Category Archives: Oakland

Race Recap: Oakland Half Marathon

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I know, I know, I am THE WORST blogger ever as it’s been over a month since I’ve posted. In my defense, life has been crazy/stressful/frustrating as of late and it is very difficult for me be creative/funny/insightful when I’m pissed at the whole world. More on that topic soon…

Well, all that negativity took me down and 3 days before the Oakland Running Festival’s half marathon, I got sick. Super sick. Head and chest cold, general malaise, constant fatigue and absolutely zero energy.  All my training leading up to this half- my tenth- had been successful. I had been doing everything right, I’ve been eating well, added in 2 hours of strength training each week, rotated hill work with speed work, hit all of my long runs 30-60 seconds slower than race pace and had my mind completely and totally set on a PR.

Until I got sick, that is.

I’ve learned over and over from my TNT coaches not to let ego overrule good judgement, I therefore knew that running with a chest cold wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do but, of course, I was going to do it anyway and anticipated that it would slow me down. And, of course, it did. Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Places I Run

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My favorite running views!

2 blog posts in 2 days?!?!?!  I know, it’s a miracle!  Well, today is the the 3rd day in a row I’ve been stuck at home with my sick daughter- poor little thing! So, I figure, now is a great time to write more about my favorite topic in an effort to get a break from The Fresh Beat Band that my daughter seems to want to watch incessantly.

It’s Friday- YAY- and of course I am already thinking about where I want to log my 10-12 miles this weekend. There are so many awesome places to run here in the San Francisco Bay Area, here are just a few of my favorites… Continue reading →

Technical Difficulties

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If you can relate to the above picture, then you know what kind of “technical difficulties” I’m referring to: running clothes. They are EVERYWHERE and it’s becoming quite an issue for me, my closet, and my dresser drawers. I have so much technical gear that I broke 2 drawers right off my dresser trying to shove it all in!

I was stuck home with sick kids yesterday so I did some laundry and went ahead and laid out ALL of my work out clothing on the bed and counted- I’m up to 78 technical shirts and 25 bottoms. And that doesn’t even take into account all the shoes, socks, bras, jackets, hats and headbands I’ve been collecting over the past 6 years.

“Hello, my name is Laura and I’m an addict.” Anyone else care to join me at AAA? (Athletic Apparel Anonymous)  Continue reading →

Today’s Reason: The Long Run

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I was out with a friend for dinner last night and she asked me, “How did you figure out you loved running?” And I really had to pause to think about that… I told her it all began for me 6 years ago because of Oakland Adventure Boot Camp, or really, in the absence of it.  After I started going to the gym and stopped going to boot camp, I kept challenging myself to do what my boot camp trainers had challenged us to: run the entirety- all 3 miles- of Lake Merritt.  That seemed SO HARD to me back then!  “Justholdonasecondhere- you want me to run, without stopping, all the way around the whole entire lake? It’s so big! Who does that?! 3 miles?!?!?! No way!!!!”

Despite how daunting those 3 miles seemed to me at the time, I kept trying and trying and trying to propel my body around that lake 3 or 4 times a week, every week. I’ll never forget the moment I finally accomplished my goal of running the whole entire lake- I was elated and so proud of myself that I went ahead and signed up for my first 5K race in April 2009 and for about a year, that 3 miles was my long run.

Continue reading →

Virtually Running

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For the last 3 years, our family has participated in a local turkey trot (Hubby actually runs it, I don’t- he only does 2 races a year, so I let him have that one… boo..) but this year, Hubby put off his registration and the trot got stuffed!  All sold out!

I’ve been catching up all on my blog reading lately and came across a fellow blogger’s list of virtual turkey trots and I thought, “Why not?”  I chose to go with Daily Vitamin F’s virtual trot (as fellow running mom Kiley was kind enough to donate one of her Running Sucks shirts to my auction for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society earlier this year), printed my bib and hit the road for my OWN thanksgiving day 5K.

Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Halfs, Part 1: Oakland

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It’s only been ONE WHOLE MONTH since the Oakland Running Festival but I am finally catching up on my race recaps… in other words, hubby and kids are out of the house and I can actually hear myself think!  It may even be a 2-post kinda day!

Anyhoo, if you know me and/or if you have been following my blog, you know that after my 1st season with Team in Training I signed on to be a mentor for that following spring season, my 5 mentees all running Oakland (4 doing the full, 1 doing the half).  After nearly 5 months of training, The Big Day finally came on March 25th. Continue reading →

Ode to my Mentees

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Spring 2012 Kick Off

On November 5th we kicked off our Spring 2012 TNT team,
And as a first time mentor, my eyes did gleam.
I met Becky, Aimee, Tania, Chris, and Faye,
Together we celebrated and planned to rock the East Bay.

In the dark of the early mornings we met,
Looped the lake, the track, often the rain left us very wet.
Our long run Saturdays were always a joy to behold,
Team Awesome Dawson joined together and worked hard to fit Coach Al’s mold.

Continue reading →

Oakland Adventure Boot Camp

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People often ask what got me started down this long road of running and my answer is always the same: Anna and Jennie of Oakland Adventure Boot Camp.  These two women turned me from a body at rest to one in motion- and I haven’t stopped since.

Jennie on the left, Anna on the right (photo credit: Oakland Adventure Boot Camp)

My first day of class with Anna and Jennie was on May 9th, 2007.  My two children were 5 months and 17 months old, I was closing in on the 200 pound mark and knew I had to make a change.  I was already awake at the crack of dawn with the babies so I announced my intentions to hubby, registered for the 6:30am boot camp 3 days a week, bought a set of 5 pound weights, water bottle, and yoga mat at Target and mentally prepared myself for the challenge. Continue reading →

Oakland Marathon Training: Weeks 1 & 2

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circling coach, ready to RUN (photo credit: fellow TNTer Brandi)

And so it all begins again…

I had such a fulfilling experience training for and finally completing the Nike Women’s Marathon with Team in Training that I applied to become a mentor for the following season, and whadaya know, they were crazy enough to keep me around!  HOORAY! I currently have a group of 9 mentees and most, like me, are training for the Oakland Marathon while some are training for the Marathon in Rome. Continue reading →