A Hot Sunrise Beach Run

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run on the beach, but I fretted over my foot and whether or not I should bring Remington with me. At the last minute, I decided to go for a three mile run without Remi, while watching the sunrise. I wanted to take him, but he was dragging lately and didn't think he could handle three miles.

The plan was to run 1.5 miles and then turn around for the remaining 1.5 miles.

It was still packed with cars from the night before, which is unusual. It was also so freaking humid even in the dark. I was so glad I just wore my sports bra.

I ran 1.25 miles slowly without stopping. By then, my foot hurt bad and I walked for a bit. Then, my Garmin died and I switched to Runtastic. I couldn't tell what mileage I was at exactly when I turned around, because I had a weird stoppage between my Garmin and Runtastic.

I'm so miserable at this point.

The run back was miserable. It was hot. I was slow. I was in unbelievable amounts of pain in my foot.  I periodically ran, but for the most part, I walked a great deal. I wished that I brought Remington, because I all the walking I did. Oh well, lessons learned.

I finally made it back with around 3 miles under my belt. JL had Remi waiting for me outside to greet me. He was so cute running up to me when he saw me.

Overall, I'm glad I ran, but it wasn't the best run ever. And well, I'm not stranger to having crappy runs at the start of another injury.

So, let's talk about my foot. I've mentioned it a few times now. I've been having lots of pain where I had the bunion removal surgery last October. It started bothering me in April and then I tripped on a root in May making it worse. I guess I put the pain on the back burner, because I didn't feel it during the marathon. When I started running again afterwards, it slowly started getting worse (remember my first sunrise bridge run). On one Sunday, I had to cut down from my planned 9 miles to six miles and I walked the last mile, because the pain was so bad. I was now officially worried. I went back to the doctor and did lots of tests. It's still swollen there and either I'm reacting poorly to the pins or my bone spurts grew back (created new ones). I had a cortisone shot, which didn't help at all. I went back to another doctor who did my ankle surgery. He showed me that there is still bone spurts there and I'm at the last option...which is more surgery. So, there you go. I haven't decided when I will have the surgery, but I'm hoping to not have one this year. I would like to go at least one year without surgery. So, I'm looking at next year at some point.

And with all this, I haven't been able to train properly for the Route 66 Marathon in November. The plan right now is to drop down to a half marathon (unless the pain is so bad). I will reevaluate myself in October and see where I am at pain wise and running wise. I'm still doing the Oktoberfest Triathlon and the Spartan Beast Race, but unsure about the marathon. I am trying not to let this get me down, because I can still bike and swim and workout and at least run one mile.
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Sunrise Yoga at the Beach

It was the annual Rayapalooza beach vacation in Port Aransas, TX, last weekend with the Cordovas. I look forward to it all year and especially at the beginning of August. This month has been by far the busiest month that I have had all year and really couldn't wait for the beachy getaway with some good friends. I can expect good food, some drinking, dogs playing, walks along the beach with JL (and not in a romantic way), and some exercise.

I was only sad that I had to leave a day earlier than planned, but it was worth it to watch my two friends get married.



Congrats to Dindi and Brian!

And since we always exercise, JL decided to do something different. A couple of weeks ago, she texted me that we were getting up early to do some yoga on the beach with the sun rising around us and our dogs playing. I planned to do a beach run on both of the days, because I LOVE running on the beach. However, I wasn't sure if my toe pain would allow running on both days or possibly not even on one day (more on that in a later post). So, the idea of doing yoga on one day and running on the next day was a much better plan. Then, she wrote to tell me that we would have an actual yoga instructor (Michelle Acebo) from the Yoga Studio of Corpus Christi out there teaching the class. I was even more pumped about my weekend getaway and couldn't wait to get there.

And then our alarms went off at 6:15 a.m. on that Friday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed for some sunrise yoga. I quickly realized that not only did I forget my skydiving rig, but I also forgot my yoga mat. Thankfully, JL had an extra mat for me to use (but no skydiving on the beach for me). The sun was peaking out and the temps were somewhat lower than the death heat and humidity we received days before and certainly on Saturday morning. I tied up Remington, because he wasn't used to all these people and had been really grouchy since he got there the night before. But he had front row center and sometimes he would get on the instructor's yoga mat to what I assume supervise the situation.

She started off by rubbing our shoulders with a little deep massage cream (the same one JL used on me before). If yogis started their classes out like this every day, they would have a lot more students.

I have to say that it was weird not being in the lotus pose for this part, but this is what she wanted.

These ladies got the best spot in my opinion.

Molly is doing her own version of downward dog.

I really enjoyed Michelle as an instructor.



And this right here is why we got up so early.

I forgot my darn bandana.

Zori was the only one to get the leg up all the way; I tried, but failed.

This picture cracks me up, because we were all falling and I was getting molested by Niko.

The exciting thing was that I stuck my headstand. I couldn't get my feet up (which is so weird, because as a child, I had no issues with this at all) without jumping to it. So, the instructor helped me out. And then she let me go only giving me minimal support. I swear I thought she was holding on to me a lot more until I saw the pictures. I held it for awhile and was pretty proud of myself. This has now become a new goal for me.

I'm so close, but I just do not have the control to lift myself up without jumping it.

She was the only one to get the headstand without assistance.

Initial help to get me started.

She's barely holding on to me.

After looking at this photograph, I felt like a rock star. Every time that I have attempted the headstand in yoga class, the instructors are holding on to me for dear life. I think the sand really helped me let go.

We did some final stretching and the corpse pose, which I love and then said our goodbyes to Michelle. JL's dogs were fully involved at this point.

Remington is supervising the instructor as the quality control department.

I've never had an instructor do an extra stretch for me in corpse pose. I liked it.

It was not the hardest yoga class I have ever taken, but we had a few ladies in the class who have never taken a yoga class before. And to be honest, it was just perfect for me. I haven't done any yoga in a couple of months and my foot was still bothersome, so I didn't think much of it. I will say that it was weird doing yoga on the sand, because the sand was all over my hands and feet and especially on my face when I went into a child's pose. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I highly recommend Michelle if you are ever needing a yogi in the Corpus area. It was by far my favorite part of the beach weekend...well, except for when my friend E caught a 5' shark on my last night.

My baby boy all tired from chasing flies in the sand and digging for leftover ribs.

That was a big boy and they had some good tacos that I missed.

Ray took these photos and they are just amazing. I had to include them. Actually, thanks to Ray for taking all of the yoga pictures (except for 2-3 when we couldn't find Ray and Michelle had to take them).

 

Splash and Dash

On Friday, August 15, Elizabeth and I finally made it to the Houston Racing Triathlon Club's (HRTC) cool event called Splash and Dash. You swim 400m on the 288 Lake and then run a mile right afterwards. Then, it finishes with a slip and slid...oh yeah.

On a side note, if you are members of HRTC, you can swim at the 288 Lake on Friday for free. You also get discounted rates to swim at the lake.

When we got there, I reminisced about getting my scuba diving certification here over 24 years ago. It certainly looked differently (better) than it did back then. I think we have may have had two ladders and that was it. I remember being in the car with the AC on eating McDonalds to get away from the heat, while I waited for my parents to finish. The new 288 Lake had a nice gazebo area, decks, nice loading/unloading area, and buoys/flags to mark out the swimming distance needed for triathletes. It was amazing.

We got in for a warmup to get used to the lake. I immediately loved it. I felt so comfortable in the lake unlike the pool. Yes, it was warm, but it didn't bother me. I felt like a fish and instantly knew that I would be okay for my first triathlon.

The group started to congregate around the main loading/unloading area and we asked how this works. We were told that we swim out to the big red buoy thing for 200m and then back for another 200m. It cuts through the lake like a diagonal. I did wonder if we were allowed to swim like that on regular days. Then, a guy said the rules and how we were or actually weren't going to be timed. And then we were off like dirty shirt.

I did exactly what I do in races...I started off too fast getting caught up in the group and the excitement. So, I tired easily. I just tried to remain calm and work on my swim. I stayed with Elizabeth for a while and then we were separated. I thought we had to swim out to the platform in the middle of the lake, but we didn't. I quickly learned that it was out of the way when heading back to the main loading area. I eventually made it back to the small group I trailed and got up without too many issues. I have no idea what my time was, but there is a possibility I heard 9 minutes something. And really who cares since I wasn't last...thank God.

We got to the makeshift transition area to change into our shoes, which was painfully slow and headed out. I stayed with Elizabeth until the first dip in elevation (not much). My foot began to hurt, so I just took it nice and slow and easy. I didn't want to press myself. And boy is it weird to run in a swimsuit. My butt jiggled so much and there was nothing to protect it. Eventually, I made it back for a nice whale like finish on the slip n slide.

Photos taken by Elizabeth.

We had some food and beer and talked for a bit to Robert. The weather was so beautiful, which made me want to stay forever, but we had to head out for the evening. I can't wait to swim here again.

 

Since this was my first experience into the world of triathlons, I have a lot to work on before October. I need to get up some speed in the swim and not take it fast right out the gate. I also need to work on looking up out of the water in a smoother way. I definitely need a better system in the transition area. Boy howdy, was that slow. And I'm always got things to work on for the run.

With that said, I'm so ready for the triathlon. I have no loss of confidence on how I will do in the swim. It's a 400m swim on a lake and well, I proved that I can rock it out with the best of them. Okay, maybe not like Chrissie Wellington, but more like KW.

If you want to join Splash and Dash, the next one is Friday, September 12, 2014, at 6 p.m. It really is worth it!