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Posts from the ‘The Long Run’ Category

Nov 11

Twenty successful miles in Clarksburg

I had a lot of apprehensions going into my 20-mile run today. I won’t lie. I almost didn’t go. I wanted to call if off yesterday, when I had a particularly bad night and didn’t want to do anything but sleep. I ended up in bed at 8 p.m. I didn’t  come back downstairs all night.

But Jennie was going with me to this race. My last post, which was incredibly revealing about some of the problems currently going on in my life, gives more insight into why it was important to have her with me.

This 20-miler was on my race calendar for some time. It was to be my last long run heading into California International Marathon.

But after what happen in late October, the longest distance I’ve run is 12 miles. My body didn’t seem to want to get past the six-mile mark without difficultly. I’d feel good. Then I’d feel bad. Really bad. And the moment I’d start to feel bad, I’d give up.

But today was more about getting out and doing it, getting through the crowds and getting down the road without completely losing my head or myself along the way.

I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. I wouldn’t have felt so “normal” without having her there.

And that confidence propelled me to a sub-four hour finish, just barely. I ran the race, without my Garmin, and came in at 3:59:17.

I’ll follow in the next couple days with a full race report, minus splits, but I’m pretty I ran a negative split because I glided those last 10 miles. I’m just happy to see some light today, figuratively. I’m happy I was able to go, run and feel like myself for awhile too.

Oct 22

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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 3

A mileage milestone

A couple days ago, I did something today without even realizing it. I hadn’t been counting my miles too much, outside of my mileage per month, so I didn’t know how close I was to surpassing my mileage from 2011.

Then, after my five-mile run this morning, I realized that I had accumulated 934 miles for the year.

In 2011, I ran 930.

Today, with my run I surpassed that with 934.

That means I’m only 76 miles away from 1,000, which was my ultimate goal for 2012. By the end of October, I should be well over that now if my marathon planning stays on track.

I was so excited, I posted it to Twitter, which also feeds to my Facebook account.

What does this mean? It means, despite my thinking otherwise, my training is on track. It means I’m running a lot more, despite not being in as many races. And, most importantly, it means I’m enjoying running enough more now that I want to do it all the time. All good things.

I’m looking forward to my upcoming half marathon this weekend in San Jose, that with a combination of midweek runs should get me to a nice number by the end of October.

Sep 19

Sometimes even bad runs can be good

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past year is that sometimes a bad run can actually be a good thing. It can also be a good run in other ways than time.

It all depends on how I define what “bad” will be on any given day.

A couple weeks ago, I set out with my running buddy Jennie for what was supposed to be a 15-mile run. I was still exhausted from the week before, after working over several days and ushering my students through the first issue of the newspaper for the school year. I had hardly any sleep the night before our Sunday run.

Jennie, too, showed up exhausted.

I admitted that I was considering canceling. She was thinking about it too. Both of us really wanted to run, though.

There’s a popular mantra that says “running is cheaper than therapy.” I didn’t believe that until I started running with friends.

You can cover a lot of ground over six miles, and not just the distance. You can talk about different topics, analyze problems and, generally, really get to know a person. That’s why I run with my friends. I enjoy the athletic part as much as I do the togetherness aspect.

So on this particular Sunday, we were dragging. Not just a little, but a lot.

Our first three miles seemed to go on forever. We didn’t seem to be able to find our stride. After our first bathroom stop, Jennie mentioned that she didn’t think she’d be able to make it to 15. I didn’t think I’d be able to either.

My feet just didn’t want to carry me.

It was also the day I was to be retiring my first pair of LunarEclipse +2 shoes. (Don’t judge me for keeping the timing tag on. I never seem to take them off after a run, usually not until the next one, so I had no need to remove it.)

“Can I push you to eight miles?” I asked Jennie.

She said maybe. So we kept on. At eight miles, I asked about, maybe, going 10.

She was still down to run, even though we were both tired. It was also starting to get warm. Just when I think it will finally be cool in my part of California, it seems to warm back up again.

We kept going, trying to stay in the shade. Then we turned back down one of the main streets in Mountain House and headed back to our cars. Our damage for the day was only 11 miles.

But it was five further than Jennie wanted to go initially. It was 11 more than I wanted to run that day in general. That’s a win.

Especially on a beautiful day.

Our time didn’t reflect any sort of success. For all the training we’ve done recently, it really doesn’t say how strong of runners we’ve become in a short time with increased workouts.

I thought about that on my way home: What defines a good run?

Is it distance? Is it time? Is it not having an leg pain? No cramps?

It’s different things for different people, that’s for sure.

But for me, on that day, it was just about getting out there and getting it done, despite fatigue and heat. It was also about propelling Jennie through and encouraging her to run “just one more mile” and “just two more miles” as we went.

The end result was a win for both of us. And, in many ways, a very good run.

 

Sep 14

The rub down

Total creeper photo, right?

I think I should put a caption on it that says “the scene of the crime” or something like that.

In truth, only good came from my visit to my massage therapist today. Usually only good comes from a visit, but today was notable.

I bought a membership about five months ago into our local corporate massage place. I figured if worse came to worse, I’d get a new therapist every time. So if I didn’t like one, there was always next time, right?

For the first few times, that theory actually worked in my favor. One therapist was too quiet. (I’m sorry, I like to gab when I’m relaxing.) One was too hard. I seriously had bruises on me from that visit. The other just wasn’t right. I was starting to feel like Goldilocks and the Three Massage Therapists.

Then I got Alyssa. Not only is she totally punk rock and easy to relate too, she’s also damn good at what she does. No kidding. I’ve never had a massage therapist so keen on making my legs feel like they can run forever. She’s a miracle worker, no kidding.

Today I came in with that nagging glute pain. She asked if it was bothering my back. Nope. So she went to work on me with me turned face up first. She really gets down into my stress areas, specifically my left shoulder. That’s where EVERY SINGLE BIT OF STRESS EVER hides. I swear. It’s likely because I have some nerve damage back there.

Then she started working and stretching my legs. I immediately felt a tinge of pain in the area I felt it in while running earlier this week. I felt like moaning out loud…then it stopped.

Alyssa kept working it, moving my leg to treat all my muscles. I’ve also been having some hip pain, usually from overworking out, and that, too, just disappeared. When I got to my car, I wasn’t even slightly upset about the $60+ it was going to take to fill my tank to get to work tonight.

Now I feel light. I feel like I want to jump on the treadmill and just go for a run.

I’m waiting until Saturday though. I have a 5.5-mile race on Sunday, so I’m doing my long run on Saturday. Since 5.5 miles is typically around what I run on weeknights, I figure I don’t need the rest. (Maybe that will come back and haunt me later? We’ll see.)

All I know is that I feel so much better since my rub down. And sorry for the creepy stalker photo…the rooms are dark and I don’t like posting without photos…so there you go.

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 13

A cleaner alternative

About a month ago, I read a review for the Clean Bottle on another runner’s blog. She, too, favors the Amphipod Hydraform Handheld Pocket. But she was pleasantly surprised with how the Clean Bottle worked for her too. An even better bonus is that this bottle is much easier to clean.

A fun fact about running water bottles: No matter how hard I try, my bottles always seem to get some sort of “film” or “fungus” inside. It’s nothing a little scalding hot water and some wash brush action can’t take on, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

So I was tempted to check out the Clean Bottle when I saw that it was getting positive reviews.

I was thrilled when I saw Clean Bottle had a booth at the San Francisco Marathon expo. I was more thrilled with the “buy three, get one free” price. On the table, the representatives had both the regular version and something called “The Runner.”

I picked up four bottles, one of “The Runner” and three regular, for $20. That’s as much as one Amphipod costs, so I figured even if it didn’t work out for outdoor running, I could use them on the treadmill. (I usually take the bands off my Amphipods and use those on the treadmill.)

It basically operates on the same premise as my Amphipod bottle, with a couple notable exceptions.

The first is size. The Clean Bottle carries two more ounces than my Amphipod handheld. That’s not a lot, you could argue, but on a long run over the weekend as it was warming up in the morning, it was enough for me to notice.

The second is that the band that wraps the bottle for the runner to hold is connected to both the bottom and the top. My Amphipod one wraps tightly around the bottom of the bottom, but sometimes comes off during races. That actually happened during the California International Marathon in 2011 and was really annoying.

I took the bottle on it’s maiden run with me during my vacation a couple weeks ago. I was initially nervous about the shape and size. It’s round, whereas the Amphipod is lean and made to fir the curve of your hand.

It fits an iPhone in the clear pocket and also has a place to carry Gu. I run with an iFitness band in order to keep everything I need close at hand, so my phone goes in there. I did, however, put my keys in the carry space. It worked perfectly for me. (I know some people like to run with their phones in sight. I’m not one of them. I’d rather not be targeted for a robbery because someone can clearly see my iPhone. Most the time, I keep my keys hidden too.)

I started running and basically forgot it was a different bottle.

It wasn’t heavy. It wasn’t bothersome.

Even better, the tip on it is more rubbery, so it was easier to grasp with my teeth and open mid run.

And when I got home, it literally too seconds to clean. All I did was unscrew the top and bottom, rinse and then set aside for it to dry. No using paper towels to get out any slim or any other gross stuff.

I’m happy to say I’ve run with this four or five times since then and it’s been just as effective. It works just as well as the Amphipod bottles AND makes cleaning up a breeze. It’s kind of perfect.

My only qualm is that I’d like a model that doesn’t have the pocket for the iPhone. I’d rather just have a little area to keep my keys or a Gu or two. I see this area being especially annoying for people who don’t have iPhones.

I gave my running buddy Jennie a bottle to try as well and she uses it near daily at work now. She, too, loves the simple design and ease of it to disassemble.

Plus, it’s BPA free. A win-win.

I don’t think I’ll run out and buy 10 or so of these. I like that I can use the same strap for all three of my Clean Bottles. I also like than, unlike Amphipod, you can buy extra bottles without buying the pockets. I have bought the bottles only on the Amphipod website, but last I checked they didn’t sale the 20-ounce model like that.

And I’m not ready to replace my Amphipod runners yet either. I still love those for racing. I still will likely use them all the time. But if you know a runner in the market for a new water bottle, I think the Clean Bottle should definitely be on a recommendation list.

Aug 1

A half-marathon victory

I’m not going to lie: Sunday was one of the best days I’ve had in a very long time.

It may sound like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. From waking up feeling good, to deep relaxation on the 50-minute ride to San Francisco, to being smart enough to stop at a super secret public bathroom so I wouldn’t have to wait forever at the start line, to the pretty lanterns above my corral — the 1st Half Marathon of the San Francisco Marathon was a race of redemption for me.

I am thankful that after months of self doubt and second guessing, I feel as if I’m finally coming out of my running slump.

I ran strong and I felt absolutely unstoppable at the end, even with the major hills that slowed me a little.

My morning started off with a 5:30 a.m. view of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. My husband dropped me off near the start line in downtown and I walked over with a huge group of people, including a man wearing jeans. I keep hoping he wasn’t actually going to run in them, but I know sometimes people do.

Based on a 2:25-2:30 finish, I was in corral six. There were two more corrals behind me, which meant that, no matter what, I’d have time to run the course if I needed the full three hours. I honestly wondered whether I would a couple months ago. I kept telling myself that, with the hills, I’d be closer to my Nike time last year of somewhere around 2:53.

I signed up for the corral during a particularly optimistic moment apparently.

It was dark at the Embarcadero.

I thought it was kind of funny my shoe laces, despite the sun not yet rising, were still bright as ever. I immediately went to my corral, despite having more than 30 minutes to wait. I was told race officials actually close these corrals. The bathroom lines were LONG everywhere. I’m convinced there were not enough bathrooms at all. Every stop had a line of 10-20 people.

The sun was coming up a little in this self photo with the bridge behind me. I was feeling good. I don’t know why, but I was feeling as if I could run on and on. I didn’t know if I could, though.

The time ticked on in corral six as Bart Yasso, the chief running officer at Runner’s World magazine, bantered with the emcee. It honestly wasn’t that long between the 5:32 a.m. initial start and my 6:12 wave start. And the San Francisco Marathon officials were prompt in their starting times. No kidding. We literally went off at 6:12 a.m. That’s probably the first time that’s happened at a race.

We weren’t actually lined up at the actual start line all that long. But here it is. There weren’t a ton of people in my corral either, or at least with all the space it didn’t seem that way.

With a quick countdown, we were off.

Mile 1: 10:13 — It didn’t feel as if I was running in the 10s here. I was just trying to move along the waterfront without tripping over someone. Good thing about this race is that there are so many fewer people that walk than Nike. That’s great because the Embarcadero has changing surfaces, including some cobblestone.

Mile 2: 10:18 — My heart rate was great, feeling good. Started thinking about the second mile in races in general. It tends to be pretty tough for me sometimes.

Mile 3: 11:47 — The first hill. Not huge, but the moment I started moving up, I had a sharp pain in my left glute. I wasn’t sure what it was, but thought, maybe, it could really derail the race for me. I went a little more conservative. I did a Gu at the first water stop.

Mile 4: 10:47 — Downhill through Fort Mason where the sprinklers had been on just before. I kept hoping I wouldn’t slip. I didn’t, but it seemed like an unnecessary hazard.

Mile 5: 11:27 — And we’re climbing again. Up a huge hill. By this point, I was feeling really good. Five miles in under an hour? I was amazed with myself a little. Go me! (Super fast people are probably laughing when they read this, but a lot of my problem is thinking I can’t run fast. I’m trying to get over that.)

Mile 6: 13:34 — OH. MY. GOD. HILL. I remembered it from Nike. I took little baby steps for the most part, then started moving up in more of a walk. This was the ascent to the Golden Gate Bridge too. Once I got near the bridge I started stepping it up, not believing I was almost halfway done. And still feeling good.

Mile 7: 11:45 — I remembered, as I entered this mile, that I needed to do another Gu. I didn’t get to until the Marin County turnaround.

Mile 8: 12:01 — I kind of had to go to the bathroom, but couldn’t because there were SO MANY people in line. Seriously. And there were people using the actual bathrooms too. Fail. I know there are a lot of people running, but maybe invest in more portable toilets?

Mile 9: 11:37 — Back across the bridge after a Gu. I did notice the three-percent elevation climb and downhill on the bridge. No horrible, but not great either. I just kept on running. Scary moment near here, though. A car seemed to move into/close to the “buffer” lane. Suddenly all the runners heard tires screech. Everyone around me turned around thinking someone was hit. That wasn’t the case, but it was troubling.

Mile 10: 11:47 — Continuing up that huge hill after the bridge. I looked down and was still coming in under two hours. AWESOME! I remembered my time on the easier second half course last year was 2:35:30. I wondered, could I get that?

Mile 11: 11:09 — A nice downhill here after reaching the top of the hill.

Mile 12: 12:04 — The ending uphills begin. In retrospect, I was supposed to do a Gu at mile ten, but forgot. I think I was on a runner’s high and thought “I can do this!” and didn’t bother. It started slowing me down here.

Mile 13: 11:59 — More uphill, as my body was getting tired (only a little), definitely need to remember that to finish strong I need to do the Gu.

Mile .26: 2:18 — I’m obviously over, which is because I wasn’t running those tangents well on the hills, but I look down and I’m still coming in under my time last year on the EASIER half.

Official time: 2:32:45

I couldn’t believe it. I’d run better on tough course than I’d been able to run in nearly every race before. I came in only seconds after my Oakland Half Marathon time and that course is nowhere near as hilly.

What’s changed? My diet is different. But I’m also doing more incline training when I run on the treadmill. I’m also running smarter and adding speed workouts to my training. It appears to be working.

I grabbed two bottles of water. I was thirsty, even though I carried my handheld. There were only water stops every two miles. A lot happens in two miles, even on a cool San Francisco day.

I was particularly glad to be handed a space blanket. The fog on the bridge left my hair soaked and my clothes damp. I put back on my long sleeve and wrapped myself up after I went and grabbed this special medal:

It’s my “prize” for running the 2nd Half Marathon last year and the 1st Half Marathon this year. I know the pictures aren’t great, mainly because I was trying to take them at night, under a lamp. It’s a huge spinner medal, with images from both runs on either side of the spinner. I wore it proudly around the finish line area.

Speaking of which, the 2nd Half Marathon was happening right around us, along with full marathoners running nearby.

I wasn’t even in pain. I’m thinking my Nikes LunarEclipse +2’s are much more awesome than I thought. My husband and I had planned to hike in the Marin Headlands, back across the Golden Gate Bridge, but instead decided on a trip to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. We walked around checking out the place for nearly two hours.

Then, hungry, we headed back to the East Bay where we stopped at one of my favorite pizza places in Oakland, Lanesplitter on Telegraph Avenue. During graduate school I lived right down the street from Lanesplitter. I spent many nights eating pizza while working on my master’s project for UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

I think it’s fair to say Lanesplitter got me through graduate school.

You can see why. Amazing salads. Huge slices. After a half marathon? A major win.

I’m still excited, days later, about my run in San Francisco. I’m hoping to take that excitement into the Brazen Racing Summer Breeze Half Marathon this weekend. But I think it might be asking too much for another performance like that.

Right now I’m just happy to know I still have it in me. I can still do it. And that makes for a good day indeed.

Jul 31

Save(d) me, San Francisco

See that face? That’s a happy face.

I had a good run. No, maybe a great run. Was it a PR time? No, but I did better on the tougher 1st Half of the San Francisco Marathon than I did on the more gently rolling 2nd Half last year.

And I ran the Golden Gate Bridge and got soaked by the fog. My hair was heavy and wet as I ventured to Golden Gate Park and the finish. The hills were killer, but I got through them.

My official time: 2:32:45

I felt strong afterward. I even walked for more than an hour, maybe even two, around the San Francisco Botanical Garden with my husband. No pain, no cramping.

I’m stoked. I’m even more stoked to run another one this weekend (but trying to temper my enthusiasm in case I don’t do as well as I did this weekend). Full race recap coming soon.

Jul 9

Going long at the Brazen Dirty (Half) Dozen

I want to say I didn’t set out to run a marathon during the Brazen Dirty (Half) Dozen six-hour endurance run. But I knew it was a possibility. I knew I could run a marathon in six hours. I had before, even though my last experience in San Diego wasn’t pretty. I also knew I’d never attempted such a distance on trails, which in many cases tend to increase my time thanks to not-so-secure footing and rolling hills.

But I was confident in my ability for this one.

I’ve had some really good runs lately. Those were mostly on flatter ground or on the treadmill, but I felt strong going into the run. My goals were pretty simple. I wanted to attempt eight laps. And I wanted to run the entire time.

I wanted to run the entire time even if it meant slowing down on certain areas and not pushing myself super hard on others. There was one specific hill that I power walked up every time and I was really glad I did by final two passes around.

I’m happy to report that I made both goals basically. I made it eight times around the 3.37-mile course. And I ran 5:52:21. I probably could have made the .7 loop around too once more, but figured I didn’t want to chance it, since they were starting to countdown and I was pretty tired.

My morning started out at 4 a.m. when I woke up to get ready to make the trek to Point Pinole Regional Park. We arrived at about 6:22 a.m.

It was a beautiful, foggy morning.

The bathroom lines were nonexistent. And with two bathroom locations on the course, I didn’t have to worry about ever needing to wait in line. Though two or three bathroom stops during the run added to my time. My brother came too and we tried to get his packet early. No go. They weren’t giving them out for a couple more hours.

Danny went back to the car and fell asleep. Thomas also took a nap. (Important note for later.)

The race got started right on time after some announcements. I should note that there were probably less than 200 people in total racing the six and twelve hour runs. I think there were more for the six than the twelve, definitely.

There’s another photo from the start. We all stared together. By the second loop, we were all pretty spaced out, which was one of the appealing features of this race for me. I wanted to do a race without a lot of pressure. I wanted to be relaxed after the experience in San Diego. This was perfect.

I started out strong. I found my pace pretty quickly and I just kept moving. And moving. And moving.

My splits were all across the board. I ran all over. From 11:22 to just under 16 minutes.

There’s more detail of it here. I don’t think I was inconsistent though. It’s a timed race where individual laps are counted. That includes pit stops, like water bottle refills and stopping to look at results. I also stopped at the aid stations. My average moving time, according to Garmin, was 12:40, which isn’t bad at all, especially since I kept repeating the course. There was a A LOT of course fatigue for me at the end because of that.

My shirt here says “Run Happy.” I kind of feel like that was what I was doing all day.

This was at the top of the last hill on the loop. I ran up it nearly every time. In fact, I was doing pretty good running up nearly every hill. I paced down as I went uphill, with small steps to make it through. I was also incredibly conservative with the downhills, including a fairly steep one on a single track near the point of Point Pinole (also the best view).

I wore my long-sleeve shirt the first three laps. I wanted to take it off sooner, but Thomas was still sleeping. He didn’t show up with a new bottle until I was finishing my fourth lap. And he didn’t bring my back. I was a little upset. It had everything I needed it in, including sunscreen, which would come in handy later.

He kept refilling my bottle, so every two go rounds I would refill it.

Each time we’d pass under the Brazen arch. Later a second arch would go up for the 5K/10K. I ran the 10K last year and thought the endurance runners were crazy. And then I became one.

And there were great, changing signs throughout the course. Fat cells burning? You bet. According to Garmin, I burned 2,855 calories. I did five Gu in Vanilla Bean flavor. I also had Thomas constantly refilling my 20-ounce Amphipod water bottle. I brought my own Gatorade, because I knew it wouldn’t be available on the course.

I wish I would have taken a photo of an aid station, specifically the one at the arch where volunteers had everything from mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to oranges to chocolate candy. The other aid station, at 1.7 miles from the arch, was staffed by Mountain House runners who encouraged me on each go round. I looked forward to getting to that aid station every time.

All the volunteers were so encouraging. Including the “woo” guy taking photos. In the six hours, he showed up three places along the course.

The second time I saw him, I told him I was glad he moved because he was so encouraging.

That’s me saying “hey, you moved!” and telling him I was glad to see him. He then said he’d be moving again and I thanked him for the support. He caught that too.

Notice that these photos are vastly different from the ones I posted for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon a couple weeks back. I wasn’t miserable during this run. I wasn’t in pain. I was having a really good time. I was taking my time. And I was loving every minute of the nearly six hours I was running. It was awesome. It was probably the best run I’ve had in a long time.

And I think it had a little something to do with my shoes.

My shoes that are now covered in dust. Check out my legs post run. I was sunburned during the last marathon, covered in dirt for this one.

And yes, I ended up at the end running a marathon. Slow and steady, finishing, according to my Garmin, with 26.7 miles. I’m still waiting for final results to post on the Brazen site to see what the timing company has recorded.

Another one with my jiggly arms. I’ve slimmed down everywhere on my body except my arms. Swimming was helping that, but I haven’t picked it up again since my swimming school shut down. So my arms just flab around when I run. Gross, I know. Look how slim my legs are though! Silver lining I guess.

It was during the lap that I’m photographed in above that my brother Danny whipped the competition during the noon 5K. I’m not even kidding. He finished fifth overall. He also was first in his age group. I’ve only ever twice finished in the top three in my age group and that was during incredibly small races.

Danny was wicked fast.

So he was waiting at the end with Thomas when I finally came in on my last go round. It took him 23:58 to run one lap. It took me much, much longer, but I was trying to pace myself to get through all six hours. (Not making up excuses at all, I was slow and steady.)

At the end, Danny was presented an awesome medal that the announcer referred to as a “piece of poop.”

Is that not the coolest medal ever for a 5K or 10K? I would have been kind of jealous if I hadn’t also earned a pretty awesome medal that also doubled as a coaster and bottle opener.

It even has backing on it so it won’t scratch the table. That on top of the awesome hoodie I received instead of a shirt and I think this is the best distance run I’ve ran so far. I know I felt great after I finished. And that was really important to me after the disaster in San Diego.

Plus I got to spend the day with my husband (who wasn’t all that great at crewing, so much so he said next time Danny could crew for me and he’d go to the nearby shooting range) and my little brother, who got a second age-group medal that I didn’t take a photo of.

I sent my mom that photo as a “proof of life” for my brother. Danny ran his first half marathon with me in 2011. After we ate and got back to my house, he had an accelerated heart rate. He ended up in the emergency room in the hospital down the street. I felt horrible, so I didn’t ask him to run with me again until Bay to Breakers. I sent her a “proof of life” photo after that too.

You can tell I changed shirts here. I had to. As it became hotter (probably why I slowed a lot near the end), I became more and more sweaty. I smelled so bad after I finished. I immediately took off my tank top and put on another shirt. Yeah, it was that bad.

We hung around a little, mostly so I could regain my bearings. Running for that long kind of wears the legs down. Surprisingly I’m not feeling half bad a day later. As we left, the 12-hour runners were still going strong.

I admire that. I honestly don’t think I could have gone six more hours. My toes were starting to blister (just from repeated pounding), and my right hip was starting to feel a little pain. But I had no IT band issues. My shoes were wide enough to not push my feet into a curve. I was happy the entire way through.

A good day? Yes. A good run? Yes.

It’s funny that taking longer to go a similar distance than I did just over a month ago came make me feel better, but this run wasn’t about the distance as much as it was covering all six hours. It was about finding my stride and sticking to it. It was also about finally meeting a goal I set for myself.

And I did. Success. Finally.

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