One Bad Ass Runner

On Sunday, I ran my first Trail Race.  I signed up for the Half Marathon race but I was unable to complete it (details below).  Even though I ended up limping and I'm still dealing with soreness/issues today, I had a lot of fun and would love to do another one in the future. The race is very informal and small and held in the only trail in Miami, Oleta Park.  It's the only race I've done that is not chip timed.  I was not sure how technical this course would be and I did not know what to expect, as the website has no course map and the only description given was not really that clear.  I bought trail shoes and I was glad I did.  This course was super technical and I don't think I could have run in my regular shoes without breaking a limb. Everything went badly for me the morning of.  I left everything ready and left.  I had to return because I had my friend's June's (Chiqui74) packet and had left it home.  Then, halfway there I ...

Short: 51:25 (Chip Time), 51:30 (Garmin), Official 51:29 5th woman out of 35 2nd in AG 35th out of 145 Say what? Long: Today I ran the inaugural Doral Business Run.  A corporate run in my backyard (almost literally).  This race, and the day overall, sucked in so many ways, I don't have time to go over all the sucky things, but here are a few: It started raining at 4pm and the commute home was horrible. I almost didn't make it to the race (got there at 6pm for a 6:30pm start). I never got to eat a snack because I only had time to get home and changed. When I got there, it took me 15 minutes to get the chip (it did not come with the packet) and by then, it was time to line up. I never got to warm up because when I started warming up, they called all the runners to the starting line. They ran out of finisher's medals and I have to wait a month (if ever) to get mine. They did not know whether they were giving awards for 2nd and 3rd on each AG...

This week has been pretty strong running-wise.  I was able to do all my runs except for 1 mile that I cut short from my speedwork session.  So another week at above 50mpw and the body is still feeling good.  I also finished Week 3 of Chalene Johnson Extreme and it is still kicking my butt, especially since I increased the weights by 2.5 lbs., and boy what a difference those pounds made.  Entering Week 4 tomorrow before heading to the next circuit, the Push Circuit.  If the Burn Circuit was this hard, I cannot imagine how the Push Circuit will be any easier. Runningwise, I decided to do two speedwork sessions this week.  I could feel the improvement compared to a month ago when I tried to do speedwork and I sucked at it.  Last week the 400s went well and this week the speedwork was hard but I was able to finish it. Monday:  On Monday I did a recovery run.  I ran a great 15 miler on Saturday and some miles on Sunday, so the legs were pretty...