Oakland Half Marathon Weekend

Two weeks ago I ran the Oakland Half Marathon as my first half marathon of the year. By this time last year I had run four half marathons, so I'm pretty proud of myself to have made it all the way through the first quarter of the year without having run any! My New Year's resolution to train more and race less is still on track! 

Back in August of last year a deal came through Active Schwaggle for  a $35 entry to the Oakland Half Marathon. What an amazing deal! I instantly thought about running it and figured it could be an excuse to go home. I like trying new races and this one was close to San Francisco and had a really flat course. 

Love This Quote on the Pace Bracelet

I hesitated for a bit before signing up when I remembered some less than glowing race reviews I had read last year, but brushed those thoughts off since those reviews were for the full course and as I learned running the OC Marathon, the full and half experience can be very different.

Driving up to San Francisco

Mika Was Looking Bored

The Friday before the race David and I packed up the car, loaded in the dogs, and hit the road. We took the 5 the whole way instead of my usual detour on the 101 through Santa Barbara and made it up to San Francisco in 8 hours. Not too bad in my book! We were staying at my dad's for the weekend and soon after getting into San Francisco we met up with my dad at one of my favorite restaurants - Fresca!

Almost There!

One incredible Peruvian dinner later, and we were stuffed and ready for bed. Yep, party crew, rolling in! I had plans to get up early and meet up with the Run 365 San Francisco Marathon training program to do a 6-9 mile run. When I checked the weather I was saddened to see that not only would it be raining that Saturday, but it would be raining on Sunday aka race day as well. Big sigh.

Boo! Bad Weather!

Under normal circumstances I never run in the rain. I have a low tolerance for non-pleasant weather. Why do you think I love San Diego so much? Anyways, I decided that going out in the rain for the training run would break me in for the race the next day. I went down to Sports Basement in the Presidio to meet everyone, and ended up running 9 miles with Jojo and some of the other runners in the program. While I was running with the group I met a fellow Lowellite and friend of a friend. Its such a small world!

Gloomy Morning in the Presidio

Jojo Threatened my Life if I Posted This Picture
So I Cornified Her :)

After the cold and wet training run David and I headed straight across the bridge to Oakland.  Hey, might as well right? We were a lot closer coming from the Presidio than my neighborhood. The expo was being held at a Marriott downtown which meant guess what? Easy parking! My favorite! We were in and out of the expo pretty quickly, and soon were heading back across the bridge to go home so I could finally change out of my sweaty and wet running clothes. Running in the rain and then not showering for hours is not fun. I felt sticky and cold and uncomfortable. Yuck! I hate the rain!

Oakland Half & Full Marathon Elevation

The Geico Gecko!

We met up with my friend Jenny for lunch at The Tipsy Pig in the Marina where I devoured an ahi burger and sweet potato fries. I don't usually order fries much less finish them. Um, what sweet potato fries? Where did they go?  I had just run 9 miles and had 13 lined up for the next morning. That's my excuse. 

My New "Got Milk?" Zipper Pull

After lunch we went to my old home away from home Stonestown. Aww 'the mall'. I miss my mall rat days in high school and college when Garley and I seemed to end up there almost daily. Such mall rats. Speaking of Garley we were meeting up with her that night to see the Hunger Games! I read the series over the holidays (3 books in 4 days) and absolutely the books! Garley was a huge fan as well and in proper best friend form bought herself and I matching mockingjay pins which we of course wore during the movie!

Proudly Sporting our Mockingjay Pins

I hate to say it but I think the movie was just so so. There is so much that you get in the books that you miss in the movie. I suppose that is always the case though.

Marathon Maniac Shirt Debut

After the movie it was time for another early bedtime. Luckily the race didn't start until 9:15am (unheard of!) so I got to sleep in until 7am and I still had time to get coffee and bagels before driving back over to Oakland. 

My Favorite Breakfast Place - Noah's

It was sprinkling a bit in the morning when I went out to get bagels but I was elated to see that the rain had eased up as we headed east across the bridge. I had my fingers and toes crossed while praying that the rain would stay away. I wasn't too optimistic but in the end guess what? It didn't rain!

Forecast Wasn't Very Positive

Gloomy Day in the Sunset

I haven't been doing any speed workouts lately but of course I was hoping to PR in this race. Come on, I'm always hoping to PR! I don't understand people who aren't. Don't you always want to do your best and then better than your best? I do!

Poor David - Another Early Morning Watching Me Race

Ready to Race! I think...

I started out the race a bit too fast and instead of holding on and continuing to push I started to slow down a bit. Right around mile 6 tragedy struck ... my Walkman died! Ahh! Rookie mistake, I forgot to charge it the night before. Sigh. I never run without music and running in silence is pure torture for me. I'm sure my Walkman dying was the excuse I was looking for to give up on my pace ... and I took it. I slowed down a bit right after mile 6, and my hopes of a PR were instantly dashed. Oh well, not every race is meant to be!

Feeling Strong to Start

Made it Through "The Wall" (Of Fire!)

I'm Sexy and I Know It
(j/k - wow this picture is horrible)

I ended up putting out some nice positive splits in this race which I'm not proud of, and ended up finishing in 1:53:45. I started with a 7:58 first mile which slipped into the high 8:00's for an overall pace of 8:32. Not my best, but not my worst.  I've also learned that I need to A - start doing training runs without music, B - always charge my electronics, and C - start getting back to my speed workouts if I expect to improve on my speed!

Oakland Half Marathon Finisher

After the race we had plans to meet up with a bunch of other San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors who would also be running. I was excited to see old friends again and meet new ones. We all met at the Lake Chalet restaurant for brunch which was about half a mile from the start and finish line for the race. The restaurant was right on the edge of Lake Merrit and had a beautiful view! 

SF Ambassador Brunch

The fun for the weekend pretty much ended after brunch. From there we went straight to the Oakland airport where I dropped David off before heading back to my dad's house in San Francisco. Once I got home I showered, packed up the car, reclaimed my dogs and hit the freeway for another 500 miles on the road. Driving alone was a LOT less fun than driving with David. Those dogs really need to work on their conversation skills! Luckily I managed to get home in 8 hours, although I got home so late that I decided to take the next day off from work to catch up on things. Its funny how a little mini-vacation can be so exhausting! 

The Nestle Quick Bunny Admiring .. My Medal?

My next race after Oakland was the Carlsbad 5000 which I ran this past weekend (recap coming soon), this weekend I'm running the Hollywood Half Marathon, and then next weekend I'm doing my first distance ride on the bike. On Sunday April 15th I'll be doing the Gran Fondo 60 mile bike tour! I'm excited for the new challenge but not excited about the timing. I've been asked to go to a tradeshow in Vegas at the last minute and don't get back from the show until late Saturday the night before. Hmm, standing in heels and walking all over Vegas for three days. Sounds like great race prep! Oh well, what can you do! Let's hope my training keeps me riding strong!

Oakland Half Marathon Medal & Tech Tee

To read my race review of the Oakland Running Festival over on Running Trip, click here.

Super Seal Triathlon/Duathlon/5K

Last year the Super Seal Triathlon was my first official sprint distance race. (Race recap here.) Prior to that I had done a mini-sprint race and two 'unofficial' sprint distance club races with the Tri Club. When this year's race rolled around I held off on registering for a while as part of my New Year's resolution to race less, but in the end Tara talked me into signing up. As a new triathlete I thought about registering for the International distance race this year, but then decided to do the sprint distance again so I could compare my times and hopefully see some improvement.

Training

My big race for the first half of the year is the San Diego Century Ride in May. The course I'm doing is 66 miles long, so to prepare for that my training has included biking and running, peppered with some swimming. Perfect for a short triathlon! As the Super Seal race approached I felt that I was much more prepared on the bike than last year, a bit weaker on the swim since I was only swimming once a week versus twice like last year, and I think I'd maintained my running strength. I felt out of practice on transitions and ocean swims, so as a last minute preparation for getting my hustle on during T1 and T2, I signed up for the Tri Club duathlon a few weeks ago.

Tri Club Duathlon

My friend Robin was racing as well and offered to stick with me on the bike. I was  worried that this would ruin the race for her since she is a much stronger biker than me, but with the extra motivation to push my pace during the race on the bike to somewhat keep up with her, I was riding way faster than any of my training rides!

Tri Club Overall Winner Race Medals

The duathlon consisted of a 2.3 mile run, a 12.5 mile bike, and a 2.3 mile run.

Run 1: 16:51 @ 7:15 pace

Bike: 46:05 @ 17.5 mph

Run 2: 17:42 @ 7:41 pace

I was shooting for a 7:00-7:30 pace for both legs of the run and was pretty happy with a 7:15 and 7:41. I was also thrilled to see that even though my training rides had all ended up being around 13mph, in a race situation I could push myself to 17mph. I'm still pretty slow on the bike, but at least I'm improving! The club race duathlon was not only fun, but it built my confidence up more for Super Seal.

Post Race Smiles with Robin

Super Seal Weekend

As race weekend approached, a storm started rolling into San Diego. We are spoiled here in San Diego with sunshine and great weather almost year round, and it was sad and unlikely to have rain and high winds forecasted for the weekend. A few days before the race the race directors issued a message about the rain and the possibility of the swim leg being cancelled.  I'll be honest, I wasn't going to be sad if they cancelled the swim. I don't like swimming and I hate swimming in the ocean. I knew without the swim the race wouldn't be the triathlon that I signed up for, but whatever, I wouldn't be heart broken.

Battling the Monsoon on Packet Pickup Day

Green Swim Cap Wave!

The day before the race the swim was called off due to rain and high winds, and suddenly there was a chance that even the bike leg would be cancelled! The morning of the race I packed up my car with my bike and David and I headed down to Coronado.

Cold, Rainy, and Windy

I hate the rain and would normally never run outside when its raining, so hurtling through the rain on my bike and then during the run didn't seem too appealing to me, but hey, better than swimming, biking, AND running in the rain right?

Entering the Parking Lot

As we approached the start line of the triathlon I saw a lot of cars turning around and leaving. I checked the race's facebook page and saw that they had now cancelled the bike as well due to high winds and were planning on putting on a 5K as a last resort. It crossed my mind to turn around and leave as well, but I figured since I was up early and down in the area, why not stick around to run? 

Trying to Keep Warm in the Car

We parked and got to the start around 6:45am, and I saw on facebook that the run was scheduled to start at 7:30. We got out of the car and went to the start line to confirm that the race would indeed start at 6:45, and then hurried back inside the car because it was cold, rainy and WINDY out. It was actually so windy that when I first opened my car door the wind blew the door out of my hand and it flung open and smacked into the car next to me. (Luckily neither car was damaged!)

Navy Seals Working Out on the Beach

The 5K Run

The race start time finally rolled around and I made my way to the start. Poor David. Dragged out of bed early and forced to stand in the rain and wind to watch me race. What a great boyfriend! 

Ready to Race!

The officials said that we'd be doing an out and back course on the beach before crossing under the road to go through the original finish line. I've never run on the beach before but figured it couldn't be that hard, it was only 3 miles right?

The Rain Stopped Right Before the Race

After setting three PR's last year in the 5K it crossed my mind that with this small field of runners I would place fairly well. I had gotten my 5K down to 22:26 last year (7:14 pace) and figured I should shoot for a 7:30 pace for this race to allow for a little time loss because of the sand.  Um, about 50 yards into the race I was quickly humbled. Running in sand is HARD! And running in sand with the wind swirling all around you is harder.

Sprint Wave 5K Start

Running on the Beach

I looked down at my watch at one point and was horrified to see that I was running close to a 10 minute mile. OMG! How could I be going so slow?! I tried to push harder but it was near impossible. The turnaround point couldn't come fast enough, and I swear those three miles were the longest and hardest I have ever run in my life.

My Chins and I Racing to the Finish

Great Finish Line Support

When I finally made it back near the start area and crossed under the road I was so relieved to have some relief from the wind as we ran through the tunnel. I took advantage of the shelter and pushed my pace back up to where I thought it should be, and felt a huge wave of relief as I saw the finish line and David.I met up with David and Ben at the finish and we all got to cheer Tara in shortly after. 

Post-Race with Ben and Tara

Go Glam Runners!

I looked at my watch and saw that I had run the 2.75 miles in 26:57 (9:50 pace). Wow, this was one of my slowest 5K's ever! My hopes of an Age Group win were dashed, and I didn't even bother looking at the final race results before we left.

So Much for New White Shoes....

Super Seal Sprint Finisher's Pin

Back to Work

My company was exhibiting at a tradeshow downtown San Diego so after the race I showered and got ready and then headed down to the show to work. I didn't think much of the race or how I had placed and was amazed and thrilled when one of my twitter friends tweeted at me about winning a medal. I couldn't believe it! I ran so slowly! I suppose everyone did though, so among the slow people I was the fastest in my Age Group? Amazing! When I got home I checked the official race results and saw that I had come in 1st in my Age Group. Wow, my first Age Group win in a 5K! Even more exciting, Tara came in 2nd! Go Glam Runners!

Gloomy Day at the Convention Center

I emailed the race organizers to see if they would mail me my medal, and a few days after hearing a "yes" back from them, I got my medal in the mail. Sweet!

Super Seal Sprint Age Group Medal

Race Fallout

On the day of the race and several days following, there was a massive fallout of angry people on facebook and the message boards. Even though we sign a waiver warning us that the race could be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances like weather issues, people were losing it and getting angry. It reminded me of when a flight is cancelled or delayed due to weather issues. It seems like in situations like that, you start to see society crumble.  I saw a lot of racers who expected either a full refund, a free race for compensation, or to have the race be rescheduled for a later date. Um, what about all of the sunk costs the organizers still had to bear from trying to put on the original race? How could people think it would be so easy to just 'redo' the race a few weeks later?

The race organizers sent out several emails in the days following the race with apologies to all of the racers. In the 34 years they have held this race, this is the first year that the full race didn't take place. As compensation they were allowing a $40 discount off the Fearless Triathlon in April, and a 25% discount on the Super Seal race next year, in addition to a couple other races they produced. While I am disappointed that I ended up paying $85 for what ended up being a 5K, I understand that things happen and I don't hold the organizers responsible.  While it would be nice to get a free entry to a future race to make up for this one practically being cancelled, I understand that the economics of that probably aren't feasible. 

I'm sure my attitude towards this race being cancelled would be much different if this was my first triathlon or a key race in my year, but it wasn't. It is one of many races and sometimes things just happen. I hate that I spent so much money on a triathlon I never got to do, but oh well. I've been fortunate enough to do several other races for free in the past year or so, so in my eyes the race gods don't owe me anything. 

I will probably do this race again next year, and I will keep my fingers crossed that the storm clouds stay away! My next race is this coming weekend and is the start of back to back weeks of races. 

My upcoming races:

• April 1st - Carlsbad 5000
• April 7th - Hollywood Half Marathon
• April 15th - Gran Fondo (60 mile bike tour)
• May 6th - Vancouver Half Marathon
• May 19th - San Diego Century Ride (66 mile bike tour)

Happy racing!

San Diego Half Cheer Squad

Last year a new half marathon in San Diego was announced - the San Diego Half Marathon! The race was going to be in March and although the full course wasn't revealed, the organizers stated that there would be an "epic stadium finish" at Petco Park. The race was 'only' going to be $60 for the first 500 registrants, and it seemed like every runner I knew immediately signed up. The race was about 9 months out though and I was totally not ready to commit so early. What if that race conflicted with my training for a bigger race? What if I was going to be out of town for work? I held off on registering and the fee went up to $75, then $90, then $99. By the time I was moderately interested in registering there was no way I was going to pay $99 for a race that I could've entered for $60. Oh well, no biggie. Although the course looked cool, I wasn't going to lose sleep over missing out on it.

San Diego Half Marathon Course

Girls on the Run had  a 30 person team of SoleMates running in this race and when I heard this I decided that I would try to organize a cheer station instead. I've only cheered at a race a few other times (I'm usually running myself) and I've been surprised by how fun it is to stand by the sidelines warm and comfortable while watching the runners go by. 

San Diego Half Marathon Expo

Girls on the Run Table at the Expo

My friend Christina was going to be in town for this weekend for a conference and when she asked me where she should do her 13 mile long run while she was here I suggested this race instead. Luckily she was able to buy a friend's race bib for only $50 and before you know it Christina - aka Giselle - was ready to run too! I picked up Christina the day before the race and we headed straight to the race expo where she picked up her bib, we checked out the vendors, and we said hi to my Girl on the Run friends. After leaving the expo we went down to the harbor and had drinks and appetizers at Edgewater Grill.

Enjoying the San Diego Harbor at the Edgewater Grill

There are so many restaurants in San Diego that I want to try and I was so excited to have a dinner date in town. We left Edgewater Grill and headed to South Park to try out Alchemy for dinner. I've had so many people rave about Alchemy to me and it didn't disappoint! After dinner and some wine at Alchemy we headed home .. but stopped at the Turf Supper Club near my house for a nightcap and to chat before going to bed. Geez, good thing I wasn't running in the morning!

Quinoa Salad at Alchemy

Small Plates at Alchemy

The next morning I realized that I hadn't made my signs for the cheer station. D'oh! Thanks to years of making signs in high school, I was able to quickly whip up a number of signs to support our Girls on the Run team. I grabbed the signs, my cowbells, and then we headed downtown where I dropped Christina off at the start. I then went straight to mile 11 where I was meeting the rest of meeting the rest of my cheer squad. The plan was to cheer on the runners at mile 2, 8, and 12. 

You Can Take the Girl out of High School Cheerleading ....

But You Can't Take the High School Cheerleader Out of a Girl!

We were running a bit late (my fault) and there wasn't anywhere to park at mile 2, so we ended up setting up shop around mile 4 1/2. We made it in time to see the elite runners go by, and stuck around for another 40 minutes until everyone we knew had passed. Its amazing to see how few smiles you see in the early crowd. This people are focused and serious! Girls wearing tutus, holding signs, and ringing cowbells didn't even deserve a side glance  much less a smile. Tough crowd! It was exciting to see each of our running friends and I was surprised to see even more people I knew passing by. I had a sign that said "Smile! You Look Great!" and was amused by how many people smiled at me or smiled while pointing to their face to emphasize that they were smiling. 

Smile! You Look Great!

Love These Race Signs!

As the crowd thinned out we moved to our next spot at mile 12 which was 2/3 of the way down a big hill. We got there in time to see the first runners go by (again without smiles), and spent another 40 minutes cheering on all of the runners. By then I was becoming a bit of  an obnoxious cheerleader. Oh, you're going to run by, glance at me, and then look away? I'm going to scream and cheer louder for you until you smile! In many cases this worked, probably because the person was thinking 'who is this crazy nutjob??"  Whatever, I work for smiles.

Smiles and Glam Runner Tutus at the Finish Line

After we had seen our friends run by this second spot, we headed down to the finish line at Petco Park. The runners were routed in through a side entrance where they were finishing the course on the field. Very cool! I've done the Pat Tillman Run in Tempe, AZ a few times and it is really cool to finish on the field and to see yourself on the big screen. After finding Christina and Tara at the expo we decided to go to the Offshore Tavern & Grill for a post-race brunch. Too bad I ate a big brunch like the rest as if I had just run 13 miles. Jumping up and down and cheering burns calories too right?

Tater Tots! Brunch at Offshore Tavern

If you're a runner and you've never cheered at a race I recommend you try it. Its a lot of fun and really interesting to see all of the runners go by. I was also surprised by how many people actually said 'thank you!' or 'thanks for cheering!' as they ran by. Its nice to feel appreciated and I'm hoping that our silly cheer station put a smile on a lot of runners' faces.