Marathon!!!

Ok, a little revision on the race schedule. First of all, I decided not to run the 10k back on October 12th, instead Jim and I went for a run with a local running group on Saturday, then on Sunday I did a 'long' run...I was planning on running 12 miles, but missed the street I was planning on turning down and then I found myself running along the coast in the Presidio area and then Chrissy Field. I had never been running in that area so I just went with the flow. Well, since I didn't know the area well, I didn't know what road to take to get through the park to go south to head back home. Unlike most parts of San Francisco, the roads in that area are not north-south, east-west, and alot of the roads are dead ends or go in circles...the point being that you really need to know the way if you want to cut through the park. So I kept running until I got past the park to Broderick St and ran south until I got to my neighborhood. That was adventurous too since parts of it are among the highest peaks in San Francisco. By the time I got home, the run had turned into 15 miles! Oops! It was fun though!

Anyway, back to the race schedule. I just signed up to run the Avenue of the Giants marathon on May 3rd. The race is run through the giant redwoods and is supposed to be beautiful. Jim and I will probably tack a vacation on the end of this trip and travel up to Seatle for a few days. Should be a good time and hopefully a PR as well!

Running Groups

Saturday we went running with a local running group. The group meets at a restaurant called Crepes on Cole which is about a mile from our apartment. There were about 12 people that showed up for the run and everybody paired off depending on mileage and anticipated pace. Of course after group runs, just like in Ohio, it's time for breakfast! It wasn't Bob Evans, but it was really good. I had pancakes and Jim had french toast and we sat around and chatted with others from the running group. It was a good time and we will be back to join them again.

Last month when we went back to Cleveland for a wedding, we had a chance for one last morning group run with the gang, what a great morning it was for a run at the towpath with a great group of people!

Racing Schedule

Ok, time to set some goals! Here are a list of races I plan on running.

10/12/08 - Golden Gate Park 10k
11/16/08 - Polo Field 5k
12/14/08 - Conservatory 5k
12/21/08 - Christmas Classic 5k
02/01/09 - San Francisco Half Marathon
05/15/09 - Bay to Breakers 12k
06/27/09 - Double Dipsea 13.7 miles, 2200 vertical feet

The first 3 races are low key, put on by a running group in the area. The Bay to Breakers race is a huge race with 33,000 registered runners last year and an estimated 60,000 total runners! If I run a sub 19:00 or sub 21:30 5k before May 1st I can get a seeded or sub-seeded starting position rather than starting with the masses. 21:30 is doable, but it would be nice if I can get the sub 19 ... that will take a lot of work. Well, I guess I have 7 months of training and racing to try to get there, so we'll see. I'll be adding more races for 2009, just haven't picked them out yet. The Double Dipsea is a challenging run and I hope I can get in since registration is limited and sells out fast I hear. Check out this fly-by of the course.