midnight mission 10k [race recap].

22 May

This last Saturday I ran a local 10k in Elysian Park. The race benefitted The Midnight Mission. During the LA Marathon this year, an LA Superior Court Judge named Craig Mitchell made headlines by running a few times a week in the early morning with members of the Midnight Mission, and he ran with 11 of them this last March in the marathon. Many of these individuals have never been on a plane before, and Judge Mitchell is taking a group to Africa in September to run the marathon in Ghana. Reading about him was so inspiring, I had to run the race to support him.

The race started at 8 so I got there around 7:30…but of course I had no idea where to park. Luckily, my Dad agreed to run the 5k and was already there so he could deal with me. What a mess I am sometimes.

We set off after I fussed majorly with my Garmin. I went out relatively fast but tried to run comfortably. The race was beautiful – through the hills by Dodger Stadium with views of the park. In the first two miles, I ran with a group of people. They peeled off at the 5k turn-around, and I kept going (after asking where the 10k route was at a water station). This was a small race, so the turns were under-marked, but that’s okay.

At the 10k turn around, I started eyeing the people coming back toward me. I counted a handful, and realized I was the first woman. On my way back down the hill, a woman yelled toward me “First woman!!!!” That was an awesome feeling, even if it was a small field.

I ended up finishing in a time of 44:40, which is a PR. Unfortunately, in the official results, some woman is marked to have run 41:xx, which is an error. Someone must have turned around with the 5k-ers early, so she got in front of me, but cut off nearly a mile. Stinks that it’s not an official “W” in the books, but that’s ok. I loved the course – and except for some kinks with the route, I’d recommend this event.

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My Dad is getting back into running after a year+ hiatus after the LA Marathon in 2012. He ran the 5k in just under 35:5x which was great, especially on the hilly course.

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We also met Judge Craig Mitchell after the race (he did the 10k). He seriously is so inspiring. He was a teacher for 17 years before going to law school at night. He was a DA for several years after law school, and is now a criminal judge. That’s impressive in and of  itself, but when you consider what he’s doing at The Midnight Mission it’s really something. We took a picture with him, and I’m sure he was like “who are these two nerds?”

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After some time and a kid’s 1k, they did a little awards presentation.

Male and Female 1st and 2nd place:

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Up on the podium with Judge Mitchell for the 19-29 awards:

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Hardware pic:

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And the best part of the day? My Dad hands me my keys on our way to our cars (he kept them because my shorts didn’t have pockets). I realize I had handed him my HOUSE key and not my car key. #typical. We called AAA and they had it open in minutes. But seriously, thank God my Dad was there, because not only was my car key in my car, but my AAA card and phone were as well. Wrecked.

Overall, it was a terrific race, course, and awesome Saturday morning.

Did anyone else race this weekend? 

 

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facebook page.

15 May

I finally got up to speed with social media and made an FB page for good ol’ That’s G.

Like It if you feel so inclined  - https://www.facebook.com/thatsgblog

That’s All For Now :)

-G

what a week.

15 May

I’ve been pretty busy this last week since the OC Half…but fun busy…even if I had to study and take a final.

The day after the race I suffered through some soreness and went golfing for basically the first time ever with my buddy Taylor. I wasn’t great, but I actually hit the ball okay a few times.

The best part was when an old man watching clapped after my first non-terrible hit, and said “you’re closer than you think you are, this is a tough game.”

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Also last week, I activated a one-month membership at Equinox DTLA that I received free from a Klout Perk. I signed up, got a tour, and a bag/T-Shirt. As part of my perk, I also get a complimentary session on a pilates reformer, which I’ve never used before.

So far I’ve taken a couple of yoga classes as well as a spin class. I also love the fact that the treadmill has a virtual reality course so you feel like you’re (almost sort of) running outside.

Hard to beat this view of DTLA’s Library from the yoga studio:

morning view.

morning view.

I’ll do a full review of the gym when I’ve used up my month long membership, but I am going to try as many classes as I can.

On Friday, most of my friends were studying, so I hit up my parents to grab dinner with me at The Standard Rooftop.

Loooooove the views.

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And how sick is the pool + sunset:

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Plaintain chips & guacamole was the best thing ever.

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We also noshed on chicken skewers and bacon-wrapped shrimp.

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I also squeezed in some studying. With only one final this semester, spreading out studying for one class over two weeks was sort of hard – every day I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, but I probably studied more for this test than I would have had I been on a more traditional finals schedule.

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On Saturday morning, I met up with Whitney at SoulCycle SAMO for a ride. It was so great to shake the remaining soreness from the half out. We rode with Gina, who I liked, but she told the class “I love you” over 10 times which sort of weirded me out. On Saturday evening, I headed home to spend Sunday with my family for Mother’s Day.

On Sunday, I decided to run 20 miles. Yep, you read that right. I have been wanting to do a full marathon for awhile – and wasn’t able to do LA when I trained for it due to messed up hips/IT band/knee. I figured if I could get in one really long training run of 20 miles, I could conceivably do Rock N Roll San Diego on June 2.

Last week’s half went well (and decently fast), so I mapped out a 20 mile route, and roped in my friend Hannes to run it with me.

We started at my house at 6 am. At mile 8, my Dad met us (near Westlake Lake) with gels and water. My focus the first 8 was just to maintain a good pace and not go to fast. Hannes and I chatted until about mile 10, when we put music on. Miles 10-14 were spent running up to and around Lake Sherwood, which was HILLY but gorgeous. Again, at mile 14, my Dad met us to refuel, and I slipped a hat on. The last few miles were sort of tough, but we did it. We ran 20 miles in about 2:40, so while I am nervous for 26.2, I am confident I can do it.

I took a gel/gu every 45 minutes, and wore what I plan to wear on race day. Side note: I used to think running skirts were dumb, but in fact this is THE most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn while running.

IMG_3787Also, how dorky/cool are my socks?
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After running, stretching, showering, and lounging around, my parents and I headed to The Lab in Agoura Hills for brunch. Mimosas were imbibed.

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And Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast was consumed. #bomb. IMG_3791

My recovery has been great. My knees and hips felt a little sore, but I have tried to make a commitment to do way more yoga between now and the marathon. I took a class at Equinox yesterday and pigeon pose felt amazing.

Oh yeah, on Monday I took my final in Evidence. It was fine – just longgggg. 4 hours: 65 MC questions and “one” essay – one fact pattern, but 5 pieces of evidence we had to analyze. The exam started at 12, went til 4, and we’re not allowed to bring in food or water. So you better believe that I was starving. First stop after? Yardhouse…obviously.

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beers with Connor, Blake (and Aviva)

Love that tradition.

Also on Monday…I officially committed to the 26.2 distance…SOON. I’ll be running my first full mary on June 2. Nervous/exited/will be yoga-ing non-stop until then. I’d love any marathon tips/tricks/advice any of you may have!

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Yesterday I was able to meet up with Katherine for a #SOULDATE at Soul Cycle SAMO. We took a class with Laura Crago, who is by far my favorite instructor. She’s a BEAST, has the best music, and is super motivating. Loved her class. Afterward, Katherine and I caught up over brunch at Huckleberry. We both ordered this super-savory brisket hash served with arugula and two eggs. So good.

 

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It was so nice seeing Katherine! We first met a little over a year ago and have caught up every few months. Proof that meeting people from blogging really is a thing.

The rest of the week I will be lounging, working out, and relaxing before I start my summer job on Monday.

Happy Hump Day, y’all!

Hit me with your best marathon advice!
 

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the oc half. [race recap].

9 May

This is one of my favorite races I’ve done. A bunch of different factors converged to make Sunday a great race.

My best friend Whitney had signed up too – and this was her very first 13.1, so it made this weekend that much more exciting. We drove down on Saturday morning and quickly went to the Expo. While I loved this race, I did not love the expo. It was pretty crowded, we didn’t get goody bags of any kind, and the shirts were okay. The standard number of vendors were there, but it just wasn’t awesome. Surf City had a much more fun expo.

We checked in at the Newport Beach Marriott which I loved. We were directly in front of the start line and it just made everything about the weekend easy. The fact that they accidentally booked us in a room on the 15th floor with a panoramic view of the ocean didn’t hurt either. Pro Tip: save the hassle (and money) of parking at the hotel by parking for free across the street at Fashion Island.

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We set our alarms for 4:50 for a 6:15 gun time. I had my usual pre-race instant coffee (Starbucks’ VIA packets really aren’t terrible) and 2/3 of a Clif Bar.

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We met up with some of Whitney’s colleagues in the lobby and our friend Hannes from HS got dropped off by a cab. Around 6 am we walked across the street for the start. Hannes and I were in Corral 1. On our way there, we saw our former cross country coach, Christina Lightfoot, who crushed the half in a time of 1:29.

The race start was pretty seamless. The race director made some mildly offensive disparaging comment about LA, but redeemed himself by offering a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon. The horn sounded and we were off.

I immediately had a lot of problems with my SPI-belt. It wouldn’t sit right and my iPhone was in it, and it kept flapping and bugging me. The first 3 miles were pretty much filled with me thinking about how annoyed I was and trying to fix it. The first mile had a  little bit of a hill, and then major downhill to get to PCH. The weather and views of the homes and the water were really gorgeous. Finally around mile 3 I took my iPhone out of the belt and held it.

Also in mile 3 or 4, a friend from Loyola, Danielle, caught up to me. We ended up running probably 4-5  miles together, and chatted. It was a great way to pass the time, and since she is from Newport she knew when the hills were coming up. I ended up pulling away from her a little, but she finished just a few seconds behind me.

Danielle and me.

Danielle and me.

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My race photos are somewhat of a monstrosity. My pronation has never looked worse.

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Yeah, no.

I took 3 shot blocks around 40 min and a gel when I passed the gel station (mile 9?). I normally only fuel once but I think having something twice helped me. Whitney’s cheering section were at miles 7 and 11, but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them.

The beautiful views though and relatively mild terrain made the miles go by pretty fast. I wasn’t really focused on my time – I wanted to try and keep all of my miles under 8 minutes, and to maintain a relatively even pace. I knew trying to beat my PR of 1:38:55 would be a long shot, so I just tried to maintain a relatively steady pace.

One of my law school best friends, Blake, was volunteering with the race, and had told me he was stationed between miles 11 and 16 of the full marathon. The half/full split was at mile 12. He said he’d be at Mile 12 unless he had to go pick someone up or attend to something in a different part of the course. As I turned the corner to see the split, Blake was standing in the street directing traffic. It was AWESOME seeing a familiar face that late in the race. I darted to the side to grab a high-five, and headed to the last mile much more energized.

During that last mile, I realized I was pretty close to my PR…but not close enough. I finished in a time of 1:39:56 (7:38 pace).

After the race, I met up with Hannes (1:33 – which was a “bad day” for him…joke), and we cheered on our friends as they came through the finish. Also running on Sunday was our high school friends Sam and Kelsey, as well as Kelsey’s fiancé, Drew. I was so happy for Whitney when she crossed the line – mostly because she wasn’t in pain, had fun, and wants to do another one!

OPHS alumni: Jeff, Sam, Hannes, me, Kels and her fiancé, Drew

OPHS alumni: Jeff, Sam, Hannes, me, Kels and her fiancé, Drew

Whitney, Kelsey, Hannes, and me.

Whitney, Kelsey, Hannes, and me.

Overall, this is one of my favorite races I’ve done to date. Great course and so awesome to share it with so many long-time friends.

I am now contemplating doing a full marathon ASAP. My goal is to do a long run this weekend and gauge whether or not a June marathon is a possibility. Stay tuned.

Anyone else race this weekend?

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an epic weekend.

6 May

This was an amazing weekend.

As you probably know from my Instagram or Twitter…I spent a lot of last week studying for my Evidence final. Buttt since it’s not until May 13, I could afford to take this weekend off from studying completely.

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On Thursday night, I joined my running group for a 7 miler downtown. It was pretty hilly, but also gorgeous.

new fav LA spot. (on my run)

new fav LA spot. (on my run)

piece of BCN in DTLA.

piece of BCN in DTLA.

On Friday, my college friend/sorority “sister”/study abroader/fellow crazy person Michelle was in town from SF. We met up for a fun afternoon in Santa Monica. I finally put a Lululemon gift card to good use and walked out with something I never would have considered buying in the past…a running skirt! Just call me SR.

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Michelle and I took a class at Soul Cycle from my fav instructor – Laura Crago. Michelle had never taken a class at Soul Cycle before and naturally fell in love. She’s counting down until their SF location opens. We showered and then grabbed a bite to eat at Barney’s Beanery. It was so great to catch up!

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Later that evening, I grabbed drinks with my parents at Más Malo before they headed home. The recent southern CA fires are near our hometown, so they wanted to wait out traffic.

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After I said bye to my parents, I headed out to the valley to meet up with Whitney and our good friend from HS, Hayley, for a drink at the Blue Dog Tavern. I enjoyed an IPA (duh). Hayley lives and works in Fresno, so we don’t get to see her all that often, but she is always so fun to be around when we do get to see her. We were all chatting about how our other friend, Kelsey, had just gotten engaged on Tuesday (!!). And what do you know . . . in walks Kelsey with her fiancé, Drew. Kelsey had seen Hayley’s “check-in” on Facebook, and stopped by to surprise us. It was so nice to see her and Drew and to get the first person account of the proposal. Put that story in the “i love social media” column.

kelsey, me, whitney, and hayley. just realized i'm the odd one out without an "ey" last name.

kelsey, me, whitney, and hayley. just realized i’m the odd one out without an “ey” last name.

taps on taps on taps.

taps on taps on taps.

On Saturday morning, Whitney and I left our respective apartments and met up in Costa Mesa for packet pick up for the OC Half Marathon. I will do a full re-cap of the race, but the trip itself was a lot of fun. After packet pick-up, we checked in at the Marriott Newport Beach. Whitney had fallen into this room  - someone she knew who was running it had booked a room, but after a pulled hamstring forced him to bow out of the race, he offered his room up to her before surrendering it back to the hotel. Well, it turns out we had inherited the “romance package”…meaning champagne for the room…which was on the 15th floor and had a panoramic view of the ocean.

life = joke.

life = joke.

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We spent some time lounging in the room. The view was so incredible I felt guilty if I took my eyes off of it for more than 0.4 seconds. We met up with Whitney’s family and walked around Fashion Island, and did a little shopping. I met up with another friend from high school, Sam, for a coffee. It was so great catching up with her as well. We did dinner with Whitney’s family + our friend Riley at Irvine Spectrum’s Wood Ranch (because #paleochallenge).

The race itself was great – and after we celebrated with a little Cinco Day Drinko action. Overall, this was a fantastic weekend. I was so lucky to blend so many different groups of friends throughout the weekend – law school, high school, college. I’ll be back soon with a full race recap.

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runnerbox reviewed.

1 May

My roommate may have created a monster. Jenn gets the Pop Sugar monthly subscription box delivered, and every month she describes how it is like a “surprise present that comes in the mail!” She also exposed me to a blogger who gets dozens of subscription boxes mailed to her every month. I spent some time on her site and realized I needed to see what all of the fuss was about.

I sent Whitney a Kona Kase last month to get her ready for her first half mary, but I wanted to try something other than a food-only box (because…#paleochallenge).

I decided to try Runner Box. For $10 a month, I get a mini shoe box delivered with some running gear and nutritional items. I was impressed with my first shipment!

my first runnerbox.

my first runnerbox.

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The inside had a cute T.S. Elliot quote taped inside: “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” Loved it.

Everything was wrapped in green tissue paper, and there was a lime green product information card.

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Here’s what was inside:

- One pair of injinji socks in kelly green. These are toesocks designed for runners. I can’t get behind the whole vibram craze, but I liked the idea of toe socks helping for blister prevention. I wore them on my run last Saturday and was pleasantly surprised. Suuuuper comfy. These retail for $10.

- A green  SiMbi hair-bracelet. This a hair tie that can double as a bracelet. For each one sold, Simbi purifies a gallon of water a day and creates jobs for the people of Haiti. I like the green theme they went with for the box, and the hair-bracelet is cute. It’s not strong enough to tie my thick hair back without another hair tie, but I will use it for sure. Retail: $4.

- A sample of Win detergent, designed for tech fabrics. Haven’t used this yet, but it looks cool.

- Clif Shotblocks Energy Chews in margarita. I LOVE shotblocks and have wanted to try this flavor since I learned it was Monica‘s favorite. It’s like RunnerBox KNEW I have a Cinco day Drinko de Mayo 13.1 coming up…Retail: $2.

- A sample of Energybits. Energybits are “100% natural organic spirulina tablets.” Kinda scary sounding, but I’m interested to try them!

- Honeystinger Waffle.  This is billed as an energy source – and former endurance athlete inspiration Lance Armstrong’s favorite thing to eat on the bike in Europe. Now, this seems like a bit of an ironic choice, but I am sure it is delicious. Retail: $1.50

The box also included discounts on Skora shoes, Zensah compression, Win Detergent, and Energybits. I’m not sure I’ll use any of the discounts, but overall the box was over am $18 value for $10. I liked the assortment of items and am excited to see what comes my way next month.

Do any of you have a box subscription? Which one?? 

 

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weekend recap [with text this time].

30 Apr

I lieu of working out for a second time today (I have a half marathon on Sunday…I realized two-a-days are a recipe for an injury), I decided to actually recap my weekend.

On Friday, my externship at the U.S. District Court – Central District of California (Judge Klausner) came to an end. We had a great last day – Ben and I concocted some pretty clever thank you notes for the clerks, and we went to a great last lunch with our clerk Tiffany at Spring Street Smokehouse. [Sidenote: Spring Street Smokehouse is my second favorite place I discovered during the four-month externship. My favorite is Little Tokyo's The Sandwich Smith].

We finished up some last assignments, had our formal reviews, and said goodbye to the Judge and his staff.

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. . . and we took photos in the courtroom. Sitting on the witness stand was pretty cool.

extern fam.

extern fam.

I may actually miss these guys.

taylor, me, ben, and our clerk Tiffany.

taylor, me, ben, and our clerk Tiffany.

After work, we celebrated with a little happy hour action at Más Malo.

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On Saturday, I ran a little over 4 miles with the DTLA running group, ran some errands in DTLA’s Jewelry district (read: I shattered the crystal on my watch on Thursday…luckily Sam’s Jewelry and Watch Repair got it fixed in two days for $35). After some errands, I headed out to Glendale to my roommate Jenn’s parent’s house where she was hosting a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend, Daniel. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we all had a lot of fun drinking beer, dominating at beer pong, and playing a little corn hole.

the surprise in action.

the surprise in action.

daniel and jenn.

daniel and jenn.

#PaleoBurger

#PaleoBurger

My parents met me downtown for dinner – we went to a place I’ve been wanting to try called Industriel, which bills itself as Urban French Farm cuisine. Everything we had was innovative, interesting, and we licked our plates clean. We had a charred romaine hearts, a kale salad, a poached egg, and the sea bass.

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My parents also dropped off this console table I am obsessed with it. I have a walkway between my new room and my bathroom that had room for a little table. My mom found this on Craigslist – but it was sold…#sadface. Using the powers of the internet, she found it elsewhere online, had it shipped, and brought it to me. Awesome mom award goes to…my mom. I am going to pay her back though. I’m not that spoiled.

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Love this Moroccan/Spanish inspired piece. I am going to change the photos I have up top, I think…but right now I have some of my favorite Spanish artwork (Velazquez’s Las Meninas and Picasso’s versions of them).

On Sunday morning, I headed to West LA for a special group exercise class I was invited to, being put on by Fitist at Elliptifit. Elliptifit is like spin class – but on ellipticals. As a spin-o-phile, I was anxious to see if I would feel similarly about Elliptifit.

I used to be a big-time elliptical user when I first started going to the gym. Now, I don’t use it very often – it’s not as fun or as effective for me as running or spinning. The 45-minute class sped by. The instructor, Annette, was very energetic and she had great music, but the workout itself wasn’t something I was completely enamored with.

It was definitely more intense than if I had been doing an elliptical workout by myself. She told us when to sprint and when to climb, and what our resistance and ramp should be. We also did some isolated outer and inner thigh movements, as well as some arm work using the handrails. In 45 minutes, I covered 3.75 miles and burned over 500 calories. I felt like I worked out, broke a sweat, but since it was low impact it wasn’t too taxing.

I enjoyed the new workout, but thankfully (for my wallet) I don’t think a new obsession was born.

Since my externship ended, I am now in “finals mode.” Except I only have one final, and it’s two weeks away. That means plenty of time for being lazy…and working out a lot.

Yesterday I took my friend Colleen to her first yoga class (ever) at YAS – and today I met up with my friend Armita there for a little lunch time spin. My arms and shoulders are feeling all of those chaturangas today. Speaking of spin, I’m making progress on my fundraiser for YAS-A-Thon. You can donate here, if you’re so inclined.

Random question for any/all bloggers out there. That’s G is coming up on its 4th Birthday (seriously – whoa). I’m contemplating making a Facebook page and wanted to hear if you guys have any tips/tricks/suggestions for growing your blogs!

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