Santa Barbara International Marathon

Though I had sworn off marathons (after having done 13) a group of 20 or so Forward Motion Race Club friends decided they wanted a road trip to Santa Barbara to run their inaugural marathon, and I don't like to be left out! I decided THIS would be my final marathon and I was going to do it right and prove that my PR (3:11) was not a fluke and I could run another good one. This course was being touted as tough, so I knew it may not be a PR, but I thought if I could get in the 3:15 range, I'd be thrilled. Well, training did not go as I hoped. I had some unexplained ankle pains that a cortisone shot helped but necessitated two weeks of no running at all and three weeks of minimal running after that. Not great. But thankfully I have great friends to train with, great Cytomax products to fuel me, great FlexPower to lather on all that aches and a great store in Forward Motion where I can find all of the above. I decided to change my focus and try to run well enough that I didn't hate every step of it and at least get to be a part of the "fun." Well, evidently those friends and products are better than I realized. I ran a 3:19 on a hilly course and placed 12th overall woman and 2nd AG. It was a great weekend with everyone running really well and a great way to end my marathon career (I MEAN IT THIS TIME!)

Pleasant Hill Turkey Trot- Jan Maynard

    The Pleasant Hill Turkey Trot has always been a good race to let me know how far I have fallen out of shape during my down time.  This year, be it that I am not fully in shape, I still felt that I was more in shape then I have been in the past for a November race.

    The race was on Sunday and I had rode moderately hard the day before on the FMRC ride and really didn't know how my legs would respond but I wasn't going to taper for a race in November.  The race is usually on the small side with about 100 people but it is a great atmosphere and if you do well you get a turkey.  It is 8.4 miles of about the toughest trail run you can find.

    I started out the race slow which is the only way you can approach this course and be successful because the first 3.5 miles is up, up, up.  Once I hit the 3.5 mile point then the race began.  I was in 10th place at that time which was a lot further down then I have been in the past but I was just banking on the fact that they probably went out to hard and by the turn around point I was in 4th.  The last 3 miles of this course is all down hill and you can run as fast as you feel comfortable doing on a muddy, cow destroyed trail.  For the last 2 miles I ran shoulder to shoulder with another guy and I ended up crossing the finish line in 3rd overall with a time of 56:10 which was 5 min. faster then I have ever done.

    Thank you to Cytosport for the Monster Pump that woke me up before the race.  Thank you to Avia for the Sholtz trail shoe that kept me on my feet during a muddy race, Thank you to Dr. B. for getting me on the right track for my 2010 season and Thank you to Forward Motion for the best team around.

Clarksburg Country Run -- 1/2 Marathon PR

A large group of runners from the Forward Motion Race Club ventured to Clarksburg, CA (12 miles outside Sacramento) to participate in one of several races - a 30k, a half-marathon, or a 20 mile race. Although I am training for the Santa Barbara Marathon in early December, I opted for the 1/2 marathon. Teammate Cathy Armstrong and I had run together the weekend before at the Healdsburg Half and just missed making PR's of sub 1:35. As a result, we decide to give it a go again in Clarksburgh.


Downed my Cytomax Fast Twitch and applied my Flex Power and I was ready to go. Before the race, talked to my main age-group competitor (Michael), who I had raced against on 3 other occasions. (I won two and he won one!) This was his third 1/2 marathon in three successive weeks and he mentioned he was running sub 1:33 something, so I figured "there goes 1st place", since the time was over 2 minutes faster than I had run in the past 12 years.


The gun went off and the early miles went well. First 2 miles sub 7 minutes/mile and the third slight over 7. (Since I had left my heart rate monitor at home, this was one of the only races I had run in several years without it.) By about mile 5, Michael moved well in front of me..by at least 300 yards. Cathy Armstrong also moved ahead of me as the middle miles slowed to 7:20-7:30 minutes/mile. At about mile 10, I started feeling better and sighted Michael. I ran with Cathy for about a mile and then between mile 10 and 11 I ran behind Michael. At the 11 mile sign I moved quickly past him and he didn't go with me. Mile 12 was sub-7 and mile 13 was slightly above 7.


I finished strong in 1:33:24, a big PR, and won my age group. (Michael said his leggs were dead after 3 weekends of racing). Teammate Cathy Armstrong also PR'd and placed third in her age group. I have decided to leave the heart rate monitor off for racing. I think it has caused me to run too conservatively..I slow down when my heart rate monitor hits a certain number.. and I have too much left. I am looking forward to the marathon on December 6th and hope to have a good race.

Salmon Duathlon - Clancy Statz

I was in need of one last "fix" before the end of the '09 season and decided why not do a DU? Mike and I did this Duathlon back in '05 and I remember it being rather hard. I had no expectations for this year. I just wanted one last race before I settle in for winter hibernation. In fact, Mike and I were actually fighting for who WASN'T going to race. I did the classic "wife-move" when I saw him prepping his bike on Friday night.

Clancy: "Love, are you racing?"

Mike: "You said you didn't want to..."

Clancy: "Well, you said you didn't want to either..."

Mike: "Yah, but I want to now."

Clancy: "So do I."

Mike: (Looking sheepish) "OK, I'll get your bike ready."

Clancy: (feigning humility) "No. It's OK, you race."

Mike: "I raced last time, it's your turn."

Clancy: "OK."

So I felt a twinge of guilt because I new Mike likely had a shot at winning the entire race, but I'd had some personal set-backs lately and just needed a good race effort to boost my mood. Yes folks, he is the bestest husband ever!

We all drove up to Knight's Ferry (outside of Oakdale). It is a gorgeous little town in the foothills where the Chinook Fall Salmon come to spawn. The fall leaves were showing bright hues of gold and red and the air was nice and crisp.

I've only done a handful of duathlons in my life and each time I attempt one I realize just how difficult they can be. Running hard and THEN getting on the bike is not at all like swimming hard and then biking. The race consisted of a 2 loop 5K course, complete with an old covered bridge and a nasty incline. The bike was a 30K distance with rolling hills, bumpy asphault and a evil headwind. The final 2.5K was just one loop of the previous run course...which meant another run up the hill.

The Stanford and Santa Clara University Triathlon teams were at this race, so I figured there would be some fast, young chicks ready to rock. I was right. My strategy was to go conservative on the 5K so I wouldn't blow up. I figured anything in the 24 or 23 min time frame would be good, especially with the hill (twice!). I kept my pace even (around 7:30) and cruised into T1 with 22:55 on the clock. I was actually a bit shocked that I ran so well and still felt so fresh.

The bike was a bit tougher. First off, I haven't been riding but once per week and even those weekly rides are 90 minutes MAX. I certainly felt like my legs lacked the fire and strength they usually have and although came out of T1 in 5th place (the Stanford girls ran a speedy 5K), I was caught by one other woman who turned out to be in my age group (just barely...she was 30). I was happy to get back to T2 and get back to running. I figured I had a shot at catching the 5th place woman again, but the run was just too short to make up much ground. I finished as 6th place woman, 2nd age group (F30-39). My overall time was 1:38:42.

Mike and Caden ended up doing the 5K run together. They had a great time taking pictures of the bridge, watching the salmon and enjoying the walk (uh, I mean run). Caden was 2nd in his age group (out of 2 total) and Mike actually made the podium with 3rd in his age group (out of 3 total)!! We all received medals and had a great time.

Grape Stomp 1/2 marathon

It has been a tough late summer for me. I signed up for Santa Barbara's Inaugural Marathon on 12/6 and have been training well and feeling good and then all of a sudden I have debilitating pain in my left ankle. Sports doc can't determine what it is since I cannot have MRIs so it's a hunt and peck kind of thing. After seven weeks of no or limited running I am cleared to run up to 10 miles every other day. Well, 10 miles - half marathon - same thing!

I decide to go run the Livermore Grape Stomp just to try to get my head back in the game. I know that I can only run it as a heartrate training run and that it is farther than the doctor has approved, but what the heck!

Well, lucky for me the day dawned beautifully and no one showed up. I lathered my ankle and hamstring with FlexPower and downed my Cytomax Fastwitch (even though I knew I wouldn't be going fast; it makes me feel like I'm racing) and off I went.

Ran the first 9 miles pretty well, which makes sense since that's the farthest I've run in two months. The last four miles weren't so pretty, and I had a woman pass me that I would then pass and then pass me that I would then pass. Took all I had to not worry about her and remind myself that this was just a training run.

When all was said and done I was not happy with my time, but my place wasn't so bad. I was third woman overall and third in my age group. Got a nice medal, plaque and wine all for a training run!!!

Healdsburg Half Marathon October 31, 20009

Woke up at 4AM on Halloween morning for the 112 mile drive to the start line for the Healdsburgh Half Marathon, which began at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Accompanied by fellow Forward Motion Race club members Barb Donlan and Christy Slye, we stopped in Sonoma to pick up former club member Kathleen Dunlap. Drove through lots of fog and arrived at the starting area by about 6:15. We were directed to drive to a nearby winery to park, where we were subsequently bused less than a mile to the start.

Among the 1500 plus runners were several other team members, including a group with club member Sharley Simpson, who was celebrating her birthday. Weather was in the low 50's and the sun was just coming upwhen the gun went off about 7:25AM. Started within 2 seconds of the

start line and had decided to run with teammate Cathy Armstrong who was trying to beat her previous PR of 1:35:07. Also running with us was Angie Longworth who had lead many of my pace runs at the Sunday Nike runs in Danville.

Really loved the fast course which was rolling, but none of the hills were very steeep, including the longest hill between miles 2 and 3. Passes 22 wineries. First mile was all downhill and we held back and still ran 6:57. Continued to click off miles in 7 to 7:20, with one mile below 7 and only one at 7:26. At mile 11, with 2 down hill miles to the finish, which was at the Warm Springs Recreation Area, felt a slight tug in my right hamstring. Since my previosly injured hamstring seems to "pull" about every 2 to 3 years, I slightly altered my stride and continued running. Cathy pulled about 15 seconds in front of me. Covered the last 2 miles in 7:14. When I tried to accelerate the last 500 yards, felt the tug again so strided in. Finished in 1:35:38 which was good for first in my 60-64 age group and 70th overall. All age group winners received bottles of wine, donated by the various winneries in the area. Since we had registered as a team we received free wine glasses and were able to take advantage of the free wine tasting at the finish area, although the sweet wine didn't mix well with the sweet residual taste in my mouth from the gels I had consummed in the race course:) Would recommend the race to all for a fast course and fun time.

Primo's 1/2 Marathon - Ed Maier

With the colder weather and darker mornings, something about the Fall switches in my head to start focusing on longer runs, which is perfect for Primo's. With PRs in the Marathon, 5K and 10K this year, I put some pressure on myself to add the 1/2 marathon to my list. The pressure drove me to new levels in training as I made a few extra trips to Primo's for pizza (to scout out the starting line, of course). Race day came and I was feeling pretty good.

The race started faster than I planned. A group of 6 guys shot out in front like Steve Chavez at a Tuesday morning track workout. I stayed back and tried to settle into my goal pace (6:15's). About a half mile in, a group of three guys surged past. I couldn't ignore that competitive nature to stick with them, which led to a 5:55 first mile - woops. It took me four miles to convince myself that I should let them go and save myself for a strong finish. My goal was a smart race. Plus, I was distracted with some emerging side stitch cramps. Luckily I had a little flask of cytomax, so I kept taking small frequent sips which kept me hydrated and fought off the cramps. About mile 10, I began pulling closer to the group ahead. Over the next two miles I bridged the gap and pulled ahead. One guy kept with me so I decided to kick it in with just under a mile to go. I soon realized that was a little too early but I somehow held on and beat the guy. I got my PR (1:21:57) and ended up 7th overall and 3rd in my age group. Of course, the secret was the Avia racing flats. As I said before, they make you look really fast with that Forward Motion singlet! Thanks to Tuesday morning track workouts, Cytomax, Avia and Forward Motion, I felt fast and strong!