America The Beautiful

I have been working since March on a half-marathon plan for the Seattle SeaFair (June 26th). I was ready with what I believe was the same pace that I had in my Seattle Marathon of November last year, however, a possibility of going to California to be with my husband arose during the week. Priorities are priorities, and preferring being with my husband in SoCal I flew there and didn't race SeaFair. Not a bit of remorse. As I start my Seattle Marathon plan at the end of July I hope to find a Half Marathon race on the week I have to run the half distance.

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California was hot, however its mornings were nice for running. With the exception of Independence Day which was really hot, 85F, every morning I ran was in the mid 60's, which I consider the perfect temperature for running.

My favorite run of the week was certainly the 4th of July. It was a gorgeous sunny day (and hot) with a nice breeze. The beach was packed with families celebrating this great day. A cute kids parade showed hundreds of kids' bikes beautifully decorated on red, white and blue. In Bay Shore Ave, a street that shores with the Naples canals, a family was painting a huge American Flag on the asphalt. But what brought tears to my eyes was a lonely man standing on the sand facing the ocean with a trumpet. He was playing "America the Beautiful". I stop, heard the song with respect, and when he finished I ran toward him, shook his hand and told him: Thank you Sir, you gave me a beautiful gift. Happy Independence Day and God Bless America.

That night my husband and I went to the beach with our "beach bums chairs" and enjoyed the fireworks launched from the "Oil Islands" of Long Beach.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!



I am blessed that I can run and race in
America The Beautiful
from sea to shining sea!



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Even though I had a good 17-mile week, I feel as if I did not run at all. The reason? I have not raced since June 21st . Weird how we are. To replace tempos, which I dislike, I have been running weekly 5K races to replace them. These races became a weekly goal...but I have missed a couple of weekends, and it seems I will miss another two as tomorrow, I am off to Huntsville, Alabama for two weeks, and there are no races in the vicinity. I'd have to wait until I go back to Seattle and see what is available in two weeks.
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The pictures below are of a race I participated with a co-worker in Washington DC on June 18th at noon: Tidal Basin, 3K, which is scheduled every third Wednesday of every month. Although it is an informal race the organizers "DC Runners" register the results. It was a nice and fun race around the Tidal Basin/Jefferson Memorial with a big turn out with serious runners in the 5min/mile pace. This happened to be the 413th monthly Tidal Basin 3K, the day before Juneteenth, which celebrates the freeing of America's last slaves on June 19, 1865.

This photo belongs to: www.visitingdc.com/memorial/tidal-basin.htm

I Hated Pink....Till This Very Day

I hated pink... till this very day. The day that I had the honor of running with hundreds of breast cancer survivors. A race where there was a pray for those beloved that had passed; where running time, even measured, was not important; where the hope and the goal was not in the PR but in the cure; where the medals were not for the fastest runners but for the real winners, the breast cancer survivors.

Every instant my feet pounded the asphalt was dedicated to all the women that have gone through this and survived, and to the ones that have passed. God Bless Them All.

The 5K race, with 15,000 participants, and in a "kinda summer" Seattle day, closed with a beautiful ceremony in our Seahawks Field where Survivors paraded indicating how many years they have survived breast cancer.

My company, Boeing, received the largest team award with 1,400 runners. Boeing pledged $100 for every Boeing runner, for $1.4 million!!!

0-1 year

Fremont Briefcase Relay: The Most Fun Race Of My Life...With 15 Minutes Of Fame Included

I made it to the front page of The Seattle Times....The paper's caption is:

"Runners take off Friday evening from the starting line of the Fremont Briefcase Relay at Adobe Plaza. In the relay, five-person teams wear work-related clothing (loosely interpreted), each team carrying a briefcase that contains a phone book. Lizzie Lee, center, in white dress, and Mimi Newman, at right in Oktoberfest attire, were among those starting the first leg of the relay."

Yesterday, June 06, 2008, I ran the most fun race of my life (so far...): The 5K Fremont Briefcase Relay. The run consisted on a 5K relay (5-member team running 1K each) wearing business attire from the waist up, with a briefcase with a 2008 Greater Seattle Yellow Pages in it.

Our business? Gold Diggers and a rich Bachelor to catch. The Gold Diggers: Shelly Martin, Alisha Schmidt, Cara Haubrich, and Lizzie Lee. The Bachelor: Mike Stevens.... Our briefcase: (to put the money and run) was my 3rd grade briefcase (43 years with me!!!).

1st. leg: Lizzie, 2nd: Alisha, 3rd: Shelly, 4th: Cara, and Mike recovered the briefcase for the last leg and to run away from the Gold Diggers. He had to run under 6 min/mile to make up for the time it took us to run with the wedding dresses. Our team did 27' something.

It was exhilarating and impossible to describe the magnitude of the fun.

After the relay, we ran the Fremont 5K (580 runners: 233 females, 347 males). I tried to break my PR given the "fast" course and get it under 29' (I only needed 2" for that), but couldn't do it. I don't know what was fast about the course, when the first 0.5 miles were uphill (and that was my leg in the relay!!!). I did 30'40" for a 9:53 pace. Overall 140/233, 4th in my division... We weren't many, we were only six old ladies in my age bracket!!!!!!

Mike did 21'25", Shelly 32'13", Alisha 27'34", Cara 31'56". Congrats to all, and THANKS for the wonderful time. Memorable.

The race didn't end well. 0.20 miles before the finish line during the 5K race a man collapsed before me, apparently with a heart attack. I hope and pray he made it.

On a boring note, my long run this week was a 10-miler, again on the treadmill, given the Fall/Winter lousy, icky, miserable weather we've had in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. Pouring rain, sleet (yes, sleet) and cold!!! This week snowed in Stevens Pass. Our high yesterday only reached 54, that's fourteen degrees below the average high of 68. The weather reports say is not unprecedented but certainly unusual. This is our weather from June-uary as we call it.

But guess what? We had a sunbreak at 5:45 pm, 15 minutes before the Briefcase Relay. That was a gift..

Another week with a shortage of miles (16.7) and tomorrow Sunday I ain't running!!!!

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Ok. I lied. I did run on Sun another 5K. Pretty good. I'll post about it next Sun. My total week mileage: 19.8
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Sub-Thirty and My Own Rabbit

This past week was amazingly exciting...

I arrived from California on Tuesday after three weeks with hubby. I wasn't jetlagged, of course, but woke up too early to catch my flight and went directly to work, so I was tired for a run that night. Wednesday came with some kind of excuse that I do not even remember. As I was planning on running a 5K on Saturday, I needed to get the long run out of the way on Thursday.

The long run plan for the week? 15 miles. The season? Spring according to the month of the year, but Fall in my beloved Seattle, with pounding rain and gloomy day. The alternative? 15 miles on the treadmill. So determined to do it, I went to the gym to spend three hours on that machine. I don't watch TV, the Ipod hasn't been in use since my daughter sent it back from Thailand... so, my strategy for this time was to break the work in three blocks of five miles and just to think on stuff!!!

What can you think in three hours? Well, many things... Writing an email to my boss, subject: Leave of absence on the grounds of insanity (this thought occurred to me between mile 5 and 6). I redacted the email, corrected it, read it in my mind, etc... Thoughts of happiness for trading my tempo works for 5K races (way more fun)....Picturing myself running on my "by-the-water" route in Long Beach.... Thinking in the nice times to come when my hubby comes back to Washington State to be with me, whenever that'd be...Etc...Etc...Etc...

At mile 10, my legs were struggling... At mile 11 I was really tired and decided to stop. Ok, that was my plan for a 15-miler. After that I went to the store and after 30 minutes in the store, dragging my feet I told myself: "If I would've stayed, considering 12min/mile, I still would be running". There was no way that I could have done 4 more miles.... So seriously, I don't regret... My legs thanked me.

Then on Saturday I ran the Edmonds Waterfront 5K on a perfect sunny day (for a change). Mike (one of my bosses... yes, I have two.. or three) had a goal around 21'. Mine was to beat 32'.

The waterfront part was just a stretch of half a mile, but Edmonds is a very pretty town, and I enjoyed the race. The sound and the Olympics were gorgeous that day (see pic below).

Mike, after finishing, joined me and ran (rabbited) for me for a third of a mile. It was great... I went as fast as I could...and I got 29'01", a sub-thirty!!!! (I hate to say almost a sub-29). I am pinching myself because I still can't believe it.

I immensely thank Mike. He really helped me to push at the end....

See?

• Incomplete 15-miler? A little bit disappointing.
• A 14.1 mile/week? A little bit disappointing.
• Having my own rabbit? Priceless.
• 3 minutes drop on my 5K PR? Absolutely Priceless.
• 8 minutes (so far) drop on my 5K PR during 2008? Absolutely, Absolutely, Priceless.
• Incomplete 15-miler? Who cares?
  
• A 14.1 mile/week? Who really cares?
  

Seabiscuit and Me

An easy 3 miles on Tue, 1.2 miles on Wed, and a long run (*) of 9.6 miles on Thu that felt like a breeze completed my week of training before a Saturday race: the Low Tide Run, a 4-mile run in Long Beach. The course? “A beautiful beach Low Tide out and back run on hard packed sand near the water”.

The day started with pouring rain and in the low 50's. My hubby asked me if I really wanted to do that... I told him: "well, the only problem is that with the rain the sand is now going to be wet…" He didn't think my joke was funny. For a Seattleite that is used to run in the rain, who cares...?

The rain stopped @ 7:45. The race, scheduled at 8 am, was delayed by 15 min because the logistics giving the numbers was a mess due to the rain. The sun showed up and the temperature stayed in mid 50's so IT WAS A PERFECT DAY...

My bib? 128. Guess what? It's my daughter's B-day 12/8, but it was not mere coincidence. They were going to give me 127, and I asked "can I have next?"

The course was not bad at all. The sand was really hard packed and it was easy to avoid the water, however there were a couple of spots where the inevitable happened, and my shoes got soaked.

About mile 2.5, two ladies (mom and daughter, I believed) passed me, and then they started to distance from me… One mile before the finish line they were really far. Competing against myself, I decided to play a race game, “I’ll catch up with them”. So, all the silly thoughts that you can imagine went through me…

• “They are in my age bracket and are in 1^st and 2^nd place…If I pass them, I win”

• “I am Seabiscuit, I just need to get a little bit closer to beat them…”

I sped up and started to shorten the distance, they seem far though. I kept speeding up, and got closer and closer… one tenth of a mile before the finish line I passed them. I felt like Seabiscuit running his last Santa Anita Handicap…

My official time was 40:48 for a 10:12 pace, and third in my category. Results: Overall 114/221; Overall Female: 50/131; Category 50 - 59: 3/10

Not bad at all…It's the first time a run a 4-mile race, so a new PR in my pocket.

Like the race was 2 miles from our home, I ran an easy 2-miler going back for a total week of 19.7 miles.

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(*) I started to slack with the long runs as the longest run this year before this week’s was 8.3 miles and five weeks ago…

In addition, in two of the last three weeks I did only one run a week of 5 miles, so I thought there was no chance on doing the SeaFair Half. I changed my mind after this Thursday 9.6 miles where I felt so "fresh" when finished. Actually I could’ve kept going but I needed to get back home... I remember last year feeling destroyed after long runs. This week it was a breeze...So, I'll definitely do the half on June 28th.

Alejandra, You Are My Inspiration

How to spread the news?

My daughter got motivated again and started running daily at about 5:30 am to beat Thailand's heat. Guess what. Since I got to California on the 8th I have been running every day at about 3:30 pm. Do you know what that means, right? That our feet are pounding the ground at the same exact time 7,440 miles apart. Our plan never got so in sync.

Then she mentioned she was training for a 5K, but like there was no race around her town, she was planning on running one day as if she was in a race. The day she picked for her race was June 21st. I got speechless. I happened to register in the Komen race for the cure which will be in Seattle on the same day. What were the odds?

I remember all of you, blogger friends that participated in the virtual triathlon, and that you got your bibs and ran from different places on this planet. As I would love she has a bib, I suggested her to prepare her own bib and use the same number I get for my Komen race. It was a deal!!!

She gave me so much inspiration that I wanted to race right away. I searched yesterday on Internet for 5K in SoCal, and lucky me, the Palos Verdes Marathon, 1/2 and 5K in San Pedro was going to be held today. Just 10 miles from our home in Long Beach.

So, without mental preparation, I got up at 6:15 am had my daily yogurt and cereal and went with my hubby to San Pedro. I had my late registration and got my 7008 bib. I was ready, with no watch, no ipod, and no butterflies. It was nice to feel so calm.

At 8am the race started, I crossed myself, and went up the only hill of the course, maybe 0.2 miles. The view was gorgeous with the ocean below. Before mile one I felt really hot. It was 74F/23C and I am used to Seattle's weather where 60F/15C and sunny is already warm for me. At mile two, volunteers handed me a cup of cold water which I emptied over my head. At mile three we went down the hill, and I had a nice sensation when I saw the clock. I could make a sub-32. I sprinted faster than usual, and I got a 31:54. Five exact minutes below my PR. I was a happy runner. I rephrase it, I am a happy runner!!!!

Thanks to my Alejandra, you are my inspiration.

PS: They clocked randomly. The girl that crossed the finish line seconds behind me received a sticker with her time: 31:57. When I asked about my sticker they said they were doing that to random runners. So I am not sure if they will have the results for everybody. I cared at the moment but got over it.

PS2: I just checked the online results and I show 32:02, and 4 persons behind Michelle Blackmore who I believed finished behind me (the 31:57 girl). I am fine, is not that I am going to get hung up for 8 seconds. I am changing my PR to 32:02 as this is the official time. If that's what they say, that's what I take. Still, I am really happy!!!

8 out of 36 in my category ain't bad!!!
Total participants: 573

245  6/27 2044 MICHELE BLACKMORE 47 F LONG BEACH 31:57 10:19
246 18/44 2146 MONICA GOMEZ      32 F HAWTHORNE  31:58 10:19
247 15/23 2069 DAVID CAVAZOS     43 M CARSON     32:01 10:20
248 11/34 2327 SHAUNA RAUPACH    35 F SAN PEDRO  32:01 10:20
249  8/36 7008 LIZZIE LEE        51 F            32:02 10:20

Below the pix.
The Ocean View pix belong to Palos Verdes Marathon,
Half Marathon and 5K

Diabolic Calories

This week has been successful from every perspective.

First, it has been the week with the highest number of miles for this year... Yeah, you know, I haven't logged as many miles as I'd want to... so, surpassing 20 miles became a highlight. A sunny Saturday closed the week with and easy run of 8.3 miles around Mukilteo.

Second, the tempo. Even though did not follow (again) the fine print of the plan, was close enough to be a good tempo. I take it...

And last but not least, my dear Intervals. They were awesome. Again 12 sets of 1/4 mile with 90" recovery at 8:34.... No life support or cheating this time for that matter!!! And to be unforgettable, a funny number registered the calories spent during the intervals, 666 diabolic calories.