Hi! How are you? I’m great!

I got to run the Bay Breeze event put on by Brazen Racing today, 2/10/18. I ran the 5k and two miles afterwards. I ran this event in 2015 as my first half marathon. I picked this course because registration prices were great, the course is flat and has a generous finish time. Photo from 2015 below:

In 2015 I was naive and had no idea what I was doing. I cramped the last few miles because I chugged too many fluids. It was our first Valentines Day after we got married so I made my husband take care of me the whole day after 😊

That year we spent the night there because I didn’t understand things like day of packet pick up. This year we decided we were too cheap to spend money on a hotel room, so I had to wake up SUPER EARLY since we are about an hour and 20 mins from the event. So I laid out my clothes and set the alarm. My new Goodr Sunglasses came in the mail so I could wear them!

Ugh. And waking up was horrific. Nice hair, eh? Serious kudos to people who do this daily.

And we picked up our friend who was running too, and headed out of town at 5:30.

When we got there, we got our stuff and Mr. FtoF went to get ready for his half which started 30 mins before my event. I smooched him for good luck.

Then I eventually lost my friend when I went to the bathroom so I went to warm up. I will admit I’m horrible at dynamic warm up before running. HORRIBLE. I also got to meet fellow Mermaid Series Ambassador Kerri which was a treat!

I was running for time but not with intention of PRIng. I’ve come to terms that I won’t PR anything until I lose weight. My body is so slow right now until I drop the extra pounds. But I refuse to stop running. I identify the importance of knowing if you’re doing an easy run or pushing, so by phrasing it with “running for time” rather than “aiming to PR”, I didn’t feel like I was setting myself up to fail. And then off I went!

A half mile in my right calf tightened up so badly I couldn’t unkink it. Man, it hurt like nothing before. I rolled it out the night before but I don’t think I did enough. I warmed up but maybe not enough. Who knows what exactly happened. But since I knew I wasn’t breaking any monumental records I ran as much as I could and gave myself a half dozen walk breaks when it acted up. I saw a gal that ran in the pace group I was in at Hot Chocolate SF while running and said hi on the course, and at one point I stopped at the aid station for water but couldn’t find a trash so I just held my empty cup til I gave up and put it in my Amphipod. I’m gonna have some great race photos holding a 12 ounce cup 😝

I crossed the finish line in 38:46 (my Garmin said it was 3.20 miles not 3.1 😫), and felt pretty good. A little bummed my leg was a jerk but still good. I got a photo of my cool medal, and then packed it away in my pouch so I could get my last few miles in.

I’m gonna be honest, I felt tired and slow after that and was having a hard time justifying that I had to keep running while I watched everyone else enjoy post race food 😫 and was hoping there would be stuff left when I was done……

On my way to the food table I saw a booth where they were stretching people out. There was no wait, and my right calf really was tight so I gave it a try. It was a great idea and a horrible idea. The nice man who had to deal with my sweaty horrible hot mess ness did a great job stretching out my hamstrings and calf, but it HURT and I made some faces and some noises and some swear words may have come out. It’s all kind of a blur.

But then I was on the hunt to see if there was any ice cream left…..

And guess what, there was!!!!!!!! I had an It’s It, which was probably as many calories as I burned running but worth every bite. And I got to put my medal on. And I found my friend too (pro tip: just plan to meet your friends where the food is. You’ll look less like a fatty cause it’s a meeting place)

And as I went to throw away my trash I heard the announcer say my husband was finishing so I ran over to see him!

It was hot so we found him some shade and I offered to get him food. While I was getting him food, a nice gal named Krystal said she followed me on Instagram and gave me some nice compliments! Thanks for saying hi Krystal!

Then I got back and found my better half…

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

After he ate I got to see my other friend and her husband who were running the half (her first!) cross the finish line and then it was off to (real) food because ice cream for breakfast is only good in theory. The coffee shop was out of avocado which broke my heart.

And as we headed out, we were greeted with this quote on the ground.

And I was reminded of an important lesson today. Today I was inspired and motivated by all kinds of runners. Not just the elite fast ones. I am always impressed by those people. But to those people who toe up and are 3+ hour half marathon finishers, first time runners, new runners, and people who are kicking butt and taking names even when it is hard and scary, I am inspired by you. I am grateful to share the course with you every time I line up.

Until next time Brazen Racing!

Cheers runners!