Watching A Tri

Yesterday I watched my friend Todd complete his first triathlon. He raced in an Olympic distance tri called the San Diego Triathlon Classic. This race was held in Liberty Station right near my church where my running group meets. I planned on doing my long run with my running group while Todd was out biking and running. The timing worked out perfectly! I wanted to get to the race at the start so I could watch the swim portion. I've been thinking about doing a tri for a few weeks now and the open water swim is the biggest deterrent for me.  I was hoping that watching a race and seeing everyone calmly enter the water would help me get over my own fears of the open water.

Unfortunately, I turned off my alarm at some point in the morning and overslept. By the time I had my breakfast and got down to the race, Todd had already taken off on his bike. If I wasn't doing a long run of my own I would have headed straight down there, but I needed to make sure I had a decent breakfast to fuel me for my own my run that morning. When I got down to the race I hung out with Todd's wife Christine and their friends for a bit (set-up as serious tailgaters for the event) before heading off to crank out eight miles.

Todd Heads on a Stick Display

Chasing Down Todd

I had timed my run to finish about 15 minutes before Todd was supposed to start his run. He was ahead of his anticipated time though and was finishing his first 3.1 mile lap as I came up to the course. I saw him running through the chute going into his second lap and chased him down the sidewalk to cheer him on and give him encouragement. Of course, I'm sure I just looked like a crazy person in running gear running after a racer shouting out his name. :oP Todd saw me and waved back, and after watching him disappear around the bend I ran back to the finish area to find his cheering crew. 

Domo says "GO TODD GO!"

Christine had my double-sided sign with her and her friends had made an awesome assortment of Todd heads on a stick. You might recognize the "head on a stick" idea from when I cheered on my friend Christina during her first full marathon.

Christine and the Many Face of Todd

A Surprising Tear Jerker

The night before, I saw on facebook that one of my Rock Running friends Carol would be keeping her friend company during the running leg of the triathlon. I had my eye out for her at the race but didn't really think I'd see her in the huge crowd. But guess what - I did! I saw her and her friend running towards the finish line and right as they passed me Carol gave her friend some last words of encouragement. I can't remember exactly what she said to her, but as soon as I saw this my eyes were instantly filled with tears. Why am I so emotional when it comes to racing?! Seeing the two friends running side by side and knowing how much it must have meant to each of them to be able to do this run together really touched my heart. Luckily, I managed to quickly regain my composure and went back to focusing on the search for Todd in the stream of approaching runners. I'm such a sap!!

Strong to the Finish

After waiting near the finish line for about 15 minutes, we finally saw Todd approaching in his "orange blur" outfit. I held my big sign up over my head and rang my cowbell madly. Christine and friends were armed with Todd heads on a stick which they also pumped into the air madly while cheering him on. He sped up at the very end, entered the finish chutes in a blur, and then he was done! He ended up finishing in 3:05, 10 minutes better than he had predicted!

The Proud, Happy, and Accomplished Couple!

 

A Professional Spectator

I really enjoyed watching this triathlon and coming armed with signs made it a lot more fun. (Or, it made me look a lot dorkier. Oh well.)  You might recognize my work from some of my earlier posts about events. My race sign artwork debut was seen in Washington DC at the Marine Corps Marathon. (For more on that race, check out my blog,) Since I was running this race with David I had to give my signs to his family to use on the course. The signs were a great hit and I'd like to think they helped David finish the race stronger and with a smile.

My Signs for David

David's parents surprised me with their own signs as well at that race, and they were able to give me a huge smile and lift at several points on the course.

David's Parents' Signs for Me

My second exhibition of race signage was seen at the Give Your Heart to Monarch 5K which was the season end race for Girls on the Run. I was a bit rushed that morning and the sign didn't turn out as well as I wanted, but it was still fun to have something extra on hand to cheer the girls on during their race.

 Carmel Valley GOTR ROCKS

My next race sign exhibition really raised the bar. For my friend Christina's first full marathon I assembled a team of friends to cheer her on, and armed everyone in the group with a sign or a "head on a stick".

 Team Luini!

Is reading all of this making you want to sign up for a race and invite me to watch? If you do a race and I'm able to come, I'll make you a sign for sure! As everyone knows I love running and racing and the community and spirit that it brings to people. Race signs for others have made me smile along many other courses, and I hope that my signs have done the same.

My Artwork - Great, I know! ;o)

Miss Course Marshall

I have taken to the sidelines twice this month during a race. The first time was when I volunteered as a course marshall at a 5K, and the second was when I cheered on a friend during his first triathlon.

 

Call Me Course Marshall

Over Labor Day weekend my running group the Rock Runners were coordinating volunteers for the Philip Rivers 5K which would take place in Liberty Station in San Diego. I had never volunteered for a race before since I've always wanted to run the race, not watch it - but in the past few years I've stopped running 5K's due to the cost and time involved in getting to and from the race. Paying $30 to run 3 miles (which I can do any day) and to spend twice as much time getting to and leaving the race just doesn't seem worth it to me anymore. I'd much rather race 10K+ distances.

Rock Runners - Racers & Volunteers

(I'm second from the right.)

My running group has been such great support for me over the past few months and I really wanted to take some time to give back to the group, or an organization that they were supporting. I was assigned to the Course Marshall team under my friend Stacey's management, which to me sounded like a really fun job! That's MIZZ Course Marshall to you! :o)

Official Orange Plastic Vest

 

An Unfortunate Choice

The course for the race looped around a large grassy area twice. Course marshalls were placed at all of the turns around the course to help guide runners and walkers in the right direction. I decided to choose the last turn before the finish line. What a great place to watch the race right? WRONG! Being at the last turn meant that I was on the course until the very last person ran by. I have no idea how it could take so long, but the last walker went by around 1:45. How could people walk that slowly?! Did  they stop for breakfast somewhere along the way? I thought I'd be out there for one hour max. :oP

Over the years that I've raced I've seen  marshalls on the course shouting directions, but never thought about what it would be like to stand in the same location and shout the same direction over and over again. I felt kind of stupid for some reason standing by myself and shouting "Stay to the left!" and "First lap to the right, finish to the left!" and "Finishers to the left!" over and over again for almost two hours. I had another person come by at some point and stand across from me yelling "Watch the curb!"  in between my "Stay to the left!"  My plastic orange vest did make me feel quite official, but the repetitive yelling really got old.

 

Who's that running by?

I enjoyed watching the race and wondering if I'd see someone I knew run by. About 20 minutes into the race guess who I saw? One of my Girls on the Run going by with her mom! I yelled out her name and she looked at me in confusion, but her mom recognized me and yelled out a hello before running by. On the second lap I was looking for her and shouted out her name in encouragement. This drew a look of confusion yet again. Oh well, I tried.

 

Rock Runners for the Win

I stuck around after the end of the race to watch the awards ceremony. It was exciting to see that there were several runners from the Rock group up there on the podium! A Rock Runner won first male overall and first female overall, and a couple others placed in their age group as well. Aren't we a fast team!

Rock Runners at the Awards Ceremony

(I'm second from the right again.)

 

Aside from being stuck at the end for so long I enjoyed volunteering at the race, and I'd definitely do it again. Next time I'm going to pick my location more strategically though!

15 New Girls on the Run

This week marks the start of Girls on the Run San Diego's Fall season. I will be returning for my third season as Head Coach for Carmel Valley, a role that I have truly loved! The program has grown from 8 to 14 sites this season and this past weekend I helped out with coaches training. Its crazy to think that just one year ago I was being trained myself. Looking back, this past year has been a whirlwind of change!

GOTR Shirts for the Volunteers 

 

To prepare for the season, a team of volunteers helped put together the materials that support each of the 14 sites. You'd be amazed if you saw everything that was used during the 24-lesson season in one room.  The materials for just one site fill up an entire storage tub and a reusable grocery bag! In addition to the lesson materials, each site receives a supply of dry snacks to give the girls at the end of each lesson. That means a tub of pretzels, a tub of animal crackers, a box of goldfish crackers, and a box of fruit snacks. My trunk looks like I just raided Target!

 Collection of Coach Boxes

 

For those who like numbers, these stats will knock your socks off! Coach box preparation took 9 volunteers who worked for 37 hours during 4 supply prep sessions. The 14 sites can accommodate 210 girls, and have 74 volunteer coaches running the programs. It took 3 trips to Costco to buy supplies for the 24 lessons per season.

In total, the supplies needed for Fall 2010 were:

• 14 tubs of animal crackers
• 28 tubs of pretzels
• 28 boxes of gold fish
• 42 tennis balls
• 56 orange cones
• 280 markers
• 630 Ziploc bags
• 3440 index cards
• 7000 stickers
• 13000 beads

 

Amazing isn't it? During coach training this past weekend and a few weeks ago we passed out the supplies to each of the head coaches, and spent half a day walking them through the Girls on the Run program's mission and core values, had them practice leading a few lessons, showed them examples of energy awards that they'll help teach the girls, and explained how to run a smooth and successful program.

 

My favorite energy award by far is the BANANA cheer! I'm totally going to teach my girls this cheer!

  

Banana Cheer - GO BANANAS!

I'm about nervous about the time I'm about to give up again from my evenings to coach, but know that every moment sacrificed is worth it. (We'll see how I feel about that tomorrow when I leave for work at 6:30am so I can leave early to go coach. :oP ha!)  The time I've spent with the girls is a lot of fun, it's really rewarding, and it has helped me grow as a person as I've learned to do something totally new and different.

 

Practicing a Lesson

 

And ... let's not pass up the chance for me to toot my own horn, but think I'm actually really good at being a head coach. (Part of the reason why I enjoy it so much.) As I've said before, we all like things that we're good at. I attribute most of this skill to my psychotic need for order and organization, and my desire to have fun and make sure others around me are having fun as well. Who knew those two things could go together so well?

  

Circle of Celebration of Positive Attributes

 

The Carmel Valley site has had an amazing retention rate. (Had to throw some work speak in here!) For this coming season there will be two groups, one on Mon/Wed and one on Tues/Thurs. I was amazed to see that 13 of the 30 girls registered at Carmel Valley have been in the program before! Across the other 12 sites there are only 9 other girls who have been in the program before. If only I could get customers of my product to be this loyal! Hmm...

Anyways, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the start of a new season. Go Girls on the Run! You're so much fun!

Am I a "Runner"?

Last weekend I went to  a GOTR coach/friend's  BBQ and was amused to see that she had the same "medal display" that I have (thank you Container Store!), but she had a unique and great way that she presented her race numbers.

My Race Medal Display

Several years ago I started to put my race numbers in a binder with a background sheet that contained the race date, distance, and my finish time. Somewhere around 2006 (4 years into racing), I lost my motivation to keep doing this, and just started stuffing my race numbers into the binder. After moving to CA, I started to stick them onto a board with a magnet ...  but then the stack got too thick, at which point I just stuffed them in a different folder.

Race Scrapbook

  

Have you ever had something on a to-do list that just keeps moving from one week to another, over and over again?

  

Well, for the past few years I've put down on my to-do list that I needed to file the last few years of my race numbers into the binder. I kept putting it off and wishing I had a better way to keep my numbers in order. And I'd think well, I can always do this next week. And then I saw Crystal's creation! Crystal had strung the DEKA "curtain wire rod hanging system" on a wall in her house with her race numbers hanging from the wire by safety pins. Genius! Instead of having to restring each new race number, you could just keep one of your four safety pins on, and attach that new number onto the wire. As soon as I saw her race bib set-up, I had to have it! The next day I went to IKEA, spent $6.50 on the system (wow, I left IKEA spending under $100???), and came home to organize my race numbers.

Most of the race bibs had information about the race on it, but for many I had to rely on Athlinks to look up the race date, distance, and my finish time. Athlinks is an awesome site! They automatically pull all race data and associate it to your identity. If you've never visited the site, you should go there and look yourself up. You'll be amazed to see your own history of race information.  The site allows you to create an account and create your own profile which I have done. You should check it out and create an account too. We can be friends! Aww..

  

As I went through my race bibs I thought WOW, I've run a lot of races. Its hard to believe that its been eight years since I started racing. I ran my first race on a whim when I was living in San Jose. I had never run further than 4 miles and figured I could make the 6.2 miles for a 10K. The race ended up having unfortunate timing - it was on St. Patty's Day! All of my friends up in San Francisco were taking part in a pub crawl, and as luck would have it it was pouring in San Jose that day.  As my friends were cruising around downtown San Francisco drinking green beer, I sucked it up and ran that race, finishing in 1:04. Not so great but not that horrible.

New Race Number Display

After that first 10K I ran another, and then when I moved to Arizona I really picked up speed. I didn't know a lot of people when I moved there and I invited an acquaintance from my class (who I knew ran a marathon before) to run a 5K with me. We ran that race together and hung out afterwards, and then ended up running a few more races in the following year, and eventually became friends. She is one of many friends I have made through running!

  

Over the past several years, running has been a constant in my life. I'm used to waking up, having breakfast, lacing up my shoes and going out the door to kick back a few miles. Some days I lag a bit, but I almost always go out for a run when I can. Running has helped me focus my energy on something with a purpose, and for everything that I have given to running, it has given me back so much more in return. Its very soothing to me to get out there and pound out a few miles, enjoying the time alone with my thoughts and my music. Sometimes I run with a group, which is different but very enjoyable in its own way. Running gives you a sense of community, even with strangers who you have absolutely nothing in common with besides the fact that you both love to run.

When I looked at my collection of race bibs, and looked at my list of races online on athlinks (almost complete, but missing 7 races), I thought wow, I'm really a "runner" now. I've often hesitated to call myself a runner. I feel that I don't truly deserve that title for some reason, but I'm not sure why.  Maybe its because I don't look like a runner. I'm not thin and don't have the look of an athlete. I have a lot of muscle, but I have some padding I could do without as well. Years ago I thought running a marathon would define me as a runner, but after running my first marathon I thought no, qualifying for Boston will make me  REAL runner. Well, after 12 failed attempts at even breaking 4 hours (closest call was 4:02:32 ARGH!), I now think that Boston isn't a realistic dream. I'm bummed that I probably won't ever make it, but I'm proud for trying so hard over the years.

"The Wall of Achievement" :o)

  

Looking over my race history I've run a lot, I've shown improvement, and that makes me feel good. I like to know that you can put hard work in and see positive results come out. Running gives me that.

  

Looking at my racing in numbers, I've run:

• 12 Full Marathons
• 9 Half Marathons
• One 30K
• One 25K
• Five 15Ks
• Two 10 milers
• Twelve 10Ks
• Two 8Ks
• Five 4 milers
• Seven 5Ks

That's a lot of races ... and those races and years have flown by. For now, I'm so glad that running has become a part of my everyday life. Thank you running. :o) For everything I've give you, you've given so much more back. And I'm grateful. And to anyone who asks, YES, I am a runner!