Sasha playing peek-a-boo

We see it and step on or over it every day. It’s something most of us take for granted, that’s right, I’m talking about grass. Don’t get me wrong it’s great during the summer when you’re out at the park, and it does make the front of many houses look a whole lot better, but it isn’t something I spend my days or nights really thinking about. Until today. I was walking the dogs this morning and because of the recent rain the grass lining the trail is still pretty overgrown. The first dog I walked today, Sasha, wasted no time at all throwing her whole body into it and rolling around for a solid 3 or 4 minutes. I’ve seen the dogs do this during our walks in the park, they LOVE the grass! In the play yards they could simply sit and roll around for hours if we let them.

Apollo in the play yard

I guess it was a cute reminder to enjoy the simple things in life. Heck, maybe next time they take a dive onto those pristine patches of green, I just may join them!

FIRST THINGS FIRST, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

I was watching a show on the National Geographic Channel the other day and it was talking about the science of “free running.” I had never heard of it before and apparently I’m pretty behind the times! For those of you in the same boat with me, a quick Google search shows that free running is:

“A form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures.”

The wordy definition does not do it justice so here is a YouTube video from the World Freerunning Championships in London.

Again, this is not for amateurs. These people take running (if you can even call it that) to a whole new level, and the stunts they can pull off on city streets are simply incredible! Just thought you may get a kick out of it like I did.

I had a GREAT 4.5 mile run on the Bob Jones Trail today. It wasn’t my fastest time by any means, but I’m calling it GREAT because I really exercised my “mental toughness” and won! If you’ve ever been on the Bob Jones you know it winds through the Avila Beach Resort and Golf Course. I took the path about 2.25 miles out, just over the bridge by the 18th hole, and then turned around.  My first mile felt amazing, I was running slow, breathing easy and rocking out to my music. Around mile 3 though, I started feeling like I wanted to stop and walk. I wasn’t out of breath and my legs were still feeling alright, but I think I entered that “I just want to get this done” mode. So I pulled out a bunch of tools from my “mental toughness” bag. That last mile and a half wasn’t exactly a breeze, but I was able to power through it and even sprinted the last bit of the way. Now I know I am still new to this whole running thing (May will be about a year since I became a “runner”) but I’ve listed a few of the tips I used today, below. Hopefully someone out there will be able to use it to power through their next workout! Believe me, finishing today felt so much sweeter, knowing I had to work hard to make it happen.

1. Use your music- know where your “power” songs are on the playlist, that way you can pull up a song that gets you going when you’re starting to drag.

2. Take mental pictures as you go- especially on an out-and-back route like the Bob Jones, I try and take mental pictures of the route on my way to the turnaround. That way on the way back I can anticipate where the hills are, look forward to any downhills, and remember where the “finish” is.

3. Set mini milestones- If you don’t think you can run the whole route, pick a spot in front of you and tell yourself, “I’m just going to run to that pole.” Chances are when you get to that pole, you’ll realize you can go a bit longer, so pick another spot up ahead, and so on. Before you know it, you may be picking the finish line as your last mini milestone!

4. Relish in the downhills- No matter how small it is, I always make sure I slow down and breathe deeper on the downhills. If anything, it makes you feel like you’re getting more rest than you are.

5. Break up the route- This one is just like it sounds. For example, the first 2.25 miles of the Bob Jones can be broken into three parts. There’s the initial stretch out of the parking lot, then there’s the stretch right beside the Avila Beach Resort that’s kind of “boxed in” by two bridges, and then there’s the third stretch along the golf course. Breaking up the route can make the 2.25 miles seem more manageable AND give you an idea of where you are on the way back.

6. Go at YOUR pace- There were plenty of people on the trail today. Walking dogs, riding bikes, running. It can be tough to stay back and go slow when the people up ahead are just begging for you to pass them. Exercising restraint in the beginning will pay off when you need that energy at the end.

7. Slow Down First- Finally, if you get the urge to stop, slow down FIRST. If you still want to stop after that, slow down even more. I always say jogging at a “walker’s pace” still counts, and sometimes slowing down just a little bit can give you that extra kick to finish the route.

Okay that’s all! Until next time, happy running!

Shooting Anchors on Ice!

A big thank you once again to everyone who sent me comments about my Anchors on Ice piece. Tony and I headed to Sierra Summit a couple of weeks ago with one of our amazing photographers, Kelly Teel, and it was a blast! Now I’ve never been on skis and the last time I snowboarded was in high school, so needless to say I was a little nervous about the experience. I guess once you get older you realize how badly you can hurt yourself. We went up on a Tuesday night and stayed through Wednesday. The weather was absolutely perfect and the mountain was absolutely beautiful.

Sierra Summit

Kelly in action shooting Tony's piece

Since Tony and I had to share Kelly, we shot our stories separately. While Tony was learning to ski like a pro with Kelly, I was off with my snowboarding instructor trying to stay upright. My instructor has been snowboarding for 10 years and he definitely knew what he was doing. He was very patient and spent a good four hours with me on the beginner and intermediate bunny hills (hey, slow and steady is the way to go!).

Me with my Instructor

Tony with his instructor team and Kelly

I learned all over again how to walk with my snowboard on, which is very awkward in itself, how to go down the hill backwards, frontwards, sideways, you name it, we did it! I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, and had used muscles I never even knew existed. My legs were incredibly sore, but the fun was so worth it! I feel confident that if I headed to the slopes again, I would be able to get down an easy run without a problem. I’ll let you know how that goes…

Once again a big thank you to everyone at Sierra Summit and some more thank you’s go to Kelly Teel, for shooting such a great piece, and to Ryan Foran for his help in the editing process!

I was walking the shelter dogs earlier this week and had quite the experience on the walking trail. It was a beautiful day, warm, clear, felt more like spring than winter. However, because of all the rain we’ve had lately the grass surrounding the trail is now extremely overgrown. It’s actually taller than a lot of our small dogs and it’s pretty amusing when they decide to run through it because all you can see is the leash sticking out of the bushes! I was getting ready to leash up another dog when one of the other volunteers says, “Hey, it’s hot, have you seen any of the snakes out there?” Snakes??? I HATE snakes! Snakes and spiders scare the living day lights out of me! I’ve seen snakes on the trail before but I was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with them until summer was upon us. They are simple garden snakes but that doesn’t really easy my fear. So I spent the rest of the afternoon sprinting on the narrowest parts of the trail, thinking at any moment a snake was going to spring out from the bushes, or one of the dogs was going to bother a little snake family while he or she was snooping around for a place to go to the bathroom. I never saw any snakes, but just knowing they are now out there is enough to thoroughly creep me out!

My favorite part of the race, the finish line!

I’m talking about the Chains of Love event at Cal Poly of course Race day was complete with music, plenty of runners and cupids in wings and diapers pacing the course, definitely a fun and festive way to kick off Valentine’s Day.

I originally planned to do the 15K, but ended up doing the 10K course instead. Lesson #1 learned today: INVESTIGATE THE COURSE BEFORE RACE DAY! It’s running 101 that you check out the course ahead of time. I went on the web site, looked at the map and figured it would be no problem. Well, it turned out to be pretty tough. Lots of hills and a pretty strong headwind had me feeling a little sore by mile 4.5. So I had a choice, I could either finish the 10K course strong or limp my way across the finish of the 15K. Not wanting to injure myself, I chose the former. My former co-blogger Ryan was very encouraging the whole way, and with his help I ran the entire 6.2 miles and crossed in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I was going pretty slow, but I was proud I didn’t walk! Believe me, it took just about everything in me to keep jogging UP!

View from the starting line

Even though I didn’t do the full 9.4 miles I still had a lot of fun. It’s always great to be around other runners and meet people in the fitness community. Not to mention the weather was absolutely beautiful (minus what felt like gale force headwinds!). Overall another great race on the Central Coast and I’m just happy I got to be a part of it. Oh yeah, and a big shout out to KSBY Director Ryan Wilkinson, who completed his first 10K today in 49:00. Way to go!

It’s happening again. The same thing that happened before I ran 13.1 miles from the City to the Sea back in October. Ryan and I are running in the Chains of Love 15k this Sunday. It should be a pretty fun race and it benefits the Cal Poly Triathlon Team so it goes toward a pretty great cause too. The 15k is about 9.5 miles and it follows the 10K and 5K routes (did I mention there is also a 5K and 10K?). I chose this race because it seemed like the perfect way for me to gradually get back to higher mileage. If you remember, the month after the half marathon was pretty brutal running-wise. I’ve kicked it into high gear the last month or so, upping my mileage and running more often. However, the past couple of runs haven’t been so great. I’m starting to psyche myself out again. I’ll start running and if there’s any sort of glitch in the first mile, my mind just snowballs. The stream of consciousness goes something like this:

“If I’m sore already now, imagine how sore I’ll be on race day. What if I get tired after 1 mile when I have to go 9? What if I can’t finish? What if I have to walk? There’s no way I can go 9 miles if I’m slightly out of breath right now…”

If there is anything I’ve learned in the past 9 months, it’s that running has more to do with how strong you are mentally, than physically. I know that my body can physically go the distance, it’s just a matter of if my mind will let it. On half marathon day, I ran more than 11 miles without walking. Before that, my longest run was 8. The body really is capable of incredible things. So for the next few days I’ll be resting, eating well and reminiscing about how amazing it felt to cross the half marathon finish line. Stay tuned…I’ll let you know what happens Sunday!

An incredible sunset

So simple, but so beautiful. I’ve been making more of an effort to relax lately. Just take it easy, be still and quiet, things that are not so easy to do when you work in the busy world of broadcast news. So the other day I did soemething I’ve wanted to do since I moved closer to the water, I sat on a bench, and watched the sun set. I’ll be honest it was tough to do. I brought a book and sat there for about 45 minutes, just listening to the ocean, reading a few pages here and there, and people watching. And I wasn’t the only one who took time to sit and watch the sun. By the time it was just above the horizon, more than a dozen people had wandered into the street, or onto their balconies to get a glimpse. It’s not the most intense outdoor adventure I’ve had on the Central Coast, but I sure do recommend it. Mother Nature sure knows how to put on a show.