Dreaded Hills

Have I mentioned how much I HATE running hills? Hate them, loath them, dread them... I'm just no good at running hills. Which probably means I need to do them more!

This week, instead of going to DVC for our usual track workout, our calender said we'd be meeting at another track for a hill workout. What?? We're not doing any hilly courses this season, so WHY do we have to do hills? I know, they make us faster and better runners. Still, I was not looking forward to the workout.

The team met up at Daugherty Valley High School way out in the new developments in San Ramon. We weren't actually going to be doing any running on the track-- the school was just our meeting place. After everyone arrived, we started out on our "warm-up" run to a park about .75 miles away, which is kind of a long warm up. We spent some time stretching there, and then waiting for a few more stragglers, and then we ran another half mile or so to our "hill." The street that we were going to run on was in a residential area, and curved around in a horseshoe, U shape. We started our running up the hill on one side, and then met at the top in the middle of the U to catch our breaths. The hill wasn't that bad but I was definitely huffing and puffing at the top! After a break, we got to go down the other side of the U.

Since Phil wasn't there last night, he put me in charge of taking pictures. I stopped half way down the hill so that I could take pictures of everyone as they came back up the hill. That didn't work so well... it's hard to take pictures of running figures in the dark! I ran up the rest of the hill with them and we took a breather again at the top, before heading back down the first hill to our starting point. At this point it was already 7:45 and I wasn't sure if that was the end of our workout. Nope, that was just half of it! Coach Al K. had everyone do that same set up hills again. One of my mentees wasn't feeling well, so I hung out with her at the bottom of the hill while everyone did the other set. After they all got back, we still had to go all the way back to the high school, which was a mile away. I stuck with a couple of girls who were walking so we didn't get back to our cars until 8:30, and by the time I got him it was 9:00 :(

Even though I only did one set of hills, it was still a good workout and I was happy to see that I wasn't the last one up the hill :) I can feel a little soreness in my calves today, but it's not too bad. We're scheduled to do hills workouts instead of track the next few weeks-- all I have to say is that all these hill workouts better lead to an improvement in my running!

Frozen fingers

Have I mentioned that it's cold out now?! Okay, it could be worse... in the Bay Area we don't have to worry about snow, or sleet, or freezing rain. But it's still darn cold out! Last night it was very hard to get off the couch and go to the Buddy Run. I have to be there though, which thankfully keeps me from flaking!

Despite the cold temperatures, we had a good number of people out there. We were even entertained while we waited for people to arrive in the parking lot by some man doing exercises while his car stereo blared next to him. There are people out there doing boot camp, so the fact that he was doing exercises in the parking lot wasn't what was so funny-- it was the fact that he was doing a combination of Karate Kid and Rocky exercises and the music he was playing was decidedly NOT workout music! He kept us entertained though while we waited for everyone to arrive!

The run went pretty well-- we did about 32 minutes (2.68 miles) it's been fun to see how all the first time runners are improving. People who needed to take walk breaks during the first few Buddy Runs, are now able to run the entire time! Next week we'll be increasing our times-- just as they've gotten used to running 30-45 minutes, we bump them up to 45-60 minutes. I'll be happy to start getting in longer runs during the week!

Running update

I can't believe I haven't posted an update since last week! Sorry! It hasn't been because there's nothing to update on... I've just been super busy!

After the food fest that was Thanksgiving, I came back to the Bay Area ready to get back into running (plus, I needed to burn off all of that pie)! Tuesday night we had our usual Buddy Run and our numbers were back up after low attendance the week before. The run went really well but unfortunately I was battling some winter allergies and was feeling a little sluggish. I ended up running with Amy and one of my mentees and I think we were all pretty evenly paced that night. I felt a little better at the end of the run and managed to sprint the last section of trail! After this week we'll be increasing our run times on Tuesday night which will be nice... running just 30 minutes is enough to build up a sweat, but I'd like to be doing a little more!

Thursday night was had track at DVC again. This time there were no hang up with the gate, or lights and we got in just fine. It was cold out that night, but not too bad up in the parking lot. The track though is down in a little bowl, and the cold air just sits down there. I don't think I really warmed up the entire workout! We did a bunch of intervals last week:

2 laps warm up

Some core exercises (although still difficult, I'm happy to report they were easier than the first track workout!)

Run 1 lap at 80%

Walk 0.5 lap

Run 1.5 laps at 80%

Walk 0.5 lap

Run 2 laps at 80%

Rest and repeat it all again

After the first set of intervals, I was pooped and was chugging water like it was 90 degrees out! I was not looking forward to doing it all again, but it was actually easier the second time around-- probably due to the fact that I was going a lot slower :)

Saturday we had a Coached Run out on Walnut Creek at Arbolado Park. I had never been there, or done a run there so I was looking forward to checking out a new route, especially one so close to me! I drove over around 7:30 and I couldn't believe all the fog! Not only was it very foggy, but it was also very cold! We did a quick warm up and stretch and then started off on the trail. After we started running, I realized that I had run this trail once before, but it had been from the other direction. Even though this route included a big hill (and even a tunnel), it was a pretty easy, flat course. I ran out for two miles and back with a couple of my mentees and when they veered off back to our starting point after 4 miles, I kept going out on the trail for another mile and then back for 6 miles total. I felt really good the whole time, although we started out way too fast at the beginning! After our run, we had our Honoree Potluck-- we have some new honorees this season so this was the first time I heard their stories. As usual, their stories were both motivating, and sad at the same time.

Yes, I am WALKING up the hill :)

On Sunday Claudia and I left for Sacramento at the butt crack of dawn to cheer on some of our friends who were doing the Cal International Marathon. We froze our hinies off up there, but were able to see our friend Lael and a few other runners we knew at mile 5, 10, 17 and the finish. Everyone did a really good job and Lael even PRed!! I had, of course, made Lael a bright neon sign-- not only to cheer him on, but also to help him spot us along the course. Since I knew we'd be standing around at each location waiting for Lael, on the other side of the sign I wrote something for all the runners. I think that my sign was a pretty big hit, judging from all the thumbs ups, thank yous, and "Nice sign" comments I got from runners and spectators. It was kind of creepy though because people kept stopping to take a picture of the sign-- they'd either stop right in front of me (without saying anything to me) or I'd see them from a few feet away aiming their cameras my direction. I felt a little like a minor celebrity, or a freak. Next time I'm charging people to take pictures!

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who finished the marathon... GREAT JOB!!

How much running does it take to burn off pie?

The answer to that is probably more running than I'm doing :) Thanksgiving was great, and I did actually manage to fit a run in while I was in Yuba City. I made my brother go out with me on Thanksgiving morning for a short little jog. We ran over a few neighborhoods, around a new park and then tried to cut over to another road to head back to the house. Unfortunately, there was a big field separating us from the road so we decided to just cut across :) I didn't mind so much because it gave me a chance to catch my breathe after trying to keep up with my brother who, even though he was running slow for him, was still faster than me!

Thanksgiving was spent at my Aunt's house with my family, my two cousins, and my cousin's wife and daughter. We ate way too much yummy food and had fun catching up with eachother. Later that evening we headed over to my great aunt's house to meet up with another set of cousins and see some slides (not the old fashioned kind, but now done on the computer :)) from my cousin Ron's Africa trip.

The rest of my time in YC was spent hanging out with my family, doing a little shopping, and of course, more eating :) My parents just returned from a cruise through the Panama Canal and they had a little "suprise" for my brother and I... they made one of their favorite cruise martini's while we watched a little slideshow of their trip!

My brother had to fly out of Sacramento on Saturday so we went to the Roseville mall to walk around before dropping him off... because we slept in that morning, we didn't have time to run before we had to leave. I'm glad that I at least got one run in over the long weekend!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Now it's time to get ready for Christmas!

Pre-Turkey Trot (A.K.A. Thanksgiving Week Buddy Run)

Tonight, after many hours sitting in traffic, I finally arrived in Yuba City for the long Thanksgiving weekend. I even got to leave early from work, and it still took me over two hours just to get as far as Davis (which usually takes a little over an hour). Uggg. I guess the cheap gas prices meant more people were able to travel out of town for Thanksgiving.

Even though it's a holiday week, we still had our Buddy Run on Tuesday night. After an unhealthy dinner and drinks at Happy Hour with Lindsay on Monday night, and in anticipation of some heavy eating on Thanksgiving, I was happy to get out there for a run. Since Lindsay's yoga partner had canceled on her, she decided to come out and join us too! We had a much smaller group this week and none of the "steadier" people were there, which meant that I ran with one of my mentees that's a little faster than I am. We ran about 18 minutes out and then back and went about 3.2 miles-- at the end of the run my watch said that we were running at an average pace of a little over 11 minutes miles, including the short walk break we took at the turn around. That's one thing I love about running in the winter... I can push myself a little harder, at least for the shorter distances.

Since I'm in YC until Sunday and won't be working out tomorrow night, or on Saturday with the team, I brought my running clothes so that I can do a little running while I'm at my parent's. We'll see if that actually happens :) In YC we don't have all the nice trails that we have in the Bay Area and it's much harder to motivate myself to go running out on the street!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Happy Turkey Day!!!

Dreams of Pie

Thanksgiving is almost here :D I can already taste my mom's yummy pumpkin pie! All the talk over the weekend seemed to be about Thanksgiving... where people are going, who they're celebrating it with, what they're eating, etc. It's all that seems to be on people's minds and I forget that I still have three days of work, and a Buddy Run, before I'm off to see the family :(

On Saturday our team met up for our first real Coached Run. Last weekend was technically a Coached Run but since we just did a few loops around the track it didn't feel like one. It felt like track practice, but in the daylight! Saturday we met up at Berkeley Marina for a fairly short 2-4 mile run. As short as that seems to me, it's not such a short run for most of the newbies on our team. For many, it's the furthest they've ever run. After some announcements, a warm up and a stretch, we were all on our way. The weather over at the marina couldn't have been more gorgeous. It started out cold, but clear and sunny and after a warm up, we were all toasty warm!

The first mile of the run there is basically around Cesar Chavez Park near the marina. I caught up with one of my mentees around the 1 mile mark and asked her how far she was going. She said she only wanted to do 2 miles, but instead of turning around at one mile, she was going to go to the water stop around mile 2, and then walk back. We ran together out to the water stop, which was just short of two miles, did some refueling and then made our way back. Although my mentee had intended to just walk back, she ended up running the entire way back with me!

After the run I had a mentor group social with one of the other Mentors on my team. 5 out of my 7 mentees were able to come and Phil even joined us too! We went down the street to Seabreeze, which is kind of a glorified fruit stand. I had been worried about going there since the only seating is outside, and the weather at the marina can be iffy. It was still really sunny and not too cold by the time we made it down there for brunch. We had a really good time visiting with eachother and hanging out for a little while!

Later that night Rocky and his fellow MotherHumbuckers played out at the Rockit Room in SF. Phil, Claudia and I met up for dinner in Montclair and then headed over to the city. The boys did a great job, as usual, and since they went on pretty early, we all got home at a decent time!

The end of week 2

Bye bye heat wave... welcome back cold :( I'm still not in cold weather mode yet... I've been so cold lately at home and at work and keep forgetting that I can just turn the heat on!

Well, it's almost the end of our 2nd week of training and everything is going really well! We met up for the Buddy Run at Heather Farms on Tuesday. A few people from the week before were missing, but we had a few new people so we still had a nice sized group. I ran with one of the new girls and we did 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back. She's a tad faster than me, but not at the point where she can run the whole distance yet so we got in some good running, with a few walk breaks thrown in.

Wednesday night I didn't do anything. It's supposed to be a cross training day but since I don't cross train (shhh, don't tell on me!), I just spent the evening relaxing, and actually cooked dinner for myself :)

Last night I went over to DVC for track again. We had gotten the okay to actually work out at the track, but when I arrived the track was dark and there were some TNT people just standing outside one of the gates. Uh oh. I don't know what the problem was, but they ended up tracking down the guy with the key, and had someone else turn on the lights, so we were able to use the track after all! And boy what a difference it makes working out on a real track! After some stretching and a warm up lap, we did a bunch of intervals. We ran a hard lap and a half, and then walked for a half lap to cool down. They we did alternating sections of skipping and walking for a half lap, and then a lap with a half lap cool down. We repeating that but with lunging instead of skipping and boy it was hard to run after doing all those lunges! My legs felt like really tight. The last thing we did was two hard laps and then a cool down lap.

My group, minus one!

After track we all hung around chatting and taking pictures. I really like my group and they've all been very good about responding to my calls and emails, and showing up at the workouts. At track I had 6 out of my 7 mentees there, which is probably the best attendance I've had in all the season's that I've mentored!! The teams seems to really be coming together!

Heat Wave!

Just when I put away my flip flops (not literally put them away-- they're still lying at the bottom of my closet-- but mentally put them away), put on my winter sheets and add on an extra comforter, we have a heat wave. Go figure. BUT, I'm not complaining! It's still been nice a cool at night, but it's been getting warmer during the day. It has been nice that our first team runs have been in this "global warming" winter, and not in the freezing cold!

Last week we had our first track workout on Thursday night. I think everyone was really excited about being able to work out on a nice new track at DVC but unfortunately that didn't happen. We got word at the last minute that the track was "no longer available" to us but in true East Bay Rocks fashion, we made due with what we had available, meaning the parking lot across the street :) While we stared longingly at the beautiful, well-lit track across the street, Coach Al K. had us do an abbreviated circuit drill workout (Various exercises like planks, lunges and supermans, with a lap run in between each "circuit").

It's been a long time since I did any strength training or circuit drills (I think the last time was training for the New York Marathon, over a year ago) and boy did I feel some of those exercises the next day! By Friday night my abs and butt cheeks were killing me! I had a chance to loosen it all up though on Saturday at our Coached Run at Piedmont High School. We also held Marathon University on Saturday, so they kept the run very short... just a timed mile or two around the track. I was helping direct people to the track from the street so I missed the warm up and stretch but I made it down there in time for a few laps around the track. Then we all made the hike back up through the campus to our Marathon University location. At Marathon U. we learned about proper shoes, gear, nutrition and stretching/injury prevention... all the things that new runners need to know :)

Later Saturday night Claudia, Rocky and I drove out to San Rafael to help celebrate Brandy's birthday and check out her new digs :D As usual, the birthday party was a lot of fun-- Brandy made some yummy food and a sinfully delicious cake and we got to enjoy the nice weather outside!

Sunday was an extremely lazy day. I'm almost too embarrassed to say how lazy of a day it was. Let's just say that I didn't do anything. At all. But now I'm all rested for the busy week ahead!

Team Fearless

How do you like our new team name? I actually like it and hope that it proves to be a good description of us while we're out there running in the cold, dark and sometimes rain!

Saturday morning we had Kick Off in SF for Team In Training. It's been a little while since I've been a mentor and I was both nervous and excited about meeting my mentees. A few of them weren't able to make it but, since I was also looking out for a fellow mentor's mentees, it worked out well. It was a LONG day though! Phil picked me up at 6:10 so that we could carpool into the city together and after Kick Off and lunch afterwards with Claudia, I didn't get home until about 2:30!

Once I got home I took a short nap and then had to head out to the city again for my friend Kelvin's birthday. After dinner the whole group headed back to Kelvin's to hang out and play some games. It ended up being another late game night and I didn't roll into bed until the wee hours of the morning!

Thankfully I got to sleep in on Sunday and then relax at home for awhile. I had invited Claudia and Jeanette over for girl's day. We spent the afternoon talking and catching up with eachother. It was a nice, relaxing way to spent the afternoon!

Monday night I got together with the other TNT mentors, captains, coaches and manager for a social and training in Oakland. Although I have been through the training many times before, it was nice to get to know the rest of the volunteer staff. Since we weren't able to have our social before Kick Off, many of us met eachother for the first time AT Kick Off and even then, didn't have much time to get to know eachother. Everyone seems like a lot of fun and I think it's going to end up being a great season!

Last night we had our first official training... a Buddy Run at Heather Farms. We had a pretty good turnout... about 10 people total! We ended up doing about 3 miles and I found a group that seems to be roughly my pace. The weather was nice and we even had the moon to light the way for us a little! Even though we had a few newbies out there, everyone seemed to have a great first run!

Joking with one of my mentees at the Buddy Run

Back to normal

After all the excitement of the election at the beginning of the week, life has now gone back to normal! Good thing I have the season of TNT on the horizon to keep things exciting!

Last night Amy and I had our last run together (not forever, just for the next few months) and we made it count! It was our first run after the time change so we both brought our headlamps in anticipation of the blackness. Because we knew we'd be running in the dark, we decided to head out in a different direction where the trail is a little more open, and less creepy at night. The only negative was that we were going to have the nice downhill on the way out, and the uphill on the way back. I know... wah, wah, wah! We started running at a pretty good pace, helped by the down slope. By the time we turned around, it was starting to get dark and quickly after it turned completely dark.

One thing I love about running at night is that you can't see the trail ahead of you... you don't see how big the hill is and you can't see how much further you need to run. You just run. When it seemed like we should be getting close to our cars, I started to go a little faster. It ended up that we weren't as close as I thought to the end but I kept pushing it until the end. At that point I just wanted to get the darn run over with! Amy and were both breathing pretty heavily once we stopped... but it felt good. I'm glad that I've been able to keep up (a little) with my running so hopefully I won't make a complete fool of myself at our first team workout!

Tomorrow is Kick Off for the new season. I'll get to meet my mentees, and also hopefully get to know some of my fellow mentors and cappies as well! For the first time (other than my first season), I don't really know anyone on the team, other than Phil. There will be a bunch of the usual crowd at Kick Off, but they're all doing different sports (boo hoo :() I am looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people though, and excited about mentoring again! GO TEAM!!

An Historic Evening

By yesterday afternoon, I was ready. I had read through my voter pamphlet, filled out my practice ballot and I was ready to vote! When I drove by the Elk's Lodge yesterday morning (my local polling place) I saw there was a line already starting to snake through the parking lot. I didn't have time to vote before work and I was hoping that line would be gone by the time I went to vote after work.

All day I read about the election day craziness and couldn't wait to cast my vote and hear the results! Thankfully when I stopped it at the Elk's Lodge, there were no lines at all and the voting process only took about 5 minutes. I was meeting up with my friend Ann a little later and since I still had time I went home to watch a little of the early election coverage. By the time I headed back downtown to meet Ann, they were reporting results from just a handful of states.

Ann and I had a nice evening at Havana but we were completely cut off from all the election coverage. When we left the restaurant around 9:00, we headed over to Starbucks to get our free coffee and heard a bunch of commotion coming from Pyramid a block over. On the way back to our cars, we stopped by to see what was going... we figured it had to be something related to the election. Sure enough, they were having a party for a bunch of election volunteers and the whole place was packed. We asked a woman selling Obama buttons outside what the latest news was and she told us that McCain had just conceded to Obama! WHAT???! I didn't expect to hear any results until a little later in the evening so I was surprised that we had our President already! Ann said that this will be one of those moments that we always remember and I think she's right. No matter who you voted for, this was an historic event and I think I'll always remember where I was the moment it happened! We stayed to watch a little of Obama's speech and soak up all the excitement! Once I got home, I turned on the TV to try and catch up on everything that had been going on.

WOO HOO... we have a new President!! I am very happy with the choice that America made! I'm excited to see what kind of changes Obama's Presidency will bring to our nation... and I'm hopeful that they will be the changes we need!

Rain

When they said rain was coming, they weren't lying!! At least the heavy rain seemed to hold off until all the trick-or-treating was over! Since trick-or-treaters don't come through my condo complex, the only ones I really saw were in Protrero Hill in SF, where I went for dinner with some friends. After a very late (at least for me) dinner at Goat Hill Pizza, we spent the next few hours playing board games. I know... it's not a crazy, rousing Halloween party but the competition and fun kept me up far later than a night of partying would have! By the time we left the city it was around 5:30 and after a yummy, greasy breakfast, I finally crawled in bed at about 7:00am. Wow... I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late!

Despite being up for over 24 hours, I didn't actually get much sleep once I did go to bed. I spent the rest of the day being a lazy bum and watching tv in my jammies. By this time it was pouring rain outside... definitely the kind of weather where you want to lay around all day in your jammies! I finally did "get up" and made it out for a filling BBQ dinner, movie and, because I didn't eat enough earlier apparently, some ice cream. There's nothing better than a big scoop of ice cream on a rainy day!

Sunday was pretty much another lazy day although I did fit in some grocery shopping and laundry. My weird sleep schedule, plus the time change really threw me off. By the time I decided I needed to go to bed, I wasn't able to get to sleep very easily. Hopefully a few days of normal sleep will get me back on track!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Finally we have Halloween on a Friday, not on some other week night, but now the weather has turned rainy! There will be a lot of wet and cold ghosts and goblins out there trick-or-treating tonight!! I'm not really a big fan of the dressing up part of Halloween (the candy part is another story!)-- even when I was a kid I never got very excited about it. I remember a few years where I was either a Hobo or a punk rocker, two very easy costumes! The last time I dressed up for Halloween was two years ago, and that was only because we had a Halloween themed TNT run and I was invited to a Halloween party. Last year Halloween came just two short days before I was off to New York City for the NY Marathon and my time was taken up getting ready for that. This year I'm not doing anything that requires any dressing up so I'm happy about that :D

Last night I went on a run with Amy. I really didn't want to go... it was cold and rainy out and all I wanted to do was go home and get under the covers! I was half hoping that it would turn from a drizzle into pouring rain so we could cancel, but also telling myself to just do the damn thing :) I knew that as long as I could get myself out to the run, I'd probably have a pretty nice run.

Our run last night was much faster than our leisurely run on Monday... the trail was also MUCH less crowded! Monday night we took it easy and ran at a pretty steady pace. Last night we ran much faster... I think that Amy figured out that we took about 30 seconds per mile off our time. I think it was one of the best runs that I've had in a long time and I think the cooler weather was a big part of that-- I knew we were running faster, but I felt like I could have just keep going and going. I forgot how much I love running when it's colder out! It's harder to motivate myself to get out to the run in the winter, but once I'm running I always feel really good!

I hope everyone has a happy Halloween and a wonderful weekend. I also want to wish Phil GOOD LUCK on his half marathon this Sunday!!! Don't let a little rain bring you down (I'll do a no-rain dance for you anyway)!

The end of our Indian Summer

Although it hasn't turned really cold yet, at least during the day, I think that we've seen the last of the summer-ish weather that we've been having. :( It's starting too cool down and I think there is even some rain forcasted for later in the week. This last weekend though the temperatures were at the almost-record-high of 85 degrees! It was the perfect weather for a day in Sonoma wine tasting with the girls.

Claudia and I got an email from Cline a few weeks ago notifying us that it was time to go pick up our wine. Since this last weekend was our first free weekend, we decided to make a once-every-three-months Sonoma trip on Sunday. It ended up being just a girl's trip with Claudia, Lindsay and I. We headed out to Sonoma around 11:00 after Lindsay ran the Lafayette Reservoir 10k and by the time we got to Cline we were all starving! We did a little wine tasting, picked up our wine, and then ate our picnic lunch out on the lawn. The weather was just perfect... sunny and warm, but not too hot. We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed over to a few other wineries. We went to Buena Vista and Ravenswood near downtown Sonoma. I really like the white wines at Buena Vista, not the reds so much. And even though I'd been to Ravenswood before, and remembered liking the wines, I didn't like them as much this time.

You can see in the pictures that the three of us all have on our Nike necklaces. Well, a few people commented on our necklaces and then mentioned that the lady who "won" the marathon, but didn't really win, had been into those wineries. We were stalking her, just a week or so too late :D

After we left Ravenswood, we decided to head for home. Our bellies were so full from lunch and the wine we tasted, we didn't think we could fit anything more in. But when Claudia mentioned going to Domaine Carneros for a little sparkling wine tasting, I didn't say no :) We finished off our girl's day with light, but still too filling, dinner at a new mexican restaurant in Danville. THANKS girls for a wonderful day!!

More Nike pics

After hearing that the Nike pics were up, I went online to search for mine. Claudia and I saw tons of photographers, so I was expecting a bunch of photos of us... there ended up being not as many as I thought there would be. And thankfully there were no pictures of the finish line trip :D

I think this one was taking along the Emarcadero... probably around mile 4 or 5.

I think this is about the same spot, just a different photographer

Our finish line sprint!!

Nike Race Report... Finally!!

Nike race weekend officially started on Saturday. I slept in on Sat. morning and lounged around a little before getting all my gear together. At 2:30 I made my way over to Oakland to meet up with Claudia and Rocky. They had already packed the car up with their stuff, we shoved mine in (btw... the car looked like we were leaving for a week's vacation!) and then we took off to the Oakland airport to pick up Claudia's dad who was coming up to cheer Claudia on. Next stop... TNT Pasta Party!

The Pasta Party didn't start until about 5:30 but Rocky's team was meeting at the Moscone center to take some team pictures. We got over there around 4:30, took pictures, chatting with everyone, and then got in line so we could be first in when they opened the doors. The minute the doors opened, you could hear the manic cheering! I think it was even louder than last year!! TNT staff, coaches, mentors, cappies and other volunteers cheered us on as we walked through the entry, down the stairs and into the pasta party. Getting cheered for at the pasta parties is always both a little exciting, and a little embarrassing. I was just hoping that I didn't fall down the stairs in front of all these people!!

The pasta party was, as in years past, HUGE! The food was pretty good, and the speakers were also good. John "The Penguin" Bingham spoke again and was, as usual, very funny. I missed the honoree speaker because I had to make a trip to the bathroom, and then a side trip to the TNT booth to pick up some TNT gear :D


After the Pasta Party, Claudia, Rocky, Claudia's dad and I headed off to Rocky's parent's house in Daly City. They were nice enough to put us all up for the night so we wouldn't have a long drive to the race start on Sun. morning. We all got our food, clothes, etc. laid out for the next day and then basically went to bed. I slept pretty well but was not ready for the alarm to go off at 4:45 Sunday morning :( We all shuffled out of bed, put on all of our race gear, ate breakfast, and then all 6 of us piled into Rocky's parent's car to head down to the start line at Union Square.

Once down at Union Square, we met up with Coach, Mama Lisa and the rest of the team for shout outs and some last words of encouragement. It still hadn't really hit me that we were doing a half marathon... I was more nervous before my 8 mile run a month ago!! Right before the start we all went our separate ways to line up... Rocky, Claudia and I went to the same corral (even though Rocky's WAY faster than we are) and we were soon joined by Amy. Unlike last year, they didn't have anyone policing the corrals... you could really line up wherever you wanted to, and I was worried that this meant we'd have to slog our way through a bunch of walkers for the first few miles. We heard the announcer start the race and... nothing. We stood there for about 15 minutes before our corral started moving forward. We walked around Union Square and then started running at the start line. We were OFF!!!

While we were lined up at the start line, I thought I had to go to the bathroom. Since I had just been about a half hour earlier, and hadn't been drinking any water, I thought it was just the usual pre-race excitement. But after we started, I realized that I need to pee for real. Claudia did also so we waved to Amy and then headed over to the porta-potties around mile 1. I'm glad we did because 1) I did have to pee, 2) It was the only set of porta potties that had no line and 3) We ran into Raji!!! She was out there to walk/run part of the half course. It was SO nice to see her and it gave me a huge mental boost!

For the most part the race was pretty uneventful, which was good :D The first few miles on the flat part of the course through the Embarcadero went really well. Despite the pretty much open corral system, we didn't get stuck behind too many people (or at least any more than usual). Since Claudia and I have run this course for 4 years (the first year used a different route) we know what to expect, that's why it was such a surprise around mile 5 when we took an unexpected turn! Usually we go through Aquatic Park to the Marina, but due to some construction going in, we had to detour around Aquatic Park. Unfortunately this included the addition of two more hills :( But since they were (relatively) small ones, we decided to run up them. When we got to what is normally the first hill, we ran up that one too. Those were the only hills we ended up running :D

Since that small detour added on a little extra mileage, I wondered where they were going to take off mileage. The detoured us again around mile 6, bringing us up the first major hill a different way than we usually went. For the next 4 miles or so we walked up and ran down the hills through the Presidio and Sea Cliff areas. We got to see Claudia's dad and Rocky's parents a couple of times, our friend Phil and his family, and other friends cheering people along the course. Even though Claudia and I had only done an abbreviated training schedule for Nike, I think we were both feeling pretty good. Our joints weren't used to the hills and all the pounding though so we were both feeling some aches in our hips and knees. Nothing too painful to keep us from continuing though.



As we came down the last big hill near the Cliff House, I was happy that we only had 2-3 miles left :D Once we hit the park, I was drained. We were close to the finish, but not close enough. The road through the park has a slight incline and even though it was nothing compared to the hills we had already climbed, it was making me drag. I told Claudia I needed to walk for a bit and thankfully she didn't keep on running and leave me in her trail! We walked for a couple of minutes and then started running again. Once we veered off from the marathoners to head back through the park towards the finish I felt a little better. We got a slight downhill (when you're already pooped, any little down slope is a blessing!) and I knew the end was close. We ran into Mama Lisa and she ran with us for a little bit. Then we finally got to the end of the park, turned onto the Great Highway and saw the finish line. Every year I get this surge of energy when I get to the end of the park... you can hear all the cheering and you know the finish line is just around the corner. I it always gives me goosebumps and gives me a little extra power to sprint to the finish line. Claudia was right there next to me speeding up too and we crossed the finish line together! WOO HOO! And then I tripped. :( No joke, but thankfully I didn't fall down and hopefully it wasn't caught by the finish line photographers!

All I wanted to do after crossing the finish line was get my Tiffany's necklace and finisher t-shirt. I LOVE this years necklace and only semi-like the finisher shirt. It's a brown color (more gender neutral than last year's pink) and made out of the same material as last year. Technically it's a running shirt, but it feels more like a cotton t-shirt and it isn't anything I'd actually run in. Oh well, I have 3 other Nike Marathon shirts I can run in :)


After picking up our stuff and visiting the TNT tent to grab some food, Claudia and I headed off to find the parents, while Rocky went out to cheer on some of his mentees who were still on the course. We found Rocky's parents and Claudia's dad and spent a little time chatting with them and eating the food we had grabbed. The overcast, cool weather that had been so nice to run in was not so nice to just hang around in! We drove out towards Lake Merced to pick up Rocky and head back to Daly City. We showered, changed and packed up the car and went out to lunch at a Salvadorean place in the Mission. I think it was the best post-race meal ever! I was so beat and full I nodded off on the drive back to Oakland. By the time I got back to Walnut Creek it was about 4:00. I unpacked all my stinky running clothes and spent the rest of the evening stuck on the couch... My knees were so stiff and achy I didn't want to move for anything!

Today I'm feeling almost back to normal... just a little stiffness in my quads but that's getting better every day. My final time was 2:52. Not my best Nike time (2006: 2:45) but not my worst either (2004: 3:09). For not doing much training at all, I felt really good during the race and also pretty good after!

Goofing Off

I'm working on my Nike race report and am hoping to get some pictures to add in before I post it (I was lazy and didn't bring my camera-- SHOCK!!) To summarize for all those who are dying to know... I finished, I'm still walking, and I'm proudly wearing my new Tiffany's necklace! WOO HOO! I'll post the full report will all the wonderful details soon. In the meantime, check out what I've been wasting my time on:

Is it weird that I find this completely hysterical?!

Ready to run... I hope

Well, the time has come. The Nike half marathon is just two days away. Am I ready? I think so... I hope so! I spent yesterday evening in the city, checking out the Expotique, picking up my race packet, and doing a little shopping. The Expotique was, as usual, VERY crowded, and this was only Thursday! I shudder to think how crowded it's going to be tonight and tomorrow once all the out-of-town runners start arriving.

The packet pick up went very smoothly and then Amy, Jeanette and I spent a little time walking around checking everything out. They had the usual manicure area, iPod engraving and gait analysis stations, and also had a new photo booth, and button making area. There were lines for pretty much everything except for the oxygen station so that's really the only thing we did. I felt a little silly sitting there with this tube up my nose inhaling Sex On The Beach "flavored" oxygen, but it was kind of fun :)

After partaking of a free glass of wine, some cheese and crackers, and a mini-sized Jamba Juice, Amy and I headed over to Niketown to see what kind of trouble we could get into! I usually avoid putting spending too much since Nike's clothes only seem to fit very small people, which I am not. But this year we had heard that their clothes were fitting a little roomier, and truer to normal sizes so I was both excited, and nervous-- excited for me and nervous for my bank account! Turns out that I didn't do too badly... I limited myself to a really cute blue t-shirt and a teal long sleeve running shirt that will come in handy running this winter. There were a bunch of other things that I WANTED, but definitely didn't NEED-- I think I'm going to wait awhile and see what they end up putting on sale!

Tonight I have nothing to do but laundry, carbo load and get ready for the race. I am so excited to have a night with nothing to do and no trip into the city planned (I also had to go to the city on Wed. for our Winter Season Mentor/Cappy Training)! Tomorrow I can sleep in, and then I'll pack everything up for the weekend and head over to Rocky and Claudia's in the afternoon. We're all going to the TNT Pasta Party tomorrow evening in SF, and then staying in Daly City so we'll be a little closer to the starting line on Sunday morning.

GOOD LUCK to everyone who is doing either the Full or Half Marathon on Sunday! Enjoy the wonderful weather, scenery and remember to RUN LIKE A GIRL!!!

Gala

Last night I got to be Amy's date to the Marine Mammal Center's Annual Gala! Jeanette brought Claudia as her date so it turned into a girl's night out! The gala was at the Ritz in SF, which I had never been to... SO pretty! We got into the city a little early and had a cocktail before cocktail hour :)

Claudia and I

Amy, my date, and I

Jeanette and her "date"

The girls all dressed up :)

The gala itself was very fancy and a lot of fun. First we got to enjoy some champagne and appetizers while we visited with some of the other party goers and then we moved into one of the ballrooms for dinner, a presentation and auction. The three course dinner was amazing... we started with a salad with pistachio crusted goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, then the most delicious braised short ribs, horseradish mashed potatoes and green beans, and finally an apple-raisin pastry for dessert. YUMM!!

How cute is this little seal?!

The live auction was a lot of fun too... I'd never been to an auction before and I had to hide my paddle so I wouldn't be tempted to raise it, just for the fun of it! Plus, I couldn't afford any of the auction items-- the bids for each started in the thousand dollar plus range! :(

Pretending to bid

The whole night was incredibly fun... THANK YOU Amy for bringing me as your date!!