April 2014

April 2014 was an interesting and busy month for me.

The Big Sur Relay Marathon on April 27th was a great adventure. Cindy Bingham flew into LAX and we did our first of three road trips for 2014. It was over 7 hours to drive just up to Big Sur where we met up the ladies who were on our 2 relay teams as well as 3 ladies doing the marathon. We also took about 10 hours to get back to LAX because we were busy taking pictures along the way. This almost caused us not getting Cindy to the airport on time.

The race itself was a real logistic event for the organizers. We ran on Pacific Coast Highway which is a 2 lane road for about 63 miles with no real way to detour onto another road. As runners, we were able to use the lane closest to the coast while the support vehicles used the other lane. Also there was  no cell service on a good portion of this highway so short wave operators were posted about every 1-2 miles on the race route. This reminded me of my dad who loved to talk to different people around the world.

I’m glad to say my training with my coach, Steve Merkel SoleRunners.net, paid off which made me giddy with laughter when I got to Hurricane Point on my leg of the relay. To get to Hurricane Point, my first two miles had an elevation climb of over 600 feet. Somehow, I managed to run 90%-95% of those two miles. After that, it was downhill and rolling hills. I did my 7.2 miles in 1:31.

As for the rest of this month, I’ve been running as much as I can trying to keep myself on pace to do 1000 miles. I did take several days off in a row to deal with a slight groin pull and then again to deal with my gall bladder attacks.  Even though I am a bit behind to stay on task to do this, I’m surprised to see myself  at 318 miles and only behind by 15 miles.

Unfortunately, I will have to have surgery in May between the Vancouver BMO Half on May 4th and San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll on June 1st. The good news is my surgeon has told me I will only be sidelined for a few days. And no, I won’t be able to do an 8-10 mile run the first week. But I will be able to do a few miles to start. I do have a feeling, there will be a lot of walking the first few days.

The doctor has also cautioned me that I won’t be doing a PR for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half. So my goal will be to do a 3 hour half.

It has taken a bit longer than I thought but as of the last day of April, I am back working, licensed in both Washington and California as a Mortgage Advisor. I have stayed with the same parent company and just transferred to one of their Southern California offices.

As I start May, I am beginning to re-think several of my goals, both personally and professionally. Nothing firm yet as they are still rolling around in my head.

So as we move closer to the half of 2014 being gone, have you been reassessing your yearly goals? Personal ones? Professional one?

 

 

 

 

 

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2 Responses to April 2014

  1. Patti Auburn says:

    Betsy – Sorry to hear you have to have surgery, but having just been through it, I am amazed at how good I felt from the start. I think that anesthesiology has com a long way since 1998 when I felt like I had been hit by a truck for days afterwards. I’ll be thinking of you – you are an inspiration!

    • Betsm51 says:

      Hi, Patti,
      I agree with you! It only took about a day to get it out of my system. I think my walking helped a lot, too.

      Tomorrow I plan to try to run for a bit to see how that goes. I’m doing another half on June 1st. No PR-ing for that but it will be good to push myself again.

      How’s your training going? I think it is awesome that you are planning on riding your bike across the country! That is inspirational in itself!

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