OC Mud Run-Race Recap

On Saturday morning, I participated in the Inaugural OC Mud Run. This was the race of 2009 for me. I had been anticipating it for a few months, every since I heard about it on Twitter. I was competing in this race as an individual rather than a team, even though there were four of us doing it together.

We arrived in the parking of the venue, approximately one hour before the race began. We knew that we had to pick up our race t-shirts and check in our bags. What we experienced was absolute chaos. We hiked our way in, trying to find the t-shirt line. We found our places and were handed our t-shirts. Yea, my shirt is extremely small, and it's an adult large. I'm not a huge person, but I weigh a little more than 100 lbs.

We then went to check-in our bags. This was somewhat organized. We wrote down the last 4 numbers of our social security number on a tag, attached the tag to our bag, and then handed the bag to the attendant. This is where I got lost from my friends. I turned around and they were gone. The start line was another hike from the bag check-in. I just decided to find the start line and wait for my friends there. I barely made it to the start line before the race started. While I was waiting at the start line, I was able to check out everyone costumes and outfits. I finally got caught up with my peeps and the race started. The race start was very anti-climatic.

We went from a dirt trail up the hill to the asphalt parking lot. There was an obstacle that everyone was supposed to go over. The line backed up. I ran around the obstacle because, I really did not want to eat it and fall on the asphalt. That would have been very bad. I did see some people fall when I turned around to look back. After running around the parking lot (what the heck?), we headed back down to the dirt trail. We finally got to experience some mud, but really not a lot. I think this was the most mud I saw that entire race and it last like 5 minutes.

I'm going to do a short re-cap of the rest of the race, because this blog post could go on for hours and days. There were some mini obstacles along the way, nothing worthwhile. There were also some hairpin turns which could be considered somewhat "dangerous". I think I heard "be careful, watch yourself, this is dangerous" at least ten times, and this was from race volunteers. Umm ya, a race is not supposed to be dangerous.



At one point in the race, at the almost end, we hit a standstill. There was a wall of people and we were not moving. I couldn't see ahead of me, because I'm a troll (5'4" and short legs don't help). What were we waiting for? Well the line finally moved. We were about to cross the lagoon/inner tubes of "stench", "duck shit pond", "the sewage pond", etc etc etc. There were inner tubes and an open water area to cross. I think we did this at least three times. I chose to go through the open water, because there was a huge line for the inner tube area. What the hell was I thinking? As I was wading through this, I keep tripping on unknown things? Seriously, I really did not want to know what was in that water. It smelled nasty, like sewage nasty. We went through some more mini obstacles and made it to the finish line.



There were two choices at the finish line: a slip and slide mud area or the timed finish. Really, I don't think that they wanted you to do the timed finish. I climbed through the mud pit at the finish and did not do the slip and slide. Why? Because the plastic was DRY, no WATER. How can you slip and slide on dry water?

I waited at the finish line to re-group with my friends. I did not see any event staff there. There was no drinks, no water, nothing at the finish line. Seriously people...it was almost 90 degrees and no water! I'm really getting tired of races not having water at the end. We finally all found each other and the complaining began. We were all in agreement about the race. I thought that the SBSD Mud Run was bad last year. The SBSD Mud Run was a vacation compared to this mess.

We got our bags from the bag check and waited in line for the meager showers that they assembled. Some PVC attached to the back of a baseball backstop. We probably waited in line for at least 45-60 minutes. I did not have that much mud on me, because I really did not make an effort during the race. I had a feeling that the showers were going to be sub-par and I did not want to make a mess of my car.

After changing, aka wrapping a towel around ourselves and removing our clothes "surfer style", we left the venue. There were vendors there "selling food and drinks", but nothing was free. Seriously $3 CASH for a water. Umm, I paid $40 for a race, got a crappy t-shirt that will never fit me, and I didn't even get water.

We headed out of there and towards Wahoo's at the Irvine Spectrum for some decent food!

I tweeted with several people on Twitter about the race for a few days after the event. We were all in agreement about how it sucked. Really, I think the people involved just wanted to run away with the money. They had a good idea, but they dropped the ball on this one. There was a ton of promotions and PR done for the event in the early spring months, but then it just seemed to drop off the radar.

One of the people I talk to on Twitter, Reggie, otherwise known as "OakleyOC" was a VIP Entrant at the race. He actually paid extra to have VIP status which included food, swag, beer tickets, a special showering area, places to view the race course, etc. His general opinion about the race was the same as mine though, even though he was VIP. Because really, it's all about the race, not really the perks.

My running pal, Monique, took some pictures during the race with a disposable camera. She hasn't taken it in to be developed yet. I will post the pictures in another post when she gets them back. Luckily, Reggie was soo gracious to let me use some of the pictures that he took. Ok, perhaps I took them from his Facebook page, but I did tell him that I would give him some recognition.

Next year, I'm going to sign up for Camp Pendleton's Mud Run. Everyone says that this is a wonderful event, but it always sells out right away. The OC Mud Run people better get their act together if they want to hold their Second Annual Event next year. But they might be too busy deals with all the "issues" that happened at this race. I saw a lot of negative comments on their Facebook page, which I think they have removed now.

Running and My Guest Post At The Orange County Register

Through blogging and Twitter, I've found and met some great people along the way. One of those people is Suzanne Broughton. Suzanne is a very talented writer, and a super mom, of course. She runs/writes/operates the following sites: Alive in Wonderland (Personal Blog), MomCrush (OC Register Blog), BlogCrush (OC Blogger Group), Orange County Daily Photo, and all of them are on Facebook too..

A few weeks ago, Suz asked me to write a Guest Post for the OC Register "Mom Blog" about running. I was very excited. Of course, right after that, I got super busy, and my entire house became sick.

But yesterday, my post made the website!!

So check me out here, "See Mom Run".

Magic Shoe 5K Run: A Race Report

On Saturday, June 13th, I ran the Magic Shoe 5K in Newport Beach. This is the first time that I ran the Magic Shoe. It used to be called The Bastille Day 5K, I ran that two years ago. This race started and ended at Corona del Mar High School.

I trained for this race with my favorite run club at the lululemon store in the Irvine Spectrum. We trained for four weeks. My running pal, Monique, was also supposed to run it with me. Monique slept through her alarms, and was unable to make it.

It was a pretty easy flat course. It was also a smaller race, with less than a 1,000 people. Lately, all of the races that I've done have had quite a bit of people, which adds to the fun.

Unfortunately the day prior to the race, I started getting sick. I got some kind of cold from Angry Toddler in the middle of the week. I thought I was fine, but it got worse on Friday night. Of course I paid for the race on Thursday night. I didn't want to waste the $31 that I paid. So I sucked it up and ran.

My chest hurt a little and I was tired during the run. I didn't PR, but finished decently. I go back and forth between the same 30 seconds for the past 3-4 races. It's probably because I need to lose some weight and work on some speedwork. I do so well at the beginning, and then I seem to hit the wall.

Once again, another FAIL at the finish line. I had to run through the finish line, and then walk around the corner for water. Is this a new thing? What happened to getting water at the end? Seriously, I'm tired of walking through the crowds trying to get to water.

I had to leave immediately after the race to take Angry Toddler to his sports class.

After the 5K race, they had a High Heel Dash. I would have liked to see that.

My next race is the Huntington Beach Fourth of July 5K-The 2009 Surf City Run. I have a love/hate relationship with this race. I love the patriotism and the great feeling of running in Huntington Beach. It's such a festive city. My hate is that it's not a timing chip race. It is usually very hot and muggy.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of me at this race. Hopefully, there will be some decent official race photos. But that is highly unlikely.

P.S. I did something new this race too. I ran without music. Yep, no iPod. It really wasn't that bad at all.

June Gloom

We've had serious June Gloom here in Southern California. It started out in late May and has continued. It slightly rained here several times last week.

I keep seeing everyone post about warm weather, going to the pool, and eating popsicles. I actually wore a jacket into work today.

I'm also gloomy because I'm working swing shift right now, 4pm-2am. I haven't working this shift during the summer since 2006.

While everyone else is having fun, BBQing, and spending time with their families on the weekend, I'm at work. I have Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays off. On Tuesdays, Angry Toddler has The Little Gym, and on Thursdays, I had run club. My run club is out of service for the next few months. I should get a little break until early fall.

I bought Angry Toddler a baseball and a mit last week from Target. We've been taking a sports class through the city for the past month. He still doesn't quite get the throw and catch thing, but we are working on it.

I also got Angry Toddler a new big-boy bicycle. I bought it used from Marisa, whom I met through Twitter actually. Angry Husband's best friend, Eric, was trying to teach Angry Toddler how to ride a 2-wheeler last week. Angry Toddler is doing pretty good. He knows how to use the brakes now. We aren't quite ready to take off the training wheels though.

I went to a Tweet-Up last week at a local restaurant. We talked about our websites, blogs, and Twitter. I met some cool new people. I also learned about TweetChat, as I was complaining about TweetDeck. I go to these meet-ups because I do genuinely like people. Some people in my "normal" life do not get the whole blogging, Twitter thing. Even my own mother is confused by it, but really she can't even check her own e-mail.

Yesterday, Angry Toddler and I started getting a cold. I think it's something to do with the weather and possibly that Angry Husband has had the dogs inside the house all week. My allergies are driving me crazy. Angry Toddler was up all night coughing last night.

Today, I got up extra early and ran the Magic Shoe 5K run. I trained for this run with my favorite people from lululemon's run club. I will have that race report, tomorrow, or the next day.

Maybe, we can get some sunshine here in So. Cal tomorrow. Angry Husband has some things to do all day, so it's just Angry Toddler and me.

Laguna Hills Memorial Day 5K Race Report

On Monday, I did the Laguna Hills Memorial Day 5K with my running pal, Monique. They also had a 1/2 Marathon going on at the same time. I worked the night before, and forgot to put in to leave early. Ooops, epic fail! I was lucky and got to leave at 1:30am, which put me in bed at 2:15ish. I had to wake up at 5:45am which equals good times.

Monique and I parked in the parking structure near the race start. We both got strange looks on our faces. Why? Because the structure was completely empty. We've done this race several years. It is usually a huge race. We gathered ourselves and headed to the starting area. I immediately noticed that there was a very small amount of people there. I immediately told Monique, "LA Marathon". This is the first year that they hosted the LA Marathon on Memorial Day. I know that there was several protests about this change of date for the Marathon.

I wore my Nike Tempo Shorts, a Nike LiveSTRONG dri-FIT tank, a lululemon sports bra, and my pink Asics GT 2130's (discontinued for the GT 2140's) for the race. I'm thinking pink is going to my signature race color. It works for me. Note to self: must buy more PINK!

Had to have the Angry Julie full-body picture..

Our official pre-race photo. We do it every race.

Overall the run went pretty well. My Garmin dropped at 1.75 miles. It lost satellite signal. I was able to track the time but I lost my pace time and my total mileage. At least I got it off the format that it was stuck on for 2 weeks. I also used a new sunscreen. I've used it before during running. I had no problems with it. Of course, at Mile 3, at the very end..I got the pouring down my face, into my eyes, burning sensation. That was good times, standing over the trash can pouring water on my face.

My finish time was not as great as I wanted. Sigh. I did PR by 14 seconds from my last race, earlier in May. I ran this race last year at 35:15, this year my time was 32:01. That's got to be some kind of improvement, right? After the race, we walked around the Expo. They had all kinds of goodies for us to buy. We also had to have some photo opportunities with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

San Clemente Beach Trail, A Breezy Run

This is the second time that I've ran the San Clemente Beach Trail. It's a little over 5 miles if you run/walk/jog it both ways. I ran it with my friend, Pesha, and her adorable daughter, Charlie. We loaded Charlie up in my Bob Revolution Stroller, and went our way. Note to self, must add air to tires in stroller. It works much better with pumped up tired.

The beginning of the trail was a bit crowded. There are some boot camps that utilize the trail for their programs, and the women were stretching or finishing their cool downs. There were all kinds of strollers parked around the area. It was a bit congested, almost like the 91 Freeway during traffic time. I did roll my eyes a little. Pesha and my BFF, Stacey, know about my little contention with San Clemente and the "mommy crowd". I like to call it a little cult that they have on their "Island of SC". Ironically, I was wearing a USC Football hat to run in, totally not planned, yet a very bad hair day.

We started trotting on the trail. Every few minutes, Pesha would be waving to someone or another. Why, because she knows everyone. Just like, Stacey, they know everyone. I had to giggle about this, just a little. We passed all kinds of people, and I had to comment, as usual. I like to provide my commentary to Pesha while running. It keeps us entertained, and perhaps a little distracted from what we were actually doing, running. I laughed at the mommies with normal strollers trying to run. I don't get it..."I want to say hon, I know you have a brand new baby and you are trying to get fit..but really the $700 stroller was meant for the mall, not off-roading." Then there were the guys running with their shirts off. A bit bold, I may say. Some men just need to keep their shirts on. I understand that you may have the abs to take the shirt off, but sometimes along with the abs comes a little, um manscaping. I'm sorry but I get really creeped out by the over-abundance of chest hair on men, and/or even worse, weird chest hair patterns. Like when the chest hair starts creeping over to the shoulder area. Not so appealing.

While we were running we were provided with a gorgeous view. It makes things a lot easier. We discussed children, husbands, married, fitness, you name it. That's why I like to run with friends. It makes everything easier. Plus you get can some free therapy.

We finished the trail and a very nice breeze came along. Perfect for wicking off that sweat. Yes, people, Angry Julie sweats. I can't always be perfect. Charlie was begging to go on the swings. We obliged. The poor girl was trapped in a stroller for 5 miles, and had to hear all of our ranting.

I asked one of the many "mommies" near by to take our picture. Mostly to show my husband some proof, that yes, I actually went for a trail run today. Plus, why not. The day was beautiful. The "mommy" asked if something about Charlie being in the swing, and if she was ok. Pesha and I both did some type of shrug with our shoulders, and said she will be fine. Seasoned parents we are. The kid will be fine. Just take our picture. Why? Because the parents are never in the pictures, always the kids. The parents are too busy taking the pictures.

Pesha is on some of tennis addiction right now. But she has agreed that it's kinda good to do this Beach Trail Run. I think we are going to try and do it more frequently if children, sickness, maids, bank deposits, surgeries, car accidents, or anything else doesn't get in the way.

Race Report: PCRF "Reaching for the Cure"

On Sunday, I participated in the Pediatric Cancer Foundation's "Reaching for the Cure" run. I did the 5K with a friend, Ris, whom I met through my run club. Everyone in the run club did various distances, some did the 5K, 10K, and even a 1/2 Marathon. We had been training for this race for 10 weeks.


I got to the parking structure of the Irvine Spectrum around 6:45am. I got there just in time, because there was a huge line of cars behind me. I was able to collect myself. I put the timing chip on my shoe, my race bib on my run club tank top, and tightened my shoe laces. I then drank my breakfast, yep liquid for me. It's always best to follow your normal breakfast routine for race days. My breakfast usually consists of one of these items: Muscle Milk, Kirkland Weight Loss Shakes (generic Slimfast from Costco), Yogurt with Flax Seed, and Oatmeal. I try to avoid dairy on race days, so I consumed a Muscle Milk Light. And I wanted some caffeine, so I did something I usually don't do before a race...I drank a Monster..


I met up with my girls at 7am, and we walked to the starting line. We took some cute pictures and got ourselves prepped for the race with some stretching, etc. Everyone went to the bathroom in those lovely porta-potties, except Angry Julie. This was a total epic fail that would haunt me later...

The half marathon started at 7am, so we weren't able to witness their start. But the 10K was starting at 7:45am, and my 5K was starting at 7:50am. Ris and I started off the race with a good start. We were pacing at mid 8's, which was perfect for us. I knew that we were at around the 1 mile mark so I looked down at my Garmin. Apparently, my Garmin had a mind of it's own and somehow changed modes. It was now on some kind of training mode, and I did not know how to get it to it's original mode. Ack! I had to pay attention to running so I stop focusing on the Garmin. At least I could look at my splits. We hit mile 2 and did a little loop around. Ris and I were pacing with the Orange County Sheriff's Department recruits. They were singing a cadence and running at a perfect pace. The weather was perfect and everything was right on track for us to finish under 30 minutes. Then all of the sudden, I freaked. I had to go to the bathroom. I had to pee. And I had to pee bad. I've never had this issue during a race ever. I didn't even think about going to the bathroom before the race. I should have known after drinking all of that fluid. I tried to hold it in and keep up with my pace. I couldn't do it and slowed down. I had to walk for a tiny bit otherwise I was going to burst. I would do this in patterns, walk a little, run a little.

I could see the finish line ahead of me. I still had that incredible urge to pee. I put on the speed and proceeded to the finish. I kept going after going through the finish line. They were asking me for my timing chip, but I ignored them and kept running. I ran all the way to the porta-potties. I barely made it there. What a relief!

After going to the bathroom, I went back to the finish line and gave them my timing chip. After dropping off my chip, I realized that there was no water and the finish line. Seriously, I'm really getting tired of these races where you have to hunt down the water at the end. Don't these people realize that runners are expecting water at the end? After meeting up with the everyone from our group at the finish, we went and hunted down the water. We had to stand in a huge line to get water and fruit. Everyone kept cutting into the line, and it was really annoying. This was like 30 minutes after we had finished the race. Yes, that is how long it took for us to get water.

After getting our water and walking around, we headed to the Beer Garden. For $10 we received two Tecates and a burrito from Wahoo's. I'm not one for beer after running, so I had a few sips. I did stay for a bit and enjoyed the company. Everyone was able to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Here's a photo I took of Doris and Tammy, enjoying the Beer Garden.



I learn something new every time I run a race. It may be something big, or something small. These are the things that I learned from this race.

1. Go to the bathroom before the race. Even if you feel like you don't need to go, go anyway.
2. Not wearing my moisturizer with sunscreen made my run much better. I usually get burning around my eyes from the sunscreen in my moisturizer. I did not have any problems with it.
3. Learn how to properly work my Garmin. Know all the functions and how to change them.

It was a great end to my running club. I can't wait for the next event.

Wordless Wednesday: After The Race

Joining a Run Club

I am not new to running. I've been doing it off and on for the past few years. When I had Angry Toddler, I slowed down a little. I totally regret that. I should have been running more during that time. Running would have really helped alleviate the stress in my life of having a reflux-y baby.

I've been pretty dedicated to running lately though. Why? Cause it's easy, free, and you don't need a partner to run. But like everyone else, sometimes I felt that my running routine got a little boring.

In February, my 24-Lift instructor, Doris, mentioned that a running club was starting at lululemon. She said that it would be on Thursday nights and that they would be training for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundations "Reaching for a Cure" Race. I figured why not and showed up. I only knew Doris, and no one else at the running club. I don't think I had ever stepped inside lululemon.

We started by splitting our groups up into 5K or 10K runs. They were a variety of people and everyone had different running backgrounds. Some people were beginners, and some people were advanced. Every Thursday, I do 24-Lift in the morning. I was still sore that night. I knew that there was no way that I would be able to do my Lift class and then run 6.2 miles later that day. I stuck with the 5K group. Because we started the group before Daylight Savings Time, it got dark outside about 15 minutes into our run. Some of us wore lovely headlights to guide our path. We were running during prime traffic time. We wanted to make sure that the cars saw us.

We ran the same path every week for 10 weeks. It was a great path, that included 2 pretty steep hills. I was able to make it all 10 weeks without an absence. Not everyone made it every week, but people made it most weeks. We chatted about what had been going on in our life while we were trying to focus on running. This made things go much faster.

Last week was our last week of run club. I was kind sad about it ending. This was something I had to look forward to every week. We got some great t-shirts from lululemon for our run and took some pictures. On Saturday night, we had a pasta night at the store also. They have some great people that work there.

On Sunday, we all headed out to the Irvine Spectrum and ran the PCRF Run. Some people ran the 5K, some ran the 10K, and we even had one run the 1/2 Marathon. We then all headed to the beer garden after the race and celebrated.

I will do a race report tomorrow to specifically talk about the race.

I would have never thought to join a "run club". It was a great experience. After talking to everyone at the beer garden, I think they are going to start another run club soon. I think we are going to take a break for a few weeks though. Angry Husband will be happy because he will get to hang out with his friends even earlier on Thursday nights.

Here are some other Orange County Running Clubs if you are interested in try one out:

Cal Coast Track Club
Orange County Track Club
Run Club at NikeWomen, Various locations throughout Orange County (contact store)
Snail's Pace Running Club
South Coast Roadrunners

Today

This is my day!

6am-11am Working. I'm here right now.

I'm going to try and get a pedicure right after work. Let's see if I have time.

1pm-3pm. A children's birthday party at Prehistoric Pets. It's for Adonis, one of my besties. Her son is turning 5. Let's see if I can survive this one.

3:30pm-5:00pm. Junior League get together at a Mexican restaurant. It's to celebrate the end of our Provisional Year. YAY! I made it. I completed all my requirements and I will be an active now.

5:30pm-? Pre-Race Pasta dinner at Lululemon. I'm running the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation's "Reaching for the Cure" tomorrow!

I'm supposed to go bowling with some of my sorority sisters from college later tonight. I don't think I will have the will or strength to make it there.

I have some more posts I'm still working on.

1. I went and saw Grease on Wednesday night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
2. My race report for the PCRF.
3. Summary of being in a run club for the past 10 weeks.

Athlinks..Facebook for Athletes

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you can tell I'm a runner. I think I can finally feel comfortable calling myself that. I guess if I partake in the sport of running three or more times a week, I'm a runner, right?

I try and do at least one race a month. It keep me going and it's something to look forward to. Otherwise, I can get pretty lazy.

About a year ago, my friend, Casey, told me about this site, Athlinks. I like to think of Athlinks as a Facebook for Athletes. I was able to input my information on their site, and I pulled up races I had run up till 2002. I could see all my various times. I was also able to put future races on my calendar. You can "friends" on there also.

Per their blog:

What is Athlinks and why should I join?
Athlinks is both the largest and most complete results database for endurance races on the planet, and a fully-featured social network built specifically for the endurance athlete community.

We add well over one million results to the database each month from several thousand endurance races including running (road races, track and field, cross country), triathlon (any multi-sport), swimming, cycling (TTs and crits), mountain biking and more.

Athlinks is not just another place to park your blog. The community features are deeply integrated with and built on top of your race results. Track and communicate with training partners, club and team members, favorite vendors and more.

You can contact me through e-mail to get my info to add me as a friend on Athlinks!

Carlsbad 5000 Race Report 2009 Edition

We left Orange County around 7:30am to drive to Carlsbad. Carlsbad is in San Diego County, so it was about a one hour drive. The drive is not to bad because most of the time you get an ocean view from the Freeway. Plus I wasn't driving, Monique was. We ended up parking on a side street a few blocks away from the race start.

We were able to walk around the vendors and even check out some of the races that had started earlier. Our start time was not until 10:20am, because we were in the 30-39 age group. There were so many people that they had to divide everyone into different groups with various start times. Additionally, we had to work around the train schedules. There were 8,609 registered runners for the race.

It finally got to our race time. The sun had popped out and was blazing down on us. I hit mile 1 and was looking up thinking, what the hell? I was very tired from running Seal Beach the day before. It really hit me at mile 2, how sore I was. I kept looking forward to street signs and cars. I kept thinking, "If I make it to this street sign, or red car, I'm good." I finished with a decent time, not my best, but hey I finished.

I waited at the end of the race for my friends, Monique and Anna. They were not far behind me. Plus, we needed to take some end of race photographs.

I wore another running skirt for the race. Do you did the cheetah print? It was from runningskirts.com, along with the tank top too. I wore running skirts for races a lot last year, they are very comfortable.

My next race is in May. It's the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, "Reaching for the Cure". I'm running this one with my run club that I do on Thursday nights.

That's the end of my race report. I hope it was eventful for you..

Seal Beach 5K

Today my friend, Monique, participated in the Seal Beach 5K run. This was my first time doing this race, but Monique has done it several times. I was unfamiliar with the course, and I did not know what to expect next. We had to leave for the race early, because parking can be kind of hard down in Seal Beach. It's also very difficult to parallel park my HUGE Tahoe.

We arrived and started walking to the starting line. There were people just hanging out. I mentioned to Monique that there weren't that many people there. Yea, well all of the sudden people appeared from everywhere.

We started the run and we were off. I keep a good pace for the first two miles and then I lost my energy. I kept going but I was not finding my second wind. I finished with a PR, I was almost a minute faster than my last race. I could have done better if I hadn't hit the wall at mile 2.

I wore one of my favorite shirts at the race, my Nike Human Race shirt, and a black athletic running skirt from running skirts dot com. I wore running skirts for a few races last year. They are quite comfortable.

After getting cleaned up, we headed down to Carlsbad to get our race packets for the Carlsbad 5000, tomorrow's race.

We took (2) pictures while we were in Seal Beach. Hopefully we can get a ton more tomorrow. Monique and I kinda lost each other at the finish line.

Speedwork with Chihuahuas

I always need to get a little running in. I can't spend all my time running on a treadmill.

I have Run Club on Thursday nights, but I try and run at least 2-3 other times a week. I probably need to run more this week cause of all the Girl Scout Cookies I'm consuming.

My dogs have been very bored lately. And they are getting a little fat. They are kind of lazy like the rest of the people in my house. I think the only one in the house who has energy is Angry Toddler. So about two weeks ago, I started taking them on really long walks/runs. I usually do about 3 miles. I loop around the lake near my house.

Well today I thought I would do some speedwork. I would run from stop sign to stop sign. Then we would walk a block and run a block. I got some interesting looks from people driving by. They probably thought, "Why is this chick running with (2) 12 pound dogs?" Because I can. The dogs love it. It's soo funny to watch their little legs trying to keep up with me. It really tires them out too.

The dogs have had to wear bark collars almost daily for a year now. They were barking constantly and we had Animal Control come out to our house. Luckily, I used to work with the Animal Control Officer. My neighbors were tired of the barking. Ever since I've been doing these walk/runs with them, the dogs are silent. They take really long naps after our jaunts.

I would post some pictures of Bruiser and Wolfie, but they need to be groomed really bad right now. Bruiser is a Maltese/Chihuahua mix and has the funniest hair. He needs to be shaved down badly. Wolfie just needs a slight trim.

So if you see my running around Orange County with the doggies, wave and laugh to yourself. Cause remember, a dog doesn't have to be eighty pounds to run with you.

Upcoming Races

I've only done one official race this year which was the Surf City USA 5K. That was on the first weekend of February. I decided to be a little proactive and sign up for some races for the months coming up.

Here's what I signed up for:

April 4th-35th Annual Seal Beach 5K
April 5th-Carlsbad 5000
May 25th-Laguna Hills Memorial Day 5K

and I'm currently debating these races:

March 15th-Coaster Run 5K
September 6th-2009 Disneyland Half Marathon

I'm on the fence for two races, both on May 3rd.

PCRF's Cinco de Mayo Run "Reaching for the Cure" 5K and
the AVIA OC Half Marathon

My running club is training for the PCRF Cinco de Mayo Run. And my gals from the Junior League are going to do the AVIA OC Half Marathon for fundraising also. I'm soo torn. I haven't been training much for the 1/2 marathon. I was going to do my first half marathon at Disney in September. Angry Husband told me to do the Half Marathon since all the girls are really excited about. They are making t-shirts and everything.

I can't wait for Daylight Savings next weekend. I'm going to try and do some more running at night. Maybe I can even get Angry Toddler to sit in the jogging stroller, right....

Oh, and I'm a member of athlinks. Have you all heard about athlinks? Athlinks is like a Facebook for athletes. It tracks all your races and race times. It's very cool to see how much I've improved in the past few years. My friend, Casey, got my hooked on it. She's training for her first triathalon. Go Casey!

P.S. The photo above was from the SBSD Mud Run. This is one of my favorite race photos ever!

Surf City USA Race Report

I have received lots of comments asking about my race report from last weekend. I did the Surf City USA 5K last Sunday, February 1st. I've been soo tired this week and just didn't feel like posting. I'm back to work so I will be more post-y this weekend.

Monique and I departed for the race at about 6am. The race started at 7:15. We wanted to get there a little early since it was a Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, and Kid's Race. My mom gave me the gate opener for their place in Huntington Beach. We didn't have to look for parking. I parked the car and had to arrange all my gadgets. Seriously, I was just running, technically all I would need is shoes, right? I had to have my ipod shuffle, and my Garmin. Monique was pissed cause she forgot her ipod. There's nothing worse than running without music. I can't stand listening to other people's grunting and groaning. I know alot of races prohibit headphones now though.



I decided to suck it up and leave my jacket in the car. I hate running with things tied around my waist. It was really cold outside, ok so like 50 degrees. That is cold to me. We walked up Main St. and waited for our race to start. The Half Marathon peeps started earlier and we were able to cheer them on as they ran past us. Our 5K start line was their 1 mile mark.




We started the race off great! I had an awesome pace. I was chugging away until I got to mile 2-ish. We had to do a loop around and bam, everyone crowded up. It was soo hard to get around people. Everyone was walking or heading towards the water table. I seriously had to zig zag around everyone. I got so frustrated, which slowed me down.

I got my best time ever, by 2 minutes. But I had a time in my head that I really wanted. Next time, I guess. It was a great first race of the year though. I'm glad that it did not get rained out like last year.

Went Shopping This Week

I haven't been shopping with my mom since early December. I was trying to be good and I really didn't need anything. I'm trying to be a little more practical, and a little less dependent on my mom's funds..

We went to Macy's and I got some Nike running gear on sale. I got two shirts at 50% off after the sale price and a coupon. One of the shirts matches a pair of Nike Tempo shorts that I already have.

We then went to Nordstrom. This is my favorite department store in the mall. I got some more Nike Tempo shorts in bright pink and bright blue, plus this fabulous jacket. I needed, ok wanted a sleeker jacket to put on after running and/or going to the gym.



After walking around the mall, I decided to step into J Crew. I haven't been inside J Crew since my early college days. To be honest, I was a little too chunky to wear J Crew. J Crew is the land of all things preppy. Of course, I came across these fabulous critter wedge flip flops.


and my mom found these in her size:



I tried on this tee while there also. It was soo soft and very cute on. But I couldn't justify the price. I knew that I could find a tee just as soft at Gap or somewhere else.



I finished off my shopping by looking at Gucci. I found this purse and instantly fell in love. It's the perfect size for me now. I've eliminated alot of stuff from my purse and I really don't need a big purse anymore. This one was the perfect size. It's called the D Gold Hobo Large....swoon I'm in love! I had one of those I can look, but don't touch moments. Ok, maybe I put my wallet in it, to see if it fit..it did.



Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring a Gucci?

Gearing Up for my First Race

My first race of the season is this Sunday. I'm doing the Surf City 5K in Huntington Beach. Yes, I'm only doing the 5K. I am working my way up to a 1/2 Marathon. If I would have trained more, I probably would have been ready by now.

Everyone around me who runs keeps asking me, "Are you doing Surf City?" I respond with yes, and then they say, "the 1/2 Marathon, right? I say, "Nope, just the 5K". Then they give me that look.

I've been running alot over the past year. I haven't done a road race since last September-ish though. I've kinda turned into a race snob. I made a vow to my running friends, that I will only do races now with timing chips. I made this vow after seeing the times on like 3 races last year. My official time was off between 2-3 minutes for every race. I knew my real times, and it shouldn't really matter, but it did to me.

I don't know when my next race is after that though. I haven't decided yet.

I got a 4 mile run in today with my friend, Pesha. We ran around my neighborhood. It was quite frustrating though, cause we have lots of traffic signals. She brought her adorable daughter, Charlie, with her. We discussed The Real Housewives of Orange County while running. What a train wreck that episode was last night.

I'm trying to figure out the weather for this weekend. Should I wear pants or shorts. I really can't stand running in pants. I was going to do this race last year...but I kinda broke my foot the week of the race. It was a good thing that I didn't pre-register for it. Especially since it was pouring rain also.

A little late, but here are the 2009 Resolutions

It's been quite hectic around the Angry household. Angry Toddler was out of preschool from December 24th, until yesterday, the 5th. Angry Husband and I are still trying to recover from it all. Today was the first time, I had some time to myself. I thought I would finally sit down and blog some resolutions.

1. Finally, lose the last 40 lbs. I have 40 lbs. to my goal weight.
2. Run at least 3x a week. If the weather is crappy, I will have to treadmill it.
3. Run a 1/2 Marathon. This kind of goes with #2.
4. Ditch the caffeine. I have a serious addiction to Monster Energy drinks.
5. Blog at least one time a day.
6. Not go overboard on buying clothing for Angry Toddler. Another bad addiction.
7. Take some kind of Family Vacation. We need it.
8. To be more organized at home and work. It's gotten chaotic and it's driving my OCD crazy
9. To pay off some of our debt.
10. To be less Angry. Although that is kind of a personality trait. I can try, right?

Treadmills and Toys

I had the repair company come out today to look at my treadmill. The repairman told me that the rear roller, walking belt, and computer board need to be replaced on it. Apparently, this is a come issue with this particular Precor model. I had to pay $110 for the diagnosis. Ugh... So I called Precor and asked them about this "upgrade". The Precor representative advised me that they (Precor) will pay for the parts and labor issue for this issue. So I call the treadmill repair company back. They tell me, that yes, Precor, will cover the labor, but not for the initial consultation.

Ya, ok that makes sense. I pay $110 for a consultation, to diagnose a common issue with this particular issue. So ridiculous. Luckily, it will only cost me $100 to get it up and running.

I then received my Amazon order. I must have not been paying attention when I placed my order the other day. I ordered (2) of one of my items. So I have to mail back this huge box, at an additional cost to me, for an item that had free shipping originally.