This week, I bounced back after a horrific week before in training. As I mentioned last week, running in the mornings have been more difficult than it was before the Rock n Roll San Diego races. So, I needed to make a change.

As I mentioned last week, that change was to run after work on my mid-week runs. This plan worked out fantastically for me this past week. Since I was running the Awesome 80’s 5K on Saturday, I wanted to take advantage of running 2 practice runs around the course. The first one was on Tuesday night. This run was one I largely viewed as a recon run. It’s one thing to look at an elevation chart for a race and another to actually get out and feel the road. So, I went into this run with really low expectations. I’d run 30 seconds, walk 60 seconds for the entire run. No changing anything up. What I learned is what I already knew. The first mile was the most difficult. It took me 11 minutes, 40 seconds to finish the first mile. With that in mind, my expectations lowered. I kept the intervals going through the rest of the run. The finish time was 36 minutes, 30 seconds. I thought it would be worse than that at one point. The second and third miles gave a me a chance to make up some time. I did that in the second mile, and lost some time in the third. To be more accurate, the last quarter-mile.

On Thursday, the goal was to run faster over the same route as I ran on Tuesday. As you can see, I did just that! I hoped that I would get off to a better start this time around. However, I ended the first mile at the exact same time as I did on Tuesday (11:40). That bummed me out. However, I knew that I wanted to try and switch to a one minute run, one minute walk at 1.50 miles to the finish. Even though the first mile took the same time, I was pressing a little more than I did Tuesday. So, I could feel that. The first quarter-mile of the second mile helped me recover while maintaining a 30 second, 60 second run/walk interval. Once I got to 1.5 miles, I made the switch. This part of the course is easier and I was really happy with the results! The first half mile with this interval was a bit of a struggle. However, I gained confidence with each successful run interval. By the start of mile 3, I was feeling good with the one minute run/one minute walk intervals. This lasted all the way until 2.88 miles. Then, the road hit a slight incline. Since my time was looking good, I took my foot off the gas pedal so to speak for the last 0.35 miles. I finished about one minute faster than Tuesday! Mission accomplished! I felt confident and ready to see what would happen at the Awesome 80’s 5K.

I’ll get into more details about the race on Wednesday when I give a proper race recap. However, Saturday, I ran the Awesome 80’s 5K. The theme this years was Back to the Future. It turned out to be a pretty appropriate theme. I arrived a little more than an hour before the race to get my bib. With smaller races, there isn’t an expo. They did have an opportunity to pick up your bib and race shirt on Friday. However, the timing you could do that didn’t work with my work schedule. So, Saturday morning it was!

One thing about this race is that it is a race the emphasizes fun and costumes. I loved this Chewbacca costume. It looks like their son was dressed as Han Solo! I had a fun race costume in mind. However, I couldn’t get the hat I wanted…and the hat was so integral that I decided against running in costume.

So, here’s how I felt about this race in a nutshell. The bad….whenever you have a 5K race that has thousands of runners, you really need to have some sort of corrals. Everything was kind of a huge mess at the start. I never heard the official start of the 10K nor the 5K. Everyone was kind of jumbled together. This lead to a very frustrating, and slow, first mile for me as I weaved in and out of slower runners and walkers. The other bad of this race, for me, is that the course which I had run during the mid-week was not the same route that was used for the actual race. So, all the visual queue’s I’d put in my mind about running the Rose Bowl loop one way were completely off.  I never got into any kind of rhythm in this race.

The good…look at that finishers medal! That thing is really cool! There was a really cool t-shirt for this race as well (and I got it in my size!)! I love running around the Rose Bowl. So, the course was a lot of fun to run around! Also, I just love being around other runners!

The uncontrollable…the weather for this race was epic and crazy. There was a cloud cover at the start of the race that helped cool things off for the very start. By the time we got going, the cloud cover left and the temps heated up for a bit. That made things a little on the humid side. The sun even came out for part of the race. Then, when I was on the back stretch of the course, there was lots of thunder and some lightning. By the end, that lead to rain that gradually got stronger all the way past the finish line. It was epic. There were lots of jokes about making sure the lightning didn’t hit the Delorians on the race course. You  know…so they wouldn’t be sent back to 1955.

I finished the race in just under 36 minutes, 30 seconds. Considering how the crowding was a the beginning and how much I was thrown off by that, I’ll take the time.

In the afternoon Saturday, Brooke and I headed off to finally see the Minion Movie! I loved these guys that were in the lobby! Everyone needs some minions in their life. I loved the movie!

I finished off my bounce back week with a gym workout on Sunday! Hooray! It’s the first time I’ve finished 4 workouts in one week in a while. During this gym session, I decided to push myself a little on the treadmill. I ran 6 x 400’s and completing a 5K in distance. The first 4 400’s weren’t too bad. I’ve done that many before. The fifth one wasn’t too bad either. However, by the 6th one, I could feel myself pushing a little. It’s good for me to venture outside of my typical 30 second run intervals. Although I won’t be doing any Yasso 800’s before Chicago, I do hope to incorporate Yasso 800’s into my Los Angeles Marathon training. So, by adding this to my gym routine will help me build confidence leading up to the Los Angeles Marathon training.

In addition to the treadmill, I did some chin ups, dips, leg presses, and ab machines. By the end of that, I was pretty wiped. I tried to get on the elliptical machine, but could tell right from the start it wasn’t happening. So, I called it a day. For that reason, I can only give this workout a “B.” After all, I did finish everything else and pushed a little harder on the treadmill.

Lastly, I am pleased to announce that my fund raising web site for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is now live. Please click here for more information. As you may remember, I’ll be running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon for a charity, Holt International and Adoption-Link. As you know, this charity is raising money for something that is very near and dear to my heart. While there are many worthy charities out there, I hope you might check out the link to learn about how these two fabulous charities are working towards seeing a world with no more orphans. I’ll get into what these charities are all about later.

This was a fantastic bounce back week for me! I’m thrilled to have finished 4 workouts. There’s no time like the present to start a streak of these 4 workout weeks. Have a fantastic week y’all!