I ran the Cancer Center 10k last weekend in Santa Barbara and it made me realize how much fitness I’ve lost recently. I actually did a pretty good job keeping in shape while we were traveling, and had an enjoyable half marathon in Ireland at the beginning of September. Since then though, I haven’t run that many times, and I got sick and didn’t do anything for a week. I was hoping the 10k would be one of those runs where you surprise yourself and have a great performance, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The first mile of the course or so is downhill, and I got excited and went out way too fast. The 10k course is two 5k loops, and by the time I hit, oh I don’t know, mile 3? I was spent. It wasn’t pretty, but I managed to finish strong and pass a few people in the last quarter-mile. 

This is the third year in a row that I’ve run this race, and I like it because it’s a local, small race, and in 2012 it was my first ‘real’ race. Last year I set a 10k PR and came in fourth in my age group. This year I also came in fourth in my AG but I was a couple minutes slower.

Anyway, it was a good wake-up call to get my butt back in shape if I want to start training for a marathon and break two hours in the half soon, which I was hoping to do this year but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I’m trying not to get too down on myself though and trying not to compare my performance to this time last year, but instead just keep in mind that it is a slow progression and I’ve got to stick with it.

November Project

Yesterday morning, I arrived at the Hollywood Bowl at 6:30am for my first November Project experience. I’ve heard a lot about it through other people’s blogs and finally set my alarm at 5:30am to make it there. And it was just as fun as everyone says it is. I’ve done a few group runs/classes before, and I’m pretty quiet and keep to myself since it always seems like people have their own little group that has been established. But as soon as I arrived at the Bowl, people were introducing themselves to me and giving me hugs, even though it was still dark out. Hugging is a big thing in November Project, and I didn’t mind one bit.

The entire hour was really fun, we started with a group huddle and some warm ups, some zombie tag (where a few other people and I had to act like zombies and whoever we tagged had to do five burpees), some freeze tag (but instead of freezing, again more burpees), then we partnered up and one person ran stadium stairs while the other did a series of exercises like push-ups, wall sits, planks, burpees, etc. I got such a good workout, and am feeling it today. I haven’t strength trained in months, and I used to do bootcamp when I lived in Santa Barbara, so this seems like a good way to get some strength training in once a week at least. November Project also meets on Friday mornings at 6:15am, but it’s all the way at the Santa Monica Pier, which would take 35 minutes or so to get there, before finding parking. BUT I really want to do it (last week they ran in the sand then jumped in the ocean afterward), so I’m going to try to make the trek either tomorrow morning or next week. My friend Liz is in town today and we’re going to her show tonight (she tours with a band), so it depends on what time I go to sleep tonight.

From November Project LAX’s Facebook page:

Off-topic question: blog friends, is it worth it to go self-hosted? I’m sure I know the answer, but I was curious what people think about it. I would also pay someone to migrate my stuff since I’m spending all hours applying for jobs and it hurts my brain to even think about doing it myself. Thanks for any advice!