Climbs and Crossings

Another nice run downtown put on by Fleet Feet! This was the first year for this Memorial Day run, so the crowd was small, maybe a couple hundred people. The shirts were nice, the goodie bags were cool (popchips, granola, a JUMP ROPE!...) and some of the best, lively, supportive volunteers you could ask for. And can I just mention again, how cool it is to have Stockton Police officers posted up all along the course, because not only are we passing the scenic downtown waterfront, we're also passing the scenic downtown crazies and the tents under the freeway. The usual suspects and I headed down to run the 5k on Monday. A big Delta breeze was blowing in, so I wanted to get warmed up. In the process of warming up, I ran up on Alan Sanchez of Good Day Sacramento which means I was briefly on tv which means I was briefly famous. The proof is here: I actually started at the front of this race. Tony Vice of Fleet Feet was going lead the runners on his bike (cool). I even toed the lin...

We had a time. So 5 awesome people I know actually agreed to do this. GeNene, Staci, Jim, Kat, and Laura got to experience the 12 kilometers of mayhem in the streets of San Francisco that is Bay to Breakers.  The night before the big race we ate at a fancy italian place that was at the fancy hotel across the street from where we were staying (not fancy). We had some concern it might be too fancy, but we could walk to it, that was the important part. Staci and I pre-gamed by each drinking a bottle of wine at dinner. Jim said, "I'll have the bunny" when the waiter was taking his order, and then we all pulled out our iphones to show that we had checked in on facebook earning us free dessert. Also, GeNene may or may not have led our waiter to believe we were restaurant reviewers. We have Griswold class. So delicious and so free.  The next morning we were all up early to find somewhere to park near the finish and take the muni down to the start. It was chilly so w...

(that sometimes falls into the ocean) I've heard you're supposed to add anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes onto your marathon time to project your finish time for Big Sur. Because it's hard....SO... because 1)The course was altered this year to omit the two mile climb to Hurricane Point, and 2) Having done only one marathon previously- that was done after running a half marathon the day before, with a lot of pit stops and sometimes waiting in line to take pictures- I decided to actually *subtract* time to set my finish goals. Don't worry, I wasn't even halfway through before I felt like an idiot. We camped in Carmel at the Saddle Mountain RV park that had cozy campsites and was only a few miles from Carmel Middle School where I had to catch the bus to the start. I left about 4:30am, and Staci, Jim, and GeNene didn't have to be at the 5k start until 7:45. I hung out in the (warm) car as long as I could at the school, until about 5, knowing once I got to t...

This is not so much a race report as it is a congratulations to some people I love for finishing the 5k run. There's these ones: The Posse family of determination and accomplishment! And she completed her very first 5k, beating more than 50% of the women's field.  This run is in conjunction with the Asparagus Festival. A three day celebration of asparagus. I'm way into festivals because I grew up kind of pretty much in charge of my local hometown popcorn festival. And when I say in charge, I mean my mom was in charge. But yeah, I love a good festival! So along with festivals, I'm also way into traditions. So Staci ( My Posse ) and I have a tradition where we have a good time at the festival and have an aspara-mary.  The first photo is here.  BFF 2006 WHOA GIRLS! 2007. Somebody had to work, 2008. Posse back in action 2009. The dark year, 2010.  2011? A few things different, right? : Aspara-Marys replaced with Tomato/Clamato/Beer with an aspar...

The course was hard. Really hard. Here's how hard it was: The 35 and 50k started at 8:30, the 10k at 9:00, and the 21k...not until 10:30, which meant not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to drive to Berkeley. After getting a little lost in the Berkeley hills, we arrived at Lake Anza in Tilden Park with about an hour until the start. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. At 10:30 about 80 or 90 of us gathered between some orange cones to listen to instructions about blue ribbons and striped ribbons and then we were off. Within 20 seconds we hit the mud. Big mud. And not only mud but the first climb along with mud. So one step sinks your foot down six inches and slides you another foot or so in a random direction. And a rushing river coming downhill. It made the start of the race especially interesting. 5 minutes in and my shoes weighed 50 lbs each. Pretty sure I was grinning through it all. Once the trail dried out, the climb continued. I stayed steady and started to relax and enjo...

My first Pacific Coast Trail Run! The sea was angry that day my friends. We had plans to stay in Berkeley Friday night for some music at Freight and Salvage, so I was really excited to see that there was a trail run Saturday morning taking off from Rodeo Beach. Added to my excitement was the weather report that called for 30mph wind, rain, hail, lightning, and general mayhem. Combine that with this elevation profile: READY The 30k and 50k took off at 8:30 in pouring down rain and lightning striking out over the ocean (it was kind of scary beautiful), the 20k at 8:45, and then the 8k crowd took off at 9:00. There were some instructions about colored ribbons and turns that I couldn't really hear and then 3...2...1... get goin The climb was pretty brutal. And steep. And hard. I remembered really liking this trail about a month ago on a  sunny day hike when I was all, look how pretty it is up here, wow, STAIRS ! FUN!  This time, there were a few more ...