I had intended to prepare for this race by continuing the 3-4x weekly runs I'd been doing since late November, and building up to ten miles. My longest run ended up being just under eight miles, a Crissy Field run in February that left me soaked through and through with freezing rain. Since then I never stayed quite on a regular schedule, but figured I'd still have it in me to go the 12K (~7.5 miles) for this race as long as I did 9 minute run, 1 minute walk intervals.
I felt relaxed the day before, didn't carbo-load or do anything special to prepare for the race, other than getting to bed relatively early. I got up at 5:30 a.m., and had my usual cup of black tea with soymilk and sugar but no other food. Showered, dressed, kissed
Arrived at "Corral C", i.e. 12 min/mile runners, and began looking for
The race began, I crossed the start line about four minutes later and started my watch. I stuck to my planned 9 minute run, 1 minute walk intervals, always moving to the right side of the road before slowing to a walk. It was hot and I definitely felt the heat despite wearing only a bra and shorts. I brought some water in my Camelbak even though I knew there would be water stops, and that turned out to be a good plan as the first water station I stopped at was ill-prepared. When I did get some I poured half of it directly over my head, which felt great.
The Hayes Street Hill was not fun, but other than the planned one-minute interval I did not need to slow completely to a walk. Still, I was feeling pretty miserable going up that hill in the heat, but once I crested the top I was fine. From then on I felt actually pretty good, and was pleased to see I wasn't as far off the 12 min/mile pace as I expected I might be.
Ran out of water by mile 5, and unluckily the water stops disappeared by that point as well. Despite the thirst I still felt strong. If I had any doubts, I just told myself I wasn't going to be running for over 90 minutes, I was just doing a lot of small nine-minute runs with breaks in between. Crossed the finish line in 1:34 by my watch, which turned out to be very close to the official time of 1:33:52.
Got water as soon as possible, drank and doused myself quickly. Posed for a finish-line photo, then followed the crowd hoping to find food. Got a goodie bag, dug in eagerly and found only a tiny airline-style packet of honey-roasted peanuts. After walking for nearly a mile and still not getting to the "Footstock" expo, I gave up, turned around, and headed to
Greeted by
Caught the N-Judah, after an hour we stopped at Van Ness, did not move, and were eventually told the car had a malfunction. People panicked when the doors wouldn't open and were trying the emergency override. I just grumbled and waited. When the doors finally opened I walked toward the 49 bus stop while sending Ziggy a text, and he invited me to come visit him at the opera a few blocks away. I enjoyed his company and a great pumpernickel bagel-hummus-avocado-onion sandwich he made me from their brunch leftovers; ideal refueling food. Refreshed, I walked home.
I really surprised myself with how well I did in this race. Granted, 12:35 pace is hardly elite level, but considering how little running I've done in the past month I expected worse, especially with the heat. I truly felt like I could have turned around and run the whole thing again afterward, and in fact walked probably a good 3-4 miles total after the race.
So I've been officially bitten by the running bug again, which will hopefully be a good thing this time around. I even e-mailed the San Francisco Marathon to ask if I could change my 5K registration to a half-marathon registration instead, as I'll have over two months to train for it. It will cost me another $65, but it would be great to run the Golden Gate Bridge. Wish me luck!