Race Report: San Francisco (Half) Marathon'

Ok, so I was supposed to run the full. My foot on the other hand, had different ideas. So I stopped at the half. Finished in a little over 2 hours. Ran with friends. Took some pictures. Shared some beer with chums. Basically, had a blast!



Pre-race:

The start of my weekend started when my girl and I flew in on Friday night. My cousin, Sara and I hit up Little Star, our favorite deep dish pizza place in San Fran. Had to wait about an hour plus, but man it was worth it. Had some delicious New Belgium Abbey to chase it down with.

The next morning, we hit up the expo which was moved from the Embarcadero to some warehouse/convention center in the city. It was pretty packed but since we had some time to kill, Sara and I took our time checking things out. I was registered for the full marathon and wanted to downgrade to a half due to my persistent foot issue that I've been having, but the 1st half was sold out so I said the hell with it. If it held up, I'd try to finish the full. If it became painful and felt like I'd do more harm than good, I'd call it a day at the half. Got some ART (Active Release Technique) and kinesio taping at an expo stand which helped a little, but pain was still very prevalent.

We also ran into some blog buddies in Danica, Maritza and Tara which was cool because I'd never really had a chance to meet the latter two in person. After chatting it up a bit, we left the stuffy and crowded expo shortly thereafter for a bite to eat and then a meet up with my fellow friends and forumites from Runner's World for a carbo-load dinner.

And by "carbo-load", I mean beer. And wine. Sprinkled in some food in there somewhere.







Yup, that's how we roll. What pre-race jitters?

The Race:

Ok. Bedtime? About 11:30pm. Wake-up time? 3:45am. Ouch.

My cousin Frank, his girlfriend Leslie, Sara (who wasn't running) and I all took turns getting ready before heading out the door a little before 5am. When we got there, there was mass congestion at wave 2 and so it took me after the 2nd group was let go before I finally made it out to the start. Almost immediately, I knew that my foot was not up to the task of pounding out 26.2 miles on a hilly course in San Francisco. Even had my doubts about running 13.1 miles.

Thankfully, a little under a mile into it, I hear female voices calling out my name and I see my aforementioned blogging gals again, this time with Aron in tow. I am relieved to see them to take my mind off my foot and pretty soon, the 3 of us (Aron, Danica and I) are running together and would pretty much run the entire 13.1 miles together. It was great fun running at a relaxed pace all the while chatting it up and taking some pictures of each other along the way. Definitely took my mind off of my foot for the most part.

Some pics we took along the way:


The mis-matching twins.


Stride for stride, mugging.


Danica demonstrating the "rope-pull" technique of running up a hill.


Our buddy Ryan running with the 3:10 pace group...dressed as Harry Potter. Seriously.


A much welcomed (and rare) downhill portion.


The girls approaching the finish at Golden Gate Park.

Man, forgot how hilly that first half is. Ended up finishing in 2:02:01 (officially). My slowest time since...well, my first one probably. But no doubt the most fun I've had running a half, that's for sure. My thanks to the black + pink twins for the great company, Sara for the one gal crowd support, my RWOL peeps for the great pre/post-race festivities and my cousin Frank for letting us crash for the weekend and buying us that great post-race Korean BBQ.

I leave you with a picture of a Sunday afternoon BBQ at Dolores Park to cap a near perfect weekend in SF...all race weekends should be like this! (thanks for putting it together Heather)



No running for me for awhile...need to rest my aching left foot. Talk soon peeps.

Short and Long Term Goals

3 days into the new week, and 0 miles run. That's right - uber taper's on like Donkey Kong.

The tendon in my left foot is still sore as shit which will only be exacerbated by running 26.2 miles on hilly asphalt and concrete this weekend. But at least I can look forward to taking some significant time off post-race. Other than pacing duties in September, my next race won't be until October (the Long Beach 1/2).

As far as goals for San Francisco go...really, it's just to finish at this point. By now (and assuming I'm healthy) I'm fairly confident in my ability to throw down a sub-4 hour marathon at any given race. But I'm far from healthy right now so to make it across the line would be something of a feat in of itself. If it really starts to bug, I may have to cut it short at the 13.1 mile mark at Golden Gate Park. Hope this won't be the case.

Speaking of which, it was around this time last year at the San Francisco Marathon when I ran my first sub-4 marathon (you can read about it here). I remember at the time just how happy I was to finally clear that proverbial hurdle. Not surprisingly, I kept chasing more ambitious times, only to realize after awhile that it would be a never-ending cycle of seeking that fulfillment that would never quite be met. Maybe that's the point of it - to never hang your hat on past accomplishments. But I chose to focus on rediscovering my love of this sport instead of weighing so much success on how fast you get from 'point A' to 'point B'.

Now don't get me wrong by thinking I'm above running fast times - not the case. I would give a lot to be able to run a sub-3 hour marathon. But at what sacrifice? I guess that's more my point. If I have to choose between enjoying my runs versus following a regimented schedule of tempos/intervals/hill repeats...right now, I'm more inclined to choose the former. Especially now that I know what it feels like to not be able to run. Period.

So the plan for the next couple of months is this: finish SFM relatively healthy, rest (and rest some more), pace Stuart on his first 100-miler, try to run a PR at the Long Beach Half in October, and then focus my attention on training for my next 50K (and possibly 1st 50-miler).

Training for a sub-3:30 marathon will come at some point I'm sure. But for now, I'll just be happy to run through a week healthy and painfree.

The Week That Was

Welcome to post #301. Guess I missed pointing out post #300 at the time. Oh well, big whoop. Some good and bad news for the week...

I finished off this past week with the highest mileage total in some time at 42+ miles. Kind of dumb in retrospect since I have a marathon coming up next weekend, but whatever...we're not talking serious mileage here. Besides, they were easy paced runs for the most part.

Also, thanks to the recommendation of Evan (aka Alaskan Assassin), I picked up a super-light and comfortable pair of trail shoes - the New Balance 790's. Like wearing ballerina shoes with traction (not that I would know). I tested them out on the trails recently and they were definitely top notch. A shame that they're so hard to find now as the folks @ NB are swapping them out with the 100's. I hate it when they do this, but it's a tried and true formula among shoes companies to make extra scratch. Anyway, I've yet to test them on more technical roads or for longer distances, so it remains to be seen whether or not I will stockpile size 11's of them or not.

Now the bad news...my left foot started acting up again. Different this time too, instead of a sporadic and sharp, acute pain in the midfoot area, now it's more of a generalized pain that makes it feel swollen and tender with each footstrike. And yes - plane tickets and accommodations for San Francisco for next weekend have all been bought and set. Motherfucker.

My hunch has oscillated from a potential stress fracture, to something called peroneal tendinitis, and now to who-the-hell-knows. All of this is making me seriously contemplate taking a full month off of running after San Francisco next weekend.

For now, the game plan for the last week leading up to it is just to take it easy, R.I.C.E. the hell out of it, and hope for the best come Sunday. Worst case scenario, I can just drop to the half if it becomes unbearable. Anywho, on to the summary of the past week:

Monday - Boxing Class PM

Tuesday - 6 miles AM, 7 miles PM

Wednesday - 8+ miles AM

Thursday - off

Friday - 7+ (HOT) miles on trails



Saturday - 6 miles PM (pain started up again)

Sunday - 8+ miles on trails (mostly hiked it due to pain)

Mostly junk miles. Someone get this boy a cortisone shot. Or a new left foot.

Badwater 2009

While I'm currently sitting here at work sweltering in this suffocating heat, there are a group of madmen and women voluntarily running in the hottest place on earth right now, with temperatures easily 30-40 degrees more than what we're experiencing here in LA (currently approaching the 90's).

Yup, it's Badwater time again. Best of luck to everyone out there, in particular Jorge, Dean, Shannon, Jamie and Gundy! Y'all are crazy, and I truly mean that in the best way possible.


Last year's winner and all-around nice guy, Jorge Pacheco


3rd overall and 1st female last year, ultra-studette Jamie Donaldson


Dean the machine


Moeben owner Shannon


Our boy Jonathan Gunderson, aka Gundy

Click here to track all runners participating in this years event here.

Trail Run: La Jolla Canyon + Pacing a Friend

(Sigh)

If the state of California is serious about closing down all the parks in the Santa Monica Mountains, I would plead with them to leave this one alone (after of course, pleading not to close down any).

I was looking forward to this trail run with my group after an almost 2-week layoff that seemed longer. Unfortunately, I got off to a bit of a late start this morning after being a bit sleep deprived from the day before (more on that in a bit). When I showed up to the trailhead, it appeared that the main group had already started only I didn't know which way they had started (La Jolla Canyon fire road vs. Ray Miller trail). Thankfully, another member who usually marks the trail also showed up late so we started off via La Jolla first to complete the loop coming out of Ray Miller (much preferred).



The approximately 11 mile loop climbs La Jolla Canyon, back down, up Magu Peak, down through the vast and beautiful La Jolla Valley, passing through a fire road, before the final descent down the seriously scenic single track Ray Miller Trail which offers sweeping coastline views from high atop for miles on end.

Running solo the entire way, I was ear-to-ear grinning through most of the trek. The weather was sunny but not too warm since it ran along the coastline for nearly half of it. After completing the run in under 2 hours, I reconvened with the rest of the group at the trailhead, took up another member's offer on a cold sud, and also partook in the rest of the spread the group had laid out. Such a good way to cap a nice run.

It's sad to think there's even a remote possibility that this will be our last organized run here. But I maintain faith that it won't.

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On another note, I spent a large part of late Saturday night pacing a friend through her 65-mile (!) journey to honor her late father on the anniversary of his passing. It was an experience I was grateful and honored to take part in and help in any way I could.

I started running with her at approximately 10:30pm at a designated spot down in Irvine (she started at 7pm) and ran with her until about 2:30am, covering approximately 17 miles. She was feeling nauseous when I started with her so we ran/walked based on her comfort level. Her awesome boyfriend served as her one man aid station as he drove around to meet her at certain points to provide food, hydration, the Stick...whatever she needed.

I won't share all the things we talked about on our run together, but let's just say I have a newfound respect for her and her incredible will, drive and passion.

Once my loop was done, I handed her off to our friend Sam, who would go on to pace her from mile 40 to the finish.

Well done Rachel. Your dad is very proud.

Trail Mix

I miss the trails like you would not believe.

A couple of Sundays ago, I attended a rally that my trail club organized in conjunction with the "Save Our State Parks" campaign, to raise awareness to the very real possibility of 80% (!) of California's state parks closing due to the budget crisis currently plaguing our not-so-Golden State.



While it's a cause near and dear to my heart, the crappy part of the day was having to hike the trail in Will Rogers instead of being able to run it with my cohorts. At least I had Sara to commiserate alongside me and my then ailing foot (better now) while watching others frolic through the woods.

Hopefully, I'll be back at it come Sunday.

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On the plus side, I finally joined an exciting new gym (note: clean) that offers a plethora of equipment and classes, ranging from yoga to boxing.

Speaking of which, I attended my 2nd boxing class last night which mixes a range of punching, cardio, push-ups, etc for an hour straight. Literally kicks your ass, but it's a blast to do. A great, great workout from head to toe. For the record however, I'm still a lover people - not a fighter.

Also (for reasons beyond sheer vanity purposes which I'll divulge later), I need to start bulking up again. I've largely ignored doing so for the past year or so because I wanted to focus on losing weight to attain PR's, but as I've stated before, my priorities as far as running's concerned have shifted.

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I need a new camera.

Almost immediately following my LA Marathon experience, I dropped it after taking a picture of my cousin. Figured I could either: a) get it fixed, or b) find a comparable replacement.

Who knew finding a mid-level point-and-shoot would be so hard? I really should just get a low-end camera that I could drop, get dirty, etc but there is one out there that shoots videos in HD that I want. The obvious problem being price-tag and justifying taking it out with me where it'll get messed up.

Anyone out there have a cheap one they're willing to donate in the name of more colorful blogs? I'll show you love every time I post pictures in here, promise.

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OK kids, nice catching up with you. Hit a bit of a snag in my prep to fly up to SF (work might keep me from going), but hope I can work it out.

Until next time...