Weekend of Fun - Cougar Half Addition

Another weekend of fun! I have those a lot, don't I? :)

My sister and her family came in from Arizona for the weekend so I got to see my nieces and nephew! God, I miss those kids.The best part? All 3 of them agreed to let me take their picture. At the same time. I'm telling you, that is pretty rare these days.

Per the usual plan, I spent Friday night at my mom's house so we could all hang out together. On Saturday, I got up and drove over to Bonelli to get an easy 10K in on the trails. It was overcast and cool and there weren't many people out. There were lots of bunnies, birds, and one coyote out though. We happened to both come running around a curve at the same time. Apparently, I was the bigger predator because he took off into the trees. Oh, yeah. ;) Ha!

I made it back and ate breakfast before everyone was up. How could they waste the day like that? I spent the rest of the morning and the afternoon hanging out with the family and then we all went our separate ways: them to a party and a concert and me to San Diego for the Cougar Half Marathon.

Cougar Half Marathon

I don't really have much to say about the Cougar Half. You're shocked, aren't you? But it was relatively quiet. Mostly.

The only bad part of the half was that I didn't get my race shirt. :( The parking lot was locked and they didn't get all of us in there until almost 7 which was when the race was supposed to start. When I picked up my packet, the assistant RD just gave me my bib and told me I'd have to get my shirt after. But after the race, everything was packed up and I was too hot and tired to wait around for them so I just left. It was a cool shirt too.

Anyway, the race didn't start until 7:45. The course was mostly single track with some double track and a sprinkling of road. It was a pretty course looking out over a winery and farms in the valley. It was also mostly flat except for a little bit of rolling and then a 400ft climb up and over Cougar Mountain to the turn around and then back the way we came. 

It was not a fast race for me. I wasn't feeling bad. In fact, everything felt fine as far as my legs and feet went. I had a little bit of an upset stomach around mile 4 but after that it was good. I'm not sure what was wrong but I had zero speed. It could have been because I wasn't wearing my Run It Fast shirt. :( I definitely felt more solid on the way back and passed about a dozen people starting on the climb back up over Cougar Mountain. I spent the last third of the race picking a runner in front of me and reeling them in and then picking another one. I caught everyone I set my sights on except the last woman before the finish which was fun and rather satisfying. I actually enjoyed the run a lot. It was a fun single track and I didn't mind being out there longer (13.75 miles per my garmin). It was just an off day, I guess.

But...my 11th half marathon is done and I had fun and that's what counts. My medal:

My niece, Madison (in the striped shirt), made a comment about me racing all the time. I said I wish but I am racing a lot this year. It's fun...and I'm trying to get more race points for the Run It Fast Extreme Racer contest. Oh, and medals are a big incentive, of course. The one for the Cougar Half is fierce, don't you think?

So, I have 2 more half marathons planned for this month: The Billy Goat Half in 2 weeks and then the Mojave Narrows Half on the last weekend. The Billy Goat is supposed to have 2,400 ft of climbing. Basically, it's uphill for the first half and then downhill for the second. What do you know, that's exactly the profile for Lower Monroe Truck Trail. :) I'm looking forward to it!

Hope you all had as much fun as I did this weekend? Anything exciting?