TGIRWF And The Snoopy Coaster Run 10K

I'm racing tomorrow! I'm doing the 15 Miler in the Chino Hills Trail Run series here in So Cal. It should be a fun, low-key event. I've been wanting to check out the trail there and haven't gotten around to it so this will be my first time running there. I can't wait to see what it's like. Would be fun to have another trail option near me.

Today is actually the first of 3 TGIRWFs in a row. Thank God It's Race Weekend Friday...in case you were wondering. Next Saturday, I have the Hollywood Half Marathon and then the weekend after that I have the Griffith Park Trail Marathon. For a girl who's not supposed to be racing much, I sure have been racing a lot! Which you probably don't know since I didn't do a really great job of keeping this blog up for a couple months. Sorry bout that.

I just wasn't in the mood to write anything for a while. It was all doom and gloom and who wants to read that? Not me. So I'm sure not you.

Things started looking up when I did the Snoopy Coaster Run 10K at the beginning of March. I love, love, love Snoopy. Have I mentioned I have a tat of Snoopy dancing on my ankle? And that it was my nickname growing up? So I was excited to do the run but also pretty nervous. I really, really wanted to race it (something I haven't done since last September) but I was also scared to see how slow I got.

BUT...

I decided I wanted to hire a coach to help me get faster and I knew that I would need to know where I was at.

So I ran hard.

I did pretty well. It wasn't the fastest course since it was twisty turny thru the park. And during mile 2 I was thisclose to stopping to use the bathroom. But luckily my stomach settled down after that mile :and I could keep running hard. I did lose some time there though. :( Anyway, I finished it in 57:28 which is only 2 min and 33 seconds slower than my PR. Not too bad considering I haven't done any speed training, eh? I was expecting it to be about 5-7 minutes slower. I was 17th out of 120 in my age group and I was a happy coyote. :) Plus the medal was CUTE!

And we got a slice of their famous, and exceedingly delicious, Boysenberry Pie after!

Best piece of pie I ever had! It might have lasted 5 seconds. :)

So that race was a turning point for me. Where before I'd felt hopeless and felt like I was going nowhere with my running, I suddenly had hope and felt a lot like my old self. I hired Justin Gillette, one of the Run It Fast members, to coach me to a BQ. Although that's not my ultimate goal, it's a good one to reach toward for now. I went with Justin because I wanted to utilize the resources available to me thru Run It Fast and I have seen his work with some of the other Run It Fast Club members. Also, his philosophy with racing and my run streak (which is on day 171!) mesh with mine. In that he's for both! :) We start on April 1st. I've already seen the workouts I'm going to be doing and I'm excited to get to work. :)

I signed up for tomorrow's race so I could get one last fun run in before the coaching starts. I'm not going to race tomorrow hard. I think. But if I feel good, I may go for it. You never know. ;) I feel like a fire has been lit. Yeah, baby!

Happy Easter! And have a great weekend.