Race Report: Paesano's Salado Creek 8M/5K

Race: Paesano's Salado Creek 8Mile/5K
Distance: 8 miles
Goal Time: Around 2 hours
Actual Time: 2:14:31 (16:18 min/mi)

This is the second of two trail races that comprised my February races. Man, this one hurt. For this race report, I'll give the play-by-play of what was going through my head as I was running.


Pre-race:  It's colder than I was expecting it to be.  Last checked, temperature was 42 Fahrenheit. This is good news, it'll help later on.  An Air Force dude  has a really awesome tat on his shoulder of a coat of arms.  I resist the urge to ask him about it.
Mile 0: Went out way too fast. I think my first mile was at 10 minute pace, which is well outside my ability at this point.  But it felt so good to run at that pace.  It was hard to get myself to slow down to my normal pace.  I paid for that too-fast first mile for the rest of the race.
Mile 1: The race director started the 5K participants after the 8 mile runners.  The front runners for the 5K passed me in my first mile.  The trail we were on was barely a foot wide at that point, so when I tried to step aside to let them pass, I had to either hug a tree or get clawed by the nearby shrubberies.  Later I discover a small twig stuck in my hair.
Mile 1.5: The terrain is really difficult to navigate.  It's really unlike the Eisenhower Park, where the rocky areas looked like dried up creek beds: flat and worn but fairly smooth and even.  I wish I was a geologist so I could identify what kind of rock it is; I want to guess limestone since it's so light in color and native to the area.  Salado Creek is much different.  It's more heavily wooded, and most of the ground is dirt with rocks interspersed.  Rocks that are grayish, jagged, and loose.  Some of it looks like shale, but some of it doesn't. I almost roll my ankle a few times with missteps. I am probably going to end up walking most of this course.

Mile 2: A tree crosses the path.  It's like a foot in diameter laying horizontally at waist height.   Had to stop to climb over the tree like a fence. How did the front runners handle this?
Mile 3:  Part of the 8 mile course loops back on top of itself and the 8 mile front runners lap me.  But at least there's an aid station with Gatorade.
Mile 4:  Why can't we run on the perfectly nice paved sidewalk-like path over there?  But no, I have to dodge trees and rock-shrapnel instead. So glad to hit the turnaround.  Normally, red flags are a bad thing; now they signal I'm on the way home.  And finally the sun isn't interfering with my vision of the course.
Mile 5: I lose the two ladies who leap-frogged with me the last couple of miles.  They plow ahead, I'm stuck walking behind.  This park isn't hilly like Eisenhower where there was one steep hill and a few long low grade hills.  These hills you could practically jump from crest to crest, if you wanted to risk impaling your foot on one of the rocks.  The almost constant up and down is really doing a number on my heart rate.  I don't think I'm as prepared for this race as I was for the Eisenhower one.
Mile 5.5: Get to the aid station again.  Take some Gatorade and Gu.  A little bit later, my body tells me I should have done that sooner.  I get a little rush of energy.
Mile 6: Downhill stretch.  Not literally.  Still lots of hills.  I power-walk most of the time with little spurts of a slow shuffle.  BF says he's on the way to meet me.  I love having someone at the finish line waiting for me.  And not only because they can make sure to snag me some of the munchies.
Mile 7:  Is it over yet?  And why the heck do I have to climb this eight food pile of wood chips when there's a perfectly fine, flat route around it?  This course isn't technical - it's treacherous!
Mile 7.5:  Shuffling on the grass shoulder of 1604's access road.  It's starting to warm up.  I don't know how the front runners do this.  Running on this with a crowd of people would be dangerous.  You wouldn't be able to see what was coming up.
Mile 8: Dunzo!  Finally!  2:14:31. OMG my legs hurt.  BF gives me red Gatorade, which I chug. Where's the food?

This pair of races did give me a good insight into what trail running is like.  But I don't think I'll be doing another trail run for a while.  I'd run in Eisenhower Park again, but I don't think I'll make a repeat at Salado Creek.

Next Saturday - supporting high school band geeks at the Alamo Heights High School Run to the Beak 5K.  Some speed runs in the plan for this week, also a weights session.

Valentine's Day

So for date night, the BF wanted to surprise me by taking me to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  He was super sweet in keeping it a secret until I had to break it to him that I'd already seen it.  So the only other one showing that I wanted to see was Valentine's Day.  I don't like dragging him to the chick flicks, but it was the only thing at the Drafthouse Park North that we haven't seen.

Valentine's Day shows a series of couples on Valentine's day and how they all react and deal with the day.  Some hate it, some thrive on it, but it's meaningful to everyone.  It was reminiscent of Love Actually where there are ties between story lines.

This movie had  more big names in it than any I've seen recently.  I adore Anne Hathaway, and loved her character.  I'm normally not a fan of Ashton Kutcher, but when he's actually acting, he's decent.  I just wish he did that more often.   The story line for Julia Roberts' character was my favorite and made me tear up at the end.   The Taylor Lautner/Taylor Swift line was irritating.  Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine were very cute. I was impressed by Emma Roberts and will be looking to see her in upcoming movies.

The movie was cute, but forgettable. It wasn't overly mushy, but wasn't compelling in any way either. I think it was an attempt to make an impact like Love Actually did, but just didn't get there.  I'm sorry the BF had to be dragged through it.

Happy National Tortilla Chip Day!

I hope you all enjoyed your National Tortilla Chip Day celebrations!  Mine was a blast! 

As always, National Tortilla Chip Day is on February 24th.  The exact origin of the holiday is unknown.  Skeptics of the holiday still cite rumors that a tortilla chip manufacturer created the holiday as a marketing ploy, but they lack originality and are just riding the coattails of similar arguments for Christmas, Penguin Awareness Day, and Valentine's Day.

My National Tortilla Chip Day celebration was made complete by the companionship of the always lovely Brittany (@lights_aurora on Twitter).  We shared insights on Latin guitar music, middle-aged Latina women, and shirts with built-in-bras.

The venue of choice for our night was Luna, a local club that I frequent infrequently. I absolutely love this venue.  It may not look like much from the outside, but once you step inside, you are instantly transported to a very cool lounge where you are instantly cooler.  I love the red tables and chairs, the red curtains, and the blown-up jazz album covers as the wall art.  They had remodeled since the last time I've been there, and I loved how accessible the stage and performers felt.  If you go, look for all the monkeys they have around the bar!

Speaking of performers, Border Palace have a standing gig on Wednesday nights.  They were the group I heard when I went to Luna last and have been meaning to go back to hear them again since.  It's a shame it's taken me this long to go to hear them play.  Their music is amazing.  They're just two brothers with guitars, but they use the complete range of the guitar as an instrument.  Their music got me into classical and latin guitar music, which has become some of my go-to music for writing, bubble baths, and mellowing out at work. From their sets this week, I loved "Aqua" from their first CD and their rendition of "Oye Como Va."


I wasn't a huge fan of the girl who came in to play between their sets.  There was something about her voice that didn't quite jive for me.  The only song of hers I liked was a cover of a Bob Dylan song, and I'm pretty sure that it's just because the original song was that good. 

Oh, and we got free tortilla chips and salsa while at Luna.  

No More Car Loan!

No more car loan! La La La!

I am super excited. I love my car and now it's really mine! Not the bank's!

So most people won't talk about their finances, but this is something that I think people can benefit from seeing how possible it is to get out of debt, and how rewarding it is!

I've been working hard the last few years to get out of debt. I'm loosely following Dave Ramsey's program.  I say loosely because I still do a fair amount of luxury spending, like the TV/DVD I bought for my kitchen last month and the new vacuum cleaner in December. I also use credit cards for my daily expenses instead of cash.

I am currently still on Baby Step #2- "The Debt Snowball," but so far I've paid off over $10,000 in credit card debt. It's kind of embarrassing to admit I had that much debt in the first place, but it was a product of a time in my life that I needed to grow out of. Paying off the credit card debt made it possible for me to not be so dependent to my salary.  I am now putting 35% of my salary toward paying off debt.

I am a huge fan of not having car payments. I hadn't had a car payment for a couple years, but last summer when my car's A/C went out, the car wasn't worth the cost to get it fixed. So, I got a brand new car, a cute little Scion xD that makes me feel cooler just driving it. I was able to throw 15-20% of my salary to my new car each month. Now I've paid it off in ten months- four years ahead of the loan schedule! It was mostly possible because I received a very nice bonus this year, but I've been consistently hacking away at it since I got the car.

I still have my second mortgage (29.5% of current salary) and my student loan (39.9%) to go. I'm lucky that my cooking classes count towards letting me defer the student loan payments so I can chunk the little extra at the second mortgage.  The interest rate on the second mortgage just irks me when I see the balance creep up every day.  The current plan is to pay off the second mortgage by June 2011 and the student loan by December 2012. As I focus on the second mortgage, I'll be allocating a third of my income to it. It's still a long road to go, but I've hit a major way point in getting there.

When all of this is over, I'll be able to live on a little more than half of my current salary. It means being able to max out retirement contributions. It means being able to travel. It means I am no longer chained to an IT salary.  It means that there are many other possibilities.  Now THAT is freeing.

From Paris With Love

James Reece is an assistant to the US Ambassador in France, but moonlights as a low-level CIA operative.  Reece dreams of a chance to prove himself capable of being a real agent.  His opportunity to get out of the switching license plates when he is assigned as Charlie Wax's partner.  Wax's methods don't follow the rules to the letter, but as they uncover a terrorist attack on the city, Reece gets the chance of a lifetime. 

I was quite impressed with From Paris With Love.  This was definitely one for the Travolta fans. The writers managed to get in a quote from Pulp Fiction!

John Travolta keeps getting better with age.  He does an excellent job being the bad-ass.  At the Alamo Drafthouse, the previews for this movie were all trailers for old Travolta movies.  Did you know he was in Carrie?

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is very easy on the eyes.  Is it sad that I loved Bend It Like Beckham?  This is the first time I've seen him in an action movie since I didn't see Mission Impossible III, but I am quite impressed.  I might even watch Mission Impossible III to see how he does there.

The story was good, and reeled me in from the beginning.  My only complaint was that they moved so quickly in following the leads that traced back to the terrorists that I lost how they were all connected.    I really didn't expect the twist and gasped audibly, but the BF said he knew it all along.  He always says that.

The humor was great. I really enjoyed the running gag at the beginning of the film which got me shushed when I laughed at the wrong places. (If you go to see it, watch for the vase.)

The action was good. There's a good amount of explosions for people who like that kind of thing (read: boys).  The chase scene on the rooftops was very different from rooftop scenes I've seen before.   It wasn't too violent except for the two closeups of close range gunshots to the head. 

I enjoyed it, and this will probably be added to the BF's selection of movies.