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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Plate to Plate 5k - Coaches' Challenge Part 2

Holy. Jesus. That's what I have to say about this morning's 5k.

But before I tell you why, let's start at the beginning.

I signed up for the Plate to Plate 5k as part of the SFRRC Coaches' Challenge. It supports a great cause - Project Open Hand, an organization that one of our fellow Road Runners, Devesh Khatu, works for. I headed down to the race start, which was near the ballpark, at around 8:30 for a 9:00 race start. I was very pleased to see that the port-a-potty lines were short, and that I would have plenty of time to do a warm up before the race began. I did my business, and then ran about a mile (waving to a few fellow Road Runners along the way), finishing with some strides. I felt a little tight, but good considering yesterday's 10-miler. I got to the start line nice and warm. I pushed my way toward the front (and past anyone who looked remotely like a walker) and lined up near a group of friends. After the National Anthem and the start cannon (really - it was so loud!) we were off.

The race couse

The race was nice and flat - around the ballpark, down the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, back around the other side of the park, into the stadium, around the outfield, down the third base line, across home plate, out the stadium, and around the corner to the finish.

On the first stretch down the Embarcadero I did my best to keep Julie, one of our faster runners, in my sight, because I knew she would do well. At mile one, a guy asked me what out time was, and much to my surprise, it was 6:56! Woo hoo! But I had a feeling it was a little too fast. I managed to keep Julie in my sight until well after the turnaround, and I saw a lot of runners I knew up in the lead.

At mile 2, I was starting to really feel it. I slowed to about a 7:30 for the second mile, but I knew that I should be able to keep about the same pace for the rest of the race. One more mile to go!

We ran into the stadium, which was really cool...they projected the image of the runners coming across home plate onto the big screen, so even though there weren't a lot of people in there, it still felt kinda like there was a game going on. I came around the corner to the third base line (we even got to run on the grass!), but there was a hold up at home plate.

For some reason no one wanted to pass anyone else, and I couldn't really get around the guy in front of me. Then I noticed the guy with the jogging stroller. He had obviously been running pretty dang fast to start with, but then he decided to take his little girl (less than 2 years old) out of the stroller and let her run across home plate so they could get her picture (of course, there was a photographer taking pictures of people crossing home plate). I was cussing up a storm because I couldn't get around the mess of people - I was trying for a PR, dammit! I finally ran around the guy with the stroller, probably missing home plate, almost trampled his damn kid...and lost ALL momentum! I really hope I ruined their damn picture!!!

What the scene COULD have looked like at home plate...

Knowing that there was only about a tenth of a mile left outside of the stadium, I did my best to pick it back up, but it wasn't quite good enough. I came around the corner and saw that I'd already missed my sub 23:00, which was my goal (my previous PR was 23:14). But I still managed to bring it in in 23:10 (23:07 by my watch), so I was pleased enough. I walked off the pukey feeling for a minute, and joined some friends on the other side - most of whom were pretty pleased.

I got some free stuff from the booths, and then headed home on Muni to take a shower before coming back down to the baseball game (included in the race registration).

So while we're sitting at the game (which sucked, by the way - Giants lost to Pittsburg 0-5), one of my friends decides to check the results of the race on his iPhone. Cool deal. He reads off the winner's time - 16 minutes and change, and a couple others, and then he gets to mine - 23:10, just as I'd seen on the finish line clock. 96th overall out of about 2000. Not too shabby. But wait, he says, "Look at this." NO. FRIGGIN. WAY. I placed 3rd in my age group!!! I NEVER in a million years imagined that I would place. At least not until I was in my 50's! So the one time I'll probably ever place, I didn't even stick around to get my award! CRAP! Oh well...at least I know I did it. WOO HOO!

One last little thing: I would like to thank all the 20-29 year old women who didn't race this morning because you were out of town, stayed out too late last night, or just didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning. It's because of you that I was able to do this (it sure as hell isn't because I'm fast!). Thank you. :)

Oh, and congrats to Sina (5th in his age group), Julie (10th female overall), Sean (5th overall, 1st in his age group), and everyone else who kicked some serious ass out there today!!!

UPDATE (8/30/07): The other day I received a package in the mail which contained a certificate and a very cool medal of the race logo (see top of post) for my third place AG finish! Yay!

Monday, July 30, 2007

SF Half Marathon

I'll start with the pictures here:

Pre-race:
The pre-race festivities started on Thursday afternoon with an SFRRC Happy Hour. What better way to prepare for a race than to have a couple glasses of wine, right? We all chatted about our goals and got to know each other a little better, which was nice. It was also the first time I’d seen many people in normal clothing – we all clean up pretty well!

On Saturday, Jack and I made our way to the expo to pick up our race packets and shirts, grabbed some free stuff, and checked out the cheap merchandise. I have to say, for as big of a gear freak as I am, and despite the good prices, race expos are the only place where I’m not tempted to buy a bunch of stuff. I don’t know if it’s the “shopping mall at Christmastime” atmosphere or what, but I managed to steer clear of any disastrous blows to my bank account. :)

After the expo, we relaxed and hung out on the beach with a few friends, and then we enjoyed a great pre-race pasta dinner at Il Borgo. We weren’t really tired yet, so we decided to stop into this cool place called Sauce for dessert. They have the craziest stuff on their dessert menu – chocolate chip pancakes, mini donuts, and all kinds of other fun concoctions, but we settled for their version of a PB&J, with spongecake for bread and a layer of ice cream in the middle. It was VERY tasty! After that, it was off to attempt to get a good night’s sleep.

Race day:
The alarm went off at 6:00am, and while I wasn’t happy about getting up so early, I was thankful that we weren’t running the first half (or the full) – they had already started by then! We ate our oatmeal and went through the regular pre-race rituals: Bodyglide? Check! Timing chip? Check! Bib number? Check! Gu? Check! And then we were out the door. We caught a bus that took us to the race start, and rather than waiting for the road block to clear, we got out early and walked through the fog to warm up our legs a bit. We cheered on some runners along the way, including Sarah from SFRRC, and then, with about 35 minutes to spare, went immediately to the port-a-potty lines.

COMPLAINT #1: When you have more than 2000 people running a race, it’s a good idea to have more than 15 port-a-potties available. After waiting more than 15 minutes, Jack finally convinced me that I wasn’t going to make it to the front before our wave was scheduled to leave, so I headed to the bushes. After my jaunt into the wilderness, I felt much better, and we headed over to the start area. The oatmeal still wasn’t sitting quite right in my stomach, but I figured it was just nerves, and I did my best to ignore it.

Once we were there, we ran into a big group of Red runners (AKA fast people) from SFRRC, and I found that Leslie, Pam, and David were all going for a 1:44. My original goal was a 1:45, so I figured I’d stick with them. Jack and I did a quick warm-up jog around Spreckels Lake and headed straight to the start. We said, “Good luck,” and before we knew it, we were off and running. I managed to stick with the Reds for about a mile and a half, but I knew there was no way I would be able to keep up their sub-8 pace for the whole race, so I backed off a little bit, doing my best to keep them in my sights. At the first out-and-back, I waved to Jack, who was looking great, just before the course split off again.

COMPLAINT #2: At the split, we joined up with the full marathoners, and shortly after that, I realized that there were going to be some problems. The next mile marker listed 15 miles for the full marathoners and 1.9 miles for the half marathoners, and so from that point on my splits were totally messed up! For some reason, the race directors couldn’t have figured out a way to make some little sign (jeez, a piece of white paper attached to a stake would have been sufficient) to mark the ACTUAL miles for the half marathoners. This frustrated me beyond belief, but I adjusted my splits to the signs, knowing that I would have to deal with .2 at the end rather than just .1 mile.

Anyway, I was getting really tired of running in the park, and not just because of the hills. I think I know the park a little too well...there’s something in the mystery of running in a place that you’re not familiar with – it’s easier to take the tough things in stride! As I headed up around Stow Lake and then toward the Conservatory of Flowers, I remembered last year’s full marathon, and how I basically hit the wall at mile 18. Not pretty. But I was feeling good this time around, so I kept right on going, knowing that Haight Street was just around the corner. As I left the park, I was happy to see Kirk standing at the park exit – his cheers of (something like), “Go Jenni! Lookin’ hot!!!” gave me a boost and helped me over that last little slope before the downhill.

I enjoyed the slight downward slope of Haight Street, and tried to ignore the names of the streets that I run by so often. It helped that I saw Kevin, Kate and Little John from SFRRC along this stretch! Then I took the three blocks of serious downhill and ran with them (no pun intended). I think I blew by about 30 runners in those 3 blocks (mostly full marathoners, whose knees, I’m sure, were feeling the distance), and I was running so fast that I didn’t even notice I’d passed my street until I got a whiff of the garlicky everything bagels baking at the shop around the corner from my place. This was also a good sign, because I knew if I was hungry, that pesky oatmeal (which had never really stopped bugging me) wasn’t going to come back to haunt me. I took advantage of the next flat section and a series of downhills across Market Street and into the Mission, and before I knew it, I was heading into Potrero Hill.

I’m thankful for the course preview that we did a couple weeks ago, because I was more than prepared for the hills that came in this section of the race. I blasted up them, and was feeling great as we were making our way south (which is disheartening because everyone knows that the finish line is in the exact opposite direction!). We made our final turns back the other way, into the industrial area south of the ballpark. It’s not the prettiest part of town (understatement of the century), but I knew there wasn’t much farther to go. I tried to dig in, but my legs were starting to feel like Jell-O.

COMPLAINT #3: This is the point where I was thinking, “Where in God’s name is everyone?!?!?” There is very little course support for this race, and I really could have used it right about then. Granted, it starts at 5:30am, and it’s not nearly as big, but I think this race has the potential to be like New York or Chicago. SF is a relatively athletic city, and there are tons of runners here, yet hardly anyone who’s not a runner (or supporting a first-time marathoner) will come out for the race. Who’s in charge of the PR for this thing??? That’s it for my complaints. :)

I walked through the final water stop, and then went for it. About a minute later, my friend Melisse passed me, and I was kicking myself for having walked through the water stop (I barely squeaked by her when I PR’ed in February). I tried desperately to stay on her heels, but I just didn’t have it. I had known for a while that I wasn’t going to make my 1:45 (goal #1), and I was suspecting that I wouldn’t make a PR either (goal #2), but I knew that I could at least beat my last “official time” (they didn’t use timing chips in my last half) of 1:48:23. As I came around McCovey Cove, where people were already waiting patiently in their boats in hopes of catching Barry Bond’s record-tying home run ball, I knew that I had to run as hard as I could for that last 1.2. The Bay Bridge still seemed so far off, but I kept pushing until I could finally see the finish line. One last sprint, and I was done.

FINAL TIME: 1:48:10.

No hands up for the cameras, no excitement, just sheer exhaustion and relief that it was over. But as I was trying to steady myself, I looked up, and there was Leslie, about 20 feet in front of me. I tried to yell, but I couldn’t get it out...I finally got her attention, and realized that we were in the same boat. Her 1:44 turned into a 1:47 just as my 1:45 had turned into a 1:48. And then, to my surprise, up came Pam. She came in about 30 seconds behind me. Apparently, it wasn’t a day for SFRRC PRs (at least not the group I talked to), but all in all a good race, we agreed. It was a little tougher than expected! Mostly, I think, we were just happy to be done.

But no time for rest, at least not for me...I knew Jack wouldn’t be far behind, and I wanted to find him before he crossed the finish line. I grabbed a bottle of water and my medal, and headed back out the race course (“Hey look, this one’s still running,” one guy said) in hopes of finding him. Thankfully for our bright orange SFRRC singlets, he wasn’t too hard to spot when I found him about 5 blocks from the finish. I jumped up and down and cheered for him, gave him a little water, and ran alongside him toward the finish. I left him at the chutes, where he sprinted his way past another runner to finish in 2:11:27 – An awesome time for a first race...I have no doubt that he will keep getting better (although I’m not exactly looking forward to the day when he passes me by!). :)

1) Golden Gate Park on Crossover Drive
2) Potrero Hill on Indiana, near Cafe Cocomo
3) Me and Jack, Happy to be done!

After the race, we got some goodies (my favorite was the cheese biscuit from ACME bakery!), greeted a few other SFRRC members at our booth, and then got a much-needed free massage (I think Jack actually drooled on the table). We headed back to my place, got cleaned up, and then had a beer and some delicious Chicago style deep-dish pizza at Patxi’s in Hayes Valley (highly recommended!). What a great day!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

SFRRC Coaches' Challenge 5k

Tonight my running club put on the first of a series of 5ks used to track our progress throughout the season.

We met at the track as we usually do on Tuesday nights, and then went for a nice warmup run through Golden Gate Park. It was actually a course preview, 3.1 miles. It was great, because the course was fresh in my mind (not to mention, these are roads I've run a hundred times before). I was a little worried, because I've never really spent that much time warming up, although I knew that I hadn't spent enough time preparing before my last race, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Here's the course (forgive me, my hand's not too steady with the touch pad mouse!):

We all met back at the starting line about 30 minutes later, and Coach Kirk, Mr. Enthusiasm himself, sent us on our way. The first mile felt good - I stayed on the heels of Kortney, who runs with my pace group but I think has the potential to be quite a bit faster. A pretty good group of us stuck together for most of mile one - Some Silvers: Little John, Aida, Kortney and me, and some reds: Leslie, Pam, and Rob. About halfway through the first mile was the hill behind the Conservatory of Flowers, but it was followed by a nice, gradual downhill, making my first mile 7:21. Not too shabby!

The Conservatory of Flowers

Mile 2 was down JFK, which is mostly flat. The group started to spread out here. Leslie, Pam, Kortney, and Rob pulled ahead, and John, Aida, and I were close behind. We had a slight downhill just past the deYoung Museum (by the creepy purple head), and then a gradual uphill to Stow Lake. That one was killer! I somehow managed to pass Rob, who stopped for a walk break, and Kortney, and kept my focus on Leslie. I knew if I could keep her in my sights, I would probably PR. Mile 2: 8:18

Creepy purple head - the one in GGPark is just like this one that was featured at Burning Man.

Mile 3 started out as a piece of cake. A little bit of flat, and then a nice downhill out of the lake drive. The rest was back up MLK toward Kezar Stadium. Rob passed me up again, but I managed to stick to him until he stopped to walk again. At that point, though, I was all alone. Leslie had pulled far enough ahead that I couldn't see her because of the curve in the path, and I could hear distant footsteps behind me, but I didn't dare look back. I knew I had less than a half mile left, so I really kicked it into high gear. I could hear Kortney getting closer, and I tried my best to sprint up the last hill toward the finish, but I was feeling like I might puke, and she managed to pass me. I did my best to stay right behind her, and made my final sprint over the crest of the hill and to the finish. Mile 3.1: 7:51

Total time: 23:14!!! A new PR! That's 1:10 off my last 5k, just over a month ago! BTW, that's a 7:29 mile, in case you were wondering (I'm just a little proud of myself, can't you tell??). A couple of years ago I could barely break 30 minutes!!! We had lots of runners with really great times - most of Silver came in just before or just after me, and a lot of people managed to PR, so we all agreed it was a great race. The best part, I felt great afterward! Sure, I had to walk it off for a minute because I thought I might collapse and/or puke, but once that wore off, I felt awesome!

According to my pace card (and I know these things aren't always completely accurate), I'm right on track for a 3:40 marathon - BQ, baby (ooh, and I found someone who offered to pace me for the last ten miles of CIM)!!! But I won't get ahead of myself here...let's see how the SF half goes in a couple of weeks!

I wasn't really expecting to do so well...I had a REALLY bad day, and was also feeling rushed to get to the stadium for our warmup, but I used all that negative energy to push myself to a new PR. Running really is the best therapy!

Afterward, eleven of us went to dinner at Pasta Pomodoro, refueled and chatted about the race, running, the upcoming Sentinel Triathlon (which a ton of SFRRC members are doing), and just life in general. We have a really fun group, and it was a great night!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Duskbuster 5k

This was a really nice race. While it wasn't super organized, the course was nice, the weather was great, it was at a beautiful time of day (7pm), and there was a really good atmosphere.

This is from last year's race,
but it looked pretty much the same last night!

I warmed up for about ten minutes, and I still felt a little bit stiff, but I decided not to overdo it since I'd taken a spin class earlier in the day. I hung out with a few friends from SFRRC and before we knew it we were lining up for the start. Some last minute good news - they had been able to get the course certified that day - and we were on our way.

Well, I probably shouldn't have taken that spin class...

As you can tell by the following pace chart, my first mile went really well. It was tough, but I felt great. In fact, I probably should have gone out a little bit slower. My second mile was really hard (especially after we were forced to run through the sprinklers - something that I didn't really enjoy). You can see the spikes in my pace where I walked for a couple of seconds and where I stopped to tie my shoe. The third mile was pure torture. I think I only got passed by about 5 people (and 2 dogs), but I was breathing so hard that I was on the verge of puking. I walked for a few seconds there, but I didn't want to give up my sub-8, so I dug back in. Thank God I did, because I came in at 24:23, a 7:50 pace!

I'm not totally pleased with my performance, and I'm sure this would have been much easier (and probably faster) had I not run 6 miles last night and had I not gone to spin class, but hey, I got my first sub-8 race! Time to start training harder!!!

Activity

Route:	--	Elev. Avg:	0 ft
Location:	Point Bonita Coast Guard Light Station, CA	Elev. Gain:	+0 ft
Date:	06/06/07	Up/Downhill:	[+0/-0]
Time:	07:12 PM	Difficulty:	0 / 5.0

Performance

Distance:	3.12 miles
Time:	0:24:24
Speed:	7.70 mph
Pace:	7' 47 /mi
Calories:	381

Map

Elevation (ft.)

Pace (min/mile)

Splits

Mile	Pace (min/mile)		Speed (mph)		Elevation Gain
Mile	actual	+/- avg	actual	+/- avg	Elevation Gain
1	7' 14	-0' 33	8.3	+0.6	0 ft
2	8' 03	+0' 15	7.4	-0.3	-16 ft
3	8' 17	+0' 29	7.2	-0.5	0 ft
end	7' 46	-0' 01	7.7	+0.0	+16 ft
Versus average of 7' 47 min/mi

Posted from bimactive.com

Monday, May 21, 2007

I promise I'm not a slacker!

I've been MIA from my blog, but I haven't been slacking!

I'm signed up for the following races for this year:

The San Francico Half Marathon (2nd half)
The Nike Women's Half Marathon
The New York Marathon (if I get in!)

I'm also planning on throwing some other races in there, such as
The Duskbuster 5k in Golden Gate Park
The Stadium to Stadium 10K (just to run with Gavin!)
The Rock N Roll San Jose Half Marathon

I'm using SFRRC's Competetive Time Goal Schedule, which will hopefully help me get to a sub-1:45 half marathon in July. Keep your fingers crossed! I'm also doing some cross training, trying to swim and do spin class (or ride) at least twice a week. Other than taking a few days off for a cold, I'm doing well!

Tonight I'm off to do a 14-miler...I'm running 7 to Jack's house and then picking him up to do another 7 (the prescribed training distance for his half marathon training schedule). Yes, that's right, Jack is training for a half marathon! He's freaking out now - the farthest he's ever gone is 6 miles, and that was last week - but I know he can do it!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

My motivation...

...arrived in the mail this afternoon! The Boston Marathon issue of Runner's World came today (I know, I know, it's totally cheesy!), and I think I finally got the kick in the butt that I needed. I read the story of Katherine Switzer, and her determination to be the first woman to run the Boston Marathon (despite people literally trying to pull her off the course!)...she made it possible for other women to get out there and run, and damn it, now it's my turn!

It's time to get my ass in gear, so starting right now I'm going to do a much better job of training, including blogging about it. This is the official beginning of my push for a BQ, so if you've got anything that will help me, send it my way! I need all the help I can get!

My training goals for right now are pretty simple: Train for a half marathon with a (sub) 1:45 in mind, swim twice a week, and go to yoga at least once a week. And most importantly, eat right! I've got to get back in shape (less than 6 months ago I could do a 20-mile run and a 35-mile bike ride in the same day and barely bat an eye)!

Boston, ready or not, here I come!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Kaiser Half Marathon Recap

First of all, I have to say how much I enjoy running races that take place in San Francisco. It makes the whole experience so easy and stress-free. Much nicer than having to travel. And even better when it’s a race in San Francisco that doesn’t include killer hills!

Amanda got to my place at about 6:45, and we headed to the bus. We rode partway to the race start, and then did about a mile warm-up run to the start of the race. We were supposed to meet up with a bunch of our fellow SFRRC members, but somehow missed all of them, so we opted to use the port-a-potties and go line up for the start. Unlike most large races, this one was run strictly on gun time (or in this case cable car bell time?), so we made sure to get close to the front to avoid adding too much unnecessary time to our race results.

After the typical national anthem, etc., we were off and running. Much to our surprise, we still had to dodge super slow runners and WALKERS. Keep in mind, we were lined up at the back of the 7-minute mile group. HELLO??? Do you know anyone who can walk a mile in 7 minutes? How difficult is it to read the little signs and line up where you’re SUPPOSED to be? There is absolutely no reason we should been dodging slower runners. Slight pet peeve of mine, can you tell? Alright, enough ranting about that. :) On to the race:

For the first mile or so, we really weren’t sure about our pace. We’d done our warmup almost an hour before the start, so by the time we actually got going, we were fairly cold again. Fortunately, we were pretty much on pace with an 8:24 mile to start. That’s exactly our Boston qualifying pace, so we were happy with it. A good portion of the race through Golden Gate Park was downhill, so that allowed us to make up some of the time we lost dodging slow runners, and it gave us a little bit of a cushion for the hill at the very end of the race (EVIL – why, WHY must they always put a hill at the end of a race?). It was a nice morning, and we felt pretty good through the park, so we talked through most of the first half.

The second half was a different story altogether. A long out-and-back on the Great Highway had us wishing it would just be over. It’s straight, it’s flat, and you can’t see the end, just a sea of runners that seems to go on forever. The only good thing about that part of the race is that we got to see the elites (many of whom finished in about 1:10 or less), and we also got to see a lot of our fellow SFRRC members. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9 I started telling myself that “I didn’t really need a PR,” and that “I could still finish in under 2 hours even if I just ran 10-minute miles for the rest of the race.” But I quickly came to my senses, told myself to shut the hell up, and dug in. When we finally got to the far end of the Great Highway, I felt much better mentally, knowing that we just had to get back to the park, but physically, I was starting to lose it. I ate my second GU at about mile 11, and by the time I hit mile 12, I just wanted to be done. I picked up the pace and made it over the hill (which actually, by SF standards, was nothing!) with no problem. The last .25 or so totally made up for it too, because it’s a nice downhill straight into the finish chutes.

Final time: 1:47:09 (by my watch), official time 1:48:23.

Somehow this race felt even easier than San Jose, and I feel better now than I did after that race too. I think this was a net downhill course, but I honestly didn’t expect to cut almost 5 minutes off of my previous PR (1:51:59)! I haven’t been super motivated lately, and I kind of felt like I was dragging throughout most of January. I was surprised to see that we also had a few sub-8 miles (Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would run sub-8s!!!). Here are my splits:

mile 1 - 8:23
mile 2 - 7:43 (whoa...oops! Little bit fast there!)
mile 3 - 8:06
mile 4 - 8:07
mile 5 - 7:53 (I love running downhill!)
mile 6 - 8:01
mile 7 - 7:56 (more downhill...)
mile 8 - 8:07
mile 9 - 8:16 (here's where the torturous flat section started)
mile 10 - 8:14
mile 11 - 8:25 (this is where I seriously considered quitting...)
mile 12 - 8:35 (...and I was still thinking it!)
mile 13 - 8:28 (but with one mile left, I had to kick it back up a notch!)
mile 13.1 - 0:48

That’s an 8:10 average pace. Holy crap! :) Shave a few more minutes off, and I’ll have a sub-8 race! Woo hoo!

So anyway, my friend Melisse ran into me (literally) in the chute...she happened to come in right behind me, and couldn’t stop with the momentum from the last little downhill! Amanda finished about 30 seconds ahead of me with a 1:46, and lots of our other runners had a really good race too. Big John made his 1:50-something goal, Kevin, who was just looking for a sub-2 came in at around 1:53, Kate (who, at 61, is my inspiration!!!) came in around 2, and I think Joe Carboni came in with a 1:23 (crazy fast!)! Kirk and Leslie (who were both super proud of us!) were manning the SFRRC tent, so they congratulated us and then offered us bagels, fruit and coffee, which we gladly accepted. We hung around for awhile and talked to the others, congratulated everyone on a great race, and then headed home. What a great way to start the day!

P.S. Fun little tidbit for the day...the Queen Mary II came to San Francisco today. It's the biggest ship ever to dock in the Bay, clearing the Golden Gate Bridge by just 30 feet!

It was quite a sight, and lots of people were out to watch, even though it meant missing the Super Bowl. All kinds of boats helped usher her in, and hundreds of onlookers camped out the shore and on the Golden Gate to watch it pass under. I hadn't actually planned to be there, but I got lucky and caught a glimpse of the entire ship just before it docked.

Look how small Alcatraz looks in comparison!

Monday, December 04, 2006

The best, most painful day ever...

It all started a few months ago (I think it was August), when my friend Amanda, a fellow member of the San Francisco Road Runner Club (SFRRC), mentioned something about the California International Marathon. We had both just completed the super hilly San Francisco Marathon, and thought that the (mostly) downhill CIM would be a good choice. We talked each other into signing up for it, and then because of work and life commitments, didn’t see each other again until December 2nd when we drove up to Sacramento for the race.

We spent the majority of the ride up there talking race strategy and making plans for a possible Boston qualifying race this time next year. When we got to Sacramento, we picked up our race packets, and checked into the hotel. Shortly after that, we headed to a nice Italian restaurant to have dinner with the rest of the SFRRC members. We had some pretty decent ravioli (although not nearly as good as anything in SF...I’m turning into such a food snob!), and we chatted with Matt and John, who we had planned to run with since we were all going for a sub-4 marathon. Matt informed us that he had recruited Leslie to pace us from mile 15 on, which made us feel much more at ease.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep. Much easier said than done. First of all, it was only 8:30, and second of all, I was incredibly nervous. I haven’t been nervous about any of the other races I’ve done this year, but I knew that I would REALLY have to push myself to make my goal on this particular race. I finally managed to fall asleep somewhere around 11:00, but I got woken up about ten times thanks to the car alarms that kept going off in the parking garage just across the way. I spent most of the night sleeping with a pillow on top of my head to drown them out!

Race morning:
I woke up at about 4:20am, feeling slightly rested, but mostly just wanting to go back to sleep. I quickly realized that more sleep was not an option, and started getting ready. I’ve mostly got the race-day clothing thing down to a science, but what I’m not used to is making oatmeal in a hotel room coffee maker. I made an absolute mess, but I managed to make some decent oatmeal, and was down in the lobby to meet everyone at 5am.

Matt, John, Julie, Amanda and I loaded the bus that would take us to the race start, and we tried to relax on the 45 minute ride there. It was only about 30 degrees when we got there, so Amanda and I stayed on the bus for a little longer to stay warm.

Amanda and me waiting on the bus
We finally lined up for the Port-A-Potties at about 6:25. We met Matt and John, lined up near the 4 hour pace leader, and before we knew it, we were off and running!

Me, Matt, John and Amanda just before the race start

The first 20 miles of the race went by really fast. Honestly, I remember VERY little, but here’s what I do remember:

Mile 3: There were a lot of people cheering in front of their houses, but one stuck out in particular. They had a dummy dressed in a sombrero and sarape sitting in a chair, and a huge, fake Afghan hound, complete with mechanical wagging tail, standing in front of the house. It was only three miles into the race, and we thought we were already delirious!

Mile 11: Matt still held the last of the disposable layers...we’d all worn cheap gloves and extra t-shirts that we could toss once we got warmed up, and most of them had been thrown to the side in the first 5 miles or so. Matt’s final layer was a pair of baggy running shorts worn over what he calls his “anatomical shorts” for modesty’s sake. By mile 11, they were getting to be annoying, but rather than stop and take them off quickly, he started ripping them off! Unfortunately, they didn’t come off as easily as he’d planned, and for awhile he looked like he was wearing a running skirt instead of shorts. We were all dying laughing by the time he managed to get them off all the way!

Mile 12: Amanda and I had to make a quick pit stop. It's hard to gauge how much to drink on a cold morning. The cold air dries out your throat, but you're not sweating as much, so it can work against you. I hate having to go to the bathroom during races, especially when there are lines, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go! Fortunately, the lines were fast, and we were back with Matt and John before we knew it.

Somewhere near mile 15: We got a huge kick out of the marching band at this water stop...just as we passed, they started playing the theme from “Rocky.” SOOO cheesy, but it totally pumped us up!

Mile 15: We could see Leslie standing by the mile marker, and we started waving and yelling her name. As soon as she saw us, she started jumping up and down and ran to meet us. Talk about a great boost! Nothing like some fresh legs and a fresh brain to bring some life back into our step with 11 miles to go!

Mile 17: Amanda and I pushed ahead a little bit, but Leslie and Matt caught up within a mile or so. At the same time, John fell back, and I was starting to feel tired. We stuck together a little bit longer, but then Amanda pulled ahead again, and I did my best to stick with Matt and Leslie.

Mile 20: This is the last really concrete thing that I can remember. When I saw the mile marker I said, “I see a big 2-0!” Leslie told us a hilarious story from her Boston qualifying race earlier in the year (which I unfortunately can’t tell, because what’s said on the course stays on the course!).

Miles 21-26.2: Leslie encouraged us, told jokes, made sure we kept good form, got us water, and told us we looked great, even though I’m sure we looked terrible. I sure felt terrible! I do vaguely remember pretty, tree-lined streets, although they all started looking the same after awhile. That was pretty much the entire course. Rolling hills, with lots of nice downhills, followed by a long, flat stretch. Matt and Leslie had pulled away, and I was on my own for the last mile and a half. This was absolute torture because I was feeling totally delirious, and we had come upon the numbered streets in Sacramento. I knew that the Capitol building was somewhere around 10th street, and we were at 30th Street. Ouch. I was dying to stop for a walk break, but I knew that I only had about 35 seconds in the bank, and that if I stopped to walk, I wouldn’t make my sub-4 goal. Somehow I managed to keep myself together, and as I turned the corner toward the finish line, I ran as hard as I could. When I saw 3:59:55 on the clock I knew it was in the bag. I crossed at 4:00:14, but thanks to my late start, I knew that I had made my goal.

Final time: 3:59:18!!!

I’m not the only one who has something to be proud of – SFRRC had an amazing showing at CIM – Lots of Boston Qualifiers (BQ) and even more Personal Records (PR)!

Joe Carboni – 3:06 BQ (PR)
Joe Henwood – 3:07 BQ (PR)
Chris Furgiule – 3:09 BQ (PR)
Kirk Hamlin – 3:14 BQ (PR)
Donna Lanasa – 3:24 BQ (PR)
Julie Hornung – 3:37 BQ (PR)
Gregory Alexander – 3:44
Joannie Loh – 3:50
Amanda Steindorf – 3:55(PR)
Matt Patchell – 3:58 (PR)
Emily Toy – 3:58 BQ (5th in age group)
Jenni Kirk – 3:59 (PR)
Ray Monahan – 4:07
John Kamola – 4:11 (PR)
Colette Weil – 5:00

I could barely walk after I crossed the finish line, but I managed to pull myself together to get some food, water and a post-race picture. Amanda and I stumbled back to the hotel to get cleaned up, and we headed back to San Francisco to rest. Can you believe that we’re already planning our next one??? Some serious training and some good club support, and we’ll be fast on our way to a Boston Qualifier. Watch out!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

A paradox...

It was pouring rain when I got up at 5:30am to go for my 24-mile training run with my fellow SFRRC members. I knew it would be terrible, but of course I put on my warmest clothes, ate my oatmeal, and headed down to the Marina Green, hoping to see the others there. Much to my surprise, almost everyone had shown up!

Here's the paradox: If it had been a 10-mile run in the rain, we would have stayed home in bed and gone running later that day or the next. But because it was a 24-miler, we all got up and dragged ourselves down there, prepared to face the elements. The longer the run, the more likely we are to do it in the rain! How sick and twisted are we???

Fortunately, it only rained for the first 30 minutes or so, and it turned out to be a beautiful run over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Sausalito to Tiburon...

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Treasure Island Recap

My First Triathlon
by Jenni Kirk

Fortunately, and thanks to several previous marathons and half marathons, I seem to have gotten that pre-race jitter thing out of my system. I slept really well on Friday night, and woke up at 4:30 on Saturday morning with no problem. I had spent about an hour and a half getting all of my stuff together the night before, so all I really had to do was get dressed and eat breakfast. I ate my massive bowl of oatmeal and quadruple checked my tri bag to make sure I had everything I needed, and then I headed over to my parents' hotel so we could drive to the race. My friend Katie, who was volunteering at the race, met us at the hotel, we loaded up my bike and drove out to Treasure Island.

If you've never been to Treasure Island, it's a trip. It's like the Twilight Zone – almost completely deserted, and covered in weird, ugly buildings that are on the verge of falling down. It used to be a naval base, but now it just looks like the scene of a horror film! The weirdest part is that it could be prime real estate – it's got great views of the city, but right now it's just home to some pretty sad-looking section 8 housing. Anyway...

It was DARK when we got there, and that's when I realized that the only thing I had forgotten was a flashlight to set up my transition area! Oops. But by the time I got to my spot, it was light enough for me to unpack my bag and set everything up. My dad got coffee, and I did my best to remember where I was supposed to put everything (I really must practice my transitions a little more often!). I got everything laid out, had some stranger body mark me – what a strange thing, to have some random person writing on you with permanent marker – and then I waited. You see, the first wave (men 29 and under) started at 7:15. My wave (women 29 and under and women 40 and older) didn't start until 8:45!!! So mom, dad and I went and watched the first four waves start before I even thought about putting on my wetsuit. Unfortunately, this did not do very well for my nerves! It was fun to watch though – some of the guys were insanely fast, and I did manage to see a couple of people who I knew, so that was cool.

Finally, it was time for me to get ready. I pulled on the wetsuit, slathered my neck with Body Glide, and headed to the starting corral. Have I mentioned that wetsuits are extremely sexy? Haha. Right. Anyway, I was happy to see my friend Katie near the start, and my parents were there as well. Much to my surprise, Dorette, the head coach of the Nike training program, tapped me on the shoulder and wished me good luck. She was there to support another friend of hers, but did her fair share of cheering for me as well, which was really nice! About five minutes before the start, they herded us down the ramp and into the water to warm up, or begin to freeze our asses off, whichever you prefer. Did I mention that the water was 60 degrees? Almost tropical! I did my best to try out my stroke and numb my face, and then I got ready for the countdown.

1500 meter Swim - 35:58
After the horn there was lots of kicking and floundering about, but I got into a groove just behind the pack. Somewhere about halfway through the first side of the first lap (we swam twice around a 750m triangle marked with buoys) I started to panic – it looks A LOT farther to the next buoy when you're in the water than it does when you're on land! It took me a few minutes to catch my breath and regain composure, but I kept swimming, and eventually got into a groove. I did a pretty decent job at sighting as far as I can tell...I checked every few strokes, and the buoy always seemed to be straight ahead, but I'd like to see a video to see just how on I was! I only had one run in with another swimmer. She obviously wasn't watching where she was going, and she swam right into me...I tried to get out of the way, but I kicked her a couple of times in the process. Oh well. That's what she gets for not watching where she's going! Once I made it around the last corner, I knew I was home free, which made for a nice, strong swim finish!

T1 - 2:39
A couple of guys helped me out of the water (I wish I knew who the one guy was because he was CUTE! And no, I wasn't actually checking him out when I was getting out of the water...I noticed him when I was watching the earlier waves!) and I ran up the stairs and to my bike, removing caps, goggles and wetsuit all at once. The wetsuit came off without any problems, and I did my best to put on my socks, shoes, shirt and helmet without wasting too much time. The socks were definitely the most difficult part because I couldn't really feel my hands or my feet, but once I got them on, it was all good. I grabbed my bike, and ran (rather awkwardly) to the bike exit...

40k (24.9 miles) Bike – 1:31:18
This was definitely my worst event of the three. I have a feeling a lot of it had to do with the course, and I'm still not all that comfortable making really quick or risky maneuvers on my bike, so this probably wasn't the best course for a bike debut. Treasure Island, in its lovely, crumbling state, is full of potholes. Fortunately, they were nice enough to mark them with red spray paint, but they were still a pain to get around sometimes. Also, since the bike course consisted of six loops of the island, there were LOTS of corners. By the fourth loop I was getting comfortable with going around the corners rather quickly...I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to that (and rightly so...the only people who fell off their bikes did it on sharp turns!). So anyway, the bike was rather uneventful. I just kept counting down until it was done. I was sniffling the entire time because of all the seawater that I had swallowed, and in true triathlete fashion, I blew my nose however I could...note to self, blow nose on swim to bike transition next time around. Triathletes are so gross, aren't we? I think my favorite part of the whole thing was the one hill on the course – that's where I passed everyone! The advantage to the loopy course was that I did get to see my mom and dad and Dorette several times throughout the bike ride. When I made it to the final loop, I was so excited to finally be done – my ass was cramping on the left side, and I kept having to stretch my hamstring, which is something that has never bothered me in the past. Oh well! I rode into the chute and unclipped my feet, and I was happy to see that Katie was directing everyone as they were coming back into the transition area. I said hi, got off my bike, and awkwardly ran back to my spot to change my shoes.

T2 – 1:39
This transition went MUCH more smoothly! I took off my helmet, pulled on my running shoes (with the elastic "cheater" laces as Dolly calls them), grabbed my race number and took off for the last time.

10k (6.2 miles) Run – 51:59
This was the most painfully awkward run I've ever done. My feet were actually still numb from the swim, so I felt like I was just shuffling along. It was a two loop out and back course, which was actually nice, because there were a lot of other people around even though there weren't too many spectators. I did my best to pick people off, but it was frustrating because the really good runners in the 30-39 age group kept blowing by me from behind! Oh, and did I mention that I had messed up my watch? I pretty much did this whole thing by feel. I had no idea how fast I was going – it felt like a 12 minute mile, but I knew it couldn't possibly be that slow. All I knew for sure was that I had started the run a little before 11:00. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be my fastest 10k to date! 8:23 miles! As I made it back for the final stretch, I was happy to see Dolly and Herb, who were nice enough to come out and watch the finish, Katie, my dad and my mom – It's so great to have people out there cheering for you!!!

Total time: 3:03:28
I know it's not spectacular, but I think it's pretty damn good for a first try! I'll definitely be doing this again, but I'm going to need to do a lot of training on the swim and the bike if I want to step it up a notch. I guess that's what the off season is for. I'm so lame...I'm happy with my time, but I keep thinking to myself that I could have done better. What I keep forgetting is that I just did a marathon two weeks ago! Of course I could have done better if I were fully rested and not still recovering! Duh.

This recap wouldn't be complete if I didn't fill you in on Sunday morning's events. As if I'm not a big enough glutton for punishment, I ran the US Half Marathon on Sunday morning. Since I'm doing CIM in a month, I needed to get in the extra miles, so my dad and I signed up for this half marathon. It was a beautiful course that ran from Fisherman's Wharf, through the Marina and Crissy Field, in the Presidio, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Absolutely gorgeous, and it covered most of my favorite running spots in San Francisco. It was nice to be able to show my dad around that way! My dad's funny...when they picked me up from work on Friday, he says, "Guess what I did yesterday?"
"What did you do, Dad?"
"I ran 12 miles!"
(Oh jeez.) "Dad!!! WHY???? We're running a half marathon in two days!"
"Well, I wanted to make sure I was ready..."

Too funny. So needless to say, we were a little slow. He was cramping up at the end, and we didn't cross the finish line at more than a jog, but our 2:29 finish was a 10 minute PR for him, so I was proud!

Next up: a 24-mile training run to Tiburon, and then it's TAPER TIME for California International!!! Woo hoo! Finally, I get to taper for real! Sub-4 marathon, here I come!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Nike Women's Marathon recap

The weekend:
So, as you can probably imagine, Nike goes to great lengths to make this a spectacular event for everyone involved. They're so good about catering to women runners! One of the cool things they did was put everyone's name on the side of the Niketown store.

If you look closely, you can see mine! (click to make it bigger)

Justine and me in front of the Niketown store in our lovely paceleader uniforms

I worked at the race expo on Friday and Saturday afternoons, which was a blast. It was great to talk to so many people from so many places who were so excited about the event! I was a little bit worried because I was assigned to a job that had me standing up all afternoon, but it was fun, so the time went by rather quickly and I had some rather funny experiences in helping people with their pace bracelets. Runners told me their projected finishing time or pace, and I would print out a bracelet that had their time-per-mile, taking into account all of the hills on the course. Most people had a finishing time in mind, and I printed out bracelets for anything from a 3 hour marathon to a 7.5 hour marathon. One girl though, decked out in heels and this really cute but ridiculously fashionable outfit, had NO idea. She couldn’t tell me how long it takes her to run a mile, she couldn’t tell me whether she was fast or slow...it was hilarious! I mean seriously, how do you decide to fly all the way across the country (she was from NY) to run a half marathon and have NO CLUE about your running abilities? Hilarious.

After the expo on Friday night, a big group of the Nike pace leaders went out for dinner in North Beach, and we had a great time getting to know each other better. It’s funny, I’d been running with all of them for the past 16 weeks, but I never really got to talk to most of them because we were in different pace groups...I’ll definitely be hanging out with these people again!

Saturday morning I got up early, got all of my triathlon gear together, and headed to Treasure Island with Anne for our run-through. It went very smoothly, and I’m feeling a lot better about the upcoming race. It was a beautiful day, and the City looked amazing from across the Bay, so it made for a great experience! We did a mini triathlon, with a swim in the Bay, a couple loops of the bike course and a (very) short run before heading back to the City to work at the expo again.

Fortunately, Saturday afternoon had me sitting in a nice little chair behind a table, so was at least able to stay off my feet. I answered lots of questions and handed out corral bracelets so that everyone would know where to line up on race morning. It was a gorgeous day, and it was an absolute treat to sit outside and enjoy it. The buzz from all the other race participants was great too, and it got me psyched for race morning!

Saturday night Paul took me to dinner at a really cute Italian place, and I felt kind of bad because he wanted to order all kinds of good stuff that I knew I just couldn’t eat. I stuck with my regular pre-race dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce and salmon (which was particularly good at this restaurant), and I ate a little bit of Caprese salad...the cheese was so good, but I wasn’t about to take any chances! I was a little disappointed to find out that he was leaving early in the morning for a camping trip, so he wouldn’t be there for the race, but at least I knew that there would be some other friends out there to cheer me on. After dinner, I finished getting my stuff together and went to bed at about 9:30.

Race day:
I have never slept so well before a race! The downstairs neighbors decided to be considerate for once, so I made it through the night without having to break out the earplugs. Very nice. I got up at about 4:45, made a huge bowl of oatmeal, and tried desperately to decide what to wear for the race. The past few days had been so warm that I was concerned about what the race day temperature was going to be. I nixed the idea of wearing a long-sleeve shirt and opted for a sleeveless one, but stuck with the pants. I caught a cab and headed down to Union Square, and I was slightly worried when I noticed that it was 5:30am and I was uncomfortably warm in my jacket. More on that later.

I headed to the VIP tent, where I was scheduled to hold the 10 minute pace sign. There, I met up with some of the other pace leaders and the girls I was planning on running with.

Susan, me, Yvonne and Denise in the VIP tent before the race

Denise and Susan, among others, did every long run with me throughout the training series. We survived the Scott Street hill and the Lyon stairs, the heat and the cold and the long miles and the freezing cold water in the Bay, and we all got to know each other pretty well over the course of the training series. Since it was their first marathon, they hit all of their training goals with me, and they swore that they couldn’t have done it without me, but the truth is, they got me through it too! They were both super excited about the race, but I was feeling surprisingly calm. We finished getting ready (pinned on race numbers, stuffed our sports bras with packets of GU, and checked in our bags) and went to the bathroom three different times, and then lined up to watch the elite racers start. After a pep talk from Joanie Benoit Samuelson (the winner of the first Women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984 and inspiration for this race), we were ready to race.

First half: 2:06:06
We counted down the last 10 seconds and then took off through the dark streets of downtown San Francisco. Soon, the sub-8 runners started passing us from behind (the one downfall to being in the front of the pack), and we tried desperately to hang onto our own pace for the first couple miles. By the time we got to Fisherman’s Wharf, we had settled into our pace and started to prepare for our first hill. We made it up and over with no problem, passing all those out-of-towners along the way. Based on the first few miles of the race, we figured it was going to be a rather warm day, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a fair amount of fog sitting in the Bay and hanging underneath the Golden Gate. I wish I were one of those people who carries their camera with them, because I definitely would have taken a picture of it!

About that time, I also realized that I really had to go to the bathroom. I figured it was just nervousness in the first mile or two, but when the feeling hadn’t gone away by mile 4, I knew I needed to do something about it. I didn’t drink that much water, so I really don’t know what my deal was! I left Denise and Susan, and ran on ahead to find a port-a-potty. I found one about a half mile ahead, did my thing, and ran out just in time to see Denise and Susan approaching. I ate my first GU, and we headed out Crissy Field down toward the foot of the GGBridge to our killer hill. It’s not particularly steep, just extremely long. All of mile 7, to be exact. It was tough, but we made it, and we actually gained some time – I guess all those weeks training on the steepest hills in San Francisco paid off! At the top, we were greeted with massive amounts of thick fog, a very welcome sight on a day that we had expected to be too hot! We were rewarded with a very nice, long downhill, where we gained even more time and prepped for our last major uphill in the race. Somehow, with all the people around, the killer hills didn’t seem nearly as hard as they had been in training, and before we knew it, we were on our way down to the beach and into Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, this was about the time when we started to regret our clothing choices. I would have killed for that long-sleeved shirt I had planned on wearing!

Upon entering the park I saw Kirk, Leslie, and a bunch of other San Francisco Road Runners, which was a great boost! We also stumbled upon Yvonne who we had lost in the chaos of the race start. She was looking strong, and feeling great! Denise and I pushed on ahead, and Susan and Yvonne ran together on the gradual uphill through the park. It was like being in the Twilight Zone running through the fog...the bison in the park were exceptionally close to the road, which was unusual, and they were about the only thing we could see! A few minutes later, the sun was desperately trying to break through the fog, and it was really bright, but my sunglasses were so fogged up that I felt like I was blind either way. The fog finally broke, and I was able to make use of my sunglasses on our first out-and-back, where I saw a lot of my friends from the Nike running group. Denise and I saw that Susan wasn’t far behind us, and we waited for her at the next water stop, but she never appeared. We found out later that she had decided to go to the bathroom right then, so it’s a good thing we didn’t wait for her to appear!

One very bad rendition of “Hey Ya” later (spectators were allowed to do Karaoke versions of their friends’ “power songs”), and we were taking a nice steady downhill out of the park and out to Ocean Beach. On what seemed like a never-ending straightaway, we saw Denise’s friend, her mom and her brother as well as some people from my tri club, so we had plenty of support. I only wish I could say that much about the loop around Lake Merced! The entrance to the lake loop is a decent hill for that late in the race, but the downhill afterward gave us a little break and the salsa band on the other side gave us a little burst of energy.

Mile 20: 3:14:17
Soon after that, we were really starting to feel it in our legs. We saw a couple more of Denise’s friends, but it help much because all we really wanted was some water. The sun had come out and it was pretty hot around the lake, and poor Denise had sticky hands from her last GU, which can be exponentially more annoying at mile 20 of a marathon. Mile 21 passed and still no water (my only complaint about the entire race). There was a huge cheering section, which is never a bad thing in a desolate place, but from far away we thought it was an aid station, so we weren’t nearly as pleased to see them as we should have been. Finally, about a quarter of a mile later we came upon an aid station. The water refreshed me, but it was too late for Denise, so she told me to go on ahead while she got herself back together. I checked on her a few more times to make sure that she was doing alright, and when I was sure that she was okay, I took off.

I was feeling a little bit stiff, but I had tons of energy from God knows where, so I took it and I went with it. I feel terrible for thinking it, but I passed one guy from our training group, and I was very pleased to see that he was walking – he was the guy who would join a pace group and then throw everyone off by running way too fast. I have a feeling he started out that way, and then just couldn’t keep up with it for the whole 26.2, so it kinda made me snicker, and only made me want to go faster (I found out later that he finished in 4:40)! I passed a couple other people that I knew, said “hi” and “good work”, and then proceeded to blow by them toward the finish. I’m sure I looked pretty darn determined at that point because I was getting lots of encouragement from the crowd and I was still feeling good, so I gave it everything I had. Miles 25-26.2 were the fastest of my entire race! I crossed in 4:11:49, feeling tired, but not totally wiped. I finally made it out of the 4:20’s (I had been stuck there for my last three marathons) – only 31 more minutes to Boston! On top of that, this is the first time I ran negative splits (my second half was 23 seconds faster than the first half!), and the first time I actually ran the whole race (Okay, I walked through a few water stops, but only because I didn’t want to spill Gatorade all over myself!)!

I collected my finisher’s medal (AKA Tiffany necklace) and shirt just in time to get back to the finish line and watch Denise cross in 4:21 – I was so proud of her!!!! We headed to the VIP tent to get some food and see how everyone else had done. Susan showed up about 20 minutes later to introduce us to her husband and three kids. What a cute family! She was so happy (she finished in 4:45), and I was beaming like a proud mother for both of my “girls.” I think I was actually happier for them than for myself! I gave them both a card and a little bottle of champagne so they could celebrate later when they were feeling up to it. We’ll definitely all be keeping in touch!

Me, Denise and Susan after the race - we ROCKED!

I hurried home, showered and then headed out again to the Bridge School Benefit Concert down near San Jose, where Jessica and I sat in the grass all day and saw some great performances – Death Cab For Cutie, Trent Reznor (acoustic, and very...interesting), Foo Fighters (awesome!), Brian Wilson (too freaking funny...especially considering that Jessica and I used to be obsessed with the Beach Boys back in elementary school), Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band (Dave was in rare form – very funny!) and Neil Young. Definitely a treat! Good friends, good times, good music – What a great weekend!

My (scary) race day photos can be seen HERE
Race results can be seen HERE

Next up: Treasure Island Olympic Distance Triathlon – November 4th!

Monday, October 09, 2006

Rock 'N Roll!!!!

I really wasn’t sure what my goals were for the San Jose Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon. I signed up on a whim to avoid having to do a 20-miler and there were definitely some factors working against me:

the 10-miler I had run the day before (which was also quite a bit faster than planned)

the jerks downstairs who woke me up at 10:30pm and 2am – I actually went down there and asked them to shut up!

I ripped my race number off my shorts before I had even left the house

my freaking watch decided to break right when the gun went off

AND the fact that I am at the height of my training for Nike and CIM.

I just really didn’t know what I had in me. So honestly, the only goal I really had was to finish under 2 hours. I would be very happy with a PR (anything under 1:58:35), but given the aforementioned issues, I wasn’t expecting anything too great.

Before the race, I was pleased to find that parking was easy, I turned in my bag, had plenty of time to go to the bathroom (and there were more than enough port-a-potties – nice work on the part of the race organizers!), stretched, looked around for Janae and Troy and Bob, and when I didn’t see them, I finally headed to my corral. Luckily, Bob was waiting for me at my corral, so we got to say hi and chat for a little bit. Soon, they announced that it was about time to start, so we lined up and made last minute preps. I checked my watch and it seemed to be in working order, but when it came time to turn it on for the race, it froze up! No numbers, just the word “footpod” and a couple of weird lines. I muttered a long string of expletives, and then realized that I could follow one of the unofficial pacers (members of running clubs and charity groups who had numbers on their backs based on the times they were planning on running) Other than that, I would have to rely solely on feel and the mile-marker clocks! All I could think was, “God I hope these people are on pace!”

The race start...

After a mile, I overheard one of the pacers say that we were about a minute faster than the course clocks, which put us at an 8:30 mile. I was feeling alright, but I also knew that this was only mile one. “Can I really keep this up for 12.2 more?”

And that’s when Matt, one of my coaches, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. We talked for a little while, and I fully expected him to go on ahead without me, but we ended up running the entire race together! He was looking to run a 1:55:00, and I was feeling good a few miles in, so I decided to stick with it. We thoroughly enjoyed the on-course entertainment, and we both encouraged the crowd to cheer for everyone (instead of just standing there like bumps on a log!), and we pretty much just kept each other going. At around mile 6, we got a glimpse of the Kenyans as they sprinted by, and we saw Meb Keflezighi (2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon) too, which was really cool. That gave us a huge boost!

That’s Meb on the right – not to be confused with the Kenyans! He’s American – immigrated with his family a long time ago and grew up in San Diego. Cool dude.

Kenyan Duncan Kibet won the race in 1:00:22, the second fastest time ever raced on American soil. Haile Gebrselassie set the world record earlier this year at PF Chang’s in Phoenix (58:55).

We noted how the crowd around us seemed to change as we ran – pretty soon, everyone was silent and focused, and we were passing people right and left. That was a very good feeling! Matt told me about a dream he had had the night before – he dreamt that he had seen flying pigs, and he thought, “No, that’s not possible...they can’t be flying, they’re just gliding...but wait, no, they’re actually catching air and getting lift...” So he decided that he was the flying pig. “Maybe it’s a good omen,” he said. I told him I’d go with it...sounded like a pretty good omen to me!

At this point, we were looking good for a finishing time well under 1:55, so we just held our pace and decided that if we felt good in the last couple of miles, we’d go for it. It was starting to get warm, and I was getting tired, but then right around mile 11 I saw a woman standing on the side of the road holding – get this – a mylar pig balloon!

A FLYING PIG! Definitely a sign!
We kicked it up a notch because we knew it was getting close. Somewhere around mile 12 I told Matt to go on ahead – he was in a groove, but it was just a little bit faster than mine, and I didn’t want to hold him back! I managed to keep him in my sights until the final turn, and at that point my only focus was the finish line. I could see the clock was almost at 1:53, so I gave it everything I had...I knew that my time was better than what was up there because of the timing chip, but since my watch was broken I didn’t know exactly how much time I had to work with! I crossed at 1:53 and change, maintaining a smile just long enough for them to snap a picture. Matt was still just past the finish line – we gave each other a huge high five and a hug and then proceeded to get our medals and goodies. I would have been more happy about the ice-cold towels than the medals, but the little girl who gave me my medal was so cute that she totally made my day (well, other than that whole PR thing!)! She was like 5 years old, and she even told me, “Good job!” So cute.

Ha, there was a picture of her in the image gallery from the race – the little girl in the middle. Guess I wasn’t the only one who thought they were cute! I’m assuming that’s their mom who ran the race - What a cool thing to do as a family!

So anyway, the race was a huge success. It was a great course – flat and pretty for an urban course – and it was very well organized. There were plenty of bathrooms, lots of on-course support, lots of water and Amino Vital, great music and just an overall good vibe. I will definitely consider doing this one again! We walked along the race course back to our cars and cheered for the runners who were just finishing – a great end to an already great experience! I promptly made a phone call home to share the good news, and then headed back to SF where I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon watching the Blue Angels from the roof of our apartment.

We’re in a perfect spot to watch them because they fly right over the top of our place...it’s a little freaky when they fly super low, but it’s pretty cool too! Great way to top off an already awesome day!

I FINALLY got my official time at about 4:00 in the afternoon – 1:51:59!!! That's 6.5 minutes faster than my last half marathon!!! Woo hoo! Matt’s was 1:50:59 (talk about cutting it close...we were both right on the edge!)...definitely something to be happy about! A lot of the other SFRRC members did really well too, and Janae and Troy and Bob all had a good race as well. Now I’m super pumped for Nike and CIM!!! Bring it on!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

I feel so hardcore...

There's nothing like a good run in the rain to make you feel invincible. I don't care how fast you are or how many races you've run, if you don't run in the rain, I can kick your ass! Okay, maybe not, but that's how I feel when I do it! There's something so exhilarating about getting out there and facing the elements. People look at you like you're crazy, but all the other runners out there know. You're lucky if you pass one or two of them, and you glance at each other for a split second and give each other "that look." Something along the lines of, "We're out here running in the cold, wet, nasty weather while everyone else is sitting on their ass watching TV. WE ROCK!!!"

Sure, I could go run on a treadmill in a smelly, hot, humid gym, music blaring, fluorescent lights glaring...Nope. Not a chance. I would much rather be outside - freezing cold and wet and thoroughly enjoying the shining streets of San Francisco!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Training really freaking hard...

Like I said, I'm at the peak of my training, so this past weekend was a tough one! I don't plan on my blogs looking like this, but I figured I'll start with something meaningful, rather than this morning's swim practice! In the future they'll be much shorter!

Saturday
I led the Nike Women's 10 minute pace group on a 22-miler, the biggest run of the training series. I was SO proud of my girls...most of them are training for their first marathon, and they all did a GREAT job! We were more conscious of the time spent at aid stations, and we managed to finish our 22-miler in the same amount of time that it took us to do 20 miles two weeks before. Crazy how a 22-miler can actually feel BETTER than 20! I did manage to biff it somewhere around mile 6...I was checking the map to make sure we were going the right way, and I tripped over a jagged piece of sidewalk. I think something like this is bound to happen to me at least once per marathon! Fortunately, I caught myself somewhat, so I didn't fall too incredibly hard. Got a little scrape on my knee, and I was COVERED in black dirt, but it didn't hurt too bad. I got up, brushed off what I could (although, being nice and sweaty, it mostly just stuck to me!), and kept going. I almost immediately busted up laughing...good thing I can find the humor in these things now! I think my knees were destined to be ugly, judging by the amount of times I've scraped them up this year. Maybe I'm just clumsy, but my ratio of times fallen to miles run is pretty low, so I'm okay with it!

Iced my legs for a bit in the Bay, and then spent the rest of the afternoon at a music festival at Shoreline down in Mountain View. We saw The Shins, Muse, the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, and Beck (along with a marionette version of his band...pretty funny!).

Had a couple of beers and relaxed...not a bad way to spend the afternoon!

Sunday
My first ocean swim! I donned the wetsuit for the first time, and I went for it. I did pretty well, although I was hesitant to stick my face in the water. I panicked a little bit, but I got myself back together and managed to finish the 1-mile swim in about 50 minutes. Next time I'll actually pay attention to the clock!

I really just wanted to go to bed when I got home, but instead I forced myself to go for a long bike ride. If I'm going to do this tri, I'm really going to have to work on the bike! I mostly followed the Nike Women's Marathon course, and ended up riding about 30 miles. I was totally exhausted when I finished, but I'm really glad I did it! Got in some good practice with the clip shoes too!

Monday
Swim practice this morning was like hell! Try as I might, I couldn't keep my form in check because I was sooo tired from the weekend. I managed to get through it - 2100 meters in all - and then I was a zombie for the rest of the day - water-logged and wanting desperately to take a nap!

Tuesday
On my way to the track I considered turning around and going back home about a thousand times. I felt tired and light-headed, something that rarely ever happens to me, but I kept on going. We stretched a little bit and then headed toward the park. Within the first tenth of a mile I thought, "You've got to be kidding me. I have to run 10 miles tonight??? I can barely even make it across the street!" But fortunately, Kirk, our comic relief, started telling us all about helping another of our runners to qualify for Boston. I was instantly interested, and I forgot all about how sluggish my legs felt. She qualified with about a minute to spare, and they rode her ass the entire way saying, "IF YOU LEAVE ANYTHING ON THE COURSE AND YOU DON"T QUALIFY, YOU'LL NEVER HEAR THE END OF IT!!! THIS IS BOSTON WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!!!" They had come up with topics of conversation for ever mile of the race, things like "favorite movie" and "weirdest place you've had sex"...needless to say, they attracted some attention from other runners as well, making the time (and the miles) go by even faster! I think I'm definitely going to have to recruit Kirk when I make my first attempt at a BQ!

Anyway, I made it through the warm-up without any major issues, but I was doubting myself again when I got to the actual track workout! Thankfully, Coach Matt set me up with another girl who's about my pace, and we ran together. I don't think I could have done it on my own...three sets of 1000 (2.5 laps) + 800 (2 laps) with recovery in-between each. With my long cool-down, I had 10 miles on the dot, and I felt awesome!

Stopped at Whole Foods on my way home and picked up some super healthy food, some brown rice spicy shrimp sushi rolls for dinner, and some goat's milk mission fig ice cream for a treat. It's an interesting flavor, but surprisingly tasty! I'll definitely be buying their product again!

Click here for their website!

Wednesday
Whew, well now I'm up-to-date...this morning we had no coach at the Y, but our 2400 meter workout was there for us (2400 meters?!?!?). Fortunately, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. I made it through just fine, and managed to do my 1500 meters (the distance of my upcoming race) in about 35 minutes, which is pretty respectable. I'll be in better shape on race day anyway! I'm glad to say that I'm feeling perfectly fine right now, and I'm actually looking forward to my Nike run tonight. 6 miles along the Embarcadero. Aw yeah.

My very first blog!

Well, I'm not really sure where to start! There are so many things I could say...

I guess an introduction might be in order. I'm an average athlete with one big goal in mind: to qualify for the Boston Marathon before I'm 30. That leaves me about two years and nine months to qualify. So far I've run 5 marathons and 3 half marathons, and I've improved by leaps and bounds over the last three years. I think I'm pretty well on my way! I'm doing my best to stay/get in shape, which includes a pretty strict diet and lots and lots of working out. I'm right at the height of my training for four upcoming races, all of which will take place in the next two months.

San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon - October 8
Nike Women's Marathon - October 22
Treasure Island International Triathlon - November 4
California International Marathon - December 3

My ultimate goal is to run a sub-4 hour marathon at CIM. I'm nervous, but I'm excited!

So this blog will document my road to Boston, my incessant training, and a little bit of life in general...hope it's enjoyable!

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Half Dome (AKA Jenni's Yosemite Death March)

On Wednesday afternoon, my friend Aaron and I took a break from our dive bar tour of San Francisco and headed to Yosemite for a quick camping trip. I'm happy to report that it was absolutely gorgeous and we managed to avoid any encounters with bears (although some little creature did manage to get into the apples and marshmallows, very thoughtfully taking a few bites out of each one!). We successfully set up camp in the dark, put the stuff in the bear locker and went to sleep.

Thursday morning we got up bright and early, packed our backpacks, got some much-needed coffee, and headed out for Half Dome! We were thinking about going to Mt. Whitney, but reconsidered when we saw the following sign:

Shortly after we started, we came upon Vernal Falls...

And after a pretty good elevation gain, we got a beautiful view of the Nevada Falls and the Valley...

We stopped for a rest at the top of the falls, and tried to fend off the squirrels as we ate our trail mix and tuna salad...

We circled Half Dome for what felt like forever, and then finally made the climb to the saddle at the base of the dome itself.

Aaron and I were both pleased to be done with the nasty climb up to the base! See how happy he looks???

At about noon, I made the final ascent up the cables to the top of Half Dome. Aaron decided to hang out and wait for me at the bottom (not a big fan of heights!). That was probably a good thing because this was quite possibly the scariest experience of my life (which I noticed when I made the mistake of looking behind me when I was halfway to the top and realized that there was NOTHING behind me for several hundred feet! Bad idea.)

But some nice people in front of me help me avoid having a panic attack, and I made it to the top, which was totally worth it!

I met a few cool people at the top, who were nice enough to take a picture for me as we joked about how close we could get to the edge before we totally freaked out. I sat and contemplated life for a few minutes (good spot for doing such things!), ate a packet of Sharkies, and then headed back.

This guy who was in front of me on the way up, and who had also left friends down at the bottom, offered to go back down the cables in front of me so that there would at least be someone there. Although it wasn't nearly as scary going back down, I very much appreciated the gesture! So then we headed back down the cables...

It was slow going back down, so I took a few pictures while I was waiting for people to pass me on their way up. Most of them looked like they were scared shitless, probably the way I looked on my way up!

I met Aaron back at the saddle and we made our way back down. It was MUCH faster than our trip up the mountain, as you might imagine! We took the same route down until we got to the top of Nevada Falls, and then we decided to try the Mist Trail down past the waterfalls rather than taking the long way around. Despite the shorter trail, it probably actually took longer because of all the stairs and tourists, but the falls were pretty!

We didn't get wet at the bottom of Nevada Falls, but we got a nice, cool mist (and a rainbow!) at the base of Vernal Falls.

By the time we'd reached the bottom of Vernal Falls we were more than ready to be done, and not too long after that, we were back at the trailhead. We got hot dogs and cold beverages at the snack stand (I think anything would have been good at that point, after living off of trail mix, beef jerky, and tuna for the previous nine hours!) and then headed back to the campsite.

We took a short nap and made dinner (soup and chicken apple sausages) and then went back to Yosemite Valley to shower at one of the other campsites. Somehow we both missed the signs about the cost of the showers, and no one seemed to be monitoring the area, so we each got a $5 shower for free! Thank God, because we desperately needed it...I don't think I've ever been that dirty in my life! On the way into the Valley, we were treated to one more pleasant surprise...a beautiful view of El Capitan and Half Dome at sunset...

Back at the campsite we made a huge campfire, kicked back with a couple of beers, made a S'more, and took a much-deserved rest! It was a tiring day, but well worth it!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

SF marathon recap

My friend Dane (Mr. Fiddy2 himself – check it out and donate some money to a good cause!) came out for the SF Marathon, as well as a lot of other MySpace buddies (Bob, Matt, Mike, and Brandy, to name a few), so we all had dinner together on Saturday night (more like afternoon) at Bocce Cafe down in North Beach.

Me, Dane, and Brandy at Bocce

We had an early night because of our super early start in the morning...let me just say, it’s especially hard to fall asleep when it’s still light out!

Dane and I got up at about 4:15, got ready, and headed down to catch a cab. I should have known it was going to be an interesting day just by the sheer number of hookers that was out at 5am. I’m not kidding...I mean, I’ve seen them in my neighborhood before, but never that many! Weirdness. So anyway, we caught a cab down to the start and lined up in our respective corrals. Dane’s group took off at 5:30 and mine didn’t start until 5:50, so I got to hang out for awhile. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time for me to use the bathroom (the didn’t have NEARLY enough Port-A-Potties there!), and I was in a panic about my first GU packet because I couldn’t find any water to take it with! But it all worked out, I ate my GU, said hi to some friends, and lined up with my pace group.

First half 2:04:19

Starting out along the Embarcadero was nice and easy...it’s flat and fast, and it’s fairly spread out, so I felt pretty good. I took the first hill at Fort Mason with no problem at all – for some reason it seemed a lot easier when I was surrounded with a bunch of people than when I’m running it on my own – and the next flat section along the Marina Green and Crissy Field was fine too. The hills up to the Golden Gate were pretty tough, but I got through both of them with little issue, and I was happy to get on the bridge! Despite the wave start (which was meant to help with the congestion on the bridge), it was like rush hour on the Golden Gate.

Each direction had one traffic lane, which was not quite enough space, especially when you’re trying to follow a pace leader. I found myself weaving in and out of other runners to keep up, which was pretty frustrating at times, and it caused quite a problem when we stopped to take our walk breaks (mostly because some people have no running etiquette whatsoever and rather than staying to the side, they walk right in the middle where everyone else is trying to run!), but overall, the bridge was a really nice way to cut out 4 miles of the course!

After the bridge, we hit our last really killer hill (although once again, not nearly as killer as I remember from our training runs) in the Presidio and then headed out to the Pacific coast for a nice, long downhill. This downhill, unlike the uphills, was not nearly as easy as I remembered...I really had to concentrate to keep from getting out of control and destroying my knees with 15 miles to go! From there, we cut across to Golden Gate Park, left the half marathoners to finish their race, and picked up our new pace leader for the second half. My pace leader from SFRRC (Corinne) was hanging out where the two courses split, so she offered me some much-appreciated encouragement!

Second half 2:15:48

The sun came out in full force as we entered the park, but I was feeling pretty good, so I didn’t worry too much about it. At first it seemed like everything was going okay, but then our new pace leader started saying things like, “It takes me awhile to get into my pace here...” and “We’re about a minute fast, but it’s alright for now...” Well, to someone who has only run two miles (like our pace leader there), it might be okay, but for someone who’s on their 14th mile with another 12.2 to go, it’s not exactly what you want to hear. You want someone who’s going to keep you on pace! Our first half pace leader had been really strong, and kept a very even pace, but I really don’t think this guy was made for the job.

Anyway, after a few miles with him, I lost it. I tried my best to keep up with the group, but I fell back at mile 16.5 or so, just as we looped around Stowe Lake. I could still see them in front of me until I got to about mile 18, and that’s when I completely lost it. All of the energy just left my body at once. I think it’s safe to say I “hit the wall” this time around, although quite a bit earlier than normal, and I really have no idea why. I stopped to walk a couple of times, got some extra water, and stopped to go to the bathroom. Then I pulled myself together, took a deep breath, and dug in again. The downhills on Haight Street really helped bring my energy level back up, and as the extra speedy runners of the second half marathon started to pass us, they pumped me up too!

Somewhere around mile 22 I saw the “Jesus Christ Loves You” guy, which put a smile back on my face...he cracks me up!

Apparently Frank Chu (of 12 Galaxies fame) was there too, but I never saw him!

Some nice people in Potrero Hill came out to supply us with some extra water, which was great, because it was a really warm second half! I drank a cup and then dumped the other one on myself to cool off a bit. At the last water stop, this kid who is handing out cups looks at me, and says, “Water! Here ma’am, here’s some water - you look thirsty!” If I hadn’t had so much forward momentum I might have turned around and decked the kid...first he called me “ma’am”, and second you NEVER EVER tell someone how bad they look in the last two miles of a marathon! What? Do you expect me to look all cute and happy after running for almost four hours???

Anyway, shortly after reaching the ballpark, with about a mile to go, I finally ran into Dane, who came back to run the last bit with me. I’m sure I didn’t look very happy to see him (like I said, it’s hard to express happiness when you’ve run that far!), but I couldn’t have been happier (he finished 148th in 3:19)! Much to our surprise, a couple of minutes later we were joined by our friend Matt, who’d had some trouble with cramping several miles earlier. Based on our watches, we knew that I was going to get my PR, so as we passed the 26-mile marker, Dane split off and Matt and I raced toward the finish line that was just ahead. I told Matt to go ahead of me, but he was really cool and told me to go get my PR! I think I passed about 8 people in that little chute before the finish line because I put in every last little bit of energy that I had!

After the race, I got my medal and some food, talked to a couple of friends, and then found Dane, who just happened to be holding a cheese crisp for me – talk about good post-race food...everything else they had was sweet, which is the last thing you want when you’ve been drinking sports drinks and eating vanilla flavored GU for the past four hours! We got our pictures taken and then headed to the SFRRC tent to say hi to a few more of my running club buddies (who all did very well, by the way, and most of them on their very first marathon!), and then headed home to relax!

All in all, it was a really tough race, but I enjoyed it!

Final time: 4:20:07 – a new PR!!!
Average pace: 9:56 (my first marathon with an average under 10 minutes!)