Los Osos & the Diva 1/2 Marathon

This past Wednesday I took my horse M down to Los Osos for an annual ladies & horses weekend. When we started going on this trip, we went camping locally. Then we went to Pt Reyes for a few years and stayed in this great Bed & Breakfast that has a stable. Last year we decided to go down to the central coast of California to explore the trails there. This year, we had 5 ladies and horses going on the trip. It's always a great time that I look forward to. I love being able to take my horse somewhere new and having him show me by his behavior what a great horse he is!

Hooked up, loaded up and ready to go!

When we get there we like to take the horses out on a short ride to stretch their legs. We can ride from the hotel where we stay, right down the street to a dune trail and over to the beach.

There are also some beverages consumed. Nunzilla, in the middle, comes to all of our ladies trips ;)

My horse gal pals!

Good food is always part of our trips.

Nunzilla approved dessert.

Can't beat this view. We rode in Montana del Oro State Park. There are some great climbs and beautiful views.

I drove home Saturday morning so I could go to the race expo for the Diva 1/2 marathon I was racing on Sunday. My friend Barb was also racing and this was her first 1/2. This race was a woman's race with all sorts of girlie stuff. Lots and lots of pink, boas and princess crowns at the finish, shirtless firefighters handing out medals and champagne. A little too girlie for me but it was all in good fun. I didn't really have a plan for this race other then to enjoy it. There were other people I knew racing too including my niece, Molly and friends Mary and Meredith.

The course was an out and back along the San Francisco Bay. It wasn't nearly as scenic as I was expecting but I liked the flatness of it. The worst part of the day was the bay was in a low tide and it was really smelly. 

I went out at an easy 10:45-11:00 pace for the first couple of miles to warm up. About 45 min. in I took a walk break to take a Gu. After that I decided to take a minute walk break every 15 min. After a couple of those, the breaks were every 10 min. until the finish. 

There were a couple of skinny girls and another girl that was wearing a shirt that said she was 25 years old that I ran with most of the race. Not with but they would pass me and then I would pass them. When we got close to the finish line I decided I had to beat them :) Mary's husband Gerard took this picture of my final sprint. I won! Well, I beat those 3 anyway!

Barb and I after the race. She did so great and despite cursing my name at different points during the day, I'm sure she'll sign up for another 1/2. 

Mary is second from the left, I'm in the middle, Meredith is to my left and Molly is on the far right. Fun group of girls!

I finished with a time of 2:19:59. I took 1:15 off my best time so a PR!

Overall place: 920/3558

Age group: 48/247

Fun race and I was happy to get a PR without having that as a goal for this race!

Trust the plan.....

Everyone I know that has trained for an Ironman has told me you have to trust the plan. Week one of Ironman training is done. I had a plan. I did the plan. I might as well trust the plan.

The first 10 weeks of the plan is base building. I worked hard over the winter to build a strong base because I wanted to start in fairly good shape. Week one was pretty easy as far as length of the workouts. I focused on each one individually and worked on maintaining good form and not slacking. I moved a few of them around due to my schedule but I got them all in!

I didn't plan last week to be so busy but things just came up. I've pretty much adjusted to my new job. Ten hours a week isn't so bad ;) I'm really liking it too. Just enough challenge to make it fun.

I took my friend Diana out for a birthday ride. She has celebrated more for this birthday then anyone I know. I told her a month was long enough! I guess if she can pull off, go for it!

I went with another friend, Barb to go look at a horse in Stockton. She liked him well enough that the next day we went back and met him and the owner in Turlock for a vet check. Here is Brady getting checked out by the vet. We brought my trailer with us in case the sale went through and we didn't come back empty. She is going to have lots of fun with him. He's a nice boy.

Buddy had to catch naps in the truck whenever he could because his life is so busy.

Scene from one of my bike workouts.  I am so lucky to live minutes from here.

I think this is a King snake. He was sunning himself on my hike with my Hiker Chick friends.

I broke down and bought The Feedzone Cookbook that Molly and Mary have been raving about. I love a good cookbook with new ideas. I made the Grilled Chicken with Summer Orzo. Yum!

It's nice to finally get started on my Ironman training. It's going to be a fun year and every time I get overwhelmed, I'm going to tell myself, trust in the plan or maybe TRUST IN THE PLAN!