Bay to Breakers 2011

Dave and I got up at 4:30 am on Sunday to run in the 100th Bay to Breakers, an annual foot race in San Francisco.  It is a 12K (7.46 miles although my watch said 7.6 miles).  Basically, you go from one end of the city to the other end.  Really, really cool.

The starting line

We were in Corral C and crossed the start at about 7:05 am. That was only 5 minutes after the elite runners began.  Considering over 40,000 people attend this event, I think that's pretty darn good.  One of my worries (and there were plenty with this particular run) didn't come true as there were lots of bathrooms available. Whew!  We didn't run the whole time and just ran and walked as we felt.  According to my Garmin, I still burned over 750 calories though!

Finishers medal

In the spirit of the event, we dressed as a police officer (me) and a flasher (Dave).  To answer your next question, why yes, Dave wore his running outfit under the trench coat.  Also, even though it was cool and breezy with some occasional rain, we were still warm.

Dave and I wondering why we got up so early!

We saw about a dozen naked men, one naked woman, about another dozen men dressed as Elvis, smurfs, smurfettes, super heroes of all kinds, Thing 1 and Thing 2, cowboys and cowgirls, women in full fake tattoo bodysuits, salmon running upstream on Hayes Street Hill, Harry Cordellos, a small herd of cows, Blue Man group, a bunch of grapes, women in tutus, men in tutus, Little Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks, lots of bad '80's track suits, a swarm of bumble bees, a cupcake, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, wigs in all colors, Borat in the infamous bathing suit, 3 women dressed as Avatars, President Obama, and lots of Giants baseball players.  All I know is some people are going to have some wicked chafing problems this week.

So many different kinds of costumes and people and colors, young and old.. and everyone having a great time.  

Some of the more tame costumes

Between mile 6 and 7, an older gentleman was walking near us and he asked us if we knew what 26 times 7.46 was.  "Huh?" we both thought.  Turns out the man had run or walked in 25 other Bay to Breakers and this was his final one.  His knees just can't do it anymore.  We pulled out our phones and brought up the calculator.   He was beyond thrilled when we told him he had run 192.4 miles.

Hayes Street Hill... it really is really steep!

Just as you make it past the 7 mile marker you see the ocean.  What a sight to see!  I didn't take any more photos as I just wanted to soak it all in and enjoy the moment.

It was a great race in a great city.

Drinking on the run

Well, there hasn't been much in the way of running around here even though the Bay to Breakers is, oh, let's see, um, just under 2 weeks away!  Yikes!  We'll be okay though considering this is more a party than an actual run.

Either way, Dave and I will be prepared with plenty of hydration relief.  I've tried lots of drinks and the best so far is Cytomax.  It's really easy on my stomach and not super sweet at all.  Pomegranate Berry is a current favorite.

Another drink I've used during runs over two hours is Perpetuem by Hammer.  The Orange Vanilla is super tasty, too.

Also, I'm a fan of Hammer's Montana Huckleberry and Rasberry gels for runs over 45 minutes.  Oh man, the first tastes like a sweet treat and the second is like eating the inside of a jelly doughnut.  Yummy.  For me, if it doesn't taste good then it just makes things worse.

I've tried Clif and Gu products and they're okay in a pinch.  Also, the Clif Shot Bloks are good because I can chew them and somehow that distracts me from the pain of running.  And well, any type of distraction is welcome.

After long runs, I like a mix of Cytomax and Hammer's Whey Protein in Vanilla.  One time after a run of eleven miles, I drank a Muscle Milk and it just made my stomach roll.  It took a while for my insides to settle down.  I drank another Muscle Milk after my first half marathon and it went down fine and then again after the second half in April however it was kind of warm.  I think it's better when it's icy cold.  You run and learn, I guess...

It's done!

Dave and I finished "The Other Half" US Half Marathon in San Francisco!  

Hooray!

Dave and I just before we left for the starting line.

Random thoughts:

- The Ghiradelli parking garage is tight for an '02 Toyota Tundra

- Seeing the sun rise over the East Bay just as the race started was gorgeous

- We chose to put our own names on our bibs but the guy who put 'Super Genius' on his was hilarious

- Running over the Golden Gate Bridge and then back under and back over again... priceless

There's a moment that the course takes you under the Marin side of The Bridge.  Wow.  You come down this dirt trail with the sun shining in your face and the most gorgeous purple cone shaped flowers and The Bridge is above you to the right and The City is off to your left.  It is amazing.  

 The flip side to that is you have to get back up on The Bridge... yes, the dreaded uphill.  Not fun at all.

Dave and I ran together for about 5 miles and then somewhere on The Bridge he said to me, "Run your race."  I looked up at him and said, "I love you" and he said the same and that's when we split up.  His IT band just wouldn't shut up and he had to walk.  We looked at his heart rate monitor and he basically had to stop 2 times each mile.  He explains the pain as someone sticking a knife in his knee.  Um, ouch. 

I won't bore you with all the details of the running I did between mile 5 and 13 which was basically me just running and running and running so instead I'll post a photo of The Bridge.

Ah, so beautiful!

I got choked up just as I ran passed the 13 mile marker.  I kept thinking to myself, 'Keep Going!'  The tears sprang to my eyes and I had that weird happy ecstatic smile going.  Kind of like an ugly cry covered in sweat.  Speaking of sweat, some lady right at the end had a sign that said, "Sweaty girls are hot!" and it made me laugh breaking the crazy emotional moment I was having.  And then I was done.  The announcer said my name (see this is where having your name printed on your bib comes in handy) and I crossed the finish line.

I wobbled around and found the lady that was taking your chips and then giving the medals out.  She handed it to me and said, "Congratulations!"  

I had just enough time to get a free recovery drink and a cool stainless steel water bottle and stretch for a moment and then look for Dave.  He ran over the finish line and saw me.  Gave me a big smile, a high five and a kiss. 

So, now I have 2 really cool souvenirs from when I ran over the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Running again.

We ran 8 miles yesterday and it was a good 8 miles.  Definitely better than the attitude I had when we ran 12 miles last week.  Dave is having some trouble with his IT band and hopefully it will all work out.

This week we pick up our bib numbers, timing chips and shirts.  Not really that freaked out about it.  The work has been done and well you can't train much more now.

The weather forecast for next weekend is cool but sunny.  Hooray!  When I ran this course last November it rained the entire time.  It was not a perfect day and yet I really enjoyed it.  Yup, I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed it because... I RAN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!!!

And I'm gonna do it again.

Yesterday we ran 12 miles...

...and it wasn't pretty.  I think I wasn't hydrated enough.  Near the end, I did a shot of Hammer Gel and that seemed to help the last mile or so. 

Less than 2 weeks until 13.1 miles.  I checked the website to confirm we are registered.  We are.  Can't get our money back either...

Speaking of hydration, here is the fuel belt I use.  Basically the one you see out there the most.  I've filled it with water, Cytomax and more recently, Heed. 

Running music

So, when I first started running, I used our big iPod.  Lugged that thing around for what reason?  I don't know.  Anyway, I figured out that the little iPod Shuffles we had worked a lot better.  Then for Mother's Day last year, Dave and the children got me an iPod Nano that has a cool feature where you can hook up this little pod to your shoe and then it talks to your Nano.  Kind of cool except when you accidentally put the entire Nano in the washing machine.  Big time bummer.  That pretty much does the Nano in.  Anyway, in the time that we were, thankfully, getting our money back for the Nano, I got the Forerunner watch.  That watch pretty much does everything the Nano did plus more.

So, now I'm back to the Shuffle and it works.  I've compiled a playlist of just over an hour of music.  And now for your listening pleasure I give you a selection of some of my favorites that I run to.

Allman Brothers, Midnight Rider

Jay-Z, Empire State of Mind

Florence + The Machine, The Dog Days Are Over

Survivor, Eye of The Tiger (naturally)

There are others that get me through a particularly tough spot but these will do for now.

We ran again.

Dave and I ran 7 miles together this weekend.  He said if it weren't for me he wouldn't have done it.  If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have run as fast.  Fast is a relative term here...

Untitled by david.c.christy at Garmin Connect - Details

It was fun (sort of) running in a different area.  It wasn't a particularly hilly area but it had its challenges.

So I have tried a variety of socks.  I like Asics low cut running socks.  I'm not a fan of the ankle socks or socks that are thick either.  Silly as it seems, socks are oddly important as it turns out just like the right pair of shoes.  Anyway, I'm learning as I go with this sport.  Does this mean then that I play a sport?  And does that mean I'm an athlete?  Pish, I say.

I ran with my husband

Today, my husband and I ran together.  He is an avid cyclist.  He is strong like bull on his bicycle.  He wants to run more and today he ran with me.  It was a challenge because we both wanted to run in this hilly area near our house but it was, well, tough.  We started out good and then the hills began so we just turned around and continued on some trails that were flatter.  Much better.

It was warm today.  It was good to have a visor but Dave took off his hat.  The visor I use is an Asics like this one:

I chose white since it keeps me cool and there are days in the summer that even the color of my visor helps to decrease my temp.  It also catches the sweat which is so very important.  Gross but important.

I forgot to add that we signed up for the 100th Bay to Breakers, too.  Should be a lot of fun!

I ran in circles.

On Sunday, I ran around a track near our house. Round and round and round and round again. I thought I would be bored but I wasn't. Inside the track there were children playing soccer or practicing soccer or minimally running around chasing a soccer ball with a parent blowing a whistle behind them. The time went by fast.

Dave took the children to the park that is attached to the track. Every time I got close to the playground, the family would run out to me and give me a high five. Totally awesome. At one point, Ashleigh ran a lap with me.


So for what it's worth I ran just over 3 miles and my average moving pace was 10:36 min/mile. Better than I thought I was doing.

I'm trying to shoot for closer to 10:15 min/mile and then even closer to just a straight 10:00 min/mile. So for those interested in how I keep track of this minutia, I use this fabulous gem, the Garmin Forerunner 405CX:

The price tag is a bit lofty however I got a $50 rebate plus used a 20% off coupon and dividend points from REI. I think that brought it down to less than half the original price.


Amazing little piece of machinery. So while I don't really need to scrutinize every tiny detail of a run, I really want to know what my heart rate was while I was nearing collapse at the end of that 3 miles.


Untitled by david.c.christy at Garmin Connect - Details

Today I ran.

It's been a while since I ran or jogged, whatever you want to call what I do.  Shuffle at times even.

So, I don't want to get into "My Half Marathon Story" right now let's just say I ran a half marathon last November.

I am going to do it again in April.  I get a cool medal in April that clips into my first medal from November.  Such a sucker for the shiny medal and well really gimmicky marketing but dangit I want that other medal.

Today, I ran 3 miles around the neighborhood.  It was nice and sunny out and kind of warm too.  Around the 1.7 mile mark, I got a cramp in my diaphragm.  Fudge.

So, 1) it's already painful enough to breathe and run after taking an extended break from running (oh who am I kidding, it's painful all time!) and 2) all of that breathing and running is really, really painful when you have a cramp.  I tried the technique of taking a good deep breathe and then letting it out slowly.  That sort of worked.  Oh, and my feet were kind of numb at one point.  Awesome again!  Both things worked themselves out by the time I got home.

I used to joke that I would run only if I was being chased. Wonder what's chasing me... ?