Monday, June 30, 2008

20 Miles on the Bay Trail

0This past Saturday, I ran 20 miles with the SFM runners from Team Asha. This is the second time I've ran with them and again, it was really great to have the support other runners around me. I'm used to running alone or with my fiancé usually. But what's great about these guys is that they run about my pace and they are really encouraging. And they run for a great cause - to provide education to under-privileged children in India. This is what I found on their website, "Asha for Education is a non-profit organization on a mission to catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of under-privileged children." I found them through Augustus, who is a member of Team Asha. I randomly Googled for running teams in the South Bay and inadvertently came across Augustus' blog. I contacted him to see if I could join his running group a few weeks ago. My fiancé and i drove out to Sawyer Camp in San Mateo for our 16 miler. I've met a few more runners from Team Asha and I look forward to my runs with them. Most of them are Indian decent but they didn't mind me tagging along.

I tried to map my 20 miles on mapmyrun.com but because it was my first time running the trail, I had difficulty locating certain area of the run. So, here's the best version of my run: Bay Trail Maps

We started out at the Oracle campus in Redwood Shores, up the Bay Trail through Foster City, passing the San Mateo Bridge to Bay Side Park in Burlingame. Actually, we ran out to the 2 mile point and turned back, running another half a mile past our starting to point to get additional 5 miles. Then started again to get the rest of the 15 miles. I broke the cardinal rule of getting good rest the night before a long run. For whatever reason, I didn't go to bed until 1:30am and got up at 5:30am to drive down to Redwood Shores from El Cerrito. Yikes!! I was tired but once we got started running, it wasn't too bad. Sure, the usual aches and pains surfaced after mile 12 but having other runners encourage you and push you along, really helped. The bad thing about this trail is that there is hardly any water stops or restrooms. There was one at the starting point and where we turned around 7.5 mile mark at the Bay Side Park. I think I ran the 20 miles a little under 3 hours and 15 minutes. The trail was marked for the runners who were doing 11 miles that day so we had gauge by time and how fast we were running. overall, my guess is that I ran about 9:30 min/mile. Which really isn't bad at all.

Most of the trail is paved but there are some dirt trails along the way. But the view is great once the trail goes out to the edge of the Bay. Running under the San Mateo bridge was pretty cool, I have to say. Overall, it was a really good run. I did limp a little after from sheer exhaustion but other than that, recovery was quick.

My bachelorette party was the same night and as much as I was wiped out from the run, I gave it 100% on partying to the fullest.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

From Pitter Patter to Hitting the Pavement

A few years back, I started running. For a long time, I just ran about a mile at a time on the treadmill. Then, I decided to venture out to 2 to 3 miles on the mill. After a little while, I got tired of running at the gym. So I tried running outside for a scenery change. I must have really liked it because soon, I started to running longer and longer distances. I had always wanted to run a marathon... it was just one of those things on my "bucket list" of things to do. So I did. 4 years ago, I ran my first marathon. The San Francisco Marathon, the hilliest marathon of them all! I used the Hal Higdon training program online and followed it to the T. I ran my first marathon in 4 hours and 13 minutes!! That's still my fastest time. I've run 2 more SFMs since but haven't been able to. I signed up for my 4th one last week. I'd been running all year and kinda sorta training (but half heartedly) because I wasn't sure if I would do it again. You see, I'm getting married on August 8th and the race is on August 3rd! A lot of people are telling me not to do it for various reasons but I just must. I have to! I have a goal of running one marathon a year.

I don't look like your typical lean runner. I'm on the other category... the other typical not-so-lean runner. But I love running. It clears my head, keeps me healthy and releases those much needed endorphins. These days, I'm pretty obsessed with running and love to talk about my training programs and just running in general. Welcome to my running blog.

Julianne :-)