14 More Girls on the Run

This weekend marked the end of the Fall 2010 season of Girls on the Run San Diego. It has all gone by so fast! A year ago I wrapped up coaching my first season, and now this marks the end of my third season as head coach for Carmel Valley! In addition to coaching I also joined the Board of Directors earlier this year and the Marketing Committee. I'm GOTR'd out!

Wrapping up the Season

At the end of the 12 week program we had a season end celebration with the girls. Over the course of the season the girls collected beads for each lap that they ran. By the end of our season the girls in my group had a total of 1284 beads which equaled 321 miles! Quite an accomplishment for a group of 8-12 year olds! At our season end party the girls had time to take their beads and make keychains or necklaces.

The girls also had a chance during the party to make their own custom decorated visors. (Thanks Michel's craft store for your dollar bins!) The girls rotated through making things with their beads, decorating a visor, and making  a healthy snack at the yogurt sundae bar.

I had given the girls a few updates during the season regarding how many laps they had run total, but the absolute total for the season was a surprise for  the girls and each girl had a chance to guess at the total to win one of three prizes. First place won my home-made Domo box, and 2nd and 3rd place won a bag of beads. One of my girls Grace had her heart set on the Domo box and furtively committed each bead total update to memory. Guess who won? Grace did! Her efforts paid off. :o)

 

After we had craft time and snack time, it was now time for the Molly awards. The Molly awards are named after the founder of Girls on the Run Molly Barker. These awards celebrate the individual spirits of each of the girls. These awards were things like : "Ready to Run", "Always Energetic", "Silly Spirit", "Smiles for Miles", etc. Each girl was presented with her award and as she came up she received her printed award along with some fun toy treats from Coach Karin. Our girls are so spoiled! :o)

 

5K Prep
The season end party was last Thursday, and a few days later on Sunday the girls would be running their 5K. This past season there were 14 sites around San Diego County. Our chapter has had an explosion over the past year! When I first coached in Fall of 2009 there were only 6 sites. We now have 14 sites and 177 girls! When all of the sites come together for the 5K each site shows off a group cheer. Our site put together the following cheer modeled after the 'famous' banana cheer.

 

Day of the 5K

The morning of the 5K was a furry of activities! This was the biggest 5K that GOTRSD had ever put on! In previous seasons we had alternated between putting on our own race and joining an already established race. For this season we'd be putting on our own race through the national sponsorship of New Balance. The New Balance Girls on the Run 5K in San Diego was held in De Anza Cove in Mission Bay. Each girl in the race would be paired up with a volunteer Running Buddy who would stay with her during the whole race. The Running Buddies were parents, coaches, and other volunteers.

 

In addition to New Balance as a key sponsor, GOTR also has Goody. You know, the hair accessory company. Goody sponsors something called "Goody Happy Hair" for the GOTR races. This consists of a table with more Goody hair accessories than you could EVER dream of! My dear friend Jodie (my dog's second mom) and her husband were kind enough to come volunteer and be Goody Happy Hair captains and manage the volunteers at this station. The station had hair ties, headbands, barrettes, hair color spray, and hair claws.

 

The 5K Begins

At 8am the race was scheduled to begin! Everyone lined up ... and they were off! My official role during the race was "course cheerleader", something I have quite a bit of experience with. (Cheerleading captain senior year in high school thank you!). I had my sign and cowbell ready, and cheered the girls and others off on the course (out and back) and then on the way back, before rushing back to the finish line with a couple of my other coaches.

 

Watching the race was pretty emotional for me. Running has been a huge part of my life in the past few years, and finishing my first 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon, and  triathlon have been life changing. To watch these girls run their firs 5K during their ELEMENTARY SCHOOL years is so moving! *sniff sniff* Many of these girls are repeat GOTR participants and I've seen several of them progress over the years from walkers, to begrudging runners, to real runners. They loved running and always begged for more running time! The girls in my group (and other girls) came by one by one and approached the finish line, and then completed their first 5K. Amazing! These girls are truly amazing.

The Change
Girls on the Run is an incredible program. As head coach I have the luxury of being in direct and regular contact with the parents, so I receive a lot of feedback about their daughters' experiences. I've had so many of the parents reach out to me to share positive ways the program has affected their daughter, and it is so heartwarming. I've heard stories about how the girls have gained self-confidence, found something that is "theirs" that they are good at, found ways to cope in school, how they have become closer to their mom as they've discussed GOTR topics, and many other things. I feel that I'm just a facilitator between the program and the girls and I'm not directly responsible for these changes, but its so rewarding to know that I"m a small part of these life-changing events in the grand scheme of their lives.

Whats Next?

I've now been a Head Coach for three seasons now. While its a bit of a burnout job, its so rewarding that I can't imaging giving it up! Its so hard for me to leave work really early two days a week though, so when talking to our director about starting up a new group at our site I suggested that we start the new group a tad big later. Looks like its going to happen! I've coached Girls on the Run for three seasons now, and this program is meant for 8-12 year old girls in elementary school. The international organization also has  program for middle school girls called Girls on Track. GOTRSD piloted a GOT program at one site this past season, and is looking to expand to more sites going forward. I'm so excited to find out that it will next happen at my site in Carmel Valley!

So for Spring 2011 I will be coaching Girls on Track in Carmel Valley. The program will be similar to GOTR, but will be focused more on issues for older girls. I'm excited for the change, and so happy for the growth of GOTR in the an Diego area. Want to get involved? You can find more info about the program here: http://gotrsd.org/volunteer/

For my recap of the previous season and 5K, click here of the Spring 2010 recap.

For a recap of my first season coaching  and the Fall 2009 season end 5K, click here.

Gladiators on the Run

Last weekend I did something I never thought I'd do ... I willingly ate cheese! No, I'm kidding. But I did do something I always thought was quite as unlikely ... I did a mud run! For someone who hates getting dirty and thinks that sitting on grass is 'roughing it', I'm pretty amazed that I was able to do this race. First an open water swim, then a mud race ... what's next for me?

 

The Backstory

I heard about about the race several months ago when the race organizer happened across my blog post about Being Mistaken for an American Gladiator. Nitro from the original American Gladiators left a comment inviting me to the race. Wow, I felt special! I LOVE American Gladiators and watched both the original and remade series. Hmm... running in the mud and with obstacles? Not quite my cup of tea. But what do you know, a few weeks later I signed up. I was committed!

 

The Race

The race course consisted of 14 obstacles over 3 miles.

1. Stairway to Heaven (Running up and down the stairs at the Verizon amphitheatre)
2. Buddha's Burden (Carrying a bag of rice from one spot to another)
3. Terrible Tires (Climbing through tires)
4. Wrecking Ball (Think wrecking balls! Balls in nets being swung at you)
5. Bonus Tires (Running through tires - so nimble, oh yeah!)
6. Fools Spools (Climbing over huge spools. I tried to jump it and smashed my shin. Took the boost up on the second try!)
7. Rope a Dope (Running/climbing up a muddy hill with a rope for assistance)
8. Skid Marks (Sliding down a muddy/watery tarp)
9. Wall of Fame (Climbing over a wall)
10. Cargo Congo Climb (Climbing up a cargo net to go over a wall)
11. Mad Madness (Crawling on hands and knees through mud. Ewe)
12. Mystery nightmare obstacle. (Ack, can't remember what this was?)
13. Hell's Hills (Running over rolling hills - oh yeah,  I got this!)
14. Mud Pit (MORE mud! Boo hoo.. more crawling on hands and knees in mud)
15. Gladiator Barbecue! (Running through flames on both sides)

My Initial Fears

First and foremost - Mud. Lots of mud. Even a little mud scares me. I hate getting dirty! Next up on my phobia list were the obstacles that require upper body strength. I'm sheepish to admit that I'm a cardio junkie. I run and that's about it. I swim occasionally and also lift my 10lb dogs a few times a day, but overall my upper body strength is lacking. Climbing over obstacles and needing the use of my arms was something I wasn't sure I could do.

 

Raceday

On raceday I met up with Kathryn and Debbie from GOTR to head up for the 10am wave of the race. We were geared up in our special shirts for the race and were ready to be tough Girls on the Run! The race was at Camp James in Irvine and was about an hour or so north of San Diego and right off the freeway. (What a plus! I'm all about accessibility for a race) Parking was plentiful and cost $10. No biggie!

We parked and headed over to registration to get our numbers, timing chip, race shirt, and .... inflatable joust stick! So awesome! The joust was my favorite event in the show! As we walked towards registration people who had completed the race in earlier waves were walking towards us to go back to their cars.

You when you're at an amusement park and you've decided to go on a water ride and you wonder just how wet you're going to get? You see a few people getting off the ride with a little water on their shirt or in their hair and you think  "oh good, you don't get that wet on this ride!" And then you walk farther and see someone who is completely drenched. Well, as we walked towards the race we saw some people who looked a little muddy, and then others who looked like they had been completely submerged in the mud pit. Mud from head to toe and even covering their face. Uh oh.. I didn't want to get THAT muddy!!

We were about an hour early for the race so we spent some time walking the course and watching people in the race. The obstacles didn't look as big as I thought they'd be, but the mud pits (yes pitS plural) looked pretty gross. I was getting pretty nervous. Our 10am wave start time finally rolled around and we got ready to go. Gladiators ready?? Ready!

The Race Begins

The race started out with about a one mile run out to the Verizon amphitheater. Easy! I can run! We then got to the amphitheater and ran up the stairs, across the venue, and down the stairs. Running the stairs was fun and I was thinking about how I should schedule some bleacher work into my training. After the stairs we got to the area where we had to pick up a bag of rice and carry it from one spot over to another. The bags were pretty heavy (25lbs) but we managed.

 Next we ran over some tires (wow I felt so nimble! Knees up!) and then got to the "wrecking balls" where people were swinging bit exercise balls at you. Kathryn managed to miss getting hit by any balls while I got smacked by all three. Hmph.

 

Next we had a big pile of tires we had to climb over before getting to the big spools. Some guys in front of me took a running start and managed to hoist themselves up and over the spools. I tried to do the same .... and smacked right into it. I couldn't get enough height. :o( I took a hoist from one of the course assistants and finally got over. Next we got to a slippery, muddy hill that we had to climb up with the help of a rope. On the other side of the hill was the beginning of the end of being clean. There was a hill with a tarp that people were hosing that you had to slide down. Think of grown up slip-and-slide.

 

After sliding down the hill and crawling through some mud (ewe!!) we then got to our first upper-body challenge - the wall! There was an 8 foot wall that we had to climb over. Luckily there were a few foot slots and I made it over okay! Yay! Next up was the cargo climb. I was worried about this too but this went okay as well.

 

My joy was short lived because right after the cargo climb was the first mud pit you had to crawl through. I tried to get through it by crouching down and lifting the strings to duck under. The two guys on the side watching the course were like "get down! You have to crawl!" And then they both started chucking mud at me. Thanks. I was now officially muddy from head to toe. Ewe. On a good note, we were most of the way through the course!

 

Next up were a set of rolling hills that we had to run over. The last hill wasn't that steep but was so muddy and slippery that it was really hard to get up. I took a running start and when I got towards the top I dug my industrial strength acrylic nails into the mud and made it over.

 

 

Next up? Oh goodie! Another mud pit! :o( This time I crawled through like you're supposed to. At this point there was no point in trying to avoid the mud. We were now in the home stretch!

 

The last part of the race was a quarter mile run from the mud pit, through a row of flames, and off to the finish line! We did it! Our pink turned brown team crossed the finish line at the same time - girl-adiator tough! We looked like a group of chocolate dipped strawberries.

The Aftermath

After the race we lined up to take photos. We were muddy and cold, but accomplished! The line for photos moved pretty slowly and as we stood there the mud started to dry. Yuck. We finally got our photos taken and then headed over to the showers. For the first in the history of the world.. the line for the women was shorter than the line for the men!

The showers were in a tarped off area and about four people could shower at a time. I took a spot in the offspray to try to slowly wash off. The water was a little cold and I wasn't making much progress so I just decided to change and wipe off as much mud as I could. Across from the showers there was a huge pile of muddy, discarded shoes and clothes. I decided that my shoes weren't worth saving either (they were a pair I retired from running about a year ago) and I chucked mine in the garbage as well.

 

After the race we headed back to San Diego, muddy, but accomplished. We were all pretty hungry so we made a pit stop for lunch. While we were seated and waiting to order I ran my hand over my hair and felt mud caked into it. Great, I still had clumps of mud on me! I wonder what the waitress thought? She probably though Debbie and Kathryn (who were both much cleaner) had picked up a homeless person off the street to buy a warm meal. :oP

 

More Mud?

The race was fun and I'm really glad I did it because its something I never thought I would have done. Would I do another mud race? Probably not unless there was a compelling reason. Who knows though, I always said I'd never do a triathlon and two tris later I have dreams of a half Ironman! If you are interested in slopping through mud the way I did - you are in luck! This is the first in a series of Gladiator Rock N Run races that will be held all over the country. For dates and locations click here.

 

Thanks again to Nitro for inviting us to the race! We're officially Gladiator tough now!

GOTR Gives Back

This past week my GOTR group completed their community project. The group chose the same activity that they chose in Fall 2009 and made cards for the military and for sick children. In the Fall of 2009 the girls made cards for the military through the Holiday Mail for Heroes program and for kids through the Make a Child Smile program (For more details check out my post on "GOTR Community Project"). In the Spring of 2010 the girls put on a bake sale with the proceeds benefiting the Helan Woodward Animal Shelter. (For more details check out my post on "Another Season Ends"). This year (Fall 2010) we sent mail through the Holiday Mail for Heroes program again, but for the children's cards we made cards for a more local group, the Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

The GOTR curriculum focuses on three areas: All About Me, All About My Team, and All About Community. Over the past several weeks we have been teaching the girls about community and what it means, what it means to them, and what part they play in different communities. Its really heartwarming to see the girls enjoying an activity that gives back to others.

After we completed the cards I went around the circle and asked the girls to state one way that they would personally work to make the world a better place. Their answers ranged from recycling and picking up trash, to continuing to volunteer and to tell others about God.  It made me smile to hear that they all enjoyed taking part in an activity that gives back to others.

The community project marks the final stretch of the GOTR curriculum. Next weekend we will be running our 5K! The 12 weeks that make up the program have gone by so quickly, and I'm really looking forward to the special day when all of the GOTR San Diego sites get together and run their race. Twelve weeks of preparation and personal growth, and they're ready! I didn't run my first 5K until I was in my early 20's and I'm proud and amazed by these little girls who will do so before they even enter middle school. Girls on the Run is amazing program, and I'm so proud to be part of something that can change a girl's life forever.

Oh Christmas Tree..

oh Christmas tree, with faithful leaves unchanging!

The Holidays

I love the holidays! Well, I love the days up until the holidays. The decorations, the lights, the preparation, the shopping... I love it all! One of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting a Christmas tree and putting up Christmas lights. My parents almost always had a fake tree when I was growing up, and on a couple Christmas' when I was in college and came home for the holidays I went with a friend to bring a real tree home!  Other years when my time home was limited and no one had the energy to pull the fake tree out, I'd decorate something else instead. One year it was a potted plant, another year the TV and stand. (Sad, I know.) My BFF Garley usually did the same, and we both laughed over one year where we both decorated a plant until collapse ... and then sheepishly undecorated said plant. haha!

A Tree of My Own

As soon as I had my own apartment I of course got my own Christmas tree! Both of my parents gave me my childhood ornaments years ago which I happily added to MY very own tree. I loved it! I had a tree every year in Arizona and was so sad when I first moved to SD and realized that my original, tiny apartment couldn't hold a Christmas tree of any size. I was looking for "city living" and liked it, but really - you are sooo limited by a "modern/modular" 500 square foot apartment. This year when I moved into my new 1000 square foot place, I knew I'd have to get a tree!
 

This past Sunday I went to Home Depot to pick out a tree. I selected a lovely 6 foot Douglas Fir, picked it up and brought it to the line to check out, judged the guys with their trees in a cart while I carried mine (booyah - I'm strong!), and then secured it to the top of my car with my string-tying skills and brought it home. A part of me felt bad about furthering an industry that cuts down trees to let them die ... but my only other option was to buy a fake tree which I had no room to store and I'd have to donate after the holidays also contributing to waste. At least there are tree recycling programs in San Diego - I looked!

 

Decorating the tree was a lot of fun. Adding ornaments which I've had since my childhood is really special, and one of my favorite things in the year. My Aunt Elsa used to send me ornaments each year when I was a child, and my favorite ornament of all time is from her .. the Cabbage Patch Kid doll! The ornament of course matches the real Cabbage Patch Kid doll that I had named Jean Georganne. I loved her!
 

Some of my other favorite ornaments are ones that my dad got over the years that I remember adding to our tree for the first time. The gold house and the ship in a ball are two of my favorites! The newest ornament to the collection of those with my name is the sand dollar from Garley from 2005. Wow, how does that seem so long ago?

The most recent ornament that I actually bought was my 26.2 ornament. Marathon time!

This Christmas tree which I have decorated at home isn't just my first tree at home in San Diego, its my first tree at work in San Diego as well! I've had a mini tree that I've put on my desk for the past 10 years, and for the past two years its stayed in a box because my previous company banned any Christmas decorations in the office. Yes, seriously. No comment. This year I'm at a new job with  no such restrictions! The tree came out of the box! And yes, ti has lights! It sits on my desk just to the right of my computer monitor and makes me smile all throughout the day.
 

I love Christmas and all of the decoration, and hope that you were able to set up your own festive decorations as well this week. Let the Christmas season begin!

Domo Does Turkey

Domo here! Domo hasn't blogged in a while! Domo's last post was way back in July when he went to Paris! (Read more here at  5 Days of Family Fun in France!) Wow, Domo has been lazy. Domo has traveled since then but has been taking time off from writing. Domo apologizes. He knows that you are probably tired about Monika's dribble about running. You are in luck! Domo does not talk about running! Oh wait, he will for this post. Sorry.

The Drive Up

Last year Domo drove home from San Diego to San Francisco and left around noon. Domo hit traffic in San Diego, Orange County, LA, THROUGH the Grapevine, and wasn't able to drive above 25mph until he got near Bakersfield. It was horrible. Domo was not happy. In total it took Domo 12 1/2 hours to get home last year. H-E double hockey sticks! (For more about last year's trip, read "Home for the Holidays".)

Mika Enjoying the Drive North

This year Domo was smart, he left earlier! The original plan was to leave at 5am, but Domo couldn't resist getting a run in that morning; so he got up, had breakfast, ran, and then left. Domo and dogs left around 9am and anticipated making the 500 miles in 8 hours, getting into San Francisco around 5pm. Domo had smoooooth sailing through San Diego, Orange County, into LA ... and then traffic hit. Domo had nightmares from last year and decided to give up on the 5 and to head over to the 101 to take the coast route up. Domo was exited by the thought that he'd be in Santa Barbara in a couple hours! You know, Santa Barbara .. UCSB ... Go Gauchos! Domo's alma matter!

Domo's House in IV

Domo got into Santa Barbara around 1pm - perfect time for lunch! Domo had his heart on stopping at Silver Greens, his favorite place to eat in Isla Vista. This place was a close runner-up to Freebirds, and was a hands-down favorite among his household. He and his roommates ate masses of Silvergreens over the years. Mmmm.... Silver Greens. :o) Domo ordered his usual favorite at Silver Greens, the half and half combo with the half Chicken Ranch Sandwich and the half Mandarin Chicken Salad. Something that has changed since Domo was in college is that this meal now comes with a chocolate chip cookie. Don't want the cookie? Well you can substitute it for a fruit salad (in a sauce sized container) for 50 cents more. Um seriously? Domo has to pay you 50 cents more to eat healthy? Ugh, Domo so annoyed.

Domo Loves Silvergreens

Domo got his lunch to go and ate it on the drive up. Oh yeah - Domo ate a salad while driving. Mad skills! Domo didn't hit traffic on the rest of the drive and sailed from Santa Barbara up to San Francisco, arriving around 6pm. Just in time to eat dinner! Domo and his dad... errr Monika's dad walked down the street to a local Vietnamese restaurant called Hanoi Bistro and had a whole crab (omg so yummy!! and only $16.95!!), a chicken salad, and spring rolls for dinner. Mmm ... Domo was happy.

The Turkey Trot

The next morning Domo got up early to get ready for a turkey trot race. Domo's friend Christina had talked him into running the Nitro Turkey Trot in Pinole. Where is Pinole? Domo had no idea and actually had to Google Maps it before the weekend. Domo, Cristina, and her friend Sheila all headed over to Pinole Thursday morning to run the 10K race. Domo and Christina got into the Thanksgiving spirit by donning costumes. Christina was the turkey and Domo was the Indian. Last year Christina and Domo ran a turkey trot in Golden Gate Park in SF and about 25% of the runners were in costume. Domo was really taken aback to see that aside from himself and Christina, there were only three other people in costume out of 200 people. Scrooges!

Monika Slays a Turkey

 Monika Befriends Another Turkey

Domo had a decent race (first 10K in YEARS!) and finished in 53:26. Not his best time, but not terrible. Domo placed 5th in his division out of 35, and was bummed to see that 4th place was only 9 seconds ahead of him, and 3rd place was 1:20 ahead of him. :o( Domo has a 10K PR of 49:02 and wishes he had come in around 3rd place. Oh well .. there's always a next race.

Domo's Turkey Trot Medal 

Turkey Lunch

After the race Domo came home and showered and got ready for lunch. For lunch Domo and his .. er Monika's dad would be continuing their tradition from last year by going to Max's Opera Cafe for lunch before heading out to a movie. For lunch Domo ordered the Thanksgiving ham, and dad ordered the salmon. YUMMY! The post-lunch movie was Burlesque. Domo loved it! Domo loves musicals and this movie didn't disappoint. Go see it!

Domo's Lunch at Max's 

Turkey Dinner

Domo came home around 4pm after the movie and was already looking forward to dinner. Unfortunately when he made reservations at McCormick & Kuleto's they only had an 8pm reservation available. Domo was hungry. Luckily there were a few good snacks in his turkey trot goodie bag that he could munch on in the mean time. While waiting for dinner Domo started reading a book he got about a month ago about the Ironman Championship. The book is titled "25 Year of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship". The book is a coffee table type book with photos and stories about each year of the race. Domo would like to do a half-Ironman next year and really enjoyed the book. Its amazing and inspiring to see what happens out on the course. The dreams, the struggles, the failures and the accomplishments are so moving. *sniff* Domo wiped away a couple tears while reading this book.

But let's stop talking about Domo being a softie.. let's talk about turkey! It was finally time for dinner and Domo and Dad headed down to Ghiradelli Square for dinner. The reservation was at 8pm...but we weren't seated until 8:20pm ... orders taken at 8:40pm .. no food seen until 9:20pm. Domo was miserable. Domo was tired and hungry. Domo hated everyone around him. Especially the 10 year old boy at the table behind him playing jingle bells with his spoon on his parents' water glasses. Seriously!?! Domo wanted to throw a spoon at that boy. Domo isn't usually so violent... Domo was hungry.

Monika & Dad

Finally! Our food arrived! Domo ordered the Thanksgiving turkey dinner and Dad ordered the Mahi Mahi. Domo is embarrassed to say that he also ordered dessert ... espresso creme brulee!! Domo isn't really a dessert person but really does favor creme brulee, and loves coffee. The dessert was great (as was the rest of the food) and Domo and Dad left happy.

Black Friday

The next morning was Black Friday! Domo had never participated in Black Friday until a few years ago when he was visiting his BFF Garley in New York. Garley and her husband left to shop at 5am (leaving Domo home alone with her dogs) and out of curiosity Domo ventured out to hit a few stores. Domo ended up getting a great deal on a camera and was also able to get a few gifts for others.

This year Domo wanted to go to the mall to shop for a few gifts he had in mind for people. Domo won't disclose where he went or what he bought, but he thinks he did pretty good! By the time Domo came home at 9am after 3 hours of shopping, he was exhausted and ended up napping for three hours! After Domo's nap he met up with Christina to see the movie Love and Other Drugs. OMG.. so funny! And sweet. Domo might have cried during the movie. Domo wants all of his friends in pharma/device sales to go watch the movie. It is hilarious!

Ikea & Jeopardy

The next day Domo and dad got up early to head to IKEA so Dad could buy a Poang chair to replace a big, old leathe chair he's had forever. Luckily for Dad, Monika's friend Danny was coming over and would be able to help her carry the chair downstairs to the garage to make room for the new chair.

After hauling the chair downstairs Domo and Danny picked up sandwiches at the Sub Center went back to his house to play some Jeopardy! Domo feels that he is quite good at Jeopardy! Well, only at some categories. The last time Domo was in SF they played three games and Domo was winning! This time (even cumulatively) Domo was losing. Shoot. Doom hates losing. Domo wanted to play a third game to get his score up but needed to head back to SD. Domo went home to load up his car, get the dogs, and then hit the road. On the way back it was a bit easier, and only took 9 hours. "Only 9 hours". Ha!

Awesome SF View from Danny's House

Domo is happy that he got to go home again for Thanksgiving, had great time with Dad and his friends, and loves that this weekend starts off the holidays for 2010. Happy holidays to everyone!

2011 Race Schedule - Check!

This weekend I put together my racing calendar for 2011. My goals for this upcoming year are:

• Run several half marathons
• Run 1 or 2 full marathons
• Do several sprint triathlons
• Do 1 or 2 Olympic triathlons
• Mayyyybeeee shoot for a 70.3 race by the fall

As I laid out my race calendar and looked up half marathons, full marathons, and triathlons, I was startled by how much race fees have increased over the years. When I started running distance races back in 2005 a half marathon was usually $65-85, and a full marathon was $85-100. Now the races were going for $85-$120 for a half, and $90-$140 for a full. Are you kidding me?!

Miss Cheapskate

My theory is that with the increase in popularity of distance racing, race organizers have increased fees because those people who are running their first race are willing to pay a higher fee for a big event. For people like me who want to run a lot of events in one year, this sucks. This is only my theory, but I can't imagine that all of the other factors that go into race organization have led to a 50% increase in race prices over the past few  years. I don't mean to be cheap, but I can run anything but a marathon on my own during a training run. I'm okay paying for the experience, but don't make me pay so much that I have to pick and choose which races I can do over an entire year. Sheesh!

I've committed to running the full San Francisco Marathon in July, but also wanted to run a full in spring as a tune-up. Preferably a flat course of course since I doubt SF will be a PR for me. I also want to run several halfs since that is my new favorite distance, and of course now that I'm a "triathlete" I want to work some tris in. I am new to the sport of triathlon and not great at running or swimming, so I was looking for female only events that were less competitive. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything I wanted to put in my calendar for sure for next year, so as it stands I plan on doing the Tri Club's free races as they are announced, and maybe in the Fall I'll sign up for some tris organized by other groups.

My Calendar

I have two races coming up between now and the end of the year. I'm running the Nitro Turkey Trot in Pinole on Thanksgiving, and then the Gladiator Rock N Run (a 5K obstacle course/mud race) in Irvine on December 4th.

For next year I've decided to do the Triple Crown half marathon series which consists of the Carlsbad Half Marathon, La Jolla Half Marathon, and the America's Finest City Marathon. I've only registered for the first of the three so far (I can't commit so far out because of my work travel schedule) but if I'm in town those weekends I'll do the race.

Ready for the 2011 line-up so far?

• 1/9/11 - Resolution Run (15K)
• 1/23/11 - Carlsbad Half Marathon
• 2/13/11 - San Dieguito Half Marathon
• 4/17/11 - La Jolla Half Marathon
• 7/31/11 - San Francisco Marathon
• 8/21/11 - America's Finest City Half Marathon

I will most likely run a full either in the spring (LA Marathon?) or the fall (hmmm... any suggestions?), and will also do several tris. I originally thought about training for Barb's Race which is the only women's only 70.3 distance triathlon, but unfortunately its the same weekend of the SF Marathon. Maybe I'll do it next year! In the 70.3 series the only other one I'd consider for next year is the Austin race which is 11/23/11. We'll see how my early spring races go and maybe that will be my ultimate tri goal!

It was fun putting together this calendar and I'm excited for all of these races coming up. If you're in town for any of these races and want to run with me, let me know!