Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Races’ Category

Oct 22

1 Comment

On the wings of the goddess of victory

The Nike Women’s Half Marathon is not one of those races that is easy to get a personal record on. Why? There are so many people running. There are many others walking. The first three or four miles are spent weaving through people until we hit the hills, then it evens out a little bit.

So my expectations, especially after my horrendous experience at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon, were pretty low. I ran a 2:36 in San Jose. Not great. My body hurt. I hate the entire experience.

Nike was the complete opposite of that.

I loved every minute of it, even the beginning with a new corral system.

And I finished 13 minutes ahead of my time from last year. I figured I’d do better than last year no matter what because I at least new what to expect this year.

The whole experience was positive, though.

I woke up early for the 7 a.m. Union Square start. It was dark when we left our home in Tracy. It was still dark when we neared the city. I stopped at my predesignated race bathroom pit stop before heading into San Francisco.

Know where this is? I think it’s one of the best kept secrets if you are coming in to run from the East Bay. There are three portable toilets here, no lines. Stopped here saved me during the 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon. The lines at the Embarcadero were just way too long for me to even consider going to the bathroom at the race start.

My husband dropped me off about a block from my corral opening. The first thing I noticed: There were a ton of people waiting for the bathrooms. Great, I thought, a repeat of last year. I was glad I went before I got into the city.

I walked up to the middle of my corral and was surprised to find another set of portable toilets with lines only three deep. Seriously? How is no one finding these? I jumped in a line with 15 minutes to race time and was out by the time the gun went off to let the first corral go.

I even had time to head up toward the front of my corral, which it seemed like a lot of people were avoiding.

It was still pretty dark at the start. I didn’t start seeing a glimmer of the light until I was about to cross the start line, 16 minutes after the first people began.

It was kind of beautiful, though, to see the shadows on the ground.

There was really that much space between me and the next person. It was nice not to be on top of one another, a huge change from last year.

It didn’t seem long until the announcer was telling us that it was time to head out. And, just as quickly as I got there, we were off and running.

Mile 1: 10:50 — A downhill at the beginning, not too bad. Bobbing and weaving a lot. My Garmin actually had me pacing closer to 12-minute miles. I should have known than that something was wrong with it.

Mile 2: 11:04  — Continuing running through and around people. We’re down at the Embarcadero now, with a slight wind coming up from the San Francisco Bay. But it was getting a little warm already.

Mile 3: 11:38 — A slight hill near Ghirardelli Square. I actually heard a woman say: “Wow, my friend said the hills were bad, this isn’t bad at all.” I laughed a little, if only because I knew what was coming up soon.

Mile 4: 12:32 — On the first hill, slowing down a little, but not feeling horrible. I was worried about my legs. They started getting a little tired here.

Mile 5: 11:08 — Now a downhill and run through Crissy Field. I love running along here. It’s a beautiful area, plus there is a huge cheering area at the Marina Safeway. This is probably my favorite part of the run. I picked it up here because I was so pumped…and I knew what was coming up.

Mile 6: 12:03 — Not bad as I continue through the area near Golden Gate Bridge. It’s getting harder to stop at water stops because it seems like everyone is stopping near the end now. There are just a lot of people in this race, so everything takes time.

Mile 7: 15:11 — THIS. HILL.SUCKS. I hate it. It’s in both this race and the 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon. When you run on a hill this step, it really feels as if you are running in place.

That’s the elevation chart from my Garmin. The biggest, most challenging hill is starts near mile six. And it seems to take forever to climb.

Mile 8: 11:42 — Back down the hill a little here. Not a bad mile. Not my best. Just kept running.

Mile 9: 14:00 — The second big hill here. I forgot about it completely. I thought I was going to start a downhill, then turned a corner and realized how wrong I was.

Mile 1o: 12:13 — I think mile 10 is always my favorite mile during half marathons. It is in this one because the downhill here is significant, but you can get caught up running way to fast. That happened to me last year. This year, I paced nicely down the hill.

Mile 11: 11:43 — Into the park, feeling my fatigue.

Mile 12: 12:45 — I walked here for longer than I wanted to. I think I was just tired. I finally picked up a slow jog. And yet, it didn’t seem as if I wasn’t running at all. (A theme in this race, I think.)

Mile 13: 10:44 — I realized it was nearing the end. I picked it up and gave it all I could. We exit the park and then, immediately, hit the finish line. So it’s quiet, then it gets all crazy (especially with people running across the intersection).

Mile .26: 2:24 — RUN. FAST. NOW! I don’t know why I picked it up so much, but it felt good. You can’t tell from my race photos, but I was so happy to be done.

Garmin time: 2:40:01

Chip time: 2:40:51

And then, the line for the Tiffany necklaces.

I’m told that once upon a time, they would just hand you the necklace upon finish. Now they scan each bib and make you walk through this area before a handsome firefighter hands you a necklace.

(An aside confession: I’m a little on the heavier side again now and hate, hate, hate my back fat. But I realize when I run races with a lot of women that nearly every woman has back fat that is unflattering in athletic clothes. Even slim ones. I don’t know why that makes me feel better, but it kind of does.)

Back to the necklace. I waited for nearly 10 minutes trying to make my way through this mess. It just kind of seemed like my line had a log jam.

Then it happened.

Hello handsome firefighter. Thank you for handing me a beautiful necklace. By the way, when I took this photo a woman behind me scoff and said I was holding up the line. I found it funny because the woman to the right of me is getting her photo taken with a firefighter. The woman to the left to me, you can see her phone, just finished doing the same thing I was.

My next line was my finisher T-shirt pick up. Last year I loved the yellow. This year I loved the florescent lime green. Great for running at night. Great for being seen in general (it’s at the top of this post).

It took forever to get through the finish area. After getting a banana and a bagel, I only took one of both, and some water I dunked under a barrier to get out of the mess. I finally went and sat down looking at Ocean Beach, ready to open my prize/medal.

I always hate untying the bow. It’s so perfect. I wonder how long it takes to tie 20,000+ Tiffany boxes with ribbon. I would imagine Tiffany works on this for quite some time.

I opened the box up and was confused at first. The pendant is dog-tagged shaped with what looked like cryptic writing in the background. Upon closer inspection, I realized the figure was actually running in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Perfect, since this is the bridge’s 75th anniversary.

Beautiful. I honestly love it so much more than my one from last year. I’ve been wearing it all week. Love.

Last year, I was thankful to run this race. This year, the wings of the goddess of victory led me to another 13.1 this year. It’s tough to get into this race, but I’m so glad I did. And there’s never a guarantee for next year.

But it was an amazing journey. I’m crossing my fingers than I’ll be able to run it again in 2013.

Oct 14

Happiness in a little Tiffany blue box

After an incredibly bad week, that included my 10-year-old car being towed away and looking for a new vehicle today in addition to 100 other things, I crossed the finish line at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon somewhere around 2:40 today.

The time comes courtesy of my Garmin. I still don’t have my chip time results on the website.

Last year I finished somewhere around 2:53. So I set a 13-minute course personal record.

I can’t be mad about that. I can’t be mad about how I ran, because I busted to get up those hills, even though I slowed down quite a bit.

I didn’t stay at the finish line too long or partake in a lot of the festivities. I’ve been completely beaten this week. The half marathon was exciting. It was empowering. It was amazing.

It will also get a full recap in another post. But I did well today.

And now I know last week’s horrible half in San Jose was a fluke. I run better than that now. It was warm. I was tired. Things happen.

Today was redeeming. I’m going to celebrate that.

I’ll also be celebrating my sweet new Nike bling. I love how the Golden Gate Bridge, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is incorporated.

Oct 11

Happening now

20121011-140536.jpg

I’m in San Francisco at the Nike Expotique! Way more excited than I should be!

Oct 11

Ever had one of those weeks?

I should name this the “post in which I tell you that I’m not writing a race review for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon.”

Why?

Epic technology failures.

My week has seen enough of them already to make me really feel, again, like I looked before the beginning of the half marathon this past weekend.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is my angry face. It’s my “I’m looking at you and my mouth is askew because I can’t say what I really want to.” I had said face at the beginning of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon because there was no pacer in my corral.

I had a goal. I was told a pacer would be there. No pacer.

I should have known then it would be a bad run. I should have laughed it off.

But for some reason I can’t laugh anything off this week.

I’m four for four on days with technology issues. Not just at work, but at home too.

Servers not working. Equipment not connecting. Images not appearing. All by no fault of my own (seriously, I haven’t brought down a server in some time). All taking away from time I needed for other assignments and projects.

Add on top of that a very glitchy-as-of-late Garmin that I had to do a master reset on this morning, thereby erasing all my data from the past three weeks, and I’m not a happy runner this morning.

Then, my six-year-old 17-inch multimedia special edition laptop died. I want to cry. It’s the computer I built my masters project for University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism on. It’s been my go-to computer for the past four years.

And the hard drive just keeps trying to load. And load. And load. Windows XP keeps saying “not happening.”

This week sucks. I can’t even sugarcoat it. I’m afraid to leave my house and head to the Nike Women’s Marathon Expotique in San Francisco now, but I will be shortly.

Since my primary blogging laptop died and my Garmin has no data, there will be no Rock ‘n’ Roll race recap. I’m actually pretty good with that. Why? I can sum of the experience succinctly: Started good, stomach hurt, threw up, kept going, got sick again, finished nine minutes above last year’s time.

No other technological devices failed in the writing of this blog.

But it’s still early.

Sigh.

Oct 7

4 Comments

Some bad news, some good news

Today didn’t go as well as planned at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. I finished nine minutes over my PR from last year at 2:36:13.

My problems started at mile three. By mile eight, I was keeled over on the side of the street throwing up. (Sorry for the blunt honesty right there, but there’s no real easy way to say it. Maybe, expelling all my Gu on the streets of San Jose?)

At mile ten, I had another episode. I honestly had a moment where I didn’t think I’d be finishing the race. Then I pulled it together and pushed my hardest.

Today was bad, because I didn’t reach either of my goals for the race.

It was good for a completely different reason.

I don’t write about my job(s) a lot, mainly because I’d rather not get into too much about work on my running blog. But today, I want to share a link to a story I wrote.

It started as a blog post in response to Wisconsin anchorwoman Jennifer Livingston’s on-air response to a letter from a concerned reader about her weight. I had something very, very similar happen to me in 2009.

Full time, I edit a newspaper website. But I’m also a writer. I was a writer before I learned how to code HTML, interpret CSS or shoot and edit video. Today, I revealed a very personal part of myself in an article in the newspaper.

It’s here (with a wedding photo of me even! Another thing I don’t often share because my husband and I have different last names professionally and I typically like to keep that aspect of my life private too).

It’s kind of nice that the story ran today, if only because today was one of those bad runs I address in the story. From each run, we learn something not to do for the next. (For this one, I think having an upset stomach for four days is probably not the best thing to run a half marathon while dealing with.)

Either way, I wanted to share it with my readers. It’s more revealing than I am on here sometimes, though I aim to be candid on my blog as well.

I’ll post a full race recap later this week. Just to warn: it won’t be pretty.

 

Oct 6

2 Comments

Becoming anti-expo

This morning, my husband and I ventured to San Jose about 60-miles away to pick up my race packet for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. I’m usually pretty accepting of picking up my bib number and race shirt far away, then returning home, but today I was annoyed for several reasons.

The first is that gas is ridiculously priced right now. The second is that I felt completely underwhelmed by the experience. So this isn’t an expo review. Not at all. This is a post about how I’ve increasingly become against expos in recent months.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll expos aren’t the entire reason. Competitor actually does a good job of moving people through the lines and then corraling them into an area where you can purchase more race stuff. And then you walk around and looked at all things running related.

Except I didn’t want to stay.

We only had an hour on the meter anyway. I had already made a corral change. I had my bib and my shirt. I had my “swag” bag that wasn’t full of all that much swag. We walked around for about 20 minutes and I looked at my husband and said I was done.

“I’m over it,” I said.

And with that we walked back to the car and drove five miles to the nearest Lululemon. I’m not even joking.

I was disappointed for several reasons, all of which have been hallmarks of many expos I’ve been to lately.

The first was the location. In San Jose, the expo was at the local convention center, right near/in the middle of the downtown area. Not bad. But the building was torn up last year when I went to this expo. And then torn up again this year. We had to walk much further than we wanted to. Petty complaint? Yes.

But consider we’re in a metropolitan location and working against a meter and you’ll realize our dilemma.

The next was organization and a tad bit of misinformation provided at check in.

Check in was easy enough, but see that line at the end. That was the line for my initial corral. Above each of those signs was another sign that said
“corral changes.” So I asked a guy if we made corral changes at the desks. Seems simple enough, right?

He said: “Do you know how this works?”

Then he proceeded to tell me where I needed to go to pick up my bib. I already knew that. I was asking a separate question. He wasn’t listening, or didn’t want to. I know this happens. But I’ve noticed a lot more lately that volunteers aren’t exactly helpful at expos. Often they have no idea how to answer a question.

It’s because they’re volunteers. It’s because they have very little training before being sent out to do their jobs for the day. In many cases I’ve seen teenagers leading people the wrong way at expos. They’re probably working for community service credit, but still.

Again, working against a clock here.

The T-shirt pick up was a breeze, as was the “goodie” bag grab.

Except all these races that promise “goodie” bags have one sample and then a bunch of pieces of paper. The Rock ‘n’ Roll series is notorious for that. Other races (the Oakland Marathon and San Francisco Marathons included) have online options for this. I’m always appreciative of that, even though it likely requires more work.

Why? Because all but one of those papers from the expo I went to this morning went into the recycling bin when I came home.

I think next time I’ll bring my own bag and skip the reusable backpack.

Another peeve is that there are very few deals to be found at expos anymore. Only a year ago, you’d see signs for compression sleeves marked down to $25 from $40 or $5 off on purchases at another booth. I rarely see that these days. I didn’t see that at all today, outside of Competitor offering discounts on signing up for next year’s event.

The size of the event was also smaller, likely due to the ongoing construction, so there wasn’t as much to see.

I’m jaded, I think. I have all my “racing essentials” already. I don’t need last-minute compression socks, or a sports bra, etc. I have running gloves that are packed in my gym bag every day. I have Glide. And sunscreen. I have, basically, all my goods with me. I’ve never purchased shoes at an expo. And I’m saving my money for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon next week.

So we made quick work of it. For a 120-mile round-trip drive, with gas pushing the $5 range, it just wasn’t worth it.

Even if I got to walk past the finish line, where I’ll be, all things going fine, will cross the finish line and receive a pretty blingy little medal tomorrow morning.

But instead of spending any money at the expo, we went and shopped elsewhere.

Race organizers often promise cities when they book events that the runners will bring money in and stimulate the economy. I don’t have qualms with that. I think most races are money boons to cities. But I hate being forced to traverse miles and miles, only to have to come back the next morning.

We decided to venture to Lululemon and stimulate the economy there instead of at the expo, which kind of fails in the purpose of the expo too. It was there I picked up a pair of capris I’ve been eying and new ear guard for colder weather. And then we made out way back to Tracy, via a stop for lunch in Livermore.

The one good thing today? The race T-shirt.

This year, organizers switched to gender-specific shirts. I have last year’s shirt from the same race underneath. It’s a unisex medium. The gender-specific one is a women’s large, big difference.

GETTING TO THE POINT

This post seems rambling. I’m sorry for that, but there’s a lot on my mind as I write it (including what I’ll be making for dinner tonight). But I have a point.

Many races have strict “no race day” pickup policies to avoid confusion and disarray on race mornings. I’m totally fine with that. What annoys me is when I’m forced to drive long distances to spend 20-minutes at an expo and pick up a race packet when there’s very little to offer me otherwise.

So, as much as I try to make a day out of it and add on some extras to make it “worth the drive,” it usually isn’t. The one exception to this is when I head to San Francisco for a race there, because I can often spend the entire day finding things to do.

Moreover, expos don’t offer all that much to entice a more seasoned runner. (Yes, I’m calling myself a more seasoned runner.) For newbies and people still building a base stock on supplies, expos are great.

But most the time, expos offer very little in the way of useful items. This is the case for many of the expos I’ve been to in recent months. I just want to be out and done.

Jaded? Yes, definitely.

But I’m also saving a lot of money by not dropping money on every little thing at an expo.

I’d just like them to be more worth my time and not just a destination to pick up a race bib.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

I have a goal for tomorrow’s race, but I don’t want to write it or say it because I think that makes it too real. This race held my PR for nearly a year. It was one of my last good races before I hit a really bad slump at the beginning of the year.

So I have a goal. But I never know until I’m actually running if I’ll make that goal, or if I’m trained enough. There are lots of variables. I’m definitely leaning on my time for this being faster than my projected time for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon.

I don’t want to have too high of expectations, because I’ll be disappointed if I don’t make my first goal, or even second or third goals. But I’m anxious to try.

Sep 30

4 Comments

Answers to your Nike Women’s Marathon (and half) questions

One of the most common search terms that brings visitors to my blog is NWM or “Nike Women’s Marathon.” I know why. It’s  HUGE race, and not just because of the 25,000-plus women who run it. It’s big because of the money it brings in for charity. It’s also a “desired” destination race for the mega bling finishers get at the end.

Behold, the Tiffany pendant.

I hate to say it, but there’s no angels singing or anything when the hot firefighter hands it to you. But it’s beautiful. And amazing. I never owned a Tiffany necklace until I was handed this one. I still have the little blue box.

So in honor of the Nike Women’s Marathon, I’m going to answer some questions I’ve received via email over the past few weeks from nervous runners gearing up to run the 13.1 or 26.2 miles through San Francisco from Union Square to Golden Gate Park (and a lot of places in between).

HOW IS THE EXPO?

Not like any expo you’ve likely been to. There’s very few vendor booths selling marathon swag. There’s a lot of “girly” stuff happening instead. You can get pedicures. Neutrogena has a counter and reps will give you pointers on skin care. There’s no race gear for sale. Instead, you have to go to Nike Town across the street.

Nike Town in itself is a mad house. Grab what you want quick, because it will go fast if you don’t.

The biggest thing is that last year Nike started a system where numbers would be assigned upon check in. I ended up with a very low 162 because I went to the expo on Thursday. I recommend going to the expo on Thursday if you live nearby. Why? There’s usually a little something special happening at it. And it’s light. Very light when it comes to people. I didn’t have to wait at all to get my bib.

Nike+ members got an extra disposable backpack for check in. I’m not a Nike+ member, though I now have it on my iPhone. I just got a florescent green bag, but still pretty hefty.

Overall, it’s nice. But I think I ended up spending a lot more money than I really wanted to. And a lot more than I’ve ever spent at an expo because Nike stuff isn’t cheap. (That said, ever since the Saucony disaster earlier this year, I’m staying brand loyal to Nike for the shoes.)

CAN YOU CHECK A BAG?

Yes. But the system is crazy. You have to remember what bus you checked in at. I’m hoping this year will be different because of a new corral system. We’ll see. We literally walked through a forest of buses last year looking for the bag my friend checked. I had my husband bring me my bag at the end, so I didn’t check anything.

Then, when said friend got her bag back, something had been spilled on it. Not really what you want after running for a long time.

WHAT ARE THE CORRALS LIKE?

One word: Bad. But NWM promises a revamped system this year to ease the congestion and, hopefully, the number of walkers getting mixed in with runners at the beginning.

In late September, a new corral map was posted to the Nike 26.2 Facebook page.

It looks promising.

If you click the image, it will take you to the PDF corral map.

That said, people will lie. This happens in nearly every race. Some walkers will say they run at a nine-minute mile pace just to get more time. Then the runners who run 10-12 minute miles, but still run, are stuck behind the walkers, weaving in and out of the way.

It sucks, yes. But it’s a big race. It happens.

ARE THERE ENOUGH BATHROOMS?

At the start, no.  Everywhere else, yes. My two friends and I spent nearly 45 minutes in a portable toilet line that wasn’t moving. At all. People were crowding other people. Some runners were just jumping into the toilets before another one could. It was pretty brutal.

Brutal enough that I took matters into my own hands. When everyone was crowding up to move into starting position (again in very unorganized corrals last year), I noticed a toilet with green above the handle. I jumped in. It seemed everyone else was concerned about starting. So I commandeered a bathroom.

I’m not even ashamed.

The rest of the way, there seemed to be ample enough toilets. The longest lines were at the top of the biggest hill on the half marathon. That’s near the Golden Gate Bridge.

ARE THE HILLS HARD?

If you haven’t trained for them, of course. I earned my Nike entry last year as part of a sponsored team. I didn’t know I was running the race until about five or six weeks before. At that point I was training, instead, for a PR at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon, which I got (and it was my standing PR until only recently).

There are very few hills on that run.

This year, I’ve increased resistance on my treadmill. I’ve also spent some time focusing on the muscles in my legs that propel me up hills. Proof of my work going well was a 2:32-ish finish in the 1st Half Marathon of the San Francisco Marathon.

A plan of attack: The hills near Fort Mason aren’t horrible and there’s a nice downhill after. The hills before Golden Gate Park are a bit painful. Slow and steady if you’re a running like me (10:30-11:30 minute half marathon time for miles).

 WHAT IS THE NUTRITION ON THE COURSE?

Last year, Gatorade was provided on the course. This year, it’s Nuun. That said, water is available as well.

I always carry my own Gu and a water bottle. I suggest some hydration system in this race. Why? Because the first water stops are ridiculously crowded. Not even in a “I’ll go to the end of the table and it will be fine” way. It’s majorly crowded.

SHOULD I PAY FOR THE BUS TICKET BACK TO UNION SQUARE?

If you have no other way to get back, yes. If you are crafty, it’s really easy to catch a bus from the Ocean Beach (where the race ends) down Geary Boulevard and back to Union Square. Or to BART if you are having someone drive you in from the East Bay. A bus ticket only costs a couple dollars compared to the Nike price for a shuttle ticket.

Yes, it’s public transportation. But I’m all about cost saving.

That said, my husband has a knack for finding parking spaces when no one else can. So he drops me off in the morning and picks me up. He’s become really good at it because I run so many races.

When I lived in Oakland for graduate school at University of California, Berkeley, I often turned to 511 for information about buses and BART. I recommend it.

DOES BART RUN THAT EARLY?

Nope. And honestly, this is always a question on days of early races. In only one case have I seen BART change a race schedule to accommodate a race. The service was limited. I live near the end of the line in Dublin/Pleasanton (in Tracy) and it would literally be a quick hop and skip over the Altamont to take BART. But, alas, no BART early on race day.

WILL PARKING AROUND THE FINISH BE BAD?

All parking in San Francisco is bad. But it’s worse around the finish. Consider that Ocean Beach is a pretty popular destination, Cliff House is nearby and Golden Gate Park always has a lot of people and it’s even worse. Plus, the neighborhoods are packed full of residents’ cars. So if you have someone coming to pick you up, be prepared to trek it out.

DO THEY HAVE ENOUGH FOOD?

For some reason, I get asked this a lot. I don’t immediately eat after a race, so when someone hands me a banana I usually hoard it for the ride home. I was told they had bagel, juice and other stuff. I don’t think I looked hard enough for it, because I didn’t get any.

WHAT IS THE FINISH LINE LIKE?

Crazy. I say that lovingly because a lot of people are taking photos and celebrating, but they are also interrupting the flow of runners just finishing. The T-shirt tables are unorganized (or they were in 2011). No one asks you to verify which size you signed up for, so it’s kind of a free for all.

Last year, I heard a group of men who ran complain that they didn’t get a separate medal or different shirt. It’s a women-focused race dudes. Seriously.

If you blink, you’ll miss something. I nearly missed being handed my space blanket. And don’t expect a singular finish-line shot unless you are an uber competitive runner. There’s always going to be someone around you. I was dodging people up to mile 10. Then I gave up and just went with the flow. My heart race and anxiety were getting the best of me.

IT SOUNDS INTENSE. SO WHY DO YOU RUN IT?

Cheesy as it is, Nike was the one race I wanted to do when I started distance running. When I hit my first run over 10 miles, I said I would run Nike. And through serendipity, I got in even after I was rejected from the random draw.

This year, I earned a spot through the lottery with my running group.

And I’m excited about heading out to pound the pavement in San Francisco again. It’s one of the most scenic places in California and has quickly become one of my favorite places to race in.

I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION…

No problem. If you have a question not listed here, shoot me an email using my contact page. I’d be more than happy to answer. (Even if it’s about the sprinklers coming on in Fort Mason, or tripping in potholes along the road, etc.) Just shoot me a line.

Sep 16

An empowering 9K

I signed up for the Title 9K for one specific reason: Last year an injury forced me out of the previous one at the last minute. It was one of two races in a two weekend period that because of my strained Achilles, there was just no way I could run.

I was on crutches, actually. And in a lot of pain. So much pain that it still hurt to put my foot down even slightly.

So when I found out that this year’s run would be at Quarry Lakes in Fremont and that it would be a little later in the year, I decided to sign up. I’m so glad I did.

Today was a good day. An empowering day, with hundreds of other women. And over a 9K (5.59 miles), I didn’t stop once. I also didn’t wear my Garmin, surrendering it to Jennie who came along to do a training run herself in the park. But my official time is pretty awesome.

I finished in 53:39 for an average of 9:37 a mile, officially.

I’m super stoked about this for a couple reasons.

One is that it means I can likely sustain a 10K at under 10-minutes a mile. Two is that it means, despite some recent setbacks and a not so great running week, my training is still on course for the California International Marathon. Success. Empowerment.

The sky was overcast as the group headed over to the start line.

Jennie looks a lot preppier than me in this photo. I just look tired. And my hair is a mess. Yikes. I’m only posting this to show the weather, which was a nice overcast.

I was only there for about 20 minutes before it started. There were plenty of portable and real toilets. I was literally in and out of the bathroom line in five minutes. Thumbs up for Title IX for that one, especially for an all-women’s race.

The starting line was chaotic, but organized. I don’t have any photos because my husband “borrowed” my iPhone so he’d have entertainment while I ran. (He couldn’t exactly leave because I was running for only an hour.)

My husband had already picked up my race bag with a bunch of swag in it.

And my nicely-designed T-shirt, which initially was too big. The nice ladies at the expo/check in both were nice enough to let me exchanged it with a size medium after the race. I’m glad I hadn’t washed it before, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to exchange it.

At 9 a.m. exactly, we were off to run Quarry Lakes. The organizers promised a “flat” race. I’d say it was “flattish,” but definitely not as flat as I’m used to on some of my training runs. I’m actually really glad I’ve been doing more incline work to prepare.

I started out strong, kind of stuck behind a group of women who were spread across the path. I kept trying to pass them, finally doing so when the path opened up a little bit more. I had no pain in my legs, not even my glute that’s been bothering me over the past week.

So I just kept going. I had no idea what my time was. I just kept at it. No problems, outside of a park official’s truck literally driving right through the race path.

I didn’t even need to stop at the first aid station because I carried my Amphipod 20-ounce handheld.

I quickly saw the sign for mile two and headed out into the out and back section. It all seemed to happen so fast. I turned around at a bridge, behind what seemed like a ton of people, and headed back along the outside of the park and then into the park again.

I slowed only when I hit an aid station on the way back, just after mile four, and grabbed a cup of water.

Toward the beginning of mile five, as I made my way back to the finish line, there were two ladies manning an aid station with chocolate for the runners. I didn’t partake. I figured I was doing really, really well. I was tired and I could have used a boost, but I figured I’d just keep going.

And I did.

My legs picked it up on a couple more small inclines and finally I ran under the finish line and my chip made the computer beep. My time was registered and I walked through a line of people toward an area of food.

As I was headed that way, I was handed an awesome water bottle.

It’s a little blurry, but the bottle is a nice metal one. It has the race on it and a design that matches the shirt and the bag. I was surprised because no one said anything about a finisher gift.

It even denotes that I ran and finished the Title 9K.

At the end there was a nice offering of bagels, Hint water and other goodies. In another line, people were being handed awesome multifunctional headbands/wraps. I was handed a tie-dyed purple and black one. It’s pretty awesome. I definitely think I’ll end up wearing this as it starts to get cooler in the next month or so.

It’s pretty nice. I’m looking forward to trying it out on one of my upcoming training runs.

All the “swag” at this race was pretty nice, but that’s not why I’m excited about it. It was a great experience, surrounded by other women who propelled me to do my best, resulting in one of my best races to date.

It’s funny, I figured I’d start this blog and talk all about how great I ran. The problem is, when I run great I don’t feel the need to dwell on it. When I have a bad run, I almost feel the need to justify my time, even on my blog.

This was a good run, but not because I willed it to be. Because my training is on par. Because I’m a better runner now than even four months ago. Because I’m taking my CIM readiness runs more seriously.

In three weeks, I run the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon. After today, I’m really looking forward to it. Because after today, I know I’m ready. And there’s no need to dwell over that.

 

Sep 8

Sometimes I disappear

I hate to say it, but this is the time of year when I tend to disappear. From family gatherings. From social outings. From blogging. I just get too busy. That’s not a bad thing (because I’m busy making money).

Unfortunately I also seem to disappear from running too.

Not this year, though. This week already I’ve logged 25 miles with a long run scheduled for Sunday morning. I’m hoping to have 35+ by the end of Sunday morning. I’m hoping to gradually step up my mileage as I really start to prepare for California International Marathon on Dec. 2.

Because it’s that time.

My students published the first issue of the campus newspaper for the semester on Friday. At my full-time job, I’ve been busy with the high school football season taking off. That means I’ve been logging some serious time sitting in front of the little monster above. (For those who don’t know him, that’s Domo He’s one of many monster-types at my desk.)

I’ve been logging serious mileage lately in general, both slow and fast. And, outside from a down period a couple weeks ago, I’ve been feeling really good about my running. So much so that I’m really excited about a 5-mile race I’ve decided to do next week all about women empowerment. It’s actually one of the races I had to forgo last year because of a nasty Achilles strain that put me on crutches.

I was feeling great about running until I started hitting the road/treadmill this week. That’s when I noticed a slight twinge in my calf. I also noticed that my shoes were looking a little more beat than I remembered.

That’s when I knew. It was time to buckle down for a new pair again.

After only 300+ miles. I honestly thought the LunarEclipse +2’s would last a little longer, but I’m the same runner with the same weight, so this shouldn’t really surprise me too much.

These are the “Breathe” edition of the LunarEclipse’s. Kind of pretty looking in person. I’m going to do another outdoor run in my old shoes (the long run Sunday) and then start moving through the process of retiring those. Sigh. I really loved the hot pink. But these are my first “pretty” running shoes in general, and the new ones are pretty nice too.

So about that disappearing? I literally have to make time to blog now with school and video shoots more than twice a week. I’m busy. But I’m also working on balancing everything better this year. That’s why I pushed myself to run days in a row. It’s why I stopped everything and started blogging today.

It’s why you’re reading this, basically.

But it also means I’m working 70+ hour weeks when my students are in production for their newspaper. So I’m also a bit whipped out by Friday, especially after a 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift, which in reality tends to be a 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift. I’m trying to get over the fatigue, though, put my mind in an active area and just run.

Today that meant five miles. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

But if my blogging is lacking into the next month or so, it’s because life gets crazy busy this time of year. I’ll only worry about it if I start slacking on my training.

Aug 10

The good, the bad and the ugly of race shirts

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my dislike of the San Francisco Marathon’s half race shirts this year. I also mentioned that everyone has widely differing opinions on race shirts. Some people aren’t satisfied with any shirt they are given, others wear everyone with pride.

I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I have mixed feelings about race shirts in general. I get excited to potentially get a new workout shirt that screams “look what I did.” But I also, as evidenced in the photo above, have way to many race shirts. I’ve opted out of some shirts. Then when I get a really good one, I’m usually excited.

But I also have a lot of bad.

That’s discouraging because the shirt comes as part of the race admission. I pay to run. I pay for the supplies along the course and the use of portable toilets. I also pay for my shirt and my medal.

I know it’s not what running is all about, but when you want to show people your pride for running a specific event you can’t do it if you don’t like the shirt. So, I figured I’d share the good, bad and ugly of what makes a race shirt either worth it or not to me.

THE GOOD

I mentioned before that I like clean design and simple lines. I want a race shirt to say the name of the event, without throwing it in your face. I have two favorite examples of this, which happen to be from my first half marathon and marathon.

My California International Marathon one is about as basic as a shirt gets. No frills, no sponsors. Just a nice, functional shirt. And I love it. I love that I was given the option of a short or long sleeve, obviously I took the long sleeve. I love the basic color. It’s a great shirt. Because of that, I wear it all the time.

My 2011 Oakland Half Marathon shirt is also a great one. Again a basic, simple front design. The logo doesn’t look weird across my chest, which is wider than some women, I’ll admit. The sponsors are listed on the back, but aren’t huge either.

Funny thing about my Nike Women’s Half shirt is that a lot of people complained about the color. More people complained about the Safeway store logo being on the side. I loved the color, the plaid texture in the letters and the fit. Nike makes gender-specific shirts that are always the same size as other Nike apparel. So it was easy to pick the best shirt for me. I don’t mind the store logo either.

Brazen Racing makes a habit of having awesome race shirts. They also make a habit of putting on top-notch races, so this isn’t anything new. Between the company’s medal design, T-shirts and low price, Brazen puts on the best runs in the Bay Area.

Brazen also takes into account where and when the races are, including a St. Patrick’s Day run this year in Livermore, close to my house. The Badger Cove one is a perfect example of that. I only own two green race shirts and I love the color.

Brazen has a tendency to be repeat offenders when it comes to awesome shirts. Here are my past two shirts from the Coyote Hills run near Fremont. Same logo, different design. Both fit well. I’ve run other races in the 2011 shirt.

What makes these shirts good? They are cut specifically for women. All are a tech material. No cotton. All fit me the way I want a running shirt to fit, which is tight, but not too tight, and definitely not baggy around the mid section. That always just seems to add extra bulk to me.

THE BAD

A shirt can be nice, but not functional for me. Unfortunately most of the shirts I get fall into this category. I love them, but don’t wear them all that much.

I wish this shirt worked for me, but I find Brooks shirts to be inconsistent. I’ve bought mediums that fit me perfectly and larges that are too small. It’s kind of across the board, especially when they are made from different material. This one is more mesh and is too big in my mid section.

This one is WAY too big. It’s a unisex size and I drown in it. It also has a weird consistency to the fabric, which kind of feels funny when I wear it. I noticed a bunch of people cutting the sleeves and neckline on this shirt at the race. This has been in my “wear to stain furniture” pile for some time now.

Same issue with this shirt: Just too big. It’s a unisex size medium. I didn’t know Rock ‘n’ Roll races had a tendency to make unisex shirts when I signed up for this race. I was really disappointed. I literally swim in it. I love the color an design, but I’ve never worn it.

A shirt company sponsors Bay to Breakers, which would make you think that they’d have some wicked awesome shirts. Nope. Last year, it was a plain white shirt. Even the volunteers got better ones. Those ones were brown, with nice light brown screen printing. The runners got over-sized cotton T-shirts. Worse yet, this year Bay to Breakers charged a ridiculous amount of money for “plus” and “premium” registration with poorly-designed, cheaply made shirts again. Even the Adidas tech shirt was overwhelming and huge. Never again.

THE UGLY

And then there’s the shirts I just don’t wear because I’m not a fan. At all.

This year’s Oakland Running Festival took cues from local sports teams and made their shirts color-coded. The half was done after the Oakland Raiders. I’m not a Raiders fan. That’s not to say the Raiders aren’t a good team or anything, I just don’t watch a lot of football outside of following my California Golden Bears. I’m not in love with this shirt because I think the first thing people think of is Raiders and not a marathon. Marketing fail.

This was the first year of this half marathon and the shirt was just lackluster. It honestly felt like the back of a shirt to me and not the front. The back has another big design with a rose, a symbol of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but it really just looks like they couldn’t decide which design should be front and which should be back.

Simulation mud? Really? Add in the Comic Sans type on this cotton shirts and it’s a race shirt disaster. It’s actually in a donate pile now. I won’t wear it. And to think, some people were worried about getting their shirts muddy after the race. I would have given them mine.

THE EXTRA ONES I BOUGHT

There are some races that despite the not-so-great race shirt, I still want a memory from the race. I’ve bought several “extra” race shirts, including spending a little too much at the Nike Women’s Half last October. Sometimes it’s worth it to spend a little extra for a shirt that I’ll wear a lot.

When I saw this shirt at the expo at CIM I told Thomas that if I finished the race and didn’t die, I wanted this shirt. I was true to my word too. Literally after I got myself put back together we went over to the booth to buy this one. It fits a little weird,  but I have a larger back than most people. I love the modern design and the prominence of “26.2.”

I didn’t realize I’d taken photos of two marathon shirts, but I think it’s fair that I bought both because I wanted a little something in addition to the race shirt from each marathon. I love this shirt. I have a one that’s nearly identical from the Pasadena Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, which I bought in lieu of the race shirt I posted above. I love this shirt because it fits well and is a nice, smooth material.

I’m actually considering sending it a bunch of my shirts to get a quilt made. I’ve seen a couple companies that will make them for a relatively cheap rate. I like that I’d be able to use the shirts again. Right now, most of them aren’t getting much use sitting in a pile in my closet.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »