Yesterday I got a day off work and got to take a trip to the Wild Animal Park! I haven’t been there in forever, like since I 5 or 6! It was even more awesome than I remember and I really liked seeing the animals in their ‘natural’ habitat.

Baby Elephants! The cutest thing ever. You can take a ‘tram ride’ through the ‘Africa’ area and see all the animals living together (without predators) and it’s awesome to see them all just hanging out and relaxing in their home. The Wild Animal Park is also a place where they work really hard to breed animals to help release them back into the wild. It’s a great place to visit.

There are also regular exhibits that you can walk by too. Luckily enough it was nap time at the Lion Camp and they were sleeping RIGHT NEXT to the glass! Those are some big cats!

Lastly, I checked out the Lorikeet Landing! I am scared of birds but I really wanted to feed them. You get a little cup of nectar for $3.00 and after you enter their habitat, they land on you and are crazy about what you are about to feed them! They are trained to look for those cups, I swear! So I finally did it!

Then I had three on me… and freaked out! I was scared they were going to start pecking me for more nectar! They were flocking to me and it was hilarious and funny but they left me alone once the nectar was gone. Thankfully.

Overall it was a great day off and I’m glad I got to go. It was a nice break. Today I’m working the Kid’s Fishing Rodeo for work and then this weekend I have an 18-20 miler on my plate. Getting ready for Camarillo and after last weekend and feeling alright I’m excited to see how this longer run goes.

xoxo

Last year I ran the first half of the San Francisco Marathon. It was tough but the views and running across the golden gate bridge were thrilling. It also was at the somewhat beginning of my ‘racing’ career, if you want to call it that. So this year, since I was going up there for work, and am in the middle of training for the Camarillo Marathon, I thought well I’ll give the 2nd half a try, therefore I’ll have “ran the whole course.” I’ve heard that the 2nd course is much easier than the first but still rather exciting and it travels through Golden Gate Park and also through Haight Street and then finishes down on the Embarcadero.

Let’s just go over three things real quick. Easy is not a word I would use to describe this course. Scenic isn’t exactly a great adjective when talking about the course. I say it now, but I will NEVER run the full!

So I worked the expo on Friday and Saturday and it was quite packed in there. It blows my mind that so many people who are so particular about what they eat before a race and what they do during the race, sample every single little thing in there. Gus, juices, gels, granola, anything that’s free, they go crazy on, it’s like these people haven’t eaten for days. So worked that, had a little tweet-up/meet-up and it was great meeting so many people. Here are a few of the pictures.

Newly Ironman (Ironmanned? Ironmenned?) and one of my favorite people, Ron!

Aron, Laura and myself at the tweet-up

Finally got to meet Karin, who had an awesome race on Sunday!

All those, minus a few, who showed up for the tweet-up and meet-up. Some left before the picture was taken, but it was fun to put faces and actually meet people who I regularly talk with!

Doing a little work… :)

The day started off bright and early and Page and I got dropped off by spectators extraordinaire Tara and Maritza. For some reason, my mind just wasn’t into it. The entire time I was thinking about the race before hand I just wasn’t excited or anything really. I was just feeling a little blah. We walked into Golden Gate Park where we seemed to be a little lost and just kept following the marathoners to the 2nd half start line.

We finally met up Kristin, Aron and Stephen and were all gathered around chatting and without much notification, people in front of us started running and we realized the race started? So we were off. I squeezed into the first wave and ran about a mile with Aron and then she took off like a speed demon. I didn’t want to push myself during the race and my legs were feeling a bit heavy still from the whole shoe debacle and I was tired. I got to mile 1, 2 and 3 and the hills were killer. I NEVER run hills. Like never, ever so they were a little difficult. They were making me tired and I just was cruising along. It was very strange because for some reason I just wanted to cry. I have no idea why but I just saw the spectators and ran and wanted to cry. Right around mile 5 or 6 we were out of Golden Gate park which I was excited about. The park was a little boring for me and I wanted to be more in the city.

I also realized I don’t do well when you’re doing loops where you see where you make a u-turn, or where you see where you’ll be running in literally a minute. I’m good at out and backs, but I felt like they randomly had us running places to just get mileage so it wouldn’t be a short course.

Little did I know the city had many more hills! I was not pushing myself at all and just kind of felt like I was going really slow so when my garmin was beeping my splits I was a little surprised, but my mileage was way off according to the signs posted along the course. Finally we were at mile 7 and 8 and I knew the end was nearing. I just felt like I was trotting along, it was weird and reminded me a little of the Malibu Marathon where I felt like it was taking me forever but it really wasn’t. It was another twilight race for me with the random “I want to cry moments” and the random bursts of speed. I remember the roads being really tore up, I wasn’t used to that at all since a lot of the time I run on paths but I remember just trying to find a path that was the most consistent on the course. The hills continued and finally we hit mile 9. That is when Claude the Garmin lost satellite and I was sad and wanted to cry again. HA! What is wrong with me?! My splits up till then were pretty decent though.

I remember running past a lot of industrial buildings and before I knew it I could see the bay bridge and I knew the end was coming soon. Finally.  I ran past Giants stadium and it was cool to see it and how close it was to the ocean since I’ve only seen it on TV, but since they are the Angels nemesis, I wasn’t impressed. :)

Then onto the bay bridge and through the crowds and just like it started, without much excitement, it was over. I grabbed some food and then a Jamba Juice and walked out of the finish area to find Page and be reunited with everyone. I saw my time was 1:52. I couldn’t really believe that I ran it that fast when I was in such an odd mood, but being only 5 minutes off my pr on a much more difficult course, I’m more than happy with it. My first mile splits were around 8:14, then at mile 7, I was running 8:24 and my final splits were 8:34.

I don’t know how anyone could run that full course. It is insane. I would be crying on the side of the road in the park if I ran the full. That’s for sure. The 2nd half wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but that’s just where the course travels. The finish line area was great and I re-qualified for the CA Dreamin’ series again, so I got another medal and jacket!

We all ate at Gordon Bierch afterward just like last year and it was delicious! I love hanging out with my friends up there and I miss them so much when I’m back home! A lot of these girls are some of my very best friends and such an encouragement to me! I just love SF!

So overall, a great day, a fun, different and interesting race, and some delicious food and chatter with friends. I finished off the weekend in Walnut Creek, perusing a few shops and enjoying my time there.

Last night I ran a 10 miler on tired legs and once I started going I was fine, but it was those first few moments when I wanted to kill myself. I got lost on my run and ran 11 miles, but the last one was a speedy 7:10. I think I just wanted to get home. I’m feeling better about upping my mileage and hit 100 miles yesterday for July, which is an all time high! :)

xoxo

So this weekend I was up in San Francisco for work and for the half marathon! It was a great weekend and I got to meet up with my friends on Saturday after working all day at the expo. We hit up Little Star Pizza for dinner and I was famished so I basically ate a ton of pizza and caprese salad, which seems to be my new obsession. Little Star was awesome and it was great hanging out with everyone for a night.

Over dinner, Maritza was mentioning about a place that did cupcake and wine parings in the city.

WHAT. This place sounded way too good to be true, so I demanded we must travel there next. I could wait. I love cupcakes and this place sounded awesome. We got the best parking spot around and walked into American Cupcake and I was NOT disappointed! It’s mood there was awesome, they were playing some sweet jams and the cupcakes were all displayed perfectly. It was love at first site. They had macaroni and cheese and some other treats as well. To me that is the top of the line! So we sat down at the bar and order different stuff for each of us. I ended up with a Willy Wonka gone Wild. It had a coconut, red velvet and vanilla cupcake.

It was maybe the best idea ever! Everything was awesome and the frosting was the BEST part. Normally I’m not a big frosting girl because it overloads you with sugar and makes my tummy hurt, but yum yum, this frosting was light and freaking awesome! It was like marshmallow fluff! Awesome.

Everything was absolutely delish! The owner of the bakery was working on a ton of different cupcakes and when you ordered them at the store, they were frosted right in front of you. Made the frosting and overall cupcake 100x better! So I’m pretty much in love with this place.

Maritza and I, so happy to be together and eating cupcakes! Here’s a list of their pairings.

The owner is one smart cupcake to start this because it was basically brilliant. Like, beyond brilliant. Awesome concept, awesome delivery, and awesome, AWESOME product. Yummy win on many levels. If you are ever in San Fran and looking for the best place around, be sure to visit American Cupcake, you definitely won’t be disappointed!

Tomorrow, race recap!

xoxo

This weekend I’ll be up in San Francisco for the Marathon Events up there. Since they are a part of the CA Dreamin’ series that Long Beach is a part of as well, we are going to the expo and involved in a lot of parts of the race. Perhaps you remember my post about visiting up there not to long ago.

I LOVE San Fran. I love the city, I love Walnut Creek where most of my friends live and I love being up there. It’s always so much fun to catch up with everyone. We’ll be having a tweet-up/meet-up on Saturday at 2 pm at the RUN Racing booth, which is right outside the Merchandise area. When you are exiting the merchandise area, we’ll be right on the right hand side! If you are in town, do stop by! I love meeting everyone and we will have snacks at the booth. Even if you can’t make that time, stop by, since I’ll be there ALL day on Friday and Saturday!

Sunday is race day and I’m excited to run the 2nd half this time. Last year I ran the first half with Aron and Billy and loved it! It was the race where I decided I wanted to be a maniac because of Billy’s jersey. This weekend is just a training run  for all my crazy fall and spring races next year and next weekend I have to get back up those miles and quick. This weekend I hope to come in right around 1:50-2:00 pending how I’m feeling. Thankfully my K-Swiss have helped me heal and I’m back with no weird shin pain.

If everything goes according to plan I should be able to hit that time no problem so I’m looking forward to running another race. I realized I haven’t ran a race longer than a 10k since the LA Marathon back in March! I don’t know if I could call me running the LA Marathon even “running” I mean, c’mon look at this picture…

I can’t believe it’s been that long, and I’m getting antsy. I don’t know exactly what my race day outfit will be, but I am thinking something fun and bright! I have really been having awesome runs this week so I’m ready to try to tackle some hills this weekend!

Soon I’ll have another new medal to add to my collection!

xoxo

Sometimes, when your lucky, everything clicks when your running. The shoes fit right as if they were tied just to fit your foot. The knees don’t hurt and that twinge that sometimes you feel in your lower back magically disappears. Your hair blows perfectly behind you and the soft breeze seems to embrace you and push you forward as the sun lights the path ahead of you. It’s the perfect temperature that it’s warm enough to wear short sleeves. The sunglasses stay on your face instead of slipping and sliding down your nose constantly.

Everyone is friendly, your legs move effortlessly and every breath is easy to your lungs. You gulp in air and feel like you are running on a cloud. You look around you and realize that you are really just running. You’re enjoying every step and everything just comes so naturally. These are the remarkable moments that I think once you experience them running, you get hooked. They are ever so rare, but when you catch a glimmer of these perfect running moments, it fills your heart with joy and puts a spring in your step. Every now and then everything just seems to have a shine, all the crosswalks are protected and even the drivers look twice before making a turn.

You’re splits are perfect, the consistency of your steps are a rhythm to your ear that only you understand. Everything just falls into place. You sigh a breath of relief as you run, wondering if this is really your life. You can breathe every day. You can move your fingers and wiggle your toes. You can put one foot in front of each other, over and over again, until the miles click away, the sun sets and you get lost in the run. You don’t know where your going, but once you get there, you’ll turn around and head home. Wondering if it was all a dream or if a perfect run does exist.

It’s these moments that I run for. It’s the run that is effortless and before you know it, your back home, wondering, did I really just run that far? Nothing aches, and it seems like you were only out meandering the streets, crossing sidewalks and waving to friendly bikers just mere moments ago.

Those days, whenever they happen, make it worth it.

xoxo