running | - Part 2

Oakland Half Marathon Training

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Beth

I just finished Week 3 of my training plan for the Oakland Half Marathon. The first two weeks were a little abbreviated because I strained something in my left foot. Luckily, I seem to have put that to rest, and week 3 was terrific. (You can follow me on DailyMile here) I’m loosely following this Cool Running intermediate half marathon training plan. I used their beginner plan with great success for my first half marathon. I’m running 5 days a week instead of 6, but doing slightly more mileage for my long run. This week’s long run was meant … Continue reading →

How to Run Faster: Chase Speedy Friends

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Beth

Earlier this week I posted this picture to facebook. Despite the fact that I ran a 5k PR just last month, my runs since then have been slow. I’ve mostly been running 6+ miles at a time, and taking it easy. So it was nice to see a sub 10 minute pace on my Garmin after a 3 mile run. I wasn’t dying to hold the pace. My heart wasn’t pounding in my ears. I was just out for an easy 3 miler, and the 9:23 pace just happened. I was pleased. Then yesterday I drove out towards Walnut Creek … Continue reading →

A Runner's Christmas Tree

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Beth

At home in Boston, there are three little glass Christmas trees. One is filled with M&Ms, one with Hershey’s kisses, and one with starburst mints. They’ve been filled every year that I can remember. And also every year, someone has tried to sneak some M&Ms out of the glass tree. It makes an awful lot of noise though; it’s basically its own candy thief alarm. My parents tell me that when I was little, I called M&Ms “some toos” as in, “please give me some too!” Supposedly I could hear M&Ms being removed from their little glass Christmas tree and … Continue reading →

Race Recap: Walnut Creek 5k

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Beth

The short version: 24:53!! The long version is significantly longer, but I had to start with my time. I got my 24, with six seconds to spare. Race morning was very cold, and I drove over to Walnut Creek with lots of different outfit options. I found parking easily (something that never gets old coming from Boston), and jogged over to the start line to get the lay of the land. I was parked only a quarter mile from the start, and there were plenty of porta-potties, but very few people at the 5k start an hour before the race. … Continue reading →

Walnut Creek 5k

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Beth

I’m running another 5k this Saturday. It will be my third 5k of this fall/winter running season. I ran the Walnut Festival 5k in September and the Mermaid Run San Francisco 5k in November. It’s really no secret that I have a specific goal in mind for the 5k distance, and we’re closing in on the end of 2011. This will almost certainly be my last race of the season. As my knee has gotten better, I’ve recommitted both to workouts and to tracking the workouts. My weekly mileage on Daily Mile has steadily climbed. (That 15 miles is so … Continue reading →

CIM Spectating

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Beth

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 4am. I grabbed some coffee and toast with peanut butter and packed my bag full of warm clothes, water, moleskin, larabars and gu. Sounds like any normal race day morning, but I wasn’t the least bit nervous. I wasn’t running; I was spectating! (thanks for the photo, Jana!) Jana picked me up at 5am, and we headed up to Sacramento. The drive went by so quickly! We had a few adventures along the way in search of a gas station and Starbucks, but we finally found both after a brief, but luckily uneventful … Continue reading →

Timed Mile PR!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Beth

My first time attending the Berkeley Lululemon run club was back in March, right after the Oakland half marathon. Only four of us ran that day, and we went up to the dirt track and did a timed mile. My legs were still pretty trashed, and every step of that mile that I tried to sprint felt heavy and uncomfortable. I finished in 9:42, which was far, far away from what I felt like a good mile time should be. When we got back to the store four miles later, we wrote down our 2011 running goals. Coming off my … Continue reading →

Jamestown, Rhode Island

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Beth

It’s been a whirlwind trip starting with a delayed redeye flight that got me from San Francisco to Boston. From Logan, my dad brought J and I home where I started cooking vegan mushroom gravy, vegetarian stovetop stuffing, and drank mug after mug of cranberry tea. After Thanksgiving with my family, which was as hilarious and wonderful as I’d hoped (there are no pictures. I cannot cook and laugh and take photos simultaneously, apparently), I went down to Jamestown, Rhode Island to spend some time with J and his family. Jamestown is the most beautiful island, and I went on … Continue reading →

Race Recap: Mermaid Run San Francisco 5k

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Beth

What a gorgeous day for a race. When I got there at 6:30 it was still chilly and foggy, but the fog burned off and it warmed up just enough to be a perfect running day. The race started at 8, but I pulled into the parking lot at 6:30, still needing to pick up my bib and not wanting to be stressed out by getting lost or not being able to park. The parking was nearly a mile away from the race, so I was glad to have plenty of time to park, collect my stuff, and head back … Continue reading →

Mermaid Run San Francisco 5k: 3rd Place Age Group!

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Beth

I didn’t get my 24, but I did finish 3rd in my age group out of 61! This is my first age group place ever, and it took the sting out of the 25 in front of my time. Race recap to come soon, but the Mermaid Run San Francisco 5k was a wonderful race! Well organized, great swag and lots of fun. Thanks to Alisyn for being my photographer!

a bicoastal adventure

Tag Archives: running