadmill - no more than about 2.5 miles each day. I used to run all the time on the treadmill, but it is so much more fun to run outside. Next up is 22 miles on Friday. Here we go !