Weekly Workout Summary

Couldn't ask for a better end to my week. I ran the Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco Half Marathon today and it was nothing short of Amazingggg! 

Monday

Another week come and gone and my ass didn't get out of bed for spin class. Surely one day it will happen! I checked the weather when I woke up and it said 30% chance of rain, I walked out the door and it was 100% raining. I decided to go with it and it turned out to be an excellent and very wet run. 

Ran Outside: 2.09 miles

Walk: 4.0 miles

Tuesday 

Weekday runs have been a little low on mileage, but decided I would start increasing my daily effort. 

Ran Outside: 4.07 miles

Walk: 4.0 miles

Wednesday

Had planned on doing a longer tempo run this morning, but really had no desire to move from my warm bed...so I just did a short maintenance run. 

Ran Outside: 2.21 miles

Walk: 4.0 miles

Thursday

The rain came back, so decided to head over to the gym to meet up with my friend Mr. Treadmill. Did somewhat of a tempo run.

Ran Outside: 4.0 miles

Walk: 1.0 miles

Friday

This marked the 4th Friday of doing a speed workout. I've been looking forward to Friday's (not that you need a reason to look forward to Friday) because I know this workout is coming. I think the speed workouts are starting to make a difference. 

Ran on Treadmill: 5.5 miles (warm up 1.0m @10:00; 4 sets Fartlek 5:00 @ 9:05/mi, 3:00 jog; cool down 1.0m @ 10:00)

Walk: 4.0 miles

Saturday

Slept in and then spent some quality time with my sister - thus putting off my run until the end of the day. Thought I'd keep it simple - ran to the start/finish line of the race and then home. 

Ran Outside: 2.09 miles

Walk: 2.0 miles

Sunday

Rock 'n' Roll inaugural San Francisco Half Marathon. Spoiler alert...I PR'd! If you asked me Friday morning if I thought/planed on PR'ing, I would have said no way in hell. But then I talked to this amazing lady, Sherry, at the expo and the U.S. 50K record holder Josh Cox and I was inspired. Long story short, I shaved 18 minutes off my previous course record (from November's US Half Marathon) and beat my Kaiser Half Marathon time by 50 seconds! Oh and not to mention, I was only 19 seconds off of a sub-2 hour! So close! Ahhhhhh, on Cloud 9 today. 

Ran Outside: 13.1 miles (2:00:18)
Walk 1.0 mile

Other Noteworthy Things: 

Completed week 2 of my vegetarian journey. I feel like I could still make better choices, I didn't bring my lunch much last week, so settled for some crappy food options. 

The countdown is on...2 weeks from today I'll be hanging out in Hawaii! So excited! 

Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon Recap

Wow, this post is long overdue - where did the last 2 weeks go!

This was the 30th annual Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon run in Golden Gate Park. The run is presented by Pamakid Runners Club. The Pamakid Runners pride themselves on their participation in the local running community. They are runners who put on a race for other runners.

In the few weeks leading up to the race, I found training runs that were being hosted by Pamakids and the Sports Basement. I thought this would be a great way to meet some runners and get in my long runs. I met so many great people on the runs, that I decided to join the Pamakid Runners Club. Go Green!

The day before the race, the Pamakids volunteered for race setup. We met in Golden Gate Park and got in a quick 3 mile run and then got to work. Most of us were put to work stuffing the race goodie bags, it was a good time. (However, slightly disappointed in the thousands of plastic bags being used - so not green!)

All my racing gear laid out

Start time for the race was 8:00AM. The Pamakids group was meeting for warm up and group picture around 6:45. San Francisco is a small city, but getting to Golden Gate Park from my apartment takes about an hour via public transportation - so I talked my favorite brother-in-law to renting a ZipCar and driving me to the park. 

It was a brisk morning, and by brisk I mean, I was really cold hanging out in shorts and a tank top. I checked my gear at the sweat check shortly after 7, so I was bouncing around trying to stay warm for almost an hour.

Kind of a dorky pre-race pic

In the few minutes leading up to the race, the race director made a little speech, the national anthem was sung and to start the race, the cable car bells were rung. The race started on time and I crossed the start line a few minutes after 8. This is the largest race I've participated in so far, so there was a little congestion at the beginning. 

My goal for this race was to PR (which would be anything under 2:13, but I was really hoping for 2:05). The running coach game us some advice seeing as the club had been running this race for the last 30 years. Be conservative miles 1-4, pick up speed down hill mile 5-7 and let the race begin on the Great Highway. I did pretty good following this, my first mile was a slow 10 minutes since there were so many people and I managed to stay fairly conservative until mile 5. 

This course wasn't just beautiful, it was wonderfully flat. I couldn't believe I knocked out 3 sub 8-minute miles in the middle of the race. Even looking at miles 9-12 I was holding pretty steady - I don't think I've run so many consistent consecutive miles before - I was feeling good! 

When I hit mile 12 and saw I was around 1:53ish minutes, I couldn't believe how close I was to the 2 hour mark. I wasn't only going to beat my goal, I was going to crush it! I pushed hard with a 2 hour finish on my mind. About 2/10 of a mile before the finish line I saw my sister and husband there cheering me on (they are my biggest fans). This gave me that extra burst of energy and I took off giving it everything I had. I officially crossed the finish line at 2:01:08! I beat my previous PR by 12 minutes and I was 69 seconds away from a sub 2-hour half! I almost shed a tear. 

I was super proud when I saw that mile 13 was my fastest mile of the race. Pretty sure I was near crawling mile 13 at my race in November. I've come a long way with my training since, I finished feeling a great sense of accomplishment! 

It was also great feeling part of a team. There were 30+ Pamakid Runners and throughout the course, it was great to see someone wearing the same name as you. Occasionally I would pass someone and hear a "Go Green" or "Go Pamakid" and the encouragement always came just when I was looking for a pick-me-up. It was an amazing experience and I'm looking forward to racing more with my new team mates. 

Post race stretch

A little Pro Compression for recovery! 

There was a great post-race expo set up - I snagged some fruit and a delicious bottle of chocolate milk. However, with so many runners and family members it was really crowded and knowing we had to sit on the bus for the next hour we hurried through the expo - so I don't have anything too exciting to note. I did hear lots of great things about the expo though. My friend wore her Mizuno's for the race and ended up scoring some free socks at their booth post race. 

On the walk to the bus, we passed this creepy house 

The bus ride was kind of long. It's funny how in confined spaces you become aware of how much you stink. I mean, really it was quite unpleasant. Thankfully I wasn't the only stinker on the bus and that several runners were choosing public transportation to get home. 

Showing off my rad new medal

So this is it. A third half marathon under my belt in just 5 months! This was by far my favorite course of the 3. The Rock n Roll half marathon in April is going to be a little challenging, lots of hills coming my way. 

RnR SF Kick Off Party

This week has been pretty busy. My little sister moved in on Saturday afternoon. She just got an internship in the Bay Area and is going to be hanging out on my couch for the next 4 months. Our little one bedroom apartment is a little cramped, but I think it's all going to work out.

Naturally, being new to the city, I decided she needed to see the sites. So last night I dragged her to the Rock n' Roll San Francisco official kick-off party at one of my favorite places - Sports Basement. I mean, who wouldn't want to go there. Seriously, it's one of my favorite stores.

Last night was one of those times that I really wish I had my own car. Getting to the Presido from downtown isn't the easiest. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to take the bus, so we called Lyft - better known as the car with the pink mustache. I've used this service a few times and love it, but last night led us on quite an adventure. We only missed our turn about 3 times and then almost got on the Golden Gate Bridge, but in the end we arrived.

The kick off party was small, but awesome. Sports Basement offers such a great community setting for local athletes. There were a few vendor booths set up (Mizuno, Gu, Gatorade, MarathonMatt), free snacks and beer....yes, free beer....does it get any better? There was also a raffle, although I didn't win anything, but I scored these beautiful Mizuno Wave Inspire 8s for $65!!

Ooooh, so pretty! 

Didn't win the raffle, but the guys at the Mizuno booth saw I was getting shoes and gave me a pretty sweet water bottle. Score!

Also got a cool poster. The iphone pic doesn't do it justice, it's super cute.

I think the race is only 12 weeks away. I'm pretty excited, not only is this the inaugural Rock n' Roll marathon for San Francisco, but it's also my first Rock n' Roll marathon. Can't wait to see the course details - hopefully it's not as hilly as the US Half was in November. That was killer.

Have you run a Rock n' Roll Marathon? Was it awesome?

Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco

Short and sweet afternoon post...

Have you heard the news?! The Rock n' Roll Marathon (half) is coming to San Francisco in 2013. It was announced today that The US Half "The Other Half" Marathon is NOW the Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco Half Marathon. (Read the news for yourself here).

I'm running the US Half Marathon in 2 weeks and have been contemplating signing up for the US Half Marathon 2 in the Spring - guess there will be no more contemplating - this is going in my 2013 lineup. I've wanted to participate in a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon since it was introduced in Arizona years ago - long before I started running - it just sounds really cool.

Have you run a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon? Did you like it? Are there any races you would love to run?