Trouble at Mile Twelve

The plan for Sunday's run was to do 14 miles at a very easy (low heart-rate) pace. Considering I did this very run at the end of August, and a half marathon at much faster pace just three weeks ago, it should have been fine.

Except, I guess we failed to take account of the 10 days I missed on behalf of my imperfect teeth and the fact that my legs had used that time to forget much of what they'd been taught.

By mile 8, I knew it was going to be tough; by mile 10 I was seriously plodding, and by mile 12, although I had plenty of breath left in me, everything between my knees and my hips had declared quitting time. It certainly wasn't a wall and I definitely didn't hit it: the good news was I was still able to make fairly painless progress once I walked and I was always confident that I could make it home, eventually. But it was my toughest run yet and worryingly bad.

Photo thanks: Robert Linder

Seal sighting

After almost two weeks without running, I was glad to find my legs still working yesterday. They weren't working very fast or very willingly, but that's OK, I've figured out that dental work puts a dent in my overall energy levels and I can get back up to speed gradually.

The highlight of our outing was the sighting of a harbor seal in the water a couple of miles from home - certainly not unheard of, but the first time I've seen one in our zip code. Needless to say the run came to a grinding halt in order to watch the seal for a few minutes.

According to Wikipedia, adult seals can grow to just over 6 feet and weigh 290 lbs. Females outlive males (30–35 years versus 20–25 years). They stick to familiar resting spots, generally rocky areas where land predators can't reach them, near a steady supply of fish to eat.

I suspect this one was a little outside his or her usual territory, but if they want to move into this neighborhood, that's just fine with me.

Photo thanks: Silvia Cosimini

Why so quiet?

I decided that the week after the half marathon was a good time to schedule some minor but not-too-fun surgery for my teeth. All is well, but with stitches in my mouth I'm going to take a short break from pavement-pounding.

However, I won't be resting on my laurels for too long: in 5 short months I'll be trotting 26 miles and there's work to do between now and then!

Photo thanks: Falk Schaaf

Wow, that felt great!

Considering how unfit I've felt in the last couple of weeks, today's half marathon went staggeringly well.

(Can you see me on the right, in the yellow? Kidding.)

We had close to ideal weather and Beloved Husband was a wonderfully supportive wing-man, never letting on that he was bored with this gentle trot!

Hats off to the race organizers for plenty of toilets, oodles of volunteers, and well-enforced starting corrals. It was a pleasant, if undramatic, course around the neighborhoods of San Jose, with lots of support from local residents (thank you, San Jose-ans!) and the promised rock bands every mile.


We enjoyed seeing and applauding the leaders from the other side of the road (they were somewhere around mile 12 and we had yet to reach 6!) but then got a huge boost when we were at the same point and encountered the resolute walkers going the other way.



My chip time was 2:08:51, which gave a big yah-boo-sucks to my previous (February 2008) equivalent of 2:20:ish (gun-timed, foul weather). And I was thrilled that my overall pace was under 1o minutes per mile.

Age: 37 Gender: F

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	2:11:41
Chip Time	2:08:51
Overall Place	4110 / 9892
Gender Place	1516 / 5599
Division Place	300 / 993
Age Grade	52.2%
Pace	9:50
Ttlrace	9892
Ttldiv	993
Ttlsex	5599
5 Km	31:41
10 Km	1:02:57
10 Mi	1:40:32

If you're good with numbers, you'll notice I sped up as the race progressed. :) Per Beloved Husband's advice, I took it easy until half way, sped up a little between miles 7-11, and then got a serious wiggle on for the last 2 miles.


I'm also sending warm thoughts and hopes to the guy receiving heart massage from the paramedics, right before the finish line. Sincerely hope he is OK and that he'll complete his last tenth of a mile, another day.

Photo thanks: San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Race countdown

Well, the San Jose Rock & Roll half marathon has really crept up on me. Just 5 days to go and I'm in the taper zone and trying not to be really concerned that I don't feel fitter and more ready.

The good news is, I know I can trot 13.1 miles. It's just I was hoping to go considerably faster than 11 minutes per mile and ideally beat my previous half marathon time. But I still don't feel like that silly cough has left me, and the last couple of times I've been out, running "pace" (10 minute miles) has been really hard.

So the plan this week is for early nights, better eating, and lots and lots of water!

Who stole the sunrise?

This is the time of year when we seem to be losing daylight the fastest - almost my entire run this morning was in the dark.

However, that wasn't the part that bothered me. Since the half marathon is now less than 2 weeks away, I'm supposed to be gently tapering the training and running no faster than 10 minute miles. In reality, I found I was running at 10.5 minute pace and it felt like hard work.

I'm praying it's because the cold isn't quite gone and that I'm feeling a bit tired from our (lovely but taxing) house guests. It looks like some seriously early nights, healthy eating, and general relaxation will be needed if I stand any chance of doing OK on October 4th.

Photo thanks: Carlos del Arco

Trotting at Tahoe

The climb from zero feet above sea level in the San Francisco Bay Area, to 6000 feet at Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, usually leaves me feeling cranky and listless for a day or two. In addition to that I was still fighting off a cold and my lungs had enough to keep them busy.

However, it's not every day you wake up in the scenery of Lake Tahoe so I hauled myself out of bed for a trot beside the Truckee River. We found a lovely bike path that runs close to Highway 89 and I covered a respectable distance before we admitted we probably couldn't make it to Tahoe City and back.

My Dad later pointed out that taking the bus from Squaw Valley to Tahoe City, and running back, would make a nice 7 mile outing. We'll save that for another time.

Photo thanks: Marici Marchini