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Month: July 2014

The San Francisco Marathon (TSFM) ’14: race week.

The San Francisco Marathon (TSFM) ’14: race week.

It’s that time again, folks– race week.  Sunday is the annual running of The San Francisco Marathon, and the race, which The Wall Street Journal stupidly named “the race even marathoners fear” will be my third mary this year, my 24th lifetime, and my second go at the race on this course.

Another social media ambassador and pal, Trish, recently wrote about what TSFM signifies to her, and it got my wheels turning. I can’t really supply you with a simple “if this, then that” explanation of what TSFM means to me, but instead, a narrative seems more appropriate. Much like, well, everything, a lot has happened between the time I learned I’d be running this race, to now, race week.

The last time I ran TSFM, in 2010, I didn’t really train for it, per se. I was relying hot and heavy on residual fitness, the fitness that I had developed in training for and running and requalifying for Boston, at Boston, in April that year, so between late April and late July, my “training” was fairly minimal, and at best,  maintenance or foundational-based. Aside from a few hilly long runs out at Waterfall Glen in the Chicago burbs, I didn’t really do anything special to prepare for TSFM. I just wanted to have fun; ideally,  do a sub-4; and quickly see as much of SF as possible before flying down to Orange County to meet C and his parents for a California vacation. My expectations for my race day performance were minimal or non-existent.  Of course, I’d later learn that I had run TSFM freshly pregnant–as in, just-conceived-a-couple-nights-prior-to-the-race pregnant–but aside from that little bit of trivia about my history with this race, when I left SF just a couple hours after the race, I left with a wonderful impression of the city, with a glowing recommendation of the race, and I figured sooner or later, I’d make my way back out to California for a TSFM redux, on better (read: actual) training to see what I was really capable of producing on this course.

I have virtually no pictures from this trip, but this is one of the better ones. Balls.
I have almost no pictures from this trip, but this is one of the better ones. Balls.
I reeeeeally hoped we weren't running on hills like this, or I was fucked.
I reeeeeally hoped we weren’t running on hills like this, or I was fucked.
Race morning (5:30 start time)
Race morning. Taken with a circa 2010 flip-phone’s camera.
Cheshiring like crazy in ALL my on-course pics. (Going over the foggy GGB here!)
Cheshiring like crazy in ALL my on-course pics. (Going over the foggy GGB here!)

Anyway, several years passed, and though I opted to remain on TSFM’s email newsletter and receive race-related announcements, there wasn’t any foreseeable date in the future that I planned to run the race again; basically, it had become just a bucket-list thing, a race that I knew I should eventually “do-over” but when said “do-over” was to occur was anyone’s guess. Even when C began working remotely for a Bay Area-based company in 2011, the timing never worked out for me to get back out here to run TSFM. Life, pregnancy, baby, school, whatever just kinda precluded it.

For whatever reason, though, in the summer of 2013, just a few weeks before I ran the Chicago Marathon, a TSFM newsletter email included a call for TSFM social media ambassadors. Among the other incentives the ambassadors would receive was a free race entry to the July 2014 race, and while I thought it’d be a cold day in hell before I’d get selected because of my intentional dearth of a social media presence, I applied. I banged out an application during A’s naptime, talking about how profoundly my running has changed–for the better–since becoming a mother and how I ran the race unknowingly pregnant, and on sub-par training, and how I wanted a chance to see what I could really do on the course and, in the process, hopefully be able to show other new-moms out there in the social media world that pregnancy, childbirth, and the wholly life-changing process and experience of motherhood doesn’t mean that their best running days were behind them… or something along those lines, and even more rambling and less coherent.

After my haphazard application on that summer day in Chicago in the late summer, life happened–and how. Before I knew it, on a whim, C accepted an interview request for a Bay Area company, flew out for it, and by mid-September, had accepted the offer and we began to figure out our relocation details from Chicago. I taught my classes, I continued to train and run and squeaked out a PR in Chicago and an *almost* PR in NYC, and I didn’t give a ton of thought to TSFM because a) I had no idea when or if the move was actually going to happen… denial is a powerful thing, kids, and b) I hadn’t heard back about the ambassador gig and kinda figured the obvious.

Team BRC for the Chicago Marathon
Some of Team BRC for the Chicago Marathon (cred: Pete)

It wasn’t until the day or two before the NYC Marathon, when I was sitting in a friend of a friend’s kitchen in the Upper East Side in Manhattan, that I found out that for reasons unbeknowest to me, TSFM had selected me to be part of their 2014 social media ambassador group. And, in the universe always makes sense department, mere hours after I had learned of my acceptance, C, who was already living in CA, and I, while I was still in NYC, figured out our living arrangements for the foreseeable future in CA, at least until we sold our place in Chicago. While a lot of things were still up in the air about our family’s cross-country relocation, some stuff was beginning to fall somewhat neatly into place.

between November 2- November 4, I a) found out I was accepted for TSFM; b) ran the NYC Marathon; c) turned 30; d) figured out our Chicago-SJ housing accommodations...and had a vegan birthday donut at Steph's friend's place in Manhattan.
between November 2- November 4, I a) found out I was accepted for TSFM (and would thus be running it in July); b) ran the NYC Marathon; c) turned 30; d) figured out our Chicago-SJ housing accommodations…and had a vegan birthday donut at Steph’s friend’s place in Manhattan.

If you’ve read my stuff here since October, you’ll know that the move was a mixed bag for me. Couple (triple?) the enormity of a cross-country move with the minor facts that we were doing it with a child in tow; that my husband was already on the other side of the country, eagerly awaiting our arrival; that we knew very few people here and really, no one who lived in our immediate vicinity of the Bay, and it doesn’t–or shouldn’t–take long to realize that leaving Chicago and the past 11 years of my life there (and more, for C) was rough. I figured shit would work itself out in CA, and whatever outstanding issues I couldn’t resolve in Chicago would be fine once we got to CA because, again, the universe always makes sense.  Part of my biggest apprehension about moving to CA and leaving my Chicago past behind me was simply that I had no clue how I’d meet people, or, to be more candid, how the hell I’d meet and make friends once I got here. Getting a clean slate, a chance to really start anew in life, can be awesome, but it can also be a little intimidating, too, because you don’t want to fuck stuff up. These chances don’t come around very often.

This is where TSFM ’14 has come into play–and in a way that I never really thought a mere footrace really could. Through this race, and all of the stuff leading up to it from November until now, I’ve met many other runners from not only all over the country but also from CA and the Bay Area, proper. This has been hugely significant to me because aside from the couple people I knew out here before the move (hi, Stone and Middhie!), I had no one (cue the dramatic music and the small violins). I kinda feel ridiculous admitting this, but it’s because of TSFM and the ever-expanding network that social media can yield that I’ve even connected at all with anyone out here… and that’s awesome. As I’ve written before, I think there’s definitely something to be said for getting outside our comfort zones–as I’ve been trying to do here, in my little corner of the internet, since moving–and as has been my experience, doing so, putting myself out there in “social media land” has been a bit terrifying, no doubt, but it has also positioned me to meet a veritable flurry of amazing and inspiring runners people, including but not limited to the following and all of whom I’ll see over the course of the weekend:

At the brewery with a gaggle of local-ish TSFM 2014 ambassadors
At some brewery with a gaggle of local-ish TSFM 2014 ambassadors [January 2014]
Serious rundezvous on some serious hills
Serious rundezvous on some serious hills  in the Marin Headlands [January 2014]
the (enormous communications) Dish at Stanford
at the (enormous communications) Dish at Stanford with the RunningAddicts crew [Feb 2014, I think. cred: Linh/RA])

soaked and chilled post-race w Stone, Mere (spectator amazingness), and a sleeping Foxy... thanks for these pics, M!
soaked and chilled post- Kaiser HM  w Stone, Mere (spectator amazingness), and a sleeping Foxy (Feb 2014, Mere’s pic)
and we also had to go to Target for a productive hour of shopping for relay essentials. Wes, Keith, me, and Chris. (source: an employee who probably felt bad for us weirdos)
Ragnar goofiness with Ethan Wes, Keith, and Chris (April 2014)
DONE, son! (+ awesome photobomb)
The time a bunch of TSFM ambassadors ran Ragnar SoCal (April 2014)
and twitter-friend-turned-IRL-friend-once-I-moved-here Anil ran with us and rocked it (and came in hot for a sub-1:45 finish)!
with twitter-friend-turned-IRL-friend-once-I-moved-here Anil at the SC HM. Excited to see him fly on TSFM’s flat and fast second half! (SC HM, April 2014)
w crazy gal Meg here, who's all "I don't know, maybe I'll run with you, maybe I'll PR? I don't know..." and boom. sub-1:40 for her. That's a PR smile if I've ever seen one ;) PS, pretty sure I'm copping a feel... on myself. #awkward
w TSFM ambassador and on-a-PR-roll-in-2014 Meg post-SC HM. Also stoked to see her blaze 26.2 at TSFM!
stoked to see Erin, coming in from IL, to run 26.2!
aaaaaaaand super stoked to see Erin, coming in from IL, to run 26.2!

Going into race week, then, it’s probably safer to say that right now, I’m thinking more about HOW EXCITED I AM TO SEE SO MANY AWESOME PEOPLE and less so about my race strategy, though the latter most definitely is in the works. Minimally, TSFM will be a long-ass training run for CIM; optimally, it will be a strong and strategically-run race. Sunday morning will be 100% effort, regardless.

Suffice it to say that I’m accidentally, or coincidentally, continuing on this theme that I’ve rocked so far in 2014 about my races being more than the actual footrace, then, and more about the accompanying experience. It might be odd to admit, but I really feel that TSFM, and the accompanying social media ambassador gig, has helped open doors for me since moving here, and for that, I am quite grateful.

It’s really because of TSFM and its network that I’ve met and have been continuing to meet so many awesome and inspiring runners people, and I’m really looking forward to our time together in just a handful of days, with a 26.2 mile-long fast-moving partay in between.

it doesn't get old.
it doesn’t get old.

Bib  20558 for Sunday! and come see me at the expo on Saturday from 12-4!

2014, from the halfway point

2014, from the halfway point

It’s a bit strange to think that we’re already at the halfway point, or past the halfway point, anyway, of 2014. In the absence of doing weekly training recaps as I had done from January-March for Oakland, I figured I could post a quick update with how training has been going here in SJ.  (Related: we’ve already lived here as a family for six months. Whoa).

family time at Daddy's work party
family time at Daddy’s work party

More often than not, training seems like it’s an experiment of one. What works for you may produce horrific results for me, what works for me could possibly make you want to keel–or whatever–but the funny thing is that regardless of what does or doesn’t work for us, we don’t know anything until and unless we try. And my experiment, thus far in 2014? Four marathons, five months… and with the intention of racing three of them. I wouldn’t necessarily advise that anyone do this, but hey, if you want to, the roads are yours and yours alone.

get after it!
the roads are a-callin. get after it!

 

how it's gone down.  Week 12: Oakland Marathon (3/23); Week 22: Newport Marathon (5/31); Week 26: ZOOMA Napa Valley Half Marathon (6/25); Week 28: Jungle Run Half Marathon (7/13)
how it’s gone down.

That training screenshot isn’t the clearest, but basically:

I’m elated to say that the past six months of training and racing have gone really well and have been pretty consistent. Sure, I made some stupid mistakes that cost me the performances I wanted at Oakland or Newport, but when I step back and look at my training and racing from a bigger perspective–much as I try to do when I look at my weekly and monthly training logs–I’m actually pretty satisfied. The consistency is there, and in that regard, I’ve used and have more or less continued to use Pfitz’s 70/12, and combining that with remaining healthy, and thanks to Coach Jay Johnson’s GSM and Matt Fitzgerald’s brain training techniques (which I keep typing as “braining”), getting physically and mentally stronger, I think I’m setting myself up for a favorable year. Time will tell.

Oakland-ing
Oakland-ing
Newport-ing with Kel and Austin
Newport-ing with Kel and Austin
Napa-ing, home of a beautiful and potentially fast course, but one that wasn't mine for the taking
Napa half-ing, home of a beautiful and potentially fast course … and also a good opportunity for me to run super poorly. At least the scenery was pretty!
being awkward on the podium for the Jungle Run half. Pretty sure this is my first race wherein my race bounty was a tiger.
being awkward on the podium for the Jungle Run half. Pretty sure this is my first race wherein my race bounty was a tiger. also: a redemptive run, even with a shit stop at mile 7, considering the hot mess that was Napa. The JR was a harder course, yet it was a better run for me. Universe, you win.

That said, I’m heading into the second half of 2014 with a fiery determination to (continue to) work hard and realize that which I’m after…and you know that which I’m after is some crazyass goals because really? If your goals aren’t crazyass, you’re wasting your time.

It’s wild to think that marathon #3 of the year, the San Francisco Marathon, is in less than two weeks now, but I’m super excited for it. As was the case with Bay to Breakers, more than anything, I’m really looking forward to another weekend of QT with friends in San Francisco. I haven’t figured out exactly what I want to do there, in terms of my racing, but that’ll surely come within the next 10 days or so. It’ll be my first time running that race since 2010, when I ran it freshly and unknowingly pregnant (and on not-great training), so I’m really looking forward to the experience this time around.

And! Even more exciting! Not only will I soon get to see Austin in August for the Santa Rosa Marathon, I’ll also be serving as a 3:35 co-pacer with my RunningAddicts buddy Ko (who was one of my 3:20 pacers in Oakland), at a marathon that is one of the fastest in the nation, in terms of how many BQs it produces. This will be my first time officially pacing a 26.2, so while I am a tad nervous, I am seriously thrilled (and honored) to be doing this.  🙂

with some of my RA family post-Jungle Run. L-R: Ko (co-pacer for SRM!), Johnny (decapitated, poor guy), Deanna, Linh, and Adam (1:45 co-pacer from Santa Cruz HM a few months ago).  cred: Linh
with some of my RA family post-Jungle Run. L-R: Ko (co-pacer for SRM!), Johnny (decapitated, poor guy), Deanna, Linh, and Adam (1:45 co-pacer from Santa Cruz HM a few months ago). cred: Linh

Finally, I’m in the beginning stages of a very long training cycle–twice as long as what I usually run–for CIM in December.  In the build-up to CIM, I’ll be racing the Nike Women’s San Francisco 13.1 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society–and for which I am fundraising (and have already met nearly 40% of my goal, thanks to your amazing generosity). In keeping with the “I am so excited about everything” right now attitude, I am super jazzed to be fundraising for an organization that’s so near and dear to my heart and one to which I owe my marathoning and running history for the past seven years. (And in case you missed it, here’s why I’m returnin’ to my TNT roots this fall).

Nike Women's SF fundraising

2014 has already been an incredible year, full of tons of surprises and many opportunities, and I’m stoked to see how the rest of the year will unfold, one mile at a time. Thank you for all that you’ve given me so far, and stay tuned for more adventures!

What about you? How’s your year going so far?