Aurora's Blog

(#8) Rock ‘n’ Roll USA – Part 3 (Meeting Up With One Of My Favorites At The Finish)

March 19, 2012

Continuing from yesterday…When I started mile 13, I was about 3 hours and 3 minutes in.

I thought it would be nice to finish strong, but more importantly, it’d be nice to not literally melt into the road beneath me.

Even though I finally got to travel downhill, I still had a rough time. My body was over it. All I wanted to do was jump into the biggest pool of ice that’s ever existed. (Obviously, I was going to push forward, even if I had to do it slowly.)

And slowly I did. I finished in just under 3 hours and 23 minutes (3:22:53). That last mile and a tenth took oh such a long time. But I made it! And what were they passing out at the finish? Towels that had been soaked in ice water! Thank you, Competitor Group! I draped that sucker over my shoulders and felt like just maybe, I might not die.

A text came. It was from David! He was there!

I made my way out of the finish chute, and happened to see someone I’d been smushed against in the Metro that morning. I said hello and asked about her race. Right when I said that I needed to go find my friend, someone behind me said, “Aurora?” I turned around and standing there in the flesh was David himself.

I threw my arms around him! He hugged me right back. A real honest-to-goodness hug. Not a “half-pat, you’re sweaty, don’t get too close to me” hug, but a “you’re my friend, and I’m so proud of you and happy to hug you right-now” hug.

And I had that dripping wet towel on me! So embarrassing, right? He might not have known that that was ice water and that I wasn’t quite that sweaty. He real-hugged me in spite of all that water all over me, having no idea what kind of water it was! He is amazing, is he not?

He is… I can’t… Man, how do I explain? David is brilliant. He speaks Mandarin, and well, does a bunch of other smart people stuff, but isn’t that a good enough example?

He’s crazy talented.

He is incredibly sweet.

David, in all of his wonderfulness, fought through traffic, and crowds, and re-routed buses, and craziness, and found me at a humongous running event! (Amazing, or amazing? ‘Cause I’m gonna go with amazing.)

David Petrick's promise to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with Aurora — This is the promise he made me on the back of a receipt at dinner. It’s in writing, baby!

He even took care of me(!) – carrying some of my things and filling up my water bottle.

We walked to get burgers at the delicious Good Stuff Eatery. He kindly walked there slowly with me, knowing how tired I was. See, he’s patient too. I have yet to find a flaw of his.

We got burgers – he had a mushroom one since he is yet another friend of mine who doesn’t eat meat.

He was amazing at keeping the conversation going while I’m pretty sure I was suffering from a partially melted brain.

After lunch, alas, he had to go do a bunch of boring grown-up stuff. I walked him to the Metro station and bawled my eyes out. I didn’t really, but I did inside. And I sent him off with some scene-making fake crying.

I am lucky to know him. What more could I want at the finish of her half marathon than to have David stranding there? Great friend. Great race. Great city.

Next week: North Carolina.

(#8) Rock ‘n’ Roll USA – Part 2 (The Heat – The Hot, Hot Heat)

March 18, 2012

Yesterday, I left off talking about that hill around mile 6. I was sweating profusely.

I cannot get across to you how hot it felt. Go take a walk on the sun, then come back and read this; you’ll pretty much understand.

My pace started to slow. I was dragging up that hill. As I was going up, I couldn’t help but think about how much incredible work is ahead of me until I tackle Mt. Kilimanjaro!

As the race wore on, I came to a spot where they were giving out bananas (the first time I’d seen that on a course)! I was stoked.

I happily peeled back that banana peel, and as I brought it to my mouth, plop! It slipped out of my hands, onto the ground! So depressing. I was too far past the banana people to warrant going back.

I realized why bananas may not be a course favorite – there were banana peels everywhere! I almost slipped on one – I’m sure missing out on one hilarious pratfall. I realized how slippery that area was, and successfully maneuvered through it. (Thank you, tap-dancing through high school for some mighty fine coordination.)

I saw some great spectators at this race – people dresses as the Flash, and Elvis… and many groups dressed as their fun, rowdy selves.

Aurora running (mid-stride) at Rock 'n' Roll USA 2012 Being that it was St. Patrick’s day, I passed a lot of people out drinking. One group had a sign saying, “You keep running, I’ll keep drinking” (as they drank from a humongous bottle). Some people even gave out beer around Mile 8.)

People had put up “Worst parade ever,” and other silly signs, down one of the emptier parts of the course. I really appreciated that.

A woman held a sign that said, “Free pugs at the finish.” Of course, that a little bit made me want to run the other way, being that I’m terrified of dogs and all.

I also saw some great shirts saying things such as, “Please let there be somebody behind me to read this,” and “‘Dead Last’ is better than ‘Did Not Finish.'” One of the best ones said, “There is no finish line.”

The course was super cool. We got to go by the Washington Monument, and run toward the Capitol Building. We ran by the beautiful riverfront. It was very Washington-DC-y.

Back to the heat, the hot, hot, heat, we all kept pushing through. I know I kept slowing down. Luckily, I don’t feel alone. Many runners said they went up to 15 minutes slower than they had hoped, just trying to deal with the heat.

At one water stop, I poured water down the back of my shirt. I only did it once. I didn’t want to be too wasteful. (Also I’m super vain, of course, and wanted to come into the finish looking all cool and breezy – not all wet). I have learned, though! Forget vanity! By Mile 13, we were all dying.

I saw somebody’s legs in front of me giving out. Someone’s body was basically shutting down before my very eyes. He held onto that fence thing (fence, I guess is actually maybe the word I’m looking for) that surrounds most of the final mile.

Backing up to mile 12 – I kept telling myself, “If you don’t feel as though you can go fast, act as though you can, and you will.” I had some sweet songs come on my iPhone.

I acted my butt off, making a bunch of facial expressions out there, and was able to pull out some nice jogging. Once mile 12 was over, it was really getting to the point where my legs were saying, “You best slow down, girlfriend, because I am not going to cooperate with you if you don’t.”

I can’t wait to pick up with Mile 13 tomorrow.

(#8) Rock ‘n’ Roll USA – Part 1 (Rushing To The Start)

March 17, 2012

crowded subway in Washington DC on the way to Rock 'n' Roll USA 2012 — This gives you an idea of the fun crowd on the Metro.

As I mentioned yesterday, I knew that the lovely David Petrick was going to be waiting for me at the finish, so I was ready to do this thing!

When my alarm went off this morning, I realized the phone I thought had been charging all night, actually had not been charging at all.

I woke up with about 40% battery. Knowing I;d want to use my runner app and listen to music, I gave my phone every last second to charge, until I had to book it down to the Metro.

I thought I was running a bit late (which I guess I sort of was, sort of wasn’t – in that I wasn’t in my corral when the first start gun went off, but once I got there, I still had over 30 minutes before my corral started).

Being that I thought I was a little on the late side, I was shocked to see the incredibly packed Metro. I felt so bad for the two people who got off at other stops. They were probably just going about their Saturday, then all of a sudden – “Where am I? What did I get myself into?”

The Metro was full of great bonding. I met Dawn who lives in New York and is looking for someone to go see more musicals with her, so I’m pretty sure that obviously means we’re going to be friends.

subway station full of runners in Washington DC After all the runners finally made it to the stop, it took forever for our Metro car’s door to open. It was kind of hilarious. We were so close, but yet so far.

Once we were able to exit the car, there was yet another crowd waiting to get up the stairs and out of the station. (And in DC, you have to insert your Metro card when leaving the station too – so foot traffic got really backed up with a crowd this size.) But we all made it out in time.

Once above ground, I ate a delicious banana. I love that RnR events have fruit around before the race. While I’ve been traveling, I’ve been awful about bringing fruit. So, this was lovely.

Sometime around 8:40am, I crossed the start line. By the end of mile 1, I was already sweating profusely. Dearest race directors throughout the universe, I am begging you not to ever start a race at 8am. At first it was exciting to read that I could “sleep in,” but when I realized how much freakishly hotter it is to race later in the day, I was over the “late” start.

I learn a lot as the year goes on. Two weeks ago in New Orleans, I learned how incredibly important it is to get some walking and stretching in right after you get off the bus. I implemented that, and felt awesome – not bus-lagged at all. (Boom!)

Washington Monument with some runners in front of it during Rock 'n' Roll USA 2012 In this race, I think the big lesson was to check the forecast, and bring options for a lighter running outfit.

I have my basic race outfit which I’ve worn to pretty much every race – but it consists of this heavy hat, black pants, and cotton shirt (over a technical shirt). It’s an awesome outfit for racing, but it was absolutely killing me today. Around mile 3, I was ready to start shedding layers until I’d run into the finish naked. (I did not do that.)

I really pushed myself during this race. I had 13.3 minute miles going during my first 5k. Slowly but surely, I slowed down throughout the race. (10k – 1:30:06, 10 miles – 2:31:28.) People had been talking a lot at the expo about the hill that was going to bother everyone around mile 6/7.

Pssh! I thought. Silly. A hill. We’re all strong. We’ll all handle it. Toward the middle of the race, when I was mildly convinced we were all going to die from the heat, I came upon this big-ol’ seemingly-never-ending hill. I realized, “Ah. This is what they were all talking about. Okay. It is hard after all.”

Do I make it through the hill? Do I make it to the finish? Find out more tomorrow.

Rock ‘n’ Roll USA (Washington DC) Expo

March 16, 2012

Washington DC is dope!

There are bikeshares everywhere. Public transportation here rocks. It’s a healthy, pretty city. Not to mention what really makes it great – two friends live here, one of whom I’m staying with, and one of whom will meet me at the finish line tomorrow!(!!!)

When I told my dad that David freaking Petrick would be waiting for me at the finish line, my dad said, “Oh, you’ll be running toward David Petrick? So, you’ll be doing it in what, fifty-nine minutes, then?” I’m sure I will delve into how much I adore David soon enough. For now, suffice it to say I love everything single thing about him.

The expo today rocked! Remember Chris from Brooks Running from the New Orleans Expo? Well, check this out –

Chris from Brooks working at the Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon Expo 2012 — Chris from Brooks keeping busy, earning his keep.

#1) He straight up remembered me! When I went up to him, he was all, “Aurora!” So, that was cool.

(Even though he admitted to never having read the blog – even while knowing I’d mentioned him in a post. So, I assured him I’d thoroughly badmouth him in this post.)

#2) He is moving on up in this world! He’s gone from cool, Brooks ambassador guy to a more superhero, super-management guru (notice, if you will, the t-shirt from last time vs. the “I’m serious” shirt of this time).

Chris helped me pick out some sweet running socks. (I generally hate socks, so I gotta get some great ones for running.)

Hey Brooks, I was about to say give this guy a raise. Then I remembered, you just promoted him. So…good job on that.

This expo was chock full of games, wheels, plinko boards, arts & crafts, and video projects. Companies brought their A games! They really, really wanted us to bank with their banks, use their insurance, drink their milk, run their races, and all that good stuff.

Geico booth at the Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon Expo 2012 — Geico booth

I spun the wheel at the Geico booth, and landed on “mystery prize.” Spoiler alert: it was a Geico Pez dispenser (which I did not know existed)!

Yet again, I stopped by the chocolate milk booth. I know. I cannot even get started again on my confusion as to whether or not milk is good for me. However, I will say they actually had a physician there, and he said milk absolutely does not leech calcium from your bones. Score one point for milk?

Back up to when I was asking the milk people if they’d heard about the leeching calcium stuff – they were all, “No, of course not. In fact, we have a physician here. Talk to him, for sure.”

I looked over, and everybody was getting this guy’s autograph and taking pictures with him. The little sign about him said he was a marathoner and a triathlete, even doing an Ironman. I thought, yeah, those things are super cool. I wouldn’t expect doing them would make him this popular, but that’s really nice that people care so much about those accomplishments. Nope. Turns out he had been “The Bachelor.”

That makes you look really fast mirror at Brooks area Rock 'n' Roll USA half marathon expo 2012 — Brooks makes everything fun, down to the mirror you look in when you try things on.

He seemed genuinely surprised/impressed about 52 half marathons in 52 weeks. I wanted to be like, “dude, you’re an Ironman.” Nonetheless, he was very nice.

What a great expo, followed by dinner with my incredible friend Fareed (who’s graciously opening his home to me this weekend), and his fun group of friends.

Now, it’s time for sleep! I’ve got a race tomorrow!

Odds and Ends from Orlando

March 15, 2012

Greetings from the Greyhound bus.

As I’m heading to my 5th city in 4 weeks, I thought I’d catch up on some odds and ends that got pushed to the side by other posts.

Remember Becky – Marty’s absolutely lovely mother who had compliment time and everything? (Golly, she’s so sweet.) On one of the days we went to Disney, we learned that she is a hula-hooping champion! (Seriously, she won a contest, hula-hooping hooped for 40 minutes straight.) She showed us her skills in a hula-hoop area (which I didn’t know existed) in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

And don’t even get me started on how fun the Toy Story ride is. You shoot virtual things at various screens throughout the ride. I usually hate virtual stuff, but I love anything in which trying to win is involved. Marty pretty much kicked everyone’s butt at this game. I could’ve easily, literally done nothing but that ride all day until I played it like a boss.

Do you know how Wendy and Marty like to start the morning? They like to drink smoothies and watch Jeopardy!! I am obsessed with game shows. (I totally avidly read Ken Jennings’ blog…and subscribe to his weekly trivia email. I may or may not be sort of a nerd.)

Aurora De Lucia on 1 vs. 100 — (I’m in the bottom left corner of the lit boxes. You can click the picture if you want to make it bigger.)

Fact time: I’ve been on a game show – 1 vs 100. If you’re bored one day, feel free to play “Where’s Aurora?”, seeing if you can spot me in the crowd. Heads up: The group I was part of was the Mensa members, so the show had me wear glasses. (Funny, right?) You can watch a few episodes here. (Episode 3 is my favorite.)

[Edited to add: Later, I was also on Price is Right.]

Annnnnnyway, back to the super fun Florida rental house, we also had a great time doing fun puzzles. What I mean by that, is usually Wendy (and sometimes others) would be doing all the hard work. I’d put in about 10 pieces, as though I was really helping. Even if you put in one piece, you get to sign the back of the puzzle when it’s finished.

We left a puzzle for whoever stays there next, and now it has our secret messages for them on the back. They’ll have to put the puzzle together to read them. (Spoiler alert: The messages aren’t that secret. They basically say that Wendy did most of the work and I admit to glomming on… Or is that what they say? I guess you’ll have to put it together to find out, next rental house guests!)

I also skipped over going to the oh-so-sad Greyhound bus station. Marty and Wendy were the greatest troopers to put up with me on March 1. I refused to go to bed after leap day, because I wanted to be really, really tired going into my bus ride (and I didn’t want to miss a moment of fun in Orlando!).

Becky hula hooping at Walt Disney World — Becky showing off her hula hoop skillz

Like the sweethearts they are, they went along with that plan. (I’m so glad, because I slept almost the entire 16 hours to New Orleans, which is totally the way to do that trip.)

During the time between leap day and the bus station, I’d go through phases – I’d get my second wind and seem really awake and normal, then I’d get super tired and quiet. Wendy said I seemed like jello – if you poked me, I’d move a little, then go back to just sitting there still.

Then there was a phase where I thought I was awake and really wanted to be part of the conversation, but I’d kind of make some nonsensical, backwards sentences.

Nonetheless, they kept hanging out with me, and paying attention to me (I think. Unless I was so tired that I thought I was talking to other people, but was really only talking to myself). They just really are so lovely.

Their kindness blew me away – letting me stay in their rental house, and tag along to Disney all the time, taking me out for the best smoothies on the planet. (Obviously that means Planet Smoothie, in case you were wondering. But how could you wonder, considering that’s an established fact in this world?) They’re really, really great. (I meant Wendy and Marty, but that goes for the smoothies as well.)

Come back tomorrow to read about the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA expo.

Adding a FULL Marathon?!

March 14, 2012

Aurora and Caylan — Me and my hilarious sister

While we’re talking about planning the schedule…

I’ve asked my sister a few times if she’d like to do some running events with me. She loves being athletic – playing softball and volleyball. Our dad is doing his first half marathon this year. So why not her too?

She would never have it. “Running? Boring. Hard. Pointless.” Etc.

I figured she would be a lost cause, until one day, whenever she finds something that made her want to run. I’d be here whenever she was ready.

I mentioned to my sister, “There’s this thing called the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World. It happens to fall on the very final weekend of my 52 in 52 challenge. It’s a half marathon on Saturday, followed by a full marathon on Sunday. I think that might just be the best/most exciting/biggest thing to end on.”

My sister: “Oh, a DISNEY race?! Let’s do it!” This idea that I had only put out there in passing has now become her new obsession. She is oh so into it, that’s she’s totally gotten me into it. The Disney races aren’t my favorite races… But this will be a big, fun challenge to end on. (I think. I mean, if you’ve got better ideas for January 13, 2013, hit me!)

If I do this Disney one, you know what that means, right? I’m going to have to run an additional full marathon this year.

I have dreamt of my first marathon for four years now. I don’t want to do one in an admittedly fun place, but a place that isn’t too significant to me for no other reason than “just because.”

Marathon medal from 20th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Marathon (2013) - It says "all our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them" — (Spoiler alert: I did do the Goofy Challenge, and it was in fact inspirational, amazing, and all-around wonderful)

Don’t get me wrong. I am incredibly inspired by Walt Disney. I look up to him a ton, and want to be a lot like him in many ways. However, running-wise, the Disney races don’t really mean anything to me.

I’ve actually been signed up to run a marathon twice in my life. (Let’s hope the third time’s the charm.) I had the time of my life running the 500 Festival Indianapolis Mini in 2009. I was becoming utterly obsessed with running. I signed up to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona marathon taking place in January 2010.

In January 2010, I was in Massachusetts General Hospital every few days getting my blood taken to make sure my blood thinning medication was working – since in December 2009, I was in the hospital for a week with a blood clot on my heart. I also had my meeting with the heart surgeon for my open heart surgery the week of that race. So much for that marathon.

I was cleared to exercise again on June 22, 2010. I struggled a ton coming back (but that’s really a story for a whole ‘nother post). A few months later, I registered for Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle taking place in June 2011. It fell right on my birthday. I thought it would be the best way to ring in my next year. I have family that lives in Seattle, and I had gotten my uncle and cousin revved up about doing the half.

They did the half, and of course experienced incredible joy. I just couldn’t get it together. I wanted to so badly. I struggled way more than I would ever care to admit (but will go ahead and freely admit) while coming back from all that surgery/hospital business. So, I just didn’t go to Seattle.

Aurora running at Rock 'n' Roll Seattle 2012 — At Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle – not doing my first full marathon, ’cause I’d already done it earlier in the month…

This can finally be my year. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle half is already on the schedule. I could easily switch it to the full. There aren’t any races I need to do for two weeks leading up to it, so I will most likely have the freshest legs that I’ll have for the whole year. It won’t quite be my birthday yet, so I could still run the race within the same year that I had originally planned to run it.

I’m 98% sure that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle FULL marathon is going in the books. It’s just crazy. I didn’t plan on doing any fulls this year. It just seems so… incredible, breathtaking, magical, (insert your own words here).

I guess play time is over, my friends. It’s time to prep for a grown up race now!

[Edited to add: Later in the year, I changed my mind, and decided to make my first marathon the week before Seattle – The Mohican Marathon. It was important to my family to be at my first marathon, so I agreed to run one in Ohio (even though it’s on a trail!).]

Making the Schedule (aka What in the World Have I Done?)

March 13, 2012

Hey there!

I keep thinking about blogging some odds and ends from the Florida vacation that were pushed back by other things (and possibly a few more thoughts about the awesome Book of Mormon, since apparently only two posts on one musical still might not cut it).

Instead, at the end of the night for the last two nights, when I’ve thought about what to blog, I’ve just reached for some go-to posts that I’d been saving for times I didn’t otherwise know what to post.

Why, when I have so much to talk about, would I need to go to some blogs in storage? Because at the end of the day for the last few days, my brainpower has been totally wiped. I have no thoughts left except those focusing on future races.

Originally, I thought, “Oh, while I’m here in Ohio chilling at my dad’s house, this will be a perfect time to get the year in order – see some friends from high school for a few hours a day, work on the schedule in all my free time, and bing, bang, boom. Everything works out quickly and perfectly.”

Well, I didn’t take into account that even just trying to plan things in the pretty immediate future – time for all my friends from high school, a bus ticket to DC this weekend, a place to stay in Charlotte, North Carolina next weekend, a way to see every person I know in New York when I go back next week, and of course see oh, so many shows there – would take up a lot of time in itself.

I am so unbelievably thankful that I’m getting some time in the midwest/on the east coast and that there are so many wonderful people in my life who want to (or are at least willing to) hang out with me. And I am SO pumped about all of these races. None of this is a burden by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just a little more tricky and a little more time consuming than I originally thought.

You might think it would be easy to just go to any number of websites that have a schedule of all the half marathons all over the country throughout the year, and then pick out a bunch and call it a day. Or you might be think that one could just fly by the seat of one’s pants all year (which is totes what I’m doing right now).

Aurora De Lucia in a close up making a stressed face — Yeah, I got a little camera happy acting stressed and used two stress-posing pictures. I think it’s pretty well established I’m a complete ham for all cameras everywhere, always.

But here’s the thing, in order to maximize your medals (which is obviously of utmost importance ;)) by doing as many series as possible, and to help people be able to meet up with you throughout the year, you kind of have to have a really great idea of what you’re doing.

Some series (such as Rock ‘n’ Roll Heavy Medals) have tons of different choices, so you build those races around the series (such as the Beach Cities Challenge) that are precisely three races with no wiggle room or race decisions to be made by the racers.

It’s surprisingly hard to put all the puzzle pieces together.

My schedule isn’t etched in stone, but I feel good about the fact that it has an awesome shape, and is almost completely made at this point!

At this point, 7 half marathons in, I’m going to predict that the hardest part about the 52 in 52 challenge is the logistics – planning the schedule, planning the travel, figuring out where to stay, keeping registrations and receipts and plane tickets and bus tickets and everything organized, and all that jazz. Just getting up in the morning and completing 13.1 miles 52 times this year will not be the hardest part. At least, I don’t think that yet. Maybe check in around race number 30, and see what kind of song I’m singing then…

Humongous shout out to Gary from Xterra Snow Valley who heard about my fun 52 in 52 adventure and gave me a free race entry! So, let’s all go run that together as a big thank you for the kind-heartedness! (I hear that Johannah‘s in.)

[Edited to add: As thankful as I am for Gary’s kindness, that race didn’t pan out because the person I was going with got injured at the last minute. Yada, yada, yada.]

Also, a big shout out to Chris from Petaluma Moo-Cow Half Marathon for giving me a very steep discount on that race. I feel like a celebrity with all this special treatment! Chris, Gary, thank you both very, very much.

And hey, 52 weeks of half marathoning, bring it on! I’m ready for you!

Do I Regret Doing a Half Marathon on Crutches?

March 12, 2012

Short answer: Absolutely not.

I thought I would give a post following up on the most recent time I did something a little crazy.

You know how sometimes, when people do sort of crazy things, other people are curious as to how it ended up panning out for them? In case you’re curious about how all of this turned out –

The day after the race, I woke up unbelievably sore. I did not want to move. My arms were more tired than they’d ever been in my life. I didn’t want to lift them for anything.

I am fortunate enough to live in an apartment building that has a jacuzzi. I pretty much lived in that jacuzzi all week. Within a couple of days, I was feeling as though I could pretty much function again, which is good since I had a half marathon in Palm Springs the weekend after the one on crutches.

If I had been able to hobble along the entire course as quickly as I made it through the finish, I would’ve been a much more deserving candidate for such a crazy challenge.

I mentioned before seeing pictures of someone else crossing a finish line on crutches, and how that had inspired me to do it. Of course, she was in way better shape than I am. She had been running full marathons every weekend for a while (probably with times as fast or faster than my times when I “run” my half marathons).

I really had to concentrate during the race on not overcompensating. My hip and knee were getting a little worn out because I was putting pressure anywhere I could, to try to keep it off my ankle. This is something I had to keep in mind in the next few races after this one as well. My body could function the way it’s supposed to (especially after my ankle got much better). I just had to let it (…without overcompensating).

As far as I can tell, I didn’t do any extra damage to myself. I feel great and am unbelievably excited to tackle 45 more half marathons this year. I had an incredible day at Surf City. Onlookers, for the most part, made me feel like superwoman.

I don’t regret doing this half marathon. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I knew it was something I would finish, and I feel proud that I did. I think it’s awesome when we human beings can test ourselves, and push ourselves in a new way – and be reminded that we are all capable of so much!

I’m definitely going to work on slowly but surely getting in way better shape, though. With whatever other crazy challenges come my way, it’d be nice if I could take them head on in a good, solid way – instead of barely hanging on by a thread. (But goodness, did I ever hang onto that thread!)

Have you ever done anything kind of crazy that other people maybe thought was incredible (or stupid)? Did you regret it? Did you love it? Did you fall somewhere in between?

I’d love to hear from you!

Catch Up: Xterra Boney Mountain 6k – January 8, 2012

March 11, 2012

Woo hoo! As of this post, we’re all caught up on the string of running events I started 7 weeks before this blog.

This race was a real turning point for me. I really have to give it up to my awesome friend, Erin, for inadvertently starting me on my crazy path.

In the 5 weeks (and 6 races) leading up to this race, I’d come into work excited to talk about what race I had just done, and what one was up next. I was always inviting people to run with me, but generally everyone thought it was such a silly idea. “You want me to pay money so I can wake up early on a weekend and go exercise?”
“It’ll be SO fun.”
“Um, doubtful.”

Then one night, I was telling Erin about how I was on the fence about running that weekend. This was before I’d made any kind of official goal to run every weekend. I was saying, “You know, I guess it’s pretty cool that I’ve been running every weekend. But how long am I really going to keep this up? There are very few races this weekend, and they’re pretty far away, so I just don’t know…”

She jumped in and said she’d actually been wanting to run with me this weekend. Music to my ears! Someone was finally willing to go running with me! We decided to do the Xterra Boney Mountain 6k.

As all the racers gathered by the start line, the race officials said over and over, “No matter what you do, follow the blue arrows! Do not follow the red arrows or you’ll end up on the 21k path, which is not where you want to be.”

I made a little comment to Erin – “Gee, I haven’t looked at a single map. I hope I don’t get lost.” We laughed that off. How could I possibly get lost in a race?

scenery Boney Mountain 6k 2012 — Some scenery.

I was toward the back of the pack. I’m always slow, and I was trying to be so kind to my body since I had pushed it way too hard the previous weekend.

This was a fairly small race, so the back of the pack was more thinned out than usual. I was in front of a few people, but there were lots of twists and turns, and narrow passages.

Before you knew it, even though I wasn’t actually all that far from people in front of, or behind me, I was alone.

There was this area where it got really, pretty narrow for a little while. I am not an outdoorsy person, which maybe seems a little counter-intutive since I’m out doing half marathons all the time, but I hide from the sun as much as possible, and I’m totally afraid of animals.

I was a bit freaking out, but I obviously couldn’t quit a race! I grabbed onto my clothes as though I was wearing a dress, and ran through the area pretending I was a Disney Princess – doing my best faces while looking all around me, pretending a huntsman was out to get my heart.

Somehow I did end up making it out of there and back to the wider parts of the course. Then, as I was passing photographers, I saw, no joke, a coyote!!! I am so afraid of animals! I asked one of the photographers if I really, honest-to-goodness saw a coyote. Super nonchalantly, he was all, “Yeah, there are a bunch of coyotes here.”

What?! What have I gotten myself into?

Boney Mountain Xterra 6k 2012 Narrow Scenery (blurry) — Narrow area (photo taken during scared, Disney-esque running)

Finally, I’m getting really close to the finish. I’ve done about 3.5 miles. I know it’s coming up soon.

I come to this area where a red arrow is pointing right. A blue arrow is on the other side of the street pointing forward. I can’t go forward (there is no actually forward ) – only left or right, but I figure since it’s on the other side of the street, they must mean left.

I get lost and go over an extra two miles. (I have the absolute most awesome sense of direction, obviously.) I finish at least 10 minutes after the last 6k finisher. I felt so silly!

Nonetheless, it was a fun day and a good workout.

When we went to work the next day all proud and happy, my friend Matt said, “It’s really cool that you’re racing every weekend. You should keep this up.”

Maybe I should, Matt. Maybe I should. (And that was how this started.)

Kinsale St. Patrick’s Day 4 Miler

March 10, 2012

My friend Jaime is a rock star.

(She’s not literally a rock star – performing on stage in front of thousands of people (even though she is a great singer), but, you know, a figurative rock star – a freakishly amazing person.)

She is around six months pregnant (and still so super tiny), and she did a 4-mile race today! Granted, we just walked the whole thing. But, she kept a mighty awesome, quick walking pace.

She could easily keep a conversation going while moving quickly. I think I kept up with her pretty well, but I definitely had to work to make sure I did! She is fast and fit. She’s one incredible pregnant woman, walking two miles almost every day, eating incredibly healthy stuff, and always keeping a positive attitude.

And she’s so cute. She said she was going to hang the medal in the baby’s room and tell her little girl how they did the race together. Adorable, right?

Guess who else did the race with us? My dad! If you’ll remember, he did his first 5k in Los Angeles a few months ago. And he’s doing his first half marathon with me in May!

Daddy at dinner after the Kinsale 4 miler race, giving a huge smile — We forgot to take a picture of my dad right after the race, so here he is at dinner afterward.

And, if all that’s not enough, he’s got a 5k coming up next week. I am so proud of him.

(By the way, I forgot to mention, I’m in Ohio now. I’m just kind of making my way around parts of the east coast, having a grand ol’ time.)

My dad lives about a mile away from my favorite food place ever in the history of the universe – Planet Smoothie! I had some awesome fuel before the race today.

When we got to the race, I spun the wheel at WNCI’s booth and got some free swag (t-shirts and movie passes)! (What could be better pre-race fun than playing games, and winning free stuff?)

The race went through a neighborhood and around a golf course. We saw light beautifully bouncing off a lake as the sun went down.

Neither Jaime, my dad, nor I could figure out why they decided on a 4-mile race instead of a 5k. I don’t know if that has significance to anybody or anything. I enjoyed doing 4 miles, but this was the first 4-mile race I’ve seen. Are you familiar with other 4 mile races?

Also, super shout out to M3S Sports in Ohio. I was doing this trip/race last minute, and I saw the day before that the race had sold out.

cute, pregnant Jaime after Kinsale 4 miler — Look at how cute and tiny she is!

I sent emails to both contact emails I could find on the website, begging and pleading about how I’m visiting Ohio and I’m racing every weekend – and how my wonderful, fit, pregnant friend wanted to get into racing… And is there any way in this world that there are some secret spots available?

It turned out there were! There were only 10 spots they set aside for I don’t know what, but I know they let us have 3 of them. I guess it never hurts to ask, right?

They really made my day by letting us in.

I’m really glad I was able to find a race that gave a medal in town over this weekend. (I want to do at least some race every weekend this year, but it’s certainly not as fun without the bling.) There was not a ton of stuff going on in Ohio (or even the surrounding states) this weekend, so I really lucked out.

Most of all, though, besides the medal, and the race itself – I’m so very glad that Jaime, my dad, and I all got to do the race together!

The Book of Mormon (The Musical, of Course) – Part 2 (The “Line Family Fun/Jared is Amazing” Chapter)

March 8, 2012

new friends playing games passing time in the Book of Mormon standing room line — Peter, Kristin, and Lauren playing Botticelli (or at least re-creating playing it for our fun photo-op).

Continuing from yesterday, finally, around 10am someone else showed up. Yee haw!

7 different people came and went at different times within the next hour and a half, flabbergasted that the line was so short.

They were ready to wait, until they each learned that The Book of Mormon does not have matinees on Wednesdays.

Around 12:30, the party really started picking up when Peter and Kristin joined the line. Time flew by as we played Botticelli. (It took about 400 years for us to finally guess Will Wheaton. (Good job, Kristin.))

If any of you are curious as to what time you need to join the standing room line for Book of Mormon tickets, around 3:15 there were 12 people, so that was the point of danger territory – you might get shut out if you came after that. (Of course, this was a Wednesday in the middle of one of the first weeks of March. So, who knows, really?)

A little after 4, one of my friends from high school stopped by to say hi to me! (He had already seen the show. We actually saw the final dress rehearsal together about a year ago.)

Kristin’s friend, Lauren, also showed up around that time. Around 4:30, we all enter the ticket lottery. Kristin’s name gets called! I’m so happy for her and Lauren. They now have front row seats to The Book of Mormon!

The lottery guy moves on to calling the names for the box seats – and Lauren’s name gets called! Lauren and Kristin offered their extra pair of box seats to me and Peter if he wanted, but he decided to stick it out and wait for a pair of standing room tickets, so that he and his friend would be able to see the show together.

As we wondered what to do with the 4th ticket, the girls and I thought why not call Tom, the coffee guy, who waited for hours with me in the morning? Tom came on down to see the show. Isn’t it nice when everything works out perfectly, all tied up in a nice little bow like that?

People who'd won the Book of Mormon lottery with a sad person behind them who didn't win — They won the lottery! But Peter didn’t. That’s his sad face. Wah wah.

I had close to two hours until show time, so I booked it to Penn Station, went in the bathroom, ripped off my gazillion layers of clothes, changed into a dress, and walked quickly back.

The show was incredible. Seriously. As I said, I’d seen it before (and I listen to the soundtrack all the time). I guess I had somehow forgotten in the last 8 months that Broadway is magical. Seriously, honest to goodness, magic.

There is an entire level of happiness and love in this life that I forgot all about while living in California. There is nothing in this world like seeing a Broadway show.

Jared was phenomenal (no surprise there!). I had seen him in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (my favorite show ever) a few years ago. He had this incredible ability to take this kinda annoying character and make him actually, truly lovable. Jared has this incredible quality onstage – you can’t help but love him. (He exudes that quality off the stage as well, actually.)

And don’t even get me started on his wonderful voice. From the moment I saw The Book of Mormon a year ago, I knew that Jared would rock this show like no other. And he did. I had waited so long to finally see him in all of his glory, and I’m unbelievably glad that I was able to!

As I watched some of his biggest moments onstage, I thought, “Look at him! He’s singing his heart out, center stage in a Broadway smash!” He deserves every bit of this awesome-ness.

After the show, we talked for a little while. Jared is one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. He first met me when I was this totally dorky, musical theater obsessed teenager. (I guess actually not all that much as changed.)

He has always been super duper nice to me since day one. I cannot say enough nice things about him. I will be a total fan of his forever. I cannot wait to see what’s next in store for him! (And I can’t wait to hopefully see him in this show again. It was far too amazing to only see once!)

(p.s. I say more in part 3.)

The Book of Mormon (The Musical, of Course) – Part 1 (The “Waiting for Tickets in the Night/Morning” Chapter)

March 7, 2012

An extremely talented, lovely friend of mine – Jared Gertner – is understudying one of the lead roles in The Book of Mormon.

Far, far away in California, I am ridiculously happy for him (and pained for me) every time he goes in. I have been absolutely dying to see him rock the part of Elder Cunningham ever since I first saw the show last year. I knew he would blow everybody away and bring the house down. Today was finally my day to see him in all his glory!

As you know, I’ve been on the east coast lately (for the Disney Princess Half and Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans. Once I signed up for New Orleans, it kind of seemed silly to fly all the way back to Los Angeles). Forget flying back to Cali! I’ll play around the east coast until it’s time for my next race.

On my last night in New Orleans, I wrote Jared, letting him know that I was finally back in the general area of the east coast, and if he went in the show, he absolutely had to let me know.

Within minutes, he had written me back, letting me know that he was on for the whole rest of the week through the Saturday matinee. What?! Oh my gosh! One of my dreams is now possible!

I immediately changed my ticket to fly into New York. Late the next night, I was back at (what feels like) home in NYC!

Around 3am, I headed to the theater. As you’ve most likely heard (assuming you’re hip to the musical theater scene at all, and if you’re not, we should probably change that), The Book of Mormon is the hottest ticket in town. It is next to impossible to get. But, 20-25 standing room only tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis every show. They go on sale one hour before show time.

I had heard of people camping out for tickets. In fact, when I was still living in NY, I had asked the box office out of curiosity what time you should get there for standing room tickets. They said very early. They told me people bring sleeping bags, so get ready.

my luggage all alone outside the Book of Mormon while waiting for standing room only tickets — all my luggage with me in the wee morning hours

I figured I’d go early in the morning/in the middle of the night and give my whole day to this adventure. I arrived at the theater a little before 4am. To my astonishment, no one is there waiting yet.

Around 4:30, a man walks by me. I say, “Every time someone walks by, I hope they are here to get in line for The Book of Mormon tickets, and they have yet to be here for that.” Turns out he had just gotten off work from the coffee shop down the street, and he stopped and talked to me for – get this – 3 1/2 hours! He wasn’t even actually waiting in line or anything. He was just a stranger keeping another stranger company. Cool, right?

In the middle of the night, it actually was getting pretty cold (at least, cold to me as someone who unfortunately doesn’t live here anymore). I didn’t even bring a coat with me. (I didn’t realize I’d be coming to New York on this trip (that originally started as being one weekend long).)

I still had my luggage with me, since I came straight from the airport. I ended up throwing on 5 shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 3 pairs of pants, and 2 pairs of socks. My new, very nice stranger/friend, Tom, went out and brought back a blanket!

Tom eventually had to go get sleep. (Boring, right?) As the sun came up, I sat bundled almost beyond recognition on a busy Manhattan street, while people on their way to work looked at me as though I was crazy. (Although, what do I care how people are looking at me? I am guaranteed tickets to The Book of Mormon tonight, suckas!)

Around 8:30, I was getting quite tired. I wrapped the straps of one bag around me and sat on my suitcase. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was convinced I had slept away hours of my wait. 15 minutes had passed.

Lots of fun things happen in the standing room only line. (And the show is incredible!) I can’t wait to tell you more tomorrow!

Manning’s – The Sweetest Restaurant in New Orleans

March 6, 2012

Aurora after eating at Manning's restaurant in New Orleans — (In a bit of a food coma here, but at least a very happy one!)

After the half marathon, I happened upon this place called Manning’s. I took a look at the menu, and most of the appetizers had pepper jelly on them. Sounds weird, right?

I asked what pepper jelly was. Everyone standing by the hostess stand said it was so awesome. They explained that it was a very sweet tasting sauce that they all thought was incredibly delicious. I was a little skeptical, but figured it didn’t hurt to try something new.

I sat down and was greeted by the sweetest waitress I’ve ever met. It’s worth going to Manning’s just for Kandice. Since I was in New Orleans, (vegan friends (Wendy and Marty), close your eyes), I wanted to try some meat I’d never tried. So, I ordered some duck wings.

They were freaking delicious! Also, I’m addicted to pepper jelly now. The name is misleading, because it sounds weird, and pepper doesn’t make me think of anything sweet. But, it is num num num. I didn’t think I’d like wings that were sweet. (I like spicy stuff!) But, seriously, yum.

I wasn’t super duper hungry after that, but I just had to try the poutine (which I’d never even heard of before). All of the people I’d met in the restaurant said it was an absolute must.

Chili cheese fries are in my top favorite foods, and poutine is fries with pork, cheese, and the new pepper jelly I adore so much. I told Kandice I needed to go on “break” from eating. lol! She was really patient as I kept being all, “um, 10 minutes from now?” (She comes back in 10 minutes.) “I’m so sorry. Can I just have 5 more minutes?”

Now, if you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, “Well, Aurora, it sounds like you didn’t need any more food if you needed to prep for it like that.” Okay, well you might be right. I know being healthy is great, and moderation is great, but I did need more food, because these were crazy good! Don’t worry too much, though. I had a few bites and took the rest to enjoy later.

(credit: Manning’s logo)

I don’t want to oversell this place, but I’m gonna go ahead and say it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had a restaurant. Yep. I’m saying it.

The hostesses were sweethearts. Kandice was my new friend. The food was all brand new to me, and it tasted incredible! The restaurant was wonderfully well themed with football plays drawn on some walls, and inspiring quotes on others. There were even pictures of the Manning family on the ceiling if you looked up.

After I paid, I scribbled a tiny thank you note to Kandice for her awesomeness on the back of an extra receipt. As I was leaving, I looked at t-shirts with Kisha (the hostess (another new friend of mine)).

(Side note here: I saw that the t-shirts said est. 2012! That’s right, Manning’s is brand new. I’m getting on this bandwagon early, people.)

Anyway, while I was talking to Kisha, Kandice ran over and gave me a hug! How sweet of her! We all took a picture together and said goodbye. So sad. Between the best expo yet, the incredibly fun race, and the best meal I’ve ever had, New Orleans has got me! I’m already ready to go back, and I just left today!

The cab driver on the way to the airport told me to come back next month for Jazz Fest… I wonder if there are any half marathons happening in New Orleans around that time… 😉

(#7) Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans – Part 2 (Justifying Being Slow :-P)

March 5, 2012

Yesterday, I left off around mile 7. At that point in the race, I was still doing pretty well.

I’d been pacing to beat my time from last week’s Disney Princess until mile 8-ish – but I’d been struggling to keep up since mile 1.

There came a point when I thought, “It’s just not my race.” I knew I’d be well within the time limit, even if I just sauntered the rest of the way. So, I started walking.

I allowed myself a few minutes to beat myself up about it. “Oh, Aurora, you shouldn’t have had fried crawfish for dinner last night. You should’ve gone for a nice, really long walk and stretched better after your 16-hour Greyhound bus ride, you silly, silly girl.”

Those things probably mattered a little, but I’m not an elite athlete. (I’m not even a regular, ol’ athlete, really.) I can’t blame a slower race on small details. I had complete control over those details. I could’ve tried to set myself up for a faster race, but I didn’t… And, you know what? I don’t care that I walked about 5 miles of the race. I had an incredible time.

Running is my hobby. It helps take away stress. I cannot allow it to become stressful. (Have I convinced myself yet that it’s okay for me to not improve with every single race – or to not even always stay at the same level as the race before? I know you guys have already moved on – “Geez, girl, I get it!”)

After I stopped caring about my time, I pulled over to the side and took pictures and videos of some fun bands (and some of those awesome spectators I talked about yesterday). I went around giving high-fives to fun strangers. I walked and danced to Michael Jackson in my ears as he told me to ease on down the road. I just had a silly, fun time. I loved it!

Earlier I said I’d decided it wasn’t my race. But you know what? It was! I don’t care that I crossed the finish line 3 hours, 37 minutes, and 36 seconds after I crossed the start line.

(I heard someone at the start joke about how once you pay the money to do a race, you should try to be out there as long as you can to get your full money’s worth!)

There were tons of spectators lining the finish as I ran in. (I loved hearing somebody say, “Look, she’s smiling.” (Although, you’d think we’d all be smiling once we can see that finish line.))

Annie, from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena expo was there welcoming runners to the finish, and she remembered me! As I ran past, she said, “Look who it is!”

Just as they promised at the expo, they had chocolate milk for us at the finish. It tasted so good! I was skeptical at first. I don’t think I’d ever even had chocolate milk before. I LOVE regular milk so much. Why would I ever need chocolate?

But, it was totally delicious (which makes me so sad because of the little debate we’re having in the comments section of the post that mentions getting milk at the finish line). I want milk to be really, really good for me and to not leach calcium from my bones!

After the race, I met tons of wonderful new friends! Danielle from New York said she’d go see a Broadway show with me in the next couple of weeks when I’ll be up that way for a half marathon. (DC, NY, it’s all the same. If I’m going all the way to DC, how do I not make a stop in the greatest city in the world?)

Kathryn from Mississippi agreed to do her first half marathon with me! We’re shooting for one before my 52 in 52 challenge is over. I told her I was gonna put it in the blog and she said that means the pressure’s on! You know it, girl! [Edited to add: There’s no link ’cause it didn’t happen. Ah, so many dreams and plans. But alas, they don’t all come true…]

This half marathon gets a gold star for sure. I can’t wait for Rock ‘n’ Roll USA in Washington DC. It’s got a lot to live up to after this!

(#7) Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans – Part 1 (It’s Party Time!)

March 4, 2012

I am so glad I decided to do Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans!

I started in the party corral. (At least, I like to think of it as the party corral since we were all having so much fun – me and my brand new friends (aka strangers only minutes ago) Annette, and first timers Sean, Shemane, & Melissa.)

I ended up starting at the very front of my corral. So when I took off to an empty road ahead, for 5 hot seconds I pretended like I was actually racing (to win) a half marathon.

There were awesome spectators at this race! Some of the proceeds went to benefit the American Cancer Society, and woman held a sign saying, “Thanks! – survivor ovarian cancer 6 1/2 years – stage 3.” She high-fived a bunch of us as we went by.

Speaking of high-fives, these kids made signs, and they were all about cheering for people as we passed. Multiple people thought the kids were cool and stopped for pictures with/of them, so hopefully the kids felt good about their good deed.

Yes, I realize how hilarious it is that just last week I was talking about all the traffic from picture taking. We had wide roads here. People stepped off to the side for pictures. I tried to use good picture taking etiquette, as did everyone else I saw. I didn’t experience any traffic jams.

There were tons of families that came out to watch the race together. It was adorable. There was a family with a young kid in a stroller. The mom would point to runners and clap. She was teaching the little kid early on how awesome running is. I thought that was so cool.

There were cheerleading squads from various schools. Shout out to the girls from Gretna Middle school for having tons of enthusiasm both times I saw them, and for giving tons of high-fives and screaming for everyone who went by!

Some people came out with sweet signs such as “Dear Stranger, you’re my hero.” Some people had funny signs including “You’ve got stamina. Call me tonight.” There was even a group of people who brought a makeshift beer area for people around mile 9-ish.

There were rocking volunteers as well. I loved when they’d say anything because of their super cool N’Orleans accents.

Not only did this race have energetic spectators and sweet volunteers, it had incredible runners. I saw a man who was kind of limping (in mile 1). I’m assuming he’s fighting back after an injury. I saw a woman whose shirt said, “I have triplets. What’s your excuse?”

I have a feeling there were thousands of inspirational stories surrounding me. (Heck, anybody who was out there, no matter what his or her story was, finished a half marathon, so I think every one of them is inspirational!)

Speaking of inspiring runners, there were Army soldiers who did the whole thing with their big packs on their backs, one carrying the American flag. Incredible.

Fabulous spectators, volunteers, runners, but don’t forget about the bands! This is my 3rd Rock ‘n’ Roll event of the year, and they always have fun bands playing their hearts out for us. But, there was something special about the New Orleans bands – there were a bunch of jazz bands here! I passed tents with tubas thumping, saxophones singing, trombones blaring. It was wonderful.

Now that the whole 13.1 mile scene has been set, let’s bring it back to the beginning. In the first mile, I saw a few people run into the McDonald’s. I’m sure they went just to use the bathroom, but I got a kick out of the idea of runners going up to the counter with their bibs on – “yeah, may I please have a Sausage McMuffin?”

The first few water stations were on the left side of the street in this race. I thought it was a little odd, and I’m sure it probably drove some of the fast runners crazy to have slower people merging into their lane. I’m not fast, so it didn’t affect me. I just thought it was odd.

Around the end of mile 6, I was thinking it’d be nice to have a little pick me up. Lo and behold, as we came into mile 7, there was a water/Gatorade station. Sweet business. But they were out of Gatorade!

Will I make it through to the end without that great rush of electrolytes? Find out tomorrow.

Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Expo

March 3, 2012

Best expo yet.

Brooks Running rocked this expo. They basically set up a carnival, complete with games and a show. They even had a bus with treadmills. You could run, and they’d take a video of your stride, show it to you, and tell you what kind of shoe to get. Everything about their area was awesome!

I became totally obsessed with this skeeball game. You had to get to 26.2 miles before one of the other three players did. I lost by a hair 3 times in a row. I knew I needed to get out of there, or else I’d be playing skeeball all day and miss the whole expo.

I did a quick run around the expo. It was the fastest I’ve ever gone through one. I picked up pamphlets for a couple of races I hadn’t seen advertised before. Running a race so far from where I live is super cool. I get to see things from a different perspective, and hear about a bunch of east coast events.

I also saw a chocolate milk booth for the first time. They were making videos and giving out swag. It was a pretty sweet booth – too bad there was a carnival in the expo(!), stealing a bit of their thunder.

They said we’ll get chocolate milk at the finish tomorrow, so that’ll be an exciting change of pace. I hear SO many different things about milk.

I’ve heard it actually depletes your calcium. I’ve also heard that it’s one of the best things you could drink after a running event. Do you have any opinions on this?

After a quick sweep through the expo, I ran back to the party that was the Brooks Running carnival. In my first round back at skeeball – I won! Aw, yeah!

Then I went to get my stride analyzed. I’d always heard that that’s definitely how you should buy running shoes, but I’ve never been cool enough to get running shoes in a store that has treadmills set up with employees who’ll watch you run. This was my chance!

After my new friend Glen watched me run, he leaned to his coworker and said “I think we might have a Dyad.”

They got excited, which of course made me excited. When I asked why we were so excited, Glen said it was because it’s very rare for someone to have a Dyad as their correct shoe. (In fact, Brooks actually made this shoe specifically for me. (Not really.))

What’s so special about my stride, you ask? I have some kind of special shape and most importantly, even still, there’s no over-pronating for this girl, ya’ll! (Party music plays.)

Have I mentioned this carnival theme is so awesome? They even had this silly, fun, little show in which a lizard jumps off the stage, and this tiny little girl ran away screaming. It was super cute (but I bet she didn’t think so!).

As of now, Brooks is winning sweetest set up, and I am stoked they’ll be in Washington DC as well!

After the expo, I took a little walk around the River Walk Marketplace. I stopped at Messina’s and Deddie made my first Po’ boy ever.

A random person in line walked up to me and out of the blue said I had great skin, immediately making them my new friend. They told me to try the crawfish po’ boy. (They had me at “good skin,” so whatever they suggested, I was going with it.)

And it was delicious.

What a fun day! Now I better get to sleep. I’ve got a half marathon in the morning!

Blue Man Group/Kobe Japanese Steakhouse

February 29, 2012

As this is auto posting, I’m still at Disney World in hour 21 of 24 at the “One More Disney Day” leap day celebration.

While I’m off gallivanting, I thought I’d talk about a fun night in Orlando from earlier this week.

On Monday, I went to see Blue Man Group at Universal CityWalk with my friends Anna, Marlon, and Marlee. It was an amazing show.

The actors were great improvisers, ready for whatever audience participants threw at them. They were also talented musicians who had everyone dancing in the aisles. It was an incredible, fantastic mix of comedy, art, video, skits, and music. I loved it.

After the show, someone came up to us and said to my friend, “You’re Marlee, aren’t you?” She and her family said, “Yes.” The stranger said, “You’re amazing!” (My friend Marlee is an amazing dancer.)

When they asked how he knew her, he said, “[sarcastic tone] Really?” By his reaction, you’d think we were asking him how he knew who Janet Jackson was. It was hilarious and awesome. We got a huge kick out of it.

After the show, we went to Anna’s favorite restaurant – Kobe Japanese Steakhouse (which was perfect, since it was the day after her birthday). The food was absolutely delicious (and the conversation was wonderful to match)!

Dinner, a show, catching up with old friends whom I haven’t seen in probably over a year and a half(!), (sounds like I’m beginning a MasterCard commercial here, doesn’t it? “…priceless”). No, but really, it was super fun.

The me from yesterday (who’s writing this) has to go to sleep to prepare for 24 hours of Disney. (And the me from now has to go ride some more rides!) Bye! (Talk to you tomorrow!)

Becky’s Last Day in Orlando

February 28, 2012

Slowly but surely, our party posse is paring down. Now we are just the party trio.

Becky (Marty’s mom) went back home today. We all threw a humongous tantrum at the airport. (We didn’t really, but we did in our hearts.)

One of the many lovely things about Becky (that I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned on the blog yet) is her “compliment time.” At random points in the day, she would decide to start complimenting everyone in the room. How great is that? I’m pretty sure we should implement this everywhere in the world.

Before going to the airport, we went to eat at this incredible place called Ethos. Remember how I’m playing a make-believe vegan this week? (Well, I kind of, sort of am when I’m hanging out with awesome Wendy and Marty. But I’m kind of, sort of not when I’m with my other friends.)

Anyway, I was with the party posse today, so I was having fun playing a make-believe vegan. If all vegan foods were as good as the ones at Ethos, I could possibly be a real, honest-to-goodness vegan someday. Maybe… I mean, I do love Doritos so very, very much…

Vegan pizza from Ethos — This looks like any regular ol’ pizza, but it’s vegan!

After we ate and went to the saddest place in Orlando (also known as the airport), we went to Planet Smoothie(!!!) to get comfort smoothies. They comforted us as best as smoothies could.

We came home and tried Cranium with 3 people. (Wendy switched between teams.)

Golly, we sound kind of dorky, don’t we? But, it was really fun! (In case you’re keeping a score of the weekend, I was on the winning team again. Yee haw!)

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Disney for 24 hours celebrating Leap Day – since I assume Disney is keeping the park open that long as a personal challenge to me. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

(#6) Disney Princess Half Marathon – Part 2 (Nicely Themed Race & Funny Spectators)

February 27, 2012

Today, we get to focus on the magical parts of the race!

(Yesterday, I talked all about the congestion and such.)

Not surprisingly, the half marathon was themed very well. Disney had songs playing that matched the moods or themes of the characters who were out for pictures.

(For instance there was an area where “Ain’t No Other Man” was playing that had a photo-op with Disney princes (such as Aladdin and Prince Eric).)

There was also this funny area of men dressed in suits who were holding out glass slippers and singing “You Are So Beautiful To Me.” One man was yelling “I love you” to every woman who went by.

Disney makes it extremely clear that this race is all about the ladies. They didn’t let men start in corrals A or B. The results page doesn’t even list any men as finishers (even though I heard that over 1,000 men ran – I was going to check that fact for you, but how can I without men in the results page?…).

Large groups of supportive spectators watched throughout the race. It was nice to see tons of families out so early in the morning, supporting their mom/daughter/etc. I saw a little girl who saw her mom run by. The girl seemed to think it was the coolest thing ever, screaming as though her mom was rockstar. It was adorable. (I bet that girl becomes a runner someday.)

Somewhere in Mile 4, a bunch of people started saying, “You’re halfway there! You’re halfway there!” I thought it was hilarious. I even heard an official person say over a loudspeaker, “You’re almost halfway there – just around that corner.” Well, that must’ve been one long corner, because unless that corner was over a mile and a half long, the halfway mark was not “just around that corner.”

I jogged most of the course today! That means nothing to real, honest-to-goodness runners, but it was an improvement for me.

Around mile 8, as I was really starting to feel as though walking would be fun, Michael Jackson suddenly came on my iPhone. Shockingly, it was the first time an MJ song played during this race. I pushed forward and kept jogging. As he sang out that he was starting with the man in the mirror, I thought, “That’s right. Me too. Sing it, Michael!”

Around mile 11, it started to rain a bit. It was nice to get a quick sprinkle of water. I finished the race in 3:18:04 – still slow, I know. But faster than I was last week. (And according to my app, I actually ran about 13.7 miles ,with all the weaving around on the course. So, I’m gonna go ahead and choose to feel even a smidgen better about it.)

After the race, Wendy, Becky, Marty, and I all hung out and enjoyed Disney World. I can’t wait to tell you more about my Orlando vacation tomorrow.

(#6) Disney Princess Half Marathon – Part 1 (The Disney Roller Coaster)

February 26, 2012

True to Disney, this half marathon was a 13.1 mile roller coaster – a mix of sudden stops, plenty of turns (with all our bobbing and weaving), and colliding human-bumper-cars. (Bumper-humans, I guess, is what that would be called?)

(Heads up – this was a fun race, so please read anything below that sounds like maybe a “complaint” with love and laughter in your voice. I thought it all was more funny than annoying.)

When we ran through the Magic Kingdom, we got funneled from a wide road into a narrower bridge. As we ran up to the bridge – screeeeech! We stopped suddenly, trapped behind a huge, unexplained traffic jam caused by a large group of people who’d come to a complete stop.

Runners started yelling “don’t stop!” I couldn’t tell what was going on. Some of us finally squeezed around. I started jogging again, thinking we were back to doing a half marathon, when the woman running just a bit in front of me suddenly halted.

I ran smack into her.

That’s when I saw a photographer. I realized the incredible gridlock all throughout that bridge was due to people stopping to pose.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a super ham for the camera, but I try to keep up my pace while being one. After all, I am in a half marathon, so I want some action shots, by golly!

The thing I’m learning about Disney running events is that they are Disney events that happen to involve running, as opposed to running events that involve Disney.

There were areas where people could get their picture taken with characters, and lines would form along the side of the course. Okay, that’s cool. But, I came upon one where the line was curving far into the road, literally going to the halfway point of the street. What?! Why are you lining up that way? Did you forget you were in a half marathon?

At some point, in some race, I have almost certainly gotten in someone’s way. I am far from a perfect runner. I still slow down to walk sometimes. (And I am a silly, dancing walker.) But I do my best to stay out of the way of faster people. I keep my eyes open and try to be as considerate as possible to other runners.

Granted, this Disney race had 20,000 people, so I’m sure no matter what, it was going to be crowded. Plus, Disney races have more first time runners than any other races. It’s possible that a lot of people didn’t know to stay to the right when they’re going slower, or to go off to the side for pictures.

Everybody has a first time, and life is a learning experience. So, it’s okay if everyone doesn’t know everything about everything.

Aurora running in a huge crowd of people by the castle in the Disney Princess 2012 half marathon — (I’m to your left, behind the girl in the yellow. (You can click the picture to see it bigger.))

And half marathons should be plenty of fun. I love half marathons and would love it if the whole world shared that love. So, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. But it was an interesting race to say the least.

It certainly made for a great workout since it gave a nice, little test of my agility and coordination.

The lesson (even in this longer distance race) is the same one I learned at my first Disney 5k and implemented in my next Disney 5k. Unless you are an elite runner who’s going to run far ahead, be up for walking and picture stops. Go into it thinking you’re gonna have a great morning walk with your friends, and you’ll have a ball.

Encourage brand new runners to try their first race with you, leave your Garmin at home, and have a play run. That’s my advice that I will heed at my next Disney race.

As I said, overall, I did have a super fun time, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it tomorrow.

Disney Tangled Royal Family 5k

February 25, 2012

Remember the last time I ran a Disney 5k and talked on and on about it? Today, I went in knowing what to expect.

Wendy, Marty, and I walked the whole course and had a great time doing it. We exchanged stories. They told me about the time they shot their Jenny Craig commercial. (Cool, huh?)

We talked and laughed (and I totally hammed it up every time I saw a camera).

It was super chill and barely even felt like a 5k. I thought, “What are these water stations doing here on my morning walk? How lovely.”)

Before you knew it, we were at the finish line!

There was a regular smorgasbord of food at the end. The race was giving out bottles of Powerade (full bottles, people). There were bananas, fruit snacks, pre-packed snack boxes with humus, crackers, chocolate, and more.

When we returned home, Becky (Marty’s mom) was sitting at the table and said “I saw your video!” (A teacher in a music production class I’d been taking put forth a challenge (for extra credit) to learn that dance. Challenge accepted.) We all had a big laugh, and I felt special someone was looking me up and enjoying my dancing silliness.

Becky is such a sweetheart. She’s pretty much my new best friend. Get this – later in the day, at a lull in conversation, she started reading my blog out loud! I’m pretty sure she should do an audio version, because she reads it with awesome inflection. She makes every little detail sound interesting.

She subscribed to my blog today. Woot, woot. My popularity is slowly but surely spreading around central Orlando (or possibly just this rental house…)

One of the members of our super fun group went home today. (Sad face.) Before we took Barbara (Marty’s aunt) to the airport, we all got on the subject of Planet Smoothie (my very favorite place of sustenance in the entire world).

Marty, being a genius, said we should go. I didn’t even think about the fact that Planet Smoothies might exist in Orlando.

Nobody freak out, but there was a Planet Smoothie only three short miles away from the airport!

By the time we had finished the greatest smoothies known to mankind, we were at Downtown Disney. We explored for a while (and tried some delicious vegan treats at Babycakes). After we’d walked the whole Pleasure Island loop, it was time to come home for another round of Cranium.

Since Barbara had left, we had to even out the teams. Becky was a wonderful partner. She’s quite smart (and does a really cute charades chicken). But, I don’t know in what universe we thought Wendy and Marty should be on the same team. They’ve been married for 13 years. They have telepathic powers!

Needless to say, Becky and I lost. (Sigh) Even still, it was a fun game. (And we are coming for them next time!)

Now it’s time for bed. At 4am, it’ll be time to wake up for our next half marathon. I can’t wait to tell you all about it tomorrow!

Disney Princess Half Marathon Expo

February 24, 2012

As I was walking into ESPN Wide World of Sports (where the expo was being held), I just so happened to see Marty and Wendy walking out.

I was already planning on seeing them today (considering I’m staying in their rental house!), but this was impeccable timing.

We made a game plan. They awesome-ly took my luggage to their car, and they went to lunch with their family while I went into the expo.

You know how Plinko looks super fun on The Price is Right? got to play a Plinko-ish game for my first time at the Chiquita banana booth! Of course, the top prize was a banana (as opposed to thousands of dollars)… I did not win a banana.

I met John, my brand new friend, at the Marine Corps Marathon booth. He was hilarious. I was telling him how I have to get the Rock N Roll Pop Idol medal since it’s as big as my face. He said that we should refer to it from here on out as the “face medal.” (He was spittin’ great ideas all day.)

I asked him how many marathons or half marathons he’d done, and he said none! By the end of our conversation, I got him to agree to run the Marine Corps half marathon with me in 2013.

(It’s possible that he won’t follow through with this… He has my contact info. I don’t have his. But, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that he is going to email me and we are obviously going to run that half marathon next year.)

[Edited to add: That did not happen. Wah wah.]

After the expo, Wendy and Marty came over (with their fun relatives, Becky and Barbara) to pick me up. We went to this nifty Target – but not just any Target. Oh, no. This was a Super Target, which is something I didn’t even know existed. We got Cranium and bananas in the same store!

Princess outside of a carriage at the Disney Princess expo 2012 — (You could get your picture taken with princes outside the expo.)

When we were sitting around the table in the rental home, Marty asked me how I liked blogging. Then, he proceeded to talk about my blog! He reads this blog. No joke. He is possibly reading this sentence right now. (Hi, Marty!) Somebody out there is actually reading my blog (regularly)! Golly gee.

Becky and Barbara made us some delicious vegan fajitas for dinner. I’m not a vegan, but Wendy and Marty are, so I get to play a make-believe vegan for the week.

After dinner, we all sat around for a great game of Cranium! I won’t say who was on the winning team. ((cough, cough) I was.)

I’m pretty sure a re-match will most likely occur this week.

I am having such an incredible time with this hilarious family. There is non-stop laughter in this house.

Now I gotta get to sleep! I have a 5k in the morning. I can’t wait to tell you all about it tomorrow.

I Added New Orleans to the List

February 22, 2012

(photo credit: Competitor Group)

Earlier this week, I was still undecided on which race I’d do next weekend.

I had a list of a couple within a few hours of me. Way in the back of my mind, Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans was hanging out. It seemed a little on the silly side to go to a far away city, in which I didn’t know anyone, just to do another RnR race.

But, in the past couple of weeks, I had the best time couchsurfing at Sven’s house. Plus, I had so much fun at my first two Rock N Roll races… And I’d always wanted to go to New Orleans.

Then I thought about the fact that I didn’t have to come home and fly out again. I could spend a few more days with my friends in Orlando, and just change my plane tickets. (Thank you for no change fees and incredible freedom, Southwest!)

A couple of days ago, I decided to register, put in a request for a place in New Orleans on couchsurfing.org, and take the Greyhound from Orlando to New Orleans. Why not, right?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to prepare to leave my apartment in only 4 short hours and be gone for close to 2 weeks! (Yippee!)

[Edited to add: Little did I know, I actually wouldn’t be coming home for about 7 weeks – staying on the east coast to do Rock ‘n’ Roll USA, NC Half marathon, and April Fools’ race in Atlantic City (plus see some Broadway shows, and just generally hang out, travel, and have an all around spectacular, incredible time.]

I Love Running

February 21, 2012

I am thankful for running.

In case you haven’t noticed by my pictures on this blog or my super slow half marathon times, I am not in the greatest shape. I wouldn’t even go so far as to say I’m in great shape. Probably even “good shape” is pushing it. 🙂 Nonetheless, I adore running.

I’m always thankful for running. I always know how much I love it, but being out for three weeks because of that sprained ankle drove me nuts! Now that I’m back from my short hiatus, I’m falling in love with running all over again.

A nice, long run(/walk) gently pushes stress off my shoulders. It says, “Hey babe, I am here for you. I promise to always and forever help shoulder your burdens, and remind you that you are in control of so many things… And, it’s time to give up worrying about things you can’t control.”

Running in events makes me feel as though I’m part of a humongous team of runners that surrounds me. We all have a common goal, and we’re there to encourage each other. While at the same time, it’s a very individual sport. I’m there to go at the pace I want, and to sometimes get lost in my own world as Michael Jackson jams pump through my headphones. I love that sense of individualism within a sense of community.

Running adds so much to my life. I don’t know what I’d do without it, and I think it’s incredibly silly that I ever lived a life without it!

As I said, I’m not fit. I am not an athlete. I’m a human being who needs to run. I don’t use running only to deal with stress. I use it to channel the excitement of good news. I use it as a time to ponder the things for which I’m thankful.

If you don’t run, I would love to challenge you to try. You don’t have to run far, just as much as you can handle. When I started, I could only run half a mile before I was pretty sure I was gonna die. Even still, I can’t straight up jog (without walking breaks) anything longer than a 5k.

Running is hard! But, I find it extremely rewarding.

You are not Paula Radcliffe or Deena Kastor – unless you are in which case, what? How did you find my blog? Please say hello! You freaking rock.

You are you. That means you run as fast as you can, and/or as far as you can, and whatever that is, is a success.

You can carry yourself wherever you want to go if you just free yourself to go there. So, let’s go!

Catch Up: Run for Books (Simi Valley) – January 1, 2012

February 20, 2012

It almost seems a little silly to still be catching up on races from months ago. But I only have two left, so I figure I’ll finish them out to make the blog feel complete.

(As I’ve said, I started this string of running events 7 weeks before I started the blog. That’s why we’re playing catch up.)

This run for books was New Year’s morning. Let me tell you, I ran the crap out of my legs!

At this point, I was thinking, “Oh I’m sort of a runner again.” Little did I know that trails are the worst ever, and they make running about a million times harder.

I went into the other races smarter, sometimes with general time goals – but always with the number one goal being not to get injured. I luckily didn’t get injured in this race, but I did push myself too hard. I was obsessed with getting a “good” 5k time (or at least good for me).

Alas, obstacles kept holding me back. There were hills, and we were running in the dirt. And it was SO windy – so very, very windy.

The beginning of the race was way downhill. Since so many people around me were going fast, I stupidly felt the need to keep up, so I started too quickly. Basically, what I’m saying is, I was a total mess. And I’d almost done the 10k instead! I’m so glad I only had to endure 3.1 miles of this.

The whole staff was incredibly friendly – probably one of the friendliest staffs yet. But the course just killed me… (Well, I kinda did it to myself.)

Of course in the final mile, there was a person behind me that I decided I just had to beat. She made some really great efforts. There were times when she busted out some nice running, but I was not gonna have it. If she ran, I ran! If she ran faster, I ran faster! She gave me a great workout for sure.

After the race I thanked her for pushing me to do better. She said she was doing her best to catch up to me, but she realized I was just not gonna have it that day. We had a nice little laugh about it.

This race wasn’t too long after the one in which I’d finished dead last. The people in front of me back then acted like I did today, not allowing me to pass them – no matter what happened. I guess sometimes you’re the pusher, and sometimes you’re the person who gets pushed.

Either way, you’re getting a better workout and interacting with other human beings. So, it’s fun in either spot.

(Of course even with the fast downhill beginning, and being pushed in mile 3, it still took me 47:19! Did I mention how windy it was? And how there was a lovely part where we were facing the wind – uphill?)

After the race I had a nice little 3 mile walk to the train station. Nothing like topping off a 3 mile race with a good ol’ 3 mile walk.

(#5) Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena

February 19, 2012

As I was waiting to start RnR Pasadena (in my far-back corral) I heard the race announcer say Joey McIntyre’s running today! What?! Everybody out of my way!

A magical power surged through me. I pushed everyone aside, leapt forward seven corrals, and became an elite runner who could easily keep pace with Joey the whole way.

That didn’t happen at all. Well, he did run the race. (You can see the photo on his twitter.) I didn’t actually cause a scene or push anybody. (But don’t even try me if Chris Kirkpatrick runs one.)

I kept my eyes open a bit on the large turnarounds. Is that him?! Nope. Aw, shucks. (Then again, what was I gonna do if I saw him whiz by me? “Joey! I love – aaand you’re gone.”)

I thought maybe if I pumped up some New Kids in my iPhone, perhaps I could summon him. “Step by Step! Oh, baby!”

I know it doesn’t really work that way, but it would’ve been so cool if it did, right?

I don’t ever look at the elevation map before a half marathon (which I’m sure is a brilliant idea). I always figure it’ll be a pleasant surprise when I get out there. What a fun surprise this one was. (There were plenty of hills to keep us busy.)

Tons of people were cheering all along the course. When I yelled out, “You’re awesome” to a group of girls holding inspirational signs (who’d been out there for hours), they yelled back “you’re awesome-et!” Huge thanks to everyone who came out and cheered for strangers. (You are the most awesome!)

In case you haven’t been following all the ankle drama, this was my first half marathon that I was able to run again (as opposed to walk). By mile 4, I was totally in heaven.

I didn’t care about my finishing time today. (Then again, when do I ever?) I just wanted to have a nice, super fun, exciting half marathon. I took some good ol’ wide turns, high-fiving spectators and some other runners behind me. I would run some, walk slowly, run again, etc.

I came in with a time of 3:30:27. If only I hadn’t gallivanted around so much, I could’ve done it in under 3:30 (which is what I generally try to do… for now, anyway). But, you know, it was my first one back after my little injury. No pressure.

Mark McGrath with his hands in the air at the Sugar Ray concert after Rock 'n' Roll Pasadena 2012 — (the Sugar Ray concert after the show)

(Plus, who in the world (besides me) cares about a 27-second difference on such a slow time? We can start worrying about 27 seconds when it comes to qualifying for Boston.)

As I ran into the finish, there was sweet Annie (from the expo yesterday), in all of her race announcer glory. She high-fived me and said, “There she is! We’re gonna see a lot more of her this year. This is only the beginning.” You got that right!

Surprisingly, Joey McIntyre hadn’t been waiting for me at the finish. Bummer.

Non-bummer: I made it in time to catch the tail end of Sugar Ray’s rocking show. (I just want to fly!)

Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena Expo

February 18, 2012

Can you believe it? It’s already time for another half marathon tomorrow! Time to get prepped.

I went to Pasadena to pick up my bib (and super sweet t-shirt). I met a bunch of fun people today, and got some random free stuff. Here’s a little gloss over of the expo.

I went to the Dodge booth ’cause this guy, Andrew, handed me a card, and told me to go get it scanned and I’d see what free thing I won.

I told him if I didn’t win something good I wasn’t going to be friends with him. (Apparently free stuff wasn’t good enough for me unless it was free stuff I wanted.) Luckily, I won a t-shirt, which as far as I was concerned, was the greatest free thing there, so I happily reported back to Andrew that we could indeed be friends – as long as he read this blog. (Nothing’s ever good enough for me, huh?)

Later, I met Annie at the TriRock booth. She is incredible! She had a video of herself doing a triathlon, and she had great stories of her super distances. I asked if she had a blog, ’cause I just had to read more about this girl and follow some of her future amazing adventures. Turned out, she does have a blog where she’s also in the middle of a year-long challenge. She refraining from buying anything new for a year (except food). Basically, she pretty much got cooler by the second.

I also met Jenni and Rob from Team Challenge. They did an awesome job convincing me I should do a triathlon.

I told them I just learned how to ride a bike… and I use the term “learned” quite loosely. Rob said, “Perfect. We do our first ride in a big parking lot. We’re here for all levels.” I also said I didn’t know how to swim. They said they help with that too. They make sure that every person on their team is totally prepared for her triathlon.

They also made it sound really easy, because it was a sprint triathlon. So they were all “oh, only a 5k at the end, a super short swim, etc.” Sounds doable, right?

Of course, in the middle of writing this blog post, I’ve done a little internet surfing, reading up on triathlons, and they sound either awesome or terrifying (or both?). All in all, riding a bike sounds pretty dangerous.

A couple of fun eats at the expo included marshmallows in chocolate fondue (to spread the word about “America’s Sweetest Race.”)

There was also Eoni, this cool-seeming company, giving samples of super yummy banana chocolate chip deliciousness that was low in sodium and high in fiber. (I need to remember this brand on my next shopping trip.)

But enough with the food and new friends. Time to go home and get a good night’s race. Tomorrow is race day, baby!

“My First Half Marathon” – Johannah

February 17, 2012

In case you haven’t heard, I’m trying to convince pretty much everyone I know (including strangers) to do a half marathon. Whenever I actually get someone to complete one, I’m very nicely going to ask them to blog about it, if they would be so kind. I will put said entries here in the “My First Half Marathon” series on the blog – which officially starts today!

Without further ado, I give you my guest blogger, Johannah:

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Johannah Ragland with her 1st place age group award in the Palm Springs Half Marathon 2012 — (photo credit: Jeanette (Johannah’s mom))

Hey! My name is Johannah, and I just want to say that meeting Aurora and running my first half marathon was certainly interesting.

First, at the Tour de Palm Springs (also my first bike ride), I was standing there with my mom, getting ready to take off. We looked over and see this lady in pajama bottoms and a “Bad” hat. She looked kinda like she just rolled out of bed.

She started talking to us, and she said this was her first bike race. When she said “I killed it in cycling class”, we both assumed she meant a “How to ride your bike class” like they have at REI. When she asked what the little numbers on the handle bars were, my mom asked her if she meant a Spin Class. Yeah… figured this was NOT going to end well, and thought we had better start in front of the wreck that was about to happen. There were HUNDREDS of bikes behind her.

We got to talking about the run the next day, and Aurora said she was doing the half marathon. I was planning to do the 5k, but we had plans to do a half in April. Aurora told me it was not too late to change.

Well, the ride started, and we hoped we would see Aurora (alive) at the finish.
Note the info on the ride was VERY clear that this was a ride, NOT A RACE. Well, I decided to turn it into a race, as did a few others. I managed to finish second.

Palm Springs Half Marathon 2012 medal and 1st place age group award — (photo credit: Johannah)

After the ride, still feeling the adrenaline, I asked my mom to take me to change to the half marathon. I didn’t start freaking out until we got there the next morning and I saw people running to warm up. What had I done!

Not far into the race, I began to run with a very nice woman. I probably would not have done as good if she had not run with me all the way to mile nine. We talked about a lot of things. When I finished, I could not wait to find out my time and get my “Brick”. I somehow managed to get first place for my age division, in two hours and eight minutes. It was really fun.

My mom did her first 5k. I am really happy that she is running now. She did really good.
Meeting Aurora was fun, and I hope to see her at another half marathon!!!

Aurora’s response: I enjoyed meeting both of these lovely women – Johannah and her mother. I cracked up when I read Johannah’s posting. I love it!

I don’t know what possessed me to wear pajama pants. A five-mile bike ride just seemed like such a silly, small thing to do that I thought I should just dress in something “fun” as opposed to “real” workout attire [she says before ripping her pants at the ride].

Also, yeah, I am the worst about calling spin class cycling class. Now that I know they’re actually two different things, I will try to speak correctly.

I had no idea until I read Jo’s entry that there are classes you could take to learn how to ride a bike! Good to know…

Also, just so the world (and Johannah) knows, I stayed to the side of the starting corral until basically everyone had gone by me. I’d realized that bicycling may possibly be a bit harder than I originally imagined. I did my best to be respectful of other riders and not get in anyone’s way during the ride. (And I didn’t cause any accidents! (Yay!))

Super huge congrats to Johannah for winning her age group on the first time out!

(#4) Palm Springs Half Marathon – Part 2 (Not Quite Last & Free Burritos!)

February 16, 2012

Continuing from yesterday, I was slowing down in mile 8.

Since I knew I was only going to be walking this one, I didn’t start the day with the usual “I’m doing a half marathon today” mindset. I didn’t even remember to eat a banana!

Around mile 8, my energy was starting to fall off, as my discomfort level in my ankle was rising.

Miles 9 -12 took me over 20 minutes each. I took little breaks when I needed them – stopping to stretch a couple of times, and taking a quick seat on a curb for a few minutes.

There was a police officer who rode around on a motorcycle, checking on everybody. There were a few times when I’d happen to be crossing a street at the same time that he’d stop to update other police officers and/or volunteers on how many people were still on the course.

As time went on, that number started to dwindle (without anyone passing me). I asked what was going on and if anyone had gotten injured. He said everyone was fine. People were quitting – quitting!

This was upsetting to me. This race didn’t have a time limit. If someone isn’t injured and they came to finish, what possibly makes them quit?

We all have our own lives, our own pasts, our own needs and reasons for doing anything. Sight unseen, and without hearing the full story, I can’t judge anyone’s reasons to quit. (Truly, I should never be judging anyone in the first place. I think the world would be better (and I would be better) if we all were a little less judgmental.) But, enough on that tangent so I can continue getting my judging on. 😉

Moving on; as I came upon the final mile, I realized there was only one person behind me. And I could see her! I wasn’t sure when exactly she’d crossed the start line, so I wanted to finish full minutes in front of her, just to make sure I wasn’t coming in last. I started speeding it along, even kind of half jogging in the last half a mile or so.

She ended up crossing the finish line about twelve minutes after me. So yet again, I narrowly escaped being last. (Although as we all know, “the last place finisher is just the slowest winner.”)

I took a peek at the results being posted and saw I wasn’t on there. Somehow my chip hadn’t recorded my finish time.

It ended up being no big deal at all. Judging by a photo and my chip start time, the timing company gave me the finish time of 3:55:51. We might not have gotten it down exactly to the second, but I’d say it’s pretty accurate.

My main goal was to finish in under 4 hours, which I definitely did. So, as far as I’m concerned, mission accomplished.

long line of cyclists at Chipotle, waiting for free burritos after the race — Chipotle was packed when we all got free burritos *dance music*

After the race, I went back to Sven’s house. I cannot believe I didn’t mention this in the Tour de Palm Springs posts, but bicyclists got FREE BURRITOS at CHIPOTLE! That’s right. Free. With Guacamole. I saved mine to eat after the half marathon. (Yum!) I got back and ripped it open.

Sven came in and said, “How was it? Tell me everything.”

It was so nice to have another human being there who wanted to hear about the race. It’s probably silly to think that’s cool, but I don’t always have someone waiting for me at home, so I thought that was really fun!

He asked if I came by his house during the race. I said I didn’t think so. He told me there were cones outside earlier and runners coming by all day. We looked at my MapMyWalk app. Sure enough I had gone right by his house!

Of course it was surprising that I didn’t recognize the neighborhood, with my incredible sense of direction and all. (That’s extremely sarcastic because I have the worst sense of direction. I’m surprised I can make it to the finish line of anything without getting lost.)

The cab driver who took me back to the Greyhound station ended up being the same one I’d had on the way to Sven’s house! He was happy to hear I was still alive after going and staying with a complete stranger.

(#4) Palm Springs Half Marathon – Part 1 (Walking On That Weak Ankle, Baby)

February 15, 2012

Aurora doing some dance walking along the Palm Springs 2012 half marathon course — Wendy caught me doing a little dance-walking

This was a struggle. In case you haven’t read, I was coming off an injury.

I’m sure it also didn’t help that I’ve been taking such awesome (read: awful) care of myself this week.

I was really good during my first week on crutches. In my second week, my microwave broke. I took that (mixed with my inability to run) as a grand excuse for an all out free-for-all with ice cream and Doritos …for the entire week!

Even though I had awesome accommodations this weekend, for some reason I had tons of trouble sleeping. (Think that could possibly have something to do with my extreme lack of exercise and poor eating habits of late?)

Around 3am, I had some ankle pain going on. I was a bit worried that perhaps I’d made the wrong choice – that I possibly should’ve brought my crutches, or borrowed a wheelchair. But I knew I’d be fine. I stretched, moved my ankle around, took a quick walk around the living room, and went back to sleep (waking up 3 more times before the morning!).

When I got to the gear check, I was happy to see my friends Wendy & Marty. As I was talking to Wendy, I got a tap on the shoulder. It was Jeanette (of Jeanette & Johannah), happy to see I’d made it out of the bike ride alive. She let me know I’d convinced Johannah to do the half marathon!

Going by the advice of my doctor and the pleading of my ankle, my plan was to walk the entire race – no jogging.

When the half marathon started, I walked across the start line, which was really anti-climactic. “Oh, here I go walking toward the start. This is so exciting… Now here I go crossing the start(!)… aaaand, here I go walking some more. Huh.”

I felt so silly walking through the crowd of cheering spectators lined up at the start.

My walking pace wasn’t too bad at the beginning. I started off doing 15 to 16-minute miles.

I tried to keep it interesting by doing a lot of dance walking.

There were tons of turnarounds in this race, making it seem as though a field of runners was always going by me.

It’s possible that some of them thought, “What’s the deal with that silly girl?” But they all had their own race to worry about (as did I), so I don’t think anyone gave it much thought. Who cares how silly I look when I’m trying to have fun?

As the race went on, I started to get slower. Miles 7 and 8 took a little over 17 minutes each. I was in some pain after mile 8. It’s possible I was pushing myself a little hard for my first weekend off crutches, but once I was 8 miles into a half marathon, there was certainly no way I was stopping (especially when there was no time limit)!

Was I able to make it through those last 5 miles? Find out tomorrow.

Couch Surfing in Palm Springs!

February 14, 2012

You may have wondered where I stayed the night between the bike ride and the half marathon (or maybe you didn’t, but either way I’m gonna tell you).

I tried CouchSurfing for the first time.

I didn’t know what to expect. I’d read about Sven (my host), but who knew what was going to happen – trying out this new website, staying with strangers? I’m happy to say it was a great experience! I never wanted to leave!

Sven and Moselle (his roommate) are two of the most interesting, fun, and nice people I could’ve hoped to have met. Sven has been keeping this book (which I think was an awesome idea) filled with messages and memories from all the different people he’s hosted – and he has hosted some cool people. One girl was in the middle of biking around the country (or was it the world?). Either way, it was a super big place.

Both Sven and Moselle were incredibly nice. Moselle is another NY transplant who basically hikes for a living (cool, right?). Sven has traveled a ton! He backpacked around Europe, spent a semester in Australia. He’s pretty much the epitome of fascinating.

He’s currently studying to become a teacher. (He decided he was done being an engineer. I love when people stop being in situations they don’t love and go after ones they do. Kudos to him for doing just that.) Also, he is so creative! He does woodworking, painting, and such. Everything he had created was awesome.

A guitar made by Sven — See this guitar? Sven made it.

At first I was worried that maybe my hosts would feel like it was a burden to have a surfer (which was silly). Why would they? I mean, they volunteer to do it!

They never made me feel like I was a burden – even a bit. Their hearts were open as well as their (incredible, sweet, spacious, convenient-to-all-my-events) home.

I can’t even put into words how much this experience surpassed my expectations. (I’m sure that’s exactly what you want in a blogger – someone who can’t describe things.)

As I mentioned, we got invited to that barbecue with the AIDS LifeCycle posse. I told Sven and Moselle, and they were totally up for it!

You may think it’s odd that I thought it was odd for people to be up for mingling with new people and eating some free food – but in Los Angeles it’s pretty common for people to not want to go out for things because of traffic… or not wanting new friends.

Out in Palm Springs, we were game for adventures! Sven’s sweet girlfriend, Erin came over and we all headed to the barbecue together. (Side note: Erin is a great conversationalist. She’s a master of asking people follow-up questions.)

As we talked with the cyclists, I learned more about biking. (You clip into your pedals?! Um, does that sound scary, or what? I feel as though all I would ever do is constantly fall over.)

By the end of the barbecue I wasn’t the only one convinced that I should be doing the week-long bike ride. We all had become pretty sure that it was an excellent idea.

A painting of a woman, done by Sven — Yep, Sven painted this.

These AIDS LifeCycle staffers are incredible salespeople. I’m ready to be a freaking cyclist (as is apparently everyone who ever comes in contact with them)!

(Random note: Sven and Moselle got a free large pack of hot dogs and buns when we left. Score!)

We went back home and got to bed early. How sweet that my hosts were looking out for me! They thought about the fact that I had a half marathon the next day, and they wanted to make sure I had a good amount of rest. So, everyone was sent to bed in the nine o’clock hour. (Did I tell you they were awesome, or what?)

In the morning it was time for half marathon #4.

Tour de Palm Springs Expo

February 13, 2012

James and Michael in front of the AIDS LifeCycle booth at Tour de Palm Springs 2012 — James and Michael – two awesome guys working the AIDS LifeCycle booth

The expo lined the streets of the corral area, so I explored a little before and after the race.

I wanted to spend as little time as possible lugging a bike around, so I waited ’til the ride got closer to rent one. This was not the brightest idea anyone’s ever had.

I gave myself almost an hour to rent a bike, which I figured would be plenty of time considering all the rental places were right there. I also called a bike rental shop a week or two beforehand. They said there’d be plenty of bikes, so I figured I was fine.

In the end, I was fine. I don’t know why it took me forever to find a rental. First I was asking around about which booth had rentals. Four of them did, so I kept getting sent in different directions. Every time I found a booth, they were all out of bikes! I don’t know why that was so surprising to me since I was in the last group to start (of five distance options, with the earliest group starting at 6am).

I finally found the elusive fourth booth that surprisingly many people didn’t know about. Shout out to FunSeekers!

While I’m doing shout outs, quick shout out to Pacific Premier Bank for my sweet new piggy bank, also to lovely Mariellen and Burt from Massage Rx. They had a massage booth and were raising money for MS. (Mariellen has MS, and still went out and rocked the bike ride! (Then she gave massages for the rest of the day. So, hats off to her!)

Burt gave me the best massage after the race. I might have to do this ride next year for the massage alone!

One thing that was really cool and fun about this expo was that every single thing was brand new to me – all the jargon, all the fun challenges and events – everything was new.

Did you know that people spend seven days biking from San Francisco to Los Angeles? (Multiple companies host an option for that.) The first booth to tell me about that ride was the California Coast Classic. And… you get finisher medals!

I’ve heard that cyclists like to be “real athletes,” making fun of runners for always wanting something just for being a participant – whereas, as a cyclist, you have to “earn it.”

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that plenty of cyclists like getting medals, and plenty of biking events offer them. I guess that means I can be a cyclist! 😉

Another booth that had the San Fran to LA option was the AIDS LifeCycle booth (which was chock full of awesome people, btw).

Everyone really had me convinced that I could (and should) ride a bike many miles a day for a whole week, camping in between – and riding over 500 miles in the process.

Keep in mind, I have a pretty tenuous hold on how to ride a bike. I’m also not sure I would love camping. I mean, I’m awesome at going days without showering (lol), but I’m kind of terrified of animals (and I don’t particularly love the outdoors). Either way, the people working this booth had me convinced!

(Although, I couldn’t ride it this year even if I wanted to be crazy enough to do that, ’cause I already have a half marathon going on during their ride, but you should sign up!)

Not only did AIDS LifeCycle have the best, most fun & noticeable booth, but they also had fun events (some even included free food!) throughout the weekend – a barbecue, a film screening, a recovery ride, and more. I mean that’s a lot of planning and love they put into this weekend!

I can’t wait to tell you about the barbecue and my incredible hosts for the weekend tomorrow!

Tour de Palm Springs – My First Bike Ride! – Part 2 (I Survived My First Cycling Event)

February 12, 2012

Continuing from yesterday:

One thing that’s completely embarrassing about my bike ride is that I forgot to wear a helmet! It somehow didn’t occur to me that bicyclists wear helmets.

I could’ve easily asked for one at the bike rental booth, but no. I took my bike and wandered off. It wasn’t until the start horn was blown and we were all peddling away that I looked up and noticed someone’s helmet.

Oh, fudge! At that point it was too late to turn around (maybe not for a better, more responsible person who would’ve gone to get a helmet and started late).

I felt awful for being such a bad influence on anyone watching the race or reading the blog (not that anyone would follow my lead on that – more likely they would just talk about how much of a dum-dum I was (especially since I didn’t even know how to ride a bike!)).

I felt so bad about it that after the race, I went and got a helmet and came back in through the finish line for a couple of pictures with appropriate headgear.

Back to the actual race, it was definitely interesting going downhill and uphill. It felt a lot different from just adjusting the resistance in spin class. Downhill felt like fun, (somewhat) controlled falling, and uphill was freaking hard!

A bunch of people got off and pushed their bikes up this one hill. There I was thinking I was so cool. “I’m on a bike ride. I shall ride this bike!” Of course I looked silliest, going no faster (read: slower) than people walking their bikes up. But hey, I made it to the top eventually!

When we were coming back toward the finish(!), I saw a cop whom I’d seen at the start. As I’d pedaled away, I’d yelled “I don’t know how to ride a bike!”

When I came back, she happily greeted me with, “You made it?!” I yelled back, “I’m doing it!”

When all the cyclists got to the finish line, so many people were coming in that we didn’t get to ride through. Everyone got off their bikes and we just walked the bikes through, which I sort of thought was funny, especially since cameras were snapping our big finish.

I couldn’t believe I’d gotten back so quickly. I literally have no concept of how long it took me (no timing chips, and I didn’t look at any clocks). An hour-long ride? Half an hour? Whatever it was, it went by quickly.

By the way, yes, I wore pajama pants. Yes, they got stuck in those gear things or whatever it is that a bicycle has. They got a little hole in them. (Note to self, maybe don’t wear pajama pants on the next ride…)

At the end, I got a t-shirt and a medal! There weren’t supposed to be medals for this event, but volunteers had boxes and boxes of medals from 2008.

One meekly asked if I wanted one – as though she was offering me damaged goods. But I was over the moon to get one – it still says the name of the race (though 2008 is on the back).

Sven (whom you’ll totally meet in an upcoming post) pointed out that it was hilarious that they had a ton of medals left over from 2008 – not from last year, or even 2010. Nope, just 2008.

Great point. Where did these medals come from? Why do boxes and boxes of them still exist? I guess it doesn’t really matter. The point is, I have a bike riding medal! Bam!

I used to think bicycling seemed kind of boring. I mean, why bike when you can run, right? But now that I’ve done a bike event, I’ll admit it’s actually way more fun than I ever thought it would be. You get to be in control of this crazy moving contraption and feel the wind rush past you. It can be like your own tiny roller coaster (depending on the hills). I’ve been convinced – cycling can be fun.

The expo for this ride was incredible (and included an invite to a BBQ!) Can’t wait to tell you about it tomorrow!

Tour de Palm Springs – My First Bike Ride! – Part 1 (I Don’t Really Know How to Ride a Bike…)

February 11, 2012

I came into this weekend not knowing how to ride a bike.

My dad says I tried when I was little, but I guess I fell and my nose started bleeding. And I was not having that.

Even back then I was a stubborn fighter, demanding an example of a time when riding a bike would be a skill applicable to anything I wanted to do in life. How can you argue with a five-year-old’s logic when it’s rock solid like that?

So, riding a bike is never really a thing I’ve done. But I was already doing the half marathon, and I found out that if you did the half marathon plus a bike ride of any distance, you got a special brick award. We all know how I am about awards.

On the way to the bike race, I’m thinking “I rock spin class at the gym. I’m very coordinated. Obviously, I got this…”

Then, once I get to the bike rental booth, I’m looking at this huge thing (vehicle, machine, mechanism?) and just thinking, “uh… oh yeah, bikes are bigger than people… Sheesh.”

At this point, I’d already come out to Palm Springs, gotten to the starting line, registered for the bike ride, and paid to rent this bike. This ride was on like Donkey Kong (even if I did have to get on a big contraption (which yes, I know is the point of a bike ride)).

Aurora posing with a sign that says Howard Hughes lived here, outside of Howard Hughes' house, at the Tour de Palm Springs 2012 — The sign says Howard Hughes lived here. (The Aviator is my favorite movie.)

I wheeled the bike toward the starting corral area and sat on it, trying to figure out how this whole balancing thing works. It was kind of a mess.

I ran into this mom and her young daughter – Jeanette and Johannah – also doing the ride. I asked what the things on my handlebars did. They said something about making pedaling easier or harder. I spilled the beans that I didn’t know how to ride a bike. (Huge shocker to them, I’m sure).

We talked about the extra brick bling for the weekend. Johannah said she was signed up for the 5k, but was thinking about doing the half marathon. Of course I was all, “well, if you’re gonna do 3 miles, I guess you might as well do 13, right?”

As the race drew closer, the family wished me the best of luck, saying they hoped they’d see me at the finish (to make sure I made it out alive).

When the ride started, I wondered how I was ever going to make it five whole miles. I was wobbling left and right, not having the best control over where I was going.

I crossed the start line toward the back, trying to stay out of everyone’s way. Surprisingly, after the crowd thinned a little, I could balance!

I was shouting “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!” to strangers who all probably thought, “Why is this grown up lady shouting about how she can ride a bike? We can all ride a bike. Duh.”

I’m so unfamiliar with bike rides; I never had a feel for how many miles I’d done. At any point in the ride you could’ve said I’d done one, or four, or ten, and I’d be all, “Oh, okay.” There were no mile markers on the course (I guess that’s just how bike rides work, yes?) But, I was so concentrated on not dying (or at least crashing), that I didn’t focus too much on how far I’d gone, or how far I had to go.

Tomorrow, we’ll see if I finished alive!

(Spoiler alert: Probably, if I’m writing this. Find out definitively tomorrow.)

(#3) Surf City Half Marathon – The One on Crutches – Part 3 (Finishing!)

February 9, 2012

If you’ve been wondering, yes, I finished! But the real question is, did I finish last?

Yesterday’s post left off around mile 12. My new goal was to not come in last, and that lasted for about one second until that became about 3% of my goal and 97% stayed on just finishing before the time limit in as little pain as possible.

Around mile 13, I knew I had enough time to make it. I happily got started actually using the crutches again on that mile. (It was ridiculously painful to walk without them, but I have no upper body strength and had to keep up).

I was ecstatic to be in mile 13, though it pretty much seemed like the longest mile I’ve ever done. As you can see from my pictures, I grabbed washcloths in the morning and stuck them over my crutches. That really helped. (That’s a tip if you’re planning a half marathon on crutches.)

As I was walking along with my crutches, another sag wagon came up. This incredibly nice woman driving said, “I just want to let you know that you’re doing great, and you’re gonna make it.” It was exactly what I needed to hear.

A super ripped guy across the street didn’t realize the people in the wagon were being so nice. He yelled, “Don’t try to convince her to get in that van! You’re doing it! You’ve gone this far. Nothing can stop you now.” I really appreciated the sentiments.

The sag wagon drove away to go check on other runners, and I kept on hobbling. I passed a man who said, “Oh my gosh, you’re actually finishing! My friend and I saw you start this morning. I have to call and tell him that you’re doing it!”

It took me forever to see that finish line. I kept asking strangers on the street every 10 feet or something ridiculous like that if I was getting close. And people said I was.

Lo and behold, the sweetest thing I could see… In the distance was the finish line! The feeling was indescribable. I was finishing for everyone who said I inspired them to think they could do more. I was finishing for everyone who said I never would. I was finishing for myself.

The announcer was a sweetheart saying, “For real? You’re incredible!” They actually got video! (If I ever feel like I can’t do something, I’m gonna pop that video in.)

(If you didn’t see it in an earlier post, I came in at 5:07:46 (a mere 1 minute and 3 seconds before the official end of the race).

I didn’t come in last! When the results came out, it turned out there were 7 people who came in behind me. (What?)

After waiting for 13 long miles, it was finally time for that delicious Dairy Queen!

As I was walking away from gear check, I actually saw helpful Marcia from the expo that morning. She remembered me and wanted to make sure I finished. What a sweetheart.

I don’t know if any of these people are reading this, but a quick humongous thank you to the patient staff of Surf City – they still had bananas and water when I finished!

Also, thanks to the spectators and runners for encouraging. Thanks to the people on the sidewalk who gave me pretzels. Thanks to the woman who saw me on a turnaround and said, “I was thinking about quitting, but now that I saw you, I can’t.”

Thanks to YOU reading the blog. I can’t wait to tell you all about the next one – Palm Springs!

(#3) Surf City Half Marathon – The One on Crutches – Part 2 (Crying, Worrying, Rough Times)

February 8, 2012

Picking up from Part 1 –

In mile 5, I threw off the crutches (just holding them in my hands) and hobbled along. I was so sad to have to do that. It was painful. But, I had to figure out a way to keep up.

A sweet stranger on a bike (on his way to the beach) biked a whole mile with me talking about his life, my life, the time limit frustrations of this race, and my sprained ankle. It was awesome to have that company. I really appreciated him.

When we got back out toward the beach, he said goodbye and went surfing. I saw runners I’d seen on a different loop who were still yelling encouragements when they passed me on this one. (If you were one, I can’t thank you enough for all the sweet encouragement you gave me.)

Around mile 7, I was really starting to feel it. I’m not too proud to admit I may or may not have cried (I did). It was hard! And my foot hurt! And that lady in the van thinking the race ended at noon scared the crap out of me! So, I had a good cry for a mile. I think that’s probably good for you, right?

I pulled it together and kept on hobbling. In mile 8, it would’ve been pretty easy to cheat and do the turn around early, since nobody was left back there. I thought about how sweet it would feel to cut off any distance whatsoever. But there was no way I could bring myself to do that.

I walked all the way to the turnaround, building myself up, muttering about having the ability to do anything. “I survived my high school theater program. I can do anything. I’ve lived in New York City. I can do this.” Yeah, just keep talking to yourself, Aurora.

In mile 9, I was pretty hardcore regretting that I hadn’t brought my iPhone. (I didn’t want to deal with having any other stuff when I was already dealing with crutches.) This would’ve been a lovely time for me and Michael Jackson to hang out together.

Since all the other runners were far out in front of me, I busted out into some musical theater songs. There I am, still fighting tears, fighting pain, belting, “You can say what you want; I’m not walking out!”

Later, as I passed a water station (no longer belting out showtunes as I passed volunteers) – even though they were packing up, a sweet guy opened up a box and got me some water. He walked a bit with me and asked what the deal was with my crutches, ’cause apparently people on the radio had been asking about me.

I told him about my ankle, and that the lady in the van scared me. He apologized and said the six-hour time limit definitely did not start when the marathon started, and that I was fine. (I mean, I knew I had to be. But still, he made me feel better.)

I’ve always been slow, but I’ve never been literally at the back of the pack in one of these huge half marathons. Everything was shutting down as I was passing it.

All the water stations and medical tents were empty or emptying out. I even had to get out of the way of street sweepers. It wasn’t the greatest feeling to be all alone, but I was happy to be getting ever closer to the finish.

Around mile 12, I kept seeing a bunch of people who’d already finished walking back to their cars and such. When I saw one woman who wasn’t still wearing her medal, I said, “Congrats! Where’s your medal? You should keep it on all day!” She told me she was also doing the half – and was still in the race!

What?! I’m actually passing somebody…I can’t believe it! My old goal had been just to finish, knowing I was going to come in last. My new goal became finishing anything but last. So I started hobbling faster.

Will I come in last? Find out tomorrow.

(#3) Surf City Half Marathon – Time Limit Confusion

February 7, 2012

time limit rules for the Surf City Half Marathon 2012 — Oh yeah… I took a screenshot of the rules.

Picking up from yesterday –

As an injured runner, the time limit played a major part in my race. It was something I was extremely concerned about.

I wasn’t going to allow myself to still be behind the finish line when the course closed.

The website states that there is a six-hour time limit. The real question was whether the start of that limit was the start of the race, or when the last runner crossed the start line.

The website said “A wave start will allow you plenty of space along the course, at the aid stations, and at the finish line, without affecting your chip time or the time you have to complete the race. All 1/2 marathon participants will still have the ‘6-hour time limit’ to complete the course.'”

That would lead me to believe that I have 6 hours from when I cross the start line.

I asked an official race employee before the race started when the six-hour time limit began. She said that it started from when the last corral crossed the start line.

I finished in just under 5 hours and 8 minutes (5:07:46), but (with the large field of runners) I didn’t cross the start line until over 51 minutes after the race had started. Since it seems as though the time limit was apparently 6 hours after the start of the race, I guess I came in with 1 minute and 3 seconds to spare.

If the time limit had been six hours for each runner, those 52 available minutes would’ve made a WORLD of difference. In those miles in which I hurt and rushed myself, I could’ve gone at least four minutes slower per mile.

When the official on the bike said that I might as well quit because I wasn’t going to finish, I asked him to confirm that I had 6 hours from when I started. He never got an official answer on his walkie.

Since he thought the course was closing at 1:45pm (6 hours after the race started), I very painfully threw off the crutches and started hobbling without them. (More on this tomorrow.) It was the only way that I was going to be able to make up some of that lost time.

Later in mile probably 7, a woman in the sag wagon came along and said I wasn’t going to make it. I said no matter what, I would make it – with a six-hour time limit, I’d be fine. She replied that it was 6 hours from when the MARATHON started at SIX AM!(!!)

There was NO WAY I was going to finish by noon. I basically almost had a heart attack right there by the wagon. I tried to explain to her that I had checked the website at least ten times (since I was nervous and injured) to make sure the six-hour limit was for the half. I was positive that the earliest the course could possibly close, no matter how someone looked at it, was 1:45.

She didn’t believe me. She just said well that’s the situation, but “don’t worry about it.” I don’t know in what universe I could’ve just “not worried about it.” Obviously I’m worried about it! I have to finish this race before they close the course!

The guy on the motorcycle behind her also checked on me. I told him what she had said, and he agreed that the course closed at noon! I said “no, no, no. The earliest it could be is 1:45.” He said, “Okay, so you want someone to come get you at 1:45?” I said, “No! No one will have to come get me. I’ll be crossing the finish line!”

All this back and forth was a real headache. It was the only annoying part of a great race. Six hours is an incredibly generous time limit, so my complaints should barely be allowed to exist. But at the end, when I was hurting, I wished beyond wish that I had those extra 52 minutes that I thought/hoped I was going to have.

More than anything I just didn’t like the stress of different people scaring me with different time limits. Although, I am glad the man on the bike said something, because I was pacing as though I had six hours. And I didn’t. I had 5 hours and 9 minutes. But enough about time limits. On to the rest of the actual story tomorrow.

(#3) Surf City Half Marathon – The One on Crutches – Part 1 (The First 5 Miles)

February 6, 2012

For anybody who’s missed it, I sprained my ankle on my last half marathon on a trail. (Trail runs are the worst!)

So, I was still on crutches for this half marathon. I thought about whether to do this half. But, here’s the thing: There was a six-hour time limit. I felt fairly comfortable with that.

Plus, I’d seen pictures of this girl who was running marathons every weekend crossing a finish line on crutches. She had broken her hip(!), but hadn’t let it hold her back. She looked unbelievably happy and superhuman at the finish line. I thought this would be my chance to feel that way. (I mean, less so than her. That’s unbelievable, right? But still, somewhat.)

So, I wrapped up my ankle, hopped on my crutches, and off I went. There were definitely two camps of people saying things to me.

There was the camp that made me feel incredible with encouragements such as, “You’re my new hero!” “You’re a champion.” “Go get ’em, girl!” (I loved those people.)

Then there was a camp of people who seemed almost determined to get me to quit. (This camp was much smaller and mainly made up of volunteers, not spectators.)

As I started off in the first mile, everyone passed me (of course). Some took longer than others, but eventually it seemed as though they all passed me. I knew I would be slow, but I didn’t truly anticipate exactly how slow I would be.

I did my best to stay off of my ankle, but within the first mile, my complete lack of upper body strength became very apparent.

I let my foot dangle quite close to the ground – every once in a while letting my toes actually touch that ground to give me a bit of extra push (since I have SO much more strength in my legs than my arms). Still, I was barely putting any real pressure on my right leg, since I had the crutches as a huge help.

The first mile was pretty tough. There were a couple of times when I thought I must be at least slightly crazy to take on this endeavor. Then, just when I thought it might never come, I saw that first mile marker!

I knew in that moment that I could definitely finish this half marathon. (I mean, I knew going onto the course that I was going to finish. But something about seeing that very first mile marker made me know “oh, okay, this is very possible.”)

Backtracking a little, about a tenth or two of a mile into the race… I saw a Dairy Queen! Ever since I moved to Los Angeles (about seven months ago) my friend Garrick and I have been talking about the illustrious, mysterious Dairy Queens that exist out here. If you take a trek, you can find one. And there was one right in front of me! Getting to the finish line was now very much about coming back around to that Dairy Queen!

In mile 5, one of the men on bicycles who rides around to check on people came up to me and was pretty flabbergasted that I was still in the race. He said he’d been told that they’d removed me from the course. Like I would ever let anybody remove me. He encouraged me to quit, saying he didn’t think I’d finish. I told him that no matter what happened, I was going to finish this race. Period.

I asked if he could confirm the six-hour time limit for me. This became the beginning of my long day of talking time limits with various event staffers and volunteers.

I’ve never been more concerned with a time limit. I knew that every available minute would be a help for me in this race. This is where I’ll pick up tomorrow (or you can skip the time limit entry and go straight to Part 2.)

Surf City Half Marathon Expo

February 5, 2012

I went to the sort of mini-expo in the morning, instead of the actual expo, ’cause one of the many things that makes Surf City awesome is that they’ll mail you your bib and timing chip.

Don’t get me wrong, I love expos. I like hearing about races, spinning prize wheels, and meeting new people.

But sometimes it’s hard to get to an expo ’cause you live far away, or are doing a double-event weekend. Being injured, plus relying on public transportation in L.A., while living pretty far from Huntington Beach – I was quite happy to have my bib and chip mailed to me.

A note on how I got there – Public transportation wasn’t open in time to get me from downtown L.A. to Huntington Beach. So I tried this thing called TaskRabbit. Before you knew it, five strangers had already made a bid to drive me way out to the beach first thing in the morning (before the sun even came out). Nathan, this cool, fun, up-and-coming actor was awesomely amazing, coming to get me at 5:30am!

The Surf City expo was really well themed. There were surfboards everywhere and everything had a very “day-on-the-beach” feel. I walked in to get some bobby pins. They were conveniently right on the front table – which was manned by sweet, knowledgable Marcia, who effortlessly handled the tons of people coming by with different needs.

Then I went off to get my (super awesome) t-shirt from the other booth. The t-shirts came in these sweet (also very well-themed) bags. The expo tent seemed kind of like the “cool hang out place” for runners. Lots of people were in there stretching.

It was awesome that there was this huge enclosed area by the start line so that people could stay out of the “cold.” (It really wasn’t actually cold at all that morning (by the time I got there at least), but I’m sure this same idea would be appreciated at some other races.)

On my way out of the mini expo, I met Dennis and Lea, who were working a timeshares booth.

I walked up to the booth with my normal, “what’s the deal here? What’s happening?” attitude. Dennis said “well, you have to be 25 to sign up, and you look super young.” Yep. “super young.” I was giddy that someone thought I looked so super young.

(I know that in real life I’m always yelling about how much ageism sucks, and how we shouldn’t take joy or compliments in being young because all of that adds to the idea that younger is better – which it’s totally not, because people of all ages have sweet things to add. But, as someone who still wants to be super young and loved, and never get old, and is obsessed with taking care of her skin… I totally took tons of joy out of Dennis calling me super young. (I will become a better person! (Maybe.) I’m working on it…))

Anyway, Dennis and Lea were super nice to me even though I was too young to sign up to hear more about their timeshares. They said they’ll be at some more California events, so I’ll probably run into them here and there this year.

After that fun encounter, I hobbled to the start line. I’ll blog about the race itself tomorrow.

Catch Up: Operation Jack Half Marathon (December 26, 2011)

February 4, 2012

Yep, still catching up on the string of running events I started 7 weeks before I started the blog. (We’re getting there!)

The day after Christmas I finally got off my butt, and did my first half marathon post open heart surgery. Goodness gracious, did it feel great to be back.

I didn’t do a ton of training for Operation Jack. It was silly, really. I was just trying to do some kind of race every week, and a half marathon was the shortest one I could find this week. (It was the day after Christmas, so I suppose people were busy with their families or some such business like that).

Then I thought “well, if I do a half marathon still in 2011, I’ll be able to say I had that big surgery in 2010, then ran another half in 2011. That will sound somewhat close together (even though I waited forever to start running again).

(You can see where my priorities lie. Fitness? Happiness? Not important. How about I just try not to look like a loser? ;))

Nonetheless, I knew I had trained enough. I had no yearning for a fast time. I just wanted to finish happily and injury free. It wasn’t chip timed anyway. (It was clock timed, though.)

I met an incredibly nice runner at the start – Kevin. He was doing marathons in all 50 states. This was number 49! He saved the best for last – Boston, Massachusetts.

He was so supportive. The course was a loop (that marathoners did twice), so I saw him a couple of times while I was out there. Each time he passed with uplifting words making sure I was okay in my first half marathon back. His encouragements out on the course were so helpful.

The course was simple and nice with lots of water all around. I took breaks to stretch. I did jog a fair amount of the course, but I walked a good part as well. I made actual stops at the water stations to catch my breath, hydrate, and say thanks to the volunteers.

I was super chill about the whole thing. The time limit was six hours, so all I wanted was to have fun and stay safe, which I did. I got a finish time of 3:40:04. (I didn’t even come in last!)

Just a few minutes after me, Kevin ran in (from his full marathon). I was happy to be there at the finish to cheer him on!

Finally, after two and half years since my first half marathon, I finished my second one!

52 Half Marathons in 52 Weeks – The Challenge Is Official

February 1, 2012

You caught me. I originally said the blog was about doing a race every weekend (and it was). Slowly but surely, sometime in the last couple of weeks, I’ve decided that I want to do 52 half marathons in 52 weeks.

So, I’m going to.

How did this come about? Good question. It just kinda did.

I was really enjoying running some kind of race every weekend. My friend Matt was being really supportive, telling me all about how cool it’d be if I could keep that going for a whole year.

I agreed it would be pretty cool. But you know what would be even cooler? 52 half marathons.

I love half marathoning. It’s a distance I used to love and be really comfortable with. Though it became a distance that seemed as though I could never get through it again. I’m gonna get through it a whole bunch of times, so that I never have to question again if I can do it.

There’s a little part of me that wishes I would’ve decided this going into the beginning of the year, so that the end of my 52 weeks would coincide with the end of the calendar year. But, I’m happy that I started with Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona on January 15th. I love that the first half marathon in this challenge was with such a lovely friend of mine, and in a city I enjoy.

Plus, a lot of countdowns and lists and other goals end right at the end of the year. This isn’t a New Year’s resolution or anything. So, it’ll be nice to have something that pushes me ahead into the new year.

It should be quite a fun project. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead! Thanks so much for following my adventure!

Back to Disneyland!

January 31, 2012

Captain EO Tribute Poster — (Captain EO poster. Credit: Disney)

There is a bus that goes right outside my apartment multiple times a day that says “Disneyland” on that sign area at the top.(What do you call that thing? A bus marquee?).

I used to pass this bus all the time on my way to work. I’ve thought many times about how awesome it would be to just jump on that bus and go to Disneyland, but I never did…until this weekend (twice)!

The day after the Never Land 5k (Saturday) I went to the park. (In case you didn’t read about the race, I got a twilight ticket with my 5k registration, and you better bet that I was going to use it!)

I finally saw Captain EO for the first time!!! As soon as it was over, I ran around and watched it again.

I’m surprised I only watched it 3 times that day, ‘cause it’s pretty much the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a mix of two of my favorite things – Michael Jackson (the greatest entertainer ever to live), and Luke Skywalker (a sweet, caring Jedi learning he’s capable of more than he thinks). Melding them together by having Michael Jackson himself play a brave Luke Skywalker type – brilliant!

The movie was adorable in all of its ’80s glory – with shots that don’t have the sound matching the lips and so forth.

I won’t say anything else about the awesome plot and incredible one liners ‘cause I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. I’m just ecstatic they brought it back!

Random fact of the day: I kept my arms up on a roller coaster for the first time!

When I was riding Splash Mountain, no one was sitting in front of me, so I wrapped my legs so tightly around the bottom of the back of that seat that if I was gonna fly out of the boat, the seat was gonna fly out as well. So, my hands were free, and I pushed them into the air! *nnn-t, nnn-t, nnn-t [party music]*

Never Land Family Fun Run 5k – Part 3 (Eh, Some More Mild Complaining, But Then Coming Around!)

January 30, 2012

If you’ll remember from yesterday I was complaining. I do know that it’s a little silly to complain. It was just a Fun Run after all! Nonetheless, I’m still not done.

One last complaint. They include a twilight ticket to the park in your fee. (I’m sure that’s a large part of why it’s so expensive.) But, hey Disney, we don’t need it. You can drop the price of the 5k and let us just come out for the race. Thanks.

The twilight ticket can be used to get in the park anytime after 4.

If you go on the day of your 5k, the park closes at 8, and the race doesn’t start until 10:30. So, you only get 4 hours to enjoy the park, and you still have to sit around and kill 2 1/2 hours.

But if you don’t use the ticket that day (so that you can go the next day when the park is open until midnight), you have to pick up your bib by 7pm. Yet again, the race doesn’t start until 10:30, leaving you with 3 1/2 empty hours to kill.

I guess what I’m saying is – please don’t make it mandatory that packet pick-up and the race be on the same day if there’s going to be three and a half hours(!) between the end of packet pick-up and the start of the race. That’s quite a lot of time to kill outside of the park. (Preferably just move packet pick-up down by about 2 1/2 hours.)

Anyway, you all can pay attention again because I’m finally done complaining!

If you want to do a slow 5k and stop for pictures with characters and get pictures in front of rides and things, this race is dope. I can appreciate a race like that because that’s how I treated the one I did at Universal Studios.

If that’s how someone is going to treat the race, they probably don’t want it timed anyway because they don’t want to feel slow or pressured. So, okay. No chip timing. I understand and support that part.

Since I didn’t have a half marathon this weekend, I went in with only one goal. Do a sub 40 minute 5k – make sure I don’t walk a single step – jog the whole way. (After all, it’s only 3 miles.)

I should’ve picked a more appropriate race for a time goal, and just been chill and stopped along the way for pictures on this one. But, I DID do my first sub 40 minute 5k!

Granted, I know that’s super slow; you don’t have to tell me! But that was my goal, and I accomplished it! (Yee yaw!)

As I ran toward the finish (that I couldn’t really see, but knew was around there somewhere), I saw on MapMyRun that I was definitely going to make it in under 40 minutes. As I got closer, I saw that I could maybe make it by Disney’s digital clock as well – not just going from the time I personally crossed the start line.

I pushed a little harder and saw their clock hit 39:59 right as I made it up to the line. I leaped into the air without a second to spare!

Running through Disney at night was very cool. I met a ton of super nice runners and volunteers. Overall I had a sweet, sweet time. The good parts of this race far outweighed the parts I rambled about. I’m really looking forward to my next Disney race next month!

Never Land Family Fun Run 5k – Part 2 (Some Mild Complaining)

January 29, 2012

If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll remember I left off by letting you know I was in Corral A (what?!). And that I’m gonna do some good ol’ fashioned complaining.

Side note: Since they didn’t tell us what corrals we were in and there weren’t any labels on them, no one (for the most part) actually knew which one they were in.

When the race announcers tried to get runners to cheer based on their corrals, and they called for people in corral C, it was dead silent. It was hilarious. The people in that corral just had no idea who they were!

Okay, so, corral A – I found this actually a bit stressful because, as you know, I’m not very fast. I didn’t like the idea of tons of fast people behind me having to pass me. Also, there were tons of walkers in front of me. (I was in the back of that front corral.)

Even though I’m not a competitive athlete, I definitely wanted to jog the whole thing since it’s only 3 miles. I was darting around people for what felt like forever. Not to mention there were characters posing for photo ops with people less than 1/2 a mile into the race (before we’d even had a chance to really thin out or get around people), but for the most part people were courteous, and they were going off to the side of the course for pictures.

In the middle of the race a woman who worked at Disney jumped in the middle of us joggers and started walking backwards, asking everyone to stay behind her so that cast members could cross (even though the cast members weren’t standing right there yet!).

Luckily, I was just seeing this from somewhat of a distance, so it didn’t really slow me down. I just kept moving forward, getting closer to her little makeshift barricade. I could see the people around her getting annoyed. A few people ran right past her, which made her annoyed, but it’s like “hey, lady, you’re standing in the middle of a 5k (in a section of people who are actually moving pretty well), paving the way for cast members who aren’t even ready to cross yet. Of COURSE people are going to run by you.”

Also, the race was not chip timed. There were digital clocks at every mile. Plus, most people had their Garmins or phones or whatever they use, but no official times. Speaking of the mile markers, they were brown…at night. If it weren’t for the digital clocks (or my running app) I easily could’ve missed them. (I didn’t even see the one for mile 1. I noticed the one at mile 2 when people had stopped to take pictures by it.

The finish line was literally a line drawn on the ground(!) – no banner or balloons or anything. I was looking around so hard at the end because I wanted to make sure I finished in under 40 minutes, but I didn’t see where the actual finish line was until just seconds before I crossed it.

Now, I might be sounding a wee bit harsh. I’m usually pretty laid back with races. But this was an expensive 5k!

You could do about 4 normal 5ks for the price of this Disney one. So, I pretty much expected it to be the best 5k anyone has put on ever in the history of 5ks. (I may be slightly exaggerating, but I did think it would be pretty incredible.)

They did light up the castle and have Tinkerbell fly down before the race. They also had fireworks and confetti at the start. It was very Disney-esque. But what about the normal non-Disney running stuff people have come to expect? Put up a banner at the finish, by golly!

Also, while I’m on this track of complaining, let’s talk about our “medals.” They’re cute, but they’re rubber. They’re not even actual medals. Again, if this 5k hadn’t been a billion dollars ($105(!)), then I wouldn’t be so grumble grumble about it…

(Also, I know sometimes people’s attitudes get lost in print. Just for the record, I don’t have any “real” complaints that I’m truly angry about. I’m just saying… )

And as if you haven’t heard enough grumbling, I’ll pick up here tomorrow.

Never Land Family Fun Run 5k – Part 1 (Meeting People & Waiting for the Race)

January 28, 2012

caricature of Aurora De Lucia running — (Got this drawn in Downtown Disney while waiting for the race.)

Overall, this race was a blast! I had a great time and I would be up for it again.

But, there may be a few things that I’m totally going to complain about (but I won’t do that ’til tomorrow’s post).

Once it started to get into the 9 o’clock hour, I went from Downtown Disney (where I was killing time) to the entrance to the park – where I would continue to kill time. I asked some other runners around me where we go to check our bags.

One woman (who’d said she’d volunteered all day, so I assumed she knew what she was talking about) told me that gear check wasn’t until we got inside. I hung out in line waiting to get in, and I met my new best friends, Wendy and Marty.

Wendy’s lost something like 140 pounds! They are so active. She hikes every single day. (I told Wendy she should do the 52 in 52 challenge as well and she decided right then and there that she would!)

Around, I don’t know, maybe 9:40 the entrance to the park re-opened for the runners. It was pretty cool, going in there once everyone else is gone. We were up kinda far in line, so when we walked in, we could actually sort of see how relatively empty the park was before all the 5k runners filled it (which was an interesting & cool sight).

We kept walking forward toward the castle. We were all chattering among ourselves. “Are these corrals?” “What’s happening?” Nobody really knew. It turned out we were in fact getting into our corrals.

Of course soon I realize that bag check actually was outside. (I was a doofus not to realize that.) I say goodbye to my new friends, telling them I hope to get back to them, but we’ll see. They wish me luck. I make a run for it back down Main Street and out of the park. I find the bag check and drop off my stuff.

I come back in the park, this time with a smaller group of stragglers since it’s getting closer to the start time. I look to my left. Lo and behold, it’s the man I met at the expo who’d forgotten his wallet! They let him in based on the ID of his Facebook page! He gave me a huge hug and thanked me for giving him the idea.

I continue to try to make my way back up toward the castle through the now large crowd (of 4,000 people). We’re all stuck far back on Main Street. I break out onto the sidewalk, making a nice little confident jog up toward my new friends (and my old corral). A couple of Disney people look like they might stop me, but nobody bothers me since I look like I know where I’m going.

Suddenly, I see those wondrous people who had been strangers to me just hours before! I’m back where I started! I can’t believe it. The Disney person watching our corral looks like he might say something, but when two people react as though they’re waiting for me, he leaves us alone.

I realized exactly how close we were to the front when the emcee asked us to do the wave and I could see it start.

Wouldn’t you know it? We were in corral A! What a change from corral 22 back in Arizona. Granted, I have no problems being in corral 22. I belong there. I don’t pretend to be a real athlete. I’d hate to be in the way of real athletes. But it certainly was a different feeling being way up front…

I didn’t necessarily like it… This is where the complaining begins – in tomorrow’s post.

Never Land Family Fun Run 5k – Expo

January 27, 2012

I always forget how magical Disneyland is until I get there. As soon as I got off the bus, I heard the cheerful music, saw all the tiny details everywhere (so many mouse ears), and I remembered I was in the “happiest place on Earth.”

I picked up my (cute-looking) bib and went to check out all the booths. I won a Chia Pet at the booth for the Angel’s 5k.

I waited in a long line at the booth for ABC. It was funny because they were giving out themed bags for a cancelled show (Pan Am). I’m sure they wanted us to feel special, like we had something you couldn’t buy anywhere. They must have been right because the line for that booth was long the whole night! (And who am I to judge the prize? I waited in that line!)

You won a bag if you could answer a question about whatever ABC show you spun on the big wheel. My spin landed on Revenge and they asked me on what other ABC show had Emily Van Camp previously acted? (Brothers and Sisters, of course.)

While I was waiting in that line, I met a couple who was supposed to be running the 5k together, but the man had forgotten his wallet all the way out in Palm Springs. Disney wouldn’t let him pick up his packet without his photo ID.

He told me, “all I have is my iPad.” I said “well, you should go on back in, open up your Facebook page for them and say ‘look at all these pictures of me! May I have my bib now? Thanks.'”

He and the woman both looked me like I was a genius. I was 40% joking because I had no idea if it would really work, but, hey, it was worth a try, right? So, he ran out to go check.

By this time, the woman and I were pretty far into the line. The man had to go outside, down the sidewalk, down a ramp and into a whole ‘nother area to go get his bib, so he didn’t make it back before I got to find out what happened. There were moments later in the night when that couple would pop into my mind, and I’d wonder if he got in. (Spoiler alert: I find out later and let you know in tomorrow’s post.)

Exploring Downtown Los Angeles

January 26, 2012

My brilliant friend Melissa is visiting Los Angles. She had this wonderful idea that we would take a free tour of the Disney Concert Hall, which I had no idea existed! (The free tours part…I knew the Concert Hall was there.)

It included more than just the concert hall. We went through the Mark Taper Forum, Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Ahmanson Theatre. We had a docent who was very knowledgable about the history of all the buildings. I didn’t realize there are special founder’s rooms in these buildings (and goodness are they nice!).

One incredible thing I learned was that you can take public stairs on the outside of Disney Concert Hall up to the top and just walk around the top of the building. There’s even a small public park up there! It’s serene, and I think a somewhat well-kept secret. It’s totally gonna be my new hang out place for whenever I want to read or write outside of my awesome apartment.

Afterward, while aimlessly walking around Los Angeles, Melissa and I stumbled upon this thing called Angel’s Flight (which a tourist in our earlier tour group had actually mentioned). It doesn’t do much besides take you up and down a big hill for a quarter, but it was old-timey and cute. (And it’s the shortest railway in the world.)

I’m also amazed at the number of fountains I saw in downtown LA. It seemed like everywhere I looked I saw the words “Water Court.” I wonder how much water is used daily in downtown LA on fountains alone.

Melissa had found this great idea for the day off a list of 100 free things to do in LA. She definitely inspired me to look for lists like that for some future adventures right here in the city in which I live.

Catch Up: Fitness 4 All Santa 10k (December 17, 2011)

January 25, 2012

Originally I had signed up to do only the 5k. But, I had started the running every week business, and the following weekend (Christmas) I couldn’t find any events less than a half marathon distance.

That being the case, I thought it might be wise to try a longer distance this time to sort of build up (though really, shouldn’t I have thought about saving my legs?).

Either way, that was my thought process at the time. Thankfully, it worked out well.

The morning of the race, I asked if I could switch up to the 10k. The race staff was lovely enough to let me.

This was a small race (especially the 10k). I was pacing ahead of some people before the 5k turnaround, but I was faster than very few 10k runners.

I really didn’t want to come in last. I had kind of hoped that I would never come in dead last in a running event, so I made sure that the whole time I was in front of at least one person. In the second half of the race, there were still three people behind me.

I thought I was okay. Then, in the last mile, the guy on the bike who comes around to check on people asked me how I was doing. I said I was doing great. Then he told me I was bringing up the rear.

Of course I quickly said, “no, no, no, there are three people behind me.” He replied that they had gotten tired and took a CAB back to their cars! (What?!)

That’s when I spotted two people in front of me. We were on a public bike path, so not everyone was in the race. Being that these people were dressed in holiday-looking attire, I thought they very well might be.

I asked the man on the bicycle if those people were in the race. Neither of us could really tell from where we were, so I just ran ahead, hoping they were.

the beach — just another beach shot from the race

I finally caught up to them. They were in fact in the race. I ran faster to try to pass them. They realized the last place runner was passing them, so they ran faster. It was battle of wills and legs. They ended up sprinting to the finish.

I wanted so badly to catch them, but my number one goal was just to stay injury free and not push myself too hard on the way back into running. I didn’t go nuts and push myself to a place I didn’t really have. I just sucked it up and jogged on into the finish. I was officially last.

As people say, “the last place finisher is the slowest winner.” I still felt pretty good about the whole thing. I’d rather come in last than not come in at all!

The coolest part about the finish – Santa Claus himself was there to give me my medal.

The race wasn’t chip timed (or even clock timed). But according to my phone, I finished in about an hour and 30 minutes, which was what I’d wanted.

Little random story: Around mile 4/5 I had a slight uphill jog. As it happened, the sun came out from behind a cloud and “Will You Be There?” – an inspirational Michael Jackson song came on my iPod.

It all came together in such a moment of perfect beauty. My eyes welled up just a bit as I thought about how THANKFUL I am to be running! I’m so happy to be allowed to run as much as I want, and to go outside. (I generally dislike the outdoors, but freedom is incredible.) I am so ecstatic to let my legs carry me, and I can’t wait to just keep going farther and farther.

Catch Up: Santa to the Sea 5k (December 11, 2011)

January 24, 2012

Continuing with my catching up of running events –

This was my second 5k of the weekend – and I finished in 40:39! That’s down from 49:44 the previous weekend. My only goal for this one was to finish at least one second faster from than the previous day’s 5k (44:07), and I accomplished that. (Woot. Woot.)

This was a really fun race. Part of it was through a random neighborhood. Some people came out on their balcony to have coffee and watch, which I thought was nice.

As we got farther in, part of it was by the beach, which was pretty.

They played a ton of Michael Jackson at this race’s finish, which made me pretty ecstatic. The finish festivities were something to write home about – free massages, delicious snacks, lovely volunteers, and most importantly, Compete Green had a booth where I got to spin a wheel, and I spun the winning space! I got a free race entry (which of course is super special. They might as well have been giving me gold)!

palm trees at the beach — (on my computer, this is labeled “palm trees – that’s not Christmas” [small laugh]

[Edited to add: Unfortunately, I never did get to use that race entry because of scheduling and blah blah blah. But Compete Green seems like an absolutely wonderful company.

They did let me pass on my race entry to someone else, which was wonderful. They seem very consumer focused, and I’d be happy to do a race with them in the future.]

Everything about this race was awesome – the people, the scenery, the general city of Oxnard, the medals, the staff, etc. All of it. They also do a half marathon here, and it’s going on my list of 52 I want to do this year.

[Edited to add: I did that half marathon.]

Catch Up: Holiday 5k Pomona (December 10, 2011)

January 23, 2012

As I’ve said before, I started this string of running events 7 weeks before I started the blog, so I still have a little catching up to do…

I had a great time at this race! I spent the morning meeting some inspiring runners.

This was the first race back for a man who adored running, but had to take quite a bit of time off due to chemotherapy.

I met a lot of people who were coming back from illness or injury of some kind. That seems to kind of be a trend in 5ks – a race to help transition back into a sport someone loves after something kept her from it.

This race took place around the Pomona fairgrounds, with a nice part of it on a track. The people here were awesome! The volunteers were super nice, and runners were taken care of like no other. It was only a 5k, but we still got nice technical shirts and tons of snacks at the finish.

They even wrapped us up in the plastic at the end as though we were honest to goodness marathoners!

Considering I had another 5k the next day, and was still pretty new to running, yet again, my goal was just to finish, but around mile 2, I realized that if I kept pacing the way I was, I could finish in under 45 minutes (which didn’t seem real to me considering my last one took close to 50!).

I moved along, watching the clock, with the new hope to finish in under 45. And wouldn’t you know it? I finished in 44:07!

At the finish line I started asking a woman, “Can you believe it?! We did it!” She was a sweetheart. We waited together (not long at all) for her friend.

That’s how I met my two new friends Betty and Charlotta. This was their first 5k, and they’re ready for another one!

(#2) Rose Bowl Half Marathon

January 22, 2012

The day of my dad’s first race ever!

I did the half marathon and he did the 5k. I felt bad for him because we didn’t have a car and they didn’t have a gear check. So he carried our goodie bags through his whole 5k! (Rough.)

I didn’t get to see him in all his glory at the finish line, ‘cause I was still out on the half marathon course. But it sounds like he had a great time. At lunch he was even talking about wanting to sign up for another 5k to try to shave two minutes off his time.

As far as the half marathon today, for some reason none of the runners (including myself) knew beforehand that this race was on a trail. (I’m totally not blaming the race. I just don’t think any of use were paying any attention.)

A few different people came up to my dad and me beforehand, all stressed, saying “did you know this is on a TRAIL?!” I don’t fault them for freaking out because I also freak out a little at the word “trail.” I mean, it is a trail after all! Crazy terrain. Possibly Muddy. Animals could come from anywhere! (Probably not, but it totally could happen – I did see a coyote once!) Plus, it’s much harder to run on a trail.

There were a few good miles on the road and boy oh boy, I was all business for those! My feet rejoiced, and I let out an audible sigh of relief every time my feet went from trail to pavement. In that final mile (on the glorious pavement), I was running like a crazy person in a sort of dancing run. I was all “enough of this hiking and stuff. I am out of here!”

Here’s the best part(!) – when I got to the finish, there was my dad waiting for me. He got the DJ to play Michael Jackson! Did I, or did I not say my dad is pretty much the greatest man?

After the race, we went to see a Lakers game! My dad and I have this tradition I love. We go see the Indiana Pacers play in a different arena every year. Let me tell ya, the Pacers WON!

It’s hard to believe since they seem to lose every time we go see them (boy, I miss Reggie), but this time they won. At the end it looked like it could really go either way, but it went our way!

My dad left Monday morning. It rained. Los Angeles was crying about losing him to Ohio, but I will see him again in May for his First half Marathon (in our hometown of Indianapolis)!

Everybody Freak Out! My Dad Is In Town!

January 21, 2012

My dad came to town! He’s pretty much the coolest guy on the planet.

He’s such a sweet dad who still takes extra care of me when he’s in town.

If we’re anything like him and his mom, he’ll never stop babying me – even when I’m a super grown-up (not just a pretty-much-grown-up like I am now).

But love and appreciate that adorable-ness, and assume I always will. I love him a ton (and kinda wish I could see him all the time).

We watched the LA Kings 5k taking place outside of my window. We would’ve been running it, but they don’t give medals. And let’s get real, I’m totally selfish and all about the bling, so if I wasn’t going to get a medal, I wasn’t going to do a 5k (even if it was across the street!).

My dad said that maybe we should’ve done it, commenting “it would’ve been fun to do two 5ks in a row.” Well, we’ll see how he feels about that after his first 5k (which he’ll be doing tomorrow – how exciting!).

By the way, I used to have this idea that every day I’d write something on the blog that made someone laugh that day, but I abandoned that because it either came out in each post already, or it just wasn’t something that seemed worth sharing… However, I thought this was funny, so I’m including one here.

My dad often has me in stitches. In the grocery store he asked me if I had a Kroger card and all sarcastically, like a horrible daughter, I said “well, I have a Shaw’s card” as in “we’re not in Ohio anymore, Daddy.” Then he pointed out that we’re not in Boston anymore either! lol We were actually at a Ralph’s! I guess I live on the west coast now… Silly, silly me.

Catch Up: Universal Studios 5k (December 4, 2011)

January 20, 2012

As I’ve said before, I started this string of running events 7 weeks before I started the blog, so I have a little catching up to do…

The Say No to Drugs race was my first 5k! Little did I know this was the beginning of quite a large adventure that I never saw coming.

This is a sweet 5k!

They don’t give medals (but they do give dog tags). So I almost didn’t do this race (since I have that whole “I only run for medals!” rule). However, I made an exception because of the wonderful course – running through Universal Studios’s backlot.

Packet pick-up was the morning of the race (as it totally should be with 5ks (and possibly even other distances)), but alas, there was no gear check. So I carried the bag with my shirt and goodies throughout the course (the plight of not having a car in Los Angeles).

As I said, the course was bomb! We ran through Wisteria Lane, by Amity Boat Tours, around a bunch of other sets, and even through a plane crash! A lot of people (including me) chose to go slowly and take pictures – basically being more of a tourist than a runner.

the plane crash in the backlot at Universal Studios Hollywood during the Say No To Drugs Race 2012 — going through the plane crash

(Of course it wasn’t necessarily that I was completely “choosing” that, so much as I was partly choosing that, and it was partly chosen for me due to my out of shape-ness.)

The very first part of the race was all downhill so I thought “oh, this’ll be easy.” Of course the last part of the race was all uphill. So that was…super fun.

In the second mile, I noticed a woman behind me who was plugging away as best she could, but I thought she was someone I could beat. Now, I am all for runners being supportive of each other, and I think every person on the course is a champion. I also really believe that in every race I’m only racing myself…

But, I also believe that I’m competitive to sometimes, maybe, a teeny bit of an unhealthy degree (as if that’s even possible, right?).

My new goal became just to outrun this random woman. She was really putting forward some effort at certain points, but if she would go from walking to jogging, so would I. If she would go from jogging to running, so would I.

At first I was nervous about the big, final uphill battle, but the hill was besting her too. She was starting to fall behind. We came to a part with some tight-ish curves, so I couldn’t see people who were too far behind me. I thought “I did it! I’m going to come in before this lady!”

Then I realized that the 5k and 10k veered off from each other near the finish, and being that I didn’t see her again, I think she was actually doing the 10k. It looks like she beat me by the sheer fact that she was doing twice the distance. Wah wah.

I was pretty stoked that there was a bloodmobile at the finish line. I had never given in a bloodmobile – just in hospitals or stand alone donation places. I thought it was a great idea to encourage people to give right after a race. Giving blood made my good feelings about the day multiply (by a whole lot)!

All in all, it was a super fun race that I highly recommend!

(#1) Catch Up: Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona (January 15, 2012)

January 19, 2012

Considering I started this blog 7 weeks into my adventure of doing a running event every week, I need to catch up on some of the old events.

This would be a good time to do last weekend’s Rock N’ Roll AZ!

I went to see my beautiful, incredible, amazing friend Taylor. She’s one of the best people I know.

She’s spent months in Africa helping people. She teaches in a special needs classroom. She’ll be applying to medical school soon. Everything she says is filled with understanding for whomever she’s talking about.

She’s also up for adventures. This was her first half marathon, and I was thrilled to be there for it.

The day before, we went to the Expo and got some cool free swag. (Thanks, Met Life for your rad water bottles!). We also saw all the medals for the heavy medal series (and now I absolutely must achieve “Pop Idol” status – the medal is almost as big as my head!)

We met up with some of her cool friends, went to eat, had a great long bedtime talk about life and things, and went to sleep.

Boom! We woke up as though it was Christmas morning! It was time to go race!

Now, Taylor is an actual runner, runner. I am more um, super slow. She was in corral 4. I was in corral… 22.

I preferred it that way – I wouldn’t want to hold her back. She went up with her other friends. I made some new friends in the back of the pack.

By the time corral 22 crossed the start line, she was probably already on mile 5.

I really enjoyed running through the Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale area. I wouldn’t say it was the most “scenic” route ever, but I passed some restaurants I had gone to with friends before. It was a nice little trip down a small memory lane.

Around I think mile 10 or 11 there were a bunch of awesome, inspirational signs. Some of the quotes included: “If you don’t give something, you will not get anything,” and “nobody who gave his best ever regretted it.”

Of course by the time I’m on mile 10, Taylor had long finished. She was a sweetheart, texting me words of encouragement.

We had talked the night before about doing certain miles while thinking of her wonderful Marine brother (Ty), whose strength inspires us. Mile 12 and a good portion of mile 13 were “Tyler” miles. I thought about him a lot, and made sure I put forth the strength to jog the whole final mile (which is nothing to real runners, but I’m out of shape, and walk many parts of these half marathons!).

Before you knew it, I could see that finish line! I crossed and happily got my medal. Sadly, before you knew it, I was back on that Greyhound bus – having to come back to Los Angeles.

Unimportant side story: There was a funny man at the bus station when I got back who asked why I was wearing a medal. (Yeah, that’s right. I wore it all the way home (instead of tucking it away in my bag like a normal person).)

When I said I’d finished a half marathon he scoffed and said “You only did a HALF marathon? You couldn’t do a WHOLE one?”

Now, I’m as crazy and competitive as the next person. And sure, I’ll think I’m pretty cool when I’m running marathons, but I did think this was a super funny comment coming from a stranger.

When I asked this (very out of shape looking, in case you were wondering) man when the last time was that he ran a marathon, he replied, “I’ve been running around all day!”

*pats head* Okay, marathon guy. Enjoy your judgement. I’m gonna hold this medal dear anyway.

Who Am I? Who, who? Who, who? And Why Do I Blog?

January 18, 2012

Aurora giving a big smile while working with Trash for Teaching — (Picture updated in 2014)

Hey there. I’m Aurora.

I want to do about a million things in my life – become a neurosurgeon, win an EGOT, run marathons in all 50 states, DC, and all American territories in one year, make the world a better place for women (and everyone, really).

I hope to continuously become more of a well-rounded person. I keep many goals, which I’m sure will be discussed on this blog.

I’m starting this blog because I had taken well over a year off from running (which is my favorite hobby), and I desperately needed to get back into it. So, I decided to run a 5k.

One 5k turned into a 5k on both Saturday and Sunday the following weekend. A 10k followed on the weekend after that. I followed that up with a half marathon the next weekend.

Aurora looking to the side and smiling while wearing a big hat (on the CBS studio lot) — (This was the original photo in this post.)

By that point, I was so re-addicted that it just snowballed. I’ve run some sort of running event every week since the first week of December 2011. Now I want to keep running some sort of event every week throughout the entirety of 2012!

But I don’t plan that this blog will stop after 2012. I hope to keep having new adventures, and keep growing every year. This blog will help me keep a memory of all that and share it with you!

I’m sure this blog will have a ton to say about running. But, I’m not going to limit it to just that. This is going to be about trying to live a great adventure-filled life. That will hopefully encompass a lot of different things… We’ll see!

Thanks for reading. Let the adventures begin!

Thanks so much for coming to my blog!

I’m Aurora (as you probably guessed)!

This blog started when I ran 52 half marathons in 52 weeks after open-heart surgery for a weird congenital heart defect (Wolff-Parkinson White).

(That inspired more “52 in 52 weeks” projects you can see if you scroll down to check ’em out!)

I also won a car on The Price is Right (and lost a trip to Mexico on Let’s Make a Deal).

Currently, I’m completing Project 882 – 882 race miles in a year to represent the 882 Americans sexually assaulted every day.

Thanks again for visiting! Stick around, and read today’s post (to your left), or check out the projects (below), and feel free to contact me – let’s be friends! 🙂