November Photo Challenge

I'm doing a photo challenge for November, well, really a blog challenge and I'm about a week late but that's ok, right? We'll be rule breakers this one time.

November 7th- "Unexpected" 

I have, all of a sudden, unexpectedly fallen in love with Taylor Swift. I CAN'T stop listening to 1989 (along with the other 10 million 14 year old girls in this country).

Have you seen the SNL skit about "Swiftamine"? It pretty much explains how we all feel about T. Swift and is hilarious.

And you must watch this video of a random 1980s workout tape that magically syncs up to "Shake It Off", If you don't break out into hysterical laughter at one point, you might not be human. 

Happy Friday!! Have a great night and great run tomorrow :)

Weekend Update

It's a shame how fast weekends go by, even with the extra hour from daylight savings it still did not seem to be enough. I felt like I blinked my eyes and it was Sunday night.

Friday, Halloween night, we had so many trick or treaters. It was our first Halloween in our condo and we were so excited to see all the kids with their crazy costumes running up and down our street.

I sat on our steps because running up and down the stairs felt like a workout after a while.

mmmm Candy

My legs were pretty tired after the amazing Halloween themed spin class I took that afternoon. It felt good to exercise post 50k and get my endorphins pumping.

Our awesome instructors

I woke up Saturday morning ready to go on an 8 mile run. I thought I was recovering well. Little did I know, my body had different plans. I got about 2 miles from my place and felt exhausted. I was so tired I turned around and could barely finish the run home. I actually walk/ran for a bit. 

What happened? I was fine last night, right? I tried to think of what could be going on with me and I realized my nutrition has been totally off. I didn't have a great breakfast that morning and my diet this past week has been all over the place.  

I looked back at my nutrition plan from my nutritionist and did some major grocery shopping to get some good food for my body and made sure to eat well for the rest of the weekend. 

Sunday morning I was up early to watch the NYC Marathon. 

Peanut tried to stay awake with me but it was much too early for her.

It was such an intense race with the strong head wind, even the elites struggled to stay on pace. I was thrilled to see Meb Keflezighi take fourth overall for the men with a time of 2:13:18. My other favorite, Kara Goucher, did not have the race she wanted to run with a time of 2:37:03. It was so emotional seeing her cry the last few meters of the marathon. I feel like we've all felt what she was going through at that moment.

NYC was her first marathon since Boston 2013, after leaving Nike and joining Oiselle. As a result of the rough conditions, she admitted to "hitting a wall" for the first time in her career. You can watch here very emotional interview here. 

I felt inspired to run after seeing her finish and had a glorious 6 mile trail run by myself. I think having the right fuel inside made all the difference. The weather in San Diego was perfect this weekend with highs in the low 60s. 

After the run, my boyfriend and I drove out to Julian, Ca for the usual fall festivities. We picked up some Julian apple pie, apple donuts, and spice apple cider. 

Lastly, I wanted to share these awesome mini pizzas I made for a work potluck today. I found the recipe from Maratha Stewart. They are super easy to make but more importantly super delicious! For the recipe and video click here. 

Thanks for listening about my weekend! Hope everyone has a great week! :)

Happy Halloween!!

Hope you're all having a fun day filled with lots of sugar.

Here is the final result of my Halloween costume. I hope you all "get it" even if you aren't science nerds like me. :) GO GENOMES!

Here I am! 

All the genomes!

Genomes with Wednesday Addams creepin'

The best part about today is we won $500 for getting 3rd at our company costume contest! $125 a person woohoo! I can get some new running shoes with that dough!!

I was reminiscing about my past Halloween costumes, and I think this year was my first "non-pretty" outfit I have worn. It's fun to dress as a male gnome sometimes and forget about trying to be attractive.
Here's my past costumes in reverse chronological order...

2013

Mini Mouse 

Alice in Wonderland themed Ragnar that was only a few weeks after Halloween

2010

Not sure what I was this Halloween.. secretary, nerd, school girl? Something like that.

2009

Biker Chicks with my bestie, Katie 

2008

I was an angel and Katie was a devil :)

2007

The cast of Peter Pan! 

2006

Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz

Finishing up today with a Halloween spin class at The Rush.

Talk to you soon! xoxo Kate

Weekly Update

The 50k has come and gone and I'm finally walking like a normal human. I'm still sore in some places but it feels good to not want to fall over the second I attempt to get out of my chair.

I've taken this week off from running (obvi) and besides a few yoga stretches here and there I haven't exercised. I think I may actually hate the recovery more than the taper. Although, I have found some ways to keep myself occupied....

 I've been super tired post race and have spent a good amount of time catching up some of my favorite shows. Peanut has been loving my new routine. One of my co-workers introduced me to Orphan Black and it's become our new favorite series.

Snuggle time with Peanut

We've also watched a lot of Scandal as well. She's really into it.

I have found the world's best fall drink- Pumpkin Chai Blended from Coffee Bean Tea Latte. If you'e a fan of pumpkins, you have to try it! 

I'm really excited for Halloween this year! Bae and I have been super crafty. We made costumes for ourselves and two other co-workers. I'll post the final product tomorrow.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVE! :)

I am an Ultra-Marathoner!

I did it! I did it! I survived my first 50k and hardest race I have ever run. I woke up this morning in disbelief that I had actually run the race,  but as soon as I got out of bed and felt soreness all over my body, I quickly snapped back to reality. Yes, it happened. Yes, I’m in pain but the good kind of pain that makes you proud of your accomplishment.

Post race happiness

I ran the beginning of the race with my coworker, Jon-Marc. He was the one that persuaded me to do a 50k. Unfortunately, we got separated around mile 13 when one of his old ankle injuries starting acting up.

My work bestie, Bae, came out to cheer us on a take sweet race photos, It was so nice having her support while I was freaking out before the race. I actually stole these two photos from her. :)

I’ll try and give a quick race recap; although I’m afraid I blacked most of it out. I mentally broke the race up from aid station to aid station so the 50k would become a series of 4-6 mile runs.

 Let's take a look at the course map again or reference.

From the start to about mile 8 the trail was pretty technical. The surfaces were rocky and hilly and I constantly felt another runner close on my heels. Most the trail was single track and I was sandwiched in between the person in front and behind me. My pace was a little under 11 minute miles... not fast but speedier than I would have liked considering I had such a long way to go.  I was very mindful of the surfaces and constantly trying not to fall. We even went over a stream and I had to hop rocks to avoid the water…such a different experience than road races. 

By mile 10 my body was definitely feeling it. When I run marathons I don’t even like to feel that I have started running until the halfway mark. I knew I was in for a rough race. Luckily from 8 to 13, we ran on dirt paths that were somewhat flat without too many technical surfaces.

When I reached aid station 3, everyone was cheering for me and a super nice volunteer grabbed my fuel belt bottles to refill them. I couldn't get over how sweet all the volunteers were and how happy they were to be out there supporting the course. The aid stations were stocked with water, GU, bananas, soda, PB&J sandwiches and candy. At that point in the race I was nervous to deviate from my fueling strategy and just took my GU with plain old water.

Right after the aid station we started the climb up Raptor Ridge. I gave it a good effort and start running but quickly told myself to power walk and conserve. It started to get so steep that I really don’t think I could have run quicker than a walk pace anyway. By the time we reach the summit (760 ft.) I was feeling tired but the downhill gave me a rush and I was happy to start running again. Miles 15-19 were easy from what I remember. At this point I could see all the fast elite runners pass me on their way back. Everyone was really friendly shouting “Good Job!” or “Keep it up!”. It was definitely a nice boost along the way.

Aid station 4 was at the turn around. It started to get a little warm. We were out in a rural part of San Diego that I had never seen before. It almost seemed like we were in a different state. Somewhere around mile 22 the exhaustion settled in. I could hardly believe how tired I was. I think I underestimated how trail running can zap all your energy. I knew I would be heading up Raptor Ridge again and told myself to continue running until I started the climb. This time up the Ridge I was not power walking. I was definitely just walking. The climb felt like it would never end. A few mountain bikers passed me and cheered me on. I smiled politely but secretly wanted to push them off their bikes. I was definitely in the "bite me stage". I was so happy when I reached the submit but the run down hurt a bit. My legs were shot but I knew the aid station would be at the bottom. 

At the aid station I ate a PB&J and drank some coke (slowly). I've never tasted anything so amazing. It was exactly what I needed to finish the run. The rest of the run was a struggle... I wont sugar coat it. My strategy was run to the next runner. Most the them were walking. I'd run up to them, walk, chat for a bit and then journey on to the next runner. When I finally saw the finish line, I started to cry. I've never been that exhausted or happy to finish. The medal felt amazing around my neck. I felt so accomplished. I had finally concurred something I thought was impossible. I cried again when I saw my boyfriend and hugged him so hard.

Post race, all I wanted to do was eat In-N-Out. I craved a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake. We drove straight there and I thought I went to heaven.

All in all, it was a great race, a great day, and I'm so happy its over!

I think I'll stick with marathons for a while. No offense, ultras. :)

Here goes nothing!

It's the night before the 50k....

I've done all my usual marathon prep. I've laid out my running outfit with all my fuel. I've drank copious amounts of water and Nunn and constantly checked my pee. I've eaten so many carbs I don't know if I could even look at another bagel the same way again... just kidding bagels are like my favorite food ever and that will never happen.

I took it easy today and hardly moved from the couch. I only left the condo twice... so different from my usual busy weekend days.

I know I'm physically and hopefully mentally ready.

While looking the Lake Hodges 50k page, I decide to look up the results from last year's run. So many people ran AMAZING races. Times that were faster than my marathon PR by HOURS! I started to freak out.
Can I really do this?? Am I crazy? Why wasn't it good enough for me to stop at the marathon distance?

Then I remember- THIS IS MY RACE. I run my own race. If I feel great- awesome. If I don't- oh well. It's my first 50k and I'm going to go out there and have fun walking some monster hills (well, only 2 really).

Here goes nothing! Hopefully the next time I post I will be an ULTRA-MARATHONER .

10 Signs That Made Me Realize I Was a Runner

I'm not sure when it happen but sometime over the past 3.5 years I've become a full-blown runner. Has it happened to you? Here's some tell-tale signs...

10. I wake up earlier on weekends for long runs/races than before work on weekdays.

Sleepy Runner

 9. I know all the dates of upcoming local and not-so-local races.

8. Driving around my neighbor I'm always looking for new fun running routes and know the exact mark of a mile in any direction from my door.

7. When asked "What are you doing this weekend?" I reply with the amount of miles I plan to run.

6. I go on more "runcations" than I do vacations.

One of my favorite runcations this year.. Big Sur

The most beautiful race

5. I have a budget for "Race Fees".

4. My favorite way to hang out with friends is to go on a run together.

3. My adorable boyfriend buys me "marathon" presents.

2. My favorite athletes are Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan.

Seriously LOVE these two

1. I've start this amazing running blog!

What are some of the funny things you do that defines you as a runner?