Posted on Feb 19, 2012 under Race |
The Pasadena half is the first Rock ‘n’ Roll race of at least 3 or 4 that I’ll be running this year and also the inaugural race in this particular market. Look for some travel deals and join in next time! I’ve run a few other inaugural races before and haven’t had any issues so far, and the Pasadena RnR was no different. I mentioned this when I posted my results on DailyMile, it doesn’t matter how many half marathons I’ve ran before (or will in the future), it’s still a tough distance to run. But I’m sure I’m making it a lot harder than I have to due to my lack of training and poor race strategy. Results: 1:36:45, 13.20 (7:19 min/mile), 35/325 AG, 218/5851 Overall. Considering what I ran in my last two half marathons (1:38 & 1:34), I was shooting for a 1:35 finish but I suppose I was close enough. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 13, 2012 under Race |
When I ran this race last year, the previous race I ran was in November of the year before. But this year, I had actually ran 2 half marathons in January, so you’d think I would have been better prepared for this race. But after reading last year’s race report, it sounds like I ran the race very smart and was able to run slightly faster than this year. Results: 43:43 (7:03 min/mile), 15/75 AG, 81/2396 Overall. So it was about a minute slower than last year, nothing to complain about, both solid performances. And keeping up with last year’s trend, I was able to beat my brother and his friends this year as well (although my brother did quite well at 49:16 considering he ran once in the last month or two…I wonder who that sounds a lot like??) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Jan 29, 2012 under Race |
I still don’t know why I thought running short distance events at a track meet would be a good idea. All through high school, I was never a fan of distance running and when I say distance running I mean anything longer than 3 miles. When I was in cross country, I always thought, ‘why do we have to run so many more miles just to race 3?!’ But even when we raced 3 miles, it still felt like a long distance for me (most likely because I always started off too fast and die out toward the end…like I still do in half marathons!). So I usually welcomed the arrival Track and Field season in the spring. Only problem is that track events were just as difficult as cross country, only for a shorter distance. Either way, I must have forgotten that fact when I decided to attend this track meet 9 years later. I’ve also been in a running slump and wanted to change things up and participate in something other than a half marathon, which I ran the past two weekends in a row. Quick results: 1,000 Meters: 3:14 (5:05 min/mile) and 3,000 Meters: 11:40 (6:19 min/mile). It’s not bad, it’s actually pretty good and close to what I hit when I ran a one mile time-trial a couple of years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Jan 23, 2012 under Race |
This race will always be very special for me. I started running and competing in the 2nd half of 2009 (after taking a couple of years off from high school running) and ran my first half marathon by the end of that year. But it was at Carlsbad in early 2010 where I ran my fastest half time (1:28) and have yet to beat it since. Unless I spend as much time and effort as I did when I first started running, I don’t see myself breaking that record any time soon. I became ambitious and registered for the full marathon in 2011, but did not train enough to feel confident to run 26.2, so I sold my bib instead. I decided to go back to the half this year although I knew I wasn’t going to get near my PR time. I keep saying it, but considering my lack of training, I did better than expected. Results: 1:34:08 (7:08 min/mile), 28/356 AG, 223/7269 Overall. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Jan 16, 2012 under Race |
Quick post regarding the results: 1:38:02, AG 27/149, 210/2829 overall. I have a few criteria when deciding which race to run: location and registration fees. I usually run local races in San Diego and have ran a few back home in LA. The only exception where I traveled for a race is SF & Taiwan. I’m a little more flexible when it comes to price, I’ve ran in the bigger Rock ‘n’ Roll races as well as many smaller (and cheaper) races. So when I was asked if I wanted to promote the 3rd annual 13.1 Los Angeles Half Marathon and get a free entry to it too, I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. So this is my promotion of the race, which is basically my race report. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Dec 06, 2011 under Race, Random |
It’s been a little over 2 weeks since I came back from Taiwan, but I didn’t have to wait that long to realize that I want to go back already. It was my first time traveling outside of the country but hopefully won’t be my last. Although the trip was a personal trip, 2 of my brother’s friends and I actually met up with my brother who had already been in Taiwan for a week now, and ran a race together, the New Balance Taipei Zoo 13K Run. So this photo post will be mostly vacation pics, but a few from the race.
Check out the full album on my Flickr. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Nov 05, 2011 under Race |
I ran the inaugural RnR LA Half last year which turned out to be a very well organized and successful race. I ran it again this year mostly because I got an entry from the Brooks ID team and it gave me another reason to visit the family back home. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to push the pace too much considering I went into the race with about a 1.5 mile week (I blame work, travel & laziness for that). So when I saw the results, I was very pleasantly surprised: 13.1 miles (Garmin said 13.54, but I think it lost its signal going in and out of a tunnel.. Time: 1:35:12, AG: 31/548, Overall: 207/7738. I’m adding this race to my ‘correct way to pace’ section; I made a conscious effort to maintain a specific pace (7:15/7:20) at the beginning to give more energy for the rest of the race. This strategy has been proven successful time and time again; I don’t know why I’m always surprised to see that it works.. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Nov 05, 2011 under Race |
The thing I hate about registering for races early is that when I finally realize that I have that race coming up, I’m always surprised and feel unprepared. I think I registered for the Long Beach Half Marathon in June at another race expo. I did occasionally received emails about the race, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when the day finally came, I was still pretty excited to run this course, since it’s another beach city, so hopefully I’d have an advantage there? I was able to run once while in New York the week before and managed one more run the Friday before this half and biked to work once or twice. So if anything, I was well rested for this race. The time is now becoming my average half time and probably won’t get any faster unless I dedicate more time to build (any) quality miles. Results: 13.22 mi, 1:36:55 (7:20 min/mile). Placing: 33/564 AG, 289/10715 Overall. It was relatively flat course which is a welcome considering most of my previous races had at least one hill present. And unlike most of the SD races I’ve ran, the majority of the course took place along the beach, which was a nice distraction from the pain from all that running! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Oct 24, 2011 under Race |
I ran this race last year when it was Max’s Ring of Fire 5K, but this year they teamed up with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to become Max’s Ring of Fire Lemon Run. Both organizations were created in honor of a child that died from cancer, and was created to help research and prevention of childhood cancer. Although Lake Miramar is a 5 mile loop, the race was 4.6 miles, in honor of the 46 children who are diagnosed with childhood cancer each school day.
There were no real goals for this race other than showing up, considering how rare I have been running lately. It’s sad that the only way to force myself to run these days is not wanting to waste x dollars. But it was for a good cause, so it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if I missed it since I had already registered. And for the most part, that’s how participants were treating this race, a fun time with their kids helping out a good cause. And since there weren’t many people competing, the chances of placing were a lot higher. And the story of how I came at the outcome is a good one, but first the results: 29:41, 4.54 miles (~6:30 min/mile). Placing: 1st AG and 3rd overall. This is by far the best placing I have ever had in any race, of course the asterisk is that it was a very small race (120) with even fewer real runners to compete against. But it was a hard fought award which I’ll go into detail below. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Oct 17, 2011 under Race |
This was an interesting and thoroughly difficult race to run. What’s cool about the race is that it’s actually inside Camp Pendleton military base, which I’ve never been to before. It was about a 40 minute drive and even longer wait to actually park once we got in. We were told to bring our ID and car registration to get through security, so I thought they were going to inspect my car for weapons and whatnot (like in the movies!). But they were pretty casual about it and just looked at my ID. What was also cool was that almost half of the runners at this race were people from the military (assuming active and non). They also marked our legs with our division (civilian vs military) and age. I’m trying to think about how this was a good thing, but am stumped. The night before the race, I looked at the previous year’s results and noticed that the top times for my age group weren’t too fast compared to my PR. I knew that this trail race had a few hills, but I was optimistic. Once the race started, all I was looking at was the back of runner’s legs! If it was a running not in my age group (it varies so pretty much anyone NOT in their 20’s), I’d let them pass me without even thinking twice about it. But after the first couple of miles, I was already getting exhausted from the hills, so I didn’t put much of a fight when someone in my AG did pass me..such a sad race strategy. Anyways, I was able to survive the race with a reasonable performance: 1:39:56 (7:19 min/mile), 7/38 AG, 117/1442. And I just now noticed the AG placing, I’m never satisfied! Read the rest of this entry »
