Decisions, decisions

Having gotten all fired up by running Bay to Breakers, I'm now considering running the Chronicle Marathon again. I'm a good four weeks behind in my training, but if I get right back into it now, I can be more or less ready by race day. I'm already registered, so it won't cost me anything more to try. And if I can't finish before the official timing ends, well, at least I'd have the experience and a good day's run.

Another option would be to run the half-marathon instead. That would be much more doable. I'm sure I could finish that in the time allowed.

Marathon? Half-marathon? Neither? I suppose I could go ahead and try to train for the marathon, and decide when it gets a little closer to race day.

Argh! Decisions, decisions!

Bay to Breakers

I ran the Bay to Breakers in 1:44, which is about 14 minutes per mile. Yay!

I headed out early to meet my gang of AIDS Marathon alumni at 7 am. I had forgotten exactly where we were supposed to meet, but I just kept my eye out for AIDS Marathon tee-shirts and managed to find them. I was very happy to discover that my friend Leigh was in the group -- she'd been in my pace group, although she mostly ran on Saturdays instead of Sundays -- so we ran together. We attracted some attention in our AIDS Marathon singlets, and encouraged several people to sign up for this year's training, so that part of the day's work was done!

We lined up on Howard Street, as close to the official runners as we could manage, and waited under skies full of flying tortillas and beach balls. Apparently, it's traditional to toss tortillas while waiting for the race to start. Who knew? At 8 am, the race began.

It had begun to sprinkle lightly while we waited, and by the time we'd gone a few miles, it was raining outright. Not heavily, but enough to get us thoroughly soaked after running in it for a while. Fortunately, it wasn't terribly cold, at least as long as we were running. The worst part, for me, was that my glasses fogged up so badly I couldn't see. I had to take them off, but without my glasses I still couldn't see!

Bay to Breakers is a race where the race guide specifies that naked running is not allowed. Bay to Breakers is a race where people run naked anyway. We saw quite a few bare butts (and other body parts) along the way. I'd estimate there were at least 30 naked runners, probably more that we didn't see. There were men in drag, women in fairy costumes, and at least one Spiderman. I saw a centipede of fish (with one fisherman in a "boat") and one of Vikings. And many wet people just running and having a good time.

I felt pretty good the whole way—even up the Hayes Street hill. Leigh and I did a 4:2 run/walk ratio, and it worked well for me. I was glad that I had so much experience running in Golden Gate Park—we hit mile four just as we entered the park, but I was so familiar with the route that the last three and a half miles went by easily.

It was after the race was over that things started to get uncomfortable. The rain continued, and we were no longer running to keep warm. I went along to the Polo Fields to pick up my finisher's tee-shirt, but after that I just wanted to go home. And so did several thousand other people. I walked as far as 22nd Avenue and Fulton to wait for a bus, but the 5 was so full it just passed us by. So I walked up to Balboa to try to catch a 31. No bus in sight for ten minutes or so, so I walked on up to Geary to wait for a 38. No sign of a 38 either. So I just started walking. Still raining. Still soaking wet. Still cold. Walked all the way to Arguello before a bus came by that would stop. It was crowded, but it was just good to be able to stand in a nice warm bus for the last few blocks. It took about an hour and a half to get home after getting my tee-shirt. Yikes!

But I'm home now, dried off and fed and happy to have run my first Bay to Breakers!

Another AIDS Marathon?

Tonight I'm puttering around getting ready for tomorrow's Bay to Breakers. I've got my clothes all laid out, my runner number bib pinned to my singlet, my fanny pack loaded up with Goo and wallet and keys. I'm going to be meeting with twenty or so other AIDS Marathon alumni to run together and promote this year's AIDS Marathon Training Program.

I've been going back and forth all year on whether to do the AIDS Marathon again. On the one hand, it was a lot of fun, a lot of good exercise, a worthy cause, and a great vacation in Hawaii. On the other hand, I've been really tired and kind of down lately. I decided not to try to do the Chronicle Marathon after all—the course is only going to be open for seven hours, and I'm not sure I'd be able to finish in that time—and that was disappointing. And I'm not working this year, so I'm not sure I'll be able to come up with the money if I can't raise the $3000 in donations.

But, you know, if it were going to be easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. I guess I'll just have to work harder, both at doing the runs and raising the money. At least this year I'll have a head start on the training—I have been keeping up with my running and am still doing as many as twelve or thirteen miles each Sunday. And getting ready for the Bay to Breakers has reminded me just how exciting running a race can be.

So watch this space! Training begins on June 8 this year.