Triumph! (of a sort)

Found some gentler hills leading up to the park today.

Ran 'em.

And this view was my reward at the top!

In fact, today I ran all* the hills. And I have to say, even though my pace was still about 11:50, I felt pretty good. :-)

*But not this one. This was one thwarted me yesterday, and I knew enough not to go back for more. 

These trails were made for walking ...

I went for a run this morning, and a hike broke out.

So, remember how I was all worried about managing the hills in San Francisco during the race, and then the race course was completely flat? Yeah, I found the hills this morning. Hills that actually prevented me from maintaining anything that could even arguably be called a running stride. Also some gravelly trails adjacent to precarious drop-offs frequently populated with oncoming canines.

I'm awfully stubborn when I'm determined to keep running, against all odds, but I met my match this morning.

Okay, I can own that. There are things I can't do in this world; I know this. I can't lift more than 60 or so pounds. I can't digest gluten. I can't seem to pronounce anything properly in German. I can't safely go wreck diving until I've completed more dive training. I can't sight-transpose for more than a few measures at a time. I can't begin to understand why anyone reads anything by Stephenie Meyer.

But hills? C'mon, I can handle a few measly hills. Can't I?

Oh.

Huh.

Well, as Douglas Adams once said, "A learning experience is something that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'" Highlights of this morning's learning experience included turning left on Ogden St. (don't do that), trying to take Bocana St. up to Bernal Heights Park (don't do that), and running up and along the footpaths around the edge of the mound on Bernal Heights Park (seriously, really just don't do that).

On the upside, I think I've found a more manageable route to get me to the edge of the park next time, totally runnable roads all around the base of the park, and a good coffee place where I strategically finished my 3.1 miles (after *sigh* 41:29 of running/hiking time). And the upshot was that I kept my heart rate going by hiking determinedly when I couldn't run, so aerobic exercise was had, meaning the degree of fail was all relative.

Tomorrow is, after all, another day.

6 down, 44 to go!

I ran the San Francisco Marathon this morning!

Huh??

... wait, no, I ran the progressive marathon this morning. Or finished running it, at least. Which is to say, I ran the 5K race after having previously logged 23.1 miles.

Ah. That's more like it.

I had about 45 minutes to kill after I got checked in, so I took the opportunity to wander up and down by the Ferry Building. There's a rocket ship to other destinations in the Milky Way ...

... and a giant bow and arrow, which I saw when I jogged out to the end of Pier 18, trying to warm up.

The timing chips went on our shoes this time, which was a new one for me:

It was wicked crowded at the start, which actually makes sense, since it turns out that there were well over 1,000 runners in this event alone.

This doesn't even begin to show how crowded it got.

But only one from Rhode Island!

(One, who is usually a little more photogenic than this.)

The crowd meant that, instead of my usual burst of unsustainable speed at the very start, I had trouble finding room for my strides and didn't get up to pace for probably several hundred yards. Once I did, though, I felt really good. I worked on lengthening my stride and softening my impact by rolling through my whole foot. When I started getting tired, I caught myself shortening my stride, but I corrected my form and usually passed whoever just passed me.

And in the end?

Run a race, get free stuff!

Official results are still compiling, but the unofficial page (honestly, I have no idea whether that link will work properly) lists me as finishing 222 out of 1,031, with a time of 29:14 and an average pace of 09:25. Not my best ever, but well within my goal of finishing under 30 minutes. And I got a medal*. :-)

Next race is this Saturday, August 4, in Forest Grove, OR. Looking forward to visiting Oregon for the first time! Meanwhile, I'm going to try running up to Bernal Heights Park tomorrow to enjoy the view. Gotta keep training ...

*Note: All progressive marathon finishers got medals.

I did another race!

Longer post coming later today. But for now, I've run, I felt good, and if my official time is around what I think it was then I'm reasonably happy. I'll post the official results, if I can find them, when I post later.

Also, following the theme of yesterday's post, many many thanks to my dear friend Jenson for waking up at 6:00 on a Sunday to drive me to the starting line. That's friendship, folks, and I am blessed.

And now, I'm going to church.

With a little help ...

I'm writing this post from the Virgin America departures lounge at Boston's Logan International Airport. (Thanks for the free wifi, Logan!) I fly to San Francisco today and run my sixth race tomorrow.

Anyone who's been following this blog ... well, has probably given up sometime in the past month and a half that I've failed to update. It turns out that it's hard to train in the summer. I thought, since Rhode Island has been mostly spared the insanely hot weather that's been plaguing most of the rest of the country, that I'd be able to get out and run, but even when the air temperature is under 90°F (which is most of the time), the sun feels strong enough to make me feel icky when I'm trying to run.

The answer, of course, is to get up early enough to run before the sun is very high in the sky. I was sure I was going to do this all summer, but for various reasons, I haven't been feeling rested enough to get up early and run, and I haven't been getting it together enough to fix that.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, I fear.

But it gets better! I spent the past week at a teacher-training workshop at Taft Educational Center, where I had to live pretty much on my school-year sleep schedule again, which meant I could get up and run before breakfast. There was even a perfect three-mile loop created by streets around Taft. This was an ideal opportunity to restart my training regimen and be somewhat back in shape for tomorrow's race. The only problem? There was a seriously nasty hill around the 1.75 mile mark, and Monday morning's run was pretty humbling. Keeping myself motivated to repeat that loop every morning was going to be tough.

Fortunately, I met a fellow runner named Adam at breakfast on Monday morning. Adam mentioned being in training for a marathon, and as it turns out, has completed a marathon or two already as well as an Ironman. Adam is going to be coaching cross country this fall. Adam is a much more accomplished runner than I am.

And, as the case seems to be with many runners, Adam is a very kind and patient person, who was actually interested in running just three miles with me, even at my 11-minute-mile pace. With his encouragement, I got up that hill again on Tuesday and didn't take Wednesday off (and was only half-miserable about the hill). Even though Adam had to take the next two days off due to leg pain, talking to him about my training kept me motivated to get up and run Thursday and yesterday. I got caught in the rain on Thursday and turned around before I got to the hill, but I conquered it on Friday and felt really ready for San Francisco.

(Also, it turns out that the 5K course for tomorrow's race is going to be completely flat. Ha!)

This is just one example of how I'm getting through the next couple of races with a little help from friends, new and old. The main objective of this trip to SF and Portland (OR), after all, is to visit the friends I have out there. They're just nice enough to help me get to my races while I'm there. Including my friend Alberto, who has agreed to get up at the very crack of dawn next Saturday to drive me 45 minutes out to Forest Grove so I can check Oregon off my list.

I am thankful for my friends, new and longtime, named here and not (but probably named here someday).

Stay tuned for news about tomorrow's race ...