Wow. It seems that I completely skipped the month of October from blogging. My favorite month of the year and I didn’t blog once? I guess that means maybe I was busy enjoying it. 🙂
With Halloween and other odds and ends, life was busy (duh). Life is still busy, so I am going to keep this short.
In mid-October I ran the Folsom Blues Half Marathon. This was the first time I have ever run this race before. It isn’t actually that old of a race (maybe in its 3rd year?) but it used to be the Lake Natoma Four Bridges Half Marathon (I ran that race way back in 2011 after Squeaker was born). They changed the course quite a bit but it does ultimately run around Lake Natoma. In my opinion, Folsom Blues is WAY easier than Four Bridges but it was still a fun race.
Stonegate is the Folsom Coach for a group called Runnin for Rhett and she had special privileges which allowed her to drive her car right up to start line. She offered to give me a ride to the start of the race if I didn’t mind waking up and going at 0’Dark Thirty to help her set up her Running for Rhett tent. Of course I didn’t mind at all!
I helped set her stuff, met some great Runnin for Rhett people and watched the sun rise as the racers trickled in. I even fell asleep for a quick 20 minutes or so in the car before the race started.
Soon it was time to head to the starting line. It was chilly and windy so I wore my arm warmers which ultimately was a poor choice as I ended up carrying them the whole race but they are easy to carry.
My goal was to start off easy and not go racing out. Leading up to this race I was not feeling my best. My training has slowly been slipping (in my opinion) and as the darker chillier nights arrive, my motivation is slowly trickling away. This always happens as CIM nears (at least for me).
I just fell into a pace and tried to stick with it. I was trying not to look at my Garmin too much. There were a few runners around me that I just decided to stick with. I ran the hills which was one of my goals. I was feeling “ok” … not super strong but ok.
Long story short, I kept a decent pace. Near the end I could hear the finish line and I really started pushing the pace. I passed guy after guy and a few girls. I was just eager to be done. It was chilly and cloudy out and probably the first real day where it looked gray and rainy … so I pushed it and was surprised that I had some fuel left in the tank.
Road running is always tough as I never really carry much fuel with me and I am used to carrying lots of fuel on the trails. So I had stuffed a few chocolate covered espresso beans in my pocked and a salt tab. I took both probably 3 miles from the finish. I wasn’t sure if I needed them but I figured it couldn’t hurt. It helped. 🙂
I crossed the finish and heard Stonegate yelling my name! I finished with an 8:05 pace which is above my desired CIM pace although I wasn’t sure I could go another 13.1 miles at that pace haha.
Soon Vans and the girls found me. The race ends in Old Folsom and the parking is insane.
One of the perks of this race is a free entry into the “all you can drink” beer tent (which does me no good but Vans seems to enjoy it).
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I won’t lie, I was pretty sore from that race. Road racing really seems to tighten my hamstrings and really work other muscles that I don’t use while running trails. I also run way harder when I am running on the road.
CIM (The California International Marathon) is looming over my head. I have a few things playing around in my brain. Some days I feel like I am on track to make my personal goals for CIM and other days I think, “no way, just try and finish.” So the story it seems will just unfold on race day. I can’t really predict what will happen at this point. I am trying to keep my head out of the mental game. Lord knows I have other mental things going on right now (haha) racing doesn’t have to be one of them.
To end October, the girls enjoyed Halloween. The Peanut was Princess Leia and Squeaker was Anna. They were super cute.
Squeaker also tried her hand at soccer, t-ball and now basketball with our local community district. Her first basketball practice was this past week and she was the only girl!
She cried again but THIS TIME she cried because “it is hard mommy!” But she stuck it out. The tears came within the first 15 minutes and then quickly disappeared. She wants us to buy a basketball and practice. 🙂 I am in heaven right now. Soccer and t-ball came easy to her, basketball definitely takes more hand-eye coordination than she’s used to.
Overall, life is moving on. I am hosting my first ever Plant-Based 101 cooking/seminar/I don’t know what to call it at my house next weekend so I have been in prep mode for that.
I traveled for work twice in October, once to Calistoga and once to San Diego. I am finally done with the traveling and looking forward to just getting into the holiday spirit and enjoying my girls.
But first, I have my last race before CIM tomorrow. I am running the Clarksburg Country Run 20 miler (it is a sure fire way to get 20 miles in – with hundreds of other people).  I haven’t run this race since way back in 2011 as well. You can read that report here, that’s when my ankle was at its worst and I remember how painful that race was.
Here is hoping for a better outcome!
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
