Tag Archives: 5K

Being A Spectator (or Watching And Not Wanting To Do The Marathon)

Posted on March 18, 2015 | 1 comment

This weekend was the LA marathon, and again, I watched a lot of it from my house (it didn’t help that we were having a crazy heat wave).

I’ve previously talked about how in the past I thought that maybe one day I would do a marathon but how I no longer have that desire. I always thought that a marathon was the ultimate thing to do to prove that I’m in better shape than I was before. But I don’t feel like that is the truth anymore.

I was up right after the start of the marathon and watched it live on the news for a good portion of the beginning. I even got to watch the winner cross the finish line.

The marathon starts at Dodgers Stadium and then ends up at the ocean. But part of the course was only about a 10 minute drive from my house. And since I knew a few people running the marathon, I decided to head out and watch the runners for a little while.

I was handing out between mile 19 and 20, so a lot of the racers were starting to look a little tired (plus the heat wasn’t helping).

I think that almost everyone I knew running the race passed where I was before I got there. But I still was cheering on for random people running by. There were runners who were barefoot, wearing crazy costumes, dribbling a basketball the entire time, and blind racers tethered to a guide.

After watching the racers for a while, I saw a somewhat familiar face run past where I was standing. It was Rachel from “The Biggest Loser”. I knew that she had gained some weight back after the finale (she looked much better after not being so incredibly skinny), and she looked pretty great running down Santa Monica Blvd.

I also saw one of my favorite authors running the race. I knew she was running because she posted about it on her Instagram, but it was still pretty exciting to see her! I cheered for her, but she was super focused and didn’t hear me (I told her on twitter that I cheered and she thought that that was pretty cool).

While it was inspiring for me to watch the runners, it made me realize that I have no desire to ever do a marathon anymore. I’m happy with doing a couple of 5Ks each year (it looks like I might only be doing 2 or 3 this year). And maybe one day I’ll do a 10K. But I see no reason to do a longer race than that.

I’ve talked about this before about how in the past I looked at 5Ks as a primary source of exercise. Now that I have a regular workout routine, I look at the races as bonuses and not necessary to try to get in shape.

I feel such a sense of relief that I don’t feel the pressure to ever do a marathon. I’m more than happy to go out and support people I know doing a marathon (I’ll probably try to get a group together for next year’s LA marathon and have a bunch of people cheering). It’s a huge accomplishment and everyone who did race should be insanely proud of themselves.

But it’s nice to know that I don’t feel like I’m missing out on something by not doing a marathon.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, book nerd, marathon, race, support, The Biggest Loser

What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 5 comments

Now that I’ve reflected back on my 2014 goals and how well I accomplished them, I really thought hard about what I want my 2015 goals to be. I think I’ve got a good list going for this year and I’m excited to see how well I get them done over the next year.

My first goal is workout related. I want to get 175 workouts done in 2015. That’s pretty much 3-4 workouts every week of the year. I’m not allowing myself workout vacation time (even though my dad did suggest it). I’m sure a majority of the 175 workouts will be at Orangetheory. I have every intention of going at least 3 times a week (and trying to add in a 4th day every other week). But I’m also going to include any 5Ks that I chose to do this year as well as other fitness classes (SoulCycle and maybe trying yoga again). I will also consider including hiking, but I don’t think I’ll have a lot of hiking days except when I get to Tahoe in the summer.

My next goal is a food goal. I want to have home cooked dinners at least 4 times a week. Since I started bulk cooking, I’ve been eating something home cooked most weeknights. I usually prepare food for 4 nights and then on weekends I’m out. And many times on Tuesdays or Thursdays (when I don’t workout after my day job) I don’t necessarily eat dinner. I’ll have a big late breakfast (since my shift doesn’t start until 10am) and then have another bigger meal around 4 or 5pm. Both of those meals are home cooked, but I don’t know if it counts as dinner. So I’m saying home cooked dinners 4 nights a week. If I do more than that, all the better for me.

Next is a day job goal. I want to be down to 2 main day jobs (not counting babysitting or running the film festival). Right now, I have 1 main day job and 6 sporadic jobs. I don’t make enough each week (to the point that I’m still collecting unemployment to make up for the fact that I don’t make enough to not be eligible anymore) and this needs to end. I’m enjoying my box office from home job and if I made enough doing that job I’d be so happy. But I don’t think that will be a reality even with the raise we are supposed to get this year. And while I love being able to make some extra money babysitting, I don’t see that as something that will make enough to make up for what I’m lacking. So I need to find one more steady day job that has regular hours to help me make enough to pay all my bills comfortably. There is a chance to make the film festival another main day job, but there is no guarantee with that.

And I’ve made this a goal in the past, but I really want to get into an improv class this year. I think that now that I feel secure with my day job and have a steady schedule with it, I will be able to pick out a class time that will work for me. I’m working on saving up the money for the class right now.

Again, another repeat goal from last year, but I’d like to travel again this year. I have a trip to Napa planned in 2 months and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is a possibility of another New York trip in the fall this year. I don’t know if I’ll have any other trips (besides visiting my parents or grandparents) but 2 trips in one year sounds wonderful to me!

And my final goal which is a goal every year is to keep blogging. Not just on here, but on other sites as well. I freelance on two blogs and I’ve written a few guest posts on other sites. I had no idea when I started this blog how important and therapeutic writing would become for me. It’s an amazing journal of the past few years of my life and I love going back and reading some of my old posts to remind me how far I’ve come. And I can’t wait to track 2015 the same way.

So those are my main goals for 2015. And in a year, I’ll let you all know how I did with them.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

Tagged 2015, 5K, acting, blogging, bulk cooking, goals, job, Orangetheory, resolutions, travel

Reflecting Back On 2014 (or How I Did With My Goals)

Posted on December 31, 2014 | 1 comment

I can’t believe that 2014 is ending! It really seems like it was just a month or two ago that I was posting my goals for this year.

I just want to take some time and reflect on my year and the goals that I had set out for myself.

I really felt like 2014 was a rebuilding year for me and my family. While 2013 did have some great moments, there were also a lot of sad and stressful ones. I think of 2013 as the year that Ross and Krystle got married, that my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and my family lost two dogs. While we did technically adopt Tucker right before New Year’s Eve last year, I think of 2014 as the year he joined our family.

In 2014, so many positives happened for my family. Adopting Tucker was a big one, but the biggest was my mom being declared cancer-free. Knowing that she is ok (even though we all knew that she would be in the beginning) really has taken so much stress out of my life. I know that there are still some stressful times ahead with making sure that she stays cancer-free (and now I have annual mammograms to worry about too), but knowing that it’s all good right now just makes me so happy.

This was also a rebuilding year for me as far as my health goes. I have finally connected with a workout in a way that I had hoped for. And very recently I’ve been getting my food in a better place too. This isn’t to say that I don’t have days where I seriously struggle, but I’m taking more and more steps in the right direction.

So let’s take a look back at my goals from last year and see how I did with them.

My first goal was to continue to do 5Ks. I did 3 this year. And while that is much less than the year prior, I’m ok with that. I don’t love doing 5Ks as much as I want to, but the few races that I did do are ones that I look forward to a lot. I also got a new PR which I am very excited about!

My next goal was to make spin a regular habit. This did not happen. I stopped going to SoulCycle a while ago because I have replaced it with Orangetheory. I’m planning on going back next year every so often to spin, but I really wanted to focus on Orangetheory during the second half of this year. But since I did make exercise a regular habit, I’m declaring this goal as a partial success.

Next on my list was to track my food/exercise better. I’m still using MyFitnessPal to track my food every day. I’m much happier tracking it when I’m making smart choices. And as far as tracking my exercise, I think I’m doing pretty great at that too. It makes it easy to track my exercise in MyFitnessPal when Orangetheory tells me exactly how many calories I’m burning in each workout.

The next goal I had set was to get into an improv class. I failed to do this goal. I had every intention of getting started at UCB this year. I even purchased the book that all students are required to read. But I think the lack of stability with my job got to me. When I thought I knew when a class would fit into my schedule I would lose my job and everything changed. I’m feeling pretty stable with my current day job, but I’m still looking for something else to help me make enough each month. Once that stability is set, I think I can look into class again.

Next was pay down my debt and not add more. While I did pay down some of the debt, it was impossible to not add more this year. With some expenses having to be put on a credit card, there was no way to not add to it. But when I did have those expenses, I tried to pay off exactly what I spent by the time the bill came around.

Then I had the goal of going on another vacation. While I did go to visit my parents, those don’t seem to feel like vacations to me. They seem like getting to have family time. That’s probably because I’m either visiting them at the house I grew up in or I’m at their place in Tahoe. But I did get to go on a fabulous trip to New York with my sister-in-law this past spring. That trip was amazing and we are planning to try to go to New York again in the coming year.

My final goal for 2014 was to continue blogging. While some days are tough to come up with a topic to write about, I have maintained posting a new post Monday-Friday every week of this year. That’s a lot of posts!

All in all, even though I didn’t complete all of my goals, I think that I did a great job in trying to do them all. I’ll post my goals for 2015 tomorrow.

I hope that you all have an amazing New Year’s Eve tonight! If you chose to drink, please don’t drive. Take a taxi/Uber/Lyft to get home. Or you can call AAA for a Tipsy Tow.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

Tagged 5K, blogging, breast cancer, cancer, debt, goals, New Years, Orangetheory, recap, resolutions, vacation

Doubling Up On Pain (or Physical and Mental Pain Together)

Posted on November 12, 2014 | Comments Off

Yesterday was definitely not a good day for me. I’m still dealing with the blister issue from my 5K. It’s gotten worse and it’s starting to get painful to put my foot all the way down. I can’t really do too much for it right now because it just needs time to heal. But I’m not wearing shoes with backs on them unless I have to (like for my workouts). I’m putting as little pressure and stress on my skin as possible.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, I’m having some serious hip issues. Part of it is from the race because I pushed myself and then spent time being inactive after that (I had to babysit that evening and spent my time on the couch listening to the baby sleep). But it’s also due to weather issues and the change in pressure in the air. I’m back to regulating my pain killers like I do at times and making sure that I’m always medicated (3 of my painkillers a day equals 24 hours of being medicated).

That’s annoying to deal with, but yesterday brought on a panic attack as well.

This was one of the panic attacks that I can’t explain (I’m not going to the dentist or flying anytime soon). This wasn’t the worst one I’ve had lately, so that was good. And the timing was not bad since the attack started right after I was done with my work shift.

But it was still annoying.

I went and tried to lay down on my bed to make the dizziness stop but that seemed to make it worse. So I sat on my bed with my eyes closed and tried to focus on anything besides the feeling of impending doom and like I was about to die.

The attack ended up only lasting about 45 minutes and afterwards I was able to get back to my day (I usually am extremely exhausted after attacks so this was a nice change).

While it may sound like I’m ranting (and I am a little bit), all of this was just a reminder that most of these issues (not the blister one) are pretty much going to be with me for life. I need to be able to function while having these problems and not let them affect my day. I’m getting better doing that with my hip. But when I’m in the middle of a panic attack, I can’t do anything else yet. I just have to let it pass.

And maybe allowing myself to not do anything and let it pass is doing the exact right thing at the time. It may throw off my day a bit, but I don’t have to let it ruin it.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, health issues, hip issues, panic attack

Hard Rock Cafe 5K Take 2 (or Trying To Not Be Frustrated With A PR)

Posted on November 11, 2014 | 9 comments

This past Saturday was the Hard Rock Cafe 5K. You may remember that I PRed on this race last year. I also recently learned a lot more about the charity that this race helps out, My Friend’s Place.

I’ve never done treadmill training prior to a race before. All my walking training has been on city streets, and I don’t do that too often. It’s not super safe with traffic and the sidewalks (if there are any) aren’t too even. So for all my past races, I hadn’t training probably as much as I should.

But this time, I’ve been spending about an hour and a half each week on a treadmill (1/2 of an hour-long class 3 times a week). And while those treadmill segments have been tough on me because of all the incline work we do, I’ve never gone into a race feeling this prepared.

But I had never really been this nervous either. My last race was back in June for the Culver City 5K, and that was my worst 5K time ever. But that was also a race that I did before I started at Orangetheory.

Packet pick up on Friday was very easy. It was the same place it was last year, so I was able to get in and out in less than 10 minutes (not easy to do when you are at a major tourist attraction in Hollywood). I got home and got my bib number ready as well as a shirt that I bought just for this race.

I also went to get my usual race bag ready. When I went to grab my personal heart rate monitor, I saw this.

I haven’t used it in a while since I use the heart rate system at Orangetheory. I’m sure that all it needs is a new battery, but I wasn’t going to run around town trying to find a watch store that was still open. So I decided to download the Map My Run app on my iPhone and use that to time myself (more on that in a minute).

I set multiple alarms for 5am, because I’m always nervous that I won’t wake up. Except this time, I woke up at 3am and could not get back to sleep. I finally admitted to myself that I wasn’t going to sleep anymore around 4:45am and started to get ready.

It was an easy drive in the dark to get to the race start. I parked, and by the time I was on the street, the sun was coming up.

I thought that I would be alone for this entire race, but a fellow blogger, Anne, decided to start the race walking with me. We got started pretty quickly and I felt like we were going a good pace. Anne stuck with me for about the first 10 minutes, but she had planned on running, so after 10 minutes she said that she’d meet me at the finish line and was off.

I was in a groove during this race. I had added some new songs to my race mix on my phone and I was keeping up with the pack of people (not getting passed every second like last year).

Then, all of a sudden the Map My Run app spoke to me over my music. It had said that just over 17 minutes had passed and I had done 1 mile.

I was shocked! At Orangetheory I average about 18:45 a mile. But I thought that maybe I was going a lot faster than I thought. But then about a minute later, I passed the 1 mile marker.

I was confused, but I kept going. Each time the app talked to me, I was averaging about a 17 minute mile but I wouldn’t see the official mile marker until about a minute later. I didn’t know if the course was long or if the app was off. Either way, I was making great time and I wasn’t hurting nearly as much as I usually do.

The halfway point was great to see. I was thinking of this race as about 2 treadmill sections at Orangetheory (since I’m on the treadmill just about 30 minutes each class). As I turned around and walked the other direction, I realized just how many people were still behind me! This was not at all like last year where at the half way point I was in the last 5 people and the van to pick people up was right on my tail.

I got closer and closer to the finish line and again at the 3 mile point, my app told me that I had done 3 miles well before I saw the official marker. But I knew that the finish line was close and I hurried up.

I crossed the finish line and looked at the timer on the app. It said 56:53 and that the race was 3.36 miles. I was really confused about the distance listed. I ended up finding someone who had a GPS watch and asked him what his watch said the distance was. He said it was 3.11. So clearly, my app was off and all my mile times it was telling me was wrong.

While I waited for the official time to be posted, I tried not to be mad and just look at the awesome medal I earned!

When my official time was posted, I did the race in 56:52! That’s a huge improvement for me! About 10 minutes fast than my 5K in June and just about a minute and a half faster than my old PR!

I was so happy to have a new PR, but I was pretty pissed about the app lying to me. If I try to use it again for another race, I might just ignore the distance it says and just look at the stopwatch feature since that was pretty accurate.

I found Anne at the finish line and she got a PR as well! We took some victory pictures and then we each had to head home (I was in serious need of a nap).

When I got home, I took a quick shower and noticed that even getting home I was not feeling as sore as I usually do. I normally have issues with my feet and hips hurting after a race, and the only pain I was feeling this time was some tightness in my legs and the pain from a massive blister that pops and shredded the skin (it looks super gross and I will spare you all from having to see a picture of it).

Even now, a few days after my race, I’m not feeling my usual pain. Seriously, my Orangetheory workouts have been paying off! Even if the scale isn’t going down the way I feel it should, the non-scale victories keep showing up! If I’m able to do more races without my usual pain, I might consider doing more races or even thinking about trying for a 10K one day (I had really given up on that dream).

While I’m still a little down that I was so excited to hear on the app that I was doing 17 minute miles when that wasn’t true, I’m trying to only focus on the positives. And what made me smile even more than getting a PR that day was putting on all the medals that I’ve earned over the past 2 years and seeing how far I’ve come.

My medal holder is starting to look full, but I know that there is room for whatever races I end up doing next year.

9 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged 5K, Hard Rock Cafe, medals, race, walking

Lunch and Learn (or Learning More About My Next 5K)

Posted on October 8, 2014 | 3 comments

I was recently invited to be a part of a blogger lunch and learn for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K. I was so excited to attend since this will be my second year participating in this 5K.

The first part of the lunch and learn was the lunch section of it. We were brought back into a private room at the Hard Rock Cafe at Hollywood and Highland and we were given a sample of some of their appetizers.

It was all super delicious (and my share of what was on our table was pretty much my meal for the day).

While we were eating, I was seated with 2 other bloggers and a representative from My Friend’s Place. My Friend’s Place is a center for homeless youth and is the official charity for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K. They were actually the charity for last year as well, but I’m embarrassed to admit that I signed up for the race because I wanted the medal and not because of the charity.

During lunch I learned a lot about My Friend’s Place including some of the programs that they offer to help get youth off of the streets and into safe places. I also learned that they are one of the rare homeless organizations that will let people bring their pets with them (although the pets do stay outside).

I was so interested to learn more about My Friend’s Place and fortunately the second half of the Lunch and Learn was a tour of the facility and to learn even more about it!

It was a short drive over and as soon as I got inside, I noticed how different it looked from other homeless organizations I’ve seen around LA.

They make it as cheerful and homey as possible. We started our tour in the entry room where people come in each day (sadly, the center is only open during the daytime and weekdays right now).

At the front desk, everyone can get clean socks and underwear. It’s the little things that can make you feel like a new person. We learned that they have to buy men’s briefs because they are cheaper, but they would love a donation of new boxers to give out (I’m hoping to make a Costco run to pick some up to donate). At the front they also have a mail service. Anyone who wants to get mail at their address can do so. And they can use the address to get a state ID card. I never thought about it before, but you cannot get an ID without an address.

Next on the tour was a room right off of the entry way. And it was not something I was expecting to see.

A circus classroom! Cirque du Monde is a program that was created by Cirque du Soleil. While it might seem silly to have a circus program at a homeless shelter, there is a lot of good that can come from people learning circus tricks. Many of the homeless youth have not been in environments where they can trust others. But in Cirque du Monde, they have to be able to trust the instructors and have respect for the lessons.

After we learned a bit about the program, we were given a chance to walk on the wire in the room. I jumped up and was the first to go.

It was awesome! I was able to go up and back and it felt amazing. After I went, all the other bloggers tried it out and realized how great of a confidence booster an activity like this is.

Next we toured the classroom where they have GED classes and tutoring as well as computers for the youth to use.

Next to that was the clothing room.

While it looks full, they can always use more donations of clothes and shoes.

We then headed upstairs to see the mothering program room.

They have parenting classes and are able to provide diapers for little kids. And they mentioned an amazing idea for people to donate diapers. When your kid outgrows the size of diapers you have at home, donate the extra ones so that they will have some to give out! They don’t mind that it isn’t a full box. Any diapers are helpful.

We also learned about some of the other programs that are available at the center such as legal aid, health services, life skills (like finding a job and permanent housing), and counseling.

Honestly, while I have volunteered at homeless shelters before, I never learned as much about homelessness (and homeless youth) as I did during the Lunch and Learn. I know that when I have money to donate to charity, this is going to be one of the first places on my list to get money. These kids need help and many times they don’t have anywhere else to turn.

I highly encourage everyone to learn more about My Friend’s Place and donate either goods or money if you can. And if you want to join me for the Hard Rock Cafe 5K, you can still register and get an awesome medal as well as help an incredible organization.

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, charity, Hard Rock Cafe, homeless, lunch

Getting Closer To The Leaderboard (or I’m Almost In The Top 5)

Posted on September 29, 2014 | Comments Off

Instead of focusing on my week of workouts at Orangetheory, I want to focus on what happened on Monday.

As I mentioned last week, there are now Monday challenges every Monday. And it’s my plan to do the challenge each week (I will be doing one today).

I missed the very first challenge because the trainer forgot to do the challenge in my class (it was a new thing so I’m not too upset). The second week I did the rowing challenge. And I walked in this past week with every intention of doing whatever challenge happened.

Then I found out what the challenge was.

It turns out that the challenge this past week was a treadmill challenge. You had to be at 15% incline (which is what I do when I do the “all out” segments on the treadmill) and you had to be at 6 miles per hour for the speed. And the goal was to be on the treadmill at that speed and incline as long as possible.

That’s not a reality for me.

I’ve been doing 3.1 or 3.2 miles per hour most of the time. Sometimes I can push myself to 3.3 or 3.4, but it’s tough. And as soon as I hear what the challenge was, I felt defeated. There’s no way that I can run at 6 miles an hour.

In class on Monday, we had a unique treadmill workout. The first and last segment were each 7 minutes long and we had to be at a push pace (which for walkers mean about 6% incline). For those 7 minutes, we were supposed to go as far as we could go.

The first 7 minutes I made it to .392 miles. I thought that was pretty awesome. Between the segments there was some regular interval work on the treadmill and then it was time for the next (and last) 7 minute treadmill segment.

I started at 3.1 miles an hour. I like that speed because it means if I maintain that for an hour, I can do a 5K. And my goal is to get my 5K time to an hour or less.

Then I decided to see if I could make it to .4 miles in those 7 minutes. So I decided to increase my speed every minute. I was fine up until 3.6 miles an hour. That was tough, but I felt like I was cutting it close to my goal of .4 miles.

So I decided to increase my speed every 30 seconds for the last 2 minutes. And shockingly, those last 30 seconds I was going 4 miles an hour! I can’t maintain that for very long, but I did it!

Those second 7 minutes I made it .408 miles.

I finished up the workout and while I was so proud of what I had done on the treadmill earlier, the challenge was still making me feel defeated. I joked to everyone that I will go 1 second on the challenge.

Finally, it was time for the challenge. I started to bug the trainer that it was completely unfair that there wasn’t a walking option for the challenge. After bugging him and the owner, they decided that my challenge would be 15% incline and 4 miles an hour.

The fact that I had just done 4 miles an hour on the treadmill for the first time in forever seemed to be fate.

I got it in my head that maybe I could make it a minute. So I decided that unless I fell off the treadmill, I was going to stay on there for that minute no matter what.

The first 15 seconds seemed easy. Then my legs started to feel like lead. But I was so damned determined not to quit until that one minute mark had passed.

As soon as the clock passed one minute, I thought for a moment about going more and then my hip popped out (it happens quite a bit and pretty regularly during workouts). It was clearly a sign that I had done all that I could do for that challenge.

I ended up making it 1:02. That’s passed my minute goal.

The next day, the results were posted. I didn’t make the top 5 for women, but I was only 30 seconds away. And shockingly the men did not do as well as the women. On the men’s top 5, I was tied with #5!

I tried to see the lesson in this. Obviously, I shouldn’t feel defeated until I try something. But I feel like there’s something more.

I’ve been looking at these challenges as something to do for me and not to be competitive. But both weeks I have not been that far away from making the top 5 list. If I really tried to push myself and not just do it to do it, I might actually make the list soon!

So that is my intention for the challenge today. I’m going into it with the mindset of a competitor. I want to see myself closer and closer to making it onto the top 5 list. And I know that sometime soon, I will be there.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged 5K, challenge, Orangetheory, treadmill, walking, workout

Training For A 5K Without Planning On Doing Them (or I Think I’m Only Doing 3 5Ks This Year)

Posted on September 19, 2014 | Comments Off

I’ve been thinking a lot about 5Ks lately. I was on such a streak with them last year. And I’ve talked about why I’ve eliminated 5Ks as part of my goals for the year.

But I’m thinking about them a lot because I keep getting emails to sign up for them. Some of them are races that I did last year, and some of them are just random ones from one of the various mailing lists I’m on now.

The only 5K that I have planned to do the rest of this year is the Hard Rock one. I signed up for that as soon as it was available because it was a good race to do. And I was planning on signing up for the weSPARK race, but I got a phone call a few weeks ago to let me know that that race was cancelled.

But to be honest, I wasn’t sad that it was cancelled. It was almost more of a relief that I don’t have to do it if I don’t want to.

I am signed up for one race already for next year and that’s the Hollywood Half 5K. Again, it’s a fun course (or at least it should be) and it has a nice medal so that’s always a plus in my book.

But I am doing more training, or at least what I consider training, for my 5Ks this year than ever before. Pretty much ever class at Orangetheory I’m spending about 30 minutes on the treadmill. That’s about half the time it takes me to do a 5K. The only times I don’t spend that long on the treadmill are run/row days. But a majority of the time, I’m getting in my 30 minutes.

Since I never trained on a treadmill for the races before, I’m not sure if it’s helping or not. I know it isn’t hurting, but there’s something different when the machine is forcing you to go a certain speed. I know that I have my bursts of speed and my moments of slowing down in a race, but you can’t really do that on a treadmill.

I’ve got some time before the Hard Rock race so I won’t know how the treadmill training will have worked out for a while. But I am curious to see how my body reacts to the next race. And maybe if it’s a really positive response, I’ll sign up for more races for the future.

But for now, I’m just focusing on my regular workouts and not stressing about the 5Ks yet. I know that when the Hard Rock one gets closer I will have the same fear about not being able to finish and getting picked up by the sweeper van. That’s the risk in doing a 5K only race (there’s plenty of time for me to finish when some people are doing 10Ks or 1/2 marathons).

And I am considering finding alternative types of races or competitions to try. I know another blogger who does stair climbing races, but that’s not really a possibility for me with all my hip issues. But if any of you have suggestions for other race types events, let me know!

Comments Off on Training For A 5K Without Planning On Doing Them (or I Think I’m Only Doing 3 5Ks This Year)

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, competition, race, workout

Culver City 5K (or 5K #2 For The Year)

Posted on June 17, 2014 | 8 comments

I’ve obviously slowed down on the number of 5Ks that I’m doing this year. In fact, at this point last year, I had just done 5K #5 (and reached my year-long goal 6 months early!). But when I had that goal in mind, I didn’t have any other workouts that I love. Now I have 2 different workouts that I’m really enjoying so my 5Ks aren’t getting the same focus that they used to.

But I’m still going to do some of my favorite races, and this past weekend was one of the ones I really enjoyed last year. It’s the Culver City 5K (if you couldn’t guess that already from the title of the post). I like this race for a few reasons. One, it’s a super flat course. I actually walk a similar path when I do some walking in my neighborhood. Two, this 5K starts and ends about 3 blocks from my house so it’s extremely easy to get to. And three, there is a discounted entry for substitute teachers of Culver City Unified (which I’m still signed up to do), so I don’t have to spend a ton of money to do the race.

This past Saturday was the bib pickup and it’s held in the parking lot of one of the schools I used to sub at a lot. It’s easy to get to and since this race is pretty small, it’s only takes about a minute to get everything done.

Since the race is pretty much down the street from me and it had an 8am start, I didn’t have to wake up too early. But as soon as I got up in the morning, I realized that it could be a pretty warm morning. And I’ve had issues with crazy hot 5Ks in the past and haven’t liked it. So I drank a ton of water and tried to think cool thoughts as I headed over to the start line.

I was also very excited for this race because I finally got to meet a new friend in person! Lyndsay blogs on The Balance Brunette and we had connected recently over several FB groups that we are both a part of. She lives very close to me and we had been trying to meet up at a happy hour or something, but our schedules just didn’t match up. But we realized that we both were doing this 5K, so we finally got to meet!

Originally, Lyndsay was going to run this 5K, but since some things had come up, she changed her mind and decided to walk with me. I warned her that I am slow and if she felt like she wanted to go faster she could ditch me and my feelings wouldn’t be hurt. But she said that she planned to stick with me.

Of course, I had to get a quick “before” photo of me before the race started.

We ended up being toward the front of the pack for the start, but we stayed off to the side to make sure we didn’t make any of the runner mad.

This was one of my slowest 5Ks ever. I finished in about 1 hour and 8 minutes. But I don’t care. I know that I walked slower than I would if I was racing alone because I wanted to chat with Lyndsay while we walked. And if I had been going as fast as I could, I would be too out of breath.

We had a nice walk together just chatting about random stuff. We did a lot of chatting about blogging and the various issues we both have. We also both babysit so we talked about that as well.

And at around the one mile marker, one of the coolest things that has happened to me so far regarding this blog happened. Lyndsay and I were walking and I was telling her a funny story about a store that we were walking past when I heard someone yell, “Jen, hi!”. I turned to look who had called my name and I didn’t recognize her. Since I’m horrible with faces and names I figured I just forgot who she was. But as she came up to me she told me that she reads this blog and just wanted to say hello! How cool is that!?!? And to the woman who said hi, you totally made my day! But you didn’t say what your name was so I can’t acknowledge you properly. Hopefully you are reading this and you can comment and let me know who you are!

After finishing the 5K, Lyndsay and I had to get some victory pictures with our new race bling.

This was actually Lyndsay’s first race where she got a medal (and I know it won’t be the last)!

Eventually we headed our separate ways to head home.

Even though this was my slowest 5K possibly ever, I totally consider this a success. I finished and I didn’t finish last (about 15 people finished after us). That’s all that matters. And I got to finally meet my new friend.

My medal holder in my living room is starting to get a bit full now. I think it looks awesome. My dad is scared that I’m reaching the weight limit on it. Hope not because I know I’ve got some more awesome race bling coming up later this year!

8 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, Culver City, friends, medals, race

Marching For Maddie (or Being A Supporter And Not A Walker)

Posted on April 29, 2014 | Comments Off

Saturday was the March of Dimes walk. I’ve done this walk a couple of times in the past, and I always do it in memory of my friend Heather‘s daughter Maddie who passed away several years ago. I never knew Maddie, but through Heather’s blog and all the stories she has told about her, I feel like I did know her.

I had every plan to do the 5K walk on Saturday, but then a couple of things didn’t go my way. First, I had the horrible experience with the Hollywood Half 5K and my major hip pain (and almost inability to walk for a few days after). Then, it rained the night before and my hip pain came back with a vengeance right before the 5K.

It was pretty much a sign that I was not supposed to walk at this event.

But just because I couldn’t walk it didn’t mean I couldn’t support it. So on Saturday morning, I got on the light rail and took it to Exposition Park where the walk was happening. I wanted to at least get to see my friend Heather and let her know that I was supporting her (plus I wanted to see her super cute kids!).

I got there pretty earlier so I got to chat with a few other people on the March for Maddie team before Heather and her family arrived. I hadn’t seen Heather since the documentary premiere (she was one of our twitter stories) and it was great to see her again.

I also got a quick picture with Heather’s husband Mike (who is a writer for BuzzFeed).

There was a lot of time to hang out before the walk started, but once everyone was heading out on the course, I turned around and headed back to the light rail. I just didn’t want to risk being in so much pain (also, Sunday and Monday were Disneyland days and I needed to be as pain-free as possible for that!).

But Heather did tell me where they were all meeting up for food after the walk, so once I got back to my car I ran a few quick errands and then headed out to the restaurant to meet up with the group again.

It was a really fun brunch. I knew a bunch of people there from doing the walks in the past and I got to meet a few new people as well. And of course, I was excited to catch up with Heather and her family.

Hopefully this will be the only 5K I miss out on for a long time. While I’m a little disappointed in myself, I know that I did make the right (but tough) choice to skip out.

I think my next 5K is in about 6 weeks so I’m hoping that I can work on some of my hip pain issues before then.

Also, if you would like to also support Heather and family, they started a charity in Maddie’s memory. Friends Of Maddie supports families who have babies in the NICU and is a wonderful charity. Part of what they do is create support bags for families and they drop them off at various NICUs around the area so families have some of the things they need while they wait to be able to take their babies home from the hospital. I know that every dollar helps them out so much and they would appreciate gifts of any size.

Comments Off on Marching For Maddie (or Being A Supporter And Not A Walker)

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, charity, March of Dimes

Tag Archives: 5K

Being A Spectator (or Watching And Not Wanting To Do The Marathon)

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What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

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Reflecting Back On 2014 (or How I Did With My Goals)

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Doubling Up On Pain (or Physical and Mental Pain Together)

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Hard Rock Cafe 5K Take 2 (or Trying To Not Be Frustrated With A PR)

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Lunch and Learn (or Learning More About My Next 5K)

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Getting Closer To The Leaderboard (or I’m Almost In The Top 5)

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Training For A 5K Without Planning On Doing Them (or I Think I’m Only Doing 3 5Ks This Year)

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Culver City 5K (or 5K #2 For The Year)

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Marching For Maddie (or Being A Supporter And Not A Walker)

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