Ouch.

Totally felt unprepared for my race last weekend. The Berkeley Half Marathon was a lot of fun after the fact. All I remember is running and forcing myself to focus on the finish line. It was difficult because the past couple weeks I haven’t been able to train. The last time I ran before my race, was 3 weeks before.

When I first started running, I could already feel that I wasn’t properly hydrated but at least the sun wasn’t shining so it wasn’t too bad. Then about 3 miles in, I was ready to give up. But, I don’t know why or what came over me, I just couldn’t allow myself to stop running. I was running and already fatigued when I kept hitting some mild Berkeley hills, and while everyone around me was walking, I pushed myself to run faster. I would get to the top of the hill, and feel my heart pounding out of my chest, and trying to convince myself to slow down and walk but I just kept going.

Around mile 8, it started pouring rain, it was exhilarating, felt so refreshing. As soon I was soaked, it started to get difficult. I was completely soaked down to my underwear, haha. It was incredibly uncomfortable but it made for such a unique race experience. Everyone was either really smiley or really miserable. I just kept smiling at people hoping it would help them if they were miserable.

Eventually I found myself at the finish line without stopping once to walk. And I kept thinking finally! but also, how did that happen, how did I just run 13 miles?

I finished the race in 2:48:52. It wasn’t my best time, but it was an improvement from my last half marathon in San Francisco, which was SO much hillier than this one.

After the race, it took me about 2 days to recover. My calves were in so much pain, which is really unusual for me. But makes a lot of sense since I didn’t train. Ahh well.

Overall, it was a unique experience, and I’m happy I didn’t decide to quit. This race made me realize though that I really should be more consistent with running. I had really wanted to significantly improve my time for this race and there really wasn’t a valid excuse as to why I didn’t train properly. I think for a while I’m not gonna signing up for races and work on making running part of my routine. For a long time now, I’ve been wanting to just wake up early and run 1-3 miles every morning. I’ll need to adjust my schedule to sleep early but I think it’ll be worth it. We’ll see how it goes.

Until next time, happy running!

Morning runner

Yesterday I set up my alarm for 7:30am to run after I discovered it was going to be a 90 degree day. I happened to be getting up around 5am, and I responded to a friend’s message and we ended up talking for an hour. I was awake and decided to go for my run an hour earlier and ended up finsihing my run by the time my alarm went off. It went great – the streets were empty and the trails were filled with morning runners. I really felt like I was part of a community – so many people of all ages, types, sizes, with or without friends were out running. I was so pumped, I said morning to everyone I crossed paths with, and I ran with a little more spring in my step than usual. The whole day, I felt so accomplished, refreshed, and grateful.

For the longest time, I have had an article from Women’s Running open on my computer browser; in fact it’s still there. The subject is “How I Learned To Love Morning Workouts”. The writer also references PopSugar Fitness article that I have also read and bookmarked called “A 5-Step Plan to Becoming a Morning Workout Person”. I have always wanted to be a morning person but my biggest problem is that i’m a night owl. It’s so hard to balance both lives. After my run yesterday, I am seriously considering leaving my night owl life behind, and entering a new chapter in my ever-changing lifestyle.

Both articles present tips on becoming a morning runner, here are the ones that I found the most beneficial and hope to start implementing on a regular basis:

Start small:

If walking up early is difficult for you, start with a shorter timed workout so that you ease your way into it!

Set Multiple Alarms/Make sleep a priority:

Self explanatory, but basically sleep early and set multiple alarms if that’s what it takes to wake you up.

Lay out everything the night before:

This is my favorite, because the organizational part of my brain (that exists only sometimes), loves to organize next day outfits – it saves so much time and makes it really hard to talk yourself out of working out.

Make it a date/Have a plan:

This is probably the most important one. Before you go to sleep, make it an intention to wake up early to workout and if you have a mileage in mind, mentally prepare yourself to run that distance. This is so important because it makes you prioritize your work outs otherwise known as a date for your mental, physical, and spiritual self. Don’t flake on you!

I really hope I can start forming a morning routine, it would truly change my life and help me to prioritize my fitness.

Happy Running!

Live Fully

What a weekend! Feeling so incredibly inspired and rejuvenated.

On Saturday, I woke up at 4am, had breakfast, got ready and headed to Capitola for an awe-inspiring morning with the she.is.beautiful team. We did a short run along the beach and then a 90min session of yoga alongside the sound of crashing waves and the serene skies. It was the most invigorating, bonding experience ever. I only knew my sister but left feeling a little closer to everyone there, it was an infectious feeling of unity and love. I can’t even begin to explain the appreciation I have for the she.is.beautiful team, they put on amazing, inspirational, and unifying events that will leave you on a high for the rest of the week.

For the morning run, it was optional as part of the event but I really wanted to partake in it, of course my sister and I had to wake up a little earlier but it was worth it. This was my first run in Ramadan to run in the morning and needless to say for the rest of the day, my mouth felt so parched, sunset could not come soon enough. Thankfully I had a busy day ahead so dealing with that distracted me from my incredible dry mouth. I started the run keeping my usual pace but was pleasantly surprised when I saw my pace on runkeeper, I was doing a lot faster than I ever ran. After 2 miles, my pace was still the same, I couldn’t believe I was running at this pace. Towards the end of the run, the trainer who led the run pushed me to finish the run faster, I usually run super slow because of my longer distances but was so grateful that she pushed me. I really want to increase my pace and running with a group really helped me do that. It’s amazing how running with a group of people uplifts you and helps you to reach heights you never knew possible!

Still on the high from Saturday, I woke up Sunday, after much needed rest, with the intention to do my long run (10mi). I planned to go at 5pm but ended up leaving nearer to 6pm. I kept telling myself you can do this, you’ve done this before. Last time I ran 10mi was a year ago! And I was grateful to know my body was still able to handle it. After my run, I noticed I ran in the shape of Louisiana! My dad claims it looks like Africa, but I don’t really see it, haha.

Unfortunately didn’t get a chance to do my run yesterday because my knee has been hurting from my long run, but I have a brace on, hopefully it’ll be okay soon so I can finish off the month strong with a run tomorrow. Can’t wait to go back to morning runs! 🙂

Progress Report: I am ready for my half marathon! And I have officially set a goal for myself to run a marathon by December 30th.

Song of the Week: Although I haven’t been listening to much music this month, Fight Song by Rachel Platten has been one of my go-tos in every run.

Sweet November

Woke up Saturday morning with an eagerness to run. Called up my sister and we met for a 3mi run that somehow rebooted our whole outlook on our fitness regime. We were both set on a routine a couple months ago at our gym but after I went on vacation it kind of tweaked everything. So we are trying to get back on that grind before the new year rush. On Sunday, I went for a 4mi run and did an hour of yoga, and my sister did a 4.5mi run. Then, we went cycling yesterday and it felt great that we started November with a renewal of energy, and motivation to live a more fitness oriented life.

It’s funny because for some reason the time change and the cooler weather has got me even more motivated to wake up early and finish my workouts before the work day begins. Generally, in the summer, i’d find it really hard to get out of my bed for a run. But the cold weather brought a spring in my step, which is ironic because technically in cold weather, who would want to leave a warm bed? I love running in cold weather because even when you are sweaty and hot, that cold breeze on your face makes it bearable for just a little bit longer than when the sun is beating down on you. I definitely hope that the start of November is a good indicator of how the rest of the winter will go, I just got to stay highly motivated.

Progress Report: I’ve only been doing cycling once a week for the past few weeks, and it’s strange, I already feel a difference in my body and endurance, I certainly didn’t expect a result that quick when doing it only once a week. When I first started cycling, my knees and lower back were in SO much pain for a whole week after, but now i’m finding it burns in the moment but i’m able to get off the bike with no knee pain, in fact the muscles around my knees feel much stronger.

Song of the week: Style by Taylor Swift

Scraped knees and new beginnings

Now that my training for my half marathon is over, there’s been a major lull in my run routine. I am finding that I need a goal to keep me on a schedule so I decided to do something about it.

I started a small running club that meets every Sunday at 9am, we’ve only had one meeting so far, but it’s giving me something to look forward to every Sunday. There’s something about running with people, even if you aren’t at the same pace, just knowing you are doing an activity together that really re-energizes and motivates you to continue. Hoping that the club becomes consistent, even if it’s just me running, it gives me a set time that is allotted only for running, so that’s great.

Also, I am starting to actively take classes at my gym which i’m really loving, especially cycling. My sister and I are also looking into a trainer to help us get more fit. I really hope that in the next couple months that I try to continue a running routine at least three times a week. My schedule hasn’t really allowed for that but starting this next week i’m making time for running, no ifs, ands, or buts.

I had a small hiccup last week that got me sort of nervous. It was completely my fault but I had been planning to meet with a friend to run, we arranged plans and met. We started running but the area was a little limiting. I was so eager to get out and run so we crossed the street aka jay-running (is that a thing?) and in the moment of trying to hurry before the light turned green, I tripped on the asphalt (did I mention I am a huge klutz, I sometimes trip on my own feet, lol), and fell on the asphalt. It was completely my fault, I should have just waited for the light to turn green to run but I have found that I just hate to stop running in the middle, it just completely kills my energy. The palms of my hands were a little bloody and both my knees ached from getting scratched up, but my pants didn’t rip so I didn’t think anything of it. I got right back up and continued running, but when I got home and saw the damage, I cringed a little. Both my knees got pretty messed up, thankfully nothing too serious, just had to Neosporin both knees for a day and keep them elevated. I sometimes feel like my eagerness is my own worst enemy. I get so eager to just keep running and not stop to walk that I fear I am more likely to get injured. I love running but I think I need to just be more careful especially when it comes to the laws of the land.. 🙂

I haven’t forgotten about my running playlist post that I promised a couple months ago, will finalize the post and release soon.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, happy running 🙂

A little bit of competition

I’m not a very competitive person. I really don’t like to compete with people especially when they are incredibly competitive, to me it loses the essence of the fun when people take things a little too seriously. So it won’t surprise you to hear that I generally don’t like to run with other people, i’m all about running alone and getting in the zone. I don’t run to beat time, I run for fitness and to have fun. In fact, when I first started running and i’d see people run faster than me, I would naturally speed up and it would always get me really flustered, because I could feel my discomfort almost instantly. I started to become really nervous to run with people because I would feel obligated to run at their pace, even if I couldn’t handle it. So when I made the intention to start running, I trained alone, and ran at my own pace.

Yesterday, my sister who used to run a lot decided to join me on my run. I’ve always been a little intimidated by my sister, she has been athletic all her life and she can pick up any sport if she wanted to. She’s played hockey, soccer, softball, and tennis. She was training for a marathon last year but got injured. I remember back when I was doing p90x, she would always have a comment to fix my form, and even though it frustrated me, I really appreciated it. Who would want to be doing the move wrong, that basically would get you no where. So even though she hasn’t run in a while, I already knew her pace was much faster than mine. We began to run and she kept pace with me for a few minutes, then sped up. As soon as she sped up, I started running a little faster, and I was surprised that I was able to handle it, so I kept going at that pace. Eventually, she sped up ahead of me and I stayed at the speed that was faster than my usual runs. After about a mile or so, I saw my sister stop running and walking, I caught up with her, and she started running again for a minute or so and then stopped. I kept going and I wasn’t sure what happened, because I didn’t see her until about a mile or so later and she was walking with my mom.

After I finished, I stopped to see what happened, and she said that she had gotten winded. I was bummed that she couldn’t continue the run, but also, was surprised that the girl that I looked up to for all things fitness couldn’t keep up with me. This isn’t a post to gloat, but rather more of surprise, you have to understand that my whole life, I didn’t do any sort of fitness while my sister lived and breathed sports. And although i’m not big on competition, I told her to start training so we can really run together, even if she does outrun me. 😛

I got to thinking about it last night that maybe a little bit of competition won’t be so bad. I really felt a boost of energy to catch up to my sister, and I didn’t feel that fluster that I used to when I first started training. And really if it wasn’t for her yesterday, I probably would have just ran at my normal pace. Now I know I can push myself a little more every run to increase my endurance, and that it’s okay to be a little uncomfortable. I realized that I probably shouldn’t allow my beginner nerves to get the better of my intermediate training, my body can handle a little bit of healthy competition. 🙂