Giant Race Half Marathon

ready to run the Giant Race Half Marathon for the 3rd year in a row!

remember when i ran it last year with not much training and having gone out the night before? similar story. i didn't really train this year, though i did do a 10 mile run the week before to make sure i was capable of completing the 13.1 miles. 

the crowd waiting to get running

this year i ran it three minutes slower than last year but i'm not really trippin' about it. i think running 13.1 miles is an accomplishment in itself. maybe next year i'll shoot for a better time though. we'll see!

this year they let everybody hang out on the green after the race, which was pretty cool. in years past they've only really let you walk around the green. 

ran into Tess, who completed the 10k! high five, Tess!!

hi, have you met my giant shiny forehead yet? oh, you didn't know that i morph into looking like an alien after half marathons?? well it's true. 

yeah i did!

immediately following the half marathon i went to my favorite ice cream spot, Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous because 1) it was close by and 2) i deserve it (discounting the fact that i ate all sorts of junk food at Comedy Jam the night prior haha). i got the chicory coffee and the mint fudge with their aaahhmazing hot fudge to top it all off. in about ten minutes flat i pretty much ate back all of the calories burnt running that morning. 

Color Me Rad

i've always been interested in joining a Holi Festival. not sure what that is? to be quite honest i'm not really in the know about Holi either. all i know is that it's an Indian celebration of colors and that part of the tradition involves throwing colorful powders at people in a large crowd. sounds like fun, right? well so far i haven't been able to be a part of that, however this weekend a bunch of us got together to run Color Me Rad, a 5k in which as you run you're more than heavily dusted with powdered chalks of various neon colors. or to sum it up in one word, awesome! and in a sense similar to Holi. it was a ton of fun and a crazy mess. 

Ruby, Natasha and i

the before shot with our nice white socks

you guys know Jerome Jeremy right? that's my bro! we look nothing alike, huh?

"so fresh n so clean clean"

Larin, Andreas, Ray, myself, Dave, tan, Ruby, Neil, Natasha, Christine, Ada, Alaina, Mary, Jeremy

this is still before the race. we just needed a little color to get us going.

getting a little color before starting the race

in line to run. we ended up starting with the last heat. 

walking into clouds of color.

so whoever was at the last color station decided to throw chalk directly in my face. cool, dude. i've always wanted blue teeth, a distinguished blue nose and the feeling of choking while powder and moisture form a paste in my throat. 

while i was literally running, i ran into my friend Joe! 

thanks for telling me my teeth were blue, Joe! not!  

=)

the ER crew

the radiology crew. 

after Color Me Rad we went to The Boiling Crab. so. fun (not really) fact. i don't like eating messy things with my hands. chicken wings are eaten with two fingers on one side and fork for support on the other. odd, i know. ribs are eaten with a fork and knife. crab, lobster, shrimp and other things are generally not eaten at all unless they've been shelled prior to being placed in front of me for consumption. and no, i'm not high maintenance enough to have someone do it for me. i just avoid it completely. so rather than get my hands all gross i stuck with a basket of fried shrimp and fries.

our faces are still marked with chalk, if you couldn't tell. Natasha doesn't typically have a 5 o'clock shadow and my face isn't usually that nice shade of Ninja Turtle green. 

Tan ordered a giant lobster to himself and then disgustingly took the guts out and placed them too close to me. oh, i didn't tell you? not only do i not like eating with my hands but it grosses me out to watch people dive into saucy foods with their grubby little fingers. if you're ever in a situation where i'm witness to your savage eating ways, don't mind my face of disgust. i promise you, it's not you, it's me. you can carry on. 

fun times! thanks for coordinating everything, Tan!! 

121:365 keys

120:365 keys
when i run i tie my keys to my shorts.

Giant Race: Plate to Plate

after the race in front of my house. looking all beat.

in February of this year i had the notion that i wanted to run another half marathon, evidenced by this post. i wanted to prove to myself that i could do it again but i'm sure part of it had to do with feeling like a lard-ass too. i figured that if i had a goal to work towards i would force myself to run faster and stronger. at that point in time i felt motivated and eager to begin training for my second half marathon.

in March, after coming home from a trip to Thailand, i felt a slump in my workouts and wasn't motivated to exercise as much as i normally do. feeling upset with myself, the the ideas of running the Giant Race  popped back into my head and i signed up. i had five months ahead of me to train. it was GO time.

as time went on i thought "well four months is good enough. last year i trained in three," then it became "well two months is probably enough. i've done it once, i'll do it again." then time continued to taper away and it became one month before the race. i tried and tried to run more than seven miles at a time and could never muster up enough motivation to do so. i'd hop on a treadmill, run five miles and call it quits because it was so boring. i would run around Lake Merced once (4.5 miles), never getting my breathing pattern right and giving up on making that second loop around. my body mind would tell me that i just didn't want to do it anymore. so one month before the race i resigned to just running the 10k instead of doing the half marathon. i felt fine with my decision and went on with my life.

typically the night before a big race like the Giant Race i would try to rest early, eat light and get anxious. the night before this race, i decided i wouldn't treat differently from any other day/night because i was just going to run 10k (6.2 miles) which isn't more than any typical workout i'd do on any given day. so after work i went to happy hour with some friends and had two vodka cranberries and two shots of Jameson. then we went to a surprise birthday party and i had another shot of Jameson. now that's five shots in the span of three hours, which is a lot for me, as i don't go out drinking very often. i've got to say, i was pretty tossed. but that didn't matter because i knew i'd be fine enough the next day to run the 10k. i went home around midnight to get at least a decent five hours of sleep before getting up for the race, but realized that i'd need to soak up some of the alcohol before i went to bed. i headed to McDonald's to get a double cheeseburger, small fries and a strawberry shake. not exactly the best things to eat the night before a race. but i figured it didn't really matter because again, it was no different than any normal run i'd do.

the morning of the race i still had the thought in my mind that i was going to just do the 10k. there's no way i could complete the half marathon i'd signed up to do without having trained. we got to AT&T Park around 7:30. i'd run into a couple of people i knew and told them that sadly i wouldn't be running the half anymore. then i found my brother and some friends who weren't confident they were ready to do the half, yet were still going to endure it. i saw all the people surrounding me with orange bibs, just like mine, who were going to run the half. then i thought about what it would look like to cross the finish line with the other people running the 10k, except i would stick out like a sore thumb because i had on an orange half marathon bib on and they all had a white 10k bib on. it would be obvious that i copped out.

Darrick, Jason, Jeremy and Stefan

 that's not sweat. Stefan spilled water all over himself. haha

this was taken right after deciding to actually do the half marathon.

we stood in the corral that was marked "slower than 9:00min/miles" or something of the like surrounded by a ton of people. if you've never been to a race, the hype is outstanding. you feel a sense of community. everybody is there to do the same thing: run! and spirits are always high. seeing people in bibs and running gear makes your heart beat faster and harder and somehow you feel a sense of happiness. in the last moments before the race started i changed my mind and decided that i'd do the half! i knew that without training it might be difficult and i might have to stop and walk. i'm the type of person who, when i set out to do something i want to do it without mishaps. to me, walking during a run is a mishap. but i thought that even if i had to walk some, it'd be better than having woken up early in the morning to run a distance i do on an average day anyway. i felt the need to push myself and in an instant flip of decision, i was nervous to run the half.

thoughts throughout the race:
miles 1&2: feeling fine. running at my normal pace of about 10min/mile.
mile 3: i pass the turn around point for the 10k and think to myself "thank god i didn't do the 10k. that just seems so short. it would've been pointless to come out to run such a short distance."
mile 6: still feeling fine. oh and HEY THERE'S BRIAN WILSON taking pictures with people and handing out high-fives!
mile 7: this route is much better than last year. if the fog wasn't here we'd see the bridge! wait, what? it's changing from cemented ground to dirt and gravel? now i have to adapt to that when my stride has been pretty steady on cement! oh man, at seven miles i normally feel like i don't want to run anymore but i'm feeling good. i could do this all day.
mile 9: okay, i'll make it to mile 10 without having stopped to walk at all. maybe i'll give myself a break at mile 11 to walk a bit.
mile 11: hmmm why am i still feeling quite well? my legs aren't dying, my breathing pattern is good. how could i be doing this without really training? AND i had a horrible midnight snack last night AND drank?? who am i? i feel like a beast!
mile 13: okay well i guess i'll just run the whole thing. no stopping or walking necessary. does this even make sense? how did i do that? i'm sure my time will be longer than last years pace but who cares. I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT.

i finished at 2 hours 11 minutes with an average pace of 9:56min/mile. last year i finished in 2 hours 12 minutes. not that it's a whole hell of a difference, but i beat my time by one minute! and this year i didn't train and ate like crap. last year i trained for three months and cut out desserts from my diet. i truly can't believe i did that with as much ease as i did. seriously. how??? i am SO glad that i chose to do the half rather than the 10k. i would have felt like i shorted myself. i feel strong. i feel awesome!

for my own future reference: my race results and video

gotta shape up for the next half marathon!

for the past four years or so it has been pretty habitual for me to do some form of workout between 4-6 times a week. my "lazy" weeks are usually never less than four. when i was doing P90x or Insanity, it wasn't enough to just do the hour dvd. i typically ran, cycled, or hopped on the elliptical for at least half an hour as well.  my body craves the cardio and i feel all sorts of anxious and overly energetic if i don't get in at least four workouts a week. i pride myself on being heart healthy and was ecstatic when i reached the point that i could run 13.1 miles nonstop without wanting to die afterward. getting to that point took a lot of work and consistency.


for the past two weeks i've been in Thailand and vowed not to workout during my vacation time. my mind was in gear to not work out for those two weeks. i told myself, "take your vacation time and enjoy it. don't worry about it, you'll just bounce right back when you get home." but somehow once that thought was in my head i put that plan in to action two weeks prior to vacation also. i still worked out three times for those two weeks prior, but that's a big decline from my normal routine.

i went to Thailand and had an amazing time. didn't think once about working out. in fact my boyfriend ran and swam once while i lounged by the pool and took a nap. i didn't feel bad. i was on vacation.

now let's talk about today and the past two days. of course coming back from vacation i knew i had to get back on track. and i know my body pretty well. i was certain that just a couple of weeks of nearly no physical activity would make my normal workouts that much harder. the first day i did an hour on the elliptical, which is normal for me but i felt more winded than normal. the second day i did half an hour on the elliptical and half an hour walking at a steep incline on the treadmill. same deal. winded. today it was gorgeous and i had every intention of running many a mile. on bright sunny days all i want to do is run or cycle outside, and that i did. however my intention to run six miles turned in to four, with a small break between miles 3 and 4. i neeeeeever walk or take breaks when i run. for some reason i feel defeated when i do that. so today i felt defeated. it makes me feel out of shape. and i know it's a result of my lack of activity for the past two/fourish weeks.

and it's not that i think i'm going to be stuck and not gain momentum up again. it's just that it sucks to have to do that. it feels like starting all over again, which i very well know it's not. muscle memory is a fantastic thing. so back to the grind. i'll be signing up for the Giants Plate to Plate Half Marathon in August for some motivation and a goal to look forward to. last year i ran it at a pretty steady 10:03min/mile pace. this year i think i'm going to aim for 9min/mile. wish me luck!! if anybody wants to join me, please do!

running a half marathon

when i was in middle school, i was a big chubster and ridiculously out of shape. every so often we would have to run the "turkey trot," which was one mile, starting at our school, through a residential neighborhood, park and up a hill back to school. one mile at that point seemed like it was to Egypt and back for me. i would walk most of it, except for the downhill portion of course. oh, but even then the course went right by my house and on occasion i would hide some juice or small bag of fruit snacks in a bush before i left for school so that while i was meandering and walking the turkey trot, i could grab a snack. i was so out of shape that by the time it took me 16 minutes to walk a mile and get back to school, i couldn't breathe. the extent of the amount of non-breathing i experienced was that of a person with asthma, except that i've never had asthma. i distinctly remember it feeling like i had a  fish bowl put over my head and the only air that got in my lungs was thick, hot and lacking in oxygen. it was pretty scary, but i had no desire to get in shape. i didn't even know what running really felt like.

eventually i started working out, losing weight, and becoming fairly obsessed with those things. i have done cycling, spinning, jogging, elliptical, P90x, Insanity, Slim in 6, a capoera bootcamp class, etc. mostly it was cardio.

but never in my life have i ever had the desire to run a half marathon. last year a friend asked if i would do it with her and i agreed to do it as a means to up my running abilities an opportunity to keep me on the track to weight loss. let's be real, i didn't give a crap about the ability to run 13.1 miles straight. all i cared about was the fact that it would help me either maintain my weight or lose more weight. prior to training for the half marathon the most i ever ran was 5 miles. through training it eventually became 7, then 9, then 12. in 3 months of training i tracked 218 miles of running.

 i don't generally care what i look like when i run, as you can clearly see above! what an outfit! haha!

on June 17, 2010 i ran the most i ever have in my life.  it was the Giant Race Half Marathon (aka Plate to Plate). 13.1 miles without stopping. not even for water. on that very hot morning i just grabbed Dixie cups with water or Gatorade and practically threw them in my face hoping that some of it would make it into my mouth. my time wasn't fast. i clocked in at 2hrs and 12min. that's just about 10min/mile. but the fact that i was in motion for that amount of time was a feat for me. naturally i was tired when i crossed over the finish line however i didn't feel like i was exhausted. they say that you get a "runner's high," and in that moment i definitely did. but just because i felt great about myself and how far i'd come didn't mean i ever wanted to run another half marathon. i felt like what i'd accomplished was enough for me, and i was happy with that.

fast forward to yesterday. i went to run Lake Merced which is 4.6miles according to my Garmin. the second i finished running once around the lake i wanted to stop. i felt defeated, as i initially wanted to run it twice. but considering i haven't been running like i was when i was training, i can't say i was incredibly surprised. i know in order to maintain the ability to do something you've got to continue with it. essentially if you don't use it, you lose it. a little more than half a year has passed since i ran the half marathon and now i want to ability to run it comfortably again. i think i'm going to run another one. this time it's not about weight loss (well okay, any exercise i do is usually meant to counteract all the food i eat), it's about ability and strength.