Rio Runs 2011

2011 has been a good year of running for me. Fortunately, I have been relatively injury-free, allowing me to run road and trail races ranging from 5Ks to my first ultra. At a current 1,561 miles for the year,  I'm on track to my highest mileage year yet. The best part? I've had a lot of fun with friends along the way. The video at the link below is my attempt at summarizing just some of this year's running adventures. Some videos and photos have been left out just to keep it a reasonable length! I hope it triggers some great running and friendship memories for you as, well.

As this year comes to a close, this post brings an end to this blog. I have enjoyed following everyone on their journeys over the last few years.  I thank you for following mine. Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2012!

Rio Runs 2011

See you on the trails and road,

Demi

Race Report: Desert Classic 30K

Arizona Road Racers' last event of the year, the Desert Classic, was held on December 18th. The event consisted of a 30K, 5K, and 30K Relay. It was also the last event in the ARR 2011 Grand Prix series. This year, the run was held at a new location: Rio Vista Park in Peoria, Arizona.

Start / Finish

The 30K course starts at Rio Vista Park and meanders into Phoenix where it turns around and returns to the start. The path utilizes the suburban multi-use trail system (asphalt and sidewalk) through various parks before it joins the path next to part of the Phoenix water canal system. The route utilizes a few tunnels along the way.

Course Map

I chose to participate in the 30K as my time targeted long run of the week. It's been tough getting motivated to get out there after my acute illness, so I knew I needed all the motivation I could get. A supported local timed event with other runners proved to be the ticket.

Part of the Course

If there were to be a elevation description for the course, I can imagine that the course could be described as containing "gentle rolling hills." You've probably encountered the kind. These are the type of relatively short ups and downs that look fun at the beginning of a long run, but would become the target of under-the-breath muttering by the end of the run. In fact, these ups and downs ended up looking just about non-existent on my Garmin profile, even though I swear they were there!

Garmin Elevation Profile

Goal...
My training plan called for long run with a "fast finish" on fatigued legs.
Target pace for the first 14 miles steady around 10:30. Target pace for the last 4 miles around 9:30.


Reality....
Mile 1: 9:34
Miles 2-14: 10:04 / 10:23/ 10:26/ 10:30/10:26 / 10:23/ 10:02/ 10:05/ 10:16/ 1023/ 10:10/ 10:24/ 10:37
Now it was time to kick it! Only problem was... I couldn't!
Mile 15: 10:56
I picked up the pace, but not quite as much as my coach wanted me to.
Miles 16-18.77: 10:47/ 10:26/ 10:29

"The Bridge" = near the finish line

Although I still have some work to do before next month's marathon, I was happy with this run. Thanks, ARR, for another well organized event with terrific volunteers!

Expensive Running Kicks

If you know someone in the market for new running shoes, there's a brand that's come to the table with a new shoe. It's not exactly a new company, but an established company branching into the running shoe market. Enter the new running shoe line from the luxury brand, Chanel.

Chanel features running shoes in their Spring 2012 launch and are expected to be in stores in January. Media outlets are reporting that the expected retail price will range from USD $795 to $950. Expecting to see that the shoes were actually called "athletic sneakers," I checked their website here. Sure enough, there are shoes labeled "running shoe." Although performance and expected sales are still unknowns at this point, the styles and colors do make a fashion statement.

How Much Would You Pay to Run a Half?

Yesterday, I received a notification e-mail from New York Road Runners. They recently opened up registration for the 2012 NYC Half Marathon. One item in the e-mail overshadowed everything else for me:

The entry fee is $128 for non members. New York Road Runners pay a discounted fee of $117. That's right. One hundred twenty-eight dollars. For a half marathon.

I understand the costs of running a race are many, but this struck me as one of the higher non-charity related, early registration fees I've seen for a half.

Better hurry, though. Registration closes on December 19th at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time!

Not Anymore

I'm sick.

In the past, I wouldn't let being sick keep me from running. Although I may have to slow down or shorten up the run, I'd still get out there.  I've even done a marathon while heavily medicated (not a good idea, by-the-way.) 

Not this time. This is my 3rd non-run day. I even missed my much anticipated Half Marathon, the 24th Annual Runner's Den / Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon this morning. (I read that Running Through Phoenix had a great run there.) Our Christmas decorations are still in storage. The Christmas tree is not yet up. 

But I will rest. Take care of myself. So I can get back to it sooner and stronger. 

What's Been Going On...

Let's see...

I finally got my hands on these new ketchup packets. Pull off one end and you can squeeze your ketchup. Peel off the top and you can dip into your ketchup.  I wonder if this new design will catch on?

Following my annual Thanksgiving ritual, I started the day by running the Arizona Road Racers Thanksgiving Classic in Peoria, Arizona. As usual, I opted for the 10 miler.  Afterwards, I felt like I may have had a PR but I actually ran it 2 minutes slower than last year. Boo!  Nonetheless, it felt good to push myself and it was a great to see friends I hadn't seen in a while. I usually give my cotton race shirts to family members, but I loved the retro design on this year's shirt so much that I'm actually going to keep this one.

The 2012 edition of Running Arizona is out! Fittingly, it features Sally Meyerhoff on the cover. The spark that ignites race planning is in between these pages, with the promise of all the races and training log space presented in this publication. And, yes. Those are pig salt and pepper shakers on the table propping up the book. I found them here.

I truly think javalina are neat animals. However, they treat my front yard like a drive-through fast food joint!  They stop by every month, or so, and dig up certain potted flowering plants and succulents. I'm off to the garden shop again. Thanks, javalina. Thanks.

Week #3

Highlights of my 3rd week of training...

• Local Komen 3 Day Walk participants walked through my neck of the woods today. I was impressed with all the spectators and participants out. I used the opportunity to teach my kids how to properly yell "Wooo!" through the window for encouragement.

• This week's speed work was a Fartlek run on the road that included some hills. My target  "5K pace" was actually ran as "run harder pace" and my "jog recovery" actually became a "walk recovery."  Not exactly hitting the paces, but at least there was variance in the pace and I kept moving forward. I am okay with that.

• Today I ran with my kids on their bikes for the first time in almost 2 years. A few minutes into the run, I realized that bigger kids = faster bicycle riders. This kept me at a pace much faster than I was planning, but keeping my eye on them was a good incentive. They would sprint off, then either U-turn back or stop and wait for me periodically. At one point, my son was ahead by about 100 yards yelling in delight  "Weeeeee!" He then ran into a temporary construction sign, knocking it over. He was getting up from the ground laughing as I reached him. 

"What happened?" I asked while thinking, At least he's not hurt- whew!

"I was riding with my eyes closed. It was fun!" he laughed.

Confused, I had to confirm, "Your eyes were closed?!"

"Well," he explained,"I was going straight in the path, so I closed my eyes and kept going.  I                     didn't see that sign there."

 I shook my head as we pushed the sign back up together. With the sign back up, I looked up at the orange diamond sign which read, "BE PREPARED TO STOP."

Ah, the irony.

• This weekend, fellow blogging AZ runner RunningLaur will be facing the Javalina Jundred! It's hard to believe it's already here and I'm really excited for her. I hope to be able to pace her for one of her 25K loops tomorrow night.  *fingers crossed*