Big Sur Big Update

Hey all, 1st and for-most, its been a while since I've last updated; and thats because there's been a lot going on... Trying to balance work, bio classes for grad school, coaching, and my own training has been HUGE. Plus going to PT for my shoulder for 2 months all through out march/april has also taken up a great deal of my time. However, I am thankful for every second of it as its helped my shoulder tremendously. I 1st heard about the Big Sur race through a friend who has raced the full marathon a few yrs back. I raced on the PCH with a triathlon last yr and had an amazing exp so I decided way back last yr to do the race. Only that the marathon was already sold-out so I signed up for the 21 miler. Due to the fact that I didnt antisipate to be racing 3 wkds in a row, I didnt 'race' it and took the 1st half of the 21 miles easy, and decided to practice 'negative splitting' my time and ran the last half close to race pace and felt pretty good. I passed a lot of people who passed me in the beginning which is amazing how much I can pick up the pace. I decided to use a camera the entire course to capture each moment of running on the PCH for 21 miles; I faced all different types of terrians and parts to run in with heat, wind, and utter perfection; I really enjoyed this race and plan to eventually come back and run the full marathon one yr. It wasn't as hilly as I expected; just in 1 part which was referred to as 'hurricane point' which I got through as I was trained well ;) The fact the I didnt do any 3 hr runs obvi didnt affect me at all as coaching several clients and running 3x a day certainly helped my endurance lol... The race prior was the Asbury Half that I went out way to fast bc I was too antsy to break 140 and drop my time by ten mins... just wasnt happening; need mile markers and a pace group... I ran 140.... I WILL do it this wkd, I KNOW I can as Amanda Messinger of whom I beat in Cancun 70.3 is equal in strength and speed as I am and we are built the same. If she can do it, so can I and I will never have that thought leave my head as painful as it may be, this is it, its my last chance to hit my goal before my 1st 70.3 in just 4 weeks in NH! The nxt 4 weeks rly 5 if you count this was are gonna be insane... looking fwd to a break in June post 70.3.... and some GRE time as I just want to friggin take this damn test and get it over w... they pushed it back on me time... but its for a reason, so not rdy to take it at the end of may.... Finished Bio classes just in time last week and have my 2 finals on Monday which I intend on studying for this wkd... I usually dont like to race this much consecutively as that is how I hurt my knees in 08'.... But I am not to worried as this is the last 'long distance' open running event for a while... The following wkd I am running the rumson 5k complete w a track finish which I'm uber pumped for, then its the 2 double header sprint tris... then I am off to visit rachel in VT (which I've never been to before that I'm def lookin fwd to) and then driving to NH w my mom tent.... as she hasnt been to a big race w me since RI in 10' ? I hope this will be the wkd when I finish a race and smile satisfied as its been a rlyyy long time since that happened... prob TM 70.3... We shall see how it goes; I am gonna be making $$ nxt few weeks as I have the 2 tri clinics I am 'teaching' too... that hopefully will have an ok turnout as 'marketing' ahem isnt backing me as I would like... After I take the GRES I am going to start contacting the schools I want to apply to and see if I can set up an interview for late this yr or early next yr... would be cool to race in the area and then do an interview so I fly to socal for a variety of reasons... I didnt workout today as I am still jet legged and caught a slight cold that I hope to get rid of by race day sunday... I am feeling better and less tired already; we shall see how it goes... to be continued...