Sunday in the Park

Woke up this morning knowing I didn’t get enough sleep last night. Not a good thing considering i had planned about an 8-9 mile run this morning. Thankfully, when I saw the sun was already brightly shining at 8am, I became energized and committed to the run plan. I decided to drive down to SF and either run along the Marina green or in Golden Gate Park. With Peets in hand, I hit the road. Leaving Petaluma, skies were blue as can be with no clouds. As I got closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, i could see the morning fog was still pretty heavy. I opted for running in the park. I parked, got myself together and hit the path at the Stanyan/Fell entrance. It was about 9:30am and still a little quiet out. Temps were cool, maybe low 60′s and then the high fog above. I wasn’t sure how my body would feel. This was to be my 3rd run in 3 days and I have not done that in a while…so….just wanted to have my legs!! I pressed start on the watch and music and off I went. As I ran along, within the first mile, some part of a song came on…i can’t be more specific because I cannot remember, but the important part is the SURGE I get sometimes. Like then. A part of a song comes on and I just feel like I get a HUGE boost. I love that!

The miles keep adding up and before I know it, I am at the other end of the park, along the great highway, and looking out at the great and mighty Pacific Ocean. I can barely see it because of the fog, but i can still hear the waves and feel the energy. DAMN, I LOVE THIS PLACE. The smells of Eucalyptus all throughout the park and the cool temperatures washing over my skin. So refreshing. So needed. And then, I think of mom. My Mom. Who loved the city. This City. This City where I was born. San Francisco. This place she held so dearly. And in these moments when my feet are traveling, when my body is running through Golden Gate Park, I am giving her my love and my silent Thank you for being with me as long as you could…as long as the world and God and all the rest would have it. Thank you for bringing me into this world, caring for me and loving me. Mom. May your star continue to shine. Bright.

I keep running and make my way up the small incline of the next 2+ miles. Passing by Stow Lake, traffic of both cars and people have increased. I’m nearing 7 miles now and i see my car up ahead. Perfect time to stop as I am tired. My legs, my quads are tired….But, I can’t. Push on for 8. I run right pass my card and onto the GG Panhandle and make it one more mile, as planned. Not easy. But, I made it. Stuck to my commitment. I was a happy gal!!

ONWARD!!

enough said….

 

 

 

Miles, ice cream and a semi-stalker

The highlight run of the past week was the Sunday run(s). For some reason, I FELT like running on the treadmill for the longer run. I think I actually just wanted to switch it up…switch up the route and because Petaluma is not very big, I have already run all over the place here. Anyways, I ran on the treadmill. Luckily, Sunday Football was on and I watched the 49er game. I thought I would go 10, but ended up running 12. Happily. For my nutrition needs, I had 1 PowerBar Gel, a few CLIF BLOKS, water and some diluted Gatorade. All was good. Since I’ve been experimenting with the Gatorade, at least I now know I can drink some during race and not have any stomach issues. Huge lesson here is not to try anything DURING a race you have not already done in training.

Post-run — just came home and ate, rested. Felt like I had it in me to go more miles later in the early evening, so i did. Just a short 3.25 in the neighborhood. At the end of the night, felt really good. Stretched & ate well. So, for the day a solid 15.25. Also, did some shorter runs during the week and a good 3 mile hilly hike at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland on Saturday with friends.

After hike, we went to Fenton’s and I had no problem finishing this long awaited Black & Tan Sundae! Toasted Almond & creamy vanilla ice cream, handmade caramel & chocolate fudge, toasted almonds, whipped cream & cherry! OMG! SO Freaking GOOD!

Race day is now less than 14 days away. I was looking back into my running journal from 2009 when I ran this race before. My longest run for that training block was only 16 miles (same as this block). My finish time that day was 4 hours, 21 minutes. If I can be in that ballpark on 10/14/12, I will be more than satisfied.

I know I’ve said before that for THIS RACE, I am not concerned with my finish time because I have not had enough time to train like I should/need to…BUT, it’s also the MARATHON and I know that deep down, I DO CARE. I can’t help it. It’s just my nature.

I bought a new pair of K-Swiss Shoes for my birthday present. They have not arrived yet. Fedex is trying to deliver, but need a signature. UGH. I got home today and JUST missed the driver…so i then got in my car to go see if i could see fedex truck somewhere in neighborhood. I drove about 1 mile and saw truck. No driver inside. I waited. Fedex guy walks towards truck. I then realize, my fedex sticker is for GROUND DELIVERY and his truck is EXPRESS. No luck. I drove back home, kept a watch for FEDEX GROUND. Came home. Deflated. Who knew I was such a stalker. What? You didn’t KNOW how much I love my running shoes???? Where have you been….

Run Strong and Stand Tall.

Pressing on…

After last Sunday’s 16 miler, I received a massage about 1.5 hours after running. I have no idea what the optimal time is as when one should receive massage post run, but it sure felt good. I’m glad to have found a very wonderful massage therapist here in Petaluma. I felt like this helped me recover a bit better than usual.

Tuesday I went to the gym and decided to do some “speedwork”. I ran 4×400 and then 2×800 all at 8:00/min pace. Felt good and felt pushed. Legs still a bit tired from that 16 miler. Wednesday ran about 3.5 on the streets and then Thursday back at the gym for 5 good miles. Admittedly, my nutrition was not too good this week. Sometimes, like this, I just become lazy about making good dinners and eating enough. I really don’t have the luxury of doing this, especially when I am training so hard…so I need to get my act together this week. (i still wish I had a personal chef, a la Ellen!)

I wake up about 5:45am every work day. And most days this week, it was super duper hard to get my butt out of bed. I just felt super tired in the morning and soooo wished to sleep in. I actually could sleep in and go to work a bit later, but I don’t elect to do this because i would then be stuck in traffic. So.

Friday night I caught a movie in San Rafael. Arbitrage with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. I love watching Gere and the movie was ok. Felt like I hadn’t been to a movie at nite in like forever! Made my way into San Francisco and had a late night soup and snack at The Waterfront Restaurant right along the pier along the Embarcadero. Enjoyed one of the best Cosmopolitans I’ve ever had and some yummy roasted heirloom tomato soup. I sat at the bar and could see SF Bay outside. Such a view. Such a sight. Never gets old. I walked outside and caught this picture.

That’s a dock and then the Bay Bridge beyond. It was such a nice night. Not cold or windy. Awesome.

Made my way to pick up Sharon from SFO on a late flight. Happy she got home safe and sound from her journey to France.

Saturday — didn’t do much. Slept in some (THANK GOD) and then meandered down to Corte Madera for some attempts at shopping for clothing. Found nothing at my usual places of J. Crew and Banana Republic. I did, however, get something new at The Apple Store. (no, not the new iPhone 5 although I might in the near future…) It was crazy busy inside as you can imagine. I found an employee and said, “ok. So. I LOVE Apple. But, here is my one complaint…when i am running and i use my iPOD NANO, I can’t skip to the next song because it it touch screen and I have to pull it out and look at screen, etc..i wish it had the features of the big iPOD or the Shuffle so I can just touch the FF button”. Apple guy says, “Well, do you have the earbuds with the remote on them?” “Um…no…I had no idea.” “yes, you can use the remote to skip songs, volume, etc…” Me: “Oh my god, you just solved my 1 little complaint. Now I love Apple even more.”

Suffice it to say, I bought the earbuds. I also asked another employee if there was a way to sync my iTunes from my iBOOK G4 (older version laptop) onto my big MAC. Yes, was his reply and he showed me how. So…today, I synched all my songs. I have been wondering how to do this for about 2 years. I guess the lesson of today is “ASK QUESTIONS, ASK FOR HELP”. My level of happiness went up so much today because I got these 2 lingering things resolved. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG??? I don’t know why, but it is probably related or in the same part of my brain that has me only BUY ONE THING AT A TIME (see last weeks post if you are confused)

Speaking of which…you will be happy to know I stocked up on gels & gatorade this past week. So, Sunday morning. Woke up and didn’t feel good. Felt a sore throat coming on last night and it emerged this morning. Wanted to try for 18 today and as I woke at 6am, i knew it wasn’t going to happen. I took some Emergen-C and went back to bed. Felt like crap. Woke up again and thought it was about 10am. I turned on my phone to see it was 2:00pm. HOLY COW. I knew i needed to sleep! Woke up and made coffee and big bowl of Oatmeal with raspberries, blueberries, almonds, & walnuts. YUM. Started to feel better. Actually, my body was feeling ok. Just my throat and my head were a little suspect. A few hours passed and I felt like I could give running a try. My body felt awake and I felt like I wanted to run. Got all my stuff together and hit the road. As soon as I took my first few strides, i knew i would be ok for a while. The miles were passing and I was feeling ok. I was taking some Powerbar Gels and watered down Gatorade. Ran much of the same route on the east side that i have been running these past 2 weeks. I wasn’t sure if I had made the smartest decision by running today, but I felt like I had to try and it felt great to be out there. A beautiful fall day…about 5pm…the roads were getting quieter, the sun was descending, and the moon rising. I saw it all. Beauty. I called it in at 10 miles, which was better than I thought I could do. It wasn’t 18, but it was 10 and what i could do today. Rushed over to the club to soak in the hot tub for 15 minutes. Ahhh…heaven.

This week, my goal is to take better care of myself with nutrition. Given that the race is in 3 weeks, I now have no more time to try to do 18 miles and have good recovery time. So, my longest run pre-marathon will be the 16 I ran last week. I have no idea what this will mean going forward for the race. I’m trying to stay “loose and relaxed” mentally about it since I knew I didn’t have enough time to get all the proper training in…but…still…

I think race day will be tough and hard. And a damn worthy challenge. As it should be.

ONWARD…

P.S. It’s my birthday this week. Think I need a new pair of running shoes…

this and that

Sunday –  woke up early and caught the live streaming of the Ironman 70.3 world championships in Vegas. I was inspired and excited to be able to “watch”. The elite athletes are amazing…their bodies…their abilities…Amazing! I was rooting for reigning champion Craig Alexander and Andreas Raelert. Alexander came in 2nd and Raelert 8th. It was a great thing to get me up and motivated! One of my goals is to finish a 70.3 race someday. Guess I gotta start swimming! And biking!

Post race comment from Alexander: “I’m very happy with my performance. I think that was the best that I was capable of today. At the end of the day, i came up that much short to a guy who was just that much better.”

He is ALL CLASS! He came in 2nd place….1 minute behind the winner, Sebastian Kienle, who had a bike ride that was out of this world!

By 9am, I was headed out my door and onto the streets of Petaluma. I ran down my road and over to the East side of town. I rarely run in that part of town, but since I was going long, I had to expand my route. The East side of town is pretty much ALL FLAT, which was fine since I had been doing hills last couple of weekends. I pretty much just did a big loop. Nothing really exciting. (not much exciting on the east side of town) I didn’t have my iPod…just me and my thoughts. Was completely absorbed by that ironman race. Then, as the miles went on, i just don’t think about too much other than getting through the run as the pain starts to settle in. I felt my legs start to cramp up a bit around mile 10 and I am wondering if i should start thinking about adding more nutrition around this mile. During long races, I will often grab a banana or orange slices. But, during training runs, i only carry my energy gels. As I kept going, I felt like I didn’t have as much energy as I know I can. So… I want to play around with my nutrition now and see if it makes a difference. Anyways, I ended up running 13.25 miles in the morning. My goal was 15, so i was a bit bummed by not finishing.

I came home, ate, rested, watched tennis, ate some more. Then, I went to the gym and ran another 3 miles on treadmill. I felt like I had the energy to go so i did. It’s important to get time on my feet. Went slow, but felt good otherwise.

Did a few shorter runs during the week and overall feeling good. I’m ramping up the mileage as best i can, but also trying to be smart about it. As I have mentioned before, i do not have high expectations for this upcoming marathon. I just want to be there, have fun and push myself as best i can.

In other news, I am about to start volunteering at the local Boys/Girls Club. I’m really looking forward to this for several reasons. The bottom line is I feel I have a lot to give and I want to make the best use of my time. Looking forward to being around the youngsters!

ONWARD!

Sunday Run

I love early Sunday morning runs. The streets are quiet. The air smells fresher. Possibilities seem abundant and my soul seems more open to take it all in. Life. As I have mentioned many times, this truly feels like my “church” time.

I slipped on my shorts, shoes, shirt, & iPod. I put 1 Hammer Gel in my shorts pocket and 2 GU Gels in my Nathan Water bottle pocket. I wrapped my Garmin watch onto my wrist and off I went onto the vacant streets of Petaluma. Headed West.

I ran a similar route as last Sunday, but with a little bit of change. The first long hill comes about 1.5 miles and takes me up and over a nice crest. I’m headed west, but then NorthWest onto Chapman Lane…a long, rolling street lined & scented with Lavender growing abundantly. As I head down the street, I can feel myself take deep breaths and I am just soaking it all in…this moment. This opportunity to move my body and do what I love: RUN!

Lots of homes on either side of me with lots of space between them. I see some horses, cows and hear the chickens off in the distance. Country.
I make my way onto Eastman and turn left and venture into new (hilly) territory. My pace quickens a little from the thrill of the unknown.

I come across folks walking and a few cyclists out putting their legs and hearts to work on this Labor Day Weekend. My legs are feeling good even with the hilly nature of these first 6 miles.

I look around and just see open spaces. So refreshing. I see the golden landscape that is synonymous with California. I live in such beauty. And, yes, I do miss my running routes in Atlanta. Such lushness there. GREEN! AHHH. I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by so much beauty!

I circle back and head East on Eastman, cross Bodega Hwy and off to Lohrman Lane…another long stretch of a new road for me. This takes me to Magnolia and I’m East headed back towards downtown.

I have a loved one who has a loved one here and I pay my respects as I run by. My footsteps seem to be a little more quiet, gentle.

I continue on and towards downtown where the traffic and activity has picked up. I finish out a few more miles on flatter ground and end close to home.

11.62 for the day. Happy.

Onward.

Expectations (Delusions of Grandeur)

This was what was written on the back of the New Balance T-Shirt I bought at my 1st ever marathon expo in Chicago, 2000. “The Marathon. A chance to be your own Hero”

Don’t we all suffer from delusions at one time or another? Don’t we all, at some point, become so wrapped up in excitement that we think we can be X or Y or Z? Yes, I think it is quite common….this affliction called Delusions of Grandeur. This affliction definitely has its drawbacks as I will soon discuss, but I think it has positive sides too. I don’t want to be Abby or Chrissie or Serena or Lolo. And I sure as heck don’t wanna be Lance. I just wanna be the best I can be. The best possible Angie. The best Angelina Funtanilla I can be at a given time. And, so….I wanna push. And when I have an outcome that surpasses my goals like I had a the SF Half Marathon a few weeks ago, I become extra motivated, extra inspired…and I wanna keep it up. I wanna keep going. I can’t help it. It’s my nature.
So. I knew the SF WOMEN’S NIKE MARATHON was coming up and wished I had signed up cuz it is already sold out. Sold out as soon as registration opened back in early March, I believe. I was thinking, “oh..that would be fun to run again. (I ran the race a few years ago and had a great time) wouldn’t it be great if I could set a PR or even get real close to 4 hours??” That was the thought in my head. Well, about a month ago, I went into a local running store and bought some new Nike shoes and because I did, I gained a entry to a lottery for a slot in the race. A week ago I found out I had won! I was super excited but then worried I wouldn’t have enough time to train properly. I thought the race was in Novemeber. I picked up my entry “ticket”, which was not free, by the way. I still had to register and pay, but at least I had a spot. I go look online and see that the race is…

Well, what happened? What happened was that as I was writing all the above, I had to go look at the actual date of the race, which is OCT 14th. As I went to the website, the first thing I see in big bold letters is 8 weeks to go. And, I just stopped writing the above part and thought, “8 weeks! I can run! I can do this….I just have to alter my expectations. I’m not going to go for a PR. Not possible. I will simply train as smartly as I can, and see how it goes. No pressure. Let go of expectations. I just wanna run this one!

I want to PR in the marathon and I also want to run under 4 hours. Those goals will have to wait until 2013 and I am ok with that…

I ran this race, Nike Women’s Marathon, back in 2009. It remains one of my favorite experiences. The Expo, the crowd, the course (San Fran), are all fantastic. Nike does a phenomemal job and I am looking forward to toeing the line, once again, for my 8th marathon!

ONWARD!

The Race Report: The little runner that could…

So. Where to begin? Well, I guess I’ll start on RACE DAY EVE. Sharon and I drove into SF and went over to the RACE EXPO at SF Design Center. Lots of people buzzing with excitement and such. Love it. Great atmosphere. I picked up this awesome jacket. We picked up my race # and walked around a bit. The expo was overflowing with a variety of people…short, tall, overweight, underweight, different ethnicities, etc…RUNNING DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE!
I saw BART YASSO, running legend, who was setting up his table. I walked over and introduced myself and Sharon and I chatted with him a bit. What a cool guy! I was bummed to miss his “Shake-out” run he did earlier that morning with twitter peeps, etc..

Soon enough, we made our way back home and enjoyed a nice, mellow evening. And Ate pasta, of course.

Race Day: woke at 5:45 and started to get going. I elected to just drive down from Petaluma because a) the hotel we wanted was sold out 2) my start time was at 8:23am

I was a little anxious and nervous in the morning. I think it was just because I literally woke up, got dressed and got in the car. So different from my usual pre-race routine. But, seeing that we had about a 45 min drive, this is what I needed to do. We came to Golden Gate Bridge and saw the Full Marathon Runners and 1st Half Marathon Runners who had began at 5:30am. The fog was in full force and it was covering much of the bridge. A very cool morning. I was getting excited just seeing the other runners. We made our way to Golden Gate Park and the start location of the 2nd Half Marathon runners. I had about 45 minutes to wait around.

A few visits to the port-a-potty helped the time go by fast, but I was pretty anxious to get going. It had been September 2011 since I had run a ROAD RACE!! A very long time for me! Sharon took off to go meet me at about the 7 mile mark and I did a little warm up to get loose. Next up: The Start.

The start was near the back end of GG park and the route took us down one side and up the other side of the park along with a loop around Stow Lake. The weather was perfect. Very cool temperature in mid 50′s and some mist even greeted us as we ran among the beauty of the park. This area is a combination of flat roads and then some very small inclines. Flanked by towering Eucalyptus trees, I was in heaven!

We exited the park right at 6 miles and had a long straightaway on Haight Street. I was happy to see more spectators here and it finally started to feel more like a race. I love running in the park, but i was also glad to get more energy from the people of San Fran. I knew I was close to seeing some friends as I approached the 6.5 mile mark. There was a little downhill and I saw the three of them, Alec, Kimmy and Emily there on the corner of Haight/Broderick!! I ran over to them, smiling and feeling good. I gave them “High 5′s” and a kiss to Alec and kept rolling along. Such a great surge they gave me!! Thank you!!

I had a little more downhill as I rolled down to lower Haight and then would see Sharon around 7.5 miles. I turned the corner from Haight onto Buchanan and spotted her there with her camera. Another big surge of energy!! Yeah!!

I kept looking at my watch for my mile splits. I knew I had to have an average pace of 9:09/per mile if I wanted to meet my 2 hour goal. So far so good. I was running pretty evenly but I also noticed it started to get a little harder around mile 8-9. I had already taken 2 GU ENERGY Gels and had 1 more left on my person. Miles 8-9 carried us thru the Mission District with its variety of culture and color which was also a boost of energy. Weather remained the same, except no mist, just very cool and overcast. Perfect. We had a rude hill right before crossing over into Potrero Hill area. I just kept plugging along. By mile 10 my legs, quads were starting to really tighten up and i was feeling the effects of keeping up my pace. I started to get concerned I would not be able to carry the pace til the finish. I just told myself, “give everything and if you miss it, you miss it…then at least try for a PR..under 2:01:43.” My mindset and mental focus was very strong. I was completely focused and as such, i would say that my enjoyment level while running was not very high. I was starting to feel quite a bit of pain…but i also knew that’s what it would take for me to reach my goal. It would not be easy or PAIN-FREE. It was gonna hurt and IT WAS HURTING.
Stay focused. Stay focused.
At mile 11, we were at Mission Bay, which is about 1 mile south of AT&T park. I could see the bay and smell the finish line 2 miles away. I looked at my watch and saw i was still on a good pace and making good time, but I COULD NOT let up. I had to keep pushing. (I did, however, stop at every water stop to take a few sips and when I sucked down my gels with water) I was not allowing myself to celebrate prematurely. I had to cross the finish line BEFORE 2 hour mark. Mile 12 – right at McCovey Cove and AT&T Park. We ran along the back side with the park on our left and bay on the right. Then, onto Embarcadero and a straight, flat road to the finish line up ahead. Legs were tightening, but I had to ignore everything and keep pumping my arms. I tried to pick up my pace even a little bit. I crossed the finish line, my feet stepped on the electronic timing mat.

1:58:42

I DID IT. I almost started crying. I saw Sharon immediately on the left hand side and we just were smiling at each other and I kept saying “I did it. I did it. I can’t believe it”
She was thrilled for me. I was so happy to see her there and share the experience together. She knew how important it was to me and she had 100% faith in me I would do it. Today. She probably had more confidence in me than I did. THANK YOU, SHARON.

As I just kinda stood there for a few moments afterwards, I think I was in a little fog. A happy fog. So deeply proud from the inside of me…the little runner that could.

I learned that sometimes you have to wait a long time to beat a goal. And I learned a lot in the process while I made training errors and pushed my body last year to more than it could handle. I learned that it’s not just about training harder, but truly TRAINING SMARTER. I think that made all the difference. I got faster because I did what I needed to do: incorporated intervals, tempo runs and specific strength training into my workouts. This was a huge help. I want to thank NIKE for setting me up on a program that I definitely benefited from following. I didn’t follow it to a T, but I followed it a lot and had to modify it some to fit more of my current physical capabilities.

It was perfect that this race happened while the Olympics are underway. So much inspiration out there. If you have read my blog, you might have read I had dreams as a child of being an Olympic Runner. Today, I was my own hero, my own Gold Medalist. (In fact, the person who put the finisher medal around my neck was a serviceman from the Coast Guard. Pretty cool.)
I ran for me. For the me I am and the me I want to be. The better me. The more complete me. Every part of the journey is important. The defeats and the victories. I was glad for the latter today and to finally get the 2 hour monkey off my back.

Thank you to all my friends who support me in my running. Thank you for all of you who read and comment, verbally or in person or never. Thank you.

May you be your own hero and rise to meet and beat your own goals, dreams and wishes, whatever they may be.

ONWARD

The Good of Reflecting

Last night, I pulled out some of my old training journals. I’ve been keeping a log of my training for years now. Probably about 14 years. It’s pretty awesome to go back and look at where I was with my running; my distance, pace and how I felt at the time. I found the book that captured the training before I ran my 1st Half-Marathon back in January of 1999 (before the internet truly took off and long before BLOGS began or at least my blogging) Like my regular LIFE handwritten journals, I’m thrilled to have these journals. Even looking at them and seeing how my penmanship was is kinda neat. I have all sorts of books/logs. Some are ones I bought at running stores and are very specific with each day; GOAL. TIME. DISTANCE. AM PULSE. WEATHER. TEMP. TIME. TERRAIN. And others…I have simply used a good ‘ole yellow notepad.

So, reading the log from late 1998 into early 1999 was very cool. I was just beginning to run “long” as I trained for the SF Half Marathon. Here are a couple of entries from that time period.

Date: Jan 7th, 1999
Distance: 10.3 miles
“This was a hard one. Damn, I was tired after. I may have went out to quickly after eating lunch. I had bad pains at about 40 minutes. pain! But, I wouldn’t allow myself to stop. not an option. I even went over my time (goal) because I thought I was going slower and I was. My last 203 miles felt relatively strong. But, days (runs) like this one make me wonder how I can do 26 miles eventually. The only answer is will. My own will. Train, train, train. If I want to, I know I can do it. I can do anything. Thank God, I can run.”

Date: Jan 13, 1999
Distance: 13 miles
“Long, Long, run. My body has never felt so fatigued before. It felt like all I could do to finish. Gee, it was really tough. The last 40 minutes especially. I felt off balance, like I could fall. Disoriented. But, I met – BEAT my time goal. YEAH. This was the toughest run I have ever had. I’ve never felt so fatigued. Now, I know I can do it. I CAN!!”

AND HERE IS THE ENTRY FROM AFTER THE HALF-MARATHON I WAS TRAINING FOR:
Date: Jan 31, 1999
Distance: 13.1 miles
“Well, I did it. I really did it. A 1/2 marathon. I’ve completed something very big – quite an accomplishment and I’m going to let myself have it. I need more room to write than what is provided here in this training journal. It rained Saturday night so I thought it would rain in the race, but it didn’t. It was a little misty at the start. I almost can’t believe that I did it. It seemed like such a big feat and now it’s over. Kinda a bummer. I’m so proud of myself. Proud for many reasons – because I committed myself to something and stayed with it – because I never let myself quit – because I made a goal and smashed it. Because I stayed committed to a program and essentially, myself. The course was pretty and fast; a lot through Golden Gate Park and along the Great Highway. It was neat/refreshing to see the big waves as I ran. Some of the wind was incredibly fierce. It was just awesome though. I can’t believe how much the PowerGel helped. It wasn’t actually until mile 12 when I felt real tired – but now I know – I know I can run a full marathon and I will.”

So…there you have it. Some insight into my early thoughts as a runner. One of the coolest things about going back and reading these entries is how it connects me back to gratitude and perspective. If you know me, then you know I push pretty hard at all I do and sometimes lose site of perspective. I think we all do, don’t we? But the relfection also has connected me back with joy and excitement of running and racing, which I can also lose site of sometimes.

As the days near to race day this Sunday, I am already quite excited. I’m lucky to be alive. I’m fortunate to have legs that work. I’m blessed to be able to run. AND, I am gonna try like hell for my #1 goal.
Finish time: 01:59:59 or better!

I urge and encourage you to TRY! TO GO FOR YOUR OWN GOAL! Whether that is running a 5k, swimming a mile, getting a college degree, playing the piano or walking across the street. JUST GO FOR IT!

ONWARD.

1 week to Go

1 week until race day. SF Half Marathon next weekend. I’ll be so happy to get out there and run a road race again. I have not run a (road race) in quite a while now. Did the trail race earlier this year in March, and as you know, trail races are different beasts all together.

I’ve had a couple of good weeks of running, not great, but good. This week, I plan on running just 1-2 days. My body, i’ve discovered, especially my legs, work well on adequate rest. So, maybe get a massage this week and a short run or 2 and that’s it. Need to make sure my nutrition is all good and get lots of sleep.

I’m looking forward to running a race in San Francisco again. I ran this race as the FULL MARATHON back in 2005 and one of my overall best race experiences! It was a gorgeous day throughout the city and I had lots of friends who came to support me. An awesome day.

This time, I’m going for my goal of under 2 hour finish. My best half marathon time is 2:01:43. As mentioned before on this blog, I ran that time in my very first ever Half-Marathon race in 1999. That race, too, was in San Francisco, but a different course. The course on Sunday will begin in Golden Gate Park and cover miles approximately 1-5, then goes into lower/upper haight, Mission District, Mission Bay/At&T Park (SFGIANTS HOME) and then finishes right at the awesome Ferry Building along with the full marathon. I’m looking forward to it.

If anyone wants info on the race, go to http://www.sfmarathon.com

So, my primary goal is to finish under 2 hours, even if I finish 1:59:59, I will be super thrilled. My secondary goal would be to best my time of 2:01:43.

I think I can. I think I can….

Stay tuned….and keep that body healthy!! ONWARD!