Nike Women's Half Marathon

Sunday, I ran the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. 30,000 runners, mostly women, filled the streets of San Francisco to run half or full marathons.  This was the 10th year of the race and had about 5,000 more participants than the previous year- entry is only available via lottery because of the swanky Tiffany necklace you get in place of a medal handed to you by a San Francisco Firefighter.  The course is mildly hilly (I would have said very hilly when I first moved here from Texas but after trail running have reevaluated what I think hilly means) and runs down the Embarcadero, near Fort Mason, through Golden Gate Park and ends at the Great Highway on the Pacific Ocean.

Race morning I got up at 3:45 a.m., a little earlier than I usually have to get up for races but it started at 6:30 a.m. and because it is such a large race I wanted to make sure I parked remotely close to the starting line.  I picked up an iced latte and a bagel on the way and ended up in a parking garage a few blocks away that was nearly full over an hour before the race started.

I started the race with a few friends in the last corral, which didn't end up getting over the starting line until 45 minutes after the gun.  Unfortunately, because I was in the last corral and it was such a crowded race I ended up dodging slower runners and walkers the entire 13.1 miles.  The energy was really something special but I doubt I will be signing up for a race that large again.  I like my space! Along the course to motivate us were a full choir some time in the first 5k, many spectators with signs and even chocolate (that I didn't partake in because I was booking it) at mile 11.  This was the largest race I've ever been a part of and I was a little unused to all of the people cheering us on but it sure did help to hear the crowd at the finish line who were loudly cheering on the first place marathon finisher as I finished my half.

I came in with a time of 2:08:19, which was pretty darn good for me! I've been doing about 10:30 pace on my long runs with the longest being a 16 miler a couple of weeks before the Half.  I attribute my increased pace with trying to keep up with my running partner Courtney who kept me pushing through every mile and I even had a 7:50 pace on mile 11 (flying downhill).

Unfortunately, the finish line was insanely crowded because of a change in the land available to the race organizers and that caused me to not be able to find any of the people I came with (cell phones were not working because of how many people were trying to call out at the same time). I ended up just picking up my Tiffany necklace, shirt, drop bag and getting on the shuttles back to the starting line after an hour of trying to find anyone I knew and my phone ended up dying.

ETA: I ended up running in Merrell Trail Gloves instead of barefoot... I debated up until morning of what I was going to do but after my first half experience with an unknown course and it being an early morning race with a bit of chill in the air I put on my shoes.  I've run in them a few times including a 16 miler a couple of weeks before the race and I've also been having a couple of new "twinges" in my achilles... Coincidence?  I'm not sure but I'm definitely going to stick with bare feet for my familiar training routes.  I definitely could have done the course barefoot after seeing it but you never know.  The gravel I stood on waiting for the shuttles back to the start would not have been fun after a Half, either!

Overall, it was a great race and I was happy about my time but the sheer number of people caused a lot of logistical problems both during and after the race.  I also didn't get any course photos so I'm still on the hunt for the mythical "floating" running picture! I did get one before crossing the starting line as my corral moved towards it:

Weekly Mileage ending 9/29/13

9/26- 5 miles
9/29- 14 miles

Out for a week + Mileage ending 9/22/13

I fell on that awesome Wunderlich trail run the other day when my foot caught a root and although I ran about 2 more miles after that, I ended up taking a week off because I mildly sprained my knee on the fall.  I was limping for 4-5 days the first week and even this last week took it VERY light on the mileage. It feels fine now- no pain on short or long runs- and I hope to be back to building mileage this week.

9/17- 3 miles
9/22- 10 miles

Pictures from my run out and back over the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday:

Weekly Mileage 9/8/13 / Wunderlich

9/3- 4 miles
9/4- 6 miles
9/6- 3 miles
9/8- 10 miles

Total: 23 miles

I ended my mileage this week with a beautiful 10 mile trail run in Wunderlich County Park in Woodside, California.  I definitely did some walking on the way up as it was a pretty even split of 5 miles uphill and 5 miles downhill with an elevation change of 1591 ft.  Good practice for those Big Sur hills!  I caught a root again on the downhill and banged up my knees pretty good- we'll see how they feel tomorrow.  The view was worth it:

Skirt 'n Dirt 10k Race Report

This Saturday I ran a really fun trail race called the Skirt 'n Dirt Trail Run in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, CA.  I ran the 10k distance but there was also a 25k and 50k distance.  I was running with my good friend Liane, it was her first 10k and she did GREAT! It was an all-women's race with a companion race called Stud 'n Mud that ran with us but it was mostly women.  The race organizer, Inside Trail Racing was awesome and I would highly recommend any races organized by them for several reasons:

1) The trail markers were vandalized and volunteers got up super early to fix this so we could have a safe and fun race.  What nice people, right? 

2) They had lightly flavored or unflavored electrolyte drinks instead of Gatorade. They also had plenty of yummy snacks.

3) SWAG. I got a hat, a shirt, a wine glass (right?) and medal. For a 10k this is pretty awesome bang for your registration buck. 

The race is in the Oakland Hills which I have run before during my half-marathon last year during the Cinderella Trail Run.   They are absolutely beautiful trails and also have plenty of rocks that make barefooting not the most fun. So, I strapped on my Vibram Fivefinger Bikilas and intending to enjoy the scenery of towering Redwoods instead of picking my way around rocks on the trail. The Bikilas worked well enough except for a weird bruising in the joint of one of my toes. I'm looking around at other trail shoes without toe pockets.

I arrived a little later than when I had agreed to meet up with my friend so I warmed up running around between the check-in table and the bathrooms before I found her.  We started off at 8:30 am. after the 25k and 50k runners started at 8:00 a.m. This might have been a little late for a summer run but 90% of the run was in delightful heavy shade.  I had checked out the elevation profile and was a little intimidated- it was "only" 850 ft. elevation change for the 10k but 600 of that was in the first 2.5 miles and the 500 ft. climb from mile 1.5-2.5 was... challenging to say the least.  I need to run more hills.

Took a couple of blurry pictures with my phone while catching my breath on the climb. 

However, after that initial beast of a climb it was mostly downhill from there!  It was a pretty small race so I was running alone most of the time with just a couple glimpses of a person in front of and behind me.  There were a lot more roots on this trail than on my other trail runs and that proved to be my quite literal downfall in the last mile of the race.  My right foot caught a root and I went down on my hands and my right knee.  I hopped up and hobbled the rest of the way not sure how bad it was hurt.  The medical technician wrapped it with ice and although I've got a nasty bruise, a swollen knee and a slight limp today it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think walking around after the race helped the potential stiffness.

My time was 1:14:06- not a personal best of course but my personal best for 10k was on a flat road and this was a hilly trail so they're really not comparable.  I did come in 3rd in my age group which was my first time placing in a race!  Great race overall and it is getting me pumped for my Fall Halfs! 

Weekly Mileage ending 8/25/13

I cut way back last week because I have started back to school!  It was technically supposed to be a cutback week anyway after 5 weeks of increasing mileage but really I was just exhausted and cut out two runs.  Back to it this week, focusing on hills and increasing weekly mileage again. 10k trail race on Saturday!

8/20- 4 miles
8/22- 4 miles
8/25- 8 miles

Total: 16 miles

Weekly Mileage ending 8/18/13

8/13- 4 miles
8/14- 5 miles
8/15- 4 miles
8/18- 12 miles

Total Mileage: 25 miles, all barefoot

I slacked off a little this week by not running my pre-long run short run on Saturday.  I'll probably be taking it easy on the mileage, or at least not increasing my weekly mileage much, until my 10k on August 31.  After that I will focus on getting to long runs in the 14-16 mile range until I have run my Fall Halfs and then its officially BIG SUR TRAINING TIME!

I also hit 1000 miles logged on MapMyRun, the app and website I use to track my runs.  I started in late March 2011 with Couch to 5k.  It took me an hour an a half to run/walk a 5k when I first started and today I ran 12 miles in 2 hours- so I've definitely made some progress!