Baby We Were Born to Run

Not exactly a sentiment I would have used to describe myself a year ago. In the water, I've always been a fish. On land, you wouldn't exactly call me a gazelle. I used to run a mile here or there while in law school (I especially enjoyed listening to music on my Walkman - think early 90s archaic 6-inch boxes that played cassette tapes), but me, run any type of distance? Yea, right. I'd just as soon eat a bunch of bananas (for those of you who don't really know me, that is my ultimate gag food).

Something about being in Rough-Fit for the past 2 years has slowly changed my mind about running. When I first started, I could not run the entire loop around the Tustin Sports Park (about .8 of a mile). Now we routinely do 1.5-2 miles per class. And the Friday morning class? Pure running, 4-5 miles.

Up until the past few months, I still didn't really enjoy running with the Rough-Fit folks. Problem is, nobody was my speed so I always ended up running all by myself. I'm a super slow runner, but my pace never wavers, so I can never catch up to the faster runners in class, nor do I allow myself to slow down to join the walkers. Which is fine, but when you've heard "Levon" for the 80th time on your Ipod, it gets a little old.

Enter Claudine. Claudine has been with Rough-Fit for a while, but for whatever reason our workout paths never crossed. As we discovered on a Friday run a couple of months ago, Claudine and I are almost exactly the same speed when it comes to running (note I said running; if I were to compare talking speed, she would whoop me several times over - must be that whole New Jersey, Italian thing she's got going on, lol). We started running together in class, and meeting on Wednesday afternoons for the past month or so to train together for the Silver Strand Half Marathon that went forward this past Sunday in Coronado, CA. Now I finally understand the importance of having a good training partner, especially one who routinely makes you grab your gut to stop from laughing while trying to properly breathe during a run. The Friday runs and training runs simply flew by (more or less) because we just gabbed the whole way. Never in a million years did I think I could ever run without music pulsing into my ears. For our longest training run prior to the half (over 10 miles), I didn't listen to music at all. Who cares if I even did the half at that point - that was enough of an accomplishment for me!

On Saturday night (right after the Yo Gabba Gabba excitement), Norm and I left Lauren at home with his parents (who have been visiting from New Jersey), and drove to Coronado for the night. We met up with Claudine and her boyfriend Terry for dinner at a really great Italian restaurant on the island to load up on protein and carbs before our race.

Here we are before digging into our mushroom papardelle pasta with huge scallops, yum!:


After dinner, before calling it a night so we could rest up for our 13.1 mile journey:


The day of the race dawned crisp and beautiful. Despite the ribbing from Norm and Terry about our "matching" outfits (trust me, using the word "ribbing" for Norm's comments is putting it mildly), we were pumped for this new experience, along with a couple of thousand other folks (who thank goodness were waaay more laid back than the psycho-athletes I had to deal with at the triathlon back in July).


While the last few miles of the race were a bit tough (I needed to pull out my Ipod at mile 10), overall it was not nearly as difficult or painful as I thought it was going to be. I would venture to say it was even kind of fun - yes! The conditions were so perfect - about 69 degrees and sunny with a cool ocean breeze), and the course was completely flat with stunning ocean scenery. While at the time, I said it was something I could now cross off my bucket list, I actually would consider making this particular race an annual event.

After dropping me off at the race start, Norm drove to park the car at Imperial Beach (the finish), and then surfed his little heart out while I ran. He and Terry waited for us at the finish to cheer us on. I have to admit, it was really nice to have the support at the end and I'm glad we got to share the experience together.

Here's the shot Norm captured about 100 yards from the finish:


With Rosy, another Rough-Fit member we started the run with and saw along the way (she finished 15 minutes ahead of us, but who's counting?):


The training for the past 6 weeks or so was a bit time consuming and I've certainly had my share of little aches and pains, but overall I truly can't complain. My body held up and came through for me when I needed it to (of course, the at-home massages I treated myself to a couple of weeks in advance of the race and 2 nights afterwards helped tremendously too, I'm sure!)

Now I just need to identify my next fitness goal. What? Did I really just say that? Stay tuned . . . . . . . . .