Enter Through the Barbarian’s Gate
Sold in boxed pairs, 10-30 lbs.
Just in time for the holidays, Val has added colored neoprene-coated kettlebells with rubber bases to her extensive line of high quality kettlebells. For more information, contact Val at valskettlebells@gmail.com.
Some Americans seem to think anything that is European must be cool and maybe it is, I dunno. But I do know I have a Hungarian Core Blaster and it is cool. Now I have a home-brew Bulgarian Training Bag and it too is cool. For the uninitiated, these are fitness implements and why else would you be here, right?
To add to my odd collection, I will one day acquire a Danish Viking Mace on a Chain, but first I must get acquainted with my newly-named Big Sausage Bag, BSB.
13291 Finishers – 6828 M / 6463 F
Valerie Kesler #4716Newport Beach, CAAge: 45 Gender: F    
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You could not have picked a better day for a marathon than we enjoyed for the 2009 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. Conditions for both spectators and runners were just about perfect!
The weather was cool and overcast, the course varied and fast. Couple that with Val’s preparation and taper, her 1/2 marathon PR was bound to drop and it did, by better than a minute, finishing at 1:40:13.
The 2009 Avia OC Marathon and Half-Marathon started at Fashion Island and Newport Beach and finished at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa; just down the street from where we live. Runners weaved through Newport Beach, Irvine and Costa Mesa bot both events and through parts of Santa Ana for the marathon.
Val’s strategy for a PR was simple: follow this guy.
He did his job well and Val stayed at his pace to the end. And I did my job well by getting her to the start on time and hollering out the customary “Go Val!” as she came up the hill from Back Bay.
This race was close to getting me fired up to begin running again, but not quite! I’ll enjoy Val’s PR’s instead.
With little time to spare, Val and I got through numerous traffic lights, traffic jams and scarce parking spaces to get her inserted into the first starter’s wave of the sold out Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, California.
All we could do is hope for better conditions than the monsoon Val ran in and I stood in for the Turkey Trot race last weekend and fortunately, we got ideal conditions for the 7,300+ runners and spectators at the 3rd Annual City of Angels Half Marathon. The temperature for the 7:30 AM start was about 62F with no wind. This was a point to point race starting at the L.A. Zoo and ended up in downtown L.A., my stomping grounds for part of my work week. Read the rest of this entry
Is it true that turkeys will drown looking at the sky when it rains? I’m not sure, but I almost did! It was more of a slosh than a trot in the 2008 Dana Point Turkey Trot 10K race this morning.
Val and I headed down to Dana Point early this morning under the threat of light rain, but neither of us were prepared for what was to happen shortly after the start of the 10K. The sky opened and dropped a torrent of rain for about 30 minutes. Despite the downpour, the runners seemed to be undeterred as the mens’ finishing times for the top 3 were under 30 minutes.
Val thought should she would finish around 45 minutes and unofficially she came in at around 46 minutes and did not report any real problems. I’m grateful the race wasn’t any longer than a 10K though! As soon as the race was over, we were out of there looking for some warm and dry, coffee and cocoa!
From Val, the drenched runner and MarkFu, the soggy spectator, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
The hot weather broke again as it did last weekend and we had a beautiful sunny and cooler day for racing. The Huntington Beach Distance Derby is in it’s 54th year making the longest consecutive running race in Orange County. (Hey that’s older than me! Did people run races that far back)?
This race is run along the flat beach strand and while not a huge race with all the logistics that go with that, it is local, well-organized yet competitive event. I don’t know the official times and places, but Val finished the 10 miles in 1:14:20 and was well within the top ten female finishers. I had her around 6th or 7th.
Val as usual, was ready and excited to race. She thought I was going to stay home and sleep in, but I showed in time to yell the by now customary “Go Val” and take some pictures which you can find above in the MarkFu’s Photos tab and then this clip at the halfway mark from my vantage point on the pier.
Two other spectators for some reason tried to encourage me to run the 5 mile race but with wave of the hand dismissed them both.
As you see, she looked fresh and strong here and kept up a steady, even pace throughout and had a solid finish.
Tomorrow I sleep in.
Val Wearing Her Foil Cape
The cooler fall weather came at just the right time for Val as she lined up for her annual Long Beach Half Marathon. It was sunny and perfect running weather for both the runners and the spectators.
Last year, I was on skates and met Val at various spots along the course but this time, picked two choice spots to line up some “shots”.
This above video shows Val as she approaches the six mile marker. The first mile was extremely congested and that slowed her overall time somewhat which officially was 1:42:03.
Waking up to coastal fog in Newport Beach, Val and I headed over to nearby Fashion Island for the annual Race For the Cure event for breast cancer awareness. This is a huge event, attracting 30,000 runners for all races.
This is the first race for Val for the second half of her 2008 fall road racing season and she looked as strong as ever.
The race tracked around Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach with a smooth, rolling surface. Val finished in 22:51 in a strong finish.
Sprint to the FinishHere is what her start looked like:
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