Posted on Jun 09, 2013 under Race |
I always say I’m going to be brief but end up writing way too much for anyone to be interested in reading. So I’ll get straight to the point, here are the official results: 1:37:56, 13.01 mi (7:32 min/mile). Placing: AG 107/1071, overall 688/18,072. If you look at the splits graph below and the following milestone split, you can tell what type of race it was: 5K 21:47 (7:01), 10K 44:36 (7:11), 10 mi 1:14:07 (7:24), 13.01 1:37:56 (7:32). As always, I can’t complain with the overall results, it just hurt like heck running it, for a number of reasons. So if anything, this can be a post about how NOT to run a race! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 15, 2013 under Race |
I actually registered for this race months before, but as it got closer and closer to race day, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to do this 31 mile bike ride. That’s the problem with signing up for a race so far in advanced, you never know what plans you’ll have until a few weeks before. But at the end of the day, I was able to do the race and attend the other commitments I had afterwards. And since there was a chance I was going to do this ride, I prepared as much as I could for it. The weekend before, I completed an 18 mile ride so 31 would not feel as bad. In between those rides, I was still running as often as possible as well as working out at the gym. The race wasn’t even timed, since it was a ‘tour’ of the city. But I like to time everything, so here are my unofficial results: 30.42 mi, 1:49:46 (16.6 mph). The course was very straight forward, basically a giant square around the downtown area, which consisted of four terrains: dedicated bike path along the Los Angeles River (didn’t know this existed, not like the typical river you expect), backside city streets, down a similar dedicated bike path along the San Gabriel River (again, did not know this existed), and finish up along the Long Beach boardwalk. The problem I had when I did the 40 mile bike ride a few months ago was that because it was a smaller race, I ended up riding along for a lot of the race. This time, because of the big turnout, I always had someone to ride with and never worried about going the wrong way. The problem with these tours and fun rides is that I’m not really competing against others, it’s more casual to them. Then again, I don’t think I’d be prepared to really compete in a real bike race, I mean I don’t even own the proper gear (I wear basketball shorts, running tech tee and sneakers with my toe clips). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Apr 22, 2013 under Race |
I’ve wanted to run this race for a few years now, mostly because it’s literally next door to the mall by my parent’s house in LA. I wasn’t planning to run it again this year, but my friend told me that he was going to run it and told me to do the same. We were actually old high school cross country teammates, but he stopped racing once he graduated. I stopped too, but as I’ve said before, I started to race competitively a few years ago. I knew running with old teammates wasn’t really going to be a fun run, so I wanted to be prepared for race day. I actually ran a lot faster than I had expected, which is great. Results: 19:42 (6:20 min/mile), 8th AG, 71/3735 overall. My friend, who accidentally forgot to put his timing chip on before the race, ran about a 21:25, which is actually pretty good considering he had pulled a groin muscle and had to stop running for a few weeks. The problem he had was that he tried to run with another alumni who was in shape and hit a wall after the low 6-minute first mile. I had just run a 5K about a month ago but couldn’t even break 21 minutes, so this was a huge improvement. It’s actually one of my top 5 fastest 5K finishes, which is awesome. It’s sad because the one thing that contributed to this improvement was just running more often, but of course that’s easier said than done! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Mar 23, 2013 under Race |
Two weeks ago, when we lost an hour due to daylight savings, I decided to start waking up early to run before work. Even though it was just 3-4 miles a day, it was more running that I had done in quite some time. Those two weeks of miles under my belt really made a difference in today’s results: 46:49 (6.05 mi, 7:44 min/mile), 2/7 AG, 16/72 overall. The course was pretty tough and it was literally a sprint to the finish, which worked out since I beat the 3rd place runner in my AG by 1.202 seconds!
I ran this race a little bit slower last year but I forget how much I was running at the time. I do remember that a few of us ran a little bit longer because the turnaround was poorly marked. This year, the course was chalked at important crossroads and intersections and had volunteers throughout as well. As you can see in the course map below, there were a lot of confusing turns, fortunately I didn’t get lost this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Mar 04, 2013 under Race |
I won an entry to this race but wasn’t sure if I was going to sign up, even though it would have been my first organized ride. What I was afraid of was being the only male in this ‘beautiful ride for women’; fortunately they had a ride just for males or what they called ‘rico suaves’. I signed up for the shorter, 40-miler distance instead of the 60. They clarified a few days before the race that the actual distance was 42 miles, but for some reason, my ride came out to over 45 miles! Although the ride wasn’t actually timed or offered place awards, I was happy with my personal time and unofficial placing. Results: 45.13 mi, 3:06:14 (14.5 mph, 34.9 mph max), total ascent: 1513 ft. I was very surprised to find only about 5 other riders at the finish line when I got there; I’m sure if it were a competitive ride, I would have been a lot farther back. The ride was tough at times, those uphills were particularly painful. It was a scenic course that rode up and down the coast with views of the ocean and various beaches. I did find it hard to ride on highways and main streets since we had to share the road with cars and stop at red lights on multiple occasions. But in the end, it was a great ride, a good workout and fun day overall. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go on more rides this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Mar 02, 2013 under Race |
Finish Chelsea’s Run is a race I’ve wanted to participate (or at least support) since they started it back in 2010. This race is dedicated to Chelsea King who was sadly taken during one of her runs in that same year. A group of runners were so affected by the news that they planned to meet at the same park and ‘finish Chelsea’s run’. “Word quickly spread and on the morning of March 20, 2010 more than 3,500 community members joined together to run and walk in solidarity with, and in honor of Chelsea, who they adopted as one of their own.” It would have been nice to join in that run, but for one reason or another, I couldn’t. They moved the run down to Balboa Park to accommodate more runners and had as many as 7,000 runners this year and I am glad I was able to join this time around. Results: 21:34 (6:57 min/mile), 12/57 AG, 84/1978 overall. Before the race, I was hoping to run somewhere between 21 and 22 minutes, so I’m definitely happy with the results. I’m already starting to feel sick from this race, but I won’t have much time to rest, I have my first ever cycling race tomorrow morning and it’s a 40-miler at that. I’ve rode a couple of 20-milers before, but I am definitely not ready to ride competitively. Hopefully, it’s a scenic ride and I can finish it! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 28, 2013 under Race |
This is the 3rd year in a row running this race, but the most fun by far. Ironically, it was my worse performance but the fact that I got to run it with my entire family definitely made up for it. Results: 46:03 (7:24 min/mile), 12/162 AG, 88/2382 Overall. For days after the race, I thought I beat all of my brother’s friends at the 10K. But the very moment I told my coworker I beat everyone, I decided to check one friend’s official time and realized he had beaten me by a mere 6 seconds! I’m sure the next time I see him in person, he’ll be gloating about his win. Aside from the 2nd place finish, my time was pretty good for a very hilly course and lack of training. This was also the first year my two little sisters ran the 5K (the last time they raced was back in high school). The cherry on top was definitely having my 2.5 year old nephew running the 1K kiddie run after we all ran our respective races. Hopefully, we’ll continue to make this an annual thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 05, 2013 under Race |
The 2nd annual Cardiff Kook 10K took place on Super Bowl Sunday, which was a great way to justify all of the junk food that was going to be eaten later on that evening. As usual, I had not run very much prior to this race (twice in the past 2 weeks). To make things worse, I went snowboarding at Big Bear all day just two days before this race and was still super sore from that. The day before, I went for an easy 3 mile shakeout run with my sister to try and loosen up my legs. I’m sure it didn’t matter, but after we came home from our run, my 2-year-old nephew said he wanted to go running too! So we put our running shoes back on and jogged together to the end of the block, which he loved. I was able to get my brother and sisters to sign up for this 5K and 10K in 3 weeks and they also had a 1K kiddie run which I signed my nephew up for. It’s going to be such a fun day, I can’t wait for it!
Going back to this race, I was very surprised with the results: 6.20 miles, 45:45 (7:23 min/mile), 12/37 AG, 80/712 overall. The course was very straightforward: 3 miles south along the coast, make a U-turn back to the start. It was pretty scenic if you made the effort to look at the ocean on either side, but boring course if you ask me. There were a lot of people dressed up in costume, which was pretty fun to see. The website didn’t specify the course elevation and the only way I learned about it was from another runner who was talking about it right before we started. The first half went downhill and the 2nd half was more uphill. I suppose my splits reflected that since miles 1-3 were significantly faster than miles 4-6. I couldn’t really tell when I was running uphill during the race, which meant the incline was very gradual (and according to the elevation profile pretty long!). My goal was to shoot for ~7:30 min/mile the first few miles and see how I felt the rest of the race. But like the rest of my poorly run races, I started off too fast (even saw myself in the 6 min/mile pace for a while). When a runner passed me, I didn’t really make the effort to try and run with them. But there were a few runners that I did run with during the first half of the race that I was able to eventually pass in the 2nd half (unless they just slowed more than me..) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Jan 04, 2013 under Random |
If you look back at my 2012 workout summary from DailyMile, you’ll see that there was a huge drop off in runs and rides for the 2nd half of the year. But what isn’t noted in that report is all the time I spent at the gym once I moved to my new office in July. And San Diego was ridiculously cold this winter which made getting out to run and ride a lot hard than before (but I can’t complain, it rarely rained and of course never snowed).
From a competition standpoint, I actually ran the most races in 2012 than the previous 2.5 years of running that I’ve done. I ran 15 races in 2012, up 1 from 2011 and a few more than the previous years. I suppose that means I should compete in (at least) 16 races in 2013, we’ll see if that happens.
I’m actually on pace to compete in 16 races as you’ll see below. Since I haven’t been and don’t plan to run as much again this year, I’m trying to stay away from half and full marathons and stick to shorter trail races instead. They’re cheaper, more scenic and in some cases even tougher than a half or full.
Here is a list of races I have already registered for this year, including this random fitness test tomorrow morning!
Posted on Jan 03, 2013 under Race |
Finally got a chance to write up the race report for the Hot Buttered Run 10K (December 16, 2012). I’m usually pretty punctual when it comes to race reports, but I was waiting for the official results as well as race photos before I sat down and wrote the post. Then Christmas and New Year’s came and went, so I had other things to worry about. I actually wasn’t even supposed to run this race; my coworker got hurt and asked me to run in her place. Like all of my other races the past year or so, I hadn’t really trained for this race and only ran about 4 miles the week of. But the results were still better than I had expected: 46:39, 6.38 mi (7:19 min/mile); 4/37 AG, 27/660 overall. This was a much smaller race than I’ve ran before, which explains the decent placing at the end. But I could have placed even higher, but a few of us made an extra loop at the beginning, which was a physical and mental setback. Read the rest of this entry »
