Week Eight—the Chronicle Marathon

Looking off to the side of the starting line at 5 am. The big building in the background is the Hyatt Regency, where I spent the night before the marathon.

I finished the Chronicle Marathon in 6:29:40 (unofficially). Yay! My goal was 6:40, and I did better than my goal. And nearly a half an hour better than my time in last year's Honolulu Marathon! And I felt better when I finished than I did in Honolulu. I can definitely tell that I'm much better trained than I was last year.

The Golden Gate Bridge with its head in the fog, at around mile 5.

I was really nervous about running this marathon, though. My biggest worry, aside from the fact that I'd interrupted my training for it and hadn't had time to do a 26-mile training run beforehand, was that the course is only open for seven hours (if you include the 5 am early start, which I did), and the traffic barriers are lifted after at most six hours. I was fairly confident about being able to finish in less than seven hours after my 24-mile training run, but I was still concerned about possibly being out there on the course all alone and getting lost after they took up the traffic barriers. Turns out I didn't need to worry. There weren't a lot of other marathoners around me for the last hour or so, but there were always a few in sight. And even though the traffic barriers had been lifted by the time I got out of Golden Gate Park (earlier than the 10 am they said the roads would be closed through!), there were still volunteers manning water stations and directing us at turns with their cheerful yellow flags. So there was no problem finding the way. And everyone was so enthusiastic and encouraging! All the way to the end, there were well-wishers cheering us on, and quite a crowd remained at the finish line. It really made a difference to see so many people out there pulling for us.

The bison paddock in Golden Gate Park. (Yes, those little brown blobs are bison.) Mile 10.

I did my 3:2 interval pretty much all the way. My darned watch died at mile two, so I ended up using my spare (and I'm so glad I decided to bring it along!), but it doesn't time splits or intervals, so I was just watching the time and trying to run/walk more or less when I was supposed to. Obviously it wasn't exactly 3:2, but it was close enough. I averaged just under 15 minutes/mile. I think my actual pace was about 14 minutes/mile, with time added for hills (and there were some doozies, most especially the two mile climb up to Fort Point from the Marina—my ears popped!), water stops, bathroom breaks (I only took one, and there was no waiting, a considerable improvement over Honolulu's 15 - 30-minute lines for the bathrooms), and waiting for traffic lights for the last 7 miles or so. I took three aspirin at about mile 18. I think it really does help when your legs start to feel heavy and unmoveable. I ran it in with a smile on my face, feeling pretty good!

Coming back up the Great Highway along the ocean. I always get a kick out of these three houses: pink, chartreuse & teal, and olive green, one right after the other. Between Miles 13 and 14. Over half way there!

Afterwards, I walked around for a while at the Expo, ate a banana, got a 20-minute massage of my arms and legs, and then headed back to my hotel. I'd spent the night at the Hyatt Regency, which is right next to the starting line, in order not to have to worry about getting a taxi or taking public transportation to the race at 4 am on Sunday morning. It was a good idea. Really cut down on the stress. Took a quick shower and changed (into my Chronicle Marathon tee-shirt and finisher's medal!), checked out and had lunch at the café there (Alaskan Salmon Nicoise! Yum!) before heading home. Where I am now taking it easy and enjoying the aftermath of my second marathon!

The finish line on the Embarcadero with the Clock Tower in the background, from across the street in Justin Herman Plaza, where the Expo was going on.

Whew! Now I can just "relax" and rejoin my regularly scheduled AIDS Marathon training already in progress. Next week—only six miles!

Week Seven

This week we did ten miles—the hard way! It was a very hilly run, up the Great Highway past the Cliff House, along the cliff trails, through the golf course and out past Baker Beach, through Sea Cliff (the rich people's neighborhood), out to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. I remember this run from last year—somehow, it seemed as if it was uphill all the way there, and uphill all the way back again! I did better this time, but it was a lot more tiring than my usual out-to-the-ocean-and-back-again ten miles.

I was a bit worried that the pace might be too fast for me, after last week's difficult hot and hilly run, and being too tired to do any of my mid-week runs this week, but I did okay, although I was fairly tired by the time we finished. We were considerably slower than 14 minutes/mile, I think, due to all the hills and water stops and bathroom breaks. Which was fine by me! I didn't want to get all worn out this week and not have any energy left for next week's marathon! So I'm happy with it.

The one bummer about today's run was that my watch went wacko in the middle of it. First it kept losing the intervals, then it quit working altogether. There were other people timing the run, so it was okay for today, but I need a working watch for next week. I got it reset and working again after the run, but I'll need to watch it and test it out this week to see if it's going to keep working.

Fundraising is up to about $600. I'm going to have to start sending out some more letters....

New eBay Auctions!

Because of my vacation, I haven't listed any new auctions in a couple of weeks, but I'm back now and have five new listings up, and will be adding more soon.

Unfortunately, I've had to start adding shipping charges to my auctions. Most of the stuff I'm selling is only going for a few bucks, and the shipping costs have been eating up all my proceeds! I will still be donating the amount of all winning bids to the AIDS Marathon, but I'll be charging a separate shipping charge to cover the cost of mailing the items.

Check out my auctions at my eBay About Me page. And remember, donations of items to auction are welcome, as are donations of money!

Week Six

I was out of town this week, visiting my brother near Tehachapi, California, so I did my run on my own up in the Tehachapi mountains. It was very tempting to just skip this week's run! It was in the low 100's every day, very dry and hilly and about 4000 feet elevation. I didn't run on Sunday, but then I felt guilty so I went out on Monday to do my eight miles. I started out at around 7 am, to avoid the heat. At first, I was going to run along the trails around my brother's 40 acres, but the ground was too uneven and brushy. I was afraid I was going to trip and fall, and I kept getting burrs in my shoes. So I went out to the road instead. My brother had told me that if I turned right at the end of the driveway, it was probably about four miles to the end of the road. So I ran to the end of the road and back.

It was a beautiful run, but a hard one—lots of hills, lots of heat even at 8 am, very dry. I filled my water bottle before I went out, but I could have used two full bottles of water, and there was no place to refill it along the way. But I did it! It really makes me appreciate running in San Francisco!

I'm up to about $550 raised so far. Less than $2500 to go!

Week Five

That's me, waving and squinting in my AIDS Marathon yellow singlet

My friend Lilith took this photo of me marching with the AIDS Marathon contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade last Sunday. I had a great time! Met lots of other runners from other sites and pace groups who were marching, passed out info about the AIDS Marathon program and other AIDS services, and got seriously sunburned in the wacky (for San Francisco) June heat. I had such a full weekend, I was exhausted all week! But I finally recuperated enough to get out there and do my training run today.

Today I ran with the Christine Clark group, doing a 15 minute/mile pace and a 2:2 run/walk ratio. We ran through Golden Gate Park, once around Stow Lake, up to around the Academy of Sciences and back, a total of seven miles. It was a nice, relaxing run, which was good because after we were done and I'd caught up with my regular pace group for a few minutes, I headed out again for another 17 miles!

For the remaining miles, I did my usual 3:2 run/walk ratio, and went to the end of the park and back, down Great Highway to Sloat and back, and then up MLK and Middle Drive through the park, out the Panhandle and home. There is a psychological advantage to running the first seven miles with a group, taking a short break, and then running another 17 miles. It feels like doing two shorter runs, rather than one long run of 24 miles. I was feeling a little tired, though, and achy in my legs when I got back to Great Highway, and at around mile 15 I decided to try the aspirin trick again and see if it would help. Caught my second wind at about 16 miles, which is just about when the aspirin would have kicked in, and ran the rest of the way feeling strong and happy. That was also about when the sun came out. Aspirin? Sunshine? Both? Whatever it was, it worked. I ran well for the rest of the way. Even the Baker Street hill didn't phase me!

I got a clue this time and just left my stopwatch running the whole time, from the time we started the seven-mile run until I got home. And finished the entire 24 miles in 6:02:35! That averages out to just about 15 minutes/mile, which is great, considering it includes all the bathroom breaks and slow first seven miles and the ten minutes or so I hung out after the seven-mile run before I started running again. And I felt great afterwards! I'm psyched. If I can maintain that pace for the Chronicle Marathon, I should be able to finish in around 6:40, which is what I've been shooting for. Go me!

Fundraising update! I'm up to about $400 total, with $200 in donations and about $200 in charity auction sales. Only $2600 to go! Keep those donations coming!

I've applied for a job with the AIDS Marathon office, doing data base entry. Do you think it would help if I told them I'd probably be donating most of my earnings back to the program? :)